The current plan to swallow up the Ford Peninsula in a sea of imported Toyotas is the latest planning crisis to hit the Marina Bay and Ford Peninsula area. As if frequently blocked railroad grade crossings and betrayal of the dream of a Marina Bay a village center were not enough, we now have the vision of Richmond as the car import capital of Northern California with Marina Bay as ground zero.

Planning? We have a Planning Department, but it has been years since it planned anything. Planning should be renamed the Reaction and Fund Raising Department. Planning in Richmond is done mainly by the Port Department and the Redevelopment Agency, with mixed results – some spectacular and some dismal.

For a full report, see the attached PDF file:

Marina_Bay_Transition.pdf