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In April 2008, the Virginia Municipal League (VML) introduced the Green Government Challenge at regional Go Green Virginia forums across the Commonwealth. Forty-one (41) VML-member local governments participated in the Challenge and twenty-six (26) of them obtained the 100 points or more needed to receive certification. A sample of the Green Government Challenge can be found here. The City [...]

Last week, a newsletter/flyer was mailed to residents living along South Avenue and sections of Maryland Avenue and Central Avenue informing them of new sidewalks, pedestrian crossing signals, and other improvements coming to their neighborhood.

JMU and the local schools are partnering to offer fun and educational courses for children in the “College for Kids” program. Topics include “Lego Robotics”, “Video Game Design”, and “A Taste of World Languages,” (which introduces kids to the Arab and Russian languages, traditions, and food).  The courses are taught by JMU Faculty and community [...]

I’ll be webcasting live video updates throughout the day from a cell phone via Qik (EVDO). It’s a little buggy — it processes the video as it’s recording, sometimes it cuts off prematurely, or doesn’t stop recording when it’s supposed to — but it’s a hell of a lot faster than YouTube. Keep checking this [...]

This is part on the ongoing Q&A series with City Council candidates. We’ll be emailing candidates questions and posting answers periodically throughout the month of October. All responses are listed unedited, in the order in which they were received.
The city budget has more than doubled in the last five years. The current numbers for next [...]

This week is International Walk to School Week! This celebration of walking will be taking place at five of our local elementary schools this week:

Tuesday Oct 7, Waterman Elementary
Wednesday Oct 8, Mountain View Elementary and Spotswood Elementary
Thursday Oct 9, South River Elementary
Friday Oct 10, Keister Elementary

The 11th Annual Harrisonburg International Festival will take place Saturday September 27 at Hillandale Park and this year its seeing lots more Green. “The Green Village” is one of the newest additions to the festival. It will be found near the Art Activities for Everyone area and across from the Main Stage and foods from around the world. The Green Village will feature a variety [...]

The “Wild At Art” show opening and reception is happening this Friday September 5 at Clementine Cafe.

The art show will feature artwork created on August 2 by about 8 adults and 25 kids 8-12 years of age who ventured into the woods and made art with sticks, stones and other natural materials they collected.
The trip and project was [...]

Back to school season has descended on the Valley and the Virginia State Police have made several suggestions for improving the safety of area children.
Perhaps what is most disturbing are statistics from the 2007 Virginia Traffic Crash Facts indicating that juveniles accounted for 404 pedestrian injuries and 260 biking injuries statewide. For fatalities, seven juveniles [...]

A reader informed me that unappetizing photos of Harrisonburg Public School lunches recently ended up linked from Digg to a lowbrow blog about “girls, gossip, and gear for men.”
The thing is, those photos were taken off the school’s website years ago. I’m told some of those items, like chicken fryz, are still on the [...]

A friend of mine who works at JMU got this message in their e-mail last week:
“Just a friendly reminder that D-Hall will close after dinner July 22 to upgrade the tray return area.  The renovation will increase capacity, making the process faster, and will include installation of a pulper, laying the groundwork for composting and other sustainability efforts.”

Due to a combination of rising gas prices, greater awareness about carbon emissions’ impact on the environment, and individuals looking for healthier lifestyles, I’ve been seeing a lot more bicycles on the road and a lot more people walking. Although admittedly Harrisonburg doesn’t have the most ideal bicycle facilities (yet) and many neighborhoods were designed when cars dominated [...]

The City has just posted a video online titled “Your Trash”. The video has been shown at the Public Work’s session of Citizen Academy and it follows, literally, your trash.
Where does your trash go to after you put it out on trash day? What is the Resource Recovery Facility? How is recycling good for the environment and how [...]

The report to the school board and the response on the use of pain-killers by Harrisonburg High School football players: no harm, no foul, no change.
Settled and behind us after an independent investigation and time to move on? Or whitewash?