Richmond Confidential

Audio report: Chevron and its future in Richmond

Robert Rogers — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:00:12 +0000

When top executives from Chevron’s local refinery filed out of a March 2 City Council meeting, they had no answer to what for many is the most pressing question: Will you stay or will you go?

The answer, according to members of a contingent that included General Manager Mike Coyle and spokesman Brent Tippen, is yet unknown, will be determined by others within the corporate hierarchy, and has much to do with whether global demand stabilizes.

Chevron Corp.’s century-plus history in Richmond has been in a state of heightened question since a county judge halted a planned expansion of its Richmond facility. Soon after, Chevron executives were quoted in various media with vague allusions to the possibility of “divorce” between the city and its largest employer.

At the same time, there has been little in terms statecraft between city and corporate leaders. Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, a member of the Green Party, routinely levels withering public criticism on the corporation, as do Councilmembers Tom Butt and Jeff Ritterman.

At a Feb. 19 meeting held by a local activist group, Butt and McLaughlin delighted the crowd with criticism of Chevron and vows to plan for the possibility of its departure.

But Chevron executives, who were at the March 2 meeting along with other major local employers to accept an award for sustaining local jobs and revenues, are careful not to lean too far either way. A key decision hangs in the balance, as a state appellate court judge mulls over whether to grant the corporation’s appeal to overturn the earlier decision stopping the refinery expansion.

Meanwhile, Chevron continues to be a philanthropic force in the community, upping contributions amid the political and legal volatility. In 2009, the corporation pumped more than $3.4 million into community programs.

www.chevron.com

www.thetruecostofchevron.com

City eyes possible turning point

Robert Rogers — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:46:24 +0000

The new year began ominously, marked by some particularly audacious crimes. But residents, city leaders and police are now focused on what they hope are glimmers of hope.

“I’m very encouraged by how the faith-based community has really responded to this situation,” Councilman Nat Bates said at a recent anti-violence community rally. “When they respond in force they bring with them a large, influential community of people.”

Seven homicides were recorded in Richmond through March 1, the same number over the same period as last year, which went on to see a total of 47 homicides. While that total is not a shocking one in a city that routinely suffers more than 40 killings per year, it is persistently high in the eyes of many residents and leaders.

Seven homicides were also recorded during the first two months of 2008. In 2007, four homicides were recorded over the same period, a year that saw 46 homicides in all.

The last deadly day in Richmond was Feb. 10, when Sharonda Thomas and a male acquaintance were hit by gunfire while sitting in a parked car in the 900 block of Seventh Street. It was broad daylight. The man survived, but Thomas, 23, was the sixth homicide victim of the year.

The six-month old fetus she carried was homicide #7.

But it was an act of violence that resulted in no deaths that spurred the most energetic response. A Feb. 14 shooting inside a New Gethsemane Church - during Sunday prayer service – left two wounded and the community shaken.

Rev. Kamal Hassan of Sojourner Truth Presbyterian Church.

Rev. Kamal Hassan of Sojourner Truth Presbyterian Church said the shooting at New Gethsemane had to serve as a turning point.

“We had to speak out as a community against that type of behavior,” Hassan said late last month.

While the local activism has ratcheted up, police still search for cause to bring gunmen up on charges. Two juveniles were arrested days after the church shooting, but released for lack of evidence, said Sgt. Bisa French. French added that investigators still suspect the two boys, ages 15 and 16, were involved in the crime.

An 18-year-old man was arrested March 9 on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and other charges. He is the only one of three suspected gunmen now in custody.

But Sgt. French noted that grassroots anti-violence efforts in the community, a community where fear of retaliation limits the information police get from witnesses, is a hopeful sign.

“We are very encouraged by the outpouring we’re seeing from the community,” French said.

After a marked improvement in 2008, when the city saw its homicide total nearly halved – to 27 total – and its overall crime down about 12 percent, 2009 was a bit of a step back by some measures.

Barry Krisberg, a fellow at UC Berkeley Law School and an expert on urban crime, recently told North Gate Radio that Richmond’s struggles with crime are deeply-entrenched and will take extended time to improve.

“Richmond has had a serious violence problem for many years.” Krisberg said. “Unlike other cities, Richmond is still characterized by really compacted poverty, (and) what we see is that violence rises when you have concentrated poverty.”

