Sierra Club Calls For Ending The MPC And Awards Neighbor For Activism

This past week, the Sierra Club Falls of the James, the area’s oldest environmental organization, sent an open letter to City government concerning the deliberate cutting of trees in Monroe Park and the appearance of impropriety. In the letter, the Sierra Club suggested, among other actions, that the City’s lease with the Monroe Park Conservancy be terminated. The Shockoe Examiner posted the entire letter, minus some of the maps and photos. It is noteworthy that so far there has not been more media coverage of this detailed call for accountability and transparency from the new Mayoral administration.

Furthermore, today the Sierra Club Falls of the James announced that Oregon Hill neighbor Todd Woodson would be one of the recipients of the prestigious Green Giant awards. The award is being given in recognition of Woodson’s previous and current advocacy for Monroe Park and urban trees (including his previous service on City Council’s Monroe Parks Advisory Commission), as well as his promotion of animal welfare with the Richmond Animal Advocacy Alliance.

In the announcement, the SCOFOJ stated that City Parks worker Wyndham Price would also be receiving a Green Giant award posthumously. Price was an ardent environmentalist who helped with a variety of projects within and outside the park system. He was a familiar face around Oregon Hill and he will be missed.

The next SCFOJ monthly membership meeting, to be held Tuesday, February 14th (yes, Valentine’s Day) at 7 pm at the Science Museum of Virginia, will include a brief award ceremony for our Green Giants. The meeting is free and open to the public.

Trash/Recycling Pickup Tomorrow

This Wednesday is a “Red Wednesday”, which means trash and recycling pickup. 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 you have not done so already, don’t forget to sign up for your Recycling Perks.
In order to take your recycling to the next level, read this: 10 ways to improve your recycling.

From Recycling Today.com:

The Dr Pepper Snapple Group/Keep America Beautiful Park Recycling Bin Grant program has opened its 2017 application process, offering new opportunities to make recycling convenient for communities across the country.

Now in its fifth year, the grant program from Dr Pepper Snapple Group and Keep America Beautiful, Stamford, Connecticut, has awarded more than 3,400 recycling bins to local governments and community organizations across 38 states to expand the availability of recycling in a variety of park settings, including neighborhood and larger regional parks, beaches, athletic fields and walking trails.

To apply for the merit-based grant program, interested organizations and communities complete an online form, detailing their proposal and selecting the number and style of recycling bins from available options. Keep America Beautiful says it will competitively review and award grants based on need and likelihood to recover significant quantities of recyclables. Arrangements will be made to deliver the recycling bins directly to the grant recipients in May 2017.

Applications are open for submission at irecycleonthego.wordpress.com through Feb. 24, 2017.