I  stopped by the Barrel Thief’s new Near West End store tonight.  The place is really pretty. It was close to 5 p.m. and too early for to be busy with customers, but me and my daughter checked out the place in person.  It has a clean look with nice hardwood floors and a really interesting exposed brick wall. 

I didn’t realize the concept here is 12 wines by the class, plus you can buy any of their retail wines for the shelf price plus a corking fee.  Much of the restaurant is taken up with the many wines that are offered. The look is more like a fancy retail store with upscale cafe tables.  The staff was extremely nice and the art in the place was pretty cool too.  I’ll report back again when I’ve actually eaten here (and had the wine), but thought I should give an update, no matter how minor.

It looks like wine tasting and education are a passion here. Private wine tastings for up to 12 people run $275 (for 4 bottles of wine, averaging $20 and an assortment of appetizers) up to $450 (for 4 bottles of wine averaging $40 each and appetizers) plus a member of the Barrel Theif staff will join your group for a private wine education experience.

Plus tomorrow, check out this wine class:Jan 03, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Come on a tour of Italy Saturday at 3pm at our Patterson location. Reserve your spot now! The cost is $10.

5805 Patterson Ave Richmond VA 23226 (804) 612-9232
Monday 10am-7pm (Retail Only – Cafe Closed Monday)
Tuesday-Saturday 10am-10pm
Sunday 12noon-6pm

Thanks to The Church Hill People’s News for reminding us about Richmond’s educational Tree Steward’s class:

Did you ever want to learn how to identify trees? Or how to properly prune a young tree to insure good development? Are you interested in taking care of the trees in our community? Richmond Tree Stewards training may be for you!

Class topics include: Tree Identification, Tree Biology, Selecting Planting Sites, Selecting Trees, Planting and Care, Health and Maintenance, and Proper Pruning Methods. Classes will be taught by area professionals in the tree care industry.

Registration is $95 for city residents, $150 for non-city residents. Each participant is also asked to commit to 20 hrs of community service upon completion of the program.

Tree Stewards who have completed the class in 2004-08 may sit in the classes at no charge. Pruning Tools will be awarded to participants completing the class. If the participant does not complete the class they will not receive the tools.

Classes will be held on Tuesdays in February, March, and April. Classes on Tuesdays will be from 6:30-8:30PM at the round house in Byrd Park. The Tree Planting class will be held on a Saturday from 9:00AM-12:00PM TBA.

Richmond Tree Stewards
APPLICATION: (.pdf) – (.doc)

Recently, I came across RichmondWiki.org , a website dedicated entirely to Richmond. It even has a listing on the West End!  So far it’s in its infancy, but its been getting lots of hits, and with your help, it could be a great resource for Richmonders and those curious about the Richmond area.

Richmond Wiki was started in the fall of 2008 by Richmonder Andrew Miller, mainly as a community service. He hopes it will be seen as a new reliable source of information about Richmond.   All the advertising revenue is poured back into the website, and eventually, Miller says he’d like to turn it into a non-profit organization.

Here is just one more way  how Richmond is cutting-edge in the 2.0 world.  Not only do we have a wealth of dedicated neighborhood news blogs, but also, now we have our own Wiki.  

Recently, Miller has added a feature so that folks can add their own restaurants and businesses to RichmondWiki.org. So, if you know something about Richmond or if you want to, here is another great resource.  For a more eclectic mix of information about Richmond you can also visit RichmondInsideOut.com

I heard from a neighbor who went to the first of 3 school zoning meetings tonight that the turnout was high. That is good news for anyone who doesn’t like the school re-zoning plans that are currently proposed.

The most important things that I learned tonight from her are:

1. That this is very much a process that is still in the works and just because 3 options have been submitted doesn’t mean those are going to be our only choices. The choices are still evolving, based on our input.

2.  Just because the meeting time is 6-7:30 doesn’t mean that the meeting will last that long. Actually you can go and hear the presentation from 6-6:15 p.m. and then write your comments down for the committee to review.  It’s that simple, so if you care to have a say in this go make your voice heard before it is too late.

This topic has stirred up more comments on this blog than any other I can remember, and people obviously feel passionately about the school choices that will be offered to their children.

There are still 2 more meeting times that you can attend this week….

The meeting times and locations are shown below:

After attending the Henrico County School redistricting meeting tonight at Godwin High School, I just want to say, there has got to be a better way!

Godwin was swamped with people, and I have to say the county did not anticipate the amount of folks who were attending, because they had only one police officer on Pump Road to help control traffic and it was backed up in both directions on Pump Road. I waited for over 15 minutes just to wait my turn to turn into the school, and as I left 30 minutes later, there were still folks waiting to turn into the parking lot. (At least by this time, they had added another officer).  To make matters more complicated, residents of some nearby neighborhoods walked to Godwin to make a point that they lived close enough to walk, but were being rezoned out of the Godwin district. With the gale-force wind and Nor’Easter conditions,  and the darkness, it made for a treacherous night.

