Informal Session - This was an Important Meeting

Part 1/4 - City Council Informal Session - Oct. 25, 2010 - Elderhomes Weatherization Program - Richmond, Virginia from Silver Persinger.

In Part 1, Peter Chapman, Deputy CAO for Economic and Community Development discussed the administration's recent budget amendment of $500,000 for Elderhomes to perform winterization for low income, elderly, and disabled residents. It is projected to aid 80 homeowners, which is a cost of $6250 per home.

Part 2/4 - City Council Informal Session - Oct. 25, 2010 - Docket Review - Richmond, Virginia from Silver Persinger.

In Part 2, Keith Rogers from the City Clerk's Office reviewed the evening's agenda with the Council. This is the portion of the meeting where papers are continued, withdrawn, stricken, or motions are made to amend.

On this day, the papers receiving the most discussion were the following:

@minutes 3:00 - 13:20
Item 8, Ordinance 2010-184 To amend the Code concerning stormwater utility charges, to authorize stormwater utility fee waiver for any property owner who provides a permandent reduction in post development stormwater flow and pollutant loading as authorized by City Charter.

@minute 13:30
Mr. Bruce Tyler [1st District] requested amending and continuing Item 9, Ordinance 2010-185 regarding reducing the terms from 5 to 3 years for members of the Commission of Architectural Review [CAR], the unelected body famous for telling folks what they can and can't do with their homes located within historic districts. Mr. Tyler said the paper needed to be amended to include that the 2 at-large members must be residents of a historic district.

@minutes 14:40 -18:00
Mrs. Ellen Robertson [6th District] asked Mr. Tyler about Item 10, Ordinance 2010-186 which would require individuals wishing to appeal the decisions of CAR to pay a $150 filing fee for single family houses and $500 for all other types of buildings. Mrs. Robertson was concerned about the fee for low-income folks.

@minutes 19:10 -
Ms. Reva Trammell [8th District] asked about items 14 and 15, Ordinance 2010-194 which would authorize special use of 3800-3916 Hull Street and 415 - 527 Belt Boulevard to allow two free standing signs "identifying tenants of the properties" and Ordinance 2010-195 which would legitimize an existing free standing sign at 5449, 5501, and 5503 Midlothian Turnpike.

Mr. Connor reassured Ms. Trammell they were "in-sync on this paper."

Part 3/4 - City Council Informal Session - Oct. 25, 2010 - Report from Schools - Richmond, Virginia from Silver Persinger.

Part 4/4 - City Council Informal Session - Oct. 25, 2010 - Jail Discussion - Richmond, Virginia from Silver Persinger.

Richmond Public Schools to Hold Public Hearing on Facilities

Tonight marks the first of four opportunities for public hearings the Richmond School Board will hold in an effort to hear from the community what they want to see built into proposed Phase 1 Schools/Community Facilities.

The School Board recently announced their approved construction plan which the City Council signed off on at their last meeting, November 23. The School Board's "top tier priorities" are Huguenot High School and Broad Rock Elementary School; Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, Oak Grove Elementary School are "second-tier priorities." Elkhardt Middle School and E.H.S. Greene Elementary School are considered "third-tier priorities." Amelia Street and Capital City Program still remain on the list. However, CCP is proposing a PPEA ["Public Private" agreement?] for joint funding.

Meetings will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. as follows:

Dec. 2: Richmond Technical Center – 2020 Westwood Avenue
Dec. 3: Franklin Military High School – 701 North 37th Street
Dec. 9: Thomas Jefferson High School – 4100 West Grace Street
Dec. 15: Lucille Brown Middle School – 6300 Jahnke Road

For more details, contact Angela Lewis at 780-7716.

6th District Monthly Meeting: All about Richmond Public Schools

Noticeably absent from Saturday's meeting were Councilwoman Ellen Robertson and her Legislative Assistant John Westbrook. In their place, 6th District School Board member and Chair Chandra Smith opened the meeting.

Richmond Public Schools was the topic of the meeting. Items discussed included the "Choice" campaign to promote Richmond's public schools as an alternative to private school. Superintendant Dr. Yvonne Brandon did much of the talking. Other topics of discussion were the School Board's adopted budget [FY2010 plan totals $259.9 million, $9.7 million or 3.59% less than FY2009] and plans to expand Franklin Military to include 6th graders. SOAR program and much, much more.

