Oregon Hill’s state senator, John Watkins, withdrew his bill for uranium mining, but he is still pushing nuclear power.
Please call or email his office to let him know you oppose SB1138.
“We don’t need a nuclear think tank, we need to move away from dangerous nuclear energy and towards safe renewables!”
John Watkins (804) 698-7510
Emails ~
district10 at senate.virginia.gov
Sorry to keep bringing this topic up, but it needs to be heeded. From the James River Association’s blog:
by Amber Ellis, JRA’s Watershed Restoration Associate/Volunteer Coordinator
If you have a dog, then you have a chance every day to take a simple action that will help keep our streams and the James River safe from harmful bacteria. It’s easy…scoop the poop!
Some people think pet waste is natural, so just leave it to fertilize their lawn. Well, it is “natural”, but so is human poop and over the years we have created waste water treatment plants and septic systems to manage it safely.
Over 9,000 miles of our rivers and streams in Virginia are impaired due to bacteria. Pet waste is not the only culprit, but it makes up a big chunk of it and it is something that pet owners can do something about. Other sources of bacteria are agricultural runoff, leaking sanitary and storm sewers, and urban runoff.
Pet waste carries bacteria, such as E. Coli, that is washed into our waterways during rain or snow storms. Even if you cannot see a waterway from your house, that stormwater runoff flows into storm drains where it is then discharged directly into a natural body of water carrying all of that bacteria that it picked up along the way with it. Yuck!
So it’s simple… when you let your dog out to do his or her business, follow these 3 steps. 1) Take a bag with you, 2) use the bag to pick up the waste, and 3) toss it in the trash! This is one of the easiest things that we can all do to help out our waterways.
Keep in mind the City is increasing the fines for not doing this as well.
Soon the City’s Dept. of Utilities will most likely announce recommendations towards a reduction in the $49 minimum monthly charge to ratepayers for water and wastewater service. The big question is what will that number be?
The expectation is that the planned reduction will be a little less than 20% of the total monthly minimum charge and there will be a new charity rate created for poorer residents who have trouble for paying their utility bills.
It would be easy for the citizens who have petitioned for water rate reform to declare victory and enjoy the hope that bills might be slightly less in the future for all Richmond households.
But, when the history and big picture are considered, they would be wise to not do that and stand behind their stated request- that Mayor Jones and Richmond City Council take immediate steps to lower the minimum monthly charge for water and sewer service to $15 per month, while raising the cost per CCF of water in line with the neighboring counties. There needs to be a change in the volume rate structure change to reward conservation with the first 5 ccf of water/sewer service at a lower rate, and with a premium volume rate for water/sewer over 5 ccf of volume.
My best guess is that City officials will propose a token drop in the service charge along with a large increase in the volume charge that more than makes up for the token decrease in the service charge. They quietly claim that lowering charges too much will create “a hole in their budget”. The reality is that the City can receive the same total revenue from its water works by slashing the minimum monthly service charge to equal that of Henrico’s (which it sells water to!) and instead charging a premium for customers who use more. In other words, make it progressive instead of regressive.
Also, keep in mind that the city paid $200,000 to hire a consultant to examine Richmond’s outrageous water/sewer rates (although reformers said that was not necessary). Despite requests, the consultants have not met with reform activists. In addition, there has been difficulty with getting access to the information given to the utility rate study consultant. The DPU office recently told a citizen that the information will not be put on the city’s web server unless the city receives $287.17 from the citizen.
The utility rates and service charges affect almost all residents and businesses in the city. It is sure to be an important issue during the budget review process (which looks to be extra rushed this year). It would help the Mayor and City Council if the public feels confident that all important information is being freely shared. This speaks to many of the open government concerns raised by activists. In other words, if Richmond citizens want to be treated fairly by the government and utilities that they own, they need to keep the big picture in mind.
From The Richmond Open Government Project:
Not since Paul Goldman successfully led the effort to put the mayor at-large question up for citywide referendum has there been so much interest in local citizen petitioning. Of course, the ease, accessibility, and novelty of online petitioning have added to the attraction. In this past year we have seen local petitions, spread by social media, on Broad Street parking (833 signatures), urban chickens (226 signatures), water rates (1,400 signatures) and the environmental conditions at a public elementary school. That last one gained over 20,000 signatures from all over the world after ‘going viral’.
While there have been a few exceptions, the official response to these citizen petitions, unfortunately, has been tepid at best. Government officials might quickly promise to follow up on issues, but getting the press to follow up on the promises has not been that easy. Despite the fact that many of these local petitions implicitly asked for support and signatures from challengers and incumbents, the fall election rhetoric tended to be superficial and avoided the local petition issues. (One notable exception: Charles Diradour, running for 2nd District City Council, made a valiant attempt to make the City’s inordinately high minimum water rate a top campaign issue). Still, while one can argue about the overall effectiveness of recent petition efforts, they did undoubtedly raise the bar for public debate.
