This note comes from Michael Dodson, regarding Tuesday, Aug. 4:

“National Night Out is not happening in Byrd Park this year because of a lack of neighborhood support.  Neighbors are encouraged to leave their porch lights on and attend the Greater Randolph National Night Out at the Randolph Community Center.  The event starts at 6p.m.”

Hi folks. I started this site with help from neighborhood media guru John Murden the day after I got laid off from my former job. I’ve since found gainful employment that will prevent me from doing any more work with ByrdPark.net. In the coming days I’m going to hand the site over John (murden@gmail.com) until someone steps up to run it. If you’re interested, let him know, and he can get you started. The neighborhood needs this site, and though it’s off to a good start, it certainly has room for improvement and more voices.

Thanks, and I look forward to being a reader.

Follow this Byrd Park renovation at Domus Aurea:

This week we’ve just spent trying to clean, get organized and figure out what comes first. We did get some of the windows open. I got some paneling down, and started taking off wall paper in the dining room. There were four layers of wall paper in the living room. Given this house is 90 years old, I didn’t think that was too bad.

A Byrd Park walking tour has been announced for August 22 10AM-noon:

Tyler Potterfield, author of Nonesuch a History of Richmond, Virginia Landscape to 1942, leads a walk through historic Byrd Park. Learn about its lakes, buildings, waterworks, Carillon, Dogwood Dell and the city’s first tree nursery. Participants will gain an appreciation of the landscape of Richmond’s largest park.

Read more >

Share your photos from the area! Upload your photos to Flickr and tag’em with “byrdpark” and “richmond” and they’ll automatically be pulled into the site.

Craigslist has word of a moving sale on Maplewood Avenue this morning. You can also get: Vintage mid century Porch Glider Chairs 2 pairs, random stuff cheap, Decorative Mirror, Wood Storage Cabinet, Glass kitchen table, Custom made desk, Various pieces of crystal, and/or Blue decorative plate/dish from Japan.

Looking for a way to beat the heat this August?  The City’s public pools are FREE and open through Labor Day, Sept. 7th.    Rather than running the AC all day long, a relaxing dip in the cooling waters of your neighborhood pool might be in order.  Our local Randoph pool also has a great kiddie pool for tots.  Check it out for yourself and stay cool.

Randolph Pool

1401 Grayland Ave.

(804) 646-1329

Summer Pool Schedule
Outdoor pools are open from mid-June through Labor Day. Open/free swim & adult/family swim hours:
Monday – Friday, 1 – 4:30 & 5 – 8 pm
Saturday, 12 – 5 pm
Sunday, 1 – 5 pm and
Holidays, 1 – 5 pm

The Byrd Park Civic League has some great info on the etymology of local street names culled from Thomas F. Mustian’s Facts and Legends of Richmond Area Streets…

Read more >

Beth Harris recently posted this neat diptych dirty pond from Byrd Park to flicker.

Thanks to Peter over at 10 S. Boulevard for this piece:

Mayor Jones expressed interest to GRTC officials today to purchase the operations facility at the intersection of West Cary St and Davis. According to a report from the Times-Dispatch:

The Fan-area property, almost 7 acres along West Cary Street between Robinson Street and Stafford Avenue, has been viewed as a prime development site for a mixture of residences, businesses and offices ever since GRTC announced more than two years ago its plan to move.
…

[Press Secretary Tammy Hawley] emphasized that the city would be seeking private development of the property. She also said the city believes it should play an active role in the process because the site has significant potential.

“The mayor has said he wants the city to grow by design, not by default,” she said.

Get more details on the future of the West Cary Street corridor from the Times-Dispatch.

The National Park Service’s Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary has a wonderfully informative page on the Byrd Park Pump House:

Wilfred Emory Cutshaw, who oversaw the building’s design and construction, was a grand figure in the development of Richmond. During his 34-year tenure as City Engineer, Cutshaw’s endeavors included roads, sidewalks, schools, armories, parks, markets, and the construction of Old City Hall, one of the city’s most magnificent buildings. He was an advocate for tree planting along streets, and oversaw the creation of a tree nursery at the Byrd Park Reservoir. In 1907, a reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch wrote that “Cutshaw’s greatest ambition was to turn every available foot of space into recreation resorts for the public.” Cutshaw received some criticism for the cost that the pump house pavilion added to the city-funded project, but the pavilion would become wildly popular.

Download the full police report here or visit the sector 313 website here

Crimes of note:

July 6
Commander Smith received a complaint of open-air drug dealing in the 1300 block of Wallace Street. The complainant said he was concerned that the drug dealing was negatively impacting elderly tenants of an apartment building as well as the kids who played at a nearby park.

After Officers Richard Kelly and Joe Ronan were assigned to investigate the complaint, they drove an unmarked SUV to the 1300 block of Wallace Street to scout the area.

