Meeting - January 22, 2024

Treasurer’s Report from Gayle: no dues collected in December;$256 spent in December with $150 in donations to Feed Moreand the rest spent on the New Year’s Day gathering . We will be updating the email distribution from Mail Chimp to Gmail, and the new email address will be Maymontcivicleague R-VA@gmail.com . The Maymont Civic League website will be moved to Word Pressto reduce annual costs. Update from Elizabeth Linka, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attor-ney for Richmond:USPS town hall will be planned in February or March to ad-dress mail delivery and package thefts; USPS has declined toparticipate . Updates from Carla Childs, City of Richmond Department of Pub-lic Works:The City is working towards its goal of installing 200 speedhumps across the city (156 currently installed)The City is working with the Richmond Police Department toinstall photo enforcement in school zones . There are currently 2,900 open requests for concrete side-walk repair and 600+ requests for brick sidewalk repair . Regarding Maymont neighborhood sidewalks: Phase 1 was completed in September 2023. Currently moving into Phase 2, which will install sidewalks onthe south side of Colorado Avenue (from Hampton to Georgiaand from Greenville to Carter); also will include installing curbramps on Pennsylvania Avenue but no sidewalk work isplanned on Pennsylvania Avenue . 4 trees will be removed on Colorado Avenue, all of which are growing into power linesand need to be removed anyway . Phase 2 sidewalk plans are at 90% completion. Neighbor asked how to submit requests for sidewalk repair. Ms. Childs said they should be submitted through 311. Theresponse time could be up to 6 months. Neighbor asked about planting new trees as part of sidewalk Phase 2. Ms. Childs said she would look into that. Neighbor asked about the City cleaning new curb ramp areasthat collect debris and ice. Ms. Childs recommended submit-ting a 311 ticket for that work. Updates from Allen Mc Cown, City of Richmond Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities:The repair work for the T exas Beach pedestrian bridge is at90% design . A new temporary access road down to the bridge will be need-ed in order to complete repairs. The goal is to bid and start the project by summer 2024. Significant coordination with CSX that will take time. The goal is for North Bank Trail to remain open as much aspossible during construction. The construction duration is tobe determined. There are currently two James River Park System park rangersfor education and monitoring of parks without a police pres-ence . Aimee Bushman, Park Ranger Supervisor, can comespeak to us in the future if desired. Updates from Amy Robins, 5th District Councilmember Liaison City administration has agreed to let seniors into elderly taxrelief program with payment plans . Stephanie is going to introduce a plan to retroactively let se-niors access the tax relief program . Currently there is a 14 day time period to respond to owedtaxes, and this will most likely be moved to a 30 day period be-cause it can be hard for residents to plan for unexpected prop-erty tax bills) . The Riverview Park playground is on the radar of City of Rich-mond administration for Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) fund-ing . Homelessness in the city is on the rise with an increasing evic-tion docket. Funding has been added for the resource center at the newhomeless shelter on Chamberlayne Avenue. There will be repaving of asphalt alleys throughout the city(not converting gravel alleys to asphalt but repairing andrepaving asphalt alleys) . Traffic calming is the biggest issue that folks reach out to Amyand Stephanie’s office for. Fox Elementary School is planning to reopen in the Fan in2025. The Colorado Avenue speed humps will not be removedwhen Fox Elementary School is relocated. Neighbor said that there is a water leak in the alley betweenthe 1500 block of Meadow Street and the 1500 block of Hampton Street . It has been leaking for at least two months,and the alley has turned into a sheet of ice with the recent