North Richmond News

Aimed at professionals and advanced gardeners, on February 12th:

This event offers professionals in tree care, green industry professionals, and advanced gardeners an opportunity to earn continuing education credits and Master Gardener credits. Topics cover a wide range of practical information and recent research results. Five continuing education hours can be applied to certifications for ISA, VNLA, Master Gardeners, and Virginia Chapter, ASLA. Registration packages offer part-day and all-day options.

• $90 full day (includes morning coffee, lunch, afternoon break) (5.25 ISA CEUs)
• $42 morning only (8:30 am – 12:15 pm including morning coffee) (3.25 ISA CEUs)
• $28 afternoon only (1:15 – 4:30 pm, including afternoon break) (2 ISA CEUs)

Learn more and register online here.

Yesterday, Style Weekly ran an article spotlighting the changes in Barton Heights and some of the issues newer residents in the neighborhood are facing. Many young professionals are drawn to the beautiful houses in need of some renovations, but encounter “tensions” when they move in.

When the weather warmed up, what they perceived as drug traffic intensified, and then there were the teen parties at the Cultural Diversity Center on North Avenue. On weekends, the parties would let out after 10 p.m., sending throngs of unruly teenagers into the streets. There were fights, sometimes gunshots, Lauren says, often in the alley that ran behind their house.

The article mentions the kerfuffle over The Men of Barton Heights flyers:

The [Men of Barton Heights] tournament, which brought hundreds to the park, caught some neighbors by surprise. They called police. The incident outraged Day, who says the calls were racially motivated, likening it to how “blacks were treated in this same neighborhood some 40 years ago, at a time when young black men were profiled as criminals and drug users and our young women were profiled as prostitutes,” in a flyer distributed throughout the neighborhood. “These elements have come into our neighborhoods with an attitude of dictatorship.”

But is calling the cops the first and best option? One reader and neighborhood resident writes in response to the Style Weekly:

The tone used in describing the instances of new white people in the neighborhood calling the cops is normative, and thus reinforces the idea that calling the police is a good thing to do. There does not seem to be any question of how that affects the ability of these people to become part of a community. Neighbors that call the cops instead of having conversations with their neighbors are building obstacles to community.

The local blog Transitional Neighborhood Lowdown recently posted their thoughts on a similar issue, which offers a third perspective:

I have many friends, including myself, who had an inwardly defining moment after moving into our chosen transitional neighborhood. There comes a point where we all decided that “we’re not gonna take it,” and this neighborhood is now ours … I am not advocating replacement of a neighborhood, but replacement of values and attitudes. When there are a few bad apples, it spoils a neighborhood for the rest of the inhabitants, even for those who are apathetic.

What are your feelings on Barton Heights’ new residents? How should newcomers react to real or perceived trouble in their neighborhood? What is the best way to build a neighborhood?

The full text of the response letter to Style Weekly is after the jump.

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On Monday, February 8, the second in a series of community conversations to discuss the Future of Richmond’s Past will be held at Union-PSCE from 7-9 p.m. in Lake Chapel.

bq. A brief program will focus on “The History and Creation of the Black Church,” and the majority of the evening will be devoted to audience discussion. Union-PSCE President Brian Blount will welcome attendees and, as representative of The Richmond History Group, The Honorable Delores McQuinn, Virginia House of Delegates, will be present

The first Future of Richmond’s Past event was held at New Bridge Baptist Church. The third, and final, will be held at the East End Family Resource Center, February 28, 2-4 p.m.

This slipped passed me during all the snow, but four people were walking on the 800 block of Norton Street and were robbed by a group of people. The rest, from the RPD:

Within minutes of the robbery, Richmond Police stopped the getaway vehicle in the 2000 block of Chamberlayne Avenue and arrested the five individuals inside.

Romique R. Radcliffe, 19, of the 4000 block of Mallard Creek Circle, and Bianca D. Walker, 18, of the 3900 block of Meadowview Lane, were charged with armed robbery. Three other juvenile offenders were also arrested and charged.

The arrest yielded a total of 32 felonies charges, the recovery of three firearms and may lead to further arrests.

This will count as four robberies. Read more about robbery statistics over the last year in a post I wrote yesterday.

The RPD recently announced they just completed an initiative to reduce the number of robberies in and around our neighborhood:

The Initiative resulted in robberies in those areas being cut by more than half. In Sector 313, which includes the Fan area, robberies dropped from 13 to 5. In Sector 412, which includes the Carver, Ginter Park and Barton Heights, robberies decreased from 14 to 3. In Sector 413, which includes Jackson Ward, City Center and VCU, robberies were reduced from 14 to 6. All of this during a three-month period from September to November.

I emailed the police to clarify the dates involved, they responded “the robbery statistics were from Sept. 22 through Nov. 18 and then compared with Nov. 18 through Dec. 22.”

I wanted clarification because it didn’t really jibe with my (admittedly arbitrary) feeling of how the number of robberies has progressed this year.

