River City DPW, picking up leaves where they ain't.

You never know where you're going to find a good story. Looks like our local government is picking up leaves where they ain't.

I started out to do a little blurb on the fact that this Monday past, Richmond Virginia's Department of Public Works (DPW) was finally going to fire up that much delayed leaf collection program again.


At least DPW put up signs to that effect.

It remains to be seen if they make good on this promise.
On Saturday I heard the weekend newsreader on 1140 WRVA Radio (the self-styled 50,000 Watt Voice of Virginia) excitedly calling for yet another massive snow storm to bury Central Virginia come Wednesday morning.


Locals know that the reason Richmond's DPW has not made good on their obligation to clear city streets of last fall's leaf mass was because of the unusually large amounts of rain and snow that kept River City in turmoil for the past 4 months.



In any case, the signs are up again, and if the radio weather guy is wrong again, this might be the week when the taxpayers finally see some re-leaf.



It might take the city crews longer than expected, however. This brand new sign I spotted on a relatively treeless block at the corner of Mosby and Venable is just one example of a scene I saw repeated several times up on the Hill.

Unless these pictures lie, Richmond's DPW is going to spend a fair amount of time collecting leaves where they ain't. They're certainly going to spend a fair amount of time collecting these signs.
They've already committed the crews to put up this signage where there's no fodder to feed the big city vacs.



Check out this double dipping signage at 18th and Marshall for a prime example. This is an industrial area treeless for blocks.


In any case, River City residents can only hope that soon dry weather will come and stay, and that the streets of the city will be leaf free before the crocuses bloom and the Great Atlantic Shad start their annual run... up the mighty James.





TvNB

River City roads update, how did they do this time around?

Sorry for the shorthand here, but going on snow duty at 2am so have to hit the sack.

Did a tour around 7pm, picked streets at random off River Side Drive.. many side streets look plowed and all were passable...



looks like Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones made good on his promise to get the plows out early this time around.



Caught up with a snow plow working Southcliff Rd off River Side Drive.

Fella walking his dog tells me sez that was the first he's ever seen on this street, probably because the residents raised heck with the City Council rep after the last storm.

The fella told me that some folks say the reason that this street is never plowed is because a car got totaled by a runaway plow during a storm many years ago.



Some great snow sculpture... really beautiful snow angel near Forest Hill Park, corner of 42nd and Smithdeal Ave.


An Alien Cookbook send up from the Twilight Zone in Woodland Heights.


Also checked out the lake down at Forest hill Park earlier in the day, surprised to find lotsa people looking for winter sport,


This lake has recently been renovated

And is well worth the hike to take in it's new found beauty.



TvNB

Snow still falling, did River City get it right?

Another snow storm has come to town, sending the residents of Richmond Virginia to their local Ukrop's Supermarket for various odds and ends,

and filling Forest Hill Park with a rare opportunity to try out those sleds that normally gather dust in Southern attics and garages.


These are all common sights in River City on the rare occasions when the white stuff covers the ground.


But some residents will tell you this sight wasn't so common during last weeks snow fall, a Richmond City snow plow plying the asphalt on Westover Hills Blvd.

The City came in for a lot of criticism on local blogs for what many residents perceived as a failure to keep up with the storm,

to the extent that the public works departments in Henrico and Chesterfield did.

This time, however, it appears that Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones got the plows out early, and when these pictures were taken around noon today the major roads appeared in good shape.



However, the Nickel Bridge is closed.

Updates to come.
TvNb

Radio outlet sez River City to be hammered by snow, will they be right THIS time?

Once again, the newsreader on the right wing talk radio outlet in Richmond, Virginia (1140 WRVA Radio, the self-styled 50,000 Watt Voice of the South) is claiming a far more massive snow fall in Central Virginia than other media outlets are willing to claim.

This is not the first time this radio station has gone out on a limb. You may remember their claim of 18 inches last week, which of course turned out to be dead wrong.

Weather hyperbole is nothing new at this bastion of right wing chit-chat. I remember well the shocking report report they ran some time back that the flood wall was to be "tested" by the Raging James.

What the newsreader apparently did not know that it would take a wall of water of more than 40 feet to put the Richmond Flood Wall at risk, not the five or six feet we were expecting.

But I have to give the folks at "Doc" Thompson's digs credit for creativity. Their newsreader claims that THIS storm will first sweep over us, leaving a little gift of 3 or 4 inches, and then get "sucked back" by monster forces to dump the rest of her load on our hapless land.

As they say in the business, you can't make this stuff up. As far as I've been able to deduce, the newsreaders at 1140 WRVA Radio (the self-styled 50,000 Watt Voice of the South) are getting their information for this storm at least from this guy .

We'll see.




