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City Council gives green light to new $13M apartment development at former funeral home site
The historic home of the A.D. Price Funeral Home at 212 E. Leigh St. in Jackson Ward will soon gain more apartments.
Head of Monroe Park Conservancy charged with assault; VCU students may face discipline in case
The volunteer president and director of the group that operates Monroe Park has been charged with assault stemming from a confrontation Sunday, Oct. 31, with two Virginia Commonwealth University students.
City Council greenlights Maggie Walker statue at triangle
Forget Monument Avenue and Abner Clay Park. The future statue of Richmond’s great lady, Maggie L. Walker, will stand at the intersection of Brook Road and Broad and Adams streets, the gateway to historic Jackson Ward where Mrs. Walker lived and won acclaim for her entrepreneurial spirit. Richmond City Council voted 6-1, with two abstentions, Monday night to reconfirm that decision for the third time in 15 years, clearing the way for the project.
School Board member seeks to protect school funding in costly Coliseum plan
The Richmond School Board could weigh in on the debate over the controversial $1.5 billion Coliseum replacement and Downtown redevelopment plan.
Richmond Crusade for Voters endorses diverse slate
The Richmond Crusade for Voters this week, as expected, endorsed the statewide Democratic ticket of Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam for governor, Justin Fairfax for lieutenant governor and Mark Herring for re-election to attorney general. But the city’s oldest and largest African-American political group also voted Monday to support the re-election of six-term Republican Delegate G. Manoli Loupassi over his Democratic challenger Dawn Adams in the 69th District.
National NAACP suspends Frank J. Thornton, Henrico Branch president
In an extraordinary action, national NAACP President Derrick Johnson has suspended for a year the membership of Frank J. Thornton, president of the Henrico Branch NAACP and son of Frank Thornton, chairman of the Henrico County Board of Supervisors.
Blackwell gets historic designation
A large swatch of the Blackwell neighborhood in South Side just gained official designation as a historic place.
Agreement limits low-income housing in redeveloped Creighton Court
Highly visible work is underway along Nine Mile Road in the East End as crews and machines prepare the land for the new townhouses and apartments that eventually will replace the 504 public housing units in Creighton Court.
A vote may soon come on George Wythe High School contract design
The Richmond School Board is poised to award a design contract for a new 1,600-student building to replace aging George Wythe High School in South Side, the Free Press has learned.
Council poised to launch charter review commission
Would Richmond be better off returning to a City Council-manager form of government? Or would the city operate better if the elected mayor were a member of the council as is the case in Norfolk? Should members of the governing body receive higher salaries so they could serve full time rather than juggling full-time jobs along with their government service?
Independent commission to redraw City Council districts?
An independent commission might redraw the boundaries of City Council districts following the upcoming 2020 Census.
New Virginia license plate honoring Dr. King?
Can Delegate Dawn M. Adams find 450 Virginians willing to pay $25 to $35 for a specialty license plate honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by Monday, Jan. 7?
Brook Road bike lanes get the green light
Cars and trucks will have to surrender half of their lanes on Brook Road to cyclists. That’s the final decision of Richmond City Council, which voted 6-3 to install bike lanes and uphold a nearly 4-year-old approved plan for developing biking infrastructure in the city.
RPS school construction costs, process criticized
Richmond School Board members Kenya Gibson, 3rd District, and Jonathan Young, 4th District, used Monday’s School Board meeting to express concern that the bidding process Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s administration used to choose contractors to build three new district schools has added tens of millions of dollars to the cost.
Campaign mounts to purchase Woodland Cemetery
Neglected Woodland Cemetery — the final resting place of Richmond-born tennis great and humanitarian Arthur Ashe Jr. and thousands of other African-Americans — soon could have new ownership if money can be raised.
$3.7B transportation deal to boost rail service from Richmond to D.C.
Richmond would be a major beneficiary of an unprecedented $3.7 billion deal announced by Gov. Ralph S. Northam to boost passenger rail service between Washington and other Virginia cities to avoid an even costlier expansion of Interstate 95.
City Council green lights projects for 2nd Street, North Side, East End
New apartments finally could rise on the site of the former Eggleston Hotel at 2nd and Leigh streets in Jackson Ward. City Council gave a thumbs up Monday by voting 9-0 to allow the long-stalled project to receive a grant of $250,544 over seven years through the city’s Economic Development Authority. Developer Kelvin Hanson, who initially proposed Eggleston Plaza five years ago, said he hopes to have the $5.8 million project underway this summer.
Richmond man seeks parole after nearly four decades in prison
Since 2002, the Virginia Parole Board has approved the release of 69 people who were convicted of murder, including some serving two life sentences. Marvin M. Mundy, who already has served 36 years for his role in the 1988 murder of the night manager and a guest at a Henrico County hotel, is keeping his fingers crossed that he will be next.
Woodland Cemetery sale completed to nonprofit Evergreen Restoration Foundation
A new owner has taken over the 104-year-old Woodland Cemetery, the final resting place of tennis great and humanitarian Arthur R. Ashe Jr., celebrated Richmond pastor John Jasper of Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church and thousands of others.
County official chosen as new city auditor
Richmond City Council this week tapped a veteran of Chesterfield County government to make City Hall operations more efficient and track down waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars. Louis G. “Lou” Lassiter, deputy Chesterfield County administrator, was approved to be the new city auditor at a special council meeting at Free Press deadline Wednesday night.
