Development
An empty chair sat on the dais of Richmond City Hall Tuesday night during the inauguration of re-elected councilmembers Tom Butt and Nat Bates. Outpourings of well wishes for its intended occupant, Gary Bell—who won the November race but is in a medically induced coma following a bacterial sinus infection—dominated public speeches and the hushed conversations in the gallery.
Chevron awarded grants totaling $1 million to six nonprofits Wednesday morning for programs aimed at helping students and residents in Richmond.
Patrick McStravick runs his fingers over the bare bones of an old chair. “Look at the thickness of the wood,” he says reverently in heavy brogue. “Honduran mahogany.” Jute webbing, tacked and stretched from the bottoms of the outer wooden slats, forms the base of the seat. A half-dozen metal springs sit on top of the jute. “These are all hand-tied,” he says, pushing down lightly on the springs. Like a cooper her barrels or a tinker his cans, McStravick,…
The site of a former Stauffer Chemical Co. plant in Richmond is still contaminated with a huge amount of toxic waste. Sherry Padgett, whose office is across the street, has spent the last decade trying to get the site’s current owners and environmental regulators to clean it up. Click the arrow to hear Padgett and other local residents tell their stories.
Every day nearly two hundred of Richmond’s hungry are served free meals by the Greater Richmond Interfaith Project volunteers. This Thanksgiving, GRIP seeks to feed hundreds more. “We just want to help somebody,” volunteer Barbara Scott said. “We have all been blessed and this is our way to give back.” Scott is one of 8-10 volunteers from St. John Missionary Baptist Church, some of whom have been serving for more than 20 years. Volunteers like Scott make up the strong…
This past June, Richmond’s City Council voted to join the Marin Energy Authority, a nonprofit energy provider that derives its electricity from a minimum of 50% renewable sources.
This means that in July 2013, all Richmond residents will be automatically enrolled in the Marin Clean Energy Community Choice Aggregation program’s Light Green package.
A shiny bean-shaped rolling contraption, barely three feet high, struggled up a steep gradient on a recent Saturday morning as it entered the streets of Richmond from El Cerrito, turning heads and slowing down traffic as two escort cars flashed their blinkers and carefully stewarded it through crowded traffic intersections. ”We are taking a right on San Pablo, Roger, right on San Pablo,” a navigational assistant in the lead car said through the team’s chatty mission control system, giving a…
The House of Prayer Ministries, located near Nevin and 2nd Street in the Iron Triangle, only has about 20 church members. It’s a small parish, but lead Pastor Kenneth E. Wilkerson says it’s a strong one with deep love for people in the area. “We have a heart for this community, for Richmond,” said Wilkerson, while sitting in the church’s small back room and watching his “worker bees” buzz around clearing plates from people who stopped in for a hot…
When the official returns came in on Wednesday morning, Richmond voters had decided that after the most expensive campaign in city history, what they wanted was familiar faces. Incumbents Nat Bates and Tom Butt were re-elected to the City Council, and Gary Bell, who will return to the dais after an eight-year hiatus, will take the seat vacated by retiring Councilmember Jeff Ritterman. The city’s proposed tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, Measure N, was defeated. Money was a major talking point…