January 2017 – Branch Reports
BRANCH REPORTS – JANUARY 2017 NEWSLETTER
Golden Gate Branch:
The Golden Gate Branch will be holding their next meeting on Thursday, January 16, 2017. January meeting 26th. Nick Cartagena, PE from the City of Oakland will be presenting the Latham Square Project, which is the 2016 Outstanding Urban or Land Development Project of the Year for the San Francisco Section. Please join us at Scott’s Seafood, 2 Broadway in Oakland at 6 PM for networking at 6:45 PM for dinner and presentation.
Happy holidays and happy new year from all of us at the Golden Gate Branch.
San Jose Branch:
The San Jose Branch would like to wish you and your family a happy holidays and peaceful new year!
We had a packed house at the Farmer’s Union for last month’s lunch meeting. Ben Tripousis, Northern Regional Director of the California High Speed Rail Authority, gave a fantastic presentation updating us on the progress of the California High Speed Rail program.
Next month the branch will jointly host our annual luncheon with APWA in Mountain View. Matthew Gray, partner at Perkins Coie LLP, will provide updates on the Subdivision Map Act. Please stay posted for additional details in a forthcoming e-mail.
North Coast Branch:
The North Coast Branch would like to thank Dr. Jonathan Bray, PhD, PE, NAE and professor at the University of California, Berkley for making a special trip up to the North Coast to give a series of presentations. The first presentation was at the Branch’s monthly luncheon where he talked about building near faults. This was a well attended presentation by geologists and engineers, with an interesting discussion at the end about whether or not geologists should be able to tell engineers whether they can or cannot design a structure near a fault. The second presentation took place at HSU and was titled “Turning Disaster into Knowledge,” where Dr. Bray spoke about the importance of understanding what happens when a disaster occurs. The North Coast Branch would like to thank Dr. Bray for making the time to come present to us, just before he flew to New Zealand to investigate the recent quakes.
Through the holiday season the North Coast Branch is starting to plan for our annual Crab Feed which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 11th. We will have a presentation on the 2016 Project of the Year and plenty of crab this year!
The branch is also moving forward on establishing a Younger Members Forum in the North Coast. We have noticed there is an increasing number of young engineers and see the possibility of starting a strong YMF as the next big task for the Branch.
Fresno Branch:
The Fresno Branch would like to thank all those who contributed to our 2016 Toys for Tots drive. With your help we were successful in collecting over 20 boxes full of toys to be distributed by the Toys for Tots program to local children. We would also like to thank those of you who volunteered to purchase a gift for a family member as part of our 2016 Evangel Home family sponsorship. The Evangel Home functions as warm and supportive emergency crisis shelter for women and their children to escape homelessness, domestic abuse, and other financial and emotional hardships. With your generosity, we were able to sponsor holiday gifts for two families in need.
Every year we are blown away by the generosity of our local engineering community to come together during the holiday season to support those less fortunate amongst us. We wish our Fresno members and all of the members within the San Francisco Section a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Redwood Empire Branch:
Monthly Luncheon: On-Site Well and Septic Solutions
We hope you can join us for this month’s ASCE Redwood Empire Branch luncheon.
In relatively rural Napa, Sonoma, and Marin Counties, a high percentage of parcels and project sites are located outside of city limits without access to municipal sewer and/or water facilities. Developed sites in these areas require on-site wells and septic systems. While oftentimes overlooked in the initial planning stages of a development, performing on-site soils testing at the onset of a project not only can establish project site plan constraints, but also provide direction on whether the project is even feasible. This discussion will review these rural project sites, with topics including overall site planning, soils testing, septic system options, and well & septic system permitting.
Our speaker is Bryan Jackson. Bryan is currently a Project Engineer for BKF Engineers in Santa Rosa, California. With over 10-years’ experience working for and as a Civil Engineer specializing in land development in Napa, Sonoma, and Marin Counties, Bryan has a range of experience designing well and septic solutions for rural wineries, residences, and commercial facilities. After growing up and graduating high school in Middletown, California, Bryan graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a B.S. in Civil Engineering.
Date/Time: Thursday, January 26th, 2017 at Noon (please note this is an exception to our regular meeting schedule)
Location: Cattlemen’s, 2400 Midway Drive, Montgomery Village, Santa Rosa
Cost: $20 ($10 for students)
RSVP: Email Andrew Ferrol at ferrol@brce.com by the Tuesday prior to the Luncheon.