Category Archives: government

OHNA Meeting Tomorrow Night

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The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA) meets tomorrow night.

From meeting announcement:

Monthly Meeting Agenda
Tuesday 23 May 2023
7:00PM
This meeting will be held by Zoom, at the link below.
(Editor’s note: Meeting login information redacted. Please email OHNARva@gmail.com in order to request this information)

Welcome
• Treasurer’s Report

Community Updates:

1. Lt. Brian Robinson, City of Richmond Police Section Lt, 4th Precinct
2. Officer Luke Schrader, Police Liaison, VCU
3. Ms. Verenda Cobbs, VCU
4. Ms. Stephanie Lynch, 5th District Councilperson
5. Ms. Colette McEachin, Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney (Nathan Hiddle)

Updates:

1. Amphitheater planned for Tredegar Green.
· It is slated to seat 5,000 people and accommodate and additional 2,500 standing, as per our meeting with the developer’s representative. No additional parking is planned.
· When the previous amphitheater plan was proposed, the neighborhood raised questions about hours of operation, noise levels, and parking, none of which were ever answered.
· Preston Lloyd, representing the owner, hosted a meeting (one of several to occur) on 18 May to discuss the project; a recording of the meeting is hosted on YouTube: Link is here
· A meeting is scheduled for Oregon Hill neighbors to join to meet with project representatives on Tuesday 13 June at 6pm. A Zoom invitation will be circulated before that meeting.
· Preston will give a 5–10-minute introduction to the project, but the intent is for a full presentation and discussion to occur at the 13 June meeting. The 13 June will not be the last meeting; there will be a continued discussion of items of concern, and additional meetings will be scheduled as needed.

2. An SUP application has been filed with the City of Richmond for the demolition of 708 China Street, and its replacement with a building.
· The Zoning Committee met with the applicant and asked them to reconsider demolition and incorporate the historic building into their new construction.
· The applicant has declined to make revisions and wishes to proceed with demolition and replacement.
· The item was placed on the 3 April agenda. At that meeting, it was continued until the next meeting, 17 April. At that meeting, it was continued for a month, until the 15 May meeting. At that meeting, it was continued again, until the 5 June meeting.
3. An SUP application has been filed with the City of Richmond for 601 ½ South Pine Street, and its replacement with a building.
· The applicant is proposing to divide the parcel and to construct a new, two-story, two-family detached dwelling which will face China Street.
· The applicant had a first meeting with the zoning committee. A presentation and recommendation will be brought to an upcoming OHNA meeting. The item is not yet scheduled for the Planning Commission.

Continued Business

4. A volunteer has agreed to head up a committee looking into locations for a dedicated dog park in Oregon Hill and addressing the various city requirements for such an undertaking.
a. Any other volunteers?

5. Traffic issues along Idlewood at Cherry and Pine Streets
· There have been several recent accidents at these two locations.
· These two intersections suffer from poor visibility and the high speed of cars exiting 195 east onto Idlewood.

New Business

6. Holly Street Playground cleanup
· We will poll attendees of the meeting for potential dates.
· Open High School has offered volunteer time with students needing volunteer hours (to be undertaken during school h– the playground might be a good opportunity.

7. Any new items?

Bryan Clark Green, President
Harrison Moenich, Co-Vice-President
Jennifer Hancock, Co-Vice-President
Mike Matthews, Secretary
John Bolecek, Treasurer

GRTC Holding More North-South Corridor Study Meetings

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GRTC (Greater Richmond Transportation Company) is a local government-owned public service company (essentially a ‘public-private partnership’) which operates an urban-suburban bus line based in Richmond, Virginia.

From announcement:

GRTC is planning the future of high-capacity transit in the Richmond Region. Building on the success of Pulse’s Broad Street route, GRTC is studying potential corridors for a second route running from north to south and connecting to the Broad Street route in Downtown Richmond. GRTC is coordinating with the City of Richmond, Henrico County, and Chesterfield County to determine a route that optimizes regional ridership, accessibility, and equity. This project focuses on getting to an alignment that makes sense as a next step in growing Richmond’s BRT network.

