Skill Games Return, Rao Gets a Raise, and an Interview with Chuck Epes
Cheers RVA!
Today will be mostly cloudy with a high of 78, with rain and wind expected later in the evening and into tomorrow morning.
the pulp:
New skill games are being operated in the Richmond area according to Graham Moomaw at the Richmonder. Pace-O-Matic is attempting to justify the move using a loophole in the legal definition of a skill game.
A 16-year old was killed and two women were injured in a shooting at the Belt Atlantic Apartments Saturday evening.
VCU President Michael Rao will get a 16% raise and contract extension, according to the RTD. Rao became President of VCU in 2009, and will earn $821k in base salary, with benefits and deferred compensation bringing his total annual salary to $1.5 million. The raise will make Rao the 4th highest paid university president of Virginia’s 15 public universities.
The pipeline trail closure has generated both disappointment and confusion among visitors to the trail. While the Department of Public Utilities has stated the park is closed, the gate was open on Sunday and people were out and about walking along the trail. A petition to re-open the trail has already collected more than 500 signatures.
The Huguenot High School football team scored 50 points in the first quarter in a 81-7 rout of Clover Hill Friday evening.
the dive:
The Richmond Free Press recently interviewed Chuck Epes, one of the founders of the Friends of Bryan Park and co-founder of Citizens for a Responsible Fall Line Trail.
Epes is leading a group of those opposed to the current plan of the Fall Line Trail construction being directly through the park, rather than primarily along the perimeter on existing paths.
The experienced cyclist and grandfather of three has been passionate about the park for the last three decades.
Bryan Park has been a passion project for Epes since 1995, when he took the familiar three-block walk from his Bellevue neighborhood home to Bryan Park with his six- year-old son. Gunshots rang out, so he quickly reversed course to get his son to the safety of their home.
Out of curiosity, Epes returned to the scene and found out that someone had been shot to death. Epes had already been deeply disturbed that Bryan Park had fallen into disrepair. He knew most city residents avoided it — with the exception of teenagers partying and carrying out nefarious activities.
The incident sparked a chain of events that led Epes to form Friends of Bryan Park in 1995. The park has seen revitalization with the addition of soccer fields, pickleball courts, playgrounds and renovated picnic shelters.
The objectives of Citizens for a Responsible Fall Line are to:
For the city to pause, hold additional public engagement meetings, reconsider the current plan and use the park’s existing roadways for the trail rather than pave over more of the park.
Epes is asking those interested to attend 3rd District Councilwoman Ann-Frances Lambert’s district meeting tonight at 6 p.m. at the Richmond Police Academy at 1202 Graham Road.
Read the full article here.
the vibe:
Have a habitable day RVA!
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