Community
Venture Richmond Spruces Up Downtown
There are 126 new hanging baskets installed along Broad Street from Belvidere to 12th Street in the Arts District and in the Shockoe neighborhood. Just one of the new beautification projects from Venture Richmond recently completed.
Venture Richmond just completed efforts to enhance the downtown area including Canal Walk and Brown’s Island.
They’ve been funding beautification projects in the downtown area since 2013. Over the years they’ve worked with
Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, Capital One volunteers, and Virginia BioTech Park volunteers.
“Beautification projects are critically important to Downtown and its gateway neighborhoods. They help to inspire civic pride, create a sense of place and enhance the environment for businesses, residents and visitors, as well as attracting bees and butterflies to our urban areas,” said Lucy Meade, Director of Economic Development and Community Relations.
This year’s beautification projects included:
- 126 hanging baskets installed along Broad Street from Belvidere to 12th Street in the Arts District and in the Shockoe neighborhood
- 24 planters on Broad Street, 3rd Street, and 5th Street
- 13 planting beds in the 400 block of East Grace Street
- 5 medians including two blocks of Broad St. from Foushee to 1st Street, 3rd Street and I-95 ramp; 12th and Canal streets, and 14th and Dock streets (last two complete in early July)
- 300+ annuals planted along the Canal Walk and around the Headman Statue on Brown’s Island
In addition to items above, the Clean & Safe Program’s contractor, Community Business Group (CBG), a local minority-owned firm, has been providing the “essential service” of sidewalk cleaning seven days a week throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, they have collected 269,000 gallons of trash and leaves.
Following damages that occurred to businesses during recent protests, Venture Richmond and CBG launched a new Graffiti Cleaning Pilot Program as part of Clean & Safe. Property owners and businesses in the Downtown Service District area can request help removing graffiti by emailing graffitiremoval@venturerichmond.com.
Another item you’ll see soon is social-distancing circles on Brown’s Island to help visitors mantain social distancing.
