83 thoughts on “Feeding Groups Trash Leftovers Monroe Park 11/28/10”
Trash Not Bombs.
These are probably the same people that protest against Big Corporations polluting the world and they can’t even clean up after themselves…they should be kicked out of the park just for this!!!
Personally, I agree that trashing the park is inexcusable and people who do it should not be allowed back.
However, I question how much of this trash is from Food Not Bombs (though I also admit I could totally be wrong, for I was not there). This topic has come up in the past on this site and it was generally believed that FNB was better than other groups that give out meals in Monroe Park.
One other aspect that this brings to my mind is the ‘feast or famine’ of the holiday season vs. other times of the year. I can remember when I worked in the old Freedom House kitchen on Canal, and I was literally surrounded by pillars of leftover holiday party sushi trays that I tried to ration in a sane manner, and yet I also remember a different time of winter praying that the thin soup would last for the latecomers.
Putting aside some of the politics, I do hope that there can be some efficiencies brought forth that will allow everyone to do better (including with the unacceptable litter problem).
These photos were taken EXCLUSIVELY in the area where TNB holds their community meal. They were taken about 1/2 hour after they left. It is not unfair to ask that they police the area they use for all trash when they are finished. Leaving the Park like this is inexcusable.
I think the question of what meal program is responsible is moot. There simply need to be more trashcans available in the park and this would not happen. Trash cans overflow when they are being used, when things are being used beyond capacity logic should tell us that we need to increase the capacity, not point fingers at organizations who cause the trashcans to be utilized in the first place!
I was at the park this past Sunday for Food Not Bombs and FNB has done a lot to cut down their trash. They now use reusable trays that get washed immediately. The only trash that is created is what the people bring with them from elsewhere and the paper a styrofoam cups for drink. The trash cans were already overflowing with trash before FNB started and we all picked up what trash we did find in our modest little area of the park to add to the pile.
Again, if the trashcans are getting utilized beyond capacity, add more trash cans or condut more frequent pickups of existing trash cans, esecially on high traffic days.
I disagree. Groups using the park for any reason should be responsible for any and all trash they introduce into the Park if it’s on this level. Imagine if this kind of mess were left at James River Park. The Politically Correct Legion would be all over it. Last Sunday, trash cans in other parts of Monroe Park were full but didn’t overflow to the extent that these did. What’s wrong with bringing a couple of large trash bags and cleaning up after you use the Park. Demanding that someone else clean up after you is appalling. Leaving the Park the way it was left yesterday is unacceptable, plain and simple.
I’m with Food Not Bombs. A few things:
– We use bright red reuseable cafeteria trays for our meal, NOT styrofoam.
– We use collapseable plastic trays for our food giveaway and brought NO cardboard boxes.
– The trash cans were full when we got there.
– What are you doing in the park after dark?
Trying to get in touch with Todd Woodson concerning this issue and the controversy surrounding monroe park. Anyone know how i can reach him or anyone with the monroe park ad. council. Thank you in advance,
Furthermore, those pictures WEREN’T taken on Sunday! Anyone can download them and look at the timestamp:
“11/27/2010 6:50 PM”
I thought that may be the case upon looking further at the pictures, because they were serving spaghetti in little styofoam bowls the park ON SATURDAY. For those who don’t know, Food Not Bombs serves at 4:00pm every Sunday.
Quit lying to suit your petty scheme to defame Food Not Bombs, Todd. It’s deceitful, manipulative, and really not very mature.
I second Eric on this one. I was also in the park during serving. We don’t bring books to the park, we don’t use styro-foam, and we didn’t serve spaghetti. Nice try Todd, I was hoping you were behaving in a more rational manner than some of the people we’ve been talking to through this controversy, but I’m questioning it pretty hard.
We also went around the park in our area before leaving and picked up OTHERS trash as well this time.
On a side note about all of this, some of us have just figured out, using the city’s crime statistics, that Monroe Park is actually the safest place in downtown. There were only 14 crimes committed in the park, or on the streets bordering it this past year. Only 9 of which could have been committed by homeless people. The other 5 were traffic violations. And most of the 9 were non-violent. I might add that the last murder in the park was about 51 years ago. This trumps many of the concerns about safety in the park, and proves that many of the concerns have been based on rumor and prejudice, not fact.
What a sad, pathetic, and poorly executed attempt at a smear campaign.
If you have legitimate concerns, why not go to Food Not Bombs, either in the park or getting in contact with people involved, and voicing your concerns to them in person, like a mature adult? Coming to the internet and trashtalking (no pun intended) does no good whatsoever.
Yes, it’s true, Food Not Bombs and the other feeding programs are opposed to closing the entirety of Monroe Park during renovations. Just because you don’t agree with this stance does not necessitate resorting to petty & childish tactics. FNB has been a part of this city for almost 17 years now; some of the other feeding programs have been here longer. They aren’t going to back down that easily.
I, for one, agree with them. Refusing to live our lives at the mercy of politicians who have, time and time again, proven that they have no interest in acting according to the will of the people, is perfectly acceptable.
