Latest news with #Petersburg
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Petersburg City Council member pushes for 5¢ plastic bag tax to fund city's beautification
A Petersburg city councilor is proposing a 5-cent tax on plastic bags with the proceeds going to city beautification efforts. Ward 7 Councilor Arnold Westbrook Jr., who has advocated for the tax for some time now, suggested at council's May 20 meeting that Petersburg could use the tax revenue to fund beautification efforts. In past meetings, Westbrook has also noted that plastic bags make up a large portion of litter in Petersburg, and that the tax could help reduce local plastic bag pollution. The 5-cent tax would be paid to the Virginia Department of Taxation, which would then disperse the funds to the city on a regular basis, he said during the city council meeting. 'If you don't know, a lot of localities up north, they already do it,' Westbrook told the meeting attendees. 'It's another way the city can make some money.' Virginia law started permitting localities to impose a five-cent tax on disposable plastic bags provided by retailers such as grocery stores, convenience stores, and drugstores in 2020. According to the law, revenue from the bag tax must be used for specific purposes: environmental cleanup, pollution and litter mitigation, educational programs to reduce environmental waste, or providing reusable bags to recipients of SNAP or WIC benefits. These guidelines ensure that the tax directly supports sustainability efforts and helps low-income residents transition away from single-use plastic bags. So far, 10 Virginia cities and counties have implemented the tax, using the revenue to support local initiatives from environmental cleanups to pollution mitigation, educational programs and more. Fairfax County, for instance, has generated over $6 million in revenue from their plastic bag tax since they first implemented it in January 2022. These funds have supported a wide range of environmental and social programs in the county, including Operation Stream Shield, which pays unhoused community members to clean up local waterways and public spaces. The county also used the funds to invest in local community recycling and composting infrastructure, among other projects, and drastically lowered the total amount of plastic bags used in Fairfax since the tax was first implemented. Westbrook is hoping for a similar outcome in Petersburg, with a focus on making the city look better. 'This can help beautify the city without any other strain on personal property taxes or other taxes on that sort,' he told meeting attendees. This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Petersburg council member pushes for plastic bag tax to beautify city
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
The true story of Memorial Day's local origins
While more than two dozen cities and towns across the United States lay claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day, Petersburg holds a compelling and often overlooked place in the holiday's origin story. Some trace the origins — or at least the popularization — of Memorial Day to Petersburg's Blandford Cemetery. In 1868, Mary Logan, the wife of Union General John A. Logan, visited Blandford Church and was moved by the decorations she saw on the graves of Confederate soldiers. 'I noticed that many of them had been strewn with beautiful blossoms and decorated with small flags of the dead Confederacy,' Logan wrote in a 1903 article for the Los Angeles Daily Times. 'The sentimental idea so enwrapped me that I inspected them more closely and discovered that they were on every one of the graves of soldiers who had died for the Southern cause. The actions seemed to me to be a beautiful tribute to the soldier martyrs and grew upon me while I was returning to Washington.' Upon returning home, Logan shared the idea with her husband, suggesting the creation of an annual Decoration Day on which to decorate the graves of Union soldiers. As head of the Grand Army of the Republic, General Logan issued General Order No. 11 on May 5, 1868, setting May 30 as a day to decorate soldiers' graves — a day we now know as Memorial Day. Petersburg City Council member pushes for 5¢ plastic bag tax to fund city's beautification While Petersburg's contributions are significant, the origins of Memorial Day are woven from various traditions across the U.S., as there are many cases of towns and cities decorating and honoring soldier's graves before the custom was ever solidified into a holiday. For instance, on May 1, 1865, freed African Americans in Charleston, South Carolina, held a ceremony to honor Union soldiers who died in captivity, an event that some historians recognize as the first Memorial Day. Additionally, towns like Waterloo, New York, and Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, have their own claims, with Waterloo being officially recognized by Congress in 1966 as the birthplace of the holiday. While the exact origins of Memorial Day may be muddled, Mary Logan's visit to Petersburg played an undeniably important role in the popularization of the holiday, and is still remembered in the city to this day. 'On borrowed time': State presents schedule for closing Hiram W. Davis Medical Center Looking for something to do this Memorial Day around Petersburg? The Petersburg National Battlefield is hosting several special programs over Memorial Day weekend: May 23: Join park staff from 5 to 6:30 p.m. to help place flags at each grave in the battlefield's Poplar Grove National Cemetery. Send an email to pete_volunteer@ to sign up. May 24: At 2:30 p.m., a park ranger will lead a walking tour of Poplar Grove National Cemetery, providing insights into the history of this significant site. May 25: Experience a cannon firing demonstration with the Artillery Crew from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., taking place behind the Petersburg National Battlefield's Eastern Front Visitor Center. May 26: At 10 a.m., the Knights of Columbus will host a Catholic Mass open to the public at Poplar Grove National Cemetery. A representative from the Civil Air Patrol, U. S. Air Force Auxiliary, will also provide a ecumenical prayer. Walking tours of the cemetery will be offered at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Tours will be led by NPS park rangers and highlight poignant stories of the soldiers buried at the site. May 27: Join park staff from 5 to 6:30 p.m. to assist in collecting the flags placed at each grave in Poplar Grove National Cemetery. Send an email to pete_volunteer@ to sign up. Trump is proposing cuts to affordable housing. This is what it could mean for Petersburg This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Did Memorial Day originate in Petersburg?
