D_C

Ariana's at 700 N. Sheppard Street is a cool little spot. I broke the ice by getting a pizza last night. Conveniently located next door to Sheppard Street market (the old MoMo's), I was able to grab a 12 pack of Newcastle Brown Ale as I shuttled my pizza home. (Having a one-month old at home makes dining out a temporary dream). It is a small space but nicely done. The kitchen is immaculate. A great New York style pizza that is difficult to find anywhere else in Richmond. Thank's for the tip on a Mary Angela's / Piccola's type restaurant. I can't wait to check out the rest of the menu. It is nice to have this place so close to home.

Any bar / restaurant owner that deducts the transaction fee from the server's tip is a craphead in my book. That is a crappy way to do business. If anyone knows of an owner that practices this method, I sure would like to know about it so I could narrow down my choices of places to go. If an owner is going to do that to the server, just imagine how weak the drinks are going to be.

Sam Miller's got "lit-up" in the Times Dispatch this morning http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/entertainmen...10-25-0010.html I would have to say that I experienced the same at The Hard Shell the last time I went there (September 21). It sucked! We got robbed!

Texas de Brazil is a great place especially if you are a major meat-lover. There is a similar restaurant out near Innsbrook called Ipanema Grill. The food is roughly the same but the atmosphere is a little bit more laid-back and the prices are a little bit cheaper. Lunches are great there although they do not serve Lamb, but the Kabobs more than make up for that. I figured I would add my two-cents about another place I went recently that I have not visited in a while. About a month ago I ate at Hard Shell on East Cary in Shockoe Bottom. It had been quite a while since I had eaten there and must say that I was pretty disappointed. My draft beer (Legend Brown Ale) was just above room temperature. My wife's entree (Crab cakes) wasn't bad but I have had better at Lynn's Diner in Mathews County for 9 bucks. My entree (Salmon) was tiny and dry. The corn-pepper relish was overpowering and too sweet. Our appetizer was pretty good though. (Calamari) The seasoning was different and instead of a marinara dip, it came with a pepper relish that was very original and good. Our service was good but that should have been expected since there wasn't too much of a crowd yet. Overall, I was definately not pleased and will probably not go back there for a very long time. Another place that hardly anyone ever mentions is my favorite pizza joint.....Piccola Italy pizza and subs located at the corner of Harrison and West Main Streets near VCU. We ordered a white pizza with spinach, feta, tomato, extra garlic, onion and black olives after the Folk Festival. Man!! I just love their pizzas and calzone! Here's another tip, if you order for pick-up, be sure and go early so you can slam down a couple of buck-fifty PBR drafts. They are very cold and refreshing!

As a resident within walking distance of this site, I must say that I am pretty excited, yet nervous. I look forward to the proposal and hope for some great ideas and visuals.

Did I hear what I thought I heard? Is Gwen Hedgepeth free today?

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&amp...5&encType=1

[ Here is the link to the style article Might I add that I find the piece very entertaining.

Thumbs up!

I would agree that Mr. Trani has done immense things for the Richmond area. Everything they build is quality. They go out of their way, at their own expense, to appease special interest groups who oppose VCU's growth. They have contributed to city projects where they didn't really have to. (Belvidere and Broad) VCU, under Mr. Trani, has been an excellent neighbor! I do worry, however, that Mr. Trani's lackluster views towards VCU sports could eventually lead to the basketball program losing one of the best college basketball coaches in the entire NCAA. I believe that Anthony Grant will show the nation this year that VCU is an up-and-coming powerhouse. We almost lost him to Florida this year and I feel that if Grant is not compensated for his accomplishments, then we will be seeing VCU searching for another basketball coach. I would hope that Mr. Trani will loosen the purse strings a little bit if/when Grant puts VCU in the national spotlight this year in a big way. http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc59/dc...746-175S005.jpg

The place is really beginning to take shape! I went down there a couple of weekends ago and was amazed at the amount of stuff that has been built. I don't believe that the great housing bubble burst will effect this project much. If you haven't taken a trip down there yet, you should go and check it out!

Well, it looks like you were correct about there never being a VCU football program while Trani is in charge. http://media.www.commonwealthtimes.com/med...tmlemailedition Straight from Trani himself.

The Farmer's Market at 17th Street is one of the oldest operating farmer's markets in the country (early 1700's). IMO, it should be promoted and marketed better. Also, they should limit the stalls to persons selling local grown vegetables, herbs and other food goods and get rid of the people selling junk. There is someone down there selling old glass bottles and was interviewed on the television news. She said that business was really slow and attempted to attribute the slow business to parking in Shockoe Bottom. Bullcrap! She was attempting to sell a bunch of trash! She needs to take that junk up to the intersection of Azalea and Meadowbridge. If the current management continues to allow it to operate like a flea market, they will never be able to attract real farmers with real produce.

I don't know about a Bass Pro Shop in the city. I don't think that it would fly. Bass Pro Shops requires a HUGE footprint. Many of the stores nationwide have personal ponds where someone who is dropping ten grand on a bass boat can test drive it. Unless the Bass Pro Shop was located right on the James River, I don't see it as even a potential.

