A 15.5 percent increase in Richmond’s construction permit fees may have been unnecessary, and it has failed to produce the promised improvements in inspection services, according to the city auditor. Backed by 32 development professionals and then-Mayor L. Douglas Wilder, the City Council raised the fees in 2007 so the city could hire 10 inspectors and related staff to make the operation more efficient.

With as much as $175 million potentially burning a hole in its collective pocket, the Richmond School Board voted 6-1 last night to include seven schools in the first phase of its construction plan, with a new Huguenot High School at the top of the list. The city has not built a new school in more than a decade. The School Board will present to the City Council a plan that includes the new high school, a new Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in the East End, and new Broad Rock and Oak Grove elementary schools in South Richmond. Also on the list are secondary priorities including replacements for Elkhardt Middle and E.H.S. Greene Elementary, both in South Richmond, and George Mason Elementary in North Side.

With new 7th District representative Cynthia I. Newbille, Richmond’s City Council hit the brakes last night on a proposal to increase the rates towing companies can charge to remove vehicles from private property. By a 7-0 vote, the council sent back to committee a proposed ordinance that would raise the maximum towing fee to $125 from $65 to match the price allowed under state code.

Parking illegally in Richmond could soon get more expensive. The City Council is set to vote tomorrow on proposals that would increase the rates that towing companies can charge to remove vehicles from private property, as well as the city’s fines for unauthorized parking in handicap zones. The maximum towing fee would be raised to $125 from $65 to match the price allowed under state code. The state rate applies only if localities don’t cap their own rates.

From the rear of her Libby Terrace home, Cathy Hayden can see the James River view that named our city, the dock where slaves disembarked and the landing where President Abraham Lincoln came ashore days after Richmond fell to Union forces. “The people who live here feel like they are guardians of MICHAEL
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this view,“ Hayden said. To drive that point home, they invited Cynthia I. Newbille to drink in the setting during her campaign for the 7th District seat on the Richmond City Council.

Cynthia I. Newbille easily won a special election for the 7th District seat on Richmond’s City Council. Newbille, a one-time city administration official, was endorsed by Mayor Dwight C. Jones,

Cynthia I. Newbille appeared poised to win yesterday’s special election for the 7th District seat on Richmond City Council. With five of seven precincts reporting, Newbille, a one-time city administration official who was endorsed by Mayor Dwight C. Jones, had 1,162 votes to lead five other candidates vying to represent the city’s East End, according to unofficial totals.

The city of Richmond won’t ask the next General Assembly to fix some of the issues in the city charter that were at the root of clashes between then-Mayor L. Douglas Wilder and City Council. Despite nearly a year’s work by a review commission, council members agreed last night to hold off seeking state approval of potentially controversial changes relating to who has the authority to appoint the city attorney, the city auditor and the city assessor, and how the appointment of the chief administrative officer is handled.

Get ready to climb out of those ditches along Jahnke Road. Richmond is working on a plan to install sidewalks, curb and gutter, and a way to separate traffic on the heavily traveled two-lane road in South Side between Blakemore Road and Forest Hill Avenue. Currently, passengers on GRTC Transit System buses have to step over ditches as they board or disembark. Traffic accidents are up, especially at the intersection of Jahnke and Blakemore, near Lucille M. Brown Middle School.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones is jumping in to try to sway next Tuesday’s special election for the open 7th District seat on the City Council. After weeks of speculation, Jones is endorsing Cynthia I. Newbille in the six-candidate race to represent the East End. In a recorded phone message that went to district households Tuesday, Jones encourages people to vote for Newbille. Another round of calls is expected next week.

Richmond City Councilman E. Martin Jewell faces the likelihood of brief jail time if convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol. Jewell, who spent several hours in the Richmond city lockup after his arrest Saturday morning and later was released on $500 bond, made an initial appearance yesterday in Richmond General District Court, where a judge set Dec. 7 as the date to hear the case.

The Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority expects to need a smaller city loan than initially thought to prop up its housing-voucher program. Anthony Scott, the authority’s chief executive officer, told the City Council yesterday that the authority may need about $600,000 next year, including $400,281 by this Dec. 1, for the program that supports subsidized rental housing of low-income families.

Richmond’s trees may soon have a voice in city government. The City Council will consider a proposal tomorrow to create an Urban Forestry Commission to develop policies for maintaining the city’s trees, removing ones that pose hazards, and replacing them with the right trees in the right places. The proposal came through a council committee last week on a 3-0 vote. Two earlier attempts to establish the commission and revise the city’s existing tree ordinance went nowhere this year.

Richmond Councilman E. Martin Jewell was arrested early yesterday and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, Richmond police said. The 5th District councilman was arrested about 1:30 a.m. near Byrd Park, about a mile from his Maplewood Avenue home. Jewell was released later in the morning on a $500 bond, an officer at the Richmond city lockup said. Police did not release further details about the arrest.

Richmond is tapping the brakes on a proposal to build roundabouts at four intersections in South Richmond and the East End. At the same time, a City Council committee moved a step closer to blocking a proposed roundabout at a busy intersection in North Richmond. The Land Use, Housing and Transportation Standing Committee voted 2-1 yesterday in support of a proposal to prevent a roundabout from being created at Laburnum Avenue and Hermitage Road. The long-pending proposal by 3rd District Councilman Chris A. Hilbert now moves to the full council at its meeting on Monday.