• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

RVA Mag

Richmond, VA Culture & Politics Since 2005

Menu RVA Mag Logo
  • NEWS
  • MUSIC
  • ART
  • POLITICS
  • EAT DRINK
  • PHOTO
  • WATCH
  • EVENTS
  • MAGAZINE
RVA Mag Logo
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contributors
  • Sponsors

“Elephant in the Room”: Community Advocates Discuss Race, Gentrification

VCU CNS | February 14, 2019

Topics: church hill, Duron Chavis, gentrification, Housing Opportunities Made Equal, Housing Virginia, Kinfolk Community Empowerment Center, Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, richmond

One of Shekinah Mitchell’s favorite memories in Richmond is walking out of her favorite corner store 10 years ago and serendipitously meeting the man who would become her husband.

Today, that corner store no longer exists.

Mitchell’s story is part of a larger pattern that policy experts said is becoming increasingly common in Richmond and around the nation: gentrification.

“Gentrification is not just physical displacement; it’s cultural displacement,” Mitchell said during a panel Friday afternoon. “In the same way we have to be vigilant in preserving housing that is affordable for all people in our community, we have to do the same with culture.”

Two seats away from her, Arthur Burton, the executive director of Kinfolk Community Empowerment Center, said gentrification is often discussed in a way to keep white people comfortable.

“We tend not to talk about the elephant in the room, and that’s the elephant of race,” Burton said.

According to an analysis by panel member Jonathan Knopf, with Housing Virginia, about 90 percent of households in the Church Hill area were black in 2000, including renters. By 2015, that number fell to about 70 percent.

While the number of black homeowners in Church Hill decreased by almost 25 percent in that same period, the number of white homeowners increased by nearly 160 percent.

Duron Chavis, the community engagement manager at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, said the trend is not new.

“The narrative of Virginia is one where some were given privilege over land and its use, while others were marginalized from its use,” Chavis said. He said displacement “is engrained in the very fabric of this country.”

When a wealthier person moves into a neighborhood and purchases a home at a higher price than its assessed value, Chavis explained, people already living in that area must now pay higher taxes on their homes.

For some families, Mitchell noted, the increasing home value is a wonderful thing, as having more equity can mean building wealth. But that’s not the case for everyone.

“In some cases, it can go from $200 to, maybe, $1,600 in taxes a year,” Chavis said. “If you as a homeowner become delinquent on your taxes, then you’re at threat of losing your home.”

For renters, as home values in an area increase, so does their monthly rent – until, sometimes, they can no longer afford to live there.

It’s a process that some people link to eviction.  

According to a report published in April, Richmond has one of the highest eviction rates in the nation. Research by VCU’s Center for Urban and Regional Analysis shows that eviction rates are higher in areas with a higher population of black residents. In fact, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney just introduced a pilot program to help combat high eviction rates. In a 2010 report, the Center for Responsible Lending found that black families also disproportionately lose their homes to foreclosures.

“It’s a modern-day land grab,” said Brian Koziol, the director of research and policy at Housing Opportunities Made Equal, a nonprofit advocacy group. “The result is the same: It took wealth and land from brown and black families.”

For Mitchell, a word that comes to mind when discussing gentrification is colonization. She read in a newspaper article years ago that a local housing official saw a need for urban pioneers – people who will move into areas considered distressed and pioneer to live there.

“A pioneer is someone who goes to an undiscovered place where nothing exists. But our communities are places that already have people and culture,” Mitchell said. “That mentality of coming in and not acknowledging what already exists, not acknowledging the culture in a community – it feels like colonization again.”

Words and Photos by Maryum Elnasseh, Capital News Service

Accusations Of Gentrification Surround Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club Renovation

George Copeland, Jr. | December 6, 2018

Topics: Captain Donald Dohmann, church hill, gentrification, Richmond city council, Sa'ad El-Amin, Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club, Venture Richmond

Deep in the heart of Church Hill, where cobblestone boulevards give way to single-letter street names, the local Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club is in the midst of extensive renovation and expansion, a process that critics say comes at the expense of the area’s black community.

