Editing Richmond, California (section)

==Economy==
[[File:Richmondca2019.jpg|thumb|left|The Port of Richmond (seen in the distance) has been a major part of the economy of the city.]]

{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin-left:5px; text-size:90%; text-align:right"
|-
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="3"| '''Largest employers in Richmond<br />2021'''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/59911/City-of-Richmond-ACFR-FY2021---FINAL---V3 |title=City of Richmond 2020-2021 CAFR |access-date=October 27, 2022 }}</ref>
|- style="text-align:center;"
|| '''Rank''' || style="text-align:center;"| '''Name''' || style="text-align:center;"| '''Industry'''
|- style="text-align:center;"
|| 1. || style="text-align:center;"| [[Chevron Corporation]] || style="text-align:center;"| Petrochemical
|- style="text-align:center;"
|| 2. || style="text-align:center;"| [[West Contra Costa Unified School District]] || style="text-align:center;"| Education
|- style="text-align:center;"
|| 3. || style="text-align:center;"| [[Kaiser Permanente|Kaiser Foundation Hospitals]] || style="text-align:center;"| Healthcare
|- style="text-align:center;" 
|| 4. || style="text-align:center;"| [[United Parcel Service]] || style="text-align:center;"| Shipping
|- style="text-align:center;" 
|| 5. || style="text-align:center;"| [[Social Security Administration]]|| style="text-align:center;"| Government
|- style="text-align:center;"
|| 6. || style="text-align:center;"| [[Amazon (company)|Amazon.com services]] || style="text-align:center;"| E-Commerce
|- style="text-align:center;" 
|| 7. || style="text-align:center;"| [[Kaiser Permanente|Permanente Medical Group]] || style="text-align:center;"| Healthcare
|- style="text-align:center;"
|| 8. || style="text-align:center;"| [[United States Postal Service]] (including San Francisco [[Network Distribution Center|NDC]])|| style="text-align:center;"| Government
|- style="text-align:center;"
|| 9. || style="text-align:center;"| [[Contra Costa County, California|Contra Costa County]]|| style="text-align:center;"| Government
|- style="text-align:center;"
|| 10. || style="text-align:center;"| City of Richmond || style="text-align:center;"| Government
|- style="text-align:center;"
|}

Many industries have been and are still sited in Richmond. It had a [[dynamite]] and [[gunpowder]] works (the [[Giant Powder Company]], closed in 1960, now the site of [[Point Pinole Regional Shoreline]]), the last active [[whaling]] station in the country at Point Molate (closed in 1971), and one of the world's largest [[wineries]] ([[Winehaven, California|Winehaven]]), closed by [[Prohibition]] in 1919.

During World War II, Richmond developed rapidly as a heavy industrial town, chiefly devoted to [[shipbuilding]]. Its major activity now is as a [[seaport]], with 26 million [[ton]]s of goods shipped through [[Port Richmond, California|Port Richmond]] in 1993, mostly oil and petroleum products. The seaport is also home to [[Chevron Richmond Refinery|a major oil refinery]] operated by [[Chevron Corporation]]. The [[Social Security Administration]] employs over 1,000 at its regional office and program service center in Downtown Richmond. [[Kaiser Permanente]]'s [[Richmond Medical Center]] hospital in the Downtown Richmond is one of the largest employers in the city.

===Retail===
[[File:Kaiser Richmond.jpeg|thumb|upright|Kaiser Permanente [[Richmond Medical Center]] in [[Downtown Richmond, Richmond, California|downtown Richmond]]]]

The [[Hilltop, Richmond, California|Hilltop District]] includes [[Hilltop Mall|Prologis Hilltop Center]] and a 16-screen [[Century Theatres]] alongside Hilltop Plaza Shopping Center. The [[23rd Street (Richmond, California)|23rd Street business district]] has evolved into a predominantly Latino neighborhood over the last twenty years as have the storefronts.<ref name="char">[http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/DocumentView.aspx?DID=6187 23rd Street Corridor Visioning and Form-Based Code: Charette Summary Report Richmond, California] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505041406/http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/DocumentView.aspx?DID=6187 |date=May 5, 2011 }}. City of Richmond website. August 26, 2009. Retrieved May 22, 2011.</ref>

In the [[Downtown Richmond, Richmond, California|Downtown Richmond District]] the Richmond Shopping Center was built as part of the city's "''main street''" revitalization efforts.

