Donald McEachin Archives

Data Shows That Mail In Richmond Often Arrives Late

VCU CNS | November 14, 2019

Topics: Donald McEachin, mail in Richmond, slow mail delivery, United States Postal Service

Richmond has the third-slowest mail delivery rate of any United States metro area. But if you live here, you already know that.

Rachel Westfall, who lives in Richmond’s Jackson Ward neighborhood, says her mail service has always been hit or miss. But since April, there have been a lot more misses.

“My personal property tax check apparently never made it to City Hall, even though I mailed it at the beginning of April, two months before the due date,” Westfall said.

Her complaint is a common one in the Richmond area, which has some of the worst mail delivery in the country, according to data from the U.S. Postal Service. Last spring, less than 84 percent of the region’s first-class mail was delivered on time. Only two service areas in the U.S. had a worse on-time delivery rate.

According to the Postal Service, single-piece first-class mail service is the least expensive and fastest option for mailing items such as postcards, letters and large flat envelopes. Delivery time is measured from the collection box drop point to delivery.

Every quarter, the service posts on its website data showing what percentage of first-class mail arrives on time in each of its service districts.

One measure looks at mail that is supposed to arrive within three to five days. On that metric, the Richmond area has been below the national average since the summer of 2017.

For example, between April and June of this year, 86.5 percent of the mail nationwide arrived on time, the latest quarterly performance report shows. But for the Richmond area, the figure was 83.8 percent. Only two service areas in the U.S. — both in New York City — had on-time delivery rates lower than Richmond’s.

The Richmond area’s worst quarter in recent years was October through December of 2018, when less than 66 percent of the mail that was supposed to be delivered in three to five days arrived on time. That was a difficult quarter throughout the country for the Postal Service: The nationwide on-time delivery rate for that period was just over 72 percent.

The Postal Service also measures on-time delivery for mail that ought to arrive in two days. On that yardstick, too, the Richmond area is usually below the national average.

Between April and June, for example, about 92 percent of two-day mail in the Richmond area arrived on time, the Postal Service’s data showed. Nationwide, the figure was about 94 percent.

The Postal Service’s target is to deliver 96.5 percent of two-day mail and 95.3 percent of three- to five-day mail on time. The service set those targets in 2014, but has never met them.

The Postal Service’s media relations staff did not respond to several requests for comment about the performance data.

Mail delivery depends on several factors. Mistakes during sorting can occur at the post office by machines or clerks. Moreover, mail carriers may have more than 1,000 addresses per route.

On social networks such as Nextdoor.com, many Richmond-area residents have complained about poor mail service.

“We constantly get mail in our box with someone else’s address on it — several times a week. A few months ago, I even got some poor person’s medication delivered to me by mistake. I had to carry it several blocks to the proper recipient,” a resident of Richmond’s Highland Park neighborhood commented on Nextdoor.com.

Another said, “I have missing mail every month. This has been a problem for several years. I have called and wrote the Postal Service with no resolution. This has caused me anxiety.”

Such complaints became so prevalent that U.S. Rep. A. Donald McEachin of Richmond held a town hall meeting with his constituents about the issue last spring.

“The constituents of the 4th Congressional District deserve reliable and predictable mail delivery. They deserve the best quality service, and right now that is not happening,” McEachin said in a press release in April.

Westfall, a private music teacher in Richmond, said she tried reaching out to her local post office about her missing tax-payment check to City Hall. But she said she was unable to speak with someone who could resolve the issue.

Eventually, Westfall said, she was told to fill out a “missing mail” form on the Postal Service’s website. She said she experienced error messages and technical difficulties on the site and couldn’t find a technical support number to help her.

After resubmitting her request for three weeks, she received a confirmation email that her request had been submitted. Claims remain active for seven days and then are deleted.

Westfall’s lost check appeared at the end of July. She knew the check resurfaced only because she had put a stop payment on the missing check and was notified by her bank that someone had tried to process it.

Westfall said no one from the Postal Service ever contacted her about the missing mail.

Written by Jaclyn Barton, Capital News Service. Top Photo by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash

A Cause For Celebration: The Dedication of Arthur Ashe Boulevard

Jayla McNeill | June 28, 2019

Topics: Arthur Ashe, Arthur Ashe Boulevard, David Harris Jr., dedication ceremony, Determined, Donald McEachin, John Lewis, Levar Stoney, Ralph Northam, State Of Black America town hall, Virginia Museum Of History & Culture

Last weekend, government officials, civil rights leaders, and people from all across Virginia joined together to celebrate Richmond’s next step toward racial reconciliation.

