Council looks forward after election

Richmond City Council

The City Council returned to business – with the meeting going into the next morning and the occasional spat between councilmembers — at its first post-election meeting Tuesday night. Before the meeting started, audience members were told to wait outside while fire and police officials responded to a carbon monoxide leak in the council chambers…

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High school students play out real Measure N debate

Students debate the sugar tax

On the eve of the election, seniors from the Richmond High School Health Academy debated the merits of Measure N, a controversial tax on the city ballot that would levy a one-cent-per-ounce fee on sugar-sweetened beverages. About 150 people—including Councilmember Jeff Ritterman, who crafted the measure, listened to the arguments from the 12 students, who…

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City Council swings into election season

Richmond City Council members

At its first public meeting since the Aug. 6 Chevron refinery fire and a Measure N—referred to as the “soda tax”—lawsuit filed against the city, Tuesday night’s hotly anticipated City Council meeting painted for the Richmond community a clear portrait of its pending election season. “Trends are already beginning to form,” said Councilmember Tom Butt…

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Mayor circulates letter blaming council “dysfunction” on one member’s “chaos, disruptions, and vitriolic speech”

In an unusual move, last week after a particularly heated city council meeting Mayor Gayle McLaughlin sent an email to her online supporters entitled “The situation at City Council meetings,” in which she castigated “one councilmember’s” behavior during meetings, urged the public and other councilmembers to recognize to her authority as mayor and assured everyone that she will be tightening the reigns.

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Langlois, Martinez appear at fundraiser for their city council campaigns

On Saturday night in downtown Richmond, the unmistakable beats of Latin Jazz, followed by cheers and laughter, poured out of a small office tucked away in a row of other non-descript offices. The little space on Macdonald Avenue by the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts was illuminated with ambient lighting and filled with people. In the back corner the band played while people twirled on the dance floor. This is how the Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA) was helping two of its own candidates—Marilyn Langlois and Eduardo Martinez—raise money.

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