5th District Town Hall On Wednesday

Councilperson Stephanie Lynch is holding a 5th District Town Hall this Wednesday, March 13 at 6pm at Maymont Foundation (1000 Westover Road). Attendees can use the parking lot on Spottswood.

DRAFT Agenda:
• Welcome
• Sheila White, Finance Director (confirmed)
• April Bingham, DPU Director (invited)
• Matthew Slaats, Senior Civic Innovation Manager (invited)
• Legislative Updates
• Q&A

Trash/Recycling Pickup Tomorrow

This Wednesday is a “Red Wednesday”, which means trash and recycling pickup.

Please go over what can be recycled.

NOTE: CVWMA (Central Virginia Waste Management Authority) has announced that all curbside recycling must now be INSIDE the CVWMA containers with lid closed. Items beside the container or on top of it will not be collected. In fact, incorrect setouts may not be collected at all. This is new as of July 1 for all our curbside recyclers, with the exception of townhomes/condos still using small bins. (And yes, this also applies to flattened cardboard boxes.)

Ideally, rolling recycling containers are stored and deployed in the back alleys along with trash cans. Please make sure you pick up containers after pickup tomorrow night.

If it seems like pickup did not happen, use this online form:
https://cvwma.com/programs/residential-recycling/recycling-service-request-form/

In order to take your recycling to the next level, read this: 10 ways to improve your recycling.

In recycling news, WasteDive.com is reporting that solar panel recycling company Solarcycle is investing $344 million to establish a solar glass manufacturing facility in Cedartown, Georgia.
The company will use recycled solar panels to produce five to six gigawatts of crystalline-silicon photovoltaics, or solar glass, annually. The site will create 600 jobs in manufacturing, engineering, research and other sectors. Construction is expected to begin later this year, with production slated to start in 2026.

Editorial: Save Community Hospital!

Richmonders have become somewhat used to Oregon Hill residents protesting the VCU administration’s encroachment and demolition of more of the historic Oregon Hill neighborhood.

With no ‘memorandum of understanding’ with the neighborhood from the VCU Board of Visitors, (despite many requests), the Wayne Commission plan never repudiated, the ‘Richmond300’ and re-zoning breathing down the neighborhood’s neck, and a future amphitheater designed to blast residents off the hill, Oregon Hill still faces a number of existential threats.

But that is not the focus of this editorial.

Virginia Union University, a small but noteworthy HBCU (Historic Black College and University), is emerging from a period of financial uncertainty and moving ahead with its own ‘master plan’ for growth. And while much of that is worth celebrating, one aspect that many Richmond residents are objecting to is the scheduled demolition of the old Community Hospital in Church Hill. This building, where so many people were born and cared for, has incredible resonance for the African American community.

Appropriately, local Black media and Black leaders like Viola Baskerville are rallying with VUU alumni to create a groundswell of support for renovating and repurposing the building, instead of bulldozing it.

From the Richmond Free Press:

Clearly, the structure is more than just a building. In the early 1900s, the hospital was founded in Jackson Ward by Dr. Sarah Garland Jones and other Black doctors who weren’t allowed to work at white hospitals in Richmond. For many years, Richmond Community Hospital was the epicenter of care for black people in the city, especially during segregation.

The hospital moved to Overbrook Road in the 1930s and to its current location in Church Hill in 1980. In 1995, the doctors, who owned the hospital as part of a for-profit partnership, sold it to Bon Secours, according to news reports.

Dr. Jones, it should be noted, was the first Black person and first woman to be certified to practice medicine by the Virginia State Board of Medicine.

VUU, so far, in response, is taking a page from the callous VCU administration in promising to ‘memorialize’ Community Hospital while moving forward with demolition.

As shortsighted as it is for this historic Black college and university to destroy this significant part of Richmond’s Black history, there are additional reasons to change course.

Historic preservation is inherently a sustainable practice. Study after study have proven that preservation and reuse of historic buildings reduces resource and material consumption, puts less waste in landfills, and consumes less energy than demolishing buildings and constructing new ones.

Historic buildings, often energy efficient from inherent characteristics, can be upgraded with new technologies to maximize energy performance. Historic features such as windows can be repaired and restored for higher efficiency. In addition to saving existing resources and historic character, historic preservation means environmental, cultural and economic benefits for communities, something that Oregon Hill residents have championed over time.

This is where the City’s Sustainability Department could and should take a stand, and prove it’s doing more than tiptoeing around developers and corporations’ profit making. And, as has been noted here repeatedly, City and State officials have a sworn duty to protect historic landmarks, though in recent years they have increasingly turned their back to it. This is a chance for them to make some amends.

This is a good time for Oregon Hill residents and ALL Richmond citizens to join together and recognize and support this cause.

This Sunday, The Gary Flowers Show, on 101.3 FM & 990 AM, will address the current discussion around the old Richmond Community Hospital building. There is also a rally scheduled for 1 pm outside the abandoned Community Hospital building at 1209 Overbook Road (see photo above). But what might make even more of a difference is if citizens make a point to contact the Virginia Union administration and board and The Steinbridge Group developers (at info@steinbridge.com).

Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA) Meeting Tomorrow

From email announcement:

Monthly Meeting Agenda
Tuesday 27 February 2024 7:00PM

This meeting will be held by Zoom, at the link below.
Topic: OHNA Monthly Meeting – February 2024
Time: Feb 27, 2024 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
(editor’s note: Meeting link and information redacted. Please contact OHNA at ohnarva@gmail.com to request this information)

Community Updates:
1. Lt. Brian Robinson, City of Richmond Police Section Lt, 4th Precinct 2. Officer Luke Schrader, Police Liaison, VCU
3. Ms. Verenda Cobbs, VCU
4. Ms. Stephanie Lynch, 5th District Councilperson
○ Cultural Heritage Stewardship Plan
○ Participatory Budgeting Workshop
○ Invasive Species Management Week
○ Town Hall Post Card – should start arriving in mailboxes beginning of March.
○ Senior bags are continuing to go out in Randolph, Maymont, and Oregon Hill.
○ Hybrid Beacon for Belvidere crossing
○ Letter from OHNA re VCU use of poisons in Monroe Park
○ Latest Newsletter – https://conta.cc/3uINPjE
5. Ms. Colette McEachin, Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney

Announcements:
1. Oregon Hill Open Garden Day: May 18, 11a-2p, centered in Pleasants Park a. Open Garden Day Signup: be on the itinerary

Updates and Continued Business
1. The Friends of Oregon Hill Parks
a. Vote: approve Pleasants Park planting plan, donation from Verdant Richmond for plants
b. Vote: authorize expenditure for Pleasants Park: rain barrels, watering cans, Open Garden Day event expenses
c. Volunteer signup: watering duty
2. Outreach to campus groups re Monroe Park rat poison concern
New Business?

Valerie L’Herrou, President
Bryan Clark Green, Co-Vice President Harrison Moenich, Co-Vice-President Jennifer Hancock, Co-Vice-President Mike Matthews, Secretary
John Bolecek, Treasurer

821 Cafe Announces New Hours

From social media post:

We got some exciting changes starting next week at the ol’ cafe! We will now be open 9am to 9pm Tuesday-Sunday. That’s an hour earlier on the weekdays, an hour later on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. and more importantly, we’ll now be staying open until 9 pm on the weekends! So, come see us a little earlier during the week or a lot later on the weekends!

Belvidere Street Pedestrian Features Scheduled

From Department of Public Works communication:

Traffic Advisory

February 21, 2023

Contact: Lux Aghomo

Office: 804.646.5711

Lane Closure – 601 South Belvidere Street

WHO: City of Richmond Department of Public Works (https://twitter.com/DPW_RichmondVA)

WHAT: Lane Closure, Daily

WHEN: Tuesday, February 20 to Saturday, November 16, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

WHERE: In the 5th Voter District

601 South Belvidere Street between Idlewood Avenue and Rowe Street
BACKGROUND: In the area listed above, the contractor will be installing pedestrian signals and improvements. A single lane will be closed in each direction.

Trash/Recycling Pickup Tomorrow

This Wednesday is a “Red Wednesday”, which means trash and recycling pickup.

Please go over what can be recycled.

NOTE: CVWMA (Central Virginia Waste Management Authority) has announced that all curbside recycling must now be INSIDE the CVWMA containers with lid closed. Items beside the container or on top of it will not be collected. In fact, incorrect setouts may not be collected at all. This is new as of July 1 for all our curbside recyclers, with the exception of townhomes/condos still using small bins. (And yes, this also applies to flattened cardboard boxes.)

Ideally, rolling recycling containers are stored and deployed in the back alleys along with trash cans. Please make sure you pick up containers after pickup tomorrow night.

If it seems like pickup did not happen, use this online form:
https://cvwma.com/programs/residential-recycling/recycling-service-request-form/

In order to take your recycling to the next level, read this: 10 ways to improve your recycling.

In recycling news, NPR recently did a number on the plastics industry- “Reduce, reuse, redirect outrage: How plastic makers used recycling as a fig leaf”

Vox Concordia This Sunday

VOX CONCORDIA
Sunday, February 18 @ 11:00 am
Pine Street Baptist

Vox Concordia is the select treble choir of Virginia Commonwealth University and is open to students of any major who sing soprano or alto. Vox Concordia is Latin for “voices together in one heart.” These diverse singers, with majors in music, criminal justice, international studies, psychology, and more, unite in an inclusive choral community to make music that reflects the diversity of our world. In addition to performing the classics of treble repertoire, Vox Concordia often sings works written by women and living composers from underrepresented cultures with texts that address contemporary issues. Vox Concordia has sung in the Richmond area for community organizations such as the Lewis Ginter GardenFest of Lights, senior living communities, and for VCU sports games. The choir is conducted by Lisa Fusco, Adjunct Instructor at VCU.

Virginia War Memorial Holds Virtual Valentine’s Day Event

The Virginia War Memorial is holding a a virtual event on Wednesday, Valentine’s Day, starting at 10:30 am.

From event description:

The simple act of sending and receiving a Valentine’s Day card or letter provided a boost in morale among service members.

Many military personnel were grappling with homesickness on the frontlines. Their loved ones at home were dealing with the anxiety of the unknown.

Join our Archivist Sylvia Marshall on Valentine’s Day as she looks at historical Valentine’s, cards, and letters sent during wartime. Sylvia will bring you some selections from our Archives that highlight stories of love, romance, and loss of those who were far apart during wartime.

As always, our Livestream Programs are free and open to all, but registration is required.

Register on Zoom from the event page.