Bay Area
Cesar Zepeda Wins Richmond District 2 Election by 3 Votes After Recount
Zepeda said he was looking forward to working with his constituents, including Butt, on the issues facing his district and the city. The District 2 councilmember represents areas of the city including portions of Hilltop, North Richmond, Point Richmond and parts of Marina Bay.
The Richmond Standard
A recount in the District 2 election resulted in a victory for Cesar Zepeda by three votes over Andrew Butt, according to the Contra Costa County Elections Division.
In the November election, Zepeda and Butt received the exact same number of votes: 1,921. Zepeda was later declared winner of the stalemate after his name, rather than Butt’s, was pulled from a bag by the city clerk, per city policy.
Butt’s campaign requested a recount, which was completed on Dec. 23. The recount had Zepeda winning the election with 1,921 votes, and Butt just behind with 1,918 votes.
The recount involved manual counts of paper ballots, Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia stated in a post on social media. Gioia said one of the changes to the final result was the discounting of a vote from a resident living just outside district boundaries.
Another case involved an “X drawn over the pencil mark bubble for the candidate indicating the voter didn’t want to vote for that candidate after first marking it,” Gioia said. “The machine would read it as a vote for that candidate.”
Following the result, Butt congratulated Zepeda on a hard-fought victory.
“This has been one for the books, that’s for sure,” Butt said. “I’ll continue to work to make Richmond a better place, it just won’t be from behind the dais.”
Zepeda said the recount provided compelling proof that every vote counts.
“Next election, make sure to get out and vote,” he said. “One vote can make a difference.”
Zepeda said he was looking forward to working with his constituents, including Butt, on the issues facing his district and the city. The District 2 councilmember represents areas of the city including portions of Hilltop, North Richmond, Point Richmond and parts of Marina Bay.
A recount was also conducted in the Antioch City Council District 1 race. There was no change after the recount, with Tamisha Torres-Walker prevailing with 1,467 votes, Joy Motts following with 1,463 votes and Diane Gibson-Gray with 1,338 votes.
Clerk-Recorder-Registrar Debi Cooper reiterated the importance of voting. She said recounts have been rare in her 33 years at the department and lauded her elections team for performing “above and beyond.”
“These recounts confirmed the integrity of the elections through a transparent audit process,” Cooper said.
The final official report for this election is posted on the Contra Costa County Elections website and can be found at www.contracostavote.gov.
Arts and Culture
Faces Around the Bay Dr. Carl Blake, Pianist
Born in Liberty, Missouri, Carl Blake, a virtuoso and respected pianist, made his most recent migration to the East Bay in 1999. One might have seen him performing recently at Noontime Concerts in San Francisco, or at the Piedmont Center for the Arts in Oakland. He is Director of Music at The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. He was also co-organizer and collaborative pianist at Herbst Theater for The Majesty of the Spirituals concert in 2022 and has held several church positions in the Bay Area.
By Barbara Fluhrer
Born in Liberty, Missouri, Carl Blake, a virtuoso and respected pianist, made his most recent migration to the East Bay in 1999.
One might have seen him performing recently at Noontime Concerts in San Francisco, or at the Piedmont Center for the Arts in Oakland. He is Director of Music at The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. He was also co-organizer and collaborative pianist at Herbst Theater for The Majesty of the Spirituals concert in 2022 and has held several church positions in the Bay Area.
Blake obtained a Bachelor of Music from Boston University and continued post-baccalaureate studies in Jamaica before earning a Master of Arts in Music at San Jose State University. He was the recipient of two Fulbright residencies in Honduras and completed a third residency at the University of St. Petersburg in Russia. He has a Doctor of Musical Arts from Cornell University.
At age 19, Blake, then an undergraduate piano major at Boston University, was “discovered” by Impresario Dr. W. Hazaiah Williams, who is the Founder and Director of Today’s Artists/Four Seasons Arts.
