Set for May 7, a Sunday.
From FaceBook event details:
Pack a picnic basket, bring a blanket and relax to sounds of great entertainment at Hollywood Cemetery.
Guided trolley car tours will be provided. An ice cream truck and hotdogs will be on site.
Performances by the Oak Lane Band and St. Christopher’s School’s acapella group BEAUX TIES.
The picnic is free to attend. Please RSVP Nancy Shepherd at (804) 648-8501 or email her at nshepherd@hollywoodcemetery.org for a reservation.
Style magazine has a nice interview with Beth Marschak, one of the founders of the Richmond Earth Day celebration (and a former Oregon Hill resident).
Here’s an excerpt:
Beth Marschak, now an HIV prevention specialist, was 20 when she helped organize the city’s inaugural Earth Day at Monroe Park in 1971.
In a nod to Saturday’s yearly acknowledgement of the planet, Style spoke with Marschak about some of the progress made — and to worry about the future.
Style: Why did you want to bring Earth Day to Richmond?
Marschak: I was in a student group at Westhampton-University of Richmond called S.H.A.M.E – Studying and Halting the Assault on Man and Environment. That was back when people liked names like that.
Most of the people in our group were science majors. I was a chemistry major at that time. People had a fairly sophisticated view of the problems affecting the environment and ecology from a scientific standpoint.
And, of course, if you looked at the James River back then, it was terrible. Sewage was going directly into the river. You would not want to get into it. Now people tube down it and swim in it and fish. You could not do that then. You wouldn’t put a toe in it.
So it was really one of those things where, right here in this area, you could see some major impacts from not having policies protecting clean water, clean air.
She also recently wrote a letter to the Planning Commission, asking that they spare remaining mature trees in Monroe Park. However the Planning Commission voted in favor of removing the trees.
From email announcement:
April’s Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association meeting will be on Tuesday, April 25. We will meet in the St. Andrew’s Church Parish House (located at 236 S Laurel St) at 7:00PM.
From Craigslist ad:
Needs transmission work to get going but could be a simple fix that I can’t afford to even check in to. It was inspected a month ago and had all necessary work done, new windshield, tune-up etc and is working great other than the transmission not engaging. 200k miles but it’s a volvo, it’ll run forever if ya do the work. Call/text/or email is fine. Thanks
The unveiling, with Councilperson Agelasto officiating…
Doing ‘Throwback Thursday’ a day early. Found some old signs while cleaning out my shed this past weekend (in preparation for this coming weekend’s yard sale). Some older residents may remember participating in the Earthlings Food Coop, which shared local seed/produce and split up truckloads from United Natural Foods.
Eventually the Earthlings dwindled away, but the dream continues with the Richmond Food Coop, which is setting up across the river. They are holding a volunteer interest meeting this evening at 6 pm at Cafe Zata.
Please come and celebrate the unveiling of the new OREGON HILL highway marker to commemorate the important history of the Oregon Hill neighborhood!
What: Highway marker dedication ceremony with guest speaker Councilman Parker Agelasto
When: Friday, April 7, 2017 at 3:00 pm
Where: 911 Idlewood Avenue (one block west of St. Andrews School)
Despite recent rainy weather, the outdoor seating has been arranged and the texts have already been sent calling for a special meeting of the ‘Bro Council’ this evening, according to one unidentified ‘bro’.
According to him, the agenda will include a thorough examination of recent alcohol expenditures, the rent/lease ‘situation’, and the social status of one of the main bros’ girlfriends.
“These are private as well as sensitive, emotional matters,” explained the unidentified bro, “so I expect some loud but whispered shouting followed by spirited foosball”.
Bro Council has become something of an institution, and is well regarded for its ability to deliberate and settle bros’ issues in a civilized and timely manner.
Although several options for new stop signs and traffic measures were discussed at this past Tuesday’s Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association meeting, attendees voted to go in a very novel direction- taking out all of existing stops signs in the neighborhood for a trial period.
An OHNA officer described what happened:
I think we reached a point after so much deliberation, that some got frustrated and were ready to table the whole topic for the rest of the meeting, but then one of the new residents who was there started talking about when he previously lived in a small village in Maine that had no traffic regulation. That’s when a new motion was made to take out all stop signs for the rest of the year, and, surprisingly, people got fired up and we passed it.
One longtime resident said she voted for motion because she thinks it is one of the first steps towards outlawing most motor vehicle traffic in Oregon Hill altogether.
While calling it very unorthodox, City traffic engineers were not totally unreceptive to the group decision. They consider it a cheaper and simpler option than a traffic circle, which is harder to finance now that federal traffic grants have been depleted. They said no stop signs would hopefully, eventually force drivers to be more careful in their approaches to intersections.
Since it is likely that City Council will have to ultimately weigh in on this plan, there is no timetable as of yet for when it could possibly be enacted. In the meantime, some neighbors have already suggested that everyone should act like there are no stop signs and drive more cautiously anyway, given some of the speeding and bicyclist activity they have seen on neighborhood streets.
