Richmond Neighborhood Community Association
The History of the RNCA
A look at the Richmond Neighborhood Community Association's accomplishments over the years demonstrates the importance of neighbors joining together to focus on the issues that confront us.
The Beginning
| December 1989 - Residents at the southern end of Richmond Ave. successfully fought against a zoning change for 55 Richmond, resulting in the property being converted into two luxury town houses. |
| March 1990 - The neighborhood rallied to oppose the convert and reuse proposal for a commercial venture in the church at Bryant and Richmond, resulting in the resale of the property to Bob Priore, a developer who converted the church to the Bryant Parish Commons. |
| April 1991 - Just before the real estate closing, and conversion to condominiums, Marcson Development held a "garage sale" at the church and offered ten percent of the net proceeds to the Richmond Neighborhood Community Association. The check was held by Councilman Carl Perla. |
| August 1991 - Steve Moscov hand delivered the first meeting announcement for September 1991 to every house on Richmond. The check from Marcson served as "seed money" and was deposited. |
| September 1991 - The RNCA was started. The first meeting divided the Association into its existing five zones. |
Early Projects
| May 1992 - In "Operation Beetle Buster" the RNCA successfully fought the broad leaf spraying of highly toxic SEVIN on the Elm Trees all across the city. This led to the City's disposal of the stockpiled poison, and the acceptance of non-toxic methods for Elm leaf beetle control. | ||||||
| Fall 1992 - The RNCA requested that
the City's traffic engineer study Richmond Avenue's flow of traffic and
specifically asked for:
|
Through the Years
| Our Association has worked tirelessly to build the community and be a collective voice for improvement and enhancement of our neighborhood. |
| We have worked together to identify problem properties and hold their absentee owners accountable. |
| We have worked with other groups and City officials to study street calming solutions. |
| The RNCA has networked with other community groups to deal with zoning issues such as the Rite Aide at Elmwood and Bryant, the Night people center, the saturation of social service agencies in our area, the Red Cross reuse of a building on their property, and most recently the future of Children's Hospital. |
| We have been proactive in improving our neighborhood by winning two grants from the Mayor's Matching Fund for planters at intersections along Richmond Ave. |
| One of the principal highlights of the RNCA has been the completion of the Ferry Circle restoration in 2002. Many hours of research and planning by the steering committee led by David Bender have paid off. The center island with its magnificent lamp standard has significantly added to the beauty of the Avenue. |
Current projects
| The Upper West Arts Center - In the past we have assisted the Alleyway Theater in gaining neighborhood support, zoning approval, and funding for the conversion of the Richmond Methodist Church into the Upper West Arts Center. The conversion was well under way, until a funding problem brought the project to a standstill. We hope this financial hurdle will be overcome and we continue to monitor the project. |
| More work needed at West Ferry Circle - Traffic problems and Lighting at the circle continue to be concerns which need attention. |
| Housing - There many houses an apartment buildings along Richmond Avenue that are neglected and effect the neighborhood in a negative way. An effort is being made to get City inspectors to view these properties in order to find solutions to the problem. |
