From email announcement:
Community Movie Night
Friday, June 12 at 8:30 pm
Pleasants Park behind Pine Street
Free refreshments served
Community Movie Night Friday: McFarland USA
Reply
Category Archives: parks
Valentine Museum Photo of Riverside Houses
While he has certainly generously contributed before, neighbor Charles Pool has agreed to help focus on Oregon Hill history with the help of old photographs, maps, and other material every Thursday on a regular basis (aka “Throwback Thursday”). Here is a first post under this arrangement:
In 1924, the city expanded Oregon Hill’s Riverside Park between the gazebo and Hollywood Cemetery. Prominent businessman Moses Nunnally saved four houses from demolition by moving them from the land newly condemned by the city for the park to 810-816 Riverside Park. Ethyl Corporation later demolished 812 Riverside Park and the City of Richmond demolished 816 Riverside Park, while 810 Riverside Park and 814 Riverside Park have survived. This 1956 photograph in the collection of the Richmond History Center (formerly known as the Valentine Museum) shows the four houses 32 years after they were moved.
Photo credit: 1956, Richmond History Center
Hollywood Cannon and Belle Island Tour
There will be cannon fire as part of the annual Jefferson Davis birthday ceremony in Hollywood Cemetery on Saturday, June 6th, from 9:00 am to about 11:00 am. The ceremony will include a keynote speaker, Rev. Herman White, Chaplain of the North Carolina Division, SCV, as well as a bag pipe band, rifle squad, artillery salute and wreath laying. The event is free and open to the public. The cannon fire will happen towards the end of the event.
And if you want to know more about that Belle Isle prison camp, there’s a Sensory History Tour of Belle Isle Prison Camp on Saturday, June 6, noon to 2 p.m. This conversational walking tour is sponsored by the Tredegar Society of the American Civil War Museum in partnership with RVA Archaeology. Tickets cost $10. www.tredegar.org/ts.aspx or Sean Kane: skane@acwm.org or 804 649 1861, x123.
Belle Island ‘Drunkfest’
The Times Dispatch has been publishing Letters to the Editor that raise concerns about drinking and littering on Belle Island, part of the City’s James River Park system.
From a Letter to Editor in today’s paper:
“We took pictures and talked to several park employees who said they simply did not have the manpower to keep up with the litter problem. Occasionally volunteer groups come out to help clean up. Only one police officer is usually on patrol to help with security. Apparently, many Richmond citizens feel entitled to enjoy all the benefits of our river but don’t care at all about keeping it clean for others to enjoy. It shows a total lack of respect for all, Richmond citizens, tourists, wildlife and the James River.”
My only dispute with that statement is that a lot of the offenders are not City residents, but are from the surrounding counties. This also speaks to questions about the “Tredegar Green” amphitheater and the need for more (and better!) public trash/recycling receptacles.
Monroe Park Fountain Work
Several volunteers, including Oregon Hill neighbors Todd Woodson, Charles Pool, and VCU’s Tito Luna, Turk Sties, Elinor Kuhn, and City’s Paul Manning worked yesterday afternoon to give the fountain in Monroe Park a fresh new look. The water should be turned on in the next few days, which will make it pop even more.
Special thanks to Todd Woodson for spearheading the effort and securing a Love Your Block grant. Paul Manning, the City’s Chief Service Officer, provided the funding as well as volunteering. A few people in the park who identified themselves as homeless saw what they were doing and pitched in as well.
Photos provided by Tito Luna.
Maleficent On Friday
From email announcement:
Community Movie Night
Friday, May 22 at Dusk
on the big screen in
Pleasants Park behind Pine Street BaptistFree refreshments served: grilled hot dogs, chips, and beverage
Irrigation System Adds To Monroe Park Concerns
Cherry Street neighbor and Monroe Park advocate sent this message yesterday:
Friends-
The following message was received from an employee of DPW today as I was inquiring about the irrigation system that VCU installed about 10 years ago in Monroe Park and that we urgently need to make the park look its best for the UCI race:
———————————————-I sent an update the first week of May and I thought I included you. Sorry but here goes.
