There’s so much I want to tell you about, but I know most people don’t want to read a long email newsletter, which this is. I encourage you to use the headlines below to find the topics you care about and just skip the rest. I am also giving each update a spiciness rating—1 to 5 chile peppers—based on how controversial I think it is. If you want to read about the hottest issues, you can use the peppers to find them fast!

Spicy!!!

Earlier start time for city Council meetings

Starting in March, the Richmond City Council open session meeting will begin at 5 pm instead of 6:30 pm. This change will last for six months, at which time we’ll evaluate whether the new schedule increases participation in the meetings.

People have strong opinions about this. Those who are already attending the 6:30 pm - 11 pm (or later) meeting tend to want to keep that schedule. While I have great affection for our meeting regulars, that’s all we have heard from so far, which I believe is called sampling bias. I’m curious to hear also from people who don’t already attend or watch the livestream of city Council meetings. Are you more likely to attend or join online if we start and end earlier?

Adding extra spiciness to the time change was the fact that we seem to have done it the wrong way, at least initially. After Councilmembers gave our opinions about starting times to the staff over email, we were advised that changing the start time, even temporarily, must be done by a city Council vote at a city Council meeting. To correct the error, that’s what we did on February 25th. 

Personally, I was happy we talked about the starting time in the meeting on the 25th because sharing my opinion on things is my absolute favorite part of being a city Councilmember. Here’s the transcript of what I said in the meeting (with all the "um"s removed):

I think one of the things that is challenging about this is we are trying to make this decision about what works best for working people without any data about schedules of working people. I tried to do this on my own—what percentage of Americans work a 9 to 5, Monday through Friday schedule, and would have a challenge getting here by 5? The best I can say is somewhere between 25 and 30% of Americans work 9 to 5 Monday through Friday, which means 70% of Americans don't. Which means that your guess is as good as mine—for the 70% of Americans who are not clocking out at 5, what is a good time for them? A good time for them might be noon, it might be starting at 11:00 p.m, I don't know. So in the absence of any real data on which to base my decision I have decided to just experiment with the 5 pm start time, for the overwhelming reason that it's the only thing that's going to get us out by 9 pm. As far as democratic participation, I think what really hamstrings us is being here at 10:00 at night, 11:00 at night, 1:00 in the morning. Instead of focusing so much on who's missing the meeting because it starts at 5, I'm more concerned about people who are missing the meeting because it goes until midnight.

If I sounded irate, it’s because I was tired. It was 10:30 pm and nearly everyone had already gone home. I wish KCRT could have turned the camera around to show the empty Council chamber in front of us. I’m hopeful that an earlier start time—and end time—will make meeting attendance a more popular pastime for Richmond residents. If that’s not the case, we can always go back to 6:30 pm.

Mild

Council Will Vote Whether to Add $1 million to Support Immigrant Legal Services

Item P.3 item has been put on the agenda for the Tuesday March 4th meeting by Claudia Jimenez, Cesar Zepeda, and Doria Robinson. I agree with everything written in the agenda report for the item:

As the landscape of immigration policy continues to shift, it is more important than ever to ensure that immigrants have access to the legal assistance they need to navigate complex systems and safeguard their rights. Access to legal services is not just a matter of protecting individual rights; it is also essential for the broader community. By ensuring that immigrants have the tools to address their legal challenges, we help create a society that values justice, fairness, and compassion. Furthermore, supporting immigrants strengthens our economy, fosters community integration, and promotes social stability.

From what I have read, access to legal advice is the key component in making sure that people have a fair hearing. But because immigration is a civil procedure not a criminal one, each immigrant must pay themselves for an attorney, which many cannot afford. The federal government certainly isn’t going to help, so I think the City of Richmond should put some of our resources towards this.

In some communities this item would be at the top of the spiciness scale, but I think Richmond residents are very welcoming of our immigrant neighbors and not supportive of new federal policies that attack them. Some folks might worry about the impact of this item on the city budget, but Richmond once again has a multi-million dollar surplus, and we are actively looking for impactful ways to spend it this year.

