LaToya Gray sees the legacy of urban renewal on a vacant lot where her great-grandparents used to live on Idlewood Avenue before the construction of the cityâs highway system started more than 70 years ago.
She says the Richmond 300 master plan, intended to guide the cityâs growth over the next 20 years, is a step toward correcting a history of decisions that changed the trajectory of countless Black lives. She said new ideas described in the proposed plan would encourage development without further displacing communities that suffered under previous urban planning initiatives.
âAs someone who has grown up in this city and knows what itâs like to be marginalized ... I know how devastating previous master plans have been on the African American community,â Gray said. âThe planners were intentional about reaching out to people who were marginalized and included those voices in the process.â