Falls of the James Group expects a highly successful program season for September 07-June 08. We will highlight our programs as they are confirmed. We will be placing them on the events page, and advertise them on our BLOG and in various newspapers. We hope our members and visitors will take advantage of these educational and enjoyable opportunities and will advise us of opportunities to expand outreach into the community.
Please come and bring a friend-come for the programs, make a new friend.
January 14, 2008
Monday, 7:00 pm
Program: Richmond’s Stormwater Utility, Environmental Protection, and the Health of the Bay - General Membership Meeting (Free & Open to the Public)
Speakers: City of Richmond, Va Dept of Conservation and Recreation, and others
Richmond seems to have had more than its fair share of flooding in the past few years images of the flooding in Shockoe Bottom and residents evacuating from housing in Battery Park still seem fresh. Most understand the main recipe for flooding: big storms bring more rain, more impervious surface increases run-off, aging and failing city infrastructure is inadequate to meet increasing stormwater loads. Big ‘natural’ disasters, coming every few years, are so damaging and so costly, how can any locality keep up?
One way out of this expanding cycle of infrastructure enhancement and system replacement is creating a dedicated revenue source -- hence the stormwater utility proposal the city is banking on. This will establish an annual fee paid by all property owners in the City, based on estimations of impervious surface per property. As proposed now, it does provide some relief for property owners with small houses, and discounts for commercial and industrial properties, but is it fair and balanced? And does it really promote water quality benefits, greening and cooling our City, and sustainability?
Its projected $14,400,000 annual revenues will help the City meet many of its greatest needs: persistent flooding, deteriorating and undersized infrastructure, and wastewater infiltration, so this is a good thing! But are other environmental problems being addressed, ignored or postponed, or being made worse? Is there the desire to make Richmond s program the best it can be?
The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation is also formulating stormwater management practices and programs that address these concerns comprehensively. They are also looking further ahead after all, stormwater runoff is one of the main contributors to the Chesapeake Bay s decline, and it is likely that regulations will be passed, after a decade or more, that will require localities to treat stormwater further: either chemically, mechanically, or by natural systems. Is Richmond planning for that too?
The City s Department of Public Utilities would like Council to adopt this in late January? Come hear the facts, stretch your brain, and make informed decisions.
February 11th, 2008
Monday 6:15 pm
Program: New Member Orientation
New Member Orientation Session, starts at 6:15 ! Meet the Ex Comm, learn about our internal workings, our 2007-2008 goals and work program, and see how you can get involved, have more fun, influence people, and have politicians begging your attention and approval ! Casual, entertaining, and a special reward for your attendance!
February 11th, 2008
Monday 7:00 pm (following New Member Orientation; see above)
Program: Global Warming and ‘Cool Cities’; General Membership Meeting (Free & Open to the Public)
Speakers: Glen Besa, Tyla Matteson
Glen Besa and Tyla Matteson traveled to Bali, Indonesia in December to participate in the UN Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.
They spoke on the Sierra Club’s ‘Cool Cities’ initiative and building grassroots power for action on Global Warming. They presented their experiences in gaining Mayor Wilder’s support for designating Richmond a ‘Cool City’, goals of the local program, and strategies for spreading energy conservation and other measures designed to modify and mitigate urban environmental impacts. Get an exciting update on Global Warming and Cool Cities and see their slides of Bali, Indonesia and other exotic locales.
February 11th, 2008
Monday 7:00 pm (following General Membership Meeting; see above)
Program: Legislative Update (Free & Open to the Public)
Speakers: Mike Town - Virginia State Chapter Chair
Important Legislative Update! The annual February meeting is where group members are briefed on good, bad, and ongoing legislation. Strategies for aiding environmentally beneficial bills and derailing bad bills are presented to the group, and tips on contacting legislators, writing and calling, and swaying committees are discussed. Get the skinny on your legislator, who made contributions to their campaigns, and what else they might be up to, at this very important meeting. Mike Town, a brilliant political strategist, will update the Group on the critical 2008 Legislative issues and provide guidance on how our FOJG members can influence legislators and legislation.
March 10th, 2008
Monday 7:00 pm
Program: James River Park Update - General Membership Meeting (Free & Open to the Public)
Speakers: Ralph White & Lorne Field
This Richmond park system (13 parcels and more on the way) is rated the best urban park on the East coast by Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine five years in a row! Come learn about new JRPS initiatives: incorporating the flood wall system into the park, plans for renovating the 1883 Pump House, and the progress of the conservation easements for the natural areas of the park.
Speaking will be Ralph White, City Naturalist and visionary JRPS manager, and Lorne Field, interpretation and park historian. Ralph received the prestigious Distinguished Service Award from the national Sierra Club in 2006 for persons in public service who have shown a strong life-long commitment to conservation and environmental protection.
