Eye on the East Bay: Richmond Pride
Contra Costa Times
Posted:   08/31/2014 12:00:00 AM PDT0 Comments

RICHMOND PRIDE: Beware to those who dare report flaws in Richmond's housing market, for such scalawags must face the wrath of the city's most powerful family.
This month, a consumer website called Wallethub.com published a ranking of the nation's 300 best and worst cities for first-time homebuyers. It had the gall to rank Richmond dead last. The ranking was driven mostly by the chasm between average home price (high) and median income (low). High crime (Richmond has improved, but it remains worse than the average city), high taxes, small houses and a tough local job market also hurt Richmond. Realtors were quoted in a local news report saying that the study didn't give Richmond points for being one of the best bargains in the Bay Area.
The news sparked the ire of mayoral candidate and Point Richmond stalwart Tom Butt and his two adult sons, who gnashed their teeth on social media over the ill repute visited upon their town.
Son Daniel pounced first, taking to a website exclusively for Point Richmond neighbors to savage the dastardly news, questioning how a city in Oklahoma could possibly outrank Richmond and imploring his fellow Point Richmonders to "stand for Richmond and express our distaste with pop-journalism hit pieces on our city."
Not to be outdone, son Andrew -- not typically the enfant terrible of the clan -- drew his own sword and hastened into the cyber fray. Facebook was the arena where he expressed incredulity that any young family would opt to buy their first estate in some Middle American wasteland ("top locations are among the least desirable areas I'd ever consider living. North Texas and Oklahoma? Seriously?" Andrew wrote).
Patriarch Tom Butt, busy with a mayoral race and content to let his sons shred this rogue report, merely reposted the rebukes on his popular online forum -- Point Richmond's digital tableau du jour -- and praised his progeny for "debunking this erstwhile negative portrayal."
Councilman Jim Rogers, perhaps in a late audition to become an honorary member of the Butt clan, was quoted in the e-forum as well, asking, "Does Daniel now rate a special recognition in Eye on the Bay" for his trenchant media critiques?
Yes, yes he does.