Upcoming…

Really Really Free Market Saturday
School choice group meets Saturday
Disney’s Beauty and The Beast continues at the Landmark Theater
Pine Street yard/garage sale on Saturday-

May Day Paradeer…Celebration on Sunday
Pescados brunch service starts on Sunday
Monday is City Council budget meetingperhaps we will see if Patrick Henry School gets more funding.
And don’t forget that Tuesday is the first official Byrd Market of the year!
Also Tuesday, there’s a meeting about Richmond’s transportation policyI might have a few thoughts on that.

Parental Choice Group Forms in Richmond

From Richmond Magazine article:

A new organization has emerged from the seemingly perpetual public-policy dust-up surrounding Richmond’s first public charter school and last year’s state law changes that simplify the process of creating new charter schools in Virginia.

The Greater Richmond Education Reform Alliance will hold an organizational and informational meeting this Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. at the Anointed Worship Center, at 4909 Government Road, located in the Fulton area of Richmond’s East End. The event is open to all, says Keisha Cummings, chairwoman of the board of the newly formed advocacy group.

“What it is is a call to action,” says Cummings, who previously served as the first Parent Teacher Association president at the Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts, where her daughter attends. “We want to inform people about what we’re talking about … and help them to advocate for whatever it is that they want for their children.”

By focusing its advocacy efforts on the more broad “whatever” that parents may seek, Cummings says, the new group seeks to avoid endorsing a single option — or even to risk appearing to be advocating against more traditional public schools.

“The organization was started to educate parents and to advocate for education reform, and to do that by educating parents in Richmond and the metro area,” she says. “It’s not so much we’re advocating for charter schools, but education options.”

May Day Parade Controversy

Despite the American Civil Liberties Union’s assistance, the memorandum opinion 4-28-11 came out today against the plaintiff.

From the Times Dispatch article:

A federal judge on Thurday morning turned down an ACLU bid that would allow an activist group to hold a May Day parade in Richmond without paying for off-duty police escorts.

“Obviously we’re very disappointed with the ruling, and our clients will have to make a decision on how to proceed,” said Rebecca Glenberg, legal director of the ACLU of Virginia.

In a ruling, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson wrote, among other things, that the group failed to show the Richmond police decision to deny the parade permit “was based on anything other than reasonable public policy considerations.”

The ACLU asked Hudson to allow the Richmond May Day Coalition/Organizing Committee to hold a May Day parade Sunday without paying $294 for off-duty police officers to serve as escorts.

The “May Day International Workers Day” was expected to draw 200 or more participants and involve marching bands, banners, flags, a bull horn and a small public address system, said city officials.

The parade would start at Monroe Park, proceed west on Main Street, north on Lombardy Street, east on Broad Street, south on Laurel Street and end back at Monroe Park.

Urgent Request For Patrick Henry School

I received this request via email:

We Need Parents to come to City Council Monday, May 2nd at 6pm
It is URGENT that families, friends and neighbors show up in support of Patrick Henry at the next City Council meeting. $500,000 hangs in the balance! This money would help so much with renovating the school building on Semmes. Councilman Marty Jewel is requesting $500,000 to go to PHSSA. Not every request is honored, but by showing how much we care about our school we help our chances. Please make every effort to go to City Hall, 2nd floor this Monday night.

PS. Live in Marty Jewel’s district? Get your neighbors involved! A renovated and active school adds to the neighborhood!

For more on the Patrick Henry School, click here.

April Really Really Free Market (3rd Year Anniversary!)

From the Facebook page:

Richmond’s Really Really Free Market is celebrating 3 years this April!

Come join the community on Saturday April 30th from noon until 3pm at the corner of Main and Laurel in Monroe Park. Bring your excess and unwanted things- food, books, cds, movies, clothes, furniture, knick knacks, paddy whacks (no live animals though), to share with other people. Its good for the environment, its good for your wallet, and its good for building community.

This weekend is also May Day weekend, which includes workshops on Saturday and Sunday, as well as a rally and parade on Sunday. There will be out of town people around, so hopefully the RRFM will be a fun place to hang out. You can find out more about these events at www.maydayrva.org

Please bring games to play, music to play, balls or frisbees to throw around etc.
Anyone interested in performing, giving workshops, tabling with free literature etc. is more than welcome to.
As always, folks are encouraged to make their own fliers to advertise this event.

This event and more can be found at www.rvaradicalendar.blogspot.com

An Invitation to Experience Holy Week at St. Andrew’s Church

From St. Andrews Church announcement:

Maundy Thursday, 7:00 pm.
Footwashing, Eucharist, Night Watch at Gethsemane. “On this night of love and betrayal, suffering and hope, Jesus beckons us to learn to pour back into the world the love that embraces, forgives, and attends to suffering in all its forms.”

Good Friday, 7:00 pm.
Prayers, Devotions at the Cross, Communion from the Reserve Sacrament. “The Good Friday liturgy is an invitation to us to join with brothers and sisters around the world and through the ages in learning to love and be loved in the face of our deepest fears and the world’s deepest pain…”

Great Vigil of Easter, Saturday, 7:00 pm.
Dark, Light, Stories, Baptisms, Incense, Eucharist.
“Can it be true? Can life really explode from the grave? This is the night we celebrate Christ’s ever-burning, life-giving, redemptive light given to all creation.”

Easter Sunday:
Joint “Sunrise” service at Pine Street Baptist, 8:30 a.m.
Breakfast and egg hunt, 9:30am, St. Andrew’s House (236 S. Laurel)
Feast of the Resurrection, 11 a.m., church.

Child care is available at all services.

Style Runs Story On Homeless Woman’s Hoard

A story appeared today on Style Magazine’s website in regard to a pile of a woman’s accumulation of stuff near Hollywood Cemetery. Click here for the story.

According to police and residents, for most of the last four years, the woman (Style Weekly isn’t using her name) has kept a collection of odds and ends in the backyards and vacant lots of Oregon Hill, sometimes with residents’ permission.

Six months ago, she placed several pallets of things in Samuel P. Parsons Park. After receiving complaints, police told her to move her stuff. She then transferred her possessions to a tarp-covered pile, perhaps 25 feet long, on the edge of the Hollywood Cemetery parking lot.

Flying Brick Presents Ciclovida

From the Flying Brick Library website:

We are excited to host the crew from Ciclovida: Lifecycle, who will be stopping in Richmond to present their documentary and to host a workshop!
On April 20 at 3 p.m. Ciclovida will host a workshop on Pedal and Solar Powered Projection systems!
On April 21 at 7 p.m. we will host the first backyard movie screening of 2011 with the presentation of the documentary, Ciclovida: Lifecycle.
The film pedals alongside a group of subsistence farmers from Brazil who bicycle over 6,000 miles across the South American continent in search of natural seeds.
This feature-length documentary is made up of moving stories from landless peasants, indigenous communities, and small farmers that expose the devastating effects of industrial agriculture destined for agrofuels. Filmmakers and protagonists will be here for both events!