Just a few blocks from Oakland and Berkeley, the city of Richmond is a minority and low-income community of 115,500 people — primarily Latino, Black and Asian American — home to a major Chevron refinery whose pollution has been a constant source of conflict (the city has reached a $550 million settlement with Chevron to mitigate the refinery’s health and lifestyle impacts). It’s also home to an active port and soon — finally — a world-class park.
Point Molate exemplifies the struggle for environmental justice in minority communities with little parking and excessive pollution. Political support in Sacramento and Washington helps, but the fight to guarantee the future of the 413-acre city-owned headland relied on bottom-up organizing and citizen participation that included protests, local candidacies, ballot initiatives, neighborhood meetings, bilingual mailings, public testimony, photo and art exhibitions, billboards, site tours, and, of course, lawsuits. In other words, democracy.
The headland site, Point Molate, was a Navy fuel depot during World War II that has been largely reclaimed by nature since its closure in 1995, it lies just north of the Richmond Bridge. It’s worth its tagline: “The most beautiful part of the Bay Area no one’s ever heard of.” Yet it was nearly lost to various development plans until this summer, when the Richmond City Council voted to approve a $40 million deal to set it aside as a fully protected park. The state will provide $36 million (partly through Governor Gavin Newsom’s 30×30 initiative, which aims to protect 30% of the state’s lands and waters by 2030, like national and global efforts), with the balance coming from the East Bay Regional Park District.
Richmond acquired possession of Point Molate from the Navy in 2003 for $1, and the city soon began negotiating development rights to the site. A small portion of the beach opened to the public in 2014, and at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a hotspot for local families. For more than two decades, Richmonders fought to make the remaining 97% of the fenced site a public park.
Point Molate, originally Ohlone land, is home to sea hares, bat rays, leopard sharks and river otters in its offshore eelgrass beds, one of the last healthy nurseries for herring and Dungeness crab in the mouth of San Francisco Bay. Nesting on its native grasses and forest-covered hills are ospreys and more than 200 other bird species, as well as mule deer, wild turkeys, coyotes and the rare pipevine swallowtail butterfly. Before the Navy arrived, Point Molate was famous for Winehaven, a red brick winery, worker housing and a shipping port built to keep California wine flowing after the 1906 earthquake destroyed much of San Francisco. Winehaven’s buildings are now on the National Register of Historic Places.
Developers, in collaboration with a group of Pomo Indians from Mendocino County, first proposed a mega-casino for the site, with 4,000 slot machines and Las Vegas-style amenities, including a convention center, an elevated parking structure, and a ferry. Despite the promise of thousands of jobs and significant annual revenue, Richmond residents feared the project would increase crime, encourage problem gambling, and cause frequent traffic jams. In 2010, city voters rejected the casino proposal by a margin of 58% to 42%.
After the casino failed, another development plan emerged: a luxury housing estate – 1,450 homes and condos priced at $1.2 million, for buyers with incomes of up to $250,000. Median income of Richmond residents That amount is less than $80,000. The city would also have to build and staff a fire and police substation and issue $300 million in bonds to fund water, power and sewage infrastructure for the development.
Once again, the community rallied in support. Housing advocates objected to the city making heavy, continued investments in Point Molate; they wanted affordable, mixed-use units built in the city center, where the infrastructure already exists and housing is desperately needed. Richmonders, environmental groups and others — including commercial fishermen — joined the Point Molate Alliance (full disclosure: I’m a member), which took a leading role in the effort.
The coalition held community meetings, testified at city council meetings and, with pro bono legal assistance, filed suit under the California Environmental Quality Act, arguing that the developer’s environmental impact report did not take into account the consequences of building on a sensitive site, contained no provisions for protecting Ohlone sacred sites and had no evacuation plan for an area classified by the state as a “high fire hazard severity area.”
In June 2024, the California Court of Appeals unanimously sided with community activists’ CEQA lawsuit, ruling that the Luxury Housing EIR was fatally flawed and should be struck down, effectively ending the city’s liability to developers.
except for the Guidiville Rancheria Pomo claim, which was part of the original casino plan. In July, the tribe and its developer partner agreed to a $40 million settlement offer from the city, state and park district.
“Point Molate Park Now!” T-shirts have gone from being used as protest clothing to collectibles. Final approval from the California State Coastal Conservancy is expected by November, when the East Bay Regional Park District can begin removing miles of fencing and open the park to the public. Community members plan to work with the district to build soccer fields, hiking trails and a home for the annual Richmond Powwow there in the near future.
When people lead, leaders follow. Stubborn, cautious community activism produced a solid victory in Point Molate that can be replicated in other under-parked communities. Remember: river otters and herring can’t sign petitions. Butterflies can’t vote and mule deer can’t testify at city council meetings. It’s up to us humans.
David Helvarg is a Richmond resident; executive director of the ocean policy group Blue Frontier; and co-host of “Rising Tide: The Ocean Podcast.”
