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| Thanks to CBS News for covering this – a follow up from Gigantic Sideshow in Richmond's National Park Presages MLK Day, January 20, 2025.
It’s not just the sideshows, it’s the complete lack of respect that the Richmond City Council has for city assets, particularly those that play such an important role in both the history of Richmond and in American history.
Figure 1 - Historic General Warehouse covered in graffiti
Former Richmond mayor outraged over sideshow at historic WWII shipyard
https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/former-richmond-mayor-outraged-sideshow-historic-wwii-shipyard/
By Kara St. Cyr
Updated on: January 20, 2025 / 9:45 PM PST / CBS San Francisco
Richmond police were involved in a pursuit Sunday evening that ended with two suspects arrested after officers broke up a sideshow at a historic World War II landmark, according to authorities.
Drone footage captured the sideshow activity. Cars could be seen circling the General Warehouse parking lot before being Richmond police patrol cars arrived and gave chase.
But when former Richmond mayor Tom Butt looks at the tire marks left behind, all he can think about is his frustration. The General Warehouse was part of the city's busy shipyard during World War II and is now a national landmark.
Butt says no one treats it that way.
"You can see there's broken glass and trash all over this parking lot," Butt said. "People come down here regularly. They do graffiti. They do sideshows. One sideshow ended up with somebody actually ramming their car through the overhead door in the Riggers Loft."e video player is currently playing an ad.
Butt said the real problem is that local government officials normalized the behavior. He argues that if the city took sideshows seriously, incidents like Sunday's would be few and far in between.
"We have fewer police and fewer police resources than we used to have," Butt said. "And second of all, they actually embrace sideshows."
But Cesar Zepeda, councilmember for District 2 where the sideshow happened, disagreed that the city has not taken proactive measures to prevent more incidents.
"Through roadway engineering, traffic calming measures, roundabouts, fences, barriers, cameras. And we're looking at ways other than just police to provide those tools," Zepeda said.
Zepeda said new cameras were installed near Canal Blvd. where the latest show happened. He cited the two arrests from Sunday's activity as evidence that the system is slowly working.
"We're currently conducting an investigation on all the other vehicles that were there. And each one of them, if they have a license plate or their face, was caught either on our city cameras or on social media cameras, which was covers many of them. We will go after them," Zepeda said.
Butt said he is thankful that the arrests were made, but thinks only a cultural change within local government can make a real impact. |
