Author Archives: Scott

“Save Linear Park!!!!”

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Not surprisingly, this property and building permit are creating more consternation…

From email (posted with permission):

Did you know that there may be a house built in Linear Park immediately next to the Guardian Sculpture as one enters Oregon Hill from Belvedere onto Holly? The lot is a tiny lot the city did not acquire and is in private hands. There is a contract on the property and a pending building permit application. Please see the attached photo see the site where a house could exist in a few months!

If you believe in protecting the greenspace and open, linear flow of the park I urge you to e-mail councilman Agelasto (Parker.Agelasto at richmondgov.com) and Planning director Mark A. Olinger (Mark.Olinger at richmondgov.com) expressing your opposition and desire to have this property acquired by the city and incorporated into Linear Park.
A suggested e-mail follows:

Councilman Agelasto and Director Olinger,

I am writing to you today to express my oppostion to the issuance of a building permit on the parcel at 612 Holly St in Oregon Hill (parcel id: W0000139032) and ask that the city consider acquiring this parcel from the private owner to incorporate into Linear Park. A structure on this parcel would disrupt the natural flow and inviting nature of the park, close off the park space and foster a hidden and unsafe environment discouraging pedestrian traffic and use of the park by local residents and visitors. Additionally the City will incur additional expense landscaping and path relocate path relocation as a result of construction, it is not in keeping with the City’s master plan or the riverfront plan.
The lot is a Non-conforming lot and would require site work detrimental to the Park and possible unusual building design to fit a structure on the property. Such a structure would not be in keeping with the character and architectural style of the neighborhood. Other parcels exist in the city that are more appropriate to build on. Finally such a structure eliminates valuable green space and presents an eyesore to visitors of the War Memorial.

sincerely –

612_Holly_St

Recent Crimes

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From RAIDSonline.com:

CITY CODE VIOLATIONS – OPEN CONTAINER
XX N LAUREL ST
Oct 6, 2014 at 10:15 am
Data provided by Virginia Commonwealth University Police Department

THEFT FROM BUILDING
8XX W CARY ST
Oct 6, 2014 at 10:25 am
Data provided by Richmond Police Department

ALL OTHER OFFENSES
1XX N LAUREL ST
Oct 7, 2014 at 6:20 am
Data provided by Virginia Commonwealth University Police Department

The “Tredegar Green” Amphitheater and Local Media

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An article appeared on RVANews.com on the amphitheater built by Venture Richmond this summer. The subtitle of the article is “Here’s why a new patch of grassy hillside is such a big deal.” Unfortunately, like an earlier article on the subject that was published by Richmond.com, it mostly contains quotes by Venture Richmond’s executive director, Jack Berry, without including any opposing or even questioning viewpoints. In other words, these articles seemed designed to drown out any concerns coming from Oregon Hill neighbors.

I hope people remember the impetus for the creation of this community news site, OregonHill.net. Neighborhood residents were having difficulty getting their unadulterated views represented in the local media on the destruction by VCU of important historic stables, and the absorption of Green Alley and the historic City Gymnasium for its VCU student recreational center. At one point, the Times Dispatch published a column with outright falsehoods about the condition of the stables, in conflict with an earlier TD real estate column on the successful and tasteful renovation of one of the stables. Thanks to John Murden and RVAnews.com for their help with getting the site started, OregonHill.net was able to later publicly offer some opposing points. At the very least and if nothing else, the subsequent discourse eventually lead to a better finished project overall. That controversy continues to have reverberations.

And that is why it is particularly disappointing to see RVAnews.com publish such a one-sided piece on this current controversy. While I don’t think OregonHill.net necessarily represents all the views of neighborhood residents, in the same way the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association does not necessarily represent all neighborhood residents, it at least offers a community perspective, one that is often shortchanged by the local corporate media. Case in point: Do these recent articles on Richmond.com and RVANews.com do the community interests justice or are they more interested in serving as advertising? When the Times Dispatch, WCVE, Style, or for that matter, “alternative community station” WRIR, preview the Folk Festival and ignore the amphitheater controversy altogether, can they truly say they are serving the community?

And for the record, this is not about me- there a number of other residents from Oregon Hill, the Overlook condos, the local preservation community, local politicians, the local canal society, the international canal society, etc., with their own nuanced views of the controversy that the local media could have chosen to interview for their articles. But they did not. They chose to give Jack Berry and Venture Richmond the full coverage and sole voice.

