June 30 Newsletter: City's contract workers fight for raises
Weather: Summer in Richmond continues; it'll be 91 and humid.
On this date in 1947, the city attorney rules that Richmond's government is allowed to reserve parking spaces for use by city vehicles only.
‘Room to breathe’: Contract workers want better pay to clean and protect city buildings
Officials applauded the $20 minimum wage for public employees that was included in the city budget passed last year, but it doesn't apply to workers hired by private contractors.
- City Council’s budget analysts indicated $1.7 million would be needed to provide raises to all, while the administration gave an estimate of $3.5 million.
- The city is currently conducting a study on how best to provide the raises, which have the support of the mayor.
“We need it now. We don’t need it later in November,” one contract worker said. “We’re going through something now. I can’t hardly feed my kids.” Read more here.
New rules aim to simplify development review process in Richmond
July 1 will bring a major change to the way business is done for developers, which could result in being easier, and therefore cheaper, for new homes to get built in the city.
- Site plans, previously known in the city as plans of development, are the detailed set of maps and information that developers draw up for a project.
- The new rules will standardize when they're needed and how they're reviewed, with the goal of making it easier to do business in the city.
By the numbers: Districts 3 and 6 top list for most code violations in 2024
Last year, Richmond code enforcers issued property owners more than 4,000 notices of violation for failing to safely maintain their buildings.
Read more, and see the latest stats, here.
Also today in The Richmonder
Richmond and Henrico’s joint water meeting set for this afternoon
Officials will convene this afternoon for a joint meeting on how to strengthen the local water system after multiple disruptions and outages this year. This comes after a similar, private meeting with Gov. Glenn Youngkin last week.
In other news
- Property tax rebate checks will be mailed this week (RVA Hub)
- Echoes from the Sea: A Richmond bartender volunteers on a rescue boat (RVA Mag)
- Henrico student wins bronze in Microsoft Office Specialist U.S. National Championship (Henrico Citizen)
Editor Michael Phillips is out of office.
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