TvNB

Richmond held in grip of winter fury, inches mount in the dying light

Massive snow blankets New Kent Road, Jan 30 2010

First out of the box, this is a new experience for me, not working the storm when the big one hits. I can't remember the last time I spent the early hours of a massive weather event at home and it's pretty strange.

Even though I have plenty of supplies to last the duration, I still feel compelled to get out in it. For some reason, while pork and beans is a real treat in normal times, when you HAVE to eat it, it's not so hot.

But I'm not going anywhere unless I get called in to work. There's no way I can get my car on the road buried as it under mounds of snow.


The thermometer said it was 21 degrees at my place around 1 pm this Saturday.

Snow depth ranged between 9 inches and


almost 13 inches. Since this is around 1 pm, there's surely more to come.



Not as much as the newsreader on 1140 WRVA (the self styled 50,000 Watt Voice of Virginia) was reporting this week, when he called for upwards of 18 inches.

And speaking of radio, I was shocked and disappointed to discover how difficult it is for the home bound to get up to date information on weather events.
In this day and age of instant connectivity, you'd think it'd be cake.

Television of course, did an excellent job keeping folks ahead of the storm with live updates from the field, interviews with police, and updated reports of road conditions.

But those like myself who for whatever reason weren't able to sit in front of the TV or computer screen were pretty much sunk.
Until I spent this day at home, I never realized how little information there is on the radio.

You'd think NOAA weather radio would be the goto guy but their service is basically a looped forecast. You hear the same information at 11 am that you did at 4 am.

Even then, it's hard to access in a timely fashion. The Richmond Virginia NOAA weather radio outlet seems more focused on news for the watermen of the Chesapeake Bay than conditions of interest to those in Central Virginia.

The local NPR outlet, WCVE at 88.9 calls themselves the "Community Idea Station".
They have a news reader working the national weekday Morning Edition shift but you never hear his ideas on weekends, so you can write them off as far as a source for information in fast moving critical times.

That leaves the aforementioned 1140 WRVA (the self styled 50,000 Watt Voice of Virginia).

They DO have a news department and this Saturday they brought in their big gun, their right wing afternoon talk show host.
He's a large fella who calls himself "Doc" Thompson (as in "Doctor" Hunter S. Thompson) and he made his name locally as a supporter of the Tea-Bagging party.

I give 1140 WRVA credit for making the attempt, but I couldn't take more than 20 minutes of "Doc" Thompson.

During the time I spent with him, he seemed more interested in entertainment and bashing the Obama Administration and Global Warming theories than sharing useful information.
I was not looking for politics but for "news I could use" and I felt the 1140 WRVA product was a waste of my time.

I can see where perhaps "Doc" Thompson might serve a purpose for those of a political bent just looking to kill some time, but is that best use of this powerful medium on days like this?

I say "no", your mileage might differ.

On the bright side. While the local radio scene (in my opinion) let us down, our oldest form of communication came though this snowy Saturday.


The United States Post Office was on the job (as will I be tomorrow AM. Just got called in).






TvNB

Massive snow storm set to bring Richmond Virginia to it's knees

Having just returned from doing battle in the bread and milk isles at Ukrop's Supermarket in the Cary Street Shopping Center, I can attest that citizen expectations for a major weather event are high.

And not without reason are the residents of Richmond Virginia watching the skies with fear and dread as they munch what may be the last we'll see of Ukrop's branded bakery goods and ice cold milk.

After all, this approaching storm is ( or was at least) being hyped by some media outlets as the Storm of the Decade. The newsreader said as much on 1140 WRVA Radio, a Clear Channel outlet that bills itself as the 50 Thousand Watt Voice of Virginia, on the 1:30pm news break this past Wednesday or Thursday.

At that time , the 1140 WRVA newsreader said we could expect upwards of 18 inches to fall on River City. This would be a truly massive amount of white stuff sufficient enough to smother all commerce in this quiet Southern community perched on the banks of the Mighty James River in Old Virginia's Piedmont Region.

While the WRVA prediction of 18 inches might be farfetched, they could well be right that this event has the potential to be the Storm of the decade.

After all, Richmond Virginia has not seen a truly inspiring snow storm since the 1980's. It won't take much to break a record that isn't worth squat to begin with.

But whatever tomorrow brings, be it little or a lot, we can only hope that the City of Richmond is johnny on the spot when it comes to getting traffic moving on our city streets.

Richmond's Department of Public Works did a credible job on the MAIN roads last time (side streets a different matter), but one stone does not an Empire build.

Sidebar: In fairness to 1140 WRVA ( The 50,000 Watt Voice of Virginia) they did tone down their forecast somewhat by 3 O'clock hour when right wing personality "Doc" Thompson" hit the air for his daily ranting's on anything not tea bagable to bring it more in line with main stream predictions.



