Category: James River & Kanawha Canal

The Channel 8 reporter is interested in getting to the bottom of the demolition of the 150 feet of canal wall on city property.  She has done three stories so far.  Jennifer had some excellent quotes. http://www.wric.com/global/Category.asp?c=190525&clipId=7869757&autostart=true http://www.wric.com/global/Category.asp?c=190525&clipId=7873928&autostart=true http://www.wric.com/global/Category.asp?c=190525&clipId=7878963&autostart=true The reporter got the contractor for the 2nd St. Connector project to show her the plans for the project.  I did a screen save from the footage that shows 28 feet to be demolished on Venture Richmond property (see attachment below), yet Venture Richmond claims that they had no knowledge of any wall being removed on their property.   The Liesfeld Contractor claims that the 150 feet of city owned wall somehow "collapsed" when they were removing the 28 feet of wall, although this is certainly not true since I witnessed them…

Richmond, VA: The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA) acknowledges to Venture Richmond that OHNA made an incorrect assumption that Venture Richmond would be aware of bulldozers and construction crews operating on their own property, and therefore made the erroneous statement that Venture Richmond was responsible for the recent damage to the historic wall and canal. According to an article that appeared in the October 20, 2012 edition of the Richmond Times Dispatch, "William Roberts, a project manager for J.A. Liesfeld, a Rockville-based contractor, acknowledged the firm was hired by NewMarket Corp. to tear down the wall but would not discuss the project." The Richmond Times Dispatch, in October 2011, reported that NewMarket destroyed another large section of the pre-Civil War Tredegar wall, only obtaining the required permit after the fact. http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2011/oct/07/tdmet01-richmond-officials-say-newmarket-work-was--ar-1365435/…

[caption id="attachment_13824" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Bricks from the canal wall demolition.[/caption] RICHMOND, VA: On Tuesday September 16th, 2012, Venture Richmond proceeded to damage a portion of the historic James River and Kanawha canal bank and to destroy a century-old brick structural component of the canal. The Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association (OHNA) has called for the preservation of the 200 year old canal, built largely with slave labor when George Washington was the President of the canal society. The Oregon Hill neighborhood has many connections to the canal, including 601 Spring St, the former home of Samuel P. Parsons, the Canal Superintendent in 1840. Jennifer Hancock, OHNA President, said, "We are seeing Richmond history disappear before our eyes.” OHNA finds it disturbing that it is a public/private partnership that is responsible for the destruction. …