A neighbor was at City Hall last night during a budget hearing at City Council saw Executive Director Robert Bolling of the William Byrd Community House petitioning the City Council for funds.
Speaking of WBCH, don’t forget the Byrd Market tonight.
The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association will meet this coming Tuesday
at 7 pm at the William Byrd Community House.
Because of some of the other activities that are happening at the WBCH
that evening, we will meet in a room upstairs.
Times Dispatch reporter Karin Kapsidelis researched and wrote a good, fairly objective overview of outgoing Virginia Commonwealth University President Eugene Trani’s term. Of course, I may not be that objective as I was the ‘loudest protester’ named in the article.
“He’s expanded VCU at the expense of a lot of other components of Richmond,” said Scott Burger, president of the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association.
I would have liked to have seen more examination of Trani’s role as powerbroker, especially when he used his Richmond Renaissance position to not so gently persuade City Council to approve Dominion Power’s Special Use Permit for its headquarters and trading floor expansion at the expense of the river view, but I know its difficult to cover everything, even in a front page article.
We are hopeful that the new VCU president will be a reasonable man and a man of
honor. The sign of a great leader will be to make things better for the
surrounding communities as well as being an advocate for the university’s
improvement.
VCU is blessed with many gifted faculty members and students. Its president
should serve as a role model and use this talented staff for the betterment of
all parties involved. Oregon Hill and the other historic communities of Carver,
Jackson Ward, and Randolph have paid a dear price for the unbridled VCU
expansion. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is a pretty tough
golden rule to argue with.
But what is interesting are the anonymous online comments on the article. Here is a sample:
Trani bears much of the responsibility for this, when he took over there was a quick and drastic shift in the attitude VCU took towards students, faculty, and staff. In the end, Trani’s work has benefited property owners, local politicians, contractors, and the corporate entities that he has allowed to prey upon his students (read commodities). The students have not benefited at all, unless the student is a college basketball fan.
As usual, the RTD has it wrong. The negative posts regarding Trani on this thread out number the positive, and for someone who lives in the university community and knows many people that work at VCU at many different levels I can attest they share no love for the man either.
Ouch, and people call me harsh. A Sunday school lesson for us all: arrogance and “pride goeth before the fall”.
Proposed Amendments to be considered by the City Planning Commission. A public hearing on these amendments will be held on April 20, 2009 at 6:00pm in City Council Chambers (2nd floor, City Hall, 900 E. Broad Street)
Ever since I started living here I have had the dream- that one day, I could walk out my door with a small backpack, and hike or grab a ride down to Main Street Station in Shockoe Bottom, and catch a high speed train to the airport, to D.C., to Norfolk, to anywhere in the world. I am certainly not the only one. Virginians for High Speed Rail have been making the case for years (though they do it very drily).
When I first arrived here many years ago, I mentioned in a conversation how excited I was about the day that high speed rail to and from D.C. became reality in Richmond and how it would really change things. The person I was talking with gave a sympathetic chuckle and said, “You are new here, aren’t you? You will see…”
And I have seen. I have listened to the excuses and the reasons for the delays. I have heard the naysayers and distractions. I have learned about the Acca train yard and CSX obstacles. I have grown to understand and appreciate Richmond’s other tremendous needs for educational and institutional reform.
But that day is getting closer, and as citizens of Richmond, we should hunger for it, prepare for it, and even demand it. High speed rail and mass transit are too important for the future of this City to just wait idly by. And it should be part of other important conversations.
From RPEC news release:
Iraqi political analyst Raed Jarrar will present a talk entitled “Is the
Occupation Really Ending?” on Wednesday, April 15, at 7pm, at the Pace
Center for Campus Ministries, 700 W. Franklin Street. Jarrar will discuss
the Obama administration’s planned troop withdrawal and the future of
Iraq. This community forum is free and open to the public.
Raed Jarrar is an Iraqi architect, blogger, and political analyst. He
moved to the United States in 2005, and is currently working as a
consultant to the American Friends Service Committee’s Iraq program in
Washington, D.C. After the U.S.-led invasion, Jarrar established Emaar,
(meaning “reconstruction” in Arabic), a grassroots organization that
provided humanitarian and political aid to Iraqi internally displaced
persons. In a victory for constitutional rights, in early 2009 two
Transportation
Security Authority (TSA) officials and JetBlue Airways paid Raed Jarrar
$240,000 to settle charges that they illegally discriminated against the
U.S. resident based on his ethnicity and the Arabic writing on his
t-shirt.
