Tag Archives: April Fools Day

Spring Brings Invasives- Rare Snake Like Amphibian Discovered Off North Bank Trail

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A small team of visiting biologists, working along the wetter portions of North Bank Trail have made a surprising find during a warmer part of this past weekend – a rare, snake-like amphibian known as the Brazilian penis snake or Atretochoana eiselti.

Matthew Hooper, from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, found the creature and had this to say:

It seemed to have been stirring while still coming out of hibernation. I was very shocked by its appearance. It is not clear how this sample came to be along the James River. Perhaps it was an exotic pet that was discarded. While it is doubtful that this salamander has mated, it is considered invasive, and the James River Park’s Invasive Plant Task Force has been tasked with following up on the matter. They have been quite busy ever since those perennial Thai pitcher plants were found on Belle Island.

City Expanding ‘Ride-Share’ Transportation Options

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Although most local pundits have been focusing on the announcement of new electric-assist bicycles being mixed in with the City’s bike share program, officials say that there will be even more variety of vehicles coming in order to accommodate all ages and skill levels.

Although details are still forthcoming, City transportation officials have confirmed that the main vendor for their RVA Bike Share program, Bewegen, has tentative deals with the Louis Marx-designed Big Wheel and Huffy, the maker of the Green Machine. More testing is expected before completing the roll-out:

This effort is an interesting contrast with Virginia cities’ long wrangling with California dockless scooter company Bird Rides Inc. This also raises the stakes for the upcoming launch of the Dodo vending machine electric pogo stick company.

ONE VCU Master Plan Includes New ‘Capsule Dorm’ On West Cary

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Further examination of the new ONE VCU Master Plan reveals an ambitious experiment for the Monroe campus- a new ‘capsule dorm’ for West Cary Street.

The document details, recently approved by the VCU Board Of Visitors, include the design, construction, and operation of a new type of temporary dormitory for a small subset of the university’s students. The building will be part of a new complex built on the current location of the Thalhimer Tennis Center on the north side of the 900 block of West Cary Street.

This concept is modeled on a known phenomenon in downtown Tokyo, Japan- ‘kapuseru hoteru‘ or ‘pod hotels’. These structures typically feature a large number of small bed-sized rooms known as capsules that are available for short term rental. The VCU capsule dorm, informally called “The W.Cary Street Pods”, will provide basic overnight accommodation for VCU undergraduate students who voluntarily aspire to minimalist lifestyles. Special VCU student backpacks and digital access rights will be part of the program.

A VCU dean who did not wish to be identified by name had this to say:

This idea comes to fruition at a time when the university is innovating new ways to make campus residential life more affordable. It is also noteworthy that the City of Richmond is now codifying STR’s (short term rentals) and that our own Sustainability Department is tackling traditional dorm outputs.

There will be a full briefing on ‘pod life’ at VCU for the public at a later date at the VCU ICA.

Family Pays Increasing Taxes With Settlement $ From Robo Callers

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Although many Richmonders are outraged and dreading the Mayor’s increased property tax rate proposal, at least one Oregon Hill family is not sweating it because of another income source. Will, who lives with his wife Katie and son Ben in a modest 2-story row house on Pine Street, says he is pleasantly surprised by the checks he is receiving from the government these days.

They come from a public fund set up by the Consumer Protection Act, a law that addresses robocalling, Do Not Call Registry, email spam, and solicitation violations. With last year’s addendum that includes fines for unsolicited direct marketing mailings, the fund as well as its payments have grown considerably.

“Sometimes they are only a few dollars, but they really add up when we need the extra money. Sometimes we just wait to deposit them all at the end of the month and use them to knock down our mortgage and tax debt.”

Will added that while he opposes any increases in property taxes, he expects all the reparations for the “we-want-to-buy-your-home” text and postcard violators to more than make up for tax burdens. He says the beginning of this year has been especially heavy with these solicitations.

“Every time I look at my phone or go to the mailbox, I am hearing from more and more entities who say they want to buy our house. I think they will be very surprised when the government fines start catching up with them.”

He was surprised to learn that more Richmond residents are not taking advantage of the program.

“I just had to call my local government representative’s office to make sure my household was properly signed up with the program, and then the checks started rolling in.”

Breaking News: James River Skyway Announced

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This morning an Italian-Japanese conglomerate, Fuki-Trani Ltd., announced plans for an exciting new riverfront project, a high-speed cable car crossing the James River. The preliminary design would have one side of the crossing originating at a station on a portion of Oregon Hill near the Overlook townhouse complex, with heavy duty cable going over the James River and the Belle Island park to the other terminal station on top of the Riverside Apartments building on Riverside Drive on the south side.

Example of gondola lift/skyway at Sulphur Mountain in Alberta, Canada:

Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones and Councilperson Parker Agelasto were beaming as they briefed a few media members on the outline of the deal in the first floor of City Hall late last night. “This represents a fantastic opportunity to leverage Richmond’s natural assets and create jobs,” said Mayor Jones. “What a beautiful way to connect the opposite sides of the James River, the City, and the 5th District,” added Councilperson Agelasto.

The amount of investment by the Fuki-Trani group is estimated at between 8 and 10 million dollars, and the City of Richmond is putting in $2 million into the project initially. Dominion Resources had to approve of the project in advance because it will use airspace above their riverfront headquarters facility. The Oregon Hill station will require zoning changes as it adaptively re-uses the land where Overlook construction ceased and there are a few town home foundations. (Residents may recall at one point a developer from Cleveland was considering them a few years ago). According to preliminary plans, the station would operate from 6 am to 11 pm and employ 2 to 3 people with a small walk-up snack bar. Rides would cost between $5 to $8, though a commuter/student discount may be possible. Some nearby residents along the Oregon Hill Parkway have already expressed concern for noise from the station.

Fuki-Trani spokespeople offered few other details at this time, though they did say that they were already looking at possible future skyways in other parts of Richmond. Here is some additional information on gondola/cable car lifts, courtesy of Wikipedia:

While gondola lifts are traditionally used for ski resort purposes, in recent years they are finding increased usage in urban environments as seen in the installations of the Metrocable (Medellín), Portland Aerial Tram, Metrocable (Caracas) and Cable Aéreo (Manizales). The Metrocable systems in Medellin and Caracas are fully integrated with the public transit network which provides passengers the ability to seamlessly transfer to the local metro lines. London, UK, has built Emirates Air Line (cable car) for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
In terms of urban gondola systems for the future, TransLink in Metro Vancouver has proposed to build a gondola up Burnaby Mountain to Simon Fraser University in an announcement in September, 2010.
In late 2012, a widespread aerial gondola system was proposed for Austin, Texas in an effort to expand mass transit options in the rapidly growing city.