Yet there is one local, online petition whose cause should interest all reform-minded Richmond citizens and most certainly deserves attention from a new Richmond City Council–the one from the Richmond Open Government Project that calls for making Richmond City Hall an open government equal to the best in Virginia – www.thepetitionsite.com/684/909/771/
In a nutshell, this petition asks for commitment from citizens and public officials to raise the City of Richmond’s open government standards to, at the very least, match those of other large cities in the Commonwealth. (In addition, on a sharper edge, the petition clarifies some of the long-standing state code violations by the City regarding its public meeting documentation.) By asking for more open government, this petition puts democratic aspirations for accessibility and accountability front and center for all citizens and, by extension, calls attention to all petitions.
However, as with many of the petitions, though the response to the Open Government petition has been positive, the numbers are underwhelming. It still has a long way to go in gaining broad attention. Of recent candidates, only the aforementioned Diradour, and two City Council candidates in the Fifth District, Lee Shewmake and Parker Agelasto signed it. Of all the incumbent public officials, only 2nd district school board member Kimberly Gray signed on for open government.
At the same time, public statements in response have been very favorable and the picture painted in response to the petition is that open government issues have been addressed or are in the process of being addressed.
The reality is less than satisfactory- after the Open Government petition was launched, city hall announced that it would put videos of Council’s Formal meetings on the city’s website. Videos of the Informal meetings, where the blunt deliberations usually occur, are still not on the website. Three months ago the Council President said “[w]e’ll look at their petition and see if there are some suggestions that would make good sense to keep our citizens better informed.” As yet, the city has not announced that any of the 104 suggestions have been implemented.
So has this petition been a bust? Is that it? Not at all, says the Richmond Open Government Project. It may be an overused cliché, but organizers say their push for reform is more of a deliberate march than an open sprint. They always regarded the 2016 election as a more important barometer of success than the one this fall. The petition has served its purpose already in that it delivered the initial challenge.
So what now? With the New Year and a new city council, the Richmond Open Government Project has a new message: the time of notification is over. The petition is still open to more signatures, but it is time to also move forward with more members and not just signatures. To that end, look for a ‘larger umbrella’ meeting for a new organization with a new name and larger mission for better government.
Rick Tatnall
Scott Burger
C. Wayne Taylor
Silver Persinger
From letter to editor by Russell B. Rowe in the Charlottesville Daily Progress:
I read with great interest about the chicken problem in Albemarle County.
Let me give you some firsthand witness of living with chickens, as opposed to some “scientific study” or “snooty opinion” on living in a chicken environment, close quarters.During the Great Depression, my four brothers, mama and daddy lived on Oregon Hill, a working class neighborhood in the heart of Richmond. Most of the houses were tied together, with a walk-through alley sometimes mixed in. My dad, I suppose to keep down trouble with neighbors, built a fence wherever we moved.
Click the link above for more, but the letter concludes:
What I’m trying to get to is we had at least seven people in that frame house with a fenced-in dirt backyard and 48 chickens, and I am 89 years old and in good health. All my brothers got in their three score and 10 years, plus.
The neighbors, in those days, never complained, and apparently the health department didn’t care, so scientific studies were not necessary.
My conclusion is: You have to have one rooster, and he is going to crow at dawn every day, but other than that, chickens never hurt anybody.
Expect some new ordinances to be considered at Richmond City Council in 2013.
Excerpts from article/viewpoint Home Economics from American City:
A campaign to retrofit the country’s aging housing stock and commercial buildings could make a major dent in reducing emissions nationwide. But despite all the talk of energy independence during the 2012 presidential campaign, retrofitting buildings received only passing mentions from President Obama. Republican challenger Mitt Romney’s energy platform did not mention it at all.
Yet Democrats, Republicans, environmentalists and financial institutions alike agree that the country must become more energy efficient — not just for the environment, but for the bottom line.
….“Let’s address communities as communities,” Cochrane said. “We have this perfect alignment of the owners’ immediate needs, the utility’s long-term investment interests and actually delivering these deep savings.”
CDFIs could play an important role here, too. The energy efficiency market is full of uncertainty. From unreliable contracting costs to fluctuating energy prices and shifting weather patterns, there are many unpredictable variables. More standardized data coming from an organized network of local or regional CDFIs could attract more private investment, industry players said.
This is one of the best articles I have seen on this subject. Think about sharing it with your neighbors.
Someone knocked on my door and told me something was happening Tuesday that I should be aware of, and then I heard a few things from the television also….
I do know that I support and endorse my neighbor from the Overlook condos, Maurice Henderson, for another term on the Richmond School Board. While I recognize that Henderson angered many of the Patrick Henry charter school parents with some blunt antics that I agree are troubling and questionable, and I really do appreciate that that he does have serious competition from challenger Mamie Taylor, I believe he is the best qualified and suited for the position. I have seen him diligently work first hand to improve standards. I am hoping that with a second term he will become even more outspoken in challenging the Richmond leadership to improve the public schools.
