RPA Archives - Beyond Chron

The Real Winners, Losers in Election 2014

Posted November 6, 2014 by Randy Shaw

Mayor Ed Lee was not on the ballot this week, but he may be the San Francisco election’s biggest political winner. Prop A, the transit bond that was the mayor’s top priority, won handily. The mayor’s late endorsement of Assembly Read More »

Chevron “Air War” Fails To Sink Richmond Progressives

Posted November 6, 2014 by Steve Early

Election day, 2014, was not ending well for Nat Bates, a mayoral candidate in a largely non-white city long dominated by Chevron. The small crowd of supporters gathered in his storefront campaign headquarters on Macdonald Avenue in Richmond was beginning Read More »

Chevron Sounds Alarm Against East Bay “Anarchism”

Posted September 16, 2014 by Steve Early

One of the great things about living near Chevron’s big East Bay refinery—yes, the one that caught fire and exploded two years ago—is its system of early warnings about new disasters about to befall Richmond. In our post-Citizens United era, Read More »

Richmond Line-Up Reshuffled For Fall Contest With Chevron

Posted August 11, 2014 by Steve Early

Municipal politics in Richmond, California is not for the faint-hearted, the thin-skinned, or those easily unsettled by last minute line-up changes. Late last week, on the eve of the filing deadline for city candidates, a longtime city council member not Read More »

Is Richmond Next Hipster Haven?

Posted August 5, 2014 by Randy Shaw

“Once a bastion for the working and middle classes, African-Americans and a spectrum of ethnic groups, it is now gaining a reputation as a gentrifying “hipster haven” with a booming real estate market.” —- NY Times July 30, 2014 Until Read More »

Chevron Goes Another Round With Richmond

Posted August 4, 2014 by Steve Early

Chevron is a company used to getting its own way, particularly in communities around the world where it operates major refineries. For the last eight years, progressive elected officials in Richmond, CA., and their grassroots organizational allies, have made doing Read More »