Corbin acknowledges that some people may think of Richmond as a city known only for its high crime rate and high unemployment. But she says the city has changed a great deal in the past few years. She said the crime rate has dropped over 50 percent, and according to Contra County officials unemployment, which is under five percent, is at an all-time low. "It’s easy to get a bad reputation and hard to get over it," said the mayor. "That image was formed decades ago. They ought to come take a look," she said.

Richmond City Manager Isiah Turner also supports the return of ferry service. "Ferries are an asset for the working population," said Turner. "With our population growth in the next 10 years the roads will be crowded. The ferry can provide service between Richmond and San Francisco for workers, and people will come to Richmond to tour the waterfront." Turner said the daytime labor force in Richmond currently numbers about 50,000, with about 40 percent of the city’s working residents employed outside the city.

The waterfront Turner refers to is Richmond’s 32 miles of shoreline , more than any other city on the Bay, and includes a significant section of the Bay Trail as it follows the eastern curve of the bay along Interstate 580 then turns west through 21-acre Pt. Isabel Regional Shoreline, the Marina Bay Esplanade and Miller Knox Regional Park, then follows the shoreline northeast through Wildcat Creek to Point Pinole.

City officials see the trail, while still incomplete in some places, as a significant tourist attraction and a key element in their five-year vision statement. The trail, with its wetlands teeming with waterfowl as well as opportunities for bay fishing, jogging and running, bird watching, kite flying and dog walking, is expected to attract tourists from San Francisco. Pt. Isabel Regional Shoreline is one of the few parks in the East Bay where dogs can legally run off-leash.

"As the Bay Trail develops people are able to go farther and they find out about communities they haven’t known about before. Richmond is one of the communities benefiting from people coming and seeing what a marvelous place this is," said Mayor Corbin. City officials are considering the possibility of using water taxis or small ferries to close the existing land gaps in the trail at the Santa Fe Channel and at Wildcat Creek, according to information on the city web site (www.ci.richmond.ca.us)

Other attractions expected to attract visitors include the historic Ford Assembly Plant adjacent to the now unused ferry landing at the foot of Harbor Way. Originally built on the bay to assemble and ship automobiles, the plant turned out tanks for the Army during World War II and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Richmond is currently seeking proposals for redevelopment of the building, which they hope will include a museum, waterfront apartments, retail and office space and a small transportation museum.

The Richmond museum already has obtained the very first car produced at the plant, a black 1931 Ford Model A. "It was built for the Richmond City Manager, it’s in excellent shape and it still runs," said Richmond Museum Assistant Curator Shelby Sampson. The museum periodically conducts historic tours of the city of Richmond. An October tour will focus on areas involved in the World War II homefront effort, such as the shipyards and the recently dedicated ‘Rosie the Riveter" Park, named in honor of the women who worked in the defense industries of World War II, including the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond. The park features a gigantic piece of art by artist Susan Schwartzenberg, who won a national competition with her 441 foot long bronze ribbon that represents the length of the Liberty Ships built at Richmond. A sloping "Keel Walk" leads to the water’s edge and a propeller from one of the original Liberty Ships.

Brooks Island, lying just a half-mile off shore from the Richmond Marina is the largest of the four islands within the Richmond city limits. Now a regional shoreline preserve operated by East Bay Regional Park District and closed to the public except for visit by permit, the former rock quarry provided some of the rock used to construct a portion of San Quentin. Most recently the island was a private hunting preserve for a small club which included crooner Bing Crosby. Pheasants descended from those once hunted on the island now keep the island’s resident caretaker company.

Local property developers, realtors and business executives also believe ferry service between Richmond and San Francisco would benefit the community and recruiting efforts.

"There is a definite interest here from our employees who live in the city. They are quite interested," said Sangamo BioSciences Inc. Senior Director of Corporate Communications Julie Wood. BioSciences, a biotech company that focuses on gene regulation research, is located a short walk from the now unused ferry landing at the foot of Harbor Way South.

The Rosie the Riveter memorial is a fascinating place. W.W.II was one of the biggest things to ever happen to Richmond. During the war, workers were recruited from throughout the country, especially in the south and midwest, for jobs building liberty and victory ships at the Kaiser Shipyards. Few people probably know the story of the women who came with their families to Richmond to work in the shipyards, and how their efforts on the home front helped build Roosevelt’s "Arsenal of Democracy" that served the United States during W.W.II. The Kaiser Shipyards built more ships faster and better than anyone ever before. Rather than a woman named Rosie, the Rosie memorial commemorates the tens of thousands of women who went to work in the shipyards, who became collectively known as Rosie the Riveter. As the oral histories along a timeline here point out, Richmond’s population quadrupled from 25,000 to 100,000 people in response to the workload at the Kaiser Shipyards. Henry Kaiser became a pioneer in providing managed health care for the workers and child care for their families, rendering Kaiser Shipyards the county’s first employer to provide such services for workers. From here Kaiser Permanente evolved into the nation’ss first HMO, and changed forever the way industry employs society.