Richmond.com takes a comprehensive overview of Richmond’s 5th District — looking at both the boundaries and key landmarks of this diverse district, as well as a solid snapshot of the candidates and issues behind the upcoming School Board and City Council elections:

Located smack in the middle of the city, the Central District is in the center of the city and is one of two districts that crisscross the James River. It covers a diverse swath of the city, from Oregon Hill near Virginia Commonwealth University south across the river to Hull Street.

It includes the communities of Woodland Heights, Springhill, Reedy Creek, Carytown, Oregon Hill, parts of the Fan and Swansboro. Maymont and Byrd parks are also in the 5th District.

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This past Thursday I went to Green Drinks at Built Gallery. I forgot about a Cary Street rezoning meeting held at the William Byrd Community House, but then as King I have already made the neighborhood’s position clear- we STILL support urban business rezoning for Cary and Belvidere streets and its ridiculous that it has not been rezoned yet. Thankfully, other citizens were there at the meeting to re-emphasize their convictions. Yet what is the response? The City had plenty of representation at the meeting and I heard they got an earful but were still reluctant (the quote I heard was “weird”) to answer the basic question of why rezoning has not moved forward. Something smells and frankly Oregon Hill is tired of the stink. I was glad to hear that City Council candidate Mark Brandon attended the meeting so he could experience the situation first hand.

More on Green Drinks at Built Gallery here, and here.

5th District School Board candidates at the Richmond Crusade for Voters forum

More here on RVAnews.

This past Tuesday night at its monthly meeting, the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association once again voted and re-, re-, and re-affirmed its support for Urban Business District zoning for W.Cary St. and 100 block of Belvidere (we have been voting on this since at least 2002). We want to save the small businesses and houses we have left and encourage more mixed use in the future.

The following email exchange is related to this issue and is posted with permission. I will note that I have not heard from Councilperson Jewell since I approached him at the end of the Richmond Crusade for Voters meeting.

From: candylandmusic@earthlink.net
Subject: Re: [OregonHill] Jewell, rezoning, alley
Date: June 18, 2008 8:40:11 AM EDT
To: OregonHill@yahoogroups.com
Reply-To: OregonHill@yahoogroups.com

Many many hours of hard work have gone into coming up with this UB2 proposal. The City’s Department of Community Development are to be applauded for holding the numerous meetings among stake holders and proposing a unique zoning designation that can help the Oregon Hill Cary Street Corridor become a positive pedestrian oriented business/residential area and stave off inappropriate development. Jewell’s disengagement from his constituents needs is made more disgusting by his list of donors to his campaign (google “VPAP E. Martin Jewell” to see the list of developers that are “banking” on Jewell). Im just so disgusted with this guy and his shenanigans. Every time the neighborhood has needed his support, he votes against us or ignores us, to include smashing our newly gained R7 zoning in the rest of the neighborhood to allow a parking lot for his ol’ pal Salomonsky against the neighborhoods wishes. No new street trees this year, VERY little needed infrastructural repairs accomplished and supporting higher real estate tax rates are a few of his “accomplishments” as Councilman. Please vote for Mark Brandon in November for 5th district Councilperson. We desperately need a change.

On Jun 17, 2008, at 11:51 PM, Scott Burger wrote:

Saw our Councilperson, Marty Jewell, at the Crusade for Voters
meeting tonight. Once again, he claimed to have trouble reaching me
for some reason. He also says he wants to sit down and talk to me
about the Cary Street rezoning. I told him he could talk to me right
there. He said he did not know about the proposed rezoning. I told
him that OHNA had voted and revoted to support urban business
district zoning since 2002. He said that the Community Development
Dept. had not kept him abreast of recent proposal. I told him that’s
not true, because I had email where he was cc’ed. he said that was
not good enough notification. I repeated the neighborhood’s support
for rezoning. He said he did not blame us, he blames Community
Development. I repeated the neighborhood’s support for rezoning to
ub. He said certain property owners on Cary did not want the
rezoning. I asked him for names. He would not name them. I repeated
OHNA’s longtime support for rezoning to ub. He said he would talk
with me later.

Before he could brush me off, I repeated my concerns for the alley
behind the 600 block of Cherry. He acted surprised and said that Gary
Duvall in Public Works was supposed to have fixed it. I repeated that
the alley had not been fixed for some time now, and improper drainage
was threatening the historic John Miller House and other houses. He
called his assistant’s voice mail and left a reminder for her to
remind him.

Thanks,
Scott

One of the few good things about the VCU rec center project is that VCU will finally properly renovate the historic City Auditorium building. Right now you can really see and appreciate this magnificent architecture of the original structure, though sans its supporting stables. It was the ‘white elephant’ arts center project of its day, and went through a couple of uses, including a farmer’s market as well as concert hall. It hosted a number of famous speakers, including Presidents.

See it while you can, because it is supposed to be enveloped by the construction of the massive, 100,000 sq. ft. rec center.

Richmond Schools Step Up

An addition should be added to Open High for an elevator.
Along with solar panels.

Money should not be that big of an issue.

That building is a beautiful part of Grace Arents‘ legacy to Oregon Hill and Richmond education. It should not be closed. Open High, as a small school, is one of RPS’ greatest success stories.

Congratulations to Beatty and Wolf! They have worked tirelessly on behalf of Richmond children.

Wilder is defending his stormwater utility proposal. As an environmentalist, I am not against the idea of a stormwater utility, but there is a lot more to this than meets the eye.

