OHNA Meets Tonight

The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association is meeting tonight (as usual, fourth Tuesday of month) at 7 pm at the William Byrd Community House.

Because last month’s meeting was cancelled, the agenda is very full.

A few points-

The American Civil War Museum at Tredegar will attend to discuss repairs to their historic site’s structures. Attending will be Patrick Saylor, Director, Marketing and PR; Christie Ann Bieber, Director of Strategic Initiatives; and Andrew Phinney, Facilities Manager, to discuss “some work that will be taking place at Historic Tredegar during the next few months. Specifically, we will be doing badly needed repair and restoration work on the canal wall at the back of the Tredegar site. The project is set to begin Feb. 23, with the removal of trees and vegetation along the wall.”

Emily Francis, a candidate for the 10th district Senate race, will be attending. “I’m running for state senate in the 10th District and was hoping to speak with you about the race before your neighborhood association meeting tomorrow”

From Rev. S. Abbott Bailey, Members of “St. Andrew’s and the Grace-on-the-Hill Residents are planning a storm-drain marking project in Oregon Hill to raise awareness about water quality, which is particularly important given our proximity to the James River.

The Tredegar Green issue was rescheduled for the March meeting.

RFD Visits St. Andrew’s School

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From St. Andrew’s School FaceBook page:

City of Richmond Firefighters came to visit Miss Davis’ kindergarten class, teaching the students about fire safety and answering lots of questions. They let the children touch the equipment and see them in their masks so it wouldn’t be so scary if they ever saw them at a real fire. Climbing the truck was, of course, the highlight! Thank you, RFD!

Operation Move Elkhardt

From FaceBook announcement:

We’ve heard of the crumbling infrastructure in our city schools and the latest incident of this collapse was with Elkhardt Middle School having to suddenly close due to mold.
To show the children of our community that we care, I’d like you to join in helping Elkhardt administration and staff with their move to Clark Springs Elementary.
The last day of classes for the nearly 500 students at Elkhardt will be next Thursday, Feb. 12th. Students will report to Clark Springs Elementary on Wednesday, Feb. 18th. This gives us Friday, Feb. 13th, a teacher work day where they will be packing THE ENTIRE SCHOOL into boxes, Monday, Feb. 14th, a holiday – President’s Day – to prepare the school for Tuesday, Feb. 17th, where they will be unpacking THE ENTIRE SCHOOL and prepping classrooms for students to return.
Garet Prior reached out to Principal Eric Jones and he would be delighted to have help. Go to the link below to sign up and help out.
Thank you for your time and let’s show these students that we, Richmond, care.

http://www.123contactform.com/form-1291941/Elkhardt-Emergency-Move

Intro To Oral History at Main Library This Week

From Richmond Public Library announcement:

Learn how to collect stories/ oral histories from your family, friends and interesting people you know in your church, neighborhood and community. We are losing incredible stories daily! Let’s create a core group of folks dedicated to save these stories from our local heroes, characters, activists, leaders, and those who have never been asked to share. Join us with Betsy Brinson, who is giving us her time and sharing information from her years of experience in collecting Oral Histories; Tuesday Feb. 10 1:30-3:00 or Thursday, February 12 from 10:30am- Noon. Space is limited, so call a reserve your space now!

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Also, don’t forget that VCU Library has its Oral History Archive in its Digital Collections. Including ones about Oregon Hill.

Trash/Recycling Pickup Tomorrow

This Wednesday is a red Wednesday, which means trash and recycling pickup. Please make sure you pick up containers after pickup tomorrow night. They do not belong on the sidewalk after tomorrow night.

In order to take your recycling to the next level, read this: 10 ways to improve your recycling.

Ms. Darlene Mallory, Support Services Manager for Richmond Department of Public Works, will be presenting new information on Richmond Recycles Program at Councilperson Agelasto’s meeting tomorrow evening.

The RVA Environmental Film Festival continues this evening with a program at University of Richmond. Tomorrow evening, it will be at Henrico’s Tuckahoe Library. Richmond Had Rails will be there at 5 pm. Thursday evening will be at the VCU Grace Street Theater.

RVA Environmental Film Festival Starts At Main Street Library

Tonight at the downstairs auditorium at Main Branch Richmond Public Library:

All Films are FREE and open to the public!
6:30 PM Speaker: Alicia Zatcoff – Sustainability Manager for the City of Richmond
7:10 PM Richmond2015 video preview
7:30 PM With My Own Two Wheels (44 minutes)

For more information on the festival, which continues all week…
http://rvaenvironmentalfilmfestival.com/

Shiver Redux

Took part in the Shiver in The River cleanup this morning. Started by myself picking up the smaller bits of plastic and cigarette butts on 5th Street and near Tredegar but gradually worked over to the riverfront between Tredegar and Lee Bridge with some likeminded folks. Other groups of volunteers worked on other parts of the riverfront area.
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It was a beautiful day for it and there were plenty of birds enjoying the sun and river.
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Some were able to find sponsorship for jumping in the river after the cleanup was over.
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Our dedicated Councilperson Parker Agelasto was there, as well as members of RVA Clean Sweep. (They have an upcoming cleanup for the Randolph neighborhood scheduled, for those inclined.)
Overall, a good first annual event and congratulations to Keep Virginia Beautiful for hosting it. Maybe Oregon Hill can sponsor a team for it next year. In the meantime, it looks like VCU’s Paint The Town Green event is scheduled for April 18th. If folks would like to volunteer for it and other neighborhood cleanups, please contact Cherry Street resident Jimmy Blackford at prairiegates at hotmail.com or (804) 335-5808.

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Holds ‘Friends & Family Day’ Tomorrow

From the announcement:

St. Andrew’s is holding its First Friends and Family Day to let you, our friends, family, and neighbors, know how important you are to us. Please join us for morning worship and/or lunch; we’d welcome the opportunity to share the day with you.

February 1, 2015
Morning Worship: 11:00 am
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

Lunch: 12:30 pm
Baldwin Hall, St. Andrew’s School

OHNA Meeting Next Tuesday

From email:

Hello all

OHNA’s monthly meeting is Tuesday, January 27th at 7 pm at WBCH (William Byrd Community House).

Jack Berry, from Venture Richmond, will be at the meeting to discuss the proposed rezoning of the amphitheater below Oregon Hill to allow more events. This issue could potentially have a huge impact on the neighborhood in terms of more amplified noise, crowds, parking congestion, and public drinking. If you wish to have your voice heard on this issue, this IS the meeting to attend.

Also attending the meeting will be City Planning Director Mark Olinger, and City Councilman Parker Agelasto.

Thanks
Jennifer Hancock
OHNA

(Editor’s note: This will hopefully be a good opportunity to get questions answered. Click here for some suggestions.)