At some point last night, those dastardly Canadians evidently moved their southern border to the last block of S. Cherry Street.
Rumor is that conservatives are already blaming this on Senator Warner’s support of the DREAM Act.
No official word as yet from the Sons of the Confederacy, the pirates, or the Pittsburgh Pirates.
From the Fan community news site:
Redistricting of the State Senate and House of Delegates districts based on the 2010 Census numbers was made official recently, with some impact on the neighborhood.
A piece of the Fan close to Monroe Park, all of Oregon Hill and Byrd Park, and much of the Forest Hill area that have been part of State Senate District 9, currently held by Donald McEachin (D), will now be in State Senate District 10, held by John Watkins (R). Interestingly, with these and other changes, both of these Senate districts are now less partisan than before the redistricting: District 9 has been redistricted to be 6.3% more Republican (up to a whopping 36.5%), while District 10 is now 7.5% more Democratic (40.7%).
Really Really Free Market Saturday
School choice group meets Saturday
Disney’s Beauty and The Beast continues at the Landmark Theater
Pine Street yard/garage sale on Saturday-
May Day Parade…er…Celebration on Sunday
Pescados brunch service starts on Sunday
Monday is City Council budget meeting…perhaps we will see if Patrick Henry School gets more funding.
And don’t forget that Tuesday is the first official Byrd Market of the year!
Also Tuesday, there’s a meeting about Richmond’s transportation policy…I might have a few thoughts on that.
From Richmond Magazine article:
A new organization has emerged from the seemingly perpetual public-policy dust-up surrounding Richmond’s first public charter school and last year’s state law changes that simplify the process of creating new charter schools in Virginia.
The Greater Richmond Education Reform Alliance will hold an organizational and informational meeting this Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. at the Anointed Worship Center, at 4909 Government Road, located in the Fulton area of Richmond’s East End. The event is open to all, says Keisha Cummings, chairwoman of the board of the newly formed advocacy group.
“What it is is a call to action,” says Cummings, who previously served as the first Parent Teacher Association president at the Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts, where her daughter attends. “We want to inform people about what we’re talking about … and help them to advocate for whatever it is that they want for their children.”
By focusing its advocacy efforts on the more broad “whatever” that parents may seek, Cummings says, the new group seeks to avoid endorsing a single option — or even to risk appearing to be advocating against more traditional public schools.
“The organization was started to educate parents and to advocate for education reform, and to do that by educating parents in Richmond and the metro area,” she says. “It’s not so much we’re advocating for charter schools, but education options.”
Despite the American Civil Liberties Union’s assistance, the memorandum opinion 4-28-11 came out today against the plaintiff.
From the Times Dispatch article:
A federal judge on Thurday morning turned down an ACLU bid that would allow an activist group to hold a May Day parade in Richmond without paying for off-duty police escorts.
“Obviously we’re very disappointed with the ruling, and our clients will have to make a decision on how to proceed,” said Rebecca Glenberg, legal director of the ACLU of Virginia.
In a ruling, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson wrote, among other things, that the group failed to show the Richmond police decision to deny the parade permit “was based on anything other than reasonable public policy considerations.”
The ACLU asked Hudson to allow the Richmond May Day Coalition/Organizing Committee to hold a May Day parade Sunday without paying $294 for off-duty police officers to serve as escorts.
The “May Day International Workers Day” was expected to draw 200 or more participants and involve marching bands, banners, flags, a bull horn and a small public address system, said city officials.
The parade would start at Monroe Park, proceed west on Main Street, north on Lombardy Street, east on Broad Street, south on Laurel Street and end back at Monroe Park.
The sun literally came out…
More photos on the Sierra Club Falls of the James’ blog site.
And now for some editorializin’….
With this, Mayor Jones shows that he gets it.
As with stormwater and bicycle initiatives, the City of Richmond is leading the whole region.
Yes, there are always be a need for tweaking plans and there will be hiccups that need addressing (including moving from “Big Energy” to “Local Energy“), but today a lot of folks are proud to call themselves Richmonders.
Mayor Jones’ office has confirmed that he and other City staff, including members of Public Works, Richmond Police Department, and Community Development, will be conducting a ‘walk-through’ of the Oregon Hill neighborhood tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday).
