The critical infrastructure issue of broadband access came before the Board of Supervisors on March 11 when Linda Best updated us on recent activities of the East Bay Broadband Consortium (EBB), a private/public partnership seeking to close the digital divide. EBB assigned grades to individual cities and the County in a recent analysis of residential broadband service. The presentation featured Concord, which received an "A" grade for its strong competition among providers and high quality service, as an example of local government facilitating strong broadband access for its residents. I was proud to see that both Pleasant Hill and  Walnut Creek also received A grades. The County received a "C" grade overall revealing that we have work to do countywide. In addition to its Residential Broadband survey, EBB also has been working on its "East Bay Connects!" project that provides low-cost broadband access to qualifying households. This program also seeks donation of used computer equipment to help low-income families access the internet from their homes. I was so glad to learn that EBB is on the verge of receiving 1400 used, surplus computers from the County to support this important work.  To learn more about EBB and how to donate any used computer equipment, please visit the EBB's website here.  

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is a system of services organized to provide rapid response to out-of-hospital medical emergencies. The goal of EMS is to respond with the appropriate resources quickly to the scene of the medical emergency, to provide the patient appropriate field treatment and stabilization, and to transport the patient expeditiously to an appropriate hospital emergency department or specialty care center. An effective EMS system involves a variety of agencies and organizations working together to accomplish this goal. One of the major components of EMS is ambulance services. In most of Contra Costa County the current ambulance provider is American Medical Response (AMR). The current contract with AMR expires in 2015. In preparation for the request for proposals for the ambulance contract, the Board of Supervisors authorized a study of the current EMS system. The purpose of the study was to make recommendations for optimizing future EMS system operations. The negotiation of a new contract with an ambulance provider gives us an opportunity to integrate some of these recommendations into the new contract.

The study, EMS Modernization Project Report, was conducted by Fitch & Associates. The draft report was presented to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, May 6 and is available here.  We had a lengthy discussion with the consultants throughout their presentation. We provided direction about what we want to see in the final report which will come back to the Board of Supervisors next month.

A town hall video presentation of the EMS System Modernization Study to the Contra Costa Emergency Medical Care Committee conducted on April 9th is available for viewing. Click here for the video link of the EMCC Townhall. The presentation lasts approximately one hour.

"Fun Food Truck Thursdays" began on May 1, 2014 at Contra Costa Centre. Every Thursday five to six food trucks including a juice bar, managed by "A Taste of the World" will set up shop in the central square between the Pleasant Hill-Contra Costa Centre BART station and the transit village from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Plan to stop and try one of the diverse culinary offerings.