Government
Chevron-funded spending committees backed several losing candidates – to the tune of $3.1 million – on Election Day. Those who were defeated are now left to wonder what happened and whether Chevron’s money may have hurt rather than helped.
Contra Costa County will have its open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act targeting Asians and Pacific Islanders tomorrow, Nov. 15, at the Richmond Memorial Auditorium. At the event, translations to 17 Asian and Pacific Islander languages will be available.
Growing up in the Hilltop area of Richmond, Cesar Zepeda never knew why the empty lot at San Pablo Ave. and Richmond Parkway remained undeveloped more than 16 years after it was first proposed for a park. Sidewalks led to nowhere, and installed irrigation had nothing to bring water to.
Parents and students lined up one by one at the podium during West Contra Costa Unified School District’s Board of Education meeting Wednesday night to voice their concerns about the Board’s spending decisions.
Three minutes past midnight, Eduardo Martinez walks out of the Richmond Progressive Alliance office. He turns around and stares back in. Still no final result. He waves goodnight to his supporters. It’s Martinez’s third time running for the Richmond City Council.
In the dark morning hours of Nov. 4, Election Day, Enrique Suarez del Solar quietly seals the envelope of his wife’s birthday card and places her present on the table. Then del Solar heads out to volunteer at the Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church as a poll worker.
Richmond is one of the few major (100,000-plus population) Bay Area cities still electing its council and school board members on an at-large basis, a 100-year old system that’s been under attack throughout California and the country as minority-repressive.
Tom Butt looked tired. At 8:00 p.m. on Election Day he finally sat down, stein of beer in hand, to wait for the results. He had been on his feet all day. Twelve hours earlier, the mayoral candidate had arrived to the first polling place on an itinerary of five, to do last-minute outreach.
“It looks like the campaign is over and Butt is your new mayor,” Bates conceded. “Everyone that Chevron supported was unsuccessful.”