Economy

Amid speculation, rumors and ongoing reports of budget deficits, concerns have risen among many students, parents, fans and coaches about the future of junior and senior high school athletics in Martinez. 

In a recent interview, Rami Muth, Superintendent of the Martinez Unified School District (MUSD), indicated a high-level of optimism about the future of sports programs at Martinez Junior High School and Alhambra High School.more...

The Who’s Who of Martinez congregated early Thursday morning for the annual State of the City Breakfast, held at the Shell Clubhouse and attended by a capacity crowd.

After opening speeches by the Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce, Cynthia Murdough, and the newly installed Chairman of the Board Marty Ochoa, Rob Schroder gave his eighth address at the annual gathering in his role as mayor.

Enumerating the challenges faced by the City in 2009, and cautioning that 2010 might be just as tough, Schroder touched on several ongoing issues.more...

While the majority of this week’s City Council meeting was consumed with proclamations and parsing the merits of City endorsement of a California Constitutional Convention, members unanimously approved a General Plan amendment, zoning amendments and an environmental document for the proposed Cascara Canyon housing development, paving the way for the project to return to the Planning Commission to address appearance issues.more...

When the California legislature finally passed last summer’s 2009-2010 budget, funding to the state’s community colleges was cut by $812 million, said Dean Murakami of the California Federation of Teachers (CFT).

Additionally, over $1 billion in funding is being deferred until July so that it counts towards the next fiscal year. more...

A coming public service ad campaign, planned for area buses, billboards and BART stations, will highlight a new feature of the toll-free help-line 2-1-1.

Band-aids will replace the “1” in 2-1-1 to call attention to the availability of information about affordable health services in Martinez and surrounding communities.more...

Thanks to federal ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) stimulus funds, the City of Martinez has miles of newly repaved roads. But when it comes to the City’s sidewalks, the last time municipal administrators launched a comprehensive repair effort was during the Great Depression. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, laborers with the Work Projects Administration laid many blocks of new concrete and fixed up what was already there. more...

According to a recent study published by the Washington D.C.-based National Low-Income Housing Coalition, to afford a two-bedroom apartment in Contra Costa County, a person earning minimum wage would have to work 125 hours per week for an income high enough to afford this rent — the equivalent of 3.1 full-time jobsmore...

After the Winter break, Martinez Unified School District students enrolled in the New Leaf program, an expansion of the Environmental Studies Academy (ESA), will get a chance to earn eight college credits while forging possible future careers in the film industry.

New Leaf leader Rona Zollinger explained this week that she had forged a partnership with a professor at California State University East Bay (CSUEB) to offer a 3-quarter course on film critique, scriptwriting and production, held on the Martinez ESA campus.more...

PG&E announced yesterday a predicted four-percent increase in natural gas bills for the month of December.

Residential customers paid an average monthly bill of $59.74 in Dec. 2008, but this month the average bill is estimated at $62.28, almost double average bills for November. more...