The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association will meet tomorrow night at the William Byrd Community House.
From email announcement:
Hello everyone
The monthly OHNA meeting is tomorrow, Tuesday, August 28th at 7 PM at the WBCH.
Jack Berry, from Venture Richmond, will be attending the meeting to discuss the amphitheater that he wants to put in over by the 2nd St connector.
Thanks
Jennifer
OHNA
From Ride Richmond’s FaceBook page:
Today at VCU is the Great Bike Roundup! 10-2 on the Commons Plaza. Free bike repair, helmets and lights for those who register their bikes (while supplies last), and tables for the Cycling Club, RideRichmond, and more! Immediately following will be a Cycling Symposium. Come learn the ins and outs of cycling in town and at VCU!
From email announcement:
3rd Tuesday Jam
Our cat has abandoned the kitchen floor for our bed once more as our most reliable indicator that the seasons are changing. Fiddling and plucking in the market tells us its the 3rd Tuesday of the month and the sudden hush of students of all ages as the reality strikes that bells will call them back to class. These are the signs of autumn on my mind…So start thinking stocks, and soups and stews. Creamy vegetable bisques with cheese and toasted breads. Late tomato bruschetti and light fresh sauces over sauteed, steamed or roasted fresh veggies of almost any kind you like. Savor the last weeks of summer and the illusion of freedom and carefreeness – let your foods embody what’s good and nostalgic, what good and coming soon.
This week, we bid farewell to Almadina and welcome Ettamae’s Oven. It’s been a rough year at the market between the economy, the heat and the storms, especially for our smaller, newer entrepreneurs. I have really enjoyed seeing the end of market trading between vendors to help support each other and strengthen bonds of shared experience. Spread the word – Byrd House Market is a great community because of its people and because its got the right stuff and the right attitude!
and Don’t Forget!
Visit William Byrd Community House’s website – it pays to know just how Byrd House Market, the Grace Arents Community Garden and the Byrd House Farmlet make up the outdoor nutrition education program of WBCH’s Library – to know how these work with the daily integration of social safety net services with early childhood education and after school programs to transform lives and build self-sufficiency in everyone who comes to our agency for help and encouragement. Next year WBCH celebrates 90 years of great work in Richmond. www.WBCH.org. Learn more. Volunteer. Support. Thanks! (See Richmond UNITE notice below)Who’s Your Favorite Farmers Market?
Voting is still on for the 2012 America’s Favorite Famers Market contest at VaGrown. Click the button at byrdhousemarket.blogspot.com. AND at VaGrown here are two more marketing resources: Official Virginia Farmers’ Market Week Proclamation (last week, but nice for your “wall”) and Grow Virginia’s Economy: Take the $10 a Week Challenge (ongoing)Farmers and Foodies on Facebook!
Our vendors are talking, sharing photos and showing off their great stuff on Facebook! Check it out: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=nfMORE Save-the-Dates:
2012 Hans S. Falck Lecture on Social Responsibility will be Thursday, October 4th at St. Andrew’s School. THEME – Eradication of Poverty: Utopia or Reality? The Intersection between Housing, Livelihood and Transportation.hanssfalcklectures.blogspot.com
National Food Day (Oct.24) is October 23rd at Byrd House Market! www.foodday.org. We’ll have a chiropractor, VCU Wellness Department, a scavenger hunt and more.Raffles
A $1 raffle ticket gets you a shot at $33.83 in Byrd Farm goodies and supports Byrd House Market! Every week all season long! We have had a happy winner every week – it’s a great deal and your pantry will love you for it.
and Massage????
For every $10 you spend at the featured vendor of the week, you get 1 minute of chair massage with Robin Raver! Different vendor every week! Check the chalkboard for this week’s vendor. (Last week Robin tore into the boulders in my neck and shoulder blade muscles so hard she made me wish I could cry in front of everyone. She said “you may not like me now, but in a couple days I will be your goddess! Lucky for us both as soon as I stood up I wanted to fall to my knees and a week later the boulders are pebbles and I can turn my head!) So since you’re going to spend $20-30 anyway, go get a massage. Or not. I’m just sayin…Grants for Agricultural Producers
WASHINGTON, August 16, 2012 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today invited agricultural producers to apply for grants to increase the value of their products.
