UCI Bicycle Race Leaves Monroe Park In The Dust

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Some choice excerpts from the Times Dispatch article:

Monroe Park will not host a designated fan zone during the UCI 2015 Road World Championships despite plans to the contrary and tens of thousands of dollars in city expense to improve the space.
A sponsor that loosely agreed to underwrite the celebration space in the Fan District switched gears in recent weeks, according to officials with Richmond 2015, the organization putting on the event.

The group declined to name the sponsor but said it had shifted to another space along the course. Officials would not detail costs associated with sponsoring a zone at the park. The move did not affect fundraising, they said.
…
Todd Woodson, who lives in neighboring Oregon Hill, said the city had squandered taxpayers’ money.
“We’re in a crisis of leadership in this city and we’re hemorrhaging money,” Woodson said.
About 300 feet of a water line along Franklin Street was damaged during work done this spring, officials said at the time. How much the damage cost was unclear Monday. City officials were not able to provide an estimate.

Solar Oven Picnic Scheduled for Sunday

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A “solar oven picnic” is scheduled for this Sunday morning and early afternoon in Riverside Park.

From Solar Cookers International:

Most solar cookers work on basic principles: sunlight is converted to heat energy that is retained for cooking. Sunlight is the “fuel.” A solar cooker needs an outdoor spot that is sunny for several hours and protected from strong wind, and where food will be safe.

From FaceBook event page:

Cook and share food using only solar ovens at the top of the grassy slope in Oregon Hill’s Riverside Park. If it rains or it is too overcast the event will be postponed.

Seeing as the forecast is partly cloudy, this may have a 50% chance of happening, but as with the recent neighborhood yard sale, this event is an experiment that will hopefully improve with re-iteration.

1990 Idlewood Demolition

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Ana Anderson took these photos of the three antebellum houses being knocked down in 1990 on the south side of 900 block of Idlewood. You can still see in the background of the photos the houses on Linden Street (where the Grace Arents Community Garden and Byrd House Market are now) that were demolished circa 2000.

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Movie At Tredegar On Friday

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From FaceBook event page:

Grab your blankets and lawn chairs and join Afrikana Independent Film Festival for Starry Night Cinema,our 1st lawn chair series! Starry Night Cinema will be held on the Historic Tredegar Ironworks lawn and will showcase feature-length films underneath the beautiful night sky.

Evolution of a Criminal is a documentary that recalls the true story of filmmaker, Darius Clark Monroe, who, at 16 years old, after seeing his mother and stepfather struggle to make ends meet while living outside of Houston, Texas, decided to help them by robbing a bank with two friends. In the film, Monroe interviews his family members, close friends and mentors who recount the stages of his transformation, going from a joyous childhood to the moment he realized the severity of his family’s financial problems, and how their struggles changed his outlook on society and his life as a whole.

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Oh, and don’t worry if you don’t have someone special to come with, Speed Date RVA will be there to hook up those that have a blanket but no boo!

Gates open at 8p
Screening starts at dusk (around 8:45p)
Concessions and adult beverages will be available
Open to the Public
Suggested donation $10

*In the case of inclement weather, meet us under the big tent in the Tredegar Courtyard

Shooting near VCU

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WWBT NBC Channel 12 is reporting that:

VCU police sent out an alert early Tuesday morning for students to stay inside, while officers investigated reports of a shooting near campus.
Police responded to the 400 block of North Harrison Street around 3:13 a.m. Witnesses told them the suspects, two white men and one black man, left the area in a red Mini Cooper heading east on Grace Street.
Right now, officers are still investigating. When our photographer went to check it out, he spotted what appeared to be shell casings.
Police say no one was hit by bullets.
VCU Police sent out another alert saying everything was safe, but they are still patrolling the area.

Several Oregon Hill residents have said they were woken up by the alert sirens.

Belvidere Street Mural At Planning Commission Friday

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The City Planning Commission will hold a special meeting on August 21 at 10:00 am in the 5th Floor Conference Room at City Hall. The agenda includes the review of plans for a mural on the Belvidere Street wall separating the Parsons Linear Park in Oregon Hill from the sidewalk. This mural project related to the UCI bike race has been approved by the RVA Public Art Commission. The artists of the project include Ed Trask, Greig Leach, Matt Lively, and Hamilton Glass.

Trash/Recycling Pickup Tomorrow

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This Wednesday is a red Wednesday, which means trash and recycling pickup.

This will be the first time for Oregon Hill to use the new, larger rolling recycling containers. Ideally, they are stored and deployed in the back alleys along with trash cans. Please make sure you pick up containers after pickup tomorrow night.

In order to take your recycling to the next level, read this: 10 ways to improve your recycling.

In national recycling news, RecyclingToday.com has a story on EPA proposals to reduce landfill emissions:

As part of the President’s Climate Action Plan – Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued two proposals to further reduce emissions of methane-rich gas from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. Under these recent proposals, landfill gas emissions at new, modified and existing landfills would be reduced by nearly one-third compared with current requirements.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential more than 25 times that of carbon dioxide, the EPA says. In addition to methane, landfills also emit other pollutants, including the air toxics benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and vinyl chloride.

MSW landfills are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the U.S., accounting for 18 percent of methane emissions in 2013—the equivalent of approximately 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution—the EPA says.