For a quarter century Richmond has been recognized annually with the designation of “Tree City USA” by the Arbor Day Foundation. Richmond is one of 54 cities and counties in the Commonwealth being honored for the 2015 calendar year. The designation comes just as Arbor Day celebrations are approaching on April 29.  During each of the past 25 years the City has met the requirements for the designation, which include: a tree board or department, a tree-care ordinance, an annual community forestry budget at least $2 per capita and an Arbor Day observance and proclamation. According to the Arbor Day Foundation website, “The Tree City USA program provides direction, assistance and national recognition for your community. It’s the framework for a healthy, sustainable urban forestry program in your town. And the benefits are substantial.” There are approximately 80,000 public trees on City-owned properties. They are maintained by certified arborists in the Urban Forestry Division (UFD). Mayor

Mayor Dwight C. Jones and City of Richmond Public Safety agencies have joined with the PulsePoint Foundation to bring life-saving technology to the city through PulsePoint, a mobile app designed to increase public awareness of cardiac events beyond a traditional “witnessed” area and engage them in potentially life-saving CPR. With the launch of a new smartphone application, saving lives and preventing catastrophic injuries is now just a click away. The PulsePoint Respond smartphone application, or app, is currently active throughout the City of Richmond. This free app, available on Android and Apple platforms, notifies residents and off-duty professionals who are trained in CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and are willing to assist in the event of an emergency. With location-aware software linked to the 911 system, PulsePoint Respond notifies registered users when someone may be in need of CPR in a nearby public place. If the app user responds to the alert, they are given further i

The City, in cooperation with GRTC Transit System, wants to involve residents in balancing the city’s many transit goals and needs. Implementation of Bus Rapid Transit – GRTC Pulse – has created new enthusiasm for transit in the city, and raises important questions about how the rest of the transit routes can best serve the city once the Pulse begins operations. The City invites residents, businesses and stakeholders to a series of public meetings that will be the first of three phases of outreach as part of the Richmond Transit Network Plan. This plan will analyze the current bus routes and ask the public to weigh tradeoffs in how transit could serve the city. In future phases, the study team will develop a range of route options for the city’s bus routes and seek feedback from the community on those route options. The result of the technical assessment and community process will be a Transit Network Plan for the City of Richmond that will provide recommendations on the city’s bus

The Council for Responsible Sport presented Mayor Dwight C. Jones, City officials, and partners with the Gold Level Certification today for their sustainability efforts for the 2015 UCI Road World Championships. The Council for Responsible Sport event certification is based on an objective verification of the event’s actual performance in key areas of social and environmental responsibility. Gold certification is the second highest level of certification available. The City of Richmond and partners met or exceeded all of their sustainability goals for the event, passed an on-site validation process and submitted documentation to receive a total of 48 out of 61 available credits in the areas of planning, procurement, resource management, access and equity and community legacy. “I commend Mayor Jones, the City of Richmond, the event management team and partners for their significant achievement. Hosting such a large event and doing so in a socially and environmentally responsible way re