Richmond Gets Greener
Beset by unemployment, crime, and an image so bad that even foreclosure-torn Antioch compares favorably with it, Richmond, the “city of pride and purpose,” is taking steps to shade its image toward the greener end of the spectrum.
Solar Richmond, a nonprofit organization, provides free training to young job-hunters on how to install solar panels.
The former Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant is now home to a cluster of green businesses including Vetrazzo, which gathers glass from broken vodka bottles and recycling bins and uses it to make kitchen counters, and San Jose-based solar firm SunPower Corp.
The city’s mayor, Gayle McLaughlin, herself an environmental activist, helped involve the city in the East Bay Green Corridor Partnership, a group that aims to make the East Bay one of the nation’s green economic engines. Along with Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville, Richmond and other partners will pursue a federal earmark for green collar jobs and workforce development funds for 2008.
In 2007 alone, despite the cooling economy, there was a 40 percent increase in revenue for solar, wind, biofuels and fuel cells, topping $77 billion. Thousands of jobs have been created in the green arena, with some going begging.
“A green economy which focuses on the triple bottom line of economics, environment and social equity is the greatest opportunity of the twenty-first century to improve the lives of all people,” McLaughlin has said.
With that in mind, here’s a sampling of recent sales in the northeast hills neighborhood of Richmond – one of the city’s better areas. (Photo of the bay from Pt. Richmond: shayan.)
5851 Arlington Boulevard, Richmond: 2 bedrooms/1 bath, 832 sq ft. Sold April 1 for $280,000.
1204 Yuba Avenue, Richmond: 3 bedrooms/1 bath, 990 sq ft. Sold April 18 for $228,000.
830 Sonoma Street, Richmond: 3 bedrooms/2.5 baths, 2,120 sq ft. Sold on April 17 for $410,000.
5950 Park Avenue, Richmond: 3 bedrooms/2 baths, 1,086 sq ft. Sold on March 28 for $600,000. This is one of the best locations in Richmond.