It took nearly 30 years, but Richmond has officially renamed the street once known simply as Boulevard to Arthur Ashe Boulevard, in a symbolic action that elected officials hope will help advance Richmond towards becoming a more racially inclusive and representative city. Last weekend, the city celebrated on a bright, sunny Saturday morning with a dedication ceremony on the steps of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.

“This stretch of State Route 161 will never be the same after today,” Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney said at the event. “Today Route 161 is getting an upgrade.”

*Mayor Levar Stoney. Photo by Morgan Edwards*

“By naming this boulevard here today after Arthur Ashe we are once again parting with our darker past and embracing our brighter future,” Stoney continued. “We are making a pledge, that’s not simply in paint and steel street signs, but in our hearts.”

Hundreds of people gathered on the lawn of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture on Saturday in near 90 degree heat to witness the dedication of Arthur Ashe Boulevard and celebrate Richmond’s latest step toward racial reconciliation.

Leslie Stevenson from Glen Allen, Virginia said that attending the event felt like “witnessing history.”

“It was amazing,” said Stevenson. “I think everything was done really well… I think [the dedication] is just great for the community. I love how it’s brought the community together.”

According to Stoney, renaming the boulevard is an action that “brings both symbolic and real change” to the citizens of Richmond.

“Our city is transforming — it is changing its future and triumphing over its past.”

During the event, the Elegba Folklore Society gave two performances; the first kicked off the day’s celebrations and the second performance was given just before the unveiling countdown.

Additionally, the Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church choir performed during the event. Sixth Mount Zion was founded in 1867 by Reverend John Jasper, for African-Americans after the Civil War.

*Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church choir. Photo by Morgan Edwards*

In addition to Stoney, several other elected officials, including Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, Senator Tim Kaine, and Congressmen Donald McEachin gathered on the steps of the museum to share in the commemoration.

Georgia Congressman John Lewis, a noted civil rights leader who helped organize the 1963 March On Washington and was one of the original Freedom Riders, gave the keynote address. As he walked up to the mic, Lewis received a standing ovation from the crowd. Lewis then began an impassioned speech in which he urged the public to fight and speak up against injustices by getting into “good trouble, necessary trouble.”

Senator Tim Kaine described the boulevard as “a principle gateway into our city: and described the renaming as an “act of healing.”

“Naming is important, this is not a minor thing we are doing today,” said Kaine. “So many of the names that we live with were chosen by a tiny, tiny subset of people who do not represent the full community of our city, or state, or nation today. This is an act to rectify that.”

“Arthur Ashe Boulevard is a name chosen by and ably representing Richmond’s full community and that makes this a very great day for our city and hopefully a day that will be followed by many more such days.”

*Congressman John Lewis. Photo by Morgan Edwards.*

The new signs bearing the name “Arthur Ashe Boulevard” were unveiled on the steps of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture after a loud group countdown, at the end of which cannons shot purple streamers into the air.

Arthur Ashe was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1943. He was the first and only African-American male tennis player to win the U.S Open, Wimbledon, and the Australian Open. In 1968 he was ranked the number one tennis player in the world by the United States Lawn Tennis Association — the first African-American to be named so. Ashe is not only remembered for his accomplishments as a tennis player, but is also as an author, activist and humanitarian.

Growing up in Richmond, Virginia during the era of ‘separate but equal’, Ashe faced racial discrmination, exclusion, prejudice and segregation. As a child he was denied access to the tennis courts at Byrd Park, which was deemed whites only. As a result, Ashe had to practice on the segregated courts near his home instead. As a kid, he was also forbidden from competing against white youth in Richmond, and was unable to practice on the whites-only indoor courts.

During his career and throughout his retirement, Ashe was a zealous advocate for civil rights and racial equality worldwide. He worked to break down color lines and racial barriers in athletics and promote social change.

In addition to fighting racial discriminaion at home, Ashe also protested against apartheid, a political system of institutionalized racial segregation, in South Africa.

“Despite the adversity he faced right here in his hometown, by sheer talent courage (and) perseverance, Arthur Ashe brought change to the game of tennis, he brought change to this country…. And he brought change to this world,” said Stoney.

*Governor Ralph Northam. Photo by Morgan Edwards.*

Unfortunately, Ashe’s health issues forced him to retire early. He underwent his first heart bypass surgery in 1979 at the age of 36. Then in 1983, he had to undergo a second bypass surgery and contracted HIV following a blood transfusion. In 1993, Ashe founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS, helping to raise awareness and combat the misconceptions and stigma surrounding the disease.

During his retirement, Ashe also worked on a number of advocacy projects, and helped found the Association of Tennis Professionals and the National Junior Tennis League.