“This is textbook gentrification at it’s best. Anyone that disagrees has a motive that does not consider the impacted community members and legacy of Church Hill and the club,” said Lorraine Wright. Wright used to serve on the advisory board for the club, spearheading youth development workshops and a debate team within the organization, which she says suffered from poor conditions and unusable areas long before 2018. Most recently, the club’s services have moved into a single open space at the Franklin Military Academy while the club’s facility undergoes a year-long, $6.1 million renovation that will herald a shift in the club’s focus toward education, health, and fitness.

Wright brought increased attention to the club’s changes in a Facebook video condemning the firing of longtime club employees Dorothy J. Crenshaw and LaWanda Rowe, formerly the club’s program director (26 years) and administrative assistant to the director (38 years) respectively. The firing occurred with no notification given to the advisory board, and led to two separate work complaints being filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, with help from former Richmond City Council member Sa’ad El-Amin.

Those complaints were eventually denied, however, and Crenshaw and Rowe have both shifted their focus on to other pressing matters in their lives, according to Wright. This marks the latest development in a still-contentious issue, one that Wright sees as a deliberate effort to draw wealthier new residents into the area, at the expense of long-term residents and underrepresented citizens and without the purview or input of the community or those meant to give guidance on the club’s direction.

“I would really propose that this is strategic,” Wright said. “Every single step and everything that’s happened is absolutely intentional. And that’s our concern.”

Despite the club’s name, the Boys and Girls Club of America are involved very little in its operation, leaving the Salvation Army, and local leader Captain Donald Dohmann, to determine its future. For Dohmann, that means leaving any legal challenges to the organization’s lawyers, after what he says have been repeated attempts to reach a compromise with Crenshaw, Rowe and Wright, with no success.

“The only thing I can share with you at this point is that everything has been turned over to our legal department,” Dohmann said. “We feel that we have made good resolve on meeting the individuals and unfortunately, there are some individuals that have not accepted that offer. But we’re moving forward.”

Wright disputes Dohmann’s interpretation of the events leading up to the complaint filings, which she and Rowe have described as being much more dismissive of the former employees’ contributions. They also disagree on a proposed raise of pool fees from $15 annually to $20 monthly, which Wright says was only removed after community pushback, and Dohmann contends was never part of the renovation plans.

Regardless of the complaints’ dismissal, the conflict over the club’s future could have a potentially wider effect on Richmond society, as El-Amin and Wright have discussed introducing ordinances to the City Council that would put “a moratorium on increases in taxes” and restrict how much properties in areas undergoing gentrification can be improved, as a way of mitigating or stopping the impact that rising property values can have on long-time residents with lower incomes.

“We have to be diligent, we have to vigilant and we have to be proactive,” said El-Amin, who recently criticized Venture Richmond’s new ownership of the 2nd Street Festival as part of a conscious effort “to put Jackson Ward on the path of gentrification” in an October opinion piece in the Richmond Free Press. This along with the club’s renovation contributes, in El-Amin’s estimation, to “the complete annihilation of the African-American community as we know it.”

“It already happened in Church Hill,” El-Amin said. “It’s happening in Jackson Ward, it’s happening in Barton Heights, it’s happening everywhere. It is lethal to the black community, and we have to stop it by whatever means are necessary — legislation and whatever else comes up.”

Wright, for her part, expressed her intent to reach out to Councilman Parker Agelasto, formerly of the 5th District, “to discuss his potential support of the ordinance proposals, prior to his term expiration.” She also affirmed her commitment to establishing a community board for the club, made up of and controlled by indigenous or long-term Church Hill area residents. This proposed board would potentially allow Crenshaw and Rowe to continue serving Union Hill’s community, in a space distanced from the organization through which they did that same work for decades.

“For Ms. Rowe and Ms. Crenshaw, they don’t want to go back to the club, they feel so disrespected,” Wright said. “But it’s those kids, and you can even tell every single time I speak to them.”

“They’re talking about the kids. They’re not even talking about themselves, they’re talking about the kids.”

Photo by George Copeland

Best OF RVA Missed Connections: October 2 – October 8

RVA Staff | October 9, 2018

Topics: Chicago, church hill, Cracker Barrel, Fredericksburg, Innsbrook, LA, missed connections, Mustaches, richmond, travel

Is there anything more alluring than the thrill of traveling: the precipice of stepping into the unknown, the enchantment of far away lands, the freedom of an open road? Or just having some stranger at an airport of a roadside rest stop eyeball you up and down like a travel-sized toothpaste? Well, if that’s your bag, then this week’s Missed Connections are right there with you.

