3 Things

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RVAnews.com has an article series called “5 Things” where they preview and highlight five local events for the upcoming weekend.

This week, two of those things are sports events happening close to Oregon Hill on the James River:

3. James River Splash and Dash

Of all the races that I will never run, the James River Splash and Dash is the one I regret not running the most. First: you run. Then: you tube down the river. Then: you run your tube on land. It sounds as ridiculously fun to watch as it must be to participate. What could add more hilarity to this event? Oh, just a party afterwards with food and beer and music and stuff, NO BIG DEAL.

Sat. Jul. 14 • 4:00 PM
Belle Isle
$34 to race and participate in the no-big-deal party

4. Project Athena Richmond Relay Marathon

“Ho ho ho, a race involving TUBING,” says you, the famous tubing killjoy. “‘Tis not for I,” you said, (still talking, I see). “Instead, I plan to stay unsoiled and bone dry while simultaneously helping an excellent cause. Please drop me off at the Project Athena Richmond Relay Marathon, where a team of friends and I will run parts of marathons together, benefitting Project Athena and all the dream-fulfillment it does for people who’ve been through physical hell. It’s like physical hell in order to help those in physical hell. Appropriate!”

Sat. Jul. 14 • 7:00 AM
Brown’s Island
$6 per race enthusiast

And then there is this last event, which usually brings at least a few crews of filmmakers to the neighborhood:

5. The 48 Hour Film Project

Fast filmmakers, heed the call of the 48 Hour Film Project, aka “49 Hours? No Dice.” You’ll lose a lot of sleep and have a crap-ton of fun, I bet, as the festival peeps give you a character and some background information (kickoff is this Friday at The Camel). Then you’re off, writing, filming, and editing a movie to be turned in at this very event. Watch the fresh-faced hopefuls greet each other amiably on Friday or giggle sympathetically as they stagger in, cowed by the very briskness of this idea on Sunday. Screenings begin in a few weeks.

Sun. Jul 15 • 5:00 PM
The Camel, 1621 W. Broad St.
Free!

Trash/Recycling Pickup Tomorrow

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This Wednesday is a red Wednesday, which means trash and recycling pickup. Please make sure you pick up containers after pickup tomorrow night. They do not belong on the sidewalk after tomorrow night.

In recycling news, recycling company Newark Group VP Jonathan Gold offers views on single-stream collection and processing at a Congressional hearing.

“As an industry, we now collect two-thirds of all paper available for recycling and have increased the recycling rate for paper by 81 percent over the past 20 years,” said Gold in his testimony. “Despite this, there is still an enormous amount of paper that is not being collected and there remains quite a bit of misinformation in the data that suggests that more of what is collected for recycling is actually used in the creation of new products. That’s where the need for better information enters.”

In commenting about the practice of single-stream recycling, Gold remarked that recovered single-stream recyclables often contain materials that contaminate the usability of the paper. “The EPA does the best job they can at the moment in reporting on the tonnage of collected recyclables, but information isn’t really available to them regarding how much of that tonnage is later diverted to landfills. Better information on this could impact future decisions regarding single vs. dual stream recycling while leading to better solutions to maximize sustainability and continue the kind of economic job growth that results from new product development of recycled materials,” Gold stated.

MoveToAmend.org Comes To Richmond

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I am marking this ‘editorial’, since full disclosure, I wrote the following press release also. Unfortunately, I have not seen any notice of this is in the corporate, mainstream media, so as a public service, I am posting it here. I will delete this post if I see good notice and coverage appear elsewhere.

Virginia Greens Speak Up Against Corporations And Look Forward To Cobb’s Visit

by Scott Burger

Green Party of Virginia

http://vagreenparty.org/

For immediate release:

July 9, 2012

With Fourth of July holiday celebrations over, Greens across Virginia are eager to work towards freeing their government from the undue influence of corporations. This should come as no surprise as the Green Party of the United States has actively called for repeal of ‘corporate personhood’ and the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling as well as an end to the influence of corporate PAC money on elections.

On May 4 of this year, the Green Party of Virginia adopted the following resolution at a regularly scheduled meeting:

RESOLVED, the Green Party of Virginia stands in defense of democracy from the corrupting effects of undue corporate power by calling for amending the United States Constitution to establish that:
1. Corporations may neither claim for themselves nor limit the rights of persons or of citizens;
2. The right to spend money or direct economic resources to influence elections, legislation, or the decisions of government is not unlimited.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we encourage our local, state and federal representatives, as well as organizations that value the health of democracy, to enact resolutions and legislation to advance this effort.

As part of these efforts, Greens are looking forward to an upcoming visit to the Southeast by 2004 Green Party Presidential candidate David Cobb on behalf of the citizens’ organization, MoveToAmend.org. Cobb deserves recognition for not only his electoral efforts, but his civil rights protest of the vote tampering in Ohio.

Cobb will be in Richmond, VA on Wednesday, July 11 at 7:30 pm at the Friends Meeting Hall, located at 4500 Kensington Ave, Richmond, Virginia 23221-1827.

After that, Cobb will be attending the Green Party National Convention in Baltimore.

For more information on Cobb’s tour schedule, please check MoveToAmend.org’s Campaign Calendar.

~END~

Byrd House Market This Afternoon

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From the Byrd House Market blog:

A Cool 86 Degrees…
– Market Map and Product Search under “For Market Goers” tab… Stanley Rayfield is back to draw your face! Nadine Delano draws ON your face! Freeman High intern (Jodie) will draw you to your favorite vendor – just ask! Natasha will give you tokens for “swiping” your SNAP/CC/Debit card! Shop, eat, drink, relax, enjoy – your pantry, your tummy, your mind’s eye view on the world will thank you.

