Climate
Dozens of community members gathered at Richmond Memorial Auditorium Wednesday to imagine Richmond’s economic future, expressing concerns about economic hardship, pollution and a lack of community spaces. The event is part of a series called “Our Future Economy,” which the UC Berkeley Othering & Belonging Institute is hosting along with the mayor’s office to devise ways to transform the economy for communities, workers and climate well-being. Othering & Belonging says on its website that Richmond was selected for a number…
On a cool and moonlit autumn night, Aman Daro stepped carefully along a muddy bank of the San Francisco Bay. He was wearing to protect himself from the knee-deep mud. He knelt next to a man-made oyster reef and turned on his headlamp. After using a brush to scrub away mud and seaweed, he traced his finger along the structure, counting the number of oysters attached to the reef. The night sounded with the soft crash of the waves, the…
The dedicated bike lane on the upper deck of the Richmond-San Rafael bridge has been a bone of contention between cyclists and motorists since it opened as a four-year pilot project in 2019. While its life has been extended to a fifth year, its days may be numbered. Next month, the Bay Conservation and Development Commission may reduce the bike lane to a weekends-only feature, a move the cycling community opposes. Since it opened, the bike lane has remained accessible to…
Early next year, Richmond will begin developing its Sea Level Rise Adaptation and Resiliency Plan to address the risks of rising sea levels. It will involve city officials, environmental scientists, engineers, and community members implementing strategies to protect and restore the Richmond shoreline after decades of heavy industrial activity. This initiative gives the city a head start on the planning process mandated by California’s new sea level rise legislation, which requires local governments to have a plan in place by…
Richmond aims to become the first Bay Area city to advance a neighborhood green energy initiative, with plans to convert homes in a pilot neighborhood from gas to electric energy. The Richmond Clean Energy and Healthy Homes Project calls for replacing gas appliances with high-efficiency electric ones in a low-income neighborhood that PG&E would help the city identify. Upgrades will include heat pumps, electric panel enhancements, onsite solar panels, electric vehicle charging stations, and battery storage. The pilot would include…
Richmond City Council has awarded a contract of up to $250,000 to a British consulting firm to help the city make its vehicle fleet emission-free. The contract, passed unanimously on Oct. 22, entrusts Arup US Inc. with formulating a “Zero Emission Vehicle Fleet and Infrastructure Transition Plan” to replace approximately 400 city vehicles with vehicles that do not burn fossil fuel. To support a clean energy fleet, the plan also will include estimates on installing infrastructure such as charging stations…
“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: Are you prepared for fire season? Lucas Hernandez “I think so. I do have a go bag. I had bottles of water next to the go bag in a case, but I drank them. My spare car keys are in there, and I think I have rope. I packed it a long…
Transit agencies in the East Bay are promoting California Clean Air Day on Wednesday, with several providing free fares to encourage riders to use public transit. The goal of Clean Air Day is to encourage residents to participate in more sustainable activities to minimize air pollution. The agencies offering free rides include the San Francisco Bay Ferry, WestCAT, Wheels and County Connections. But the largest transit agencies in the Bay Area — AC Transit, BART, and MUNI — will not…
White Pony Express was trying to develop an app that would make it easier for grocery stores, restaurants and other small businesses to alert volunteer food runners when they had excess food that could be redistributed. So the nonprofit, which is based in Concord, applied for and received $100,000 from the Contra Costa County Innovation Fund grant. “It made a lot of things possible because we were a little bit stuck, where we had the technology, but the technology needed…