TvNB

New Trash Can on the Pike in Works

That long awaited trash can on the corner of Walmsley and the Pike is closer to becoming a reality.
The James River News South Richmond patrol spotted this sign posted at the bus stop on Jefferson Davis Turnpike just across from the popular Hardy's burger outlet.
The bus company, known locally as GRTC for the Greater Richmond Transit Company, is seeking comments from the general public before final action is taken.
The can, if the public approves, will have a major impact on the corridor of trash and shame that this portion of the old and historic Number 1 Highway has become in recent years.
Interested readers may contact GRTC by calling 804 358 3871 ext 521, or by Internet via www.ridgegrtc.com.
The deadline for public input is mar 24, 2009. Daylights burning folks, get your vote in today.


TvNB

Three young women protest bank, City of Richmond police out in force

When Eris Morna of Richmond Rising Tides and her two friends decided to stage a small and peaceful protest outside the Bank of America headquarters in downtown Richmond, Virginia, she found she had a lot of company.



A large squad from the Richmond Police Department was already out in force. A quick head count came up with about 17 officers ( give or take ), including members of the mounted squad, to watch the three girls.



The City of Richmond Police Department barricaded part of 12th street during the busy lunch hour for a staging area for their mechanized prowl cars and horse vans, but except for a request for a pamphlet, stayed a watchful distance from the three young ladies.



The pamphlets were snapped up surprising quickly considering the staid Main Street crowd, and one protester was concerned that she would be denied access to a nearby Kinko's since she would have to cross Bank of America property to get to it, but her mission when unnoticed.

Ironically, this action by the Richmond Police Department came on the same day that the news media was reporting that Richmond Virginia Mayor Dwight Jones was still using the Richmond Police security detail ( though somewhat scaled back ) that was such a bone of contention during the administration of L. Douglas Wilder.

Strangely, the Bank of America security guards were nowhere to be seen. Since these young ladies presented no threat to the bank or it's property, it would seem that their presence would have been all that would have been necessary to maintain order. They certainly would have saved City of Richmond taxpayers a nice chunk of change... nothing to be sneezed at in these difficult times.

Bill Pantele, Robert Grey question Democratic endorsement

Robert Grey and Bill Pantele wait while campaign worker distributes document

Mayoral candidates Robert Grey and Bill Pantele held another press conference today to discuss issues related to the endorsement of Dwight Jones by the Democratic steering committee.

This is the second press conference the pair has held in the past week. They met the press outside the offices of the Richmond Free Press in downtown Richmond.
Missing this go round was former mayoral candidate Paul Goldman. In a dramatic turn of events this morning, Mr. Goldman dropped out of the race and threw his support behind Dwight Jones.

In response to criticism, the endorsement of Reverend Jones was rescinded by the Democratic committee, but will in all likely hood be restored at the big meeting Thursday night. It's sure to be hot.

Having the Democratic connection is especially important in this election, since the Republican hopefuls McCain and Palin are going to get quite the thrashing come election day. While most endorsements don't mean much, being tied to the Obama steamroller will make any candidate hard to beat.

Paul Goldman throws in towel, supports Dwight Jones in mayoral race

Paul Goldman charms reporters before press conference

It was a sad day in Richmond Virginia for anyone who loves politics. The most interesting and energetic candidate for the mayor's seat called it quits.
Ironically, it was Paul Goldman throwing in the towel, the man generally credited with bringing the strong mayor form of government to River City.

The seat, currently held by former Governor L. Douglas Wilder, is up for grabs this year, and Mr. Goldman's quick wit and innovative ideas brought a breath of fresh air to what has otherwise been a stale campaign devoid of personality or fireworks.

Dwight Jones speaks while Paul Goldman looks pensive

In a bizarre turn of events, Paul Goldman threw his support to Dwight Jones. Just last week, Goldman had joined candidates Bill Pantele and Robert Grey raising serious questions about the endorsement of Rev. Jones by the Democratic steering committee.

McCain and Palin to lose big in Richmond. Will mayoral candidates suffer by inadvertent association ?

From the James River News political desk.
The race for Richmond's mayor goes national.


What ever happens statewide, it’s clear that Palin and McCain can forget all about Richmond Virginia. The duo won’t be polling many votes here.
If anyone has any doubt, a leisurely drive through the staid and very conservative community of Westover Hills will get their mind right. Obama signs are everywhere. More significantly, even the front yards of the elderly white residents that “experts” say McCain has in his back pocket are sporting Obama’s message.

Signs for McCain, on the other hand, are halfheartedly posted, few and far between. And Westover Hills is not the only South Richmond community where Obama signage dominates... the folks in nearby Forest Hills are on board too.

This tidal wave of support for Barack Obama can have a serious impact on Richmond’s race for mayor.

Several weeks ago, a knowledgeable political operative told James River News that the mayoral race in Richmond will come down to three men. Dwight Jones, Bill Pantele, and Robert Grey.

