700 block of East Baker Street in Jackson Ward, August 1956 (Credit: Edith Shelton)

CITY OF RICHMOND

Photos: A New Exhibit at the Valentine Captures the Lost Urban History of Richmond
The closest thing to a self-portrait you’ll find of the late street photographer Edith Shelton is an accidental one. While shooting a stone marker with the sun behind her, she accidentally caught her shadow in the picture. Fittingly, that image closes the Valentine museum’s new exhibit, “Edith Shelton’s Richmond.” Shelton’s street photographs from the 1940s through the 1970s capture people in colorful clothing against ramshackle frame houses and vignettes — such as Nellie the horse, pulling Seay’s ice wagon. Certain neighborhoods attracted her more than others. Jackson Ward and Carver are represented most, followed by Shockoe Valley, a boon for historians because so many structures in those neighborhoods were lost at the hands of Interstate 95’s construction. When Shelton died in 1989, her niece Constance Fisher became the guardian of her collection of 1,600 black and white photos and 3,000 Kodachrome slides, donating them to the Valentine in 1991. Accompanying the collection were shoe boxes stuffed with 3-by-5 index cards, one documenting each photograph with location, date taken and any specifics Shelton thought worth noting, and then filed by street names, some of which no longer exist.

Richmond school officials to consider closing Armstrong High, five elementary schools

Richmond Public Schools will consider closing Armstrong High School and four elementary schools and consolidating three specialty schools if it’s forced to take drastic budgetary actions in coming weeks. “We find ourselves in a very, very dangerous game of chicken with the City Council … it would be a dereliction of duty if the School Board waited until the City Council” acted before beginning the “difficult conversation,” School Board Chairman Jeff M. Bourne said Monday night. Stressing that it was a hypothetical scenario at this point, Thomas E. Kranz, assistant superintendent of facilities for the school system, presented the school board a list of which schools would be considered for closure if the board is forced to cut $18 million from its proposed fiscal 2017 budget.

Firms pitch proposal to overhaul Richmond public school facilities

A consortium of local firms quietly approached the city late last week with a pitch to partner in the overhaul of Richmond Public Schools.

The move comes months after city officials told the district Richmond lacked the near-term debt capacity to tackle the latest iteration of plans for right-sizing the district’s outdated infrastructure, years in the making. School administration officials on Thursday confirmed the existence of an offer but would not detail the proposed public-private collaboration.

CHESTERFIELD

Chesterfield students embrace Chromebooks as learning tools

Schoolwork has never been the same since the day when Tiara Alston was handed her Chromebook. “It was kind of a weird change, because I’m somebody who likes pencil and paper and (to) have something in front of me to hold and see,” the 15-year old freshman at James River High School in Chesterfield County said of her adjustment to the new way of learning. A year and a half later, Tiara and her friends can’t do without their quirky, budget-friendly laptops. “It makes everything a lot faster. You can do a lot more, you can do a lot of group projects, and you can communicate with people at other schools,” she said. “And most of the times it works pretty good.”

Chesterfield moving quickly, ‘getting a lot of responses’ for county administrator job

The search for Chesterfield’s new county administrator has shifted into high gear. Following today’s deadline in the application process, recruiters will present a first report to the Board of Supervisors next week, said John Anzivino, senior vice president with Waters & Co., the firm leading the search for a successor to County Administrator James J.L. Stegmaier. “We are in the process of actively recruiting and interviewing candidates nationally, and we are getting a lot of responses. We have a very short timeline,” Anzivino said at a community forum Thursday at the Chesterfield Career and Technical Center @ Hull.

GOOCHLAND

County Administrator says farewell

By the time the sun sets on Thursday, March 31, Goochland County Administrator Rebecca Dickson will have officially retired from the position she has held for the last six years. She will have no more packets to prepare for monthly Goochland County Board of Supervisors’ meetings, no phone calls to return, no budget line items to examine. But while county business will no longer take up the lion’s share of her time, Dickson still has plenty of things on her “to-do” list. There will be a long-awaited trip to Europe with her daughter, who is majoring in Public Policy at the University of Virginia, and plenty of time spent in her garden. She’ll be teaching a class in the fall, and also will continue to work as a volunteer on the county’s planned new animal shelter project.

Board enlists help in search for new superintendent

The Goochland County School Board voted during a special meeting on March 26 to engage the national search firm BWP Associates in the search for the next superintendent of schools. Dr. Kevin Castner and Dr. E. Wayne Harris of BWP worked with the Goochland board in 2012 when they identified Dr. James Lane as one of the candidates who was an excellent match for Goochland County. Lane went on to serve Goochland with distinction for three years, announcing last month that he will be leaving to take on the superintendent’s role in Chesterfield this June.

HANOVER

Hanover residents turn out to oppose high-speed rail proposals

A meeting about a high-speed rail project in Hanover County on Monday turned contentious at times, with many community members voicing disapproval for the project that could cut between 15 and 20 minutes of travel time between Richmond and the nation’s capital. More than 200 residents and local and state officials crowded into an auditorium at Patrick Henry High School for a meeting that was intended to be informational but served as a forum for some to criticize plans for the project that may require additional infrastructure in the county. The project is only in the study phase and how, exactly, it could affect the county has yet to be determined. But two of the three proposals currently under study have been met with reproach from residents.

