Category Archives: News

Sector 413 November Newsletter

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From Lt. Baltz:

Hello. I hope everyone had a nice October and a quiet Halloween. I know there were a lot of activities taking place over the weekend. First Fridays will be this Friday night, plan to come out and support the businesses that participate in this.
It is unfortunate but we had a homicide in Sector 413 that occurred on October 29 at 3rd and Broad Streets at four o’clock in the afternoon.
There were 10 robberies in Sector 413 last month. Two of these were to Commercial businesses.
There was 1 aggravated assault in Sector 413; the suspect was arrested.
Here is a breakdown on the crimes reported:
VIOLENT CRIME:
Homicide-
300 E. Broad Street, 4:00 pm, Javis Turner was stabbed by Desean Trent on 10/29/09. Trent was arrested. Motive-Argument
2 Commercial Robberies-
10/14/09, 212 E. Grace Street, 2:00pm, the modern Coin was robbed by two unknown b-m’s. Both had handguns.
10/18/09, 520 W. Broad Street, 5:30 pm, Rite Aid was robbed by unknown male with a handgun.
8 Robberies-
10/09/09, 1230 am, 700 W. Franklin Street, Anthony Brown, 18 and Nicholas Smith, 18 were robbed by two unknown b-m’s armed with hand guns.
10/21/09, 0245 a.m., 501 W. Broad Street, Thomas Higgins, 19 and Michael Mann, 18, were robbed outside of New York Fried Chicken by two unknown males armed with handguns.
10/21/09, 0230 a.m. 813 W. Grace Street. Jairo Montengno, 20 was robbed by 2 suspects armed with handguns. Brandon Anderson, 22 and Bryant Harris, 26 were arrested that night.
10/23/09, 0245 am, 300 N. Madison, Buster Perkins, 26 was robbed by an unknown male armed with a handgun.
10/23/09, 1205 a.m., 400 N. Madison, William Bendye, 32 and Rasheeda Johnson, 30 were robbed by 2 unknown males armed with handguns.
10/24/09, 0144 am, 600 E. Main Street, the parking attendant, Diruk Wordofa, 44 was sprayed with mace and robbed by two unknown males.
10/31/09, 5:00pm, 200 E. Broad Street, Anthony Higgins, 19 was robbed by David Evans by force. Officer Nicholas Castrinos observed the incident taking place and after a short foot pursuit was able to apprehend the suspect. EXCELLENT JOB OFFICER CASTRINOS!
1 Aggravated Assault-
320 W. Grace Street, 10/30/09, Vanessa Mitchell, 21 was assaulted by her roommate, Sarah Rodriguez, 21. Rodriguez was arrested.
PROPERTY CRIMES
There were 49 thefts from motor vehicles during the month of October. The majority happened in the Monroe Ward and City Center neighborhoods. I have requested some additional officer’s to patrol in these areas especially when we have activities taking place at the coliseum, the National theatre and Center Stage. On a positive note, Patrol officers did make 6 arrests involving individuals breaking into vehicles. This occurred in the last week of October so we anticipate a decrease in this type of crime.
Graffiti seems to be appearing everywhere throughout our Sector. I cannot think of a neighborhood that has not been “tagged”. These individuals do not think about the damage they are causing to the businesses when they paint on walls and vehicles. They are very hard to catch but maybe if we all work together we could catch one or two. Call us if you see anything suspicious taking place.
If you are aware of crime or would like to give information call Crime Stoppers at 780-1000. Please continue to report suspicious persons or activities to the police as soon as possible. The non emergency number is 646-5100.
Sector 413 Officer Thomas Neale was awarded the 4th Precinct Officer of the Month. Congratulations Officer Neale! Officer Neale apprehended a theft from a motor vehicle suspect after he observed the individual outside of a car. After a short foot pursuit the subject was apprehended and the stolen property was returned to the owner.
During the month of October, Sector 413 officers answered 1880 radio calls and conducted 155 field interviews. These numbers reflect only Sector 413; it does not include the rest of the Precinct. That is a lot of radio calls!
I want to thank the officers, detectives and community for their continued support in making Sector 413 a better place to live and work.

