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The Byrd Park blog has info on the Byrd Park civic assoc meeting Saturday http://bit.ly/bsC4vL, that's all I've heard about.
Is there some sort of bus barn meeting this Saturday?
The GRTC bus barns on Cary Street?

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City Council Formal Meeting
Mon Feb 8 6:00 pm
Every 2nd and 4th Mon - Responsible for deciding official Council action, which includes discussing, adopting, rejecting...
Creighton Tenant Council
Mon Feb 8 5:30 pm
Every 2nd Mon at 2101 Creighton Road
Friends of Chimborazo Park Playground
Mon Feb 8 7:00 pm
Every 2nd Monday at EDI
Mosby Court Tenant Council
Mon Feb 8 5:00 pm
Every 2nd Mon at Community Center 1543 Coalter Street
Oakwood-Chimborazo Association
Tue Feb 9 6:00 pm
At the Boys and Girls Club - 3701 R Street
Open Mic @ Poe's
Tue Feb 9 8:15 pm
Weekly Open Mic every Tuesday at Poe's Pub, hosted by Jim Daab. Sign up at 8:15, music at 9PM
VCU Libraries Black History Month Lecture
Tue Feb 9 7:30 pm
VCU Libraries Lecture Sponsored by the VCU Friends of the Library Tuesday, February 9, 2010 7:30 p.m. W.E. Singleton...
Veggie Bus
Tue Feb 9 10:00 am
The veggie bus will be parked at 25th and Broad on Tuesdays from 10AM untill 2:30PM and then the NRC on Williamsburg Ro...
Adult Latin Ballroom Class
Wed Feb 10 7:00 pm
Basic steps to salsa, cha cha, rumba and more! Location: Robinson Theater $15/individual; $25/couple for 6 weeks Ins...
Beginner's Yoga
Wed Feb 10 7:00 pm
@ Neighborhood Resource Center - 1519 Williamsburg Road - Relax, renew and do something great for the community! All pro...
CAPS Meeting
Wed Feb 10 6:00 pm
Every 2nd Wed - 701 N 25th St. 2nd Floor
Veggie Bus
Wed Feb 10 11:00 am
The veggie bus will be parked at 25th and Broad on Wednesdays from 11am till 7pm starting Jan 6th. We will always be...
Drawing, Painting, and Sketchbooking class
Thu Feb 11 4:30 pm
Location: Robinson Theater Community Arts Center Middle-High School Instructor: Kristin Polich $10 6-week session
Hip Hop Dance Class
Thu Feb 11 4:30 pm
Location: Robinson Theater Community Arts Center Ages 7-17 Instructor: Gillian Harvey $10 for 6-week session
Unity Civic League
Thu Feb 11 6:30 pm
@ St. Peter's Development Center 22nd and X Street Call 643-9353 or willieand@aol.com for more information.
Happy Birthday, George Washington
Mon Feb 15 11:00 am
!Did George Washington really have wooden teeth? Did he throw a silver dollar across the mighty Potomac River? This Pres...
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CLASSIFIEDS
looking for rental house w/yard at least 2br 2bath preferably monthly rent $500-$600 .minumal deposit
For Sale: 614 1/2 N 23rd Street--Beautiful Historic Renovation! This 3 BR, 2.5 ba home with just over 2,500 sq ft boasts a huge $175k tax abatement good for 10 yrs. Call Matt Jarreau for more details at 804-306-9019 or email at mattj@htrsi.com.
Beautiful house with side lot has 4 bedrooms & 2.5 bath house off Chimborazo Rd. Newly renovated with plumbing, electrical, insulation roof & hard-pine floors - a must see. Call 804-247-0566
Monthly payments as low as $895. Move into 976 Pink St.! BHC offers a 3-BD, 2 ½ BH, Italianate style home with Hardi-plank siding; 1509 s.f., 9-foot ceilings, energy efficiency. Available to 1st-time Homebuyers. Call 644-0546x14
1211 N. 27th St., $149,500, 1361 s.f.—Pay $900 per month to own a new home! BHC offers a newly renovated 3-bed, 1.5-bath detached single family home. NOW OFFERING $5,000 IN DOWN PAYMENT AND/OR CLOSINGS COSTS! visit www.bhchomes.org, call 644-0546x14
The ClothesLine spring consignment sales are March 11-13 (children's) and March 18-20 (women's). Bon Air Comm. Ctr. 8725 Quaker Ln. 23235. www.theclothesline.biz for more info.
WANTED: Treadmill in good condition...no mechanical issues. Also, upright exercise bike needed. Let's talk about the price.
15-inch Earthquake Magma Series Subwoofer in sealed box for sale. MSRP - $600. Selling for $300. 1500 watt max! jdwager@gmail.com
Fun and friends instead of loneliness and depression for your older loved ones. Respected and certified non-profit center for adult day services. Near Willow Lawn shopping center. Mon-Sat. 804-355-5717
TWO SISTERS PAINTING - Looking for a professional and top quality job for your painting project? We offer Interior, Exterior & Faux Finish Painting. Visit our webpage @ http://home.comcast.net/~twosisterspainting/ Call for a FREE ESTIMATE! 503-0515
Sewer Backed Up? Water Main Leak? Call S.A. Toler Construction, Inc. 233-6170 Trenchless and Open Trench technologies available.www.satoler.com
Helping seniors downsize and move since 1998, More Than Moving For Seniors is a full-service senior move management company. We sort, pack, move, unpack, set up the new home and clear out houses. Call 232-6480 or Susan@MoreThanMovingInc.com
Need estate sale services? Have items to consign? Since 1999, Susan's Selections has conducted in-home estate sales. Our consignment store at 8008 Staples Mill Rd is open Mon to Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-4pm, Sun 1-4pm. 232-6480 or Roy@SusansSelections.com.
Kidtopia Now will hold our Women's Sale March 19-21 & March 26-29, 2010 at 3701 Old Hillard Rd Richmond, VA 23228. Come find 1000s of bargains on gently used and new women's clothing (petite to plus sizes & maternity) and accessories! www.kidtopianow.com
Farm to family (the veggie bus) has many fresh local meats dairy and veggies for sale at 25th and broad st on tuesday (11-3) and wed 11-7pm. Thursday at libby hill park from 4-6pm Call 5408726528 with questions
I believe that there's no better place in the world for kids on the edge to be than on the edge--of a mountaintop. Please donate on my behalf and help to alter the lives of many at-risk youth. http://www.summitforsomeone.org/main.php?page=4&climber=6728
Basic home lighting fixtures offered by type, finish or price. So easy! 100% CUSTOMER SATISFACTION! www.lightinglampstore.com




