Richmond Crime Down 8%

As a realtor working in the EastBay and living in Point Richmond, I hear lots of comments about the negative perception Richmond has concerning crime. Some people think Richmond is the most crime ridden city in the East Bay. They would be wrong.

Tom Butt, a Richmond city council member, has an e-forum he uses to regularly update interested constituents about the issues and happenings in the City of Richmond. He recently posted an interesting violent crime report by the FBI. The Semiannual FBI Crime Report can be seen on the FBI’s web site. The Press release on the story and a partial transcript of the corresponding KRON channel 4 news story can be read on Tom Butt’s e-forum.

Knowing that the city has long attempted to rid itself of its sometimes unprecedented violent image, it is nice to see that violent crime is down 8% in the city of Richmond, while the national average increased by 3.7%. It is my view that most of the violence in the city of Richmond is contained to a 2 mile radius which has been dubbed the Iron Triangle.

I have sold many homes in the city of Richmond and I have experienced that 90% of the city’s neighborhoods resemble the good neighborhoods of other neighboring cities, such as Berkeley, El Cerrito and Pinole. When I envision the city of Richmond I think of the cities 32 miles of coastal shoreline, and its panoramic, unobstructed views of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge and Marin’s Mount Tamalpais. The city is home to some of the Bay Area’s best seaside parks, beaches, fishing piers, biking and jogging trails, wildlife preserves and yacht harbors. Richmond has many million dollar homes with bay views in neighborhoods that resemble Sausalito not South Central Los Angeles. I have long believed that Richmond’s real estate has been undervalued. When Richmond gets control of its hooligan image, it will have some of the most valuable sea side real estate in the Bay Area.