Museum Has African Art

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Forgive the simplistic headline, but I did want to add a corollary or two to the earlier post about the 2BNB bus.
Yesterday morning I attended a media preview for an upcoming new exhibit at the Virginia Museum of FIne Arts on African art. While the Times Dispatch did a good preview of this new exhibit, I am looking forward to seeing what Harry writes about it.

Also coming up is the Picasso exhibit. I hope the new free bus service can be utilized by residents and students to visit these and other museum features.

I will dedicate this post to Professor H. McKim Steele.

News On Farmers’ Markets

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Given the Byrd House Market is in Oregon Hill, this information from ConnectRichmond is important to relate:

The Virginia Department of Social Services has launched a statewide
program that allows SNAP participants (the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program–formerly, food stamps) to purchase local produce
at farmers markets. Individual markets and growers should apply by
February 25, 2011, to be part of this program. To download an
application or learn more about this program, visit:
http://bit.ly/hUQ6mq

Virginia DSS also has released a comprehensive list of free tax
assistance program sites in Virginia for low to middle income
Virginians who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit. For more
information, visit http://www.vaeitc.org/

Auction Sale, 1862

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From The Daily Dispatch: February 10, 1862:

Seven Houses and Lots, and several vacant Lots, in the town of Sidney, at Auction.
–We will sell upon the premises, on Monday, the 17th day of February, commencing at 4 o’clock, P. M., in the order advertised:

1. Four tenements on the West side of Cherry street, South of the Westham Plank Road.
2. Three Tenements on Cumberland st., adjoining the above.
3. Fifty feet of vacant ground on Cumberland street.
4. Two hundred and five feet of vacant ground on Cumberland street.
The tenements are all occupied by good tenants, and commanding good rents. We invite, particularly, the attention of persons of limited means to this sale.

Terms–One-third cash; the balance at 6 and 12 months, for negotiable notes, with interest added, and secured in each case by a trust deed.

The taxes and insurance for 1862 to be paid by the purchaser.

Jas. M. Taylor & Son,

ja 31 Auctioneers.

Additional.–Will be added to the above sale two frame tenements on Laurel street, adapted for small-sized families. The lots have the usual front and depth. Terms as above. J. M. T. & Son,

fe 7 Auctioneers.

2BNB Bus Gets Museum/Tourism Connected

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Excerpt from press release:

Richmond, VA – The popular To the Bottom and Back (2BNB) free nighttime bus service today launched a pilot tourism route. The route, called To the Museums and Back is a free bus service running Feb. 19-May 15 to coincide with the VMFA exhibit, Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris. The goal of the program is to provide an easy way for museum visitors and Richmonders alike to get to additional museums and historic sites around downtown Richmond.

Two buses, operated by 2BNB, will run a 50-minute loop stopping approximately every half hour every Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m. When the museum service ends, visitors may take advantage of the existing 2BNB service that runs 6 p.m.-3 a.m.

“A tourism circulator has been needed for quite some time,” said Jack Berry, president and CEO of the Richmond Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. “This route wouldn’t be possible without 2BNB, who has the existing buses, drivers and guides to make it work. However, the idea to do it now came directly from Richmond magazine Editor Susan Winiecki.” Winiecki appealed to the community for a tourism circulator in the magazine’s January issue.

In addition to brochures outlining the route, riders can track real-time bus location online or most any smart phone through 2BNB GPS bus tracking. Temporary signs will mark the stops along the route.

Judging from the website/brochure, it looks like the B2B bus will go along W. Cary Street going east, then Main St. going west. It stops at Tredegar Civil War Center also.
It says it will stop for you if you hold up your hand.

General Assembly In Violation of Virginia Constitution?

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Despite the opposition and hard work of Oregon Hill’s state senator, Donald McEachin, the Virginia General Assembly Senate passed Senate Bill 1025. An identical bill (HB 2123) passed in the House of Delegates last month, and Governor Bob McDonnell is expected to sign the legislation into law.

These bills, if signed into law, would tie the hands of Virginia officials, restricting their ability to use the effluent testing and water quality monitoring necessary to protect Virginia’s waterways and communities from the severe impacts of surface mining. The law would also repeal the State Water Control Board’s authority over an important category of pollution discharge permits, eroding the authority of this board of citizen experts.

This violates Virginia’s Constitution. Section 1 of Article XI of the Virginia constitution is particularly relevant, and I quote it here (bolding added for emphasis):

To the end that the people have clean air, pure water, and the use and enjoyment for recreation of adequate public lands, waters, and other natural resources, it shall be the policy of the Commonwealth to conserve, develop, and utilize its natural resources, its public lands, and its historical sites and buildings. Further, it shall be the Commonwealth’s policy to protect its atmosphere, lands, and waters from pollution, impairment, or destruction, for the benefit, enjoyment, and general welfare of the people of the Commonwealth.

“Clean water and clean air have been assaulted from day one of this General Assembly session. Whether it’s loopholes in the permitting process for coal mines, or extending coal subsidies in Virginia, this General Assembly has done all they can to create a safety net for the coal industry,” said J.R. Tolbert, assistant director of the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club. “If we didn’t know any better, you’d think Virginia had become a corporate welfare state.”

Where does the Tea Party stand on this one? Or do they only care about certain parts of the federal Constitution?