Health

Earth Day in North Richmond is about honoring past, looking to future

More than 100 residents and activists turned out in force to work and celebrate Earth Day in North Richmond on Saturday. But they had a lot of help from those no longer here in body, but very much loom over this historic community in spirit. “It feels so good that the community thinks so much of my brother to want to dedicate this garden to him,” said Leo Jackson, brother of longtime community advocate Fred Jackson, who died of cancer…

Residents come together to clean Point Molate Beach

For eight years, a jewel in Richmond has been kept from public view. It’s a stretch of sandy beach, where gentle swells lap against the shore and each day closes with a brilliant sunset framed by the San Rafael Bridge. But Point Molate Beach has been closed since 2004, when the city’s fiscal troubles forced drastic cutbacks, including to funds for maintaining public parks. But if a group of concerned residents gets its way, that will change. More than 70…

Your guide to a Richmond weekend filled with events

There’s a lot happening in Richmond Friday thru Sunday. It’s a mix of environmental, social, educational and political-themed events in our community. FRIDAY Occupy Richmond Earth Day March: 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., begins at Richmond BART station. Progressive activists will march from BART station to City Hall in Richmond to protest pollution and tax rates for big corporations. Gathering at City Hall will feature speakers and food. More info here. Ceasefire/Lifelines to Healing Nightwalk: 7 p.m. at Bethlehem Missionary…

Postponed: North Richmond youth forum held off after recent violence

A youth forum in North Richmond has been postponed in light of a deadly shooting Tuesday in front of a corner store a few blocks away. The forum, titled “New Voices,” was scheduled for Thursday at 4 p.m. It was to be hosted by UC Berkeley professor Malo Andre Hutson and his class of city planning graduate students, with sponsorship from The California Endowment and various neighborhood groups. “We have talked to many people working in Richmond and North Richmond…

Berkeley students chip in to work with North Richmond

North Richmond is no stranger to challenges – or proposed solutions. But a class of UC Berkeley grad students, backed by The California Endowment and a network of local allies, hope their efforts can make a difference. “Our hope is that we can help bring neighbors together in a way that creates new energies focused on key neighborhood issues and shared concerns,” said Heather Imboden, a first year master’s candidate in city planning. Imboden is one of a half dozen…

Veolia hires and trains two Richmond residents in wastewater management

In an effort to build better a more amicable relationship with the community, Veolia, the company that manages the wastewater treatment plant in Richmond, has instituted an internship program geared at employing local residents. The company is already through the first stages of selecting two interns, said Jamal Muhammad, the Community Outreach Coordinator for Veolia.

Synthetic biology research at the heart of controversy over new national lab in Richmond

In January, when the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) announced it had chosen Richmond, Calif. as the site for its new research facility, the city was all trumpets and fanfare, with welcome banners flying and “I [heart] LBNL” pins fastened to lapels. In January, when the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) announced it had chosen Richmond, Calif. as the site for its new research facility, the city was all trumpets and fanfare, with welcome banners flying and “I [heart] LBNL” pins fastened to lapels. And why not? The lab’s second campus, scheduled to open in 2016, is expected to generate hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue for Richmond in the coming years. For a city plagued by unemployment, poverty and crime, this is thrilling news. But amidst all the excitement, some questions remain unanswered, most notably: exactly what kind of research will take place at the lab?