Posts Tagged ‘Richmond’

Richmond Liberation Day- Anti-Shockoe Baseball Stadium event Wednesday at 5:30pm!

Posted: April 1, 2013 in Uncategorized
Tags: african american, african ancestral chamber, anarchist, anarchy, baseball stadium, collective, defenders for freedom, equality, flying squirrels, freedom, justice, justice and equality, liberation, radical, Richmond, RVA, shockoe bottom, sports stadium, Wingnut

MEDIA RELEASE

From the African Ancestral Chamber and the Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality

Richmond, Virginia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

April 1, 2013

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Omowale Deane – African Ancestral Chamber – 804-437-0681; africanancestralchamber@gmail.com

Ana Edwards – Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality – 804-517-4049; ourrosewood@gmail.com

Richmond groups to mark ‘Richmond Liberation Day’

by opposing plan for a baseball stadium in Shockoe Bottom

The African Ancestral Chamber and the Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality will hold a press conference and vigil at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3rd, at the corner of Crane and East Broad streets in Shockoe Bottom. The purpose of the events is to commemorate Richmond Liberation Day, and bring attention to unfavorable developments such as a sports stadium within the historic district where captive Africans were sold.

April 3rd will be the 148^th anniversary of the day that African American soldiers led Union troops into Richmond, liberating its people from Confederate rule, freeing enslaved Africans from the notorious Lumpkin’s Jail and ending slavery in the city, where it had existed for more than 300 years. The day was annually celebrated by Richmond’s African American community until the beginning of the Jim Crow era.

The corner of Crane and East Broad streets is next to the Exxon gas station, which stands on the site of what once was Omohundro’s Jail, a holding structure for enslaved Africans similar to Lumpkin’s. Plans by various groups in the City call for placing a stadium at this site.

Following the vigil, participants will visit Richmond’s African Burial Ground to show their respect for the ancestors buried there.

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This situation really stinks!!! City Sewer Problems in Southern Barton Heights

Posted: April 1, 2013 in Uncategorized
Tags: anarchist, anarchist collective, battery park flood, city of richmond, city sewer, city utility, environmental racism, plumbing, Richmond, RVA, scott burger, sewage, toilet, Wingnut

For Immediate Release:

The Wingnut Anarchist Collective House is located at 2005 Barton Avenue. We have now become victim of one of the symptoms of a failing infrastructure in the City of Richmond.

Many folks are familiar with the numerous problems with the City of Richmond’s public utilities like water- from the flooding that occurred in Battery Park several years ago to the fact that we have the highest minimum water rate in the world and yet most of that money does not go into repairing our ailing sewers.

Last weekend we noticed the water in our downstairs toilet was bubbling up with air bubbles from sewer gas- clearly not supposed to happen. Then on Saturday March 30th, we were doing yard work and discovered, much to our dismay, that on the side of our house the sewer had backed up/built up pressure so much it blew about 10 inches of our clean out pipe clear off and spewed raw sewage in the yard. I immediately called 311 to get folks from the City of Richmond out to deal with the problem.

When the City workers showed up they made me sign paperwork saying I would have to pay them at such and such a rate if the problem were found on my property. I had to take down a section of our fence to give them access to our 2nd clean out that is located in our back yard near the alleyway. They said they were first going to run a plumbing snake through the sewage lines on our property to make sure the problem wasn’t there, because if it was they wouldn’t fix it. They ran the snake from the alley to our house and found no problem. Then our next door neighbor came out and said that the sewer had backed up in his yard as well. Clearly this was a problem outside of any individual property.

Finally the City utility folks got a big truck and ran a big snake through the sewer pipes in the alley, found some massive clog, and dealt with it. I thought it was all taken care of.

Unfortunately I later realized that the City of Richmond had not fixed my broken clean out pipe, or the pile of raw sewage in my yard (both of which were clearly caused by their sewer backup). I was planning to call them on Monday since it was now Easter Sunday and the problem was in a section of yard us and our dogs do not regularly access. I went downstairs and used the toilet in the half bath. None of us had used that toilet since the fiasco the day before, as we tend to use the upstairs toilet more frequently. Rather shockingly, upon flushing, water dumped from the toilet onto the floor. I assumed it was coming from the base of the toilet, like the wax ring had failed. I called 311, and told them I really did need them to come fix the clean out pipe, raw sewage, and look at the damage they had caused to my toilet. I went in the bathroom to move some things around so the City workers would be able to have better access to the toilet. That is when I discovered that a piece of the porcelain from the toilet had been blown off, and was on the bathroom floor. Water leaked when I flushed the toilet because the toilet was missing part of its side! Somehow enough pressure had built up to just blow that part of the toilet clean off.

