Johnny Valdepena, a 46-year-old Richmond resident who has spent more of his life in prison than out of it, will vote for the first time next week. It wouldn’t have happened, he says, without a lot of help and encouragement – and now he and his fellow Safe Return Project members want to spread that encouragement to others. On a recent Saturday morning at Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church, volunteers from the Safe Return Project and CLOUD, CCISCO’s group of undocumented…
In this year’s dead heat Presidential election, both candidates are vying for the Latino vote. Last Tuesday, President Obama told Iowa’s Des Moines Register that his re-election rests in the hands of Latino voters.
Eduardo Martinez sits at the front desk of the Richmond Progressive Alliance hunched over a pile of donor thank-you letters. It’s midday and the quiet of the office is punctuated by the hum of vehicles that pass by on Macdonald Avenue and the occasional police siren in the distance. As Martinez picks up the letters and shuffles them a bit, several stray postcards—decorated with antique cars and a family of raccoons and littered throughout the pile—pop out. The postcards are…
With exactly three weeks until the upcoming election, Richmond’s key political players were out in full swing and the council’s division on full display at Tuesday night’s meeting. The main source of tension for the evening was a recent fight between Corky Booze and Richmond Progressive Alliance member David Moore. The much-disputed incident between the two men resulted in an exchange of blows outside the Sept. 20 Point Richmond Neighborhood Council’s Candidates Night forum. Councilmember Nat Bates placed an item…
On Saturday, students from Making Waves teamed up with The Watershed Project for a trash assessment and cleanup effort at Baxter Creek, which was recently named one of California’s trashiest waterways. From cardboard and paper, to styrofoam and plastic bags—and even the occasional shoe—students and other volunteers removed debris and freshened up the area. Richmond Confidential caught the action in the video above.
Candidates for the Richmond City Council, Congress and the West Contra Costa Unified School District school board appealed to Richmond youth at a Kennedy High School candidate’s forum Thursday. Graduating seniors from teacher Jeff Pollock’s AP Government and U.S. Government courses gathered in the school cafeteria for the event. Kennedy High School counselor J.P. De Oliveira said he started organizing the event a month and a half ago when Virginia Fuller, the Republican candidate for the 11th Congressional District seat,…
A campaign finance amendment filed Tuesday by City Council candidate Nat Bates shows that he has received more than $32,000, far more than the $1,420 he listed in his original campaign disclosure statement on Friday. Campaign disclosure statements filed by the Chevron-funded committee Moving Forward show Bates also benefited from $90,000 on campaign mailings and billboards spent by the committee on his behalf. The amended disclosure elevates Bates to second in the list of candidates with the most funds raised…
The Chevron-funded campaign committee Moving Forward spent more than $100,000 in support of council candidates Gary Bell, Nat Bates and Bea Roberson between Aug. 9 and Sept. 28, campaign disclosures filed with the City Clerk show. Moving Forward’s money comes solely from a $1.2 million contribution from Chevron.
A door is opening for undocumented immigrant youth who call the United States home. Many are applying for deferred action. But with an upcoming presidential election — between the president who deported the most people in his first term and a candidate who some fear will dismantle deferred action — some are hesitant to apply. This is your place for information on deferred action, the Latino vote, and the undocumented community. Check back as more stories come in.
With only one month until the election, Adam Kruggel is too busy to stay in one room. On a recent Tuesday he spent an evening racing back and forth from a voter phone bank in the Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization office to a deferred action training session in the building next door. As the executive director of CCISCO, Kruggel leads both efforts, which have the big-picture goal of improving voter turnout and education on issues affecting Contra Costa’s…
Due to a surge in player turnout this season, Richmond High School’s football program has fielded its first junior varsity team in two years.
An outdoor art exhibit of work by acclaimed new media artist Scott Snibbe made its debut at the Richmond Arts in Motion festival this Saturday. The display consists of four screens that hang in the front window of the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts on the corner of 11th St. and Macdonald Ave. Three panels feature pre-recorded videos of the EBCPA’s students and resident artists dancing and acting in silhouette. The fourth panel pulls pedestrians on Macdonald Ave….
Richmond’s City Council candidates met for their second night in a row at Thursday evening’s Point Richmond Neighborhood Council’s Candidates Night forum.