The study area includes U.S. 1 between Virginia Center Commons and Chester, U.S. 60 from Downtown Richmond to Westchester Commons, and U.S. 360 from Downtown Richmond to Commonwealth Center Parkway. GRTC will evaluate how this north-south route will cross the James River, using either the Route 1 Bridge, the Manchester Bridge, or the Mayo Bridge. The ultimate recommendation at the end of this step of the planning process will be a potential north-south BRT alignment along some combination of the corridors being studied. The decision on where to start first will help us as we move forward with funding and design of the potential route.

This step of the planning process is just the first in a series of steps that must be approved before actual construction of the project can begin. Once an alternative is selected, GRTC will begin the environmental review process, and develop cost and ridership estimates. GRTC will conduct public outreach at each step in the process.

Story Map
To learn more about the study and help us plan this new north-south line, click through the following Story Map bit.ly/Pulse-North-South-Survey

Open Houses
Join us at an in-person open house to learn more about the study and provide feedback on proposed options. Both meetings will present the same material.

Open houses are from 5:30 – 7:30 pm with brief presentation at 6 pm.

Monday, May 8, 2023
John Marshall High School
4225 Old Brook Road
Richmond, VA 23227
Bus Stop: Chamberlayne & Westminster (Route 1, 3-minute walk)

Tuesday, May 9, 2023
River City Middle School
6300 Hull Street Road
Richmond, VA 23224
Bus Stop: Hull & Elkhardt School (Route 1C, 3-minute walk)

GRTC strives to provide reasonable accomodations and services for persons who require special assistance to participate in this public involvement opportunity. Contact GRTC’s ADA Coordinator at (804) 358-3871 x434 or adacoordinator@ridegrtc.com for more information. Para informacion en espanol llame al (804) 358-3871 x434.

OHNA Meeting Tomorrow Night

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From email announcement:

Monthly Meeting Agenda
Tuesday 25 April 2023
7:00PM
This meeting will be held by Zoom, at the link below.

Topic: OHNA Monthly Meeting – April
Time: Apr 25, 2023 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
(Editor’s note: meeting information redacted, email OHNARva@gmail.com to request it)

Welcome
• Treasurer’s Report

Community Updates:

1. Lt. Brian Robinson, City of Richmond Police Section Lt, 4th Precinct
2. Officer Luke Schrader, Police Liaison, VCU
3. Ms. Verenda Cobbs, VCU
4. Ms. Stephanie Lynch, 5th District Councilperson
5. Ms. Colette McEachin, Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney (Nathan Hiddle)

Updates:

1. Amphitheater planned for Tredegar Green.
· It is slated to seat 5,000 people and accommodate and additional 5,000 standing, as per our meeting with the developer’s representative. No additional parking is planned.
· When the previous amphitheater plan was proposed, the neighborhood raised questions about hours of operation, noise levels, and parking, none of which were ever answered.

2. An SUP application has been filed with the City of Richmond for the demolition of 708 China Street, and its replacement with a building.
· The Zoning Committee met with the applicant and asked them to reconsider demolition and incorporate the historic building into their new construction.
· The applicant has declined to make revisions and wishes to proceed with demolition and replacement.
· The item was placed on the 3 April agenda. At that meeting, it was continued until the next meeting, 17 April. At that meeting, it was continued for a month, until the 15 May meeting (an agenda is not yet available for that meeting)

Continued Business

3. Traffic issues along Idlewood at Cherry and Pine Streets
· There have been several recent accidents at these two locations.
· These two intersections suffer from poor visibility and the high speed of cars exiting 195 east onto Idlewood.

New Business

1. An SUP application has been filed with the City of Richmond for 601 ½ South Pine Street, and its replacement with a building.
· The applicant is proposing to divide the parcel and to construct a new, two-family detached dwelling which will be configured to appear as a single-family dwelling from the street.
· The proposed new two-family detached dwelling would be two stories tall fronting China Street
· This SUP will be reviewed by the zoning committee, and a presentation and recommendation will be brought to an upcoming PHNA meeting (subject to the ability to schedule a meeting with the applicant to discuss their proposal)

2. A volunteer has agreed to head up a committee looking into locations for a dedicated dog park in Oregon Hill and addressing the various city requirements for such an undertaking.
· Any other volunteers?

