Category Archives: community

Sunday Walk

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Pine Street neighborhood Stephenie Harrington, following up her New Year’s Day walk, has scheduled another community walk to Belle Island.

**Group Walk to Belle Island**
Sunday, January 6th
10am

We plan to meet up with friends and neighbors for a group Walk this Sunday.

Start at gazebo
(700 block S. Pine St) at the overlook

I will have my dogs with me so we walk a bit slowly….but others will be a brisk pace

We plan to do two loops around the island but just do as you please…no set pace or distance. We will start down the hill at 10am

Hope to see more neighbors this week…on Jan 1st we had 8 walkers and 3 pups

Top Issues For Neighborhood

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I have been meaning to do this post for a while and the start of the year seems to be a good time to actually get it done… I have done a little bit of surveying with neighbors, but some things, frankly, have not changed…

1. Establishing an anti-demolition City overlay for the neighborhood- how to protect historic assets and character took on new emphasis and concern with what happened with the 800 block of W. Cary Street this past year. This could be a precursor for making Oregon Hill an official City Historic District.

2. Establishing a signed, binding agreement that VCU will not encroach into Oregon Hill any further. Note: VCU administration shamefully refuses, despite having agreements with other neighborhoods and even foreign countries. The disrespect is intolerable and distrust remains.

3. Encouraging more neighborhood contacts and social connections. Many neighbors, especially new ones, want better ways to get to know the people who live around them. Oregon Hill has traditionally been seen as very ‘tight-knit’, but it has also seen many residents come and go. More public events geared towards the neighborhood that are family friendly and inclusive- think block parties with performances and attractions. Who remembers the pony rides? How about an annual neighborhood-wide yard sale?

4. Advocating for brick sidewalk repairs. Yes, we need to make sure our historic brick sidewalks are brought back to acceptable standards and maintained that way.

5. Getting new trees for tree wells and elsewhere (including Monroe Park!)

6. Ending the lease for the Monroe Park Conservancy and returning the park to public (City) control. Despite all the changes, Monroe Park has historically been and will always be one of Oregon Hill’s parks. Let’s not allow anything like ‘the Conservancy’ to happen to any more of our parks.

7. Public trash/recycling receptacles. With all the foot traffic that the neighborhood gets with its proximity to the river, it’s important that more public trash/recycling receptacles are made available.

7. More litter clean ups. In the past, we have had volunteer neighborhood leaders work with the City and other groups like VCU Green Team and RVA Cleansweep to do community litter pick ups. We need new blood to step up to coordinate these efforts.

8. Encouraging more proper recycling. While I am confident that Oregon Hill has a better than average recycling percentage per household than many other places, we can always do better- part of that is making sure recycling receptacles are kept out of sidewalk right aways when not awaiting collection.

9. Potholes- despite the City’s efforts, there are still a few spots where potholes are a constant problem- especially in some of our alleys.

10. Neighborhood watch/porch pirate prevention- thankfully the neighborhood is relatively safe, but there are still very serious concerns about interlopers. One problem we have seen more of in recent years is porch piracy- the stealing of package deliveries and porch items.

Some other worthy topics:

Better traffic enforcement

More park renovations and improvements for parks, including Holly Street Playground

More enforcement of dog poop pickup

More engagement with landlords about rental properties

Bike lanes

More small businesses that cater to the neighborhood

Fire safety/disaster preparedness

And of course, I will put in a word for more solar in the neighborhood…

CEO of Civil War Museum Recognized By Time Magazine

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Richmond Times Dispatch columnist Michael Paul Williams recently caught up with Christy Coleman, the CEO of the American Civil War Museum. She has just been recognized by Time Magazine as one of “31 People Who Are Changing the South.”

Included in the piece is some of what’s new at Tredegar:

Five years after the merger of the American Civil War Center and the Museum of the Confederacy, the American Civil War Museum is preparing to open a new building in May at Historic Tredegar. The nearly 30,000-square-foot space will house the museum’s collections, including a new core gallery called “A People’s Contest: Struggles for Nation and Freedom in Civil War America.” The new building will also include storage space and five offices. The Tredegar foundry building will be converted from an exhibit space into an events venue. The exhibits are being installed now in the new space.

“Every day I go in there, I’m just so ecstatic to see this vision we’ve worked on for years now really come into fruition,” Coleman said. “This is another game-changer.”

