community

Richmond street renamed after international religious leader

Richmond is now home to “Dalai Lama Avenue,” a block-long stretch of Huntington Avenue the City Council renamed on Tuesday to honor Richmond’s Tibetan community and the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists worldwide. The newly-renamed avenue will guide visitors searching for the Tibetan Association of Northern California (TANC), which is located on Huntington between Columbia Avenue and San Joaquin Street. “A lot of times when people come looking for the cultural center, they end up on the wrong side of…

Boba and Badges: How police are using tea to build bridges with community

You may have heard of “Coffee with a Cop,” or its summer version, “Chill with a Cop,” which involves ice cream in an effort to sweeten relations and foster dialogue between police and the community. On Friday, the Richmond Police Department updated their menu when they hosted “Boba and Badges,” serving the popular Taiwanese drink made with “bubbles” of tapioca,   in an informal community event at the Pacific East Mall. Designed to invite local residents to ask questions, voice concerns, and get to…

Council votes on Zeneca site clean-up and development

Electrician and two-time cancer survivor Sherry Padgett could throw a baseball from her 49th Street cabling business and hit what Richmond residents call “the Zeneca site:” an eighty-seven-acre property that contains more than a century’s inheritance of hazardous waste from manufacturers including the now-defunct herbicide maker Stauffer Chemical and the European pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. Padgett calls the chemicals on the site a “witch’s brew.” Around 10 p.m. Tuesday, the City Council voted 5-2 to reverse its support for a cleanup…

RYSE Commons: building on dreams of Richmond youth

September 2019 marks a new beginning for the RYSE Center. One of Richmond’s most prominent youth organizations, the center recently broke ground on construction for its new, 37,000 square foot building, known as RYSE Commons. RYSE first opened in 2008. Conceived as a sanctuary from urban violence, it is a place where youth can work, seek therapy, hold discussions, learn new skills, and create art in a safe space. Now, 11 years later, RYSE Commons is a product of ideas…