miklos

I hate to be negative, but I see several problems with this building. One, it seems not to reach anywhere near the Chapel Street sidewalk. Second, it always infuriates me when I read a development tauting itself as "green" yet incorporating parking. in this case for 500 cars! This despite being across the street from the train station. Mind boggling. And the parking is not even underground.

Thanks for your generous comments, Burt, and also for the corrections which I will make. I still have trouble navigating this site and can't seem to find the Richmond in Pictures threads you cite; can you help? Do you live in Richmond? I'm in Philadelphia but Richmond is by far my favorite Southern city. By the way, since you are interested in old theaters and their fate (I am too!) I have a"Theaters" tag at my pictures site that will bring up tons of theater pictures from numerous cities.

No density, no urban context, no soul; only hunks of concrete. I love Richmond, but these pictures (Carpenter Center excepted) put the great city in the worst possible light. Sorry.To see the best of Richmond, check out www.picasaweb.google.com/miklospogonyi

I could not let your comment about Baltimore outside of the Inner Harbor being "filthy and unwelcoming" go by without comment. True, baltimore has some truly horrid abandoned, crime-infested parts, but it has also some of the most attractive and vibrant neighborhoods to be found anywhere in the Northeast. Have you ever walked around Bolton Hill, Mont Vernon, Little Italy, Federal Hill, Fells Point, just to name the best known? To me, they are all actually far more "welcoming" than the overly "touristy" Inner Harbor. Norfolk's Ghent is a great neighborhood and I love exploring it on foot, but much of the rest of Norfolk would benefit from looking more like the best of Baltimore neighborhoods.

North Carolina DOT's Rail Division has long had plans for passenger train service from Salisbury to Asheville and from Raleigh to Wilmington, but could never get the needed funding to upgrade the tracks. Hopefully that will change now. For further details check their website. As for Virginia, that state has just agreed to pay Amtrak some 18M to run 2 additional trains, starting later this year; one from DC to Lynchburg (later to be extended to Roanoke) and an additional DC to Richmond run. Virginia has also long discussed a so-called "TransDominion Express" which would connect Richmond (Main Street Station) with Roanoke and Bristol. This plan, too, has languished for lack of funds. I am not aware of Sout Carolina having any passenger rail plans. Not a progressive state when it comes to transit, I am afraid. For more info on Virginia and North Carolina rail plans and happenings, check out the following: Virginia Association of Railway Patrons (www.varprail.org) and Carolinas Association for Passenger Trains (www.captrail.org)

Forget these accursed, city-killing parking facilities. Let people rediscover what their feet are for and get healthy - and give mother earth a break in the bargain.

With so much of downtown Greenboro devoted to parking already, adding still more will make it indistinguishable from a suburban office park. When I get off the train on Washington Street, I see i front of me a sea of surface lots. There is much to like about Greensboro, but it will never become a real city until it gets beyond its obsession with cars.

W Welcome Coolbreeze! Somehow my aol email told me that you replied to my message, but I don't know what they are talking about. Anyhow, since you like Grand Rapids, I wanted to steer you to my pictures of that and many other US cities. Visit www.picasaweb.google.com/miklospogonyi I have not been to Lansing, but what I've heard and pics I've seen it's not great. I have seen Kalamazzo and like it a lot.

I have a photo tour of downtown Grand Rapids you may enjoy seeing. (Also many other downtowns). Go to www.picasaweb.google.com/miklospogonyi

Thanks for your kind words, Whistle-Stop, I live in Philadelphia and my passion is visiting and photographing US cities. As you can perhaps tell, I have a special interest in such topics as trains and train stations, historic preservation, "new urbanist" development, and just generally celebrating and documenting the rebirth of the Amercan city.Richmond is one of my favorite cities and I greatly look forward to my next planned visit this fall. There is so much good happenng there and I agree with you that foremost among them is the revitalization of Broad Street. It's amazing what a magnificent urban space that is. I also love Shockoe Bottom, Church Hill, Carytown, Jackson Ward and more. Are you from Richmond?