Talk of the Point

Sallie DeWitt has a vision I think is worth a look.

She imagines the Point’s center triangle cleared out. The fire station and community center have moved to a new site close by. In their place is a well-planned space that–thanks to the good design and other forces–is dominated by people most people would be happy […]

Simple correspondent Walter Connolly has filed this report from his bunker overlooking the Point Richmond Gateway project and the controversy surrounding it.

The planning design review approved a park, but the permit set of drawings has replaced the park with parking. The parking there would count toward the required parking for the for-profit project (the “plunge […]

It took a lot of work–much of it in volunteer time by the Point’s own Fred Arm–but the federally-mandated quiet zones may be here by early November.

See the Contra Costa Times story.

Paula Asmus, leader of the first attempt to establish a business improvement district in the Point, has announced a meeting to organize a second attempt. The meeting is to be held October 25 at 5:30, and the location hasn’t been set. Everyone’s welcome to attend.

Wherever it’s held, I plan to be there. As I’ve said […]

Watch for new hell fire rising over the Point Richmond Gateway plan. Walter Connolly posted this today as a comment to “Is Point Richmond Gateway, LLC a simple company?” He alleges the plan is illegal.

This lacks any study of the impact of the trainmaster’s building on Washington School, the Plunge, Cafe Altura, Pratum Books, the […]

As if the recent news from New Orleans weren’t bad enough, on Saturday morning I thought all over again about disasters that will sooner or later fall upon us here.

I attended my first REACT class, taught by Sandi Genser-Maack. “Richmond Emergency Action Community Teams” training is all part of an ongoing program offered free by […]

Walter Connolly, who reminds us he is not a “simple” architect, further wants to know what this means on the June 7 City Council agenda:

I-6. RESOLUTION - authorizing execution of a Disposition and Development Agreement and an assignment of the City’s option for the purchase of the Plunge parcel to Point Richmond Gateway, LLC - […]

I happen to like the Point Richmond Gateway design. But not everyone agrees.

Archtect and Point landowner Walter Connolly asks good questions about it in his comments to “What’s up with Tom Butt?” For one thing, Walter wants to know where his tenants will park, not to mention Plunge users when the pool reopens. I haven’t […]

What visions Katrina brings. We in the Point gaze upon New Orleans and some of us see ourselves in a similar fix from the Hayward Fault, a Chevron release, terrorism, or who knows what else.

So it seems like a good time to finally take the R.E.A.C.T. training. I’ll be in the class that begins this […]

I was talking to a long-time Pointer about Tom Butt the other day. He said, “I’m ambivalent about Tom. He’s been courageous. He’s often been the lone dissenter on the City Council. That takes courage. And then he does something like the email to Masquers.”

And then there’s the grouchy comment last week to “An aspirin […]