Joel Umanzor

Richmond

Reporter for @richmondside, Formerly: @sfstandard, @Hearst Breaking News Fellow (HTX➡️SF), SF State '21 🐊, Contra Costa College '19 💫 All opinions are my own.

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Articles

Iron Triangle residents are designing their own parks

2 weeks ago | richmondside.org | Joel Umanzor

At the edge of Richmond’s Iron Triangle neighborhood, a highly anticipated community park project more than 10 years in the making is close to becoming a reality along the Richmond Greenway Trail.
Richmond’s new plan for prioritizing capital projects draws criticism

2 weeks ago | richmondside.org | Joel Umanzor

The Richmond City Council will hold a fourth meeting this month, on Tuesday, to continue unfinished business from its regular April 22 meeting, including discussing a new approach to prioritizing capital improvement projects. The council had to schedule the meeting based on rules that require it to end its regular meetings by 11 p.m. or vote to extend them, which didn’t happen during the April 22 discussion about the projects.
Richmond can hire community crisis team now that police union dispute is squashed

3 weeks ago | richmondside.org | Joel Umanzor

Richmond is one step closer to changing its approach to public safety now that it has resolved a yearlong dispute with the police union that delayed the hiring of crisis intervention specialists. The issue pitted the police union, the Richmond Police Officers Association (RPOA), which argued that the new jobs belong in the sworn officers’ union, and the city, which had placed the positions in the service employees union.
Carjacking suspects arrested at Richmond Annex home after standoff

3 weeks ago | richmondside.org | Joel Umanzor

Multiple people were arrested Tuesday morning after a carjacking led to an hour-long standoff at a Richmond Annex home. The carjacking happened at about 11 p.m. near a gas station at the corner of Central Avenue and Pierce Street, according to a KTVU report. When police arrived, one person was arrested while others fled along San Luis Street, with one suspect entering a home.
Richmond suspects Chevron not paying enough in business taxes

3 weeks ago | richmondside.org | Joel Umanzor

The city of Richmond suspects Chevron is underpaying its business taxes so on Tuesday the city council will consider issuing a legislative subpoena to force the refinery to turn over its financial records.
Parchester Village, known for pioneering Black home ownership, is in disrepair

3 weeks ago | richmondside.org | Joel Umanzor

Fixing the flooding problem in northwest Richmond’s Parchester Village is a priority, city officials say, but it may take millions of dollars and years to complete, according to the Department of Public Works. The department gave a presentation on the issue at Tuesday’s City Council meeting after a number of items were postponed until the April 22 meeting, including a public hearing regarding which union should represent eight new community intervention specialist positions.
Richmond can't fill 8 crisis prevention jobs amid police union dispute

1 month ago | richmondside.org | Joel Umanzor

The Richmond Police Officers Association (RPOA), the union representing sworn officers, is fighting a city decision to put new crisis intervention positions in a different bargaining group, saying that the roles include duties currently performed by officers. The eight new community intervention specialist positions, which haven’t been filled yet due to the dispute, were put under the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) bargaining unit rather than the police union.
Here’s how you can attend Richmond's April community budget meetings

1 month ago | richmondside.org | Joel Umanzor

The city of Richmond will host a trio of community budget meetings in the coming weeks to explain the budgeting process to residents and gain a better understanding of what they want to see prioritized in the coming fiscal year.
Richmond to start ticketing cars citywide that block street sweepers

1 month ago | richmondside.org | Joel Umanzor

After a nearly five-year pause of its street sweeping enforcement efforts, Richmond plans to start ticketing cars in more neighborhoods if they block crews that are cleaning up the city’s roadways. The city paused its enforcement of street sweeping parking laws in March 2020 due to the stay-at-home orders during the COVID pandemic. Now, to help warn drivers of the fines they may face for violations, signs are being installed in neighborhoods citywide.
Strong rotten odor plaguing Richmond neighborhood isn't a danger, officials say

1 month ago | richmondside.org | Joel Umanzor

Bay Area health officials say a bad smell that northwest Richmond residents report has worsened recently does not pose a health risk, according to air monitoring data. A letter sent Thursday to the Richmond City Council from Contra Costa County Health Director Kristian Lucas confirmed that the smell is coming from the West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill Organic Material Processing Facility, a solid waste management facility that processes organic waste into compost.