Richmond City Council (Richmond, California)
The Richmond City Council is the governing body for the city of Richmond, California. The council consists of the Mayor of Richmond and six other city council members, one designated Vice Mayor. The council members are all elected from the whole city; no members are elected by district or ward. The council members are elected to four-year terms, as opposed to the previous six-year terms. They are not all elected at once. The council members meet every first and third Tuesday of the month and, if necessary, hold special meetings on the remaining Tuesdays. Presently, there are eight Democrats, one member of the Green Party, and no Republicans.
History[edit]
2010s[edit]
The city council had met at the Richmond Civic Center at City Hall since the construction of the Richmond Civic Center until the mid 2000s, but due to seismic instability, the council started meeting at an alternative site in the Marina Bay District. Some of the council favored a permanent move to this site, which is newer and in one of the more affluent neighborhoods. However, the majority of the populace was against this action as it would move City Hall from a central location to a rather isolated one. The city council has now returned to meeting downtown with the reconstruction of the Richmond Civic Center.
Currently the mayor is Thomas K. Butt and vice mayor is Ben Choi which serve alongside councilmen Nathanial Bates, Eduardo Martinez, Demnlus Johnson, Jael Myrick, and Melvin Willis
In 2019 the city council was mulling a ban on coal and petroleum coke storage that is frequently stored in boxcars along the industrial city's myriad train tracks off-gassing potential contaminants to the city's urban population possibly contributing to respiratory illnesses.[1]
Ben Choi[edit]
Ben Choi is the vice mayor and city councilman of Richmond, California since 2019.[2]
Ben Choi arrived from South Korea as a child at age six and was in the country illegally for 10 to 12 years.[3][4]
In 2019 he mouned the loss of Michael Davenport a longtime supporter of Richmond charity works particularly the Richmond Police Department's PAL.[5] Also that year he promoted mitigation of illegal dumping in the city limits by Richmondites and outsiders by installing CCTV.[6] He also served as the grand marshall of the Spirit and Soul Festival.[7] He voted unsuccessfully 3 to 4 (along with mayor Tom Butt and councilman Jael Myrick[8]) to retain[9] city manager Carlos Martinez that year as well.[10] Choi suggested that Martinez be put on probation for six months and reassessed then instead of making the city look, "out of control".[11] He cut the ribbon for new soccer pitches at Wendell Park.[12] Choi voted for district elections for city councilmen in 2019.[13] He also dressed up as Rosie the Riveter for the Rosie Rally Home Front Festival.[14] He voted for cleanup through capping of the polluted Zeneca site at Campus Bay.[15]
Controversies[edit]
After Gayle McLaughlin's victory in 2006 the council appointed Harpreet Sandhu who had been the city's Human Relations Director to her vacant city council person seat. The fact that public input was not considered and that the candidates were not revealed to the public outraged many in the community. This led to the passage of an ordinance allowing anyone who can obtain 20 registered voters to sign a petition in their favor to be able to register with the city for a vacant seat. The petition was added to get the vote of council member Nate Bates, who considered passing the law without such a requirement would turn the city council appointments into an American Idol style circus.
Mayor McLaughlin voted against this measure since she thought the city needed to overhaul the process entirely to make it more democratic. Her campaign manager and vocal community activist Juan Reardon called the new ordinance a "travesty."[16]
The council has been noted in the media for frivolous and unproductive bickering, especially between Tom Butt and María Viramontes.[17] The council has been noted for having two distinct and opposing factions consisting of: Viramontes, López, Sandhu and sometimes Bates which conflicts with the remaining fellowship of McGlaughlin, Butt, Ritterman, and sometimes Rogers.[17]
2000s[edit]
The 2000s saw the rise and fall of pro-Chevron and anti-Chevron camps on the city council and the formation of the Richmond Progressive Alliance co-founded by Andres Soto. It was also the time during which Richmond was transformed from city with high gun violence and homicides to one with renewable energy and new schools built by a progressive Green Party mayor - Gayle McGlaughlin whom replaced Irma Anderson.
