This is the last story in a four-part series. In December, new claims that Mayor Tom Butt used his office to influence a development decision on another controversial Richmond property were filed in court, marking the third time in four years that the mayor’s actions sparked a legal fight. This time, the property was the former Zeneca Inc. industrial site on Richmond’s south shoreline. The multitude of chemicals left in the soil and water at the 90-acre site as a…
Development on Point Molate has been a contentious issue in Richmond for more than a decade. (File photo)
Joshua Genser is pictured on his north shore property in 2011. (File photo)
Richmond Mayor Tom Butt navigates the conflicts that arise from his roles of public official, business owner and real estate investor. (File photo, 2013)
After more than six hours of hot debate Tuesday night on a proposed ban of coal and petroleum coke in Richmond, the city council acceded to Mayor Tom Butt’s wishes and decided in a split vote to postpone the item until its January 14 meeting.
Richmond’s city council received a report on Tuesday about discretionary pay increases for city workers, and honored Michael Davenport as well as the Point Molate Friends group for their contributions to the city. The Rent Program presented its annual report.
Richmond’s City Council on Tuesday halted the drafting of a rule that would have required landlords to offer local tenants the first opportunity to buy their homes before they are put on the market or demolished.
Richmond’s city clerk and a demographics consultant hosted a second workshop at the City Council chamber on Monday to guide community members through the process of drawing up districting maps for Richmond, which the City Council will consider during the city’s expected transition from at-large to district-based council elections in January 2020.
Tuesday’s City Council meeting – called “long and raucous” in an email missive by Mayor Tom Butt — mimicked a battleground with locals and lawmakers firing off dissenting opinions over issues from the proposed Point Molate development to the prospect of district council elections.
California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) on Friday announced its selection of a cleanup plan for one of Richmond’s most notorious brownfields: an industrial site located on the city’s south shoreline, once occupied by a succession of corporate tenants including Stauffer Chemical Co. and pharmaceutical company Zeneca Inc. The plan will excavate contaminated soil and install barriers in areas where tainted soil will be left in place. It would take about eight fewer years to implement and involve tens…
Richmond will elect future City Council members by district instead of at-large elections following a resolution passed Tuesday night.
A sunset Buddhist ceremony at Richmond’s Huntington Avenue and San Joaquin Street consecrated the renaming of a stretch of Huntington after the Dalai Lama on the 12th anniversary of the spiritual leader’s receipt of the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal. About seventy Tibetan community members, three Buddhist monks and City Councilmember Eduardo Martinez gathered Thursday evening to present symbolic food offerings, and knotted white scarves representing compassion around the post marking the new Dalai Lama Avenue. The religious leader visited Richmond’s…
Richmond is now home to “Dalai Lama Avenue,” a block-long stretch of Huntington Avenue the City Council renamed on Tuesday to honor Richmond’s Tibetan community and the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists worldwide. The newly-renamed avenue will guide visitors searching for the Tibetan Association of Northern California (TANC), which is located on Huntington between Columbia Avenue and San Joaquin Street. “A lot of times when people come looking for the cultural center, they end up on the wrong side of…