RECENT COMMENTS
Joel Cabot on Power Outage on the Hill
Eric S. Huffstutler on What is up with the Church Hill Post Office?
Eric S. Huffstutler on What is up with the Church Hill Post Office?
Yvette Cannon on What is up with the Church Hill Post Office?
crd on Power Outage on the Hill
A dose of reality
06/18/2008 9:57 PM by John M
In Cut Short: The story of Deshun Taylor, 1994-2008, Style Weekly looks at the details surrounding the June 11 shooting of Deshun Taylor:
As Richmond continues to garner headlines for its dwindling murder rate and the success of former Police Chief Rodney Monroe (who left last week for Charlotte, N.C.), Taylor’s death serves up a dose of reality. Richmond, for all its recent success, still has its concentrated poverty, its violent crime, its long, hot summers in the projects.
Redevelopment efforts in Church Hill make it poised to create an alternative community as an antidote to concentrated wealth and concentrated poverty. Redevelopment can include mixed income housing which de-concentrates poverty and the resultant crime associated with urban blight.
And, I fear that as they tear down Gilpin and Dove and other developments, the only place for these folks will have to go will be Church Hill / East End, further concentrating all the poverty in one corner of the city.
The audacity of you to use a thread about the life cut short of a 14 year old boy as a platform to express your fears of displaced residents of public housing moving into “your” neighboorhood.
Why are we brigning in from one neighborhood into another?
Child Savers has been creating problems in the neighborhood by allowing the cliental to loiter at all hours, double Park, as well as disrespecting the neighborhood. The problem is growing and we should conquer the issues before they get out of hand. Trash is being thrown out of cars onto the street, loud music from cars as well as the cliental screaming. Child Savers is not a hang out for another neighborhood. Child Savers has ignored the special use permit by having clients in and out of the building past acceptable hours. Child Savers has not used its authority to let their cliental know they better shape up or else you will not receive services. Child saver needs to respect the rules and set an example for their cliental. Good deeds do not equal breaking the rules. Complaints to the Director go unsatisfied. Action needs to be taken by either Church Hill Association or Child Savers to end problems before they get out of hand. We all have supported many things in Church Hill from the height of the condos on 25th street and fight the development of apartments/condos at the end of broad. Lets come together to let business or organizations know there is no room for the in Church Hill if they can not follow the rules or disrespect the neighborhood.
Richmond’s strategy for the past 30 years has been to simply move the poor from one neighborhood to another, or if lucky to another locality (regional cooperation). This has not accomplished much except false statistics touting major reductions in crime. Clearly empty houses don’t commit crimes… The answer to crime reduction lies in blending strong public safety initiatives with equally strong poverty eradication efforts. Richmond politicians don’t seem to have a commitment to such a two pronged approach and without prodding, they won’t. The Yes We Can Town Hall Meeting at Ebenezer Baptist Church, 216 W. Leigh Street, Tuesday July 22, at 6 pm. will offer a forum for this kind of dialogue.