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June 7, 2006

Richmond housing chief owns vacant, blighted property

The RTD reported yesterday that “Freed G. Etienne took office yesterday as the city’s first deputy chief administrative officer in charge of housing, land use and community development”. He is the “new housing boss to spearhead efforts in community development”. Here is the rub: Etienne is the owner of at least one property in the neighborhood that has been vacant and blighted for years. This is how you develop a community?





3416 East Clay Street (front)



3416 East Clay Street (back) (this isn’t a code violation?)

The city’s property report for 3416 East Clay Street shows that Etienne has been part-owner of the property since 1996. Judging by the condition of the house, the property has been vacant for at least a significant portion of that time.

It appears that the house has been very recently unboarded to undergo some sort of renovation and we applaud this, though we have 2 questions — 1) why did the house sit empty for so long?, and 2) does Etienne own any other blighted housing in the area?

Posted by john_m at 3:20PM under Oakwood-Chimborazo, government, real estate, redevelopment | Tags: ,

23 Responses to “Richmond housing chief owns vacant, blighted property”

  1. posted by John at June 7, 2006 3:50 pm [#]:

    This post was via a tip from a regular reader. Thanks 100%. (You can out yourself if you’d like // or not)

    If I were a real reporter I would’ve contactd Etienne for a quote or explination. I couldn’t find contact info for Etienne, though, so I’ve contacted the Press Secretary to the Mayor via normanlp@ci.richmond.va.us.

  2. posted by Anonymous at June 7, 2006 5:21 pm [#]:

    If anyone’s swinging by the courts building in the near future, it is pretty easy to run a quick name search for Etienne in the property records on a computer in the clerk’s records room.

  3. posted by Anonymous at June 7, 2006 5:26 pm [#]:

    This is his only property in Richmond. I checked.

  4. posted by Anonymous at June 7, 2006 8:26 pm [#]:

    Give this guy the benefit of the doubt………maybe he forgot he had this piece of property. I’m glad the same people that did his background check don’t do the ones for the police department.

