From: Mark Brest van Kempen <mbvk@sbcglobal.net>
Date: May 12, 2005 10:54:46 AM PDT
To: <Friendsof2Creeks@yahoogroups.com>, "Osalbo, Faustino Jun" <fosalbo@oaklandnet.com>, 'Barbara Sutherland ' <IMCEAMAILTO-bsutherland+40ucdavis+2Eedu@oaklandnet.com>
Cc: "Brooks, Desley" <DBrooks@oaklandnet.com>, "Nadel, Nancy" <NNadel@oaklandnet.com>, "Uzegbu, Marcel" <MUzegbu@oaklandnet.com>, "Estes, Lesley" <lcestes@oaklandnet.com>, "Schwarz, Alison" <aschwarz@oaklandnet.com>, "'klichten@waterboards.ca.gov'" <klichten@waterboards.ca.gov>, "'friendsof2creeks@yahoogroups.com'" <friendsof2creeks@yahoogroups.com>, "'nannystu@pacbell.net'" <nannystu@pacbell.net>, "Neary, Mike" <mjneary@oaklandnet.com>, Office of the Mayor <OfficeoftheMayor@oaklandnet.com>, "'gantenbein@n-h-i.org'" <gantenbein@n-h-i.org>, "'chiye@cazuma.com'" <chiye@cazuma.com>, "Ward, Ron (PWA)" <rgward@oaklandnet.com>, "Lau, David W" <dwlau@oaklandnet.com>, "Sweiss, Fuad" <fssweiss@oaklandnet.com>, "'jean@jeanquan4council.org'" <jean@jeanquan4council.org>, "'cityochang@aol.com'" <cityochang@aol.com>, "Madison, William" <wmadison@oaklandnet.com>
--
Subject: Chimes Creek issues continue
Please forgive this email but I wanted to update interested parties on Chimes Creek.
Yesterday at about 10 am Chimes Creek turned opaque and quarry colored once again when pumping began. DeSilva was not authorized to begin pumping until the inspector visited the site and obviously the water should not be opaque. I called the City inspector who instead of visiting the site immediately CALLED the construction crew to ask what they were doing. They responded that they weren't pumping and the water was shut off before the inspector could get to the site. --
I questioned this method of investigation since it seems to ensure that no violations will be discovered. Its very much like the police calling a burglar to let them know that they will be there in fifteen minutes to see if a house is being robbed. This might explain the difficulty the City has had in discovering violations in the past. After discussing this with the inspector, he assured me that in the future he would not call ahead of time but simply visit the site to investigate complaints.
Pumping resumed with only the usual cloudy water that I don’t make complaints about. At about 8:30pm after I saw that pumping had continued all day and well into the night I drove up to the quarry and could find no one there- not even a security guard (I did not enter the property). I called the inspector to ask if pumping at night was allowed and he said that it was not and that he would come and investigate.
He found that the pump was indeed running unattended and would have pumped throughout the night had this not been discovered.
About a month ago I talked to Ron Ward when he visited my property. We were discussing Alameda County Flood Control's data suggesting that water was being added to Chimes Creek at night. Ron said that if proved, the developers releasing water at night would definitely be a fineable violation.
We will see.
Mark Brest van Kempen
510 568 6889