2024 looks like a mixed bag for Point Molate and Winehaven. Nearly 30 years after the Richmond City Council first considered acquisition of Point Molate, the only remarkable physical change has been the steady deterioration of buildings in the Winehaven Historic...

The article copied below is from the Grandview Independent. I just took the survey, which like the Community Warning System (CWS) , is also fatally flawed. It sems to be based on the premise that a few tweaks will make everything okay. You can’t fix a trainwreck, and...

Housing developers would have us believe that they are visionary risk takers, foreseeing future demand for housing and planning innovative and creative projects to meet that demand. Maybe some of them are, but they rarely find their way to Richmond. We seem to mostly...

With no coverage from any news media, the California Court of Appeal on November 27, 2023, disposed of the long standing challenge to the Point Molate SEIR (Subsequent Environmental Impact Report) by the Point Molate Alliance and the North Coast River Alliance by...

As the National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day approaches on December 7, it is interesting to reflect on what failures in readiness led to the devastating attack. As I was compiling Cecilia King’s Extraordinary Senior Trip, I dove for context into pre-WWII history,...

Some of you may be interested in following the link to participate in the survey. While the land use policy is focused on the important topic of housing, I mentioned that consideration should be given for land that preserves or provides habitat for wildlife and...

Dear Friend of the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, This is a gentle reminder that the fall Native Plant Extravaganza takes place this coming Saturday, November 18, from 10:00-4:00. See below for information on the free native wildflower seed giveaway, and the...

Design Review Board meeting canceled following resignations Soren Hemmila Nov 14, 20233 min Grandview Independent The Richmond Design Review Board meeting was canceled for lack of a quorum last week following the resignation of its two members in protest of the...

According to the former chair of the Design Review Board, the attorney for Guardian Commercial Real Estate, L.P., the developer of the proposed Marina Point, the City missed the Housing Accountability Act 30-day deadline to inform the applicant of all the...

For a nonprofit with a multimillion operating budget, It is incomprehensible that Urban Tilth simply cannot produce an audit of its finances. And it is equally incomprehensible that the attorney general continues to cut Urban Tilth slack, setting yet another deadline...

There used to be an old Reader’s Digest section headed “Humor in Uniform, which reminds us the sometimes, there is levity in a war zone, where the “Green Machine” matches up soldiers skills with the needs of Uncle Sam. Here are some real stories involving friends of...

Dear Friend of the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, The days are shorter, we’ve had some rain, and temperatures are cooler—this is a great time to plant native plants! Shop for them on Saturday, November 18, at the upcoming Native Plant Extravaganza, and a...

The tentative ruling in the Port of Oakland Coal case went against the City of Oakland, and the judge will make final ruling in ten days. It would be really important for the City of Richmond to file an amica brief in support of Oakland, because if Oakland loses, it...

https://richmondside.org/ will launch in a few months. Their website says they are planning some coffee house meetings in the next few weeks.

Two Design Review Board members, David Plotkin and Leah Marthinsen, have resigned in protest of the ill-conceived Palestine Resolution, leaving the DRB with only four of seven authorized members, making a quorum impossible if only one of the remaining four does not...

It appears that the RPA (Richmond Progressive Alliance) City Council will not recognize Veterans Day 2023, but we did maybe for the last time, in 2022 when I was mayor, with the following resolution: RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND CALIFORNIA...

On October 3, 2023, the Richmond City Council awarded contracts totaling over $10 million to two organizations, Rich City Rides and Urban Tilth. Both contracts were actually awarded to Urban Tilth because Urban Tilth is the fiscal sponsor of Rich City Rides. Urban...

Eighty-three years ago, my mother, Cecilia King (later Butt), lived in a small town in eastern Arkansas (Beebe, 1940 population 1,189) and graduated from nearby Batesville High School in 1940 when she was 18. After graduation, she had an opportunity for an extended...

Live music, arts fair, local food and drinks, kid’s activities – including a video game truck and pumpkin patch Point Richmond Business Association October, 2023 Fall Fest is This Saturday 10/28 Point Richmond Fall Fest is coming up this Saturday and it will be a...

As if we didn’t have enough home-grown problems, the Richmond City Council seems periodically drawn to taking sides in recurring struggles involving Israel and Palestinians, especially Gazans, governed by Hamas. Gayle McLaughlin appears to have particularly strong...