Contra Costa Times from Walnut Creek, California • 1

OIKs Sandy over WC profesf By DIANE DANIEL Lesher Newi Bureau The developer of Sandy Cove has won the battle to establish a hopping center between Concord and Walnut Creek The Sandy Cove proposal for the corner of Treat Boulevard and Bancroft Road gained the 4-1 endorsement of the Board of Supervisors Monday All that remains is routine would add only 72 cars to tho area's peak hour traffie volume but Mike Wilford of the county Public Works Department said he believes the peak hour increase would be more like 400 cars County Planning Director Anthony DeHaesus concurred with four of the supervisors that the zoning action should precede the annexation quest be greater provisions for smooth traffic flow technical softeners to the buildings facilities to aid the handcapped bus shelters and a neighborhood recreational area Development representatives and county public works agents differed on the right -tum lane Shelton pointed to traffic studies estimating the center building density is higher than the norm and the quantity of landscaping is below standard Peg Kovar Walnut Creek vice mayor stressed her city is opposed to the cmmmercial development of this site as well as to plan provisions In any event she said Walnut Creek would like to have some control over the site' Some of these controls would adoption of rezoning measures complete with developmental stipulations The action came despite a call from Walnut Creek asking the board to postpone hearing until the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFC) considers an annexation request Dec 4 Concord Supervisor Warren Boggess said the transformation of the former 17 part of Walnut Creek The' motion by Richmond Supervisor James Kenny included the rezoning of the parcel site plan use permit and elimination of an earlier requirement that the developer built a right tum lane from Treat Boulevard onto Bancroft Road The routine formal approval will come as soon as the county staff can add development conditions to the plan The development will include two banks a restaurant drug store and grocery store as well as a 60 seat meeting room While former county Planning Commissioner Arthur Shelton now representing the development argued the centers would be superior to-existing facilities Walnut Creek opponents said the acre Ppar Orchard would mean "a poor location for an unnecessary shopping center" But his counterparts said they agreed with the use and said they were unwilling to postpone action for a drawn -out annexation quest that might not be fruitful Supervisor Alfred Dias of El Sobrante who also serves on LAFC said it could be dozens of years before the site becomes a WALNUT CREEK AUFORNI A WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 27 1974 parents argue over school closings VOL 59 NO 235 Bfo BiSIS tfajfcfl Pine Grove Intermediate School may be closed by Orinda Union School trustees Electric trains for Christmas? BART studies holiday plan i engineering committee yesterday proposed that he as committee head hold informal meetings with the union and management of BART to work out an agreement that would provide service on the Saturdays between Nov 30 and Dec 21 Director James Hill of Walnut Creek commented got to get a decision promptly The problem as I see it is that if we horse around with this it'll be March before we find out whether we can run" Hill added that any meetings Clark held had to be conducted in public under requirements of the Brown Act but Clark argued the committee could negotiate in private without violating the anti secrecy law A press spokesman present said Clark's proposal was a By CATHY TALLYN Orinda parents facing the closure of one or more schools are divided on the course of action for the financially -troubled school district The future of Pine Grove Intermediate Inland Valley Intermediate Inland Valley Elementary and Del Rey Elementary schools are in doubt Orinda Union School District Superintendent Dr William Fisher recommends the district's two intermediate schools be merged The school board will decide Dec 2 to merge the schools or follow a recommendation by the majority of the Intermediate School Study Committee to add grade six to the intermediate schools District trustees met in special session with parents to gain community input into the problem Merging the intermediate schools at Inland Valley Intermediate School and closing Pine Grove and Inland Valley Elementary schools was the minority committee recommendation Establishing a middle school of sixth through eighth grades at Pine Grove and Inland Valley Intermediate schools and closing Del Rey or Inland Valiev Elementary was the majority recommendation The Bay Area Rapid Transit District's engineering committee Tuesday reopened discussions on a San Francisco -Oakland merchants' request to operate trains on Saturdays during the Christmas shopping season The directors on Nov 14 $250 A MONTH unquestionably greater savings by merging and the additional Mvings could be applied to the benefit of every child in kindergarten through eighth grade rather than just sixth through eighth" Dr Fisher said The Del Rey Parents Club has gone on record supporting the merger According to district figures the proposed merger could save the district $82532 annually over a five year period Adding the sixth grade would net $48000 in five years Money could also be realized from the lease of surplus schools such as Pine Grove Dr Fisher estimates the district could get $110076 a year if it leases Pine Grove John Kennedy University East Bay Parks the Association of Bay Area