As Oregon Hill residents have stated, the pools of water are still pooling, and thankfully at least one mayoral candidate has taken notice…

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Hunter Purdie grew up in Oregon Hill. The following General Assembly resolution will honor this fine man.
—————————————————————-

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 602
Offered March 3, 2008
Celebrating the life of Hunter Coleman Purdie, Jr.
———-
Patron– O’Bannon
———-
WHEREAS, Hunter Coleman Purdie, Jr., of Richmond, age 86, a respected citizen and an outstanding educator and former band director at Douglas S. Freeman High School in Henrico County for 29 years, died on February 25, 2008; and

WHEREAS, Hunter Purdie served his country in the United States Air Force during World War II, and after the war, he earned an undergraduate degree from what is now Virginia Commonwealth University and received a master’s degree from the University of Virginia; and

WHEREAS, as a young accomplished musician, Hunter Purdie played professionally with local dance bands and was one of the original members of The Continentals; he also performed with the Tony Pastor Band, featuring popular singer Rosemary Clooney; and

WHEREAS, Hunter Purdie was a teacher at Varina High School before joining Douglas S. Freeman High School as its first band director when the school opened its doors to students in 1954; and

WHEREAS, a versatile teacher, Hunter Purdie taught choral classes and music in addition to his duties as band director; and

WHEREAS, possessing many musical talents, Hunter Purdie played with the Richmond Symphony, arranged the Douglas S. Freeman Alma Mater and published several of his own musical arrangements, and he was still active and playing bass guitar when he performed at the school’s 2007 class reunion; and

WHEREAS, Hunter Purdie retired from his distinguished career in education at Douglas S. Freeman High School in the early 1980s, but he remained devoted to the school and its students; and

WHEREAS, Hunter Purdie will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by his wife of 58 years, Carolyn Upshaw Purdie, his many relatives and friends, and the students and faculty of Douglas S. Freeman High School; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly mourn the passing of a fine educator and outstanding Virginian, Hunter Coleman Purdie, Jr.; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Hunter Coleman Purdie, Jr., as an expression of the General Assembly’s respect for his memory.

As King, I announce the extension of Oregon Hill’s border southward to include Belle Island and its smaller islands.

There was time not so long ago when it looked as if the neighborhood would be cut off from the James River, despite its historic and natural connections to it. Ethyl Corporation had bought much of the land south of Holly Street and demolished the historical houses there. Dominion Power had bought James River Paper company and was annexing much of Tredegar Street.

Fortunately citizen ‘guerrilla engineer’ volunteers took it upon themselves to quietly build the wooden railroad tie steps from Overlook area down underneath the entrance ramp for the Lee Bridge to the old canal bed. Dominion Power volunteers then built the utility pole bridge across the canal to enable easier access to the river bank. The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association won two significant grants to help fund the greenway connection. These funds will be used soon to replace the current bridge with a more permanent one. It is clear that Oregon Hill will not give up its connection to the James River.

With so many residents enjoying Hollywood Rapids and other river amenities, it makes sense to go ahead and secure our own official claim on the island territories in the river. This annexation will guarantee access and as well as bestow more responsibility upon Oregon Hill residents for protecting said resources.

However, because James River Park Manager Ralph White and other City employees and volunteers have worked so hard to improve the environmental and recreational features of the river, I have decided to allow my fellow Aries, ‘Saint Ralph’ White, to continue to administer Oregon Hill’s newest territory on behalf of the City and all of its citizens. This arrangement will remain in effect unless there is a failure to protect the Park in the future.

I strongly encourage all my subjects to do their part for the James River .

Over the years, Oregon Hill’s boundaries have clearly changed. In fact, some wags say that the actual Oregon Hill neighborhood, as first established, existed mostly further east of it’s current location. Whole streets of row houses (and Pratt’s Castle in Gamble’s Hill) made way for institutional development, like the Virginia War Memorial and Virginia Housing Development Authority. Of course, the neighborhood has been steadily forced to give ground to the expansionist plans of Virginia Commonwealth University. Oregon Hill used to be on Main Street.

As King I declare Oregon Hill’s current boundaries as the following: to the east, Belvidere Street, to the west, Hollywood Cemetery and S. Harrison Street, to the north, W. Cary Street, to the south, the north bank of the Kanawha Canal.

This is necessary for three reasons. One is that VCU, the City, and other entities keep trying to play games with the official borders and that is unacceptable. Secondly, in addition to defining the current area, with this royal declaration, I am unilaterally acting to name Oregon Hill one of the City of Richmond’s Old and Historic Districts.

Some explanation may be in order: Oregon Hill already has Federal and State recognition as a historical district. “Oregon Hill is one of the best examples of an intact working-class Victorian (1837-1901) neighborhood in the United States.” It has many historic structures- from Grace Arents‘ legacy- the William Byrd Community House (the first free library in Richmond), the Arents School (Open High), St. Andrew’s Church, to earlier Quaker and free black buildings- the Jacob House, the John Miller House, and the Parsons House, to name a few. There is no doubt that it is worthy of being included as a City Old and Historical District.

For years, many preservationists have lamented that Oregon Hill had not received this status. If it was just a matter of getting a vote from the neighborhood association, it would have been done years ago. Unfortunately, it had required a petition drive that many absentee landlords and speculators would not want to take part in. With this decree, I bypass the bureaucracy.

While State and Federal status offers some protections, City designation offers more. In the past there has been concern from residents and property owners that going with the designation would surrender too much control to the Commission of Architectural Review (CAR), but since I am King and all final decisions come to my absolute authority anyway, there is now less concern with CAR’s power. I will hear neighbor appeals and rule accordingly.

Which bring me to the third reason for declaring the boundaries. As King, I reserve my right to expand them in the future. Since the City no longer annexes surrounding areas, I might as well annex on behalf of the neighborhood. To be announced…