April, 2008
Monday 7:00 pm
Program: Celebrate EARTH DAY this month! Green Roofs, Rain Barrels and Rain Gardens - New ways to manage Stormwater and Green Greater Richmond
Speakers: Matt Carr, with American Hydrotech www.hydrotechusa.com/garden-roof.htm and,
Chris French, with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay
Matt Carr will speak on green roofs (and show some fabulous slides). The Garden Roof provides building owners and tenants with many ecological, technical
and economic benefits. Some of the advantages of the Garden Roof Assembly include:
- Enhances building’s appearance
- Adds space for tenant use and recreation
- One answer to the ‘Urban Heat Island’ problem
- Stormwater management - retain 50%-90% of a typical rain fall on the roof
- Improves building’s energy efficiency
- Processes airborne toxins and re-oxygenates the air
- Creates therapeutic and peaceful environments
- Total assembly warranted, from the deck up
Also, we’ll be coordinating a field trip to see the Sun-Trust green roof and a residential green roof. Sign up at the April meeting !
The constructed green roof serves as Virginia’s largest, covering 11,800 square feet, as well
as the first public demonstration site for the Richmond area. The SunTrust green roof was planted
with a mixture of seven varieties of succulent plants, including sedums, that will mature into a quilt-like carpet,
flowering at different times and changing colors with the seasons. SunTrust headquarters employees and tenants,
and tenants in neighboring buildings in the downtown area will now be able to look down upon the 3rd
floor rooftop for a change of scenery from the usual bleak rooftop that adorns most downtown sky rises.
Chris French, with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, will show us their BayScapes program, with an
emphasis on rain barrels and rain gardens for your own back yards! www.acb-online.org/toolkits.cfm -- downloadable pdf files for Bayscaping for home, garden and entire yard with native plants emphasized.
BayScapes promote environmentally-sound landscaping practices that create wildlife habitat, conserve water, and prevent pollution-for the benefit and restoration of our local waterways and the chesapeake bay-at homes, businesses, and public spaces.
May 12th 2008
Monday 7:00 pm
Program: Energy, the Environment and You
Speakers: Mr Richard Condi, new Director of the Science Museum of VA
Richard Conti, who replaced long-time Science Museum Director Walter Witschey in early 2008, brings an exciting new approach to the SMVA.
Rich managed the Nauticus Center in Norfolk for ten years. He changed the focus of Nauticus from an
urban theme park to a maritime-themed science center. Bobby Thalhimer, co-chair of the search committee said
‘Rich Conti is a proven leader who has engineered a stunning turnaround at Nauticus. Once a struggling
museum, Nauticus today is a vibrant science center with elegant exhibitions...’ a stronger emphasis on SOLs,
and partnerships with other science institutions and the business community throughout the state.
I asked Mr Conti him about his plans for his talk for us in May. He laughed and said he was interested
in telling the Group about new areas Science Museum was getting into, mainly investigating and researching
ways to use energy more efficiently, using solar power and renewable energies (an initiative they call
New Energy Virginia), and helping people realize how much energy they use, unknowingly (like putting a little
meter on the elevator, and encourage people to use the stairs instead !)
He said they would also be looking at green roofs and how to capture and reuse rain.
They would be researching and teaching about the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River basin.
They were interested in wetlands and wildflower meadows, and he asked if I had seen the wind
generator in back.
He told me that when he moved down to Richmond, he spent his first two weeks in the Virginia Tech
Solar House which the students had built and entered into the National Solar House Competition held
every year on the National Mall. He said how it had transformed his perception of how individuals
use energy and can conserve it better. I hope he’ll let us visit the house before our May program starts - come early.
June 9, 2008
Monday 7:00 pm
Program: FOJG Volunteer Appreciation Night and Group Social
The Falls of the James Group will be celebrating the end of another successful year, in one of the
most remarkable buildings in the City - the historic Byrd Park Pump House, on the Kanawa canal, just
east of the Boulevard Bridge.
We are throwing a little party for our hard working volunteers, who make our many events so
successful, and get petitions signed, and do dirty clean-up work, and even toil unseen in phone
banks on school nights (bravo to all of them).
We are also giving special recognition for their long standing dedication to the FOJ and its mission
to Jim Sturgil (who has been leading serious hikes for this group for more years than I can count)
and Catherine Welsh (long term Ex Comm member and major-domo in charge of Socials and refreshments at meetings.
Beverages and light refreshments will be provided. In addition, you are encouraged to bring an hors d’oeuvre or dessert. RSVP early, since there may be a limitation on the size of our gathering. More information will be available on the FOJ website closer to June 9th.