3. Any new items?

Bryan Clark Green, President

Harrison Moenich, Co-Vice-President

Jennifer Hancock, Co-Vice-President

Mike Matthews, Secretary

John Bolecek, Treasurer

‘Commission to vote today on proposed repeal of city parking requirements’

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From RichmondBizsense.com article:

The proposal has its share of critics. Several citizens have submitted opposition letters ahead of today’s commission meeting, contending that any cost savings for developers would not necessarily be passed on to homeowners or renters. Others said parking is already scarce in certain areas and expressed concern that the change would exacerbate the issue.

At the community meeting last month, Oregon Hill resident Charles Poole said, “If you want to tweak the minimum parking requirements, tweak the requirement, but to get rid of it altogether would be extremely burdensome for the neighborhoods.”

Contending that the city had not adequately engaged the public on the issue, Poole added, “You haven’t been going to the neighborhoods and asking what will help their quality of life. There’s been nobody in our neighborhood who’s said, ‘Oh, you know what? We need less parking spaces here.’”

Neighborhood Association To Be Replaced With AI

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The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA) has announced that it is going to be turning over much of its functions to an AI (artificial intelligence) program by the end of the calendar year.

After collaborating with University of Richmond student researchers, OHNA officers concluded that many of their volunteer duties could be better completed using a new AI/chatbot interface called VULCAN.

This new project is the result of a collaboration with University of Richmond faculty and students. They are are part of a larger push to explore and develop AI as community outreach. The Oregon Hill initiative started with a few individual interviews and group retreats with OHNA officers at the end of 2022 and has taken on a life of its own, so to speak. So much so that the OHNA AI project gained its own name, VULCAN. The project was presented at a lunch symposium at the University of Richmond a little over a week ago.

“The name VULCAN was decided upon after reading the 1856 quote that described the residents of the neighborhood of Oregon Hill: “…so called, probably, from its remote inaccessible, though beautiful situation, and is inhabited chiefly by a hardy and industrious race, disciples of Vulcan.”, shared UR researcher Rebecca Croon.

The project took on significance in November of 2022 when Open AI’s ChatGPT was released. ChatGPT is a conversational generative AI model that can create human-like responses based on patterns learned from large data sets. ChatGPT is a game changer compared to previous AI technology like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant. These less advanced virtual assistant AI systems can only perform a specific task. However, ChatGPT is a text-based AI that can answer advanced questions, hold conversations with the user, write a custom letter (with citations), and many more custom-prompted tasks.

By running ‘quiet polling’ on social media and email, found that AI could account for 99% of the engagement with residents between their moving in to the neighborhood and attending their first OHNA meetings.

“Volunteer officers simply did not have the capacity able to provide the amount of individualized support and orientation that VULCAN’s chatbot could,” says Ms. Croon.

Furthermore, programmers can customize VULCAN so that is can easily simulate officers’ profiles, their personalities, and efficiently run the neighborhood association’s Zoom virtual meetings on its own.

Patrick Turing, a student member of the UR Spider Community AI team, (URSCAI), that is helping with implementing VULCAN, described how OHNA President’s facial movements can be mimicked with ‘Deep Fake’ video technology, even adding his children’s playful hijinks in the background.

“We can totally humanize this process, and soon we can capture voting tabulations on Zoom as well without even having to count- VULCAN will simply read the vocal queues and emotional loads on attendees’ faces to know which way they are voting. No more painful waiting for Boomers to find their ‘Hands Up’ button on the screen.”

For their part, OHNA officers have been impressed and are looking forward to VULCAN’s help.
One officer, speaking anonymously, said she was hopeful that VULCAN can keep on top of member lists and physical/email addresses, bylaws updates, letters to government officials, etc.

“What’s great is that institutional experience will hopefully be fully ingrained into the program so that we don’t lose the recall that we previously had to rely on from previous officers and neighbors. We already find ourselves asking VULCAN for advice based on its AI capabilities.”

Vulcan’s results are truly impressive. The URSCAI team expects OHNA officers to gradually withdraw as VULCAN learns to take over their roles and interact more with the community.

