Historic federal and state tax credits helped transform a former manufacturing complex into The Locks, a mixed-use community along the Haxall Canal in downtown Richmond. (Credit: Bob Brown/RTD)
CITY OF RICHMOND
Students, NAACP file federal civil rights complaint against Richmond Public Schools
Lawyers for two Richmond public middle school students on Wednesday filed a federal civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education over district discipline policies they say unfairly punish black students and students with disabilities. The 28-page indictment of the district’s practices details inconsistencies arising from subjective interpretations of a student code of conduct lawyers describe as “a disorganized and internally inconsistent assortment of narrative, lists, and charts.” In response, the city school system has pledged to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in handling the complaint.
U.S. Inspector General faults Richmond housing authority for overcharging, orders $500,000 repayment
A month after agreeing to repay the federal government $100,000 annually for more than six decades, the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority has learned it must make up an additional $507,800. A report issued last week by the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development faulted the agency for overcharging the federal government over a three-year period. The more than $500,000 reimbursement the audit calls for is due to a duplicative information technology fee.
Poll: Education top issue in Richmond mayoral race
Improving the quality of Richmond’s school system is voters’ top priority heading into the November mayoral election, according to poll results Christopher Newport University released today. Asked about issues the city’s next mayor will need to address, 81 percent of respondents ranked working with the School Board to improve schools as very important. Making city government work better in general ranked second, with 68 percent of respondents describing the issue as very important.
CHESTERFIELD
Plans for new Enon Elementary hinge on church next door
The fate of an aging eastern Chesterfield elementary school now largely rests in the hands of parishioners at a small church next door. Local school leaders have decided to build a replacement for Enon Elementary on the school’s existing site, but that plan hinges on the county’s ability to acquire 2 acres of property from neighboring Rivermont Presbyterian Church. At 11 acres, the current Enon site is about 45 percent smaller than the Planning Commission’s recommended minimum parcel size for new school construction.
Chesterfield survey shows priorities of county residents
Chesterfield County residents want their government to focus on its most basic duties, primarily education, public safety and infrastructure. More than 6,200 county residents responded to an online survey this summer, with an additional 200 weighing in at three community workshops. The survey, called “Build Chesterfield’s Blueprint,” aims to allow residents to help direct the county’s priorities and tax dollars earlier in its budget process. “We wanted to know how do they want to see the resources that the county has available best invested to make Chesterfield the most desirable community it can be,” said assistant budget director Matt Harris at a news conference at the Chesterfield Government Complex on Wednesday.
Board delays acquiring land for new Matoca school
At its hour-long meeting last week, the School Board approved a delay in the substantial accord application for Matoaca Elementary and withdrew an application for an alternate site for Enon Elementary. Chris Sorensen, the school system’s assistant superintendent for business and finance, explained that the county’s Right of Way Department has been negotiating with property owners for the site selected as a potential location for the new Matoaca school. That location includes 20707, 20809 and 20813 Matoaca Road. “At this point, staff recommends that the substantial accord determination hearing before the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors be delayed until more progress can be made in the site acquisition process,” Sorensen read from a memorandum. “The target date is the October meeting, dependent on progress in site acquisition. This delay has no impact on the construction schedule.”
HANOVER
Planning commission approves new Beaverdam subdivision
A proposed plan for the ClubRun subdivision, previously deferred from moving forward to the Board of Supervisors,was unanimously approved at the Aug. 18 Hanover County Planning Commission meeting. If approved by the Board of Supervisors, this subdivision will include 22 houses along the north line of West Patrick Henry Road at its intersection with Country Club Drive. The proposed building plans require that the 24.72 acres adjacent to Country Club Hills intended to be used for construction be rezoned to Single-Family Residential District with conditions. The plans would permit the creation of 22 building lots with a density of one dwelling unit per 1.12 acres. ClubRun of Virginia, LLC’s representative Scott Courtney said that the proposed new homes would be built in a similar style to the homes that currently exist in the nearby Country Club Hills neighborhood. Each home would include side or rear loading garages and paved driveways, each with a 25-foot-deep apron.
Finance director named deputy county administrator
Kathleen T. Seay has been appointed deputy county administrator effective Oct. 1. County Administrator Cecil R. “Rhu” Harris Jr. made the announcement last Wednesday during the regular meeting of the Hanover County Board of Supervisors. Seay has been serving as Hanover County’s director of Finance and Management Services since 2010. She supervises 21 employees and is responsible for the department’s Budget, Accounting and Purchasing Divisions.
Supervisors close out Fiscal Year 2016 in the black
Jacob Sumner, Accounting Division director, had some well received good news regarding final figures for Fiscal Year 2016 at last week’s Hanover County Board of Supervisors meeting. Preliminary figures for FY 2016 indicate a continued pattern of steady growth and fiscal responsibility regarding the county’s budget and its projections. General Fund revenue figures reveal a $1.1 million increase over the appropriated budget.