Sincerely,
Lt. Yvonne Baltz- Fourth Precinct – Sector 413 – (o) 646-4239
yvonnebaltz@richmondgov.com

Can You Afford College?

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From press release:

TheCollegePlace-Richmond Upcoming Workshop:

Understanding and Applying for Financial Aid: Figuring out how to search for
financial assistance for college can be a complicated and stressful process.
This workshop will help students and parents navigate the world of financial
aid. This topic will cover areas such as understanding financial aid terms,
the difference between scholarships/grants/loans and work-study, FAFSA and
more.

Target audience: 12th grade student/parents.

Event Details: Mary & Frances Youth Center (on the campus of VCU next to the
Cary Street Gym) at W. Cary and S. Linden.

Date: Saturday, November 7th (10:00a ? 11:15a) — Registration Deadline:
November 5, 2009

Register: Visit
http://www.ecmcfoundation.org/thecollegeplace/register_form.html to
register. You must register in order to participate. Space is limited.

This workshop is free.

For more information, please email Gabriela Mira at gmira@ecmc.org or call
827.0551.

St. Andrew’s Oregon Hill House Warming

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From announcement:

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church is offering basic home energy-saving devices to households on Oregon Hill that want and need assistance in this area. Items include weatherization strips for doors and windows and interior window insulation kits. Windows and doors can account for up to 20% of the air leaks in a house. Reducing them and the solar gain in houses can save as much as 10% to 25% on heating and cooling bills (See Energy Savers: Tips on Saving Energy and Money at Home, produced by the US Department of Energy). Our hope is to help households reduce the cost of utility bills while also caring for God’s creation.

On October 31 from 10:00 am to Noon and on November 1 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm, volunteers will be canvassing the Oregon Hill neighborhood to identify those households that need and want this assistance. If you are home and interested, please welcome them!

If you’re interested in volunteering, please contact Abbott Bailey at abailey@standrewsec.org. Volunteers will be given a simple script to follow and an area to cover. We’d love to have some more neighborhood folks join us in our House Warming efforts.

Good News/Bad News On Planning Front

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First, from Fans of Monroe Park Facebook Group:

Good news, friends- the Monroe Park Master plan/document was unanimously approved by the Planning Commission on Monday, Oct 19th. Now the City needs to come up with some major dollars to make this park the historic jewel the City deserves!

While Oregon Hill neighbors continue to ask for a traffic circle for Idlewood Avenue, other neighborhoods receive…the lack of action is disturbing. I will continue to give voice for my neighbors’ concerns:

Thank you for your work on this issue.

There were several distinct reasons to support the roundabout. Others
have made the same observations; just making the notes below to
refresh some of the local experience.

During the building of the Grace Arents Community Garden (GACG),
workers saw numerous cars going the wrong way down Idlewood after
passing through the traffic light at Cherry Street. There were close
calls with cars coming off the exit ramp, including one screeching
moment long enough for garden workers to look up & take in the whole
thing, conscious of the split second swerve that avoided what could
have been a fatal head-on crash. Even that incident, & certainly none
of the other times cars went the wrong way down the street, never made
it into a police accident report, because near-misses are not
recorded. The heart-pounding of the witnesses could not have been a
fraction of the terror of those in the vehicles; too bad none of their
voices were raised in an official appeal to traffic designers to never
let it happen to anyone else.

The William Byrd Community House had a persuasive point that the
property on which the GACG & Byrd House Market currently operate might
someday be used for much needed subsidized elder housing under
auspices of WBCH. Adding residents, staff & visitors of an elder
housing establishment into the current limited access to the site
would add even more traffic confusion.

If the long-term proposal for elder housing does not happen anytime
soon, then the GACG & market may continue to grow in importance as
local food security infrastructure. The one-way traffic pattern
effectively reduces awareness & participation, especially by Randolph
neighborhood.

If the elder housing does come to pass, then the community garden &
market might be moved further down the Garden Mile, possibly nearer
Clark Springs school. At that time, our neighborhood might be in the
position that Randolph is now with regard to being uninvited to
participate by the one-way traffic design.

