Readers’ Forum: Casino benefit still doesn’t add up for Richmond
By Gayle McLaughlin
Guest commentary
Thursday July 25, 2009
ON MAY 14, 2005, the Times published an article I wrote titled: Casino at Point Molate is a losing bet for Richmond. In this article, I took issue with the idea that a casino would sustain our local economy, our environment and our social well-being here in Richmond. Fast forward four years later and here we are with the draft environmental impact documents completed and released to the public for comment.
In my article in 2005, I cited the exhaustive study "Casinos, Crime and Community Costs" conducted ...
Toll Plaza Delays Called Main Richmond Casino Impact
By Richard Brenneman
Thursday July 23, 2009
The $1.5 billion gambling, hotel, entertainment and housing resort planned for Richmond's Point Molate would only create three significant impacts that couldn't be readily remedied, concludes the project's draft environmental impact report (EIR).
For an EIR, the critical findings for developers and regulators are those which reveal significant and unavoidable adverse impacts resulting from construction. The Point Molate draft EIR finds relatively few in any of the casino-based alternatives. They would arise from:
• ...
Environmental Review Details Richmond Casino Alternatives
By Richard Brenneman
Thursday July 16, 2009
The long-delayed environmental impact report on the proposed Point Molate $1.5 billion casino resort complex is finally finished, four years after the first public meeting to gather public comment.
This is the first of three articles on the Richmond shoreline project. This article focuses on the project itself, looking at the range of alternatives presented in the environmental impact report. Subsequent articles in the coming weeks will look at environmental impacts and community–and official–reactions to the ...
Albany council adopts recommendations for waterfront
November 9, 2007 - By Shelly Meron STAFF WRITER
Albany city officials this week accepted a consultant's recommendation to focus their waterfront-planning process on civic engagement and education, saying they want to be prepared if the landowner comes forward with its own proposal.
"It's always been my contention that whatever we do with the waterfront should be Albany-driven, not developer-driven," Mayor Robert Lieber said. "We need to be ready with our own plan."
Following a recommendation from the city's waterfront committee, the City Council voted 4-1, with ...
Rediscovering the shoreline
October 30, 2007 - Chris Treadway
A LOT OF GROUPS and individuals that put year-round effort into studying, cleaning and restoring waterways and Bay shoreline in West County are inviting the community to spend an entertaining and informative afternoon and see what it's all about.
The third Richmond Shoreline Festival, which takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, will offer activities for all ages, interpretive hikes and a barbecue at picturesque Point Pinole Regional Shoreline in Richmond.
The day will include informational displays, conversations with ...
Albany’s Golden Gate Fields Developer Runs Low on Cash
October 19, 2007 - By Richard Brenneman
What’s the future of Golden Gate Fields now that its corporate owner is shedding real estate to cover losses on its ailing horse racing business?
The track’s principal owner has told investors that something major is afoot, despite last year’s withdrawal of a proposal for an upscale shopping center and housing complex on part of the site.
“Well, Golden Gate is a sizable piece of land, and ... for what it returns, the value of the real estate—it’s just not in line,” said Frank Stronach, the Canadian auto parks ...
UC Illegally Buried ‘Thousands of Truckloads’ of Toxic Soil in Richmond State Says
July 3, 2007 - By Richard Brenneman
UC Berkeley and a Swiss multinational must clean up thousands of truckloads of toxic-laden soil illegally buried at the Richmond site of a planned 1,330-unit housing complex, state officials ordered Friday.
“What we had feared has been verified,” said Assemblymember Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley, Richmond). “It confirms my fears and the fears of the neighbors, which have been shown to be terribly correct.”
Much of the contaminated earth and cinders buried at Campus Bay came from the adjacent, university-owned Richmond Field ...
Toxic Questions Surround Two Richmond Sites
July 6-9, 2007 - By Richard Brenneman
More questions are swirling around the cleanup efforts at two adjacent contaminated sites in Richmond this week.
Issues range from the adequacy of testing of contaminants at UC Berkeley’s Richmond Field Station (RFS) and the possibility of radioactive contamination both at the field station and at the adjacent site at Campus Bay, owned by AstraZeneca, a Swiss agro-chemical giant.
State officials last week issued emergency cleanup orders to the university and AstraZeneca, demanding the cleanup of thousands of truckloads of ...
Berkeley Meadows opens at long last
October 6, 2006 - By Denis Cuff and Martin Snapp
The skies were overcast but the mood was sunny as VIPs and ordinary folks rubbed shoulders Wednesday morning at the opening of a 17-acre slice of the Berkeley Meadow as the first developed part of the Eastshore State Park, which stretches from Oakland to Richmond.
Originally part of the Bay, the meadow was filled in a century ago to make a garbage dump. In the 1960s, developers proposed constructing a huge shopping center and office complex on the site, but a citizens' revolt stopped that plan cold.
The loudest ...
New Berkeley waterfront park should be hit with nature lovers
October 5, 2006 - Kristin Bender
BERKELEY Ñ State and regional park leaders opened a 17-acre slice of the Berkeley Meadow on Wednesday afternoon, lauding it as a great spot for walking, relaxing, bird watching and people watching.
Restoration of the former garbage dump marked the first completed phase of the Eastshore State Park General Plan, adopted in 2002 after 25 years of work by park leaders, elected officials and community watchdogs.
The 8.5-mile-long Eastshore State Park is 2,000 acres of uplands and tidelands along the waterfront of Berkeley, Oakland, ...