Around East County: Oakley City Hall hosts Youth in Government Day
A small contingent of local students took over City Hall in Oakley last week, shadowing city administration staff and hosting their own City Council meeting. The mock council meeting was part of an annual Youth in Government Day.
“This has really been an enlightening day,” said seventh-grade homeschooler Olivia Bonson, the day’s acting mayor. “Public speaking is one of my passions. Being able to sit in the mayor’s seat was perfect for me.”
Also attending the day’s events was Bonson’s sixth-grade sister, Ava, who took on an administrator position for the day. Other students who attended the Youth in Government Day had the opportunity to learn about other government official roles such as council member, city manager, attorney, engineer, clerk and other municipal positions.
During the mock council meeting the students handled the tough issue of introducing an ordinance requiring a tobacco retail license, as well as prohibiting salea of small cigars in packs containing less than 20 in quantity. The ordinance also prohibited the sale of flavored tobacco products and menthol cigarettes and prohibiting self-serve displays of tobacco products plus more. The city’s student attorney, Nahzananeen Hatefi, read the ordinance into record. All of the council members voted for the ordinance, making it official.
The Youth in Government Day also included tours of the city’s police station and various city divisions, learning more about how Oakley operates. They also broke off to spend time in the different departments and got a chance to tackle some city work hands-on. After lunch the group took a tour throughout of various city of Oakley sites, visiting firehouses, parks, the new recreation center set to open April 13 and the new Oakley Entrepreneur offices.
Safest Cities rank: In other Oakley news, the small city, which incorporated in 1999, once again was ranked among the safest cities in California. The city ranked 23rd in the Safewise 50 Safest Cities in California report. That is an improvement from last year, when Oakley ranked 25th. Oakley is the only East County city making the list. However, other Contra Costa County cities included Danville (first), San Ramon (sixth), Martinez (36th) and Walnut Creek (42nd). Safewise, is a home security system provider that examined data from the most recent FBI national crime report.
Cheer team needs help: Through circumstances beyond their control, a youth cheer team lost their gym when it closed down in December and is fundraising in hopes of being able to continue participation in competitions until the season’s end. Three parents of the Velocity Starlets set up a Facebook fundraising page in hopes of raising $6,000.
“We will be using the funds raised to pay for practice space, a competition in April and the final competition in May in Vegas,” said Tiffany Engeldinger Marshall. “We will also be using it to pay the coaches, who have been working for free since December.”
The ages of the girls range from six to 17 years old. The group represents two teams — the Tsunami team with girls nine to 17 and the Storm team with ages six to nine.
“If we raise enough we hope to pay for a team dinner and some of the travel expenses for Las Vegas,” Engeldinger Marshall said.
As an additional incentive the group of fundraisers is offering a raffle featuring a $100 Spa Finder gift card for anyone who donates $10 or more. Donations can be sent to Community Concern for Arts, Music and Sports at 2257 DeMartini Lane; Brentwood, CA 94513. All donations are tax-deductible. For more information contact Engeldinger Marshall at 510-760-3233.
Roni Gehlke can be reached at oakleynow@comcast.net.