community

Candlelight vigil held in memory of Richard “Pedie” Perez III in Richmond

Family and friends gathered for a candlelight vigil in front of Uncle Sam’s Liquor Store in Richmond in memory of Richard Perez III, 24, who was shot and killed there during a confrontation with a Richmond police officer in the early morning hours of Sept. 14. Perez, or ‘Pedie,’ as he was known in the neighborhood, became the first person killed in an officer-involved shooting in Richmond since 2007. The vigil began at 8 p.m. Sunday and lasted into the…

Mayoral profile: Nat Bates

It was decades ago, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, when Richmond mayoral candidate Nat Bates received a call from his buddy, the late then Richmond Councilman George Livingston, to spur his interest in public service. He was then working for the Alameda County Probation Department, and a career in politics was the farthest thing from his mind. But he knew Richmond, and had spent the majority of his life here. Many remembered his run excelling in both…

Mayoral profile: Charles Ramsey

West Contra Costa School Board President and mayoral candidate Charles Ramsey, age 52, believes that Richmond can be a vibrant community, a bustling hub where young people choose to settle down after their youthful stints in San Francisco – as Ramsey did himself. After growing up in Richmond – while his father was worked in the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office in the sixties – Ramsey went to U.C. Hastings School of Law. He then moved back to Point Richmond…