From saucy domestic flights with mustachio’d men, road-side encounters at rest-stops, and dashing encounters at a highway Cracker Barrel, there is a little something in here for every discerning adult looking for love.

As Shakespeare once said, “Speak low if you speak love.” Get amongst it, Richmond.

Cute Blonde in the Green Shirt: Michael’s on Midlo Tnpk

I commented on one of your tattoos, would love to have a cuppa with you. Interested? Reply with the tattoo I commented on.

Cracker Barrel – 10/7, 6:30 pm, patron, W, 65+ (Mayland Ct) 

You were consuming your pancakes and we engaged in conversation twice.

Once, about a childhood game of yours displayed on the wall. Another, about your prior days of competitive athleticism. 

The staff said you’ve been frequenting that establishment for many years, and they all appeared to know you.

In the end, I really enjoyed your conversation about various things of yesteryear.

I wouldn’t mind chatting again sometime?

Walking a little Black Puppy: Church Hill 

You were [walking] your puppy, I was looking for my pets. Just want to tell you, thank you for looking with me. I did find them, they were in the basement on the pool table, they never come in the house, weird. But thank you

Old Dominion Concert: Innsbrook

You were the tall blonde with glasses and (I think white shorts). We stared at each other every time we walked by (tall guy).

My friend got sick right as I was about to come over and say hi.

Maybe send me a pic or your name and i’ll find you on FB?

La to Dulles to Richmond / Mustache Man

you – young guy with a mustache that came from LAX to Dulles then to Richmond. we made eyes a couple times on the flight to Dulles. i was thrilled to see you on my flight to Richmond. you were wearing a maroon shirt and were really cute. 

me – young brunette in a multicolored sweatshirt that smiled at you 

if you’re my mustached man – what item were you carrying on the flight to Richmond?

Rest Stop 95S to 85S: Rest Stop Fredericksburg 

I saw you at a rest stop on 95S near Fredericksburg. We made eyes. I followed you back onto 95S, we weaved our way through Richmond and then onto 85S. Totally road flirting! You pulled off into a rest stop I didn’t see and missed. 

I was driving a beautiful gray Jeep with a Capitals decal on the back. My hair is strawberry blonde.

Flight from Chicago to Richmond 

We sat next to each other waiting on our flight from Chicago to Richmond, love your smile, you caught me few time[s] looking at this beautiful face. Wish I can see you again!

Soul N’ Vinegar Comes to Church Hill and Waffles & Milkshakes Head For Manchester

Amy David | July 27, 2018

Topics: Brewer's Cafe, Brewer's Waffles & Milkshakes, church hill, EAT DRINK, GOOD EATS RVA, manchester, RVA dine, rva food, rva waffles, Soul N' Vinegar, to go market

These stories originally appeared in GOOD EATS RVA in RVA #33 Summer 2018. You can check out the issue here, or pick it up around Richmond now. 

This summer, Michelle Parrish is hoping to serve busy working families in the Church Hill community more affordable and nutritious options. Her forthcoming grab and go food shop, Soul N’ Vinegar, will open in the former Ruth’s Beauty Shop spot on R Street, selling vegetarian, gluten-free, and other healthy lunch and dinner options, along with beer and wine.

Residents can expect a variety of packaged to-go meals and sides, from octopus salad to pickled veggies, homemade salsa verde, vegetarian curries, and mac and cheese.  

Image may contain: food
Vegan falafel bowl with roasted sweet potato, cabbage cucumber slaw, couscous, whipped avocado, and lime

“A lot of the meals will be microwavable, and some will be ready to eat, such as salads and sandwiches,” Parrish said. “It’s right in the middle of a residential neighborhood. It’s meant to be for people who don’t necessarily need a place to eat, they just need food.”

Originally from Massachusetts, when Parrish moved to Church Hill a couple of years ago she wasn’t aware of the food deserts that plague certain areas of the city.

