City Responsibilities

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Scott

Picking up where we left off last year, just as it is residents’ responsibility to clear off the sidewalk in front of their houses to the best of their abilities, it is the City’s responsibility to clear off the overpass bridges and their sidewalks (not the RMA or VCU!).

On S. Laurel Street overpass:

On S. Cherry Street overpass:

In front of Open High School:

There is also a missing public trash can at the corner of S. Pine and Idlewood. Which begs the question of when Oregon Hill will receive better public trash/recycling containers? (Councilperson Agelasto has done what he can).

Short editorial:
When it comes to money and attention, maybe Oregon Hill can pass a collection plate at Mayor Jones’ church.

Continue reading →

‘Tredegar Green’ – Still No Response To Neighborhood Concerns

Posted on January 19, 2016 by Scott

Venture Richmond, a very powerful special interests group, still has plans to apply for re-zoning the Tredegar Green property near Oregon Hill. Venture Richmond has talked about the need for Oregon Hill to compromise on the site’s planned use, and discussions between Venture Richmond and the neighborhood have been conducted over the last few years. However, the lawyer representing Oregon Hill, Andrew McRoberts, reports that there has been no reply from Venture Richmond representatives, not even a confirmation of the letter he sent outlining Oregon Hill’s very reasonable wishes over six months ago. All other inquiries by all residents of Oregon Hill had likewise been ignored (so much for “public-private partnership”).

The latest Venture Richmond communications to City staff reveal gross inadequacy:
No real commitment to event management planning- crowd, parking, trash, etc.
Sound levels are to be monitored, but this is meaningless because there is no decibel limit on sound, etc.
No height limitation (even though the DCC zoning would allow any owner of the property to build up to 95 feet in height by right — right in front of the Va. War Memorial’s view of the river!)

All the media has reported is that Jack Berry, Venture Richmond’s Executive Director, is planning to run for the position of Mayor of the City of Richmond. Perhaps he thinks he can do an even better job of putting off the public’s concerns than the current Mayor.

Burger’s Bernie Belly Crawl Challenge

Posted on January 10, 2016 by Scott

Ahhh politics…and in particular the U.S. Presidential race. A lot of people will look down their noses at my forthcoming expression of opinion. Some will rightly say that a community news site should concentrate on local level politics that have more of an immediate impact on the community it represents, while others will disdain any local opinion whatsoever based on their notions of propriety or something. I disregard them, in part because I agree with the adage that all politics is local, and in part because I desire MORE community engagement with politics in general. It should be obvious, but here I insert a disclaimer that I do not portend to represent ALL of Oregon Hill residents’ opinion on anything (unless, perhaps, when I am wearing my crown).

Anyway…so yeah, currently one of the big questions is if Senator Bernie Sanders can successfully upstage Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. Now, like a lot of people, I have been a fan of Bernie for a long time for many of his stands as an “Independent” in Congress (though not all of them). However, I am betting that he will not gain the nomination for a couple of different reasons. Bernie Sanders will not be on the ballot in November. I would love to be proven wrong. So much so that I am willing to make a friendly wager/challenge on this- I hereby announce that if Senator Bernie Sanders does become the Democratic Party nominee for President, I, Scott Burger, promise to crawl on my belly south from Idlewood Avenue down to the James River. (In the unlikely circumstance that I lose this bet, I will concede my loss on a date of my choosing, and upon losing, and I will fulfill my promise to do this crawl on a time and date of my choosing.)

So, if you want to help Bernie or would enjoy seeing me punished and brought low for my political thoughts, I urge you to vote in the Democratic Primary on March 1st and see if you can help prove me wrong. (By the way, I am certainly not alone in this crude speculation and if you would like to bet real money, there are already websites that will cater to this.)

Having issued this challenge, who then am I supporting in the Presidential election? Click for more… Continue reading →

Havana Mañana

Posted on January 5, 2016 by Scott

Dear President Rao,

I read with interest in today’s Richmond Times Dispatch that VCU has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with a Cuban university. As your neighboring Oregon Hill representative on VCU’s Community Advisory Board, I congratulate you on this effort but I question why VCU is able to work out a Memorandum of Understanding with a Cuban university but unable to work on a MOU with your neighbors in Oregon Hill.

