I've lived right near or in Richmond for the past 40 years. I appreciate the fact that many natives are passionate about their home town. It's good to feel pride and excitement for the place you live in. But, I fear that this blind, rose-tinted view of things can have a damaging effect where people tend to ignore what's in front of them. Navy Hill didn't work out, redesigning the Diamond didn't work out, bringing any pro team here never works out, Disney wanted to go to NoVA but nobody wanted that, schools and roads are still terrible, etc etc etc etc etc
At some point, it's like .. what is Richmond's deal? Is it a fear of growth? a fear of white people coming to build things? Constant corruption all over the place and all I hear from natives is that it's a great city because there's a river. I want to like my home city but I simply can't do it anymore.
