Richmond off-topic postings

[Brent]

The suburbs here are pretty old too (40-50 years) and while there has been some leap frog development west there is renewed interest in our inner suburbs (Willow lawn area and Cloverleaf for example)and the quality of the housing in the inner suburbs never suffered, in fact the most expensive real-estate in Richmond is in the inner suburbs, not in the Far Westend (Short Pump). I wouldn't call any of the development out there quality at all, poorly planned and cheap comes to mind, quality doesn't. Downtown becomes more desirable daily. I'm confident that nothing will change that any time soon. Downtown enjoyed a big building boom over the past 10 years too. As short pump grew thousands of jobs were created downtown, the downtown population doubled, the streetscape and traffic flow was improved (the difference of Boulevard and Belvidere between now and 15 years ago is night and day for example), office and condo towers went up, hotels opened shop and just about every warehouse was renovated. Short Pump Mechanicville and Hull Street (15 miles west of the part that you saw is lined with new shopping centers) growing didn’t hurt downtown in the recent past, don’t see it being an issue in the future.

[burt]

Take a look at the restoration of the formerly overgrown lake in Forest Hill Park.

Slideshow from today's Richmond dot com:

http://www2.richmond.com/content/2010/may/20/opening-forest-hill-lake-regatta/

[calwinston]

Calling all you beer lovers! The World Beer Festival is being held in Richmond on June 12,2010! The final posting of the participating breweries is online!

http://www2.richmond.com/content/2010/may/24/beer-line--world-beer-fest/

http://allaboutbeer.com/gather-for-beer/world-beer-festival/richmond-va/beer-line-up/%20.

[wrldcoupe4]

I'll be out of town... how depressing!

[ric75]

Calling all you beer lovers! The World Beer Festival is being held in Richmond on June 12,2010! The final posting of the participating breweries is online!

http://www2.richmond.com/content/2010/may/24/beer-line--world-beer-fest/

http://allaboutbeer.com/gather-for-beer/world-beer-festival/richmond-va/beer-line-up/%20.

Got my tickets for the evening session. Can't wait! Really happy to see Boulder Brewing will be there as well as Dogfish Head.

[burt]

About 70 miles west of Richmond, the largest estate sales ever handled by Sotheby's will welcome bidders.

Albemarle House and 300 acres on a mountainside south of Charlottesville is owned by a famous lady named Patricia Kluge. The original asking price of $100 million has been reduced to $48 million.

Neighboring properties are Jefferson's Monticello and Monroe's Ashlawn.

The auction preview runs tomorrow through June 7th. The on-site auction is June 8th and 9th. Admission price is the $65 auction catalogue.

This is a fabulously interesting story from today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdis...-195407/347060/

Edited May 31, 2010 by burt

[calwinston]

The East End Charrette kicks off today at the Family Resource Center 2405 Jefferson Ave at 5! If you live along the Nine Mile Rd Corridor or care about what happens in that area then I suggest you come out and speak on what you think would revitalize a gateway to the city of Richmond!

Article in Church Hill People News with NBC 12 telecast!

http://chpn.net/news/2010/06/01/east-end-transformation-charrette-kicks-off-on-wednesday_13723/

Schedule of events this week

http://www.eastendvision.org/news-and-events-public-schedule.html

[calwinston]

Here is a article from the Church Hill People News about the happenings of that night at the East End Charrette! Their are also some great pics of the proposal renderings!

http://chpn.net/news/2010/06/03/end-end-transformation-looking-good-on-paper_13768/

[Cadeho]

It's fun being a part of the process. I am also glad to enlighten and bring some more info and my maps to the table.

[burt]

Most who attended the charrette on improvements in the East End view the results favorably.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/EAST08_20100607-222404/349714/

[Cadeho]

Most who attended the charrette on improvements in the East End view the results favorably.

From today's RTD:

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/EAST08_20100607-222404/349714/

here's my album from my time there. http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c236/RVaPics3/East%20End%20Charrettes/

[burt]

here's my album from my time there. http://s28.photobuck...d%20Charrettes/

Wow! That was quite a turnout at The Robinson Theatre. It will be great if even some of the planning translates to action along the North 25th Street/Nine Mile road corridor as well as in other areas of the East End.

Despite your loathing of roundabouts, Cam, a circular water feature at the intersection of 25th/Nine Mile reportedly was favored by the majority of charrette-goers. Also, a grocery store is wanted by many people.

Thanks for sharing the album.

Edited June 8, 2010 by burt

[calwinston]

Jimmy Dean(singer, songwriter, and sausage king) unfortunately passed away this weekend on his 200 acre estate in Varina( about 20 minutes from Downtown Richmond).

http://www2.timesdis...-234002/351224/

Edited June 15, 2010 by calwinston

[burt]

Oh, me! Life gets tougher by the day for some of us oldsters.

