Monument to Maggie L. Walker would be fitting tribute to her & Richmond

A resolution to support a monument to famed Richmonder Maggie Lena Walker has passed through Richmond City Council.

She was an educator and is best known for being the first woman to charter and serve as president of a bank in the United States. Her home in the 100 block of E. Leigh Street in Jackson Ward is a federally protected National Historic Site. She was born in Richmond in 1867 and died here in 1934. She is buried in Evergreen Cemetery.

NBC12’s Laura Geller wrote:

In a city of monuments, leaders want this monument to be a big deal. They do not want something that will blend into the background, but a statue that will make people think about the accomplishments of the first African-American woman to run a bank…Under the ordinance, the city will study if the intersection of Broad Street, Adams Street and Brook Road will make for a good location. Originally, [Councilman Charles] Samuels wanted the statue to go on Monument Avenue but he’s been convinced Jackson Ward is the perfect place. The project will be funded through private donations.

Richmond is a city of monuments and Jackson Ward is the perfect place for this one. With all the economic growth and physical improvements to the neighborhood once known as the “Harlem of the South” and the “Black Wall Street of America” because of its reputation as a center for both black commerce and entertainment.

According to CBS6’s Mark Holmberg:

Currently, only a large tree sits in that triangle made by the three intersecting roads downtown, just a few blocks from where Walker’s Consolidated Bank & Trust now sits. But there’s much more standing in the way. Specifically, funding, as the last portion of the resolution points out. The city council vote was largely symbolic, noting the city will have to make sure it owns that triangle before it can even consider using it for this monument.

Knowing who owns the quirky triangle is important [locator map]. It would be a shame for that tree to go, but that much-improved section of the Broad Street corridor could use another attraction to continue its resurgance.

Marcus S. Jones Jr., 1971 graduate of Maggie Walker High School and president of the Maggie L. Walker Statue Foundation. He said to CBS6’s Holmberg: “I’m going to try to get a grant, written for $500,000 to a million dollars.”

As I did when I wrote about my proposed statue to Lewis Ginter, let’s use Richmond’s statue honoring tennis champion and Richmond native Arthur Ashe as a comparison.   

Ashe is honored with a 12 foot tall bronze statue at Monument Avenue and Roseneath Road that stands on a 87,000 pound granite block and rises 28 feet above the street. It was created by artist Paul Di Pasquale and was dedicated in July 1996 with a cost of nearly $450,000 (according to figures from the Richmond Times-Dispatch).   

If the property transfer brings no larger cost to the city than the tree removal and some cosmetic work, a monument to Maggie L. Walker in that spot could cost between $500,000 and $750,000, depending on the artist and scale of the monument. The size of the triangle should keep the sculpture to a scale similar to that of Bill Bojangles Robinson, which conveniently resides four blocks away north on Adams Street, forming a nice bookend of sorts for Jackson Ward.

Deepwater Sponger at Rocketts Landing asks for more fresh water

There is a new sculpture in Richmond at Rocketts Landing. “Deepwater Sponger” was lowered into place Thursday. 

The cast iron figure is a short and stout sort, toting two weights and rests on a bed of concrete that is in the shape of machinery cogs. Definitely worth checking out on your way to diner or drinks at the restaurant next door, The Boathouse at Rocketts Landing.

The statue is part of a series calling attention to the global threat to the world’s fresh water. It is scheduled to be in Richmond for at least two years.

WHAT:  “Deepwater Sponger” at Rocketts Landing on at 5000 Old Osborne Turnpike. 

ARTIST: Charlie Ponticello.

DEDICATION:  November 18, 2010.

DESCRIPTION: A six-foot, 2,000-pound cast iron sculpture that was previously located at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and on the campus of Johns Hopkins University. The sculpture is one in a series of five “spongers” designed to call attention to the global threat to the world’s fresh water. It sits on a bluff overlooking the James River between the Sky Line condominium building and The Boathouse at Rocketts Landing. 

Graffiti vandalism is not art, but the work of a coward

I despise graffiti. It is not art, it is vandalism. It is not a youthful prank, it is a crime. It is not harmless, it is costly to remove. Richmond is under attack by graffiti vandals and I’m in favor of the severest of punishments.

Style Weekly’s Melissa Scott Sinclair wrote a piece about the city losing another graffiti battle atop the Martin Luther King Bridge as it crosses over Shockoe Valley. That is a prominent spot in the city for people driving through on Interstate 95 and the type of blight that Richmond does not need.

Richmond’s taggers don’t waste any time. They do, however, waste city money. One week and one day after a city crew painted over the enormous tags on the [MLK bridge] over Interstate 95 — an operation that cost around $1,500 — it was tagged again. The new tags, spelling SIGH in orange and gold letters about 6 feet high, are painted right above two of the bridge’s massive supports, one facing north and one facing south.

What really got me was the quote from Environmental Officer Chelsea Ferguson, who handles graffiti investigations in the Fourth Precinct:

“It’s certainly a heaven spot as far as graffiti vandals are concerned,” says Ferguson. A “heaven spot,” she explains, is what taggers call a place that’s both a coveted canvas and a dangerous venture, where “there’s a really good chance they could fall off and die.” Taggers have to clamber onto a precarious catwalk to reach the bridge’s supports.

Graffiti without permission is vandalism. It does not take courage or guts to “tag” properties, it takes a coward. I think it must be a mental problem that makes a graffiti vandal want everyone to see their “artwork.” Real artists put their given names on their work own it, not run under the cover of darkness and hide their graffiti tag.

I’ve never found illegal graffiti to be art or in any way attractive. And yes, that even counts the well-known and popular Grateful Dead rock at Belle Isle.

