Part urban history, part call to action, Refinery Town shows how concerned citizens can harness the power of local politics to reclaim their community and make municipal government a source of much-needed policy innovation. Police Chief Chris Magnus, who brought community policing to Richmond and is now one of America’s leading public safety reformers.

Gayle McLaughlin, the Green Party mayor who challenged Chevron and won.94 year old Betty Reid Soskin, the country’s oldest full-time national park ranger and witness to Richmond’s complex history.In Refinery Town, Early chronicles the 15 years of successful community organizing that raised the local minimum wage, defeated a casino development project, challenged home foreclosures and evictions, and sought fair taxation of Big Oil.Ī short list of Richmond’s activist residents helps to propel this compelling chronicle: It had one of the highest homicide rates per capita in the country and a jobless rate twice the national average.īut when veteran labor reporter Steve Early moved from New England to Richmond in 2012, he discovered a city struggling to remake itself. This largely nonwhite, working-class city of 100,000 suffered from poverty, pollution, and poorly funded public services. Home to one of the largest oil refineries in the state, Richmond, California, was once a typical company town, dominated by Chevron. Big Oil-how a working-class company town harnessed the power of local politics to reclaim their community

Refinery Town by Steve Early