This is the second in a series of recollections I have of my 50 years living in Richmond. Click here for Richmond in the 1980s.

The decade of 1980 was one of far-reaching changes in Richmond, as new residents led a transition from the industrial past to a vison of a more user-friendly waterfront city. As late as 1970, there was only 67 feet of Richmond’s 32 miles of shoreline legally accessible to the public. By 1990, 25 years later, that had increased to several miles, including over 3,000 acres of regional shoreline parks.

Political struggles, such as the future of Terminal 1, started in the 1980s and are still unresolved today, some 40 years later. Richmond transitioned to an elected mayor in 1981, but the first elected mayor died in office.

I hope you enjoy reading this.