From a tip:
My house received a notice (and several visits) from the City\’s Property Maintenance Division. I was wondering if anyone else in the neighborhood did as well.
Also:
This topic has been broached here (and here) before. And there has been movement elsewhere in the state. Now, who on Richmond City Council will put forward the resolution of support? Certainly we have seen plenty of corporate manipulation on the local level.
From MoveToAmend.org:
Reps. Nolan & Pocan Respond to Hundreds of Local Resolutions Calling for “We the People” Amendment
(Washington D.C.) – The movement for constitutional reforms that would end what organizers call “corporate rule” has arrived in the chambers of Congress. This morning, two members of the U.S. House of Representatives joined Move to Amend by announcing their sponsorship of the “We the People Amendment,” which clearly and unequivocally states that:
Rights recognized under the Constitution belong to human beings only, and not to government-created artificial legal entities such as corporations and limited liability companies; and
Political campaign spending is not a form of speech protected under the First Amendment.
In making the announcement, lead sponsor Rep. Rick Nolan (DFL-Minnesota), said: “It’s time to take the shaping and molding of public policy out of corporate boardrooms, away from the corporate lobbyists, and put it back in city halls – back with county boards and state legislatures – and back in the Congress where it belongs.”Ben Manski, a spokesperson for Move to Amend, agreed, saying: “Today, members of Congress join a movement that insists on the fundamental equality of all Americans, and that rejects the idea that the corporate class should have special protections against We the People.”
The Move to Amend coalition was formed in 2009 in preparation for the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision. Today, the coalition of nearly 260,000 people and hundreds of organizations has helped to pass nearly 500 resolutions in municipalities and local governments across the country calling on the state and federal governments to adopt this amendment.
The Move to Amend coalition makes a point of differentiating themselves from the other proposals that have come forward in response to Citizens United. “In every single community where Americans have had the opportunity to call for a Constitutional amendment to outlaw corporate personhood, they have seized it and voted yes overwhelmingly, stated George Friday, Move to Amend spokesperson. “The Citizens Uniteddecision is not the cause, it is a symptom. We must remove big money and special interests from the legal and political process entirely.”
# # #
Read the text of the We the People Amendment by clicking here.
Some photos from last night’s 5th District budget meeting at the Virginia War Memorial:


(Actually, the last one was of a group of people doing sort sort of group exercise activity outside the War Memorial. I don’t think they even knew of the budget meeting.)
From press release:
In Virginia, 12.1% of high school students have been hit, slapped or physically hurt on purpose by their boyfriend or girlfriend during the past 12 months (10.7% male and 13.4% female). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey reports “1 in 5 women and nearly 1 in 7 men who ever experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner, first experienced some form of intimate partner violence between 11 and 17 years of age.” Beside physical injury, teen dating violence can lead to adverse health outcomes and increase unhealthy behaviors.
Visit the Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month website to learn what youth and concerned adults can do to address this issue – http://www.teendvmonth.org/
The Virginia Department of Health’s Teen Dating Violence Prevention program provides information, training, and resources on dating violence prevention to professionals working with youth, teens, and college students.
Click here for a list of available national resources on Teen Dating Violence.
Oregon Hill’s state senator, John Watkins, withdrew his bill for uranium mining, but he is still pushing nuclear power.
Please call or email his office to let him know you oppose SB1138.
“We don’t need a nuclear think tank, we need to move away from dangerous nuclear energy and towards safe renewables!”
John Watkins (804) 698-7510
Emails ~
district10 at senate.virginia.gov
From press release:
Councilman Parker C. Agelasto to hold a Richmond Government Budget Planning Session in the Central 5th Voter District: Public Input needed
All Central 5th Voter District residents invited and encouraged to attend
WHAT (Richmond, Virginia U.S.A.) — The Honorable Parker C. Agelasto, Councilman, Richmond City Council, Central 5th Voter District will hold a Richmond Government Budget Planning Session meeting in the Central 5th Voter District. The meeting will include Byron C. Marshall, Richmond Chief Administrative Officer. The meeting is free and open to the public and all Central 5th Voter District residents are invited and encouraged to attend.
This will be an interactive meeting to receive public input on budget priorities in creating the upcoming Fiscal Year 2014/2015 Richmond Government Budget, which will be established by Richmond City Council in May of 2013. During this meeting, participants will be provided hand-held devices to vote on issues that are important to them.
This Richmond Government Budget Planning Session meeting is very important in helping to identify which Richmond Government programs and services are important to Central 5th Voter District residents for their neighborhoods, and the city as a whole. The current 2013 Fiscal Year Richmond Government Budget is $1,429,628,466.
The meeting will include presentations, discussions and input regarding the following areas:
Operation Service Priorities
· Streets and sidewalks in your Neighborhood
· Public Transportation
· Recycling Opportunities
Police and Safety Priorities
· Police Protection in your Neighborhood
· Quality of Animal Care and Control
Human Service Priorities
· Parks and Recreation Programs and Facilities in your neighborhood
· Social Services
· Public Health Services
· Public Education
Economic Development
· Employment Opportunities in your neighborhood
· New Businesses
WHEN Wednesday, February 6, 2013
6:00-8:00 p.m.
WHERE Virginia War Memorial
621 South Belvidere Street
Richmond, Virginia 23220
WHO The Honorable Parker C. Agelasto, Councilman
Richmond City Council, Central 5th Voter District
Byron C. Marshall, Richmond Chief Administrative OfficerCONTACT For more information, please contact Councilman Parker C. Agelasto, Richmond City Council, Central 5th Voter District, at 804.646.6050 (tel), or parker.agelasto at richmondgov.com (email)
From Times Dispatch article:
After a brief, final flaring of tension between a neighborhood group and a developer, the City Council also unanimously approved a special-use permit that will allow the transformation of the former Victory Carpet Cleaning building at 407 S. Cherry St. into a dozen apartments.
The overhaul of the 123-year-old, three-story brick building by developer Guy Blundon was the subject of a “long, arduous set of negotiations” with neighbors, Blundon told the council Monday night.
“We have made a lot of concessions, and I think we will have a wonderful project,” Blundon said, adding that he was “dumbfounded” by last-minute criticism from Todd Woodson, executive director of the Oregon Hill Home Improvement Council and treasurer of the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association.
Residents were successful in getting Blundon to reduce the number of proposed units by half and agree to not rent to Virginia Commonwealth University students, except married couples or military veterans.
However, Woodson said he only got the final wording of the agreement Sunday, which will allow VCU students who are older than 25 to be tenants. He considered that a breach of the “gentlemen’s agreement” between Blundon and the neighborhood. Blundon said he arrived at the final language after talks with his lawyer about discrimination concerns.
Woodson said the neighborhood association was supporting the special-use permit request with “extreme reservation.”
“Like the James River hawk that graces our environs, we will be watching every move,” Woodson said.
100 block of S.Cherry Street closed for brick sidewalk repair.