Visit the Farmlet
– a learning laboratory and “we feed our community” project! a greenhouse under construction! a scarecrow guarding the gourds! a second childhood paradise!

Raffles and Massage? Yes!
Byrd Farm Raffle for the market and is this week’s featured vendor for Masseuse Robin Raver’s weekly special offer: For every $10 you spend you get 1 minute of chair massage! Different vendor every week! Support them all!

First Tuesday Films: Urban Roots
Great film, moving and pragmatic! Goodies from the market and a great conversation with our guests Duron Chavis about McDonough Community Garden and John Lewis of Renew Richmond about food access, urban self-sufficiency, commitment and good food. Join us for next month’s film, and stay tuned to find out what it will be!

Cooking Class Returns
Visit EatGoodGrowGreat.blogspot.com to register by July 18! Honduran Tamales con Pollo and Something Cool to drink from the Farmlet!

This Week and Every Week ! with You !
Facepainting, Storytelling, Great Food, Great Shade, Great Nutrition, Great People!

Check out a slideshow from last week’s BHM by clicking here.

GRTC Task Force Meets Thursday

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First, from the City’s press release:

All residents are invited and encouraged to attend

WHAT The Richmond City Council GRTC and Transit Study Task Force will hold a meeting. The purpose of the Task Force is to make recommendations to Richmond City Council with regard to enhancing mass transit in the Metro-Richmond area and the efficiency and effectiveness of the GRTC Transit System. The meeting is free and open to the public and all residents are invited and encouraged to attend.

WHEN Thursday, July 12, 2012
4:00-6:00 p.m.

WHERE Richmond Department of Economic Development
Richmond Main Street Station – 3rd Floor Conference Room
1500 East Main Street; Richmond, Virginia 23219
(PARKING: Free parking is available on the west side of the building by using the Franklin Street Entrance and using the lot below the Interstate. When facing the Train Station from the Franklin Street Entrance, make a right and park towards the Clock Tower end. When facing the building from the parking lot, the entrance door to the Richmond Department of Economic Development is located on the right of the building.)

WHO Members of the Richmond City Council GRTC and Transit Study Task Force

CONTACT For more information, please contact Councilman Bruce W. Tyler, Richmond City Council, West End 1st District, at 804.357.6007; or bruce.tyler@richmondgov.com.

Secondly, and with disclosure here as a GRTC Task Force member, I will mention a few of the suggestions that are starting to emerge from the Task Force meetings so far:

1. There seems to be consensus that the City Code needs reform in regard to how GRTC’s routes are determined.

2. There needs to be some sort of inner city circulator that is inexpensive or even free. It needs to be much more frequent and reliable than standard GRTC buses and it must be designed to serve citizens and not just tourists. How this is implemented, and perhaps more importantly, paid for, still needs to be determined.

3. Task force members have been asking for regular updates on new signage for GRTC bus stops.

4. The GRTC Task Force has asked for assistance from the Green City Commission on initiatives like bus stop recycling, green fleet usage, connections with other organizations and multimodal transportation.

Also, I will say that while task force members agree that there needs to be more regional transportation efforts, the surrounding counties have not been attending meetings with GRTC or the task force, so the task force has been focused on what the City can do to improve GRTC.

Sweet Frog Suffers Cornhole Caper

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From ‘Sweet Frog Monroe Park’ Facebook page:

Richmond Times Dispatch has now become involved in helping us find the thieves that stole the Cornhole game. There is a reward of one free month of Sweetfrog for anybody with information that leads to the return of our Cornhole game! Pass it on :)

From the Times Dispatch article:

The owners of the store at 815 W. Cary St. turned a vacant lot next door into a park, complete with grassy areas, a volleyball court and, until Tuesday night, a bean bag toss game.

“We absolutely wanted to create a nice green space for the area,” general manager Clark Hirt said. “We’ve had a great response for the neighborhood — most every night there were people playing cornhole.”

The cornhole equipment doesn’t usually stay out overnight. But because fireworks were going off the night before the Fourth of July and people were still playing, the employees left the game out later than usual, Hirt said.

The store’s surveillance cameras at 9:42 p.m. Tuesday captured three men dragging away the bean bag toss game.

“It was disappointing,” said James Maloney, one of the investors in the store. “It was unfortunate because it’s part of the stuff that we had provided for the community. There was no cost to play, no charge.”

Don’t Swim In The James River Right Now

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From the Times Dispatch article:

About 2.6 million gallons of partially treated sewage flowed into the James River on Saturday when Lynchburg’s sewage-treatment plant lost power from Friday’s thunderstorms, officials said.

The sewage was disinfected with chlorine, but it did not get full treatment, which includes using microbes to break down waste, said Fred DiLella, a water compliance manager for the state Department of Environmental Quality.

The risk to swimmers and paddlers from Lynchburg to Richmond is unclear, but a state Department of Health official said it was probably low.

“I don’t think there is a significant risk, but we want people to be aware that there certainly is a risk from swimming in any water body that is not treated,” said Rebecca LePrell, the department’s director of environmental epidemiology.

People generally should avoid swimming in streams for three days or so after a sewage release or after a heavy rain, which can wash pollutants into waterways, LePrell said. Today is the third day after the Lynchburg release.

People who do get in the James or other rivers should try to avoid swallowing water and avoid swimming with open wounds, LePrell said.

Human and animal waste contain bacteria that can sicken people who ingest river water. Open wounds can become infected.

Health officials did not make an announcement after the sewage release but responded to questions from paddlers and others, LePrell said.