The third Business Roundtable took place at the Craneway Conference Center Thursday, July 31 with about 50 attendees – a sold out house. It was generously hosted by The Craneway and Assemble Restaurant. The entire mayor’s staff did an outstanding job planning and facilitating it.

After a greeting from City Manager Bill Lindsay and Craneway Representative and Assemble co-owner Richard Mazzera, Chad Mason and Kevin Connelly from the Water Emergency Transportation Authority made the first presentation, showing the location and schedule for ferry service to Richmond. The good news is that the service is funded and implementation is underway. The bad news is that it won’t begin until 2018. The main holdup is that two 35-knot jet propulsion boats have to be built from scratch. The service will begin with three morning commute trips to San Francisco from Richmond. It is expected that the return trips will also generate substantial ridership. Initially the service will be just  between Richmond and San Francisco but could expand in the future.

The second presentation was by Max Scheder-Bieschin, CFO of Ekso Bionics (developer of powered exoskeleton bionic devices).. The company, which has 90 employees at its Harbour Way South location,  came to Richmond from San Francisco looking for expansion space. When they first came, he described Richmond as an “oasis,” but noted that it is developing into an “ecosystem.” Many of their employees lived in Berkeley and appreciated the short commute to Richmond.

Harding provided a list of recommendations to make Richmond even more attractive to businesses:

·         Get the ferry operating. There are lots of employees who live in San Francisco.
·         Provide more electric car charging stations available to the public.
·         25% of his employees ride bakes, so continue to improve the Bay Trail.
·         Keep working on BART feeder connections, including shuttles and buses.
·         Connect the education community to Richmond innovators. Not a single school class from Richmond has visited Esko, but they are eager to provide programs such a robotics.
·         Concentrate on stability in public policies and eschew volatility.
·         The negative perception of Richmond is a big issue. Before moving his business, he produced a video of Richmond for employees to help alleviate their concerns. He suggested Richmond have a full-time resource person to proactively  promote Richmond.

Harding praised Richmond’s City staff for being helpful and responsive in the permitting process.

Arnon Oren, owner of Oren’s Kitchen (“Catering & Specialty Foods: A Small Business With a Passion for Local, Organic and Sustainable Food”) has 10 employees and has been in business for 20 years, half of that with Oren’s Kitchen. He remarked about how a “food cluster” was developing in Richmond.

He looked at many locations and found Richmond attractive. Like Harding, he found interaction with City staff for licenses and permits so good het termed it “amazing.” He said that he was even getting get emails at night from City staff indicating their interest in expediting his permits.

Orem also had his list of recommendations, which included:

·         Continue developing tourism destinations, including hotels.
·         Create more walking destinations.
·         Continue to enhance the amazing shoreline.
·         Emphasize helping small, artisanal businesses.
·         Do something about blatant trash dumping and graffiti.

He noted that it was difficult to find qualified employees in Richmond, although he has been working exclusively with RichmondWorks. He complimented them on their assiatnace but said finding good employees is a challenge.

The attendees then broke into table-sized groups for discussion and then reported out issues and recommendations:

Table 1

·         Publicize new businesses
·         Change the perception of Richmond and it will grow and bloom
·         Look or marketing opportunities
·         Hire/buy locally

Table 2

·         Pros – the City (staff) is responsive and respectful; it is a good commute for some
·         Cons – It is a tough commute for others
·         Improve access with a shuttle system, particularly to isolated places like Parchester Village
·         Provide incentives for start-ups
·         Add non-profits to presenters for next Roundtable
·         Enhance employee training opportunities.

Table 3

·         Change perceptions and reputation with marking; provide a full-time PR person
·         Enhance educational opportunities
·         Provide more access to homes for people working in Richmond
·         Concentrate on smaller businesses

Table 4

·         A qualified local workforce is a big challenge
·         Concentrate on homegrown businesses
·         Promote Richmond more effectively

Table 5

·         The City Council should be as active as staff in promoting business
·         Blight reinforces stereotypes
·         Concentrate on predictability
·         Tighten local hire policies

Table 6

·         Positive – New businesses are up, unemployment is down to historic lows
·         Pros- Real state is cheap, central location
·         We can always use more job training; RichmondBuild is doing a good job

Look for the next Roundtable sometime in late September.