John at Church Hill People’s News has a great old map of Richmond that includes part of Manchester. Click on the map in the post to see the full map. There are some great older posts that take a look at other maps here that you should check out as well. Great stuff.

Every Thursday the folks driving the initiative to open the Patrick Henry School hold a meeting. The first Thursday of each month the meeting has more of an “Open House” agenda. This is a great opportunity for those not heavily involved (yet) to learn more.

Questions you can get answers to include:
When are you opening?
How do I apply?
What is a “progressive quarterly calendar”?
What is an “outdoor classroom”?
A healthy cafeteria?
Why is PHSSA different from other Richmond Public Schools?
Last month one of the Hills and Heights crew was able to attend and the subject was Patrick Henry going green so there might be an update on that as well.

Meeting Details:
Patrick Henry Elementary School of Science and Arts Community Update Meeting
Thursday, March 5th 8:00 p.m
3411 Semmes Ave

Mother Nature is apparently a petty and vengeful lady. If you are enjoying this snow you can thank me for my sarcastic snow post. If you are not enjoying the snow, all I can do is offer my apologies.

In partnership with some other neighborhood blogs including Oregon Hill and Church Hill People News (the originator of this idea) we are asking our readers to share their snow photos. CHPN has already started. Upload your photos to Flickr and tag’em with “RVAsnow”.

Eventually the Donner Gnomes turned on each other and had a gnomewich.

Read more >

It is official, no school for Richmond Public School students and from the look of it, pretty much every school is closed. If you want to check for a specific school go here. Enjoy your day off kids, someday you might be a bitter adult who has to go to work no matter the weather.

Congratulations to Huguenot High School junior Calvin Walker who was selected to participate in the new Youth Adult Police Commission.

From the RTD:

Huguenot High School junior Calvin Walker wants to be a prosecutor, so he’s trying to learn as much as he can about how local law enforcement works.

Walker is one of 20 high school students to join a Youth Adult Police Commission, a new program formed by Richmond Police Chief Bryan T. Norwood that seeks to form ties between the Police Department and local teenagers.

“By learning things here, I’ll be able to teach other people that aren’t in the program,” Walker said just after he was sworn in Thursday with other youth commissioners at the city’s police headquarters.

Norwood said he launched the program to give young people a voice and to help the police better understand the thinking of the student population, helping officers to better relate to young adults.

Are your walls as white as the snow outside? The are several ways to fix this problem but one way to do this without breaking the bank is to visit smArt Gallery. Richmond Magazine mentioned smART in this post. smART gallery is  being sponsored by Grayson Hill Luxury Townhomes at the corner of Patterson and Gaskins. Which is where you go to see and buy the art.

A few years ago, one smART gallery (named Lost Art at the time) had the good idea to start a home consignment business focused on art.   The founding hunch was the idea that almost everyone has a few pieces of retired artwork stored away in the attic.  We launched a mission to “out the art” and to resell it at seasonal art events.

This seasonal event has been hit a blow by the weather and will be shut down today and tomorrow.  The schedule for the remainder of the smART Gallery.

Read more >

Guess what kids? You get to benefit from a fourth straight day of quality time with your all knowing parents……..or all knowing TV. Richmond Public Schools and nearly every other school in the area are closed tomorrow according to Channel 8. It does appear that some day-care facilities will be open. Check that link but it would probably be a good idea to call before shoving little Billy out of the car and heading to The Forest.

I didn’t make it over to the park but go here to see some pictures of folks enjoying the hill aspect of Forest Hill Park.

From the Richmond Public School website:

The Richmond City School Board will hold a work session regarding the 2009-2010 budget Saturday, March 7 from 10 a.m. – Noon in the conference room located on the 17th floor of City Hall. The School Board is facing a $16 million shortfall and is looking at ways to minimize any negative impact the reduced funding will have in the classroom. For details, contact Angela C. Lewis, School Board clerk, at 780-7716.