For the beginning of the decade the city council lineup was as follows: mayor Irma L. Anderson with vice mayor Jim Rogers and councilpersons Nathaniel Bates, Thomas K. Butt, Richard L. Griffin, John Márquez, Gayle McLaughlin, Mindell L. Penn, and María Viramontes.
As part of the "Consent calendar" at the 1 March 2005 meeting, the city council adopted an ordinance, sponsored by Mindell Penn and María Viramontes, to divest city funds from financial institutions linked to slavery.[18]
Richmond was the first city in California to do so, and in the country second behind only Chicago.[19] Mentioning the word "reparations", this story was picked up by the San Francisco Chronicle and carried in papers in Salt Lake City, Utah and Bluffton, South Carolina.[19][20][21]
Mindell Penn[edit]
Mindell Lewis Penn[22] was a city council member in the city of Richmond, California between 1999 and 2005.[22] She was age 60 in 2005,[22] is a graduate of the UC Davis Financial School of Management, and is affiliated with the "powerful" Bay Area group Black Women Organized For Political Action.[23] She was an executive for PG&E working in community relations and finance, and was elected twice as the chairwoman of the Sacramento Urban League board of directors.[24] She served on the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park project committee.[25][26]
John Márquez[edit]
John Márquez is an American Democratic politician and activist who has held various positions in Richmond, California city government over a span twenty-three years in addition to further years of service before and after in the West County Area.[27] This includes eighteen years[28] as a city councilman and a stint as vice mayor. He was the first Latino to serve on the Richmond City Council. Originally he was an appointee to the council in 1985 and won an election to that seat in 1987,[27] he subsequently lost his second bid in 1991.[29] However he was elected again in 1993 and twice more in 1997 and 2004.[29] In 1990 and 1998 he also served as vice mayor.[29] Márquez was defeated for re-election in 2008, and also lost a mayoral bid in 2001 to Green Gayle McLaughlin. In addition to his elected offices in the city of Richmond, he has held various other positions in Contra Costa County, California on various commissions including college trustee.
Jeff Ritterman[edit]
Jeff Ritterman is a cardiologist, politician, and activist from Richmond, California. He is currently vice president of the board of for the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility[30]
From 1981 to 2010 we worked at Kaiser Permanente's Richmond Medical Center where he rose to the position of chief cardiologist. From 2008 to 2012 he was a city councilman for the Richmond City Council, where he proposed a soda tax ballot measure, to combat childhood diabetes, that eventually failed to pass.[31] Ritterman acknowledged it was a "tough" campaign.[32] Regarding the soda tax which was opposed by the NAACP and Black American Political Action Committee in addition to the bottling industry he stated, "They claimed it was racist — that here I was, a white doctor, trying to impose a regressive tax on black people".[33] He also made contributions to the city's anti tobacco measures which have been used as a statewide model.
In 2012 he attended a Richmond pow wow alongside Gayle McGlaughlin and Nancy Skinner.[34] He also criticized the settlement that the Chevron Richmond Refinery paid for its 2012 fire as too small as did Andrés Soto.[35] He also debuted a prescription drugs drop off box with the Richmond Police Department that year.[36]
In 2013 he celebrated the passage of a soda tax in Mexico inspired by his soda tax proposal for Richmond,[37] something for which he travelled to Mexico to campaign for.[38]
He expressed concerns over the potential of heavier crude oils from Canadian oil sands increasing the emissions of sulfur dioxide pollution for the dwellers of Richmond and the surrounding region in 2014.[39] In 2019 he campaigned for the Green New Deal and against coal being shipped through the city of Richmond.[40]
Jim Rogers[edit]
Jim Rogers popularly known as "The People's Lawyer", was a city councilmember for the city of Richmond, California. He was first elected in 2002, and his final term expired in January 2015. He is a Democrat. From 1994 to 1998 he was a member of the board of supervisors of Contra Costa County, California.[41]
Rogers is native of Ohio.[42] He is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley and University of California, Davis School of Law (King Hall).