Your neighbors in Oregon Hill have repeatedly requested a written agreement approved by the VCU Board of Visitors stating that VCU will honor West Cary Street as the border between the Oregon Hill Historic District and VCU. We need a MOU that VCU or its foundations will not purchase property south of Cary Street within the Oregon Hill Historic District. This is of particular importance now that VCU is purchasing property outside the boundaries of its Master Plan, without consulting with the community.

Please let us know when you would agree to meet with representatives of the Oregon Hill neighborhood in order to produce such a Memorandum of Understanding. I believe that your neighbors deserve the same regard as a university in Cuba.

Sincerely,
Scott Burger

Folk Festival and a (Deliberately) Missed Opportunity

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Scott

For eleven years now I have enjoyed attending the annual Folk Festival held on Richmond’s riverfront, a short walk from the neighborhood. This year was no exception. I caught such great acts as the Cambodian American Heritage Dance Troupe, The Campbell Brothers, Feedel Band, Grupo Rebolu’, Zedashe, and others. For me the highlight was two sets of wonderfully cosmic jazz by the Sun Ra Arkestra. Sure, I could nitpick, but overall the Folk Festival Committee continues doing an excellent job with programming the festival. Having dabbled in music booking and management, and having volunteered for the Folk Festival in the past, I have some idea of the challenges they face.

This past weekend was blessed with great weather and the crowds were there. There were still a few issues with traffic and jackasses parking illegally in the neighborhood, but it was better than some previous experiences with riverfront events. Hopefully these issues can be negotiated in a respectful manner so that they are not issues in the future.

That said, a huge opportunity was missed to highlight one of Richmond’s most important historical resources. I am, of course, talking about the James River and Kanawha Canal, designed in part by George Washington, built with slave labor, and the biggest and most significant public project in Virginia’s antebellum period. Among other common sense proposals for the new “Tredegar Green” area, neighbors have repeatedly requested a sign or historic marker west of Tredegar Iron Works for the Canal, listed since 1971 on the National Register of Historic Places. How many of the estimated 200,000 or so festival attendees knew about the historic Canal they were walking by? Venture Richmond left it without any sign and treated it like just a regular drainage ditch.

How many of the artists who performed on the ‘VCU Health stage’, set up IN THE CANAL, knew the historic significance?

It was a bit surreal to watch the Irish group The Alt perform on this site where Irish immigrants had toiled and died, without any acknowledgement by the festival. A simple sign, as requested, would have worked.

At times, Richmond leaders and academics talk about how Richmond history is so much more than the Civil War, and how more pre-Civil War accomplishments and stories need to be told. Despite all this talk, Richmond’s leaders often do not live up to their promises in this regard. (Something the late Mark Brady and many others have experienced). Sometimes they are more interested in destroying these important legacies, sometimes to the point that they jeopardize future opportunities.

The Folk Festival is great at sharing and presenting stories of people from all around the world (and we all hope it continues to do so), but that is why it is so incredibly disturbing when Venture Richmond ignores and diminishes our own.

“It’s time for a Virginia music hall of fame”

Posted on October 4, 2015 by Scott

Pine Street neighbor Todd Woodson has a column in today’s Richmond Times Dispatch, advocating for a Virginia Music Hall of Fame to be located in Richmond.
Excerpt:

Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky and other states have all invested in dedicated brick-and-mortar museums. Georgia invested millions in its Macon-based Music Hall of Fame, but the concept proved unsustainable and didn’t last. Virginia must learn and benefit from that experience.
Any museum must be extremely cautious about its overhead and budget. The world of the nonprofit is rough and has many obstacles.
Richmond, being centrally located and on Interstate 95, is an ideal location for a Virginia Music Hall of Fame.

UCI Bike Events

Posted on September 22, 2015 by Scott

Folks,

As the aircraft buzz overhead, you may or may not be aware that there has been some debate and controversy regarding the lack of crowds for the Richmond 2015 UCI bike race.

Without getting too far into it, let me just say that while I have been very critical of City projects and chasing tourist dollars, you notice that I have not taken aim at Richmond2015 as much because I am hoping it will lead to better bicycle infrastuctrure and culture in the long term.

Regardless, now is a good time to get out there and enjoy this international event.

