September 3, 2007
OHNA Press Release: LATEST VCU SCHEME BLASTED
VCU’s latest plan to demolish one historic livery stable in the Oregon Hill Historic District and to move another is strongly opposed by the neighborhood’s civic association. “We strongly object to VCU’s biased study that the livery stable at 917 Green Alley proposed for demolition lacks integrity,” stated OHNA President Scott Burger. “It is obviously the University that lacks integrity by going back on their promise to not encroach further into our historic neighborhood. The latest in a long string of misrepresentations on the project is VCU’s assertion that it will make the 100,000 sq. foot addition fit in with the modest 1,500 sq. foot Oregon Hill homes.”
Ironically, VCU itself renovated the stable at 917 Green Alley, proposed for demolition. Such renovations of historic properties are typically approved by the Va. Dept. of Historic Resources. VCU now claims that the building lacks integrity due to their own renovation. According to Burger, “Moving the stable at 911 Green Alley is no more satisfactory than VCU’s attempt to move the Museum of the Confederacy.”
“VCU compromised the Environmental Impact Report for the project by starting construction on a portion of the project, the Lobs and Lessons Youth center, before the review was complete. The University considered no alternative sites for the project, including the vacant parking lots – closer to the student dorms – that VCU owns on Broad and Grace Streets,” said the OHNA President.
VCU still is providing no additional parking for the 100,000 sq. foot recreational facility proposed for the narrow one-way Oregon Hill street, which is already heavily impacted by student parking. “The massing of this huge building in our historic district with no parking is outrageous,” said Burger. “The city and the Dept. of Historic Resources cited the massing of this building as the fundamental problem with VCU’s plan, and that remains unchanged.”
I received some constructive criticism- and I totally agree with it.
First of all, for clarification, OHNA stands for the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association, of which I am President of.
Its really bad form for me to post the above post in which I quote myself. Unfortunatley, I did not feel like I had much choice.
The mainstream media, with a few exceptions, has been very hesitant to cover the controversy. I had to get the blog launched right away just to make sure the neighborhood’s position was known along with the history of the stables.
The other problem is that no one else seems interested in taking responsibility for maintaining the blog in the first place. I am trying to get my neighbors to post but no one has done so despite my invitations to do so.
I am used to wearing many hats, but its not cool for me to be President of OHNA AND moderate the residents’ Yahoo email list, AND maintain this neighborhood blog. I need for more of my neighbors to step up.
I think you really hurt your own credibility by presenting an issue in such a completely one-sided way. You try to pan off your editorial as a news story. I would seriously consider rewriting this before more than three people see it. Chalk it up to a learning experience.
I respectfully disagree.
This is a neighborhood blog, not a newspaper.
VCU’s website has press releases. So does Oregon Hill’s.
I’ll tell you what though, I will edit the title to make that more clear.
Scott,
I respectfully disagree with you.
While I agree with your side of the issue, I feel this entry would have more credibility if it were presented in a more neutral, objective manner.
Then, let your readers comment on the issue. You can even comment yourself, as John M. sometimes does on the Church Hill blog. However, John M. does not post such one-side entries, relying instead on the comments to bring out the different sides of the issue.
Comment away, but I maintain the right to moderate comments.
I also question how “one-sided” this is. Like I said, this is an Oregon Hill website, not a VCU one.
Does VCU even allow comments on their site? I don’t think so.
whatever – it’s your credibility, dude
One difference between this site and CHPN is that this site is more closely affiliated with the neighborhood association. While I have great respect for what the Church Hill Association does, I am a step removed from what they do. This affiliation seems more appropriate for Oregon Hill. It is a much smaller neighborhood that the 20 or so that make up the greater Church Hill area, and it is facing unique development pressures.
When Scott posted this and marked as a press release in the headline and also tagged it with “editorial”, I think that he framed it correctly. Also, notice that every post on this site tells who it posted by, like “Posted by Scott”. He effectively signs his name to everything that he posts.
And finally, I have occasionally posted my opinions before, though it didn’t seem to matter :)
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