Commentary on Ballpark
The Times-Dispatch asked members of City Council to answer four questions about the proposal by Mayor Dwight Jones to develop a baseball stadium and slavery heritage site in Shockoe Bottom.
Our responses to those questions were submitted on February 17 appeared in the Sunday, February 23 edition of the Times-Dispatch.
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5805 Grove Avenue Special Use Permit
The 5805 Grove Avenue special use permit (Chadwick Building) was introduced at City Council on Mon., February 24 and will be heard by the Planning Commission on Mon., March 17 at 1:30 pm on the 5th floor of City Hall.
If you would like to submit comments, please send them to Lory Markham at this email address or call 804-646-6309. If approved by the Commission, the paper will go to City Council on Monday, March 24. |
Shopping Happenings This Weekend Along Libbie Avenue
"First, Levys, is hosting a trunk show of the Lafayette 148 New York line on Saturday and Sunday. The New York-based line recently outfitted NBC correspondants Julie Donaldson, Mary Carillo, Meredith Vieira, Nancy Kerrigan and Sarah Hughes during their coverage of the Olympic Winter Games. The selection at Levys will be the largest showing of a designer line the store has ever hosted. Second, on Saturday at 10 a.m., the Shops at 5807 are holding an indoor winter sidewalk sale. We all wait for the awesome deals that the summer sidewalk sale at Libble and Grove brings - now there's another chance to save. Stop by your favorite stores for deep discounts on winter merchandise."
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If leaf collection has not reached your neighborhood, please know it is coming. Due to numerous days of rain and inclement weather, the schedule has been significantly delayed repeatedly. Thank you to everyone for their patience and also to the crews for enduring the maddening weather.
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1st District Twitter Picture of the Month
(February 7)
St. C flag that was on a NASA Shuttle with astronaut, Dr. Kathy Sullivan, and St. C. Parent!@stcatherinesRVA
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1st District Most Clicked
We are offering a fun feature each month to show the top 3 most clicked links in the previous
month's 1st District E-newsletter!
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Reporting a Neighborhood Issue
There are multiple ways that you can report neighborhood issues that you need us to address.
1. You can call my office (804-646-5349) and speak to either me or my liaison, Eli.
2. You can log on and use
SeeClickFix to report issues such as potholes, non-functioning lights, bulk pick up requests, etc.
3. You can also log in to the
Citizens Request Service (CRS) to report more serious needs (or again, call my office).
If possible, please send us a picture(s) with your request for service or issue. Many times, a picture snapped with your cell phone goes a long way to helping us relate your request to City staff so they can easily identify the issue and correct it!
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Get regular updates and news on my 1st District Facebook page!
(You don't need a Facebook account to access the page)
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UPCOMING MEETINGS
-- Mon., Mar. 10
-- Mon., Mar. 24
Begin at 6:00 pm
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Link Up on LinkedIn
Follow updates on social network for work professionals, aka "the safe-for-work social network"
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Updates & Retweets!
Keep up to date with my Twitter feed for news, updates and retweets from other city officials and departments and personalities around RVA!
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Important Numbers
Police Sector 311
Lt. Mike Stith Sector
804-646-1945 - E-mail
Finance Department
Kevin Ervin
804-646-6452 - E-mail
West End Library
804-646-1877
Web site
Belmont Library
804-646-1139
Web site
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Contact Me
804-646-5349 (Office)
804-592-1060 (Cell)
900 E. Broad St. Ste. 303
Richmond, VA 23219
Eli Wong, Council Liaison
804-310-1738 or
Social Media   
Committee Assignments:
- Land Use, Housing & Transportation (Chair)
- Government Operations
- Organizational Development
- Education & Human Services (alternate)
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Shockoe Baseball Proposal Vote
City Council voted Monday, February 24 to approve continued negotiations over the Revitalize RVA plan / Shockoe Stadium proposal on February 24th after a 5-1/2 hour meeting (8-1/2 if you count the Informal session).
My amendment to remove the moral obligation from the city-issued bonds and require a solid guarantee from the developers was adopted unanimously and will provide better protection for the City should this deal reach the next stage. The overall plan remains far from resolved and any final, negotiated version will have to come back to Council for further consideration and a vote.
 | | Remarks on Revitalize RVA Plan - Feb. 24, 2014 |
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Sewer Work in the 1st District
The city will be rehabilitating cracked and leaking sewer pipes in and around Glen Burnie, Westview, Granite Avenue, the Westhampton at Granite Libbie Patterson and Monument Neighborhood Association, and Henri
Road area. Work will continue through the end of summer. At times there will be changes in traffic patterns and parking, including temporary lane, street or alley closures. Residents and businesses will be notified by door hangers as the work progresses. You can find out more details and see the areas affected on this flyer.
