City of Concord Awards and Recognition
Concordstock wins state-wide recognition
Concord received the California Downtown Association's prestigious 2009 Crystal Eagle Achievement Award for the Concordstock celebration. Only four projects in the state were recognized. The 2008 summer-long Concordstock project celebrated 20 years of music in downtown Concord. As part of the celebration, the community came together to break the Guinness Book World Record for largest guitar ensemble with 2,052 registered guitarists playing Woody Guthrie classic "This Land is Your Land." The companion Concordstock guitar sculpture project featured 27 three-foot guitar sculptures painted by local artists and auctioned off for charity.
Project award
Concord's Newhall Community Park maintenance building is the APWA 2009 Project of the Year in the less than five million dollars project category. The American Public Works Association recognized economy and construction innovation as the most significant aspects of the project. In this challenging economy, the City reduced the cost of the building from $450,000 to $98,000 by selecting a pre-engineered building.
Engineering Achievement Award
The San Francisco Bay Section of the California Water Environment Association (CWEA) has selected Concord's joint $21 million sewer project with Central Contra Costa Sanitary District as the first place winner in the Engineering Achievement of the Year Award category. The CWEA awards program recognizes outstanding professional achievement in the wastewater field. This joint project involved record-setting tunneling of 72-inch and 96-inch inner-diameter sewer pipes at depths of more than 30 feet under Meridian Park Boulevard and under Buchanan Fields Golf Course.
Outstanding Partner Award
Friends of Camp Concord (FOCC) received an ‘Outstanding Non-profit Partner' award from the California Parks and Recreation Society (CPRS), District 3. FOCC has raised approximately $500,000 since its founding for equipment, capital projects and scholarships to bring underprivileged children to camp.
Kiwanis Officer of the Year
Officer Erica Reed was named the 2009 Kiwanis Officer of the Year. Officer Reed brings nearly four years of service to our community and has been recognized for her diligent problem solving efforts this past year.
Volunteers in Police Services (VIPS)
Presidential Service Awards and certificates of appreciation from local Congressional offices were presented to 41 members of Volunteers in Police Services (VIPS), recognizing their significant contribution and time volunteered in 2008.
Community forest
In 2009, Concord was named a Tree City U.S.A. by the National Arbor Day Foundation for the 28th year. The national award honors Concord's commitment to its community forest. Concord is also the recipient of a Tree City U.S.A. Growth Award for the 11th year for demonstrating progress in its community forestry program.
Going Green
The City's Civic Center joined the Fleet Management Program, Parks Division and Printing Services Division in receiving a Bay Area Green Business Award. The Bay Area Green Business Program is a partnership of environmental agencies and utilities that assists, recognizes and promotes businesses and government agencies that volunteer to operate in a more environmentally responsible way.
One of America's 50 Greenest Cities
Popular Science magazine named Concord one of America's 50 Greenest Cities in the March 2008 edition of the magazine. Portland, San Francisco and Boston ranked one, two and three respectively. Concord ranked number 43. Statistics were compiled in four broad categories: electricity (10 points), transportation (10 points), green living (5 points) and recycling and green perspective (5 points).
Camp kudos
Camp Concord at South Lake Tahoe has been singled out by Budget Travel magazine and Parents Press as one of the top residential summer camps in the country.
ACE Status
Diablo Creek Golf Course, home of The First Tee Program, has achieved “ACE” Chapter status awarded by The First Tee National Headquarters. This is the highest rating set by program. The First Tee is a youth program established to teach life skills and instill core values through the game of golf in a year-round program for boys and girls ages 8 through 18. Diablo Creek served 1,446 youth through the First Tee program this year and introduced golf to 2,400 kids through in-school and after-school programs.
Model Program
Concord's Corporation Yard Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) was selected as a statewide model by the League of California Cities. Concord's 50-page SWPPP is a plan for containing pollutants on-site and adequately cleaning up and disposing of these pollutants in the safest manner. The SWPPP is a guide for the containment and clean up of spills, as well as direction for daily "good housekeeping" activities to reduce the amounts of pollutants that leave the Corporation Yard through stormwater or other runoff.
Coastal Cleanup
Concord was recognized by the California Coastal Commission for efforts in California Coastal Cleanup Day. Volunteers cleaned a half mile of creek and one and a half miles of roadside drainage ditches and removed 25 yards of debris weighing 5,000 pounds.