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Ceremony for restored section of 23rd Street
07/06/2015 1:39 PM by John M
The City of Richmond is planning a street opening ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday, July 8 at 2:45 PM for the portion of 23rd Street between Franklin and Grace streets. Tom Wilds, President of the Church Hill Association will join Mayor Jones and City Councilwoman Cynthia Newbille for this event.
Celebrate the restoration of this historic Church Hill street that will be one of the two main cobble stone climbs at the 2015 Road Race Championships this coming September 19-27.
I’m dying laughing over here. I can’t believe the audacity of these people. Just two years ago that section of 23rd was perfectly fine. It was cobblestone all the way down the hill. Then, they came in and paved an ugly strip of asphalt over the middle of it. They didn’t even bother to pave the entire width. After that, I wrote the city and complained. They assured me that it was a mistake and that they would be fixing it promptly. Here we are, years later, and now they want to cut a ribbon and celebrate fixing a problem that never had to be.
Wonder if they’ll mow the grass and whack the weeds before the photo opp. And you know what the lead in is going to be… “Today Richmond continues preparations for the 2015 UCI road race….”
that is funny!
I agree! I think the “they” referred to is the city of RIchmond DPW people.
I can find plenty of fault with the city on lots of issues. In this case, however, the stated record merits some clarification. The road was not perfectly fine two years ago. I have lived at the corner of East Grace and 23rd since 1997 and I have deplored the condition of that section of road since the day we moved in. The street has never been completely cobblestone during that time. Only the gutter and a portion of the street at the bottom of the hill were cobbled. UnionMeetsChurch is right that the road was repaved a few years ago but no cobbles were paved over or removed at that time. Asphalt was laid over existing asphalt. In fact, when the asphalt was recently removed, there were no cobbles underneath. Therefore, the cobbles were removed well before 1997. I can assure you that people would have noticed workers removing a street full of cobblestone in that heavily traveled part of Church Hill. None of this changes the fact that certain city officials did a foolish thing many years ago but at least others are making up for it. Let them pat themselves on the back. I thank them for fixing it now, whatever the reason.
You have a nice, newly cobbled street. Shut up and enjoy it.
I wish they would repair some of the side streets too. Here on N 27th our gutters and a little into the parking area is still stone blocks and the intersection at Clay you see them too so suspect there is stone under the asphalt. There were blocks up Marshall until 1960 when they took out the trolley tracks. And now that they have grated Broad, you can see blocks there too in a nice fan design. Broad was all block at one time as well.
What I hate is when they pull blocks out to do utility work and never put them back but fill the hole with asphalt and you end up with an ugly patchwork over the years.
Gosh some of you people are cranky.
Mike Mitchell – my sentiments exactly!
Complaints about the city-owned area behind Richmond Hill have been sent to the city, the mayor, and SeeClickFix for years. Seriously… YEARS! I have to be thankful that the cycle races are, at least, causing some work to be done. I feel bad for the neighborhoods that will not be seen and will be left to decline as per usual. Why is this city administration not paying a political cost for the worst management in decades?
Like the looks on the new street. Wish the ceremony was during non-business hours, so people who actually have to work for a living could attend. 😉
I think that some have misunderstood what I was trying to say above. The road looks amazing and those who live nearby couldn’t be happier or more grateful. I simply dispute the claim above that the current folks at the city created the mess that had to be fixed. That was done long ago by others who are no longer around. I’m just thankful its fixed now and we have a good looking road to show for it. Now, let the pats on the back (and the bike race) begin.
I appreciate the cobbles, too bad they didn’t whack the weeds back. I just went by, looks like it is open, but the very small patch of weeds that were cut down by Franklin St. just exposed dead grass. @9 I agree with you, it’s bad.
I think I’ll head over there and heckle the mayor about mowing the grass.
I agree with #5. It is rare to have nice things. Cranky and petty neighbors should vacation out of the neighborhood.
I forget which hurricane it was but the city still has not fixed the issue with this part of the street there was never a proper curve on the other side of the street and when the heavy rains came in they washed the street away, thats why there were not stones left. The city needs to come back and put at least a small curb in at the top of the hill to prevent this from happening again.
They’ve mowed at least part of this. I went by this morning. Did not follow all around the hill to see how complete a job, but they did tackle it.