Last month, I talked to Floodlight’s Miranda Green and NPR’s David Folkenflik about how they teamed up to investigate a news site owned by Chevron. That website was pretty much the only regular source of local news for the city of Richmond, California, and Folkenflik and Green called it a “news mirage” — something that looked like news, but in truth a mouthpiece for Chevron, leaving the residents of Richmond without a place to get rigorous journalism about their city.

That’s finally changing. On Tuesday, Cityside, the nonprofit that also published Berkleyside and The Oaklandside, officially launched Richmondside, a local site for the city’s 116,000 residents. An early post on the site — published before the official launch — details how the team talked to community members before launching to figure out how to best shape their coverage, and intends to continue using community feedback to guide their reporting.

At launch, the Richmondside team consists of an editor, reporter, and two interns. I’m excited to watch them turn their city into a news oasis.

At 6:18 am today there was one less news desert in the Bay Area. Richmondside is live. Stories include: Poss. July Covid spike; new help for homeless people, art stories, @WCCUSD news, food, city hall & restaurant updates. https://t.co/V5TdgU0Yj0 #localnews pic.twitter.com/CDKuGiwx4v

— Kari Hulac (@KHulacRichmond) June 25, 2024

⁦@richmondside⁩ launches today – a small but hopefully scrappy news site offering Richmond CA an alternative to dominant outlet owned by the city’s largest employer, taxpayer and polluter: Chevron.

Here’s more about @Richmondside: https://t.co/bPD0v5nT6D

— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) June 25, 2024

The crew at @citysidelocal started talking about opening a site in Richmond in 2021. Today it has become a reality. East Bay: Welcome your newest nonprofit local site: @richmondside #localnewsmatters https://t.co/gmE91xEi8W

— Frances Dinkelspiel (@Frannydink) June 25, 2024