Council Directs $366K to Traffic Safety as Tenants Demand Rent Control

Pittsburg's City Council approved a federal block grant plan that prioritizes finishing a stalled neighborhood traffic safety project, while tenants from a corporate-owned apartment complex lined up to describe rents nearly doubling and cockroach-infested units. The meeting also launched the city's first-ever Restaurant Week and honored seven scholarship recipients heading to college.

• Council unanimously approves CDBG plan sending $366,000 to complete Lynshade roundabout project as federal funding shrinks for the second year

• Wood Grove tenants demand 3% rent cap after corporate landlord Reliant Group raises rents from roughly $1,000 to over $2,000

• Pittsburg launches its first Restaurant Week as local dining draws visitors from across the Bay Area

• Seven students receive Obama Foundation-backed scholarships to universities and community colleges

• Measure J renewal kicks off, putting $2.6 billion in countywide transportation funding on a two-year clock

• Captain Gaylor named city's 11th police chief, with public swearing-in set for May 21

The council unanimously adopted the FY 2026-27 Community Development Block Grant Annual Action Plan, directing the majority of the city's $625,897 federal allocation to complete a traffic safety project in a low-income neighborhood — a choice that came at the expense of larger grants to economic development nonprofits.