Friday, May 23 at Dusk
(Makeup from rained out first showing)
Pleasants Park behind Pine Street Baptist Church
The Lone Ranger Rides Again!
Reply
Category Archives: parks
Festival Parking
Tree Branches Down From Saturday’s Storm
West side of 300 block of S. Laurel:
Southwest quadrant of Monroe Park:
Community Movie Night Rides Again
From email announcement:
Community Movie Nights
begin Friday, May 9
at DuskPleasants Park
(Behind Pine Street Baptist Church)
Refreshments Served:
Grilled hot dogs, chips and beverage
May 1st In Monroe Park
VCU Sign Saga Continues
The Times Dispatch this morning has an article on the continuing controversy regarding VCU’s billboard signs. Here is an excerpt:
In another skirmish dealing with Monroe Park, a Richmond official has proposed revoking Virginia Commonwealth University’s permission to put up directional signs near the city-owned park that abuts the VCU campus.
Two signs, one at North Belvidere and West Main streets and another near the intersection of North Laurel Street and South Cathedral Place on the western side of the park, would have to be removed under legislation introduced by City Councilman Parker C. Agelasto, 5th District.
The sign on Laurel is affixed to a traffic pole, while the one on Main is freestanding on the sidewalk. Agelasto took more issue with the latter, saying the sign measures 4½ by 9 feet and creates visibility issues.
“I’m concerned about the traffic accident counts increasing as a result of a large, overly sized wayfinding sign at an intersection that was already having significant accidents,” Agelasto said.
A City Council committee voted Monday to ask Agelasto to withdraw the proposal until the city has had more time to analyze traffic data to determine if Agelasto is correct that the signs pose a hazard. Both the city traffic engineer and a VCU official disagreed with the notion that the signs are creating problems.
However, last night neighbor Todd Woodson reported that “due to interference from Graziano and Baliles, the bill on revoking the permission to put the signs up has been stricken.”
Monroe Park Controversy At Special Land Use Committee Meeting Today
There is a special meeting of the City’s Land Use Committee today.
Wed, April 9, 4:00pm – 5:30pm
Description
The Land Use, Housing and Transportation Standing Committee will conduct a special meeting to consider bids received regarding Ord. No. 2014-10.NOTE: No public hearing will be held at this meeting as it was held at the 3/24/14 Richmond City Council meeting that was held at 6:00 p.m.
Bob Powell’s Richmond Examiner outlines some of the issues in the controversy. Here is an excerpt from his article:
It also goes to a fundamental question of society. To what extent should a private company be allowed to run a public trust ?
Advocates for the Homeless say the Charter Park concept is just a way to remove the Homeless from the park. Monroe Park is home to several feeding programs run by churches and the secular activist Food Not Bombs.
Activists and civil libertarians feel that a Charter Park will usurp the legal rights of dissident groups who often use the park for rallies,demonstrations and marches.
The right of center Richmond Times Dispatch editorial page has opined that the Charter Park machinations by the Mayor lacked transparency.
There is one bit of agreement among all parties . Monroe Park needs repairs and upgrades to its infrastructure. Maintence people complain that pipes and other lines underneath the ground are a nightmare in need of modernization. Trees need to be trimmed, grass grown, old greenery put out. New tech toys like WiFi need to be introduced.
In 2010, plans were introduced to shut down the park for repairs. A fence was to be built around the park to keep people out. Homeless advocates , in March of 2011, moved into the park as a protest against shutting down homeless feeding programs. The occupation ended with 9 arrests.
In October of 2011, Occupy Richmond was thwarted by the police from taking over Monroe Park.
From 2011 until December of 2013, a period of two years, there was no money in the City coffers to afford a $6 million do over for the newly created Charter Park. The fence nor the improvements happened.Suddenly, the Mayor comes up with $3million while Alice Massie promises $3million in nine months from corporate donors.
The Monroe Park fight is not the first in a series of fights over public spaces in Richmond. The Washington Redskins, second richest pro football team, was handed a sweetheart deal for public land space last summer. There is a controversy over development in Shockoe Bottom over a minor league baseball system.