 Many of the existing sewer pipes are cracked and leaking, allowing ground water into the City's sewer system. This project includes cleaning the pipes, reconstructing the musing a mostly trenchless process called Cured-In PlacePipe(CIPP), rehabilitating manholes and performing spot excavations and other repairs to extend the life of the sewer system.
There is also work being done in the Museum District that has caused some issues. If you live there and you receive one of these flyers from the contractor performing the work, be on the lookout for crews on the days noted. If you have any issues or problems, please call Susan Hamilton at the Department of Public Utilities at 804-646-1392 or via her email at
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Bandy Field Conservation Easement
The Planning Commission will consider the ordinance to place a conservation easement on Bandy Field on Monday, March 3 at 1:30pm on the 5th floor of City Hall.
 The easement will permanently protect the largest green space (18 acres) in the 1st District as a nature park for the City's future generations. A similar easement was placed on the James River Park System in May of 2009. The effort to gain a conservation easement on Bandy Field Nature Park first began in 1999 as an extension of the campaign to make Bandy Field an official city park led by Councilman John Conrad. A second attempt to place an easement on Bandy Field was undertaken in 2011 but was never considered by the full Council. |
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Police & Safety Update
There has been a rash of burglaries recently in the neighborhoods of the Museum District, Colonial Place, and Sauer's Gardens. 17 burglaries occurred between
December 1, 2013 and January 14, 2014 and has led to an operation dubbed the West End Burglary Initiative, combined with the coordination of other Department resources, that has resulted in two significant arrests.
 The goals of the initiative were to increase police visibility, develop suspect(s), arrest perpetrator(s), and reduce the number of burglaries by 75% during the 28 day span from January 16, 2014 to February 13, 2014. On January 27, Travis Kelly, black male, 5'6," 240 lbs, was arrested for a burglary in the 3100 block of Park Avenue. On February 9, Fred Miles, black male, 6'5", 165 lbs., was arrested for a burglary in the 4600 block of Wythe Avenue. Burglaries in the West end have drop significantly since the arrest of the two suspects listed but the initiative and the investigations are still on-going. The arrests contributed to a reduction in the West end burglaries from 17 to 4 reflecting a 76.5 % reduction, but Police remind us to report anything suspicious or out of the ordinary so that they may gather and use data to help solve crimes.
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If your neighborhood has established a site on Nextdoor.com, you can
join in and only neighbors who live within your neighborhood can see postings. If you use Nextdoor to
alert neighbors about crimes that have occurred, suspicious persons, or attempted scams, please remember that we can not see or track those postings.
Any information you can provide from these neighborhood sites to my office and/or Sector Lieutenant Stith can be very valuable since some of your details might not be in the police files. The color of a car, a partial plate number, or similar information can go a long way to helping officers crack the case and keep your neighborhood safe.
My office: 804-646-5349
jonathan.baliles@richmondgov.com
Lt. Stith - 804-646-1945
Michael.Stith@RichmondGov.com
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The Richmond K-9 unit recently welcomed two new recruits, Nitro and Diesel! Both are two years old and come from North Carolina. Nitro will be training with Sgt. Michael Bohannon and Diesel with Officer Wes Moore and go through approximately a 13 week training period, having to qualify on 8 different skill levels before they can join the force.
You can follow them on Facebook here!
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$8,125 Raised to Help RVA Street Art Festival Security Guard
As co-founder of the RVA Street Art Festival, I was proud to present Mr. Jack Newsom a check for $8,125 dollars on January 30, raised by friends of the Street Art Festival and purveyors of human kindness after he was assaulted and beaten outside the site in November. The organizers of the festival along with Marc Cheatham and Jonathan Jones, who led their own fundraising efforts, raised the money from nearly 300 contributors who contributed anywhere from $3 to $300. NBC 12 had the story:
"Two months later, by appearance, it is difficult to tell he was the security guard savagely beaten while patrolling the grounds. He's recovered from the injuries he showed us right after the attack. The bruises around his neck, black eyes and pain from a broken tooth have healed.
Newsom says that was a slow process and he's just now getting the medical bills. His niece estimates those payments to be in the thousands. The final total of $8,125 raised by strangers couldn't come at a better time. "It means a lot," Newsom added. "It will help me pay for some of the bills I have."
Click here to read the entire story from NBC12.
If you would like to contribute, you can send a check to RVA Street Art Festival at 3126 W. Cary St. #175. - Richmond, VA 23221. Memo: Newsom fund.
