Letter to City Council

Dear City Council members and citizens of Richmond,

VCU has proposed building an inappropriate 100,000 sq. ft. recreational facility in the Oregon Hill neighborhood. VCU cannot build the recreational facility as proposed without city approval to close two alleys on the site of the proposed building. We note that the proposed new master plan of the City of Richmond calls for a moratorium on closing streets and alleys in the city.

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Handbell Concert this Sunday

The James River Ringers, Richmond’s premier handbell ensemble, will give a free concert at St. Andrew’s Church on Sunday, February 17th, at 6:00 pm. Located at the corner of S. Laurel St. and Idlewood Ave. on Oregon Hill, St. Andrew’s is offering this concert to the Richmond Community as part of its ongoing “Music with Grace Concert Series.” For more information call 648-7980 or visit www.standrewsec.org.

WBCH-Byrd Market Urban Gardening Classes

Yearning for Spring? Dreaming about huge bouquets, luscious vegetables and exuberant gardens? Stop dreaming and start planning – join the folks at the William Byrd Community House Library, who are offering a great lineup of gardening classes. Once again local Urban Gardening Guru, John Wise, has developed a series of garden classes to help you learn more about gardening and garden design. This year they are offering classes at night and in the morning, so everyone has a chance to participate.
Save your Wednesday’s and come learn to garden.

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Master Plan for Downtown Neighborhoods/VCU meeting recap

The first thing that my neighbors and I noticed on the handout sheet for this meeting was this sentence, “Oregon Hill residents have had a strong voice in VCU development as it has affected the neighborhood.” Was this before or after whole blocks of Oregon Hill were torn down for VCU’s expansion across Main Street? Or was this when VCU insisted on moving the Jacob House despite protest? Or was it more recent, when VCU tore down a historic stable despite repeated objections from the neighborhood association? What a joke! Richmond be warned- VCU does not care what citizens and residents want. They have very little love for a public-driven master plan that they see as meddling with their university master plan. VCU did not say anything at this meeting because it did not need to- it already has its own hooks in the City and State government.

Phfew! Had to get that off my chest.

Despite that editorial, I will say that tonight’s meeting at the William Byrd Community House was a successful one. Barbara Abernathy began the meeting with a quick, thankful call for participation. I counted over 60 people in attendance, with enough diversity to ensure that the meeting was not overly dominated by Oregon Hill residents. Brooke Hardin of the City’s Community Development Dept. served as presenter/moderator. Due to technical difficulties there was no slide show. Over the last 8 months, the City held a number of ‘charrette’ planning sessions, and Hardin quickly listed and described the 7 main points that had emerged from them- including the emphasis on traditional city/historic preservation, the need for ‘green’, access to the James River, and the desire for mixed income residential base. The downtown footprint has increased and this meeting was in part on how surrounding neighborhoods and VCU play into that.

From there, Hardin referred to what has been written in the proposed Downtown Master plan for this area. Some of the written points: plant more street trees and enhance pedestrian environment, increase transit opportunities (including BRT), encourage VCU campus infill, prohibit future street closings, promote Monroe Park, establish a sustainable design center, continue neighborhood preservation efforts in Oregon Hill (the idea of OH getting Old and Historic District designation is pronounced), preserve and connect Oregon Hill’s parks, encourage compatible infill in Monroe Park, and revitalize Grace Street.

After the City’s presentation, questions and comments came from the audience. Jason Roberts, an Oregon Hill resident, expressed support for the idea of re-connecting Pine Street across the 195 expressway, and using the resulting reclaimed area for green, open space. I raised my hand and used Jason’s comment to segue into a plea for recognition of the Belvidere Greenway that could connect the James River Park north to Monroe Park, and then to Carver (something that OH has had in its own master plan for decades). I also reminded City planners about the popular idea of retooling Idlewood west of Cherry as a two way street with a roundabout off the expressway exit ramp. I reiterated a call for boundaries with binding agreements from VCU.

Monroe Ward residents supported the idea of making Grace St. two-way and also asked about Main and Cary. Some expressed concerns that parking VCU students would cause delays on two-way streets. Many citizens liked the idea of more trees and were also interested in more trash cans and streetscape improvements. Paul Holland brought up safety concerns along with support for transit connectors and a refurbished Monroe Park.

