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Green Mayor Wins, Casino Loses In Richmond

By Bay City News
Wednesday November 03, 2010 - 10:33:00 AM

Voters in Richmond appear to have re-elected Gayle McLaughlin for a second term as the city's Mayor, according to complete unofficial election results. 

Richmond voters also elected two newcomers to the City Council, Jovanka Beckles and Courtland "Corky" Booze, along with incumbent Councilman Jim Rogers, and appear to have rejected an advisory measure on the plan to build a $1 billion Las Vegas-style casino at Point Molate. 

Richmond City Councilman Nat Bates, who ran for mayor along with former City Councilman John Ziesenhenne, will finish his term on the council, which ends in 2013. 

McLaughlin, a member of the Green Party, has said she will continue to promote green jobs in Richmond and work to reduce crime through community policing strategies and other community-based violence-prevention programs. 

McLaughlin has said she has a vision of Richmond as a hub for the green tech economy and, among other accomplishments, has started green job training programs for local youths and has made Richmond the No. 1 city in the Bay Area for solar wattage installed. 

She also went up against Chevron several times during her last term, including leading two campaigns to put measures on the ballot in an effort to force the oil giant to pay more taxes, the most recent of which led to a lawsuit that ended in a $114 million settlement paid to the city. 

During her re-election campaign, McLaughlin also actively opposed proposals by the Guidiville Indian tribe and their developer Upstream Point Molate LLC to build a 4,000-slot machine casino and resort at Point Molate, a former naval fuel base on the Richmond shoreline, despite promises by the developer that it will make Richmond a destination place and bring hundreds of well-paying jobs to the city. 

McLaughlin was among the members of the Council who voted to place Measure U, an advisory measure for the project, on the ballot. 

Nearly 58 percent of voters rejected the measure in Tuesday's election. Although the measure is non-binding, which means the City Council will still have the final say over how to develop the 266-acre piece of land, the vote could influence the council's final decision on the project. 

The vote could also influence decisions by the state and federal government on the project.