Government
The City Council approved $900,000 Tuesday to continue to defend the city in two civil rights lawsuits filed by a group of high-ranking Richmond police officers, adding to a legal battle that has already gone on for five years and cost $3.4 million.
Although national polls show Occupy Wall Street losing the public’s favor, the Richmond City Council re-affirmed its support for the movement on Tuesday, then targeted Chevron, Wells Fargo, and PG&E on its agenda. The council passed a resolution to ask Chevron to withdraw its pending tax appeal – a complaint that seeks up to $60 million in tax refunds from Contra Costa County. The council also voted to withdraw city funds from corporations it says dodged property taxes, including Wells…
Snickers bars at the county hospital? No more. Nor will you be able to find them at the city’s community centers. The city’s Recreation Department — following the lead of Contra Costa County’s health department — has replaced all the vending machines in its community centers with new, energy-efficient ones holding snacks and drinks that have lower calorie counts and no artificial trans-fats. Between this month and last, the county has done the same with healthier foods in the vending…
More than 90 protesters gathered at the steps of Richmond’s Memorial Auditorium today in support of Occupy Wall Street. Under cloudy skies, protesters spoke out against wealth inequality, big banks, corporate greed and Richmond’s own “1%”: Chevron Corp. City Councilmember Jeff Ritterman voiced his disapproval of Chevron’s recent property tax appeal, which would refund $150 million dollars to the multinational company. “If Chevron gets $150 million … their shareholders get in line for another yacht … If Richmond has $150…
Although Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory representatives didn’t reveal the lab’s preference for a new location at Thursday night’s Community Advisory Group meeting, community members once again strongly supported Richmond as the site for the second LBNL campus. The meeting was the final update for the community on the site’s selection before the decision, which is expected by the end of November. Sam Chapman, the manager of state and community relations at LBNL, said in a brief presentation that the lab…
Sugar-sweetened drinks and street violence have contributed to a rise in childhood obesity across low-income areas of Contra Costa County, according to county health officials who worked closely on a statewide study released Wednesday.
At Richmond’s first food policy council meeting Tuesday night at City Hall, Urban Tilth Executive Director Doria Robinson instructed the carefully chosen participants to catalog the city’s most pressing food-related problems. The session started off quickly. As the participants introduced themselves, they cited their biggest concerns while Robinson took notes on a dry-erase board in front of the group. “We are trying to make a list, to really get a sense of the scope of all different issues that are…
In the food packaging business, polystyrene has become a four-letter word, but the food industry simply doesn’t have a cost-effective, eco-friendly answer to the plastic that Dow Chemical introduced to Americans in the early 1940s. In 2007, Richmond business owner Allen King thought he had the answer.
When Luz Gomez, the deputy chief of staff for County Supervisor John Gioia, tried to establish a small deli on a corner in North Richmond, even with help from the County, had to overcome more zoning code, development agency and operator obstacles then she anticipated. Though she says that she feels close to opening the neighborhood’s only restaurant, it has been a battle that has lasted years. “I can’t tell you the kinds of barriers we have encountered along this…