Economy
Richmond’s City Council candidates met for their second night in a row at Thursday evening’s Point Richmond Neighborhood Council’s Candidates Night forum.
Richmond’s auto dealerships are being revived from what managers in Richmond are calling the worst few years of sales they’ve ever seen. The city has reported a 35 percent increase in auto sales tax revenue for the first quarter of 2012. From January to March of 2012, new and used auto sales brought in $418,308 for the city in sales tax, up from $307,947 in the same period in 2011. Jim Totah, the director of sales operation for companies such…
As Richmond Fire Department and Chevron firefighters complete joint search-and-rescue training operations at the Chevron refinery this week — a sign of cooperation between the two agencies at a time when residents and regulators are demanding answers about refinery safety — Contra Costa County is taking steps to tighten its industrial safety standards. The county’s Board of Supervisors last week appointed Supervisor John Gioia and District 5 Supervisor Federal D. Glover to consider amendments to its Industrial Safety Ordinance and…
Environmentally conscious car owners showed off their wheels at Saturday’s Green Drive Expo in Richmond.
For Doug Deaver, Richmond’s proposed cent-per-ounce soda tax would mean more paperwork and less profit. While city politicians argue over public health, government overreach and the influence of outside money, Deaver, who owns a vending machine company, worries more about his bottom line. If Measure N passes in November, businesses that sell soda, energy drinks, or other beverages with added sweeteners like sugar or corn syrup would be required to keep tabs on exactly how many ounces of those drinks…
A dozen Richmond residents, most donning shirts that read ‘Clean Air for All,’ rode a bus to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District office this morning to hear from the various agencies investigating the Aug. 6 Chevron refinery fire. Spectators filled the chairs and lined the wall of the quiet, wood-paneled room as each organization — including representatives from BAAQMD, the Environmental Protection Agency, Contra Costa Health Services, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, and California Air Resources Board —…
Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Richmond Bay Campus will focus on biosciences that affect energy production, environment, and human health scientists from the lab and the University of California said Thursday. The scientists explained the highlights of research projects to come for an audience of more than 100 people at the Memorial Auditorium. Research proposals included a range of topics, from local rainwater catchment and filtration systems to biofuel development. Jay Keasling, a professor of chemical and biomolecular…
Five months after a jury cleared Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus of racial discrimination allegations, the case is now set to reappear in federal court in November. The plaintiffs — seven prominent African-American police officers — originally filed a suit in 2007 that alleged that Magnus discriminated by race when choosing officers for promotion. In April a jury cleared the chief, deputy chief and city of any wrongdoing. But immediately after the verdict, plaintiff’s attorney Stephan Jaffe said that his…
Contra Costa officials announced at an emotionally-charged meeting Thursday morning that they would postpone a decision to build more jail beds and instead look into alternative solutions to reduce prison populations, a move that was applauded by Richmond residents, nonprofits, faith leaders, and government groups. Buses drove Richmond leaders and residents to the meeting at the county probation department in Martinez early Thursday morning. At the meeting, public attendants held signs stating “Invest in people, not prisons” and “Stop honoring…