Economy
It’s rare that a project can seemingly unite every sector across a city, but Richmond’s bid for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory expansion brought out 700 people from all corners of the city to show support Thursday for the campus, as the city put its best foot forward to showcase what it has to offer the lab.
What would happen if West Contra Costa County’s largest hospital was forced to shut its doors or seriously downgrade its emergency room operations? It would be very bad, according to a study released last week by the county health department’s Emergency Medical Services agency. Yet hospital officials say a permanent closure of Doctor’s Medical Center San Pablo, whose largely low-income and elderly patient population makes it difficult to run profitably, is looming unless they are able to secure state or other funding soon.
On Tuesday night by the Richmond City Council unanimously voted to approve the issuing of municipal ID cards. The cards are intended to improve public safety, increase civic participation and support local commerce.
Richmond has a new budget, and the outlook is mixed. The budget, approved by the city council Tuesday night, is close to balanced and leaves the city’s $10 million general fund reserve intact, but make cuts to already stretched city services and uses one-time measures that put off larger, structural issues until next year.
Activists, led by Barbara Becnel, gathered in Richmond to learn how to successfully advocate for the abolition of capital punishment. California leads the nation in awarding the death penalty, and Contra Costa County’s court system is among the state’s frequent users of the death sentence.
A divided council on Tuesday weighed in on several issues, including increasing funding to local housing programs and projects and proposed Congressional reapportionment that would move Richmond into the same district as Berkeley and Oakland.
In the 1940s and 1950s, the growth of public housing projects swept across urban America. North Richmond was no exception.
South African environmental activist Desmond D’Sa also took a “toxic tour” of Richmond’s challenges after Monday’s protest.
The line outside Richmond Municipal Auditorium was long Wednesday morning. Real long. It ran in and out the front door as nearly 860 pairs of feet waited patiently for the day to begin. For these Contra Costa County residents it was a time to reacquaint themselves with county services.