Economy
More than 750 families in the city’s low-income Iron Triangle neighborhood now have computers in their homes thanks to a two-year effort by a coalition of nonprofit agencies working to make broadband Internet access widely available there.
The East Bay Municipal Utility District, which supplies drinking water and water treatment to East Bay cities from Castro Valley to Crockett, has announced plans to lay new three-foot-wide water pipes beneath a stretch of 23rd Street. The project is part of a 10-year effort to expand capacity in the district’s pipelines and water treatment plants to meet rising demand for water. EBMUD does not plan to begin construction until 2021, but is seeking public input now. The project in…
When Judy Quittman had to take her 2-year-old daughter to the emergency room due to an asthma attack, she knew it was time to do something about the mold growing in her home. Quittman was one of the first Richmond residents to take advantage of Energy Upgrade California, a program assisting homeowners in upgrading and “greening” their homes to save on energy bills and make for a healthier, eco-friendly home environment. The upgrade – proper insulation and double-paned windows…
A group organized by Richmond SPOKES director Brian Drayton, and with the backing of the city’s progressive leadership, has taken the name OccupyRICHMOND and plans to gather downtown and march to City Hall this afternoon. Mayor Gayle McLaughlin said Wednesday she’ll meet them there and express her support for the “Occupy” movement, a diffuse coalition of protest groups that has gathered in public places across the country to criticize economic inequality and corporate greed. The Occupy Wall Street protests started…
Ryan Wartena has designed what he calls an energy computer, although he routinely refers to it by different names — home micro utility, demand response device, a suite of tools. It’s the size of a small refrigerator. The device is essentially a battery for solar power, storing energy collected from solar panels for use later. Solar, Wartena says, is a “use it or lose it” commodity — if the generated power is not used in real time, it’s gone. He…
The City Council decided last week to spend most of a $2 million tax settlement with Chevron on a conditional contract with transMETRO, a transportation consulting service that will help the city implement a greenhouse-gas reduction program. Although the majority of the council appeared to enthusiastically embrace the contract, an amendment added at the meeting requires transMETRO to conduct an initial study on how to serve low-income communities, and to present its findings to the council in 120 days, before…
Brewster Kahle, a major Internet entrepreneur, met with city officials, including Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, last month and discussed a possible free-access wireless Internet program for the city’s downtown and surrounding neighborhoods.
It’s 2:45 p.m. and Benita Kapoor keeps checking the time on her laptop. In 15 minutes they’ll be here—ready to choose their weapons, hijack cars and blow up buildings. She goes behind the counter to prepare herself. The clock strikes three. It’s time. School’s out. A few minutes later Deontae Mark and Dashun Buffun walk into Gamers-Audio World and More, a new shop that opened up on Macdonald Avenue at 23rd Street this July. It’s a trading post for video…
Coffee fanatics from around the Bay Area have been requesting Richmond’s Catahoula Coffee since the shop’s opening in 2008. The clientele remains loyal, but owner “Timber” Manhart has begun to feel the strain of rising coffee bean prices while running a small business in Richmond’s North & East neighborhood.