Rogers has been a lawyer since 1980.[43] He was well known throughout the San Francisco Bay Area as "the People's Lawyer," thanks to radio and television commercials which he started in the early 1980s[44] and ran throughout the 1990s.
Rogers was reported to have a large number of unhappy customers, being sued by more than a dozen people citing malpractice, fraud or negligence. Rogers has defended himself by saying "If you have ten times as many cases as somebody, you have ten times as many unhappy people... It's often overlooked that you also have ten times as many happy people".[44] An article in the New York University Law Review described Rogers' firm as a busy place at the height of its business, with around 1500 open cases at any time. The article cited Rogers' practice as a typical example of a "settlement mill," where turnover of work was swift with noticeably little 'lawyering'.[45]
Rogers resigned from the State Bar of California in 2006 with charges pending and is no longer eligible to practice law.[46] He changed careers, becoming an advocate for green building practices. Rogers is currently working on funding for various sustainability projects in Richmond. When he is not working, Rogers can be often be found practicing his jump shots at the UC Berkeley RSF.
The members at the time were:[18]
Harpreet Sandhu[edit]
Harpreet Singh Sandhu is a Sikh American politician and community activist from Richmond, California and one of the most prominent ones of the Sikh religion. He was the first Asian and the first Sikh city councilman in Richmond, and one of only a few Sikhs to hold office in the United States.[47][48]
Tony Thurmond[edit]
Tony K. Thurmond is an American politician who is the 28th and current California State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Thurmond was narrowly elected Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2018 over his opponent, Marshall Tuck.[49] He was the endorsed candidate of the California Democratic Party and all five 2018 California Teachers of the Year.[50][51] A Democrat, he represented the 15th Assembly District from 2014 to 2018.
María Viramontes[edit]
Maria Theresa Viramontes[52] is an activist and former city councilwoman for Richmond, California's city council between 2001 and 2010.[53][54]
In 2003 she voted against the Point Molate casino, however in 2010 she supported the project, that was later turned down by Richmond voters for the former naval fuel depot.[55] In 2004 she again voted against a casino proposal by Upstream and its partner Harrah's.[56]
In 2005 she proposed a measure with John Márquez to declare a state of emergency over the city's high crime rate which she compared to a "war zone"[57] something opposed by then mayor Irma Anderson citing that such situations involve the National Guard and suspending civil rights, ultimately her proposal was voted down.[58] In 2006 she supported spending $US 30,000 on taxi script for low income residents.[59]
Also in 2010 she was voted out along with Ludmyrna López and replaced by Corky Boozé and Jovanka Beckels - both of whom campaigned on anti-casino platforms and Boozé in particular was a vocal critic of Viramontes.[60][61] Furthermore that year she vehemently supported the preservation of the wild turkeys of Point Richmond, and also in the North & East neighborhood.[62]
1990s[edit]
Rosemary Corbin[edit]
Rosemary Corbin is a longstanding Democratic public figure and former mayor of Richmond, California.[63]
Corbin served on the Richmond City Council from 1985 to 1993, and then as the mayor from 1993 to 2001.[64] In 1993, Corbin defeated incumbent Richmond Mayor George Livingston, who was seeking re-election.[65]
1980s[edit]
George Livingston[edit]
George Livingston was an American politician who served as the first elected African American mayor of Richmond, California, from 1985 to 1993.[65] Livingston was appointed Mayor in 1985 by the city council. He won election as Richmond's first elected African American mayor in 1989 for a full term.[65][66]
1970s[edit]
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1960s[edit]
George Carroll[edit]
George Carroll was an American lawyer who was an important civic figure in Contra Costa County, California and the city of Richmond.[67]
He was the first black lawyer in Richmond, California.[67] In 1961 Carroll became the first African American elected to the city council (1961–1964)[68] and later became the first black mayor of Richmond (1964–65)[68] or any large American city.[67] Afterwards George Carroll became the first black judge in Contra Costa when he was appointed to the Bay Municipal Court by Governor Pat Brown in 1965.[67][68]
Nathaniel Bates[edit]
Nathaniel Bates is a former mayor and seven-term city councilmember of Richmond, California.
