The Latest News from TPA

Discovery Cube Orange County Receives $7 Million Grant for Facility Expansion

Discovery Science Center is embarking on a $62 million capital campaign to expand the Discovery Science Center. The $18.5 million first phase will include a new 40,000-square-foot Discovery Pavilion, a California Natural Resources Pavilion and an Education Wing. The Grand Hall of Science (original science center) will also be expanded by 4,000 square feet. Townsend Public Affairs successfully secured $7 million under the Proposition 84 Nature Education Facilities Program to support the California Natural Resources Pavilion.

“This is a great opportunity to take the Science Center from being good, to being the best science center in the country,” says Joe Adams, the President of the Discovery Science Center.

Townsend Public Affairs has secured over $50,000,000 from the State and Federal government. Discovery Science Center has been a loyal client since 1998. Townsend Public Affairs is excited about DSC’s future expansion and will diligently be working to secure additional funding to support their efforts.

Click here for a cover story about the DSC expansion in the October 2012 OC Metro.

Orange County Great Park to Host 2014 Solar Decathlon

For the first time, following a national, competitive process, this biennial worldwide competition will be held outside of Washington, D.C., and take place on October 3-13, 2013 in California at the Orange County Great Park. Townsend Public Affairs played a pivotal role in securing the support of a bipartisan coalition of local, state, and federal elected officials for the Orange County Great Park’s proposal.

The Solar Decathlon, which will feature the world’s leading colleges and universities competing to design the energy-efficient, solar-powered homes of the future. The competition will be the centerpiece of a larger showcase called the XPO, a world’s fair of clean, renewable and efficient energy hosted at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California.

Solar Decathlon offers the State of California a fantastic opportunity to highlight the State’s unparalleled innovative spirit and focus on the jobs of the future. Of the 20 collegiate teams, five universities comprising four teams that represent California in the competition – Santa Clara University; Stanford University; Southern California Institute of Architecture and California Institute of Technology; and the University of Southern California. The competition invites the public to tour homes and meet student decathletes, which provides free ideas and advice on how to save money and protect the environment by incorporating the latest technologies and products. The XPO also offers hands-on workshops and programming showcasing the growing clean, renewable and efficient energy industry.

The Orange County Great Park will host the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon 2013 and XPO from October 3-13, 2013.

City of Tulare Receives $3.3 Million Grant for Highway Safety Project

Through the 2006 voter-approved Proposition 1B Highway-Railroad Crossing Safety (HRCSA) Grant Program, Townsend Public Affairs was successful with the City of Tulare to secure $3.3 million in funding for the Santa Fe Trail at the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) project.

This instrumental project will provide a grade-separated west-east trail extension in the City Center, eliminating traffic delay and providing safe crossing of the UPRR tracks for those using alternative transportation modes such as bicyclists and pedestrians.

In addition to addressing safety and design concerns with the current grade railroad crossing, the project will allow and encourage the economic development within the area. With the distribution of residents and planned growth, it will be important to maintain access to goods and services as well as medical and governmental services which are primarily located east of the tracks. The new and strategically located grade-separated crossing will accomplish this important civic need, address environmental justice, in addition to saving lives in the process.

Orange County Community Colleges Legislative Task Force Veterans Legislation Promoted Into Law

Governor Brown signed AB 2478 (Hayashi) into law. Townsend Public Affairs advocated the bill on behalf client, Orange County Community College Legislative Task Force, a coalition compromised of the four Townsend Public Affairs community college districts clients in Orange County: Coast Community College District, North Orange County Community College District, Rancho Santiago Community College District, and South Orange County Community College District.

The bill provided an incentive for veterans to attend a community college in California by extending the length of time that veterans are able to access in-state tuition rates. The bill was pursued as a state solution in response to changes in federal law that would have severely restricted tuition benefits to veterans. The Governor issued a press release detailing the veterans related bills he signed into law which can be read here.

Christopher Townsend Receives Richard J. O’Neill Lifetime Achievement Award

The 18th Annual Truman Awards Dinner was held on Monday, September 17, 2012 at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel. The event welcomed Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom as keynote speaker, and recognized then City of Fullerton Mayor, Sharon Quirk-Silva, with the Harry S. Truman award, and Joe Kerr with the Samuel Gompers Labor Award.

A proud moment for Townsend Public Affairs, City of Los Angeles Mayoral Candidate Wendy Greuel presented Christopher Townsend with the Richard J. O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award. The honor recognized the longtime leadership efforts of Christopher within Orange County government affairs and politics. Past honorees of this award have included Wylie Aitkin, Marti Schrank, and Paul Goldenberg. In his speech, Christopher thanked the long time supporters of Townsend Public Affairs as well as recognized all his wonderful clients and the good work they do.

City of Berkeley Receives $540,000 Grant for Senior Housing

Townsend Public Affairs helped the City of Berkeley win $540,000 in funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) and Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), all which the City appropriated for low-income senior housing. Congressmember Barbara Lee worked to advocate on behalf of the City to move forward with implementation of the projects. The City of Berkeley is strongly committed to developing affordable housing. Townsend Public Affairs is honored to work with the City and Congressmember on this project