Posts Tagged ‘Nat Bates’
Applicants for open Richmond City Council seat will speak Monday
Twelve people have submitted their names for consideration by the Richmond City Council to fill the vacant seat left open when councilmember-elect Gary Bell—who is in a coma after suffering a bacterial sinus infections—was unable to be sworn in earlier this month. Among the twelve are former councilmembers, unsuccessful candidates from November’s race and a…
Read MoreCouncil names Booze vice mayor
Tuesday night’s Richmond City Council meeting was short on substance but long on drama. Despite an agenda that included few controversial items, councilmembers and the public traded barbs and accusations deep into the night. In the nearly six-hour meeting, the council’s only decision was to choose a vice-mayor. Councilmember Corky Booze and Mayor Gayle McLaughlin…
Read MoreHousing plan sparks arguments on rent control, just cause evictions
After several hours of confusion and bickering, last week the Richmond City Council approved a housing element—a part of the general plan that will address land use and housing development throughout the city—just in time to meet a deadline to be eligible for a state-issued $44 million grant. But although the entire housing element contains…
Read MoreSpecial meeting to discuss vacant City Council seat this Thursday
After running out of time to officially declare the council seat left by Gary Bell as vacant at last week’s city council meeting, Mayor Gayle McLaughlin announced a special meeting to be held this Thursday at City Hall to discuss the issue. The time for the meeting has not been specified yet. “This process is…
Read MoreWorld Series trophies, black and orange, displayed at Richmond Memorial Auditorium
Erik Lopez is not your ordinary San Francisco Giants fan. By day he’s your regular good guy from Hercules. By first pitch he saves the day as Giants-Wolverine; a five-foot-something wolf-like creature wearing a black and orange Giants cape, mask and foam knuckle blades. The baseball fan-superhero hybrid said his idea to become a “badass…
Read MoreRichmond City Council welcomes back Nat Bates, Tom Butt with swearing-in ceremony
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…
Read MoreMaps show support for City Council winners
More than 31,300 voters in Richmond cast a ballot this year, a 10 percent decrease from the last presidential election, according to numbers updated on the Contra Costa County’s election division site on Nov. 17. In 2008, more than 35,000 voters in the city cast a ballot, which was 84 percent of registered voters. This…
Read MoreMarin Clean Energy program to launch in Richmond
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.
Read MoreCity Council presses Chevron to use recommended material for pipes
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…
Read MoreElection recap: Voters seek familiar faces
When the official returns came in on Wednesday morning, Richmond voters had decided that after the most expensive campaign in city history, what they wanted was familiar faces. Incumbents Nat Bates and Tom Butt were re-elected to the City Council, and Gary Bell, who will return to the dais after an eight-year hiatus, will take…
Read MoreBates, Butt and Bell win council race
In a hotly contested City Council election, with millions of dollars at play and a recent push into the national spotlight, Richmond voters have elected Nat Bates, Tom Butt and Gary Bell to the three open seats on the council dais. The two RPA candidates, Eduardo Martinez and Marilyn Langlois, finished just outside the top…
Read MoreCitizens Outspent: Inside Richmond’s $4m Election Campaign
Take your pick: naïve anarchists, or corporate puppets. This is the face of Richmond’s hotly contested race for three council seats in the November 2012 election, at least going by the massive billboards and glossy mailers that have dominated the campaign season in this city of 100,000 residents. The majority of candidates running for council…
Read MoreLimit on campaign contributions may be increasing the spending of outside groups
The City Council’s attempt earlier this year to limit campaign contributions to council candidates seems to be working, last Thursday’s campaign finance deadline shows. But the limits might also be increasing the spending of outside groups on the election. Under the ordinance passed this summer, candidates must not accept more than $40,000 in campaign contributions…
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