After his death on February 10, 1993, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

“Today we also honor a man who challenged the limitations society placed on men of his skin color and by doing so advanced the struggle for equality,” Governor Northam said Saturday.

“By breaking down racial barriers in tennis, Arthur Ashe achieved much more than sports fame. That legacy is why we are here to honor him today.”

Renaming the boulevard to Arthur Ashe Boulevard, was an idea that was previously introduced and defeated in 1993 and 2003. The latest and finally successful effort to rename the street was carried by Councilwoman Kim Gray.

*David Harris Jr. Photo by Morgan Edwards.*

David Harris Jr., Arthur Ashe’s nephew, who was also instrumental in the renewed push for the boulevard’s renaming, took the mic Saturday and shared an emotional speech with the crowd.

“Richmond, this is truly a spectacular and momentous day,” said Harris. “Today we are letting the world know racism, discrimination, exclusionary tactics, lack of investment in our children, education, and people is bankrupt.”

The dedication also coincided with the opening of a new exhibit, Determined: The 400 year struggle for Black Equality, at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, which will run until March 20, 2020. The museum exhibit is part of the American Evolution program, a General Assembly program that recognizes the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans at Fort Monroe in 1619. According to American Evolution, they “partnered with the Virginia Museum of History and Culture to commission Determined to explore the African-American experience” in Virginia.

*Virginia Congressmen Bobby Scott and Donald McEachin at the State Of Black America town hall meeting. Photo by Morgan Edwards.*

Later that evening, members of the Congressional Black Caucus held a State of Black America town hall meeting to discuss various issues affecting the African-American and black community in America today.

According to Mayor Stoney, June 22, 2019 is a day that represents hope for a new Richmond with a brighter and more inclusive future.

“And now at the intersection of our city’s past and present, it is our duty to take the next steps in our journey down the right path to lead the way for future generations,” said Stoney.

“We already have a map with a road to follow that will take us in the right direction. Let us follow it together. It’s called Arthur Ashe Boulevard.”

Top photo by Morgan Edwards

Virginia Legislators Work To Expand Preservation of African American Cemeteries

Caitlin Morris | March 14, 2019

Topics: African American Burial Grounds Network Act, African American cemeteries, Donald McEachin, East End Cemetery, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Virginia cemeteries

Neglected for decades, historic African-American cemeteries in Virginia are the focus of renewed restoration efforts, both on the state and federal levels.

“Fifteen-hundred tires, and counting,” said Brian Palmer, referring to the illegally dumped trash in Richmond’s East End Cemetery.

Palmer, a member of the Friends of East End Cemetery, is part of the restoration and reclamation effort at the once abandoned historic African American cemetery.

“In addition to pulling out privet and Virginia creeper and briars and poison ivy, we will unearth headstones — grave-markers that have been buried for a long period of time,” Palmer said.

After reclaiming the land by disposing of trash and pulling back vines that have entangled the grave sites, volunteers work to reclaim local history by identifying those buried in East End. Headstones are carefully cleaned and photographed, and added to online databases like Find A Grave and the newly organized East End Cemetery website.

During Virginia’s 2019 General Assembly session, 19 historic African American cemeteries were made eligible for state funding from the Department for Historic Resources. The fight for cemetery preservation through state funds began in 2017 with East End and the nearby Evergreen Cemetery, but each year since, Virginia has made more cemeteries eligible for funding that would provide maintenance and upkeep. This year, the Tucker Family Cemetery in Hampton was added to the list. Some believe that the Tucker Family Cemetery is the final resting place of the first child born to Africans in America, William Tucker.

Virginia Congressman Donald McEachin is looking beyond the Commonwealth for a way to preserve African American cemeteries on a national level. Speaking at Richmond’s Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia on February 23, McEachin and community members marked the introduction of a national act.

“For far too long, African American burial grounds have been abused and neglected,” McEachin said.

McEachin introduced the African American Burial Grounds Network Act to the House of Representatives on February 13. The act is also sponsored by North Carolina Congresswoman Alma S. Adams.

The act would create a national network of historic African American burial grounds to be overseen by the National Park Service. The database would be composed voluntarily, with permission needed from owners in cases where cemeteries are found on private property. Grants would be made available to aid local groups in identifying, researching, and preserving sites within the network.

“(African American Cemeteries) frequently fail to receive the same sort of state and local monetary support or assistance as predominantly white cemeteries,” McEachin said. “As a result, African American burial grounds are in a state of disrepair or inaccessibility. We’ve seen this across the country as well as in our own backyard.”

