10.5.2023 ff, Φ ♣ Richmond (Contra Costa County, CA), inkl. Pogo Park

Richmond, CA – A multifaceted city:

• Overview (below)
• Internationally recognized for its „Health in All Policies“ approach (below), incl. cases study „Pogo Park“, in the Iron Triangle
• Point Richmond, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Richmond,_Richmond,_California: … Originally a tiny village known as East Yards …, Point Richmond was Richmond’s central downtown area from the late 19th century until the early 20th century, when the present downtown superseded it as the busiest part of town. Since then, its trademark “mom-and-pop” shops have largely survived … Point Richmond Historic District …
• Richmond Bay Trail, www.pointrichmond.com/bay-trail/: Richmond has completed over 36 miles of San Francisco Bay Trail – far more than any other city on this planned 500-mile multi-purpose trail …
• Point Pinole, cf. 23.5.2023 (post = forthcoming)
• SF Bay: Risk assessment-based fish consumption advice, cf. 23.5.2023
• UCB Richmond Field Station, cf. 6.5.2023, University of California, Berkeley (UCB) campus

Richmond, CA, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond,_California: … a city in western Contra Costa County … in the San Francisco Bay Area’s East Bay region … population … 116,448 as of the 2020 census … The Ohlone were the first inhabitants …, settling an estimated 5,000 years ago … At the onset of World War II, … four … Shipyards were built along Richmond’s waterfront, employing thousands of workers, many migrating to Richmond from other parts of the country after being recruited …When the war ended the shipyard workers were no longer needed … a decades-long population decline ensued … By 1960 much of the temporary housing built for the shipyard workers was torn down … In the 1970s, the Hilltop area was developed in Richmond’s northern suburbs, further depressing the downtown area as it drew retail clients and tenants away to the large indoor Hilltop Mall, which opened in 1976 … In 2006, the city celebrated its centennial. This coincided with the … streetscaping project of Macdonald Avenue … designated the city’s “Main Street District” by the state of California … The city has in the past suffered from a high crime rate … By 1991, the city’s all-time high of 62 homicides … was seven times the national average … In 2007, Richmond opened a program to prevent gun violence, the Office of Neighborhood Safety … The program … analyzes public records to determine “the 50 people in Richmond most likely to shoot someone and to be shot themselves.” It … offers selected individuals “a spot in a program that includes a stipend to turn their lives around” … Richmond is no longer ranked as a “most dangerous” city, in either California or the United States … … There are 17 emergency warning sirens in the city … tested on the first Wednesday of every month, at 11 am, [e.g., 3 May 2023] and are usually used to warn of toxic chemical releases from the Chevron Richmond Refinery … annual … Cinco de Mayo celebrations … attracts thousands …The Richmond Police Department, Fire Brigade, United States Marine Corps and other organizations participate in the parade …

Health In All Policies: Iron Triangle Case Study, www.transparentrichmond.org/stories/s/Iron-Triangle/f84x-aghg: The Iron Triangle neighborhood … within the City of Richmond …is bounded by three major railroad tracks: the Union Pacific Railroad/BART tracks …; the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway tracks …; and the Richmond Greenway … 61% Hispanic residents, 25% Black residents, 8% Asian residents, and 7% white residents. Few residents have completed associate’s, bachelor’s, or more advanced degrees, although many have completed high school and some college. Historically, poverty rates in the Iron Triangle have been significantly higher … Due to being a historically disadvantaged community, Iron Triangle residents face many community stressors including violence, blight, lack of green space, and more, which affect health outcomes … Founded by a Richmond resident in 2007, Pogo Park is a community organization focused on transforming lives and opportunities by working side by side with neighborhood residents to create, program and operate public spaces. The organization got its initial start as one of the first projects that emerged from the City of Richmond’s Health Element of the General Plan. This project was the renovation of the Elm Playlot in Richmond’s Iron Triangle neighborhood. The park was a common location for drug dealing … considered unsafe, and inaccessible to residents. Through a set of mixed engagement strategies … residents came up with a new vision … to transform the small park into an anchor public space in the middle of their neighborhood – the heart of the community … Pogo Park also submitted a successful $6.2 million grant to Caltrans to build the first leg of the “Yellow Brick Road” (a project to build safe streets in the Iron Triangle for children to walk and bike) … will connect Elm Playlot directly to Harbour-8 Park, giving local children a safe, clean and green pathway to walk or bike to and from the two parks … Pogo Park Products … is a social enterprise that creates handcrafted play environments for children and also employs people who live in the Iron Triangle community … Since 2007, Pogo Park has hired more than 100 Iron Triangle residents and invested over $16 million in the community … Yellow Brick Road – The idea … was conceived in 2009 by youth from the Iron Triangle as a project that would deploy thematic symbols on roads and sidewalks to designate safe walking routes and connect community key assets … recieved a $6.2 million Caltrans grant to built the first section of the Yellow Brick Road in the Iron Triangle and $4.1 million California Natural Resources Agency grant to build green infrastructure. Construction began … in June 2021 …

Health in All Policies, www.ci.richmond.ca.us/2575/Health-in-All-Policies: The City has implemented a variety of programs and strategies to adopt a Health in all Policies approach following a community development process in 2012. To track ongoing progress toward health equity, improve community awareness and benefits from HiAP, and broaden the scope and depth of beneficial impacts on population health, the City Manager’s Office published the Health in All Policies Landing Page on Transparent Richmond, the City’s open data website, in October 2022 … [incl.] Health in All Policies open data webpage … key findings of the most recent Progress Report … recommended next steps …