Government
The West Contra Costa Unified School District’s Community Day School Program will start school in a new location at the Richmond Police Activities League this fall, a little more than a month after an ACLU-led lawsuit challenged the District’s funding and handling of the school. But the move didn’t placate critics, who argue the District has utterly neglected its CDSP. The Northern California chapter of the civil liberties group and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights filed a lawsuit July…
SF MIME returned to Richmond Thursday night, with a live outdoor performance in Nicholl Park. About 50 people braved chilly weather and a stiff wind to watch the play, a political satire poking fun at both investment bankers and Occupy Wall Street. Written and directed by Michael Gene Sullivan, the play had the full title, “For the Greater Good, or The Last Election: A Melodrama of Farcical Proportions,” and included live music, plenty of singing and slapstick. “They definitely have…
Gary Bell knows how to make people feel at ease. He also knows a little bit about money and business principles. And at a campaign kickoff Thursday night at the Courtyard Marriott at Hilltop Mall, the president and CEO of Cooperative Center Federal Credit Union in Berkeley declared his intent to bring civility and leadership back to the City Council. This isn’t Bell’s first political rodeo. He was a Richmond city councilmember in 1999, and ran for mayor in 2006….
There are five separate investigations into the Aug. 6 Chevron refinery fire, but if Monday’s meeting was any indication, many Richmond residents doubt even that will be enough.
Speakers from local environmental and community groups blasted the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which is charged with regulating air pollution, and called for accountability from Chevron.
After the Chevron refinery fire sent plumes of black smoke laden with chemicals into the air, Urban Tilth, one of Richmond’s urban agriculture organizations, wants the soil it uses to grow food tested for heavy metals. Though the Contra Costa Health Services say Richmond-grown fruits and vegetables are safe to eat and that they don’t expect any impact from the fire on soil or compost, Doria Robinson, the executive director of Urban Tilth, said she worries about heavy metals like…
Results from a Bay Area Air Quality Management District analysis of particulate matter in the air over Richmond following the Aug. 6 Chevron refinery fire show slightly elevated levels of elemental carbon, which is common after a fire. Those levels are still well below state and federal air quality standards, the BAAQMD announced Thursday. Although the official analysis showed low levels, the smoke plume went several thousand feet into the air and the wind blew it east, said Wendel Brunner,…
At least 6,300 residents have filed claims for compensation since Monday, according to figures released by Chevron spokesperson Katie Winter.
On Tuesday morning, over 20 West County Wastewater District (WCWD) employees picketed outside the district’s headquarters on Hilltop Drive to denounce contract negotiations that have come to a screeching halt. At the heart of the matter is a wastewater district that’s trying to save money during a global economic crisis, while at the same time repair pipes that are 70 to 90 years old.