Government

Event helps Asian and Pacific Islanders enroll in health care

The Richmond Memorial Convention Center was the site recently of a health care enrollment event directed at Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Asian and Pacific Islander (API) communities are some of the least represented in healthcare enrollment, yet represent about 12 to 13 percent of the population in West Contra Costa County, said Sean Kirkpatrick, Co-Interim Executive Director of Community Health for Asian Americans (CHAA). But because they are divided by many different languages and cultures, it can be difficult…

Contra Costa County offers loan forgiveness to Doctors Medical Center

The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors agreed to forgive about $9 million in repayment debt from struggling Doctors Medical Center (DMC) over the next three to five years. Supervisors John Gioia and Federal D. Glover proposed the two resolutions on Dec. 2, one providing immediate financial relief and the other a long-term stabilization strategy. DMC has been steeped in financial turmoil since it was rescued from bankruptcy in 2008, and  faced possible closure since the beginning of summer. Now,…

Flood program aims to keep shorelines above water

When the rains come and the tides rise, they take a toll on the Bay Area’s more than half-a-century-old storm channels, and one day, places like Richmond may be in peril. The combination of heavy storms and inadequate runoff channels have at times covered blocks in up to five feet of water, drowning streets, yards and cars. Even worse, because sea levels are rising, homes on the bay waterfront are at risk of being overtaken due to a lack of…

In East Bay, immigration reform gets lukewarm reviews

As word spread through Richmond, Oakland and other East Bay cities with large immigrant populations of the President’s executive orders easing some restrictions of federal immigration policy, families and support groups affected by the new orders reacted with a mix of relief and disappointment. “It’s not enough,” said Claudia Jimenez, a former member of the Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization (CCISCO) “because a lot of people have already been deported and a lot of families have already been separated.”…

Timeline: History of a company town

Richmond’s relationship with Chevron Corporation hasn’t always been so contentious. For much of the 20th century, after Chevron’s earliest predecessor, the Pacific Coast Oil Company, first bought a tract of land on Richmond’s shores in 1901, the company and the town grew together – if not hand in hand, then at least peacefully and cognizant of their mutual benefit. The two world wars were especially productive times for both the refinery and Richmond, as wartime production levels fueled a transforming,…