There is also the important journalism principle of disclosure. The Times Dispatch, WCVE, and many other local media outlets are sponsors or partners of Venture Richmond (along with many other powerful interests, including VCU and City government). Is there a financial relationship between Venture Richmond and RVANews.com? And while it is may be too much to expect disclosure on every article or opinion, it should definitely be part of the ones that deal with topics of important community discussions. By the way, don’t forget that the Times Dispatch and Richmond.com are owned by the same company and they are in the process of tightening their relationship. (Also, not all the local media has been amiss. The Richmond Voice has done a good job of presenting and balancing opposing views in the amphitheater controversy. It deserves more readership.)

Consider and compare the roles media and community involvement in regard to the multiple attempts to push through a flawed plan for a minor league baseball stadium in historic Shockoe Bottom. If it was not for dogged involvement and investigation by citizens, and those same citizens demanding media coverage, there are many important facets to the public debate that would have likely been ignored. Now, with City Hall figures jumping ship, opponents are feeling better about the chances of stopping the potential destruction of valuable slave history in Shockoe Bottom and making way for more responsible development.

Sadly, there are still many Richmonders who are not aware of the damage done to the James River and Kanawha Canal, an important piece of slave history in its own right, by Venture Richmond’s Tredegar Green amphitheater, despite similarities to the Shockoe stadium proposal. Oregon Hill neighbors have watched over this valuable public resource for over a hundred years, yet much of the local media has deliberately chosen to ignore our concerns. Will it continue to do so going forward?

Bottom line, real community journalism represents the happenings, news, and opinions of the community. It does not exclude voices as much as it includes them. ‘RVA’ continues to struggle in this regard and that does not bode well for the future. As citizens, in all our different communities, we need our local media to make an effort for fair reporting that gives voice to more than corporate agendas. That was true with the Shockoe ballpark debate and it should have been true for the Tredegar Green amphitheater controversy.

RTD: Federal court throws out boundaries of Virginia’s 3rd District

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From the Times Dispatch article:

A federal court in Richmond has thrown out the boundaries of Virginia’s only majority-black congressional seat, saying that it wrongly packs African-Americans in a single district that spans from Norfolk to Richmond.
The court ordered the Republican-dominated General Assembly to redraw the 3rd U.S. House district by April 1, 2015, saying that the election currently underway in the district should proceed as scheduled.

Questions Concerning The Future of “Tredegar Green”

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With it almost being time for the wonderful Richmond Folk Festival, there is more attention on Venture Richmond’s “Tredegar Green”. Here are a few of the questions that Oregon Hill residents have about it:

What happened to the emergency? Venture Richmond repeatedly told the media that they had to have the amphitheater built this summer or the Folk Festival would not happen. They said that nearby property owner New Market would not allow them to use some of the site land that they had in the past due to development plans, so they had to have the amphitheater site and no other alternative sites would work. Why were alternatives like Brown’s Island and beneath the historic James River and Kanawha Canal ignored? What are those development plans for the site area that they supposedly had to vacate?

What about the issues of the lease of the City property and the fact that Venture Richmond attempted to get a tax exemption on this land during the moratorium on tax exemption by designation?

Its been almost two years since a historically significant wall was systematically torn down (despite what the contractor Liesfeld has said about it just falling down, there were witnesses who saw the deconstruction). When will the illegally demolished historic wall be replaced, as was repeatedly promised? Were all of the torn down wall’s bricks accounted for (There were pallets of brick on the berm on Venture Richmond’s property. They had to have been moved when Venture Richmond worked on the berm)? Will the public ever be allowed to see the work contract and other agreements concerning the land where this public resource was illegally demolished (The plans approved by the City government showed the wall to be removed only on Venture Richmond’s property)?

Will there be a state historic marker for the James River and Kanawha Canal west of Tredegar Iron Works?

City staff told the Urban Design Committee and the City Planning Commission that they didn’t need to consider any damage to the James River and Kanawha Canal because Venture Richmond promised a thorough Section 106 review by the Va. Dept of Historic Resources and the Corps of Engineers. But Venture Richmond withdrew from the Section 106 review the day after receiving final city approval. How can Venture Richmond be trusted after the destruction of the canal without the promised Section 106 oversight?

There are rumors that the area closer to 5th Street and the Tredegar Iron Works site will be developed soon. There are still remains of the historic James River & Kanawha Canal there as well (Venture Richmond used part of them for a bicycle ramp as part of this past Dominion Riverrock festival). What are those development plans? Will there be any efforts to preserve the historic canal site there? The parcel is privately owned, but the Canal is a publicly registered historic site.

With Venture Richmond having altered and destroyed part of the historic James River & Kanawha Canal at one of it’s previously best preserved portions, will the Canal be structurally sound in the future?

When will the historic James River & Kanawha Canal be rewatered and more properly preserved? -as per 1988 City of Richmond Canal Restoration plans, despite the recent destruction of one of the previously best preserved portions of the canal? What is the City government doing to follow its own planning?

