Government
Richmond Police Department Chief Chris Magnus and Captain Mark Gagan came to the Richmond Confidential newsroom Friday to discuss police-media relations and answer questions. Magnus has been chief of the RPD since January 2006. He served as a cop in Lansing, Michigan for 18 years and then as the chief of police in Fargo, North Dakota for six years before coming to Richmond. Gagan was promoted from a lieutenant to a captain last year, and is one of the RPD’s…
The Richmond Police Department assisted with crowd control at the Occupy Oakland “general strike” Wednesday evening, marking the second time in two weeks that they have provided back up to the Oakland Police Department. Captain Mark Gagan said 12 Richmond officers were sent with the Contra Costa County Mutual Aid Mobile Field Force to support perimeter control. The group arrived on the scene around 8 p.m. “We basically waited to see where we were needed and what was needed,” Gagan…
After more than three hours of contentious debate Tuesday, the City Council adopted an environmental review of a Bicycle Master Plan and a Pedestrian Plan that keeps the city on course to add bike lanes and pedestrian improvements to city streets. The plan would put select Richmond roads on what Richard Mitchell, Richmond’s director of Planning and Building Services, calls a “road diet.” By redesigning streets from four lanes to three, the city could slow speeding traffic and create space…
Richmond will host a major public meeting on environmental justice and job creation Thursday, with representatives from nearly a dozen federal agencies as well as local officials, social-service providers and environmental and business groups. Representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Army, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the departments of Justice, Labor, and Housing and Urban Development will be among those present. The event is one in a series of meetings nationwide between local stakeholders and…
If you’re on San Pablo Avenue this morning, look around — Occupy Richmond may be marching by. About a dozen protesters representing Occupy Richmond gathered Wednesday morning on the corner of San Pablo Ave. and Macdonald Ave., before marching down San Pablo toward Oakland City Hall. (photo by: Maggie Beidelman) About a dozen protesters — including Mayor Gayle McLaughlin — turned out Wednesday morning to join a day of action called by protesters at Occupy Oakland. The Richmond group plans…
For Eugene Nishinaga, the chief technical officer at CyberTran International, ultralight rail is nothing short of a spiritual awakening. “I was actually driving on the highway, right outside the [Richmond] field station,” he said, “totally coincidence — and I felt the call of God.” The call was the impetus for a major shift in Nishinaga’s life. At the time, he was a respected research and development manager for BART with nearly 40 years experience in transit. But in 2008, Nishinaga,…
Two of Richmond’s foremost leaders took a moment Friday morning to send off thank-you letters to hundreds of residents who have helped encourage the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to open a new facility in Richmond.
Marin Energy Authority, a nonprofit energy provider, is looking to partner with Richmond to provide a cleaner alternative to PG&E for residents and industrial customers.
Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus sent an open letter to city leaders and the press Wednesday apologizing for a failure of communication between his department and the Office of Neighborhood Safety following a fistfight in City Hall on October 14. Magnus wrote in his message that the RPD and ONS have “made significant strides over the past several years to engage the community in successful violence-reduction efforts.” But the recent events, he wrote, impacted the confidence the public has in…