Jarrar will examine President Obama’s plan for troop withdrawal, and
discuss the impact of the U.S. occupation on Iraq’s future. He will
describe Iraq’s internal politics and struggles. He will also discuss the
importance of continued advocacy by the U.S. peace movement over the next
few years.
Co-sponsored by the Richmond Peace Education Center, Midlothian Friends
Meeting, Richmond Friends Meeting.
Raed Jarrar is available to speak with members of the press.
For more information, contact the Richmond Peace Education Center at
232-1002 or rpec@rpec.org. Or visit the website, www.rpec.org.
Hopefully there will be more coverage of the City’s budget process soon, but from what I heard at this morning’s meeting at the Main Street Library, the City’s new stormwater utility fee will cost Richmond homeowners about $45 each more every year, while VCU, as state property, will be exempt. Hopefully, I am wrong about this, but I am afraid that is what is coming down the pike. Keep in mind that under the current system, VCU already pays a much smaller rate for water use than Richmond citizens, who pay what is possibly the highest minimum water rate in the country. There are still a lot of questions as to what commercial property owners will be charge for stormwater vs. residential, and what developer property vs. undeveloped means.
As I have said before, I am not against a stormwater utility fee, as long as it is fairly applied and it goes towards actually preventing stormwater runoff problems in the City. The Public Utility is at least starting to dress the new entity more green, and they deserve some credit for that.
To find out more about the situation, citizens may want to attend City Council’s Finance Standing Committee Budget Work Session, Wednesday, April 8, from 2 to 5 pm in Council Chambers at City Hall.
There is a lot more going on with the City budget as more economic devastation comes to bear and I urge citizens to get involved.
From the Times Dispatch:
A member of Richmond School Board is the first to declare for the House of Delegates seat of retiring Democrat Franklin P. Hall.
Betsy Carr, a school trustee since 2006, is outreach director of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, a parish located just outside Capitol Square.
Hall announced Friday that he is quitting the House after 34 years to become one of three commissioners who oversee the state’s liquor monopoly.
The 69th House District has a black majority and is anchored in South Richmond.
Note: Oregon Hill is in the 71st District, represented by Jennifer McClellan.
Did you know that during its period of “historic significance” in 1904, Monroe Park boasted 362 trees of 26 species? Today, the Park has only 155 trees of 23 species- less than half of what they had back then. The Monroe Park Masterplan calls for replanting treestock to replace many trees both on the sidewalk perimeter (which will become brick sidewalk) as well as the Park’s interior. Trees benefit us all by shading us from the heat, filtering pollutants from the air and decreasing stormwater runoff by absorbing rainwater. It has been said that “the best time to plant a tree is 10 years ago”. While documents are being prepared for the infrastructure needs of the Park, the replanting of new trees in construction safe areas should begin NOW. The cost TO THE CITY is relatively low and the sooner we plant, the sooner we can enjoy the benefits. We need to get the message out that TREE REPLANTING AND MAINTENANCE is of major importance to the lovers of Monroe Park. SO I ASK THIS FAVOR! Please take a minute now and email your SUPPORTIVE COMMENTS ON REPLANTING and MAINTAINING TREES in MONROE PARK to:
information@monroepark.com
and CC it to:
Rachel.Flynn@richmondgov.com
We have another month to plant this season and we can get a lot done next season but these people need to know how important an issue this is to you. It will take many years to recover the historic canopy IF WE START NOW. so thanks for showing your TREE love. Please pass it on and thanks again.
Todd Woodson.
In addition, residents would pay more for gas, water and waste-water disposal. Property owners would pay a new annual storm-water fee to fund utility projects.
No surprise here, we tried to warn our fellow citizens. I guess we can join SaveRichmond.com in saying, we told you so.
And we continue to ask: What will be VCU’s rate?
As usual, white elephant schemes distract from this and other important issues.