Tag Archives: Todd Woodson

OHNA Meeting Set For Tuesday Evening

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From OHNA President Todd Woodson:

Dear Neighbors and Friends

Will will resume our monthly neighborhood association meeting this coming Tuesday at 7pm in St Andrews church, Laurel and Idlewood. Here are the agenda items:

Updates from RPD, VCUPD and VCU and Councilman Agelasto’s office

I am very sad to report that our friend and representative from VCU Police, Officer Greg Felton will be leaving VCU in February. He has made an incredible impact on our quality of life in Oregon Hill. Greg- come back anytime because you are family! Come wish him well!

VCU Student Government Association representative will make a presentation on their Big Event.

We should have updated visual proposed plans for the Dog Run in Parsons Linear Park. This would be located in 400 block of the park.

Michael Brown, a neighbor from Randolph has asked to address the meeting on Councilman Agelasto’s residency issue. Mr. Brown was campaign manager for Parker but has now filed a lawsuit with others including Chuck Richardson to address the residency issue.

I have a meeting scheduled tomorrow with City Officials to discuss remedial efforts to stabilize our Holly Street playground. Built on a ravine later turned landfill, our park is showing clear signs of erosion and needs attention. This will be the fourth meeting on the subject. I will update you accordingly.

See you Tuesday at 7pm!

Todd.

New Benches For Our Parks

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OHNA President Todd Woodson shared the good news:

The Tool Bank’s Toby Vernon, the City’s Vicki Campbell and I unloaded 6 beautiful new picnic tables built by volunteers with materials paid for by the Tool Bank into Oregon Hill Parks this morning. 2 in Pleasants Park, 2 in Holly St Playground and 2 in Samuel Parsons Linear Park.

OHNA Holiday Message

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From Todd Woodson, Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association President:

Dear Friends and neighbors

A reminder that there will be no OHNA meeting in December.

We look forward to a fruitful year in 2019 and wish you the same. We have a lot of irons in the fire. I’ve been told 2 picnic tables should be delivered to Pleasants Park tomorrow! I have also resubmitted a request for street trees as our wish wasn’t granted last year. The projected procurement budget for tree planting in 2019 is $479,000 so we certainly should get some attention. The Richmond Tree Stewards should be coming through pruning anytime, they told me, so say hi if you see them.

Be safe and enjoy the holidays! Try and reach out to a neighbor if you can, especially the elderly and infirm and enjoy our wonderful community.

See you in January!

Todd.

Letter On Monroe Park

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Cherry Street neighbor (and Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association President) has a letter to the editor in today’s Times Dispatch.

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Less than three months after reopening, Monroe Park is showing signs of massive design failures that need immediate remedial attention. The 22-month renovation took much longer than anticipated and came in way over budget, costing about $1 million an acre.

What will it cost to address these egregious planning blunders? The destruction of a significant portion of a wonderfully healthy tree canopy and other design and construction errors have caused the pathways to erode, sending large amounts of gravel dust into the sewer system where it will inevitably end up in the James River. The Sierra Club’s Fall of the James chapter has called the newly made-over park an environmental disaster. One of Richmond’s most popular gathering places, the renovation removed all public restroom facilities and the 1945 World War II memorial was desecrated by an ugly electrical apparatus. Large puddles of standing water languish on damaged lawns where there was never a problem before.

It didn’t need to be like this. A wonderful master plan was crafted and adopted by City Council but was tossed in favor of turning over the park by lease to a corporation weighted heavily by institutional and large corporate interests. Bad logic prevailed, removing the trees as well as a designated resource area for children. Funny that in the past, the Redskins Training Center also lost a significant portion of desirable tree canopy and in an amazing public letter of apology, then-Mayor Dwight Jones expressed contrition for that error.

Mayor Stoney has shown discomfort over the situation in Monroe Park but says he inherited the situation. Now the same planning firm that worked on Monroe Park is working on plans for the historic Pump House. Can we really afford more bad decisions with this architectural masterpiece?

Charles Woodson

Richmond

Even today, as seen from the VCU Ram Cam (photo above), the grass in Monroe Park still bears the scars of the corporate tents from almost a year ago. Again, Woodson and the Sierra Club ask for a comprehensive tree planting schedule to replace the destroyed canopy in the entire park. And bigger questions still remain- what happened to the public restrooms? How has $7.5 million been spent?

Gray’s Death And Renewed Call for Traffic Calming

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From Cherry Street neighbor (and OHNA President) Todd Woodson:

Yesterday morning, my cat Gray was hit at Idlewood and Cherry by a car headed east on Idlewood. The reason I know is that the RPS students waiting at the bus stop there witnessed it and told me. This is their account: A Jeep like vehicle was speeding east on Idlewood as if it was heading to work. It saw Gray crossing the street, slowed down and then sped up and hit him. A VCU student came out to wrap Gray in a coat and take for help but he struggled and got away. At that point, he had the use of 3 legs, was bloody and maybe critically injured. He went between two buildings on 200 block Cherry. Myself and others have looked exhaustively for him but havent found him. I will visit RACC to see if they have any info when they open at 1.

St Andrews and the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association have repeatedly asked for traffic calming measures and police presence on these blocks of Idlewood and our requests have fallen on deaf ears. Every suggestion the community has for traffic calming measures is met with confrontation and argument from this city department yet West Ave and Park Ave have speed humps. We are a landlocked community that serves as a bypass for traffic coming off of 195. People are use to doing 55 and dont take the care necessary to safely navigate our streets. I see recklessly speeding drivers all the time going through this intersection. This is an RPS bus stop and soon St Andrews will be expanding its student base. This time its my pet. Next time who knows? A student with his Mom? Here is notice- something must be done and the bureaucracy must be forgone in the interest of student safety. It is VERY DANGEROUS with these speeding cars. The roundabout has helped but commuters headed to work and school DO NOT take proper care. We dont want promises we want action before a fatal accident occurs. What do we have to do to get the attention we so desperately need here?

A little about Gray: he came to me in 2011 after living on the streets for a while after being left behind by students on the 200 block Cherry. He was a great cat. Best described as a peaceful soul. He still preferred to stay outside when weather was above freezing. He was a beautiful black tabby. The students witnessing his being hit were very disturbed as are the many friends Gray had as he would lounge on the sidewalk in front of my house greeting people as they walked down the street. He loved being petted and would come home smelling like a different perfume every night.