Williams honored Blake by awarding him the first Marian Anderson Young Artist Award. Anderson personally presented the award at the Masonic Auditorium in S.F. Subsequently, Blake was presented by Dr. Williams in his San Francisco debut at The Herbst Theatre. Williams subsidized a year of study abroad for Blake at the Paris Conservatory of Music. Additionally, Williams sponsored Blake’s New York Weill Hall debut, where he has performed twice since. Blake performed several times at the Yachats Music Festival in Oregon.
Blake continues to perform nationally and abroad. His hobbies are reading, baking and travel. He says, “I’m still pumping ivories, as Belgian pianist Jeanne Stark described the disciplined practice of concert piano.”
Art
Marin County: A Snapshot of California’s Black History Is on Display
The Marin County Office of Education, located at 1111 Las Gallinas Ave in San Rafael, will host the extraordinary exhibit, “The Legacy of Marin City: A California Black History Story (1942-1960),” from Feb. 1 to May 31, 2024. The interactive, historical, and immersive exhibit featuring memorabilia from Black shipyard workers who migrated from the South to the West Coast to work at the Marinship shipyard will provide an enriching experience for students and school staff. Community organizations will also be invited to tour the exhibit.
By Post Staff
The Marin County Office of Education, located at 1111 Las Gallinas Ave in San Rafael, will host the extraordinary exhibit, “The Legacy of Marin City: A California Black History Story (1942-1960),” from Feb. 1 to May 31, 2024.
The interactive, historical, and immersive exhibit featuring memorabilia from Black shipyard workers who migrated from the South to the West Coast to work at the Marinship shipyard will provide an enriching experience for students and school staff. Community organizations will also be invited to tour the exhibit.
All will have the opportunity to visit and be guided by its curator Felecia Gaston.
The exhibit will include photographs, articles and artifacts about the Black experience in Marin City from 1942 to 1960 from the Felecia Gaston Collection, the Anne T. Kent California Room Collection, The Ruth Marion and Pirkle Jones Collection, The Bancroft Library, and the Daniel Ruark Collection.
It also features contemporary original artwork by Chuck D of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group Public Enemy, clay sculptures by San Francisco-based artist Kaytea Petro, and art pieces made by Marin City youth in collaboration with Lynn Sondag, Associate Professor of Art at Dominican University of California.
The exhibit explores how Marin City residents endured housing inequities over the years and captures the history of plans to remove Black residents from the area after World War II. Throughout, it embodies the spirit of survival and endurance that emboldened the people who made Marin City home.
Felecia Gaston is the author of the commemorative book, ‘A Brand New Start…This is Home: The Story of World War II Marinship and the Legacy of Marin City.’ Thanks to the generous contribution of benefactors, a set of Felecia’s book will be placed in every public elementary, middle, and high school library in Marin.
In addition, educators and librarians at each school will have the opportunity to engage with Felecia in a review of best practices for utilizing the valuable primary sources within the book.
“Our goal is to provide students with the opportunity to learn from these significant and historical contributions to Marin County, California, and the United States,” said John Carroll, Marin County Superintendent of Schools.
“By engaging with Felecia’s book and then visiting the exhibit, students will be able to further connect their knowledge and gain a deeper understanding of this significant historical period,” Carroll continued.
Felecia Gaston adds, “The Marin County Office of Education’s decision to bring the Marin City Historical Traveling Exhibit and publication, ‘A Brand New Start…This is Home’ to young students is intentional and plays a substantial role in the educational world. It is imperative that our community knows the contributions of Marin City Black residents to Marin County. Our youth are best placed to lead this transformation.”
The Marin County Office of Education will host an Open House Reception of the exhibit’s debut on Feb. 1 from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.. All school staff, educators, librarians, and community members are encouraged to attend to preview the exhibit and connect with Felecia Gaston. To contact Gaston, email MarinCityLegacy@marinschools.org
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of April 10 – 16, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 10 – 16, 2024
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