“Pandemic-era budget” level-funds key services, invests in Marcus Alert, proposes competitive compensation for employees Today, Mayor Levar M. Stoney and administration leadership presented the proposed FY22 budget to Richmond City Council. Despite municipal revenues projected to be nearly $18.5 million less than revenues in last year’s FY21 proposed budget (when excluding one-time funding sources from both fiscal years), the $770.3 million proposal is balanced, with expenses in line with current revenue projections. “The difficult decisions we had to make reflect the extraordinarily challenging economic times we’re in, and while this budget is limited in its ability to provide for new programming, it does protect the work we’ve started to make our city more equitable,” said Mayor Stoney. “Facing the need to do more with significantly less challenged us to look even more closely at how we can allocate the resources we have to produce better results for Richmonders.” With proposed utili...

FY22-26 Capital Improvement Plan proposes significant investments in Enslaved African Heritage Campus, school modernization, vital city infrastructure At the March 4 meeting of the Richmond Planning Commission, the administration presented Mayor Stoney’s FY2022-2026 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), which proposes significant investments in key priority areas like modern schools, safe city infrastructure and the appropriate commemoration of historic spaces.   The plan proposes the following investments: ·            $28 million for the  Enslaved African Heritage Campus  over the course of five years, which is in addition to a recent allocation of up to $8.6 million, totaling nearly $37 million in future investment; ·            $200 million for  school modernization  in FY24, including proposed funds for a new George Wythe High School; ·       ...

$325 million redevelopment project moves forward   Richmond City Council approved three Ordinances introduced by the Stoney Administration for the sale and redevelopment of the site of the of the existing Public Safety Building.  The city is selling the 3-acre property to Capital City Partners, LLC for $3,520,456 who will then redevelop the site into a $325 million mixed-use project anchored by VCU Health System, The Doorways, and Ronald McDonald House Charities. The negotiated sales price takes into account the developer’s responsibility to demolish the existing building and build public infrastructure that includes reconstructing Clay Street between 9th and 10th Streets. “The sale and redevelopment of the Public Safety Building site is a critical first step to improving downtown,” said Mayor Levar Stoney.  “My Administration was glad to work with City Council and Capital City Partners, LLC to create this great win for Richmond.  The project will aid minority busine...

Community engagement process outlined ; project summaries posted here The Stoney Administration has formally announced the six responders and respective sites for the Richmond Resort Casino RFQ/P:   Responder Site / Location Bally’s Corporation Chippenham Parkway & Powhite Parkway (Parkway Crossing) Golden Nugget Chippenham  Parkway & Powhite Parkway (Parkway Crossing) ONE Resort & Casino Walmsley Boulevard & I-95 (Phillip Morris Operations Center) Pamunkey Indian Tribe & Reservation 5000 & 5050 Commerce Road The Cordish Companies 1301 North Arthur Ashe Boulevard Wind Creek Hospitality 1401 Commerce Road   The City has also published the community engagement plan below for the project.    The first virtual meeting will be held on March 9, 2021.   Convergence Strategy Group, hired by the city’s Economic Development Authority to assist in the evaluation of the proposals, will present their analysis of the resort casino market opportuni...

Department of Public Works crews will begin replacing street signs on the stretch of U.S. Route 1 running through the City of Richmond, reflecting the renaming of Jefferson Davis Highway to “Richmond Highway.”   The change, which was approved in an ordinance co-sponsored by Mayor Stoney and Richmond City Council last summer will involve the replacement of 98 signs, at a cost of approximately $45,000. It will take approximately one month to complete.     It is the most significant road renaming project undertaken by the city since 2019, when Boulevard was renamed Arthur Ashe Boulevard in honor of the Richmond-born tennis legend. The change is just the latest step taken by the Stoney administration and city council to move Richmond forward by dismantling racist symbols of the city’s confederate past and to celebrate its 21 st   century values of unity, equity and inclusion.      “This is more than a symbolic change to a highway sign.  It’s real proo...

The Department of Finance will not be able to receive payments at the East District Center from Friday, February 26 to Friday, March 5 due to staffing-related challenges.     Residents will still be able to drop off payments in person at City Hall and Southside Plaza building. There is also a drop box at the East District Center that will remain operational.    Please call 804-646- 1998 or email  Finance@richmondgov.com   for questions about making payments to the Department of Finance.  ##

Residents can explore and offer feedback on the agenda at www.rva.gov/rvaequity At his weekly briefing today, Mayor Stoney introduced the city’s draft Equity Agenda, a foundational document that will serve as the roadmap toward a more inclusive and thriving Richmond.   The Equity Agenda offers the city’s definition of equity: the empowerment of communities that have experienced past injustices by removing barriers to access and opportunity. It also acknowledges the harms perpetrated against people of color and other persecuted groups by city government in years past.   “Unity cannot come without healing, and healing cannot come without action,” said Mayor Stoney. “This document acknowledges the immense pain the city has caused people of color throughout the course of Richmond’s history, but it also lays the groundwork for the action needed to truly recover from that trauma.”   The agenda is comprised of ten broad goals, policy buckets that contain more detailed plans for ...