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Council Watch
$2 million approved for municipal improvements
By Cecily Barnes
Last Wednesday Public Works director Bob Kass returned to City Hall from his semi-weekly yoga class wearing cream-colored shorts and a white T-shirt. Having used up much of his lunch hour, Kass hurried into the police department locker room to shower and button back into a suit and tie. Usually this process is less than luxurious for Kass, given the police department's cramped locker-room facilities--one shower and not enough lockers. Last Wednesday however, the ordeal may have been a bit more tolerable in that a spacious, new facility was in sight.
The previous night, on April 13, the Campbell Planning Commission approved the city's seven-year Capital Improvement Plan, including an additional $918,000 for a $2 million police department expansion that will include a new men's locker room. City councilmembers still need to okay the plan on May 4; if the guys who use the current locker room have anything to say about it, the plan will be eagerly approved.
The facility's 45 cramped lockers and one shower will be replaced by 75 bigger lockers, two or three showers, facilities for handicapped officers, and an altogether larger space.
"The facility was designed for probably about 30 officers," says Captain Russ Patterson. "When we moved in here there were 25 officers and 30 full-time staff. We have grown almost double, and the facilities have remained the same size."
Locker room facilities aren't the only thing cramped inside the Campbell Police Department. After the remodel, there will be a new briefing and reports writing room, a larger records department and a new place for handling 911 communications.
"The 911 communications room is very tiny and very dark," says Linda Klemczak, who oversees the building maintenance division. "Those people, all of them work like 12-hour shifts, and it's hard to maintain your level of alertness. Studies show that exposure to natural light increases levels of efficiency."
The police department expansion is only one project out of many that will be funded by the Capital Improvement Plan's $39 million budget. Over the next seven years, various projects will be launched, set for completion by 2006. If approved by the council May 4, construction may begin as soon as this summer.
At least a portion of the funding has been set aside for 52 projects, including:
* A downtown parking structure: $6,400,000;
* A roof for the Ainsley House. (The one it has now is falling apart): $50,000;
* Money to woo desirable businesses to downtown: $225,000;
* An expanded fitness center and weight room at the Campbell Community Center: $46,500;
* Completion of Morgan Park, including new play equipment, handicapped-accessible play areas, picnic tables and lawn: $830,000;
* The Fire House Museum: $68,000;
* A new website to bring Campbell up to Silicon Valley standards: $65,000.
More projects will follow:
* Ten-foot-wide sidewalks, trees and historic street lamps along Campbell Avenue between the railroad tracks and Highway 17 overpass: $750,000;
* A ramp leading into the Campbell Community Center's swimming pool: $75,000;
* A beautification of downtown Campbell, including fancy new trash cans, benches for lounging and lights for the trees: $50,000;
* A teen center for that age group nobody knows what to do with: $300,000.
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Campbell, California
