Like many other cities, Richmond has missed the deadline for adopting its General Plan Housing Element. Penalties can include fines up to $100,000, withholding of grant funds, and imposition of the "builder's remedy," which means that Richmond would be forced to...

Businesses all over town are concerned and complaining that there is apparently no way to renew businesses licenses for 2023 under the ill-conceived Measure U. No invoices are being mailed out to businesses. Those businesses that want to be proactive go to the...

With a little over three weeks since my forced retirement from politics, I am enjoying life. No more evening meetings, no emails or phone calls from irate residents, no suits and ties, and best of all, no City Council meetings. Although I am retired from politics, I...

Figure 1 - Historic Cafeteria Building The historic Cafeteria Building located on Canal Boulevard is one of only six remaining intact buildings in historic Shipyard 3. It was completed in September 1943, and although substantially altered in the interior, the exterior...

A failed primary clarifier that has been out of service since Monday at the City’s wastewater treatment plant on Canal Boulevard is responsible for multiple spikes in H2S, (also known as sewer gas, swamp gas, stink damp, and sour damp) a colorless gas known for its...

The California Supreme Court on Wednesday ended a fight about a voter-approved initiative that increased tolls on the seven state-run bridges over San Francisco Bay by $3.00 in part to support climate change projects. Regional Measure 3 (RM3) was planned and passed in...

You can view the current City Manager's Weekly Report here: City Manager's Weekly Report 01/20/2023

Today, we filed a request for a writ of mandate from Contra Costa Superior Court to vacate, set aside, and/or rescind the Land Development Agreement (LDA) entered into between the City of Richmond and Terminal One Development LLC on December 29, 2022. Click here for...

I understand that the City Council elected Gayle McLaughlin as vice-mayor last night, creating a potential future Charter crisis (similar to a Constitutional crisis). Article III-A, Section 3(a) of the City Charter states, “No person may serve as Mayor for more than...

The City of Richmond’s access to Highway Users Tax Account Funds has been suspended because the City is delinquent in filing is Annual Street Report (ASR) for the Fiscal Year 2021-22. See HUTA Suspension Letter. This is the kind of thing we are likely to see more of...

The film Stuntboy (Click Here) was shot by former Richmond resident John Behrens in 1988 when he was 14 years old and completed in 1990 when he was 16. John wrote: Francois Chew and I made this film in 1990. It was written by Tom McGowan to be a making of an...

Like San Francisco (see article at the end of this email), the City of Richmond routinely awards contracts to nonprofits, the status of which is revoked, suspended or delinquent. Doing due diligence and vetting the status of nonprofit grant recipients is the job of...

The Rooted in Richmond app is now complete, and we just pushed the final update (which increased the multilingual functionality and also reduced the download time for the files) I’m including the language and promo information below. Also see the slide presentation...

A recent posting on social media about Melvin Willis’ quest for a new place to live in District 1 evolved into a claim by failed RPA candidate Jamin Purcell that, “the pay for council members is so abusive” and whining that the alleged low pay for City Council members...

See https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/weather/millions-of-gallons-of-sewage-are-spilling-into-sf-bay/article_3474d37c-9136-11ed-a6e4-ef581c011dbd.html The fundamental challenge with the wastewater system that serves 60 percent of Richmond residents is that some old...

Check out the upbeat, colorful 24th Bay Trail Richmond New Year Report prepared by TRAC, the Trails for Richmond Action Committee, available at https://www.pointrichmond.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/TRAC_NewYear_Report_2023_FINAL_HighQuality.pdf. It summarizes great...

I am going to keep the E-FORUM going for a while at least, but this is my last one as mayor. I just finished my last City Council meeting, a special meeting to certify the election results in District 2, which passed on a 5-1 vote with Bates Absent and me voting NO. I...

The following article appeared in the East Bay Times. The biggest challenge the new City Council will face is getting control of labor costs, and especially unfunded pension liabilities. This will be difficult for the RPA-controlled City Council because they are, in...

A combination of missing RPA City Council members, an incompetent and corrupt city attorney and a disorganized Contra Costa County Elections Division created a perfect storm where certification of newly electeds Eduardo Martinez, Cesar Zepeda, Doria Robinson and...

According to posts on Facebook, Vice-mayor/Mayor-elect Eduardo Martinez has paid for a private swearing-in ceremony for Cesar Zepeda, Doria Robinson, Soheila Bana and himself at Bridge Storage. The official City Council meeting to conduct the swearing-in remains...