Will he or won’t he?

Councilman Nat Bates is enjoying arguably more public attention by remaining coy about his political future than he would reap from an outright announcement.

While the uncertainty hangs over the city’s always intriguing political landscape, many observers seem casually confident that the city’s most seasoned politico – Bates has held various reins of local power since the 1960s – is positioning himself for another run at the top spot.

“Everybody is expecting Nat Bates to run for mayor,” Councilman Tom Butt said.

So, will the 78-year-old Bates challenge his political bete noire, incumbent Mayor Gayle McLaughlin – with whom he routinely clashes on development issues - in this year’s November election?

Maybe. Maybe not.

“Well, all that talk about me running for mayor, that is just speculating,” Bates said during a telephone interview Monday. “I haven’t ruled anything out. You see, you have to get close to the starting line before you make a decision about your candidacy.”

Bates has made three previous runs for mayor, all unsuccessful. His most recent attempt was in 2001, a year, like 2010, when he could run for mayor without jeopardizing his seat on the council. But despite the near-misses, he is still more political power-player than perpetual also-ran. Bates has outlasted all his contemporaries – friend and foe - with whom he shared power in the 1960s and 1970s, and has been at the forefront of countless milestones in city history.

But he is no relic. If he does run, the city’s ultimate political survivor – one longtime observer called Bates a “master operator” – could mount a formidable campaign. If he were to win, it would also open his council seat to a field of candidates, potentially triggering a political re-alignment of the council.

The most recent campaign finance documents – for the period ending Jan. 1, 2010, show Bates with more than $10,000 on hand.

McLAughlin, who has continued her pledge to accept no money from corporations, reported less than $1,000.

Bates doesn’t have that problem. Chevron Corp., the development corporations seeking to build a casino at Point Molate and several political action committees have all contributed to the councilman in the past.

While McLaughlin is America’s only Green Party mayor in a city of more than 100,000, Bates enjoys a decidedly pro-business reputation.

“I am able to help unify and advance the business community,” Bates said. “The mayor won’t even accept a check on behalf of the city from Chevron because she hates Chevron.”

McLaughlin disagrees. In an interview earlier this month, she touted her tough stance toward Chevron as good for the health of residents and for business in the city, as evidenced by a recent deal struck between the city and the global energy giant that guarantees the city $114 million over the next 15 years.

If Bates does run, he’ll have to formally file papers with the city clerk between July 12 and early August.

“You see that the cream comes to the top,” Bates said. “Come July, you are going to have a surfacing of candidates, whoever they may be, who will run. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is more than one (challenger).”

So who else could join the fray?

One prospect is John Ziesenhenne, a former councilman whose name has been bandied about by City Hall observers. He has downplayed the rumors, but stopped short of a definitive answer.

“I’ve been out of politics since 1993 and I have a pretty full agenda. So right now, today, no, I’m not running,” Zisenhenne said.

Then there’s the most enigmatic potential candidate of all: Rodney Alamo Brown. He has a Facebook page touting his run for mayor as a pro-business candidate who is very critical of McLaughlin.

Beyond that, he is something of a mystery – officials in the City Clerk’s Office said Monday that no candidate other than McLaughlin has filed papers.

“No one’s seen him, no one’s heard from him,” said Jovanka Beckles, a City Council candidate. “I’ve never seen him anywhere.”

Should Bates run, he’ll have a mix of strengths and liabilities. He enjoys strong name-recognition, good rapport with the city’s sizable community of working-class African Americans, and a campaign chest flush with the support of corporations and local businesses.

“Nat has excellent qualifications and name recognition, so he would be a strong candidate,” said Lloyd Madden, president of the Black American Political Action Committee, which has supported Bates in past elections. “Whether he could win would depend on whether he can rally a cross section of support.”

Corky Booze, City Council candidate and one-time ally of Bates who now supports McLaughlin, predicted that Bates’ last hurrah will be a bitter defeat.

