heykey4

Having lived here all my life and in a family that's been here 100+ years, I'd have to say there is a kind of disdain for the city. Especially in the last 25-30 years. I just remember watching City Council Meetings back when Tim Kaine was Mayor. What a circus! When they (City Council) wanted to discuss something serious, you'd get just random off the wall people saying incredibly stupid things. I don't agree with his politics but I'll give Tim Kaine this, he's an incredibly patient man. And the city has had one failure after another and inspite of the successes you know the old saying "the evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones" well for Richmond it's "the failures of the city government lives on and the successes are largely ignored". Maybe that's because success is few and far between. Growing up in Chesterfield and now living in Hanover, I would not want the City to have jurisdicition over me. Not that the counties are utopian realms of civil government, but there's a clear difference in how the counties are run and how the city's run. I think that's the big handicap when it comes to regionalism...the counties don't want to be taking orders from the city. I don't blame them for that. There's this mindset that regionalism means that City Council calls the shots and people in the counties don't like that. Another interesting point is I think a lot of the people who speak so down on the city do so because they can remember when the city was a thriving, bustling place. Then when the read or see what's transpired in the last three decades they become a bit resentful and blame the city government. Perhaps our independent cities & counties form of governments in VA is cause to the hard times at forming regional government. But then again, it could be a problem across the nation and we just don't hear about it.

I think it's real cute they already have a website up and running.... anyway, a few drawings of their stadium down there....http://gwinnettbraves.com/stadium.html

The last few years several of the rookies who have done well and continue to put up good numbers in the big leagues have come from AA and skipped AAA. Don't disqualify AA just yet. But I wouldn't want to see a AA team play at the Diamond. Now there's a great excuse to tear the Diamond down. AA probably only needs no more than 5000 seats if that.

That's a good point, I hadn't thought of that. I'm sure someone somewhere has had that cross their mind, but I don't know. Maybe because they're a larger metro area? Maybe there'll be those who'll rather go to the AAA games to avoid the hustle & expense of going to see the A-Braves. I bet taking a family of four to a MLB Game can be expensive. But in the end the Braves organization gets the money whether they go to the AAA team or the MLB team. So really they probably don't care what team one goes to see.

Yeah, but you have to put yourself in the mindset of the average person from the suburbs who drives to the Diamond and looks around. They see vagrants wandering around, panhandlers, vandalized buildings, industrial areas and in their mind they're thinking ghetto and worried that a wrong turn on a street will invite trouble. They're not going to feel safe there with their families. Are these generalizations and possible stereotypes? Yeah, more than likely, but that's the truth of the matter. The community has been babbling on for almost five years about a new stadium and redeveloping Boulevard. The Braves have gotten tired of it and are moving on. I don't blame them. A carrot's been dangled in front of them far too long. Granted there are changes coming and slowly the area's improving...there's a lot of potential there but unfortunately we're not good about realizing our potential here in Richmond. We have to say Godspeed to the Braves and either focus on drawing another franshise or developing that area to accomodate new growth.

What are you talking about? Atlanta doesn't support their team well at all. The last four years or so the Braves were in the playoffs it wasn't even close to a sell out crowd at Turner Field. I've been watching them on TBS for years and lately their crowds have been very light. A maybe it's because they havent done well, but if they're fans they should go regardless. The whole new stadium idea was talked to death and here's the result, the AAA team is leaving town. If you're leaving town because of that, then bye...good luck in your new city. People don't go to Richmond Braves games because when they do go they enjoy a decent game then remember "oh yeah, I'm in the ghetto." as they go to their car. All this talking, planning and meetings distracts people in Richmond long enough, but people in the real world don't put up with it and here's the result. Yet another case of Richmond ignoring its potential and sticking to the "oh that's good enough" mentality. and in the end, what do I care? I'm a Mets fan. I wasn't angry when their AAA affiliation with the Norfolk Tides ended because I didn't go to those games either. Most of the great players of late have come to the big leagues from AA teams, so that'll be fine let's have one of those. Bottom line Richmond is not a sports town and there's no sense in force feeding it on people. How many basketball teams have we had in the last ten years? Remember the arena football team? Yeah they're gone too.

this bus rapid transit...from reading the article in today's RTD, it would have designated lanes either in the center of Broad or along the curb. I just wonder how it'll navigate through traffic signals. would all lights turn red for this bus to come through the intersection? It's an interesting idea. I'd love to see a rail system here in town. You know, it's always interesting to me to be in the city and you notice on certain streets where the pavement's worn away to reveal the old streetcar tracks. I noticed them on Laurel and Cherry streets a few weeks ago. but in terms of a rail system...doesn't that cost hundreds of millions of dollars? who has that kind of money that's willing to pay for it? Did Norfolk secure federal funding and state funding for their rail line?

Well if approved, the money for this building will be available on January 1, 2009. Unless the GA marks it as "emergency" then it will be available on July 1, 2008. This funding will most likely be approved, I asked someone I know who works for a Delegate, and was told that this is a needed building. If, for any reason, it gives the GA members a parking garage underneath the new building. Right now they're parking in the Library of Virginia's underground garage because you can't park on the Capital Grounds anymore. And many staff members park as far away as 3rd & Marshall (which is far for some to walk). The General Assembly really wants this parking garage, so if anything, they'll approve it for that reason. They do need the office space, but parking is paramount.

Can anyone shed some light about the decayed trolley on a flatbed under the MLK Bridge in Petersburg? Where'd it come from and what's it for? It's at the base of the old Richmond-Petersburg Interurban Terminal Building in Old Town. Here's a picture of it...