The National Parks Service currently oversees the National Register of Historic Places, which includes 48 Virginia cemeteries. While some exclusively African American cemeteries have made the list, many are segregated, with only small sections for African Americans, like Fairview Cemetery in Culpeper and East Hill in Bristol.

“Beginning with slavery and continuing well through the era of Jim Crow, African Americans were restricted from where they could bury their deceased,” McEachin said.

*Mario Chiodo’s The Path of Thorns and Roses at Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery, By Awal115, CC BY-SA 4.0, via* *Wikimedia*

During the Civil War, soldiers of the United States Colored Troops of the Union Army were buried at the Contrabands and Freedman Cemetery in Alexandria. Surviving African American soldiers were outraged and demanded the burials be moved to Soldier’s Cemetery to lie with the other, white, troops. Soldier’s Cemetery is what we now call Alexandria National Cemetery, a historic veterans’ burial ground.

African American refugees from the South continued to use the Contrabands and Freedman Cemetery until 1869. After 1939, the cemetery could no longer be found on maps. In the ‘50s, a gas station was built on the site. It wasn’t until 1987 that the cemetery was rediscovered through newspaper articles from the 1860s. The site is now a memorial to the freed people of color who lived in Alexandria.

“These cemeteries, and the stories they tell, are vital to the people who have ancestors buried in them, to the communities they built, and to our shared history as Americans,” said Brett Glymph, the Executive Director of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation.

Photos (unless otherwise noted) by Brian Palmer and Erin Holloway Palmer, via 1708 Gallery

The East End Landfill is the Environmental Disaster That No One Wants to Talk About

Daniel Berti | July 5, 2018

Topics: DEQ, Donald McEachin, east end landfill, environment, landfill, Virginia DEQ

Back in March, many members of the Fulton and Varina communities were relieved to hear that the controversial East End Landfill (TEEL) would be shut down following a 5-0 vote by the Henrico County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) to revoke the facility’s conditional use permit, but their relief was short-lived.

After the board’s decision, the landfill was given 90 days notice to stop accepting waste, making their official close date June 20. TEEL, however, has appealed the BZA’s decision and will remain open until the case goes to court on July 24, and may remain open indefinitely if the court rules that the BZA acted improperly by revoking the permit.

The landfill, created in 1984, has been a hot-button issue for the community since its construction. The facility is located in the predominantly black neighborhoods of Fulton and Varina, and has been cited by many community leaders as an environmental justice issue. It is one of several landfills in the vicinity.

Donald McEachin, U.S. Representative for Virginia’s fourth district, has long been an advocate for environmental justice in the state. He currently serves as co-chair of the United for Climate and Environmental Justice Task Force.

“Unfortunately, there is a pattern around the country of landfills and other environmental hazards being located near poor and minority communities,” said Congressman McEachin. “Environmental dangers, from chemical spills to landfills to toxic waste sites, are not given the attention they need to keep Americans safe. As we have seen in locations as varied as Flint, Michigan, to right here in Petersburg, something as basic as safe drinking water can be problematic.”

Tyrone Nelson, who serves on the Henrico county board of supervisors, said that the landfill has been a topic of debate for years, well before he began serving on the board in 2012. The smell of sulfur wafting from the facility has been a consistent complaint, and in the late aughts, many in the area were outraged after the landfill began accepting and disposing of coal ash, which blew into the surrounding neighborhoods, covering cars and houses in nearby neighborhoods.

Coal ash is known to contain heavy metals like arsenic, mercury, and lead.

In 2010, the landfill’s owners argued that coal ash was being used as daily cover for the landfill, and was therefore not disposed of as waste. This was a point of contention for the Henrico BZA who denied the landfill’s request to use it for that purpose and forced them to remove the coal ash from the premises.

The BZA’s 2010 ruling on the illegal deposit of coal ash is relevant to the BZA’s revocation of the landfill’s conditional use permit. During the March 22, 2018 BZA hearing,Tom Tokarz, deputy county attorney for Henrico County, said that TEEL’s recent non-compliance is “eerily reminiscent” of the 2010 coal ash issue.

“This is deja vu all over again,” he said.

During a June 2017 inspection by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), inspectors observed the disposal of industrial waste on the premises in violation of its permit. The two substances observed were spent bauxite mud and precell industrial paper mill sludge, neither of which are allowed at the landfill due to its designation as a construction and demolition debris facility (CDD).

Documents submitted by the landfill to DEQ state that the East End Landfill received spent bauxite mud, also known as red mud, twice daily from a chemical production facility in Hopewell that is operated by Chemtrade, a global producer of industrial chemicals, and used it as daily cover for the landfill.

