What the city can (and can't) do about East End blight

There’s a semi-abandoned house Church Hill that’s semi-boarded up, by which I mean a kid could easily wriggle themself through the three-foot opening where the plywood ends and the doorframe begins. Or a family of raccoons. Or whatever. Actually there’s definitely more than one such house, but I’m thinking of one in particular.

In Richmond, people are mostly entitled to do what they like with the property they own. (Unless they belong to a homeowner’s association or a condominium, or whatever.) Which is fine! Part of the joy of living in a city is that there are unusual buildings and weird porch ornaments and questionable paint choices to privately gossip about on every block. Variety in age, size, and condition of the housing stock is a core tenet of a healthy urban landscape, and Church Hill has plenty. But ideally, you don’t want kids getting themselves hurt in a semi-abandoned house, or a family of raccoons nesting there and giving the neighbor’s dog rabies. Or whatever. Something has to balance out the blight.

Or someone. For 20 years, Michelle Coward has been one of the someones. “I always say we're the eyes and ears out there,” said the deputy director of Richmond’s Property Maintenance / Code Enforcement (PMCE) division of the Department of Planning and Development Review in a recent phone interview. “We have inspectors all over the city that are enforcing the Virginia property maintenance code.”

Following the East End’s considerable representation on the city’s annual vacant-buildings report, and conversations with neighbors confused by how the code-enforcement process can (and can’t) address blight in Church Hill, The Lookout contacted Coward to get a better sense for the PMCE’s approach to ensuring buildings are safe and secure. It’s a big job: in the 12 months through the end of June 2025, the division’s 20 inspectors opened up 6925 cases that led to some 19,000 inspections citywide. City analyzed by Sarah Vogelsong at The Richmonder indicates inspectors issued over 4,000 notices of violation (NOVs) in 2024; the 7th District had the fourth-most, behind the 3rd, 6th, and 8th.

The work starts long before the NOVs start flying, though. “Any complaints that we get in our office, we lay eyes on it,” said Coward, noting that RVA 311—the hotline, or the surprisingly easy-to-use app—is her team’s preferred reporting method, because it’s easier to track citizens’ complaints. “We make sure that we look at it, because sometimes citizens may be saying one thing, but something is worse than what they might be saying.” If the inspector does find a violation, the next step is to notify the owner of the property, who then has a set period of time to make safety repairs (10 days) or do basic property maintenance (30 days.) As the property in question is private, the city has a very limited role in that work. “We don't do cosmetic repair, we don't go paint people’s houses or put addresses on them,” explained Coward, “but if there’s anything that we deem unsafe, then the city can take some action to at least mitigate or minimize that unsafe condition, if the owner does not.”

Nobody likes being told what to do, and especially not by City Hall. But Coward’s biggest challenge isn’t recalcitrant property owners pushing back on the compliance measures PCME mandates—it’s property owners that can’t even be reached in the first place. “The thing that we run into the most is that we're dealing with either absentee landlords or owners that we can't put our hands on because they’re either in another state, or [the property is] registered using an LLC,” she said. “Then our hands are tied, because if we can’t get the person in court and it’s not a violation the city is able to abate with the policies we currently have in place, then [the blighted property] continues to sit there.” Of the out-of-state owners of Richmond’s vacant properties, the largest chunk hail from Washington DC; the LLCs obfuscate where the owners are entirely.

In our interview, Coward was well aware of frustrations that Church Hill residents may feel when they see ramshackle or dangerous buildings in the neighborhood that have been that way for what feels like forever. “As we start working with owners, we have to allow property owners the opportunity to do the right thing,” she said. “A lot of times, people want something to happen tomorrow. They want the city to come and ‘do something.’ But typically, the city does not ‘do something […] These properties still belongs to whoever the owner is.”

Such is the nature of striking a balance. Instant gratification, it ain’t. But hey—at least the RVA 311 app is easy to use!

