Helping homeless people one family at a time

 This story appeared today in the Richmond Pulse.

Point neighbors say oil 'smell' strong hours before Chevron Wharf spill was reported

POINT RICHMOND - Neighbors of the Chevron Wharf have reported on Nextdoor yesterday and today that they smelled oil as early as 12:30 p.m. Tuesday - hours before official reports say the leak of many hundreds of gallons of petroleum into the bay near Keller Beach began. 

And in several cases, people said they called to report the strong petroleum odor to Bay Area air quality officials.

The official cause of that smell, as reported by Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia, was a leaking pipeline that spewed five gallons per minute into the bay for nearly two hours, beginning at 2:40 p.m. Tuesday.

In a Richmond Pulse newspaper story today, Gioia said Chevron didn't do enough to notify the community and that there was not information given.

The link to the full Pulse story can be found here: 

Chevron Oil Spill Is Under Investigation

View of the Chevron oil spill Tuesday

(Photo by Denis Perez-Bravo, Richmond Pulse)

Public Shore, parking open at Craneway

   RICHMOND - The public shore and ferry parking area across the street from the Craneway Pavilion reopened in early January after being closed to the public.

Walkway open again to the public

     Security guards had roped off the parking lot - except for use by ferry patrons - and also kept the public from walking on the shoreline.

     The official reason given was the state's stay-at-home order. Any pedestrians who walked past the yellow caution tape were ordered off the property.

     But without fanfare or public announcement, the yellow caution tape, orange traffic cones and barriers slowly disappeared over a period of days. So did the security guards.

     For the last two weeks public access has been restored and is being enjoyed by cyclists, hikers and fisherman.

     The Craneway Pavilion is still blocked off from public access and ready for use as an emergency overflow hospital facility.

Craneway remains ready for use as an overflow medical facility/hospital

Public Shore Access closed at Craneway Pavilion because of stay-at-home order

RICHMOND - The parking lot for the Richmond-to-San Francisco ferry on South Harbour Way is open solely for ferry patrons to park and closed to other members of the public for parking or other purposes.

Access to the Ferry Parking limited to patrons

Access to the Public Shore adjacent to the parking lot has been closed also. The public shore pathway to the east towards Marina Bay is reportedly still open.

The closings were implemented over the weekend with the placement of cones to block traffic. Monday warning tape was added to cordon off both the parking and public shore. 

A security guard turning people away Monday said the closure is because of the Contra Costa County Health Departments stay-at-home order. The order is expected to remain in force at least until Jan. 7, according the health department.

The parking area is across the street from the Craneway Pavilion which was converted in April to be an overflow medical facility for patients in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week the Richmond Pulse published a story detailing the status of the facility: Craneway Medical Facilities in Richmond on Standby.

Public Shore access closed off

Ferry Terminal Parking lot on South Harbour Way

Still time to shop locally (and online) for Christmas gifts this holiday season

   POINT RICHMOND - With the Christmas Day countdown upon us, there's still time to shop locally at Point Richmond businesses for gifts - and online through the Arts of Point Richmond.

     The poster below details out AOPR's cornucopia of items. 

     The link to the AOPR gift website is here: AOPR GIFTS!

Brezo, Starbucks close in Point Richmond

POINT RICHMOND - The Richmond Pulse published a story today about the closing of the Brezo restaurant and Starbucks Coffee in the Point.

While the closure are troubling for some downtown businesses, others are not worried.

Here is a link to the full story:

Closings Worry Some Point Richmond Business Owners

BCARD opposes Terminal One price drop

RICHMOND, Calif. - The Brickyard Cove Alliance for Responsible Development went on record this week opposing a price reduction in what developers Laconia, Inc. have agreed to pay the city to purchase the Terminal One property on Brickyard Way where a housing development is planned.

The opposition came in the form of a letter from BCARD, outlining the group's concerns.

"BCARD maintains there should be no revision of the purchase terms for Terminal One because Laconia has caused needless additional expenditures," the letter states.

(See full text of letter below).

The Richmond City Council is expected take up the proposal - and Terminal One's future - tonight in a closed-to-the-public session.