“Nat Bates is going to run and raise more money than anybody, and then he’ll have money left over for his next (council) campaign,” Booze said. “But I don’t think anybody can beat (McLaughlin).”

McLaughlin’s national status as a Green Party mayor has already drawn national figures like former Obama Administration official Anthony “Van” Jones and immigration activist Nativo Lopez to Richmond to stump on her behalf. Her partnership with the local Richmond Progressive Alliance should help her secure hundreds of door-to-door volunteers, a strong ground game that some say was the nudge that got her over-the-top in 2006.

But there is also quiet unease among McLaughlin’s supporters. In a city where the unemployment rate still hovers near 20 percent and new jobs are few and far between, the mayor’s battles with Chevron and opposition to a casino development at Point Molate are political tightropes. In 2006, McLaughlin upset incumbent Mayor Irma Anderson by a razor-thin margin, thanks in part to local banker Gary Bell, a Democrat who siphoned off many votes that would have likely gone to Anderson.

If he runs, Bates will have to contend with opponents’ characterizations of him as a tool of big business and as an aging, unsavory and ethically-challenged member of the old guard.

Bates, who turns 79 in September, was fined by the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission in 2005 for receiving unlawful contributions from Black Men and Women of Richmond, a local political action committee.

Some observers think his long history will hinder him in a race for mayor.

“He will never be mayor of this town,” said Rev. Kenneth Davis, a longtime resident and activist from North Richmond. “He will run, but this community has seen for too many years that he is only a friend to himself and Chevron, not to our communities.”

Madden disagrees.

“Bates’ long record of being good to business could strengthen his chances,” Madden said.

Bates may not be ready to declare a run, but he has no qualms about declaring McLaughlin a failed mayor.

“She is a total failure from my perspective,” Bates said. “She has failed to lead, failed to solidify the community, failed to unify the business community. She doesn’t understand her role as mayor.”

Ian A. Stewart contributed to this report.

In a move that could impact the city’s highly-anticipated campaign season, Chevron Corp. and city leaders on Tuesday brokered a tax deal that markedly eases tensions between the energy giant and the city.

“This deal provides some certainty via negotiated settlement, rather than the ballot box,” said Marilyn Langlois, a community advocate in Mayor Gayle McLaughlin’s office. “This is a very positive step for the city.”

Chevron and the city have jousted for years over how much tax the refinery should pay. Those disagreements began boiling over this year.

First, Chevron officials began issuing cryptic public statements hinting that the refinery could close if the costs of doing business in Richmond reduced its competitiveness.

Last month, Chevron helped sponsor a signature-drive to secure a ballot measure that promised to slash in half utility taxes across the city, a move the city said would cut Chevron’s tax bill by at least $10 million.

The City Council responded with its own measure seeking to eliminate an alternative maximum payment option, a move that could have meant millions more in local taxes on the energy giant.

But the agreement reached Tuesday appears to avert what was destined to become a bitter, costly battle for voters in November. Part of the agreement includes both parties’ pledge to withdraw their dueling ballot measures.

“We hope that the cooperation displayed by both sides will also help guide possible future discussions on matters important to the City and the Refinery,” said Mike Coyle, general manager of Chevron’s Richmond refinery. “We are all interested in what is best for Richmond.”

But the high praise from both sides belies the tough negotiations needed to ground out an agreement, which will guarantee the city $114 million over the next 15 years on top of its current utility tax. Among Chevron’s victories is a stipulation that insulates the corporation from any new voter-approved taxes and the city’s agreement to drop its appeal of a court decision on 2008’s Measure T tax initiative.

“The city did ask for substantially more than $114 million,” Langlois said.

City negotiators were also unsuccessful in trying to get Chevron agree to cease attempts to have property assessment values reduced on their 2,900-acre refinery, Langlois said.

“As in all settlement agreements, the city did not win everything it rightfully deserves,” Councilman Tom Butt wrote in a statement published in the Berkeley Daily Planet.

