Looks like several groups, including Protect Our Water, are marching from Monroe Park on Monday.
Resign Northam March Scheduled For Monroe Park Monday
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Category Archives: parks
James River Park Master Plan Meeting for 5th District This Thursday
There is a meeting this Thursday to discuss a future master plan for the James River Park, sponsored by Friends of The James River and City Council representatives Parker Agelasto (Oregon Hill’s Council rep) and Kristen Larson. It’s being held at 6 pm at the Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts (3411 Semmes Avenue, across the river).
From the meeting notice:
We want to hear from you! Attend this community meeting to share your input on the future of the James River Park. Registration is not required.
The James River Park is a crown jewel of the region, providing a unique natural wilderness for park users. As the number of visitors to the park increases each year, a Master Plan is needed to preserve, protect, and properly maintain the park for years to come. The plan will influence the future of the park within the overall framework of the park’s conservation easement.
Your input is valuable. If you can’t attend a community meeting, please take the online survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JamesRiverParkMasterPlan
As Oregon Hill pretty much borders the James River Park and is a popular conduit to it, neighbors will hopefully have a lot of input that will be taken seriously.
As a bit of editorial, citizens should take a broad view of things, including protection of wildlife (and corridors for it), threats of light pollution (such as proposed signage at the high-rise at 2000 Riverside Drive across the river), and commercialization of this heavily-used park system. Nothing against the new superintendent of James River Park, Bryce Wilk, but it seems like more citizens should have been involved earlier in the hiring process. Having these master plan sessions after the hiring allows the suspicion that an agenda is already in place with a new Superintendent. That’s not necessarily the case, but…. What happened with Monroe Park should be a warning to all Richmonders.
View From The North Bank
Here’s a view of the neighborhood, looking up from the North Bank Trail beneath Hollywood Cemetery.
Red For Ed March On Monday, Starting In Monroe Park
From event page:
It comes down to this: our state government made a promise to us in the Constitution to provide free, high-quality schools for all children in Virginia. As teachers, we know that an equitable and high quality public education system is the cornerstone of the type of society we all want to live in.
The time is now. January 28 parents, teachers, students and community members will march on the capitol to tell our General Assembly to #FundOurSchools. We need you to join us. #RedForEd #Red4Ed
RSVP here: https://www.virginiaeducatorsunited.com/march-rally-details
From Richmond Police Department:
Also:
Ed. note: this neighborhood is very familiar with these issues:
Monroe Park Art And Position
No, its not the public restroom facilities that the park actually needs, its some sort of replicated art installation.
Meanwhile, the Monroe Park Conservancy is advertising for a Director Position that will report to Alice Massie.
And the politicians and government continue to ignore repeated citizen calls for terminating the Conservancy’s lease and removing Massie.
Sunday Walk
Pine Street neighborhood Stephenie Harrington, following up her New Year’s Day walk, has scheduled another community walk to Belle Island.
**Group Walk to Belle Island**
Sunday, January 6th
10amWe plan to meet up with friends and neighbors for a group Walk this Sunday.
Start at gazebo
(700 block S. Pine St) at the overlookI will have my dogs with me so we walk a bit slowly….but others will be a brisk pace
We plan to do two loops around the island but just do as you please…no set pace or distance. We will start down the hill at 10am
Hope to see more neighbors this week…on Jan 1st we had 8 walkers and 3 pups
First Day Walk
Pine Street neighbor Stephenie Harrington is organizing a ‘First Day Walk’. From her announcement:
Tuesday, January 1st
10amMeet at gazebo on S. Pine St, we plan to head over to Belle Island promptly at 10 o’clock. Kids, strollers and dogs on leashes welcome. Please comment below or message me if you plan to join us.
We may get some sprinkles but forecast looks quite warm.
Happy New Year!
By the way, if you are planning something further away- you may want to check out this post on the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s website about Virginia State Parks First Day Hikes 2019.
New Benches For Our Parks
OHNA President Todd Woodson shared the good news:
The Tool Bank’s Toby Vernon, the City’s Vicki Campbell and I unloaded 6 beautiful new picnic tables built by volunteers with materials paid for by the Tool Bank into Oregon Hill Parks this morning. 2 in Pleasants Park, 2 in Holly St Playground and 2 in Samuel Parsons Linear Park.
Snowy Walk Through Parsons Linear Park This Morning
Letter On Monroe Park
Cherry Street neighbor (and Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association President) has a letter to the editor in today’s Times Dispatch.
Editor, Times-Dispatch:
Less than three months after reopening, Monroe Park is showing signs of massive design failures that need immediate remedial attention. The 22-month renovation took much longer than anticipated and came in way over budget, costing about $1 million an acre.
What will it cost to address these egregious planning blunders? The destruction of a significant portion of a wonderfully healthy tree canopy and other design and construction errors have caused the pathways to erode, sending large amounts of gravel dust into the sewer system where it will inevitably end up in the James River. The Sierra Club’s Fall of the James chapter has called the newly made-over park an environmental disaster. One of Richmond’s most popular gathering places, the renovation removed all public restroom facilities and the 1945 World War II memorial was desecrated by an ugly electrical apparatus. Large puddles of standing water languish on damaged lawns where there was never a problem before.
It didn’t need to be like this. A wonderful master plan was crafted and adopted by City Council but was tossed in favor of turning over the park by lease to a corporation weighted heavily by institutional and large corporate interests. Bad logic prevailed, removing the trees as well as a designated resource area for children. Funny that in the past, the Redskins Training Center also lost a significant portion of desirable tree canopy and in an amazing public letter of apology, then-Mayor Dwight Jones expressed contrition for that error.
Mayor Stoney has shown discomfort over the situation in Monroe Park but says he inherited the situation. Now the same planning firm that worked on Monroe Park is working on plans for the historic Pump House. Can we really afford more bad decisions with this architectural masterpiece?
Charles Woodson
Richmond
Even today, as seen from the VCU Ram Cam (photo above), the grass in Monroe Park still bears the scars of the corporate tents from almost a year ago. Again, Woodson and the Sierra Club ask for a comprehensive tree planting schedule to replace the destroyed canopy in the entire park. And bigger questions still remain- what happened to the public restrooms? How has $7.5 million been spent?