A Closer Look:
The Sociocultural Legacy
of Economic Disinvestment in Richmond, CA
Healthy
Richmond:
Situating Our Work
Richmond
hugs the western edge
of Contra Costa County,
in San Francisco’s
East Bay.
Richmond’s access
to multiple waterways,
and its direct
connection to the
continental landmass
(unlike SF), have
been critical to its
history.
[Note the town of Milpitas.
We’ll come back to it later.]
Richmond:
30 square miles of land and 32 miles of shoreline
North Richmond
is an
unincorporated
area under
County
jurisdiction.
Immediately
adjacent to
Central
Richmond, the
gradual
emergence of
South
Richmond was
fostered by
industrial
growth in the
1940s.
Since the 1950s,
a great deal of
land has been
annexed to
Richmond, giving
rise to suburbanstyle bedroom
communities (and
even a country
club).
In the ’70s,
Hilltop Mall
opens, five
miles from
downtown.
The Iron Triangle,
in Central
Richmond, is the
historic heart of
Richmond,
named for the
three railway
lines that mark its
boundaries.
An Extraordinary Confluence:
Four Forces Shaping Richmond, 1900-1950
1.
2.
3.
4.
Natural Assets:
•
Cheap and readily available unimproved land carried over from 19th-century
landgrants
•
Calm bay inlets easily connecting to open ocean
Infrastructure Development:
•
Coast-to-coast railway connection, with railway terminus within the city (1900)
•
Ferry system from Richmond to Alameda, San Francisco (1900)
•
Dredged port and customized landfill (1910-1920)
Financial and Economic Demand and Capital:
•
Local, risk-tolerant businessmen with access to capital (1900-1940)
•
War-fueled escalation of demand, with focus on efficiency and productivity (19401945)
Social Mobility:
•
In-migration from the American South following Reconstruction (1920s and later)
•
In-migration from the American Midwest following the Dust Bowl (1930s)
Not a Bubble: A Boom (1900-1950)
•
•
•
•
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1892: The Giant Powder Company opens on the northern shore, creating the small company town called Giant.
Later, the 2,500 acres will be annexed to Richmond, becoming Point Pinole Shoreline.
1900: Augustin Macdonald persuades Santa Fe Railway to establish a terminus in Richmond with a ferry to San
Francisco, completing the transcontinental railway, with ferry service to San Francisco. Later, Pullman Company
will build sleeper cars and employ African American men as porters.
1901: Standard Oil Corporation (now Chevron) establishes operations in Richmond. In the 1950s and ’60s, 1000s
of acres of Chevron’s “tank farms” will be sold to Richmond & developers for houses.
1907: Mechanics Bank is established to serve railway workers, who are called “mechanics.” Later, while still based
in Richmond, it expands to serve the larger region.
1912: San Pablo Bay is dredged to allow deep water shipping. The dredged silt is in turn used to build a bay-side
landmass, on which the Ford Assembly plant will be built.
1915: The Panama Canal opens. Richmond becomes a major Pacific mercantile port.
1931: Ford Assembly Plant opens, after Fred Parr assumes all costs of building the plant on spec to Ford. Grows
to employ over 2,000 people.
1939: Henry Kaiser opens the Kaiser Shipyard, which soon becomes a leading military supplier.
•
•
•
1940: Kaiser Medical is formed to provide medical care to employees.
1941-1945: Kaiser builds tens of thousands of units of housing for Kaiser employees. One of these was
Atchison Village, built through a collaboration of local/federal agencies, for mostly white workers.
1941-1945: Daycare facilities for Kaiser families are opened in response to the female workforce.
A Rising Tide:
Heavy Industry Leads to a Whole New Infrastructure....
“[During the war,] Kaiser was early in requesting that the Maritime Commission
help address the housing shortage in Richmond....
The Maritime Commission made several addenda to the [Kaiser contract] in
order to build housing, schools, and other community facilities.
The first, awarded 10 September 1942, was to build 6,000 units of housing
[900 two-bedroom, 4,000 one-bedroom, and 1,100 single-room] and a school....
The next addendum, dated 17 December 1942, was for another 6,000 units of
housing.
A third awarded in 1943...called for 4,000 more units of housing, 4,000
dormitory rooms, schools and nurseries, a market, hospital, and a community
center.”
Historic American Engineering Record, prepared for The National Park Service,
Rosie the Riveter/World War 11 Home Front National Historical Park, Frederick L. Quivak, 2004, p. 206
Kaiser Shipyard, circa 1942
During WWII, 767 Liberty Ships were built at the Kaiser shipyards.
Scale and Productivity:
Day 3 in Building a Liberty Ship,
Kaiser Shipyard, 1942
Richmond’s shipyards led the nation in
number and speed in the production of
Liberty ships.
It took an average of about 17 days to
build a Liberty Ship in Richmond; its
record was five days.
Shift Change:
Kaiser Shipyard, 1942
The shipyard ran 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for five years.