Precisely how the agreement plays out in November remains to be seen. McLaughlin, who leads a coalition on the City Council that has a reputation for sparring with Chevron, faces re-election, as do council allies Jim Rogers and Ludmyrna Lopez. National environmental figures including former Obama Administration official Anthony “Van” Jones have traveled to Richmond to express support for McLaughlin, who is the only Green Party mayor of a city of more than 100,000 in the country.

Many residents and observers wonder how heavily Chevron will weigh in on those races.

In a press release issued today that hails the agreement, McLaughlin showed no hints of softening her rhetoric.

“This agreement reflects the efforts of the incredible progressive community of Richmond who have taken on corporate power and wrested unprecedented concessions” from Chevron, McLaughlin said.

The vote will come in November, but the drive for signatures is already in high gear all over town.

At grocery markets, banks and retail outlets, paid hands are asking for signatures to qualify a measure for the ballot that could reduce utility taxes in the city.

Chevron Corp. is behind the measure, in part because it would counter the city’s own utility tax measure slated for the November ballot.

The city’s measure would eliminate a flat-rate method that Chevron uses to pay its utility tax, which comes to about $19 million this year. The Chevron-backed measure would reduce the rate for all payers in the city, a cut that could cost the city millions in revenues.

At the City Council meeting Tuesday, the council voted 6-0 – with Councilmember Nat Bates absent – to declare opposition to the “City of Richmond Utility Users Tax Reform Act,” the name of the proposed measure for which signatures are being gathered.

About 4,000 signatures are needed by summer to qualify for the ballot.

Chevron spokesman Brent Tippen said the measure is needed because Richmond residents and businesses are paying a 10 percent tax on their utility usage, the highest rate in Northern California.

“This measure cuts in half the utility tax paid by every Richmond resident and small business, and exempts seniors and low-income families from paying any utility users tax, helping people in the most need during these difficult economic times,” Tippen said.

But city leaders, with Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and Councilmembers Jeff Ritterman and Tom Butt being among the most vocal critics, say the measure is a devious ploy that would save most residents just a few dollars while gouging the city’s revenues by millions.

“This is a proposal being put out there by Chevron,” McLaughlin said during the public meeting. “And it would greatly harm the city of Richmond.”

McLaughlin pointed to a study produced by the city’s Finance Department that estimates passage of the tax reduction bill would reduce the city’s utility tax revenue by $10 million to $25 million annually. If Richmond’s measure passes, Chevron has said it could end up paying nearly $30 million annually, about $10 million more than normal.

McLaughlin, who has been at constant odds with the multinational energy giant since she became the first Green Party mayor of a city of more than 100,000, said the measure is meant to dupe the public.

“This is something that will help Chevron, but it is being sold as something that will reduce the average citizen’s taxes,” McLaughlin said.

The measure the city proposes would eliminate an alternate flat-rate formula that currently benefits Chevron.

The refinery used the flat-rate method until 2006, when it switched to calculating 10 percent and its payments began coming in at about $4 million below previous years. The city responded by retaining an outside firm to conduct a confidential audit on Chevron’s tax payments from 2006-8. A settlement reached last year resulted in Chevron agreeing to pay about $28 million.

Tippen added that the proposed ballot measure Chevron supports would provide stable revenues and encourage green development.

“This measure would assure large manufactures in Richmond, like Chevron, would guarantee a $20 million utility users tax or 10 percent of their actual utility usage, which will be double the percentage that Richmond residents will pay‬,” Tippen said. “This measure exempts solar, wind, biofuels and other forms of alternative energy from paying any utility users tax, ensuring Richmond does it part to encourage energy conservation programs.”

City leaders are clearly concerned.

Tensions are running high in a city with 19 percent unemployment and a persistent crime problem. Chevron hinted earlier this year that its Richmond refinery could face closure, sending chills through many residents. Chevron has been the city’s biggest taxpayer for decades, accounting for one-third to one-half of the city’s general fund.