But smear campaigns, particularly smear campaigns under the guise of legitimately caring about the city, are unacceptable.
Think your own thoughts, make your own decisions, and then have some follow-through. Stop using the internet as a shield. Step up, be vocal and have interpersonal relationships, and take accountability for your misguided actions.
Union square and Bryant Park in N.y. have solar compactors. They also employ people to pick up the trash. Looks like the park could use another trashcan. This is a relatively insignificant example of how the park isnt meeting parkgoers needs. When will MPAC meet again to revise their plan, include a shelter at the park, and avoid wasting $86,000 on redoing a sidewalk thats just been redone? and buy another trashcan? 4 suggestions for saving money on park renovations: Cut back on the $559,755 on stone dust and steel edging for that dust (including the dust for the Pentanque field) Choose less awesome ornamental lights. @ 4,275.00 a piece (96 of them), theyre an extravagance MP cant afford, forget about the Pentanque field and never mind redoing that sidewalk. Build a shelter in the park instead. Parkgoers will love you for it. Shouldnt a park be useful to the people that use it?
The fact that there aren’t enough trash cans in the park (interesting given how it’s supposed to be “unused” so much of the time) is a real problem, but it’s a problem that we’re trying to find a workaround for. Work still needs to be done if we’re going to meet the goal of leaving the corner of the park nicer than we found it every time we’re there, but as noted above we’ve been doing things to cut down on the trash we’re generating and we’re always open to trying new things. What have you or the other folks on MPAC doing to address the concerns that people in the community have about the master plan, other than deleting it from your website & making snarky posts on the internet trying to cast blame elsewhere?
Depending on the make/model/year of the camera, I am will to bet that it is off a day…many devices have this problem!
@TOT…I thought about that too, but I left the park a little after all the FNB supplies had been taken away because I stuck around to talk to some friends. The trashcans did not look like that when I left and it had already gotten dark. We also didn’t serve spaghetti. And again, we don’t use styrofoam. Not even the cups, to correct Kenny, they are paper cups.
Another thing I noticed is that Scott posted this at 2:12 AM. I worried that he is not getting his 8-hours of sleep :(
That apple in the one picture is biodegradable.
I agree that we should do a better job of cleaning up, and Todd has brought this up to us before. We have been making a lot of efforts to be cleaner, and we are in the process of getting more reusable supplies. But as I had told him, we have almost no budget and a rotating cast of volunteers that have kids, jobs, school, and other projects taking up our time. This doesn’t always allow for us to get things done immediately. I promise we are making a strong effort.
I too would like to see a shelter built in Monroe Park.
Shame on you, Todd.
Since the homeless are getting a free meal, perhaps they could be responsible for dispersing the trash among empty trash cans in the park!
I’m willing to bet that a lot of the extra trash this weekend came from the extra effort of groups on a Thanksgiving weekend. Around the holidays, there is always an extra effort from the public to reach out and help. These new or less frequent people and groups don’t know the history of trash problems in the park and wouldn’t put in the effort to clean like FNB does. Plus, on a 4 day holiday weekend, trash pick-up is interrupted, to say the least.
Also, what were you doing in the park after dark Todd? I guess these rules you’re so zealous about enforcing only apply to other people.
Patricia R. Daniels can be contacted at PatDanielsrva@gmail.com and I recommend you contact her.
And then you cleaned all of this up right? After you took the pictures?
Find something better to do with your life and stop blaming the folks that are trying to help those in need. And seriously? Doing something that would alert the media to film this with a likely biased story? C’mon now Todd.
I see those trashcans full A LOT and they sit that way for some time. To blame it on service providers is unreal, particularly on service providers that don’t get paid to do what they do and have to negotiate deals to get the food they cook and spend their own hard-earned money and time preparing the meals.
Get it together and think again before you post things like this. Especially since you’ve essentially committed libel by posting this and listing FNB and others (even with your not-so-smooth typo) which could result in a defamation suit if you aren’t careful.
This post was intentionally full of malice and for you to not bring this to the service providers attention and instead post it online reinforces that you had nothing but poor intent in this case.
Sad–this isn’t what the community should be about and it’s not what the service providers are about either.
I don’t know any FNB serving that uses Styrofoam take out trays like that. Also it is interesting how you take two pictures of the same trashcan, from different angles, and display them non-sequentially, perhaps to make it seem like there was more trash, to further support your slanderous accusations against Food Not Bombs. If the banking class hadn’t bankrupted our economy and ergo local governments, the parks department would have a sufficient budget to provide better services in the park, for the benefit of all Richmond denizens and visitors.
I definitely took note yesterday that all of the trashcans in that area of the park were already full when we arrived at 4pm for Food Not Bombs.
Trashcans are consistently full, clearly not emptied on a regular enough basis (which I think falls under VCU’s responsibility because they have a gentleman’s agreement with the city in regard to trash and litter), and probably just not large enough.
We pick up our trash and other people’s trash. BUt when trashcans are poorly maintained and not emptied enough it is HIGHLY likely that stacked up trash will blow away. This is a really basic thing that the city and vcu need to figure out. We try and we will keep on trying.
