Hundreds of people rallied in front of city hall to advocate for more funding for Richmond Public Schools (Credit Jack Nicholson)

CITY OF RICHMOND

Grocery store considered for site in Richmond’s East End

Residents of Richmond’s East End who have long hoped a full-service grocery store would return to their neighborhood may soon get their wish. Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority officials said last week that they have nearly completed the process of acquiring land at the intersection of North 25th Street and Nine Mile Road for a grocery-anchored development. “This large assemblage of land by RRHA will now make it feasible to develop this long-awaited grocery store-anchored, mixed-use development at this location by a private development entity,” the authority’s director, T.K. Somanath, said in an email. “More information on proposed plans for the grocery store and neighborhood retail center will be made available to the public during the next month to seek input and zoning approvals from city.”

Richmond City Council members agree to increase school budget differ on how much

Richmond Public Schools supporters’ plea for additional funding appears to have resonated with the City Council. A majority of council members said Tuesday that they have submitted budget amendments that would increase funding for the school district, which would receive flat funding under Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ proposed budget. Where the council members differ is how much more they seek to give the school district. And not even being discussed yet is what cuts they will make elsewhere in the budget to fund the increase for schools.

EDU FAQ #004.2: What’s all this talk about closing the budget gaps? Facilities Edition

The schools themselves and what’s not being spent on them—Teresa’s ready to guide you once again!

CHESTERFIELD

Chesterfield supervisors approve $810 million budget, stormwater utility

The Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday unanimously adopted a $809.9 million budget that maintains the current tax rate and includes a stormwater utility charge that the county will collect until at least 2021. The budget, which directs spending for the fiscal year beginning July 1, strengthens public safety staffing and infrastructure, restores library hours and reduces class sizes in the county’s public schools. It marks a 3 percent increase from the current $785.6 million budget.

Chesterfield housing discrimination complaint settled for $40,000

Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia Inc., a Richmond-based advocacy group, announced Monday that it has settled a housing discrimination case for $40,000 with W.S. Carnes Inc., owner of Meadowbrook Apartments complex in Chesterfield County. The case alleged that Meadowbrook violated the federal Fair Housing Act for failing to accept payments from Social Security disability insurance as income. The complaint contended that refusing to accept disability income for housing discriminates against someone because of their disability, which is a violation of the Fair Housing Act.

HENRICO

Henrico supervisors approve 1,000 home development, hold budget hearing

The Henrico County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a 250-acre residential development west of Virginia Center Commons in the Fairfield District. Construction is slated to begin in 2017. HHHunt Communities plans to build 450 single-family homes, 300 town houses and 285 apartments in what it is calling River Mill. According to documents, homes are expected to start at $340,000, but houses on 80-foot-wide lots along the Chickahominy River will begin at $420,000. Town houses will range from $240,000 to $290,000, and apartments will rent for $780 to $1,500 a month.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

McAuliffe, lawmaker reach deal that allows $2.1 billion in capital projects to proceed

In one grand bargain, Gov. Terry McAuliffe and General Assembly budget leaders have reached an agreement that would allow $2.1 billion in pending capital projects to proceed, along with a long-standing plan to replace the General Assembly Building and provide funding to build a new juvenile correctional center and a new facility for civilly committed sexually violent predators. The amendments that McAuliffe proposed Sunday to a bond package adopted by the legislature would end a political standoff over the 2-year-old plan to transform the seat of government around Capitol Square and avert what he had warned would be a long delay in critical projects at colleges and universities, as well as state parks and a state mental hospital.

44 legislators hold at least $5,000 in stock in companies that lobby General Assembly

Forty-four of Virginia’s 140 part-time, citizen lawmakers own at least $5,000 worth of stock in companies that lobby the General Assembly. Nineteen of those lawmakers own somewhere between $50,000 and $250,000 in stock in those companies with interests before them, while seven lawmakers own more than $250,000 in stock, according to figures released Thursday by the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan tracker of money in state politics. The listings — of individual holdings, excluding mutual fund investments — provide insight into how elected officials invest their money in the stock market, and how much of it they have to invest. Not surprisingly, the most commonly held stocks among lawmakers are blue-chip investments ranging from tech behemoths to energy, health care and banking.

