REDI

The Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), held a community meeting on Sept. 6, to discuss enforcement of the anti-blight ordinance and other policies to refund and rebuild Richmond. ACCE, along with Urban Habitat, is a Richmond Equitable Development Initiative (REDI)  Collaborative Partner. REDI is a collaborative of advocacy, research, and grassroots community-based organizations working together in Richmond and throughout the Bay Area on environmental justice and social justice issues.

By Christopher Connelly

In a complex and dynamic world where scientific certainty is hard to come by and new technologies, chemicals and industrial processes are being introduced into the world, Richmond’s City Council decided that it is best to take a cautious approach to making policies and city planning. At least, that’s the aim of a resolution passed at last night’s city council meeting.

The idea behind the resolution is that the city should use the precautionary principle, which holds that if there is a possibility that a policy or plan will have potentially dangerous health or environmental impact—even if there is no scientific consensus—it is better to err on the side of caution. This resolution will put the burden of proof on companies proposing new developments and businesses within city limits to show that there is little chance that a local group will be negatively impacted.  Although the resolution is symbolic, it is a statement that the council will consider health impacts for any decisions they make—like new buildings or industrial and manufacturing developments—and will ask the organization proposing a new action to prove that it is unlikely to cause harm.

By Christina Lopez

After a citywide restoration project to revitalize the Nevin Community Center and the surrounding area, the center will celebrate with a much-anticipated grand re-opening celebration this Saturday.

“I think it’s part of the Iron Triangle cleaning itself up,” said nearby resident Richard Boyd, referring to the center’s new look from the inside out. For the last three months, the center’s doors have remained open as over 50 community members volunteered hundreds of hours to wax floors, paint walls, remove graffiti, refurbish classrooms, and collect trash surrounding the center.

“Teams would take shifts to renovate and clean the center. Those working would range from 14 years old to 77 years old and across all racial lines,” Boyd said. A resident of the Iron Triangle, Boyd also works with Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization (CCISCO), an interfaith organization comprised of 25 congregations and youth organizations representing 35,000 families throughout the county. He helped organize city officials’ visits to the park and generate interest from residents outside the Iron Triangle.

This post was supposed to come to you live from the chambers of the Richmond (California) City Council, where the council had been scheduled to review the final administrative draft of a massive four year, $2.5 million general plan update. Posting from the chamber was not designed as an act of blogosphere theatre, nor because the global Polis audience was demanding a look inside the scintillating minutiae of the American planning process; rather, I was scheduled to testify in front of the council about how the travesty of what has happened to the hopes for equitable development or social justice being written into a document designed to guide "the next 100 years" of the city's development.

Torm Nompraseurt with Laotian Organizing Project introduces the industrial
pollution condition in Richmond on the map in their office.