Neighborhood restaurant Dinamo has a big welcome:

http://rvanews.com/features/embrace-the-race-dinamo-is-the-host-with-the-most-for-the-worlds/128822

Also, neighbor Holt Edmunds asked me to make sure people know about this freebie Thursday night, which is for anyone volunteering for the races or biking to the Poe Museum.
He volunteers at the museum and says the bike race has hurt visitation (a bit counter-intuitive). He hopes fellow Oregon Hill residents might want to take advantage of this.

Thanks,
Scott

Water: A Tale Of Two Cities

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Scott

This past month, the Richmond Times Dispatch featured some interesting editorial back and forth about Norfolk’s tax policies.

Why not also compare the water/sewer rate structure of Richmond and Norfolk?

Richmond water/sewer customers must pay $29 monthly just to be connected to the water supply, but there is no comparable service charge in Norfolk. Though their volume charge is slightly higher, the customer’s bill in Norfolk is directly correlated to the amount of water used. By contrast, Richmond water/sewer customers who conserve water are actually subsidizing those who waste water because of the high base service charge. A Richmond customer who uses 1 unit of water/sewer service monthly (748 gallons) will pay $39.05 monthly, which is over three times what a Norfolk customer pays for 1 unit of service.

Additionally, Richmond water/sewer customers are unjustly slapped with a charge in lieu of federal income tax on every unit of water, but customers in Norfolk do not pay a federal income tax surcharge on their water bills. While the Richmond utilities are authorized to charge the customers a payment in lieu of taxes that a private business would pay to the city, there is no business that pays federal income tax to the city. Altogether the city water/sewer customers are gouged around $5 million annually on their water bills in lieu of federal income tax, and this is the most regressive means of raising general funds revenue for the city. This is especially egregious, given that the City of Richmond sells water to the surrounding counties, who in turn, charge their citizens less.

Let’s learn from Norfolk’s fair water/sewer rate structure that rewards conservation and does not unjustly add a federal income tax surcharge onto the water bill. This should also be a campaign issue for our City and General Assembly political candidates.

Venture Richmond And Local Media Ignoring Concerns On Amphitheater Rezoning

Posted on August 25, 2015 by Scott

Last week, there was a Richmond Symphony stage put up on Tredegar Green to “test the site”. There was no notification to the neighborhood and several neighbors did ask about it. The stage was taken down and it appears that the actual event will occur on Brown’s Island. (Did it violate the “four day rule”?) However, to put it politely, this seems a bit premature and it would have helped to have a courtesy heads-up from Venture Richmond staff while they are supposedly working with the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association to rezone the Tredegar Green property.

In fact, it appears that Venture Richmond is once again arrogantly and deliberately planning to ignore community concerns. A quick look at latest submissions to the City Planning office confirms that Venture Richmond’s plan appears to fall far short of the neighborhood association’s proposal. (It’s also important to recall that there is no “Tredegar Green” amphitheater in the City’s Riverfront Plan.)

For example, the section on “Building Restriction”: instead of a limitation stating that no permanent structures would be built, Venture Richmond is proposing that only structures on the City-owned portion of the property would be reviewed by the Urban Design Committee and Planning Commission (while buildings up to 95 feet in height could be built on the Venture Richmond-owned land by right!)

Below is a photo today of the grand view from the terrace of the Virginia War Memorial. This is certainly one of the most important viewsheds in Richmond.

Also below is quick photoshop illustrating how this view would be impacted if a building 95 feet in height were built on Tredegar Green, as permitted by the DCC zoning proposed by Venture Richmond. This is a view that should be protected by a restriction on any permanent structures in Tredegar Green, as the neighborhood association has proposed.

Will there be any un-biased media coverage going forward? Oregon Hill neighbors fear that Folk Festival coverage will once again be used to drown out community voices and promises will once again be dishonorably broken. The Times Dispatch, Richmond Free Press, along with other local media outlets are corporate ‘partners’ of Venture Richmond. Who represents the regular citizens on Venture Richmond’s board? This week Style magazine published its 2015 Power List issue with Venture Richmond’s Jack Berry and no mention of his Shockoe stadium campaign or the destruction of the Tredegar wall or Kanawha Canal. No mention of why so many citizens have knicknamed Venture Richmond as “Vulture Richmond”. No mention of the lobbying, tax exemptions, and no-bid lease arrangements. With Venture Richmond increasing ties to WRIR, it looks like they will have all the local media locked up. I remember when former Oregon Hill resident Chris Maxwell and I were excited about creating a community radio station that eschewed corporate donations and influence. Sadly, for many Oregon Hill residents who have supported that WRIR vision over the years, it has been compromised and corrupted.

