Economy
After 10 years behind lock and key, the Point Molate Beach Park could re-open as early as this summer, a city official told the Richmond City Council Tuesday night. The council unanimously approved a two-part plan to rehabilitate the park, which would cost up to $115,000. In a relatively short three-hour meeting, the council also agreed to loan the developer of the proposed site for the Affordable Health Care Act call center $1 million in a tactical effort to secure…
As part of an ongoing tussle over the fate of a state-run call center expected to create some 200 jobs, city council members in Concord and Richmond will discuss the same item at their respective meetings on Tuesday night: How to guarantee the center is placed in their town. The call center is part of California’s move to comply with Affordable Care Act regulations and provide information for Californians on health insurance changes and plans. The goal is to have…
The Bay Area Toll Authority— the government agency that handles revenue from toll booths—approved a $5.6 million contract with a Richmond-based event planner to organize a two-day celebration of the opening of the East Span of the Bay Bridge over Labor Day weekend.
The Marin Energy Authority presented to the city council Tuesday night a plan to educate Richmond residents about their choices in switching to a new renewable electricity source. The nonprofit energy corporation plans to hold a series of meetings at neighborhood council meetings and houses of worship.
As they have every Sunday for the last 70 years, members of the Davis Chapel filed into church on a recent weekend and took their seats in the red-cushioned pews. The first sunlight of the day streamed in through the stained-glass windows and members of the choir took their positions behind the altar. Clapping their hands and stepping side-to-side in rhythm, the white-robed choir raised its voice in harmony and sang: “Oh to the blood of Jeee—sus. To the blood…
Ducking under the water, seven-year-old Colin twists his body around in a tight corkscrew, shoots his hands in front of his head and pushes off hard against the pool wall. His slight frame cuts through the water like an arrow in flight—graceful, precise, direct. And then the arrow goes awry: a few yards down his head pops up, his right arm readies for the first stroke and his right leg suddenly juts out of the water too. Like a periscope,…
Richmond is in good fiscal shape, according to the city’s mid-year review, presented to the city council at Tuesday night’s meeting, which also included talk of bringing a new call center to Richmond, deciding on further development of a Richmond hillside and requiring registration of vacant buildings. Foreclosures have dropped sharply, the city’s unemployment rate is down 6 percent from a high in 2009 of over 19 percent, and taxes on property and sales are higher than mid-year projections. “The…
Federal investigators have concluded an aged and severely corroded pipe caused the Aug. 6 Chevron Refinery fire. Investigators and elected officials were quick to blame the oil giant for the explosion, arguing the corporation knew the pipe should have been replaced years ago. The findings, released by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board on Feb. 13, are consistent with months-old reports that blame the incident on high sulfidation corrosion and low silicon content in the 36-year-old steel pipe…
The East Bay Economic Development Alliance celebrated creativity and innovation at its first annual awards ceremony Thursday. The event, held in Oakland at the Fox Theater, honored East Bay organizations that do work in the fields of clean technology, advanced manufacturing, food, information and communication technology, life sciences, engineering, design and education.