RPA-Dominated Richmond City Council Doubles Down on Secrecy
Controlling information, secrecy and censorship is a tool long used by authoritarian governments to keep the people both in line and ignorant of what their government is actually doing, and this is the direction the RPA-controlled Richmond City Council is increasingly...
City Manager’s Weekly Report for the Week Ending November 19, 2021
Hon. Mayor and Members of the City Council: This is the report for the week ending November 19th, 2021. 1. Meeting Notes The next Regular City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 23rd, 2021. Closed Session begins at 5:00 PM, followed by the Special...
City Finally Admits Wasting Time and Money on Dead End Investigation
It appears that the Richmond Progressive Alliance has pretty much milked all they can from a failed two-year investigation of me for alleged discrimination, retaliation, “corrupt conduct,” “abusing power,” “circulation of information externally,” and more ,that they...
Community Police Review Commission Records Have Disappeared
Richmond was one of the early adopters of a civilian review process for police, setting up what is now the Community Police Review Commission (CPRC) in 1984. Although the Commission has been robustly managed and staffed for years, there are scant records of its...
City Manager Separation Agreement Executed
Today, the separation agreement with City Manager Laura Snideman was executed, providing a final date of employment of December 1, 2021. It was signed by Lura Snideman on November 11 and on November 16 by Vice-mayor Demnlus Johnson because I refused to sign it – for...
Is Reimagining Public Safety in Richmond a Boondoggle?
The City Council recently extended the life of the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force for another four years. Does this really make any sense? Has the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force actually accomplished anything? Unfortunately the answer is “no” to both...
Richmond Fire and Police Toy Program Donations
For those of you who would like to help, the Fire and Police Toy Program will be serving 500 families with food, gift cards and bikes in a COVID-19 safe event at DeJean Middle School on December 18th. The program needs help to make it happen for the families this...
Check This Out: Discover & Go
What is Discover & Go? Discover & Go is a program provided by your library that offers free and low-cost passes for museums, science centers, zoos, theatres, and other cultural destinations. You must meet your library's minimum age requirement and live within...
Coal Settlement Not What It Seems
Yesterday, there was a lot of back slapping, chest thumping and high-fiving by RPA City Council members and the Sierra Club (Richmond City Council and Levin Terminal Reach Monumental Settlement to Phase Out Handling of Coal and Petcoke in the City By 2026) as a...
Meet the New Vice-chair of the Richmond Reimagine Public Safety Task Force
It seems there is good reason that RPA darling Tamisha Torres-Walker has been advocating to defund the police, who, it appears, continue to interfere with her lifestyle. Antioch Councilwoman Charged With Misdemeanor After Interfering with Police Officer written by ECT...
Shakeup and Insanity at City Hall
City Manager Laura Snideman will soon be joining City Attorney Teresa Sticker in the mass exodus of Richmond’s top managers from City Hall. Last night, November 9, 2021, with a 6-1 vote in closed session with only me dissenting, the City Council voted to approve a...
Veterans Day 2021
Tomorrow is Veterans Day 2021. The tradition that became Veterans Day started as a commemoration of Armistice Day, the time of temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany that went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of...
Important Energy News from CALCCA
In this time of COP-26, you may be interested to know that CALCCA is the association of California Consumer Choice Energy aggregators, providing green energy to many parts of California. Our provider in Richmond is MCE Clean Energy. I represent Richmond on the board...
Heather McLaughlin Brings Crusade Against 1st Amendment to Richmond
With the resignation of City Attorney Teresa Stricker, contract Assistant City Attorney Heather McLaughlin is quickly becoming the public face of the Richmond City Attorney’s Office. Mc Laughlin (not to be confused with City Council member Gayle McLaughlin) is the...
City Attorney Goes Off the Rails
Our lame duck city attorney who resigned last week has truly left the track after losing all her wheels. With four minutes to spare before the 24-hour Brown Act deadline for noticing an agenda item, she (through contract Assistant City Attorney Heather McLaughlin),...
The Rest of the Story
You may recall that multiple public speakers at recent City Council meetings, and some of the same people in social media posts, praised the RPA City Council members for their direction to the city attorney to file a brief supporting the appellants in the Point Molate...
Richmond City Attorney Resigns
I received the following email from City Attorney Teresa Stricker less than an hour ago: Dear Mayor and Councilmembers, I hereby resign as City Attorney. Consistent with the terms of my employment agreement, my last day as City Attorney will be Monday, January 3,...
EBMUD Weighs in On Water Pipeline to Marin
From: Sullivan, Sharla <sharla.sullivan@ebmud.com> Sent: Wednesday, November 3, 2021 3:08 PM To: Paul Fadelli <pfadelli@comcast.net> Cc: Karen Pinkos <kpinkos@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us>; Pook, Andrea <andrea.pook@ebmud.com>; Favorite-Hill, Mona...
City Manager’s Weekly Report for the Week Ending 10/29/2021
You can view the current City Manager's Weekly Report here: City Manager's Weekly Report 10/29/2021
Richmond Air Wars
Richmond probably ranks among the top cities anywhere for information about air quality. As a result of AB 617, there are three sources of information about particulates in Richmond air. See...