Todd, I really don’t know what good you think you are trying to accomplish with these pictures. Smear campaign FAIL.
It’s too bad this is turning into a FNB issues. The problem is with all the feeding groups in the park. Last Sunday cars were driving over the grass to set up. There were four different groups serving simultaneously, clothes and toiletries are dumped in the park and trouble breaks out regularly. This is no smear campaign. These are everyday facts that drive other people away from the park.
FNB insists that this is the ONLY park they will work in when many other options exist. FNB primary interest, in their own words, is to make a political statement, not serve the homeless.
Whether this trash comes from FNB is immaterial. It is there and it is common and will continue as long as Monroe Park continues to be the center of these activities. FNB speaks for themselves only. The neighbors of this park demand change. To waste a valuable historical resource in this manner is unconscionable.
liar liar pants on fire
Are you trying to say Paul Hammond, that FNB, which has been serving meals for over 16 years, is completely uninterested in serving the homeless/surrounding community? Talk about not focusing on your issues with Food Not Bombs.
Trying to seperate FNB’s political interest and it’s interest in the community is obtuse. The political aspect is this, if the city is bent on spending millions of dollars on renovating the park, then fine, it may not be the best use of money, but fine, however trying to close the park for an indefined period of time (being at LEAST 9-18 months), is unfair to those who currently use the park. The MPAC is trying to force the homeless, and ANYone else who uses the park, out with a nine foot fence! How can FNB or any orginization say they support the homeless, if they simultaneously allow, without concern, the closing of Monroe Park?
I demand change too…so do many of the service providers, including FNB and the individuals that receive services in the park as well as the other folks that use it (mainly students and a few families). In regards to wasting a valuable historical resource, actually the park is being used in a manner which is consistent with its history. Protests, peaceful and otherwise, have taken place there over the decades with hundreds and in some cases larger numbers than that in attendance.
To your point, Scott, the trash shouldn’t be there but someone has to empty it and the trash doesn’t just come there from service providers but from students and others. To Mo’s point, the trash doesn’t get emptied like it should.
The park shouldn’t be neglected but it shouldn’t be “improved” in a way that is inconsistent with its history–the plans for the city are inconsistent with that and if that’s what you care about then you would recognize that as well.
Too bad that this was presented in this way and that folks aren’t more involved in discussion about this issue in a proactive way instead of attacking groups that are doing the best they can (FNB and others). There is so much stereotyping in many of the posts that are criticizing and placing blame on service providers and in the last post, on others, that it’s kind of obvious that there are other things that are keeping folks from the park–it’s all personal and full of bias.
The park is safe, I’ve gone there since 1998 when I lived on the campus of VCU in a dorm right next to the park and I’ve never seen or had problems. Also, there are more attacks, robberies, muggings, rapes etc. in the VCU and surrounding areas so maybe that’s where the problems should be addressed. It’s not the homeless that are committing these crimes usually–in fact if you watch the news you will see that it’s often folks from out of the area or others.
Sad but true, it’s time to accept reality and focus on the whole community, not on personal gain or personal goals. Many of the service providers do that but I’m not seeing it from as many folks that should be engaged in the local area.
The pics were taken on Sunday, November 28 between 6 and 8:30 PM, Eric. My camera isnt set to proper date and time.
a couple of points- The park is closed after dark to recreation only. Citizens are free to travel through at night. Jackie leaves the park at 3PM. She is the groundskeeper. I meant to say 6 and 6:30 in previous post. FNB- this is not the first time ive asked you to clean up after yourselves. The north wind picks the trash up and carries it to Oregon Hill and further into the river. Leaving the Park better than you find it is the key. Leaving the Park trashed is unacceptable for any feeding group.
If you consider human beings waste, I think there are bigger problems than Monroe Park, Paul.
And Todd, I’ve told you, we are working on the issue, and are acquiring a trashcan to bring with us. Most of the trash pictured there is clearly not even associated with feedings. We no longer bring cardboard, as per your request, and most other groups don’t do grocery give aways. The bowls that are on the ground didn’t fill up that trash can, it was all the other waste built up in it, that was THERE WHEN WE ARRIVED at 4pm.
It’s only coincidentally set to the right year, month, and time of day, just one day off? Even though people specifically recall that particular trash being there on Saturday but not Sunday?
I’m sorry, but I’m not buying it.
Even if I did, the very idea that posting this set of pictures could have any positive or outcome for the community is ridiculous.
You reiterate your demands but don’t listen: the trash ain’t ours. We’re already doing what we can to keep the park clean. Nine point nine out of ten Food Not Bombers will probably agree that polluting the environment isn’t something we’re interested in.
If trash is such a consistant problem though, why not get the park employee who is already there to empty the trash cans once in awhile?
Again – it’s not our trash, so this is just a suggestion.
I would like to see the rotunda in the middle of the park become a functional community kitchen with a service window. This would help manage what groups are providing service at any given time by requiring them to coordinate their service with the availability of the kitchen. This will in turn help keep services from overlapping and spread service out more evenly through-out the week It will also allow for a sanitary location to cook the food.
