"How to Run a Progressive City," a talk by Gayle McLaughlin

Gayle McLaughlin served as Mayor of Richmond, California from 2007-2014 and was on the City Council for another three years. Richmond --  a working class a city of 110,000 residents in the Bay Area, is perhaps the most progressive city in the United States. McLaughlin helped lead the city’s transformation through her work with the Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA), a broad coalition that engaged in both grassroots community organizing and electoral politics.    Under her leadership, Richmond increased the minimum wage to $15 an hour, reduced homicides 75% in 8 years, forced Chevron (the giant oil company that has a plant in Richmond) to pay over $100 million in additional city taxes, limited its pollution and sued the oil giant for damage to the population.  Richmond dramatically reduced the rate of violent crime, improved its public schools, and became a Sanctuary City to protect immigrant rights. In 2016, Richmond passed the first new rent control law in California in 30 years.

Event is sponsored by the Urban & Environmental Policy Department with support from the Remsen Bird and Anderson Funds.