community strength

Last Saturday community members all over Richmond gathered in Parchester Village to sign a declaration to protect the Rheem Creek Watershed. I joined the meeting and the consequent tour of the shoreline. I recognized many of those in attendance from the EJ health summit and general plan meetings. It is very comforting to see the "regulars" and to form an understanding of who is involved in the community


The Parchester marshlands and other precious wetland areas along the shoreline lie in Chevron's backyard. This means that rare vegetation and habitat for many species of birds are suffering from pollutants and pending development (the port Chevron is pushing to build on the North Richmond shoreline). There has been a proposition to put an annual 8 million dollar tax on Chevron (an amount they earn in profit in 15 minutes) to allow them to build this port. Another issue is that North Richmond is not incorporated so the port would technically be under the jurisdiction of Contra Costa County - this would be a more difficult bureacracy to navigate.

Whitney Dotson pointed out the freeway underpass and highlighted the environmental justice issue that exists because this pass theoretically connects North Richmond to the Bay Trail but is flooded 9 months of the year. There are currently campaigns to build an overpass (such as the one at the Berkeley Marina).