While the toxic nature of spent bauxite mud is not at issue in this case, it is worth mentioning that the it is a byproduct of aluminum refining that is high in alkaline, making it extremely corrosive, and strong enough to kill plant and animal life. In 2010, a spent bauxite mud reservoir in western Hungary collapsed and flooded a nearby village, killing ten people and injuring 120 others who experienced chemical burns from exposure to the substance.

Documentation shows that spent bauxite mud sent to the landfill was tested in March 2017 and contained lead at 5.0 parts per million and arsenic at less than 5.0 parts per million. The safe level of lead in drinking water is .015 parts per million, according the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the safe level of arsenic in drinking water is .01 parts per million.

Condition 20 of TEEL’s conditional use permit specifically states that, “No hazardous wastes, as defined by the Virginia Hazardous Waste Management Regulations, nor any biodegradable material other than woody waste from construction, demolition and land-clearing operations shall be deposited in the landfill or used as fill or cover material.”

TEEL’s annual report, submitted on April 28th, 2017 to the BZA, certified that all the materials received by TEEL met the requirements of Condition 20. This report contradicted the observations made by DEQ inspectors on June 22, 2017.

“We found that certification is not true, subsequent to our meeting in August,” said Tokarz at the March 22 hearing.

Brian Plumlee, a lawyer representing TEEL, argued that the industrial waste found on the premises are not in violation of its permit because Condition 20 “does not prohibit industrial waste used as cover, in the process of cover.” TEEL’s lawyers objected to all the violations that led to the BZA’s decision to shut down the landfill.

Towards the end of the hearing, the BZA’s Helen Harris expressed concern for the health and wellbeing of the community ahead of the vote. “The [Conditional Use Permit] is not to adversely affect the health, safety, or welfare of the community. I think we need to keep that in the back of our minds,” she said.

The stakes of this appeals case are high. The landfill expanded in 2013, adding thirty years of life to the already decades old facility. If the court decides that the BZA improperly revoked the landfill’s permit, it could have a lasting impact on the surrounding community, and neighborhoods in the vicinity will have to deal with the smell, the constant truck traffic, and the questionable dumping practices of the landfill for years to come.

“Insufficient attention has been paid to environmental hazards,” said Congressman McEachin. “We need to highlight and resolve these dangerous issues wherever they occur.”

PHOTO ESSAY: Obama’s Rally in Richmond

RVA Staff | October 20, 2017

Topics: Barack Obama, Donald McEachin, Governor Terry McAuliffe, Levar Stoney, Ralph Northam

Most of the time, we fail to realize just how significant the events we are living have become. We grow complacent in echo-chambers of our own making and impose on ourselves a worldview which is filtered through our social networks and media preferences. From a certain perspective, we are all held hostage to this phenomenon. And in an age where we all live a political lifestyle, one where the failure of institutional civility has become the norm – rather than the exception – it is not hard to feel the palpable stress, anxiety, and loathing that comes with anything having to do with contemporary politics. Despite this, there have been times where that feeling of civility was restored, even for a short moment – last night’s rally with former President Barak Obama was just such a moment.

While Obama’s rally was a campaign event for Democratic hopeful Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, it was also an attempt by the former president to interject some civility back into the political discourse. Whatever our political preference or party might be, what we are experiencing right now as Americans goes far beyond politics and cuts to the very core of who we are as a country and the social fabric which ultimately binds us together. This is something all living former presidents have recently expressed – Republican or Democrat. If we can see beyond party or politics, that was the takeaway from Obama last night.

Nonetheless, the rally was still a platform for the Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA) to showcase its upcoming roster of election hopefuls in addition to luminaries of the party like Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Congressman Donald McEachin, and Mayor Levar Stoney. Here are some of the best photos of the night, taken by RVA Mag Political Director, Landon Shroder and Field Photographer Brendan Wilson:

All Hands on Deck. Photo by Branden Wilson

Everyone Excited to Catch a Glimpse of Obama. Photo by Landon Shroder

Passions Were Ignited. Photo by Branden Wilson

Mayor Levar Stoney. Photo by Landon Shroder

Young People Supporting Northam. Photo by Landon Shroder

Justin Fairfax Running for LT Governor. Photo by Branden Wilson

Congressman Donald McEachin. Photo by Landon Shroder

Dr. Ralph Northam, Democratic Hopeful. Photo by Branden Wilson

Obama Takes the Stage. Photo by Landon Shroder

Obama Stumping for Ralph Northam. Photo by Branden Wilson

2017 Democratic Ticket. Photo by Branden Wilson

Obama, Looking at You. Photo by Landon Shroder

Moms Demand Action. Photo by Branden Wilson

Not a Moment Wasted. Photo by Landon Shroder

*Words by Landon Shroder