Governments and other government agencies now located in the Claremont Hotel Berkeley are interested in leasing space at the downtown school he said About two years ago the Orinda Elementary School was closed becuase of declining enrollment which meant the loss of state money to the district The district will continue to have fewer students and will SCHOOLS Paga 2 the October World Serlei games played in Oakland Tuesday the engineering committee approved another in a series of change orders to finance design revisions and miscellaneous other costs amounting to $48300 to fix the walkway The sum will bring the total spent on repairs to $150 in addition to the original construction cost of $861000 The walkway was designed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill designers and architects for the Coliseum complex in Oakland The firm has proposed a written agreement with RART in which SOM Inc will share the costs of remedial work on a 50 50 BART-Pag 2 PH asks for aid to beef up police BART ramp repair to cost $150000 22 PAGES tabled the proposal after they were told by Henry White president of the Amalgamated Transit Union that his member train attendants and station personnel flatly refused to work the overtime Director Richard Clark of Albany chairman of the The city would receive $60-000 in December to hire two officers and purchase two patrol cars equipped with modern radar systems that ran judge -the speed of cars traveling in the opposite direction of the police car The grant will pay $30000 the second year requiring the city to pay $20000 to continue the services and ends the third year Ham estimated the city will pay about $40000 for the officers and equipment the third year is a functional direction the force has to grow in" said Mayor Lenard Grote He urged cutting city costs and controlling the growing number of city employes earlier this year but Monday night said more officers are needed for traffic enforcement Transportation District AC Transit Santa Clara County and lesser systems Appropriations directly to BART probably will be made through the Metropolitan Transit Commission as will requests for subsidy funds from the other qualified Bay Area districts Unlike earlier federal assistance to BART via the US Department of Transportation the transportation assistance act enables use of the fudning as subsidies for day to day operating costs DOT grants are limited to capital expenditures administered through the Urban Mass Transportation Agency' The $2 milliion to $3 million expected fay BART will be used to reduce the district's now financed through a half cent sales tax in the three BART counties BART's deficit for the present fiscal year is expected to approximate $12 million However the deficit is expected to increase substantially in 1675 after BART inaugurates full service on a seven days basis 29 hours Ford gives up budget cutting WASHINGTON (AP) Abandoning his quest for a federal budget under $300 billion President Ford proposed $46 billion in spending cuts Tuesday but said further cuts would be unwise at this time In a message to Congress Ford did not spell out his reasons for feeling that further cuts would be unwise but he seemed to acknowledge that deeper spending slashes could have an adverse effect on the already weakening economy US trade surplus reported WASHINGTON (AP)'-'A'big increase in foreign purchases of US machinery and transport equipment helped give the nation its first trade surplus in six months the Commerce Department reported Tuesday The surplus amounted to $29 million Although the surplus was small in terms of total US trade with other nations it was a welcome development for the United States which has been running heavy trade deficits in recent months because of the high cost of foreign oil Doctors know but tell IAS ANGELES (AP) Three cardiovascular specialists said Tuesday they had reached a unanimous decision on whether former President Richard Nixon was fit to testify at the Watergate rover up trial but they declined to announce it The doctors said their report was confidential for the Watergate cover up trial Germans raid anarchist gang KARLSRUHE Germany (AP) West German authorities in predawn raids in several cities Tuesday rounded up about 40 persons suspected of belonging to or aiding anarchist groups made furniture fly' BRIDGEPORT Conn (AP) Police Supt Joseph A Walsh said Tuesday that a 10 year old girl was responsible for four days of noises and moving objects in a private house "There are no ghosts in Walsh told a news conference He said policemen and other witnesses who saw furniture move were "victims of the power of suggestion Even some of my own men were $145 an hour patient dies YREKA Calif (AP) Emil A Liloiva ran up a medical bill of more than $10000 during the last 70 hours of his life And now the administrator of his estate wants doctors to justify every cent "I don't think you should charge $11000 or $12-000 for dying" Siskiyou County Administrator Charles Hurley said Monday "I want the claims proved That's quite a hospital bill for only a couple of Cuba as an ally? Author thinks so Pleasant Hill streets may be patrolled more heavily by police beginning Dec 16 The city council has authorized the police department to apply for a state grant to hire two officers to patrol pity streets full time Acting Police Chief Kenneth Ham said present patrol is on a as catch can basis end not the selective enforcement program we'd like" During the last year the city received numerous complaints that motorists are speeding on residential streets In addition to reducing the speeding problem there