A council seat opened up when former Councilmember Tom Butt was sworn in as mayor earlier this year. By last Tuesday, 18 applicants had submitted statements to fill the vacancy. The council now must appoint one of them, and they may do so as soon as Tuesday night. Richmond Confidential asked all the councilmembers, including Mayor Butt, to share their thoughts by email on the large number of candidates who applied, what criteria they would use to make the appointment,…
Nearly a year has passed since stories broke in February 2014, about disturbing living conditions in the Hacienda public housing complex. Now Hacienda residents will finally see the beginning of the end of their days at Hacienda.
Before the Tuesday night deadline, 18 candidates from diverse backgrounds filed applications to fill the empty seat. The council majority will only choose one of them.
Richmond’s new mayor Tom Butt made his first State of the City address on Tuesday night, announcing that “Richmond is open for business” and saying that his office is checking on the Hacienda public housing complex resident relocation every day. Butt started his address by thanking former Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, City Manager Bill Lindsay and all city employees for the “8 great years” when McLaughlin served as the mayor. “Richmond has clearly changed for the better and we want to…
Magaly Rodriguez, who came to the U.S. from Mexico when she was an infant, is not a U.S. citizen. To get Rodriguez to Brown University, ILC and university officials had to navigate a web of regulations that inhibit undocumented students. But they were also helped by a key new federal program—DACA.
Now in Richmond, wild turkeys chase joggers in Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, pad around parking lots at Hilltop, leave droppings on residents’ driveways in Point Richmond, and have been sighted on the roof of a residential building in Brickyard Landing.
Hundreds of protestors marched in downtown Berkeley Saturday night, protesting the recent non-indictments of the police officers involved in the deaths of the Eric Garner and Michael Brown. The protestors started from University Ave., caused North Berkeley BART Station to close, and marched towards UC Berkeley. Violence erupted at Telegraph Ave. while making their way to downtown Berkeley, chanting verses ranging from “I can’t breathe” to “Don’t shoot” to “the system is corrupt.” University Ave. Downtown Berkeley Telegraph Ave.
From December 2011 to August 2013, the Easy Go program, funded by nearly $1.8 million in Chevron tax settlement, provided subsidized electric car rentals, bike rentals, kids cabs, van services and AC Transit Easy passes for Richmond residents.
Officials announced this week that Richmond is about to release its first app ever, CivicTRAK. The app will allow residents who see toppled trees, potholes and other problems to snap a photo with CivicTRAK, write a small note, and tab the submit button.
In one of her photo essays, City of Pride and Purpose, artist Mindy Pines, captures Richmond on election day.
Three minutes past midnight, Eduardo Martinez walks out of the Richmond Progressive Alliance office. He turns around and stares back in. Still no final result. He waves goodnight to his supporters. It’s Martinez’s third time running for the Richmond City Council.
A week ago, a website came to Richmond residents’ attention. It urges voters to support Chevron’s slate of favored candidates: Nat Bates for mayor, and Donna Powers and Charles Ramsey for City Council. And it also touts Jim Rogers and Jael Myrick for City Council. People immediately wondered, are Rogers and Myrick now on Chevron’s team?
Up against Tom Butt and Nat Bates, two local politicians with a combined experience of 55 years, Uwahemu stands out as an outsider to Richmond’s politics. This is both a curse and a blessing. He presents Richmond a fresh candidate for mayor, yet has the challenge of facing two local stalwarts with widespread name recognition.