Having reviewed the options online, I proceeded to collect a packet of info so that I could leave a written comment.  But I couldn’t help but think this could have all been done much more efficiently on the Internet. I mean this is the 21st century. Why make us all come out and flock to a school, struggle to park, get stuck in traffic and everything, when you could have received my neatly written typed comments via email or some other form of Internet communication? Are they planning to really consider all of our comments? Will they type them up so that they are legible, or somehow classify our descent?

What does leaving a comment really mean? I had one Henrico Zoning worker ask if I had already left my comment via email, and she must have seen my eyes get big, at the thougth of it all being so simple.  She was just teasing! In her next sentence she assured me that wasn’t really possible since the form for commenting was not available online anyway.

What does this all mean? I’m not sure.   I do remember seeing an email address on the green comment sheet, which I turned in, but there is not one on any of the white documents that I was given to take home.  I think I remember seeing something that said all comments were due by January 9th.  If anyone has the email address we can submit comments to, I’d love to publish it here and fill up their email box.  Just leave a comment if you have it.

In the meantime, I’d like to know why children who live in Henrico’s Near West End can’t go to Tuckahoe Middle and Freeman High School when the projected capacity under any of the redistricting plans ranges from 81-95  percent.  What would be so bad about it being at 100 percent? And why can’t the students who live closest to the schools go to the schools? Why instead should they be bused up to 6 miles away, to a totally different side of town?

The word on the street is that Genworth started letting employees know who will lose their job and who will stay at the Near West End Richmond corporate headquarters.

The Henrico County-based insurance company is in the process of notifying 1,000 employees, or about 14 percent of its worldwide work force, that their jobs will be eliminated.

A company spokesman would provide no further details, including how many cuts would be made here.

Any readers out there have any more information or first person accounts? Leave a comment.

Pasta Luna closed its West End location last week.

The Italian restaurant at 8902 W. Broad St. in western Henrico County closed last week after nearly 15 years in that location.

Executive chef Peter T. Caserta blamed economic reasons for the restaurant’s demise.

“We had a long run, a good run,” he said. “But location has changed everything; everything has shifted to more out west.”

During its tenure, Pasta Luna was the recipient of numerous readers’ choice awards for favorite Italian restaurant.

Envision Richmond’s first meeting to discuss the future of the city is  January 15.  Go ahead, get involved, help the city, share your brilliant ideas with Director of Community Development Rachel Flynn.

2009 Envision Richmond Kick-Off Meeting to Feature Rachel Flynn, Citizen Brainstorming, River City Band
We passed the Downtown Master Plan! Now what?
Do you want to participate in shaping Richmond’s future? What if you could share your ideas with other Richmonders, also committed to a healthy and vital city, and work together to make sure a strong citizen voice is heard? Join us on Thursday January 15th to help create Envision Richmond, and learn more about your role in creating a more vibrant River City.
Who: Envision Richmond, the citizen voice for Richmond\’s future, an organization affiliated with Partnership for Smarter Growth (PSG).
What: The 2009 Envision Richmond Kick-Off Meeting with guest speaker Rachel Flynn, Director of Community Development for the City of Richmond, and Richmond’s own River City Band. Please come and learn more about PSG, the Downtown Master Plan, and other upcoming opportunities for involvement in planning for Richmond’s future. The Scoot Richmond Scooter we are raffling in March will be on display – $5 raffle tickets will be for sale.
When: Thursday, January 15th, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
6:30 – 7:00: Registration and Networking
7:00 – 7:05 Welcome
7:05 – 7:20: PSG Blueprint for a Better Region
7:20 – 7:50: The Downtown Master Plan and Upcoming Plans, Projects and Opportunities for Involvement – Rachel Flynn, Director of Community Development, City of Richmond
7:50 – 8:15: Facilitated Collective Brainstorming
8:15 – 8:25: Where Do We Go From Here?
8:25 – 8:30 Closing.
8:30 – 9:00 Wine and Snack Social with Music
Where: The Tricycle Gardens Headquarters, “The Expansion Joint,” Manchester, 211 West 7th Street between Porter and Perry Streets in Manchester. Parking is available behind “The Expansion Joint” Mass Transit is available but limited; check GRTC web site for bus routes.
RSVP: Admission is Free. Please RSVP because space is limited. Email Donna at envisionrichmond@gmail.com to register.
Donations: Your tax-deductible financial support of Envision Richmond, channeled for now through PSG, is much appreciated. Click here to give.

Sheila J. Sheppard, Coordinator
Partnership for Smarter Growth
530 East Main Street, Suite 410
Richmond, Virginia 23219
P: 804-225-1902
F: 804-225-1904
PSG@PSGrichmond.org
www.PSGrichmond.org