The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association will meet this coming Tuesday
at 7 pm at the William Byrd Community House.
Because of some of the other activities that are happening at the WBCH
that evening, we will meet in a room upstairs.
There’s No Taste Like Home – Return for the Grand opening of the Byrd
House Market season, Tuesday, April 28th. At the Byrd House Market,
you’ll find locally grown food and fun every Tuesday between 3:30 and 7
p.m. from April 28 to October 27. Support Virginia farmers and help
William Byrd Community House make downtown Richmond a healthy place to
be.
The Byrd House Market is located in Oregon Hill behind WBCH at 224 South
Cherry St.
Visit www.byrdhousrmarket.blogspot.com or call (804) 643-2717.
The Really Really Free Market happens tomorrow at noon in Monroe Park.
Also, this yard sale looks freegan-friendly:
1131 Eggleston Street 23220 (Across from Riverview and Mt.Calvary Cemeteries, near Oregon Hill, VCU area)
Books, Music, Movies, Clothing, FREE STUFF!!! ( And, after 1pm, everything is FREE!! )
Join us at the Binford Bash: A Celebration of the Visual and Performing Arts on Saturday, April 25 from 11 am – 6 pm behind Binford Middle School at 1701 Floyd Ave.
We will have live music, dance and theater performances; art to see, buy, and make; a silent auction; festival activities; a dedication of our rain garden; and more! To check out all the activities, go to www.binfordpta.org and click on any of the Binford Bash links.
Among the many activities, we will have a sidewalk art contest. The prize is a $25 gift certificate to Main Art & a $25 certificate to Penny Lane Pub.
Bring a canned good for the Food Bank, and play a game for Free!
Help create a community art project to hang by our rain garden.
And much more!
This event is sponsored by the Binford Middle School PTA, your neighborhood Middle School.
Two notices from Rev. Turner of Pine Street Baptist Church:
Brunswick Stew Sale
Saturday, April 25
Pine Street Baptist Church
$7.00 per quart
Stew may be picked up after 2:00 P.M.
The VCU Guitar Ensemble will be performing at Pine Street Baptist Church on Sunday, April 26 during the 11:00 worship service. The VCU Guitar Ensemble has been a part of the Richmond music scene since 1982. Consisting of 15 to 20 music majors, this unique ensemble’s repertoire ranges from Bach to the Beatles, from Renaissance to contemporary music. In addition, this group frequently premieres new compositions by VCU student composers, as well as commissioned works by established arrangers and composers. The ensemble has been featured on several National Public Radio stations and on local television arts segments. John Patykula, coordinator of the guitar program, directs the VCU Guitar Ensemble.
Yes, more rainbow pictures…
Times Dispatch reporter Karin Kapsidelis researched and wrote a good, fairly objective overview of outgoing Virginia Commonwealth University President Eugene Trani’s term. Of course, I may not be that objective as I was the ‘loudest protester’ named in the article.
“He’s expanded VCU at the expense of a lot of other components of Richmond,” said Scott Burger, president of the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association.
I would have liked to have seen more examination of Trani’s role as powerbroker, especially when he used his Richmond Renaissance position to not so gently persuade City Council to approve Dominion Power’s Special Use Permit for its headquarters and trading floor expansion at the expense of the river view, but I know its difficult to cover everything, even in a front page article.
We are hopeful that the new VCU president will be a reasonable man and a man of
honor. The sign of a great leader will be to make things better for the
surrounding communities as well as being an advocate for the university’s
improvement.
VCU is blessed with many gifted faculty members and students. Its president
should serve as a role model and use this talented staff for the betterment of
all parties involved. Oregon Hill and the other historic communities of Carver,
Jackson Ward, and Randolph have paid a dear price for the unbridled VCU
expansion. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is a pretty tough
golden rule to argue with.
But what is interesting are the anonymous online comments on the article. Here is a sample:
Trani bears much of the responsibility for this, when he took over there was a quick and drastic shift in the attitude VCU took towards students, faculty, and staff. In the end, Trani’s work has benefited property owners, local politicians, contractors, and the corporate entities that he has allowed to prey upon his students (read commodities). The students have not benefited at all, unless the student is a college basketball fan.
As usual, the RTD has it wrong. The negative posts regarding Trani on this thread out number the positive, and for someone who lives in the university community and knows many people that work at VCU at many different levels I can attest they share no love for the man either.