The Museum continues to chin out some noteworthy events. It’s Foundry Series is pretty weighty. On January 24th it will have a program on Politics and the Supreme Court that features Dr. Timothy Huebner, Rhodes College, Memphis and will be moderated by Dr. Henry L. Chambers, University of Richmond School of Law. But it’s (free) “History Happy Hours” should also not be overlooked. On January 14, the Museum’s own Morgan Floyd will be hosting one called “Fight Like A Girl” at the Capital Ale House.

First Day Walk

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Pine Street neighbor Stephenie Harrington is organizing a ‘First Day Walk’. From her announcement:

Tuesday, January 1st
10am

Meet at gazebo on S. Pine St, we plan to head over to Belle Island promptly at 10 o’clock. Kids, strollers and dogs on leashes welcome. Please comment below or message me if you plan to join us.
We may get some sprinkles but forecast looks quite warm.
Happy New Year!

By the way, if you are planning something further away- you may want to check out this post on the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s website about Virginia State Parks First Day Hikes 2019.

New Benches For Our Parks

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OHNA President Todd Woodson shared the good news:

The Tool Bank’s Toby Vernon, the City’s Vicki Campbell and I unloaded 6 beautiful new picnic tables built by volunteers with materials paid for by the Tool Bank into Oregon Hill Parks this morning. 2 in Pleasants Park, 2 in Holly St Playground and 2 in Samuel Parsons Linear Park.

OHNA Holiday Message

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From Todd Woodson, Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association President:

Dear Friends and neighbors

A reminder that there will be no OHNA meeting in December.

We look forward to a fruitful year in 2019 and wish you the same. We have a lot of irons in the fire. I’ve been told 2 picnic tables should be delivered to Pleasants Park tomorrow! I have also resubmitted a request for street trees as our wish wasn’t granted last year. The projected procurement budget for tree planting in 2019 is $479,000 so we certainly should get some attention. The Richmond Tree Stewards should be coming through pruning anytime, they told me, so say hi if you see them.

Be safe and enjoy the holidays! Try and reach out to a neighbor if you can, especially the elderly and infirm and enjoy our wonderful community.

See you in January!

Todd.

Neighbor Helping Lead Effort To Save Grace Street Music Venue

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Bobby Egger, Pine Street neighbor and proprietor of Vinyl Conflict record store and label, has announced his involvement in an effort to make sure 929 W. Grace Street remains a music venue.

From his Facebook post:

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been working with a couple friends. This was just an idea and it simply whirl-winded into a reality. After speaking with so many of you yesterday, I realized we need to act on this rather than brainstorm.
Myself, Gabe Lopez and Harry Pinnix want to keep 929 West Grace Street a venue, just like all of you do.
I’ll keep this brief, I believe in this space. We will be taking the proper loans to make this right. We will continue to bring you the entertainment that you have enjoyed in this location for the last few decades. There is plenty that needs to change and we are already working to make sure that the space will adapt and update how it needs.
Help us share this link, there is a long road ahead of this, but I am confident in this decision.
yours in punk
-Bobby Egger

Click here for the GoFundMe.com page associated with this.

Also, if you are so inclined, click here for some history of 929 W. Grace.

Important Message To VCU’s Board Of Visitors

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From message:

Dear VCU Rector Hall,

In good faith the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association has engaged in the VCU master planning process. We have repeatedly and respectfully made the request for written commitments that: 1). VCU will not encroach further south of W. Cary Street into the Oregon Hill Historic District, and 2). VCU will respect Oregon Hill by limiting the height of any buildings across Cary Street from the Oregon Hill Historic District to 3 or 4 stories.

Unfortunately, at this point VCU has not agreed to this reasonable request. We note VCU has made similar written commitments to the Fan and Carver neighborhoods. We do not understand why VCU is unwilling to offer a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with your adjacent neighbors to the south at the same time that VCU does have a MOU with the nation of Cuba. You are probably aware of the long history of encroachment into Oregon Hill by VCU.

We, therefore, respectfully ask that the VCU Board of Visitors agree to the reasonable request for these two written commitments so that the “Town/Gown” relationship between Oregon Hill and VCU can continue to prosper with mutual good will.

Sincerely,

Todd Woodson, President
Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association