If you’ve lived in Richmond for any length of time, you may take the waterway that runs through our city for granted. Sure, you know that the James River runs through downtown, but after a while, it’s just there, isn’t it?
In 2017, some smart folks at VCU conducted a study to determine just what the James River means to Richmond. They found:
* For ever dollar spent by the James River Park System, visitors spent over $60.
* Local businesses said that they would lose over 32% of their revenue without the Park.
* For every mile closer your single-family home is to the Park, your property value goes up almost $9,000.
You can read the full study about the economic impact of the James River Park System here.
Knowing that, we were pleased to see that Mayor Stoney’s latest budget proposal is quite favorable to the growth and sustainability of our Park. It supports operations and maintenance, and funds initiatives like the Huguenot Flatwater universal access project. It includes $400,000 for Tredegar/Brown’s Island Accessible Walk Improvements, $205,400 for the Canal Walk Connector to Brown’s Island, and $210,000 for the Gillies Creek Greenway.
If you’re a member of ours, or even if you just love having the James River and its wonderful urban park right in our downtown, we encourage you to contact your City Council representative or the Mayor’s office and lend your support to this funding.
You can read about Mayor Stoney’s budget here.