Ouch, and people call me harsh. A Sunday school lesson for us all: arrogance and “pride goeth before the fall”.
Proposed Amendments to be considered by the City Planning Commission. A public hearing on these amendments will be held on April 20, 2009 at 6:00pm in City Council Chambers (2nd floor, City Hall, 900 E. Broad Street)
Every Richmonder worth a salt should know who Grace Arents is.
http://www.rbc.edu/library/SpecialCollections/Women_history_resources/vfwposter2004.pdf
http://www.nps.gov/history/Nr/travel/richmond/OregonHillHD.html
One of the most important groups of buildings is the St. Andrews’s complex at South Laurel Street and Idlewood Avenue. Richmond philanthropist and social reformer Miss Grace Arents funded and supervised construction of the St. Andrew’s Church Complex (243 South Laurel) of 1901-1903, to the designs of the Indiana architect A. H. Ellwood. The complex also includes a parochial school from 1901 and St. Andrew’s Hall at 711 Idlewood Avenue from 1904.
Miss Arents’ work extended throughout the neighborhood well beyond the Episcopal buildings. In 1904, she built the brick Colonial Revival style St. Andrew’s Houses at 912-914 Cumberland Street and 200 and 202 South Linden Street, which constitute one of the earliest examples of subsidized housing in Virginia. She also built a complex of buildings for the Instructive Visiting Nurses Association, dating from 1904 and 1923 at 213 and 219 South Cherry Street, the Noland and Baskervill designed Grace Arents Free Library at 224 South Cherry from 1908, and the 1911 Grace Arents Public School at 600 South Pine Street. Miss Arents also donated the Holly Street Playground on Holly west of Laurel Street, one of the oldest public playgrounds in the City of Richmond.
http://www.richmond.k12.va.us/indexnew/sub/history/arents.cfm
So on that note…
An update from Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden:
* There are still a few seats available for next week’s No Child
Left Inside: Restoring Nature to Early Childhood symposium (April 29th,
8a.m.-4 p.m.) We are excited to announce that Virginia’s First Lady,
Anne Holton, will provide opening remarks at the event. In addition,
you’ll see we’ve added Chip & Ashley Donahue, founders of Kids in the
Valley, Adventuring to the line-up. And, Tracy Kane, noted author and
illustrator of The
Series(tm),
books and help families build fairy houses in the Children’s Garden
during our Homespun Fun for Families event.
* We’ve just opened a few remaining slots for the FREE Dinner in
the Garden for Teachers. If you are an educator interested in attending
please see directions below.
* If your organization would like to provide an educational
display at the No Child Left Inside: Restoring Nature to Early Childhood
symposium, please contact Adele MacLean for more details. Call Adele
MacLean at 262-9887 ext. 222 or email her at adelem@lewisginter.org.
Anniversary Year Symposium: No Child Left Inside: Restoring Nature to
Early Childhood
Wednesday, April 29, 8a.m.-4p.m.
For a PDF of the agenda (subject to change), click here.
Join the national dialogue about the critical relationship between
direct exposure to nature and healthy childhood development. Learn about
the physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and creative assets that
young children gain through outdoor experiences, and how direct,
authentic experiences in nature can be created for children wherever
they live, play, and learn.
This symposium is for everyone concerned about the healthy development
of today’s children, including early childhood professionals, teachers
and administrators, recreation leaders, pediatric healthcare providers,
parents and caregivers, urban planners, environmental educators,
architects, landscape architects and designers.
Featuring presentations by:
Jane Kirkland, author of the award-winning children’s nature series,
Take a Walk books
Robin Moore, Director of the Natural Learning Initiative and Professor
of Landscape Architecture, North Carolina State University
Plus Chip & Ashley Donahue, founders of Kids in the Valley, Adventuring
(KIVA)
$25 includes lunch; advance registration required; earns 5 training
hours.
Related Events:
Teacher Workshop: Dinner in the Garden for Teachers
Tuesday, April 28, 5-8:30 p.m.
Presented in cooperation with the Center for Life Sciences Education,
Virginia Commonwealth University Homespun Fun for Families
This symposium is the second in a four-part series marking the Garden’s
25th anniversary. These events are made possible with generous support
from the Robins Foundation.
Randolph, our neighbor to the west, has a new website up.