The Times Dispatch has changed its online format requiring considerable retraining of the old brain cells.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/jun/22/duke22-ar-227894/

[calwinston]

Alexandria and Arlington rank 5th and 7th respectively as the largest in population percentage growth the past year between 2008-2009

Alexandria is the 5th fastest-growing city in the U.S., according to new population estimates from the U. S. Census Bureau. From July 1, 2008 to July 1, 2009, the waterfront city on the shores of the Potomac added about 5,500 people to its population of 150,000 for a growth rate of 3.8 percent.

Meanwhile, neighboring Arlington County came in seventh, with a 3.5 percent growth in population, boosting its head count to 217,483. Though not technically a city, the bureau counts it that way, because of its population concentration.

Arlington County is only 25 square miles with a 1/4 of that federal land! Alexandria(15 sq miles) has not annexed any new land since the 1950's. Currently Virginia state law does not allow cities to annex any new land!

http://www.virginiab...g-areas/233561/

Sometimes I wonder why people always keep saying Richmond needs to be able to annex land to survive! I think this is the most ridiculous statement out there. Richmond(62 sq miles) first of all needs to fill up and use the land it already has wisely(not building multiple parking decks downtown) before it even thinks about annexing the surrounding counties land! For example San Francisco(49 sq miles) has grown from 776,731 to 815,358 from 2000-20009 no annexation! Even DC(60 sq miles) grew 5% and is about to cross the 600,000 mark! Richmond in size is larger than both of these world class cities! What Im saying is there is so much vacant land in the city that has the potential to be developed before crying of what they can't do! As from the Nike slogan "just do it" (to the developers). Annexation I think should only be considered when you are building 40 story skyscrapers at the city limits.

Edited June 24, 2010 by calwinston

[burt]

The concert series called http://www.fridaysatsunset.com is always held at Kanawa Plaza except for rain dates at The Landmark theatre. The website still has the GEORGE CLINTON PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC show for Friday July 2nd at Kanawa Plaza.

However, a Venture Richmond release just received says the concert will be at Brown's Island on the same date. This, as with all Fridays at Sunset concerts, is a ticketed event.

Kanawa Plaza is a fairly tight space which might be the reason for a switch of venues to the much larger Browns Island.

If you have tickets or plan to go, I would advise you to double check with the presenter.

[Cadeho]

Cal, since you're going to quote Nike, I'm going to quote Jerry Maguire, "Show me the money!" Developers are more likely to build in the counties than the city. Remember all the poor people are in the city and they scare off the rich folk... and don't bring race into it, that adds another dynamic. Or rather, do. It's perception. People think downtown is crime-ridden as well as the east end, northside, and the Manchester area. I watched the news tonight about the increasing number of robberies in the Fan, but people say, "Oh it's not a bad neighborhood. It gets a bad rep but it's just the media and perception." Well for some reason people still think the Fan is as safe as Twin Hickory while... OH MY GOD DO NOT GO TO CHURCH HILL OR YOU WILL DIE! It's all about perception and the areas near downtown can't shake the negativity even though people will echo what those in the Fan have said about their neighborhood. The thing is, people will believe them. There is a reason for that; they don't fit the profile. Who's going to invest in an area that has that perception? Then look at Richmond's schools. They're nothing like the counties'. We can't attract families to the city because our schools stink and then the concentration of poverty and those who do not care about education make it worse. Perhaps these cities do not have these issues as bad as we do or they know how to handle, combat, or reslove them.

Remember Richmond's pattern of growth. It is what makes us kind of large, no New York, but decent. We did not have land constraints and spread out. We'll never grow up because we can grow out and have. Our subdivisions are mainly for single family homes and it's always been that way. Things like Rocketts and the apartments in Shockoe Bottom are new, but not everyone wants to live in an apartment. I know I don't. I want my own space and most people here feel that way or the demand would not exist. Since Richmond can't annex, not exactly because all cities in Va can't annex, Fredericksburg annexed in 1984, but a locality cannot annex from another that is over 200,000 in population which is why Richmond is landlocked and will never have a chance to annex unless the law is changed, but no one in the GA is considering that. However, governments can merge... Henrico and Chesterfield will have nothing to do with that because there's nothing in it for them. They can sustain themselves and have no need for Richmond anymore. That's why they don't care if Richmond becomes a rotten core. They have the ability to point and throw stones.