I think this sounds way better than some kind of cafe in the center of the park. The school has plenty of surrounding cafe’s for people to choose from. I don’t care if you even choose a locally owned and operated cafe over a starbucks cafe. There could always be a better more communal purpose for such a building.
I think it’s important to continue services at Monroe Park, and provide a welcome environment for all people regardless of their economic disposition.
As of 4:00pm November 29th, 2010, all the trashcans in the park, as seen driving around the perimeter, were empty (or not overfilling like in these photos). The Main and Belvidere side of the park did not have any noticeable litter around it or the trashcans. The only overfilling trashcan I saw was the one closest to the dorms, on Franklin and Laurel.
Seems like a mountain out of a molehill situation. OK, everyone try their best to keep the park clean. If you are going into the park to take pictures of trash, do yourself and your community a favor and pick some of it up yourself. If you are going into the park to feed people, do likewise, so that those whose job it is on Monday to clean the park and empty the trash have less of a workload (unless you are of the philosophy that people should work hard for their money…)
The trash is gone, whoever left it there, and who ever didn’t clean it up.
Instead of rehashing what other people are discussing here, I would like to say I am in support Todd Woodson’s and Paul Hammond’s viewpoints.
I support Todd Woodson and his effort to keep our parks and city streets clean of trash and litter.
I would like to see them build a permanent wall around Monroe Park with few entry points…people would have to check in/out…very much like Yellowstone National Park (minus the wall)…we could then hold individuals more responsibly!
Todd Woodson’s point is….not very good and not very well aimed.
Kenneth’s point about the rotunda is dead on. Monroe Park doesn’t need a restaurant it needs a community kitchen where groups can sign up to come cook meals to serve to anyone for free in the park.
Why install a Ptank (sp?) court and hire people to play ptank since no one knows what the heck it is when you could install a basketball court, or shuffleboard, or something people actually already want to use.
People use this park. We aren’t going to stop. There is NO good reason for people to have to leave the park for renovations to happen- only racist, classist, and pro-gentrification reasons. Not good enough for me to leave, same goes for a lot of people.
Parks are for public use! Litter doesn’t necessitate closing during renovations. Where is your logic?
Also Todd- name calling? Seriously?!? Grow up.
Mo..shutting the park down has to do with public safety and the ability to complete the project more quickly…not racist, classit, and pro-gentrification reasons… the area is very busy with traffic and they have to store all their equipment and materials somewhere…doing it in sections would make it more cramp
Here’s a link to the Richmond Petanque Club. Looks like fun:
Let’s have MORE FUN in Monroe Park. More concerts, more movies, more petanque, more Chess, more frisbees…
ToT: building a wall around the park is a great way to make sure that it has a huge crime problem. Public spaces that are open and inviting tend to be safe and well used, ones that enforce a bunker mentality tend to be empty and dangerous.
Todd, your plan is unpopular with parkgoers and the public in general. Fix it! You have a moral responsibility to include a shelter to keep parkgoers from freezing to death at night. Not everyone knows where or is able to catch the CARITAS bus. You told me youd like to see CARITAS expanded. You know that Richmond isnt able to shelter everyone. A shelter and a community kitchen would save lives and keep people from suffering. Richmond cant afford your extravagant dreams. Monroe Park should be especially suited to the needs of Richmond, not modeled after parks that exist in places with different needs and budgets. Address basic human needs. Address the needs of Richmond. A shelter would be a community project that all of Richmond could be proud of.
Mo –
You, Eric and others call Todd out on the wrong date on his camera. Funny that your your own blog post on the WRIC piece http://thewingnutrva.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/wric-8-news-airs-highly-biased-story-on-monroe-park/
states 11/30/2010….and today….is 11/29/2010 @11:40p. So…can you now see how a date can be wrong? The date on your own blog is wrong. Hope you and Todd can figure out how to set your dates correctly. Assume good intent…
In addition, you state in that same post that it only gives 1 point of view. Unfortunately, that tends to be what the press does…. That’s like the Wingnut Ch 6 TV piece that you and the other Wingnuts were so proud of…it only gave 1 point of view on how the residents feel about your presence in Northside.
Don’t want to sidetrack the comments…just pointing out that mistakes happen….dates can be wrong….
Media is biased….blogs are biased…people are biased. We all have to read, learn, investigate, and decide for ourselves. And not believe everything we hear and read….on both sides.
We need to invest in dialogue respectfully….Mo…you called him out for “name calling”…when you have done your fair share of that. Both sides have a lot of good things to say….and the message won’t be heard for the yelling, name calling, positioning, sarcasm, etc.
Meanwhile…the message gets lost in the delivery…the mess…the stuff…and meanwhile…the homeless still suffer!
Trash Not Bombs.