“Producers can greatly enhance the bottom line of their businesses and improve their economic prospects when they improve the value of their products, thus expanding their markets and customer base,” Vilsack said. “The Value Added Producer Grant program (VAPG) has a proven track record of doing just that and I am pleased to announce that we are inviting producers to apply for these grants by the deadline. The funds in this program enable America’s farmers, ranchers and rural business owners to find ways to expand their product offerings, revenue streams and create more economic opportunity by bringing additional value to what they already produce.Read more…. http://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/USDAOC-4f4adb
From email announcement:
What’s on my mind???
Cool waters and breezes of fall approaching… In the meantime, its Byrd House Market in August! Which I actually find MUCH better than July. Today will be lovely, breezy and bright – humidity down a bit while being a little warmish. An isolated storm here and there. Altogether a great day to head to the market to stock up or shop for tonight’s great meal, the week’s lunches… or today’s treat!Ettamae’s returns with breads, rolls and a sundry good spread of savory pies, etc. Almadina comes back this week. Agriberry’s got some blackberry meringue, I hear (could be a rumor…). Bring your egg cartons and milk share bottles back!!! Buy a Raffle Ticket or Two or Three!
Conversely it’s also a great time to give: Our food pantry which serves families, unaccompanied adults and seniors each week, is running low on nonperishables and perishables alike. The farmlet is growing food, but not quite enough to keep up with demand. So visit our Food Pantry Wish List at http://www.wbch.org/?page_id=213 and see what you can bring to the Byrd House Market Information Tent. Thank you!
Who’s Your Favorite Farmers Market?
Voting is still on for the 2012 America’s Favorite Famers Market contest at VaGrown. Click the button at byrdhousemarket.blogspot.com. AND at VaGrown here are two more marketing resources: Official Virginia Farmers’ Market Week Proclamation (last week, but nice for your “wall”) and Grow Virginia’s Economy: Take the $10 a Week Challenge (ongoing)Farmers and Foodies on Facebook!
Our vendors are talking, sharing photos and showing off their great stuff on Facebook! Check it out: http://www.facebook.com/byrdhousemarketMORE Save-the-Dates:
2012 Hans S. Falck Lecture on Social Responsibility will be Thursday, October 4th at St. Andrew’s School. THEME – Eradication of Poverty: Utopia or Reality? The Intersection between Housing, Livelihood and Transportation. hanssfalcklectures.blogspot.comNational Food Day (Oct.24) is October 23rd at Byrd House Market! www.foodday.org. Stay tuned for details on our Food Day event(s)!
—
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
From the Richmond Times Disaptch column by Bill Lohmann:
The old Carter’s Dry Goods and Notions store in the Oregon Hill neighborhood is not coming down after all. The store, which hasn’t been used as a store since the early 1990s but is a fixture on Idlewood Avenue, was damaged severely by fire in March.
Contractor Jim Poe, a longtime friend of the Carter family, said the insurance money wasn’t sufficient to repair the place, and demolition was imminent, when I talked to him soon after the fire. The family, particularly Jean Carter, who still lives in the house next to the store, was heartbroken.
But Poe called this week, and said he’s in the process of having the building repaired. It won’t be reopened as a store and will continue to be used for storage, but it will still be there.
The reason for the change of direction can be summed up in one word, Poe said:
“Sentimental.”
Carter wanted it saved and the neighborhood wanted it saved, and Poe, who grew up on Oregon Hill and got his first job at the store, also didn’t want to see it gone.
“I just tightened my belt and worked with what insurance money we had,” he said. “It’s actually going to cost me money, but it’s worth every penny. (The Carters) did a whole lot for me growing up, so this is the least I can do.
“I’m happy, Miss Carter’s happy, and the neighborhood’s happy again.”
See previous posts on this by clicking here and here.
Meeting scheduled for tomorrow night at 7 pm.
From the Flying Brick blog:
An interest meeting will be held for a monthly radical theory reading/discussion group using self education and non-authoritarian learning practices at The Flying Brick Tuesday, August 14 at 7PM. We will talk about structural ideas and give out a welcome packet. Our first topic will (tentatively) be oppression and education. If you have any questions please e-mail Phil at cunninghampd at vcu.edu, thanks!
From email announcement:
Byrd House Market weathers the weather as Tuesday seems to be storm day this season! Join us tomorrow (wet or dry) for great food for your body and soul. We can hunker together while sprinkled with distant reminders of Hurricane Ernesto… Moderate temperatures mixed with the finest selection of foods for delicious meals… Check the Market Map or do a Product Search from the Byrd House Market blog to find your favorite things.
