February 23, 2010
Forest Hill Park bridge named for slain Harvey family
A new pedestrian bridge in Forest Hill Park will be named for the family of Bryan and Kathryn Harvey, who were murdered on New Year's Day 2006.
The Richmond City Council voted 9-0 last night to name the Harvey Family Bridge, which is scheduled to be installed over Reedy Creek and dedicated this spring along with the park's restored lake.
In naming the bridge, the council overrode a city-code provision that says city facilities shall not be named for multiple people, and it sidestepped complaints that the city was placing higher value on the Harveys than others who have been victims of homicide.
Councilman E. Martin Jewell, a co-patron of the naming ordinance, said the difference is that a community group, the Friends of Forest Hill Park, provided $500 for a plaque honoring the Harveys. He said he believes the council would consider similar requests to honor other crime victims, but "nobody else is stepping forward here."
"They're all sad, and they're all impactful," Jewell said of homicides. However, with the Harveys, "here's a family that was known and loved in their neighborhood, and they were also known and loved across the city."
Bryan Harvey worked for the Henrico County school system and was a popular, longtime musician with The Dads, House of Freaks and NrG Krysys. His wife was an owner of World of Mirth, a gift and toy shop in Carytown. The couple had two daughters, Stella, 9, and Ruby, 4.
All four family members were slain in the basement of their home on West 31st Street in Woodland Heights as part of a killing rampage by Ricky Javon Gray and his nephew Ray Joseph Dandridge. Gray awaits execution, while Dandridge is serving life in prison without parole.
The pedestrian bridge will replace one destroyed in 2004 by the remnants of Tropical Storm Gaston. It and the restored lake are to be dedicated May 22.
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2...21007-ar-6534/
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