These are probably the same people that protest against Big Corporations polluting the world and they can’t even clean up after themselves…they should be kicked out of the park just for this!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi-qiRjQv4A&feature=fvst at 6:37 protesters held up signs to keep the park open. We should go to a FNB meeting and hold up large picture of all their trash and play this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xAi80ShG0I&feature=related
For those tuning in late, this post alludes to this controversy:
https://www.oregonhill.net/2010/11/17/anther-monroe-park-question/
Personally, I agree that trashing the park is inexcusable and people who do it should not be allowed back.
However, I question how much of this trash is from Food Not Bombs (though I also admit I could totally be wrong, for I was not there). This topic has come up in the past on this site and it was generally believed that FNB was better than other groups that give out meals in Monroe Park.
One other aspect that this brings to my mind is the ‘feast or famine’ of the holiday season vs. other times of the year. I can remember when I worked in the old Freedom House kitchen on Canal, and I was literally surrounded by pillars of leftover holiday party sushi trays that I tried to ration in a sane manner, and yet I also remember a different time of winter praying that the thin soup would last for the latecomers.
Putting aside some of the politics, I do hope that there can be some efficiencies brought forth that will allow everyone to do better (including with the unacceptable litter problem).
These photos were taken EXCLUSIVELY in the area where TNB holds their community meal. They were taken about 1/2 hour after they left. It is not unfair to ask that they police the area they use for all trash when they are finished. Leaving the Park like this is inexcusable.
I think the question of what meal program is responsible is moot. There simply need to be more trashcans available in the park and this would not happen. Trash cans overflow when they are being used, when things are being used beyond capacity logic should tell us that we need to increase the capacity, not point fingers at organizations who cause the trashcans to be utilized in the first place!
I was at the park this past Sunday for Food Not Bombs and FNB has done a lot to cut down their trash. They now use reusable trays that get washed immediately. The only trash that is created is what the people bring with them from elsewhere and the paper a styrofoam cups for drink. The trash cans were already overflowing with trash before FNB started and we all picked up what trash we did find in our modest little area of the park to add to the pile.
Again, if the trashcans are getting utilized beyond capacity, add more trash cans or condut more frequent pickups of existing trash cans, esecially on high traffic days.
I disagree. Groups using the park for any reason should be responsible for any and all trash they introduce into the Park if it’s on this level. Imagine if this kind of mess were left at James River Park. The Politically Correct Legion would be all over it. Last Sunday, trash cans in other parts of Monroe Park were full but didn’t overflow to the extent that these did. What’s wrong with bringing a couple of large trash bags and cleaning up after you use the Park. Demanding that someone else clean up after you is appalling. Leaving the Park the way it was left yesterday is unacceptable, plain and simple.
I’m with Food Not Bombs. A few things:
– We use bright red reuseable cafeteria trays for our meal, NOT styrofoam.
– We use collapseable plastic trays for our food giveaway and brought NO cardboard boxes.
– The trash cans were full when we got there.
– What are you doing in the park after dark?
Trying to get in touch with Todd Woodson concerning this issue and the controversy surrounding monroe park. Anyone know how i can reach him or anyone with the monroe park ad. council. Thank you in advance,
rdean@wric.com
My phone number is 783 8829. The email is candylandmusic@earthlink.net
Furthermore, those pictures WEREN’T taken on Sunday! Anyone can download them and look at the timestamp:
“11/27/2010 6:50 PM”
I thought that may be the case upon looking further at the pictures, because they were serving spaghetti in little styofoam bowls the park ON SATURDAY. For those who don’t know, Food Not Bombs serves at 4:00pm every Sunday.
Quit lying to suit your petty scheme to defame Food Not Bombs, Todd. It’s deceitful, manipulative, and really not very mature.
I second Eric on this one. I was also in the park during serving. We don’t bring books to the park, we don’t use styro-foam, and we didn’t serve spaghetti. Nice try Todd, I was hoping you were behaving in a more rational manner than some of the people we’ve been talking to through this controversy, but I’m questioning it pretty hard.
We also went around the park in our area before leaving and picked up OTHERS trash as well this time.
On a side note about all of this, some of us have just figured out, using the city’s crime statistics, that Monroe Park is actually the safest place in downtown. There were only 14 crimes committed in the park, or on the streets bordering it this past year. Only 9 of which could have been committed by homeless people. The other 5 were traffic violations. And most of the 9 were non-violent. I might add that the last murder in the park was about 51 years ago. This trumps many of the concerns about safety in the park, and proves that many of the concerns have been based on rumor and prejudice, not fact.
What a sad, pathetic, and poorly executed attempt at a smear campaign.
If you have legitimate concerns, why not go to Food Not Bombs, either in the park or getting in contact with people involved, and voicing your concerns to them in person, like a mature adult? Coming to the internet and trashtalking (no pun intended) does no good whatsoever.
Yes, it’s true, Food Not Bombs and the other feeding programs are opposed to closing the entirety of Monroe Park during renovations. Just because you don’t agree with this stance does not necessitate resorting to petty & childish tactics. FNB has been a part of this city for almost 17 years now; some of the other feeding programs have been here longer. They aren’t going to back down that easily.
