Forest Hill Park sees lots of activity on Sunday July 20th. From noon-4PM is the return of Sunday in the Park, followed immediately by the summer monthly Music in the Park Series, which runs until 6PM. All the details are below the fold.

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According to today’s T-D, a domestic warrant and a brief standoff led to Richmond SWAT entering that apartment building on W. 47th in the middle of the night.

Today’s T-D briefly mentions the work underway. The Snelson’s signs have been down for some time now, and work seems to be moving along quickly…

Gray brought this up comments to another post, but I thought it warranted a more prominent mention. The school board discussion on the Patrick Henry charter school initiative is scheduled for the 4:30 portion of today’s meeting, with a closed meeting to follow. It’s likely too late to do anything about it, but contacting your board rep today might be therapeutic, if not exactly productive.

Just in case you forgot, or missed it the first time around, the South of the James Market kicks off tomorrow morning, 8am, at Shelter 2 in Forest Hill Park (circa New Kent & 42nd). I’ll be the guy trying to figure out how to carry 4 armloads of produce home on his bike.

At last night’s school board meeting, the PH Charter group had their proposal returned pending more information. Meetings with the school board to provide that information should occur soon, with a tentative vote scheduled by the board for May 5.

Jonah from Near West End News passed this nugget along from the folks at Victory Farms:

Lastly, the market locations are set (though, as I mentioned, the dates we\’ll start there are not yet). Tuesdays are at Byrd House Community Market in Oregon Hill from 3:30-7pm; Thursdays are at the 17th Street Farmer\’s Market from 9am-1pm; and Saturdays are at the new Forest Hill Park Market from 8am-noon.

So it sounds like the FH Park market is a go. Anyone have the full scoop?

Update: Phil has the full scoop.

A new-ish feature over at Richmond.com has recently included some items of local interest, including some answers regarding traffic patterns at WH Blvd and Forest Hill and an inquiry about the Patrick Henry School Initiative.

…the big white tent in front of O’Tooles. Their annual St. Patrick’s celebration runs tonight through Monday with all sorts of live entertainment, Irish and otherwise.

The idea was circulating amongst the neighborhood associations, but now the T-D has picked it up: Preliminary efforts are underway to start a possible farmer’s market in the general area.

Some Fourth District residents have suggested locations including Forest Hill Park, possibly in the paved parking area adjacent to 42nd Street, or near the intersection of Westover Hills Boulevard and Forest Hill Avenue. Several told Hathcock they like the idea of a weekend market that would offer organic produce or locally grown produce.

With the equipment rental place now vacant, there’s a prime starter spot just sitting on Westover Hills…

In an article on the proposed statewide restaurant smoking ban, Today’s T-D talks with John O’Toole, whose own O’Toole’s went smoke-free in 2007.

“Our food business has increased,” he said. Sales have grown 6 percent since the Irish pub started asking smokers to step outside last March. “We lost a few customers,” O’Toole said. “But for every one we lost, I think we gained 10.”

Yet O’Toole said he does not like the idea of a state-mandated smoking ban in restaurants. “I still think it should be up to each owner. Some of them cater to smokers, and they shouldn’t have to stop.”

Tomorrow’s Style Weekly again features the controversy over the Forest Hill Park sign. As of December 17th, the sign had been “repaired and returned, and fences between two neighborhood booster groups [Forest Hill Neighborhood Association and Friends of Forest Hill Park] have been mended.”

On a similar note, I understand one of the topics being discussed at next week’s FHNA meeting is the elusive white whale: restoration of the lake in the park.

The folks at the Patrick Henry School Initiative are making progress with their efforts….

We have submitted our application for 501-3C status (thank you for your donations!) and are raising funds now for PR “get the word out” costs and other incidentals. We will have a fundraising campaign for school related projects once we have charter approval. Please send your donations, large and small, to:

The Patrick Henry School Initiative
P.O. Box 2459
Richmond, VA 23218

We need your calls, e-mails and letters!

The application for the Patrick Henry School Initiative was submitted to the School Board clerk on October 7th.

As the School Board reviews the proposed charter, now is the critical time for the public to voice support of this project. The more calls and letters our school board members receive, the clearer it will be to them how important this initiative is for the community.

If you support the Patrick Henry School Initiative, please take five minutes to call or e-mail your School Board Rep. Contact info is listed below.

A few talking points:

- An innovative curriculum in the city.
- Will keep you from leaving for the county.
- Puts to good use a school asset.
- Outdoor classrooms and a green education are incredible opportunities.
- Promotes diversity, because any city resident can attend.
- I hear that parents must be involved, and I like that.

