Almost a year ago, May 17, 2022, the Richmond City Council pulled the plug on the proposed SunCal project at Point Molate (See Point Molate to Sell for $400, May 18, 2022).

A little over a month later on June 28, 2022, as mayor, I had to sign the deed, transferring for $400 the 30% developable portion of Point Molate to Point Molate Futures, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company managed by the Guidiville Rancheria of California, a federally recognized Indian Tribe (See Today, I Signed the $400 Deed to Point Molate, June 28, 2022).

The Richmond City Council RPA members never intended to go through with the sale to SunCal. They had been scheming for over a year to kill the project and ultimately concocted a false subterfuge to cover their actions, claiming that the financial plan for the SunCal project was flawed and that denying the sale would save the City from bankruptcy.

Thanks to the California Public Records Act, I was able to confirm that a conspiracy had existed since at least early 2021 among Supervisor John Gioia, Senator Nancy Skinner, East Bay Regional Parks Director Elizabeth Echols, and East Bay Regional Parks District Manager Sabrina Landreth, along with the RPA Richmond City Council members, Norman La Force, Robert Cheasty and others to terminate the SunCal project.

Part of the conspiracy was a successful attempt by Senator Nancy Skinner to obtain a $36 million appropriation in the 2022-23 State budget for the East Bay Regional Parks District for “acquisition and cleanup” of Point Molate. For more detail, See the following:

• Millions of Dollars Diverted from Underserved Richmond Neighborhoods in Broad Conspiracy to Fund Point Molate Acquisition, July 19, 2022
• Point Molate - Saved or Sold? -- The Faces of Hypocrisy, July 17, 2022
• Bad Judgment and Political Betrayal, August 21, 2022

So, here we are a year later, and absolutely nothing has happened. There is no park and no Bay Trail. Except for the existing Point Molate Beach Park, everything is fenced and off limits to the public. Most distressing is the condition of Winehaven, which is rapidly deteriorating, perhaps soon beyond repair. Read about the Winehaven deterioration below:

• What Will be the Fate of the Winehaven Historic District at Point Molate?, August 21, 2022
• A Collection of Articles on Winehaven, "California's Undisputed Wine Capital" April 16, 2023
• Nonprofit files suit to save historic Winehaven structures, April 12, 2023
• Winehaven Trust Sues City of Richmond and Tribe Over Lack of Winehaven Maintenance, April 7, 2023

No one has proposed a plan for saving Winehaven, or even for making the rest of Point Molate a park. Nothing has happened – nothing!