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| On February 24, 2022, Governor Newsom announced $50 million in grants for programs and projects to alleviate homelessness, with $4.8 million going to Richmond. See City of Richmond Awarded Homeless Grant, February 25, 2022.
Less than a week later, on March 1, 2022, Governor Newsom announced nearly $300,000 in Clean California Grants, with $10 million going to two projects in Richmond, (1) Yellow Brick Road, and (2) Boorman Park Revitalization Project, 7th Street Connection Project and miscellaneous projects in central Richmond neighborhoods.
The $4,999,955 grant to a collaboration of Pogo Park and the City of Richmond, “Yellow Brick Road: Clean, Green, and Beautiful" is Phase 3 of the Yellow Brick Road Project (YBR) in Richmond's Iron Triangle neighborhood. While Phase 1 constructed pedestrian-friendly street infrastructure and Phase 2 will add plants and trees, Phase 3 will install human-scale street lighting, litter abatement facilities, wayfinding and placemaking signage, and public art elements to 8th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Richmond. The Project also proposes decorative fencing at the two parks that bookend the YBR route (Elm Playlot and Harbour-8 Park) as well as a litter abatement and public art maintenance campaign for residents who live within a 1/4-mile of the project site. This project will clean and beautify the project site, and it will provide necessary place-making elements to complete the community's vision to create a clean, green and safe street for biking and walking in the Iron Triangle neighborhood.
The $5,000,000 grant to the City of Richmond for the “Richmond Communities Clean Collaborative” is for two Infrastructure projects, The Boorman Park Revitalization Project and the 7th Street Connection Project. Boorman Park was redesigned by the community and will reconstruct an existing park and change the site layout for safety and ease of maintenance. The 7th Street project consists of a sidewalk and bicycle facility gap closure and the transformation of an unpaved alley. The remaining of the Clean Collaboratives include multiple projects concentrated in a cluster of underserved neighborhoods in the heart of the City of Richmond: the Iron Triangle, Atchison Village, Richmore Village/Metro Square, Belding Woods, Cortez/Stege, Coronado, and Santa Fe. The programs will engage and uplift youth, individuals impacted by the social justice system, unhoused neighbors, and other residents through employment and volunteer service, dumpster days, clean-up and enhancement activities, and outreach and waste reduction education.
More on the Yellow Brick Road:
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Contact
Toody Maher, Executive Director, toody@pogopark.org, (510) 590-1716
Adrian Maher, Communications Director, adrian@pogopark.org, (310) 922-3080
– FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –
Richmond’s Yellow Brick Road® Wins $5 Million Grant
Richmond, CA, March 9, 2022 – Pogo Park and the City of Richmond secured a $5 million Clean California grant from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). The Clean California grant will support Phase III of The Yellow Brick Road® project in Richmond’s Iron Triangle neighborhood.
Conceived of by local youth in 2008, the Yellow Brick Road is a safe bike-walk street that connects key community assets, including parks, schools, churches, community centers, and Kaiser Hospital. Its major arteries are 8th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. The route is anchored at each end by two city parks: Elm Playlot (Pogo Park #1) and Harbour-8 Park (Pogo Park #2).
In a highly competitive statewide competition of 329 applications, the Yellow Brick Road was 1 of only 105 projects selected by Caltrans for funding. The $5 million that Caltrans awarded the Yellow Brick Road was the maximum possible grant size. Since its inception in 2007, Pogo Park has directed $50 million of public and private investment into the Iron Triangle neighborhood.
“The Clean California grant will have a huge impact on the lives of children, families and local residents in the Iron Triangle,” said Pogo Park Executive Director Toody Maher. “From day one, residents have said that their number one safety concern was the lack of lighting. Installing human-scale lights, made possible by this grant, will make the streets and neighborhood safer so that local people can come out of their houses and enjoy their community.”
The Clean California grant will support Pogo Park’s efforts to make the Yellow Brick Road clean, safe, and beautiful. The grant will pay for the installation of warm, pedestrian-friendly lighting to make the streets safer for pedestrians. An architectural fence, modeled on the Tuileries Garden in Paris, will encircle Harbour-8 Park to designate the park as a special, protected space.
The Yellow Brick Road route itself will be marked by stenciled yellow “bricks” on the ground and include murals and sculptures by local artists. Finally, the Clean California grant will fund trash cans and dog waste stations along the route, as well as programs to reduce the amount of trash and litter on the street.
The Yellow Brick Road project began with a grassroots planning effort. Local nonprofit Pogo Park, which works with residents to transform neglected and abandoned city parks into vibrant play spaces for children, spearheaded the planning and implementation of previous phases. Pogo Park also led the effort to write Richmond’s winning Clean California grant.
Earlier phases of the Yellow Brick Road were dedicated to safety and greening features. Phase I redesigned 27 intersections to slow speeding cars and make the corridor safe for pedestrians. Phase II saw 93 trees and 11,000 square feet of plants established along the route. These phases are currently under construction.
"The Yellow Brick Road project will play a critical role in increasing bicycle and pedestrian safety as well as improving Richmond's built environment," said Shasa Curl, Interim City Manager. "We are grateful for the partnership between Pogo Park, city staff members, and residents that has helped bring the project to fruition." |
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