Asked what he will do with time saved by VULCAN, one OHNA officer quipped that he “may have to spend more time on FaceBook with grumpy neighbors complaining about OHNA.”

Oregon Hill residents who would like to learn more and contribute to the VULCAN project are encourage to contact the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association via email, ohnarva@gmail.com

As ChatGPT gains media attention for things like passing law school exams, researchers believe that in its next steps, it will be taking the helm of many organizations, including some government.

Oregon Hill Households Continue to Benefit From Robo-Call Fines

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When we last checked in on Pine Street neighbor Will and his family three years ago, they were breathing a sigh of relief due to their new source of income- fines placed on robo-calling telemarketers and junk mailers.

Interviewing Will today, he admits not only that the fines helped him get through a rough time economically, perhaps even allowing them to stay in their small Oregon Hill house, but that he has seen some positive changes in their whole relationship with the economy.

“Before the local government enacted this legislation, I was personally feeling preyed upon. Here I was, struggling to keep the roof above our heads, and food on the table, and yet we were bombarded by postcards, letters, texts, and phone calls, trying to sell us insurance we could not afford, or offering to buy our house out from under us. And so many outright scammers too. It was depressing and stressful.

But since the legislation went in, we may still be dealing with rising taxes and costs, but we feel less hassled, less pressured and more in control of our lives. It may not seem like much to some people, but I finally feel like there is balance restored. We still sometimes get postcards and calls, but we just log them and report ’em, and eventually we get those small public settlement checks that help us considerably with managing day-to-day expenses. I have also noticed less fraud and scam calls.”

Again, these checks come from a public fund set up by the Consumer Protection Act, a law that addresses robocalling, Do Not Call Registry, email spam, and solicitation violations. With the 2018 addendum that includes fines for unsolicited direct marketing mailings, the fund as well as its payments have grown considerably.

“Again, I urge neighbors and Richmond residents to call and email their local representatives and get help joining the program, or, if they already are enrolled, thank their local representatives for the program and remind them how important it is, especially for low income folks like ourselves. Everyone who is aggravated by robo-calls and all of the automated solicitations should see the big picture.”

Unfortunately, the industry and corporations are not taking this lying down. They are increasing their political campaign donations, often relying on ‘dark money’ channels to force their agendas on courts and governments. They claim that these fines and regulations are violating their corporate ‘personhood’ rights to ‘free speech’.

That’s why, in addition to signing up for the robo-call settlement program, citizens should contact their City, state, and federal representatives and demand resolutions and laws for both the state and national constitutions that make it explicit that corporations are not people and money is not speech.

As Will says, we need to know our Councilperson, Mayor, General Assembly, and Congresspeople put citizens over corporations.

OHNA Meeting Tonight

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From email announcement:

Monthly Meeting Agenda
Tuesday 28 March 2023
7:00PM
This meeting will be held by Zoom, at the link below.

Topic: OHNA Monthly Meeting – March
Time: Mar 28, 2023 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

(Editor’s note Remote log-in/Zoom link information redacted. Email ohnarva@gmail.com and request it.)

Welcome
• Treasurer’s Report

Community Updates:

1. Lt. Brian Robinson, City of Richmond Police Section Lt, 4th Precinct
2. Officer Luke Schrader, Police Liaison, VCU
3. Ms. Verenda Cobbs, VCU
4. Ms. Stephanie Lynch, 5th District Councilperson
5. Ms. Colette McEachin, Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney (Nathan Hiddle)

Updates:

1. Amphitheater planned for Tredegar Green.
· It is slated to seat 5,000 people and accommodate and additional 5,000 standing, as per our meeting with the developer’s representative. No additional parking is planned.
· When the previous amphitheater plan was proposed, the neighborhood raised questions about hours of operation, noise levels, and parking, none of which were ever answered.
o The applicant has informed us that they will start meeting with interested neighbors, including OHNA.

2. An SUP application has been filed with the City of Richmond for the demolition of 708 China Street, and its replacement with a building.
· The Zoning Committee met with the applicant and asked them to reconsider demolition and incorporate the historic building into their new construction.
· The applicant has declined to make revisions, and wishes to proceed with demolition and replacement. This is the application before us this evening.