Upon the future restoration of the James River & Kanawha Canal, where will the planned canal boats turn around, now that Venture Richmond has taken and altered much of the crucial turning basin land as well as altered and diminished a crucial part of the canal’s foundation?

Venture Richmond received the City government’s approval to build the amphitheater in conjunction with a City ordinance that authorizes “temporary events”. Jack Berry of Venture Richmond told the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association that “we would probably be open to the idea of renting it.” which is not the same story that was told to the Planning Commission. Now that the amphitheater is built, Jack Berry is planning to have the amphitheater rezoned to allow for much more use. Is this a technique that other developers will copy? How and will rezoning plans for this area be publicly shared and debated? How will the public have a voice on this matter?

How will the new amphitheater effect programming at other public venues? How about the Dogwood Dell amphitheater? Given the number of performing arts venues that already exist and are being built, how many performing arts venues can Richmond support, both in terms of audiences and finances? How can they be coordinated to prevent interference and harm?

There is speculation that the planned reopening of a concert area on Mayo Island was basically not allowed by City government, in part because it would compete with this new amphitheater. Is there any truth to that speculation?

Oregon Hill neighborhood leaders have recently been working with the Richmond police to ensure that there is adequate parking enforcement and traffic control for public safety. As this amphitheater is used more, will Venture Richmond compensate the City and neighborhood for the additional parking and traffic pressure and needed resources?

In a similar vein, riverfront events have caused increasing pressure on public trash receptacles and outright littering. When will the riverfront and nearby neighborhoods receive better public trash and recycling infrastructure? Will there be recycling and composting at the new amphitheater?

Oregon Hill residents have had to complain to the police about multiple loud noise disturbances from concerts at Brown’s Island with varying levels of response. The Oregon Hill neighborhood has been very tolerant of the Folk Festival weekend over the years. The amphitheater is aimed at the Va. War Memorial, a place of quiet contemplation. Is Jack Berry’s desire to have more events at Tredegar Green consistent with the Commonwealth’s obligations to respect the Va. War Memorial? The City’s Zoning Administrator determined that the “temporary event” ordinance did not exempt the owner from complying with the noise ordinance. What recourse will Oregon Hill residents have with future loud noise disturbances from concerts at this new, much closer concert site? How will this noise effect wildlife on our riverfront? Will Venture Richmond be held accountable? Perhaps more importantly, how will the City address this and the noise ordinance in general?

There were repeated requests from the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association and the Overlook Condo Association for Venture Richmond to agree to curfews and some restrictions on the new amphitheater operations in the interest of giving Venture Richmond a chance to forge a better relationship with the neighborhood. OHNA received no response. The Overlook Condo Association received a cursory, noncommittal response. If Venture Richmond is a ‘public-private partnership’, why does it treat the public with such disrespect?

What are future plans for this riverfront area? There are plans to build a connection from the current pedestrian bridge over the canal to the Belle Island pedestrian bridge. Will citizens continue to have direct public pedestrian access to Tredegar Street and the river from Oregon Hill, as they have had for generations, in addition to this new connection? This goes directly back to the City’s Master Plan, which cost a lot of taxpayers’ time and money, and done with much input from citizens. Again, what is the City government doing to follow its own planning? Why is the City’s Riverfront Plan being used to ‘water down’ the tenets of the City’s Master Plan? What is being done to preserve and protect remaining public resources from increasing privatization of the riverfront?

Environmental Events At VCU This Week

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The Partnership For Smarter Growth is sponsoring an author talk on Monday, October 6:

Please join PSG and the VCU Urban and Regional Planning Student Association (URPSA) as we welcome Benjamin Ross, author of

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Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and the Rebirth of American Urbanism

Monday, October 6
7:00 p.m.- 8:30 p.m.
VCU Student Commons, Commonwealth Ballroom A

Benjamin headed Maryland’s Action Committee for Transit during much of its long fight to build a light rail line outside Washington, D.C. After a 25-year battle, the Purple Line will begin construction next year.
In Dead End he traces how the ideal of a safe, green, orderly retreat where hardworking members of the middle class could raise their children away from the city mutated into the McMansion- and strip mall-ridden suburbs of today. He finds that sprawl is much more than bad architecture and sloppy planning. Its roots are historical, sociological and economic.

It is free, but please register by clicking here and signing up for a ticket.

Then, on Friday, James River Association & Green Unity VCU are co-hosting the award-winning film Damnation at 8 pm, also at the VCU Student Commons.

Some call it a movement, others call it a generational shift in values. DamNation documents both – and the undeniable momentum behind river restoration that has begun to take hold in our country.