Krisberg added that the work to reduce crime begins with young residents and consists of education, recreation and other social components.

“Long term, if you want to address the issue of violence in Richmond, you have to focus on the young people, the children, there must be a prevention component,” he said.

Captain Allwyn Brown at the March 6 peace rally at City Hall.

The Police Department runs a Police Activities League that reaches hundreds of youths. Other programs, including RichmondWorks, provide jobs and internships young people in the city. But nearly everyone involved in the programs concedes that more must be done.

But there is genuine enthusiasm that the recent two-week schedule of peace events organized by dozens of area congregations may mark a turning point.

The hope is, say many activists, that the deaths of Sharonda Thomas and her unborn baby will be the last for an extended period.

“The place where we can make the biggest gains and the biggest difference on preventing and reducing crime is with the residents of the neighborhoods of Richmond,” said Police Captain Allwyn Brown, who attended the March 6 peace rally at City Hall. “People want to step up and take an active role … This is the beginning of some positive momentum.”

A face concealed, a perspective revealed

Robert Rogers — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:00:19 +0000

He wouldn’t give his name or reveal his identity, zipping his sweatshirt over his face to conceal himself from the camera’s eye.

While he insisted on the cloak of anonymity, his words came through in searing candor.

"If you go out there thinking you can't be touched ... you will be touched."

He did allow that he is 19 years old. His neighborhood is too dangerous for him to speak openly, he said, a sentiment viscerally attested to by the wreath that stood on the sidewalk a few paces away.

At that spot, near the corner of McDonald Avenue and Third Street, 54-year-old Manuel Lopez was beaten to death by two teenagers in broad daylight on Jan. 19.

As the young man spoke under a gray sky and light drizzle, area religious leaders were going door-to-door during their Feb. 27 peace march against violence.

No one is above the perils of neighborhood violence, he said.

“If you go out there thinking that you are number one and you can’t be touched, you will be touched,” he said, using the common street slang for being hit with gunfire.

The curbside memorial to a man beaten to death weeks before on the sidewalk near the interview.

The sounds of peaceful fury

Robert Rogers — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:00:03 +0000

For many of the nearly 1,000 people who took part in Saturday’s slate of peace events – including linking hands in a human chain around the New Gethsemane Church – the day had the unmistakable feel of a turning point.

“This shows that good people are ready to make a stand,” said Minister James Jones of Church of the Living God, one of roughly 80 area congregations involved in the anti-violence events. “The only way that this violence can continue is if good people do nothing.”

Pastor Charles Jones of Open Door Philadelphia Church of God in Christ strode and sang in the middle of the marching throng that traveled from City Hall to New Gethsemane at 2100 Roosevelt Avenue. The church was the site of a Feb. 14 shooting during prayer service. The attack prompted the largest anti-violence collaboration of area churches that anyone could remember.

“This is the most blessed event that can happen in Richmond,” Jones said.

Church and civic leaders – Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and Council members Maria Viramontes, Nat Bates, Ludmyrna Lopez and Jeff Ritterman all marched with residents and clergy from City Hall to New Gethsemane Church Saturday – hailed the event, which capped two weeks of activism.

But top leaders also agree that the energy must be sustained to make lasting changes.

“The follow up to this: we’re planning to bring an urban conference here from our national church and we’re going to launch the Presiding Bishops Urban Initiative, and that national conference is going to be held right here in Richmond,” said Bishop J.W. Macklin, a leader within the Pentecostal system that encompasses New Gethsemane. “We’re coming back here and we plan to see this continue. And I believe this city is going to turn around.”

Many residents and civic leaders quietly acknowledge that a faith-based push to restore peace on the streets may be increasingly important. Homicides spiked dramatically in 2009 over the year before, and local public safety, recreation and education budgets are forecast to continue to be tight following two consecutive years of budget cuts.

“The place where we can make the biggest gains and the biggest difference in preventing and reducing crime is with the residents of the neighborhoods,” said Richmond Police Captain Allwyn Brown, who looked on during the rally at City Hall. “This shows me that people are ready to step up and take an active roll in making things get better. The people, in the crime prevention puzzle, are the most important piece.”

Prospective Point Molate builders secure fresh extension

Robert Rogers — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:00:03 +0000

The developers of a possible casino project on waterfront property in the city succeeded Tuesday in securing another extension to get their plans in order.

