Development
California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) on Friday announced its selection of a cleanup plan for one of Richmond’s most notorious brownfields: an industrial site located on the city’s south shoreline, once occupied by a succession of corporate tenants including Stauffer Chemical Co. and pharmaceutical company Zeneca Inc. The plan will excavate contaminated soil and install barriers in areas where tainted soil will be left in place. It would take about eight fewer years to implement and involve tens…
Richmond’s waterfront celebrated a new symbol lighting up its night sky. The “Changing Tide” started giving off multi-colored streaks of light on the night of October 5.
Electrician and two-time cancer survivor Sherry Padgett could throw a baseball from her 49th Street cabling business and hit what Richmond residents call “the Zeneca site:” an eighty-seven-acre property that contains more than a century’s inheritance of hazardous waste from manufacturers including the now-defunct herbicide maker Stauffer Chemical and the European pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. Padgett calls the chemicals on the site a “witch’s brew.” Around 10 p.m. Tuesday, the City Council voted 5-2 to reverse its support for a cleanup…
The newly-opened Richmond Business Hub stands on the first floor of the Richmond BART parking garage at the corner of 16th Street and Macdonald, across the street from the Rich City Rides bike shop. It was unveiled last month during a ribbon-cutting event attended by city councilmembers, residents and members of the Richmond Main Street Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to revitalizing the downtown. The 10,000 square-foot hub is a co-working facility: two working space ventures, Co-Biz and Oakstop, are part…
Welcome back to the Tales of Two Cities podcast! This episode is all about endings. This week, we tag along with a family in North Richmond that visits several cities just to get groceries. We check in with Warriors fans about how they feel about their team heading (back) to San Francisco. We’ll take a quick trip across the bay to visit the last days at Lucca’s Ravioli in San Francisco. Back bayside, we hear from the owner of one…
Council members voted to enter into exclusivity agreements with Suncal regarding the development of the Point Molate waterfront.
The Richmond City Council will soon consider an ordinance that would restrict the handling of coal and petcoke, a byproduct of oil refining, on port terminals in Richmond. A draft of the ordinance, introduced in December, has been approved by the city attorney, and it is expected to go to the council for a vote, although according to that office, a date has not been set yet. The ordinance, authored by Councilmember Eduardo Martinez, calls for “the prohibition on the…
A month into the new ferry service between Richmond to San Francisco, residents are thrilled. Already, some 635 commuters a day—more than expected—are using the 35-minute service between Richmond and the Embarcadero. “It’s clean, easy, there are no homeless people and it’s faster than BART,” said Yu Matsu, a Richmond resident who now takes the ferry daily to get to work in the Financial District. It costs her $6.75 one-way on a Clipper Card, compared to $7.50 on BART. “I’ve…
The Las Deltas Housing Project in North Richmond was built in the 1940s and 1950s, as part of the country’s low-rent housing program. Due to a lack of government funding, the Contra Costa Housing Authority was forced to close down Las Deltas and begin the process of relocating residents. Additional reporting by Barbara Harvey and Ravleen Kaur.