CITY OF RICHMOND

City Council Oks Jackson Ward project

With little discussion, Richmond City Council unanimously approved a $32 million mixed-use development in Jackson Ward on the block bounded by First, Second, Duval and Jackson streets. The 182-unit project is a partnership between the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority and Washington-based Community Preservation and Development Court. Of the units on the site, 77 will be set aside as subsidized units for senior citizens who now live in the authority’s aging Frederic A. Fay Towers.

Jones issues inaugural report on Richmond anti-poverty initiative

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones outlined progress of his signature anti-poverty initiative this week, delivering the first of what he said will be an annual report to City Council. Coming in Jones’ last year in office, the report was as much an update on the city’s efforts as an attempt to ensure the city maintains a focus on the issue beyond his last term. “As a city, we need to keep our eyes on this ball, to keep in mind the vision of the Richmond that could and should be, and make sure the city and its partners are investing the resources and follow-through needed to sustain real change,” Jones said.

Education FAQ #001: Where do we even start?

Spend any amount of time talking to folks with children, and it won’t take long to realize that no one agrees on what the most pressing issues facing public education are in Richmond. What everyone can agree on is that there are problems, big ones, and they are scary. Unfortunately, most of these conversations devolve into vague ponderings about really large issues that overwhelm even the savviest educational experts. Trying to appraise the state of education at a macro level will send you spinning in a million directions, and the hopelessness that ensues will inevitably force you to consider homeschooling or never having children in the first place. But even if kids aren’t your thing, or yours have left the nest, paying attention to education is a necessity for the success of the region’s continued revitalization. Those who graduate from Richmond Public Schools enter the workforce as employees, entrepreneurs, and leaders and having this type of highly educated citizenry has a substantial impact on crime rates, property values, health care costs, economic development, and the future workforce.

With deadline looming, Richmond hires emergency consult for budget

A little over a week before Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ administration is scheduled to deliver its proposed 2017 budget to the City Council, officials are bringing on an emergency consultant to help put the document together. “Essentially, the (finance and administration department) is understaffed and the budgeting methodology that has been traditionally utilized in the past does not represent best practices,” said Jones’ press secretary, Tammy D. Hawley. “The mayor has asked for immediate remediation to provide both the city’s administration and council a sound budget that is fiscally responsible and sustainable.” Jones’ administration is scheduled to deliver the budget at a special meeting of the City Council on March 4.

Stealing home: Fulton as its residents knew it

The outfielders that summer afternoon were playing deep, and justifiably so. A ball hit between them might just roll all the way to the foot of Chimborazo Hill, and by the time one of them grabbed it and whirled to throw, why, the batter would’ve already turned his back to Richmond as he rounded third base and began sprinting home, toward the town of Fulton. And as he ran that way he could’ve seen so much. To his left were the spires of the town’s two churches, aligned perfectly with home plate, like stars in a constellation. Straight ahead was the lazy slope of Powhatan Hill, where not three centuries earlier John Smith and Christopher Newport met with Chief Powhatan’s son and set into motion a chain effect of cruelty that would, some 80 years after this photograph was taken, tear down damn near every building in Fulton.

CHESTERFIELD

Chesterfield could get $34M in state funding for 2 roads projects

Chesterfield County could receive more than $34 million in state funding for two of the county’s most crucial transportation projects. Virginia Secretary of Transportation Aubrey L. Lane, Jr. has recommended for the Commonwealth Transportation Board to fund the so-called Superstreet project, the widening of state Route 10 (West Hundred Road) between Bermuda Triangle Road and Meadowville Road from four to eight lanes with $24.6 million, county Transportation Director Jesse Smith told the Board of Supervisors on Wednesday.

To Seek and Find: Before the crack of dawn, social workers seek out the county’s homeless

Snow crunches underfoot as the team of four follows tracks into a patch of woods behind a Target store in Chester. The deep chill of below-freezing temperatures and the stillness of the morning make it feel colder and even a touch eerie, given the task at hand. On this late January morning, well before the break of dawn, a Chesterfield County police officer, George Fisher, escorts a county social worker, two nonprofit directors and this reporter toward a known homeless encampment behind the Breckenridge Shopping Center, which faces Route 301. The objective is to gather a “census” of people who are living without housing in the eastern portion of the county. It’s known as the Point-in-Time Count, an operation coordinated in the greater Richmond region twice a year by the nonprofit Homeward. Other outreach organizations and government agencies throughout Virginia carry out this same data gathering exercise during the last week of January each year, so that agencies can receive state and federal funding of services for the homeless.

