Wilder Announces For Mayoral Race

In a somewhat surprising move, former Governor and former Richmond Mayor Doug Wilder stated late this afternoon that he would be running for a second term as Mayor.

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While known for past abruptness and eccentricity, Wilder, now a VCU professor, has managed to surprise even the most jaded local political advisors with this latest announcement. It is jarring given that he is scheduled to moderate a Mayoral candidate forum just later this week. According to early media followup, Wilder said that he plans to fulfill that moderator duty and still debate opponents “with one hand tied behind my back”. He described his platform as one of “transparency and public accountability”, right before going into a closed meeting with local business leaders.

In other mayoral candidate news, former state Delegate Joe Morrisey announced a politician’s baby-kissing competition and said he enjoyed commenters’ ‘Better Call Joe’ cracks in reference to ‘Better Call Saul’. Activist Rick Tatnall announced that he would be taking his van on a summer tour of other localities named Richmond so he could bring back what’s best for Richmond. Activist Alan Schintzius announced that he had asked Rick if he could borrow his van this summer. Activist Lillie Estes announced a new inspirational slogan for her campaign. Chad Ingold announced he would be teaching some more classes and passing out a syllabus soon. City Council President Michelle Mosby announced that she is thinking about buying a new car, maybe one of those new Teslas. Councilperson Hilbert said he appreciated all of the candidates’ announcements so far and might make one of his own. Councilperson Jon Baliles said something quietly that folks had trouble hearing but also was heard saying that his statement would be available on his FaceBook page later. Baliles’ old rival, Bruce Tyler, said something testy in response, but testily added that no, he did not care to repeat it. Jack Berry, former director of Venture Richmond, suggested that Richmond residents better vote for him or the Folk Festival may not happen this year. Charlie Diradour reminded voters that he was running for City Council, not Mayor, while Councilperson Charles Samuels reminded voters that he was not running for Council or Mayor. Silver Persinger is engaged to be married.

Editor’s note:
Alright, folks, I hope I covered everybody. And yes, all the posts on OregonHill.net today were April Fool’s Day pranks and should fall under the protected category of parody, which means most of them are fiction. I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them.

RVA Cleansweep’s ‘Roomba Rodeo’ Today- Update: Postponed Due To Weather

Volunteer group RVA Cleansweep, which has done many neighborhood cleanups in Oregon Hill and other neighborhoods throughout the City, is holding a special “experimental” cleanup/fundraising event this Friday morning.

From the FaceBook event page:

RVA Cleansweep is joining the Robotic Age! While we have enjoyed the help and contributions of many volunteers over the last year or so, we have decided to test a new kind of participatory event- we are inviting RVA area residents (who may be too lazy or perhaps physically unable to take part in our regular cleanups) to bring their vacuuming robots to the Oregon Hill neighborhood. We will be attempting to use the volunteered Roombas and similar robot vacuum models to clean several parking lots and asphalt covered areas. Because this is an experiment on our part, we are asking for a participation fee of $10 to help with event expenses.

Specifics:
Weather permitting, we will start with an orientation at 10:30 am and ‘Roomba roundup’ in a parking lot area on Idlewood Avenue (TBA, once you officially sign up your robot, we will send you an email with directions). After doing some test vacuuming there, we will have human volunteers ‘escort’ or guide robots down S. Laurel Street to Pleasants Park, where visiting associates from Canada’s Robot Shop will do a short workshop on cleaning and maintaining robot vacuums. We will then progress further down Laurel Street to the parking lot at Open High School (off China Street). The school parking lot should largely be empty for their spring break. After charging batteries, we will then move to the asphalt-covered basketball court at the Holly Street Playground. At each of these stops, we will be emptying the vacuums of their collected contents and cataloging the litter (we mostly expect small bits of glass, plastic, cigarette butts, etc.). If any of the robots still have juice, we may have some further robotic competitions that will include demonstrations from student robot teams from local high schools and VCU’s engineering school. Also, we expect to have some drones flying overhead to take video footage of this event.
Important: We want to make sure that owners recognize that RVA Cleansweep takes no responsibility for any actions, accidents, or malfeasance to or by its robotic or human volunteers. City insurance may not cover damage to robots or humans. Please do not bring your animal pets to this event. Do bring additional batteries, chargers (especially wireless solar ones), cleaning tools for robots, and other gear.

