Public Comment Talking Points

The following are mix/match paragraphs – approximately 20- to 40-seconds each for the average to fast speaker.

Why We Fight:

• The Zeneca site on the Richmond southeast shoreline is leaking highly contaminated water and soil gas from contaminated soil left behind by 100-years of chemical manufacturing. The community is near unanimous in its commitment to the material being removed from the shoreline to protect San Francisco Bay and all future generations from its harmful impacts.

• Pouring concrete on top of 65-acres of toxic land to build dense 80-foot-high condominiums will leave an unmitigated legacy. There would be no way to physically reach contaminated source material after development, short of tearing down newly constructed multi-story buildings. There is no containment on the sides or underneath the massive quantities of hazardous material, allowing contaminated soil and groundwater to leak unchecked for all-time.

• To do anything less than a full and complete removal of the hazardous waste on the Zeneca site on Richmond's southeast shoreline endangers the community's health, the environment, and the Bay. Any future development must wait until the site meets the highest residential standard for health and safety, allowing for the widest possible range of use now and in the future for this site.
  

Our Voices Silenced:

• The prior City Council’s vote to enter the development agreement was in spite of overwhelming, well-informed community outcry. COVID pandemic restrictions rendered the community voice highly muted with the City’s poorly executed public participation tools through Zoom.

• Community members who set aside hours to be heard for 1- or 2-minutes at Planning Commission and City Council meetings were frequently dropped or not called-on during open forum or designated speaking periods. The complaint record of public voices being overlooked or cut out speaks for itself.

• City Council and employee bureaucratic-speak requires simplification and more step-by-step directions for representative public participation.

• In spite of overwhelming and well-informed community protest, in 2020 a lame-duck Richmond City Council approved a mega-development for the site. 4,000 homes on a toxic waste dump? Just say no!

Arguments for Our Future:

• The City Council has an opportunity to change course and seek ways to remove the site’s hazardous material before development – no homes on Zeneca’s toxic landfill. The City Council can give city staff, city attorneys and the community a strong signal that solutions are being sought to resolve shoreline hazards that do not include leaving them in-place.

• Leaving contaminated material in-place jeopardizes human and environmental health during and after future development. Avoid future lawsuits and liability for the city – Do not build homes on an active, leaking, Superfund-qualified toxic waste dump.

• The Richmond Shoreline Alliance is a strong supporter of housing justice, and we believe every Richmond resident deserves safe and affordable housing. However, the development project slated for the Zeneca site does not reflect those values. Because the site is located on the shoreline, the threat of sea level and groundwater rise combined with the level of contamination have led RSA to conclude that multifamily housing is not an appropriate use for this land. We are advocating that after remediation, the land be restored to its original salt marsh ecosystem.