Mayor Dwight C. Jones today announced members of his Steering Committee to advise him on the opening of the Washington Redskins’ Summer Training Camp in the city of Richmond, beginning in 2013.  The committee will look at the team’s criteria for a facility, existing state-of-the-art facilities, potential locations in the City, financing, and strategic partnerships. Members of the Steering Committee are: “There has been a tremendous response from the community about the Redskins’ summer training camp coming to Richmond in 2013,” said Mayor Jones, “Having the Redskins in Richmond builds on the great base of support in Central Virginia for the team, and it capitalizes on the city’s growing sports enthusiasm.  I want to thank those named to the Steering Committee today for their willingness to devote their time and energy to making this a reality!”   Bruce Allen, Executive Vice President and General Manager of The Washington Redskins, stated, “We appreciate all ...

On June 14, 2012, the City of Richmond successfully sold $248.2 million in bonds to include $101.3 million in continued funding for the City’s $500 million multi-year Capital Improvement Program (CIP). CIP projects include the construction of four new schools, a new Justice Center, street and sidewalk projects, and various other improvements to City buildings and infrastructure. In addition, $146.9 million of existing bonds will be refinanced at lower interest rates, producing $12.9 million in savings. The various series of bonds included $7.5 million of Qualified School Construction Bond proceeds issued at a net zero percent interest rate to finance a portion of the construction costs of the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School.     The nine firms of the underwriting team that sold the bonds was led by Citigroup, Wells Fargo and BB&T Capital Markets, and also included three minority-owned underwriting firms, Seibert Branford & Shank, Jackson Securities and ...

Beginning Monday, June 18 through Tuesday, June 26, 2012 at various times each day (schedule below) and weather permitting, the City of Richmond Department of Public Utilities will be performing its annual floodwall testing.  During the testing at the Mayo Bridge, the bridge will be closed to all forms of traffic including motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians. The following is a schedule of the dates and locations along the floodwall that testing will occur:   While floodwall testing is taking place, motorists will be detoured to adjoining streets.  Barricades and signs will be posted to alert motorists.   The City of Richmond Department of Public Utilities (DPU) is a premier provider of utility service.  DPU provides natural gas, water, wastewater and storm water utility services to more than 500,000 residential and commercial customers in the metropolitan region.  In addition, DPU operates an electric street lighting utility, whi...

Mayor Dwight C. Jones and Richmond City Council Vice President Ellen Robertson presented Love Your Block mini-grants to several neighborhood groups on Tuesday, June 12 at 11 a.m. in the City Hall 2nd floor large conference room at 900 East Broad Street. In January 2012, the City of Richmond’s Neighbor-To-Neighbor (N2N) Initiative was awarded a $10,000 grant from Service Nation, in partnership with the Home Depot Foundation, in the form of Home-Depot gift cards toward the implementation of a Love Your Block (LYB) program. By way of the LYB grant, the City will provide competitive mini-grants, in the form of a $500 Home Depot Gift Card, to neighborhood groups to purchase the supplies needed for their local project. Community groups may also coordinate with City Departments for services (as available) to support the effort. LYB grants encourage community groups to identify priority projects and develop volunteer-fueled solutions to: 1) Improve resident perception of safety, wi...

~Recommendations advocate for additional technological resources~ The Mayor’s Youth Academy Future Leaders Council presented Mayor Dwight C. Jones and Richmond City Council with three recommendations to improve city youth access to additional technological resources during today’s City Council Informal Session. The recommendations grew out of the Future Leaders Council work to develop a youth agenda for teens in the city of Richmond. The three technological recommendations were: 1) City recreation centers should be equipped with Wi-Fi hot spots where internet is accessible. With this improvement youth will be able to connect their laptops, iPads, and smart phone devices to the internet. 2) City public libraries should designate ten to fifteen computers with limitless time for research projects, research papers, filling out job applications, college admittance applications, and financial aid. 3) Richmond Public Schools should assign employees to come before and after...

Eleven recognized by city’s Economic and Community Development Department The city of Richmond’s Department of Economic and Community Development recognized local area businesses with an event titled  “City of Richmond Businesses – Worth Their Weight in Gold.”  The event was held on   June 7, 2012, at 7:30 a.m. in the ballroom of the newly renovated John Marshall and was held in honor of Business Appreciation Week as designated in Virginia for the week of June 4 - 8, 2012. Mayor Dwight C. Jones addressed award recipients at the breakfast event where businesses were recognized for their impact on job creation, business retention and attraction and investment fueling Richmond’s economy. “This event gives us an opportunity to provide collective and individual recognition of area businesses that have contributed greatly to the economic fabric of our city,” said Mayor Jones. “Richmond is home to an array of small businesses as well as Fortune 1000 companies,...

~Innovative plan to ensure that low-income students are reading on grade-level by the end of third grade picked from more than 100 applicants~ An ambitious plan to ensure that more city of Richmond children are reading at grade level by the end of third grade has been chosen as a finalist for the All-America City Award , sponsored each year by the National Civic League.   The plan was submitted by a community coalition that included Richmond Public Library Richmond Public Schools, the City of Richmond’s Early Childhood Development Initiative, and United Way of Greater Richmond and Petersburg. Other partners include Communities in Schools, RVA Promise Neighborhood, Children’s Museum of Richmond, and the Literacy Institute at VCU. Richmond is one of 32 finalists selected through a peer review process from a field of more than 100 entries across the country. Winners will be announced July 2 in Denver, Colorado. Beyond the award contest, Richmond’s plan makes the city a ch...