Around two dozen tenants gathered at the leasing office of Monterey Pines Apartments, a low-income housing complex in Richmond, last month, voicing grievances and asking city officials to take action. Organizers had requested permission to congregate in the community center, but the property manager denied the request. So they stood outside, airing their concerns as children ran around and swung on the fence surrounding the closed community swimming pool. District City Councilmember Sue Wilson, and Lina Velasco, head of the…
On June 2, Richmond voters will cast ballots in a primary election. Richmond Confidential interviewed the two District 3 candidates and the three District 4 candidates, either in person or by phone, unless noted. We are publishing their verbatim responses, with light editing for clarity or brevity. District 3 includes Atchison Village, Coronado, Pullman, Park Plaza and the Richmond Village/Metro Square neighborhoods Brandon Evans, District 3 challenger What are District 3’s top two priorities and how would you address them? …
Richmond is considering an ordinance to head-off a nationwide trend of investor-backed corporations buying up houses that might otherwise go to first-time homebuyers or working-class families . The ordinance, under review by the city attorney, aims to effectively ban deep-pocketed investors from the residential housing market. National housing trends are showing that the percent of first-time-buyers in the market is at an all time low. At the same time Richmond City Council is considering legislation to curb corporate home sales,…
Running through the heart of Richmond and San Pablo, 23rd Street was once a bustling hub of immigrant-owned businesses. When a protest was held against the Trump administration’s immigration policies in January, it was on 23rd Street where hundreds of people gathered and marched in the pouring rain, waving flags from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. As 2025 comes to a close, immigrant-owned businesses along 23rd are reporting historically low sales. Restaurant owners, servers and organizers attribute this drop…
At 6:33 p.m. on Aug. 6, 2012, two days after moving into her new house in Atchison Village, Marisa Goul looked out her window and saw a towering pillar of black smoke curling into the sky over the Chevron Refinery. Five minutes later, Richmond’s Community Warning System sirens split the air. Her new neighbors told her to shelter in place. Goul began sealing shut all her windows and doors with the roll of painters tape from her recent move. “I’m…