This week at the Renegade & then some!

From email announcement:

Who’s Going to Renegade This Week?
Byrd Farm, Faith Farm Foods, Deer Run Farm, Tomten Farm, Agriberry, Ettamae’s Oven

Last days to buy tickets!
Perly’s (all you can eat) Spaghetti Dinner benefits William Byrd Community House. This annual event will be held this year on Thursday, December 6th from 5:30 to 8:30. Tickets are just $15 per person. For tickets, visit: WBCHPerlys.eventbrite.com or call 804/643-2717. Isn’t this your once a year time to hang with the peeps of your favorite 501(c)(3)? Then don’t miss it!

Dec.18: Byrd House RENEGADE Just-in-Time HOLIDAY Market
Mark your pockets, wallets, cards and calendars. Come shop for those PERFECT gifts that are only inspired during those last breathless gift-selecting moments in the week before Xmas, Channuka, Kwaanza, Etcetera. These are the artisan consumables that really get consumed, never gathering dust on a shelf – eaten, savored, enjoyed. YES! You! Should! Do! This! For yourself, your fella-students, your teachers, mom, sibs, pops, grammies and pop-pops, BFFs, puppy luvs, kit kats and old dogs.

A few notes …
The Renegade Market is an “at-will” market. Except for Byrd Farm/Rural Va Market and Faith Farm who come EVERY week, vendors come when they have goods to sell and/or when the weather permits. I will include a list of participating vendors in these notices, but changes do occur, so please take it as a guide. In addition, new vendors will occasionally test their products at our Tuesday afternoon market, so there’s always the chance of making a wonderful new discovery.

And, don’t forget to thank your Renegade Market vendors. They brave the weathers to grow and tend, harvest and haul their good stuff to this market, sometimes from far far (locally) away for the scant 3 hours they set up in our neighborhood. Good people. Thank them, cause they’re grateful for you too!
See you at the market!
_____________________

Ana Edwards, Manager
Byrd House Market & Library Programs
Grace Arents Library & Education Center
William Byrd Community House
www.wbch.org / 804.643.2717 ext.306

Home Economics

Excerpts from article/viewpoint Home Economics from American City:

A campaign to retrofit the country’s aging housing stock and commercial buildings could make a major dent in reducing emissions nationwide. But despite all the talk of energy independence during the 2012 presidential campaign, retrofitting buildings received only passing mentions from President Obama. Republican challenger Mitt Romney’s energy platform did not mention it at all.

Yet Democrats, Republicans, environmentalists and financial institutions alike agree that the country must become more energy efficient — not just for the environment, but for the bottom line.
….

“Let’s address communities as communities,” Cochrane said. “We have this perfect alignment of the owners’ immediate needs, the utility’s long-term investment interests and actually delivering these deep savings.”

CDFIs could play an important role here, too. The energy efficiency market is full of uncertainty. From unreliable contracting costs to fluctuating energy prices and shifting weather patterns, there are many unpredictable variables. More standardized data coming from an organized network of local or regional CDFIs could attract more private investment, industry players said.

This is one of the best articles I have seen on this subject. Think about sharing it with your neighbors.

A Cross-Section of the Canal

During the construction of the new bridge for the 2nd Street Connector, the contractors made a clean cut through the canal. This cut provided a cross-section of the canal.

As shown clearly in this photograph, there is only about a foot of dark top soil above the yellowish clay liner of the south bank of the canal. (photographer placed a 4 foot ruler in the photograph to show the scale.) Bill Trout, who is the former President of the American Canal Society, visited the site, and he took a sample of the clay and demonstrated how the clay was “puddled” with water to form an impervious barrier that kept the water from leaking from the canal.

This is important because Venture Richmond’s proposed plan to slice off 5-6 feet from the top of the south bank of the canal would definitely damage the integrity of the canal by slicing into the important clay liner of the canal.

Election Controversies Continue

There are still some strong allegations being made about the recent election.
Received via email:

PARTICULARIZED COMPLAINT FOR CIVIL ACTION NUMBER 3:12-CV-00650

L. SHIRLEY HARVEY,
CHRISTOPHER DORSEY,
Plaintiffs

v.

JANE KIRK SHOWALTER,
GEORGE WILLIAM THOMAS,
CECELIA DABNEY,
ERNESTO SAMPSON, JR.
DONALD PALMER,
KIMBERLY BOWERS,
CHARLES JUDD,
Defendants

COMPLAINT
The Plaintiffs comes to the Court to request an investigation into the process of qualification of candidates by the Registrar, Jane Kirk Showalter, regarding local elections for the City of Richmond on November 6, 2012. The Plaintiffs research has found that in several instances, the Registrar has either made gross mistakes or deliberately made decisions that are not in accordance with the Virginia State Code 24.2 regarding elections and further noted in the procedures for registrars called the GREbook (General Registrar and Electoral Board Handbook See Exhibit I) which provides procedures for the Registrar’s office to accomplish the mandates set forth in Virginia Code 24.2.

The Richmond Electoral Board and the State Board of Elections have the authority and the power to avoid these discrepancies by overseeing the work completed by the Registrar. The lack of supervision allows that any registrar in Virginia could be bribed, could make gross mistakes, could discriminate, and could, in essence, decide elections before the citizen vote. The Plaintiffs have attempted on many occasions without success to bring about an investigation or review by filing written and verbal complaints as prescribed by the Code to several authorities including the Richmond Electoral Board and the State Board of Elections. These Boards did not respond.

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