Wheelchair-accessible ramp at Reedy Creek

I saw this on Facebook and thought I’d pass it along. If you’ve never heard of Sportable, check out their website. They do amazing work here in Richmond, and on July 28th they need some help from 9 a.m. – noon. Sportable is looking for a few volunteers who know the river to assist with one of their River Days. Wheelchair-bound veterans will be putting in at Reedy Creek and paddling the James. If this is something you’d like to help with, please contact Kristio@lewisginter.org

The voting  has closed. Now we wait. In October, we’ll find out if Richmond was selected as Outside Magazine‘s ‘Best Town Ever.’ If voting alone told the tale, RVA would win in a landslide. Here’s how the final Facebook vote tally broke down.

1. Richmond – 9,315 votes
2. Hood River, Oregon – 2,826 votes
3. Nevada City, California – 2,539 votes
4. Durango, Colorado – 1,782 votes
5. Asheville, North Carolina – 1,130 votes
6. Missoula, Montana – 1,016 votes
7. Boise, Idaho – 593 votes
8. Milwaukee, Wisconsin – 365 votes
9. Nashville, Tennessee – 270 votes
10. Ithaca, New York – 199 votes

Richmond actually wound up with more votes than the next five cities combined. But the voting isn’t the only criterion the judges from Outside will be considering. The other is the creativity of user-submitted content. Things like the comments the Facebook voters included with their vote and the photos they uploaded are all part of the competition. Said Jackie Holt, of the Sports Backers, “The creativity of each town’s user-submitted material will be ranked by a team of Outside editors and those comments may be used in the coverage of each city in the magazine.”

Project Athena is hosting the Richmond Relay Marathon and Merrell Mini Athena/Zeus Kidz Challenge on Brown’s Island this July 14th, and there’s still time to get a team together and sign up. I wrote about Project Athena in one of my T-D Outdoors columns a couple of weeks ago. One hundred percent of entry fees go to help survivors of all stripes — cancer, trauma, etc. — live their adventurous dreams. Click here for a look at the course.

If you’re a runner, chances are you’ll be running 6 miles at some point this weekend. Why not grab three of your running buddies and all do your run on the roads and trails along the river? Heck, if you’re really adventurous, you could do the relay marathon, then walk over to Belle Isle and take part in the James River Association‘s 2nd annual Splash and Dash.

The final push is on for Richmond in Outside Magazine’s ‘Best Town Ever’ competition. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, click here. Otherwise, Hardywood Park brewery seems like a good place to be on Wednesday night from 4-8 p.m.  Here’s the scoop from their website:

Kayakers, mountain bikers and rock climbers love a finely crafted beer almost as much as their favorite surfing hole, singletrack or rock wall. On July 11th, we’re giving them the best of both. Outside, the nation’s largest outdoor-enthusiast publication is picking it’s “Best Town Ever” for 2012. RVA currently leads the the vote. Our goal is to not just win the vote, but to CRUSH it.

Our special event will feature some of the finest outdoor outfitters in the region paired with some of the finest craft brews in the country. Sample the latest gear and the latest brews. Vote for RVA every day on Facebook through July 11th.

A portion of the evenings proceeds will benefit the James River Association.

Featured vendors will include:

• River City Rafting
• Blackdog Paddle
• Sports Backers
• Carytown Bicycle
• Peluso Open Water

Including today, there are seven voting days left in Outside Magazine’s Best Town Ever contest. If you haven’t heard, Richmond is one of 10 finalists, and so far, we’re way out ahead in votes (voting is conducted on Facebook). But the voting tally alone does not determine who wins. General excitement — as seen in votes, and comments and photos submitted — plays a big role as well.

You can vote once a day on FB. So, if you haven’t yet, now’s the time to get started. Should Richmond win it’ll be featured on the cover of Outside Magazine’s October 35th Anniversary edition. Could be pretty huge, people.

The James near Balcony Falls

I’ve blogged about Envision the James before, but now the James River Association’s “multi-year community engagement initiative” has a new website, so I thought I’d shine the spotlight on it again. Here’s a blurb from a JRA press release with some links to allow you to be come part of the process.

Not sure what to do this Friday? Why not head down to Brown’s Island? In honor of Ralph White‘s years of service to the James River and its park system, part of the proceeds from the concert by indie folk band Trampled by Turtles will go to the Friends of the JRP. Drink some beer, listen to some music, help the river.

The south side of Belle Isle, about 100 yards from where the shooting took place.

This report on T-D.com is scary, and, to me at least, it underscores how we need a dedicated parks police patrolling places like Belle Isle, Pony Pasture, etc.

It doesn’t matter that this happened at 12:07 a.m. People who don’t know the area well, but might want to check out the James River Park, will only see “Belle Isle shooting” and stay away. Perception quickly becomes reality — for criminals and possible park users alike. For the criminals, it’s the broken window theory: If you allow criminal-friendly conditions to fester, criminals proliferate. I spend a lot of time on Belle Isle and I know how hard the police who patrol it work. But they aren’t there enough and there aren’t enough of them. For possible park users, especially suburbanites predisposed to outdated Richmond stereotypes, this makes them think those stereotypes might not be so outdated. So they don’t come, and they tell their friends not to come, and they people from out of town to avoid Belle Isle, which should be an absolute gem of the JRPS.

We can implement every aspect of the Riverfront development plan, but if we then turn the river over to the wolves, what have we accomplished?