Harry Gore (http://www.facebook.com/harry.gore.75?sk=info) will play his brand of funky, pop-groovy tunes with throw-back harmonies and one of the sweetest bass sounds around. http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=403273 (If it rains, this will be rescheduled.)
A great group of William & Mary Volunteers will be available to help vendors during set-up, do a little facepainting and a little shopping while with us. This service learning group will work in the farmlet in the morning and take a field trip in the afternoon to some botanically rich location guided by our own Matthew Daniel, Farmlet manager. See if you can spot them!
First Tuesday Film will accept the August dictum and take August off. Next month, labor, economies, and beauty take a front seat! Save the Date: Sept. 3!
Sustenance and Wild Heaven are on hiatus. Salt Pork is back. We’ll keep you posted on our rain-tender venders but the FARMERS of Byrd House Market will be ready fer ya, rainor shine.
Though, could you do a dance for light and lovely rain (rather than the other kind, ok? great, thanks!)
Another Save the Date: National Food Day (Oct.24) is October 23rd at Byrd House Market! www.foodday.org. Stay tuned for details on our Food Day event(s)!
—
____________________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
The saga continues…
Mr. Mark Olinger, Director
Planning and Development Review
5th Floor, City Hall
900 E. Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219July 28, 2012
Dear Mr. Olinger,
The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA), a neighborhood association lawfully incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia since 2001, has received the July 13, 2012 comment letter from the city staff regarding the Victory Apartments Special Use Permit (SUP) application for 407 S. Cherry Street and 811 Albemarle Street. Its contents were discussed by our membership in a meeting on July 24, 2012. We are troubled by the disregard of various ordinances and regulations of the City and Commonwealth by certain city agencies included in the response. These city agencies are ignoring or misapplying city zoning ordinances in order to make the current proposal for development of the Victory Rug Cleaning building work. The developer proposes a density three to four times what would be permitted under the current zoning, and this would result in a public safety and access risk if the project is allowed to rely on on-street parking on both sides of the 400 block of South Cherry at Victory Rug.
It is our belief that the lives and property of the inhabitants of the Oregon Hill neighborhood will incur dangerous risks should the SUP be granted with the noncompliant features that are included in the July 13, 2012 city commentary on the proposed project. We request that all applicable laws, parking ordinances and regulations be enforced as written. The R-7 zoning would allow 4-6 apartments in the Victory Rug building, and require a minimum of one off-street parking space for each unit in the development.
Please provide answers why the following regulations were disregarded:
1). In our correspondence dated June 27, 2012, we emphasized that none of the eight off-street parking spaces proposed for the SUP have the required 25 foot aisle width needed for 90 degree parking spaces for full sized vehicles as required in City Ordinance Section 114-710.3:1. Please explain why the July 13, 2012 city comment letter did not disqualify the proposed SUP’s planned 8 off-street parking spaces because they do not have the 25’ aisle width as required by law.
2). In our correspondence dated June 27, 2012, we stated that OHNA objects to on-street parking being used to satisfy the off-street parking required under the relevant city ordinance. Our residential neighborhood has serious parking problems because of Oregon Hill’s proximity to VCU; yet the city comment letter of July 13, 2012 cites the “methodology specified in the Zoning Ordinance for RF-1 or RF-2 districts, in which on-street parking spaces provided within portions of the public right-of-way abutting the street frontage of the property shall be credited as though they were off-street parking spaces located on the premises.” Oregon Hill is not within the RF-1 or RF-2 zoning districts, and even if the property was in the RF zoning district, the staff misapplied Sec. 114-710.2:3 by allowing three 22 foot parking spaces (66 feet in total) abutting the 45 foot street frontage of the Victory Rug building, and by attributing an equal number of parking spaces on the opposite side of the street – not abutting the building’s street frontage. Since the Oregon Hill neighborhood is not within the Riverfront 1 or Riverfront 2 (RF-1or RF-2) zoning districts, we must insist on knowing why staff is arbitrarily applying the parking and zoning “methodology” of another district to our district, which is within the R-7 zoning.
