Environment
It may take a lot of baby steps before public transit technology can take a huge leap forward. CyberTran International, the Richmond-based “ultra-light rail” start-up that secured a public-private partnership with the city back in September, landed its second public-private partnership this week. I-Gate, a state sponsponed business incubator, invited the “ultra-light rail” company to join their network of green transportation and clean-energy technologies. Together larger facilities like Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and UC Berkeley can provide “young entrepreneurial green…
Ohio-based filmmaker Andres Torres showed highlights Saturday at the Rialto in El Cerrito from a documentary series that she’s finishing that focuses in part on County Supervisor John Gioia. The series, “The New Metropolis,” covers the history of city planning, social justice, and environmental sustainability.
The North Richmond neighborhood hasn’t flooded since the Army Corps of Engineers erected levees decades ago around the two creeks. But although their record so far is good, the levees now don’t meet Federal Emergency Management Agency standards.
When Juan Lores delivered pizzas in the late 1980s, the area around Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street was so dangerous his manager wouldn’t let his drivers deliver there after dark. A lot has changed in the last 20 years. Lores in 2009 moved his family into the neighborhood he used to steer clear of. And on a sunny Thursday this week, he looked on as shiny new solar panels were installed on his home’s roof – at no cost to…
Four hours of debate Tuesday night brought elected leaders no closer to resolving a decade-long dispute over the future of the city’s North Shoreline. The Richmond City Council deadlocked on three separate development guidelines, finally agreeing only to return the measure to the Planning Commission to craft a fresh approach. The north shoreline is a mix of a parkland, open beach, dormant industrial land and marsh. Owners there have offered several ideas for what they may develop there, including a…
About 50 protesters, including some top Richmond elected officials, demonstrated outside county government buildings in Martinez Thursday before filing into a hearing aimed at resolving a tax dispute between Chevron and the Contra Costa County Assessor’s office.
Responders are still cleaning oil leaking from the Tug Tiger, a World War II-era tugboat that sunk on Sunday in the Point Richmond harbor. Although there is no estimate of how much oil was onboard the Tiger, the Coast Guard reported that 590 gallons of oil and water were collected as of Wednesday. Thousands of feet of boom have been deployed around the tug, across the opening of the dry dock and at Brooks Island. There are 55 personnel on…
After nine years of service, Veolia will began the process of terminating its 10-year contract with Richmond, which will start the search for a viable alternative for its wastewater management plan. Residents in Richmond have voiced concerns about odor issues in relation to the plant, and Veolia cited a need for capital investment to improve the condition of the plant as a reason not to continue its contract. “It looks like we are negotiating a divorce,” Councilmember Jeff Ritterman said….
Richmond Sanitary Service is contesting an attempt by the county’s recycling authority to possibly select a new garbage company to manage the city’s collected trash, compost and recyclable waste beginning in 2014. As garbage fees rise, the West Contra Costa Integrated Waste Management Authority (RecyleMore) is scheduled to vote Jan. 5, 2012, on a way to competitively select a “post-collection services” provider for the county — a company to process trash and other waste after garbage trucks have collected it….