Chevron has been known to pump sizable sums into local politics in the past, and this election year will include McLaughlin’s bid for re-election. Tax-weary voters may respond to the ballot measure’s language, which emphasizes cuts to residents’ utility tax rates.

“We’re really counting on the residents here to come through and understand this,” Ritterman said. “This is kind of requiring us to say ‘okay, this may save us a few dollars ourselves but at what cost to the city?’”

She introduced herself unpretentiously, as “Mary,” but what she said didn’t lack impact.

“What’s really important to our community (is) we need to keep our jobs,” she said.

The words were simple, but the gravitas came from the young woman’s identity: Longtime resident of the neighborhood in question, the community surrounding Nystrom Elementary School.

Like others who gathered in the Nystrom school cafeteria Monday night, Mary Bragg served as an example of harnessing the power of enthusiastic residents in a community development project. Bragg’s focus was economic development.

Other residents gave presentations on education, health, public safety and other aspects of community life.

The “Community Engagement Roll-Out Meeting” dealt with issues concerning the community within a roughly 40-square block area in the southern section of the city’s Iron Triangle. Dubbed NURVE, which stands for Nystrom United Revitalization Effort, the project is a collaborative effort between the Richmond Children’s Foundation, the Bay Area Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), and other city and county partners.

Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and County Supervisor John Gioia were among the political leaders who attended, along with more than 60 residents and program officials.

“We can dictate from the top down, but unless we are reaching the residents who are on the ground, we’re really not doing our job,” said McKinley Ross, one of the team leaders working on neighborhood economic development.

Monday night’s meeting was a culmination of a long-developing local “listening campaign” in the neighborhood, which comprises about 14,000 mostly low-income residents. Surveys and meetings were used over the past year to gather information about what resources residents need said Margaret Gee, Neighborhood Development Director for LISC.

The results were presented to the crowd by a series of speakers, often with the aid of overhead projectors and bullet-point lists.

The education team presented six month and one-year objectives, which included creating a “Parent Corps” team of volunteers to provide basic literacy teaching and to launch a neighborhood literacy festival.

The health team in Nystrom, which sits just blocks away from the emission-producing Chevron Corp. refinery, hopes to found a community health fair and to lobby for more fresh produce and open spaces in the community.

These and other plans unveiled Monday should begin their implementation phases within 30 days, Gee said.

McLaughlin gave a brief introductory speech in which she praised the neighborhood collaborative.

“Your work is really going to be a model for other cities,” McLaughlin said, referring to the approach of community leaders taking a lead role in neighborhood issues, then providing information, recommendations and requests for services from city and county government.

The effort is primarily funded by the Richmond Children’s Foundation and Bay Area LISC, which pays for two AmeriCorps staffers and a community organizer.

For more information on the Nystrom community effort, visit resources at the Richmond Children’s Foundation and the Bay Area Local Initiatives Support Coalition.

Earth Day came and went on Thursday, but the environmental work in Richmond continues.

Mayor Gayle McLaughlin’s office commemorated the 40th annual holiday in part by issuing a release noting that the city has netted more than $6 million since last year in federal grant funds for “green” jobs.

According to the mayor’s office, the majority of the funds that have flowed into Richmond stem from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, which was funded under the federal stimulus plan last year. The grant freed up $3.2 billion for cities and counties nationwide to improve energy efficiency and spur green job growth.

Richmond’s unemployment rate is about 17 percent, according to the mayor’s office.

Marilyn Langlois, a community advocate in the mayor’s office, said much of the $6 million in Richmond is being used to fund energy efficiency upgrades to municipal buildings and low to moderate housing stock in the city. Brownfield remediation projects and solar panels are also being funded by the grant.

Richmond has drawn national attention in recent years with its Solar Richmond project, which creates green-collar job opportunities in the solar industry. The organization runs a 14-week training program in partnership with RichmondBuild, another local jobs program.

The city has dozens of green businesses, including SunPower Corp., a solar panel manufacturer whose renown drew Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who held a press conference on its production floor late last year.

McLaughlin is the only Green Party mayor of a city of more than 100,000 in the United States.