When the City workers showed up that afternoon, I showed them the toilet and the blown up clean out. They then informed me that they couldn’t do anything about those issues. They got me to put a some dye in the toilet water and flush it so they could look at the clean out near the alley to see how long the water took to get there. Which is when we discovered that the water from the drains in our house is no longer even getting to the alley. Something that either got shoved into our sewer pipes by the back up or their snake or some break along those pipes from the incredible pressure caused by the failing sewer is now preventing our sewage from going where it is supposed to go. So now we can’t use our drains, toilets, or shower for fear of causing a secondary or tertiary problem if our water use ends up backing up somewhere else or leaking somewhere along the way.

We have called a plumber who is supposed to come today, and also begun the process of filing a claim with our insurance company.

Unfortunately for the rest of our community, this is not an isolated issue. We talked to a 3rd neighbor last night who is also having problems with the sewer backing up and not functioning properly. There are many condemned and/or abandoned houses in our neighborhood, so it is hard to get a grasp on how large this problem is, as there is no one in those houses to issue a complaint. A lot of folks who don’t maybe realize that the problems they are experiencing are the City’s fault or who just don’t know to call 311 to get emergency water/sewage help might not be filing complaints.

Human waste is incredibly toxic and full of total coliforms and e. coli. This is a huge public health issue – you can get sick and die! Not only does the city need to pay for the damage to the property, they also need to pay for temporary shelter (like a hotel) for folks who experience these major sewage problems.

We don’t have a quote from a licensed plumber yet, but are hoping to get one day. I renovate houses and can say with confidence that this has easily caused hundreds of dollars of damage. We will have to replace the toilet, possibly some flooring and subflooring around it, get the raw sewage cleaned up, get the cleanout replaced, and figure out where and break/clog is now which could be simple or could involve replacing buried lines.

Our neighborhood, Southern Barton Heights, is largely comprised of working class people of color and low income folks. We have many elderly members of our community as well. Unfortunately, this neighborhood receives more attention by means of the Richmond Police harassing young black men on the street than we do with groceries, jobs, transit, or city utility. Folks in this neighborhood are underserved by the City of Richmond, though we all pay the same minimum 49.40 a month just to have our water/sewer cut on. Scott Burger has been a driving force with a campaign to reduce the monthly minimum rate to encourage conservation and help out low income folks. This point hits home even harder now. If we are paying the same 49.40 a month as everyone else, then we demand that our neighborhood receive the same respect and services as Windsor Farms and all other sections of Richmond. The systematic neglect of certain areas of the city reeks of environmental racism and neglect (and in this case raw human sewage).

On one level, we just want to be able to go to the bathroom and do our dishes. But this issue IS larger than that, and we hope this aspect is not lost to anyone reading this. If folks want to have further conversations around these issues, drop us a line wingnut_collective@yahoo.com or 804 303 5449 or come on by 2005 Barton Avenue (go to the bathroom before you head over).

Pictures below:

The hole in our toilet

Broken clean out pipe and raw sewage in our yard

The Wingnut Needs Your Help With…

Posted: March 30, 2013 in Uncategorized
Tags: anarc hist, anarchism, anarchy, infoshop, radical, Richmond, RVA, Wingnut

Here at the Wingnut we are currently looking for more chairs for our workshops and meetings and any extra garden supplies that you might have lying aroung that you never use! We will surely make active use of these items! Also any rat/rabbit type cages and/or fish tanks would be super helpful for a variety of things! Please dont be afraid to swing by anytime for an update on any workshops and to spend some leisure time within our library.

Also remember April 4th happens to be our Copwatch tutorial so please join us and you may bring potluck food if you’d like! We’ll have coffee as usual!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and help us here, if you have any questions or comments just let us know!

Wingnut Radical Lending Library Re-Organized

Posted: March 16, 2013 in Uncategorized
Tags: anarchist, anarchist books, anarchy, books, collective, DIY, Do It Yourself, guerrilla strategy, guns, herbs, infoshop, lending, lending library, library, police, prisons, queer, Queer Fiction, radical, radical books, Radical Fiction, Richmond, RVA, the south, urban planning, Wingnut, zine

The past few days have been spent re-organizing and re-arranging the Wingnut Radical Lending Library!

