I don’t even have to say what this is about, do I? 6PM tonight, and at least one School Board member is still taking your questions/comments.

The work is finally over, and while the ’soft opening’ has already happened, the city is holding a grand reopening ceremony on Wednesday, October 1st at 11:30. It all takes place at the construction site, and there should be representatives from the local civic association on hand.

The numbers are out and, with 2 exceptions, all of the neighborhood schools made Adequate Yearly Progress “toward the goal of 100 percent proficiency of all students in reading and mathematics by 2014.” (whether AYP, SOL scores or the myriad other metrics used in modern public schools is meaningful is another subject entirely, one I think we all either 100% welcome or cringe at the thought of). At any rate, George Wythe High School and Swansboro Elementary failed to meet AYP, but the remainder of immediate area schools did. Here’s hoping Wythe gets the stable leadership it needs this year.

According to the T-D’s restaurant column, Miss Hathaway’s Cafe in Stratford Hills has closed. While I can’t say that I’m shocked, the closure is unfortunate, as they always could be counted on for good soups and sandwiches. Hopefully someone else will step in to fill that niche locally before too long.

From the City Dept. of Public Utilities:

Beginning Mon. Sept. 22 through Fri. Sept. 26, 2008 from 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. each day, the City of Richmond Department of Public Utilities will be performing water main work in the right east bound lane of Forest Hill Avenue from Heartwood Road to Glyndon Lane, a length of approximately 300 feet.

There will be minimal traffic disruption, as only one lane of the four lane road of Forest Hill Avenue will be affected. There will be signs, cones, and traffic barrels in place to alert motorists of the construction. During peak rush hour periods, motorists are asked to proceed with caution around this area.

A sizable fire at Southside Plaza has been burning for a couple hours now. Several businesses seem to be affected, but no immediate word regarding severity of damage just yet.

There had been some rumblings to this effect, but Style’s article was the first confirmation I’d seen that Denise Lewis (aka Principal Lewis @ Lucille Brown) was indeed no longer on the PH Charter board. The article suggests that internal pressure might have led to the resignation, while RPS, of course, denies such a thing.

True drama or manufactured controversy? You be the judge.

Apparently there’s been yet another instance of a car plowing into a house, this time at Forest Hill & Peterborough. Combined with the multi-car stack up at on Jahnke by WH Elementary this afternoon, it’s been a helluva day on the roads.

Mid-September has crept up on us again which means it’s time for the 43rd Street Festival. 10-5 tomorrow, and you all know the place.

The Richmond Education Association has endorsed candidates in several local races. Eugene Mason gets 9th District council endorsement, while no endorsements were made in the 4th or 5th Districts. On the School Board side, the nods go to Adria Scott in the 4th, Otis Mallory in the 5th and Evette Wilson in the 9th.

On the heels of Jonathan Mallard’s take on the PHI, the West-Goldman plan isto be released at a noon presser today. First person to track down a transcript and/or hard copy of the contract wins the eternal devotion of the Southside masses (or the perpetual hatred of everyone sick of hearing about education).

From Kathy Graziano’s office:

Four candidates are running to replace George Braxton, who is not running for a third term. Bert Berlin and Jonathan Mallard are from the eastern end of the district, both residing in Westover Hills. John Lloyd lives on Traylor Drive in Traylor Estates, and Adria Graham Scott lives in the Wayland subdivision off Huguenot Road.

Our forum will provide an opportunity to hear from the candidates, to ask questions, and to share your ideas with them.

It all goes down at 7PM tonight, St. Luke Lutheran Church, 7757 Chippenham Pkwy. Here’s your chance to put (screen)names to faces…

A gas leak of some sort at the Westover Hills Fas Mart led to roughly every fire truck on the Southside descending on WH Blvd & Dunston this evening. Fortunately, all seems to have ended well with no fireballs or explosions….

…because it won’t be there tomorrow. Weather concerns forced cancellation of tomorrow’s offering, however some of the usual suspects are apparently setting up shop Sunday @ Broad & Staples Mill.

It’s nothing that most of us didn’t already know, but nice to see nonetheless…

It’s not in the neighborhood, but the Richmond Crusade for Voters and the Urban League Young Professionals of Greater Richmond are co-sponsoring a Mayoral Debate at Thomas Jefferson HS tonight, 6:30 PM.

The RTD is reporting that the “proposal to establish a charter school for grades one through five at Patrick Henry Elementary School in South Richmond died this evening when the School Board deadlocked on whether to sign a contract”.

A tractor trailer wreck on the Powhite bridge is causing some major delays for southbound traffic. At least a couple lanes are blocked and it sounds like it might be a while before it’s cleaned up, so adjust as necessary.

I’m sure regular readers have noticed a dropoff in posting frequency of late. A major increase in “real-world” responsibilities has severely cut into the time I can devote to the site right now, so I’m in need of a bit of assistance. I’m looking for an additional writer- someone who attends council meetings, district meetings and that sort of thing would be great, but not necessary. If anyone has an interested, email me and I’ll fill you in on the details.

If you’ve ever read these pages and lamented that the coverage didn’t go too much south of the Forest Hill corridor (and I know a couple of you have), then Southside Richmond should be right up your alley. There will probably be some overlap between here and there, but they should have you folks a little south of here covered.

Apparently there’s a rather nasty wreck @ Forest Hill and Hathaway involving a vehicular rollover and possible fire. Not sure how it’s affecting things overall, but you may want to take that into account this afternoon…

After profiling the 4th District last month, Richmond.com now turns its attention to the 5th District. Unlike the 4th, they’ve got quite the little Council race underway just down the road…

The T-D’s Discover Richmond has published a detailed multimedia piece on Pony Pasture. It’s not news for most of us, but a nice feature for newcomers.

Northbound Powhite near the Jahnke Rd interchange will have a brief but complete shutdown tomorrow late-morning. A sign installation will require the closure, for which an exact time has not been announced, but RMA officials suggest in the 10-11AM area.

…you may need a detour this morning. The railroad crossing has been blocked by a stopped train for some time. No indication what the cause is or when it’ll be moving again…