The Whitley Gallery, a new art gallery in Shockoe Bottom, recently opened its inaugural show, “Seeing Beyond the Bars.“  Lawyer Angela Whitley opened the gallery, which specializes in art that explores criminal justice. Her goal, she said, was to combine her passion for law and art as well as the rehabilitative possibilities of creating art.

Haunting tours of historic plantations, sites Historic Haunts of Hanover: Sites in Hanover that harbor strange, haunted tales. Cold Harbor Battlefield: 1 to 3 p.m. tomorrow. Ranger on site; admission free. Historic Polegreen Church: 3 to 5 p.m. tomorrow. Richmond Investigators of the Paranormal on site; admission free. Hanover Tavern: 5 to 6 p.m. tomorrow. Tours and refreshments; admission free.

Building the future of Shockoe Bottom is uncovering bits and pieces of its past. An archaeological dig at a future apartment site has uncovered remnants of the homes of some of Richmond’s early residents.

Richmond, which has stopped running and hiding from a fundamental facet of its history, is poised to give birth to a slavery museum that never should have been shopped elsewhere. The Richmond Slave Trail Commission unveiled plans Monday for a slave heritage site in Shockoe Bottom that would include a slavery museum. It’s hard not to examine what has been proposed by the commission, led by Del. Delores L. McQuinn, D-Richmond, and not sense that we’re at the portal of something transformative.

The Richmond Slave Trail Commission yesterday released its vision to develop a $100 million to $150 million heritage site in Shockoe Bottom, including a slavery museum, an African-American genealogical center and a glass-enclosed Lumpkin’s Jail archeological site. Del. Delores L. McQuinn, D-Richmond, chairwoman of the commission, emphasized that plans for a 4.5-acre site between Main Street Station and Interstate 95 are preliminary but said she has begun to court prospective directors of a nonprofit to oversee the project. She cited Mayor Dwight C. Jones as a supporter and said someone of national or international prominence would be recruited to lead the project.

It was a beautifully crisp German afternoon, and Carmen Hoge and friends danced to their feet’s delight.

Jokers don’t get any wilder than the one draped on the wall of a Shockoe Bottom strip club. A banner of President Barack Obama as The Joker hangs across Main Street from the Slave Trade Reconciliation Triangle, where human figures lock in a melting embrace. Reconciliation is not what MICHAEL
PAUL
WILLIAMS
comes to mind when you see Obama’s powder-white face grotesquely smeared with lipstick.

The Virginia NAACP called it an abomination and a sign of disrespect. The owner of a downtown Richmond strip club called it exercising his right to free speech.

In a rare feat of late, a town-hall meeting with no shouting was held yesterday by Shockoe Bottom residents, business owners and city officials. The discussion of the Bottom’s future followed the city’s issuance Friday of a request for proposals for an economic strategy to guide development and redevelopment in the neighborhood. The project will be financed with $125,000 set aside by the City Council this spring.

Shockoe Bottom residents, business owners and city officials met Saturday, a day after the city issued a request for proposals for an economic strategy to guide development and redevelopment in the neighborhood. The project will be financed with $125,000 set aside by City Council this spring. The meeting, held at The Old City Bar on East Main Street, was the first in a series of discussions on the Bottom’s potential, its revitalization needs and its assets.

With a ballpark out of the picture, Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones wants a new, market-tested plan for revitalizing Shockoe Bottom. The city was preparing to issue yesterday a request for proposals for an economic strategy to guide development and redevelopment of city and private property in the Bottom. “At the end of the day, we want something that’s implementable and market-driven,“ said Peter H. Chapman, deputy chief administrative officer for economic and community development.

A reverse 911 alert system and $20 million of drainage work in Shockoe Bottom and the creek leading to it are Tropical Storm Gaston’s local legacy, five years after it flooded Richmond. The giant backup generators that Richmond fires up every 10 weeks at its water and wastewater plants reflect lessons learned from Hurricane Isabel in 2003.

When it rains, business owners in Shockoe Bottom remember. Five years ago, when the remnants of Tropical Storm Gaston dumped more than a foot of rain on parts of Richmond, the runoff from half the city came racing through the Bottom—a bigger flow at times than the James River itself. Eight people across the area died—two at Gillie Creek and one near Bryan Park in Richmond, one in South Richmond, two in Hanover County, one in Chesterfield County and one in Dinwiddie County.

When it rains, business owners in Shockoe Bottom remember. Five years ago, when the remnants of Tropical Storm Gaston dumped more than a foot of rain on parts of Richmond, the runoff from half the city came racing through the Bottom—a bigger flow at times than the James River itself. Eight people across the area died—two at Gillie Creek and one near Bryan Park in Richmond, one in South Richmond, two in Hanover County, one in Chesterfield County and one in Dinwiddie County.

Flooding from the remnants of Tropical Storm Gaston five years ago was the fault of the city of Richmond’s inept operation of its sewers and negligent maintenance over decades, a lawsuit filed by 19 Shockoe Bottom businesses charges. Gaston dumped a foot of rain in just a few hours on Aug. 30, 2004, sending a wall of water raging through the Bottom and causing flooding across the area. Eight people died in the city and its suburbs during the storm.