archive for September, 2008
September 3, 2008
Richmond Police and Fire Departments are Johnny-on-the-Spot for Southside Safety
At 37th and Hull Street an electrical pole was on fire. According to a couple of customers standing in front of a shop, they heard a transformer blow and went out to witness what had happened. In response to a question as to when the police had received a call, a police officer at the scene said that he and his partner observed the fire as they were patrolling and didn’t receive a call at all. The fire department was on the scene and traffic was blocked in both directions. The fire department was not able to begin extinguishing the blaze until power could be cut to the area. Street lights were out at least as far as the intersection of Midlothian and Hull Street to Broad Rock.
Burning Electrical Pole
See more images in the rest of the article.
September 3, 2008
Patrick Henry Charter School Initiative: Give Me Liberty or Give Me . . . (Part 1)
As perhaps one of the most exciting and potentially volatile issues in education on the Southside of Richmond, the Patrick Henry Initiative (PHI) has got the school board, the public, and the blogosphere actively looking for answers to a lot of questions. The myriad of issues that a charter school brings to a public school system are complicated.
Although the original intent of this article was to cover what a charter school is, the issues it raises in general, and of course the local discussions that have been on going, the scope has proven to be much too large for one article, so this report will be broken up into distinct parts, which shall begin with an explanation of charter schools.
Keeping in mind the community news focus of this blog, know that the intent of this article is to maintain a neutral perspective, but comments of all dispositions are encouraged.
September 5, 2008
Compost Bin Sale Tomorrow at Willow Lawn!
The Richmond Clean City Commision will be holding a one day event to help Richmonders start composting.
On September 6, 2008 from 9am to 4pm go to the Compost Bin Truck Load Sale at the Willow Lawn Shopping Center located at 1601 Willow Lawn Dr. You’ll find them in the parking lot between Kroger’s and Gold’s Gym.
September 5, 2008
Sidewalk Construction to Begin.
Beginning Monday, September 8, work will begin on the Evansway Sidewalk Project.
September 9, 2008
Questions for Mayoral, City Council, and School Board Candidates?
Election season is buzzing! Everyone seems very excited about this year’s election of the president, the mayor, city council, and the school board. Having attended several forums for school board, city council, and mayoral candidates, it has become very clear that many of the public’s questions go unanswered by these forums.
Let this post be an open invitation to post your questions to the candidates. Many news agencies and political groups send extensive question lists and subsequently interview candidates in order to decide who they will support. Here we will simply collect questions from anonymous individuals and should they be responded to here, that’s wonderful, should they not be responded to here, the questions will be passed on to the candidates at a later date and their responses will be posted here.
So go ahead and ask whatever you have been dieing to have answered!
September 11, 2008
Councilman Doug Conner is Cleaning Up!
On Saturday the 20th of September, Councilman Doug Conner will be hosting the monthly 9th district meeting at the “Daytona Dumpsite” where efforts made by the conjunction of Mr. Conner and the Clean City Commission have already made a tremendous improvement in cleaning up a notorious dumping site.
The tent event will also involve a clean up of the area and removing half of the fencing at the site.
Event Information is contained in the full post.
September 12, 2008
Richmond Education Association Endorses Candidates
In a press release today, the Richmond Education Association (REA) made their endorsement of the mayor and several Southside candidates.
Drum roll please!
September 12, 2008
Richmond Slave Trail Commission to Host Public Forums
According to a press release from Richmond City Council:
Richmond City Council Slave Trail Commission to hold open public forums on memorializing Richmond Negro Burial Grounds in Shockoe Bottom
The entire Richmond community is invited and encouraged to attend and participate
WHAT The Richmond City Council Slave Trail Commission will hold open forum public community forum meetings to hear and discuss ideas from Richmond citizens on how to properly memorialize the site of an historic Richmond Negro Burial Grounds located in the Shockoe Bottom area of Richmond. Land on this site was recently identified and set aside by Virginia Commonwealth University. The entire Richmond community is invited and encouraged to attend and participate in this important community discussion. The first meeting will take place as follows:
September 12, 2008
A report from the 4th District School Board Forum
It was a warm reception at St. Luke Lutheran Church on Chippenham last Wednesday, and an even warmer room for the 4th district school board forum, but about sixty or so residents turned out at the meeting and were very pleased to listen to the candidates discuss their perspectives on four questions written by parents of students living in the district and currently attending Richmond Public Schools.
