When: Thursday July 22, 2010 from 3-5 PM
Where: The EBMUD Board Room at 375 11th Street, Oakland, CA 94607 (BART City Center Station is just 1 block away) google map

There will be two Special Presentations at the meeting:

• Damage from the M7.2 Baja Earthquake: Why Agricultural Communities are at Risk by Heidi Stenner (Exponent Failure Analysis Associates)
• New Developments in Residential Retrofit Strategies by Kelly Cobeen (Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.)

Please consider attending this free meeting and RSVP at the Bay Area Earthquake Alliance website today!

To learn more about the Bay Area Earthquake Alliance, visit their website.

Are YOU wondering how to get involved in the EERI NC Chapter?

The Answer:  Join the Chapter Meeting Program Committee!

This committee decides on topics for future chapter meetings, coordinates with the speakers and helps to ensure the meetings run smoothly.  Join the chair, Janise Rodgers and board member rep, Ayse Hortascu on this rewarding committee!  This is a great way to meet other members of the chapter and network with a host of great speakers.  All are invited to join this committee.

To volunteer, contact chapterinfo@eerinc.org

“Field Excursion: Mitigating Fault Rupture Hazards on the Hayward Fault in Berkeley and Fremont, California: Integrating Geologic Information and Engineering Design”

Time: 9:30 am – 3:00 pm

Venue: UC Berkeley & Fremont Central Park & BART Fremont Station

Map of Field Excursion Route

This field excursion offers visits to two sites along the active Hayward fault that highlight recent engineering mitigations for fault rupture hazards. Recent scientific consensus suggests that the Hayward fault has a relatively high probability of producing a large earthquake that will break the ground surface and possibly impact structures overlying the fault trace.

On the southern part of the Hayward fault in Fremont, the Warm Springs Extension (WSX) of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) rail system is under construction at the fault crossing directly south of the Fremont BART station. Numerous paleoseismic trenches have been completed along Walnut Avenue and at the Tule Pond (Tyson’s Lagoon) site, and help define the location and likely characteristics of surface fault rupture at the WSX BART crossing, which involves an aerial structure over Walnut Avenue that merges with a 9-m-high earthen embankment across Tule Pond. The initiation of construction at the Tule Pond fault crossing provides an exciting update to the fault evaluation, and construction monitoring has helped ensure that mitigation designs are consistent with geologic conditions. The fault characteristics, expected displacements, and engineering mitigation design will be discussed during the field visit.

On the northern part of the Hayward fault on the University of California, Berkeley campus, a seismic retrofit of the Bowles Hall residential building was completed earlier this year. The retrofit design included features to accommodate surface rupture along the fault, which underlies the southeastern corner of the 82-year-old historic building.  Geologic mapping and trenching define the fault characteristics near the building, and help define the expected type and amount of earthquake-related deformation. Engineering design involves a mat foundation, a moat adjacent to the structure, and a retaining wall system, which help the building resist fault offset and survive the earthquake.

The trip will include brief discussions of the geologic characteristics and engineering designs for both sites. The visits may involve short walks in the site vicinity; sturdy shoes recommended.  Travel to and from both sites not provided; carpooling is encouraged.  Both sites are within walking distance from existing BART stations.  Family and friends are invited to participate and enjoy the trip.

Please RSVP by July 6 to chapterinfo@eerinc.org

Schedule for Saturday July 10, 2010:

9:30 am          Bowles Hall, University of California Berkeley campus (meet on NW side, parking lot)
11:00 am          Depart Berkeley for Fremont

12:00 pm          Lunch at Fremont Central Park (Bring your own…)
1:30 pm          Meet again BART Fremont Station, southeastern parking lot
3:00 pm        End

Map of Field Excursion Route

Image of Hayward Fault running through Fremont Central Park & Fremont BART:

“Hayward Fault Scenario Release”

Time: 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Venue: T.B.D.

Join the chapter for the release of the newly updated Hayward Fault Scenario and learn about the chapter’s plans to launch a comprehensive dissemination effort just in time for the Great California Shake Out Drill in October!

“Topic still to be determined”

Time: 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Venue: T.B.D.

Join your chapter colleagues as we celebrate the holiday season and toast to the successful end of 2010!   The EERI Northern California Chapter Awards will be presented at 7:00 pm for “innovation and exemplary practice in earthquake risk reduction in Northern California.”