I, for one, agree with them. Refusing to live our lives at the mercy of politicians who have, time and time again, proven that they have no interest in acting according to the will of the people, is perfectly acceptable.
But smear campaigns, particularly smear campaigns under the guise of legitimately caring about the city, are unacceptable.
Think your own thoughts, make your own decisions, and then have some follow-through. Stop using the internet as a shield. Step up, be vocal and have interpersonal relationships, and take accountability for your misguided actions.
Union square and Bryant Park in N.y. have solar compactors. They also employ people to pick up the trash. Looks like the park could use another trashcan. This is a relatively insignificant example of how the park isnt meeting parkgoers needs. When will MPAC meet again to revise their plan, include a shelter at the park, and avoid wasting $86,000 on redoing a sidewalk thats just been redone? and buy another trashcan? 4 suggestions for saving money on park renovations: Cut back on the $559,755 on stone dust and steel edging for that dust (including the dust for the Pentanque field) Choose less awesome ornamental lights. @ 4,275.00 a piece (96 of them), theyre an extravagance MP cant afford, forget about the Pentanque field and never mind redoing that sidewalk. Build a shelter in the park instead. Parkgoers will love you for it. Shouldnt a park be useful to the people that use it?
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The fact that there aren’t enough trash cans in the park (interesting given how it’s supposed to be “unused” so much of the time) is a real problem, but it’s a problem that we’re trying to find a workaround for. Work still needs to be done if we’re going to meet the goal of leaving the corner of the park nicer than we found it every time we’re there, but as noted above we’ve been doing things to cut down on the trash we’re generating and we’re always open to trying new things. What have you or the other folks on MPAC doing to address the concerns that people in the community have about the master plan, other than deleting it from your website & making snarky posts on the internet trying to cast blame elsewhere?
Depending on the make/model/year of the camera, I am will to bet that it is off a day…many devices have this problem!
@TOT…I thought about that too, but I left the park a little after all the FNB supplies had been taken away because I stuck around to talk to some friends. The trashcans did not look like that when I left and it had already gotten dark. We also didn’t serve spaghetti. And again, we don’t use styrofoam. Not even the cups, to correct Kenny, they are paper cups.
Another thing I noticed is that Scott posted this at 2:12 AM. I worried that he is not getting his 8-hours of sleep :(
That apple in the one picture is biodegradable.
I agree that we should do a better job of cleaning up, and Todd has brought this up to us before. We have been making a lot of efforts to be cleaner, and we are in the process of getting more reusable supplies. But as I had told him, we have almost no budget and a rotating cast of volunteers that have kids, jobs, school, and other projects taking up our time. This doesn’t always allow for us to get things done immediately. I promise we are making a strong effort.
I too would like to see a shelter built in Monroe Park.
Shame on you, Todd.
Since the homeless are getting a free meal, perhaps they could be responsible for dispersing the trash among empty trash cans in the park!
I’m willing to bet that a lot of the extra trash this weekend came from the extra effort of groups on a Thanksgiving weekend. Around the holidays, there is always an extra effort from the public to reach out and help. These new or less frequent people and groups don’t know the history of trash problems in the park and wouldn’t put in the effort to clean like FNB does. Plus, on a 4 day holiday weekend, trash pick-up is interrupted, to say the least.
Also, what were you doing in the park after dark Todd? I guess these rules you’re so zealous about enforcing only apply to other people.
Patricia R. Daniels can be contacted at PatDanielsrva@gmail.com and I recommend you contact her.
And then you cleaned all of this up right? After you took the pictures?
Find something better to do with your life and stop blaming the folks that are trying to help those in need. And seriously? Doing something that would alert the media to film this with a likely biased story? C’mon now Todd.
I see those trashcans full A LOT and they sit that way for some time. To blame it on service providers is unreal, particularly on service providers that don’t get paid to do what they do and have to negotiate deals to get the food they cook and spend their own hard-earned money and time preparing the meals.
Get it together and think again before you post things like this. Especially since you’ve essentially committed libel by posting this and listing FNB and others (even with your not-so-smooth typo) which could result in a defamation suit if you aren’t careful.
This post was intentionally full of malice and for you to not bring this to the service providers attention and instead post it online reinforces that you had nothing but poor intent in this case.
Sad–this isn’t what the community should be about and it’s not what the service providers are about either.
I don’t know any FNB serving that uses Styrofoam take out trays like that. Also it is interesting how you take two pictures of the same trashcan, from different angles, and display them non-sequentially, perhaps to make it seem like there was more trash, to further support your slanderous accusations against Food Not Bombs. If the banking class hadn’t bankrupted our economy and ergo local governments, the parks department would have a sufficient budget to provide better services in the park, for the benefit of all Richmond denizens and visitors.
I definitely took note yesterday that all of the trashcans in that area of the park were already full when we arrived at 4pm for Food Not Bombs.
Trashcans are consistently full, clearly not emptied on a regular enough basis (which I think falls under VCU’s responsibility because they have a gentleman’s agreement with the city in regard to trash and litter), and probably just not large enough.
