Economy
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.
Residents near Chevron’s Richmond Refinery can expect to see flames at the plant’s flare stacks over the next month and a half, as the refinery enters one of its occasional maintenance periods. On Monday, the refinery began work that will bring an additional 1,650 contractors into Richmond over the next four to six weeks. That work will include some visible flaring as excess gas is burned off during maintenance, according to an alert emailed to community members. Flaring at the…
The City Council acknowledged Mike Coyle, the former general manager of Chevron’s Richmond refinery who recently was promoted to the company’s San Ramon headquarters, with a proclamation Tuesday night. While many speakers from the community and council members spoke highly of Coyle’s character, some were extremely critical of Chevron as a company and its role in Richmond. “He is a human being that puts a face to the corporation that is Chevron,” Councilmember Jovanka Beckles said after congratulating Coyle on…
The City Council voted 4-3 Tuesday to allow an increase in the number of medical marijuana collectives operating in Richmond from three to four. Councilmember Jeff Ritterman summed up the majority council opinion, saying he didn’t “see that much of a downside” going from three to four collectives. Ritterman, along with Councilmembers Nat Bates, Corky Booze and Jim Rogers, rejected the notion that the increase posed additional risks. Rogers added that allowing four collectives to operate did not mean that…
On Sunday, Oct. 2, the Spokeshop Bike Lounge — billed as Richmond’s first full service professional bike shop — officially opened its doors after three years of planning. The Spokeshop plans to offer new and used bikes, and will offer apprenticeships for Richmond youth. Richmond Confidential was there at the opening to bring you scenes from the festivities.
Since July, the city has been trying to use more than $400,000 in federal stimulus funds to provide discounted and free solar panels for Richmond homeowners. The initial goal of the R3 program was to install the panels on a hundred homes, but so far only eight people have signed up. The city is beefing up its outreach program, though, and officials say they believe at least 40 low-income homeowners will choose to have free panels installed by November 2012….