A life: Former Richmond Mayor George Livingston

george livingston

George Livingston liked looking back. His hindsight wasn’t marred by what-ifs or dubious intentions. He gave it all he had, and there’s no shame in that. “What I am proud of is I was able to help integrate the city,” Livingston said during a lengthy chat in his Richmond home in February, 2011. “I gave…

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Talks break down, Richmond North Shoreline plan in limbo

richmond north shoreline

Four hours of debate Tuesday night brought elected leaders no closer to resolving a decade-long dispute over the future of the city’s North Shoreline. The Richmond City Council deadlocked on three separate development guidelines, finally agreeing only to return the measure to the Planning Commission to craft a fresh approach. The north shoreline is a…

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Councilmen host breakfast for local ministers

What do you get when you put 50 church ministers and two city councilmen in a room together for three hours? A few sermons, frequent choruses of “A-men!” and some lively discussion about how to improve the City of Richmond. Saturday morning’s second “Annual Informational Community Breakfast,” hosted by councilmen Corky Booze and Nat Bates,…

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Richmond 2011: The year in review

rhonda harris richmond

2011 was quite a year, to borrow a favorite phrase from longtime resident Sims Thompson, in “our fair city.” I know that’s vague, but it’s tough to turn a pithy phrase that sums up a year in a vibrant, bustling and changing city. We had tragedy and triumph, tumult and harmony. Alliances and rivalries. Echoes of the past and glimmers from the future.

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City Council adopts Bicycle Master Plan and Pedestrian plan

From left: Mike Hadley, Adrienne Harris, Matthew Ridgway and Tony Sustak ride home from Tuesday's City Council meeting. (photo by: Alexis Kenyon)

After more than three hours of contentious debate Tuesday, the City Council adopted an environmental review of a Bicycle Master Plan and a Pedestrian Plan that keeps the city on course to add bike lanes and pedestrian improvements to city streets. The plan would put select Richmond roads on what Richard Mitchell, Richmond’s director of…

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City spends 1.8 million on transMETRO despite disputes

The City Council decided last week to spend most of a $2 million tax settlement with Chevron on a conditional contract with transMETRO, a transportation consulting service that will help the city implement a greenhouse-gas reduction program. Although the majority of the council appeared to enthusiastically embrace the contract, an amendment added at the meeting…

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