IS ANYONE TIRED OF “UNMUTE YOURSELF”?
On Thursday October 1st, 2020, the Fairmede Hilltop Neighborhood Council hosted a live and in person forum for candidates seeking to serve on the Richmond City Council.
In these times of sheltering in place, Zoom meetings have become the norm. But Zoom meetings are fraught with “Can you hear me now?” and “Unmute yourself”. Virtual backgrounds can be abysmal, the sound is never good, for a candidate, appearances can be important.
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RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE FORUM
With all of the shelter-in-place restrictions in place these past 6 months, getting our hair cut, traveling, shopping working—they’ve all been curtailed.
As bad as all of that is, it’s election season and we have important races on the ballot for Richmond City Council and the WCCUSD Board of Education.
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WEST COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION CANDIDATE FORUMS (League of Women Voters)
In the Covid world we live in today, it’s difficult to host the type of candidate forums that we’ve become used to. Instead of gathering in a big room with the candidates sitting at a row of tables with an audience perched in front of them, we have the dreaded Zoom meetings.
Instead of hearing from the speakers with a “good morning” what we hear so often is a “can you hear me?”
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COMMUNITY OVERSIGHT OF $2.4 BILLION WCCUSD SCHOOL BOND PROGRAM
Just a few months ago the voters of West County approved an additional $575 million to add to the $1.8 billion in previously approved bond funds (plus nearly $200 million in state/federal funds for ‘shovel ready’ projects).
Proposition 39 (passed in November of 2000) requires an independent community oversight body to ensure that the elected Board members and District staff spend the bond funds following the ballot text approved by the voters as well as the laws of the land.
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THE FATE OF HILLTOP MALL
REPRINTED FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO BUSINESS TIMES
An aerial view of the former Hilltop Mall, now rebranded as the East Bay Science and Technology Center under new plans by the owner to sell or lease the property.
Newmark Knight Frank
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THE WCCUSD BOARD DISCUSSES A PROPOSED PARCEL TAX
Since Sunday evening when Radio Free Richmond posted an article alerting the public to a proposed parcel tax to lessen the budget deficit of the West Contra Costa Unified School District, more than 400 comments were posted on the numerous social media sites.
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THE WCCUSD’s FISCAL MESS ~ HOW WE GOT THERE
Dr. Wold is the Associate Superintendent for Business Services of the West Contra Costa Unified School District.
At the West Contra Costa Unified School District’s Board of Education meeting on Wednesday, July 29th, (starting at 6:30 PM), Item F.2 allows the Board to discuss and possibly vote on placing a parcel tax on the November ballot. To learn more about this, please review Will The People Support Another School District Tax? on Radio Free Richmond.
Dr. Wold tries to explain how school funding is set up and why the District needs the voters to approve another parcel tax.
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WILL THE PEOPLE SUPPORT ANOTHER SCHOOL DISTRICT TAX?
Up and down California school districts are struggling to avoid bankruptcy court. Even before the Covid crisis, funding for public schools by both the state and the federal governments has been severely diminished and with the national economy in a full recession, no one should expect funding to increase unless local communities take action to increase the funding through parcel taxes.
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LIKE LAZURUS RISING FROM THE DEAD
Situated along Richmond’s waterfront lies the family of charter schools owned and operated by AMETHOD Public Schools (AMPS): Benito Juarez Elementary, Richmond Charter Academy and John Henry High School.
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