community
Family, friends, co-workers and community members gathered at Lucky A’s North Richmond Baseball Field on Saturday to celebrate the life and legacy of Henry Arthur Clark, a pioneer of the environmental justice movement in Richmond and beyond. Clark passed away on June 2, at 77 years old. To a gathering of more than 50 people, speakers recounted the leadership that would be a hallmark of Clark’s life. He grew up in the shadow of the Chevron Refinery and Richmond’s industrial…
Bright and early, in the Saturday morning chill, roughly a dozen Boy Scouts arrived at Shimada Friendship Park ready to clear the Richmond shoreline of washed up trash. They eagerly raced up and down the trail, competing to see who could retrieve the most unusual waste lodged in the rocks. Each scout filled buckets with disposable masks, Styrofoam, miscellaneous plastics, water bottles, straws, plastic hangers, and driftwood. The Boy Scouts joined Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia and dozens of other volunteers for…
“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: Should Richmond increase police pay to make it easier for the city to recruit officers? “Yes, but only if it goes to training. We shouldn’t be defunding the police. They should be given moretraining. You know, we can all use a little more training in our jobs. They should be trained in…
Police have arrested four juveniles and are looking for others who they say are connected to break-ins at five West Contra Costa Unified School District buildings last month, smashing windows and electronics and ransacking classrooms. The juveniles who were arrested late in July and early this month ranged in age from 12 to 16 years old, said Sgt. Aaron Pomeroy of the Richmond Police Department. He said police are still gathering evidence and working to identify other suspects. Richmond Police…
With more bay shoreline than any other city in the Bay Area, it’s natural that Richmond has had a long association with ferries. Before the Bay Bridge was built, the ferry from Richmond to San Francisco was the most direct way to commute back and forth to the city. Richmond’s original ferry service stopped in the 1950s, and besides a short-lived ferry in the 1990s, Richmond did not see another ferry until San Francisco Bay Ferry launched its Richmond Ferry…
America’s oldest active park ranger, Richmond’s Betty Reid Soskin, who weaved her real-life experiences in the 1940s into programs at the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park, retired quietly Thursday, six months after celebrating her 100th birthday. Soskin spent her last day on the job doing the work she has enjoyed for more than a decade — educating the public at the park, the National Park Service said in a news release. Soskin has been involved with the…
Angelina Peña moved into a trailer in a vacant parking lot in North Richmond nine months ago. “Unfortunately, hardship happened,” she said, offering a quick explanation of the predicament that took her away from her children and to the encampment where her sister was living. Peña landed a job with Safe Organized Spaces, an advocacy group that donated the trailer she lives in alongside about 100 other residents at the Castro Street encampment. Named after its entrance at the intersection…
Mental health emergencies account for more than 1 in 10 of the 911 medical calls in Contra Costa County. A new program will now address those calls with crisis teams that include behavioral health professionals. This week, Contra Costa Health Services unveiled the Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime program, which will get clinicians involved in accessing medical calls and determining when a crisis response team is needed. The county is now hiring for the A3 pilot program, with plans to have the…
On Friday, South Street will be renamed in honor of late environmental justice advocate and community warrior Ethel Dotson, who also was known for her dedication to Richmond’s Black cultural history. The effort to rename the street, which runs from Carlson Boulevard to Wall Avenue, was spearheaded by Pullman Neighborhood Council President Naomi Williams, who says she wanted to pay tribute to Dotson on the street Dotson lived on and invested in. By all accounts, Dotson was a force to…