From email:
Please come and register your opposition to the Victory Rug Special Use Permit before the Planning Commission this Monday, Jan. 7 at 1:30 pm on the 5th Floor of City Hall. We thought that we had an agreement, but unfortunately the developer has been unwilling to confirm any agreement so we will need to be present in opposition to the SUP. As it stands now the developer is proposing a 24 bedroom development, in 12 apartments and one townhouse, with only 8 off-street parking spaces.
From the Times Dispatch article:
Director Steven Spielberg, screenwriter Tony Kushner and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin — whose collaboration created the multinominated movie filmed entirely in the Richmond area — will speak tonight at the sold-out Landmark Theater before an audience of 4,200 people.
“Lincoln” has been nominated for seven Golden Globe awards and is expected to pick up several Oscar nominations on Thursday. Kushner’s screenplay was nominated for a Writer’s Guild award for best adaptation.
The Richmond Forum program will be taped for broadcast on WCVE at 9 p.m. Jan. 17 to accommodate “so many more that we couldn’t possibly fit in,” said Bill Chapman, executive director of the forum.
When Chapman heard that “Lincoln” would film here in late 2011, he immediately thought of a program featuring Spielberg and Goodwin, who has appeared twice before at Richmond Forum programs. Her book, “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” was an inspiration for the movie.
“The idea started as a pipe dream,” Chapman said. “She loved the idea. When she was in Richmond during the filming, she talked with Spielberg.”
Chapman’s own overtures to Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studios had begun in June 2011 and picked up during the filming, he said. “It was Spielberg’s idea to bring Kushner into the conversation. It was a great addition. Doris Kearns Goodwin is the beginning of the story as a historian. Kushner interpreted her work for the screen. It makes a nice continuum for the discussion,” Chapman said. “We were very excited about that.”
The forum’s season will continue with former President Bill Clinton on Feb. 8; former astronaut Capt. Mark Kelly with former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, his wife and survivor of an assassination attempt, on March 9; and Jane Goodall on April 13.
From Rev. Bailey’s email:
All are invited to join us this Sunday, January 6, at 5 PM for a special Epiphany celebration of Lessons and Carols. Child Care available.
St. Andrew’s Chancel Choir and Guests will sing the music of Cunningham, Mendelssohn, Lole, Dyson, Rutter, and Wood. Following the service, please join us for a reception as we say good-bye to the Christmas season and welcome the New Year. www.standrewsoregonhill.org.
Happy 2013!
Abbott
As some Oregon Hill residents will head down to Broad Street for tonight’s First Friday Art Walk, former OH resident and longtime artist will be opening a show in Charlottesville.
Former Oregon Hill resident and neighborhood historian Tom Elliott has an exhibit of his ceramic sculptures in the Charlottesville Chroma gallery. This exhibit includes a tea-pot called “Richmond Burning” that was inspired by the mortise and tenon joints in the construction of his former home at 401 S. Pine Street, built in 1867 by Baylor Martin. According to the Chroma write-up:
Charlottesville’s building code inspector, Tom Elliott, unveils his secret life as a ceramic artist. Elliott transforms food, farce and politics into teapots, weaponry, and a few other household necessities and personal items in his installation Mad Tea Party Redux in the Black Box. Employing a playful anti-aesthetic rawness and a visual vocabulary of double entendre and riddle, Elliott upturns the traditional ceremonial refinement and polite countenance of the porcelain teapot.
From email:
Richmond Hostel Friends:
The monthly Richmond Hostel Committee meeting for January is cancelled.
But, don’t miss this month’s Vicarious Travelers Series at the main branch of the Richmond Public Library at 101 E. Franklin St.
This Saturday, January 5, at 3:00PM, Emily Parlove will present “The Frugal Explorer’s Dream Trip to Australia.” Gerry Leonard ‘s presentation “More Bang for Your Euro” will be on Saturday, January 19 at 3:00PM at the library.Our next meeting will be February 12.
Sarah Weisiger, Richmond Hostel Committee, Chair
Due to the heavy rain this past week, the City’s Public Works has rescheduled Oregon Hill’s street cleaning for next week, according to spokesperson and the signs going up around the neighborhood. Before this, there was some concern expressed in the neighborhood and elsewhere.
Be prepared to follow signs and move vehicles accordingly.
Henrico Citizen has a recent article that touches on Oregon Hill’s ‘patron saint’, Grace Arents:
Just across Hilliard Road from the Lakeside Town Center, at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden (LGBG), employees of the Garden often speak of the “ghost of Grace.” At a recent Lakeside Business Association social, a few business owners wondered whether the spirit playing in the shops might be a long-ago resident of the homes that were once on the site – or perhaps the young Grace Arents, Lewis Ginter’s niece.
Beth Monroe, LGBG director of public relations and marketing, noted that Arents – who lived as an adult in the Bloemendaal House and possibly played on the grounds as a child – had a generous nature and was known for her philanthropic efforts, such as establishing a convalescent home for children and founding Richmond’s first public library.
Arents was especially concerned with the plight of urban children, who would often be brought out from Oregon Hill to Bloemendaal Farm so that they could enjoy fresh air and eat healthy foods. “The site of the Children’s Garden is where she grew her vegetables,” Monroe pointed out.
Noting that “places like Lewis Ginter often have a patron saint of sorts,” Monroe said that Arents clearly fits the profile of the affectionate, benevolent, and playful spirit that seems to show up at the Bloemendaal House from time to time. While “Grace’s ghost” has not been heard to giggle, staff members and volunteers have occasionally reported feeling a rush of air when no one else was around, said Monroe. Others have caught a glimpse of a vision in white.
And like the spirit that frequents the Lakeside Town Center, the Garden’s ghost seems to be an especially mischievous one.
“Whenever something odd happens at the house,” said Monroe, “like the lights blink, or a door that was closed is left open, we say, “Ahhh, there’s Grace again!”
