Bellevue Civic Association
General Meeting
January 17, 2006
 

6:30 PM

Pizza Social- Pizza and drinks served

 7:00 PM

Call to Order
Meeting convened at Holton Elementary School
40 attendees

Guest Speakers

First guest speaker was Joy Gadway Payne, a Bellevue resident
who is taking the lead on establishing a craftsman/service
and repair providers directory for Bellevue. Knowledgeable
about period homes, with service ratings included, this directory
will be a benefit for the whole neighborhood. Mrs. Payne has called
an organizational meeting at her home for February 7, 2006
at 7 PM. Her address is 1402 Bellevue Avenue.

Next guest speaker was Chris Hilbert, our 3^rd District Councilman.
He spoke of the difficult start for the new year, with 10 murders in
the city. He spoke glowingly of the Police Chief, Rodney Monroe.
He shared with us that Mr. Monroe had lost a sister to domestic
violence victim in his lifetime, to underscore the fact that Mr.
Monroe is very engaged in what is going on in our city.

Mr. Hilbert spoke of the precinct change, and the relocation of the
headquarters to 2200 Chamberlayne Avenue. The leaving of the
current 5^th St. station eliminates having to pay rent. Construction
will go on for about 18 months.

Status was requested on the property at the corner of Bellevue and
Chamberlayne. Mr. Hilbert stated that the plan is to put a Family
Education Center there. The property was purchased by the
Northside Partnership for Families, which is affiliated with the
Robins Foundation. The area is not zoned for what they propose,
and we were informed that they have been approached with ideas
by ACORN.

Status requested on the old Emrick Chevrolet on Chamberlayne.
We were told that it has been purchased by Lawrence Oliver,
whose business is car repair and sales.

Hammond and Chamberlayne – termed “ground zero” for illegal
activities. Much progress is being made to clean up the area
and run off the undesirables.

School budget was reported to have been increased.
Graffiti problem was brought up, but no response given.
Request on Azalea Mall developer. Apparently incomplete research
was done for the Richmond market, since developer has a good
track record. Mr. Dewberry has been offered more than twice
what he paid for the property, but he is not willing to sell as of yet.

CVS store had been attempting to acquire the Eastern Star property
on Chamberlayne, but they did not get it. Apparently this is the
reason for the extended delay in rebuilding and reopening the store
in Bellevue. The word is that they will rebuild and may be open in
March or April.

To learn about bills:

Click on depts.
Click on city clerk
Click of Papers and Ordinances
Search on name or district

The City has less power than the General Assembly and the State.
Richmond also gets less money per student than Chesterfield
County. The formula used involves property taxes and rates.
The logic is that if you are able to afford the higher tax rate,
you have the ability to afford schools. This is unfair to city children.

Mr. Hilbert shared with us that they are attempting to legislate
charter changes which would enable the local government to
effectuate change.
Mention made of increasing power with blighted properties,
under eminent domain.

A Bellevue resident brought to the attention of the group that
there is likely to be a Constitutional amendment to be voted
on in November designed to define marriage as only between
one woman and one man. This proposal is said to be so
far-reaching that it would impact contracts, of many types,
between any two people of the same sex.
For further information, it was suggested that one
search the EqualityVirginia.org website, using links for House and
Senate.

Back to Mr. Hilbert---he stated that with the removal of Paygo
accounts and discretionary funds for Council, items needed to be
specifically budgeted. Trees are not considered to be Capital
Improvement projects.

Mr. Hilbert's Council Liaison is KEITH DAVIS    646-6055

Next guest speaker – Patrick Roberts, who works for William
Harrell. Spoke of the Neighborhood Team process, started in the
80s and recently dissolved. The need for a viable communication
vehicle with the community is known; such a system is being
redesigned.

More discussion of trees. A Bellevue resident spoke of the
approval of Adopt-a-Tree for this year. Agreement by all that we
need for the city to prune the trees, not just butcher them and
chop them down.

For the current fiscal year, there will be 50 additional officers and
30 additional marked vehicles.

Neighborhood Watch

Margy and Doug have been appointed co-captains of the
Neighborhood Watch. Irene Jennings is training them to work
with the section leaders and the block captains.

8:30 PM.

Meeting adjourned at 8:30 PM.