“I didn’t know about the other side of Richmond, where people don’t have access to fresh food [and] the majority of the population is living below the poverty level,” she said. “I was like, this doesn’t make any sense. Richmond’s supposed to be this huge food town, but all of the options are in the same category.”

Image may contain: food

Living only a couple of blocks away from the shop, she said she felt a calling to it while she was earning her business degree at J Sarge last year. With the urge to revive the shuttered building and offer Church Hill residents affordable fresh food, she enrolled in a free business course through the Office of Minority Business Development.  

After that, she decided to focus all her efforts on getting Soul N’ Vinegar up and running. She took a semester off and applied for funding through LISC and Bon Secours’ SEED grant program, which strives to jumpstart small Church Hill businesses. Parrish was awarded $20,000, which gave her the boost she needed to launch the market.

“Up until that point, everything was a daydream,” she said.

About 80 percent of the food at Soul N’ Vinegar will be vegetarian, keeping costs low to cater to a wide range of people in that community.  

“The goal is to keep as many of the entrees under $10 [as possible],” she said. “There will always be a $5 meal, and I will accept EBT cards so people who use that have access to fresh options. There are a lot of people that are in the area, a lot of older people that have dietary restrictions. I just wanted to have something that was different.”

Prior to leasing her space, Parrish held pop up events at Sub Rosa and catered for local companies, offering boxed lunches and other snacks including deviled eggs, pimento cheese sliders, smoked chicken salad, and honey cake with candied orange. She plans to continue the catering after the market opens.

Parrish said there will seating for six inside, but she will expand with a 15-seat patio after they open sometime this summer.

Editor’s Note: Soul N’ Vinegar has opened since RVA Magazine went to press. 

Brewer’s Waffles & Milkshakes

The owner of Manchester coffee shop Brewer’s Café will open a spot this fall just down the road from his Bainbridge Street location for those with a sweet tooth. 

Leasing two spaces at 1309 and 1311 Hull St., Ajay Brewer will not only serve up waffles, alcoholic milkshakes, and lunch fare at his new place, Brewer’s Waffles & Milkshakes, but also will use one half of the building as an art gallery. 

Plans didn’t get cooking for the shop until a few months ago, but expansion has been churning in Brewer’s mind since last summer.

“I always wanted to have waffles or pancakes in my shop [and] couldn’t,” he said. “We would bring people to make waffles in the shop, but that was just an ongoing thing, it wasn’t that pressing.”

Brewer and his son

The café owner and former stockbroker, who opened his shop about three years ago, has played a significant role in bringing people to the neighborhood, launching the monthly Manchester Manifest on first Fridays and drawing in customers recently with “Wu-Tang Sandwich Week.” The proceeds from this collaboration with Wu-Tang Clan members to create some of their favorite sandwiches went to benefit Richmond Public Schools.

“The whole idea is to create a community right here where we live in Southside. Doing what I can to make this population better. I truly feel like we can change the world, we just have to start with these communities,” Brewer said.

Community was also a big part of the appeal to open Brewer’s Waffles & Milkshakes. “You think about a city environment — a lot of millennials, a lot of folks who want to be out and about,” he explained. “What do they want to be doing? Where do they want to eat at night time?”

Brewer said plans for the new shop came together rather smoothly. “I got a call from the landlord a couple of months ago, he wanted to lease the space. He was like, ‘You can have both spaces if you want it, we just really want to get this café idea out,’” he said.  

Image may contain: coffee cup and drink
Photo Courtesy of Brewer’s Cafe

James Harris, an investor in Brewer’s Café, was also looking to dive into his next venture. “He was itching to do something else, he has several businesses and all that came to me around the same time so what would we do became the question,” he said.

Brewer said they threw around different ideas for the Hull Street location such as a biscuit restaurant, ice cream shop, even burgers, but ultimately, he knew he wanted to serve the fluffy, golden brown treat.  

The menu is in the beginning stages, but Brewer plans to have savory dishes like chicken & waffles and waffle sandwiches that come with sausage, along with a toppings bar with strawberries and other sweeter options. To satisfy the lunch crowd, the shop will also serve sandwiches and salads, with vegetarian and gluten-free options.