The [[Macdonald 80 Shopping Center]] is a commercial plot along the trunk route of Macdonald Avenue which has been designated the city's main street under the aforementioned program. It was once anchored by the now-defunct Montgomery Wards and a Toys"R"Us. Demolition of the former buildings and construction of a new shopping mall were completed in 2006.<ref>{{cite web
 |url          = http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/DocumentView.asp?DID=243
 |title        = Macdonald 80 Shopping Center: Draft Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration
 |publisher    = Pacific Municipal Consultants
 |date         = June 2004
 |format       = PDF
 |access-date  = July 28, 2007
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927231034/http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/DocumentView.asp?DID=243
 |archive-date = September 27, 2007
|url-status     = dead
 |df           = mdy-all
}}</ref>

===Redevelopment===
[[File:Point Richmond Historic District-7.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Point Richmond Historic District|Pt. Richmond Historic District]]]]
The former [[Richmond Shipyards|Richmond Shipyard No.&nbsp;2]] and Inner Harbor were transformed starting in the late 1980s into a multiunit residential area, now known as [[Marina Bay, Richmond, California|Marina Bay]]. Starting in the early 2000s, the city began an aggressive redevelopment effort spurring exurban tract housing, condominiums, townhomes, a [[Richmond Station (California)|transit village]], and terraced hillside subdivisions. The city also created a [[redevelopment agency]] that refurbished [[Macdonald Avenue]], funded the Metro Walk transit village, resurrected the Macdonald 80 Shopping Center, and created the [[Richmond Greenway]] [[rails-to-trails]] trail and [[urban farming]] project. Since 1996, new homes have increased in price by 32%,<ref name="richmonddata"/> and there has been a 65.6% increase in the total amount of new dwellings built annually.

Country Club Vista is a development surrounding the Richmond Country Club to the south and north. It includes suburban style tract houses with cul-de-sac courts and small yards. Seacliff, at Point Richmond, is a development of luxury waterfront homes built on a terraced hillside. San Marcos is a series of about ten condominium multistory buildings between The Shops at Hilltop and Country Club Vista. Richmond Transit Village has been constructed in the former west parking lot and an adjacent empty lot of the combined Richmond BART and Amtrak station. The development is part of the city's downtown revitalization efforts.

===Richmond CARES===
On September 11, 2013, the seven-member Richmond City Council, in a four-to-three vote, decided to pursue a scheme for using [[eminent domain]] to buy out mortgages.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2013/09/11/richmond-to-move-forward-with-eminent-domain-plan/ |title=Richmond to move forward with eminent domain plan |publisher=blog.sfgate.com |date=September 11, 2013 |access-date=September 11, 2013 |first=Carolyn |last=Said |quote=Richmond's City Council voted 4-3 early Wednesday morning to continue exploring the use of eminent domain for underwater mortgages [...] |archive-date=September 14, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130914132630/http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2013/09/11/richmond-to-move-forward-with-eminent-domain-plan/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The vote was on "[setting] up a Joint Powers Authority to bring more cities into the plan". However, at least five votes would be needed before any mortgage could actually be bought out. [[North Las Vegas, Nevada]]<ref name="contra-eminent">{{cite news |url=http://www.contracostatimes.com/west-county-times/ci_24035711/both-sides-richmond-eminent-domain-plan-set-showdown |title=Both sides in Richmond eminent domain plan set for showdown at City Council meeting |work=Contra Costa Times |date=September 7, 2013 |access-date=September 11, 2013 |first=Robert |last=Rogers |quote=Any vote to seize assets through eminent domain requires a supermajority of the council, per state law, meaning that five of Richmond's seven council members would need to agree.}}</ref> and California governments including [[El Monte, California|El Monte]]<ref name=ap911>{{cite news |url=http://www.adn.com/2013/09/11/3069495/calif-city-moves-ahead-with-eminent.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130911191736/http://www.adn.com/2013/09/11/3069495/calif-city-moves-ahead-with-eminent.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 11, 2013 |title=Calif. city moves ahead with eminent domain plan |work=Anchorage Daily News |date=September 11, 2013 |agency=Associated Press |access-date=September 11, 2013 }}</ref> [[Fontana, California|Fontana]], the city of [[Ontario, California|Ontario]] and [[San Bernardino County]] had considered such plans but decided not to pursue them.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://blog.pe.com/cassie-macduff/2013/09/06/mortgages-eminent-domain-plan-didnt-fly-in-inland-area/ |title=MORTGAGES: Eminent domain plan didn't fly in Inland area |work=Press-Enterprise blog |date=September 6, 2013 |access-date=September 11, 2013 |first=Cassie |last=MacDuff |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201182359/http://blog.pe.com/cassie-macduff/2013/09/06/mortgages-eminent-domain-plan-didnt-fly-in-inland-area/ |archive-date=February 1, 2014 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The vote made Richmond the first to accept the idea.<ref name=ap911/> The plan had been opposed by the vice-mayor and some members of the city council, who said it would "compromise" the city's finances.

