The Richmond Voice, going out into the neighborhood, has found black business owners in the Jackson Ward area are generally supportive of the Downtown Plan so far. The article quotes one anonymous business owner saying that he did not find anything controversial in the plan and that is the reason for him not attending the meetings, another says “it will be great”, and a third says “it’s well deserved and I hope that all taxpayers in the city will be able to take advantage of it”.

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Capital One and RRHA will be hosting an open house at recently restored 308 West Leigh Street on Saturday, June 21 from 11AM-2PM. City employees can qualify for up to $80,000 in special financing to buy this home. There are also grants of up to $25,000 for other homes in the area. (event flyer)

ChildSavers of Richmond/Memorial Child Guidance Clinic (MCGC) is partnering with the Tuskegee Airmen Motorcycle Club of Virginia to sponsor the Third Annual Ride for ChildSavers on Saturday, May 31. This benefit to help ChildSavers bring hope and healing to Richmond’s children will roll through Gilpin at about 10:40AM, and then through Gilpin and Mosby to end at Chimborazo Park at about 11:00AM. Check out a photo set from last year’s ride.

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Following yesterday’s look at the at the “quiet renaissance” in Jackson Ward and just in time for Broad Appetit, the RTD’s Broad St. is taking a right turn gives some good words to an area that has seen better (and worse) days:

Now, investment dollars are also trickling into a stretch in the middle — roughly from Jefferson to 4th streets. City officials haven’t attempted to quantify the investments along Broad Street but they easily exceed $1 billion.

Kevin W. Korda said his home-renovations store, Renovation Resources, could have landed in Carytown or Short Pump, but it settled at 18 West Broad St. because of the area’s artsy, eclectic mix.

“I liked the idea of developing the urban atmosphere down here,” he said. “It was really just a diamond in the rough. . . . I saw this revitalization happening here, I just wanted to be part of it.”

The RTD is reporting that Walker Row Partnership has a line on getting a blues club and 2 restaurants into the historically decrepit Hippodrome. City Council President William J. Pantele says that he’s seen a letter of intent to put a blues club in the Hippodrome and has asked the council to come up with $600,000 to help finance the project. Ronald Stallings of Walker Row Partnership was recently named 2008 Real Estate Visionary of the Year by the Richmond Real Estate Group.

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RRHA held a public hearing on their proposed 2008 Agency Plan this evening at the Calhoun Center in Gilpin Court. The agency presented their plan to “change the face of public housing”, described the budget challenges that they face, and took heat from residents and advocates on the RRHA’s innability to promise a one-to-one replacement of any housing units sold or demolished.

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Two unidentified teens, ages 14 qnd 15 years old, have been arrested in a series of armed robberies along the VCU & Broad Street corridor over the past few days. A police representative quoted in the RTD said the teens also face “numerous other pending charges”, including a robbery last Sunday at Clay and Adams Streets. [via]

RRHA is offering the opportunity to own the under-renovation 1,600-square-foot, three-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath home at 308 W. Leigh St. with up to $80,000 in assistance in the form of a forgivable loan (funded by Capital One). To qualify to purchase, the buyer must be a full-time city of Richmond employee (including law-enforcement officers, pre-k through 12th-grade teachers, or firefighters/emergency medical technicians). An open house is scheduled for this Saturday from 10AM to 1PM. [via]

cbs6 is reporting that a body was found behind a house at the corner of Catherine and Kinney Streets.

Lucy Goode Brooks, the former slave who founded the Friends Asylum for Colored Orphans in 1871 will be honored tomorrow with a new historical marker at Charity and St. Paul Streets. [via]

The regular meeting of the Public Safety Committee of City Council will be moved to the Renaissance Conference Center (107 West Broad Street) on Monday, 3/17 @ 3PM. On the agenda for the meeting are: 1) the need for greater police presence along Broad Street, 2) the need to remove prostitutes, panhandlers, and drug dealers from the area, and 3) the need to improve trash pick-up and interrupted street lighting. This meeting is open to the public; anyone who has an interest in effective and on-going downtown Richmond revitalization is encouraged to attend. [via]

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Does it have a bright green “gator” bag like this one attached to it? If so, please fill it once a week — and maybe even talk with your neighbors about helping you. (The fill-up slot is underneath the label at the top of the bag.) These bags are important to the survival of the small trees — over 50% of new trees fail because of lack of water, and rainfall is short this winter. [via]