At Richmond’s first food policy council meeting Tuesday night at City Hall, Urban Tilth Executive Director Doria Robinson instructed the carefully chosen participants to catalog the city’s most pressing food-related problems. The session started off quickly. As the participants introduced themselves, they cited their biggest concerns while Robinson took notes on a dry-erase board in front of the group. “We are trying to make a list, to really get a sense of the scope of all different issues that are…
When Luz Gomez, the deputy chief of staff for County Supervisor John Gioia, tried to establish a small deli on a corner in North Richmond, even with help from the County, had to overcome more zoning code, development agency and operator obstacles then she anticipated. Though she says that she feels close to opening the neighborhood’s only restaurant, it has been a battle that has lasted years. “I can’t tell you the kinds of barriers we have encountered along this…
Even though the Kennedy Eagles were winning their homecoming game 14-13 going into the second quarter, the score was uncomfortably close, making the team and the fans a little uneasy. Four minutes into the second quarter Albany intercepted a pass and rallied down the field to take the lead, adding to the tension in the Eagles’ bleachers. It wasn’t more than a minute later that senior Kenneth Walker III zigzagged through Albany’s defensive line and took the ball 61 yards…
Marin Energy Authority, a nonprofit energy provider, is looking to partner with Richmond to provide a cleaner alternative to PG&E for residents and industrial customers.
Richmond hosted its first public meeting on its Climate Action Plan Monday, asking for community input about environmental and community priorities and concerns before the city hires a consultant.
After his sister passed away about a month and half ago, Keoni Larot moved to Richmond. A day after he arrived, David Cox, a neighbor in a wheelchair, was killed on the corner directly in front of Larot’s new house in a hit and run that remains unsolved. The North and East Tree Team, with help from volunteers, planted 40 trees to celebrate Arbor Day in Larot’s neighborhood on Saturday. They planted the first tree, a young Gingko tree, in…
Tania Pulido of Richmond will accept a Brower Youth Award for exceptional youth activism and leadership on Tuesday at the Herbst Center in San Francisco. The Brower Youth Award is one of the most prestigious youth activism awards in the country. Presented by the Earth Island Institute the award recognizes six individuals under the age of 22 each year based on recommendations from their individual communities. “I am so proud,” said Urban Tilth member Sherwan Dean outside of Pulido’s earshot….
When Reina Portillo was diagnosed with breast cancer and her husband, Jose Pedro Albarron Lopez, lost his job, her family, including four children and one grandchild, crammed into whatever one-bedroom apartment they could afford that month. They lived like that for years. Since July, Portillo and her family have lived in the Lillie Mae Jones Plaza, in a spacious four-bedroom apartment, with affordable rent and social services in the building. “My mom couldn’t work any more and it was only…
Fred Casanares got to Point Pinole Park a little before 8 a.m. on Saturday. He fired up the grill at 10 a.m. with almond wood, because it burns cleaner than charcoal. For the next five hours, Casanares cooked hundreds of pounds of burgers, hot dogs, quesadillas, and skirt steak, while smoke wafted around the festival and the persistent long lines in front of the grill. “I can’t even calculate how many people I’ve fed,” he said, wiping the trails of…
The City Council acknowledged Mike Coyle, the former general manager of Chevron’s Richmond refinery who recently was promoted to the company’s San Ramon headquarters, with a proclamation Tuesday night. While many speakers from the community and council members spoke highly of Coyle’s character, some were extremely critical of Chevron as a company and its role in Richmond. “He is a human being that puts a face to the corporation that is Chevron,” Councilmember Jovanka Beckles said after congratulating Coyle on…
The City Council voted Tuesday to prohibit the sale of live chickens at the Richmond’s Certified Farmer’s Market, igniting an eruption of cheers from animal rights supporters who filled City Hall. The crowd, which consisted mostly of visitors to Richmond, was there on a larger animal-rights agenda, fueled by a recent victory in banning live chicken sales at the Heart of the City Farmer’s Market in San Francisco. Despite the determination of supporters, the ban will affect only one vendor…
Volunteers recorded all the trash they picked up at Shimada Friendship Park last Saturday into categories like Styrofoam, plastics, paper and for fun, oddest items. When the tally cards were gathered, the most interesting object found was clear — a message in a bottle.
Regional park officials and park users were upset when they unexpectedly found two acres of trees, in piles, on the ground on county land bordering Point Pinole Regional Park on September 14. The felled oaks and eucalyptuses, which make way for a solar energy project, raise new questions about environmental impact and communication with county officials.