Appreciation again for our Councilperson Parker Agelasto and his wonderful assistant Ida Jones. Thanks to them, a new trashcan has been installed at Idlewood Avenue at Belvidere. This was one that Oregon Hill neighbors had been requesting for sometime (See ‘#9’). When the City’s Department of Public Works told them there was no money in the budget to install new trashcans, Parker and Jones transferred money from the 5th District Discretionary funds to pay for them. These funds typically support communication and community outreach efforts such as National Night Out. In this instance they decided it was important to pay for a City operation.
It is noteworthy that in other Richmond neighborhoods, the neighborhood associations are able to partner with the City to help pay for more streetscape amenities like trash/recycling receptacles. These associations often are able to do this partly due to their share of revenue from parking tickets from their restricted parking districts. This is something for Oregon Hill residents to consider as they contemplate restricted parking zones.
On the other hand, residents may also want to consider that while the City surprisingly has no money in its budget for new neighborhood trashcans, it has repeatedly awarded Venture Richmond large grants for its Clean & Safe program in its special downtown district. In turn, Venture Richmond subcontracts the Clean & Safe program. The City also uses grant money it received to install 44 BigBelly® Solar-powered trash compactors and their companion recycling bins in the same downtown area and other parks.