Dear Friends and neighbors

Thanks to all that came out to the OHNA meeting last night. For those of you that were not there, I stepped down from all my official positions with OHNA (19 years as treasurer and 3 years as president). A new, exciting group of officers was elected that will be led by president Bryan Green. I will do all that I can to make the transfer smooth. My wish is that they will have much good fortune in the future and that they continue to protect our neighborhood, continue the dialogue and relationships with our schools that have been my focus, and bring forward a more congenial and productive energy to the association. It has been my honor to serve you and I thank you for all the well wishes.

I will not be going away though, and in fact 2021 will be the busiest year of my life. I will continue to advocate for the Richmond community as a member of the City’s Urban Design Committee and will retain my position as Fourth Congressional District Leader for the Humane Society of the United States, also keeping my day jobs at VCU (22 years) and UR (11 years). I will continue to advocate for responsible environmental laws as well and along with an independent Committee, will have a big announcement coming soon on an historic environmental initiative. My American Chestnut project continues to grow and next Fall I hope to have well over 100 blight resistant American Chestnut hybrid trees grown organically from seed to donate to Richmond Parks and other appropriate open spaces in Virginia. I sent trees just this week to Highland County. My music will also continue and im filming a jazz/blues special program tonight at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts that can be seen on their website soon.

So as this will be my last email, I will leave you with the Style Weekly Back Page editorial I wrote as a neighbor that published yesterday:

https://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/opinion-let-us-succeed/Content?oid=16786088

Very Best Wishes for a terrific and safe Holiday!

Todd.