July 27, 2008
notes from the 7th District Meeting
About 35 people showed up Saturday morning for the 7th District Meeting hosted by Delores McQuinn at Mt.Tabor Baptist Church on Fairmount Avenue. The meeting agenda included the city budget conflict, the Downtown Master Plan (and Echo Harbor), crime, and community concerns.
Ms.McQuinn began the meeting with an update on the budget conflict between city council and the mayor. She then touched on the Downtown Master Plan, saying that the plan will next go to the Land Use commitee, and council will vote on the plan in probably October or November.
Discussion of the Downtown Master Plan prompted a question from the audience about Echo Harbor. Stating that “developers have a lot of clout”, the citizen declared that “we need 5 council members to stand against Echo Harbor”. McQuinn replied that while “we (city council) are not against development”, “access to the river and protecting the viewshed is essential” and promised that the coucnil is committed to doing what is right. It came out during this exchange that changes have been made to the Echo Harbor plan, but that no one has seen any new drawings.
Captain Paul Ronca of the First Precinct was next up. He stated that crime is down, though there has been some seasonal property theft: lawmowers, mopeds, theft from vehicles. The HVAC units are being taken from the outside of homes (mostly from houses under construction/renovation), keep an eye and ear out for that kind of thing. Ronca introduced Dective Lamont Tucker as a key element in the recent clean-up on 22nd Street, spoke to prostitution and gang concerns from Fulton, and took comments about prostitution north of Fairmount Avenue.
Ms.McQuinn then announed a few upcoming dates to note:
- National Night Out will be Tuesday August 5th (somehow the hottest day of the year).
- Aug 4th 9:30AM - Dig begins at the Lumpkin’s Jail location.
Up next were community concerns:
- A man spoke about a house that he has recently begun renovating on the 500 block 33rd Street, but the city wants to demolish it?
- There is a block of 35th Street that has dubios construction, people hangin’ out, drinking.
- Complaints from Fulton about DPW driving on lawns to paint street lights
- 1400 block of 23rd Street - vacant houses, not boarded up, folks seem to be doing illicit stuff in and around the houses.
- There seem to be a rash of older trees dropping limbs into the yards of older residents north of Fairmount Avenue.
Ms.McQuinn let us know about the skunks to end the meeting.
For what it is worth, in the audience were mayoral candidate Robert Grey, school board candidate Don Coleman, and representatives from New Visions Civic League, the Church Hill Association, and the Greater Fulton Civic Association. Mayoral candidate Lawrence Williams made a brief appearance as well.
Awww missed it … and at my church too! Thanks for the update. May God’s wrath be known to Echo Harbour.
I find it interesting that as much flack as Grey has gotten about being ‘corporate’. He seems to be the only candidate involved in community meetings, hearings, events, etc. He was also at the downtown master plan meeting on the 14th (I wasn’t at the one on the 21st to know). Glad to see someone making an effort.
I agree with Ry. I have seen Robert Grey at every meeting/event I have been to and got to speak with him each time. Every time I talk to him he seems sincere about working with council to get Richmond back on track. He has my vote in November!!
Does Robert Grey have a website like the other mayoral candidates? I would like to see his plans and stand on the issues.
Where do all the mayoral candidates stand on the Echo Harbor project? I know that Goldman says no.
I would also like to know candidates plans on improving public transportation and if they have any “green” ideas to implement.
I would appreciate information on any or all candidates because thus far I’m undecided.
What are the mayoral candidates take on the Arts Center deal? Just read this on Save Richmond http://saverichmond.com/?p=498 . I’d rather see this money and energy being poured into public transportation and education.
Re: the arts center.
As ya’ll know at this point I’m relatively new to Richmond. Though prior to beginning construction the funds for the arts center could (arguably) have been better spent elsewhere, I think at this point we should follow through to completion. If nothing else to prevent a ‘gap’ on Broad that currently exists. Learn from the experience and try not to repeat the mistakes in the future.
I’d also recommend reading the Richmond Magazine article Don links at the beginning of that post.
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Here is another interesting link from Don…some of the same players from the Centerstage are in this article hanging out at the Commonwealth Club with Grey: http://www.styleweekly.com/article.asp?idarticle=17235 .
Which mayoral candidate will stand for the people?
Grey, if you stand for the people, please tell us how. Please understand that if we only see you hanging out with the CEOs and wealthy, it’s difficult for us to see that you care for us.
