Richmond, California
A civic pamphlet. Not a newspaper. No ads. Nothing for sale.
Publius
30 July 2026.
A ciclovía is a simple idea. You close a street to cars for a day and let people walk, bike, and push strollers down the middle of it. Bogotá does it every Sunday. It costs some cones, some staff, some overtime, and a permit. It is, by the standards of municipal ambition, a picnic.
In Richmond the 23rd Street Ciclovía Pilot appeared on the Council agenda on June 16, June 23, July 7, July 21, and July 28. Five agendas for a picnic. Public comment was taken on July 7, and on July 28 the Council discussed it “without additional public comment.” The Senior Transportation Planner and the Public Works Director presented. The staff item had asked, sensibly, whether this should be prioritized in the transportation work plan given staffing, cost, trade-offs with other Council priorities, and grant-funded projects already underway.
The minutes record that the event “was not included in the fiscal year 2027–2028 operating budget.” The Council suggested the pilot could “piggyback” on existing events, such as Cinco de Mayo. Councilmember Jimenez moved, and Councilmember Wilson seconded, to work with local organizations to fold the pilot into existing events, starting with the Saturday before Cinco de Mayo, to put the expense into next year’s budget, and to let businesses and organizations sponsor it through the Department of Children and Youth’s grants. The Mayor added that staff consider Bike to Everywhere Day, Fiestas Patrias, Juneteenth, and Bay Trail events. It passed 5–0, with Councilmember Brown abstaining and Vice Mayor Robinson absent.
So after five agendas, the street party became a guest at other people’s parties, to be paid for next year, possibly with a grant from another City program. I do not object to the outcome. Piggybacking is thrifty. I object to the five agendas. Each one carried the staff time to prepare, the public time to attend, and the Council time to postpone. Somewhere a planner has a folder titled “Ciclovía” thicker than the plan.
The same night offered a smaller drama about rules. Item Y.1 asked the Council to appoint an ad hoc committee of the Mayor, Vice Mayor, City Attorney, City Clerk, and City Manager to propose amendments to the Council’s Rules of Procedure and Order within sixty days. Councilmember Bana asked to be added. The Mayor declined; per his prerogative, the minutes say, he appointed only the Vice Mayor and himself. Councilmember Bana moved, with Councilmember Jimenez seconding, to add her anyway. The Mayor offered a substitute to keep the item as written, which died for lack of a second. Then it was explained that, under the Council’s rules, members may suggest an additional member and the Mayor may agree or not. “A vote was not taken on the matter.” Suggestions, the minutes add, could be emailed to the City Clerk.
Consider the elegance of that. A committee to rewrite the rules was formed under the rules it would rewrite, which gave its chair the sole say over who sits on it, and the motion to change its membership simply evaporated. Members with ideas were invited to send an email.
If you wanted to design a city that takes five meetings to close one street for a day and no meetings at all to decide who writes the rules, you could not do better than this.
The next meeting of the City Council is a special meeting on Tuesday, August 11, 2026. The next regular meeting is Tuesday, September 15.
— Publius