Skilled Trade Managers at the
Shipyards
Shipyard
#4, August 1944
Buford Payne, 4-Yard Bond Coordinator; Fred Alexander, Pipe Welding Superintendent; Wm. Pierce, Masterpiperfitter; R. Tracy, Asst.
Master Welder; Chas. Bradford, Burner Superintendent; Fred Hamby, Master Riveter; Ernie Rossi, Ass't O.F.D. Hull Supt; Vince
Millicich, Master Shipfitter; Ed. O'Gaffney, Hydrostatic Tests; J. W. Beidler, Master Welder; Harry Feldhahn, Plant Maintenance
Superintendent; Ray Hamilton, Fabrication Superintendent; Earl Stiles, Safety Superintendent; Ivan Duncan, Master Shipwright; A.
Underkoffler, Hull Superintendent; Helmer Ingebrigtsen, Chief Trial Engineer; Art Mori, Master Loftsman; H. McDonald, Machinist
Superintendent; Harry Tipps, Equipment Superintendent; 0. K. Outman, Sheetmetal Superintendent; M. T. Melvin, Ass't Outfitting
Superintendent; J. A. Cbokae, Machine Shop Superintendent W. W. Cooper, Master Boilermaker.R Feenstra, Chief Clerk;
Jack Stoddard, Bond Manager; K. L Sage, Outfitting Superintendent; R. Johnson, I. B. M. Dept Yard Two;
G. Devereaux. 4-Yard Bond Accountant; J. C. Konrad, General Superintendent; C. P. Bedford, General Manager Richmond Shpyds;
M. G. Vanderwende, Executive Ass't; J. A. Sullivan, Warehouse Superintendent; W. F. Tustin, Labor Superintendent;
T. C. Goff, Ironworker Superintendent; R. L. Davis, Stage Rigger; C. A. Walker, Yard Superintendent.
Hard to Imagine, But Archives Tell Us....
In early 1943,
there were
85,100 people
employed in
the Richmond
Kaiser
shipyards.
An emphasis on health and an awareness of
environment’s effect on health, and health’s
connection to economic development are present from the start.
Kaiser quickly realized that a
productive shipyard
depended on healthy people:
and Kaiser Medical was born.
A family of six people lived in this converted
vehicle.
This woman asked for one thing: a place to cook.
Nationwide Forces Highlighting Ethnicity and
Power
Challenge Deep Social Dynamics
For Centuries, Land, War, and Heavy Industry
Have Shaped the Region’s Cultural Mix
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Pre-Columbian millennia: Hunter-gatherer-fisher Ohlone Indians were the
first residents of what is now called Richmond.
18th century: Spanish explorers and conquerors came to dominate the
southwest; eventually, Mexico won independence from Spain, and soldiers
were awarded large land-grants. Crespi and Castro were awarded over
40,000 acres.
1910s-1942: For decades, Japanese Americans ran successful family flower
nurseries. However, in 1942 Japanese residents were forced to leave their
homes and businesses, interned in WW2 relocation camps. They were
allowed to return after the war, but their businesses and families were
forever altered.
1920s-1980s: In order to gain access for the developing transcontinental
railroad, and during a nation-wide railway workers strike, the Santa Fe
Railroad company promised jobs in Richmond for members of the Lagunas
and Acomas Native tribes in New Mexico. Native Americans were housed in
boxcars in the Santa Fe Railroad Indian Village.
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Socioethnic Changes Accelerate in the 20th
Century
1940s: Driven off Midwestern farms by the great American dust bowl of the 1930s,
poor White, rural migrants make their way to the new jobs in Richmond. They live
outdoors, in shacks, tents, and converted vehicles, and share “hot beds.”
1940s: Leaving the oppressions of the Jim Crow South, poor Black, rural migrants
make their way to the new jobs in Richmond. They still face segregation; drinking
fountains, schools and movie theatres remain segregated until the 1960s.
Originally planned by developer Fred Parr as an integrated community, Parchester
becomes a Black neighborhood when Whites refuse to live there.
1950s-present day: As skilled trades leave the region and other populations move
in, White residents leave Richmond by the thousands; those who remain live in the
new developments in the suburban-style areas made possible by annexation.
1970s-present day: Southeast Asian immigrants fleeing war-torn Vietnam, Laos,
and Cambodia form a small community made up of several ethnic tribes, and the
overall Asian population slowly but steadily grows.
Late 1980s-present day: Central Americans and South Americans make their way
to California; drawn primarily by relatively low-cost housing in the aftermath of
industrial decline, increasing numbers settle in West Contra Costa County.
What was once seen as a Black and White town becomes seen as a Black and
Brown town.
1899: Railway
erminus and
erry
Richmond’s Population
1900-2010
125000
100000
75000
50000
25000
0
1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
1939: Kaiser
1953-1957:
1901: Standard
1931: Ford
1955: Ford 1976: Hilltop
1912-1917:
Shipyard The City
Oil
Plant closes Mall opens
Harbor dredged Plant opens
opens
annexes land
2000-2005:
1990 and
Richmond endures
onwards:
Immigration from a staggering
municipal fiscal
Mexico and
Central America crisis, running a
30% deficit in 2003increases.
