Company Town
A Mexican folk dance, an African-American gospel song, a restored World War II era school building, and a happy principal. “There are two things you can give to children, in general: roots and wings,” said Peppina Chang, the principal of the Richmond College Prep Schools. And today her preschoolers are getting their wings in a building whose roots dig deep into the heart of modern American history — although those roots had almost crumbled. After years of fundraising and planning,…
Congressman George Miller flies in and out of the Bay Area on a near weekly basis. When he looks down as he flies over Richmond he sees one of the “last big promising corners in the Bay Area.” “What you see is this huge asset with a lot of developable properties,” he said to a round-table of reporters in Monday afternoon. Richmond, Miller said, has most everything it needs to facilitate major growth: easy transit, innovative businesses, forward-thinking public officials….
Chevron’s Richmond operation will soon have a change in its top management as General Manager Mike Coyle will leave office in the last week of this month to take a job at corporate headquarters in San Ramon. Coyle, who has “proudly” been the refinery GM for three years, said he will leave with a single regret: that he couldn’t complete the Renewal Project, which was halted during his time as the refinery chief. The task of passing the project will…
Amidst a series of increasingly public disagreements, City Councilmember Jeff Ritterman filed two formal complaints this week to the California Fair Political Practices Commission, alleging that Councilmember Corky Booze has unfairly punished some local businesses and made alliances with others based on campaign contributions. While the complaints reached the state watchdog agency in Sacramento, the councilmembers clashed repeatedly at Tuesday’s council meeting. Supporters of Booze turned out in droves to lambast Ritterman and the Richmond Progressive Alliance, the influential political…
Visitors gathered in a parking lot off Castro Street, where they were greeted with balloons, candy, hand puppets for kids, information on Chevron’s Renewal Project and postcards of refinery workers through the ages – and asked to leave behind all bags and cameras, for security reasons.
Chevron’s Richmond Refinery will open its gates to the public Saturday morning, during its second annual Community Tour Day. Over 500 people from Richmond and surrounding cities have signed up to tour the refinery, an event that Chevron officials hope will help demystify its operations. “People have a lot of misinformation about the refinery, and are not sure about what happens behind the gates,” said Chevron spokesperson Melissa Ritchie. “We want them to know what’s happening here.” Local residents had…
Former President Bill Clinton will be the keynote speaker at a highly anticipated public health summit to be held in Richmond in October.
Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom and state Assembly Member Nancy Skinner will be featured speakers at Friday’s RichmondBUILD Graduation ceremony.
The event, replete with showy performances, marked the 96th anniversary of “Richmond Day,” which was held Aug. 7, 1915 at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.