The upcoming meeting of the Byrd Park Civic League (BPCL) will feature two guests.  Sherry Williams from The Virginia Home will talk about community garden possibilities and there will also be someone on hand to talk about graffiti removal.  In addition to these topics, there will be updates from those who attended Marty Jewell’s 5th District meeting.  The BPCL meeting will take place at 10am on Saturday, February 13th, at the Roundhouse building in Byrd Park, near Fountain Lake.  Everyone is welcome. Membership is NOT required for attendance.

Community gardens have been a hot topic in Byrd Park over the past year.  The most recent development comes from The Virginia Home on Hampton St. between S. Meadow and Swan Lake.  According to Virginia home employee, Sherry Williams, the prominent residential facility for the severely disabled has some space to offer for a community garden. Judy Howlett, a Byrd Park resident who is also a member of Friends of Byrd Park, has been working with Ms. Williams to get this project going.  Ms. Williams will be attending the BPCL meeting to share details and to solicit involvement.

The graffiti removal speaker is a friend of a Byrd Park resident and has been working in the Fan district/Richmond area to reduce and remove graffiti.  Meeting attendees will discuss the possibility of replicating the same efforts in our neighborhood.

Previously, the February BPCL meeting was scheduled to host an information session with a representative from RRHA about the prospective development of the old bus barn at Robinson and Cary.  However, the appearance was tabled until a future BPCL meeting because RRHA does not not have any information to share. The topic recently resulted in a good deal of critical input on this site. If you were anticipating a forum for your ideas about the bus barn at the BPCL meeting on the 13th, you might still be able to address the issue during the meeting’s agenda and hope that BPCL’s communication channel with RRHA can be used to funnel suggestions/concerns to decision makers before a deal is struck.