People of Richmond: What would you do if you were mayor?
on September 20, 2022
“People of Richmond” is a regular series in which reporters pose a question to people in the community. Answers are presented verbatim, though sometimes edited for brevity.
Q: If you were mayor of Richmond, what would your top priority be?
“I would put more cameras around the BART station and more school signs with crosswalks. There is a lot of students walking after school. I have seen that many cars don’t even care, they don’t even want to stop, especially on McDonald and 23rd Street.” (Maria G. De Los Santos)
“I would do as much as I could to encourage business
development, business incubation and be a commercial development friendly environment.
I would rebuild Richmond’s reputation to be attractive to business. I would do whatever we could to modify Measure U, so the business tax is not so onerous.” (Karen Buchanan, workers compensation claims administrator)
“In certain parts of Richmond, especially in north and central, there is a lot of trash around people’s homes versus other parts of Richmond that are very beautiful. I feel like we should have more volunteer work to pick up trash and maybe a fine for throwing trash on the ground.
Another important thing is homelessness for me. We have a lot of people living on the streets and we want them to have a home or a shelter at the end of the day. We go through extreme weather conditions, so we need shelter for all. And the third thing would be that we need more smoking centers, so people can be in that space and smoke there. Some people have asthma, some people have allergies, and we don’t want the allergens and toxins from cigarettes to go into people’s bodies because they are exposed to second-hand-smoke.” (Ishpreet Kaur)
“Tratar de mejorar la ciudad, poner agencias y hay que ayuden a las personas mas, dar mas trabajo para las personas que andan en las calles, y darles más vivienda donde tengan ellos estar. Y arreglar las calles y hacer algo para la comunidad para que la comunidad este mas mejor.” (Patricia Perez)
“My top priority would be businesses. Making sure that we have the ability to bring businesses in, to sustain businesses, to a business sustainable model.” (Rodney Alamo Brown, Soulful Softball Sunday founder)
People of Richmond: How would you improve WCCUSD schools?
3 Comments
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From a former City of Richmond staffer: RIP Henry. You were a true warrior.
I regularly talked to Henry before his presentations to Richmond City Council. It was always a time to anticipate an interesting and inspirational presentation. One particular time he brought a group with him, many from India, who had a petroleum plant adjacent in their community similar to the Chevron facility. There had been a disastrous explosion killing many of the residents. That night, Henry demonstrated a direct parallel with the people in North Richmond to people on the otherside of the world. It highlighted for me Henry’s strength and determination in fighting for justice and equality wherever its lacking.
Rest in Peace, Henry.
I would bring back the Burnt Ramen as a venue and work with the residents to ensure that it is up to safety standards. I would do everything in my power to facilitate more entertainment and night life. I would place a bunch of bars and venues near the ferry port and run ferry services 24 hours on the weekends so we could be a destination rather than just a boring bedroom community. I would run a shuttle from the Ferry to Bart directly and petition that BART be 24 hours on the weekends at least.
I would jail civic leaders who claim “sideshows” are a good thing.