I don't doubt that the records are confidential. However, where is this great concern when the cleaning crew comes in to empty the trash cans every night. Are you mortified at the prospect that some Maria Garcia cleaning woman can get a glimpse of social security numbers? Why is that crap laying around unsecured anyway? As for the movers, I believe there was enough media on location to record every single swingin' johnson that touched a box. If something goes wrong, just call channel 6. They probably have hundreds of hours worth of video to review. As for Wilder carrying a bat, do you remember the movie "Walking Tall"? I wish Wilder would start carrying a bat, broom, nightstick or something. I could see the logic behind the school board remaining in city hall IF they shared phone systems, computer servers, etc.. But the simple fact is that they refuse to. They have their own phone systems, their own cleaning contracts, computer I.T. department and servers. They also run their own health insurance. Now that's what I call cooperation! Any simple fool knows that the best deal would result if they would consolidate services, yet they refuse. Since they desire to fly solo, I believe they should get a little shove from the nest. As for the city forfieting any additonal property to the school board, I would have to disagree. I believe they should use one of the buildings like the Patrick Henry school or maybe they should take over the Model Tobacco building where DPU is currently located. That way, they would be just down the street from their beloved school busses.

From what I could gather about the emergency cease and desist order handed down by Judge Spencer, it was based on "confidential" records being moved by unauthorized persons. The entire basis of the order to put everything back is based on a "blown-out-of-proportion" accusation by King Henry (Marsh) and his platoon of dumbasses. I predict that the school board(part of the above mentioned platoon) will ultimately have to move. They know it too and if they had any brains, they would have let the Mayor and his crew finish the job. But they are stupid IMO. All I know is that I hope to God that someone runs against Carol Wolf in the 3rd district. As for the council resolution that gave the school board a lease for $10 a year for 5 entire floors on top of City Hall....well, that is about as legit as someone leasing property that isn't theirs, to a family of crack-heads or anyone else for that matter. The bottom line is that anyone doing business with the City of Richmond knows that it would be beneficial to have DPU in the same building as DPW. It doesn't take a genius to figure out how much money would be saved if ALL city departments could be together. Telephone systems, I.T. systems and janitorial services alone would save the city hundreds of thousands a year. Chris Hilbert stated that if someone would show him the potential savings, that he would personally go up and help pack boxes. To that I say, "Get movin'!" BTW, is Henrico's School board / Administration in the same building with the rest of the County Government? Just curious.

I know. It was a real shock that the school board was put out of city hall. Wasn't it? While we are at it, I just thought I would let you know that I have leased your house to a family of crack-heads for $10 per year. I hope you don't mind.

O.K. let's everybody chill. Like Rodney King said, "Can't we all just get along?". I think everyone realizes that there was a ton of stuff going on Saturday. Tech fans and Hoo fans both had games to catch as well as the rest of the college football lineup, some high school action going on as well. There were other inter-league major league games to see as well. I just wonder how, in an area with close to a million residents, how in the world could we not muster up 10,000 people? I mean, if just 1% of the population of Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover, Powhatan, Charles City, New Kent, Caroline and Goochland had come, it would have been a sellout. Think about it, just 1%. Personally, I like the Diamond (with the exception of the volunteer staff at concessions stands that imitates a slow death). I am sure there are some areas of the stadium that are lacking that I can't see, like dressing rooms, etc. With the Governor's Cup coming to Richmond this year, the Braves have more than enough ammo to request a new stadium, and maybe they should have one. But the question I have now is, should the new one be built here? Should the Braves restrict themselves to this area after seeing the support level that they have seen? If I were with the Braves organization, I would be pondering this question seriously right now. Maybe we need to provide ourselves a list of what we perceive as "problems". Problem: slow concessions, dumb mascott Question for anyone who watched the Bricktown Showdown last night: What in the heck was that little skit the Braves did at the end of the 1st inning where they all lined up and did some type of Indian looking "war dance"?

Agreed.

If you are serious about taking that district's seat, I would suggest that you schmooze the churches first. The majority of support for either of the previous 2 front-runners gained much of their support from "the flock". If you can somehow pander to "the flock" and steal some of those votes, and add those numbers to the average person on the street, then I would think that you would have a good chance of being the next representative.

I believe that I heard something about them playing at John Marshall High School football field. I, too, did not know that we had a semi-pro football team.

I would have to agree with everyone else on this board. Saturday boasted a championship series on an absolutely beautiful day, double-header (full 9 innings each), weekend, venue just off of I-95 & I-64,......there is no reason in the world why that place wasn't packed to capacity. I was a little embarrassed to say the least. The Durham fans that made the trip up had to be thinking to themselves that our city may not deserve this team. We can make all the excuses in the world as to why an additional 8,000 people did not attend, but the bottom line is that the Richmond Braves deserve 3 times as much love as they are receiving right now! Pitiful. That's the only word for it. It is pitiful that our home team was lined-up to clinch the championship and all we could muster was 4,000 fans?!? I do know this, the fans that did show up were treated to an excellent day!!

As a taxpayer, I had a problem with a bunch of slack @$$, incompetent, trifiling city employees who almost never got anything right the first time. I had a problem with city vehicles that were lurking in the city parks at all times of the day. I had a problem with a serious lack of accountability in city hall, any floor you choose. I had a problem with aggressive drivers in city vehicles making the roads unsafe. I have noticed a considerable change in attitude and results from city departments since Wilder took office. I have noticed that the city employees are more customer-friendly these days. I don't see the city vehicles slacking-off like I used to. From my vantage point, city services have become more efficient and expedient. Whether you like his arrogance or not, you cannot deny that things have changed for the better as far as customer service goes, since he has taken the helm.

L. Shirley Harvey almost beat Ellen Robertson Journiyen. You may wish to reconsider your chances.

I would like to place a $20 bet on there being an environmental issue at that site. Any parcel of land used as a depot for large vehicles for all those years has to have a saturation level of fuel and oil, greater than any environmental regulation will permit. It seems that I remember an issue with the old Trailways site and the bottom floor having to be "jacked" due to the saturation levels there. Any potential developers should keep that factor in the back of their heads.