It was exactly one year ago today that I termed out as mayor of Richmond. My last City Council meeting was January 10, 2023, which was called solely to certify the 2022 election. I did not attend the swearing-in ceremony in the evening of the 10th. I have neither...

It is now almost one year since I termed out as mayor of Richmond, concluding a 28-year run of public service that included serving as a City Council member, mayor, and representing Richmond on numerous regional and statewide organizations, many of which I chaired....

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...