Rush hour coming off of the RMA, with a good chunk of it being VCU
traffic, tries impatiently to get through the bottleneck of our
neighborhood at a time most dangerous for children & elders attending
WBCH programs, for students attending St.Andrews school, & even for
walkers to Open High School. The confusion, irritation & danger would
be reduced considerably by splitting off all the traffic that is
actually west-bound before it has to come through the light at Cherry
Street.

One other element of the discussion is the roundabout itself.
Statistics prove that it increases safety at intersections. It
reduces gridlock by being designed for almost continuous flow.

WBCH’s Deli-Palooza at the New York Deli on Thursday

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Have we got a deal for you! Join WBCH for a night of fun at the New York
Deli! There will be giveaways, karaoke, drinks specials and more on
October 22nd with WBCH!

When you make a donation to WBCH in the month of October and eat at New
York Deli from 5-10pm on Thursday October 22 and mention WBCH
Deli-Palooza you will receive a discount on your meal on our special
night. You can also give the night of the event at New York Deli.

Give WBCH $10 = 10% off your meal on October 22nd

Give WBCH $25 = 25% off your meal on October 22nd

Give WBCH $50 = 50% off your meal on October 22nd

Send your gift to WBCH today to participate!

How It Works: Donations will be taken between 10-1-2009 & 10-22-2009 in
the WBCH Development Office. Credit Cards, Checks and Cash may be used
until 4 pm on October 22nd. Checks and Cash donations will be accepted
on site for your meal discount. Participants will receive wristbands
when they arrive at New York Deli on 10/22/09 to receive discount based
on giving level.

Have questions? Email: doffice@wbch.org or call 804-643-2717 ext. 324

New York Deli is located @ 2920 W. Cary St Richmond Virginia 23221

Jessica Turner
Development Associate
William Byrd Community House
224 South Cherry Street
Richmond, Virginia 23220

(804) 643-2717 ext. 324
jturner@wbch.org

Roundtable on Climate Change and National Security

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Not in Oregon Hill, but nearby in Randolph:

Hello,

I am writing to invite you to a roundtable on climate change and national security. Military veterans are embarking on a 21-state tour to talk to citizens and local community leaders about the dangers of climate change and ts threat to national security. Tomorrow, October 20th, they will be coming to Richmond.

The tour is sponsored by Operation Free, a coalition of veterans and national security groups working together to raise public awareness about national security threats posed by climate change and the importance of building a clean energy economy that is not tied to fossil fuels.

Operation Free and its members are encouraging Congress to pass energy legislation that cuts carbon pollution, develops clean energy incentives, and puts America in control of its energy future.

In conjunction with the tour, the veterans group VoteVets.org is running a heavy buy of radio ads in Norfolk featuring a local veteran urging Senators Warner and Webb to support clean energy legislation in Congress.

WHAT: Roundtable on Climate Change and National Security

WHERE: Randolph Community Center
1415 Grayland Ave.
Richmond, VA 23220

WHEN: Tuesday October 20th
10 – 11 AM

I hope that you will be able to make it to this event.

Antigone Ambrose
Conservation Program Coordinator
Sierra Club, Virginia Chapter
804-301-5916
antigone.ambrose@sierraclub.org

City Electronic Recycling Day

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From the press release:

WHO: City of Richmond Department of Public Works

WHAT: Electronic Recycling Day (E-cycle Day)

WHEN: Saturday, October 24 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

WHERE: 2720 Hermitage Rd. (Division of Solid Waste parking lot)

BACKGROUND: The Department of Public Works and the Clean City
Commission are sponsoring an electronic recycling day for city residents.
Items such as computer monitors, televisions and fluorescent light bulbs
will be accepted for fees ranging from .25 to $10.00. There is no charge to
dispose of computer systems and accessories, printers, scanners and copiers,
fax machines, VCRs, camcorders, stereos and microwaves. Those dropping
off items will be asked to show identification to prove they live within the city limits.

From refuse collection to pothole reports, Customer Care Center representatives
are available at 3-1-1 to assist citizens with all of their Public Works needs.
For more information on the City of Richmond, visit www.RichmondGov.com .