Hollywood Cemetery Walking Tours

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From the Valentine Richmond History Center:

April 2 Highlights of Hollywood Cemetery (10-11:30am) WALKING TOURS
Monday – Saturday, April 2 – October 31
Learn about the cemetery’s history, artwork, symbolism and famous residents, including two U.S. Presidents, writer Ellen Glasgow, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Generals George Pickett and J.E.B. Stuart. Meet at the rear of the stone structure on the left at the cemetery entrance, Cherry and Albemarle streets.

April 8 Hollywood Cemetery (2-4pm) WALKING TOUR
An extension of the daily “Highlights” tour, this version covers in more detail the cemetery’s unique history, landscape design, architecture, symbols and residents. Meet at the cemetery entrance at Cherry and Albemarle streets.

Mayor’s Budget Discussion at the Va. War Memorial On Wednesday

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Paraphrasing City announcement:

The only MPACT sponsored Community Conversation with Mayor Jones regarding the City Budget is scheduled to take place at the Virginia War Memorial on Wednesday, March 28th at 6:30PM.

Let your voices be heard regarding the City Budget, Capitol Improvements, and other projects and issues that concern Precinct 4. Feel free to contact Hope Cousin, ETRP/MPACT Coordinator for the City of Richmond/Dept. of Public Works (Hope.Cousin at Richmondgov.com) if you have any questions.

VCU Lecture: Jerusalem: A Tale of Three Cities

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From announcement:

VCU professor Dr. Jack D. Spiro will give the 27th Annual Brown-Lyons Lecture, titled “Jerusalem: A Tale of Three Cities,” on Thursday, March 29, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. in the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts, 922 Park Avenue. Dr. Spiro will investigate memories, practices, literary sources, values and beliefs to uncover the diverse meanings of Jerusalem in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, in addition to shedding light on the controversial issue of Jerusalem as the unified capital of Israel. A public reception will be held immediately following the lecture. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Dr. Jack D. Spiro holds the Harry Lyons Distinguished Chair in Judaic Culture at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is also director of the VCU Center for Judaic Studies and editor of its online publication, Menorah Review. He has earned two doctorates from the Hebrew Union College and the University of Virginia. He has authored, co-authored or edited over 30 books and written numerous articles.

The event is sponsored by the VCU Friends of the Library, the VCU Center for Judaic Studies, the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond, the Richmond Jewish Foundation and the Weinstein JCC. It is free and open to the public, but because seating is limited, registration is required. For details and registration, please see the event website: http://www.library.vcu.edu/events/blyons/. For special accommodations or to register offline, please call (804) 827-1165 or (804) 828-0593 prior to March 27. Event parking is available for a fee in the West Main Street and West Cary Street parking decks.

Spring Street Connector?

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Laurel Street neighbor Tommy Birchett continues to ask some good questions in reference to the proposed 2nd Street connector.

His latest:

What if they built a Spring St connector instead?

Newmarket could donate land at the bottom of their hill above Tredagar and they could connect Spring through to 5th st.

No disruption to canal

No steep incline

Direct connection to west meadvaco from 2nd st

Seems like it would be better for traffic

Just a thought for an alternative proposal.

In fact, this question actually goes back farther to 1991 when Ethyl was given permission to destroy the architecturally significant 2nd Street Bridge. It should be noted that Oregon Hill residents spoke against this demolition. What’s even more interesting is that according to a 1991 Richmond News Leader article, Ethyl received permission to demolish the 2nd Street bridge on the grounds that Spring Street would be extended to increase access to the river.

Local public watchdog C. Wayne Taylor shared the thought. In investigating the question, he discovered that the city entered into a deal with Ethyl (NewMarket) to remove a planned Spring Street extension from the master plan. In exchange, Ethyl agreed to provide land and partial funding for street improvements in other areas. Part of that agreement is that if the city ever extends Spring Street, the city has to pay for the other land and give back the partial funding. In other words, Ethyl may have bought protection against having to fulfill their earlier promise to extend Spring Street.

Happy World Water Day….and local water issues

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I hope everyone has had a nice World Water Day.

While there are a lot of international water issues, its as good as time as any to bring up water as a local issue.

So, a couple of things:

Despite all the earlier attempts to bring attention to the City of Richmond’s water rates, as far as I can tell this city still has the highest minimum residential water rate in the country.

Richmond continues its regressive water rates, offering a discount to those using vast amounts of water while maintaining the highest minimum water/sewer service charge in the country. Meanwhile, Henrico County’s minimum service charge is a third of Richmond’s while promoting conservation by offering a one-third discount in water/sewer volume charge for those using 6 ccf (hundred cubic feet) or less.

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Style Raises Questions About Landmark/Center Stage Deal

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Scott Bass has a story in this weeks Style magazine that illuminates some questionable funding plans for the Landmark Theater (previously known as The Mosque), brought on by the controversial Center Stage.

From the article:

Increasingly, the city’s cultural hubs are paid for by taxpayers. The mayor’s plan to renovate the Landmark is almost identical to the taxpayer-funded renovation of the Carpenter Theatre, which reopened as part of CenterStage in 2009. Nearly three-quarters of the $73.5 million used to renovate the Carpenter came from the public kitty: $25 million from the city; $9.7 million from state and federal grants; and $20 million in historic tax credits.

Mayor Jones proposes allocating $14 million in city money for the Landmark renovation, but that only scratches the surface. His plan involves millions more in public dollars, primarily through diversion of state and federal taxes.

There’s precedent: The CenterStage project engendered quite a bit of controversy and political mayhem, in part because of fundraising struggles and provocation from former Mayor L. Douglas Wilder. The project also remains something of a financial mystery. Despite receiving more than $40 million in city and state funds and $500,000 annually from the city for operating costs, CenterStage’s comprehensive agreement with the city exempts the foundation from the Freedom of Information Act.

While the foundation receives more than half of its revenues from taxpayers, it isn’t required to publicly disclose how it spends the public’s money.

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