Formed in the spring of 2017, Verdant Richmond aspires to enhance the quality of life of Richmond residents by restoring and advocating for the city’s green spaces. Emphasizing the value of Nature and aesthetics as particularly beneficial components for urban communities, we work to clean and landscape neglected green spaces, from small, local corner lots to the sprawling acres that attract the city’s denizens and guests from outside the metropolitan area.
With responsibilities divided between the Department of Public Works and the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities, the City of Richmond manages approximately 2,800 acres of park land, with 550 mostly natural acres in the James River Park System. Unfortunately, routine budget shortfalls require the city to postpone or altogether forego routine maintenance in order to focus limited funding on more urgent priorities such as public schools, policing, and repairing an aging infrastructure. Over the course of decades, however, these budget constraints have had a marked deleterious impact on the city’s parks, and despite a robust network of nonprofits and support organizations throughout the city, the condition of many parks has deteriorated: both Libby Hill Park in the venerable Church Hill neighborhood and Byrd Park, just several blocks from the upscale Carytown shopping district, are in desperate need of restorative work as invasive species encroach the hillsides and hardscaping succumbs to neglect. Other green spaces, like Taylor’s Hill Park, at the junction of Shockoe Bottom’s converted tobacco warehouses and the historic Greek Revival and Italianate mansions of Church Hill, have been neglected for years and are in dire need of extensive landscaping to return them to their erstwhile form.
Drawing from information collected by The Trust for Public Land ParkScore Index, the lack of financial support for the city’s green spaces becomes apparent. Relative to Raleigh, Atlanta, Washington, DC, and Arlington, VA, the disparity in per capita spending is stark. While Raleigh, NC has a population roughly twice the size of Richmond, the city has around 300 percent more acreage dedicated to green space and spends three times as much per resident on the city’s parks. Atlanta, with roughly the same percentage of total municipal land held as parks (six percent), serves 15% more visitors per acre and spends over twice as much per resident than Richmond ($136.00 to $61.00, respectively). Washington, DC, with a total municipal acreage of park land equivalent to Richmond, annually spends $225.00 more per resident than Richmond. Another highly-regarded city, Arlington, with approximately the same population as Richmond, has 11% of total land designated to green space and spends $287.00 more per resident than Richmond ($348.00 to $61.00). Clearly, numerous variables affect how much local governments can spend on their parks, and both Washington, DC and Arlington are among the highest-ranked cities in the ParkScore Index, but Richmond’s dramatic gap between need and funding leaves a void that must be filled.
Verdant Richmond, through a collaboration of volunteers, existing local organizations, and private contributions, strives to alleviate annual funding shortfalls and rehabilitate some of the city’s unkempt green spaces, turning them into a notable neighborhood asset rather than a blight on the streetscape. In the short term – restored – these parks will improve urban aesthetics and provide a safe location for residents to enjoy nature; however, in the long term, our investment in the city’s parks will return more widespread benefits, working as a catalyst to attract new residents to the city and foster greater economic growth for downtown Richmond and the region.