Books are now organizing into the following subjects on the shelves:

Radical fiction, guns, guerilla strategy, gardens, herbs, diy do it yourself, queer fiction, queer, religion/spirituality, myths, kids books, feminism, graphic novels, cookbooks, animal issues. home renovation, music, art, food politics, bikes, field guides, survivalism, Mexico, indigenous, Native American, prisons, police, medicine/medical, travelling, DIY Do it Yourself, Middle East, Asia, Africa, Journalism, Urban Planning, 1960s, drugs, zines, Hawai’i, Zinn, Schools/Education, Consumer Culture, Richmond/The South, South America, Globalization/Neoliberalism, Government Repression, Environment, The Spanish Civil War, Labor/Class, Black Power/Race, Anarchist Practice, Anarchism

That’s over 50 different categories of books for you to come read, and come check out if you are so inclined.

We are also currently looking for volunteers to help us re-vamp our Open Hours, folks who can come over during Open Hours, offer coffee and tea to guests, re-shelve returned books, help folks check out books, etc. If you are interested and available for Wednesday evenings from 4-9 or Friday evenings from 4-9 please shoot us an email at wingnut_collective@yahoo.com Ideally we’d have 2 volunteers per shift and everyone would take about 1 shift a month

Check out our book and zine collections online, http://www.librarything.com/profile/thewingnutrva our collection of over 1000 books and growing us under “Your Library” and our zines are under “approaching apocalypse” Zines are available to be read in the space, but not taken out of the space.

Pictures from Food Not Bombs

Posted: March 12, 2013 in Uncategorized
Tags: anarchist, community meal, DIY, FNB, Food Not Bombs, free food, Monroe Park, punk house, Richmond, RVA, RVA FNB, vegan, vegetarian, Wingnut

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Save the Date: Consent Workshop and Brunch April 27th at 1pm

Posted: February 25, 2013 in Uncategorized
Tags: anarchism, anarchist, collective, consent, consent culture, DIY, feminism, feminist, rape culture, Richmond, RVA, self care, Wingnut, workshop

Consent Workshop and Brunch
Saturday April 27th at 1pm
at the Wingnut

more details to come, but please plan on coming.

Mo Karn Subpoenaed in Civil Case regarding Richmond Police

Posted: February 23, 2013 in Uncategorized
Tags: anarchism, anarchist, cop watch, copwatch, deposition, foia, Mo Karnage, red, Richmond, RVA, Wingnut

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Mo Karn of the Wingnut has been subpoenaed, a few weeks ago, and is being forced to go to court on Monday Feb. 25th as a witness (against their will) in a civil case stemming from the RPD documents recently linked to from this website.
Mo is not clear on what they are or are not allowed to talk about in regards to this matter, sorry for the lack of details. The numerous papers that have been served to Mo over the past few months have included various injunctions which make it incredibly difficult to determine where Mo’s right to free speech remains around these issues.
Earlier in this ordeal the cops had tried to force Mo to attend a deposition and answer many questions about things not even related to any RPD documents. This looks like it might be the same situation.
Mo has legal representation, and will give an update whenever they get out of court.

March Zine Fest Meeting

Posted: February 23, 2013 in Uncategorized
Tags: anarchist, community, DIY, feminist, gsex, radical, Richmond, RVA, va, Wingnut, zine, zine fest, zinefest, zines, zinester

The Richmond Zine Fest Organizers will be meeting on Tuesday March 5th at 5pm at the Crenshaw House (GSEX building) at VCU on Franklin St near Harrison.

If you are interested in helping organize zine events and fundraisers leading up to the 2013 Richmond Zine Fest please come!

http://www.richmondzinefest.org for more information!

Richmond Food Not Bombs Documentary by Baldeep Singh Pooni

Posted: January 13, 2013 in Uncategorized
Tags: anarchist, anti-war, baldeep singh pooni, Eris Morna, FNB, food is a right not a privilege, Food Not Bombs, free food, Mo Karnage, Monroe Park, Owsi MacFearcher, peace, protest, radical, Richmond, solidarity not charity, vegan, vegetarian, Wingnut, wingnut anarchist collective

A documentary recently completed by Baldeep on Richmond Food Not Bombs.
Please watch and share!
We are always looking for more organizers, more political events, more donations, more fundraisers, etc.

Thanks Baldeep!