The Honorable Ellen F. Robertson, Councilwoman, Richmond City Council, Gateway 6th District, invites citizens to attend a presentation of a Six Points of Highland Park Neighborhood Revitalization Plan. The Plan was prepared for Councilwoman Robertson in the fall of 2010 by urban planning students attending the Virginia Commonwealth University, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program, Urban Commercial Revitalization Class.
RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL
900 E. Broad Street, Suite 200 - Richmond, Virginia 23219 - www.council.richmondva.gov
COUNCIL PUBLIC INFORMATION NEWS ADVISORY
IMMEDIATE RELEASE TO BE FORWARDED AND SHARED
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Councilwoman Robertson invites community to presentation of a Six Points of Highland Park Neighborhood Revitalization Plan
Community invited and encouraged to attend
WHAT The Honorable Ellen F. Robertson, Councilwoman, Richmond City Council, Gateway 6th District, invites citizens to attend a presentation of a Six Points of Highland Park Neighborhood Revitalization Plan. The Plan was prepared for Councilwoman Robertson in the fall of 2010 by urban planning students attending the Virginia Commonwealth University, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program, Urban Commercial Revitalization Class.
The purpose of performing a neighborhood revitalization plan is to study a declining commercial and/or residential area within a locality and propose appropriate changes that would enable it to stabilize, grow and thrive.
One of Richmond’s original streetcar suburbs, the Six Points District of Highland Park is located at a unique, six-way intersection in the northern part of Richmond’s Gateway 6th District, and has long served as a neighborhood shopping destination; providing the surrounding community with a variety of goods and services. In recent years, however, population decline and competing commercial centers outside the neighborhood have led many businesses to close.
By working directly with the community and through extensive market research, design analysis and interviews with business, area leaders and residents, it was found that, while some businesses and other organizations remain committed to this area, more businesses and physical improvements are needed. Recommendations seek to reinvigorate the area economically, physically, and socially, so that it can better serve the community as an important commercial destination now and into the future.
WHEN Tuesday, December 14, 2010
5:00-6:30 p.m.
WHERE Firehouse Restaurant
3011 Meadowbridge Road, Richmond, Virginia
Free Parking
WHO The Honorable Ellen F. Robertson, Councilwoman, Richmond City Council, Gateway 6th District
CONTACT For more information and to RSVP, lease contact Will Sanford, at 804.354.0641 x 106 (t); 615.554.7911 (m) or sanfordwr@mymail.vcu.edu (e)
or Lynne Lancaster, Council Liaison, Richmond City Council, Gateway 6th District, at 804.646.7964 (t) or lynne.lancaster@richmondgov.com (e); www.ellenrobertson.com (w)
Background ____________________________________________________________________________
The Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program, Urban Commercial Revitalization Class is one of several classes in the Wilder School's Master of Urban & Regional Planning program.
Each year, VCU’s Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program produces more than 30 plans for community organizations and state and local governments in Virginia and beyond. The Urban Commercial Revitalization class focuses specifically on mature commercial corridors and districts - areas that were once vibrant centers of commerce, but which have recently suffered the consequences of economic change and population decline. These areas are now marred by vacant and deteriorating buildings, as well as other problems.
The goal of the Urban Commercial Revitalization class in producing a plan is to figure out what businesses and other uses will work in areas now, and how they can be physically and socially revitalized to serve their surrounding communities once more. These plans, like all of the work done by VCU's urban planning students, are done on a pro bono basis as a service to the community. The client pays only the cost of producing copies of the plan.
Over the years, VCU's urban planning students have produced dozens of commercial revitalization plans. Recent plans produced by the Urban Commercial Revitalization class include:
Ashland: The Center of the Universe: A Downtown Enhancement Plan, for the Town of Ashland, VA. December 2009.
Resolution of Appreciation issued by Ashland Town Council, January 2010.
Hull Street Road Revitalization Plan, for the City of Richmond and Chesterfield County, December 2008
Winner: Virginia American Planning Association Best Student Plan Award, 2009
Lakeside Avenue Revitalization Plan, for the Lakeside Business Association & Henrico County, December 2007
Winner: Virginia American Planning Association Best Student Project Award, 2010
The 17th Street Farmers’ Market Revitalization Plan, for the City of Richmond, December 2006
The Brookland Park Boulevard Commercial Revitalization Plan, for City of Richmond & Brookland Park Boulevard Merchants Association, December 2005
Winner: Virginia American Planning Association Meritorious Student Plan Award, 2006
also Certificate of Recognition issued by Richmond City Council, March 2006.
CONTACT For more information on the class, please contact Dr. John J. Accordino, Associate Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program, Urban Commercial Revitalization Class, at 804.827.0525 (t) or jaccordi@vcu.edu (e)
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Steven R. Skinner, APR
Council Public Information Manager
RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL
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