Is Carytown parking every going to be taken care of? Why are there so many light outages by Brandermill and what's a Richmond resident to do with leaves?

We've got the answers this week in "Why Richmond, Why?!?".

Why in Richmond does "temporary" always mean 2-3 years (or longer)?  The the stairs at the RMA parking lot on Crenshaw in Carytown have been "temporarily closed for construction" for at least a year if not more (& I haven't seen any construction).  This means that if someone wants to park on the upper level they must walk all the way around and down through the deck.  Not only is this a hassle, it is also unsafe after dark and severely inconvenient for those with children.  Parking in Carytown as well as the rest of the City is at a premium.  This needs to be fixed!  The watermelon festival is right around the corner and as a resident who sees plenty of illegal parking on that day, I beg the RMA to fix this.  Let's hope we don't have to wait for that toll increase to pay for it.

-- Shelby

Linda McElroy, public relations manager with Richmond Metropolitan Authority, answers:

The RMA with working with the City of Richmond to identify funding sources for this issue at the Carytown Parking Decks.

Every day, I walk up Cary Street to work and every day there is a gentleman in Shockoe Slip near the coffee shop using a leaf blower to blow leaves into the street. Never does he stop and pick up the leaves. On Monday he was in the middle of the cul-de-sac blowing leaves all the way to Cary Street.

Are there no laws about this in Richmond? It's a disgusting waste of electricity. I know that this is not being done by the Martin Agency, since they are one of the greenest companies in the area, but maybe their neighbors should take note and put a stop to the useless leaf blowing and take the time to pick up the leaves, dispose of them and decrease their carbon footprint.

-- Concerned Citizen

I couldn't agree with you more, Concerned Citizen. This is a huge pet peeve of mine as in the fall, especially in South Richmond neighborhoods; residents turn every available parking space into giant leaf piles that sit, sometimes for months.

Chris Dettmar, with the City of Richmond, has an official response:

The City appreciates you bringing this matter to light. Leaves are only supposed to be raked/blown up to the property line and not into the street. In addition, they should also be kept away from ditches, pipes and culverts to prevent drainage issues. If you witness a similar concern taking place in the future, please contact the City’s Department of Public Works by calling 3-1-1. Customer Care Center representatives are standing by to assist citizens with all of their Public Works needs and much more.

There have been many instances of power outages and non-working traffic lights along Hull Street between Brandermill and Woodlake over the past few weeks. Just the ones I know of are really too many and there could be more. In one case, VA Power said our outage was due to a car accident. Don't know about the others. I would like to know why the recent surge in outages and malfunctions especially the traffic lights on Hull Street, and if all are being caused by car accidents, it would seem that some protection is needed for whatever keeps being hit.

-- Jill

Karl R. Neddenien, with Dominion Media Relations, answers:

The area in question, Hull Street from Brandermill to Woodlake, is about two miles long and includes about eight traffic lights.

Dominion customers along that stretch of road have been affected by two power interruptions during the past six months. On May 12, around 12:29 p.m., a tree limb came into contact with a power line and caused an outage lasting 1 hour and 1 minute.

On June 11, a problem with a recloser (a safety device) caused a 36-minute interruption that began at 8:27 a.m. We have no record of any Dominion Virginia Power service interruptions attributed to motor vehicle accidents during the past six month along that stretch of Hull Street. Other than the outage information above, we are unable to provide any further information about traffic lights. They are maintained by VDOT.

Dawn Eischen, with VDOT, follows up:

Our traffic signal engineer indicated there was a power failure on some of the signals along Hull Street the week of June 9 (sorry, that's all I have), but we are not aware of the cause of those outages. This was not as a result of traffic signal malfunctions. If it were a malfunction, I would have more detailed information. If the cause is related to a loss of power (whether it be from an accident, storm, etc.), such as in this case, we defer to the power company since the signals rely on having electricity.

So what do you want to know, Richmond? Send questions to: karri.peifer@corp.richmond.com with "Why Richmond, Why?!?" in the subject line or leave it in the comments sections below. And if you missed last week's "Why Richmond, Why?", just click the title to read it.