Bates was a city councilmember from 1967 to 1983 and again from 1995 to the present. He was chosen as mayor for 1971-1972 (during which time he was the first African-American to chair the Contra Costa Mayors Conference) and again for 1976–1977.[69] He was the third African-American mayor of Richmond after George B. Carroll. His seven terms on the city council are unprecedented in the city of Richmond, and his 32 years of service make him one of the longest-serving city councilmembers in the state. He is a Democrat.[citation needed]
1950s[edit]
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1940s[edit]
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1930s[edit]
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1920s[edit]
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1905 founding through 1910s[edit]
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Spanish government[edit]
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The city was part of Rancho San Pablo. The government included juez de camps (field judges) such as Víctor Castro.
Ohlone government[edit]
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The future city of Richmond would be the site of the Wichiun village of the Chochenyo speaking Ohlone people. The governed the land through tribal chiefs out of the village site at present day Alvarado Park
References[edit]
- ↑ Richmond city council to consider ban on coal storage, Kathleen Kirkwood, KTVU
- ↑ Richmond councilmembers to be sworn in tonight, Richmond Standard
- ↑ Richmond, Calif., Pulls Plug on License Plate Reader Deal, Angela Ruggiero, East Bay Times/Govtech.com
- ↑ Controversial appointment to Richmond police commission fails; city workers protest wages, Edward Booth, Richmond Confidential
- ↑ Community mourns passing of Micheal ‘Mr. Richmond’ Davenport, The Richmond Standard
- ↑ Richmond waste roundup combats illegal dumping, Aashna Malpani, Richmond Confidential
- ↑ Celebrating Spirit & Soul with spirit and soul, Ashly Njoroge, Richmond Confidential
- ↑ [https://patch.com/california/elcerrito/richmond-city-manager-fired Richmond City Manager Fired Carlos Martinez had been on the job for less than a year when he was terminated by the City Council], El Cerrito Patch
- ↑ Richmond City Council Haplessly Fires City Manager, John Geluardi, East Bay Times
- ↑ Former Oakland city manager appointed as Richmond interim city manager, Mike Kinney, Richmond Standard
- ↑ Richmond Replaces City Manager Following Pressure From Unions, John Geluardi, East Bay Times
- ↑ New mini-soccer pitches to enliven ‘underused’ Richmond park, Richmond Standard
- ↑ [g/2019/10/23/district-elections-department-shuffle-adult-use-cannabis-sales-all-in-council-says/ District elections, department shuffle, adult-use cannabis sales all in, Council says], Aaron Leathley and Victoria Dmitrieva, Richmond Confidential
- ↑ ’Rosie the Riveters’ Get Standing Ovation at Festival Saturday in Richmond, BayCityNews/[[NBC Bay Area]
- ↑ [https://richmondconfidential.org/2019/09/25/20190923_council_leathley_dmitrieva/ Council votes on Zeneca site clean-up and development ], Aaron Leathley and Victoria Dmitrieva, Richmond Confidential
- ↑ Council shifts way it fills seats, Contra Costa Times, by Joshua Geluardi, March 11, 2007; retrieved May 25, 2007
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Strife doesn't throw council off course: Despite setbacks, Richmond's leaders say, city has regained respect and its bond rating, by John Geluardi, Contra Costa Times, posted online August 18, 2007, retrieved August 23, 2007.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1
"CC01MAR2005.pdf" (PDF). City of Richmond. March 1, 2005. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 29, 2012. Retrieved 2011-12-18.
Consent calendar...ORDINANCE – regarding the Slavery Era Disclosure Act and disclosure and divestment of investment earnings from City-sponsored Pension Funds or Investment Funds from financial and insurance institutions that benefit from international investment in slavery – Second Reading – Councilmember Penn and Viramontes (620-6513).
