The Fall Blurrr

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It’s that time of year when everything happens at once- the Richmond Folk Festival and Halloween Parade are done and gone.
If you missed them, there are plenty of photos and videos online-

There was also the Richmond Marathon and the King Of The James sports events.

At some point, some things that should have received more attention did not- sorry to miss the Glossed Over Photo Club event this past Saturday.

Please mark your calendar for upcoming events- including more volunteer work days, meetings, OHNA elections, etc. – as we ease into the holidays!

Pleasants Park Volunteer Workday This Saturday

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From announcement:

Pleasant’s Park makeover! Sign up here! Two shifts! 9am-1pm, 1pm-5pm. Coffee, water, snacks, and lunch provided! Parks and Rec will be there to help! Come out and hang with your neighbors and help make this park shine!

From Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association:

We are partnering with Parks and Rec to host a two day event to revitalize Pleasant’s Park. The first two years of the block party we raised funds for beautification projects in our parks. This is a direct result of that fundraising. Please join us in helping to make this park shine! The link is in our bio to sign up. We will provide food and drinks! Hope you can make it out, Nov 4th & 11th, 9am-1pm and 1pm-5pm.

Contact OHNA through this email address: ohnarva@gmail.com

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 City’s Liberty Trail.

Trash/Recycling Pickup Tomorrow

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With another Halloween parade done, a quick, scary reminder that there is trash/recycling pickup tomorrow.

This Wednesday is a “Red Wednesday”, which means trash and recycling pickup.

Please go over what can be recycled.

NOTE: CVWMA (Central Virginia Waste Management Authority) has announced that all curbside recycling must now be INSIDE the CVWMA containers with lid closed. Items beside the container or on top of it will not be collected. In fact, incorrect setouts may not be collected at all. This is new as of July 1 for all our curbside recyclers, with the exception of townhomes/condos still using small bins. (And yes, this also applies to flattened cardboard boxes.)

Ideally, rolling recycling containers are stored and deployed in the back alleys along with trash cans. Please make sure you pick up containers after pickup tomorrow night.

If it seems like pickup did not happen, use this online form:
https://cvwma.com/programs/residential-recycling/recycling-service-request-form/

In order to take your recycling to the next level, read this: 10 ways to improve your recycling.

In Virginia recycling news, a new $80 million Total Fiber Recovery plant in Chesapeake, Va., near the Port of Norfolk, will purchase mixed paper and OCC bales and recycle them into dried unbleached recycled pulp (URP) for export. The plant will process roughly 700 tons per day, said Steve Miller, CEO of Bulk Handling Systems, the parent company for Total Fiber Recovery.

Lane Closure – Cary Street and Laurel Street Intersection

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From City Department of Public Works:

WHAT: Lane Closure, Daily
WHEN: Thursday, October 26 to Monday, October 30 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
WHERE: In the 5th Voter District
• The intersection of Cary Street and Laurel Street
BACKGROUND: As a part of the HSIP Pedestrian Improvement at Signalized Intersection project, the contractor will be repairing sections of the concrete sidewalk and placing pavement markings in the intersection listed above. The curb travel lane, sidewalk and median lane may be temporarily closed during this process.

Free Popcorn and…

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…a reminder that the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association is holding its Annual Block Party in conjunction with Open High’s Fall Festival this Saturday!

From announcement:

Thanks so much to our friends at Pine St. Baptist for supplying popcorn and snow cones! Later in the evening they will also be screening our annual Block Party sunset movie! This year is CASPER, and they’ll be providing hot dogs, sides, and drinks! Free!!

Trash/Recycling Pickup Tomorrow

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This Wednesday is a “Red Wednesday”, which means trash and recycling pickup.

Please go over what can be recycled.

NOTE: CVWMA (Central Virginia Waste Management Authority) has announced that all curbside recycling must now be INSIDE the CVWMA containers with lid closed. Items beside the container or on top of it will not be collected. In fact, incorrect setouts may not be collected at all. This is new as of July 1 for all our curbside recyclers, with the exception of townhomes/condos still using small bins. (And yes, this also applies to flattened cardboard boxes.)

