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On Tuesday mayor Tom Butt called the new city council to order for the first time. On the agenda: electing a vice mayor, disbanding the Public Safety and Finance standing committees, and removing the time limits on debate for council members. Butt, a long-time council member, started out on a light note. “Nobody is to call me Madam Mayor,” he said to laughs from the dais and the crowd. Despite his warning, a few people stuttered, used to referring to…
Cecilia Rodriguez has lived in Richmond for 24 years. Over the past seven, she has worked for $8 an hour at a McDonald’s on Macdonald Avenue to support her three children, all of whom are currently in college.
Long after the billboards come down, the campaign mailers rest in landfills and the New Year’s toasts come and go, 2014 may be remembered as Richmond’s big election year. We are honored to have been in Richmond’s streets and chambers, its homes and schools and everywhere else, helping write the first drafts of history in an important time and place. Chevron Corp. poured an unprecedented $3.1 million into the municipal races only to lose the open mayoral and city council seats to a progressive coalition on every…
War Ink (warink.org), which launched on Veterans Day, is an online multimedia exhibit that seeks to offer an authentic documentation of veterans’ experiences coming home from war. Using video, still photography, audio and text, the exhibit features Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans from across California – each with their own personal story, spelled out in ink on skin.
If you walk down the hallways of Richmond College Prep Schools (RCPS), it looks like many other elementary schools. But there is one key difference: it is the highest performing school in Richmond. The school, located near the Iron Triangle, is ranked #1 in the city and #4 in the West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) according to its 2013 Academic Performance Index (API) score. The majority of its students are Hispanic or African-American. 92 percent of students qualify…
A mix of beats, rapping and acting turned Eugene O’Neill’s drama masterpiece, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, into a bracing new blend of hip hop and theater.
Walk down Macdonald Ave from the Civic Center toward downtown Richmond, and something will make you say, “Huh?” At the 20th Street intersection, you can buy five Christian music CDs for $20, walk four feet, and buy two cigars for 99 cents. How many cities do you know where a Bible store and a smoke shop share a wall? There’s a 100-year-old flower shop on the same block— and three Metro PCS stores within a half-mile stretch. I’ve done the…
De Anza High School’s three-year-old law academy brings in practicing Bay Area lawyers to give students a real-life view of the legal world. Local district attorneys visit the classroom to mentor students and provide legal insights. The program is designed to give students a head start on a legal career, and it has already made an impact, with several students saying they intend to pursue legal studies.
Steven Parker is a new radio voice in Richmond. He’s overcome struggles with crime and drug addiction to remake himself into a local leader who discusses political issues and interviews musical guests on his show. Parker says his newfound vocation helps him fulfill his civic duty and provides residents with news about important issues.