City Council Election 2012: Nat Bates

In the summer of 1975, Richmond Councilman Nat Bates received a call from Ben Brown, a Democratic campaign organizer in Atlanta. Brown needed Bates’ support rallying African American voters behind his candidate, Jimmy Carter, a little known peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia who had just finished his term as governor and was seeking the Democratic…

Read More

City Council Election 2012: Bea Roberson

There’s one outcome for the City Council election that Bea Roberson says she can’t let happen, and it’s the reason the first-time candidate decided to put her name on the ballot to begin with. “We cannot let the [Richmond Progressive Alliance] win again,” Roberson said, standing near the dais in the city chambers after a…

Read More

City Council Election 2012: Eduardo Martinez

Eduardo Martinez

Eduardo Martinez sits at the front desk of the Richmond Progressive Alliance hunched over a pile of donor thank-you letters. It’s midday and the quiet of the office is punctuated by the hum of vehicles that pass by on Macdonald Avenue and the occasional police siren in the distance. As Martinez picks up the letters…

Read More

Candidates turn to social media as election nears

With a month left to the November 6 election, City Council candidates are turning to video and social media to engage voters and gather voter feedback.   Candidates Nat Bates and Mike Wassberg last week released a campaign video attacking the Richmond Progressive Alliance for its support of the city’s plans to build bicycle paths…

Read More

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…

Read More

Your guide to a Richmond weekend filled with events

There’s a lot happening in Richmond Friday thru Sunday. It’s a mix of environmental, social, educational and political-themed events in our community. FRIDAY Occupy Richmond Earth Day March: 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., begins at Richmond BART station. Progressive activists will march from BART station to City Hall in Richmond to protest pollution and tax…

Read More