City Manager’s Weekly Report for the Week Ending May 6, 2022
This message is being sent on behalf of City Manager Shasa Curl Hon. Mayor and Members of the City Council: This is the report for the week ending in May 6th, 2022. Meeting Notes The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 17th, 2022. Enjoy the next...
Forgotten Tales of Point Molate – Industrialization of the Point San Pablo Peninsula
With the cession of California to the United States following the Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo provided that the land grants would be honored. As required by the Land Act of 1851, a claim for Rancho San Pablo was filed with the Public...
Forgotten Tales of Point Molate – The Beginning of the Casino Project
In November of 2004, after a prolonged period of soliciting proposals for the development of Point Molate, the City Council had only a single viable proposal -- the project by Upstream and the Guidiville Band of the Pomos to build a destination resort with a casino....
Forgotten Tales of Point Molate
For thousands of years (4,000 BCE to around 1776) the only residents of what is now Point Molate were the Huchiun, an Ohlone tribal group that held the eastern bay shore from Temescal Creek in present-day Oakland/Emeryville to the lower drainage of San Pablo Creek in...
Forgotten Tales of Point Molate – Selection of Point Molate Reuse Plan Consultant
The most contentious issue to face the City Council after the 1995 election was the selection of a consultant to prepare the reuse plan for Point Molate. Not satisfied with the short list selected to be interviewed by staff, the City Council insisted on interviewing...
Forgotten tales of Point Molate – The Wickland Oil Caper
Lost in the fog of the current political struggles over the future of Point Molate is an incident over two decades ago that could have changed its history forever. In the mid-1990s, as Richmond was preparing for the eventual transfer of Point Molate from the Navy,...
City Council Calls it Quits in $300,000 Litigation Against Mayor
At the May 3, 2022, City Council meeting, the City Council voted 4-2 to end the litigation against me but to authorize payment of $300,000 to the greedy and unethical southern California attorney who promoted the litigation and profited from it at the rate of...
Richmond Journalism Student Wins White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) Scholarship
A Richmond CA journalism student at UC Berkley, Maria Fernanda Bernal, was named one of the 2022 winners of scholarships by the Whitehouse Correspondents’ Association, which sponsored the White House Correspondents Dinner, headlining President Biden and Trevor Noah,...
Downtown Richmond Promo Produced By CoBiz Richmond
From Wesley Alexander of COBIZ In the spirit of changing the narrative and perception of Richmond, I am writing to share our promotional video about the great assets, resources, and businesses located here in Downtown Richmond, which also includes CoBiz. As you know,...
City Manager’s Weekly Report for the Week Ending April 29, 2022
This message is being sent on behalf of City Manager Shasa Curl Hon. Mayor and Members of the City Council: This is the report for the week ending April 29th, 2022. Meeting Notes The next Regular City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday May 3rd, 2022. Closed...
$300,000 on Next Week’s Agenda to Litigate Against the Mayor (MINOR CORRECTION)
(Change “Downey Brand” to “Meyers Nave”). In Item 0.1.b of the May 3, 2022, City Council Agenda, the Richmond City Council is being asked to continue throwing good money after bad by increasing the contract with Meyers nave to $300,000 to pay for litigation against...
California attorney general subpoenas ExxonMobil, opens major investigation into plastic pollution
California attorney general subpoenas ExxonMobil, opens major investigation into plastic pollution Bonta says companies engaged in decades of “misinformation and deception” Oliver Arnold, 12, left, of Oakland, and other volunteers pick up plastic litter and other...
A Lesson in Civic Incompetence
This is more on the sad saga of 8 Western Drive where City staff incompetence resulted in an illegal gift of public property to a departing homeowner who sold out for over a million dollars and left the City, the purchaser and the neighbors holding the bag. For other...
$1.2 Million Grant for YouthBUILD
I just got a phone call from Labor Secretary Marty Walsh informing me that the City of Richmond has been awarded a $1,199,000 grant to support the development of apprenticeship and other career pathway models that prepare underserved young adults (16-24 years) who are...
30 Days to Point Molate Showdown
In accordance with the 2018 Federal Court settlement and amended final judgment of 2019, one of the following will happen on May 21, 2022: SunCal, which has full development entitlements with a Development Agreement (DA) and Development and Disposition Agreement (DDA)...
City Manager’s Weekly Report for the Week Ending April 22, 2022
This message is being sent on behalf of City Manager Shasa Curl Hon. Mayor and Members of the City Council: This is the report for the week ending April 22nd, 2022. Meeting Notes The next Regular City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday April 26th, 2022. Closed...
City Manager’s Weekly Report for the Week Ending April 15, 2022
This message is being sent on behalf of City Manager Shasa Curl Hon. Mayor and Members of the City Council: This is the report for the week ending April 15th, 2022. Meeting Notes The next Regular City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday April 19th, 2022. Closed...
City Attorney and Public Works Director Committed to Give Away Public Property and Endanger Pedestrians
You may recall that sometime between 2017 and 2020, the owners of 8 Western Drive enclosed about 1,580 square feet of the public right-of-way of Western Drive with a fence and incorporated it into their private yard, including a gated parking space for their exclusive...
Richmond Moves Brings Affordable On-Demand Mobility to Central Richmond
Funded by California Climate Investments (CCI), a statewide initiative that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Richmond Moves provides on demand pickup and dropoff at $2 per ride, free for seniors and students, Monday...
Juneteenth Mural Unveiling Tomorrow
In commemoration of Juneteenth and Richmond’s celebration of Juneteenth, a mural was commissioned on the 37th Street Overpass due south of Macdonald Avenue. There is a scheduled unveiling from 11 AM until 2 PM on Friday, April 22. The muralist is Desi Mundo [...