Unknown parameter|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 19.0 19.1
Jason B. Johnson, Chronicle staff writer (March 12, 2005). "EAST BAY. Firms that profited from slavery reviewed. Richmond, Oakland consider early step to seeking reparations". San Francisco Chronicle. SFGate. Retrieved 2011-12-11.
Richmond Councilwoman Maria Viramontes, who proposed the measure along with fellow Councilwoman Mindell Penn, said the city's new law was inspired by the events in Chicago...
- ↑
Jason B. Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle (March 21, 2005). "2 California cities look at profits from slavery. Movement may lead to restitution payments". Salt Lake City: Deseret News. Retrieved 2011-12-18.
Richmond Councilwoman Maria Viramontes, who proposed the measure along with fellow Councilwoman Mindell Penn, said the city's new law was inspired by the events in Chicago...
- ↑ San Francisco Chronicle (March 21, 2005). "Firms that profited from slavery reviewed". South Carolina: Beaufort Gazette. Retrieved 2011-12-18.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2
Cecilia M. Vega (June 1, 2005). "Richmond. Councilwoman says she will resign". San Francisco Chronicle. SFGate. p. B.5. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
Councilwoman Mindell Lewis Penn...will resign at the end of the month...move to Detroit to be with her elderly mother. Penn, 60, was first elected...in 1999 and re-elected in November.
- ↑ Finances, Jobs, Safety Top Issues in Richmond Race, J. Douglas Allen-Taylor, Berkeley Daily Planet, 20-08-2004, access date 23-12-2011
- ↑
"News Archives - sacbee.com. Urban League board elected". Sacramento Bee. nl.newsbank.com. November 5, 1991. p. B3. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
Mindell Penn has been elected to a second term as chairwoman of the Sacramento Urban League board of directors. Penn, administrator of small business affairs for Pacific Gas and Electric Co...
- ↑
"Rosie the Riveter Memorial Project History". US National Park Service. Rosie the Riveter Trust. Retrieved 2011-12-20.
panel...formed...on January 16, 1998. The Rosie the Riveter Selection Panel consists of...businesswoman Mindell Penn...
- ↑
"Vision and strategic plan" (PDF). US National Park Service. Rosie the Riveter Trust. June 11, 2005. pp. 20–21. Retrieved 2011-12-20.
She currently serves as First Vice-President on the BWOPA State Board of Directors, the Contra Costa County Community College Board of Trustees, and the Rosie the Riveter Trust Board of Directors. In 2002, she retired from Pacific Gas and Electric Company as Director of Government Relations, Contra Costa County.
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 Contra Costa Community College District, Home, John E. Márquez - Secretary, 2012, access date 27-04-2012
- ↑
Francisco Rendon (October 29, 2008). "John Márquez". Accent Advocate. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 2012-04-29.
Originally appointed in 1985, he was the first Latino to serve on the Richmond City Council... Still an adjunct professor at CCC...
Unknown parameter|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 John E. Márquez, City of Richmond website (c/o wayback machine), 03-09-2007, access date 27-04-2012
- ↑ Jeff Ritterman, MD, Huffpost.com
- ↑ Richmond's soda tax campaigner, Carolyn Jones, SFGate
- ↑ Richmond Voters Will Decide on "Soda Tax", Lisa Aliferis, KQED
- ↑ Minority Groups and Bottlers Team Up in Battles Over Soda, Nicholas Confessore, The New York Times
- ↑ Pow-Wow in Richmond honors Native American culture, Spencer Whitney, Richmond Confidential
- ↑ Chevron ordered to pay up for 2012 refinery fire, KGO
- ↑ Police combat rise in drug abuse, Julie Brown, Richmond Confidential
- ↑ East Bay activists celebrate as Mexico passes soda tax similar to one that failed locally, San Jose Mercury News
- ↑ Mexico may impose Richmond-style soda tax, Victoria Nguyen, SFBay.ca
- ↑ Air quality board plans on cutting refinery emissions, Jieqian Zhang and Phil James, Richmond Confidential
- ↑ Richmond council kicks coal ban vote to January 2020, Aaron Leathley and Aashna Malpani, Richmond Confidential
- ↑ Supervisors to Choose New Chairman of Board, San Francisco Chronicle, January 1, 1999
- ↑ Jim Rogers vies for a third term Richmond Confidential, October 26, 2010
- ↑ Erin Hallissy `People's Lawyer' Accused / State Bar says he charges too much, San Francisco Chronicle, January 11, 1997. Retrieved 2011-12-02.