Roomba is a trademark of the iRobot company.

Looking forward to seeing how this event transpires. Certainly this is not the first time that the neighborhood has seen some interesting robotic experimentation.

Update: Sadly, due to weather concerns, this event has been officially postponed until a later date to be announced.

RVA Clean Sweep also has a regular cleanup scheduled for April 16th. It will focus on Randolph and the western side of Oregon Hill near Harrison. This is in conjunction with VCU’s Paint the Town Green event.

Va. War Memorial and Hollywood Cemetery To Collaborate On ‘Tunnel of Honor’

The Virginia War Memorial and Hollywood Cemetery directors are announcing planning has started for a giant new collaborative project, “The Virginia Tunnel of Honor”, that will connect the two institutions.

Design specifications are still in their infancy, but the concept is to expand upon the already planned underground parking garage expansion for the War Memorial and build a pedestrian tunnel from that point that would go underneath Belvidere Street roughly at Holly Street and have a corresponding entrance in Hollywood Cemetery. The tunnel, which would be roughly 60 feet underground at its deeper points, would be very finished and allow wheelchair access. It may include a branch tunnel to the North Bank trail area, if the City approves the concept.

The overall theme of this new collaboration would build upon the underground nature of the project and would be dedicated to “Virginia’s Fallen Secret Warriors” who have fought and died in clandestine conflicts around the world and throughout American history. This will include honoring ‘secret veterans’ previously and newly buried in Hollywood Cemetery.

Because of new, quiet tunneling technology, project organizers have told Oregon Hill residents that they will not be disturbed by this additional new construction, which will take at least three years to finish. Construction is not expected to start for at least another year.

thamestunnel4

Breaking News: AMC’s ‘Walking Dead’ Scouting In Oregon Hill

Last night, entertainment sources confirmed that Robert Kirkman, the creator and executive producer of the highly popular ‘Walking Dead’ television and comic book series, is visiting Richmond, and the Oregon Hill neighborhood in particular, in order to find new settings and locations for future episodes.

Robert Kirkman

Robert Kirkman

This news comes after much speculation about the The Walking Dead’s current studio setup and filming in Georgia in wake of state government legislative action that has been described as hostile to the LGBT community. AMC Networks has released a statement that says “discrimination of any kind is reprehensible”. In contrast, Virgina Governor Terry McAuliffe vetoed a “religious liberty” bill earlier this week that would have allowed businesses to discriminate against LGBT people based on their religious opposition to same-sex marriage.

With the current story and season of ‘The Walking Dead’s zombie apocalypse fictionally set around Alexandria, Virginia, it makes sense that tv production would go ahead and move to the Commonwealth. So far the Virginia Film Office has been mum about the relocation, but many local movie industry workers are excitedly buzzing about possible opportunities.

walking-dead

While no big plot spoilers were divulged, Kirkman said in a brief interview that Richmond will be prominent in the coming ‘TWD’ storyline. Oregon Hill, with its proximity to a large university, the picturesque Hollywood Cemetery, James River rapids, and it’s enclave-like status from its Belvidere wall, makes it particularly intriguing. He learned more about the neighborhood from discovering and reading the previously electronically published pandemic thriller “Harbor On The Hill”. At press time, there were rumors that Gov. McAuliffe had personally telephoned Rev. Turner to secure the Pine Street Baptist Church as a possible location for a survivor refuge.

With a reported average of more than 14 million viewers last season, ‘The Walking Dead’ has the highest total viewership of any series in the history of cable television. The hour and a half season six finale broadcasts this Sunday. Needless to say, future filming here will have a huge effect locally. Please stay tuned as this exciting story develops.

(Some folks are speculating that Kirkman may make an appearance at an upcoming event at Gallery 5: All The Saints Theater Company Presents: A Spaghetti Dinner with Bread & Puppet Theater! on April 10. All The Saints is the group that organizes the annual Halloween parade through Oregon Hill, complete with zombie bluegrass players.)