I also support my Pine Street neighbor, former roommate, and longtime friend Silver Persinger in yet another political campaign for office. If you are not aware of Silver’s political activities and some of the things he has accomplished with his citizen advocacy, then you have not been paying attention. This time, he is running for Mayor as a write-in. With the new electronic machines, its pretty easy to do a write-in vote, and hopefully they might actually be secure and accurate with your vote (though I have my concerns).
As for our incumbent Mayor, I have supported him in the past. And while I have applauded certain efforts, I looked down at others, and wonder how much he is considering the big picture. I support Silver, but also remain hopeful that Jones’ second term will be bring better things.
I am looking forward to new representation on City Council, but beyond that, I will leave you with the thought that my personal choices for President and Vice President were not even allowed in the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates, which should tell you something about how disappointed I am with our nation’s politics these days, no matter who is visiting us.
For voting information, you can click here. Oregon Hill’s polling site is Clark Springs Elementary.
The Times Dispatch featured this letter about the new 2nd St. connector road, echoing concerns brought up by Oregon Hill residents as well as the local Sierra Club:
Connector road should have sidewalks
Editor, Times-Dispatch:
As I biked home recently and saw the Second Street connector road under construction, I pondered the design, which calls for two narrow travel lanes and a sidewalk on only one side of the road. This road will connect Second Street just north of the Lee Bridge to Tredegar Street and descends at an extremely steep grade.
The lack of an uphill bike lane and sidewalks will increase delays for motorists and compromise safety for everyone. This new road is in the middle of the city and immediately adjacent to Belle Isle, the Canal Walk and the James River Park System — some of the most popular places to walk, run and bike in the city. For even more evidence that a sidewalk on both sides of the street is needed, look no further than Tredegar Street itself, which lacks a sidewalk on the north side and has a worn dirt path there instead. Fixing this is one of the recommendations in the new Riverfront Plan. What about the thousands of pedestrians who descend this hill to attend the Folk Festival?
Dominion employees will probably have the most time to ponder the road design as they wait behind bicyclists traveling uphill at 5 mph, a problem that would have been easily avoided by adding a mere 5-foot bike lane. It is always more expensive to retrofit a road than to build new, so please, Richmond, let’s stop being pennywise and pound foolish.
John Bolecek.
Richmond.
Also, Oregon Hill resident Todd Woodson implored for a change of leadership in the 5th District:
The local corporate media is playing all coy about the recent demolishing of the historic canal wall. They keep referring to it as if it was an accident and was bound to happen. (It was not. There were witnesses.)
Not me (and yeah, this is marked as editorial).
I believe somebody, despite knowing the many concerns of our neighborhood and larger Richmond community, thought they could sneakily order and get away with, under the lingering goodwill glow of the folk festival, and before the Riverfront Plan comes up at City Council, the destruction of an important part of Richmond’s history (built with slave labor, designed with the help of no one less than George Washington). And, I guess they figured this sort of thing has been done before in Richmond, so they did think they could get away with it.
As others have pointed out, the work crew did not even bother to put up erosion controls as required by the Chesapeake Bay Act, before beginning this work that included a deep bulldozer rut down the side of the canal.
Imagine if a regular citizen tried something so arrogant, so pernicious. This was not like a kid spray painting a monument, this was someone destroying a large swathe of historic artifact. I don’t care how big or small of a figure the guilty party or guilty parties are, or which corporations they are leaders of, somebody should be going to jail.
Corporate accountability should mean something and not just political buzzwords. Speaking of which, where’s our Councilperson on this? After all, he was very recently quoted- “We need a council to do the people’s business of being watchdogs over the public purse, to be watchdogs over waste, fraud and abuse, to be watchdogs over massive mismanagement,” Jewell says. Really, Marty, then why aren’t you publicly calling for a criminal investigation?
Oregon Hill resident Silver Persinger, running a write-in candidacy for Mayor, held the City Council’s Finance Committee accountable last week for making information available to citizens.
Listen to Silver’s comment by clicking here.
The good news is that the Richmond Open Government Project is having an effect. City Council candidates Delp and Baliles have included Open Government comments in their campaigns. The City has begun putting committee meeting presentations on-line (Click here for link). This really opens the door to much more information.
Some of the issues in the presentation binder for the NEXT Finance Committee meeting:
– COS Staff Report & Supplemental Information
– Stormwater Utility – Delinquent Account Collection Strategy and Timeline Presentation
– Boulevard Redevelopment Plan and Citywide Economic Development Strategies Presentation
– Boulevard Redevelopment Preparation Project
– Community Development – Financial Statement Report
– BPOL Tax Relief Fiscal Impact Statement