Thanks to Jonathan Mallard for pointing this out. According to Forbes we come in at #10. In the 5 years I have lived here my longest commute is 10 minutes and the only problem I have ever encountered was a wreck on the downtown expressway.

Judged against other cities with more than 500,000 workers, Richmond benefits from its position at the hub of multiple interstates (I-95, I-295, I-64) and from well-designed local highways that link them, enabling the metro to handle the traffic of a much larger city. As a result, delays are mild, with the average commuter only spending an extra 20 hours a year on the road.

The full article is here and gives some additional details, including details on how they ranked the various cities.

Good news for kids – not such good news for working parents scrambling for daycare or suffering from “quality time” overload. Full list here.

Westover Hills Library Advisory Group
Saturday March 7th at 9:00 a.m.
Westover Hills Library

Topics this month include but not limited to; Staff Appreciation, Beautification, Yuri’s Night, Website Update, 50th Anniversary, and a recap of the Dr. Seuss’s Birthday Event.

You should never need a reason to visit Artspace but I will give you two. The first reason is the show is by local artist Dan Mouer, resident of Woodland Heights and it is important to support your local artist. The second reason is the photos include local haunts Crossroads and the now shuttered Ms. Hathaway’s Cafe.

Coffee at the Crossroads

The show opened on March 27th and will be running through April 19th. The official Opening Reception is Friday the 4th and will feature music by Gypsy Roots.

Dan speaks to why he chose coffee shops in this excerpt from his Artist’s Statement.

As an anthropologist—a student of human culture—I’m fascinated by both the continuity and innovation in contemporary café life. In comfy shared quarters today we can find young radicals plotting the next big thing in art or politics and, at an adjacent table or sofa, salesmen hover over their glowing laptops or work deals on their cell phones. In another corner, young parents gather for mid-afternoon chat while their children play nearby. As a visual artist, I’m excited by the huge variety of colors, textures, and spatial designs today’s café owners are creating. And, as a dyed-in-the-wool coffee fanatic, I feel duty-bound to taste every shot of espresso I can get my lips around. As a result, my camera and I have spent a good bit of time (and probably too much money) in the coffee houses and cafe’s of my home town.

First it was Positive Vibe and now its Paradise Diner’s turn to get a little love from Style Weekly.

I live close to the Paradise Diner in the Stratford Hills Shopping Center, and I find myself eating there often, not because of its proximity, but rather because the food is fresh, delicious and reminiscent of great home-style cooking. Breakfast is served all day, which is great for an evening person like myself who prefers not to take on a huge meal before noon.

The author also mentions that Paradise was the winner of a Hall of Fame Award by Channel 12’s Restaurant Report for a recent perfect health inspection. This makes me happy since I eat there about twice a month for breakfast.

Paradise should also get kudos for the wonderful staff. Everyone I have met there is incredibly nice and makes you feel like a regular from day one. This place is a true diner solid food, reasonable prices and great staff.

Richmond Public Schools are starting 2 hours late tomorrow.  Which seems to be about the norm, check here for your school. I am beginning to think the school systems are in cahoots with the cartoon and video game industry. At this point our child is one step away from drooling and I am pretty sure I saw brain oozing out of her ear.

Images courtesy of VCU Image Library

Close up of the swimming area which is not being rebuilt.

According to an email from Larry Miller of the Richmond Parks and Recreation Department the long awaited work to restore Forest Hill Park should begin mid to late March.  Pre-construction meetings will be occurring over the next few weeks and in a perfect world we should all be enjoying a restored Forest Hill Park lake in late summer. With any construction project it is Mother Nature who has the final say on  schedules so that late summer finish date is probably optimistic. Congratulations to all those that have worked to see this project through.