So, I pulled the data for robberies in the 4th precinct for the last dozen or so months using the RPD’s incident reporting system.

Number of robberies in the 4th precinct from December ‘08 to January ‘10

A couple of things to note: 1) this is the entire 4th precinct not the specific sectors targeted by the police, and 2) this is all robberies (residential / commercial) not just individual robberies.

You can see that the number of robberies in December did drop to about half of October’s numbers, so that is good. But this isn’t unheard of — look at last February’s numbers.

Also, December’s low numbers are almost within one standard deviation (5.41) from the mean (21.75). So, the drop isn’t some crazy outlier.

FYI:

The city of Richmond will delay this week’s trash pick-up schedule by one day as a result of road conditions following the winter storm. Monday’s trash pick up schedule will be delayed until Tuesday, February 2, 2010, with each subsequent trash pick-up schedule following a one-day delay in service.

This is about the third or fourth fire so far this year in the Highland Park area.

This from the RFD twitter:

Units on scene on 2nd Ave with flames thur the roof. NFD

Fire on 2nd ave is now a 2nd alarm

Units have the bulk of the fire knocked down. 1 person escaped the fire. Fire is not under control at this time. NFD

Fire on 2nd Ave is under control.

NBC12 speculates on the source of the fire:

Investigators tell us an overloaded electrical socket is likely the cause of the fire at a two-story home in the 2300 block of Second Avenue.

I just got a list of closings from the City:

• Richmond Public Libraries will be closedon Saturday January 30. Library programs scheduled for Saturday are postponed until further notice. All Richmond Public Libraries and programs will resume as regularly scheduled on Monday, February 1.
• The Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities has closed recreation centers and cancelled all city programs Saturday and Sunday, January 30 and 31 due to pending inclement weather. City recreation centers are scheduled to reopen at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, February 1.
• Visitations at the Richmond City Jail, professional and otherwise, will be temporarily suspended.

Any other closing you know of?

Whoa, how did I not know this? Katherine Patterson got her masters at Union Presbyterian Seminary! Crazy.

Selected by the Librarian of Congress to serve in this two-year position, Paterson has chosen “Read for Your Life” as the theme for her platform. In this new role she will carry her message of enthusiasm for books and reading to people across the country.

She says about her decision to become a writer:

“It was the late Professor of Christian Education Sara Little who suggested that maybe I should be a writer, but I didn’t want to add another mediocre writer to the world,” explained Paterson. Some years later and after gentle prodding by Little whom Paterson recalls as her “prodding angel,” the young author realized that if she didn’t dare mediocrity, she wouldn’t write anything at all.

Read the whole release after the jump.

About the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature

The position of National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature was created to raise national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education and the development and betterment of the lives of young people.

The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature is named by the Librarian of Congress for a two-year term, based on recommendations from a selection committee representing many segments of the book community. The selection criteria include the candidate’s contribution to young people’s literature and ability to relate to children.

From read.gov.

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Update

I added a picture sent in by reader Richard. Also, he notes there is a for sale sign in the front yard.

Original Story

This, from the Richmond Fire Department’s twitter, which has proved to be an excellent source of news:

Units working a house fire in the 3100 blk of Barton Ave. Units have heavy fire on the 2nd floor. NFD

Units on Barton Ave is reporting one firefighter injuried at this time. Richmond Ambulance is on scene. NFD

Units on Barton is reporting that fire is in the attic area. Va power is responding. Search of the house is negative. NFD

Fire on Barton under control. One firefighter received minor injuries. Units doing overhaul. NFD

Fire on Barton is under control w/ heavy fire damage to the house. 1 firefighter received minor injuries and 1 civilian rescued from 2nd …

The RTD is reporting that eight residents were displaced by the fire. Could this be another boarding house fire?

Highland park has seen its share of fires thus far in 2010.

Update

Channel 6 is running a bit of an explanation on why part of Highland Park saw such a drop:

Hester says investors came in, renovated those properties, and bailed when the market tanked.

Original story

By now you should have received your 2010 assessments. I took a minute and pulled the numbers for some different Northside neighborhoods — I’ve made the data available as a public google spreadsheet. You can, of course, pull any of the data yourself using the City’s much improved parcel finder.

In general assessments across the five Northside neighborhoods I pulled ( Southern Barton Heights, Bellevue, Brookland Park, Ginter Park, and Rosedale) showed almost no change. Overall the averages changes in value between 2009 and 2010:

• Land value: +0.73%
• Improvement value: -2.50%
• Total value: -1.76%

Interestingly, the data is skewed quite a bit by Southern Barton Heights. Without the five random properties I pulled from Southern Barton Heights the numbers are:

• Land value: +0.46%
• Improvement value: +0.21%
• Total value: +0.22%

Property heights in Southern Barton Heights (the five I randomly sampled) have dropped 9.67% since last year.

New York Fried Chicken has a fairly long history of health code violations — including a routine inspection back in ‘06 that found thirteen critical violations.

