Point Molate advisory committee vanishes, ignites controversy at City Hall

By Meghan Herbst | December 5, 2017 |

No one knows what to do with Point Molate, a 290-acre bayside property acquired by Richmond in 1995. The point, called a “jewel” by some, is on land previously owned by the US Navy and footsteps away from the Chevron refinery. The Point Molate Citizens Advisory Committee was supposed to help the city and Richmond residents manage the area and figure out how to develop it in the future, but earlier this year it was disbanded suddenly by the mayor.

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Portraits of East Bay activists: Alana Banks

By Alexandria Fuller | May 5, 2017 |

It is the first day back since spring break. Alana Banks still has her tan from Barbados. She walks onto UC Berkeley’s campus behind Sproul Hall to the Fannie Lou Hamer Center, a small tin building named after the voting rights activist. If you weren’t familiar with the place, it would be easy to miss, as it is hidden behind the English department and to the far left of the art studio. Banks, who is from Oakland, is one of the co-founders of the center, which opened in February. It is the first space set aside as resource center for black students on UC Berkeley’s campus.

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PAAC continues effort to require public art in new business developments

By Ariel Plotnick | October 18, 2016
A local committee hopes to gain support for public art in private developments as well as public spaces. Pictured is an example of public art at the Sheridan Point Park. Photo courtesy of Michele Seville.

Last Tuesday, Richmond’s Public Art Advisory Committee (PAAC) met to discuss Percent for Art in Private Development, an ordinance that would earmark one percent of large-scale private development project funds for the creation and inclusion of public artwork on the site of new Richmond businesses. “We want business owners to think about the one percent…

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