Richmond gets $850K in federal funds for Shockoe stormwater projects
The city of Richmond will receive $850,000 in federal funds to alleviate flooding in Shockoe Bottom near where the city is planning a variety of projects to tell the history of the slave trade.
A jumbo-sized check was presented Monday at a Main Street Station ceremony attended by federal, state and city representatives.
The city actually received two versions of the check: One touting the involvement of U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and the other showing the name of U.S. Rep. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, both of whom advocated for the funding.
Though officials didn’t specify exactly what stormwater projects the money will fund, they said it will help Richmond’s ongoing efforts to turn the low-lying Shockoe Valley into a historic site focused on the experiences of enslaved Africans.
“It’s kind of difficult to tell that complete story and have visitors enjoy and immerse themselves if every few years it floods,” McClellan said as she reminded the crowd of the 2004 flooding in Shockoe caused by Hurricane Gaston.
Warner said the efforts in Shockoe are particularly important at a time when President Donald Trump’s administration seems to want to go back to a “1950s sanitized version” of history.
“America’s history, Virginia’s history… is not a straight line,” said Warner, who reminded the audience he used to live “right up the street” at the Virginia governor’s mansion. “We have to tell the good and the bad.”
Victoria A. Ifatusin
The city recently celebrated the opening of the Shockoe Institute, which has installed a permanent historical exhibit on the lower level of Main Street Station that spotlights the former Confederate capital’s legacy as a slave-trading hub. The Institute’s arrival was seen a significant milestone in a decades-long effort to better commemorate the historic significance of Shockoe through sites such as the African Burial Ground, Lumpkin’s Jail, the Richmond Slave Trail and plans for a national slavery museum.
“We are here today to celebrate our federal representatives’ support and partnership to protect some of our most sacred and precious historic resources in the city that ultimately will help us continue to tell the fullness of our history,” said Mayor Danny Avula. “These federal dollars that are coming here today are actually going to help us face some of the challenges we can have with historic preservation in a floodplain. And we are very, very grateful.”
Contact Reporter Graham Moomaw at gmoomaw@richmonder.org
