Thank You 

Any crime or loss of life is one too many, and to all of those who lost a family member, significant other or friend as a result of criminal activity, I want you to know that you have my deepest condolences on your lost. Every day, we strive to make Richmond a safer place to live, work and play. By building a strong partnership between residents and the Richmond Police Department, we were all very successful in helping to reduce our crime rates in 2011.

Homicides are down 10 percent and are the second lowest for a calendar year since 1970. Violent crime overall in the City of Richmond is down 5 percent compared to 2010; aggravated assaults are down 3 percent; and commercial robberies are down 14 percent.

So I want to issue a big thanks to all of the residents of Richmond and to the men and women of the Richmond Police Department for their efforts in decreasing crime in Virginia's Capital City. The Richmond Police Department sector-community based policing model is designed to get officers on our streets and in our neighborhoods. The goal of this type of policing is for every Richmond resident to know his or her sector lieutenant as well as the sergeants and officers who patrol their neighborhood. Officers regularly attend civic association meetings and community events, while Chief Bryan Norwood and his Command Staff are actively performing neighborhood walk-throughs to build stronger relationships with our residents. These efforts are paying off, as when residents become comfortable with the police officers in their neighborhoods, they are more apt to assist police in performing their duties; in the form of tips at crime scenes; witnesses pointing out perpetrators; or as simple as an anonymous call to Crime Stoppers, 780-1000.

Communication between police and residents is paramount in creating safer communities, which is evidenced in the lower 2011 crime stats. So, I again thank all of you who have stepped forward and assisted our police department, keeping a watchful eye on our communities, and most importantly joining us in Building a Better, Safer Richmond.

Click here to see the video of the 2011 Crime Statistics press conference. 

Building New Schools 

The excitement around building new schools continues as we will break ground on a new Huguenot High School on Thursday, January 26 at 3 p.m. at the current Huguenot High School, 7945 Forest Hill Avenue. This new high school will be the first high school constructed in the city of Richmond in more than 40 years.

And just before the winter holidays, I joined in kicking off the demolition of Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in preparation for the construction of a new, state of the art, Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School. Construction is expected to be completed for an opening of a new MLK middle school in January of 2014. The current school was originally constructed in 1964.

Since before taking office, education has been and still is a priority for me. I am extremely proud that we are moving forward with the construction of four new schools in our city and I thank all of you for your involvement and input as it has helped us reach this stage of expanding our educational offerings.

Click here to see the video of the MLK Middle School demolition event. 

 RMA     

Delegate Manoli Loupassi has introduced House Bill 107 (HB 107) to change the composition of the Richmond Metropolitan Authority (RMA) Board, by reducing the City's representation from six to three members, and increasing Chesterfield and Henrico counties' representation each from two to three members. This means that Richmond would lose its majority representation on the RMA Board.

With the minor exception of the south Chippenham ramps, all of the assets of the RMA are located within the city of Richmond. So, HB 107 means that Richmond would lose the majority of oversight over our assets. We oppose losing our majority representation on the RMA Board

While proponents of the bill offer many rationales, not all pass muster. For example, the sentiment that, "Since Chesterfield residents pay a lot of the tolls on the RMA roads, Chesterfield should have a greater share of the board." That's like saying someone who pays rent to a homeowner deserves a share of the ownership of the house.

Another example of a faulty rationale is that "Chesterfield residents are being taxed without representation." Tolls are not taxes; tolls are user fees. Taxes are not voluntary. Tolls are completely voluntary as they are a service charge for the use of the road, and there are many other viable travel options to the RMA roads.  

Further, if the problem for Chesterfield is the level of tolls, then Chesterfield should have a bigger issue with the State and VDOT than it does with the RMA. Tolls on the Powhite Extension are as high as 75¢. Tolls on the Pocahontas Parkway are as high as $3.00 today, slated to be $4.00 in 2016, and will continue to increase every year after that. The RMA tolls only go as high as 70¢.

From the City's perspective, our opposition is grounded in a few simple facts:
     1. We are the only locality that invested financially, and backed the initial
         project with our finances.

     2. Virtually all of the RMA roads are in the city limits.

     3. The RMA manages more than just the toll roads, and all of those
         assets are in the city limits. This includes four parking decks, the
         Diamond and the Boulevard Bridge.

     4. The roads are slated to revert to the City after the primary debt is paid
         off. We must protect those assets.

     5. Finally, it was our neighborhoods, our families and our community that
         paid for the construction of this road system with 1200 pieces of
         property from over 900 residents and businesses. That displacement
         clearly had detrimental effects on our city that we are still grappling
         with today.  

Finally, while we are dedicated to regionalism, we draw the line at being dictated to by our friends.

Closing

Thank you for taking the time to view this newsletter. I hope you found it informative and insightful and that you will share it with others in your family and community.

For more information on the city of Richmond, please visit www.RichmondGov.com.