In January, Mayor Tom Butt will leave office, and a majority of the Design Review Board may follow him. The City Council rejected Butt’s proposed appointments of two new members to the DRB in a 3-3-1 vote at the Nov. 15 meeting. Vice Mayor Eduardo Martinez and council members Claudia Jimenez and Gayle McLaughlin voted against the appointments. Council member Melvin Willis abstained. “I’ll tell you a little secret,” Butt told the council. “We’re not going to have a quorum…
“People of Richmond” is a regular series in which reporters pose a question to people in the community. Answers are presented verbatim, though sometimes edited for brevity. Q: What should Richmond do to attract and retain businesses? “There’s a lot of things they could be doing. Probably revamp the downtown area. The old bank is still empty. … Taxes are very high for businesses so lowering taxes and providing incentives for new businesses is a start. Bigger businesses like the…
Eduardo Martinez became the first elected Latino mayor of Richmond on Tuesday, inching past runner-up Shawn Dunning by fewer than a thousand votes in the city’s mayoral election. Martinez, a member of the Richmond Progressive Alliance, has been a City Council member for nearly eight years. In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, with the night’s final unofficial results freshly posted, Martinez said he felt great. “There’s a lot of work to be done over the next few years and…
“People of Richmond” is a regular series in which reporters pose a question to people in the community. Answers are presented verbatim, though sometimes edited for brevity. Q: Should the California Constitution be amended to guarantee the right to an abortion? “Ultimately, yes. I do, personally, although I have family who feels very differently. So it’s always such a heated topic in my family, so I was thinking about them. But on a personal level, I do feel very strongly…
“People of Richmond” is a regular series in which reporters pose a question to people in the community. Answers are presented verbatim, though sometimes edited for brevity. Q: What should be done to address the teacher shortage in the West Contra Costa Unified School District? “Pay them a living wage, increase taxes on corporations so we can pay them a living wage, and also of course housing. Housing is so expensive here…a lot of teachers can’t afford to live here. Cost…
In a move reminiscent of the recent migrant stunt pulled by Republican Govs. Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott, Richmond Mayor Tom Butt listed the home addresses of his opponents on the City Council as “RV-friendly parking spots” in an email to advocates for the unhoused community. On Sept. 19, Darcy Crosman, a member of the Alliance for Action on Homelessness and Fire Safety, emailed Butt and other council members for alternative locations that residents who wanted to live in their…
Rydin Road residents have been given a reprieve. The Richmond City Council approved a contract amendment at its Tuesday meeting that will extend the sunset date for some Rydin Road residents. The extension allows the RV encampment to keep providing shelter for residents who need more time to transition. The council voted 5-2 to push back the closing date from Sept. 30 to Oct. 21 for those with special circumstances and to allow $50,000 to be equally distributed among residents…
“People of Richmond” is a regular series in which reporters pose a question to people in the community. Answers are presented verbatim, though sometimes edited for brevity. Q: If you were superintendent of the West Contra Costa Unified School District, what would your top priority be? “I would make sure that students have enough teachers. Right now, a lot of the classrooms are overfilled and the students don’t get adequate attention. It’s better to have more teachers or tutors in each…