I’m all for commissioned unique public art. For example, there is a colorful mural on the side of a building at Hull and Cowardin streets in South Richmond. Manchester is growing into an art district, and works of this type can help mold a proud and unique streetscape.

I love looking for murals around Richmond by talented local artists, especially Ed Trask. He is nothing like a graffiti artist — he is a creative genius and his artwork makes Richmond a better place. He is a professional artist that is paid for his fantastic work. See his murals on the sides of at least 30 buildings, including Ellwood Thompson’s, Sidewalk Cafe, Kuba Kuba.

I suggest that graffiti vandals need get a good job and earn enough money to tag their own property.  That, or hone their talents legally to develop skills that would put them at Trask’s professional level. Society should not have to incur the costs associated with removing their criminal activity.

There were many pro and con comments posted to the Style Weekly article, but one from “anonymous” really stuck out:

 

It is simple incompetence on the part of the City of Richmond to paint over the vandalism and then neglect to set up sufficient surveillance to identify any suspects who commit future crimes at the same spot. When a crime is predictable, it is preventable. Mayor Jones, issue some orders to some of your highly paid subordinates. Earn your pay.

Graffiti vandals strike wherever they fancy, and no amount of surveillance (which isn’t free, by the way) would able to prevent it. The city shouldn’t be criticized, rather we should all get behind their efforts to keep this kind of blight under control. This is the ultimate community effort, and unlike the crimes we see where people are shot in a neighborhood and no one talks for fear of retribution, Richmonders should immediately contact authorities to catch a vandal in the act. Teamwork!

Want to report graffiti? Go to RichmondGov.com. If you find graffiti on your personal property and think you may know who made it, please report it to the Richmond Police Department at 646-5100.

Columbus statue in Byrd Park established many “firsts”

Columbus Monument in Byrd Park, Richmond, Virginia. A gift to the city from Richmond’s Italian community, statue of Christopher Columbus dedicated in 1927.

WHAT: “Christopher Columbus” in Byrd Park at the south end of The Boulevard, north of the reservoir.

ARTIST: Ferruccio Legnaioli.

DEDICATION: December 9, 1927.

DESCRIPTION: A standing bronze figure 6 1/2 foot high on a granite pedestal 8 1/2 foot high. This was the first Columbus statue in the south and was the first monument in Richmond to have night illumination. The idea of Frank Realmuto, this statue was sculpted, erected and financed entirely by Virginians of Italian birth.

In the United States, Columbus Day is always celebrated on the second Monday in October. Virginia celebrates two legal holidays on the day, Columbus Day and Yorktown Victory Day, which honors the final victory at the Siege of Yorktown in the Revolutionary War.

Biking more, driving less around Richmond will be fun

Since I attended the City of Richmond’s Pedestrian, Bike and Trails Commission planning meeting a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been thinking more about my efforts to bike around town. I wrote a story for Richmond.com that summarizes the plan and safety concerns.

I recently wrote about my work commute and I’ve determined that under most circumstances, biking the 8.2-mile commute from Lakeside to the NBC12 studios by way of Lakeside Avenue/Hermitage Road/The Boulevard/Westover Hills Boulevard and Midlothian Turnpike is not going to work for me and my family.

We bike for fun, exercise and to cut out using gas. We want our children to grow up fit and with an open mind toward alternatives to automobiles. 

I own a trailer and a trail-a-bike attachments to make taking the kids along easier and safer. Now that they are getting big enough to bike on their own, the trailer is more often used as the hauler. When we go to the beach, that thing gets loaded down with as much as we can carry, because we try our best to not drive the car for short trips in the Outer Banks.

But, there are plenty of other ways I can continue to remove automobile trips from my/our routines and replace them with biking. The key to many of these working for me and my family is traffic and safety. There is occasionally a need to drive due to time constraints, but many of these short trips are actually faster by bike!

Bike trips already added, under 3 miles (weather permitting):

• Bryan Park (soccer, playgrounds, exploring)
• Dance class
• Lakeside Farmer’s Market (unless watermelons are in season)
• Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
• Lewis Ginter Recreation Association pool (longest trip)
• Sweet 95 or Kitchen 64 (rewards!)
• Hermitage Grill (open soon please)
• Richmond Volleyball Club
• Dumbarton Library (often)
• Dry cleaners
• Rowlett’s Bike Shop (unless my bike needs repair, purpose for visit)
• Brook Run Ukrop’s (with trailer attached, not worth trouble)

Bike trips considering, 3-5 miles (weather permitting):

• SCOR Richmond (indoor soccer)
• The Diamond (attend a couple of games a season)
• Children’s best friends houses
• Buzz N’ Ned’s
• Movieland (reflective gear and lights needed)
• Science Museum of Virginia
• Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
• Chiocca’s (an all-time favorite)
• Carytown (now we’re talking our family limit)
• The Byrd Theatre

Several of the shopping, museum, entertainment and dining options on this list are perfect for potential riders to consider. As Richmond encourages cyclists by developing more bike-friendly routes, adds more bike racks and signage, citizens and tourists need to step up with more efforts to add the enjoyment and adventure that comes with biking to our city’s best attractions.

I suggest that anyone else that is considering substituting automobile trips with bike trips make your own lists. Commit to cycling. Own the right safety equipment, including helmet, reflective gear, lights, locks, tire pumps, backpacks, baskets, etc. The only way you’ll make it a habit is if you tell yourself that the car is off-limits for short trips unless absolutely necessary.

Go to http://bit.ly/RVA-Ped-Bike-Trail-Survey to express your opinions and http://bit.ly/MPOBikePlan for more information.