Meeting - January 27, 2025

January 27, 2025

Board Members Present

  • Joy Rogers (President)
  • Leah Hopper (Vice President)
  • Gayle Goldberg (Treasurer)
  • Kirk Millikan (Secretary)
  • Anne Rhodes (Membership Coordinator)

Community Members Present

  • Charles Blevins
  • Gloria Bouldin
  • Mark Brandon
  • James Browne
  • Bernice Coleman
  • Elise Corliss
  • Kelly Cramer
  • Morgan Day
  • Christina Garnett
  • Michael Glass
  • Joe Goldberg
  • Kim Griffin
  • Toni Halsey
  • Mary Hollaway
  • Mike Jones
  • Allen Kuchta
  • Andrew Kuykendall
  • Deborah Ladd
  • Anne Mace
  • Hugo Mendoza
  • Daniel Milburn
  • Chris Miller
  • Officer Rhodenizer (City of Richmond Police Department)
  • Parke Richeson (Maymont President and CEO)
  • Susan Rischewski
  • Jessica Rhodes
  • Clara Russell
  • Emily Sedlak
  • Mike Slavin
  • Saji Slavin
  • Elizabeth Smith
  • Ethan Smith
  • Kelsey Thayer
  • Bert Waters
  • Hannah Zegler

Police Department Updates

  • Update from the 3rd Police Precinct, Officer Rhodenizer:

    • Crime numbers in our neighborhood and adjacent neighborhoods: no violent crimes and few petty crimes in our neighborhood.

    • Some copper pipe theft in the Fan recently.

    • Theft from motor vehicles goes down in the winter and back up in the spring and summer.

    • Catalytic converter theft has slowed down. Theft of Kias has slowed down as well.

    • A neighbor asked about any update on the recent Belle Isle shooting of a park ranger. Officer Rhodenizer said that Belle Isle is not in the 3rd Precinct, but there have been no arrests following the shooting. Richmond SWAT searched for the suspect for several hours but rain likely impeded finding the suspect.

5th District and Maymont Updates

  • Update from Parke Richeson, president and CEO of Maymont Foundation:

    • There were 1,045,000 visitors to Maymont in 2024.

    • Maymont’s Nature Center saw 19,000 visitors in 2024.

    • In 2024, 15,000 students were served by Maymont’s education programming with free access to Title 1 schools.

    • A World Wildlife Day celebration will take place on Saturday March 1st. There is no fee to attend, but registration is needed. Richmond Wildlife Center will be at Maymont giving presentations. A keeper talk with Louis the otter will be at lunch time. There will be other presentations at the farm and nature center in the afternoon.

    • Spring programming is coming up, and it is similar to previous years.

  • Update from the 5th District City Councilmember Liaison Amy Robins:

    • No update was provided. Both Councilmember Stephanie Lynch and Liaison Amy Robins were out sick and unable to attend.

General Community Notes

  • Richmond Department of Public Utilities (DPU) overview of upcoming project in our neighborhood by three DPU employees:

    • The presentation started with an overview of Richmond’s combined sewer overflow (CSO) network.

    • CSOs 19A and 19B and the Hampton Street Pump Station are in our neighborhood.

    • DPU’s final plan to separate the sewer system was approved by Virginia DEQ in August 2024 with a goal of construction completion by 2032.

    • The project in our neighborhood will allow better utilization of CSO storage.

    • Construction locations are at the intersection of Hampton Street and Colorado Avenue and the intersection of Hampton Street and New York Avenue with road closures at both locations.

    • DPU has been coordinating with Maymont Park regarding road impacts.

    • There will be some noise impacts due to bypass pumping.

    • Construction will take place between 8am and 5pm with no weekend work planned.

    • Project is out for bids right now but construction start is to be determined.

    • A clearer timeline will be available at the March Civic League meeting.

    • A neighbor asked if sidewalks will remain open. DPU confirmed that sidewalks will remain open.

    • A neighbor asked if there was any update on the pipeline trail walkway. DPU said that the future of the trail is still to be determined.

  • Neighborhood discussion:

    • Joy mentioned that it is good to leave the leaves in your yard and wait until nights are consistently at or above 55 degrees to tidy up yards to help native wildlife.

    • Joy mentioned that making Hampton Street one-way has come up in the past and with the upcoming construction, this could be a good opportunity to make that happen. The main issue is cars trying to pass one another when there is parking on both sides.

    • Parke asked if the city could do a traffic study to see what direction may be better.

    • A neighbor who lives on Hampton said she prefers Hampton being one way toward Colorado.

    • A neighbor said the Maymont parking lot entrance and exit on Hampton may require the one way to be towards Kansas.

    • A neighbor said eliminating parking on the west side of Hampton between Pennsylvania and New York could be the best solution without making the street one way.

    • Joy said that a survey will be sent out asking neighbors for their thoughts on improving traffic flow on Hampton.

    • Joy mentioned that we can ask the city for traffic calming on Texas Avenue, and we can write a letter to the city regarding reinstalling a security camera at the Texas Beach parking lot.

    • A neighbor mentioned that more police presence would be great once Texas Beach reopens to address drunk driving.

    • Joy mentioned targeted parking restrictions on Kansas and Texas are an option when the Texas Beach bridge reopens.

    • The Civic League voted unanimously for Leah Hopper to be our next president and Joy Rogers to be vice president.

    • Ms. Agnes Lipscombe passed away on Friday at the age of 91. She was in the Civic League for many years and was known as the cake lady who brought delicious cakes to meetings. A charitable donation will be made by the Civic League in memory of Agnes.

    • There was a devastating house fire at 1405 S Meadow Street on the night of January 2nd. The Civic League will be donating to the GoFundMe of a woman who lived in that house.

    • Texas Beach bridge update – a construction access road is being built. Construction will be completed by the end of 2026 at the latest but could be earlier depending on construction coordination with CSX.

    • A neighbor mentioned parking enforcement of the bike lanes on Colorado Avenue would be nice. Joy mentioned that RVA 311 is the best option to contact the city about the bike lanes (both enforcement and cleaning).

    • A neighbor asked about the intersection of Shirley Lane and Park Drive because the new design has made the intersection turns tighter. Other neighbors agree that it is difficult to make the turn out of and into Shirley Lane.

    • A neighbor thanked the board for making a space to discuss neighborhood issues.

  • Civic League dues:

    • Dues are used to collectively contribute to neighbors in need, award neighborhood student scholarships, and donate to local charities.

    • Dues ($10 per household per calendar year) were collected at the end of the meeting.

    • Dues can be paid at any Civic League meeting or via Paypal (@MaymontCivicLeague).

  • Meeting adjourned at 8:00pm

Back to All Meeting Notes