Mayor Dwight Jones and Thomas Wilds, President of the Church Hill Association joined in opening 23rd Street between Grace and Franklin streets and marking the completion of the 23rd Street cobblestone restoration project today. The following are Mayor Jones prepared remarks. Good afternoon and thank you all for joining us here today. I would like to acknowledge Cynthia Newbille, the Richmond City Councilperson for the East End 7th District. Unfortunately, she is not able to join us today, but I want to point out that she has been a strong advocate for this restoration project. (Her liaison Sam Patterson will be at the event) Knowing her excitement for this area I am certain she would say - This is a great day in the City of Richmond and especially the East End as we mark the completion of the 23rd Street cobble restoration and officially re-open this street! I would like to thank our Department of Public Works, our contractors and sub-contractors for a job well done. And I would li...

Mayor Dwight C. Jones announced a new measure to advance transparency by launching the City's new Open Data Portal, accessible at data.richmondgov.com . The Open Data Portal features tools which allow users to combine data sets to build their own views of information. The portal includes several data sets such as the City’s payment register, real estate assessments, community survey data, neighborhood statistics, motor vehicle accident information and much more. The data sets are organized into the City's focus areas of Unique, Healthy and Inclusive Neighborhoods and Communities; Economic Growth; Community Safety and Well-Being; Transportation; Education and Workforce Development; Sustainability and the Natural Environment; Well Managed Government. “We are making this data available to advance transparency in government,” said Mayor Jones. “This online research tool will provide residents with information to help them understand how public money is being spent.” The Payme...