We pick up our trash and other people’s trash. BUt when trashcans are poorly maintained and not emptied enough it is HIGHLY likely that stacked up trash will blow away. This is a really basic thing that the city and vcu need to figure out. We try and we will keep on trying.
Todd, I really don’t know what good you think you are trying to accomplish with these pictures. Smear campaign FAIL.
It’s too bad this is turning into a FNB issues. The problem is with all the feeding groups in the park. Last Sunday cars were driving over the grass to set up. There were four different groups serving simultaneously, clothes and toiletries are dumped in the park and trouble breaks out regularly. This is no smear campaign. These are everyday facts that drive other people away from the park.
FNB insists that this is the ONLY park they will work in when many other options exist. FNB primary interest, in their own words, is to make a political statement, not serve the homeless.
Whether this trash comes from FNB is immaterial. It is there and it is common and will continue as long as Monroe Park continues to be the center of these activities. FNB speaks for themselves only. The neighbors of this park demand change. To waste a valuable historical resource in this manner is unconscionable.
liar liar pants on fire
Are you trying to say Paul Hammond, that FNB, which has been serving meals for over 16 years, is completely uninterested in serving the homeless/surrounding community? Talk about not focusing on your issues with Food Not Bombs.
Trying to seperate FNB’s political interest and it’s interest in the community is obtuse. The political aspect is this, if the city is bent on spending millions of dollars on renovating the park, then fine, it may not be the best use of money, but fine, however trying to close the park for an indefined period of time (being at LEAST 9-18 months), is unfair to those who currently use the park. The MPAC is trying to force the homeless, and ANYone else who uses the park, out with a nine foot fence! How can FNB or any orginization say they support the homeless, if they simultaneously allow, without concern, the closing of Monroe Park?
I demand change too…so do many of the service providers, including FNB and the individuals that receive services in the park as well as the other folks that use it (mainly students and a few families). In regards to wasting a valuable historical resource, actually the park is being used in a manner which is consistent with its history. Protests, peaceful and otherwise, have taken place there over the decades with hundreds and in some cases larger numbers than that in attendance.
To your point, Scott, the trash shouldn’t be there but someone has to empty it and the trash doesn’t just come there from service providers but from students and others. To Mo’s point, the trash doesn’t get emptied like it should.
The park shouldn’t be neglected but it shouldn’t be “improved” in a way that is inconsistent with its history–the plans for the city are inconsistent with that and if that’s what you care about then you would recognize that as well.
Too bad that this was presented in this way and that folks aren’t more involved in discussion about this issue in a proactive way instead of attacking groups that are doing the best they can (FNB and others). There is so much stereotyping in many of the posts that are criticizing and placing blame on service providers and in the last post, on others, that it’s kind of obvious that there are other things that are keeping folks from the park–it’s all personal and full of bias.
The park is safe, I’ve gone there since 1998 when I lived on the campus of VCU in a dorm right next to the park and I’ve never seen or had problems. Also, there are more attacks, robberies, muggings, rapes etc. in the VCU and surrounding areas so maybe that’s where the problems should be addressed. It’s not the homeless that are committing these crimes usually–in fact if you watch the news you will see that it’s often folks from out of the area or others.
Sad but true, it’s time to accept reality and focus on the whole community, not on personal gain or personal goals. Many of the service providers do that but I’m not seeing it from as many folks that should be engaged in the local area.
The pics were taken on Sunday, November 28 between 6 and 8:30 PM, Eric. My camera isnt set to proper date and time.
a couple of points- The park is closed after dark to recreation only. Citizens are free to travel through at night. Jackie leaves the park at 3PM. She is the groundskeeper. I meant to say 6 and 6:30 in previous post. FNB- this is not the first time ive asked you to clean up after yourselves. The north wind picks the trash up and carries it to Oregon Hill and further into the river. Leaving the Park better than you find it is the key. Leaving the Park trashed is unacceptable for any feeding group.
If you consider human beings waste, I think there are bigger problems than Monroe Park, Paul.
And Todd, I’ve told you, we are working on the issue, and are acquiring a trashcan to bring with us. Most of the trash pictured there is clearly not even associated with feedings. We no longer bring cardboard, as per your request, and most other groups don’t do grocery give aways. The bowls that are on the ground didn’t fill up that trash can, it was all the other waste built up in it, that was THERE WHEN WE ARRIVED at 4pm.
It’s only coincidentally set to the right year, month, and time of day, just one day off? Even though people specifically recall that particular trash being there on Saturday but not Sunday?
I’m sorry, but I’m not buying it.
Even if I did, the very idea that posting this set of pictures could have any positive or outcome for the community is ridiculous.
You reiterate your demands but don’t listen: the trash ain’t ours. We’re already doing what we can to keep the park clean. Nine point nine out of ten Food Not Bombers will probably agree that polluting the environment isn’t something we’re interested in.
If trash is such a consistant problem though, why not get the park employee who is already there to empty the trash cans once in awhile?
Again – it’s not our trash, so this is just a suggestion.
