The Richmond Fire “Beat the Heat” 5K Run/Walk has been announced for June 20. Proceeds to benefit the Richmond Fire Department, the registration fee is $20. Find out more and register online today!

Read more >

March was pretty quiet for the parts of Sector 313 south of the Expressway. One drug arrest and a warning to lock up your cars and keep valuables out of sight. See Lt. Capriglione’s March sector report here.

Click here to view the April Newsletter.

Construction crews began preparing the western end of Fountain Lake this week for a long-awaited and permanent concession and restroom building. Brooks & Co. General Contractors, the same company making repairs to the Belle Isle vehicle bridge, is handling the $420,000 project. John R. Pope Jr., the city’s director of parks, recreation and community facilities, said the building is designed to resemble the Round House and should be finished by mid-July.

Construction is being funded by the City of the Future program, which also includes funding for future construction of a restroom facility in the Shields Lake shelter area.

We got a little ahead of ourselves and started posting before we were properly introduced. So here goes: Welcome to Byrd Park, the neighborhood site about … Byrd Park.  We’re also keeping an eye on goings-on in Randolph and Maymont and anything else in the city that has an impact on our community. If you’re interested in getting involved, have news to share or want to contribute in other ways, let us know.

Through the end of May, Maymont is offering half price memberships to families who live in Byrd Park.  To take advantage of this offer, neighbors should call Caitlin Smith at 358-7166, ext. 313

Maymont hosts its 18th annual Family Easter on the Carriage House lawn from noon to 5 p.m. this Saturday. Activities include the Egg-cellent Egg hunt, a visit from the Easter Bunny, bonnet-making, games, storytelling and musical entertainment. $1 tickets for activity fees are on sale from 11:45am-4:30pm. Most activities require 1-4 tickets each. Call (804) 358-7166, ext. 310.

We weren’t real sure where to go with this post, so we thought we’d just open it up for conversation. How have Sundays been in the park been this spring? We noticed last Sunday was the first day the gates were closed, and the crowds were modestly smaller from a few weeks ago when there were traffic jams on every road in the park. Neighbors have told us about street racing on Westover Road and gunfire. And we noticed quite a bit of trash in Fountain Lake on Monday Morning (though the city cleaned it up promptly). With the starting point being that all of us want the greater community to enjoy the park as much as we do, we’d like to get a lively conversation going here, which we want to share with the city. Speak your mind, share your opinion, air your grievances.

Good things. John Pope with the city’s parks department told us last week that Richmond is still serious about a multi-year, $10 million renovation that would make the pump house a visitors’ center and the centerpiece of the James River Park System. Paul Hammond has a look inside over at Lost Art of the City.

It might not sound like the sexiest topic, but if you missed Will Jones’ story in the Times-Dispatch a few weeks ago, you might not realize that you’re about to get socked with new fees and higher utilities rates if City Council passes Mayor Jones’ 2009-10 budget.  The stormwater utility fee is one of them.

Attend a public meeting to learn about the fee, which amounts to about $45 a year for the average homeowner, Wednesday at  5:30 p.m. at the Police Academy , 1202 W. Graham Road, and Monday, April 20, 5:30 p.m. at the Hickory Hill Community Center, 3000 E. Belt Boulevard.  Staff members from the Department of Public Utilities will be available at both events to provide a presentation and talk with residents. For more information, call Mariane Jorgenson, marketing and public relations specialist for the DPU at 646-5224.

A committee of parents raising funds for a fully wheelchair- and walker-accessible playground at John B. Cary Elementary needs your help Saturday.
 
The group needs five more volunteers to staff a table at Saturday’s Earth Day Celebration,  from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on 14th Street just south of Mayo Island.  Volunteers will be painting children’s faces (no talent required, we’re told).  All proceeds go to the playground fund. Organizers are aiming for 2-hour shifts.
  
If you can help, call Amanda Scudder at 350-6636.

Morgan Porter and his neighbors are starting a homeowners association in Randolph West, and he’s put together a Web site. Check it out here.

If they’re elm trees (and these three in the median on Maplewood are) it’s most likely this. These trees are showing classic symptoms — stunted leaf growth and branches growing off at odd angles. If they follow the pattern of the big elm in our back yard that died a few years ago, the leaves will turn brown in a couple of weeks and that will be it. If you have one on your property, you have our sympathies.

On a related note, go here to see the list of trees on the city’s cut list. These three aren’t on there — yet.

Richmond’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities will offer a four-week class for adults called “Living Well – Mind, Body and Spirit” starting Monday.

The classes will meet from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Mondays at the Randolph Community Center, at 1415 Grayland Ave. Alice Freeman of Healthy Heart Plus and her staff will teach the classes. Participants will get schooled on healthy eating, receive recipes each week and taste samples of prepared foods. In addition, each class will include belly dancing or yoga.

Registration is $75, and you must be at least 18 years old to participate. To register, call 646-1080.

Check out Ken’s progress renovating his stately home in the 2400 block of Rosewood here. His grandfather bought the house in 1955 and it’s been in the family ever since.

If you think it’s hard to get a tennis court now, wait until next month when the Davenport & Co. Richmond Tennis Championships come to Byrd Park. Want to watch or play? Learn more and register here.

Sarah G. posted a question today to our last conversation about the park on Sundays, but we figured we’d give it its own headline. Other than some incredibly loud music last evening and a preponderance of trash this morning, how have Sundays been going since the meeting with Richmond police?

Byrd Park’s biggest yearly event is Saturday and Sunday – Arts in the Park. In its 38th year, Arts in the Park is sponsored by the Carillon Civic Association and is expected to draw more than 450 artists and thousands of visitors. For that reason, expect heavy traffic around the park and realize that parking anywhere near the event will be difficult, perhaps impossible. Free parking is available at University of Richmond’s football stadium. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. More information is available here.

The photos come from VCU Library’s digital collection and show an amusement park adjacent to what appears to be Fountain Lake. We’ve been able to find very few references to Idlewood Park except for these photos, which seem to show it on the east side of the lake where the condominiums now stand.  Does anyone have more information?