One of the main purposes of this event is to give residents a chance to meet first-hand with the Mayor and provide valuable feedback on City services and neighborhood needs.
The walk though will start at 4:30 pm at the William Byrd Community House on Cherry Street. Weather permitting, the group will then walk to different parts of the neighborhood.
(Personally, I encourage residents to attend and to bring written or printed documents to share with City staff in order to have an effective meeting.)
Despite citizen hopes, the dream for high speed rail or even improved passenger rail service is faltering. It’s too bad, given the fact that before the devastation of the Civil War, Richmond was competing with New York City as a passenger rail center, and is famous for early light rail innovation.
The Times Dispatch feigns surprise, but CSX executives are quite blunt about being against passenger rail. From the linked Jacksonville Business Journal article:
“I’m a corporation. I exist to make money, OK?” Ward said. “You can’t make money hauling passengers, so why would I want to do that? That wouldn’t be fair to my shareholders.”
His comments come as CSX, the nation’s third-largest railroad, protests the State of New York’s plan to provide up to 110 mph passenger rail service between Albany and Buffalo. The Jacksonville-based railroads said the passenger trains will damage the track and cause service disruption to its freight trains.
So what is the future of transportation in Richmond?
On Wednesday, the Richmond First Club will host a panel discussion about this subject.
What can we expect?
More begging for the Richmond airport and ‘low-cost’ carriers?
Maybe more news on the BRT concept from GRTC?
At the same time, remember that Richmond is considered a test market for all sorts of advertising and new product launches. To that end, right now we see a new campaign for energy conservation sponsored by Shell Oil (perhaps part of a larger efforts, including the oxymoronic ‘clean coal’. Perhaps we will learn more about this on April 30 at the Science Museum. Green or greenwashing?
Richmond may also see more electric vehicles in the near future. In addition to the latest from STIR and Richmond Segway tours, I keep hearing rumors of electric car chargers in Broad Street garages with giant solar canopy arrays. While I share questions about the overall economic sustainability of electric cars, others are already cheering possible environmental advantages.
Personally, I am less critical and more celebratory about more electric bicycles in Richmond. They are much less expensive than cars and with pedal assist, are easily more energy efficient. Rumor is that Virginia Commonwealth University will be introducing Sanyo eneLoops for its police in order to enforce parking regulations. This, plus Richmond Bike Week, immediately improves the mood.
The new MegaBuses offer a glimmer of hope as well, increasing routes and perhaps doing what government could not by supplying a transfer station in Shockoe Bottom.
Still, at the very least, hopefully the members of the Richmond First Club will recognize that coal, and specifically CSX coal trains, are holding back passenger rail transportation. Mitigate the coal trade, clean up Acca train yard, and let passenger rail work. As I have expressed before, Richmond sits on a Gordian knot that includes strands of energy and transportation policies and must be loosened at all ends before real progress can be made. Sadly, locally as well as nationally, corporations and their demand for short-term profits seem to have a lock hold on those policies and any long term thinking that would benefit country or citizens.
From announcement:
May Day 2011 Richmond, VA | Workshops | Rally | Parade
April 30, 2011 – May 1, 2011Sunday May 1, 2011
Monroe Park (VCU Campus)
Music / Gathering: 3:00 pm
Rally / Food Not Bombs / Speakers: 4:00 pm
Parade: 5:00 pm
Closing Ceremonies: 6:00 pm
MoveOn.org, in partnership with other groups, has announced a public demonstration, scheduled for 5:30 pm on Tuesday.
From the event website:
Come join us Tuesday, March 15th in support of the Nationwide Defend the Dream event. WE MUST mobilize thousands of people again for this national day of action before the March 18 budget deadline. It is crucial the nationwide momentum keep building for this fight which was begun by the brave people in Madison, WI. It is time for all of The People to STAND UP FOR WHAT WE BELIEVE IN!!! Life, Liberty, and Freedom.
We cannot depend on the progressive fighters in Congress to do it all. They need to hear our voices and me must be Loud and Clear. It is time for “We The People” to STAND UP and FIGHT for the American Dream before it is destroyed by political extremists.
Please take an hour of your time to join us in Solidarity to save the middle class. Our future depends upon our voices being heard.
In the meantime, Occupy Monroe Park has launched a new website with their demands.