Chesterfield School Board approves $598 million schools budget

The Chesterfield County School Board plans to create 19 new elementary-level coordinators of special education and at least 25 teaching positions to reduce class sizes as part of the $597.8 million budget unanimously adopted Thursday. The board also signed off on a 3 percent across-the-board raise for all school employees — 1 percent in addition to last year’s 2 percent raise. But it delayed the implementation of a three-year plan to have a nurse based in each of the county’s 63 schools. The School Board’s approved budget is $2.6 million less than Superintendent Marcus J. Newsome’s proposed $600.4 million plan. 

HANOVER

Plans in motion to assist families living in Ashland motels

An Ashland coalition formed after the town passed an ordinance that will restrict the length of stays in motels has raised money to pay for a coordinator who would help transition families living in motel rooms into more stable housing. The coalition of faith and community groups, called Ashland Open Door, has started recruiting for a family services coordinator who would help the families move out of the motels. Hanover Safe Place, a nonprofit that provides services for people facing domestic or sexual violence, has advertised for the position and is collecting the donated money on the group’s behalf, said Ashland Open Door member Bob DeLille.

Rail remains in analysis stage

At a Town Hall forum hosted by Congressman Dave Brat R-7th last Wednesday; residents of Ashland and Hanover clearly opposed a proposed high-speed rail that would connect Washington to Richmond. The concerns at the Town Hall session ranged from anger at the project — to fear that it was already underway, however Manager for Rail Planning at the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT), Emily Stock, said that the proposal’s status is still in the analysis stage. Stock leads the commonwealth’s southeast high-speed rail corridor and is a direct leader of the DC2RVA high-speed rail proposal. The state agency, which is currently drafting an environmental impact statement, is assessing conditions in Ashland’s section of the corridor and testing them to determine what kind of impacts it would have.

HENRICO

Henrico supervisors OK bonds for Cobbs Creek Reservoir, press ahead with bus rapid transit

Leaders in Henrico County approved millions of dollars in bonds Tuesday, most of which will be put toward a reservoir project years in the making that will store about 15 billion gallons of water that county officials said will benefit localities across the region. The Henrico Board of Supervisors unanimously and with little discussion voted to approve a resolution at its regular meeting authorizing $98 million in water and sewer bonds to be issued. That money will largely be put toward the Cobbs Creek Reservoir, a $280 million project that will create an 1,100-acre lake in Cumberland County.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Senate budget has pay raises, funds for salary parity in law enforcement

The Senate Finance Committee on Sunday adopted a two-year budget that would give state employees, state-supported local employees, college faculty and teachers a 2 percent raise this year. The proposal also would include $12.3 million to help state police and local sheriff’s departments keep the salaries of veteran employees ahead of those of new hires

STATE

Median price of homes sold in state rises in January

The Virginia Association of Realtors reported Wednesday that the median price of homes sold in January, with half the houses selling for more and half for less, was $245,500, up from $237,750 in the same month in 2015.

NATIONAL

Freddie and Fannie are making money again, and everyone wants it

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage financing giants taken over by the government in 2008, plans to send taxpayers another $4.6 billion next month as they continue to play major roles in the country’s housing market. That will bring the total Fannie Mae has sent to the U.S. Treasury to $147.6 billion. Freddie Mac has forked over $98.2 billion. Combined, they have returned far more than the $187 billion the government spent to bail them out.

US home sales climbed in January despite weaker economy

U.S. home sales crept upward in January, a sign that demand for housing remains strong amid signs of slower growth across the broader economy. But buyers face a dilemma: the number of listings on the market has fallen, giving them fewer choices and pushing prices to rise quickly. Sales of existing homes rose 0.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.47 million, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. The gains build on a strong 2015 when sales reached their highest level in nine years. Last year ended with a 12.1 percent surge in December sales, as new regulations had delayed closings in November.

ELECTIONS

Early field in Mayor’s race is crowded; for now contest plays out behind the scenes

The race to be the next mayor of Richmond might seem quiet, but behind the scenes a crowded field of potential candidates is busily maneuvering for support. The deadline to file paperwork and the requisite 500 signatures to get on the November ballot isn’t until mid-June, but many potential candidates have said they’ll make their decision in the coming two months. But, before any announcements, there are countless meetings with local power brokers — the city’s top business executives, influential members of the clergy, past and present politicians. Candidates are trying to figure out who might back them — financially and politically — before they formally declare.

Suit challenging Virginia voter ID law continues in federal court

A lawsuit challenging Virginia’s 2013 voting law requiring photo IDs continued Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Richmond. The Democratic Party of Virginia filed the suit last June, alleging that the law enacted by the Republican majorities in the Virginia House and Senate restricting the type of identification required to vote could make it more difficult for minorities, the disadvantaged and the young to exercise their right to vote. Proponents said the law was needed to curb voter fraud by impersonation.