Category Archives: parks

Community Movie Night ‘Daddy Day Care’ Rescheduled For Tonight

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Rescheduled for tonight from two weeks ago when it stormed-

From event description:

Join us for an Oregon Community Movie Night showing of Daddy Day Care starring Eddie Murphy. Complimentary refreshments served: Grilled hotdogs, sides, desserts, and beverages. Bring a chair or blanket. Refreshments are served at 7:30 pm, and the movie begins shortly after.

‘Iron Blossom Music Festival’ Announcement = Neoliberal Privatization of Public Park

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Local corporate media gushed over the announcement of a new festival to be held in late August at, of all places, Monroe Park.

But did not tackle one bit logistical questions, ticket prices, or what is essentially the neoliberal privatization of a PUBLIC park. No questions about where the money is coming from to hold the concert or where the proceeds are going.

For some older residents, this announcement recalls wistful days of (free) Bruce Springsteen concerts under the trees in the park, but this is no longer the wooded, historic, PUBLIC park that they remember. The City and VCU have made sure of that over the last ten years or so– taking down many trees, kicking out poor people, and turning it into a VCU quad.

Many Oregon Hill residents love and take part in music, but many are also beginning to realize what is happening to the City as poor people and wildlife are deliberately driven out. The great African musician Fela Kuti famously said that “Music is the weapon of the future”. Sadly, locally, it is increasingly being wielded by powerful interests against those who can’t readily defend themselves.

Inflatable VCU Logo To Be Floated Over Monroe Park

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The Richmond Times Dispatch recently reported that Virginia Commonwealth University is planning to increase its visibility with larger signs around its campus.

“Beginning this fall, the university will install more of the large VCU letter signs that dot its campus. They are metal, bright yellow and roughly 7 feet tall. They let visitors know when they are about to enter campus, which is why VCU calls them “front doors” to the university.”

In a followup phone interview yesterday evening, VCU officials confirmed that there will be an additional element unveiled later in the year- an inflated medallion dirigible sign that will be floated hundreds of feet above Monroe Park.

“Having secured permission from the Mayor’s office, President Rao wants this to be a shining beacon that can be seen from 64 and 95, and both sides of the river” gushed a member of VCU’s publicity department.

While many college and universities have produced inflatables, VCU plans to super-size theirs.The giant inflated medallion will have internal LED lights around the VCU logo so that it will glow brightly at night. It will be anchored with large steel cable that can be reeled in during times of inclement weather. It will be located at the northeast corner of Monroe Park, which has changed greatly over the last decade with many mature trees destroyed.

Further questions about costs were deferred to later, as were questions about a $415 million capital project for its planned VCU Dentistry Center, a new United Campus Workers committee focused on issues of campus-wide health and safety, a change in basketball coaches, and a new proposed tuition increase “because of inflation”. But then, VCU administration did state back in December that it needed to ‘raise’ $51 million in order to maintain standards.