Upstream Point Molate LLC, which hopes to build a resort and gaming casino on a peninsula formerly used as a naval fuel depot, now has until April 20 to submit an updated project plan. In exchange for the time, the developer will pay the city $90,000 for maintenance, security and other expenses associated with the site, according to a city report.

A divided City Council passed a resolution Tuesday granting the extension. Councilmembers Tom Butt, Nat Bates, Ludmyrna Lopez and Jim Rogers approved, while Mayor Gayle McLaughlin voted against the extension. Councilmembers Maria Viramontes and Jeff Ritterman abstained from the vote.

The move follows a similar measure passed in January, when the council granted Upstream a two-month extension, that time over the dissenting votes of McLaughlin, Ritterman and Butt.

Butt has switched his position on the casino at least twice. This time, he initiated the resolution to grant the extension.

Butt said he has renewed hope that the proposed project still has life.

“Progress is being made,” Butt said.

Upstream has long hoped to develop a project along with the Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians at the former naval fuel depot. Layers of state and federal regulations must still be negotiated before any project could commence, a point that opponents stressed at the meeting.

The issue is a divisive one in the community.

At Tuesday’s meeting, a large contingent of supporters, many in pro-casino T-shirts, packed the chambers. On numerous occassions, members of both sides heckled one another as they took the public-speaker microphone.

McLaughlin, a stalwart opponent of the project on the grounds that casino developments carry social costs for the city, repeatedly reminded public speakers to state their city of residence. Most of those who declared their home city were union construction workers from other Bay Area cities.

But in a city where the unemployment rate is well above the state average, any compunction about gambling was outweighed by the debate over jobs.

“I have no interest in regulating morality,” said John Marquez, a former City Councilman. “We need these jobs for Richmond.”

Corky Booze, a longtime local advocate, said promises of jobs were unlikely, and even in the best of scenarios, merely a distant possibility.

“A shovel won’t go in the ground for five years” at the minimum, Booze said, due to gaming regulations which require federal approval.

John Salmon, a Napa-based executive of Upstream Investments LLC, said the T-shirt wearing, poster-board holding supporters in the chambers were present to lobby the council because they are in need of jobs.

“We didn’t make them come here,” Salmon said.

Peace march draws up to 1,000 to church, civic center

Robert Rogers — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 23:56:49 +0000

Police estimated that 700 to 1,000 people took the streets today in peaceful activism.

The target: local violence that has claimed at least 54 lives since Jan. 1, 2009, and jolted the city Feb. 14 when three youths opened fire in a local church.

Today’s demonstrations began at 11 a.m., with seven minutes of simultaneous prayer at 210 street corners throughout the city.

Later, residents and local church and civic leaders converged on the Civic Center, where speakers, music and social service vendors were on hand.

From there, police cordoned off roadways for the marchers, as up to 1,000 walked from the Civic Center, across 23rd Street, and to New Gethsemane church at the corner of 21st Street and Roosevelt Avenue.

“It was a rainbow out there today,” said Rev. Andre Shumake, one of the organizers. “It was reflective of what Richmond is, and it planted a seed that we will continue to nurture.”

In a gesture to symbolize solidarity against violence and nonviolent protection of a house of worship, the demonstrators then linked hands, creating a human circle around one square block surrounding the church.

Civic leaders including Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and Council members Maria Viramontes, Nat Bates and Jeff Ritterman participated.

“I think people from all over the Bay Area came to make a statement and to say no we won’t be silent, we are going to stand up, we are going to make this known,” said Bishop J.W. Macklin, one of the leaders of the two-week schedule of peace events that has drawn support from more than 80 area churches. “That there is one voice, one hope, one city and we are going to make this work.”

City poised to mobilize for peace

Robert Rogers — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 01:48:03 +0000

Saturday is set to be part two of a faith-based offensive against local violence.

“We are going to assemble on 210 street corners and pray with one voice,” said Rev. Andre Shumake, one of the leaders of a two-plus week series of rallies, marches and prayers prompted by a Feb. 14 shooting in a local church.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, leaders from about 80 area churches plan to pray with thousands of residents at 210 separate street corners throughout the city. The “Lord spare the city” prayer will last for seven minutes, Schumake said.

