From Richmond Police Department:
The Richmond Police Department is collecting bicycles for our 1st annual Community Bike Ride on the Southside of Richmond.
Please donate your gently used (or new) bicycles, of any size, to us by emailing us at RPDCares@richmondgov.com or call us at 646-0407. We are willing to pick up the bicycles.
Deadline for donation is September 16, 2016.
In advance, thank you!
It is Thursday, right? Holiday sometimes throws people off.
Anyway, Beth Stanford Tubb has graciously agreed to share stories of her grandmother and her early life on Oregon Hill (born and lived at 811 W. Cary Street). She has put many of these on her blog, Eliza Jane.
Here’s a sample:
The Lady in the Lavender Hat
Claryce, my “Granny”, was born at home and grew up in an old Richmond neighborhood called Oregon Hill. It was 1923. For a variety of reasons (each their own short story, to be posted later), she left St. Andrew’s School after the eighth grade in order to get a job and help her family financially.
Each day Claryce would ride to work on the trolley. She enjoyed the views, watching the city go by, usually with the same group of people. One morning, a woman got on the trolley who caught Granny’s attention: The woman had beautiful auburn hair, pulled back in a low bun, crowned by a lavender hat.
Each morning my grandmother, still a teenager, would secretly wait for the woman with the auburn hair and lavender hat to board the trolley. Granny marveled at her beautiful skin, her kind eyes, her auburn hair, and the way it looked so lovely against the lavender.
Once in a while Granny was free from helping around the house and caring for her three siblings, one of whom had Cerebral Palsy. She would meet her friends at the ice cream shop and hang out much the way we do in coffee shops today. At this point, she was around eighteen years old. There was a boy also hanging around the ice cream shop who was particularly handsome. He reminded Granny of Humphrey Bogart. She got up the nerve to talk to him and, having no money that day, asked if she could have a lick of his ice cream. His name was Herbert.
Herb and Claryce began dating and would ride around town on the trolleys for ten cents, holding hands. “Just people watchin’” she’d say. Eventually Herb (my grandfather) took Claryce home to meet his mother. As they opened the front door and entered the parlor, Granny could not believe her good fortune: There, smiling and holding out her hand, stood Lois Ann, the woman from the trolley, the lady with the auburn hair and lavender hat.
It’s now September, and with Tropical Storm Hermine coming in this direction, its a good time to remind everyone that September is National Preparedness Month.
“…we all must take action to prepare, now and throughout the year, for the types of emergencies that could affect us where we live, work, and also where we visit. Due to the success of last year’s theme, “Don’t Wait, Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today,” will be returning for this September with a continuing emphasis on preparedness for youth, older adults, and people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs. Thank you for taking time help make America more prepared for emergencies.”
From RVA MORE:
The boardwalk on North Bank trail below Hollywood cemetery is being repaired starting tomorrow (8/30) and the trail will be closed between the first bridge heading west from Tredegar and the spot where the trail crosses the cemetery access road for a couple of days from around 8am-4pm while this work is taking place. Signs will be posted when the trail is closed. This work is being paid forby Groundwork RVA and is being led up by Will McQuate.
Pine Street neighbor Stephenie Harrington is planning a large volunteer effort for September- with the help of Richmond Community Tool Bank and her employer, Dominion-
From email announcement:
Hello all
Just a reminder that the August OHNA meeting is tomorrow, Tuesday the 23rd, at 7 pm. We are meeting at the Parish House at St. Andrew’s.
On the agenda:
The newest group of Grace on the Hill interns will be present.
Joyce Livingstone, a biologist, and neighbor Stephenie Harrington will be discussing a native Virginian plant, the cardinal flower. Joyce started growing the plant in her own yard, and with the wet weather we had this year, she has a bumper crop of cardinal flowers. Joyce will be handing out free plants starting at around 6ish at St. Andrew’s. The cardinal plant has bright red flowers and likes shade and a damp environment.
Joyce has started a Facebook page to post information and pictures of the cardinal flower and notifications of events where she will be handing out free flowers. This public group is “Cardinal Flower Fever.”
Neighbor Nolen Blackwood of 349 S. Laurel St (Bunny Hop) will be present.
Thanks
Jennifer
OHNA
From announcement:
Richmond, Virginia- Richmond Police Department will meet with formerly incarcerated youth, artists, and advocates for juvenile justice reform in a community forum designed to create an exchange of perspectives on issues concerning the juvenile justice system. The event will be hosted at the Richmond Public Library’s Main Library (101 E. Franklin St.) on August 26, 2016, from 5:30-8 p.m. The hope for the forum is to spark an honest and heartfelt conversation about the relationship between the needs of young people and law enforcement.
This event will be the culmination of three trainings conducted that week for up to 75 officers of the Richmond Police Department. During the training the officers will create a piece of art that allows them to present themselves not as officers, but as fellow humans. Their artwork will be exhibited alongside various artworks created by young people incarcerated at the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center during a program called Performing Statistics offered by the nonprofit ART 180.
Since June, teens from the detention center have been meeting three days a week at ART 180’s teen art center ATLAS. Working on various projects including poetry, video, photography, and stenciling, their work addresses their experiences in the system and the support they wish they had in the community. “If justice was transformed, I would be doing work, not time,” wrote one teen.
Conceptualized in 2014, the Performing Statistics project is now a permanent program of ART 180 in partnership with Legal Aid Justice Center. The unique collaboration connects incarcerated youth to juvenile justice reform advocates in Virginia with the goal to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. The art created by the teens shares a rare perspective of the juvenile justice system from a first-hand experiencer. Ultimately, Performing Statistics looks to the youth most affected as the experts whose voices are important for building a more just, equitable world. As one of the program participants explained, “It’s not where you’re from, but where you want to go.”
Future events to look out for are an October exhibition at ART 180’s ATLAS gallery that will feature the work created this summer by incarcerated teens,, as well as the program’s second annual Justice Parade for Incarcerated Youth.
More on ART 180 at www.art180.org
More on the Performing Statistics project at www.performingstatistics.org
A volunteer cleanup effort took place this Wednesday morning, spreading over parts of Oregon Hill, Monroe Park, and Randolph. Graffiti removal/cover up and litter pick up were part of the tasks.
VCU students made a big part of the volunteer workforce. Here’s a photo of some of them on S. Laurel Street.
Amy Robins, Councilperson Parker Agelasto’s liaison, helped coordinate some donated gravel that volunteers spread in the 300 block alley between S. Laurel and S. Pine. Much thanks to the Luck Stone corporation‘s Rockville office for their generosity.
Oregon Hill’s alleys overall are still a mess (could use about 25 more truckloads and a good grader) and, of course, other neighborhoods need attention as well, but with the City strapped for cash, volunteers and donations are very much appreciated.
From Reverend Abbott Bailey:
Though we didn’t have any sightings of Patricia Arquette or Rainn Wilson, St. Andrew’s Church enjoyed hosting some of the cast and crew of the movie Permanent for their catered lunch yesterday. They were filming in Hollywood Cemetery and other nearby locations.