The regular session of the council begins at 6:30 p.m. as a Zoom meeting and will include a public comment session at which time members of the public can ask questions and comment on Terminal One

The Zoom city council meeting (except for the closed session) can be accessed here:

Please click the link below to join the webinar:

https://zoom.us/j/99312205643?pwd=MDdqNnRmS2k4ZkRTOWhlUldQOUF1Zz09

Passcode: ccmeeting

The full text of BCARD's letter to the city council:

Dear Members of the City Council and Ms Laura Snideman, City Manager        

I represent BCARD, Brickyard Cove Alliance for Responsible Development, a neighborhood association formed in 2015 to ensure a responsible development of Terminal One, a unique and irreplaceable property.

We sued the City and Laconia in 2016 over lapses, in our view, of the EIR; the suit was settled via mediation with, among other things, BCARD being awarded funds to serve as an independent monitoring body for the toxics remediation of T1.  That has been our principle focus to date and is the reason we want to be sure the Council and new City Manager are aware of Laconia’s record regarding site cleanup.  It is also the reason we would object, in the strongest possible terms, to any claims made by Laconia that remediation costs are the basis for a price reduction of the T1’s sales agreement. 

Since November 2016, BCARD has submitted fourteen sets of technical comments compiled by our team of consultants drawing on expertise in soil gas, groundwater monitoring and geotechnical remediation.

The City Council has delegated complete cleanup responsibility to Laconia using portions of the $3.2 million fund received from the 2005 Settlement Agreement between the City of Richmond and Responsible Parties.  Consistently, Laconia and their consultants have underperformed in terms of their ability to move the remediation process forward with the appropriate scientific rigor. The agency responsible for oversight, the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), has regularly found data gaps and inadequate submittals and implementation of work plans.  This has necessitated rework on Laconia’s part resulting in additional expense and project delays.

For instance, here are two recent examples from the RWQCB project manager and principle scientific reviewer as noted in his 3 March 2020 comments to Ms Velasco regarding Laconia’s consultants (and, the City’s) work:

“However, the RD [Remedial Design] report does not adequately address the Water Board’s conditions for the 2018 RAP, [Remedial Action Plan] has other deficiencies as detailed below, and therefore is unacceptable.”  (Page 1) 

“The Self-Monitoring Program will not adequately monitor groundwater quality and slurry wall effectiveness. Revise the RD report to provide additional piezometer-well pairs along the slurry wall alignment; long-term, quarterly self-monitoring; and an acceptable Contingency Plan if the remedy is ineffective.”  (Page 3) https://documents.geotracker.waterboards.ca.gov/regulators/deliverable_documents/3699547886/RB2%20Revised%20Letter%20with%20Cover%20for%20Terminal%201%20Requirement%20for%20RD%20Revision%203-3-2020.pdf

And, from the RWQCB’s letter of 24 August 2020 to Ms Velasco, the project manager stated: 

“Quarterly, long-term groundwater monitoring was abandoned during the third quarter of 2019. The data gap, now spanning at least four quarters, limits our understanding of petroleum discharges to the San Francisco Bay and our ability to evaluate future slurry wall performance…Please address these comments and submit a reviewed workplan.” (Page 1-2) https://documents.geotracker.waterboards.ca.gov/regulators/deliverable_documents/2506330192/RB2%20Comments%20on%208-4-20%20Revised%20Work%20Plan%20for%20Groundwater%20Monitoring%208-24-20.pdf

In summary, the Regional Board’s comments suggest frustration with Laconia, (and the City as the delegating party) regarding the quality of submissions resulting in delays in moving the project forward.  Accordingly, BCARD maintains cost overruns and additional expense are largely due to the management of the project by Laconia on behalf of the City.  Once the property has sold, the City still has not legally relinquished its liability for the site’s cleanup and ongoing monitoring.  Regardless of what Laconia does, once the Settlement funds for cleanup and monitoring are exhausted, the City will still be the responsible party; BCARD maintains there should be no revision of the purchase terms for Terminal One because Laconia has caused needless additional expenditures.   

Respectfully,

Brian Lewis

Chair, BCARD Steering Committee