Richmond residents dig into Greenway and MLK celebration

richmond greenway martin luther king

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have been proud of Richmond Monday. Mother Nature would have been thrilled, too, as more than 400 people strolled several blocks of the Richmond Greenway and watched hundreds of volunteers plant seeds of hope and food. Under a warm winter sun folks young and old congregated near the community…

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Richmond City Council welcomes back Nat Bates, Tom Butt with swearing-in ceremony

Re-elected Councilmembers Nat Bates and Tom Butt take the oath of office.

Political differences were—mostly—set aside Tuesday night during the celebratory swearing-in of re-elected city council members Nat Bates and Tom Butt. But beneath the congratulatory speeches for Bates and Butt, and the appreciative acknowledgments of outgoing councilmember Jeff Ritterman, were concerns for councilmember-elect Gary Bell and worries about the council’s potential make-up now that Bell’s seat…

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Marin Clean Energy program to launch in Richmond

Councilmember Booze

This past June, Richmond’s City Council voted to join the Marin Energy Authority, a nonprofit energy provider that derives its electricity from a minimum of 50% renewable sources.

This means that in July 2013, all Richmond residents will be automatically enrolled in the Marin Clean Energy Community Choice Aggregation program’s Light Green package.

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City Council presses Chevron to use recommended material for pipes

Mayor Gayle McLaughlin sits at the council dais.

The City Council passed a resolution Tuesday night urging Chevron to use the best technology available when it rebuilds its damaged oil refinery. The meeting came a day after a Bay Area Air Quality Management District meeting at which a Chevron representative said that the crude unit would not be restarted until the “findings and…

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LGBT teens, RYSE Center, mobilize Richmond against hate speech

On Tuesday night at Richmond’s City Council meeting, upset residents and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, mostly dressed in purple t-shirts and yellow armbands, signed a unity pledge against hate speech and asked council members to do the same. The standing-room-only crowd also heard 65 people voice their concerns about homophobic comments they heard during the last public meeting.

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Men and Women of Purpose draw Richmond leaders to open house event

men and women of purpose

More than 120 people crowded into the parking lot of the Neighborhood House of North Richmond around noon Friday for music and food. They also learned more about the Men and Women of Purpose, the new community-based nonprofit a that offers programs aimed at reducing violence, recidivism, homelessness, drug abuse and chronic unemployment. “The turnout,…

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Richmond City Council to consider soda tax ballot measure

A version of this story first appeared in the Contra Costa Times Richmond leaders hope to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in the city, and they want voters to approve a fee on local businesses’ sales of those products. The city council on Tuesday will consider placing a measure on the November 6 ballot asking…

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A gathering to celebrate women, community

“We are family, I’ve got all my sisters with me,” blasted out the speakers in the multipurpose room of Lovonya DeJean Middle School Saturday. The popular ‘70s song by Sister Sledge got a crowd of more than 200 women up on their feet, a few dancing and others clapping and singing to the popular party…

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Local students march in honor of King

richmond kids on martin luther king jr. day

Students and teachers from five local schools joined parents and city leaders Friday in a march and celebration in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Students assembled at 3:30 p.m. at the corner of Harbour Way and Florida Avenue and walked while chanting peace hymns and toting signs and other crafts made in classrooms. The…

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Richmond 2011: Images of a time and place

It was a year of indelible images in Richmond, and we were privileged to be behind the camera lens to capture a few of them.
Winnowing down the thousands of images we gathered in Richmond’s streets, parks, boardrooms, shores, restaurant halls and other spots was no easy task, and the results are no doubt imperfect. Undaunted, we present to you a handful of the images that hit us hardest, with some candid reflections from the photographers who captured them.

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