Special Projects
There is no task too big or small or obscure for Brandy Esparza and Kyle Silber, who know how to market an artisanal stamp for a doughnut wrapper, a latex mask for a life-sized Buddha, or a seal for an architect to sign for his or her work. Together they operate two businesses, Underdog Press and Painted Wonderland, out of their home in Richmond, California Esparza started independent contracting work about 10 years ago doing face painting, special effects for…
Dear Readers/Listeners, The combined staff of Oakland North and Richmond Confidential is excited to announce a new bi-weekly podcast featuring radio stories from Richmond and Oakland, as well as interviews with our reporters, community leaders and other news-worthy characters. Every two weeks until June, we will bring you radio stories focused on a theme or issue affecting these two cities. You will also hear from our reporters to get a behind the scenes look at our news room. Every other Thursday, check our sites for new…
Among the many unorthodox tools Cara Corey has used to make her handmade artist line unique are knitting needles made out of PVC pipe and merino wool fiber (the material before wool becomes “wool”) shipped from the Ukraine. Corey moved to Richmond, California, in 2010 after spending over four years as a newspaper reporter in Des Moines, Iowa. She had written a wide variety of stories about people who owned their own businesses, and at one point, she had her own…
The California Transportation Commission approved a $6 million grant for a plan to improve Richmond’s Iron Triangle neighborhood. Known as the Iron Triangle Yellow Brick Road Walkable Neighborhoods Plan, the project aims to improve streets notorious for high crime and blighted conditions. Pedestrians and bicyclists would get safer, cleaner pathways to schools, parks and churches. The paths would be marked by stencils of yellow bricks, fulfilling a vision teenagers came up with during a 2008 summer youth program. City planners made a point to emphasize…
A divided Richmond City Council has rejected a zoning amendment that would allow a digital advertising billboard on the I-80 corridor for the troubled Hilltop business district. Leaders in the Hilltop district have urged the city to allow a digital billboard to promote the businesses there since 2007, but the city’s sign ordinance currently doesn’t allow such signs. Last March, the city council directed staff from the Planning & Building Services Department to create a zoning amendment that would permit…
The Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, Nicholas Dirks, assured Richmond stakeholders yesterday that the economic benefits of the proposed Global Campus will be shared with the community. The project has raised concerns among the Richmond community as well as hopes.
The project’s two vessels will cost an estimated $34 million total in “initial capital expenditures,” with an estimated operating costs of about $3.46 million a year. Terminal construction will cost between $8 and $12 million. The total cost of the project is estimated between $42 and $46 million.
The Richmond Bay Trail will be revamped to the tune of $335,000 after the city council approved the renovation project, which includes wider sidewalks, six-foot bike lanes, and new signs and landscape improvements. The project starts in November and will take about a month to complete, according to the construction company tasked with the upgrade.
Richmond homicides have plummeted almost 70 percent over the last decade, and recent police data shows that the downward trend continues, with 12 homicides this year, the lowest in over three decades. Police and city officials credit community cooperation and outreach programs designed to help likely offenders.