📜 Possum Poetry

Possum Poetry is original verse written exclusively for The Lookout by Penelope Poubelle, the Lookout’s litter critter-at-large. If you spot roadside trash you’d like her to immortalize in doggerel, email a photo to [email protected]. All submissions anonymous!

🌳 Volunteers plant ~100 trees in Chimborazo Park

Visitors to Chimborazo Park earlier this month encountered a series of mysterious holes that were dug by the misunderstood children of a juvenile detention facility that bond over their shared oppression by the domineering warden and… oh, no, wait, sorry, that’s the plot of Holes by Louis Sachar. Classic mix-up. Anyway, these holes inspired some curious among The Lookout’s readers, so I checked in with the Department of Parks and Recreation, which confirmed that it had dug the holes in preparation for Richmond Tree Week.

“The department will plant a total of 26 species, many native to Virginia and all species that should survive in our urban environment,” spokesperson Tamara Jenkins said in an email exchange, adding that the US Forest Service had issued a grant for the funds to cover the project, a collaborative effort with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Chimborazo Park Conservancy.

This past Saturday, dozens of volunteers from the East End and beyond descended on Chimbo to anchor the park’s newest flora in Richmond’s notoriously dense clay soil. “The turnout from the community was amazing and inspiring,” Grant Mathews, vice president of Chimborazo Park Conservancy, told The Lookout in a text message. “Not only did we come together to improve our communal space, but the smiles and enjoyment of everyone involved was something that I genuinely enjoyed seeing.” All in, he said, the group put 94 saplings in the ground on the morning of November 8th. Check out more photos from the event, courtesy of Mathews:

Among the rank-and-file Richmonders that showed up ready to shovel were Mayor, Danny Avula, and his recently-ish hired chief administrative officer, Odie Donald II. One imagines the City Hall honchos enjoyed being the ones slinging the mud for once.

🍪 Little Market a big success on Jefferson Ave.

As is so often the case, your humble Lookout editor spread himself too thin to scope out the East End’s first (?) kids-only vend-o-rama, which took place in both the Pizza Bones and Challenge Discovery Projects lots last Sunday afternoon. But thanks to a midweek check-in with parent-organizer Sarah Blackburn, I can report that the inaugural Little Market was a hit. In lieu of an attendance estimate—she was “running in circles the whole time”—she offered some anecdata. “I do know that a good amount of kids sold out!” Congratulations to all the neighborhood’s young hustlers on their respective hauls. Take it from this self-employed journalist: pay your estimated taxes quarterly.

As for the Little Market’s next move? “It’ll definitely happen again,” Blackburn told The Lookout. “Mulling on whether bi-annually (spring & fall) or a yearly thing.” Stay tuned.

📢 Happenings on The Hill

• Get glitzy: Dear Neighbor is hosting its usual cast of vintage vendors for a market full of holidaywear (?) on Saturday (11/15) from 11am-4pm. Flyer here.

• Rock out: The final Bellwether Sessions of 2025 kicks off tomorrow night at 7pm on E. Clay St. Lineup here and here’s more on the series.

• Sip it: Giorno Market’s espresso, that is, while shopping vintage finds from Last Leg and Sharpman this Sunday (11/16) from 10am-2pm. Those deets.

• Darn it: Top Stitch is hosting an introductory knitting class Sunday from 11am-1pm taught by Misti of Recycled Yarn. Info and tickets here.

• Get schooled on solar: The Office of Sustainability is holding another community engagement meeting about the proposed East End Solar Farm next Monday (11/18) starting at 6:30pm at the Ashley Oaks apartment complex. Register to attend.

Happenings on The Hill is a digital bulletin board for events, causes, and other items of interest to East Enders that don’t necessarily merit full editorial treatment. Got something for a future edition? Email the relevant details, links, etc. to [email protected] for consideration!

📸 A Very CHill Photo

Want to share your Very CHill Photo from the neighborhood? Email it to [email protected] with your name as you’d like it to appear for publication, and the camera you shot it on.