Richmond Confidential posed the same questions to mayoral candidates Nathaniel Bates, Shawn Dunning, Eduardo Martinez and Mark Wassberg. Their answers are being presented verbatim, in the order they were received, with light editing, where necessary, for brevity. Today’s Q&A is with Eduardo Martinez. Where are you from, and how many years have you lived in Richmond? I am a second generation Mexican-American born in Dumas, Texas. I moved to the Bay Area in the ’70s and moved to Richmond in 1993 with my…
Richmond Confidential posed the same questions to mayoral candidates Nathaniel Bates, Shawn Dunning, Eduardo Martinez and Mark Wassberg. Their answers are being presented verbatim, in the order they were received, with light editing, where necessary, for brevity. Today’s Q&A is with Mark Wassberg. Where are you from, and how many years have you lived in Richmond? I was raised in San Pablo for 18 years, then worked in Richmond for 45 years and lived in Richmond for 10 years. In…
Richmond Confidential posed the same questions to mayoral candidates Nathaniel Bates, Shawn Dunning, Eduardo Martinez and Mark Wassberg. Their answers are being presented verbatim, in the order they were received, with light editing, where necessary, for brevity. Today’s Q&A is with Nat Bates. Where are you from, and how many years have you lived in Richmond? My mother and I are from Texas, and at the age of 11, we moved to Richmond after the invasion of Pearl Harbor. Like…
Richmond Confidential posed the same questions to mayoral candidates Nathaniel Bates, Shawn Dunning, Eduardo Martinez and Mark Wassberg. Their answers are being presented verbatim, in the order they were received, with light editing, where necessary, for brevity. Today’s Q&A is with Shawn Dunning. Where are you from, and how many years have you lived in Richmond? A: I was born in San Francisco, and I grew up outside the small town of Colfax, in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Since going…
Police have arrested four juveniles and are looking for others who they say are connected to break-ins at five West Contra Costa Unified School District buildings last month, smashing windows and electronics and ransacking classrooms. The juveniles who were arrested late in July and early this month ranged in age from 12 to 16 years old, said Sgt. Aaron Pomeroy of the Richmond Police Department. He said police are still gathering evidence and working to identify other suspects. Richmond Police…
The Richmond Police Department is struggling to recruit and retain officers, leading to forced overtime and burnout. It’s a problem that departments across the country are facing, as widespread police brutality cases have highlighted systemic problems. Adding to that in Richmond are a labor dispute and the absence of the department’s chief for nine months. The Richmond Police Officers Association has been in contract negotiations with the city since December. The current contract expired on June 30. Ben Therriault, RPOA…
Richmond Police Chief Bisa French returned to work on Monday, nine months after being put on administrative leave because of an assault accusation, Assistant Chief Louie Tirona confirmed Wednesday. French rose through the ranks to become the city’s first female police chief in July 2020. Last October, then-City Manager Laura Snideman put her on paid leave after an 18-year-old family member requested restraining orders against French and her husband, Lee French, an Oakland police sergeant who was put on leave…
The West Contra Costa Unified School District board passed a 2022-23 budget Wednesday that is more than $16 million in the red. This deficit is part of the reason why the $485.6 million budget includes a fiscal solvency plan. The plan is needed because WCCUSD is no longer financially healthy and cannot meet its financial obligations, according to Robert McEntire, interim chief business officer. He said the district will run out of cash during the 2023-24 fiscal year, unless it…
Kristen Pursley has been teaching adult education full time in the West Contra Costa Unified School District for 19 years. So it came as a shock on June 8 when she received an email from Human Resources telling her she was laid off. When she heard that co-worker Ken Ryan, who has been teaching adult education for 28 years, received the same notice, Pursley grew suspicious. Ryan is president and Pursley vice president of a new union representing around 61…
Sandra Rose hikes frequently in East Bay Regional Parks and is no stranger to rattlesnakes. Last month, she saw three in one week. “We all heard the hiss as the snake went up the hill.” Rose said, referring to a hike in Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve in Oakland. Rose says she expects to see snakes in the park. “They won’t bother you if you don’t bother them,” she said. “I’m not scared of them, I think they’re fascinating.” Last month,…
Point Molate, a scenic stretch of San Francisco Bay shoreline, has faced one legal battle after another over its ownership and development potential. A new lawsuit, filed on May 27 in Contra Costa County Superior Court, seeks $20 million from the City of Richmond and threatens to tie up the 425-acre plot indefinitely. Winehaven Legacy LLC, a subsidiary of developer SunCal, has accused the city of breaching its contract and breaking the Brown Act, which governs public meetings in California. …
With more bay shoreline than any other city in the Bay Area, it’s natural that Richmond has had a long association with ferries. Before the Bay Bridge was built, the ferry from Richmond to San Francisco was the most direct way to commute back and forth to the city. Richmond’s original ferry service stopped in the 1950s, and besides a short-lived ferry in the 1990s, Richmond did not see another ferry until San Francisco Bay Ferry launched its Richmond Ferry…
After a nearly 10-week strike, about 500 steelworkers will gradually return to Chevron’s Richmond Refinery in the next four weeks, replacing contract workers hired to fill the gap left when workers walked off the job in March. Their return comes after United Steelworkers Local 5 ratified a four-year contract with Chevron on Saturday, Jess Kamm Broomell, a union spokesperson, confirmed. Neither the union nor the refinery has released details of the agreement. Reuters reported that the new contract does not…