Category Archives: community

This Tuesday At The Market

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From email announcement:

Greetings all
Well, we’re on weather watch, specifically the threat of damaging winds. As a result, the 3rd Tuesday Jam is canceled; Amy’s Garden and Wild Heaven Goat Soaps will not be present. We’ll try to keep you posted if others will also not attend. The Byrd House Information tent will be up, but we will not set up the cafe tables and umbrellas, and there will be no storytelling or face-painting. We’ll be streamlining operations to the essentials, just in case. So, like our stalwart vendors, our hardy shoppers will come to get their weekly good stuff, while keeping an eye on the weather.
Ok, voting for Richmond Unite is over and we don’t know our standing yet. In the meantime, the Amazing Raise begins Wednesday at 6 am and lasts through Thursday 6 pm. Donate to WBCH your little pocket out for 36 hours. Go to WBCH.org and click on the Amazing Raise link.

Eradication of Poverty: Utopia or Reality?
WBCH hosts the annual Hans S. Falck Lecture on Social Responsibility on Thursday, October 4, 7-9 pm. Panelists include John Moeser (policy), Youngmi Kim (social work), Michael Paul Williams (journalism), Garet Prior (urban planning). Learn more and RSVP at hanssfalcklectures.blogspot.com.

National Food Dayat the Market!!!
Byrd House Market celebrates National Food Day on Tuesday, October 23rd, 3:30-7pm. Eat Good Grow Great with 25+ food vendors. $10 and a Student ID gets you a Student Food Box! VCU’s Wellness Center, World Chiropractic, Robin Raver’s Chair Massage, Food Rescue activities and a Film+Discussion: “Ingredients” – Our partners are Shalom Farms and Victory Farm. Many thanks to Slow Food RVA for loaning us their copy of the film (and for being the Richmond coordinator of National Food Day!)

I talked a little bit about dog poop last week and things have improved. This week I get to talk about Parking! Geographically our market is bounded by S. Linden St. on its west (downhill) side and the gravel drive on its east (uphill) side. Turning left onto the gravel drive from Idlewood Ave, there are 3 or so spots that face the community garden fence. The tenants of the apartments along Cherry St. have the parking on the other side of the gravel drive and have recently let us know that they often come home to find their spots filled by shoppers or vendors off-loading. Legally, they have the right to have cars towed from their spots just as we have the same right if they park on market grounds or in our spots. But I would not like for any of us to take that path. So we thank you in advance and for the remainder of the season, for keeping to Idlewood Ave., S. Linden St., the soccer field, and the 3 spots facing the community garden fence. Thank you.

Ana Edwards, Manager
Byrd House Market & Library Programs
Grace Arents Library & Education Center
William Byrd Community House
www.wbch.org / 804.643.2717 ext.306

St. Andrew’s School and The Amazing Raise

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Another fundraising contest.

From the St. Andrew’s School FaceBook page:

Help turn $50 into $20,000 for St. Andrew’s School! The Amazing Raise is a 36-hour online give-a-thon that will take place from 6:00 a.m. Wednesday, September 19, 2012 until 6:00 p.m., Thursday, September 20, 2012. Your donation of $50 or more through giverichmond.org during this time will enter St. Andrew’s School into grand prize drawings for bonus incentives of up to $20,000 from The Community Foundation! The more unique donors who give a gift of $50 or more to our School, the greater the chance of us winning a grand prize of $20,000.

Connecting The Canals

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When Venture Richmond’s Jack Berry did his presentation to OHNA, he said that there had never been a study to connect the canals.

Yet here one is:

Click here for Richmond Canals pdf.

I guess Berry just did not know, but then he’s been around Richmond for a long time. It’s certainly not the first time that plans for RIchmond have been buried, only to be dug up by citizens later.

OHNA Response to Proposed Changes at Possible Amphitheater Site

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From email:

Dear Mr. Berry,

Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to visit the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA) on August 28, 2012 to make a presentation on the proposed amphitheater located near the Oregon Hill neighborhood. In your presentation, you discussed the changes Venture Richmond wished to make to the site, including a proposal to trim the south bank of the historic James River and Kanawha Canal in order to improve the sight lines for the amphitheater, which you envision accommodating 10,000 people.

At the same meeting, OHNA voted to oppose any damage to the historic James River and Kanawha Canal and, specifically, removing any portion of the south bank of the canal. The Oregon Hill neighborhood has important historic connections to the canal. The surviving home at 601 Spring Street belonged to Samuel P. Parsons, the canal Superintendent responsible for the canal’s expansion to Lynchburg. These connections also include the surviving home at 619 W. Cary Street that belonged to the Messler family, who owned a canal boat building business in Penitentiary Basin, just east of the proposed amphitheater.

