Would this be allowed to happen in Windsor Farms? In the Fan? On the VCU campus? In another City Councilperson’s District?
Again, this trash situation is something that myself and others have brought up time and time again.
The end of July means moving for many people. Unfortunately, for far too many renters and landlords that means pile up your trash on the sidewalk and leave town, and let others deal with their trash. Although I posted before about the problem on Idlewood and Cherry, here is what will greet the Byrd Market attendees this afternoon:
Again, in the Idlewood situation, an easy solution would be to create a trash containment area along the alley which goes north behind the residences just a few yards away, and make sure residents use it. City trash trucks are supposed to be picking up from the back alleys in the neighborhood.
Unfortunately, this is not the only place where this happening, as the following pictures will attest. In every single case, it involves VCU student renters of absentee landlords. All of these places are repeat offenders. While not every Oregon Hill residence has a back alley access due to the way the lots are laid out, all of these places in the pictures have back alley access. There are other trash problems in the neighborhood, but I find these particularly egregious because they block front sidewalks. Personally, I suggest the City increase fines against the landlords, who are easier to identify and locate. I would be in favor of landlord licenses, not unlike what other university towns have implemented.
In the meantime, I will go out this morning since I have the day off from work and try to at least tidy the sidewalk trash on my block. Maybe this will stop the City from fining me for not mowing along my back alley while I was away on vacation.
614, 616 S. Laurel St.
500 block of S. Laurel Street
100 block of S. Cherry Street
800 block of Holly Street
RICHMOND, VA— Beginning Monday, August 3 at 9 a.m. and continuing for approximately 18 hours into the early morning hours on Tuesday, August 4, 2009, the City of Richmond Department of Public Utilities will be lining a sewer main from the northeast corner of Franklin Street at Belvidere Street to the northwest corner of Franklin Street at Belvidere Street.
During this construction, the left curb lane of Franklin will be closed from approximately Pine Street to the parking entrance of the Apartment Tower located east of Belvidere St. leaving the center and right lanes available for traffic. The right southbound lane of Belvidere will be closed from Grace St. to beyond the intersection of Franklin with Belvidere streets. The right northbound lane of Belvidere will be closed from approximately Main St. to beyond the intersection of Franklin with Belvidere streets.
Motorists should follow all posted detour signs. Motorists are asked to proceed with caution around the construction area.
The City of Richmond Department of Public Utilities provides natural gas, water, wastewater and stormwater services to more than 500,000 residential and commercial customers in the metropolitan region. DPU also operates electric street lighting utility, which maintains more than 37,000 streetlights throughout the City. For more information, call DPU’s Customer Care Center at 644-3000 or visit DPU’s Web site at www.richmondgov.com/dpu.
Previously, I have posted on new residential solar power as well as problems with Dominion Power’s service in the neighborhood. One of the benefits of putting grid-tied solar into place, (besides redundant power, besides lower power bills, besides tax credits, besides being able to sell state renewable energy credits (SRECs), not to mention cleaner energy in general), is that it does illuminate grid problems. For example, since taking inverter readings, and contacting the State Corporation Commission (SCC), Dominion Power has put new poles in, added transformers, and increased voltage to proper levels. In other words, if neighborhoods want better energy service, then get solar and create your own energy.
But that leaves the old utility poles in place, and brings me to my next topic- Verizon actually owns many of the old poles in the neighborhood. Dominion Power has just rented space on them in the past, while it is the City of Richmond that actually does the planning and managing of the right-of-ways. So, getting Verizon to do its part in upgrading service will encourage the City and Dominion Power to do more.
With that in mind, I call on Verizon to bring FiOS to Oregon Hill. For one thing, I have heard that FiOS is already offered north of Cumberland Street. The neighborhood has the residential density. The City has a contract with Verizon for services to its residents. I already have DSL, and Verizon sends me offers for DirecTV every week- why not save the ad money and use it instead to bring FiOS to the neighborhood? The neighborhood is right next to downtown and close to Verizon’s Virginia headquarters. While many residents already have Comcast, many of them would be willing to make the switch to FiOS. Covad and wireless beckon if Verizon cannot keep up with technological advances in the neighborhood.
The newly Council approved Downtown Master Plan recognizes Oregon Hill as a historic neighborhood that deserves Old & Historic status- to the point of offering incentives to residents for the designation. Certainly, getting rid of old utility poles and lines by bringing in buried fiber optic cable with new services would go a long way. After all, Verizon already buries line and offers these services for VCU campus.
Again, these are the sort of services that citizens expect our elected representatives to push for, especially when the service contracts come back up for vote.
Word on the street is that, following the passing of the Downtown Master Plan, 5th District Councilperson Marty Jewell will be holding a fundraising party this Wednesday, hosted by the Ripp family.
Some background here, here, and here.
Hopefully the Downtown Master Plan will be one topic of discussion at tonight’s Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association meeting.
