Thread by @lewisnelson

@gumbydotgov Now the pressure is on! I’m still debating if it will be too big of a hit to my delicate mental health. The fact that one loud voice can override the work of civic associations, business associations, and over a decade of advocacy and cooperation

@gumbydotgov And then the BizSense picture of the so-called 1000-signature petition had barely any addresses listed— who are these people and where were they during the dozens of meetings and discussions? We have verified 3rd District residents that showed their support

@gumbydotgov Our Civic Association and others in the neighborhood pooled resources to submit a FOIA request to the City for the petition and now WE have to do the due diligence to research the names on the list.

@gumbydotgov And then the money spent on the bump outs, just ripped out with no discussion to the many community advocates who worked so hard to have them installed. Insult to injury, they tore them out days before an advertised public meeting to discuss the parklet and Brookland Park Blvd

@gumbydotgov The community shows up to voice their discontent and basically get gas lighted by our elected rep. The same one who tells us she values the opinion of Civic Associations and wants to hear our input. Then accusing us of not being happy because “we voted for her opponent”

@gumbydotgov I love me some @whprez but this meeting and issue wasn’t about liking him and not liking our city council person. It was about the hard work done to come to community consensus just to have it ripped apart from one loud voice with a shady 1000-person petition with no addresses.

@gumbydotgov @whprez Not to mention the hard work that went into planning the Brookland Park Block Party in September, then the week prior during final plans, one loud voice walks in claiming “nobody” wants the event on Saturday and that no business owners on the Blvd were informed.

@gumbydotgov @whprez He says this at the Historic Brookland Park Business District meeting in front of Blvd business owners who have planned and executed this event for years. The opportunity to know was always there if he had shown up.

@gumbydotgov @whprez This would not be a problem normally, but for some reason, our elected rep resonated with this one outspoken critic and then tried to derail the event and force it to move to Sunday.. despite already having the city permit to close the road on Saturday

@gumbydotgov @whprez This one loud voice kept claiming hundred of supporters and even “our own business association” that nobody has heard of or known about in the neighborhood.

@gumbydotgov @whprez So was there unanimous consensus for the block party? For the bump outs? For Ms Bee’s parklet? Absolutely not. Next Door is full of opposition. But the loudest voice should be the majority, but the individual who literally decides to be loud.

@gumbydotgov @whprez Does Brookland Park Blvd have a parking problem? Maybe for the disabled and those with difficulty walking. For everybody else, plenty of parking on the side streets. I’ve never not seen parking with a block or two on the side streets.

@gumbydotgov @whprez Then there’s this line from Al Muhammad below. I don’t know if he’s unable to use it for some reason, but he has parking available behind his building! richmondbizsense.com/2021/10/15/nei…

@gumbydotgov @whprez Yes there are many in our neighborhood that value parking over bump outs and parklets. I believe the same people would also say they support the local businesses and want them to succeed. So I’d say we need to go to the data..

@gumbydotgov @whprez In order to shop, you need safe pedestrian access. I don’t know how many people shopping on BPB have to drive. I personally walk and know many others that do the same. Bump outs are effective traffic calming and pedestrian safety countermeasures sfbetterstreets.org/find-project-t…

@gumbydotgov @whprez I’d love to spend time pulling data on infrastructure improvements to show impact on traffic calming and pedestrian safety. But it baffles me Robert Vincent, Director of Richmond Department of Public Works, would say “we’re not going to infrastructure our way out of speeding.”

@gumbydotgov @whprez That’s simply a punch in the face to the infrastructure advocates and groups like @BikeWalkRVA who advocate for traffic calming measures throughout #RVA. The city even responded well to a local resident and our civic association requesting speed humps on North Ave.. to slow cars.

@gumbydotgov @whprez @BikeWalkRVA Final thought… it really appears our elected councilperson is trusting and acting in favor of the loud minority vs the engaged majority in our precinct. It’s disappointing. It also really appears she directed DPW to remove bump outs outside of official and legal city process.

@gumbydotgov @whprez @BikeWalkRVA Yet Vincent claims it was his decision… then why did it happen so suddenly as we were excitedly planning our new and beautiful parklet coming soon? It feels like a personal vendetta against a precinct that favored their very own, wry active community advocate

@gumbydotgov @whprez @BikeWalkRVA The one who’s been here his whole life, bringing people together in a neighborhood experiencing great change both socioeconomic ally and racially. He brings people together and creates opportunity for engagement. He should be her go to man in the area.

@gumbydotgov @whprez @BikeWalkRVA So instead of destroying what so many have worked hard to build, create the spaces for community dialog but actually listen to the ones who show up, not the one who hands over a shady petition with unverified signatures claiming his own group nobody has heard of.

@gumbydotgov @whprez @BikeWalkRVA Listen to your elected civic association leaders and business association members.. that actually SHOW UP. Losing bump outs aren’t the end the world, but the process and execution is a surefire why to lost the trust of the Brookland Park residents and business owners.

@gumbydotgov @whprez @BikeWalkRVA Rant compete. Support Brookland Park Blvd businesses. If you live in the neighborhood, please consider joining your local civic association .. see links here northbartonheights.org/community-link…

@gumbydotgov @whprez @BikeWalkRVA @threadreaderapp unroll