Earlier this month on, January 12th, a health inspector found an inoperable hot water heater heater and forced the establishment to close. NYFC repaired the hot water heater the next day — although the inspector found three more critical violations on the follow up inspection, all were corrected during the inspection:

• Different types of raw animal foods stored in such a manner that may cause cross contamination. (Raw hamburger stored above raw fish)
• The following equipment food-contact surfaces were observed soiled to sight and touch: SLICER
• Mashed potatoes hot holding at improper temperatures.

For comparison, take a gander at the Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken report: never more than three critical violations, zero violations the last four inspections.

The North Avenue library is the first branch of many that will undergo renovations. The branch will close February 2nd for an inventory of books and materials before the renovations begin in May. Improvements will include:

• Rewiring of the buildings for 21st century computer use and for the addition of 17 new public computers
• Realignment of shelving for improved efficiency
• New furniture with improved seating
• New windows, carpet, interior paint, and interior lighting
• Improved outside lighting and landscaping

Funds for the improvements will come from the “Building a Better Richmondâ�� fund of the cityâ��s Capital Improvement Plan.

Richmond City Councilman Chris A. Hilbert, Northside 3rd District, will hold a community meeting in Richmond�s Northside 3rd District to discuss the potential revitalization and possible future uses of the former Richmond Public Schools A. V. Norrell Elementary School building and Norrell Annex, building which are currently vacant. The meeting is free and all Northside 3rd District citizens are invited and encouraged to attend. Light refreshments will be served.

Discussion will include:

• Communityâ��s needs as it relates to: Recreation, Education,
• Senior Citizen Programming and more
• Community Involvement
• Facility Analysis
• Programs Needed

Saturday, 23 January 2010, Noon � 2:00 p.m. Richmond Public Schools A. V. Norrell Elementary School building, 219 West Graham Road

View Larger Map

Families of prospective students are invited to attend the Open House
at Linwood Holton Elementary School, Tuesday, January 26, 6:30pm and Wednesday,
January 27, 9:30am.

From neighborhood blog Transitional Neighborhood Lowdown:

My neighbor snapped this yesterday in our area. I think I may know the perpetrator who created the sign, but no one is stepping forward to admit to littering condoms. Thankfully, this one looks unused.

The Henley Street Theatre’s new production, A Servant of Two Masters, starts its run tomorrow with a preview:

Irate fathers, thwarted lovers and mistaken identities!

The fun begins when the wily�and chronically hungry servant Truffaldino hatches a zany scheme to double his wages by serving two masters at once. This 18th century slapstick comedy offers lots of laughs that the whole family can enjoy! (Recommended for Age 10+)

Do you have a fabulous, creative, and sustainable kitchen garden? Do you live in the Ginter Park or Bellevue neighborhoods of Richmond? Do you want to share your awesomeness with others interested in kitchen gardening? Then please nominate your garden to be a part of this exciting new event for Tricycle Gardens

On Saturday, July 17, 2010 we will be holding our first annual �Grow Your Own� Kitchen Garden Tour. Our idea is to have a walking and biking tour featuring ten distinctive kitchen gardens from a different Richmond neighborhood each year, starting with the Ginter Park and Bellevue area in 2010 and moving to Church Hill in 2011!

Want to see your garden on our tour? Then please email aalmond19@hotmail.com to get your entry form. All submittals will be reviewed by a jury of all-stars in the local food and community gardening movement to determine which ten gardens will make it onto our tour.

The call for entries will close on March 15, 2010 so submit your garden now! Judging will take place in January and winners will be notified so that gardeners will have plenty of time to get their gardens in tip-top shape for the tour in July.

Learn more about the Tricycle Gardens tour here.

The Richmond Police are looking for suspects in a robbery last night on Brookland Park Boulevard. Last night in the fourth district there were NINE robberies.

From the RPD:

The Richmond Police Department needs the public�s help in identifying the two men who robbed The Market Place, 101 E. Brookland Park Blvd. at gunpoint just after 6 p.m. last night.

Their images can be seen in the attached video surveillance.

The first suspect is described as a black male, 6�1� feet tall, weighing 215 pounds, around 25 years of age with a brown-skinned complexion. He was last seen wearing framed silver glasses, a dark gray hoodie, dark pants, dark shoes and black gloves.

The second suspect is described as a black male, 6�1� feet tall, weighing 200 pounds, around 25 years of age with a dark-skinned complexion. He was last seen wearing a black hoodie, black pants with Roca-wear white �R� on both back pockets, tan boots, a red baseball cap with a black letter or emblem on the front. He was armed with a black revolver.

NBC12 is reporting:

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT)–Two residents of a Richmond group home are waking up in new rooms because of a fire this weekend. All 82 residents were safely evacuated from the home in the 3200 block of Chamberlayne Avenue.

Since the fire took place during a down pour, the home owners cleverly called on the GRTC to shelter the evacuated residents until the smoke dissipated. What a great idea!