Just down the street from Oakland and Berkeley, the city of Richmond is a low-income, minority community of 115,500 people, mostly Latino, black and Asian-American, with a huge Chevron refinery whose pollution has been a source of conflict (the city just reached a $550 million settlement with Chevron to reduce the health and lifestyle effects of oil). It’s also a busy port and soon, eventually, a world-class park.
Point Molat exemplifies the fight for environmental justice in heavily polluted minority communities. Political support in Sacramento and Washington is helping, but the fight to secure the future of the city’s 413 acres has relied on intense citizen organizing and participation that has included protests, local candidates, ballot initiatives, neighborhood meetings, bilingual mailings and public testimonies, photo and art exhibits, plaques, tours and, of course, advocacy. In other words, democracy.
The border site, Point Molat, a former World War II Navy fuel depot largely reclaimed by nature since it closed in 1995, is just north of the Richmond Bridge. It lives up to its tagline: “The most beautiful part of the Bay Area that 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 establish it as a fully protected park. The state will provide $36 million (partly through Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 30×30 initiative, which, like national and global efforts, aims to protect 30% of the state’s lands and waters by 2030), with the rest coming from the East Bay Regional Park District.
Richmond acquired Point Molate from the Navy in 2003 for $1, and the city quickly began negotiating development rights to the site. A stretch of beach opened to the public in 2014, and during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a magnet for local families. For more than two decades, Richmonders fought to have the remaining 97% of the land turned into a public park.
Molate Point, originally Ohlon Land, is home to sea hares, bat rays, tiger sharks, and sea otters on offshore grass beds—one of the last healthy nurseries for lobsters and crabs in San Francisco Bay. Its native grasslands and forested hillsides are home to chickadees and more than 200 other species of birds, along with mule deer, wild turkeys, coyotes, and the rare collapsing butterfly. Before the Navy arrived, Point Molat was famous for Winehaven, a red brick winery, worker housing, and shipping port built to store California wine after the 1906 earthquake destroyed much of San Francisco. The Winehaven buildings are now on the National Register of Historic Places.
The developers, working with a group of Pomo Indians from Mendocino County, initially 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 breed crime, encourage gambling and create permanent traffic jams. In 2010, city voters rejected the casino proposal by 58% to 42%.
With the casino gone, another development plan emerged: a luxury housing development: up to 1,450 homes and condos priced in the $1.2 million range, for buyers with incomes of around $250,000. Median income for Richmond residents costs just under $80,000. The city must build and staff a fire and police substation and borrow $300 million to fund water, power and sewer infrastructure.
Once again, the community came together. Housing advocates opposed the acceptance of the massive, ongoing investment in Point Molate; they wanted to build affordable, mixed-use units downtown, where infrastructure already exists and housing is urgently needed. Richmonders, environmental groups, and others, including commercial fishermen, joined the Point Molate Alliance (full disclosure: I’m a member) to spearhead the effort.
The coalition held community meetings, testified at City Council meetings and filed a lawsuit with legal assistance from a California lawmaker who argued that the developer’s environmental impact report failed to quantify the effects of building on a sensitive site without any regulations to protect sacred Ohlon sites and an evacuation plan for an area the state has classified as a “high fire risk area.”
In June 2024, the California Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a CEQA lawsuit filed by community activists, ruling that the luxury housing EIR was seriously flawed and should be revoked, effectively abrogating the city’s obligation to developers.
Except for the Guidiville Rancheria Pomo claim, which was part of the original casino plan, the tribe and its developer partner agreed in July to a $40 million bid from the city, state and park district.
“Show Molat Park now!” The T-shirts have gone from protest apparel to collector’s items. The last necessary permit from the California Coastal Conservancy is pending until November, when the East Bay Regional Park District can begin tearing down miles of walls and opening the park to the public. Community members plan to work with the district to see soccer fields, hiking trails and a home for Richmond’s annual Powwow in the near future.
When people lead, leaders follow. Tenacious activism and community vigilance at Point Molat has resulted in a significant victory that can be replicated in other underserved communities. Remember: river otters and herring can’t sign petitions. Butterflies can’t vote, and mules can’t testify at City Council meetings. It’s up to us, the people.
David Helvarg is a Richmond resident, executive director of Blue Frontier, an ocean policy group, and co-host of Rising Made: The Ocean Podcast.
