Unfortunately, I could not find a web link for it, but there is a fanciful Oregon Hill memoir by Sara Daves in the VCU student magazine the vine.
She describes growing up in a bohemian household at 700 S. Laurel called “the 700 Club”. The house was eventually torn down and Overlook condo town homes are there now.
VCU is strong-arming the City to break its own Code. Green Alley closing is proposed today at Planning Commission. Will Planning Commission Chair Mills and other members recuse themselves due to the work they do for VCU?
Seems like it.
At University of Richmond, President Edward L. Ayers signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. Contrast that with this from VCU’s Commonwealth Times: VCU receives ‘D-‘ for energy efficiency – Sustainable practices barely passing at VCU. One of the planned buildings that Ohlinger alludes to in the CT article is the proposed rec center.
The Commonwealth of Virginia Art and Architectectural Review Board met yesterday and approved VCU’s plans for demolishing the historic stables. VCU adjunct faculty member McDowell made the motion to demolish 917 Green Alley.
Not one member bothered to respond when an Oregon Hill neighborhood representative questioned how the a 270′ façade on Cherry Street can be compatible with the scale and massing of the small 20′ structures in the historic district, or why VCU did not consider the vacant parking lots on Broad and Grace as alternative sites.
The headline of the RTD article says it all: VCU gym plans move ahead –
State official OKs proposed expansion of Cary St. facility into Richmond’s Oregon Hill. VCU has aproval from the state to move/demolish the 2 stables and to build a 125,000-square-foot student rec center in their place.
Vacant Richmond currently lists 32 vacant properties in the Oregon Hill neighborhood, with another 11 identified in the “VCU neighborhood”.
One of the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association’s main assertions in the controversy over the proposed rec center is that VCU needs to fully consider alternative sites before demolishing the historic stables or Green Alley.
I recognize that VCU President Dr. Trani may be the most powerful person in Richmond, I realize that this is “tobacco country“, and I doubt if any local mainstream media will touch this, but I do think it is important to note that Oregon Hillians are not the only ones to question the character and integrity of his actions…
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This from a neighbor on Cherry Street:
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Quite a doozie- I arrived home at 1:30 AM to see an RPD Paddy
wagon and patrol car stationed in front of a house on the 200 block
of Cherry (maybe 2 or 3 houses from Idlewood) with lights going and
kids and trash everywhere. I had to park a block or so away and when
I got out of the car, you could hear the roar of 300 to 400 partying
college students swarmed in the backyard of the house, screaming at
the top of their lungs. Bikes and cars parked everywhere and kids
wandering the streets with open containers of beer looking for a
place to pee.I sat on my front porch in amazement as the police
left and more and more kids with more and more beer arrived and the
NOISE GOT LOUDER AND LOUDER! At 2AM, the RPD returned- this time 5
patrol cars and a paddy wagon with lights blazing. They entered the
backyard on foot with flashlights to disperse the crowd and swarms of
kids swelled into the streets. It took the officers maybe 25 minutes
to walk the streets sending the 300 or 400 partiers on their way as
the streets were choked with alcohol impaired children, most on foot
or on bike and all loud. All finally calmed down but after a half
hour or so the dull roar started back up although I finally made it
to sleep.200 and 300 blocks Cherry used to be among the most peaceful on the
Hill with the proximity to Hollywood Cemetery. This garbage has got
to stop.
On Wednesday, September 19, VCU will conduct a test of emergency sirens on both the Monroe Park and MCV Campuses. The sirens will begin at 12:00 noon and will sound for one minute and then sound a 30 second “all clear” even tone as part of a full test of VCU’s multi-level emergency communications system.
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