Last night protesters using ropes pulled down a statue honoring Confederate Gen. Williams Carter Wickham, which has stood in Monroe Park since 1891.
Here is a postcard of the statue, produced in 1895.
A young bear decided to visit downtown Richmond yesterday, playfully running across fields down at Tredegar.
Thankfully, Richmond Animal Care and Control, the Richmond Police, and Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries were able to sedate and capture him so that he was not injured. He will be relocated to another setting after evaluating.
RACC said it ended up naming the bear Fuzzy Wuzzy.
Now, hopefully, the next call RACC gets isn’t about a lion or tiger.
From letter:
Dear Councilperson Lynch
As you are aware, Oregon Hill is listed on both the Virginia and the National Registers of Historic Places. Our Oregon Hill Home Improvement Council has donated more individual Historic Easements to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources than any Virginia locality with the exception of Waterford in Loudon County. Through our neighbor’s blood and sweat and extensive financial commitment over the last few decades, Oregon Hill’s tax base for the City of Richmond has grown exponentially. Through teamwork, the neighborhood has matured into one of Richmond’s most socially progressive areas while keeping the crime rate at exemplary low levels. Our historic legacy and intact and cohesive street scape are worthy of preservation and protection.
It is with extreme disappointment that we read the final draft of the Richmond 300 planning document. Despite providing many comments on its content and even slideshows for its steering committee, the outcome of the plan as presented totally ignored our input and consequently would do severe and irreparable damage to our neighborhood should it be endorsed by City Council.
Our R7 zoning designation is an exceptionally good fit for this historic neighborhood with its 35 foot height limit. The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association voted to accept nothing less than a MEDIUM DENSITY RESIDENTIAL designation for the plan. This would conform with the current R7 zoning and help preserve our historic neighborhood. Instead, the Richmond 300 plan has Oregon Hill listed as NEIGHBORHOOD MIXED USE. The description of NEIGHBORHOOD MIXED USE for this document states “Building heights are generally two to four stories. Buildings taller than four stories are found at corner sites and along prominent roads.” This is unacceptable and incentivizes the demolition by developers of historic resources to overbuild within our neighborhood. Planning staff would most likely determine that buildings of eight or more stories are consistent with their Richmond 300 plan. Again, we are a MEDIUM DENSITY RESIDENTIAL neighborhood and need to be designated as such to compliment our appropriate R7 zoning and preserve our historic context.
Another EXTREMELY SERIOUS concern we have with the current draft of the Richmond 300 plan is that the VCU “node” is shown to include a large swath of the Oregon Hill Historic District. This must be corrected. The commentary on the VCU/Monroe Park “node” should indicate that VCU must respect the boundaries of the Oregon Hill Historic District and not encroach further into the neighborhood. The plan must also indicate that Monroe Park is the City’s oldest municipal park and NOT VCU property.
We appreciate your leadership Councilperson Lynch and respectfully request that you take a strong stand against these egregious flaws in the Richmond 300 Planning Document.
Sincerely,
Charles Todd Woodson, president
Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association, inc.
This happened over this past weekend’s protests. Sadly, its not the first time this wall of the Jacob House has suffered graffiti.
This Wednesday is a “Red Wednesday”, which means trash and recycling pickup. Please go over what can be recycled. Ideally, rolling recycling containers are stored and deployed in the back alleys along with trash cans. Please make sure you pick up containers after pickup tomorrow night.
If you have not done so already, don’t forget to sign up for your Recycling Perks.
In order to take your recycling to the next level, read this: 10 ways to improve your recycling.
From announcment:
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church is joining with faith communities around the nation in marking a National Day of Mourning. We mourn the lives lost in this pandemic. We mourn the livelihoods and economic security that has been lost in the pandemic. We mourn the countless lives lost to systemic racism. We mourn the pain and fear that our siblings of color experience on a daily basis. We mourn that we have not made enough progress in creating a world of justice for all.
At 3:00 p.m. this afternoon, the bell at St. Andrew’s will toll for ten minutes to express our grief. Wherever you are, I invite you to pause as you are able, either at 3:00 or at another point in the day, as we acknowledge our collective grief.
Neighbors are hoping this will be like the protest march we saw at Brown’s Island yesterday, but they are bracing for worse outcomes:
As reported from VPM News:
After a second night of protesting the death of George Floyd in Richmond, Gov. Ralph Northam authorized an 8 p.m. curfew Sunday in the city. The Virginia National Guard is also on alert and will step in if the city needs assistance.
Overnight Saturday, hundreds of people marched near the Capitol and on Broad Street. Police officers were seen in riot gear, dispersing the crowd with what appeared to be pepper spray. After midnight, the Daughters of the Confederacy headquarters on Arthur Ashe Boulevard was set on fire. The building was tagged with graffiti, along with Confederate statues on nearby Monument Avenue.
“I hear you. I know your pain is real. We have all seen too many people harassed, abused, and killed by law enforcement officers, in too many places, for too long—just for being black. I also know that others are exploiting this pain and are now causing violence,” Northam said in his first a statement on the demonstrations over the weekend. He released a statement Friday about the deaths of Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.
The curfew lasts from 8 p.m. Sunday through 6 a.m. Monday. City officials say it applies to public spaces. People may only be out in public to go back and forth from work, seek medical attention or assistance from first responders.
While many Oregon Hill residents sympathize with the recent protests, many are also saddened by damages experienced by local businesses during them. The Tech Exchange on W. Cary was broken into and several thousands of dollars in merchandise broken or taken. Some businesses in VCU area experienced broken glass and significant damages. The closest bicycle shop to Oregon Hill, Balance, on Broad Street, was destroyed.
Downtown Richmond has been rocked by protests against the murder of Minneapolis citizen George Floyd and police brutality across the nation in general. While there was a peaceful protest Friday evening that started in Monroe Park, a later riot the same evening burned a police car and a GRTC bus. Richmond is not alone, as cities across the United States have seen protests and riots which some have called a national uprising. All of this is happening as the COVID-19 pandemic is still a threat.