Mosquito Infestation in Richmond

This summer, parts of Richmond have been plagued by mosquitoes. They are so bad where I live that we have to sleep under a mosquito net at night like in some third world country. One of my neighbors writes, “I am once again being tortured by mosquitos. The worst...

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Richmond San Rafael Bridge Update

I participated in an update of all things Richmond San Rafael Bridge on October 1, 2021. Social media discussion of the westbound Richmond San Rafael Bridge configuration remains voluminous and vigorous. Those who commute across the bridge in the morning are incensed...

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Confusion at City Hall

One of the most time consuming things the Mayor’s Office Staff does is “constituent casework,” which consists of taking calls and/or emails from mostly disgruntled residents (and sometimes businesses). My staff spends consistently a collective total about 30 hours a...

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Climate Mayors Summit Series: The Green and Just Transition

As a member of the US Conference of Mayors, I get to participate is a lot of discussions about programs and projects for cities. September 29, 2021, was the second in a series of rescheduled (due to COVID-19) sessions of the 2021 Climate Mayors Summit. This second...

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Transitions in the Mayors Office

Former Richmond Mayor’s Office Chief of Staff Christopher Whitmore has taken the position of executive director of Richmond Promise, replacing founding Executive Director Jessie Stewart, who is moving on to a new potion with UC Berkeley athletic program. He did a...

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Weekly Report for the Week Ending September 24, 2021

Hon. Mayor and Members of the City Council: This is the report for the week ending September 24TH, 2021. Meeting Notes The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 28th, 2021. The Regular Meeting of the Richmond City Council starts at 6:30 P.M.,...

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Electrical Outages in Richmond

Last week, I talked to the PG&E governmental affairs representative for Richmond, Nkiruka Ohaegbu, who gave me a briefing on the outages. The main problem is caused by particulate matter on the lines and transformers that causes shorts when it rains. We have had...

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UPDATE PG&E Outages in the East Bay Area

Nkiruka told me that the City granted a citywide pole washing permit earlier this week and that they washed poles on Thursday and Friday. From: Ohaegbu, Nkiruka <NCO4@pge.com> Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2021 12:22 PM To: Laura Snideman...

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Weekly Report for the Week Ending September 17, 2021

Hon. Mayor and Members of the City Council: This is the report for the week ending September 16TH, 2021. Meeting Notes The following City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 21st, 2021. Closed Session begins at 5:00 P.M., followed by the Special...

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Traffic Code Enforcement

Richmond is now down to one parking enforcement person for the entire city of 110,000, Amanda Le Gaux (alegaux@richmondpd.net), who offers the following contact phone numbers for residents requesting service. She laments, “it is difficult to be proactive with...

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Not Quite Gone Yet

Despite the air of finality in the Richmond Confidential story below, it’s not exactly time to say “good-by” and ride into the sunset yet. I have about one year and four months left in my final term as mayor. That’s about 60 City Council meetings, over 100...

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Covid the Corvid “Graduated” One Year Ago

It has been one year since Covid the Corvid told us “goodbye” and flew off to become a wild crow. For the story, see Covid the Corvid – Free as a Bird. For the video, see https://youtu.be/fsOb6Mhpxlo. If you see him/her, say hi.

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How to “Homestead” Land in Richmond

Back in the Wild West, there was the Homestead Act, signed by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862, which gave people up to 160 acres of public land, provided they live on it, improve it, and pay a small registration fee. The Government granted more than 270...

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