Upon arrival they saw a dark-colored Cadillac parked at the corner of Randolph and Wallace Streets; directly across from the park mentioned by the complainant. As they drove by the parked car they saw the driver weighing crack cocaine on a small digital scale. The officers were able to exit their unmarked vehicle and make the arrest without incident. A subsequent search of the car revealed drug packaging material, US currency, and a loaded .40 caliber handgun. As a result, the drugs and firearm were seized and the suspect was charged with several drug-related felonies as well as a felony firearm charge.

July 19
Officers John Raina and Paul Sullivan responded to a 911 call and arrested a suspect after a citizen saw him going in and out of several cars in the 2100 block of Maplewood Avenue. As a result, Wayne K. Moore Jr., 19, of the 3500 block of Forest Haven Drive, was arrested and charged with theft from motor vehicle.

Other than that, the month of July was pretty quiet for Byrd Park.

Recently, the Virginia Department of Education released their Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) statistics.  RVANews has a convenient rundown of these stats with some further analysis.  The four schools that are fed by the Byrd Park neighborhood all received passing scores:

• Maymont Elementary:  Made AYP
• John B. Cary Elementary:  Made AYP
  
• Bindford Model School:  Made AYP
  
• Jefferson High School:  Made AYP

This measurement is one among many elements that determine a school’s performance.  As this region seems to be experiencing a baby boom, parents of children in Byrd Park, Randolph, and Maymont neighborhoods may want to take an early interest in their local public schools.  It is never too early to get involved to ensure the success of our neighborhood schools.

According to the Ricmond Public Schools Council of PTAs:

Sometime this past growing season, a little garden plot appeared at the base of the footbridge to the Fan.  The beautifully mulched and expertly paired vegetable plants and marigolds are causing a lot of speculation.  The primary question is, “Who planted these veggies?”  If you know, clue the rest of the neighborhood in with a comment.

There are a couple varieties of tomatoes that are currently bearing fruit, as well as some cute little poblano peppers.  Is this an initiative of the church that owns the green spaces behind the corner store? Guerrilla gardening by clandestine green-thumbed landscapers?   When the veggies are ripe, whose produce is it?  Also, who is responsible for watering them?  They seemed to need it when this picture was taken.  Looking forward to more developments in this unsolved mystery.  Are there more plots like this one in Byrd Park’s future?

Patience Salgado over at Kindness Girl has a great idea:

Meet me and other Guerrilla Goodness lovers in front of the Carillon (Bryd Park) at 3:00 pm on September 7th!

Here’s how it works:

1. I will pass out addresses to city schools and sidewalk chalk.

2. You head out with friends, family, kids, dogs, grandmothers, artists, whoever…and write positive messges to kids on the sidewalks in front of the elementary schools in Richmond city for the first day of school.

3. Go home blissed out with the kindness high!

4. If you are kid, be super quiet when you are walking to school the next day and everyone around you is talking about the cool art out front. and smile.

Contact patience@kindnessgirl.com if you are interested in helping.

.

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What can we do?

Call the City of Richmond’s Property Maintenance division at: 804.646.3908

Email Marty Jewell (our councilman) at: Marty.Jewell@Richmondgov.com

Call Marty Jewell at: 804.646.6050

And lets organize a clean-up!

A recent email from the folks at Maymont has info about upcoming events:

Vintage Maymont Celebrates Twelfth Year
Enjoy an exciting evening with a high-spirited crowd and extraordinary items up for bid during this premier auction. Read more…

New! Mourning Obsessions at Maymont
Immerse yourself in the customs, beliefs and macabre memorabilia associated with death in the Victorian era. Read more…

October Programs: The Age of Poe and More Fantastic Fall Fun
Visitors can commemorate the 200th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s birth, celebrate fall with their toddlers, take an exhilarating estate stroll, and experience Maymont lit by the moon. Read more…

The University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab has an interesting feature called “Redlining Richmond,” about aspects of racial and economic discrimination that have shaped our city.  Here is an excerpt from 1937 that highlights the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) perspective that “clearly convey the centrality of race in the politics and on the landscape of the Southern city” and illuminates real estate and property value assessment regarding the Byrd Park and Randolph neighborhoods:

Race was such a determining factor in these assessments that proximity to African American areas could and did decrease a neighborhoods grade. Area C4 (today known as the Byrd Park neighborhood), for instance, was reduced from a B to a C grade because of its proximity to African American neighborhood of Randolph (D8). “This area is yellow,” the assessor explained, “largely because the school for white children is in the negro area, D-8, and because the negroes of D-8 pass back and forth for access to the William Byrd Park which lies to the west. For this reason losses on properties are being taken.”

This excerpt is bound to provoke a reaction from any reader.  How much has changed?  How much has stayed the same? In many ways,Richmond will always be defined by race and segregation, even as we take intentional action to overcome this history.  This website can serve as a forum for the community to talk through these issues in the interest of progress and understanding.  Please be respectful in your comments.