I encourage you to give community input on this item. The first page of the agenda describes all the ways you can participate (email in advance, speak online when the item is discussed during the meeting, speak in-person when the item is discussed at the meeting). Remember that the open session of the Council meeting will start at 5 pm. That said, this item is further down on the agenda, so it will most likely be discussed later in the meeting.

Mild

Dramatic Carlson Boulevard Improvements On Track for Early 2026

By this time next year the section of Carlson Boulevard north of highway 880 will look very different—and be much safer—than what is currently there. Most of that stretch of Carlson will be reduced from two lanes to one lane in each direction, with a protected bike lane on each side of the road. There will also be improved lighting and bus stops.

About thirty people attended the presentation from the Richmond Public Works department and the contractors hired to do this work. I encourage those who are curious about the details to check out the very informative slides created for the event. 

There was a little bit of spiciness at the meeting because at least one person thought the redesign went too far—they want Carlson to remain wide and fast. A slightly larger group thought the redesign didn’t go far enough—they want to scrap the plan and replace it with a new design for a more bike-centric greenway.

That said, a strong majority of those who attended liked the plan that was proposed, which promises to reduce speeds and increase safety without causing traffic back-ups. And after ten years in limbo, the existing plan is almost ready to break ground, which added to its appeal. 

This plan addresses the critical safety issues on Carlson Boulevard north of 880, but the section of south of there also has problems. I’ll be meeting soon with Public Works and other city staff to discuss a plan for taking a systemic approach to addressing those needs in the near future.

Midwestern Mild

Community Input Added to Port Dredging Plans

At the February 25th meeting I took item "N.2.a Port Contract" off of the City Council consent calendar so I could propose a change before it came to a vote.

The item was to approve a contract with an outside company that could do testing that must be completed before the city can dredge the Port of Richmond. Dredging is a process where machines scrape the bottom of a waterway to remove sediment which is then transported somewhere else. It keeps the waters near the port deep enough for ships to pass. Preliminary testing is necessary so that the dredging company can properly handle and dispose of any toxic materials that they find in the sediment.

Though I could see from their proposal that the company chosen for the contract, Haley and Aldrich, Inc., has experience with the sort of contaminated sediment they might find in Richmond, I thought it was important that local people, some of whom have been documenting shoreline toxicity for decades, have a chance to give their input on the testing plan before it was finalized. In Richmond and many other places, community members are a valuable repository of information when it comes to potential hotspots for contamination. 

This item stayed pleasantly mild because both the Port Director and the consulting firm were open to the idea of hearing community input. They suggested holding a community meeting during the planning process. I made a motion to add that to the item as a Recommended Action of the Council, and it passed unanimously.

When the community input meeting is scheduled, I will share that date. If you’d like to join with community members working on shoreline contamination even before that meeting, send me an email and I can connect you.

Spicy!!!

More on Street Sweeping Signs and Tickets

I did a long-ish update in the last newsletter about the installation of street sweeping signs in the Richmond neighborhoods that had none. Once the signs are all installed, there will be a month where cars that fail to move out of the way on sweeping day will receive warnings. After that, the city will return to the practice of issuing tickets for cars that block the sweepers. I want everyone to be ready when that happens.

Last month Public Works let us know that the roll-out was delayed by a problem with the procurement of the brackets used to attach the signs to the poles. The city was targeting February 28th as the last day of sign installation, but when I look out at the naked pole in front of my neighbor’s house, I can see that the work is still ongoing. I also know that workers had to cover up some of the signs that were installed because they displayed a new sweeping schedule that has not yet gone into effect. 

I guess one takeaway of this update is that change is hard!

To ease this transition, here is my advice:

• Now and forever more, you can check the City of Richmond Street Maintenance webpage to see what street sweeping schedule is currently in effect (pro-tip: odd numbered addresses are swept on the first day and even on the second). As I am typing this, we are still operating under the old schedule.

• Pretty soon, there will be sweeping signs in all neighborhoods to tell you when sweeping will occur.

Please start making a plan about how you will move all of your vehicles off the street on sweeping days. There will be a period of time when only warnings will be issued, but soon after, the city has the right to start handing out $50 tickets.