Government
Amidst a series of increasingly public disagreements, City Councilmember Jeff Ritterman filed two formal complaints this week to the California Fair Political Practices Commission, alleging that Councilmember Corky Booze has unfairly punished some local businesses and made alliances with others based on campaign contributions. While the complaints reached the state watchdog agency in Sacramento, the councilmembers clashed repeatedly at Tuesday’s council meeting. Supporters of Booze turned out in droves to lambast Ritterman and the Richmond Progressive Alliance, the influential political…
It will take an extra $19 a year tacked onto Richmond property owners’ tax bills to help keep the city in compliance with federal and state clean water regulations.
So say Contra County officials, whose new fee plan the Richmond City Council endorsed this week. Officials say the county needs to nearly double the amount of money it’s collecting, totaling an extra $12-$15 million annually, to stay in compliance with federal and state stormwater runoff regulations.
The council passed a unanimous resolution to collaborate with the West Contra Costa Integrated Waste Management Authority to develop a single-use bag ordinance and to conduct an environmental review. Richmond Environmental Initiatives, a division of the City Manager’s office that has studied the issue, recommends a ban on plastic bags, and a minimum 5-cent fee for each paper bag in all retail establishments.
After a series of foul odors released from its sewage treatment plant over the last year, the multinational company Veolia may only have 90 days left in Richmond. Although the City Council had considered terminating the contract immediately at the council meeting Tuesday, council members opted to consider the arguments and the possibility of alternatives, and set a decision on the contract for Dec. 6. Mark Russell, a lawyer who is providing the city with outside legal counsel, said Tuesday…
The City Council narrowly failed to pass an ordinance Tuesday that would have required the three medical marijuana collectives in Richmond to purchase their marijuana from suppliers that either grow their crop outside without the use of artificial light, or indoors with solar-powered light.
It was North Richmond. The little neighborhood that has historically suffered from a lack of leadership was suddenly over-represented. It was a dubious honor.
The California Association of Code Enforcement Officers has awarded Richmond’s “One Block at a Time” project with the title of Innovative Code Enforcement Program of the Year. OBAT partners local residents with the Richmond Police Department’s Code Enforcement Unit to target neighborhood blight. The CACEO chose the initiative from a competitive pool of other code enforcement programs throughout the state. Code Enforcement Unit Manager Tim Higares, who has worked in Richmond with OBAT for three of its five years, said…
Thirteen Contra Costa County cities participated in the third annual Mayors’ Healthy Cook-Off on Saturday in Clayton. The event encourages friendly competition and is a way for area cities to show their commitment to healthy eating.
There were fewer bodies in the audience at Thursday night’s Office of Neighborhood Safety meeting than have been laid out in blood on Richmond’s streets thus far this year. But although organizers said they were discouraged by the turnout at the Dynamics of Peace forum, those who did show up at the Nevin Community Center did not lack for conviction. “Right now we’re a small team, but if we all come together we can be an army,” said Charles Muhammad,…