the two officers will be patrolling intersections where accidents occur most frequently The state business and transportation agency told Ham the city has a good chance to get the grant By JUSTIN ROBERTS The Bay Area Rapid Transit District has had it again at the hands of designers and it's likely to cost BART $150000 more to shore up one of its newest facilities The problem is the 900 foot long walkway between BART's Coliseum station and the Oakland Coliseum The district and its patrons discovered earlier this fall that the walkway appears to bounce up and down and sideways when a substantial number of Coliseum bound BART riders traverse it The walkway wobble was discovered when the Oakland A's were playing the Baltimore Orioles in American League play offs RART suffered the same experience again during violation of the Brown Act and in addition violated BART's procedural rules This was supported by BART staff attorney Thomas Jackson who uid BART's rules forbid informal meetings and useof an session" as a means of holding the talks Acting Manager Lawrence Dahms who reported Nov 14 that the union had flatly rejected the proposed overtime work on the four Saturdays pointed out BART's labor contract enables the district to order employes to work overtime only in emergencies Otherwise he said overtime has to be voluntary When Hill asked rhetorically assume we're going to hire more people for full service" Dahms said hiring people would HOLIDAYS Fag 2 was brought back into the picture Tuesday at the Concord Century Club Frank Mankiewicz author journalist and political aid recently returned after spending nearly four weeks in Cuba and talking in depth with Fiedel Castro "I think we could have a strong ally there" he said Mankiewicz appeared to please the audience most when offering personal glimpses at Castro and the relationship he has with the Cuban people "He's rarely in his office but is usually out in a Mankiewicz said they see him on the street they call him Fiedel and run up and give him a He termed Castro well informed" reads Mankiewicz said he found that Castro knew a great deal about the United States and CUBAN ALLY? Pag 2 the federal new Melones Dam project The board says the dam can't be filled to capacity until the US Reclamation Bureau shows a need for water" Rod Walston assistant Attorney General representing the state says hie expects MacBride to reach decision earlier In the matter perhaps within few months because ho has read all documents pertinent to the ease The state is seeking a Transit act lands BART few million By BRUCE ADAMS Cuba pretty much a stranger for the past 15 years Frank Mankiewicz Inside The Times Water baffle heading for courts The Bay Area Rapid Transit District expects to receive between $2 million and $3 million yearly for thenext three years as a result of passage of the National Mass Transportation Assistance Act The act was signed into law Tuesday by f-resicent Gerald Ford and it appropriates $11 billion in federal funds for transit districts in the next six years BART officials saw no windfall in the measure for the financially beleaguered district since only $102 million of the total is apportioned for the nine Bay Area counties during the six years covered by the funding measure The $102 million will be divided by a number of major and minor transit operations including BART the San Francises Municipal Railway Golden Gate Bridge and Weather Varltbit nigh cloudiness through today High tht and lows at night in the mid Slight variably winds Canal and build it without giving notice to any state agency The federal government wouldn't do this he uys because it would dampen federal -state relations He noted this was also the reason the reclamation bureau came to the slate water board in seeking Its water permit to build the new Melones Dam even though it isn't required to do so according to the federal government's portion In his oral arguments summary judgment in its favor based on Walston's interpretation of the federal reclamation statute of 1902 However he also believes MacBride should make a summary judgment in favor of the federal government if he disagrees with Walston's interpretation thereby avoiding a lengthy trial MacBride has indicated that he may reach a summary judgment especially after one nf the federal government's trial atlnrnrys agreed that if MacBride finds that the state can't set conditions there is no need to continue the matter The trial attorney John Germeraad carried the bulk of the federal government's case in Tuesday's oral arguments He contends that the federal government owns all unnavigable unappropriated waters in the west and that Congress has control of all navigable si reams Germeraad says this means that Congress mild authorize the controversial Peripheral By JIM DOURGARIAN Lesher News Bureau SACRAMENTO -Landmark water litigation involving the powers of the state verses the federal government is expected to go to US District Judge Thomas MacBride today The federal government has sued the Slate nf California on the question of whether the Mate can set conditions on federal water projects The suit stems from the stale Water Resnurn Control Board decision setting conditions on Walston claims that the federal reclamation statute allows tho state to set conditions federal water projects Germeraad pointed out in his argument however that this section only refers to irrigation water and no other purposes He adds that when the stato water board was conducting its hearing into the new Melones matter the Contra Costs County Water Agency moved to delay the hearing until tho COURTS Page 2.