I would like to see the rotunda in the middle of the park become a functional community kitchen with a service window. This would help manage what groups are providing service at any given time by requiring them to coordinate their service with the availability of the kitchen. This will in turn help keep services from overlapping and spread service out more evenly through-out the week It will also allow for a sanitary location to cook the food.
I think this sounds way better than some kind of cafe in the center of the park. The school has plenty of surrounding cafe’s for people to choose from. I don’t care if you even choose a locally owned and operated cafe over a starbucks cafe. There could always be a better more communal purpose for such a building.
I think it’s important to continue services at Monroe Park, and provide a welcome environment for all people regardless of their economic disposition.
As of 4:00pm November 29th, 2010, all the trashcans in the park, as seen driving around the perimeter, were empty (or not overfilling like in these photos). The Main and Belvidere side of the park did not have any noticeable litter around it or the trashcans. The only overfilling trashcan I saw was the one closest to the dorms, on Franklin and Laurel.
Seems like a mountain out of a molehill situation. OK, everyone try their best to keep the park clean. If you are going into the park to take pictures of trash, do yourself and your community a favor and pick some of it up yourself. If you are going into the park to feed people, do likewise, so that those whose job it is on Monday to clean the park and empty the trash have less of a workload (unless you are of the philosophy that people should work hard for their money…)
The trash is gone, whoever left it there, and who ever didn’t clean it up.
Instead of rehashing what other people are discussing here, I would like to say I am in support Todd Woodson’s and Paul Hammond’s viewpoints.
I support Todd Woodson and his effort to keep our parks and city streets clean of trash and litter.
I would like to see them build a permanent wall around Monroe Park with few entry points…people would have to check in/out…very much like Yellowstone National Park (minus the wall)…we could then hold individuals more responsibly!
Todd Woodson’s point is….not very good and not very well aimed.
Kenneth’s point about the rotunda is dead on. Monroe Park doesn’t need a restaurant it needs a community kitchen where groups can sign up to come cook meals to serve to anyone for free in the park.
Why install a Ptank (sp?) court and hire people to play ptank since no one knows what the heck it is when you could install a basketball court, or shuffleboard, or something people actually already want to use.
People use this park. We aren’t going to stop. There is NO good reason for people to have to leave the park for renovations to happen- only racist, classist, and pro-gentrification reasons. Not good enough for me to leave, same goes for a lot of people.
Parks are for public use! Litter doesn’t necessitate closing during renovations. Where is your logic?
Also Todd- name calling? Seriously?!? Grow up.
Mo..shutting the park down has to do with public safety and the ability to complete the project more quickly…not racist, classit, and pro-gentrification reasons… the area is very busy with traffic and they have to store all their equipment and materials somewhere…doing it in sections would make it more cramp
Here’s a link to the Richmond Petanque Club. Looks like fun:
http://petanqueamericaopen.blogspot.com/2007/06/petanque-100-in-richmond-va.html
Let’s have MORE FUN in Monroe Park. More concerts, more movies, more petanque, more Chess, more frisbees…
ToT: building a wall around the park is a great way to make sure that it has a huge crime problem. Public spaces that are open and inviting tend to be safe and well used, ones that enforce a bunker mentality tend to be empty and dangerous.
Todd, your plan is unpopular with parkgoers and the public in general. Fix it! You have a moral responsibility to include a shelter to keep parkgoers from freezing to death at night. Not everyone knows where or is able to catch the CARITAS bus. You told me youd like to see CARITAS expanded. You know that Richmond isnt able to shelter everyone. A shelter and a community kitchen would save lives and keep people from suffering. Richmond cant afford your extravagant dreams. Monroe Park should be especially suited to the needs of Richmond, not modeled after parks that exist in places with different needs and budgets. Address basic human needs. Address the needs of Richmond. A shelter would be a community project that all of Richmond could be proud of.
Mo –
You, Eric and others call Todd out on the wrong date on his camera. Funny that your your own blog post on the WRIC piece
http://thewingnutrva.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/wric-8-news-airs-highly-biased-story-on-monroe-park/
states 11/30/2010….and today….is 11/29/2010 @11:40p. So…can you now see how a date can be wrong? The date on your own blog is wrong. Hope you and Todd can figure out how to set your dates correctly. Assume good intent…
In addition, you state in that same post that it only gives 1 point of view. Unfortunately, that tends to be what the press does…. That’s like the Wingnut Ch 6 TV piece that you and the other Wingnuts were so proud of…it only gave 1 point of view on how the residents feel about your presence in Northside.
Don’t want to sidetrack the comments…just pointing out that mistakes happen….dates can be wrong….
Media is biased….blogs are biased…people are biased. We all have to read, learn, investigate, and decide for ourselves. And not believe everything we hear and read….on both sides.
We need to invest in dialogue respectfully….Mo…you called him out for “name calling”…when you have done your fair share of that. Both sides have a lot of good things to say….and the message won’t be heard for the yelling, name calling, positioning, sarcasm, etc.
Meanwhile…the message gets lost in the delivery…the mess…the stuff…and meanwhile…the homeless still suffer!