Critics of the plan noted that the company Mortgage Resolution Partners stood to potentially profit: it would receive $4,500 from the new lenders for each refinanced mortgage for arranging the financing to purchase the original loans and for handling all legal, administrative, and refinancing operations (an amount matching what lenders are compensated for under the Federal HARP loan modification program). Critics also questioned the inclusion of wealthy neighborhoods such as "the area near the Richmond Country Club".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/09/05/richmond-cas-eminent-domain-mortgage-scheme-could-set-an-ugly-national-precedent/ |title=Richmond, CA's Eminent Domain Mortgage Scheme Could Set An Ugly National Precedent |work=Forbes |date=September 5, 2013 |access-date=September 11, 2013 |first=Marc |last=Joffe}}</ref> The Western Contra Costa Association of Realtors hired a public relations agency and sent mass mailings<ref name="contra-eminent"/> warning against the scheme; its advertising was "funded, in part, by more than $70,000 from the California Association of Realtors and the National Associations of Realtors."<ref name="http://richmondconfidential.org/2013/09/10/realtors-and-residents-debate-richmonds-eminent-domain-plan/">{{cite news |title=Realtors and residents debate Richmond&'s eminent domain plan |work=Richmond Confidential |date=September 10, 2013 |first=Joaquin |last=Palomino}}</ref>

[[Deutsche Bank]] and [[Wells Fargo]] had sued, claiming the program was unconstitutional.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/09/10/richmond-reconsidering-eminent-domain-plan-for-underwater-homeowners/ |title=Richmond Reconsidering Eminent Domain Plan For Underwater Homeowners |publisher=[[KPIX-TV]] |date=September 10, 2013 |agency=Bay City News Service |access-date=September 11, 2013}}</ref> "[T]he National Housing Law Project, Housing and Economic Rights Advocates, Bay Area Legal Aid, the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, and the California Reinvestment Coalition" opposed the suit, calling the banks' request for an injunction against the city "discrimination in violation of the Fair Housing Act".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.realestaterama.com/2013/09/10/fair-housing-groups-ask-court-to-deny-banks%E2%80%99-effort-to-stop-richmond%E2%80%99s-mortgage-rescue-plan-ID022583.html |title=Fair Housing Groups Ask Court to Deny Banks' Effort to Stop Richmond's Mortgage Rescue Plan |work=RealEstateRama |date=September 10, 2013 |access-date=September 11, 2013}}</ref>

Supporters of the plan include the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment and Robert Hockett, a professor of law at [[Cornell University]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.housingwire.com/articles/26752-city-council-to-vote-on-richmond-eminent-domain-proposal |title=City council to vote on Richmond eminent domain proposal |work=HousingWire |date=September 10, 2013 |access-date=September 11, 2013 |first=Megan |last=Hopkins}}</ref>