Economy
Chevron will present its case for a $58 million tax refund before an appeals board on Monday, as the company seeks to prove that it overpaid property taxes on its Richmond refinery between 2007 and 2009. Chevron believes the county has overvalued its Richmond refinery by nearly $2 billion per year.
If the company succeeds in its appeal, it would create a “brutal situation” for the county and cities, Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin said.
When Joshua Genser purchased 10 acres of industrial land on Richmond’s north shore in 1999, he had a vision: A Silicon-Valley-like park, complete with palm trees, gleaming glass, and a shoreline where employees and the public would take in views of the San Pablo Bay. Genser wasn’t alone. Other parties bought land in the area that year, too. Joe and Heidi Shekou (JHS) purchased 14 acres on the same industrial subdivision. The Murray family bought 55 acres next door. Some…
Three years ago Angelica Lima started getting sick. So sick that the 24-year-old single mother suddenly found herself in a wheelchair. Her condition left her doctors stumped, and after a few months they suggested she seek a second opinion in Brazil, her native country.
A couple dozen individuals gathered in the Market Square parking lot in downtown Richmond on Friday to join the “Occupy” movement that’s been sweeping the country since individuals began staking out Liberty Square in Manhattan in mid-September.
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…