preservationengineer

I have richmondballpark.com pins if anyone wants one - you can send me your address and i will send you one.

fyi katie ukrop just opened up an AWESOME gallery on broad street called quirk. http://www.quirkgallery.com/ My Mom, Dad and I went down there for first fridays last night and were amazed at how many people were around. I am so thankful to finally see creative activity in downtown - i have been in a paradigm thinking nothing ever goes on.

My dad told me today that the mayor is putting up a fight with the Rockets Landing folks b/c he's not sure how it's going to "fit in" with Richmond, as far as the river goes. It is unfortunate when our city's political leader cannot see a good thing when it's infront of him. He is too quick to criticize - does he not realize that our government was partially responsible for the lack of sustainable infrastructure causing the abandonment of buildings in the shockoe bottom/manchester industrial areas for SEVERAL years and now people are finally taking the initiative to rehabilitate them. Does he see any places in Richmond where you can go to eat/shop/boat/work on the James? EGO.

Yall I went to the Chesterfield County growth management meeting a couple weeks ago and have been asked to serve on a small work group with Ed Barber, as a way to foster suggestions for other ways to deal with our county's infrastructure needs other than by raising building proffers to $17,000 - which makes homes completely unaffordable. It seems to me like Chesterfield needs to mend their comprehensive plan and adopt 'prescriptive' zoning codes to allow for traditional neighborhood developments, thereby providing secure live/work neighborhoods (centered around schools) that would serve as small business 'incubators.' These would lessen our dependency on vehicles, thereby diminishing the need for additional road infrastructure. I also believe that we should work on utilizing access to the James River through federal tax credit programs, in order to encourage tourism as an industry-particularly with jamestown 2007 nearing- thereby giving us a broader tax base.

i went and checked about reserving one with my dad, and a one-bedroom 868 sq. ft. condo was $210,000. Too much for someone who just graduated from college. It's beautiful!

I was driving down there the other weekend and was surprised to find that, if I am not mistaken, a meat plant of some sort is to be directly next to this proposed development.

in case yall have not already seen this website, check it out: www.richmondballpark.com

it's good to know people think i'm a "guy," but i'm really a girl! and here is the article i sent in to the rtd but they never published it Providing a heritage for the future involves opening our arms for change, but holding on to our values. My favorite professor in college once said, "a city that is not changing is getting worse." He was right! A city is a living, breathing organism, and when change does not occur, that organism grows weak and stagnant. Eventually the environmental image of that city deteriorates in the minds of its residents. In fact, when a city resists change and neither creates nor implements an effective plan for reorganization, citizens loose a sense of emotional security in their external environment. Many iconic places in the metropolitan Richmond area separate our great historic city from others. They include, but are not limited to: the Confederate statues on Monument Avenue, the mansions of Cary Street, Church Hill's association with the freedom of our country, how Manchester Industrial District sustained our city after the Civil War, the Diamond, and Shockoe Bottom as the foundation of our culture as Richmonders. Shockoe Bottom is considered by many as the city's most prized possession, for not only was it the site of William Byrd's original plan for our great city and once fully-packed Tobacco Warehouses, but it served as the Devil's half-acre during the civil war. Why then, on an average day, are there few visible out-of-town visitors except those that drive along 95? Why then, are there only but a few commercial and retail buildings and activities (and most on the weekends) praising and celebrating our history? Why is it structurally neglected, rampant with crime and left to the mercy of an unstable floodwall? People are afraid of what they do not know. Many people in Richmond have been misinformed about Shockoe Bottom, with the specific regard to the proposed four-block construction of a ballpark for our beloved Richmond Braves. There are 35 properties in the four blocks. According to GIS information on the city of Richmond website, eight of those properties are parking lots and another eight pieces of property are classified as vacant land. Most of the commercial buildings that remain are up for sale or rent. The area is actually losing tens of thousands of dollars a year for the city. Richmond, what are we doing? Are we so resistant to change that we would rather crumble than reinvent and provide a pleasant, safe and profitable place for our children? As a preservation major and member of the" young and restless" group returning to Richmond after college, I am excited about joining a club, starting a new job, and driving along Cary Street on a beautiful summer day. However, I am ashamed at the willful neglect and disregard for my native city's historic center by both her governing body and many of her metropolitan area citizens, and even at times the Richmond Times-Dispatch (which I faithfully read almost every morning even though I am a student at a College 430 miles away). As a presently sensitive and pressing issue in Richmond, I dare each citizen to be an advocate for change. When was the last time you enjoyed a good tour through the Bottom and ate at a place like the Hill Caf

I love my city dearly, she has so much to offer us it is unbelievable. Part of the problem with the way the city has been for so long is that the municipality has neglected basic infrastructure needs, thereby diminishing the public's ability to feel emotionally secure with their surrounds...I think this ultimately leads to more people, and businesses moving towards the suburbs. A main example of what I am speaking is with the recent deaths and paralyzing effects of Gaston toward Shockoe Bottom, and the neglect of several areas of Broad Street, though there are many more. Why things like 'small business buffers' are not advertised on television in order to attract businesses downtown are unbenounced to me. Also, I recently heard that the average age of Richmonders is 66. Does someone know otherwise? We need to make efforts to attract people in the "young and restless" category, because they are the future who will sustain older cities.