Bay Area

Faces Around the Bay: Helena P. Hill

Helena P. Hill, 92, was born and raised on her grandfather’s farm in Plaquemine, Louisiana. “We had cows, chickens and horses. I even picked cotton.” She was the third-oldest child of Louis and Louella Brown, and one of 11 siblings. The closest school was eight miles away, so they home-schooled. Hill remembers her earliest “job” was assigned by her mother: “I was put in charge of the kitchen and stood on a chair to wash dishes and clean the counters.”

Published

1 year ago

March 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Helena P. Hill. Photo by Brian Anthony Butler.

Special to The Post

Helena P. Hill, 92, was born and raised on her grandfather’s farm in Plaquemine, Louisiana. “We had cows, chickens and horses. I even picked cotton.”

She was the third-oldest child of Louis and Louella Brown, and one of 11 siblings. The closest school was eight miles away, so they home-schooled. Hill remembers her earliest “job” was assigned by her mother: “I was put in charge of the kitchen and stood on a chair to wash dishes and clean the counters.”

She moved to California in 1950 and has been a resident and property owner in Berkeley and Oakland. “My first job in California was as a waitress at the California Hotel. I later went to the booths (set up by local employers) that were set up in Oakland and got a referral for a domestic position. They charged $10.”

She did domestic work for a few years, worked for the U.S. Post Office, and seven years at the Hunt Brothers Cannery in Hayward. She was employed by the U.S. government in San Francisco as a typist in the 1970s, and from 1978-92 worked for the American National Insurance Company until retirement.

Hill is a Legacy Lifetime member of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) and has served as past president of its East Bay Area section. With NCNW, she coordinated voter registration campaigns and traveled to South Africa as a delegate to the South African Unification Conference.

In the political arena, she opened her home to campaign for Tom Bradley’s first historic run for the first Black Mayor of Los Angeles in the early 1970s and traveled there to campaign in his behalf. She worked tirelessly for Barack Obama’s campaign and was later named a member of Obama’s honorary Kitchen Cabinet. She assisted Linda Shepherd, the late AC Transit Board president, with her struggles with AC Transit in the early 1980s.

Hill is a board member of the Black Repertory Group and an avid supporter of the Four Seasons Arts, Inc. She continues to enjoy the Four Seasons door-to-door transportation to their concerts.

Her philanthropy includes contributions to the Democratic Party.

She has one daughter and two grandchildren. She lives in Oakland and her home church is Acts Full Gospel.

Hill paraphrases her favorite scripture: Corinthians calls us to be ambassadors, sent out to work as a citizen of God’s Kingdom, representing truth and light in a world of deceit and darkness.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 28 – June 30, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 28 – June 3, 2025

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May 30, 2025

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Chevron Richmond Installs Baker Hughes Flare.IQ, Real-time Flare Monitoring, Control and Reduction System

While the sight of flaring can cause concern in the community, flares are essential safety systems that burn pollutants to prevent them from being released directly into the atmosphere. They activate during startup and shut-down of facility units or during upsets or equipment malfunctions. The typical flare stack is about 200 feet high so that vapors are well above street levels.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Image courtesy The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

Chevron Richmond recently installed flare.IQ, a real-time, automated system that will improve the facility’s flaring performance.

The technology, developed by Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business, uses sensors to monitor, reduce and control flaring in real time. It collects and assesses data on refinery processes, such as temperature, pressure, gas flow and gas composition, and adjusts accordingly to ensure flares burn more efficiently and cleanly, leading to fewer emissions.

“The cleaner the flare, the brighter the flame can look,” said Duy Nguyen, a Chevron Richmond flaring specialist. “If you see a brighter flame than usual on a flare, that actually means flare.IQ is operating as intended.”

“A key element in Baker Hughes’ emissions abatement portfolio, flare.IQ has a proven track record in optimizing flare operations and significantly reducing emissions,” said Colin Hehir, vice president of Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business. “By partnering with Chevron Richmond, one of the first operators in North America to adopt flare.IQ, we are looking forward to enhancing the plant’s flaring operations.”

The installation of flare.IQ is part of a broader and ongoing effort by Chevron Richmond to improve flare performance, particularly in response to increased events after the new, more efficient hydrogen plant was brought online in 2019.

Since then, the company has invested $25 million — and counting — into flare minimization. As part of the effort, a multidisciplinary refinery team was formed to find and implement ways to improve operational reliability and ultimately reduce flaring. Operators and other employees involved in management of flares and flare gas recovery systems undergo new training.

“It is important to me that the community knows we are working hard to lower emissions and improve our flaring performance,” Nguyen said.

Also evolving is the process by which community members are notified of flaring incidents. The Community Warning System (CWS), operated by Contra Costa County is an “all-hazard” public warning system.

Residents can opt-in to receive alerts via text, e-mail and landline. The CWS was recently expanded to enable residents to receive notifications for “Level 1” incidents, which are considered informational as they do not require any community action.

For more information related to these topics, check out the resources included on the Chevron Richmond, CAER and Contra Costa Health websites. Residents are also encouraged to follow @chevronrichmond and @RFDCAOnline on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), where additional information may be posted during an incident.