March Meeting Recap
Hey Neighbors,
There’s a lot to be excited about in the area with the success of First Fridays; the Renaissance Fair pop up; the recent influx of tourism from the convention center and the city's water recovery grants for businesses.
At March's Watch meeting, we had Dain Hammond, one of our block captains, share his progress over on Leigh Street where he and some others used the Richmond City’s tax assessor’s website to identify building owners, motion light opportunity areas and connect his maintenance folks with residents to get a bunch of folks involved in lighting updates. They are also working on “shot spotter” opportunities to help pinpoint gunshots when they do happen. Officer Luke Shrader, from VCU police, was in attendance and they were able to connect since VCU and the Capital police have spot shooter technology in place.
Standing in for Lieutenant Brereton with police updates was neighborhood
officer Lewis Mills speaking on the recent fatal Footlocker shooting, 4th and Franklin shooting outside of the Main Stage venue and the car break-ins around 500/600 block of Grace that included some broken windows. For those who haven’t seen, there has been a police “deterrent car” at Maggie Walker and is available by request to park in your section of the neighborhood if one is available to deter folks who may be up to criminal activates.
The Foot Locker attack of an employee by a “customer” and the employee’s subsequent shooting and killing of the individual has sparked concern for employee safety. Officer Jason Ryder is available for de-escalation training for your staff; and Leon Dangerfield is available before an incident to discuss handling those with mental illness or substance abuse issues.
The more positive side of the meeting came from Venture Richmond’s Deputy Executive Director Anedra Bourne with a wide view of many services and resources they provide, including these stand outs:
1. The Clean and Safe program that pressure walks sidewalks, picks up trash, leaves and snow salt (and does many other things)
2. Graffiti Removal (on utility boxes and small tags; and depending on grant status, does larger removals and may require a liability waiver)
3. Hanging Baskets with plants
4. Riverfront Cruises
5. Placemaking Projects
6. Bike Racks
7. Trail Banners and street light flags
8. Events like Friday Cheers
9. Free Marketing via their social media
She also answered some of our questions on holiday lighting (the light poles are too old to connect Christmas lights to and would require business to power the lights); how to get more permanent trash cans (email Venture); and how to get Leon’s one man team some additional staff (by finding funding- maybe we ask the mayor?). Want to learn more about Venture Richmond? Click HERE.