Please Join Me at the Richmond Rotary Holiday Auction November 30
The Holiday Aucton is the premier fund-raising event for Richmond Rotary to support dozens of deserving programs and projects in Richmond. Please be my guest and bid, and I will buy your lunch! The auction begins at noon, November 30 at the Richmond Country Club. If...
Berkeley Lab resource on how to protect yourself and your family from wildfire smoke
Dear Mayor Butt, In case it's helpful for city staff or constituents, I wanted to share with you a news release (below) that Berkeley Lab sent out about how people can protect themselves and their families from smoke from the wildfires. A link to the story can also be...
Potential Developers Drop Out Due to Impractical Limitations Imposed by City Council
On October 23, the City Council adopted guidelines for soliciting proposals for Point Molate development that essentially rendered future development impractical, caving in and pandering to the small but strident fringe group who does not want to see Point Molate...
Election Updates #10
Courtesy of Don Gosney: Election Update #10 Contra Costa County has posted a significant number of additional votes (about 6600 votes). The significant changes to the results are with the Richmond City Council where Vinay Pimplé moved into third place with Cesar...
“Very Unhealthy” Air in Richmond Now and Probably Through the Weekend
AIR QUALITY HAS WORSENED. We are in the PURPLE zone. All schools in Contra Costa are closed tomorrow and the County has closed some libraries due to indoor air quality concerns. It’s unhealthy outside! John Gioia’s El Cerrito office has a supply of free masks...
Air Quality Status in Bay Area from No. CA Fires
With continuing smoke from the Camp Fire (and any other Northern CA fires), the EPA has a small scale air quality map of the greater Bay Area. The Bay Area air quality district (BAAQMD) provides a table, updated hourly, of estimated air quality for a number of...
Election Update #6
From Don Gosney: As expected, we saw a large number of votes counted by the end of Friday. In Richmond, we saw an additional 5000+ votes added to the tally. Of note: Tom Butt increased his lead over Melvin Willis by an additional 651 votes s he now leads by 2,949...
November 13, 2018, Regular Richmond City Council Agenda/Packet – CLOSED SESSION BEGINS AT 5:00 P.M.
The agenda/packet for the Tuesday, November 13, 2018, Regular Richmond City Council Meeting is on the web. Follow the link below to view: http://sireweb.ci.richmond.ca.us/sirepub/meet.aspx PLEASE NOTE: CLOSED SESSION 5:00 p.m. RICHMOND HOUSING AUTHORITY BEGINS AT 6:25...
Initial Richmond Election Results – 13,000 Ballots Still Out
The results are in, and we have prevailed. While there are still ballots that remain to be counted, our margin of 15% is wide enough that we are declaring victory. Thank you so much for everything you have done to make this possible. Thank you to everyone who endorsed...
Blowback Begins on City Council Point Molate Decision
The blowback from the Richmond City Council’s ill-conceived action to subvert the Point Molate Settlement Agreement has begun to emerge (see City Council Subverts Point Molate Settlement Agreement, October 24, 2018). The only prospective developer with local ties,...
The Weekly Report is Back!
After a hiatus following Bill Lindsay’s retirement, the popular and informative Weekly Report went dark, but now it’s back! Mayor and Members of the City Council: This is the report for the week ending November 2nd, 2018. Meeting Notes The next City Council meeting is...
Menbe’s 8th annual Thanksgiving Dinner
THE MENBE'S WAY FUND 501(c)(3) Charity FED ID#94-3337754 THE 8TH ANNUAL THANKSGIVING DINNER FOR THE UNDERSERVED When: Thursday, November 22, 2018 | Where: GRIP - 165 22nd St, Richmond CA 94801 Friends, I want to start by thanking you all for the wonderful messages of...
This Campaign’s Defining Issue
Sooner or later, political campaigns evolve into defining issues, and the Richmond Mayor campaign now has its defining issue – downsizing the Richmond Police Department. In 2017, Melvin Willis was quoted in the media as advocating cutting the Richmond Police...
Ballot Recommendations
At popular demand, but without elaboration, here are my ballot recommendations: Governor, Gavin Newsom Lieutenant Governor, Eleni Kounalakis Secretary of State, Alex Padilla Controller, Betty T. Yee Treasurer, Fiona Ma Attorney General, Xavier Becerra Insurance...
Changes Coming to Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and Bay Trail to Point Molate
The Bay Trail extension to Point Molate that will provide pedestrian and bicycle access now under construction is scheduled to open in March of 2019. The extension across the bridge using what is now the westbound right shoulder will also open in march of 2019. The...
City Council Election Recommendations
After Tuesday night’s Point Molate fiasco, it is clear that we need to move to a City Council that is no longer dominated by the Richmond Progressive Alliance. Back before the RPA attained a supermajority, we worked together successfully on a lot of issues, including...
Snopes for the Richmond Sun
The flagship campaign piece of the Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA) was mailed this week, thinly disguised as a newspaper and, not surprisingly, in violation of Richmond Municipal Code 2.42.075 because it does not disclose funding. The Richmond Sun mailer promotes...
Surrogate for Richmond Progressive Alliance Found in Flagrant Violation of Campaign Law
On October 3, 2018, the Richmond City Attorney was notified of a campaign law violation of East Bay Working Families, a supposedly independent committee acting as a surrogate for the RPA. East Bay Working Families violated RMC 2.42.075 (Required disclosure on mass...
City Council Subverts Point Molate Settlement Agreement
The Richmond City Council went off the tracks last night, caving in to an obsessed mob of Point Molate obstructionists and adopting a framework for future development that is so constricted it will probably make future development economically infeasible. Of course,...
What Would Melvin’s 20% Police Department Reduction Look Like?
There has been a lot of chatter on NextDoor and Facebook over the last few days about the effect of reducing Richmond’s Police Budget by 20%, as advocated by mayoral candidate Melvin Willis. Most people are dead set against a reduction in policing, while Melvin and a...