From left to right: Oakland Neighborhood Law Corps Attorneys Portia Glassman, James Anthony, Laura Blair and Jim Hodgkins receive a Helen Putnam Award with City Attorney John Russo.

Five East Bay cities shared four of the League’s prestigious Helen Putnam Awards for Excellence this year.

These awards, named for former League President Helen Putnam, are given to the best and the brightest municipal programs delivering innovative and outstanding services to their residents.

Recipients included the cities of Oakland (Grand Prize), Lafeyette, Martinez & Walnut Creek.

"It’s an honor and a privilege to receive this award," said Oakland CIty Attorney John Russo, whose office won for its Neighborhood Law Corps program. "You know, four years ago the Law Corps was just an idea about how we could use the law to solve chronic problems in the tougher neighborhoods in Oakland. Now we have success stories to prove it can be done."

Three Putnam awards are given in nine categories for a total of 27 awards each year spread among the 478 cities in the state. This year there were 146 nominees.

Recipients include the following cities and programs:

• The City of Oakland won the Grand Prize in the "Community Services and Economic Development" category for its Neighborhood Law Corps program founded by Oakland City Attorney John Russo. Inspired by the Peace Corps and legal aid, Oakland’s Neighborhood Law Corps is an innovative approach to community lawyering funded by a non-profit foundation housed in the City Attorney’s office. Utilizing the health safety and welfare powers of city hall, this cadre of public service lawyers work with neighborhood leaders to prioritize and solve chronic problems of blight, drug activity, substandard housing, toxic pollution and nuisance liquor stores that threaten neighborhood safety.

• The cities of Lafayette and Walnut Creek, together with Contra Costa County, shared an award in the category of "Effective Advocacy, Intergovernmental Relations and Regional Cooperation." The three agencies cooperated to build an elegant, new Veterans Memorial Building. The $7.8 million development is one of the most important projects to veterans completed in northern California during the last 50 years.

• Fremont won an award for its work on Fremont Oak Gardens, an affordable housing program for deaf seniors. By partnering with local advocates of the deaf and the faith-based community, Fremont Oak Gardens was created. This affordable rental community consists of 50 apartments with design elements, amenities, and support services for the hearing-impaired seniors. Fremont Oak Gardens is the first and only affordable housing development for deaf seniors in Northern California. This model demonstrates that communities can collectively address the unique housing needs of seniors. This award was given in the "Housing Programs and Innovations" category.

• And Martinez won a "Public Works, Infrastructure, and Transportation" award for its investment in its downtown revitalization. To encourage downtown’s renewal, Martinez built a new Amtrak station and the Alhambra Creek project. These led to other infrastructure improvements, including a new public works facilities for flood control, sewers, streets, an effective public transportation intermodal hub with new Amtrak station that also serves local buses, and environmental improvements that restored wetlands, a natural creek, and created a new chain of parks. Because of these projects, Contra Costa County has approved four new buildings in the downtown. New businesses are moving into downtown and new housing is being built.