Earth Day was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental awareness event in 1970.

What is Richmond’s greatest resource?

Its deep water bay? Its status as home to one of the nation’s largest oil refineries? Its history as a World War II hub of manufacturing?

How about its women?

Richmond’s women have a history  of being vital, assertive assets in the city’s political, economic and social landscape, so much so that a National Park opened here in 2000 with the namesake of a definitively Richmond type of woman: Rosie the Riveter.

(Click on the play button above-right to hear a full radio broadcast on Richmond’s women that aired April 15)

They were unwitting pioneers, doe-eyed young women given wrenches and overalls and a host of grimy tasks. Later, the iconic nickname, “Rosie the Riveter” came to epitomize the force of six million American women who worked industrial jobs during WWII. They worked Richmond’s factories and shipyards in the throes of war in the early to mid-1940s, an act that was a revolutionary upheaval of social conditions.

Six decades later, Richmond still carries a legacy of strong women. The last three mayors in the city – Rosemary Corbin, Irma Anderson and Gayle McLaughlin – have been women. McLaughlin, in an added twist, is also the first “Green Party” mayor of a city of more than 100,000 in the United States.

Ask McLaughlin whom she admires most, and she doesn’t hesitate with an answer.

“Betty Soskin is truly an inspiration to me,” the mayor said. “She goes way back in terms of her involvement as a social activist, her involvement in WWII … she is someone who stands strong on her principles and values and her compassion.”

Soskin, 88, grew up in Oakland, but she is a Richmond icon. She served as a clerk for a Kaiser Shipyard union during the Rosie the Riveter period, and today works at the Rosie the Riveter National Park in Richmond. She is the oldest active park ranger in the United States.

“I only hope to grow on in years to emulate some of the inspiration (Soskin) has given me,” McLaughlin said.

To hear Soskin, McLaughlin, and other female leaders in Richmond, click on the play button above

Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and a handful of city leaders praised about 20 local youths in front of City Hall on April 9.

It was a small, understated presentation, but for many of the young people on hand it was a big part of their lives.

The ceremony was for the Richmond Youth Corps, a new city jobs program that provides part-time work for Richmond residents ages 17-24.

One youth gushed that he’d “never met a mayor before.”

“I just want to thank everybody for this opportunity, it has helped me out a lot to get this experience,” said Peter Gray, who works in the Parks Department, while beaming behind a podium.

Since its launch last year with funds from the Mayor’s Office and public and private grants, more than 40 people have enrolled in a five-month paid internship program.

Another 40-50 workers are expected to be hired during the next cycle this Fall.

Local youths work in public and private settings, including the City Attorney’s office and local television station KCRT, generally for about 10 hours per week at $10 per hour.

“We need this program to expand and grow. Our young people are craving greater direction and support from us,” McLaughlin said. “These young people need to know they are part of something really big here in Richmond.”

The jobs program joins a consortium of other city-backed programs in the city, including Richmond Build, Youth Build and Solar Richmond.

DeAndre Young, 18, said the program opened his eyes to a world beyond his neighborhood. He has worked with painters and carpenters at a local carpentry shop, and during this time has developed greater ambitions.

“With the carpenters, I went to a fire station, and we fixed the carpet for them,” Young said. “I saw what they do day-to-day, and I love it. It would be great to be a part of that.”

McLaughlin said she hopes to continue to expand on the concept.

“My whole emphasis has been that we need to offer year-round jobs for our youth,” she said.

The economic downturn has hit teens and young workers particularly hard. According to a study released in January by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, less than 27 percent of working-age teenagers held jobs at the end of last year. That number is down from 45 percent in 2000.

According to the city, Richmond’s unemployment rate was 15.1 percent in February 2009 — nearly double the U.S. rate of 8.9 percent for the same period, and up from 10.2 percent in 2008.

***

To see Northeastern University’s teenage jobs study, click here

Click for information on Solar Richmond, for Richmond Build, and YouthBuild

Geneva “Mother” Naylor is a treasure to most anyone who meets her.

