Development

Grand opening celebrates four businesses in Point Richmond

Nikki Dycus holds a wig in each hand. Both are made of wavy brown hair, and if they were on someone’s head, it would be hard to tell the difference between them. When Dycus compares their weight and turns the wigs inside out, she reveals their subtle uniqueness. One looks more woven on the inside, and feels heavier—a more temporary solution to the problem of hair loss. The other has a thin inner lining, and is more suited to conform…

Birds on the Bay Bridge

Of all the birds that nest on or around the Bay Bridge—gulls, terns, pelicans, pigeons, falcons, hummingbirds—Lauren Bingham is most concerned with the cormorants. It’s not that they’re worse, bird by bird, more onerous or unruly than the other birds; it’s just that there’s so many of them. Standing on the unopened new span of the Bay Bridge, halfway to Yerba Buena Island, she points at the steel latticework right below the road deck on the old bridge, then gestures…

Restoration Hardware moves for bigger horizons

Upscale luxury furniture retailer Restoration Hardware has outgrown its former Marina Way South location, and now has put down roots in a larger warehouse at 2900 Atlas Road. Plans started last November for the big move, about the same time the national furniture chain went public. The company, headquartered in Corte Madera, signed a 10-year lease for the new Atlas location. Now the business can enjoy the space of the 200,000 square-foot building, when before it had to share a…

At heated meeting, council discusses gun control, mural approval

In a contentious meeting Tuesday night, the city council took on gun control and support for a program that works to curtail violence in Richmond after a deadly week that ended with three dead in the city. Councilmember Corky Booze set the tone for the meeting early on, when he took issue with Mayor Gayle McLaughlin’s re-ordering of agenda items. “This is just to show how we let our personalities get ahead of what’s supposed to happen in our city,”…

Movie theater opens in Point Richmond

Ross Woodbury looks around the lobby of his newly opened movie theater before hitting the lights and walking out. It’s just after 4 p.m., a little less than an hour until the next show starts.

Military vets have new resource center, place to call home

A new resource center for homeless veterans to call home opened last week on the corner of Maine Avenue and Harbour Way South. Established by Rhonda Harris, the four bedroom two-story house with a white picket fence around it sits directly across the street from Nystrom Elementary School and can accommodate six veterans. The opening ceremony was attended by more than 25 people and included Secretary of the California Department of Veteran Affairs Peter J. Gravett, Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and…

Chevron reports cause of August 6 refinery fire

Chevron failed to properly document a thinning pipe in the Richmond refinery’s crude unit back in 2002, the company admitted Friday, when the oil giant released its findings from its own investigation into the cause of last August’s refinery fire. The company concluded sulfur corrosion, accelerated by low silicon content, caused the five-foot carbon steel pipe to spring a leak and eventually ignite. “We have identified what went wrong and are taking steps to prevent a similar incident in the future,” said…

City Council postpones item asking for firing of Assistant City Manager

Efforts to have Richmond Assistant City Attorney and Human Resources Director Leslie Knight removed from her position were deterred Tuesday evening, when a resolution calling for her dismissal was taken off the city council agenda shortly before the meeting. The resolution, introduced by Councilmember Jovanka Beckles, recommended that City Manager Bill Lindsay, who has the power to fire employees, terminate Knight for violating city policies, as found in a city-funded independent investigation. In a public statement Lindsay released in March,…