- ↑ 44.0 44.1 Will Harper Settling for Less , East Bay Express, January 8, 2003. Retrieved 2011-12-02.
- ↑ Norah Freeman Engstrom The California law firm of Jim Rogers, New York University Law Review, Vol. 86 No. 4, October 2011, pp. 21-23. Retrieved 2011-12-02.
- ↑ Attorney page at State Bar of California
- ↑ First White House celebration of Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, Founder of Sikhism
- ↑ Richmond Sikh, Activist Joins Council, John Geluardi, Contra Costa Times, January 18, 2007, access date 07-12-2011
- ↑ Gammon, Robert. "Tony Thurmond Wins State Superintendent of Schools Race", East Bay Express. November 16, 2018. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
- ↑ "California's 5 Statewide Teachers of the Year for 2018 Endorse Tony Thurmond for State Superintendent" (17 Oct 2018). YubaNet.com.
- ↑ "Tony Thurmond Wins California Democratic Party Endorsement in Landslide".
- ↑ Why Richmond Has Failed!: The Light Version, Nicholas Adjuner
- ↑ Albany ends election of police chief / Emeryville OKs higher taxes on hotel guests, Rick DelVecchio, Meredith May, Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle
- ↑ Richmond's newly elected councilmembers sworn in, San Jose Mercury News
- ↑ Plan for Casino in Richmond Raises Fears of a Bad Precedent Plan for Casino in Richmond Raises Fears of a Bad Precedent, Frances Dinkelspiel, The New York Times
- ↑ RICHMOND / Point Molate casino on track after City Council OKs proposal / Willie Brown enters fray for Chevron, which is fighting deal, Cecilia M. Vega, SFGate
- ↑ RICHMOND / Killings, violence down sharply this month / Police arrest 3, seek 3 others in June 27 double homicide, Leslie Fulbright, SFGate
- ↑ Richmond votes against state of emergency, Leslie Fulbright, San Francisco Chronicle
- ↑ West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Committee minutes
- ↑ Planned Richmond casino at Point Molate in danger, Carolyn Jones, SFGate
- ↑ Corky Boozé man to watch on Richmond City Council, Chip Johnson, SFGate
- ↑ Point Richmond Turkeys Headed for the Soup, Tom Butt, The Berkeley Daily Planet
- ↑ Chevron Access Needed for Richmond Bay Trail Link, by Geneviève Duboscq, The Berkeley Daily Planet, 27-03-2007, access date 06-04-2009
- ↑ http://www.rosietheriveter.org/trustbd.htm Rosie the Riveter
- ↑ 65.0 65.1 65.2 Peterson, Gary (2012-01-07). "Richmond's first elected black mayor dies". Contra Costa Times. Retrieved 2012-01-20.
- ↑ Jones, Carolyn (2012-01-11). "George Livingston, Richmond's 1st black elected mayor". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2012-01-20.
- ↑ 67.0 67.1 67.2 67.3 Richmond courthouse named for retired judge George Carroll, contracostatimes.com, February 24, 2009; accessed January 17, 2016.
- ↑ 68.0 68.1 68.2 Richmond's Black History Corner, city of Richmond, California website; accessdate January 17, 2016.
- ↑ "Biographies & Terms: Nathaniel Bates", richmond.ca.us; accessed December 2011.
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