From this past Tuesday
From this past Saturday
Despite multiple communications over the past year with the City’s Public Works and Community Development, as well as letters to the property owner, this trash pile remains a sore spot. Its right along the sidewalk and its one of the first things people see when they enter into the neighborhood from the west. Visitors to the Tuesday Byrd House Market often have to walk around it. Despite City Code violations, the trash cans are hardly ever taken away from the street back to the residents’ yards. Really, one easy solution would be to create a trash containment area along the alley which goes north behind the residences just a few yards away, and make sure residents use it. City trash trucks are supposed to be picking up from the back alleys in the neighborhood. The owner of these row houses which face the 200 block of S. Cherry, is a man named Hugh Edmunds. He continues to rent to VCU students while he lives over in the Windsor Farms neighborhood.
There have also been multiple noise complaints about these houses over the past few years, with at least one being on the Richmond police CAPS list. Sadly, some of the longtime residents on the 300 block of S. Cherry have moved away in part to the ongoing nuisances.
Years ago, I used to attend parties at 238 S. Cherry when Mike Gangloff lived there. Mike ran his own record label, Radioactive Rat, from that house. Sometimes he would even have bands play there. He made a point of warning neighbors a few days before and making sure the loudness was over before midnight. Then we would QUIETLY hang out while enjoying a few of Mike’s excellent homebrew pumpkin ales.
DPU TRAFFIC ALERT
Franklin Street between Pine & Belvidere Streets
RICHMOND, VA— Beginning Thursday, July 23, 2009 through Friday, July 24, 2009 at 7 a.m. the City of Richmond Department of Public Utilities will be lining a sewer main along Franklin Street from E Pine Street to the intersection with Belvidere Street.
During construction the right and left lanes of Franklin will need to be closed from approximately Laurel to Belvidere, leaving the center lane available for traffic. The right southbound lane of Belvidere Street will also be closed from Grace Street to beyond the intersection of Franklin and Belvidere streets.
Motorists should follow all posted detour signs. Motorists are asked to proceed with caution around the construction area.
The City of Richmond Department of Public Utilities provides natural gas, water, wastewater and stormwater services to more than 500,000 residential and commercial customers in the metropolitan region. DPU also operates electric street lighting utility, which maintains more than 37,000 streetlights throughout the City. For more information, call DPU’s Customer Care Center at 644-3000 or visit DPU’s Web site at www.richmondgov.com/dpu.
Candidate Silver Persinger is at it again. In his own words:
I created this petition to Richmond City Council. A friend was recently stopped by police for not having a light on her bicycle and fined $100. Sign this petition to reduce the fine and pass it along to your friends. If several hundred people sign it, we may have a shot.
Click here to sign the following petition.
Petition to Reduce Fine for Riding a Bicycle without a Light in Richmond, Virginia
We, the undersigned, request that Richmond City Council reduce the fine for bicyclists who ride a bicycle at night without lights from $100 to $15.
Whereas, bicycle riding is a healthy form of transportation that is good for rider and the environment; the City Council should value and encourage the contribution that bicyclists make to reducing the impact of transportation to the city and the environment.
Whereas, bicycles are predominately ridden with young people, students, and the low income; a $100 fine presents a financial hardship for the majority of bicycle riders. On July 24, 2009 the Federal Minimum Wage was raised to $7.25. A $100 fine represents over 13.5 hours of labor at minimum wage, or over a third of an employee’s weekly wages.
Whereas, most bicycles are equipped with reflectors, the bicycles are visible at night by reflecting the headlights of oncoming automobiles.
We object to the $100 fine and request the City Council to create an ordinance which would reduce the fine to $15.
Often, the resolutions that come before City Council have their basis in one of the committees that meet before City Council. One of the most important of those Council committees is the Land Use, Housing, and Transportation Committee, which usually meets monthly on a Tuesday afternoon (for example, July 21, at 3 pm in Council chanbers at City Hall).
Here are a few items from the agenda for the upcoming LUHT Committee meeting that may be of interest to Oregon Hill residents and Richmond citizens in general:
Presentation(s)
Monroe Park Improvements Planned by Monroe Park Advisory Council – Larry Miller,
Project Management Analyst, Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities.
Central VA Waste Management Authority (CVWMA)Presentation – Kim Hynes, Executive
Director, CVWMA
Papers for Consideration
Public Works
4. Ord. No. 2009-138 (Patron: Mr. Hilbert) – To amend *** the Code *** for the
purpose of establishing procedures and guidelines for the maintenance and removal of
trees on City-owned property and to establish an Urban Forestry Commission.
…the police will be ready!
News Release
Richmond Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit Receives $1.1 Million Dollar Grant
July 9, 2009
This week, the Department of Criminal Justice Services notified the Department that its EOD Unit will receive $1,176,300 in federal funds from the Department of Homeland Security.
“This will enhance our operational capacity with equipment allocations and training with our local, state, federal, and international law enforcement agencies. The grant allows us to add public value to our community without a local financial impact,” stated Assistant Chief Dave McCoy.
Contact: Sgt. Ron Brown
Richmond Police Department
Phone 804-646-0607
Fax 804-646-3496
http://www.richmondgov.com/police