Richmond BizSense is reporting that developer Ed Eck is pursuing a mixed-use development project that could spell the end of the BP gas station. Read about it here, and feel free to comment.

Neighbor Michael D. reports: “A small meeting was held this past week with the police and some concerned residents on Lakeview Avenue/Maplewood Avenue.  From the meeting with the sector lieutenant we have learned that three police officers will now be assigned to Byrd Park from noon to 8 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.  The officers in Byrd Park will be primarily focused on ticket writing and traffic enforcement.  More than 75 tickets were written the weekend of April 25-26th.  Federal funds are providing the overtime through Labor Day.”

Lt. Capriglione’s sector report for April  is loaded with examples of folks leaving valuables out in plain sight in their vehicles, with predictable results. Otherwise, things were quiet in Byrd Park proper.

Here’s the lowdown for the entirety of sector 313:

The first of two May concerts on the Carillon bells is this Sunday at 3 p.m. in celebration of Mother’s Day.
 
Carillonneur Ryan Hebert will play, light refreshments will be served and the building will be open for viewing.  
 
On Monday, May 25, at 4 p.m.  Carillonneur Larry Robinson will ring in Memorial Day by playing patriotic songs on the bells. He will be joined by guest speakers, vocal selections, and a salute by the Memorial Rifles. The building will be open for viewing. 
    
For more information, please call Barbara Brock at the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities at 646-1031.

Via Richmond Then and Now comes the story (published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on April 14, 1935), of Edward Theodore “Teddy” Greenberg, math prodigy, treasurer of the neighborhood Scorpions Club and student at Albert Hill School, who lived at 2304 Lakeview Ave. Theodore solved this problem lickety-split. Can you?

“Add,” he said, “17, 18, 15, 14, 11, 24, 26, 25, 50. Take away (the terms plus and minus mean nothing to Teddy) 110; add 80, 20; take away 190; add 15. How many fives are in the answers?”

More importantly, does anyone know what became of little Teddy?

Will Jones has a few more details on the new concession building in today’s T-D.

Jason weighs in on a rumored restaurant at Parkwood and Addison and the dingy footbridge that leads to it from our neighborhood. We’re checking on the rumor but if anyone has information, feel free to pass it along.

The T-D lets five more staff writers go. Read about it here and here.

If you’re like us, you did and you are. The city says it sent the bills, payable by June 15, to homeowners erroneously and is re-routing them to mortgage servicers to be paid out of escrow. Hills and Heights has the story.

Jason has more information on his blog. A real restaurant person — Jen Rawlings — is behind the concept, which will feature outdoor seating and food along the lines of what’s served at 821 and/or Ipanema, Jason adds.

Editorial comment ahead: We would really like to see this work out, because it would finally give us a spot that’s within reasonable walking distance. But the city’s response bears watching given the location tight in a residential area on a side street. I know we have a few readers over in that neck of the woods — what are your thoughts? Thanks, Jason, for the update.

At RichmondMagazine.com, Harry Kollatz has a really well-done update on the dredging of the marshy bottom in Forest Hill Park and the re-establishment of the once-beautiful lake. Check it out. The city has been talking about doing this for at least 10 years. Good to see it getting done. John R. Pope, director of the city’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities, thinks so too. Writes Kollatz:

Pope was quite pleased to announce something good and needed. And for about a half-hour in the exquisite spring light, nobody thought about baseball stadiums or recessions. Big men in hard hats and glowing green mesh vests stood with their hands on their hips and smiled.

Pope enthused, “I have to say, that in 30 years in this business, in projects from Missouri to West Virginia, this is the most exciting I’ve ever been a part of. To take a landscape that had been let go and to bring it back, to restore it to what it was, for the benefit and enjoyment of this community and the city, I can’t tell you how gratifying that is to get done.”

At 4 p.m. Carillonneur Larry Robinson will ring in Memorial Day by playing patriotic songs on the bells. He will be joined by guest speakers, vocal selections, and a salute by the Memorial Rifles. The building will be open for viewing.
Festivities continue at 7:30 p.m. with music by The Virginians Barbershop Chorus in Dogwood Dell in the park.

Channel 12 reports today on the assault of a woman in The Fan, just north of Byrd Park. This one was not sexual in nature, police said.

The most recent attack happened overnight Memorial day on Mule Barn Alley off Davis avenue, between Main and Cary. Police are looking into whether this and a sexual assault on North Meadow are related, but say both have similarities. 

Police are looking for a Hispanic male, medium build, approximately 5 foot 3 to 5 foot 5, with dark spiky hair.

Via Craigslist, word of  a found dog on Rosewood:

Last night, around 11 pm one of my housemates found a medium-sized mottled black and white dog (no collar) roaming in the street on Rosewood Ave. (a block behind Byrd Park). We brought him back to our house on Idlewood, fed him and gave him water. He is still in our yard, but our landlord does not allow dogs, so we need to find his home!

Join the Friends of William Byrd Park on Saturday to cut sapplings and ivy from the vita course. The event is from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.; meetup place is the water fountain at the course. Bring gloves, garden shears, pruners and recyclable garden bags. Contact Rhonda Bledsoe for additional information at rhondabledsoe@gmail.com or 804-539-5716.