From email:
Hello all
Just a reminder that OHNA will be having their monthly meeting tomorrow at 7 pm at WBCH.
On the agenda is a vote on the variance for 423 S. Cherry St and traffic plan suggestions for the fireworks on July 3rd.
Thanks
Jennifer
OHNA
Riffing off a post from three years ago, will we see a resurgence in high speed rail hopes?
This past Friday, FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo spoke Friday at a Virginians for High-Speed Rail event in Richmond.
Szabo challenged officials in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia to develop a plan for service along the Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.
And, tomorrow, there is an opportunity to advocate for better transportation. On Tuesday, June 24 from 12 noon to 6 pm, there is a PUBLIC OPEN HOUSE meeting of the Richmond Area Metropolitan Planning Organization at 9211 Forest Hill Avenue, Suite 200, Richmond, VA 23235. Planning staff from the MPO will be present at the meeting to explain the draft FY 12 – FY 15 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) document and to answer questions. The draft TIP document, still subject to review, is posted on the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission website, www.richmondregional.org.
I sent this earlier this month to Neko Case’s management in an attempt to contact the rock star:
Dear Neko Case,
First of all, let me say that I have enjoyed your music for a while now. While many fans may have first heard of you through the New Pornographers, I first heard you from your work with with one of my all time favorites, John Doe. I was lucky enough to have been tipped off last minute about a show you did years ago with the Sadies down at a Shockoe Bottom club in Richmond, Virginia, called Alley Katz (an old alley warehouse turned beer hall with a small stage.) The energy, your voice…I am not exaggerating when I say it is one of the best shows I have ever seen.
I also had the pleasure of seeing you more recently at Richmond’s National Theater, an excellent show though the venue was not nearly as personable. So, I’m excited to hear that you’re scheduled to make another appearance in Richmond at the end of June. I’m looking forward to it and hope you are too. I’ve purchased your new album “The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You (Deluxe Edition), locally, at Plan 9 Records and have enjoyed it very much. I’ve found the personal stories on it touching.
The reason I am writing to you now and making this an open letter is to let you and others know about a local controversy related to the venue for your upcoming Richmond show (June 27). Don’t worry, I am NOT asking you or anyone else to boycott it, but I’m hoping that you’ll choose to treat this matter with due sensitivity and understanding. There’s a lot to it, so please take a moment to gather your concentration before reading further…
I live in a very special place, a small, “historic white working-class neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia” called Oregon Hill. There are many reasons why it’s special, including that it has survived the Civil War, tornados, highway construction, suburban flight, corporate hegemony, university expansion, and other threats. It’s also known as place that many local musicians have called home, including The Rock-A-Teens, GWAR, The Cowboy Junkies, David Lowery (Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker), Tim Berry (AVAIL), the No BS! Brass Band, and countless others. There have also been many songs written about it, including The Cowboy Junkies’ “Oregon Hill”.
Perhaps because of this affinity for musicians, Oregon Hill was delighted when the National Folk Festival set up tent for a few years in a closely adjacent riverfront location. After the National Folk Festival travelled on to other cities, a private local nonprofit group called Venture Richmond went on to hold “The Richmond Folk Festival” in that location. I’ll note here that I personally attended and volunteered for both the National and Richmond Folk Festivals. I even won the Volunteer of the Year Award in 2010. So, you can imagine my happiness at having some of the best musicians in the world playing within walking distance of my home.
It’s a special kind of hell when something you love is used to threaten your community, but that has sadly become the case with The Richmond Folk Festival. Oregon Hill residents did experience some noise/trash/crowd issues over the years due to a few especially rowdy, loud acts in close proximity to our relatively quiet, residential neighborhood, but we’ve largely tolerated this, because we understand and want people to enjoy the music and riverfront. The Folk Festival is only one weekend a year and more of ‘a family event’.
However, Venture Richmond has now proposed building a new, 10,000 person amphitheater at that location. It’s called Tredegar Green and is a fragile, historic site directly adjacent to Oregon Hill and the Virginia War Memorial. Venture Richmond wants to be able to rent out their proposed amphitheater year round. The Richmond Folk Festival and other concerts have been at initially held at another river-adjacent location called Brown’s Island (where I believe you’ll be playing later this month) which is more appropriate in its proximity to residential/natural areas.
The Tredegar Green location is what our neighborhood Association (as well as numerous historic preservationists nationwide) want to preserve. The reason is that through that location runs a segment and boat basin of the The James River and Kanawha Canal. This waterway was built in 1785 to facilitate river travel upriver beyond Richmond’s rocky fall line, effectively creating a travel and trade route prior to the inception of the railroads. The canal was built with slave labor and the company that built it and managed it was founded and presided over by no one less than George Washington.
Even before Venture Richmond’s proposal was fully announced, a historic stone wall built adjacent to the canal by Washington’s company was illegally demolished while the site was under Venture Richmond’s stewardship. I’ve worked for over the last few years with our Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association to carefully document and present the history of the Kanawha Canal, focusing on the portion threatened by Venture Richmond’s proposed amphitheater. Despite our continued attempts to broker compromise (keeping the proposed amphitheater on Brown’s Island, for example) and mitigate damage, Venture Richmond (which is really a very powerful mix of local corporate and political leaders, including our own Mayor) continues to bulldoze ahead, ignoring neighborhood and historical preservationists’ concerns.
