Category Archives: News

This Tuesday At The Market

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From email announcement:

Greetings all
Well, we’re on weather watch, specifically the threat of damaging winds. As a result, the 3rd Tuesday Jam is canceled; Amy’s Garden and Wild Heaven Goat Soaps will not be present. We’ll try to keep you posted if others will also not attend. The Byrd House Information tent will be up, but we will not set up the cafe tables and umbrellas, and there will be no storytelling or face-painting. We’ll be streamlining operations to the essentials, just in case. So, like our stalwart vendors, our hardy shoppers will come to get their weekly good stuff, while keeping an eye on the weather.
Ok, voting for Richmond Unite is over and we don’t know our standing yet. In the meantime, the Amazing Raise begins Wednesday at 6 am and lasts through Thursday 6 pm. Donate to WBCH your little pocket out for 36 hours. Go to WBCH.org and click on the Amazing Raise link.

Eradication of Poverty: Utopia or Reality?
WBCH hosts the annual Hans S. Falck Lecture on Social Responsibility on Thursday, October 4, 7-9 pm. Panelists include John Moeser (policy), Youngmi Kim (social work), Michael Paul Williams (journalism), Garet Prior (urban planning). Learn more and RSVP at hanssfalcklectures.blogspot.com.

National Food Dayat the Market!!!
Byrd House Market celebrates National Food Day on Tuesday, October 23rd, 3:30-7pm. Eat Good Grow Great with 25+ food vendors. $10 and a Student ID gets you a Student Food Box! VCU’s Wellness Center, World Chiropractic, Robin Raver’s Chair Massage, Food Rescue activities and a Film+Discussion: “Ingredients” – Our partners are Shalom Farms and Victory Farm. Many thanks to Slow Food RVA for loaning us their copy of the film (and for being the Richmond coordinator of National Food Day!)

I talked a little bit about dog poop last week and things have improved. This week I get to talk about Parking! Geographically our market is bounded by S. Linden St. on its west (downhill) side and the gravel drive on its east (uphill) side. Turning left onto the gravel drive from Idlewood Ave, there are 3 or so spots that face the community garden fence. The tenants of the apartments along Cherry St. have the parking on the other side of the gravel drive and have recently let us know that they often come home to find their spots filled by shoppers or vendors off-loading. Legally, they have the right to have cars towed from their spots just as we have the same right if they park on market grounds or in our spots. But I would not like for any of us to take that path. So we thank you in advance and for the remainder of the season, for keeping to Idlewood Ave., S. Linden St., the soccer field, and the 3 spots facing the community garden fence. Thank you.

Ana Edwards, Manager
Byrd House Market & Library Programs
Grace Arents Library & Education Center
William Byrd Community House
www.wbch.org / 804.643.2717 ext.306

St. Andrew’s School and The Amazing Raise

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Another fundraising contest.

From the St. Andrew’s School FaceBook page:

Help turn $50 into $20,000 for St. Andrew’s School! The Amazing Raise is a 36-hour online give-a-thon that will take place from 6:00 a.m. Wednesday, September 19, 2012 until 6:00 p.m., Thursday, September 20, 2012. Your donation of $50 or more through giverichmond.org during this time will enter St. Andrew’s School into grand prize drawings for bonus incentives of up to $20,000 from The Community Foundation! The more unique donors who give a gift of $50 or more to our School, the greater the chance of us winning a grand prize of $20,000.

Connecting The Canals

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When Venture Richmond’s Jack Berry did his presentation to OHNA, he said that there had never been a study to connect the canals.

Yet here one is:

Click here for Richmond Canals pdf.

I guess Berry just did not know, but then he’s been around Richmond for a long time. It’s certainly not the first time that plans for RIchmond have been buried, only to be dug up by citizens later.

OHNA Response to Proposed Changes at Possible Amphitheater Site

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From email:

Dear Mr. Berry,

Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to visit the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA) on August 28, 2012 to make a presentation on the proposed amphitheater located near the Oregon Hill neighborhood. In your presentation, you discussed the changes Venture Richmond wished to make to the site, including a proposal to trim the south bank of the historic James River and Kanawha Canal in order to improve the sight lines for the amphitheater, which you envision accommodating 10,000 people.

