On the agenda: Tobacco license limits and a new 23rd Street enforcement zone

The Richmond City Council will consider capping tobacco retailer licenses at 50, while also weighing a new enforcement zone along 23rd Street, adopting the 2025 state building code with an amnesty program for unpermitted home additions, honoring a national champion dance team, and approving contracts and cleanup reports at the February 24, 2026, meeting.

Capping tobacco retailers, expanding inspection powers

The council will consider an ordinance that would cap the number of tobacco retailer licenses in the city at 50, require retailers to consent to unannounced inspections as a condition of their license, and remove the council from the appeal process for license revocations.

The proposal comes after the council imposed an emergency moratorium on new tobacco retailer licenses in April 2024. Inspections conducted during the moratorium found retailers operating without city licenses, businesses employing underage workers, flavored tobacco products on shelves, and unlawful cannabis, illicit drugs, and drug paraphernalia at several locations.

The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration lists 63 businesses in Richmond that currently hold a state tobacco retailer license.

A map of the 63 businesses in Richmond holding state tobacco retailer licenses from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration.

The ordinance would set a ceiling of 50 city-issued tobacco retailer licenses. City staff proposed the numerical cap as an alternative to tightening buffer distances, noting that existing rules prohibiting retailers within 500 feet of another retailer and 1,000 feet of schools, parks, and libraries already make finding an eligible new location difficult.

Every applicant would be required to sign a consent to unannounced inspections of the entire premises, including storage rooms, offices, and business vehicles. All licensed retailers would be subject to at least one unannounced inspection per year, conducted by the Code Enforcement Division of the Community Development Department.

Refusal would result in immediate license revocation with no cure period. The ordinance separately authorizes the Richmond Police Department to seize flavored tobacco products found on the premises.

Appeals of all license actions would go to a neutral hearing officer whose decision would be final, subject only to judicial review. Under current law, retailers could appeal to the City Manager and then to the City Council.

Fines for flavored tobacco violations would escalate from $500 for a first offense to $5,000 for a fifth violation within two years. Any product not on the state Attorney General's Unflavored Tobacco List would be presumed flavored, with the burden of rebuttal falling on the retailer. Any person cited for operating without a city license would be ineligible to obtain one for two years.

Crackdown on the stroll?

Councilmember Jamelia Brown is pushing a designated safe pedestrian zone along the 23rd Street corridor, citing longstanding resident complaints about children's exposure to "disruptive behavior" near schools, parks, and libraries.

But let's be honest about the geography here. You don't draft an ordinance citing Senate Bill 357 by name unless sex work is what you're actually thinking about. SB 357 is the 2023 California law that blew up the old "loitering with intent to commit prostitution" statute, the charge cops had used for decades to move street workers along.

Whether clearing the corridor of sex workers is the point, or merely a side effect, is a question the agenda report declines to answer.

What the ordinance would do, explicitly, is give Richmond police a fresh checklist: indecent exposure, lewd conduct, disturbing the peace, blocking a sidewalk, public intoxication, and conduct-based charges that SB 357 left untouched. No new penalties. Just sharper tools, deployed in a newly designated zone.

Adopting the updated building code

The council will hold a public hearing to adopt the 2025 California Building Standards Code, the latest triennial update to the statewide construction regulations that all local jurisdictions are required to enforce under state law.

But buried in the report is something that might actually matter to real human beings living in real houses with real illegal additions they built when nobody was looking.

An amnesty program for homeowners with unpermitted accessory dwelling units or residential additions allows property owners to come forward, hire a licensed engineer, and legalize unauthorized construction without facing the city's standard penalty, an investigation fee equal to three times the normal permit cost. The program is tied explicitly to Richmond's housing and homelessness goals.

The ordinance also adds a detailed set of fire and safety requirements for emergency homeless shelters, including mandatory maintenance of sprinkler and alarm systems, emergency responder radio coverage, and posted evacuation diagrams at every exit door. Richmond's hillside geography and proximity to the Bay also factored into the amendments, with the city adopting appendices covering flood-resistant construction, grading standards, and wildland-urban interface fire rules.

Rich Girlz go to Vegas, win everything

The Richmond City Council is set to honor the Richmond Steelers Dance Team "Rich Girlz" with a formal proclamation recognizing their JAMZ national championship title.

The Rich Girlz recently traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada, where they competed on a national stage and earned 1st Place in their division, securing the title of National Champions.

Org chart changes

The council will also consider amendments to its position control list, which constitutes the essential human resources documentation that dictates hiring authority, job titles, and compensation structure.

Red Cross month

Mayor Eduardo Martinez will declare March 2026 as Red Cross Month in Richmond, lending the full ceremonial weight of municipal government to an organization that has been responding to disasters since 1881.

According to the agenda report, the city recognizes the compassion of the people of Richmond, California, and reaffirms its commitment to caring for one another in times of crisis.

The filth report: January Edition

Public Works presents its January abatement report, a monthly accounting of the city's ongoing campaign against illegal dumping, graffiti, and blight.

The 191-ton haul in January came from more than 1,100 locations across the city, at a cost exceeding $125,000 in labor and equipment, representing just the first month of what officials track as an annual cleanup effort.

Among the debris: 228 illegally dumped mattresses, 208 tires, and 148 gallons of paint and oil requiring hazardous waste disposal. Tire collections have climbed steadily for four consecutive years, from 183 in January 2023.

City workers also cleared 18 homeless encampments during the month, removing roughly 21 tons of material from sites, including a large encampment at 2500 Florida Avenue.

Graffiti removal crews painted over 224 tags across 112 locations, including a large mural beneath the Macdonald Avenue overpass at Interstate 80.

The department logged 2,640 total staff hours in January, with illegal dumping cleanup alone accounting for more than half, 1,506 hours.

Richmond locks in EV charging contract through 2028

The council is also poised to approve a sole-source contract with ChargePoint, Inc., worth up to $32,900, to keep the city's electric vehicle charging stations connected to the cloud and under warranty through 2028.

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