Seventeen-year-old Phillip Poe starts his days early. He gets up at 5:45 a.m. so that he can catch a ride to BART with a family member. Then he takes a train to catch a bus, arriving at school just before 8 a.m. His days end late, too. He often doesn’t return until 10 p.m., sometimes taking a long bus ride home after evening varsity basketball practice. After finishing homework, he gets to bed by midnight, catching less than six hours…
Billy White is a Richmond-based artist who has been working out of Nurturing Independence Through Artistic Development (NIAD), located on the city’s 23rd street, for over 20 years. White was hit by a car when he was seven years old, but still paints and creates mixed-media drawings. He’s recently started to make it big, with a sold-out show in New York City. A selection of his pieces is currently being exhibited at Seven Places of the Mind, curated by Margaret…
This year, California had the largest number of people registered to vote in the state’s history, with nearly 20 million ready to hit today’s polls. Formerly incarcerated people in Richmond, some of whom are voting for the first time, helped the state reach that record. In the lead up to the election, organizations across the city worked to educate formerly incarcerated people and their families about their right to vote. Laws vary across the country on voting rights for those…
Richmond is about to begin a unique process to identify a group of community leaders to work with the state and local air resources boards to determine key drivers of the city’s pollution and put together a plan to reduce it. This Wednesday, Nov. 7, leaders of community environmental organizations and other members of the public are invited by County Supervisor John Gioia to attend a meeting on the new plan at the Richmond City Recreation Complex on MacDonald Avenue….
Democrats Buffy Wicks and Jovanka Beckles are running a tight race to represent California’s Assembly District 15, which includes Richmond, Berkeley and North Oakland. While Wicks won the majority of votes in the June primary, and Beckles barely squeaked by, the two are now neck and neck a week ahead of election day. Buffy Wicks, a former Obama staffer, touts her connections to high-level politicians like Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris and her multi-decade organizing experience. Jovanka Beckles, a Richmond…
First San Pablo’s Doctors Medical Center closed in 2015. Now Sutter Health’s Alta Bates hospital in Berkeley is planning to shut its doors. This means patients in Richmond, who already have fewer hospitals to turn to for critical medical care, could see the options shrink further. Pregnant women and new mothers could be the ones to most acutely feel the squeeze. Alta Bates hospital, expected to close in 2030, has by far the highest number of live births of any…
Despite some concerns about water pollution from the city’s industries, people fish in many different spots across Richmond’s extensive shoreline: in parks, off piers, and even under bridges and highways. They do so for relaxation, to enjoy the outdoors, and to feed their families. Meet some of them here.
Jovanka Beckles, who served on Richmond’s City Council for eight years, is running for California’s Assembly District 15 with the support of Our Revolution, a progressive platform backed by Bernie Sanders. She’s one of hundreds of candidates across the country trying to push a progressive agenda ahead of the November election.
Vinay Pimple was born in Mumbai, India, but moved to New Jersey in 1993 to pursue a PhD in English Literature with a focus on women’s studies at Rutgers. He moved to Richmond in 2010. Pimple, 50, was appointed to Richmond City Council in 2015, soon after receiving his U.S. citizenship, to fill a vacancy made when Tom Butt was elected mayor. He wasn’t re-elected for the spot during the 2016 election, but says on his campaign website that his…
Melvin Willis is Richmond’s current vice mayor and is running against incumbent Tom Butt for the mayoral seat. Willis, 28, is a member of the Richmond Progressive Alliance and a Richmond native who became the youngest councilmember in Richmond’s history when he was elected at the age of 26. From 2012 to 2014, he served as the city’s youngest city planning commissioner. Willis first ran for public office after nearly six years working with the Alliance of Californians for Community…
Tom Butt, the current mayor of Richmond who’s running for a second shot at the position, is clearly proud of his first term. When asked what he could have done better during his time as mayor, he had a simple answer: “Nothing,” he said. Butt, 74, grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He graduated from UCLA in 1973 with an architecture degree and moved to Richmond with his wife, who was starting a master’s degree at UC Berkeley. The couple was…