Comcast
The City of Richmond has a franchise agreement with Comcast (the cable company) that generally requires the company to provide high quality service. Among other things, Comcast offers high-speed Internet service. Until last month, I was using SBC DSL, but the...
Home Front Event
There is a fascinating program this Saturday, July 31st about the experiences of two ethnic minorities in Richmond during WWII. The basic details follow, and a flyer is attached as a PDF file: What: "Not at Home on the Home Front: A Public Forum on Japanese Americans...
Movement in Richmond City Manager Search
The City Council spent six hours yesterday interviewing four candidates for permanent city manager and two candidates for interim city manager. On July 20, the City Council will decide whether to continue evaluating one or more of the permanent candidates or negotiate...
Support Open Space Measure
The July 27 voting deadline for property owners voting for the County Open Space Measure is fast approaching. For $25 per year, we get $5 million for Richmond shoreline open space (San pablo peninsula and Bruenner Marsh particularly), $5 million for the SF Bay Trail...
Richmond Lighthouse Inn Featured in Wall Street Journal
East Brother Light Station was one of three American lighthouse hotels featured in the Wall Street Journal July 14, 2004, Travel Section. A PDF file is attached. wall_street_journal_071404.pdf
Belcher Declines Re-Election Bid
City Council member Rev. Charles Belcher, who won a two year term three years ago after first being appointed to the seat vacated by Alex Evans, announced tonight that he will not seek re-election in November 2004. Like the other four odd-year members, we got an extra...
Opening Day
For those who aspire to fix whatever may be wrong with the City of Richmond, today is the first day of the filing period for the City Council election of November 2, 2004. There are five incumbents who presumably will ask the voters to return them to office. These are...
Volunteers Leverage Limited City Resources
Many cities vastly expand services to their residents and businesses through a variety of volunteer programs where citizens work alongside full-time city employees. Although there are a number of volunteer programs related to Richmond City government, mostly related...
Richmond’s Best Blackberry Cobbler
Possibly Richmond"s most obscure eating and drinking establishment, the Galley Caf" at Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor is open once again. I stopped in after a day at East Brother Island on the "Wickies" July volunteer day for a bowl of fresh blackberry cobbler with ice...
Vision of Hope for Youth Scores Massive ChevronTexaco Grant
On June 16, 2004, Chevron Products Company announced that the Richmond organization, Vision of Hope for Youth, headed by Ronnie Wallace, has been selected to receive a contract for $202,015 to implement the Summer Youth Paint program. Sharon Craig Carter, Public...
A Younger Corbin Touts California’s Biological Heritage
Jeffrey D. Corbin, Ph.D., son of former Mayor Rosemary Corbin and Douglas Corbin, and an ecologist in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley, authored an a editorial in today"s San Francisco Chronicle urging support for two bills in the California...
Final Meeting on Accident Prevention Industrial Facilities
Thousands of Richmond residents live within "circles of death" that are described in Risk Management Plans (RMP) prepared by local industries in accordance with state and federal law. Industries prefer to use the euphemism "scenario circles," which are described by a...
Tran Legislation Quietly Passes to Governor for Signature
After all the hoopla, chest beating and reciprocal blaming, the TRAN legislation (AB 343, An act to add and repeal Section 53856.2 of the Government Code, relating to temporary borrowing by the City of Richmond, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect...
Former Chief Samuels Surfaces in Orlando
Following are stories from the West County Times and the Orlando Sentinel about former Richmond Police Chief Joseph Samuels accepting a Federal security appointment at Orlando International Airport. WEST COUNTY TIMES, July 1, 2004 Richmond Former police chief takes...
Summer Events Not to Miss – Fireworks and More
CITY"S ANNUAL FIREWORKS DISPLAY AT THE MARINA The City of Richmond will host its annual "Third of July Fireworks Display" on Saturday, July 3, 2004, 9:00pm, along the Richmond Marina. Attendees should arrive early for the best spots, and bring a blanket. For...
Last of Three Railroad Initiatives on City Council Agenda
On April 13, 2004, the City Council passed Resolution 62-04, authorizing certain actions intended to result in the establishment of Quiet Zones at grade crossings where rail traffic passes through Richmond and to provide a solution to the long trains that back up...
Voters Pan City Council and City Management Support Tax Increase
In preparation for consideration of potential ballot issues to raise additional revenue, the Richmond City Council authorized retention of Evans/McDonough Company, Incorporated, to poll a random sample of 403 likely Richmond voters. The Evans of Evans/McDonough is...
Whiskey to Beer
Like an alcoholic pronouncing himself sober after switching from a bottle of whiskey to a case of beer, the Richmond City Council congratulated itself and City staff for producing and adopting a "balanced" budget for FY 2004-2005. The vote was 7-2, with Butt and Bates...
Fathers Day
It is my own sixtieth year and as fitting a time as any to recognize this Fathers Day by remembering my own father, who died four years ago, a couple of months after his 83rd birthday. My father, Thomas Franklin Butt was born March 26, 1917, in Eureka Springs,...
Virtual Richmond
Keeping up with issues and events in Richmond"s diverse and far flung neighborhoods is much facilitated by the Internet. Many neighborhood councils either have websites or distribute newsletters via email. Those with websites include: North and East Neighborhood...