Sodas from Union Hill’s Roaring Pines are also on the menu, as well as alcoholic milkshakes, so whether you’re an early riser or a night owl who likes their midnight munchies, Brewer’s forthcoming spot plans to cater to everyone.

As for the art gallery, the spaces will be connected so patrons can walk between the two, and Brewer hopes to showcase art from near and far.

“Personally, I’m an art lover. I’m not really pretending this is something that interests me,” he said. “This space, obviously I’m going to open up for locals too, but I would hope to attract regional, national, and international artists. I’d love for the art space to be an attraction that brings in talent across the world.” His goal is to host exhibits and other gallery openings once he reaches out to community artists.

Brewer’s Waffles & Milkshakes will open sometime in September, operating from 7 am to 2 am seven days a week.

Fighting Gentrification: A New Tool In Richmond’s Arsenal

Wyatt Gordon | April 23, 2018

Topics: church hill, gentrification, Habitat For Humanity, Jackson Ward, Maggie Walker Land Trust, Richmond Association of Realtor, Richmond city council

A few years ago Scott’s Addition was a largely forgotten industrial neighborhood only the savviest Richmonders knew to be good for lunch or a milkshake. Since then the countless breweries, lofts, and coworking spaces that have sprouted up transformed Scott’s Addition into the epicenter of the city, Richmond’s hip, forward-thinking vision for itself.

Richmond has seen a version of this story before with Tobacco Row and the Canal Walk; however, the city’s vast supply of vacant former industrial space is a thing of the past. Richmond’s most enticing empty spaces have been filled, and now gentrification is spilling over into affordable—and predominantly black—neighborhoods like Jackson Ward and North Church Hill.

Rising costs and stagnant wages combined with gentrification are fueling the American eviction crisis, an epidemic that has been keenly felt in Richmond and across the Commonwealth.

After a conversation with Councilwoman Cynthia Newbille over how to help combat the problem, Laura Lafayette, CEO of the Richmond Association of Realtors, founded the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust, named after a local hero who was the first woman to charter a bank in the United States, in 2016.

The program enables prospective homeowners to buy property without paying for the land it sits on; the land remains in the hands of the trust in perpetuity. This means home buyers only need to finance the cost of the house, thus vastly reducing the size of the loan needed and creating access for buyers with less financial power.

Land trusts serve as the solution for one of two problems depending on the market they’re operating in: Gentrification or neighborhood destabilization. “In a few years the only affordable options in Church Hill and the East End may be land trust homes,” worries Nikki D’Adamo-Damery, coordinator for the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust. Along Chesterfield’s North Jeff Davis corridor a land trust could help people into vacant homes and tie them to those communities.

Recent legislation from City Council deemed the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust Richmond’s official “land bank,” giving it the further ability to receive and repurpose vacant, abandoned, and foreclosed properties. If the city were to forsake auctioning off such blighted properties to private developers and instead give them to the land trust, then Richmond’s newest tool in its affordability arsenal would have a lot more firepower.

The land trust sold their first house last November and is partnering with Habitat for Humanity on three experimental homes in the Randolph neighborhood that would go to families making less than 80% of our area’s average median income. When asked about the land trust’s future D’Adamo-Damery mused, “Whether we have 50 homes, 500 homes or 5,000 homes we can make affordable will depend on the support we have from the city, the public, and the private sector.”

“Les Boulefrogs” Bring A Provençal Pastime to Church Hill

David Streever | April 11, 2018

Topics: chimborazo park, church hill, les boulefrogs, petanque

It’s a beautiful early spring afternoon, and members of Les Boulesfrogs, Church Hill’s only pétanque club, are gathered at Chimborazo Park. Nineteen members and three newcomers, including this reporter, are here to play the bocce-like French game, where teams take turns launching steel boules at a small wooden ball called the cochonnet (“piglet”).

“Pétanque is Provence patois for both feet together,” club president and founder Richard Taranto tells me when I first arrive, walking me through the rules. He’s playing opposite John and Benedict Whitworth, a married couple originally from England and France respectively, who joined the group when Taranto and his wife, Kirsten, founded it in 2005.

