Climate
Rich City Rides is racing to raise $6 million in the next four months to secure its future in Richmond and expand services. The bike group launched a campaign in March to purchase three properties, including the longtime home of its bike shop at 1500 Macdonald Ave. The organization has received $1.2 million in donations so far and has been offered a $3.3 million loan from a donor who wishes to remain anonymous, according to founder Najari Smith. The purchases…
Richmond residents joined millions of people from around the world celebrating Earth Day on Saturday with activities built around protecting the environment and preserving the planet. In Richmond’s Unity Park, Urban Tilth, Rich City Rides, Moving Forward, Groundwork, Cal Cameron Institute, Building Blocks for Kids, the city of Richmond and other organizations promoted ways to get closer to nature and away from reliance on fossil fuels. Kids had a chance to interact with snakes, rabbits and turtles. Dozens of people…
As the price of gas increased in recent years, the 70-mile round trip from Richmond that Oscar Alcocer makes every Saturday to pick up his child in Walnut Creek became unaffordable in his 1995 Jeep Wrangler. Alcocer cut his costs last year by switching to an electric vehicle when Charge Up Contra Costa, an electric car-share program, launched in Civic Center Plaza. The weekly visits were going smoothly, until recently, said Alcocer, a 41-year-old engineer at an aerospace company. “One…
More than 100 cyclists pedaled across the Richmond-San Rafael bridge on Sunday to celebrate the third anniversary of the structure’s dedicated bike lane. But their joy was mixed with concern, which the event’s slogan explained: “Use it or lose it!” “This year, we’re fighting to keep the to keep this bike trail that we’ve advocated for,” said Najari Smith, founder and executive director of Rich City Rides, a Richmond nonprofit that promotes cycling. The Richmond-San Rafael bridge is 5.5 miles…
Richmond residents may soon be able to rent electric bikes with ease, after the city received a $3 million grant from the California Strategic Growth Council last month to implement its E-bike Lending Library Program. Heralded by local bicycle cooperative and nonprofit Rich City Rides, a co-applicant for the grant, the project intends to make cycling more accessible for many would-be riders inhibited by physical ability or other barriers that make riding traditional bikes difficult. “We wanted to add a…
As dozens of dead fish pile along the shoreline, rotting under the baking sun, the stench is a minor inconvenience to the local anglers who are struggling with the financial burdens brought on by the recent algae bloom. In late July, the San Francisco Bay Area witnessed the largest Heterosigma akashiwo bloom in recorded history. Notoriously dubbed the red tide, this environmental tragedy resulted in a mass fish kill that ravaged the marine life in the bay, decimating over tens…
Like many Richmond residents, Jim Zahradka starts his morning commute with a ride across the Richmond-San Rafael bridge. But while others drive, Zahradka, an avid cyclist, pedals his way up and over the 325-foot tall structure. Rumored plans to close the bridge’s bike lane, which opened in 2019, so more vehicle traffic can pass into Marin County were just one concern discussed at a Virtual Town Hall held by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District on Tuesday evening. The…
Amid the hum of the Bay Area’s cities, it is easy to forget that to live here is to live alongside a vast ecosystem. The biggest and most vital is the Pacific Ocean. And once a year, the ocean reveals its abundance to herring fishers. “‘The water will be white, that’s when you know,” said Keith Nguyen, a kayak fisher from San Jose. Nguyen is describing the herring spawn, an annual event from November to February, when adult herring migrate…
Gas stoves and fireplaces may be a thing of the past in Richmond under a proposed ordinance that would shut natural gas out of new buildings. Richmond City Council could vote next month on the proposed ordinance by Councilmember Eduardo Martinez that closes a loophole in the city’s natural gas ban, which applies to new structures and major renovations. Gas-powered appliances and fireplaces are now exempt from the ban but would not be under Martinez’s proposal, which would leave electricity…