2004.
Maybe It Hadn’t Been a Bubble...
But There Was a Bust, Nonetheless (1945-2000)
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1946: Post-war conversion of industrial manufacturing centralizes in the
midwest, with its ready nation-wide distribution capacities. Outmigration from Richmond begins, as skilled laborers with transferrable,
portable skills move east to pursue the post-war boom.
1947: Kaiser shipyard closes down. Thousands of units of substandard
housing remain in downtown Richmond.
1953-1957: Richmond annexes substantial amounts of outlying land,
expanding city boundaries and creating a “suburban” ring. Bedroom
communities develop, pulling many middle-class people away from
downtown and attracting commuters from other areas.
1955: To accommodate increased market demand for cars, the
Richmond Ford Assembly plant closes, and a larger plant opens in
Milpitas.
1968: Racial unrest flares across the country; there are riots in
downtown Richmond, which by now is almost entirely African
American.
1976: Richmond’s Hilltop Mall opens, 5 miles north of downtown,
serving the annexed “suburban” neighborhoods. It is a death blow for
Macdonald Avenue, Richmond’s longtime Main Street.
Out-Migration and Population Loss:
A Fateful Combination in Richmond
“[The combination of] out-migration and
population loss is detrimental to a
region...because the migration process
selectively removes [many of the] ‘best and
brightest,’ damaging the region’s endowment
of human capital and therefore its
competitiveness.
Out-migration, Population Decline, and Regional Economic Distress”, 1/99, by Edward J. Feser and Stuart H. Sweeney, Department of
City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Funded by the Economic Development Administration, U.S.
Department of Commerce, p. 53
Profound Cultural Shift
During Out-Migration and In-Migration
Local Governments Suffer the Effects
Of Out-Migration and Population Loss
“[S]evere boom-bust cycles accompanied by particularly rapid
population adjustments can damage the fiscal position of local
governments as maintenance of infrastructure and services expanded
during a boom must be financed by dwindling populations with fewer
financial resources following a bust.”
•Op. cit., Feser and Sweeney, i.
By 2003, the City of Richmond is nearly bankrupt.
Scarcity Becomes the Order of the Day
• In the decades following post-industrialism and in the face of
substantial shifts in demographics, the City struggles to find its
footing.
• Taking advantage of open land and land conversion, the City
increasingly depends on residential housing development and
property taxes to support the economy.
• Suburban-style development removes business from downtown
Richmond, abandoning an increasingly disenfranchised
population.
• The need for public services (federal, state, and local) increases,
but the tax base can’t keep up with demand. Following 1978‘s
Proposition 13 limiting property taxes, critical services (including
public schools) suffer decades of diminishing funding.
• Nonprofit organizations find themselves shouldering a greater
burden; but with little margin for reinvestment, they spiral into a
cycle of “critical needs” without longer strategies for sustainability.
Enter: Systems Change
In his essay "Life and Leadership," Fritjof Capra explains that natural and social systems
usually remain in a stable state.
Every now and then, some event or new information affects a system so strongly
that it must change some of its structures, practices, or beliefs.
Facilitating community creativity in the face of changing conditions requires a new type of leader:
people who:
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establish conditions rather than giving directions
use authority to empower others
promote networks of communications
create a climate of trust and mutual support
encourage questions and reward innovation
loosen control and share responsibility more widely
and anticipate surprises,
because emergent change has its own dynamics, and cannot be
completely managed.
1.
What It Takes:
Dedicated Resources and Shared
Goals
Intellectual leadership, vision, and advocacy providing consistent,
sustained attention and organizing
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To spur wholesale community economic and social development
To advise, advocate, agitate, educate, and hold accountable
To identify and pursue external opportunities that would serve the
City
2. Municipal leadership
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Willing to invest substantial local dollars and to identify and leverage
external dollars
Able and determined to promote broadscale partnership and
longterm investment
3. Business leadership
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That goes beyond “business mixers” and simplistic questions like,
Business taxes: good or bad?
What It Takes:
Shared Information and Intention
4. Philanthropic leadership
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To cultivate comprehensive, localized knowledge to inform their
investments
Willing to commit to longterm goals enacted by partnerships, to raise
the tide
5. Capacity-building resources (and expectations) for nonprofits to
counteract the “nonprofit starvation cycle”
6. Public systems (schools, health) committed to multi-sector pilot
programs with tracked and targeted outcomes, not anecdotes
7. Community residents who are informed, engaged, and able to organize
for collective and effective action
Building Healthy Communities
To Build a Better Future
People ask me to predict the future, when all I
want to do is prevent it.
Better yet, build it.
Predicting the future is much too easy, anyway.
You look at the people around you, the street
you stand on, the visible air you breathe, and
predict more of the same.
To hell with more. I want better.
~ Ray Bradbury, “Beyond 1984: The People Machines,”
in Cities: The Forces That Shape Them, Lisa Taylor, ed., 1982
We don’t have to keep going around in circles.
“Rather than scramble for a comfy spot in the current system,
spend some time with other interested people
imagining and designing a system you would prefer.”