Carver neighborhood residents were interested in a couple of aspects. One resident thought Gilmore Street should be considered for two-way traffic. Many were surprised that more of Carver did not appear in the Downtown Master plan study, and wanted to see the whole neighborhood to come under consideration. They felt that streetscape improvements are badly needed there.

The comments kept coming. Perhaps piqued by Carver’s request, some property owners/managers wanted to know more about the plan and if there would be other parts of the City studied in the future (the answer was a tentative yes). Josh Irwin thought that code enforcement should be a bigger part of renewed attention to streetscape issues. Concern was expressed about the high rise/gas station development proposed for where the BP station is currently at the corner of Grace and Belvidere. Hardin explained that his department primarily looks at proposals like that for overall urban compatibility rather than specific architecture. One gentlemen made good points about creating more emphasis on making the VCU area more bicycle and pedestrian friendly with particular attention on crosswalks. Linda, a resident of Carver, said she had seen a lot of transportation planning come and go in Richmond, but the question of who was it for does not come often enough. She said that more traffic enforcement is needed and the counties must take part in transportation planning. Oregon Hill resident Todd Woodson welcomed and thanked Carver residents for visiting Oregon Hill for the meeting. He said that the urban forestry program needs to be brought back to strength. And he finished by saying that it was a shame that the Mayor put an end to the Neighborhood Teams civic program.

With that portion of the meeting over, many attendees took the time to fill out comment slips, look at maps, and ask questions of the many members of City staff who were in attendance. I noticed a few members of the media there, so maybe this meeting will receive some more coverage.

Film Series at the Flying Brick Library

Upcoming film series at the Flying Brick Library

506 s. Pine Street.

The FlyingBrick Library Presents: Moving Images –
Aseries of six movies to educate and ponder while it’s still coldoutside. Come to the library on Thursday evenings and watch somedocumentaries about real people’s struggles and triumphs withus.
The Library is at 506 S. Pine St. and can be accessed by wheelchair

Thursday, February 7 7:30 pm

UP THE RIDGE: A one-hour documentary by Nick Szuberla and Amelia Kirbyabout a maximum security prison in Virginia. In 1999 Szuberla andKirby were DJ’s for Appalachia’s only hip-hop radio program inWhitesburg, KY when they received hundreds of letters from inmatestransferred into nearby Wallens Ridge, the region’s newest prisonbuilt to prop up the shrinking coal economy. Filming began thatyear. The movie gives an in-depth look at the U.S. prison industryand the social impact of moving hundreds of thousands of inner-cityminority offenders to distant rural outposts.

‘When I visitedWallens Ridge in the spring of 1999, it was new and as yetunoccupied…It was both lavishly expensive and needlessly remote,built not because it was needed but because it was wanted bypoliticians who thought it would bring them votes.” –Joseph T.Hallinan Going Up the River: Travels in a Prison Nation, 2001

Thursday, February 21 7:30 pm

WINTER SOLDIER: Adocumentary about the Winter Soldier Investigation, a publicinquiry into war crimes committed by American forces in Vietnam, heldat a Howard Johnson motel in Detroit in February 1971. The Vietnam Veterans Against the War organized this event where morethan 125 veterans spoke of atrocities they had witnessed andcommitted.

On the 37 year anniversaryof this event the words of one participant veteran are eerilyrelevant:

‘Wegathered not to sensationalize our service but to decry the travestythat was Lt. William Calley’strial for the My Lai Massacre…if Calley were responsible, sowere his superiors up the chain of command, even to the president.The causes of My Lai and the brutality of the Vietnam War were rootedin the policies of our government as executed by our militarycommanders.’ –DonaldDzagulones,

AndLater: No! The Rape Documentary-about African-Americanwomen’s experiences, THIRST!-about water privatization, TheTake-about workers seizing control of factories in Argentina andWetback-documenting theexperiences of migrant workers crossing the border.

food worth a little abuse at Mama ‘Zu

Josh Katz at richmond.com visits Mama ‘Zu and says of the service that:

“In all my years, I have never been treated as consistently awful as I have dining at Mamma ‘Zu, and I’ve been to Morocco. Everything, from the dank, subterranean inner ambience (great when trying to read the menu board, let me tell you) to the beyond-brusque attending service to their staunch refusal of every major credit card save American Express, works to make you feel glum.”