HENRICO

Henrico supervisors to hold April 12 public hearing on proposed fiscal 2016-17 budget

The Henrico County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing Tuesday, April 12 on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2016-17. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m., one hour earlier than usual, in the Board Room of the Henrico Government Center’s Administration Building, 4301 E. Parham Road. Residents may provide oral or written comments on the $1.2 billion plan, which would guide operating and capital spending for the year beginning July 1. The general fund, which supports the operations of Henrico’s general government, including the Police and Fire divisions, and Henrico County Public Schools, would total $810.9 million. That would represent an increase of $25.1 million, or 3 percent, over the current year’s plan.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Va. lawmakers killed 1,221 bills during 2016 legislative session

General Assembly lawmakers killed 1,221 of the nearly 3,000 pieces of legislation that were introduced during the recently concluded 2016 legislative session. But more than two-thirds of the killed bills, 834, died without a recorded vote in committee — an 18 percent increase over the 50 percent of bills that died without a recorded vote last year, according to an analysis by the Virginia Public Access Project. The VPAP numbers reflect what appears to be a widening gap between the people sworn to conduct the public’s business and the public’s right to know what is decided.

REGIONAL

Data USA: Richmond, VA Metro Area

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ELECTIONS

Republicans lose lawsuit against state board of elections

A federal court judge this month ruled against a group of Powhatan Republicans in their lawsuit against the Virginia State Board of Elections to have political parties of local candidates displayed on election ballots. Earlier this month, U. S. District Judge M. Hannah Lauck ruled against the Powhatan County Republican Committee and four men who ran as Republican candidates for the Powhatan County Board of Supervisors in the fall. The men were challenging a state code the plaintiffs say unconstitutionally prevents the political party affiliation of local candidates from being included on official ballots next to candidates’ names.

Local attorney will challenge Brat new-look 7^th District

Eileen Bedell is nobody’s sacrificial lamb. Bedell, a 43-year-old attorney and Bon Air resident, has heard that a Democrat can’t win the 7th District’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Even after a three-judge panel redrew Virginia’s Congressional map and carved out Hanover County – home to many of Rep. Dave Brat’s most ardent supporters – the sprawling, heavily rural 7th District still figures to be friendly turf for Brat’s first re-election bid. That didn’t deter Bedell from filing her campaign paperwork in January. When nobody else sought the Democratic nomination by the filing deadline last Friday, the first-time candidate happily embraced the opportunity to unseat Brat in November’s general election.

Baliles makes mayoral run official; city businessman also enters race

The number of declared candidates in the race to be Richmond’s next mayor climbed to 10 Monday, with Councilman Jonathan T. Baliles and local businessman Brad Froman announcing their campaigns. Baliles, who represents the city’s West End, pledged to make school funding a top priority and offered indirect criticism of the administration of Mayor Dwight C. Jones in a news release. “We need a leader to clean up the mess, be open and honest and make Richmond work — for all of us,” wrote Baliles, who was elected to the City Council in 2012.

Two more candidates enter Richmond mayoral race and another drops out ahead of first forum

There will be 11 potential candidates on the stage Wednesday at the first forum in the Richmond mayoral race, which is being organized and moderated by former Mayor L. Douglas Wilder. The finalized list of participants includes two newly declared candidates, architect Lawrence E. Williams and activist Alan Schintzius. The lineup drops School Board Chairman Jeffrey Bourne, who said last week that he has decided not to run. Williams, a 63-year-old Church Hill native, has run for mayor twice before, losing to Wilder in 2004 and Dwight C. Jones in 2008. In the latter election, he captured 1.8 percent of the vote, putting him in last place in the five-way contest.

Venture Richmond Director Jack Berry declare he’s running for mayor

Venture Richmond’s outgoing executive director, Jack Berry, announced Tuesday that he’s entering the crowded field of Richmond mayoral candidates. Berry, who previously worked as Hanover County’s administrator and Richmond’s budget director, touted his experience working in and around government in a statement announcing his candidacy. “Richmond deserves an experienced leader who will manage the city’s money and deliver basic services well,” he said. “I am running for mayor to help make Richmond a high-performing city that is a magnet of opportunity for young people, for families, and for those who have been left behind.”

Wilder encouraged by large turnout at forum, and no, he’s not running for mayor

More than 800 people attended Wednesday night’s forum for Richmond mayoral candidates, something the event’s organizer, L. Douglas Wilder, is taking as a good sign for the city. “People are so interested in wanting to know more about what’s happening in their government,” the former Richmond mayor and Virginia governor said Thursday. “The thing that I hoped people would see is politics at the local level is the wagon that needs the grease. That’s where it is. The president’s not going to see that your trash is going to be picked up. The public knows that.” Wilder declined to say, though, who among the 12 candidates he felt made the strongest showing.

Wilder asks pointed questions as 12 Richmond mayoral candidates appear at forum

At the first candidate forum of the 2016 election Wednesday, 12 Richmond mayoral hopefuls agreed that improving schools, fixing roads and cleaning up the city’s Finance Department should be priorities for the city’s next leader. What they differed on was who has the right experience and approach to make those things happen. “A lot of the candidates are saying the same thing,” acknowledged Venture Richmond’s outgoing executive director, Jack Berry, before launching into a pitch for himself.

Transcript: Mayoral candidates, in their own words, at last night’s forum

Twelve candidates running to be Richmond’s next mayor faced off for the first time last night at a two-hour forum hosted and moderated by former mayor L. Douglas Wilder at Virginia Union University. What follows is a partial transcript, which has been lightly edited for clarity. 

Gillespie raises nearly $750K for 2017 Va. governor’s race

Republican strategist Ed Gillespie raised $749,000 within five months for his 2017 bid for Virginia governor, bringing in money at a clip comparable to that set by the last two GOP contenders for the job. Gillespie, who confirmed that he was running for governor in early October and formed a political action committee in November, concluded the first quarter of 2016 with $616,000 on hand, according to financial information that his campaign released to The Washington Post on Friday. Although on par with that of recent Republican hopefuls, Gillespie’s early fundraising is well behind the $1.2 million that Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) brought in during the opening six-month stretch of his 2013 bid.