Despite Style’s Power rhetoric, are “RVA”‘s political winds REALLY on the verge of shifting?

Letter To VCU President Rao On Bus Rapid Transit Debate

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Scott

Email sent June 11 to VCU President Rao and City Councilperson Agelasto:

President Rao,

Thank you and the VCU Department of Community Development so much for hosting the VCU-Neighborhood Forum this afternoon. I do enjoy the chance to meet and discuss issues with the VCU administration.

As I brought up at the meeting, the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association would appreciate it very much if the inappropriate billboard-style signs at Belvidere and W.Main and at Belvidere and Cumberland could be removed. We are hoping that more appropriate signage can be installed with the City’s cooperation and input. And I was very sincere when I complimented VCU for the fine work of its police force. It really has helped change VCU’s relationship with surrounding neighborhoods for the better.

But I am writing to you and Councilperson Agelasto to follow up on two of the more contentious issues at the meeting, namely, the Bus Rapid Transit proposal and increased parking pressures. You heard Jon Marcus of the W. Grace Neighborhood Association give his issues with the current BRT proposal. You also heard Councilperson Agelasto’s challenge to VCU in regard to supporting BRT (something that I brought up at last year’s VCU Monroe Park Neighborhood meeting).
After you left the meeting, many neighborhood representatives expressed concern about the impact of additional student units from a larger Gladding Residence Center on W. Main. Jennifer Hancock, OHNA’s President, noted to me after the meeting that even the Fan neighborhood, with all of its decals and controlled parking, is still very worried about VCU student parking.

I would like to offer a possible 2-in-one solution to both of these matters:

We all want BRT to succeed in offering better mass transit to Richmond residents and VCU students, even if many strongly disagree with the current proposal. Indeed, some of us are worried that if it fails, it will set back mass transit in Richmond for years. That said, the current proposal needs more attention. Citizens and businesses have legitimate criticisms that should be listened to and taken seriously.

Personally, I believe that without considerably more commitment and support from the county governments, the BRT proposal should be reoriented towards serving the City (and VCU) more by becoming part of a new, inner-city circulator proposal. GRTC says that it has not been able to gain any traction with a circulator in the past, but previous attempts have been unreliable and anemic, only serving small parts of downtown and barely impacting midtown. If VCU (and U of R, and VUU) worked with GRTC, I believe a much more robust and satisfying inner-city circulator could be developed that could serve citizens, tourists, and students. Imagine a strong loop that included a slightly reformed Broad Street BRT as well as Boulevard, Main Street Station and Shockoe Bottom, and the entire Cary Street corridor. This circulator idea would not preclude extending BRT into the counties, converting to light rail, or adding more connecting, regular GRTC bus routes now or in the future.

Such an inner city circulator could totally change perspective and thinking about the new Gladding Residence Center. We know that VCU students want access to downtown, other transportation options (Main Street Station), and Carytown shopping. This would give them access to those things and make it easier for students (and especially first-year GRC students) to live without cars on the Monroe campus. This would enable VCU to truly transform and brand the Broad Street corridor while also helping other portions of its campus, including and connecting south of Main and Monroe Ward. By supporting the circulator, VCU could live up to claims about investing in the City of Richmond and overall sustainability.

(At the risk of overreaching, I will add that, in regard to Main Street Station, the City should really give up on its wasteful Shockoe baseball stadium scheme and dust off former GRTC CEO John Lewis’ plan to turn the train depot shed into the downtown GRTC bus transfer station. That, along with a shuttle to the airport, would make Main Street Station truly multimodal transportation and help establish Shockoe Bottom as THE transportation center of the region if not the entire state. Any help you can give to nudging the City back on the right path towards this would be greatly appreciated.)

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this and other matters.

Sincerely,
Scott Burger

—

In response, Councilperson Agelasto noted that City and GRTC is in the final “review of potentially reinstating bus service along the Main/Cary corridor between the James Center downtown and Carytown. If approved by the Federal Transportation Authority, this could be implemented this October.”

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