The James at the 42nd Street rocks.

While walking my dogs in the James River Park System during the cold and rain Saturday, I happened upon something I thought I’d share with a larger audience. On one of the information kiosks at the Reedy Creek entrance parking lot, someone had tacked a a sheet about a new James River Park System license plate. I hadn’t heard about these so I did little internet investigation. Apparently the idea has been in the works for a while, spearheaded by the Friends of the James River Park. Here’s a snippet of a letter I found online from FOJRP member Warren Foster:

I’m an active member of Friends of the James River Park (FOJRP) and am leading their effort to activate a Specialty License Plate program for the James River Park System. You’ve seen specialty plates around town. The state of Virginia has nearly 200 specialty plates representing every major university, civic organizations, non-profits, national parks, etc. Although FOJRP is administering the program, the specialty license plate we’re implementing is for the James River Park System, not for the FOJRP or any individual organization. The purpose of the special plate is two fold: for citizens to proudly display their love of the Park and to generate significant revenue that would be used to fulfill our shared goals.

To pass the first hurdle in the DMV process, we must collect 350 applications with payments. I’m working toward accomplishing this by January 15, 2010. To do this I need your help. I have no doubt that there are thousands of people in Richmond and the surrounding areas who would love to display a James River Park license plate on their vehicle(s), but by January 15, I only need 350 to satisfy DMV’s first requirement.

Here’s a link to the application for the new plate. This is a great way to support the park. I urge you to do it. As soon as I hit “submit” on this blog post, I’ll be applying for a new plate myself.