community
Despite some concerns about water pollution from the city’s industries, people fish in many different spots across Richmond’s extensive shoreline: in parks, off piers, and even under bridges and highways. They do so for relaxation, to enjoy the outdoors, and to feed their families. Meet some of them here.
Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez, a local painter, paints portraits of Latinos living or working in Richmond as a way to fight against discrimination in her community. This fall, the Richmond Art Center is exhibiting a selection of Garcia-Gonzalez’ portraits as part of Califas: Art of the US-Mexico Borderlands.
Meditation and breathing exercises are daily rituals at Grant Elementary School in Richmond. Principal Farnaz Heydari introduced these practices in an effort to reduce bad behavior, which had led to high numbers of student suspensions.
Her family dialed 911. But when paramedics reached the seven-story affordable housing development, they found its elevators malfunctioning yet again. In fact, the elevators at this federally funded housing development had not been working for one week, residents say, and they often break down. The building houses some of the city’s most vulnerable residents — low-income seniors and people with disabilities.
North Richmond is an unincorporated community in West Contra Costa County and is almost completely surrounded by the City of Richmond. The idea of annexation, or integration, of North Richmond into the city has been raised for decades. In 2017, it came up once more and residents are currently discussing the possibility.
According to a city report, in 2017, Richmond’s abatement staff collected more than three million pounds of illegally dumped debris from 13,430 locations. A pile of waste strewn around the entrance of the Lillie Mae Jones Trail is just one example of dozens of waste piles illegally dumped throughout the city of Richmond on a daily basis.
As rents and home prices continue to skyrocket across California, a major ballot fight is brewing between tenants and the real estate industry over the state rent control law Costa Hawkins. The law prohibits cities from implementing rent control on single family homes as well as homes or apartments built after 1995 (or the year the city passed it’s rent control law, which, in Oakland, is 1983), resulting in 100% or more rent increases for tenants in these dwellings. The…
Last year in June, East Bay-resident Dieudonné Brou graduated from UCLA in African American studies. During his commencement speech, he revealed himself as formerly incarcerated. Even though higher education offers chance to break the cycle of recidivsm, barriers like financial difficulties and social stigma are high for former incarcerated people.
In 1996, an undocumented young man in the Easy Bay was tired of being paid under the table for his work, so he decided to do something about his legal status. Two friends recommended him to a notario—or notary—who had helped them obtain work permits. The man trusted his friends blindly, so on the advice of the notario, he filled out and signed some documents and was told that a work permit would be mailed to his home. The man…