At noon, the pastors – who have received logistical helps from local government emergency funds – will lead a peace march of five-blocks from the Civic Center to 21st Street and Roosevelt Avenue.

Once there, the plan is to link more than 3,000 hands in a human chain that extends to New Gethsemane Church of God in Christ, which was the scene of the Feb. 14 shooting that left two injured.

At 1:30 p.m., the grand finale will be a mass rally and symposium at the Richmond Civic Auditorium.

Civic leaders and community members have hailed the outpouring as a sign of the community’s renewed vigilance to reduce crime, particularly after homicide number spiked dramatically last year.

For more information, including times and each of the 210 prayer locations, click on www.operationrichmond.org

The bloodhound

Robert Rogers — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:33:07 +0000

This killing occurred in “late 2005,” according to the scribbled notes crumpled inside the casing of his minitape.

The rest of the gray areas in Mark Wassberg’s memory are colored in by the images on his camera’s flip screen.

He waited on a dark street that night, sitting in his ‘66 Chevy Pickup, ear tuned to the squawks of his police scanner. Waiting for action. The next take in his reel.

But this time he needed no directions. The action came to him.

“It was just like pow, pow, pow, pow, maybe like 10 shots real fast, like automatic,” Wassberg said in a frantic staccato that suggested the event moments before, instead of nearly 5 years ago. “I ducked down real fast man in my truck, I was really scared that time.”

Wassberg has been gathering images from Richmond crime scenes since 2005.

Minutes later, police raced past, and Wassberg tailed them to the scene at Sixth Street and Chanslor Avenue.

“I got there, man, and he was already gone,” Wassberg said of the shooter. He didn’t have the victim’s name, but described him as in his mid-20s. “He was laying in the street and his mom was already out there crying. I got footage of everything.”

On Tuesday, the unemployed auto mechanic was in the streets again, this time showing his macabre footage under a gleaming lampost in the parking lot of a North Richmond Walgreen’s.

Wassberg, 53, is a Richmond High School graduate, class of 1975. He still has that ‘66 Chevy, but mechanical and financial setbacks mean it now serves as his home more than his mode of transportation. He scrapes together cash by gathering recyclables.

Wassberg sees himself as Richmond’s prodigal-son-to-be, a self-taught documentary filmmaker who hopes to parlay his unvarnished street reels into Hollywood fame.

“This is history, man, I’m the only one that’s doing this,” said Wassberg, who is stocky and hyperkinetic, with a heavy tuft of gray-flecked, curly brown hair. “I could make millions.”

Wassberg seems relatively uninterested in more subtle storytelling techniques for portraying his town. He talks in terms of images and shock value, not the usual Hollywood themes of struggle, redemption and rebirth. Introspection can be done better by someone else, he suggests in a roundabout way (“I don’t know why this stuff happens?”). To hear Wassberg tell it, Richmond’s streets are gripped in grim chaos, a nihilistic dystopia teetering on the edge of collapse.

Cinema vérité unfettered by nuance.

“It’s an adrenaline rush, yeah,” he blurted while fast-forwarding through footage, fishing for the next ghastly scene. “I love to be where the action’s at.”

Fiddling with his hand-held video camera and a slew of tapes he shoulders around in a dingy backpack, Wassberg reveals stark images of bodies and yellow police tape, the scenes soaked in the reds and blues of streaking police-siren lights. It’s the jolting immediacy of a television news flash, again and again. The ethos of the streets, writ large and one-dimensional, in glaring shades. He estimates he has more than 10 hours of “quality footage.”

“I just need to get at a steady work station, work with Final Cut Pro,” he said, referring to the popular movie-making computer software.

Most of the footage was captured during late-night forays with a police scanner and video camera. Wassberg said he’s been on a few ride-alongs with local police, but the department won’t give him any more access.

Wassberg knows his curbside, siren-chasing reportage blurs the line between unsparing realism and unfeeling sensationalism.

“I’m a filmmaker, and this stuff is off the hook,” he said.

Meanwhile, Richmond residents and leaders struggle to keep violence at bay. Last year, 47 homicides were recorded in the city.

Wassberg said he is nearly finished gathering video, and wants to focus on the editing process. On Saturday he plans to film a local march against violence, an event prompted by a Feb. 14 shooting in a local church.

“I just roamed 24-7,” he said. “And I got what nobody else got.”