Her stride isn’t quite as strong and springy as it was in the roaring 1920s, but it’s still a sure, steady step.

Her friends and neighbors still marvel at how Naylor “eats and eats and eats.”

And then the voice. Rich and resonant. Brimming with the confidence that comes with nearly a century of experience. Rolling like heavy velvet out of a tiny frame that is 99-years young.

“I’ve come a long ways,” Naylor said, stretching out the vowel in long for emphasis. “I been here for years. I was one of the first moved in here, and I thank my God that I’m still on top, and going on.”

Naylor’s comments were addressed to more than 25 neighbors and civic leaders who came to Friendship Manor housing complex Wednesday for a lunch in her honor.

Naylor was born in September 1910. Much ado was made about Naylor’s fast-approaching 100th birthday. Considering her robust health – Naylor walked from her housing unit to the complex’s multi-purpose room and, between public speaking, found time to eat a hearty lasagna lunch – no one was shy about discussing the prospects of the centennial celebration of her life.

“Got to make 100, got to make 100,” said Jackie Thompson, who works with senior citizens at the housing complex and organized Naylor’s celebration.

Earlier, Thompson noted that Naylor maintains fierce independence despite her age, in part due to her phenomenal health. Naylor’s skin retains the smooth, even tone of a woman decades younger, and meticulous care has rewarded her with a mouth full of her own teeth.

“Mother Naylor doesn’t miss a tenant meeting, and she comes in by herself,” Thompson said. “She sits right there and she does something that I can’t do: She crosses her legs and puts her hands on her little knees.”

In between bites of a colorful dessert, Naylor briskly recounted the high points of her biography. She was born in 1910 in Lauderdale County, a tiny, rural stretch in central Mississippi perhaps most famous for being the place where three civil rights workers were kidnapped and killed in 1964.

But Naylor was already in her mid-50s and had moved out West by then. She came to Richmond in 1960 to be closer to her son, who had a military career.

In the late 1960s, Naylor moved into the newly-constructed Friendship Manor public housing complex. She never left.

“I’ve always loved it here,” she said.

City leaders in attendance included Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, who spoke about what she called the continued “challenges” the city faces. She said Naylor was an inspiration for all of Richmond.

“I’m sure Mother Naylor, in her years, has seen a lot of change,” McLaughlin said. “And I’m sure that change has come from the grassroots. It’s when people come together and say ‘this has got to change,’ that things change.”

Local activist and City Council candidate Corky Booze said Naylor was a great leader in the community.

“I could sit down on a bench with you … and learn about ‘colored only’ drinking (fountains),” Booze said. “And you still keep that smile on your face. You’re the kind of person that when I say, ‘you must lead by example,’ you are the example we must follow.”

Naylor sat stoic as other city officials and fellow residents lavished encomium on her.

When she did speak, her words were generally about her beloved housing complex, and the need for harmony among people.

“Can’t we all get along with one another?” Naylor said. “We need that more than anything.”

In a story that first aired Thursday on UC Berkeley’s North Gate Radio, we explored the health hazards that abound in Richmond.

They range from a stubbornly-high rate of homicide and violent crime to environmental pollutants, including emissions from local factories and refineries and toxic remnants from discontinued industrial operations.

The story, which you can hear by clicking on the button above to the right, traveled from Parchester Village, where emergency horns from Chevron Corp.’s refinery blare regularly to test emergency response effectiveness, to several local apartment complexes laced with cancerous materials.

At St. Johns apartment complex on MacDonald Avenue, signs are posted next to every door warning of the presence of toxic contaminants. The signs are required by Proposition 65, a law passed by California voters in 1986 which mandates that people be made aware of the presence of toxic substances, like lead, arsenic and asbestos.

“I never really worried about it because there is just so much else going on,” said Chalisa Jones, a resident of St. Johns. As she spoke outside her apartment, her 9-year-old son played and chatted with other children. “But yeah, I’d like to be able to afford to live somewhere that didn’t have to have the signs up.”

