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Councilman Bill Johnson convened the Third District Leadership Council at the Boulevard Holiday Inn on June 12, 1999.
The Council looks to be Bill's invention for building ties to the neighborhoods. It amounts to a free breakfast ("free" at least if you ignore the question of whose taxes pay for the scrambled eggs) and almost three hours of goings-on.
On June 12 all the important people in the Association were busy so Holly Anna Jones (Former President for Life of the BCA) and John Butcher (who maintains this web site) got the free bacon. They also got the chance to talk to Bill, to meet his lovely wife, and to chat with Capt. Beadles and the Northside News.
Bill was his usual self. Actually, as time goes on he is getting better. He preaches a pretty good sermon, spreads the credit for Doing Good, and explains how he is moving Heaven and Earth to get the City doing things better. We even believe some of it.
The Big News that came out of this is that Bill's liaison, Robert Evans, promises a Claude Cooper meeting on June 21 or thereabouts. Stay tuned.
Bill made John accept the Outstanding Neighborhood Award for Bellevue. John blamed Chuck Epes and Holly Anna for providing the leadership and the many other BCA members who do the heavy lifting and who don't get nearly enough credit.
Bill also gave a leadership award to the formidable Norma Murdoch-Kitt (or, as her husband calls her, "Dr. Murdoch-Kitt") from the Ginter Park Association. That was another good idea. And he gave another award to Capt. Larry Beadles of the Third Precinct. The crowd's happy reaction to that one demonstrated that Capt. Beadles has not restricted his good works to Bellevue.
The Chamberlayne Ave. study is moving toward a public meeting on June 24. Morton Gulak of VCU (828-2489) is conducting the study to look at solutions for the serious problems (notably, we think, the crime problem) on Chamberlayne Ave. We think the solution is simple: Council zoned that mess down the middle of a lovely neighborhood; they now should unzone it, and quickly.
There was much talk about the new legislation they City obtained to make it easier to deal with nuisance properties. That legislation may make our (much promised) meeting with Claude Cooper much more interesting. At least it will take away one of Cooper's arsenal of excuses for not doing his job. Bill Johnson says his part of this is "changing the culture at City Hall." Now, there is a tough job!
Jan Reid, Claude's defender in the City Atty's office, spoke about the statutory changes in the '99 General Assembly and about how the City will be much more aggressive in directly collecting back taxes and cleanup costs. Well, almost anything would be an improvement.
The city telephone exchanges are changing: 780 becomes 646. The extensions remain the same.
Capt. Larry Beadles said he will be getting, and will share with us, the police call info in a usable format: Excel. With that information the Safety Committee will have the information to continue its conversation with Terry Henley about problems at the MacArthur Apartments.
Editorial: Bill Johnson is working out just fine. Only his direct intervention got us the stop signs on Bellevue and Fauquier, and it looks like 1603 Claremont is coming to the top of his list. In the meantime, his Chamberlayne Avenue initiative recognizes the single, ugliest problem on the Northside. The Leadership Council is a good mechanism for him to tell the neighborhoods what is going on at the City and for him to hear what his constituents are interested in. Say what you will about Council (much of it could not be reprinted here, for sure), our Councilman is a keeper.
We draw much the same conclusion about Capt. Beadles. He has been responsive and helpful, and a pleasure to work with.
Last updated 02/24/02
Please send questions or comments to John Butcher