Please bring your friends and colleagues with you to learn about the chapter and participate in our joyous festivities. Non-members can attend guilt-free — we welcome all earthquake professionals to our party!

Time: 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Venue & Directions: Marines’ Memorial Club

609 Sutter St. (at Mason St.), San Francisco, CA 94102-1027

Google Map

“California High Speed Rail” 

The Honorable Quentin Kopp, Member of the Board of the California High-Speed Rail Authority

Time: 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Venue: URS Corp, 1333 Broadway, Suite 800, Oakland, CA, 94612-1924  google map

Judge Quentin Kopp is a member of the board of the California High-Speed Rail Authority and is the former chair.  He is a retired Superior Court judge, retired state senator and chair of the Senate Transportation Committee (a key supporter of the Caltrans retrofit program), member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and in addition to many other positions.

He will discuss the impacts and future of High Speed Rail in California, especially as it relates to the $2.25 billion in federal stimulus funds that were received by the State of California on January 28, 2010.  Judge Kopp is a dynamic and engaging speaker so the presentation should be of great interest to all EERI NC Chapter Members.

SPEAKER BIO:

The Honorable Quentin L. Kopp was appointed to the San Mateo Superior Court on January 1, 1999, by Governor Pete Wilson and was administered the oath of judicial office on January 2, 1999.

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Judge Kopp retired effective January 31, 2004, but was immediately accepted in the Assigned Judges Program of the California Judicial Council. By order of the chief justice of the California Supreme Court, Judge Kopp has been assigned almost continuously to the San Mateo County Superior Court since February 1, 2004, with intermittent assignments to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Humboldt County Superior Court, Sonoma County Superior Court, Napa County Superior Court and Santa Cruz County Superior Court.

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On June 13, 2006, the state Senate appointed him to the California High-Speed Rail Authority, charged with implementing high-speed train service from Los Angeles to San Francisco at 200 miles per hour. He was elected chairman of the Authority on August 9, 2006.

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Prior to judicial appointment, Judge Kopp practiced trial law in San Francisco and Northern California. He served in the California State Senate from December 1, 1986, until December 7, 1998, and as a member of the City and County of San Francisco Board of Supervisors to which he was first elected in November 1971, and re-elected four times thereafter. He was president of such board in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1982.

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Judge Kopp’s election to the California State Senate on November 4, 1986, represented election of the first non-incumbent Independent to the Senate since 1878. His re-election in 1990 constituted the first time in California history an Independent was re-elected to the Legislature. That historical milestone was reiterated by his re-election as an Independent to a third term in the Senate in 1994.

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Judge Kopp served as an ex-officio member of the California Transportation Commission from 1988 until 1998, as a member of the California Law Revision Commission from 1995 until 1998, and a member of the Little Hoover Commission from 1996 until 1998. As an elected local and state legislator for 27 years, Judge Kopp also served as a leader on virtually every regional governmental policy-making body affecting the Bay Area, including:

• Board of Supervisors representative to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), 1976-1986, and Chairman of MTC, 1983-1985;
• Member, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Board of Directors, 1973-1974;
• San Francisco designee to the Board of Directors of the County Supervisors Association of California (CSAC), 1976-1986 and president of CSAC, 1980-1981;
• Member of the Board of Directors of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, 1977-1986, and vice-president, 1984-1986;
• Board of Supervisors representative to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, 1978-1979;
• Board of Supervisors representative to the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), 1972-1978.

Judge Kopp was the founder and chairman of the Bay Area Super Bowl Task Force which brought Super Bowl XIX to Stanford Stadium in January 1985.

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Judge Kopp is also past president of the San Francisco and California Junior Bar Associations, a former director of the Bar Association and Lawyers’ Club of San Francisco, and a lecturer for 10 years at the annual State Bar Convention. He served from 1962 until 1965 in the American Bar Association House of Delegates as a delegate from the Young Lawyers Association.

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Judge Kopp maintained his own radio talk show on KGO-AM Radio in San Francisco from 1982 until 1992, and was a weekly commentator on KTVU-TV in Oakland from 1992 until his appointment to the bench. He was born in Syracuse, New York, educated at Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, and served as a lieutenant in the United States Air Force from 1952 until 1954.