Here is some transcription of what was said:
After welcoming everyone to the forum, council woman Kathy Graziano very wisely said, “The heart of the community is schools.” Following in suit Bill Pantele, who is endorsed by Mrs. Graziano, stated, “No city can be greater than the quality of its public schools.”
He also pointed out that “the last two chairs of the school board came from this district.” Adding, “We each have a stake in public schools whether or not you have a child or are working or retired.”
September 13, 2008
Hit and Run Death in the Southside
This is an update of the story that was published earlier as a suspicious death, which has been clarified as a hit and run by the Times-Dispatch.
Richmond police say today they’re asking for the public’s help in identifying the victim of a fatal hit-and-run and the two vehicles that struck him.
The victim was first hit by a white Toyota Corolla about 11 p.m. Friday as he was trying to cross Broad Rock Boulevard near its intersection with Epperson Avenue. The Toyota continued north on Broad Rock, the Richmond Police Department said in a release.
Shortly afterwards, the man was hit again at the intersection of Broad Rock and Epperson by a burgundy Ford Expedition. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. He was not carrying identification, police said.
The man struck was described as a Hispanic male in his late 30s to early 40s.
Anyone with knowledge about this crime should contact the police or Crime Stoppers at 780-1000.
September 14, 2008
Southside Reunion: Family and Community Day
Thanks to Charles Willis who is running for 8th district school board for passing along this information:
On Saturday, September 20, 2008 from noon to 8:00p.m. at Charlie Syndor Playground located at 15th and Maury street across from Blackwell Elementary, The Southside Reunion Committee in conjunction with Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities will host Southside Reunion: Family and Community Day.
Special guests will include interim police chief David M. McCoy & Assistant Chief Bukovich, as well as candidates for mayor, city council, and the school board.
At the event there will be soul food vendors, Southside Idol, Voter’s Registration, a Gospel Showcase, Finger Painting, Southside’s Got Talent, So You Can Dance Contest.
Starting at 9:00 am Blackwell will have its homecoming football game which includes flag, juniors, midgets, pee-wee, and J.V. pee-wee football teams.
For more information, contact Walter “Blue” Richardson at 804.918.4628, Claudette Grey at 804.307.6034, and Kim Morgan or Mrs. Cheatham at 804.646.8630.
See the flyer below.
September 15, 2008
Mayoral Forum of the Week and More!
This Wednesday, September 17, 2008, at 7:00 PM the Southside neighborhood associations (Forest Hill, Southampton, Westover Hills and Woodland Heights) will host a forum at the Forest Hill Presbyterian Church located at 4401 Forest Hill Ave.
The rest of this article shows all of the other forums as listed by www.RichmondGoodLife.com
September 21, 2008
Scenes from Southside Plaza Fire
Several shops at Southside Plaza caught fire sometime before 6:00 p.m. tonight. Police officers on the scene had no knowledge of how the fire started or where. From a distance, it appeared the fire stretched from Shoe City to the Check & Go store. An unidentified firefighter said it appeared that the fire started at Shoe City, but he couldn’t be certain and the investigation was on going. There were 30-40 firefighters on scene, at least five trucks, and few ambulances and police cars.
See images in the rest of the post.
September 23, 2008
Teen Robbers Arrested in Southside Richmond
As further proof of their exemplary effort to fight crime, the Richmond Police Department released the following:
Richmond Police quickly made arrests in two robbery attempts and a robbery that occurred within hours last night in the City’s Southside.
September 24, 2008
Doug Conner, Kathy Graziano, and Reva Trammell Receive Richmond Realators’ Endorsement
Congratulations to our Southside incumbents who continue to prove their strength in community development.
Here is the article from the Times-Dispatch:
The Richmond Association of Realtors announced today its endorsements in the races for Richmond City Council.
The group’s political action committee is supporting seven incumbents, plus challenger Mark Brandon, who is running for the 5th District seat, and Charles Samuels, who is running for the 2nd District seat, which is being vacated by mayoral candidate William J. Pantele.
The incumbents who received the Realtors’ endorsement are Bruce Tyler in the 1st District, Chris Hilbert in the 3rd District, Kathy Graziano in the 4th District, Ellen Robertson in the 6th District, Delores McQuinn in the 7th District, Reva Trammell in the 8th District and Douglas Conner Jr. in the 9th District.
