September 22, 2007
notes from McQuinn’s 7th District Meeting
A fairly large crowd from around the area turned out Saturday morning for 7th District Council Representative and Vice President Delores McQuinn’s Town Hall Meeting at the United House of Prayer (926 Chimborazo Boulevard). The meeting began amidst murmered chatter about the previous night’s events at city hall…
After a welcome from Representative McQuinn, first up was City Assessor James Hester speaking on the role of the City Assessor’s office in an attempt to get ahead of the yearly crunch that happens early in the year. The core responsibility of the Assessor’s Office is to assess the value of a property as of a certain day. This is based on general changes in the market and the physical condition of the property. Towards this end, they are in the field year-round checking on the physical data. Once the assessment value is determined by the office, the Department of Finance actually does the billing. To talk about how the value was determines, contact the Assesor’s Office. To discuss the billing, contact the Finance Department. The tax rate, which actually determines what a resident pays as their tax, is determined by the City Council.
Next to present was City Auditor Umesh Dalal. Dalal explained that his 12-person office is tasked to ensure that there is proper accounting in city offices and that the city is in compliance with laws and policies. He stated that the maximum benefit comes from reviews of efficiency and effectiveness among city programs, looking for fraud, waste, and abuse.
The City Auditor’s Office has performed several audits since Dalal’s arrival, with a look at the Richmond City Public Schools occuring soon after he arrived. From looking at the Richmond Public Schools numbers, it was determined that RPS spending per student is some 20+ percent higher than surrounding school systems. Dalal stated that, astonishingly, per student technology spending is higher in Richmond than in Henrico but that a much lower percentage is actually spent on the students. Also: more ongoing audits of RPS; have also audited administration (calling the Fleet Services “mismanaged”, no other way to put it); recent audit of Richmond Behavioral Health Authority (RBHA). Fraud hotline: (804) 646-5697 or Richmond Fraud Squad.
Next was a presentation of recent 1st Precinct crime stats from 1st Precinct Executive Officer Jeff McKenney. He began by thanking the crowd for turning out and emphasizing the importance of community involvement. The 7th district is about 2/3rds of 1st precinct; for both this is the 3rd consecutive year of crime being down. As you know, citywide in July & August robberies went up (there were 19 robberies in 7th district in August, for instance). In response, the police initiated a targeted initiative which resulted in there bieng only 3 robberies and 7 arrests for robbery in September. Homocide is down for the year, which is in contrast to the national trends. The clearance rate on homocides is 20-30% higher than national average.
Voting at Precinct 703 has been moved from the Boys & Girls Club based on ADA issues with the Boys & Girls Club. A representative gave a quick overview of new voting machines that can be carried out to car to help ensure than seniors are able to vote without having to go into the building to vote.
George Ross, representative of the firms working on the Echo Harbor project, gave a prentation on the development that they are working to build on the currently vacant industrial site. They’ve been working for almost 2 years towards getting the 200 unit river front condos bult. They showed plans that have been “redesigned to accommodate community concerns”. The buildings are 80 to 180 feet in height, with an average height of 150-160 feet. Ross spent some time talking about the benefits of the project: many of the units would be garden-roofed, an extension of canal-walk/river walk, improvements to Shiplock Park, plans to use condo fees to help maintain area. He cited studies that show that the condos would be expected to send 6x the money back to city what the city would need to spend on sevices. I had to leave during this presentation; I have no idea what happened after this…
When I had to leave, presentions were still on the agenda for Bill Axsell speaking about Rocketts Landing, a look at Elected vs. Appoointed School Board, and time for open community concerns.
Next meeting is scheduled for Octobe 25th, 2007, at 6:30PM @ The Neighborhood Resource Center in Fulton Hill.
it seems that open community concerns always come last. the dog and pony show agenda will burn out those attending, so in the end there are minimal community concerns. it has been working that way for years. get smart, cut the grass or make a house repair and avoid the spoon feed bs
Each presenter in turn took questions, and people certainly had questions for the assessor, the auditor and the police officer. I wouldn’t describe the experience as anything like spoon fed, though I did miss the bit put on by the developers :)
The conversation on elected officials vs appointed, never took place. The floor was never opened up to community concerns.
Questions concerning the Echo Harbor project and the view form the park, took up a lot of time. The drawings looked great!
If Echo Harbour is built, I propose building on top of Libby Hill Park because there would be no use to have the park there if they plan to build towers at its foot. Might as well get those people who designed those condos on Oregon Hill to develop the rest of Libby Terrace and 29th St.
Also, with the current drop in the housing market, is it wise to start yet another condo development? The big towers on the Canal Walk are nearly empty, I hear.
I think we just make wiser use of the living space/rental/condo units that are currently unoccupied before we start another costly project.
Where can we voice our concerns? To McQuinn? Who is working with the developers to finance, etc. this project?
Who will benefit the most financially from obscuring the view from Libby Hill, displacing the many species of remarkable bird life, and adding nothing to the James River Scene? Who is so money hungry they can’t think about the cause and effect of building the Echo Harbor project?
May the fleas of a thousand camels infest their arm pits!
Lu Motley
The highest building for this montrosity will be twice as high as the lonestar cement silo!
The development company is USP Development LLC, out of Northern VA. But Google as I might, I cannot find any contact information!
They are seeking approval from the Council for a change in zoning to accomodate the development. Who do we contact about this?
Surely someone out there knows. Help!
He may be a little busy but maybe Wilder can find some time to do his thing to Ross et al. They’ll be running away from town faster than roaches from light.
check the state corporation commission for the principals of the llc. a council vote is required for a zoning change so contact the council members
Thank you.
todays style had an article about the richmond-on-thames mayor’s recent visit here and comments abt the view of the river from the libby park area
Beth, given that there’s sometimes strength in numbers, you might want to contact David Cooley to coordinate any efforts against Echo Harbor development. He lives on Libby Terrace, dislikes it, and has a direct interest in it due to his proximity to the view. You can contact him through Restoration Builders of Virginia Inc (RBVa). I don’t know who else he’s talked to about it, but last year he was pretty vocal at a CHA meeeting, or so I heard.
Also, re. calling the State Corporation Commission - aren’t there several LLC’s involved with Echo Harbor? I wasn’t at McQuinn’s meeting, but seem to remember from the past year or so of talk about this development that they’ve got quite a combination of developer, public relations, builder(?) etc etc. Just a suggestion, you might want to have more than just USP Dev. to check.
Cadeho has a good point.
[...] a follow up the last month’s meeting, Delores McQuinn’s 7th District Town Hall Meeting will be Thursday, October 25th at 6:30PM at [...]