STATE/REGIONAL

GRTC CEO: Lack of dedicated regional funding a major hindrance

For David Green, it’s a simple solution, albeit one that has thus far eluded the Richmond region and its elected officials. “Any conversation about a broader, more regional transit system 25 years in the future absolutely has to include dedicated transit funding. We cannot continue the way we have been. And there’s no way for us to expand the way we need to under the current funding structure,” said Green, the CEO of GRTC Transit System. Over the past few months, Green has given talks to business groups, educational institutions and others about the transit system’s capabilities and limitations. Chief among the latter, in his view, is a parochial funding structure in which the localities served by the system pay for the service they want, creating a patchwork system of fares and routes that make it difficult to manage effectively.

Foreclosure activity rises in Richmond area and state

Foreclosure activity in the Richmond area ramped up in the first quarter from the same period a year ago, according to a report released this morning by RealtyTrac, a real estate research firm. A total of 1,203 households in the Richmond area received a foreclosure filing — a notice of default, scheduled auction or bank repossession — in the first three months of the year, up nearly 62 percent from the same period a year ago, the report shows.

NATIONAL

These neighbors got together to buy vacant buildings. Now they’re renting to bakers and brewers

The intersection of Central and Lowry Avenues in northeast Minneapolis is bustling. On the northwest corner is a trifecta of local businesses: A bike shop, a cooperative brewery, and a bakery, in buildings with eye-catching exteriors of rough-hewn wood and silvery porcelain bricks. The neighborhood grocery co-op is one block up the street. This commercial stretch didn’t always look like this. In 2011, where these three businesses sit, there were two vacant buildings. The empty space was not uncommon along Central Avenue, a long corridor that was created to be the Main Street of the neighborhood, but that had suffered from decades of disinvestment. While a few businesses dotted the avenue, many other storefronts were neglected. “A lot of people looked at it as too big to tackle,” explains Leslie Watson, who lives nearby.

16 US communities get nod for solid complete streets policies

Count another win for safe, accessible streets. Eighty-two communities adopted “complete streets” policies — aimed at designing streets for people, not just cars — in the U.S. last year. Smart Growth America’s National Complete Streets Coalition today named what it considers to be the best of those new policies, based on effectiveness at encouraging and providing safe access to all. Points were awarded for factors such as including multiple modes of transportation, designing with the needs of the community and diverse ages and abilities in mind, and approaching transportation projects as part of an overall network rather than as single segments.

ELECTIONS

New candidates for City Council emerge; two incumbents face challengers

Three more candidates have filed to run for Richmond City Council in the November election. In the 1st District, which encompasses much of the city’s West End, Harry H. Warner Jr. filed paperwork and a petition to appear on the ballot. The seat is currently held by Councilman Jonathan T. Baliles, who is vacating it to run for mayor. Warner is a former Army helicopter pilot and a leader of the Save The Diamond Committee, which organized last year to offer a redevelopment plan for the Boulevard and rehab the city’s baseball stadium.

Reeves raises more than $290,000 in bid for Va. lieutenant governor

Virginia state Sen. Bryce E. Reeves has more than $290,000 on hand for his 2017 campaign for lieutenant governor, the Spotsylvania Republican announced Thursday, one day ahead of a state fundraising deadline. Reeves announced his candidacy in March, as the General Assembly was winding down its 60-day legislative session. Legislators are prohibited from raising money during that period. Reeves collected more than $100,000 in direct contributions in the first two weeks after the session and transferred another $100,000 from his Senate campaign account. He ended the first quarter with nearly $293,000 in cash.