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Judge Kopp is married to the former Mara Sikaters. He has three children, sons Shepard of the law firm of Geragos & Geragos in Los Angeles and Bradley, a musician and ferryboat deck hand, and daughter Jennifer, executive director of the Napa Valley Grape Growers.

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Appointed by the Senate President pro Tempore

“Engineering response to the 2010 M8.8 Chile earthquake: Success or failure?”

Time: 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Venue: URS Corp, 1333 Broadway, Suite 800, Oakland, CA, 94612-1924  google map

Join the chapter for an interesting and lively debate as to whether the performance of engineered structures to the strong shaking in Chile was a success or failure…

As we continue to see the immediate and long-term effects of large earthquakes around the world, the perception of building response is evolving. Our panel of experts visited Chile following the M 8.8 earthquake and will discuss the definition of “success” with perspective of past earthquakes.  All audience members will have the opportunity to join in the debate and discussion!

Panel members:
Joe Maffei (Rutherford and Chekene)
Jonathan Bray (UC Berkeley)
Jack Moehle (UC Berkeley)

Moderator: Chris Poland (Degenkolb Engineers)

The 2009 “Innovation and Exemplary Practice in Earthquake Risk Reduction” Awards were given during the December 2nd Holiday Party for the chapter.   This year’s award recipients represent best practice examples of putting the science and engineering of earthquakes to work and demonstrate valuable contributions of our various disciplines and pursuits. They both embody the spirit of EERI.

The Honorable Jean Quan, Councilmember and Susan Piper, Policy Analyst in the City of Oakland

Susan Piper, 2010 Award Receipient, and Chapter President Tom Tobin

The City of Oakland, under the leadership of Councilwoman Jean Quan and Policy Analyst Susan Piper, has repeatedly demonstrated exemplary practices that improve earthquake safety.

Most recently, the City collaborated with volunteers from EERI and SEAONC to inventory older apartment buildings that are most likely to have soft stories such that they may be vulnerable to collapse in earthquakes. The survey found 1,400 buildings that may have soft stories in the City. These buildings have more than 24,000 housing units. In July 2009, Oakland enacted a mandatory seismic screening ordinance for these buildings and is now considering next steps to more effectively manage and reduce this risk.

Oakland also enacted an innovative Homeowner’s Voluntary Seismic Safety Incentive Ordinance. As of September 2009, 369 homeowners have taken out building permits for seismic retrofits as a result of this new law. The ordinance enables Oakland to lower fees and provide up to $5,000 per home to help owners dramatically offset the costs of the retrofits. Oakland is financing this program despite difficult economic conditions with a $500,000 allocation from its Real Estate Property Transfer Taxes.

The Northern California Chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute would like to recognize and draw attention to the extraordinary efforts lead by Councilwoman Jean Quan and Policy Analyst Susan Piper in the City of Oakland since they provide excellent examples for other cities and counties in Northern California to follow.

San Francisco Planning + Urban Research Association (SPUR)

Sarah Karlinsky and Chris Poland, 2010 Award Receipients, with Chapter President Tom Tobin

SPUR was formed in 1959 to promote the revitalization of San Francisco. Throughout the 1960s, SPUR worked to build support for land use, transportation, and investment strategies that could support growth and urban economic vitality. Since 2004, SPUR has focused their attention on disaster planning through the concept of a “resilient city.”

As part of this concept, SPUR has established a policy where they have set out clear goals for disaster recovery, recommended policy steps including retrofitting the most vulnerable structures, upgrading the building code to insure new buildings are built better, and forming a lifelines council to help coordinate upgrades to critical utility systems. SPUR has established a “Before the Disaster” task force to focus on what should be done now before the disaster to allow a quick recovery following the next disaster. SPUR has been developing strategies to rebuild the City over not just the days and weeks following a disaster but also over the months and years following a disaster. SPUR has recommended several steps towards creating a culture of preparedness, including strengthening the City’s Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT) program.

Chris Poland is co-chair of the Disaster Planning Committee and SPUR Board member has been a force behind SPUR’s disaster planning programs. Sarah Karlinsky is SPUR’s Deputy Director.  The Northern California Chapter of Earthquake Engineering Research Institute would like to recognize SPUR for its leadership in preparing San Francisco for the next big earthquake.

2009 Nominating Committee:  Ivan Wong, Keith Knudsen, Marguerite Bello, and Fred Turner

Congratulations to the new board members and thank you to the out-going directors for their tenure of service to the Chapter.

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