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July 11 Newsletter: 10,000 trucks of dirt

Weather: Another hot and steamy weekend. Highs about 90.

On this date in 1820, Pope Pius VII established the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond, the seventh in the United States.

3-year construction project in Woodland Heights will add a 6 million gallon tank to prevent sewer overflow

The tank will be built underneath Canoe Run Park. It will take more than 10,000 trucks to remove the needed dirt and rock for the project, which will be built starting in 2027.

  • The project, which has a $100 million grant and could run as much as $140 million, is part of the long-term plan to reduce excess sewage being dumped into the James River during heavy rains.
  • DPU officials also described an "odor-control facility," which will work to contain potentially unpleasant smells. Read more here.

Tennis group asks to build indoor facility on RPS land near Byrd Park

Richmond Public School Board members appeared skeptical of a free “gift” proposed to them that would create a $15-$20 million, eight-court indoor tennis complex behind Lois Harrison-Jones Elementary School near Byrd Park.

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The group behind the project is also promising to resurface other RPS courts, and build the Black Tennis Hall of Fame on the site.

School board members had the land appraised at $18 million, about the value of the building. Read more here.

Did you know? In Virginia, you can buy liquor the day before you turn 21.

In 1963, then-Virginia Attorney General Robert Button ruled that because the state doesn't recognize age in fractions of a day, a person technically begins their next year the day before their birthday.

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Virginia's ABC stores comply by the ruling, and will sell liquor to people who are 20 years and 364 days old.

The state Department of Elections, on the other hand, passed a rule closing the loophole as it relates to voting. Read more here.

Also today in The Richmonder

Richmond finance director Sheila White resigns
White had been in office for four years, and her office was at the center of numerous recent controversies, including meals tax and property tax billing errors.

New design proposals for Shockoe burying ground memorial will be revealed at Saturday event
Late last year, the city designated the site a cemetery, in recognition of the estimated 22,000 people buried there. There has also been an ongoing dispute with Lamar Advertising over a billboard located at the site.

In other news

The editor's desk

The air conditioning is broken at our office. Normally that's bad news, but in this case it's broken because it won't turn off. If you need us, we'll be the ones commuting to work with parkas.

Michael Phillips, founding editor
mphillips@richmonder.org

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