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Make Up Snow Days
The Richmond City School Board recently approved recommendations to adjust the 2013-14 school calendar. In the wake of eight missed instructional days due to inclement weather, March 6 and March 7 will now be regular school days. Originally, these days were scheduled as early dismissal Parent/Teacher conference days.
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Eat Pizza Tonight or Tomorrow and Help Albert Hill!
Feel like pizza this week? You can help Albert Hill's teachers win a ski trip to Massanutten if you order Papa John's pizza today and tomorrow (Thursday, February 27th) from any Richmond area Papa John's. The school with the most sales wins a 3 day/2 night getaway to Massanutten for every single teacher (plus their families/friends), and 15% of sales will be contributed to Albert Hill!
Use the promo code AHMS when you order or save your
 receipt and drop it in the Hill PTA mailbox in the School office before March 7. Citywide Spelling Bee Winner! Bella Nathanson, a sixth grader at Albert Hill Middle School, earned first-place honors at the Citywide February 7th. Congratulations to Bella! _____________________________
New RPS superintendent says he isn't 'cleaning house'
New RPS superintendent says he isn't 'cleaning house'
CBS6 sat down with Superintendent Bedden for an interview last week and for me, it reinforces the Board's decision to hire him was the right one for the future of Richmond Public Schools. Let's hope that these decisions by the Superintendent are followed by similar ones in the future that will continue to change the direction and performance of the school system.
"Dr. Dana Bedden addressed a number of issues, including 17 recent job openings that have popped up on school system's website in recent days. Those positions range from chief of staff, public safety director and a number of area principals.
"As long as you're doing your job, you'll be OK. But at the same time, we're not going to be an employment agency," Bedden said."
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Mary Munford PTA Auction Sat., March 22
The auction for school year 2013-2014 is scheduled for March 22 and will be held at the Weinstein JCC on Monument Avenue. Mark your calendars and plan to attend! Enjoy a festive evening with parents, teachers, neighbors, and friends who care about May Munford!
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Russell Wilson Autographed Football!
Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl Champion quarterback and Richmond native Russell Wilson has provided an autographed football from to be auctioned off at the Second Annual TeeJay Football Fundraiser & Dinner on Thursday, March 27. This will be a great live auction item at the event that features guest speaker and legendary coach Bobby Ross. You can get more information about the dinner here.
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Gregory Muzik: Grade A Leader
Richmond Magazine has named Mary Munford Principal Greg Muzik as one of their five "Grade A Leaders" in education in the Richmond region. Well deserved to say the very least!
"As a principal, Muzik says he lives by two rules: "You don't ever forget what it's like to be a teacher. That's a tough job, even in the best of circumstances. And the other thing is ... you view your school as an integral part of the community," he says. "That's one of the issues I've often faced with the [Richmond] school system is there are perceptions out there that are often wrong. Getting people in the door makes a big difference."
Click here for the full story.
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Coffee Brew-haha: Black Hand v. Green Mountain
If you need coffee for the home or office, this hip little coffee shop in the Museum District has some single serving cups for your caffeine fix!
" Richmond-based Black Hand Coffee Co.'s recent efforts to market a new product line were met with pushback from a large competitor, throwing a wrench in the compa ny's plans.Black Hand owner Clay Gilbert said he received a cease-and-desist letter in January from a law firm representing Green Mountain Coffee Roasters related to language he used to promote Black Hand's new line of single-serving coffee pods.
"We were turned away [by distributors] due to the fact that they were carrying Keurig products," Gilbert said.
Gilbert said he'll now look to sell to offices directly in and around Richmond and that he wants to get on the shelves of stores like Ellwood Thompson's and Libbie Market.
Click here for the full story.
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Historical Society Set for $11 Million of Upgrades
The Virginia Historical Society has announced plans for an $11 million expansion that will update two of its entranceways, revamp its classroom space and renovate its galleries, including its staple "Story of Virginia" exhibition, according to this RichmondBizSense story.
"It will be the first time the building's Boulevard-facing façade has been updated in more than two decades. The VHS plans to get rid of a parking area between Boulevard and the museum and add green space for what Levengood hopes will be a "friendlier, more inviting" approach.
The museum will also upgrade its southern entrance, which faces the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, by adding a pavilion to make the entrance visible from the VMFA and the VHS parking lot.
Inside, the VHS will upgrade its gallery space and add a 5,000-square-foot learning center on the museum's ground floor."
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Mail Updates
If you know someone who would like to receive these e-mail updates via U.S. Postal Service, please e-mail me here or call 804-646-5349 and provide their name and mailing address.
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