Category Archives: Uncategorized

The weather managed to hold off long enough for three neighbors to collect seven bags of trash this afternoon.

We decided to focus on gateway routes into and out of the neighborhood. The Randolph & Harrison bridges were in desperate need of a cleaned up along with the future site of the roundabout (Grayland/Idlewood).

Neighbors and RVA Clean Sweep have established the first Saturday of the Month as Randolph’s clean up date. Time & Locations will be posted on Facebook, Nextdoor.com, and Meetup but here are the next few dates:

• February 7, 2015
• March 7, 2015
• April 4, 2015
• May 2, 2015
• June 6, 2015

If you can’t make it out on the first Saturday of the month, we encourage everyone to pick one day a month (or week!) and pick up litter on their own block. If you need a trash picker, please email Amy Robins at rvacleansweep@gmail.com.

In 2014, neighbors volunteered for clean ups in September, October, November and December. Together volunteers gave a total of 96.5 community service hours and removed 820 pounds of trash from Randolph’s streets and parks.

This Saturday, January 3rd neighbors will meet in front of the Randolph Community Center at 1415 Grayland Ave to conduct the first trash clean up of 2015 from 2pm-3:30pm.

All supplies (trash pickers, trash bags and gloves) will be provided by RVA Clean Sweep. Please dress accordingly.

In the case of heavy rain, we will meet on Saturday, January 10th from 2pm-3:30pm. Updates will be posted on Nextdoor.com, Facebook, and Meetup.

Richmond’s Clean City Commission (CCC) & DPW will be available for tree disposal on Saturday, January 10th from 9am – 2pm in the field at corner of North Boulevard & Robin Hood Road.

There are approximately 36 million Real Christmas Trees sold in the U.S. every year. Real trees are a renewable, recyclable resource. CVWMA encourages residents throughout the Central Virginia region to recycle their personal trees. The Christmas Tree Recycling Program offered by our member localities to their residents is yet another way to recycle and go green for the holidays. The recycled trees will be ground into a mulch product.

• Please be sure to remove all decorations, tinsel, bulbs, wire and bolts from the tree.

Document shredding and electronic recycling will also be available. ($10 for TVs)

RVA News posts an open letter to the School Board from a local RPS parent, Erik Bonkovsky, urging them to take more leadership in Binford’s future. It’s a short, but worthwhile read.

. . . . Now, more so than any time in the last six years, the attention of the School Board and much of the city has turned to Binford and its future. I’m glad for the attention, but I fear that the focus is misdirected. After participating at the informational meeting on Monday, November 24th, and reviewing the four proposals presented by the School Board, I find none of the proposals compelling. They are under-defined and feel desperate. . . . .

. . . . Because the elementary school zones were re-drawn last year, it would make sense to re-draw the middle school zones so that community ties nurtured during elementary school years can be translated to middle school. Families whose children know each other are more inclined to send their kids to middle school together. Redrawn middle school zones must preserve community ties and racial diversity so that our city isn’t further divided. . . . .

. . . . . We need to see our schools as opportunities for fostering more socially-integrated networks for our children and for us. Part of the responsibility for these networks lies with our schools and the School Board. Part of the responsibility lies with the community itself. The problem at Binford isn’t just the School Board’s. The problem is ours. . . .

. . . . The school and the School Board ought to invest in strengthening partnerships with the community and families who reside there. What are frequently listed as problems can just as easily be seen as strengths. Binford has the smallest enrollment of the RPS middle schools. That means a more intimate learning environment, greater individual attention, smaller class sizes, and a better student-teacher ratio. . . .

. . . . Families like mine need to be invited to invest in our community through commitment to its public schools. Joining together around our public schools is one avenue for cooperation, but it requires a posture of humility, listening, and mutual respect. I want my children to be prepared for a globalized world not merely through a curriculum that touts global awareness, but through a school community that reflects the varied diversity that makes our city great. . . . .

. . . . . This is not a simple problem. There is not a simple solution. It requires strong and committed leadership. I urge the Richmond School Board to act decisively and quickly. Those of us in the Binford school zone with rising sixth graders are weighing options for our children right now. It’s impossible for us to consider hypotheticals that are fuzzy on specifics. Many of us are deeply invested in our neighborhood and are committed to RPS. . . .

A huge thank you to the community members and VCU students that came out yesterday December 7th to pick up litter along Grayland and Idlewood Avenues. The most littered items collected were cigarette filters, plastic cigar tips, cigarette packs, snack wrappers, and plastic water bottles.

Cigarette filters are composed of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic which does not quickly degrade at times taking up to 10 years to breakdown. Plastic cigar tips take even longer.

Our neighborhood’s stormdrains carry street trash like cigarette butts straight to the James River during rain events. The cigarette butts impact local wildlife, decreases the appeal of the river and contributes to the lost of tourism and revenue. Richmond jobs depends heavily on tourism.

Even closer to home and according to Keep America Beautiful, the presence of litter in a community decreases property values by a little over 7%.  For homes near the Petronius Jones Park that could mean any where from $10,500 to $14,000 in lost sales.

To learn more about littering misconceptions visit: Keep America Beautiful or Clean Virginia Waterways

Over the past three years the Richmond Tree Stewards have help plant and maintain trees in Petronius Jones Park and Thomas Square.

Their mission is to promote and improve the health of city trees to assure the city’s forest will survive and thrive. This is accomplished by increasing public awareness through community education, planning and planting for the future, and providing maintenance and care for young trees on streets and in parks.  Tree Stewards work closely with Urban Forestry and with other organizations interested in the health of our community forest.

If are interested in learning more about trees the Richmond Tree Steward offer a 10 week course that will begin in January that is packed with information and delivered by excellent speakers. Unfortunately, the financial assistance deadline passed on Nov. 29th. The course fee is $120 and is worth every penny. Classes meet on Tuesday evenings from 6:30-8:30pm.

To learn more about all of the great work the Richmond Tree Steward are doing in RVA, please visit: richmondtreestewards.org