HENRICO
Henrico School Board accepts $640K grant for year-round instruction, $73K in innovative grants
Four extended school year programs in Henrico County received a $640,600 infusion after a School Board vote Thursday evening. Board members unanimously accepted the Virginia Department of Education’s Start-Up Grant, which is aimed toward helping students maintain academic progress through the summer months from fifth to 10th grade. The state designates the money for schools that have struggled traditionally or otherwise use year-round schedules. The College Readiness Center at Wilder Middle School received nearly $232,600; the Student Prep Program at Baker Elementary, John Rolfe Middle and Varina High schools got nearly $198,000; the Mindful Learners Project at Fairfield Middle School received more than $130,000; and the Cub Institute at Brookland Middle School got more than $80,000.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State lawmakers want more hard data on Virginia’s return on investment from the historic credits program
Virginia’s tax-credit program for rehabilitating historic properties has helped revitalize neighborhoods across the state, representatives of development companies, the construction industry, churches and nonprofit organizations told a General Assembly subcommittee on Monday. Yet members of the joint House and Senate Subcommittee to Evaluate Tax Preferences, which is studying possible reforms of tax credits offered by the state, said they want to see more hard data on the state’s return on investment from the historic credits program, which has provided more than $1 billion in tax credits since its inception in 1997. Defenders of the program said it has contributed greatly to reinvestments in downtown neighborhoods across Virginia, particularly in Richmond, that previously had struggled with decay for decades.
REGIONAL
Panel building offers developers a way around labor issues
It recently took eight weeks for a competitor to construct the frame for a four-unit townhouse building. Dave Baird could do it in eight days. As workers construct two townhouses behind him at Henrico’s Libbie Mill development, the president and chief executive of Homestead Building Systems can back up his claims. Instead of “stick building” – a term for creating the frame of a structure mostly or entirely on-site – Baird’s company utilizes “panel building,” constructing walls and other features off-site for faster construction. The company pre-engineers wall panels and trusses with lasers and computerized saws, then ships the structures to construction sites. To Baird, it’s the future of construction.
Richmond area jobless rate rose 4.1 percent in July but still down from a year ago
The Richmond region’s unemployment rate increased slightly to 4.1 percent in July from 4 percent in June as the local labor force expanded. The number of people counted as employed and unemployed both increased in the Richmond area in July, while the labor force jumped by 1,545 to 672,720, according to numbers reported by the Virginia Employment Commission Wednesday. The jobless rate for the region was below the 4.8 percent posted in July 2015.
NATIONAL
Catastrophic floods in Louisiana have caused massive housing crisis
Devastating floods in Louisiana have left an estimated 40,000 houses damaged; some 86,000 people have applied for federal disaster aid in the wake of the disaster. It’s a crisis some people are comparing to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The disaster area stretches over 20 parishes, Eileen Fleming of member station WWNO reports, and officials are working to determine how to provide temporary housing to meet the extreme need.
The economic recovery hasn’t reached America’s schools
As millions of children across the country head back to school this month, they will be returning to schools with fewer teachers than in past years. Those teachers will be paid less, on average. And many of them will be working in school systems that receive less funding. The 7-year-old economic recovery has not been kind to the American public education system. In May 2008, as the Great Recession was just beginning, U.S. school departments employed 8.4 million teachers and other workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This past May, they employed just 8.2 million — despite public-school enrollments that the Department of Education estimated have risen by more than 1 million students during the same period. Student-teacher ratios are as high as they’ve been since the late 1990s, though they’re still well below their levels of the 1980s and most of the 1990s.
ELECTIONS
Va. GOP votes to switch from convention to primary to nominate 2017 candidates
By the slimmest of margins, leaders of the Republican Party of Virginia on Saturday voted to select their 2017 statewide candidates in a primary rather than at a convention — a nominating change that could have significant implications for a host of Republicans planning runs for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. The 41-40 vote by the GOP’s State Central Committee effectively upended a compromise agreement reached last year by factions within the state party that called for a primary in the 2016 race for president to be followed by a nominating convention for statewide offices in 2017. It was a victory for the party’s more moderate, establishment wing, whose leadership was unseated by conservative grass-roots and tea party activists in 2013.
Joe Morrissey takes command: Former delegate leads first publicly release poll of Richmond mayoral race
If Joe Morrissey bolsters his position in the East End and South Side, he could win Richmond’s eight-way race for mayor without a runoff. That’s the picture painted by poll results out today from the Judy Ford Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University. The poll, conducted Aug. 18-24, is based on results of 600 interviews of registered Richmond voters. It cites an overall 4.9-point margin of error. The results show Morrissey in a strong position 11 weeks from Election Day, holding a “commanding lead” in three precincts and a “more modest lead” in a fourth.
Poll: Morrissey leads crowded Richmond mayoral field
Former state Del. Joseph D. Morrissey is leading the eight-person field of Richmond mayoral candidates with 28 percent of the citywide vote, a poll released Tuesday by Christopher Newport University’s Wason Center for Public Policy found. Morrissey’s nearest competitor in the race is former Venture Richmond director Jack Berry, who found support among 16 percent of voters polled. Nearly one-quarter of voters polled said they had not yet decided for whom they will vote.
Mamie Taylor only Richmond School Board incumbent failing to win Realtor’s endorsement
The Richmond Realtors Political Action Committee has endorsed three sitting School Board members but declined to support a fourth, Mamie L. Taylor of the 5th District. The Realtors group announced its slate of endorsements Tuesday, backing Dawson Boyer, 1st District; Jeff Bourne, 3rd District; and Shonda Harris-Muhammed, 6th District. All but Boyer, appointed in February to replace Glen H. Sturtevant Jr., are running for re-election. But in the race for the 5th District, the group threw its support behind Patrick Sapini, a local podiatrist with four children.
RTD to host Richmond mayoral debate Sept. 15
Our RTD Public Square season kicks off in September with a unique experience: The Richmond Mayoral Debate. All eight candidates have agreed to participate in this two-hour event. They’ll answer our questions and yours, and they’ll address topics ranging from poverty and education to economic development and city finances. The debate will be moderated by Times-Dispatch President and Publisher Thomas A. Silvestri. Questions will be posed by RTD politics editor Andrew Cain and veteran state and city government reporter Michael Martz.