Ideally, rolling recycling containers are stored and deployed in the back alleys along with trash cans. Please make sure you pick up containers after pickup tomorrow night.

If it seems like pickup did not happen, use this online form:
https://cvwma.com/programs/residential-recycling/recycling-service-request-form/

In order to take your recycling to the next level, read this: 10 ways to improve your recycling.

In recycling news, after switching to subscription-based recycling earlier this year, residents in Chesterfield have had to find their own recycling service for the last several months – but lately, the County government has made drop-off of recycling much easier with convenience centers that are open 7 days a week.

In national recycling news, there’s been an update to California’s recycling law.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed off on changes to California’s bottle recycling law in a bid to bolster the state’s beverage container recycling program, reducing the amount of plastic and glass going into landfills and helping to stabilize the recycling market.

Senate Bill 353, introduced by Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, will add containers of 100 percent fruit juice and vegetable juice to the state’s bottle recycling law, putting another 200 million containers per year into the recycling stream, Dodd’s office said in a news release Saturday.

It would also invest new ongoing funding to support rural recycling options for consumers to redeem their deposit and improve recycling rates.

The bill also authorizes the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to adjust its processing of payment calculations for recyclers to a quarterly schedule rather than yearly, helping to stabilize the market.

Oregon Hill/Open High Fall Festival This Coming Saturday

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Other than some illegal parking, this past Saturday’s Richmond Folk Festival passed without incident. Thousands of people were able to enjoy music from all over the world just down the Hill.

Now, neighborhood residents and Open High are looking forward to this Saturday. The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association has combined its neighborhood’s fall celebration with Open High’s Annual Fall Festival (Reminder that the proceeds of this years event will be going toward scholarships for @openhighrva students to study abroad!)

Among vendors and games, t-shirts will be for sale.

And many residents are looking forward to taking part in the raffle…

Precinct Voting Location Changed Due To Mold Concerns At School

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Ned Oliver wrote about the change for Axios Richmond:

The local electoral board took emergency steps to move two voter precincts out of city school buildings.

What’s happening: The decision follows complaints by teachers and staff that the facilities in question are infested with mold.

What they’re saying: “The move was decided due to the presence of unhealthy air quality conditions,” the General Registrar’s office said in a statement Monday.

Details: A precinct at Clark Spring Elementary in the Randolph/Maymont neighborhoods is moving to VCU University Student Commons.

And a South Richmond precinct at Boushall Middle is moving to Hickory Hill Community Center.
Of note: The move avoids a single day of potential exposure for voters and election workers, but RPS staff and students are continuing to use the facilities on a permanent basis.

One neighbor had this to say on the matter:

I’m confused. I personally helped volunteer and pack up textbooks and art supplies and such over 10 years ago because of the mold (other neighbors were there)
I thought the mold was gone
I’ve heard they are doing tests….what’s going on?

Voters can’t breath the air for 15 minutes but kids and faculty have to go 5 days a week
What the hell

Another neighbor:

As i mentioned when I voted in the primary this summer, The VCU commons is a terrible location for us. There’s only paid parking (if it’s not paid due to holiday they need signs this year saying that)
There’s no info on whether to enter on main or Floyd. For the primary this summer, I parked on main st and there were zero voter signs (this where everyone from the 505 would walk or drive bc the entire precinct is south of main st). There were signs saying no parking on the north side of the street. There were no signs signifying a polling location when I walked in either. It was on the 2nd floor with no elevator readily available that I could find. I suspect they want to combine forces for the poll workers at the colocated 207 location. I’m signing up for mail only now.

The mold issue is particularly galling given that school building maintenance has been an ongoing city issue for decades.

It also feeds into longstanding suspicions that the Clark Spring Elementary is suffering a gradual ‘demolition by negligence’ so that the City can eventually sell off the land to developers or VCU.

Regardless, bad news for the public.