In short, Venture Richmond’s plans are threatening not only our quality of life, but the very historic and structural integrity of our city. They’ve deceptively told the media and general public that if we force them to adjust their plans, the Folk Festival will have to be cancelled. Personally, I think this has more to do with future development plans for the location and very little to do with amphitheaters, Folk Festivals, music, or public interest.
They see the historic Canal and Oregon Hill as public impediments that must be diminished to attain their private plans. Sadly, this group and their supporters pretty much own the mainstream media in this town and those they don’t own are afraid to speak out against them. I’ve been writing about this for a while now, if you want, you can read more on my website, www.oregonhill.net.
I appreciate your time and don’t necessarily expect you to step in on this mess. You have a contract to perform and I do want the best for ‘RVA’. I will pray for good weather, but I want you to know about this controversy, so when Venture Richmond’s representatives start talking to you about what they’re doing for ‘downtown living’ and their future plans, you understand that there’s more to the story and that there’s a lot more at stake.
Hold me to the line.
Sincerely,
Scott Burger
(Ed. note: Alley Katz is now gone and a new, different venue is opening there).
This past Saturday, 821 Cafe won the Richmond Vegetarian Festival‘s “Food Fight” contest, bringing home the trophy!
Kate and Mackenzie made up 821 Cafe’s winning team.
From William Byrd Community House FaceBook page:
SUMMER CAMP 2014 Opens Monday!
June 23rd – August 22nd
Spots available for Kids 3-12!
Hours are 7:30 am – 6 pm.
Stop by to enroll your child!
Multiple-child discount available
224 S. Cherry St. 23220
Click here to go to the WBCH website and get more details, including enrollment.
The next neighborhood “Project Clean Move’ cleanup is scheduled for Saturday, June 28. In order for Oregon Hill to be included as one of the neighborhoods, it needs to recruit at least four community volunteers, at least one of whom would be the project manager. The project manager provides direction on the starting point, route and directs other volunteers. Resident volunteers know where the “stuff” is.
The City’s Department of Public Works needs to know by Thursday, June 26 at 9 AM whether its truck will be there or not. The truck is scheduled from 8-12 but Oregon Hill’s truck’s arrival time depends on whether Randolph is participating.
Clean City Commission and VCU are the principle organizers for ‘Project Clean Move’ and they would like it to become an annual occurrence–one that the communities will find beneficial and worthy of owning as a community effort. If there are not volunteers for this Saturday, Oregon Hill can hopefully join other neighborhoods surrounding VCU on August 2 for what may be the biggest one yet with respect to the amount of trash in the alleys.
If you can volunteer, please get in touch before Wednesday evening. You can also sign up at the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association meeting this Tuesday evening at 7 pm at the William Byrd Community House.
From Richmond Police:
4th Precinct
BURGLARY
6/17/14 – 6/18/14 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 a.m.
600 block of South Laurel Street
An unknown person(s) stole a bicycle from an unlocked outbuilding.
“Organized by 1708 Gallery, InLight Richmond is a public exhibition of light-based art and performances. Each year, InLight Richmond invites artists to respond to a particular section of our diverse city, attracting audiences to unique areas of Richmond. Over 6 years, 1708’s InLight has featured 169 local, national and international artists and artist collectives across some of Richmond’s most unique neighborhoods and sites, from Broad Street to historic Tredegar to the Riverfront Canal Walk, and has engaged over 25,000 visitors.
“Through InLight, 1708 has created an on-going opportunity for Richmond to experience the city in unexpected and surprising ways. The selection of Monroe Park, one of the oldest public spaces in Richmond, continues this tradition of highlighting the histories and imagining the futures of Richmond’s most well-known spaces.”
This comes after recent news of the sentencing of a Monroe Park drug dealer.
(For previous coverage, please click here and here).
Andrew McRoberts has written an interesting article in Richmond.com on the “Reasons Richmond Should Love the CSX Railroad Viaduct”.
Excerpts:
The C&O (now CSX) Viaduct is enormously long (about three miles in length). It starts beneath the Robert E. Lee Bridge near Oregon Hill Overlook, and stretches all the way to Nicholson Street and the former Fulton Yard (across Route 5 from Rockett’s Landing in far eastern city of Richmond). It allows a nearly at-grade (level) train crossing of downtown Richmond along the James River and the Great Shiplock for much of its length.
…
In 2014, the viaduct is celebrating 113 years in its existence. And, as you know if you ever visit the riverfront downtown, the viaduct is still in active use by CSX Corporation
Like much of Phil Riggan’s articles in Richmond.com on the James River, this deserves reading.
I can’t help but wonder if this is a bit of public relations on CSX’s part, given recent concerns stemming from the Lynchburg explosion.
But, getting back to the history…The C&O Railroad Viaduct is a treasure, and Richmond residents should be aware of other important railroad history that is now threatened within sight of the Viaduct. A remnant of the Tredegar Branch railroad connecting the iron works on Belle Isle with Tredegar is slated to be destroyed by Venture Richmond for yet another amphitheater. These tracks sit on the towpath of the historic James River and Kanawha Canal. Venture Richmond’s plan is to lower the towpath below the historical level of water in the canal and in the process of irreparably damaging the canal, the old railroad line will also be scrapped. Alternatives, such as putting Venture Richmond’s largest stage on Brown’s Island, already leased to Venture Richmond, were ignored. It is unbelieveable that Venture Richmond is destroying the Tredegar Branch railroad remnant that is within the Tredegar Historic Site.