3. A vote is requested on the following resolution: “Resolved: that OHNA, as a matter of policy, opposes the demolitions of neighborhood buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places, both those individually listed and those listed as contributing resources to the Oregon Hill Historic District.”

Continued Business

4. Traffic issues along Idlewood at Cherry and Pine Streets
· There have been several recent accidents at these two locations.
· These two intersections suffer from poor visibility and the high speed of cars exiting 195 east onto Idlewood.

New Business

5. Any items?

Bryan Clark Green, President
Harrison Moenich, Co-Vice-President
Jennifer Hancock, Co-Vice-President
Mike Matthews, Secretary
John Bolecek, Treasurer

“Top Down” Planning Changes Threaten Neighborhood

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From Laurel Street neighbor Charles Pool (editor’s note: posted with permission):

Hi All,

I attended the meeting at Binford last evening regarding the three proposed zoning changes, which would eliminate ANY minimum parking requirement for anything, and lower restrictions on short term rentals (like AirBNB’s) and auxillary dwellings.

Many have objected to these changes, which are “top down” from the Planning Commission and staff (rather than requested by the communities). As I pointed out in my comment, no civic association has considered what we need to improve our quality of like and decided that we need less parking and more short term rentals!

One change proposed by the Planning Director last evening was to require owner residency for short term rentals (like AirBNB’s) EXCEPT for MIXED USE zoned areas. And for those of us who have followed this closely, the Planning Commission refused to change Oregon Hill’s future land use designation from MIXED USE. The number one goal of the Richmond 300 was to change zoning to match the future land use designation, and the city has already started the wheels in motion to rezone the entire city to match the master plan.

I hope that we as a neighborhood can oppose this!

Thanks,

Charles

OHNA Meeting Tomorrow

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From email announcement:

Good evening OHNA members,

I look forward to seeing everyone Tuesday at 7pm for our monthly OHNA meeting. This meeting will be hybrid: we will meet in person in the chapel of St. Andrew’s Church, and there will also be a zoom link available to access the meeting remotely, below.

Attached to this email are:
1. the agenda for our Tuesday 28 February 2023 meeting (also pasted below),
2. the 2023 schedule of OHNA meetings

We look forward to seeing everyone Tuesday evening.

Thanks,
Bryan

Monthly Meeting Agenda
Tuesday 28 February 2023
7:00PM
This meeting will be hybrid:
we will meet in person in the chapel of St. Andrew’s Church;
the meeting will also be available by Zoom, at the link below.

Topic: OHNA Monthly Meeting – February
Time: Feb 28, 2023 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
(For Zoom and phone meeting info, contact OHNA at ohnarva@gmail.com)

Welcome
• Treasurer’s Report

Community Updates:

1. Lt. Brian Robinson, City of Richmond Police Section Lt, 4th Precinct
2. Officer Luke Schrader, Police Liaison, VCU
3. Ms. Verenda Cobbs, VCU
4. Ms. Stephanie Lynch, 5th District Councilperson
5. Ms. Colette McEachin, Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney

Updates:

1. Amphitheater planned for Tredegar Green.
· It is slated to seat 5,000 people and accommodate and additional 5,000 standing, as per our meeting with the developer’s representative. No additional parking is planned.
· When the previous amphitheater plan was proposed, the neighborhood raised questions about hours of operation, noise levels, and parking, none of which were ever answered.
o The applicant has not yet scheduled a meeting with OHNA.

2. An SUP application has been filed with the City of Richmond for the demolition of 708 China Street, and its replacement with a building.
· The Zoning Committee met with the applicant and asked them to reconsider demolition and incorporate the historic building into their new construction.
· The applicant has not yet come back to the neighborhood with a revision.

Continued Business

3. Traffic issues along Idlewood at Cherry and Pine Streets
· There have been several recent accidents at these two locations.
· These two intersections suffer from poor visibility and the high speed of cars exiting 195 east onto Idlewood.

New Business

4. Any items?

Bryan Clark Green, President

Harrison Moenich, Co-Vice-President

Jennifer Hancock, Co-Vice-President

Mike Matthews, Secretary

John Bolecek, Treasurer