Government
Rates of whooping cough in California have continued to climb this year, and in Contra Costa County, infection rates are lining up to top last year’s record-breaking number of cases, according to the county’s health department. There have been 83 confirmed cases of whooping cough, also known as pertussis, since January. Last year, the county saw more than 200 infections.
Richmond appears on its way to becoming the first city in Contra Costa County to issue its own municipal identification cards, which will be available to all local residents.
The North Richmond of today emerges from a history marked by bad reputation, bad luck and, often, bad intentions.
In July the city will approve a new general plan, a huge policy document that will shape the future of the city for the next couple decades. The draft plan adds a unique element to the plan that focuses city policy on efforts to improve the health of Richmond residents, putting the city at the forefront of combining city policy and public health.
More that 220 nutritionists, physicians, policy makers and community activists met in Richmond on Friday to discuss ways to improve and transform public health.
City and county leaders joined with members of Richmond’s growing urban farming community to discuss ways to keep West County communities at the forefront of the movement toward locally-grown foods.
The “West County Urban Agriculture Summit” is set to run all day Saturday, June 4.
There’s good news and bad news for the city’s budget for 2011-2012. In the positive column, the city’s credit ratings remains strong, there’s money in the bank—$10 million in general fund reserves, essentially a rainy day fund—and funding for the city’s services will for the most part remain intact. The bad news is that every part of city government will experience cuts of some kind, while programs that rely on state funding are under threat of a drastically constricted state budget, and part of the city’s budget relies on ballot measures, which are risky.
On June 7, Richmond residents will go to the polls to vote on Measures C and D, both tax-related measures that are meant to make up for shortfalls in the budget stemming from Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed budget cuts. But opponents say the measures are a bad idea, and could potentially expose the city to costly lawsuits.