We had a water line break near the house. Repaired. We have the need for a dozen new heads, different varieties. Then the real problem. When they were replacing the sidewalk along Franklin St they tore up over 300 ft of water lines and a large number of the 640 heads. They also tore up some sections along Belvidere but nothing like on Franklin. I have notified my superiors about the damage and in addition my lack of funds and active PO to make the necessary purchases. Even if I could make the purchase I only have one irrigation person to make the repairs. It would require weeks of his time and all other systems would suffer. I included Gregg Hall with VCU in my original e-mail and I apologize again for omitting you.
———————————————-
Without the irrigation system, the park and fountain plantings will turn brown and die this Summer before the UCI race. These questions come to mind:
* Since they have to remove the sidewalks to repair this damage, will they do it correctly in brick as specified by the master plan or waste more money on concrete? Will those responsible be held accountable? Where will this money come from to repair the irrigation?
You couldn’t run a business the way this city is being run now. We are hemorrhaging taxpayer money due to blatant incompetence.
I urge you all in the most emphatic terms to contact your city council representative IMMEDIATELY and demand a stop- work order, correct, appropriate and competently installed 7 foot brick sidewalks with environmentally friendly planting strips as specified by the CITY COUNCIL APPROVED Monroe Park master plan (page 79- its on the richmondgov.com website under planning department master plans) and that those responsible for this incompetent foul up be held accountable. Acting CAO Chris Beschler says he takes responsibility for the mistaken concrete sidewalks. Why doesnt he make amends for this tragedy and the incredibly poor supervision on this project.
Thanks,
Todd Woodson
Pipeline Resistance Comes To Monroe Park
Today, there is a small rally and press conference scheduled for noon at Monroe Park to celebrate and welcome student bicycle riders from the Atlantic Coast Pipeline Resistance Ride.
They are biking from May 9th to 19th along the route of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, protesting the fossil fuel industry along the way.
Community Movie Night TOMORROW
The summer long movie series known as Oregon Hill Community Movie Night will begin TOMORROW, May 8, at Dusk in Pleasants Park. The first movie of the season will not be Scarface. Instead it will be Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
The series operates every 2nd and 4th Friday of the month, May thru October (though rainy weather can mess with that). Free refreshments served: hot dogs, chip, and beverage.
Riggan’s Canal-Blueway Plan
Phil Riggan, who now writes the “Why Richmond, Why?” column for the Richmond Times Dispatch, earlier this week presented his final project for his VCU studies, a plan for making the Kanawha Canal between Oregon Hill and Bosher’s Dam into a recreational ‘blueway” for the James River Park system.
Click here for a copy of his presentation. A full written report/plan should be available in the near future after Riggan makes some final edits.
A couple of points about the plan- It was made with the help of the Friends of James River Park and the James River Outdoor Coalition. Nathan Burrell, the Director of James River Park, afterwards remarked that he thought it was actionable and doable now, as long as there was permission of stakeholders (CSX, Department of Public Utilities (DPU), and others) and available financial resources. It has already received letters of support from the James River Association and the Falls of the James Scenic River Advisory Committee.
Riggan knows about the 1988 canal restoration plan (the one that Venture Richmond ignored) and says he has included it in his final report. It is noteworthy that his plan starts with “Mile 1” at the start of the North Bank Trail near the S. Cherry cul-de-sac, and not “Mile 0” near the Lee Bridge. Riggan’s plan recognizes that DPU needs to complete engineering in order to get the water level right for recreational traffic (elevation verified at 83 feet). Some Oregon Hill neighbors are suspicious that perhaps that was the real goal of the Tredegar Green amphitheater, to damage the historic Kanawha Canal to the point where now the terminus of the “rewatered” canal is at “Mile 1”. That said, Riggan’s plan comes from a recreational paddling sport perspective and if it is successful, it may increase pressure for FULLY renovating, re-watering, and re-connecting Richmond’s historic canals.