From the Richmond Police Department’s FaceBook page:
Richmond Police were proud to join Richmond, VA – Mayor’s Office Dwight C. Jones, Councilman Parker Agelasto, Councilman Jon Baliles and several city residents this morning for a bike ride from Monroe Park to City Hall in honor of Bike to Work Day!
From City press release:
Richmond, VA — Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ Pedestrian, Bicycling, and Trails Commission invites the city of Richmond to participate in Richmond Bike Month during May. The goal of the 2nd Annual Richmond Bicycle Commuter Challenge to show how easy, affordable, and healthy bike commuting can be.
“The Richmond Bicycle Commuter Challenge is a great way for our residents to learn and experience the tremendous health and sustainability benefits of bicycling. It is my hope that local businesses and large employers alike partner with us to promote a healthy Richmond, and be a central resource in increasing the overall health of our city,” commented Mayor Jones. “My Administration has the goal of making Richmond one of the most bicycle and pedestrian-friendly cities in the country.”
Participants are encouraged to ride their bicycle to and from work, and report days commuted at the end of each week for the entire month of May. Riding a bicycle for only part of the commute, such as to join a car pool, ride the bus can still be counted. Participants can register now online and log their weekly commutes at www.riderichmond.net/bike-month-commuter-challenge. All commutes must be reported on the website by Friday, June 7, and the results will be announced by Friday, June 15.
“This is an opportunity to encourage everyone to try bike commuting and possibly make cycling a routine as well as a healthy travel option for commuting or running errands. Richmond Bike Month will also allow Richmond area cyclists to see the City’s infrastructure improvements, including widespread bike parking racks and improved bike routes across the city,” said the City’s Bicycle Coordinator Jakob Helmboldt.
Mayor Jones and the Pedestrian, Bicycling, and Trails Commission will celebrate Richmond Bike Month on Friday, May 17, 2013, at 7 a.m. during the Bike to Work Day rally at Monroe Park, 620 West Main Street. The public is encouraged to attend and participate by bicycling to work that day.
Motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians have shared rights and responsibilities when using city streets. Please visit the Richmond Bicycle Commuter Challenge link on www.Richmondgov.com for safety tips and laws.
# # #
Several neighbors took time yesterday to do some badly needed volunteer yard work on Pleasants Park.
Why is it called Pleasants Park?
From the Richmond Friends website (click here for link):
Robert Pleasants, who was born at Curles in Henrico County, Virginia in 1723 and died in 1801, was one Virginia’s most noted Quaker abolitionists. As one of the founders of the Virginia Abolition Society in 1790, he served as president. In 1782 he successfully lobbied for the Manumission Act, which, within one decade, was responsible for freeing over ten thousand slaves in Virginia. In 1792 Mr. Pleasants submitted a petition to the U.S. Congress from the Virginia Abolition Society calling for the end of the slave trade. Mr. Pleasants went to court repeatedly to free hundreds of slaves. He wrote to Virginia leaders such as George Washington and Patrick Henry, asking that slavery be abolished.
Several of these documents are contained on this website.In 1784, two years after manumitting his slaves, Mr. Pleasants founded the Gravelly Hill School, the first school for free blacks in Virginia, and set aside 350 acres of land to maintain the schools. Henrico Parks and Recreation will dedicate a historic maker on the Gravelly Hill Site in 2003.
The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association successfully petitioned the Richmond City Council in 2003 to name Pleasants Park at 401 South Laurel Street for Robert Pleasants.
This is history that is not part of the new Liberty Trail.
Neighbor Charles Pool sent this email to members of City Council yesterday.
(Ed. note: He received permission to send them an attachment of the “Tiller” magazine article, but I have not received permission to post that here. If I do receive it or a public website link to it, I will be sure to post it here.)
Dear Richmond City Council members,
Please take time to read the article entitled, “New Richmond Amphitheater Endangers Canal Plans” by Elizabeth Davis in the attached Winter/Spring 2013 edition of the “Tiller,” the wonderful publication of the Virginia Canals and Navigations Society (VCNS).
This article highlights the threat to the historic canal by Venture Richmond’s proposed amphitheater. If the canal bank is lowered as proposed, it would destroy the long-range plan of a canal boat trip to Maymont. Concern for our canal has arrived from as far away as Yangzhou, China, where the World Canal Conference “urged the people of Richmond, Virginia to prevent further destruction to the canal and to preserve, restore, interpret and wisely use this irreplaceable amenity for Virginia and her visitors.”
Other cities would be envious of our canal, running through the heart of downtown Richmond, that was promoted by George Washington at Mount Vernon, the canal company’s honorary President!
As noted in the “Tiller” editorial by Holt Messerly, “I want all people to enjoy this precious national resource for the betterment of Richmond, and for the preservation of our history and for the enjoyment of all — not just for someone to be able to cut the grass easier and see a straighter line to an amphitheater. We must look at the big picture and consider all of the areas as one big entity; a green way with a blue way …”
There is a May Day Immigration Rally planned for Wednesday in Monroe Park.
I reported the Living Wage rally earlier.
Please share with your contacts:
What: May Day Immigration Rally & March
When: May 1st at 2:00pm
Where: Monroe Park (corner of West Main and Belvidere Streets)March will leave the park and proceed downtown to 2nd and Grace Streets to send a message to Virginia Representatives and their colleagues.
This event is sponsored by CASA in Action, 32BJSEIU, AFL-CIO and St. John Church.
There was a meeting with contractors and City staff on site yesterday at the ramp below the Overlook at Oregon Hill. The paving of the area and addition of handicap railing will begin soon. Work is anticipated to begin within the next week to week and a half.
Please be aware that this area will be a construction site and not accessible during the project.
This work stems from state greenway grants that the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association previously applied for and won with the help of Napi Ippolito.