  5. posted by v at June 8, 2006 9:12 am [#]:

    how typically Richmond and hypocritical…. the housing deputy whose job is to develop a vital and healthy community has been the owner of a blighted property for years. I’m not sure if we should be laughing or crying…. I live down the street from this house and it has been perpetually ill maintained- overgrown weeds, tons of cats living in the house and frequent squatters. Where has this guy been for 10 years??

  6. posted by Anonymous at June 8, 2006 11:17 am [#]:

    …getting a PhD at VCU in, err.. urban policy…So, he would be Dr. “Demo by Neglect” to you and me…Anyway, he wrote his dissertation on the thriving metropolis of Roanoke. So, perhaps he forgot about old Richmond. Anyway, who ever said city leaders cannot be complete hypocrites and still be effective. Most effective leaders I have ever met all seem to possess the quality of hypocritical irony. But, then again, the inneffective ones do too…

  7. posted by Bill at June 8, 2006 1:43 pm [#]:

    Ouch. This was great investigative reporting. I am a little shocked there has been no response from City Hall? Maybe he didnt disclose this little skeleton on the application.

  8. posted by Anonymous at June 9, 2006 6:08 pm [#]:

    I recommend someone check to see where Freed was working when he bought the slum property. I believe he was working for the City at the time.

  9. posted by john at June 11, 2006 1:49 pm [#]:

    and real media notices, though they didn’t get any real explanation either…

  10. posted by amy at June 11, 2006 3:23 pm [#]:

    how dare they call CHPN “scrappy”?!?!!!

  11. posted by john at June 11, 2006 3:30 pm [#]:

    I thought that was a good thing, like kind of cute but prone to occasionally biting someone…

  12. posted by J at June 11, 2006 11:47 pm [#]:

    Scrappy is a compliment. In the news biz, scrappy is often used to describe small newspapers who aren’t afraid of taking on big subjects — or bigger newspapers.

  13. posted by amy at June 12, 2006 8:54 am [#]:

    well, if you’re not offended, I won’t presume to be offended for you. In any case, I would guess more people read CHPN than the richmond magazine blog….

  14. posted by Bill at June 13, 2006 5:07 pm [#]:

    Dr. Etienne is new to this job. It couldnt have been an easy first week for him. That being said, I say we work with him to make Church Hill,Union Hill and the surrounding neighborhoods proud models of urban revitalization! I would welcome his comments from time to time on this site.

  15. posted by Anonymous at June 14, 2006 11:42 am [#]:

    This would have to be a contestant for the WORST(first) WEEK ever :)

  16. posted by Me is the Ridor at June 22, 2006 4:38 am [#]:

    Congratulations!!! Good job in doing this research!

    Way to go!

    Cheers,

    R-

  17. posted by Concerned citizen at August 15, 2006 1:09 am [#]:

    Yeah, I met Etienne once. He may have a doctorate, but after talking with him , he struck me as a pretty dim bulb.

  18. posted by John m at September 28, 2006 6:20 am [#]:

    City Housing Czar Fired

    Richmond city’s housing czar is out of a job. Mike Etienne has reportedly been fired, less than four months after he was handpicked by Mayor Doug Wilder to oversee the improvement of Richmond neighborhood’s.

    also in the RTD

  19. posted by ann at September 28, 2006 10:50 am [#]:

    Wow! Full circle. Good reporting from start to finish, pun intended.

  20. posted by bob at September 28, 2006 3:41 pm [#]:

    Looks like he can’t rehab a house or a career.

  21. posted by Bob Stokes at September 29, 2006 11:54 am [#]:

    Perhaps the title “Czar” was a bit regal in retrospect: heavy is the head that wears the crown and all. Although I should say that the last real Czar suffered a far worse fate. Why anyone would see coordinating anything in this city as a good career choice is beyond me. Could there be a more thankless job? Cat hearder might be a more proper title. So, the moral of the story is: Czarin’ aint easy! Especially when your own political irony quotient is off the charts.

  22. posted by James at January 2, 2007 10:45 pm [#]:

    Found out Etienne was bought out by the other owner, and work has begun to repair the house again

  23. posted by jesse at February 17, 2007 10:15 pm [#]:

    I heard at a funtion that Etienne was actually fired because he questioned the mayors unsafe tactics with the whole train underground saga, the house was a scape goat tactic of big politics, opportunity and all. If a job was in jeapordy, wouldn’t it make sense to hire a large company to renovate in weeks time. Granted, 10 years is a long time.


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