The Charter Park controversy is not new to Richmond. Municipalities all over the country have wrestled with the private corporate influnce over open space.
Skipping April Fools Day This Year
While we have had some fun for past years’ April Fools Days, I am skipping this year. Its not the first time I have skipped, but this year in particular my heart is just not in it. For one thing, I am not sure if I could come up with anything as outrageous as what is really happening right now-
Venture Richmond is getting ready to alter and diminish one of Richmond’s most historic features, the James River and Kanawah Canal, designed and presided over by George Washington, for an unneeded amphitheater. Besides putting future restoration at risk, ‘Vulture Richmond’ is doing this by breaking promises to go through the Section 106 review process. This is after a historic wall was illegally demolished on property leased to Venture Richmond.
Board members of Venture Richmond are also behind the Monroe Park Conservancy, a mysterious and dastardly plan to privatize Monroe Park (for VCU). The City government is backing this plot, saying it does not have enough money to renovate and maintain the City’s oldest public park as a public park, despite dedicating millions of dollars to establishing a training field for a professional football team, that is owned by a millionaire. The local anarchists are doing a better job of defending the public interest than City government.
‘Vulture Richmond” is also behind an even bigger plot to force the construction of a minor league baseball stadium in historic Shockoe Bottom neighborhood, despite passionate, now international, public protest. This is the third or fourth time that this scheme has been tried, and one of the principles behind it is a developer who was convicted and went to jail for his part in a City Council bribery scheme. Again, it looks like promised historic preservation oversight is being finessed despite public promises.
The mainstream media has sometimes joined the fun of reporting April Fools Day stories. Maybe this year they can try reporting on the reality of these truly outrageous happenings.
Bidding For The Public Interest
Kudos to Mo for putting in the bid! I could not make it to Council that night and, honestly, I was a bit nervous about what bidding would look like, but I think everyone in Richmond who cares about parks should appreciate what she has done.
Looked over the two bids for the Monroe Park lease that were received from the City Clerk. (The conservancy bid confirms that the Mayor is still on the conservancy board.)
I must say that Mo’s bid looks head and shoulders better than the Conservancy’s. All that they can say is that they are hiring a fundraiser!
If Venture Richmond and the Mayor are going to insist on this type of stupidity (with Monroe Park, with ‘Tredegar Green’, with the flawed Shockoe stadium), then one of the things that citizens can do in response is to root for ol’ fashioned competition and more alternatives.
The Memorandum of Understanding between the City and Venture Richmond allows for $1,190,000 in (no-bid) grants for Venture Richmond. We have all seen the billboards, the double page advertisements and read about the petition drive for the Mayor’s Shockoe Bottom stadium undertaken by Venture Richmond.
The City pays Venture Richmond to administer the canal concession and then Venture Richmond charges $6/trip. (Venture Richmond doesn’t even bother to put boats in the upper Haxall beside Brown’s Island, where there is a vacant boat rental house.)
The City pays Venture Richmond to administer Friday Cheers and then Venture Richmond charges from $5 to $10/admission (depending on show).
The City rents Brown’s Island to Venture Richmond (for what I assume is a nominal fee) and then Venture Richmond rents out the venue for $4,500 per day.
It is noteworthy that Venture Richmond does not have to compete or bid for city grants for the Clean and Safe program, canal boat concession, Friday Cheers or Folk Festival. Venture Richmond pays its Director $242,000 annually as a result of this sweetheart arrangement.
Is there anything that City Council can do to put a stop to giving Venture Richmond these no-bid grants and to put these items, including the canal boat concession, Clean and Safe program, Friday Cheers and Folk Festival promotions, up for bid?
There’s Another Bid On Monroe Park
From Times Dispatch article:
The city of Richmond’s plan to lease out Monroe Park was slowed down Monday night as a well-known activist submitted a competing bid that forced officials to take more time to weigh the two proposals.
Activist Mo Karnage, who has been involved with serving meals in the park for the homeless, submitted a bid that would put the park under control of a body called the Keep Monroe Park Open and Free Committee.