Another fire in the area. The P-I has the details.

The Sycamore Rouge hosts The Velveteen Rabbit, adapted by kb Saine from Margery Williams’ classic childrens’ story, Dec. 7-Dec. 22 — and according to the P-I, some nights are nearly sold out, even with the theater’s newly expanded seating!

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So much groove you won’t be able to stand it! Plus, hear songs from their new CD, Ms. Popular. All at Wabi-Sabi on Friday, Dec. 7, 9pm. Check out samples of their sound here.

Tonight a rep of RKG Associates (the folks who’ve spent the better part of a year forecasting how the BRAC-related growth at Ft. Lee will shake out across Petersburg, Prince George, Dinwiddie, Chesterfield, Colonial Heights, and Hopewell) presented their findings to a packed audience of leaders and citizens from around the region.

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The Petersburg Bureau of Police announces their partnership with Old Town Merchants and the Retail Merchants Association during the Dec. 4 (joint) Council meeting at 6:55 pm in the Petersburg High School Auditorium. The Partnership will involve an announcement to reinstitute the foot beat Officer to the patrol function in the area of the downtown and Old Town merchant areas.

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Click here for the agenda.

on Math-bots, and Forty & Eight’s presentation of flags to first graders

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Sunday, Dec. 9, 1:30pm to 5:00pm. Music by Leon Richardson and TAZZ. Donation: $20 adults, $10 children 5-12 years; last day for donation is Dec 5; no donations at the door. For info, contact: Reggie Branch (804)731-1853, Mary Harwell (804)732-0383, Church Office (804)733-6541. TBCCLC is located at 444 Halifax St.

From the P-I: “[Petersburg] City Council and the [Prince George] county’s Board of Supervisors held a joint public hearing last night to hear comments on the proposed Independence Village, a $150 million mixed-use development including retail and residential uses. Tony Collins, of Axis Development, which will develop the property, said he was very pleased that the process to get Independence Village approved has finally come to an end.” And in the RTD: “…When completed, the development should generate $3.7 million to $4.8 million a year in new real-estate sales and restaurant taxes for Petersburg and $744,000 to $854,000 in property and sales taxes for Prince George, the developers said. Developers plan to pay $2 million to Petersburg to widen South Crater Road and will spend $1.5 million on water and sewer improvements, in addition to several other expenses. They said they expected the project would generate more traffic on South Crater Road. The project would likely mean between 159 and 167 more students for Petersburg and Prince George schools. …”

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Take a look out your window…

Courtesy Ron Moring:

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This weekend, the national Algebra Project holds its annual board meeting in Petersburg, in part to kick off a multi-year partnership between the Petersburg City Public Schools, the National Algebra Project, the Young People’s Project, VSU, and the Cameron Foundation.

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After some teeth-gnashing among the public in response to the school board’s earlier decision to do away with the public comment period, per the P-I last night the school board decided to reinstate public commenting.

Richmond’s Pete Humes amuses his dear readers and makes a really good point besides in his article entitled, Five Ways to Keep Your Shopping Local.

If you are moved to tears to have access to an online calendar of local goings-on, overjoyed to regularly see Ron Moring’s photos, tickled as you can be to have a space to pose questions for our local media to explore, overwhelmed at the prospect of being able to access city council minutes, BRAC reports, and other documents all in one place (and archived!), etc etc etc, then let Richmond know — show your support for Petersburg People’s News. (Oh, and while at it you may learn about some other really outstanding topical blogs out of the greater Richmond area, if you don’t already follow them over at RVABlogs.com.)

Blandford Historic Church will be hosting a program at 6:30pm tonight (Dec 8) that will include singing of carols and the reading of soldier’s letters. Period costume encouraged.

YouthBuild programs aim to help young people ages 16-24 who have dropped out of school “work toward their GED or high school diploma, learn job skills and serve their communities by building affordable housing, and transform their own lives and roles in society.” Petersburg’s YouthBuild is run by Pathways (formerly Petersburg Urban Ministries — which does a lot…Lead Safe program, Americorps, etc.). Today’s P-I has more details on the grant.

This month’s Friday for the Arts! will be Dec. 14, 6pm to 10pm. Highlights: Bobby Lynch at the Sol Cooper Gallery and Carol Anna Meese at her new Atelier, exerpts from The Velveten Rabbit at Sycamore Rouge, an open house at nationally acclaimed Appomattox Tile Art, A Chair Affair by Bev Rivers and designer David Montoya at River’s Edge, finely crafted jewelry by Ladysmith, mosaics by Jacki Sowers, Concerts by Candlelight (organ and soprano) at St. Paul’s, the Upper East Side Big Band at Wabi-Sabi, and more — 27 venues will be open this month for the visual arts, 8 for music.

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Upper Eastside Big Band, led by award-winning Samson Trinh, returns to Wabi-Sabi Friday, Dec. 14, 9pm. See you there!

1. Wednesday, January 23, 2008 - 6:00-8:00pm - Union Train Station
2. Thursday, January 24, 2008 - 6:00-8:00pm - Tabernacle Community Life Center

Flyers about these events are forthcoming….

NBC12 recently reported that there have been 11 (armed?) robberies in 12 days (targets mostly women, at night — no mention in the article re: where these have been happening), and today’s P-I notes that there was an armed robbery Tues in the parking lot of a building on the 800 block of E. Wythe (target a man, again at night).

Per the P-I, a fire was reported on the 1600 block of W. Washington.

In addition to providing a great photo of developer Dave McCormack with the lofts behind him, today’s P-I covers the progress on the huge historic restoration project that is Mayton Transfer Lofts. It looks like the first 47 apts will be ready for move-in around March 2008.

Chief John I. Dixon, III and the Petersburg Bureau of Police will distribute holiday gifts to 32 children from the Petersburg community on Monday, Dec. 17, 3pm at Police Headquarters. The public is invited to attend and “share in our joy of giving.”

Yesterday the Petersburg Bureau of Police announced their selection of the new Downtown Bicycle Beat Officer during the 3pm opening of the new visitors kiosk. Corporal Matthew P. Gilstrap will soon be patrolling the downtown area as its newest bike officer. This position was created through a partnership developed between The Retail Merchant Association, Old Town Merchant Group and the Petersburg Bureau of Police, now led by Colonel John I. Dixon.

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