The scenario at the time had Jones winning, but only if he could do it on the first ballot. If there was a run-off, Jones would be shut out and the ultimate winner would be either Grey or Pantele.

Since then, of course, word on the street has been that Robert Grey’s campaign is going nowhere, leaving Bill Pantele and Dwight Jones to duke it out election day.

And this is where the Obama factor can become interesting.
Dwight Jones has already been tied to Obama’s coattails by virtue of a major endorsement from the Richmond City Democratic Committee. Given the potential magnitude of the vote for Obama in River City, this fact presents a serious problem for the other candidates, especially Bill Pantele (since none of the other candiates seem to have many signs ).

Not only does Mr. Pantele lack a direct connection to the certain Democratic winner in the local Presidential sweepstakes, but far too many of his own supporters are tying him visually to the losing Republican candidate, and the Republican candidate is a guy who isn't going to get many votes in Richmond come election day.



There are far too many of these, McCain and Pantele signs, cheek to jowl. Given the fact that this tight mayoral race is going to be decided by a handful of votes, we here at James River News feel it is unwise to tie any local candidate to McCain and Palin in this way.
A dangerous game this, linking the all important “name recognition” factor of a strong local candidate to that of a weak national candidate.
It can only cost him votes.



Bill Pantele isn't the only one who has his signs posted next to McCain's by supporters. We found Robert Grey linked by signage also, and we also found one resident who feels Mr. Pantele and Sen. Obama is the way to go..


These Bill Pantele and Obama political signs were spotted posted along Riverside Drive, interesting because most of the very wealthy people in this high rent part of Westover Hills are hot for McCain.

Who will be the next mayor of Richmond? Voters hear hopefuls

‘When elected mayor, the first person I’m going to hire is Paul Goldman”. Mayoral candidate Robert Grey may have been having some fun with the audience at Wednesday night’s debate, but the packed house applauded lustily at the idea.


Paul Goldman is turning in a pretty interesting performance in his quest to succeed L. Douglas Wilder as the mayor of Richmond Virginia. Goldman is well known as a brilliant political strategist, but it looks like he’s turning into quite the campaigner too.

His strength on the stump seems to be that he’s doesn’t always tell people what they want to hear. Like some of the other candidates, he took a shot or two at Wilder. He said the current mayor saw the office as a “mini governorship” and reminded these potential voters he (Goldman) “ didn’t create that kind of job,” (Goldman was one of the architects of Richmond’s strong mayor form of government).

But Goldman also told these South Richmonders that you can’t blame just“one man” for Richmond’s woes. He went on to talk about the “systemic problems” that “city council hasn’t fixed”, and reminded them that “we all haven’t done enough”.

It’s be interesting to see if this approach results in a rich harvest of votes come November, but this crowd at the Forest Hills Presbyterian Church certainly gave Goldman many rounds of applause.

Of course, this South Richmond audience was generous to the other candidates too. The best question of the night was “ If elected mayor, who will you keep from the Wilder administration”.



The assemblage didn’t sit on their hands when candidate Dwight Jones said “it’s difficult to know who is in the administration” because of the “revolving door” at City hall and the “black out of information”. Or when he spoke of administrators who “cannot speak to the public”. Or when he promised a national search to find the best people, people who “will not have to be fearful”.



They also clapped when Bill Pantele said that he’d do away with the mayor's security detail, sending the cops back to the street, and that Doug Wilder's public relations machine will face “significant cuts” and be replaced by people who will “do good for you”.


Candidate Lawrence Williams offered the only specific, saying he would certainly keep Rachael Flynn on board should he gain the corner office.

Robert Grey was more circumspect, understandable since he is widely considered to be Doug Wilder’s choice to succeed him as Richmond’s mayor and probably doesn't want to ruffle feathers.



The five folks at the podium weren’t the only politicians in the room. Kathy Graziano sat in the audience. Yellow flyers were on a table in the back, announced her endorsement of William J. Pantele for the job.



The debate was held at the Forest Hill Presbyterian Church on the avenue of the same name, just down the street from the quiet Westover Hills community where double digit increases in the real estate assessments are a yearly ritual.


TvNB

Hicks won't run, backs Jones. School issue in Petersburg, legal action possible

Today former River City Commonwealth Attorney David Hicks announced he will not be throwing his hat in the ring in an effort to succeed mayor Doug Wilder.
Wilder announced last week that he will not be seeking re-election this November.
In a related development, the popular Hicks endorsed announced mayoral candidate, Rev. Dwight Jones.
Jones is currently a Richmond delegate in Virginia's General Assembly.



Parents in Petersburg Virginia protest the recent action by the school system to change this years graduation excersises at P'Burg High School from the afternoon to the am hours, saying that they had insufficient notice of the change. There is talk of legal action,.