While we deeply appreciate the worthwhile efforts of Venture Richmond in bringing the Folk Festival to Richmond, we believe that this can be accomplished without damaging the irreplaceable historic canal. This is an original portion of the canal that was built when George Washington was the first president of the canal. The city is going to considerable expense to protect the canal in the construction of the 2nd Street connector, so it would be unacceptable to damage the canal just to the west of this connector.

Suggestions made by members of OHNA include: covering the canal with a temporary protective structure during the folk festival, encouraging Venture Richmond to consider a smaller venue at the location of the amphitheater that would not require damage to the historic canal, moving the adjacent Children’s Stage to another location and using the new open space as a part of the proposed amphitheater, or placing an impermeable liner inside the canal, filling it with soil and flowers and building bridges to cross the canal.

OHNA is also asking that Venture Richmond limit the number of performances at the amphitheater to 15 days per year and to limit the times of the performances to 10:00 pm on weeknights and to 11:00 pm on weekends.

Again, we appreciate Venture Richmond’s presentation to our organization, and we hope that you will keep us informed regarding developments of the proposed amphitheater.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Hancock

Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association, President

For more background on this, please click here and here and here.

Yard Sale on S. Laurel Street Saturday

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From Craigslist ad:

Yard Sale on Sat., Sept. 15, from 8 am to 1 pm at 612 S. Laurel Street, Richmond, VA 23220 in Oregon Hill

NO EARLY BIRDS!

Books
DVD’s
CD’s
Records
Comics
Tools
DVD players
Light fixtures
Toaster Oven
Vintage toaster
Mid-century items
Household electronics
Camping gear
Furniture
Art/decorative items
Vintage toys
Cartoon character drinking glasses from the 70’s/80’s
Jewelry
Etc, Etc.

There’s a lot going on downtown this Saturday, including 43rd St. Festival, River City Sheds Music Festival, etc. Make some time to swing through this yard sale!

Tuesday at Byrd House Market

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From email announcement:

Vending this week…
Shakambari Garden rejoins the market this week with organic bagged and loose teas, medicinal plants, a tea sample and a full noggin of ‘nowledge about the teas, their blends and origins, and their potential medicinal or health benefits. Sustenance has a conflict for the rest of the season so we bid them a final farewell (for the season) and welcome the family as shoppers and visitors. Caramont and Thinking of You Creations are off this week. But this glorious weather should ensure Chocolate Cravings is with us, don’t you think? Not too hot, not too cold – in fact a little crispiness to the air is a wonderous thing for produce, chocolate, breads and cookies, eggs and chutneys, viandes and sausages, fruits and flowers alike, eh, eh, eh?

Did you Vote? RichmondUnite.org
The deadline to garner at least 1,000 votes is Saturday, September 15th! Sign up, log in, and vote everyday til midnight Saturday!!! You can sign up with each of your many email addresses (we know you have them) and vote from each of them! Thanks!

The Library
The Grace Arents Library is undergoing a gradual and steady organizational and beautification overhaul. And its library manager would love to have the helping hands of those who love books, quiet and thoughtful tasks, sewing, old books and book restoration, and at least one or two who have real librarian training for some specific projects. I plan to schedule 2 clean-up days over the next month on Friday afternoon that will need 5-10 volunteers 4 hours on each occasion. After that, there will be ongoing need for those who’d like to spend 1-2 hours per week. Great for service learning and community service! If you are interested please reply to Ana at byrdhousemarket at gmail.com!
Thanks!

More at ByrdHouseMarket.blogspot.com

More still at WBCH.org

Join us!

—

_____________________

Ana Edwards, Manager
Byrd House Market & Library Programs
Grace Arents Library & Education Center
William Byrd Community House
www.wbch.org / 804.643.2717 ext.306

City’s Bicycle and Trails Coordinator To Speak Wednesday at Sierra Club Meeting

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If you would like to hear about the Mayor’s Bike and Ped program as well as current and future pedestrian/bicycling projects in Richmond and the region (including the 2015 World Cycling event), Jakob Helmboldt, AICP, Pedestrian, Bicycle and Trails Coordinator from the City’s Chief Administrative Office will be speaking at the Sierra Club Falls of the James general meeting on Wednesday evening, Sept. 12, at 7 pm at the Science Museum of Virginia (2500 West Broad Street). SCFOJ general meetings are free and open to public.

Also, speaking of the Sierra Club, the group is sponsoring a contest for Richmond Area Elementary and Secondary Schools. The goal is to foster greater recycling participation throughout the Richmond metropolitan area. First prize is $1,000! For more information, please click here.