Richmond government has taken a lot of hits for poor management (and less savory characteristics). So it’s worth highlighting one of the city’s accomplishments: the restoration of Forest Hill lake, an urban gem that had grown choked and fetid from neglect. The restoration is good news. What makes it even better: Project overseers finished the work early and under budget. Metropolitan Environmental Services, the Ohio firm that did the spade work, gets much of the credit. But city officials merit praise for putting the project in motion and making sure it got done well.

The lake is back in Forest Hill Park—under budget and ahead of schedule. The lake, more than a century old, is brimming with water again in the historic South Richmond park.

For the second time in a month, a city park has been targeted by vandals using spray paint. Richmond police said vandals targeted Forest Hill Park overnight Saturday, spraying graffiti reflecting anti-Semitic and racist symbols. The park bordering Forest Hill Avenue in South Richmond is nearing completion of a major improvement project that has removed thousands of tons of silt from Forest Hill lake.

For the second time in a month, a city park has been targeted by vandals using spray paint. Richmond police said vandals targeted Forest Hill Park overnight Saturday, spraying graffiti reflecting anti-Semitic and racist symbols. The park bordering Forest Hill Avenue in south Richmond is nearing completion of a major improvement project that has removed thousands of tons of silt from Forest Hill lake.

On the last weekend before school starts, Kevin Spicer went shopping. He wasn’t looking for last-minute school supplies for his 12-year-old son Michael, though. Spicer bought some fishing gear and a big blue inner tube to haul behind his speedboat. Dad, son, and friend Brooks Coombs, 13, went to Osborne Boat Landing in Henrico County yesterday to spend the day on the James River.

A lake is taking shape again in the heart of Forest Hill Park. Almost 27,000 cubic yards of sediment have been dug, drained and hauled away from the site of the historic lake in South Richmond as part of a $1.7 million restoration that is moving swiftly toward completion, possibly ahead of schedule this fall. About one week’s worth of excavation remains to be done, once the Ohio-based dredging crew returns to work next week after the Labor Day holiday. The work then will focus on restoring many of the historic features that have been lost for years under accumulating mud and marshland.

The first step in restoring a historic lake in Forest Hill Park has begun with a push to rescue fish and other aquatic life there. A dredging crew began pumping water out of Reedy Creek yesterday from a narrow channel that snakes through the wetland that has swallowed the lake over the past two decades.

Richmond residents who live south of the James are surely delighted by the news that the city plans to restore the lake at Forest Hill Park. Years of silt runoff and benign neglect have dulled the luster of this urban gem. Yet even now the park provides an oasis of calm, enjoyment, and recreation for dog-walkers, mountain-bikers, families, picnickers, and nature-lovers. A new farmer’s market opened last year to considerable popularity. Now and then devotees of motorized toy trucks will even test their machines on the rocks that line the creek running through the park.