Six months ago, I reported on the embarrassing and abysmal condition of Baxter Creek Park and the adjacent site of the proposed development by Miraflores Community Devco, LLC (Baxter Creek Park an Example of City Priorities, July 31, 2021).

Today, six months later, I went by to see if anything had changed. Unfortunately, it has not.

There are still great piles of trash, but what I found particularly distressing is that vandals have started destroying the historic structures from the former greenhouse complex that had been mothballed for future rehabilitation to remind us in the future of this significant history of Japanese settlements in the area. Homeless people have breached the structures, and I fear they will eventually be destroyed by fire.

I found all gates to the fenced and supposedly restricted area wide open and the site in even worse shape.

Why is this happening? The Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA) City Council members (Gayle McLaughlin, Claudia Jimenez, Melvin Willis and Eduardo Martinez) and Demnlus Johnson have fostered a culture of incompetence and corruption among some of the City’s top managers, and they have neglected the most basic responsibilities of the City of Richmond. These City Council members control and are sitting on millions of dollars of ARPA funds that could be used to rescue this project.

Instead of cleaning up the City of Richmond, these City Council members are illegally spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in a vindictive effort to investigate and litigate against me. And the corrupt, incompetent and unethical Office of the City attorney is enabling them to continue.

There are a very few positive signs. I saw a hard working Public Works crew mowing the grass in the park, but they have not been provided the resources to maintain the landscaping or do a cleanup. I keep my fingers crossed that Interim City Manager Shasa Curl can get the City back on the tracks after the train wreck that former City Manager Laura Snideman caused.

Figure 1 - Trash and garbage

Figure 2 - Homeless people have moved onto the site

Figure 3 - Historic structures are being destroyed

Figure 4 - The historic farmhouse has been breached and become a homeless camp

Figure 5 - Former streets filled with construction debris

Figure 6 - More trash and garbage

Figure 7 - More trash and garbage

Figure 8 - tent in the City Park

Figure 9 - Riparian area along Baxter Creek is not maintained

Figure 10 - Landscaped area are not maintained and are dominated by weeds

Figure 11 - gates to the area that is supposed to be secured are wide open