Dear
Friends,
As this year
draws to a close, I want to wish
everyone a very Happy New Year!
2011 was a dynamic
year in the City of Richmond.
We have taken many important
positive steps over the course
of this year from disallowing
a casino at Pt. Molate to standing
for freedom of expression by
supporting the Gompers students'
mural; from welcoming Lawrence Berkeley
National Lab to Richmond to fostering
worker-owned cooperatives as
an economic strategy; from opposing
corporate personhood to embracing
the Precautionary Principle.
Through a unanimous
approval of a Municipal ID for
all Richmond residents, the City
Council displayed unity in our
understanding of the importance
of providing services and protection to
all people in our city, including
those who lack other forms of
identification, such as our immigrant
and homeless communities.
We have furthered
our health and environmental
initiatives throughout the year
in many ways. For example, we
launched the Richmond Recovery
Solar Rebate (R3) program, which
offers solar and energy efficiency
rebates to homeowners, and provides
jobs for local graduates of our
green job training academy. Community
groups have helped us beautify
our neighborhoods and promote
a healthier Richmond with the
planting of new trees and growing
of community gardens, and we
held our first Urban Agriculture
Summit, which has led to the
creation of a Richmond Food Policy
Council to explore ways of accessing
healthier food for our community.
We have seen
our community unify and mobilize
around the need for more athletic
fields by forming a new coalition
called SAFE (Safe Athletic Fields
for Education), and most recently,
the City Council has approved
putting a Soda Tax measure on next
November's ballot to discourage
child obesity and fund sports
fields and anti-obesity programs.
To read a great article on the
Soda Tax issue published in Richmond
Pulse, a youth-led media project
focused on health problems in
Richmond, click here: http://richmondpulse.org/sugar-is-like-crack/
In conjunction
with community and faith-based
groups, we have developed new
violence prevention strategies,
and we have "Banned the Box" on
City employment applications
so that applicants no longer
have to check a box stating whether
they have ever been convicted
of a crime, thus providing real
second chances and setting an
example for private employers.
Keep in mind
that this is just a sampling
of the many steps we have taken
this year! I will be presenting
my State of the City Address
in late January (further details
to follow) and will be elaborating
more extensively on these accomplishments
and many more.
I'd like to end this
New Year's message with a very
special thank you to everyone
who has worked so hard this past
year for real progressive change
in our City. According to Time
Magazine, 2011 was the year of
the protester. In Richmond,
we understand the importance
of protests. Whether it be through
protesting Chevron's outrageous
appeal of their property taxes
or through protesting the devastating
foreclosure crisis of the big
banks, our community has made
its voice heard time and again
this year...and these efforts
and all our efforts to build
a progressive Richmond have been
enhanced by the birth of the Occupy
Movement, which has spread throughout our
country and the globe in recent
months. Our shared desire for
a more equitable society for
the 99 percent unites us unequivocally. As
we close out 2011, a ground-breaking
year if there ever was one, let's
celebrate this beautiful quest
that has united so many of us
around the world in 2011, and
let's bring in the New Year with
a renewed appreciation of the
awe-inspiring history we are
making.
Happy New Year
everyone!