I’ve seen R. Grey at every single neighborhood or community event/meeting I’ve been to. He also stood up and spoke for indigent and disabled GRTC riders at a recent city council meeting during the citizen comment period. At that meeting, he stated he’d been riding the various bus routes.
robertforichmond.com has some information on Grey. Gray “wealthy” and “ceo” are not bad words. Robert has had a successful career and knows many successful people. That is not a fault but rather a plus. Some of the evil ceo’s you mention have great ideas. I used to read saverichmond.com but all they do lately is complain about candidates. Why not tell us who you are supporting Don? Instead of attacking other candidates.
Gray, I would like to see more money for transportation and schools also. The last two audits showed millions in waste at the schools so we can start there. Public transportation can only go as far as the ridership allows it to. When you have more riders it will improve. Complain about the arts center all you want until Grey came around we were stuck with a whole in the ground. He helped get the project moving again.
@ Quinn & JF — Both you are first time commenters that just posted within 4 minutes of each, with fake email addresses, and from the same IP address.
There is some chance here that y’all are attempting to astroturf our thing here, and I’m not keen on that. As new participants that are probably not neighborhood residents, I urge you to post using your real name and provide a real email address.
I have a right to privacy John M. I also have the right to post on whatever website I see fit regardless of where I am located. I’m sorry you are upset I don’t want my email address out there. If I understand correctly you do not want visitors to this site that do not reside in Church Hill? “Our Thing?” I am a part of this city just as you are. Maybe you should post your “Rules” on the homepage so I know when I’m breaking them.
@ Quinn — Every page has a link at the bottom to our privacy/use/copyright policy. The relevant piece is this:
From my perspective, it looks like you “Quinn” and “JF” are quite possibly the same person attempting to fluff support for a specific candidate. I urged you to post using a real email address so that I personally can possibly differentiate the both of you. If you notice, your email is not made public.
: :
I said nothing confrontational or abusive, yet your put your email address on your most recent comment as “kissmyass”. I don’t need anymore assholes around here, we have enough of out own already. Please reconsider how you would like to present yourself.
No, you really don’t. If you are going to pretend to be multiple people in an attempt to fake support for a political candidate or are going to come in from wherever and be a dick, you are really not welcome.
As a geographically-oriented online community, we tolerate an amount of testiness on here from our neighbors because they are of the community. We do not need an injection of conflict into this online community by outsiders.
John M, you are going to have to come out of your shell and be a little more aggressive in stating what is on your mind.
John, I apologize for visiting your site. I live in the Fan and I honestly didn’t know that I shouldn’t post here. I didn’t know that my small post would be considered an attempt to fluff up a candidate. I also apologize for being a “dick” and an “asshole” as you so eloquently put in your last comment. I also apologize for being an excited supporter of my candidate and wanting to convince other people to support him. This is your website and you have the right to prohibit whoever you want. I will leave now and hope you all can forgive my ignorance.
Bravo, John!
What John M. said!!!
Thank you John for pointing out that Quinn and JF are the same person.
Quinn/JF, I’m pretty sure Grey would not want fluff support or his supporters using multiple fake names -doesn’t make him look good.
I’m looking for real information so I can make a choice. I like hearing that Grey has been going to the meetings but now I want to know where he stands on things like Echo Harbor.
#9 neighbor, Thanks for that bit of info.
I will say this as clearly as possible:
* Folks from all over are welcomed and encouraged to read and participate on the site.
* You are welcome to post anonymously, but please do not try to hide your identity to try to trick us for any reason.
* Please think a moment before getting confrontational. What makes this site special is that we are all neighbors and there is a real overlap between this online community and the people that you see at the civic association meetings, cookouts, the grocery store, the liquor store, the PTA, etc.
You posted on the same thread under *3* different names, Fan Resident. I called it like I saw it.
John, what was the third name?
“Fan Resident”
Yeah, I realized that right after submitting my question.
Hi John,
You said:
“Please think a moment before getting confrontational. What makes this site special is that we are all neighbors and there is a real overlap between this online community and the people that you see at the civic association meetings, cookouts, the grocery store, the liquor store, the PTA, etc.”
Since almost everyone on here posts anonymously, you’re pretty much the only one who knows who anyone is. Oh, the stories you could tell… “Memoirs of a Hood Blogger”
Style this week has a little info on the mayoral candidates http://styleweekly.com/article.asp?idarticle=17467 .