3). In our correspondence dated June 27, 2012, we brought to staff’s attention that the 400 block of Cherry Street is too narrow to safely support parking on both sides of the street at the location of the Victory Rug building, where the street is 25’-9” wide and narrows to 23’-3” wide at it’s intersection with Albemarle Street. The width of the 400 block of Cherry is significantly less than the VDOT minimum 28’ width design standard for residential streets with parallel parking on both sides of the street. We also pointed out that emergency vehicles would be unable to pass if vehicles were parked on both sides of the street, and that buses routinely park on the west side of the block to visit Hollywood Cemetery. We are dismayed that the city comment letter of July 13, 2012 states that, “… Cherry St. and Laurel St. between Spring St. and Idlewood Ave. are one-way streets with allowable parking on both sides of the street…” and allows the parking spaces on both sides of the 400 block of Cherry to satisfy the parking requirements of the Victory Apartment project. Since the 400 block of Cherry at the Victory Rug building is too narrow to safely park vehicles on both sides of the street and allow emergency access, please explain why the city commentary allows on-street parking on both sides of the street.
4). The city devoted much energy on developing the appropriate R-7 zoning designation for the Oregon Hill Historic District. This is exactly the type of development that should be guided by the existing zoning regulations in the best interest of the community. Under the R-7 zoning, 4-6 units would be permitted in the Victory Rug building. Against firm, united, and reasonable neighborhood objection, the developer continues to propose an excessive density which is 3 to 4 times the number of units allowed under the current zoning. No mention of the existing R-7 zoning is found in the city comment letter of July 13, 2012. OHNA would like to know why the city planning staff is not taking into consideration density permitted under the R-7 zoning, which the community has relied upon to help preserve the historic and residential character of the Oregon Hill Historic District since 2002.
Please note that our neighborhood association, as well as the immediate neighbors of the Victory Rug building, is overwhelmingly in favor of the responsible development of this parcel as permitted under the R-7 zoning. We are, and always have been, in full support of the R-7 zoning. We request an opportunity to meet with you at your earliest convenience and we will look forward to your response to the questions presented in this letter.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Hancock,
OHNA, PresidentCc:
Art Tate, Fire and Emergency Services
Channel 6 News
Channel 8 News
Channel 12 News
Chief of Staff of the Mayor’s Office
City Attorney
Honorable Betsy Carr
Honorable Mayor of the City of Richmond
Honorable Richmond City Council Members
Honorable Richmond City Planning Commission Members
Richmond Free Press
Richmond Times Dispatch
StyleWeekly
Thomas Flynn, City Traffic Engineer
WRIR
There will be a lot of bicycle traffic in the neighborhood tomorrow night as part of the group ride in memory of Lanie Kruszewski, the unfortunate victim of a hit-and-run Sunday night on River Road.
From the FaceBook event page:
Event Instructions
• Take some time to reflect on meaning of this event at the overlook area before you depart.
• Leave the overlook area in “waves” of six to eight riders. This will give less congestion in the streets and a safer ride.
• Obey the stop lights
• Ride single file
• Depart from the start point in groups of 6 to 8 and avoid bunching up
• Bright light in front and blinking light in the back of the bikeRegards,
Gill
Lanie Kruszewski Memorial Ride. Start 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM, Sunday, August 5.
PARK VCU Laurel St. Garage (between Main and Cary) Leg, Miles Total, Miles
Ride South on Laurel St. to the James River Overlook 0.5 0.5
START Laurel St. Overlook (depart in groups of 6 to 8)
1Proceed on S. Pine St 0.4 0.9
2 Left on Idlewood Ave 0.1 1
3 Right on S. Cherry St. 0.1 1.1
4 Left on Floyd Ave 0.4 1.5
5 Right on N. Harrrison St 0.1 1.6
6 Left on W. Clay St 0.5 2.1
7 Right on Bowe St. 0.2 2.3
8 1st Left on W. Leigh St 0.1 2.4
STOP Visit Maggie Walker School at Lombardy and Leigh St.
9 Take Lombardy St. South 0.3 2.7
10 Right on W. Grace St. 0.3 3
11 Left on N. Allen Ave 0.2 3.2
12 1st Right on Monument Ave. 1.3 4.5
13 Left on Roseneath Rd 0.5 5
14 Left on Grove Av. 1.6 6.6
15 Right on N. Harrrison St 0.1 6.7
16 Left on Grayland Ave 0.3 7
17 Left on Idlewood Ave 0.2
7.218 Right on S. Laurel St. 0.5 7.7
END Laurel St. Overlook
Community Movie Night Friday, August 3, 8:45 PM in Pleasants Park Refreshments served