The story is similar at Monterey Apartment complex off of Carlson and Cutting Blvd. in south Richmond. Phon Chanthanasak, 19, has lived here his entire life.

“Growing up, I’d see the signs around, but I didn’t really care,” Chanthanasak said. “It was more of surviving through whatever, like trying to live, than worrying about the pollution, because there was always shooting.”

A Chevron Corp. spokesman did not respond to several inquiries for comment, but Chevron officials have previously touted their progress in reducing emissions generated by their refining operations.

While much of the toxins present in Richmond are a legacy of the city’s industrial past, Chevron’s critics contend that its operations continue to impact public health.

A study released this year in the American Journal of Public Health, suggested that air pollution generated in part by Chevron’s refinery were present in elevated levels inside Richmond residents’ homes.

Researches also concluded that levels of vanadium and nickel – possibly byproducts of processes at the refinery and port – in Richmond were among the highest in the state.

Fueled in part by backlash against Chevron, the city elected Mayor Gayle McLaughlin in 2006, making her the only mayor identified with the Green Party to lead a city of more than 100,000 in the United States.

McLaughlin faces re-election this year, and many view the outcome of the November election to be a crucial fork in the road for Richmond’s future. McLaughlin has been a consistent and prominent critic of Chevron, arguing for imposing increased regulations and public revenue requirements on the city’s largest employer.

An opponent has not officially declared, but residents and City Hall watchers generally expect McLaughlin to face a tough battle for re-election.

But despite the ongoing environmental issues, it’s violent crime and homicide that dominate the consciousness of many Richmond residents, including those interviewed in the radio report.

Ten people have been slain in Richmond thus far this year, after the city logged a homicide total of 47 in 2009.

The wafting smoke from the barbecue was undeniably sweet.

But to Michael Harper, 30, the atmosphere was something sweeter.

“To see people out here, coming together to celebrate something beautiful in our community, in the Iron Triangle: this is a great thing,” Harper said. “I’ve been in this neighborhood a long time and I’ve seen worse times. This reminds me that God is good.”

Harper was one of more than 100 residents who turned out Saturday to see the newly-remodeled L.I.F.E. Center at the corner of Second Street and MacDonald Avenue, in the heart of the city’s Iron Triangle neighborhood.

The L.I.F.E. Center is a community jewel, said pastor Sydney Keys, who also serves as director of the center. The two-story complex combines a church worship hall, computer labs, child care and fitness centers and other recreational and educational amenities.

Keys said the Feb. 14 shooting inside a local church, which prompted several peace rallies and drew national attention, influenced his decision to hold the Saturday community gathering. Several smaller community festivals went on throughout the city Saturday.

“This place is open seven days a week, Monday through Sunday, because that’s what the people need,” Keys said. “The timing is right for us to play a greater role in our community.”

L.I.F.E. stands for Love Involvement Family and Education, Keys said.

The L.I.F.E. center is one of the few places in the area that is licensed by the county to care for infants, a capability that is in particular need in the immediate community, one of the poorest in the Bay Area. The center also has a computer lab, with several high-speed Internet terminals that residents can use for research and employment searches.

The event drew local dignitaries, including Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, Councilmen Tom Butt and Nat Bates, and council candidate Corky Booze.

Keys’ wife, Patrice, who is the center’s co-director, gave McLaughlin a tour of their newly-renovated facility.

“These kinds of services should be provided to everyone,” McLaughlin told Keys while being shown the childcare center. “It’s really wonderful that the church is picking this up and providing this, so thank you so much.”

Later, McLaughlin and others manned a free giveaway table, where the L.I.F.E. center handed out a cache of donated shoes and clothing. Dozens of locals lined up for the goods.

Booze said the infant care capability that the center offers is vital to the health of community.

“Single parents right here in the Iron Triangle have a resource where they can safely leave their young children while they go to work,” Booze said. “We can’t say enough how much that is appreciated.”