Two matches into the 2012-13 boy’s soccer season, the Richmond High School soccer team is struggling to find its identity. The Oilers, who suffered a 3-0 loss at the hands of the Amador Valley High School Dons Saturday, are still searching for their first win. But coaches said the loss didn’t matter as much as the team’s lackluster play. “We were playing very soft and with no sense of urgency,” said Oiler co-head coach Jasko Begovic. “Out of 80 minutes,…
On Wednesday night, in the Richmond high school cafeteria, the more than 40 players on the Oiler roster were congratulated on their successful season. Coaches thanked them for their efforts, certain players received awards for their play, and the team now has a trophy to document it.
If coaching was solely about wins and losses, Felipe Franco would not be here. Although his Richmond High School girl’s soccer team was defeated 3-2 by the Mt. Diablo Red Devils Tuesday night, Franco was reminded about why he enjoys the job. “You know what I like about coaching? They enjoy doing this,” Franco said about his team. “They know that they lost, or may lose the game, but they put a lot of effort in.” The match was the…
More than 31,300 voters in Richmond cast a ballot this year, a 10 percent decrease from the last presidential election, according to numbers updated on the Contra Costa County’s election division site on Nov. 17. In 2008, more than 35,000 voters in the city cast a ballot, which was 84 percent of registered voters. This year the voter turnout in the city was just under 72 percent. Below are maps that show where the three City Council winners– Nat Bates,…
The City Council passed a resolution Tuesday night urging Chevron to use the best technology available when it rebuilds its damaged oil refinery. The meeting came a day after a Bay Area Air Quality Management District meeting at which a Chevron representative said that the crude unit would not be restarted until the “findings and actions” of Chevron’s investigation of the fire are “fully communicated.” The approval of the resolution also follows a letter sent on Saturday by the United…
The morning squall drenched the Richmond Oiler and Pinole Valley Spartan players as they warmed up for the first game of the West Contra Costa Unified School District soccer jamboree.
With billboards from the Nov. 6 election still standing around the city and councilmembers-elect yet to begin their newest terms, community organizers and elected officials met Thursday night at the Richmond Progressive Alliance to start planning for campaigns in 2014 and beyond.
Joining the Richmond football team changed Cesar Munoz’s life. Before football, Munoz says, he was gang affiliated and “was in deep stuff.” But at the end of this summer, he decided to play football for the first time. The junior lineman made it through the entire season, with the positive encouragement of his coaches and teammates. “I got close with all of my teammates and all of my classmates and they helped me a lot,” Munoz said. “The coaches meant…
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 building. Richmond Fire Marshal Terry Harris said that the Fire Department responded to a call by a person who complained of the smell of gas…
When the game ended and they had lost, the football players for the Kennedy High School Eagles stood in a circle together for one last time. The players were joined on the 30-yard-line by their coaches. It was the first time that anyone had the opportunity to exhale all afternoon. When the head coach entered the huddle, he asked everyone to come in tight. “Let me tell you something. I cannot be more proud of what you guys have done,”…
When the official returns came in on Wednesday morning, Richmond voters had decided that after the most expensive campaign in city history, what they wanted was familiar faces. Incumbents Nat Bates and Tom Butt were re-elected to the City Council, and Gary Bell, who will return to the dais after an eight-year hiatus, will take the seat vacated by retiring Councilmember Jeff Ritterman. The city’s proposed tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, Measure N, was defeated. Money was a major talking point…
Jorge Diaz was the last of the Richmond Oilers to step onto the football field Friday night, for what would be the last time he’d ever make that walk as a player. To no one in particular Diaz belted out his favorite phrase: “They might not like it, they might not love it, but they’re going to learn to live with it.” He was quiet for a moment, and then with little fanfare he weaved onto the field through a…
The City Council’s attempt earlier this year to limit campaign contributions to council candidates seems to be working, last Thursday’s campaign finance deadline shows. But the limits might also be increasing the spending of outside groups on the election. Under the ordinance passed this summer, candidates must not accept more than $40,000 in campaign contributions to be eligible for up to $25,000 in public funds from the city. So far, none of the candidates have accepted more than the $40,000…