Introducing the Tales of Two Cities Podcast, radio stories from Richmond and Oakland

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…

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Bay Area artist runs unique business inspired by her grandmother

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…

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The historical uniqueness of a city in transformation

Richmond is a record breaker. Known for many years to host the largest oil refinery in the country and as the most productive World War II shipyard, Richmond also once hosted the biggest winery in the world. The city’s historical legacy has been recognized in some respects. The transformation of a 1930s Ford assembly plant, a beacon of the industrial age, into a conference center and museum complex is one example. However, there are still some major historic assets in Richmond standing idle — or even crumbling into disrepair.

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Locally Richmond: Omni Movement

Omni Movement is a mixed martial arts and athletic training facility in Point Richmond. The center, which has been unofficially open since this summer, offers an open gym, and training in Thai kickboxing, dynamic stretch, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Olympic weightlifting and sports performance.

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A new Great Migration: the disappearance of the black middle class

After the great recession of 2008, inequality widened along racial lines as people lost their homes, often their only major asset. Earlier this month the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington, D.C. think tank, reported in “Billionaire Bonanza: The Forbes 400 and the Rest of US,” that the average white family today has net assets of $141,900, compared with the $11,000 for African American families. This hollowing out of the African American family asset base is a nationwide phenomenon that can be explained by the shrinking African American middle class. It’s even more a factor in “strong market” regions like the Bay Area, where housing costs are soaring.

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Locally Richmond: Jered’s Pottery

Finished mugs sit on a work after being removed from the firing kiln. (Photo by Brittany Kirstin)

Jered’s Pottery works out of Richmond, CA designing fine dinnerware for the world’s top chefs and restaurants with what Nelson calls “California clay.” It’s a personal mix made with materials found in our own state’s backyard.

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