This Week's Council Meeting, May 26, 2009

Opening Formalities

Above, the Richmond City Council May 26, 2009 meeting included an opening prayer delivered by John Westbrook [of Morning Star Baptist Church and Councilwoman Ellen Robertson's legislative assistant], the pledge of allegiance, roll call [all members were present], the fire evacuation plan, the appointments of Neville C. Johnson and Anita Randolph as members to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund Oversight Board, and amendments to the agenda.



Awards and Presentations

Above, two awards were presented at this meeting. One award was presented to Richmond Public Schools' 2009 Graduating Class Valedictorians [Charmesa Cousins (Armstrong HS), Sheltia Strickland (Franklin Military Academy), Gina Gabriel (George Wythe HS), Marshé Minor (Huguenot HS), Dakeisha Bowman (John Marshall HS), Michelle Lewis (Richmond Community HS), Juan Wilson (Open High), Lamont Banks (Thomas Jefferson HS)]; another award was given to Richmond Public Schools' 2009 Mind Games Team Winners from Westover Hills Elementary School and Fisher Elementary School.



Citizen Commment Period

Theodora Parham commented on poor service of GRTC Care Vans and drug dealing neighbors. [0:30]

Ted Moody urged funding Recreation Workers for city youths. [4:15]

Keery Keenan and Todd Schall-Vess urged City Council's support for Friends of Dogwood Dell Arts Program. [6:45]

Allender Griffin opined the Echo Harbor development and baseball in Shockoe Bottom. [10:50]

Pamela Bohannon requested financial assistance to send her daughter on a trip to Japan to take part in the People to People Student Ambassadors Program. [14:40]

Jackie Kothe questioned the Council regarding legality of panhandling at the I-95 South Exit onto Cary Street. [18:00]



The Donald Hatcher Incident

Above, Council regular Donald Hatcher expressed his views on the 26 separate ordinances that constitute the City of Richmond's budget. However, after 3 minutes had expired, he wasn't done talking and challenged the limitation.

What followed was a tense standoff between President Graziano, Mr. Hatcher, an officer from the Richmond Police Department and Councilman Marty Jewell stepping in with a motion to allow Mr. Hatcher additional time to speak. The motion was seconded by Councilwoman Reva Trammell. The vote was 3 [Jewell, Trammell, Tyler] to 5 [Graziano, Robertson, Hilbert, Samuels, Conner] with one abstention [Betty Squire].


Up until last year, citizens had the right to comment up to 3 minutes per ordinance or resolution. In an effort to curtail citizen participation (including my own), Council amended their Rules of Procedure [on Feb. 11, 2008, with Resolution 2008-R18-27, See page 11; Ms. Trammell and Mr. Jewell were the only Council members to vote against the change] and enacted an even more rigid standard where citizens are given only 3 minutes to comment on the Consent Agenda [which is commonly made up of 10 - 40 separate items] and papers that are called together [ie. bundling papers to limit opportunities for citizen comments]. Under the old rules, a citizen could spend his entire allotted 10 minutes speaking to the Consent Agenda alone.



My Comments

As usual, I hadn't planned to speak so much but found I had much to say. I spoke in opposition yet one more time to the use of inmate labor as currently proposed in the Community Development Block Grant [CDBG] Budget [Ord. 2009-50] under a line item entitled "Environmental Code Enforcement" managed by the Dept. of Community Development, the Richmond Sheriff's Office, private contractors HDL Services LLC and F.U.N. Construction and budgeted at $260,000.

I also spoke in opposition to continued support for Venture Richmond [Ord. 2009-97], a group that markets the city and operates the "Clean & Safe" program, operates the canal boats, and maintains the Canal Walk and Brown's Island, and is funded by a $1.7 million special assessment fee on properties located in the downtown and river front special services districts, in addition to a $700,000 contribution from the city; in opposition to the way the budget was prepared with almost no input from the public; in opposition to 8 papers that were being expedited in order to expend Council District Funds before those funds reverted to the General Fund.