Meeting - November 20, 2023

Updates from 5th District Councilmember Stephanie Lynch:Focus for her has been homeless services; homelessness hasincreased 37% since 2019; many folks are coming into home-lessness for the first time; 100-150 people on eviction docketevery week; reached goal for a year-round shelter and expand-ing options for women with children; going into place over thenext year . Another big issue she has been working on is making life moreaffordable, particularly for seniors; pushing for a 60 day win-dow to pay real estate taxes (it is currently 14 days); goal is togive people as much time as possible to pay that unexpectedbill . Legislation to allow for seniors to retroactively enroll in seniorand elderly tax relief program; also available for folks with dis- abilities and veterans; eligible if you are 65+ with less than$350,000 in the bank; helps keep people in their homes; en-rollment is open year-round . Traffic safety: an omnibus piece of legislation that will mirrorwhat Fairfax County is doing, capturing near-miss accidentsthat are not captured in current statistics; allows citizens tolog near misses and roads that are problematic, particularly forcyclists and pedestrians . Traffic calming infrastructure investment: you will see/haveseen speed tables, bump outs, narrowing of roads . Urban Forestry Commission (AKA Tree Commission) is start-ing up in December; Michael Webb is the city’s new urbanforester and working on a city-wide master plan for trees . December 11th – a yard waste legislation will be comingthrough to address illegal dumping of invasive species; goal isto prevent the spread of english ivy in city parks . Small Business Saturday coming up this Saturday; contact Amyor Stephanie if you want to be featured in the 5th District Newsletter as a small business . Zero fare update for GRTC: commitment is there for 2024-2025 but not guaranteed because federal funding is runningout; will need to advocate for more money from City’s generalfund or Central Virginia Transit Authority . Neighbor asked what has caused tax assessments to go up;Stephanie said a lot of it is people moving into Richmond, par-ticularly from larger urban locations with larger salaries . Income-based tax relief program will be proposed in the Gen-eral Assembly next year (need permission from the General Assembly first) . Neighbor asked why tax assessments are going up if more peo-ple are moving into the city; Stephanie said not enough to keepup with needs – cost of labor and infrastructure have gone up alot recently . A long term owner occupancy tax relief bill in the General As-sembly has been filed unsuccessfully the past 3 years . There will not be a 5th District holiday party this year becauseof maternity leave for Stephanie; there will likely be a 5th Dis-trict party around February 2024 . Voted to move the January 2024 meeting from January 15th to January 22nd. Historically the Civic League has donated to Feed More for Thanksgiving; voted to write a check for $150 to Feed More . Lowering neighborhood speed limits – Joy will draft up a letter ofsupport that the civic league will review in the future . Orange tags for Halloween were well received; some neighborshad the most trick or treaters this year than years past . The costs for holiday bows to be placed along neighborhoodstreets can be reimbursed by the Civic League . The November 4th fire pit with s’mores was very successful; Janhas volunteered her house again for a New Year’s Day gathering,4pm . Neighbor asked about T exas Beach bridge status; Joy said the lat-est update she has received is 2025 for completing constructionto repair and reopen . General Maymont update from Parke Richeson (Executive Direc-tor of the Maymont Foundation):On track for 750,000 visitors in 2023; second highest, with themost being in 2021 during covid; Nature Center on track for40,000; mansion tours on track for 16,000; 16,000 studentsserved by Maymont’s educators with 25% from Title 1 schools;Merry Market is coming up on the first two weekends (Fridaysand Saturdays) of Dec