John and Benedict Whitworth

As Taranto takes his turn, John and I note some of the differences from bocce: Pétanque is more of a throwing game than a bowling game, the boules in pétanque are smaller, and as I saw upon arriving, nearly half the players here are women, unlike the male-dominated bocce courts of my native New England. “That’s the great thing about pétanque,” he replies. “Anyone can play it. You’ll see men, women, people of all ages. The women are usually better than the men.”

He also points out the lack of physical restrictions, something pétanque shares with bocce. Although she’s not present today, one member, Sheila Luellen, plays from her wheelchair.

On this Saturday, ages range from a 28-year-old to a few people “in their 80s,” said Taranto when I ask him after his turn. Their youngest dues-paying member–dues are $30 per year, split evenly between insurance and equipment purchases–is 20, but currently off at college.

“We haven’t had to use it, but it’s a good idea,” Benedict said about the insurance, noting that this spot in Chimborazo is an active area for families, dog walkers, and others. Near the intersection of East Grace and North 29th streets, the eight courts are adjacent to a popular basketball court and a small play area.

After a bit of reassurance, I’m pulled in to play a game myself, convinced by John, who said it’s a mixture of skill and luck. Players self-organizing as pointers or shooters; the latter try to position their boules near the cochonnet while the former knock their opponents’ boules away. As a rookie who doesn’t really know the difference, I line up with the pointers and join team sorting by throwing a borrowed boule at a cochonnet.

My boule is closest to John’s, so by a stroke of luck, I’m paired up with the British shooter and, in my opinion, pétanque shark.

The reporter, captured by John Whitworth

Amid friendly ribbing from our opponents, we talk strategy and basic rules. I need to land more of my three boules closer to the cochonnet than our opponents do; John on his turn will choose between knocking out their boules or trying to score alongside mine. Rounds end with scoring after all boules are thrown, with a simple system familiar to anyone who’s watched curling. Only the leading team scores in a round, gaining one point per boule closer to the cochonnet than the closest boule of the losing team.

Just as in curling, measuring is part of the game. It’s not always possible to tell by sight alone which boule is closest. “If there is ever a question, we always measure, and we always take the word of the measurer,” John said.

Taranto checking closeness

For a first game, it couldn’t go better. After giving me a do-over on my first round (not normally allowed), we win almost every successive one. Whichever team wins begins the next round by throwing out the cochonnet to establish the target for each team’s six boules.
We win 13 to 2, making for a short game of only eight rounds. Hypothetically, a game can be as short as three and as many as twenty-five rounds. Basking in glory, I head over to the snack table, where members are eating peanuts during a mid-game social break.

Many of the players were exposed to the game overseas, like Mark Rankin, a French teacher at George H. Moody Middle School in Henrico. “I first saw it when I was living in France,” he said, talking about a few years when he taught English overseas. He teaches his students how to play now, too, and some stick with the game outside of the classroom.

For another player, newcomer Todd Van Gordon, the introduction to boules games came while living in Venezuela, where he played bolas criollas. “We played on rough ground there, which makes it very interesting,” he said. This club used to play on rough ground too, said Rankin, on a few of the back alleys, but they built the courts in Chimborazo several years ago in partnership with the city of Richmond. Van Gordon first found Les Boules Frogs by chance, as many do, while walking his dog through Chimborazo park, and then joined after meeting some players at a neighborhood gathering.

That’s essentially the recruitment strategy. Although not here today, Kirsten was my introduction to the club, striking up a friendly conversation with me at the downtown YMCA where I was covering another story and inviting me to come out and play. The couple played in a club up in Northern Virginia before they moved here in 2005 and sought to recreate the experience here partially as a way to meet people and make friends in their new home. By any metric, it was a success; from a blurb in the Church Hill Newsletter that brought out ten neighbors, they’ve grown to a club of some fifty regular members. It’s the only club in the region, and shares some members with the local Alliance Française chapter, but you don’t need to be a francophone to join.

Games are held twice each week on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 PM and Thursday evening at 6:00 PM. Although they play year-round, they won’t play in the face of rain, snow, and extreme cold, Taranto said, adding, “It’s too cold to play if your tongue freezes to the ball.”

Whether you’re looking for a new hobby or just want to enjoy some of this lovely spring weather, you won’t go wrong with the friendly folks at Les Boulesfrogs of Church Hill.

  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • ⟩

sidebar

sidebar-alt