You know, I've really taken an interest in this rail-trail mind set. It's pretty cool. In my hours of browsing the web, I've come across www.railtrails.org, an organization promoting this concept. Well, apparently Hanover County has already designated a one mile stretch of the Richmond-Ashland Trolly Line as greenspace as a rail-trail. I'm going to have to go check it out. Info on that specific trail is at http://www.traillink.com/ViewTrail.aspx?AcctID=6032320. Also, the one mile section of the Seaboard Line mentioned in my earlier posts known as Chester Linear Park was financed under a grant from the National Recreational Trails Fund through the Federal Highway Administration and the VA Department of Conservation & Recreation. Learning that and learning earlier that the county owns more of this old right-of-way, I wonder if there are further plans to expand this trail?

Thanks for the info! That's very interesting that the county & city own some of the ROW. In your opinion, and anyone else chime in also, how perceptive do you think Chesterfield & Colonial Heights governments would be to such an idea? Also, mclawsdrive, when you say the ROW is owned by Seaboard Coast Line, do you mean CSX? Or is there a seperate Seaboard today (wikipedia tells me that Seaboard is today CSX). This is extremely interesting, even if some of this path could be used for a trail, that'd be pretty cool.

Thanks for the info! I'm strictly focusing on that section that veers off the main line just north of Centralia heading south to where it crossed the Appomattox (I'm sure you've seen the old bridge supports over at VSU). A roughly 13.5 mile stretch according to my line painting on maps.live.com. Which I can't seem to get a link to on here, but anyway. A link is on my blog, if interested. (it also marks the old Richmond-Ashland Line and the Richmond & Rapphannock River Rwy) I haven't visually seen the railbed, but looking at it online, it seems like it could be developed into a walking/bike trail. That area of Chesterfield hasn't developed like other areas of the county. Chester Linear Park in Chester is an old portion of the railbed from VA 10 northeast across Ecoff Ave. I read that the Seaboard tracks had an at-grade crossing with Route 10. I don't know how the ownership of the right of way is handled. When the line was abandoned, who did ownership go to? Or did it revert to the adjacent landowners? I find the concept very intriguing and I believe people are always looking for new (and relatively safe) places to hike/bike. This seems like a possiblity. Though right now, the concept is purely academic...but maybe one day.

Did just want to correct one thing I said..... It's not the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad that was abandoned, it was the Seaboard Railroad line through Chesterfield. I went back and checked an old map I have to make sure.

I was in Barnes & Noble last night and a book caught my eye, it was a mid-atlantic guide to the hiking trails made out of old railroads. I thought to myself, "self, that's an awesome concept! That could be done here." Because I noted that in VA most of the rails-to-trails were in the western part of the state, granted the more scenic trails are. Anyway, I don't see why that mind set couldn't be applied here, there are a couple of old and abandoned railroads. The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad going through Chesterfield is what first popped in my head. You can look at an aerial map and see where it ran (I think the tracks have been taken up years ago). Then there are the old streetcar lines that ran out into the counties. I noticed the railbed for the Richmond-Ashland line behind St. Joseph's Villa over the weekend and went home and found it in an aerial map and followed it up into Ashland. The question is, if one day in the future such a project generated interest, are these abandoned lines still right-of-ways to the companies, i.e. CSX? Or were the rights given up? Or how does that even work. I know for the streetcar lines, Virginia Power owns the right-of-ways and runs power lines down the railbeds. But for the ACL in Chesterfield, does CSX still own the land? Did they ever own the land?

Now if the GA approves the FY09-FY10 budget with the funding for this building, then the money would be available on July 1, 2008 when FY2009 begins, correct? I wonder how ready the state is to begin construction? Funding is a big step, I hope it'll make it through session. it's kinda weird to think that 2010 really isn't that far off.

Does this mean people will take their bulk mailings to the new facility or still to Brook Road. ...or is too early to tell yet?

Off Topic: Cadeho, I was reading on the other forum posts from, I presume, you about the Richmond & Rappahannock River Railway. The posts were from 3 years ago... ...I was wondering how far your exploration of that rail line got and have you any photos from the rail line. A person I know has the approaches of a trestle over Boatswain's Creek behind his home in Mechanicsville (Cold Harbor). I was relic hunting there some years ago and found rail spikes in the area. this is the only way I knew to contact you, so again, my apologies for being off topic...however, I guess it does count as suburban development even though it was developed over 100 years ago and is now vanished from our landscape. If you have info or care to discuss it, contact me via: email take care all! have a great weekend.

Just reading the posts about the Civil War sites... Chesterfield has more Civil War sites than most people realize. The eastern part of the county is peppered with remnants of the war. I grew up near Hopkins Road & Centralia Road and they are still artillery embankments in someone's front yard. Plus everything pretty much east of I-95 was battlefield from the Bermuda Hundred Campaign of 1864. That's when the Confederates "bottled up" the Federals in Bermuda Hundred. Don't want to digress too much from Richmond's Suburban Developments, so I'll tie this in to that. A lot of Chesterfield sites have fallen victim to development. For years, because it was "south of the river", these sites were forgotten or deemed too far away....I'm talking like back in the 1920s & 30s when Civil War Battlefields were first preserved around here. Plans were then to make as much land in the Bermuda district of Chesterfield part of the National Park Service's Richmond National Battlefield Park. It would have been the Bermuda Hundred Unit. There's a map by the NPS of the proposed park floating around somewhere. I've not seen it, but I know it exists. I think this plan didn't happen because of the Great Depression and later because Bermuda district is the most level land in the county and also has been zoned industrial making it VERY expensive. It's a shame, it would been pretty cool...if you're in to history and parks and what not. There are those who are working to save what's left. The county has had the Civil War sites mapped out and take them into account when zoning requests come in from Bermuda district. I went to a lecture one time by a guy who had GPS mapped all the forts and earthworks in the county. So anyway, there's a lot there in Chesterfield, it just doesn't make the brochures for the tourists.