Additionally, yard signs bearing the slogan “Patrick Henry CHARTER SCHOOL NOW” should be available from the group. Contact them for more details.

The holidays and general in-over-our-head-edness has caused a couple of events to sneak up on us without the proper mention, so:

Justin from Westover Baptist Church alerted us to a newly-formed group of area ministers, tentatively calling themselves the Hills & Heights Minister’s Association (the notion that other groups would incorporate H&H into their names is quite flattering!). They will be meeting today, 1:00 PM at Forest Hill Presbyterian, and have invited ministers from all over the general area to attend.

Switching gears, the Woodland Heights Artists in Residence Holiday Show takes place Friday Dec. 7th, 6-9 PM and Saturday Dec. 8th, 10 AM - 3 PM at the Stone House in Forest Hill Park. Friday night sees a neighborhood celebration with local artists & musicians, refreshments and lots of holiday cheer. Saturday is open for shopping to the general public. From 1-3pm there will be children’s crafts and face painting by Fluffy the clown and a visit from Santa and his Elf. The event is intended to showcase our local talent, bring neighboring residents together and raise funds for the Woodland Heights Community Association.

A couple weeks ago, a brief discussion about the Forest Hill Park sign came up in the comments to another post. Today’s Style Weekly takes a look at the ongoing saga involving Friends of Forest Hill Park, the Forest Hill Neighborhood Association and Custom Ornamental Iron.

This coming weekend sees the return of the Richmond Marathon. Once again, the CVS parking lot will host a “Party Zone” with musical entertainment by Worn Glory. Other musical spots include the intersection of Scottview & Longview in Stratford Hills, the entrance to Willow Oaks Country Club, Forest Hill Ave. & Leicester, Forest Hill Park, Forest Hill & Semmes, Semmes & 22nd and the south end of the Lee Bridge.

Traffic changes abound too:

• Riverside Dr. closed b/w Huguenot Bridge & Scottview Drive 6AM-Noon
• Forest Hill Ave. westbound closed b/w Roanoke St. & W. 47th 8AM-11:30 AM
• Huguenot Bridge closed to northbound traffic 8 AM-11 AM
• The southbound exit ramp from the Powhite Parkway to Forest Hill and the northbound entrance ramp from westbound Forest Hill onto the Powhite closed 8 AM-11 AM.

Susanna from the Patrick Henry School Initiative passes along the following:

The Patrick Henry School Initiative submitted its charter school application to the Richmond City School Board in the beginning of October (YEAH!!!)

The proposed charter school would be open to any elementary school aged child in the city.

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John passes along more information following up on last months’ Problem Solving Session.

Via the Forest Hill Neighborhood Association, we’ve learned of an armed robbery on W. 47th Street last night, wherein “a black male approached a resident exiting their vehicle on 47th Street and displayed a handgun. After robbing the resident the black male subject took off on foot running northbound towards the apartments on Forest Hill.”

Anyone with additional information to add is urged to contact Noah Rogers at 358-8340 or noahrogers@comcast.net.

A couple of questions from readers:

Where did the new crepe myrtles go along Forest Hill? They were in the ground one day and being removed the next day.

And one that I’ve been wondering myself, especially as I sat at the intersection for 15 minutes without movement this morning:

What’s up with the stoplights at Forest Hill and Jahnke lately? They’ve been on “flash” for most of the last few weekends and even some weekdays. I saw several near-collisions just [Sunday]. Even the City of Richmond wouldn’t be stupid enough to make this a full-time event, would they?

The T-D has a preview piece today as well.

Channel 6 and the T-D are reporting the theft of various pieces of equipment, including 24 LCD TVs, from the PH/Norrell Elementary building. The official word from RPS is that “significant action” has been taken, but no names or details have yet been released.

Jess from the PH School Initiative passes along an update:

We are now in the process of editing our charter application! It looks like all is going according to our timeline of submitting it to the school board by mid September.

We have an exciting announcement for those of you who thought you might live too far out of our proposed radius of 1 mile from the school. According to the law, we have to offer admission to all Richmond residents if we do not fill to capacity. While we will strive to keep Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts a neighborhood school, we are gratified to know that many of our friends in surrounding neighborhoods will not be excluded from Richmond’s first true charter school.

So, what’s stopping you from getting involved? Your child could be in our first class of 2008! Come to our next meeting at the Berryman Center(W. 32ND /McDonough) every Tuesday at 8:00 p.m.

From the folks at the Forest Hill Neighborhood Association, on the recent assault:

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WTVR is reporting a fatal one-car accident on Forest Hill, near Bliley Rd early this morning.