Open High Fundraiser Thursday

From a parent:

At Open High, students are grouped into families. As a school, we will be hosting an Art and Talent Show, to be held on from 5:30-8 pm on Thursday, June 1, at Clark Springs Elementary School.
We will have food, art work for sale, a fashion show, a hair show, dancing , spoken word, a taco bar and dessert for sale… all wrapped up into one evening with musical accompaniment.
PROCEEDS FROM THE AUCTION GO TO SUPPLIES FOR THE ART DEPT. AND PROCEEDS FROM THE FOOD GO TO THE OPEN HIGH PTSA.

61st Commonwealth’s Memorial Day Ceremony

From the Virginia War Memorial website:

Monday, May 29, 2017 – 10:00am to 11:00am
VWM Grounds
Join us as we honor and remember all veterans who gave their lives to preserve our freedoms from the Revolutionary War to today’s conflicts. Guest speaker will be Major General Timothy P. Williams, The Adjutant General, Virginia National Guard. Co-hosted with the 11th District American Legion. The Galanti Education Center will be open extended hours Memorial Day until 7 pm.

The “Never Forget Memorial Run” is a 1.4 mile silent run from VCU and finishes at the Virginia War Memorial just past noon on Memorial Day. The run is hosted by the VCU Police Department to honor fallen U.S. armed service members.

The Thomas Jefferson High School Alumni Cadet Corps and Friends Band will play patriotic tunes in the Shrine of Memory at 2 pm on Memorial Day. Bring your own chairs and set up in the Virginia War Memorial’s Shrine to be a part of this invigorating program!

As always parking and admission is free of charge.

Editorial: Free Press Article On Monroe Park Both Vindicates and Condemns City Council

There was a great piece of reporting this week from the Richmond Free Press on Monroe Park financial wrangling. From reporter Jeremy Lazarus:

After telling City Council in December that the projected $6 million Monroe Park project — half to be paid by private donations — had adequate funding, the city’s chief administrative officer, Selena Cuffee-Glenn, quietly shifted $833,569 to the project in recent months from reportedly unused capital funds.

The shift was made without notice to City Council and was disclosed as the result of queries from Councilman Parker C. Agelasto, 5th District, and the council’s budget staff.

Mr. Agelasto also was surprised to learn that nearly half of the money shifted, $394,000, was listed as coming from two paving projects in his district that already had been completed and paid for — one involving Allen Avenue and the other involving paving at Meadow Street, Colorado Avenue and Harrison Street.

As the article mentions, this vindicates City Council’s amendment to Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s proposed budget that requires the administration to seek council approval before shifting funds between programs in major departments. Despite some previous editorials’ characterizations, City Council is not ‘overreaching’ by trying to get a handle on the City’s finances. (Special appreciation to 5th District Councilperson Agelasto for his dogged questioning.)

On the other hand, these revelations reflect City Council’s poor judgement in turning historic Monroe Park over to the Monroe Park Conservancy in the first place. Many citizens and the Sierra Club Falls of the James have previously called for a termination of the Conservancy’s lease and a return to public investment and public oversight of renovations of this public park. Many are questioning why corporations seem to have special tent rights for park use. While it’s too late to save many park trees, it’s not too late for City Council to do the right thing.