At the same meeting, OHNA voted to oppose any damage to the historic James River and Kanawha Canal and, specifically, removing any portion of the south bank of the canal. The Oregon Hill neighborhood has important historic connections to the canal. The surviving home at 601 Spring Street belonged to Samuel P. Parsons, the canal Superintendent responsible for the canal’s expansion to Lynchburg. These connections also include the surviving home at 619 W. Cary Street that belonged to the Messler family, who owned a canal boat building business in Penitentiary Basin, just east of the proposed amphitheater.

While we deeply appreciate the worthwhile efforts of Venture Richmond in bringing the Folk Festival to Richmond, we believe that this can be accomplished without damaging the irreplaceable historic canal. This is an original portion of the canal that was built when George Washington was the first president of the canal. The city is going to considerable expense to protect the canal in the construction of the 2nd Street connector, so it would be unacceptable to damage the canal just to the west of this connector.

Suggestions made by members of OHNA include: covering the canal with a temporary protective structure during the folk festival, encouraging Venture Richmond to consider a smaller venue at the location of the amphitheater that would not require damage to the historic canal, moving the adjacent Children’s Stage to another location and using the new open space as a part of the proposed amphitheater, or placing an impermeable liner inside the canal, filling it with soil and flowers and building bridges to cross the canal.

OHNA is also asking that Venture Richmond limit the number of performances at the amphitheater to 15 days per year and to limit the times of the performances to 10:00 pm on weeknights and to 11:00 pm on weekends.

Again, we appreciate Venture Richmond’s presentation to our organization, and we hope that you will keep us informed regarding developments of the proposed amphitheater.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Hancock

Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association, President

For more background on this, please click here and here and here.

Yard Sale on S. Laurel Street Saturday

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From Craigslist ad:

Yard Sale on Sat., Sept. 15, from 8 am to 1 pm at 612 S. Laurel Street, Richmond, VA 23220 in Oregon Hill

NO EARLY BIRDS!

Books
DVD’s
CD’s
Records
Comics
Tools
DVD players
Light fixtures
Toaster Oven
Vintage toaster
Mid-century items
Household electronics
Camping gear
Furniture
Art/decorative items
Vintage toys
Cartoon character drinking glasses from the 70’s/80’s
Jewelry
Etc, Etc.

There’s a lot going on downtown this Saturday, including 43rd St. Festival, River City Sheds Music Festival, etc. Make some time to swing through this yard sale!

Style Report: “Landmark Theatre Alters Renovation Plans”

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Style Weekly has article on what it is hearing in regard to the Mosque/Landmark/Altria Theater renovation.

Excerpt:

Three days after City Council agreed to give $14 million in tax dollars to renovate the Landmark Theater, the group managing the work scaled back part of the project, citing an “unanticipated reduction” in funding.

In a June 1 filing with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, the Richmond Performing Arts Center indicated it was cutting back the first two phases of the project, which began in July, by $7.6 million. In order to obtain federal and state historic tax credits, construction plans first must be approved by the state and National Park Service.

Two months earlier, those first two phases involved $11.4 million in renovation work, according to state filings. That included a new roof and improvements to the restrooms, concession areas, sidewalks, lounge spaces, loading docks and the theater’s internal offices.

The amended filings in June scaled back the plans to include facade work, minor roof repairs, exit path lighting and prep work for a new box office and other building upgrades, a total of $3.75 million.

So as not to disrupt Landmark’s fall season, some work likely had to be scaled back because of the delays, says John Winter, chief capital projects manager for the city. “There had to be documents approved by council in order for the project to move forward,” he says. “I think that had a lot to do with the shortening of the window of available time.”

It’s unclear if the initial reduction in funds will affect the overall project. Altria Group agreed to pay $10 million for the naming rights to the Landmark in July, but that money is being provided while the work progresses during the next two years.

Click here for previous post on this subject.

Early Review for EAT Oregon Hill

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A neighbor had this to say about the new restaurant which has replaced Pescados China Street:

I just got back from dinner and drinks here. The change is very welcome! The food is cheaper and more diverse and the new menu is awesome. They have 2 excellent house-made sodas and house-made ice cream/sorbet. They have a drink named after each of the Oregon Hill streets, the Cherry St was most excellent. The brunch menus appears to be solid still, my friends who came to visit rave about the chicken and waffle at Pescados all the time, so I was happy to see that still there. I’d highly recommend it!