Advertise on KCRT – Help Yourself and Help Richmond
The prospect of obtaining paid sponsorships (underwriting) for programming on KCRT came up during the fiscal crisis brainstorming in the spring of 2004. I put the idea on last week"s City Council agenda for discussion and was subsequently pleasantly surprised to learn...
Chief Bennett Forced Out by Retirement Rule
Phil-Press release regarding Chief of Police.doc An adverse interpretation of Government Code Section 21221 has apparently forced the termination of Chief Charles Bennett effective the end of 2004. Bennett retired effective July 8, 2003 and started working again as a...
Richmond Hires A City Manager
Over a year after Isiah Turner resigned, the City of Richmond will have a new permanent city manager, Bill Lindsey, on board effective February 14, 2005. Phil Batchelor, the current Interim City Manager played a major role in the recruitment process, personally...
State Audit Report Slams Richmond
The California State Audit Bureau has released the long-awaited audit of the City of Richmond, focusing on how the City became tens of millions of dollars in the hole. The complete audit can be found at http://www.bsa.ca.gov/bsa/summaries/2004-117.html. The audit...
Not Too Late to Opine on Rosie
Even though four public workshops on the General Master Plan for the future of the Rosie the Riveter World war II/Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond were completed last week, it is still not too late to weigh in with your opinions on what the park will...
Richmond Streets – Bad and Getting Worse
The City of Richmond has a major unresolved challenge in the condition of its streets. An excerpt from the December 3 Chronicle Watch regarding a specific street maintenance need in Richmond prompted me to complete this editorial E-FORUM I started back in October. The...
John Gioia’s Newsletter, December Edition
Attached as a PDF file is Supervisor John Gioia's December Newsletter. If you want to subscribe, contact John at dist1@bos.co.contra-costa.ca.us. Contact John for any Contra Costa County business at: John Gioia, Supervisor, District One Contra Costa County Board of...
Remember Coach Carter?
In 1999, Coach Ken Carter became a national celebrity when he shut down the basketball season at Richmond High because team members weren"t living up to their contract for academic commitment. Now there is the movie, "Coach Carter " The Movie," opening in theaters...
State Agencies Bog Down in Procedural Issues
The transition or partial transition for responsibility between state agencies for the Campus Bay cleanup continues to play out with mistrust, delays and bureaucracy at its worst. I said before, and I"ll say it again. I believe that neither the RWQCB nor DTSC have the...
Daily Planet and Point Molate
I have appreciated a running dialogue with Becky O"Malley of the Berkeley Daily Planet about Point Molate. It seems that we have one continuing agreement to disagree. She believes that Point Molate belongs to ALL OF US, not just those of us who live in Richmond, and...
Hoggin’ Down at the Public Trough
Today"s East Bay Express is the first medium to go public with a long simmering issue involving credit card use by Richmond department heads, in his case one particular department head. What the article didn"t say is that there were also significant late payment fees...
Richmond, California – City of Crime and Purpose?
KPIX TV was nice enough to remind us last night on the 6:30 news that Richmond has the dubious distinction of being named the most dangerous city in California and the 12th most dangerous city in the United States. This comes from an annual ranking by Morgan Quitno...
Butt Elected to Board of LGC
I am pleased to announce that I have been elected to the Board of Directors of the Local Government Commission (LGC), an organization that has been on the forefront of Smart Growth and Livable Communities for over 20 years. Former Mayor Rosemary Corbin previously...
Help Plan for Rosie in Richmond
rori_alts_workshops.htm Bit by bit, the Rosie the Riveter World War II/Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond is falling into place. This past week, eight historical interpretive markers spaced along the Bay Trail at Marina Bay were dedicated (see West County...
Connecting the Dots
Like a bad penny, the request by the City Attorney"s Office to contract with Trisha A. Aljoe for temporary legal services has turned up week after week and been subsequently removed from the agenda. Only this time, the City Council approved it on a 6-3 vote, with...
Taking Care of Developers
On November 18, the Richmond Planning Department hosted the third in a series of closed workshops intended to review potential changes in design and planning review intended to reduce the time and effort required to process development applications for commercial,...
Year-End Recap and Predictions
At the end of each year, I try to summarize Richmond"s high and low points for the previous year and make wishes and predictions for the future. This time, I am opening the process up to all who read the E-Forum. Take a look at the previous Out With The Old " In With...
Brown Finds Work in Richmond
Local attorneys and lobbyists, who have a long history of gainful employment greasing projects through the Richmond political mill, may find themselves unemployed in the future as new developers and old industries look higher up the food chain for help. Former San...
City Should Weigh in on Breuner Marsh
Some members of the Richmond City Council recently complained that the City of Richmond has "too many parks." While the comments were based on a very real problem that Richmond"s tax base is no longer able to support our municipal lifestyle, and parks don"t pay taxes,...
Next Shorelines Project to Get Public Scrutiny Next Week
PointRichmondShores.pdf TRACBCDCDRB.DOC Thanks to Bruce Beyaert for providing the following information about Point Richmond Shores, which is located at the former Richmond Terminal No. 1 (last leased by Petromark as a tank farm in the late 1980"s) at the foot of...