Sights and sound from weekend’s anti-violence march

Robert Rogers — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:00:09 +0000

More than 300 people, nearly all black men, simultaneously canvassed the city in small teams Saturday.

They focused on 23 of the city’s most troubled neighborhoods. They delivered bundles of Bibles along with health, education and public resource literature door-to-door at apartments and homes.

They also clasped hands with residents and led them in prayers.

Rev. Andre Shumake, one of the event’s organizers, estimated that volunteers made contact with about 3,500 households Saturday.

The event was in response to a Feb. 14 church shooting that shook the community and drew national attention.

Black men take to streets with message of peace

Robert Rogers — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:14:45 +0000

Richmond’s black religious community vowed action in response to ongoing violence, punctuated by a Feb. 14 outburst of gunfire inside a local church.

On Saturday, their message met the streets.

More than 300 black men simultaneously fanned out in small teams, canvassing 23 of the city’s poorest and most violent neighborhoods. They delivered bundles of Bibles along with health, education and public resource literature door-to-door at apartments and homes. Rev. Andre Shumake, one of the event’s organizers, estimated that volunteers made contact with about 3,500 households.

County supervisor candidate Mister Phillips, right, greets Richmond City Councilman Nat Bates.

The event began with a prayer breakfast and organizing meeting at Dejean Middle School on the 3400 block of McDonald Avenue.

The impetus for the anti-violence campaign, which culminates next Saturday with an afternoon community fair at the Civic Center, was the Feb. 14 shooting at New Gethsemane Church of God in Christ. Three men walked in during a service, sought out targets, and opened fire, according to police. A 14-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man were wounded.

The City Council last week unanimously adopted an emergency measure freeing up to $10,000 to provide fliers and logistical support for the actions.

Bishop J.W. Macklin, a leader within the Pentecostal system that includes the local church where the Feb. 14 shooting occurred, implored the crowd of more than 300 to impose their will for peace on their streets.

“To see you all here today tells me that we’re in the right place, at the right time, and we’re doing the right thing,” Macklin said, drawing strong applause.

Macklin later introduced a guest speaker, Rev. Michael Hill, who traveled to Saturday’s march from his church in Dearborn, MI. Hill spoke for more than 10 minutes on topics ranging from dietary habits to what he characterized as a desperate need in communities for grassroots action.

The series of events planned over the next two weeks represent a critical juncture, Hill said.

“We must leave from here today and be successful, because if we’re not successful, all of this is in vain,” Hill said.

Councilman Nat Bates attended the event, as did Councilwoman Maria Viramontes. Bates said he was pleased to see the black churches in the area play an assertive public role.

“The crisis that we’re facing right now can’t be solved by just law enforcement,” Bates said of violence that has claimed 54 lives in Richmond since Jan. 1, 2009. “It requires community involvement and support, and it’s just beautiful that we’ve got so many individuals here willing to step up and support.”

Some of the attendees Saturday expressed frustration with what they called the inaction of various government agencies and disproportionately negative and violence-centered coverage of Richmond by area media.

“I think it’s a great turnout, I think it’s a necessary turnout, but I’m wondering, where’s the press?” said Bishop Frank Pinkard of Evergreen Church in Oakland. “If something negative had happened, the press would be here. But when there is an effort on the part of the community to pull itself together … the press doesn’t seem to be interested.”

Shumake said the 23 targeted neighborhoods were selected with a purpose.

“We wanted to go into the neighborhoods, let these men make an appearance, because we didn’t want the women to have to do what the men haven’t done,” Shumake said. “Young men need to see other men reaching out to them in a positive way.”

Rev. Raymond Landry praying with a woman at the St. Johns Apartment Complex.

Once out on the streets, the teams of men passed out paperback Bibles and other literature and joined people who agreed in hands-clasped prayer.

Pastor Raymond Landry of Independent Community Church led his team through the St. Johns Apartments on the 100 block of McDonald Avenue.

Residents at the complex, ringed with a black iron gate and sitting just East of Chevron Corp.’s refinery facility, were consistently receptive to the outreach.

Landry said the complex and the larger downtown neighborhood were particularly important places to visit.

“Since 1980, there’s been hundreds of murders in the city of Richmond,” Landry said. “Many of them took place right here.”

For further information about the anti-violence events and the upcoming schedule, visit www.operationrichmond.org