The walls seperating the expansion from the current dining area are down so you can see into the new area. I didn’t have a camera so you will have to check it out yourself. A good amount of work remains to be done but what I can see looks great. The new taps are up, I counted 10, but I didn’t think to ask if all ten were active. Some of the new beers that I could spot were Magic Hat #9, Yuengling and Blue Moon.  I couldn’t tell if they were going to expand the selection of Legend beers beyond the Brown but I am hopeful. The new seating is not set up but did see what looked like a high booth. The rumor floating around is that the expansion will be open in time for St. Patrick’s Day. Next week I will have a post on the traditional O’Toole’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration.

The title line pretty much says it all. Since it is a new group there is no activity yet but it appears to be brand spanking new so that is expected. I found out about it here and the direct link to the Facebook page is here.

March 31 is deadline for repeat filers for tax relief for seniors and disabled. Additional information as well as forms are here. Forms are also available from City Finance Department (646-5690) or your local City Council member.

From the city website:

The City of Richmond offers tax relief for certain elderly and/or permanently disabled property owners. To qualify for the Elderly and Disabled Tax Exemption, the head of the household occupying the dwelling and owning title, or partial title thereto, must be sixty-five years old or older on December 31 of the year immediately preceding the taxable year. The dwelling for which the tax exemption is sought must be occupied as the sole dwelling of the person sixty-five years of age or older.

The head of the household occupying the dwelling and owning title, or partial title thereto, who is permanently and totally disabled and under sixty-five years of age may also qualify for this tax exemption.

The City of Richmond is hosting E-cycle on Saturday, March 7 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Diamond’s blue parking lot at 3301 North Boulevard.  Some items are free such as computers but there is a fee for tvs depending on the tv.

North Richmond Times has done a better job of finding the details than I have including a nice flyer.

The post a few days ago about Sierra Club Fall of the James Group on Facebook reminded me that I failed to post about another neighborhood Facebook Group: Forest Hill Neighborhood. It currently has 63 members and has an active creator so I think it will grow. Currently they are asking the question: What do you like about Forest Hill?

Don’t forget that tonight (technically tomorrow morning) is Daylight Savings Time. Before you go to sleep add an hour to your clock. This is also a nice reminder to put fresh batteries in and check all the smoke alarms in your house are working.

Your useless fact for the day is that Daylight Saving Time started in the US during WW1 to cut down on the use of lights and conserve fuel. It went away after the war ended and picked back up during WWII.

From the RTD:

The Richmond school system will come about $8 million closer to its budget goal for next year thanks to federal economic stimulus money it is receiving. But that still leaves city schools about $8 million short of current funding.

The additional money means teacher jobs are safe, employees won’t have to take unpaid days off and the city won’t have to close an elementary school.

There are some interesting comments at the link posted above and just saw a different article here.

We have changed the ads a bit by making one larger and the others a bit heftier. Hopefully they don’t distract from the unbridled joy of reading Hills and Heights everyday. The reason for the change is to give advertisers some options on reaching out to folks here at Hills and Heights and to people throughout Richmond through the Richmond Ad Network. If you want to let people know about your event, service, or business you can go here for the details.

I would also like to point out the Classified Ads that we have on the site that are severely under used. The Classified Ads are completely free all you have to do is click here or on the link right below the classified ads.

Press Release from Richmond Department of Parks:

Richmond’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities will hold a Gigantic Yard Sale at its Westover Community Center on Saturday, May 2, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and is renting spaces for vendors and people who want to participate in the sale.

This is a great opportunity to clean out the garage and make money selling items you no longer want, as well as an opportunity to purchase some fantastic bargains. The community center is located at 1301 Jahnke Road, at the corner of Jahnke and Forest Hill Avenue, next to the Westover Hills Elementary School.

Get the early bird special and reserve a space to sell your items between March 1 and April 11 for only $20. Reservations for spaces from April 12 to April 25 will cost $25.

Vendors pay $30 from March 1 to April 11 and $35 from April 12 to April 25 to participate in the yard sale.

For more information, call the center at 646-8995.

The Westover Hills Neighborhood Association Yard Sale is scheduled for April 18th and I will post more on that next month.