Richmond needs to work harder to make itself appeal to people to spend money here, both developers, businesses, and residents. It's done a good job to a degree with all the recent projects, but it's not enough. Also, you cannot develop every vacant parcel of land in Richmond. Some of it is uninhabitable and what you'll get from most of it is more single family housing. There are many areas in Richmond that used to be dumps, just think about the filled ravines such as the one in DuVal's Addition. It left Battery Park an enclosed canyon and the land is virtually unusable for building. Another landfill was south of Bowling Green east of 17th Street (Oliver Hill) and Bowling Green Rd. They built Chelsea Village on the landfill and then the land started to shift, making the streets weird frozen waves and the buildings were demolished by the land. A few blocks to the north, Whitcomb Court School had to close because of the methane coming from the landfill behind it. No one would ever build on that land and it has been left as an open field and parking lot. Another was at M and what would be N.36th Street. Then this huge tract of land to the east of it between 39th St, the Oakwood neighborhood, East Richmond Road, Jennie Scher Road, Gillies Creek, and Crestview Drive, which could have continued Richmond's grid eastward became a giant hill that will never have anything on it. Then there are areas better left undeveloped like places in flood prone areas. The green light to destroy Fulton was hastened after the flood from Hurricane Agnes did its damage. Until today, nothing's been built in its flood plain which Gaston brought back into consciouness 6 years ago. The people spoke and put into the 2007 Downtown Master Plan that the riverfront should remain open for public access and not sold off for places like Echo Harbour. There are plenty of other places that could use a highrise, but not that spot. The people spoke.

The infill that has been going on should continue. I would not speak out against parking decks downtown, what we need are those with retail, office, and residences. Face it that Richmonders will never give up their cars and their freedom. They also will not let go of their perception that GRTC is for low-income people who cannot afford cars. I'd love to see us bring the trolly back to its birthplace, but again, show me the money. It'd fail if the demand isn't there and the reasons for their demise still exist.

We do have a lot of land in Richmond, but it goes way beyond telling people, "just do it." It's not even about the red tape at City Hall. We have to address the issues that keep people from calling Richmond home. We need to learn from the counties and try to beat them at their own game. It's more than developers not being here, because they are, it's about money and changing people's minds.

[burt]

Two bridges across the James River connecting downtown Richmond and Manchester are restricting traffic today, June 28th. A burst water main at the northern end of Mayo (14th Street) Bridge has closed the span for today:

http://www2.timesdis...ridg-ar-233365/

Meanwhile, a four-car crash is causing delays at the southern end of Manchester (9th Street) Bridge.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/jun/28/manchgat28-ar-233380/

Edited June 28, 2010 by burt

[calwinston]

Richmond Rap (River City)

Edited June 30, 2010 by calwinston

[burt]

The "Richmond Rap" video posted above by calwinston is terrific. It was posted some months ago on this forum, but it's good to see it again.

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I'm reading a new who-done-it by Stephen Hawley Martin called "Dead Man of the Year" which is set in Richmond. Martin was a co-founder of the famous Martin Agency and his latest book is set in a fictitious advertising shop in Shockoe Slip.

Although published in 2010 it obviously was written a few years back. There are references to former restaurants such as The Bus Stop, Matt's British Pub and The Texas Wisconsin Border Cafe as well as a few other sites that date the narrative.

It's a fun read, even if publisher Oaklea Press Inc. has some pretty sloppy proof-readers. I got it this week at Barnes & Nobles near Lincoln Center for about $17.

Martin, who is a three-time winner of the Writer's Digest Book Award, is a prolific author with seven books prior to "Dead Man of the Year."

Edited July 2, 2010 by burt

[calwinston]

Parenting Magazine rates the Richmond Region #1 Healthiest community in America!

http://fb.me/CMWevdUC

[Cadeho]

Cal... you know a lot of stuff you've been posting has been posted here before...

[burt]

According to this posting by John Murden at River District News on June 22nd, Richmond has gained an estimated 6,718 residents since the census of 2000.

The official count from the 2000 census was 197,733. The figure now is 204,451.

Let's wait and see what the official total will be in 2011.

http://riverdistrictnews.com/2010/06/22/richmond-continues-to-grow/

There is a question at the bottom of the story asking if the figures include any of the 32,000 VCU students. About 5,000 of them live in campus dorms and, to my knowledge, they are not included in the city population estimated count, nor are students at the University of Richmond and Virginia Union University.

Edited July 3, 2010 by burt

[calwinston]

Cal... you know a lot of stuff you've been posting has been posted here before...

Im sorry for bringing up past topics that have been posted here before. Next time I will try to look back a couple of pages on topics to see if it has been posted. Since I have been on this website since February and started posting in April I tend to not know what has and has not been posted last year and beyond.

[calwinston]

Style Weekly Op/Ed piece by Charlie Diradour

What do you think?

When I was a kid, growing up in the 3900 block of Park Avenue, the phone book showed up on our front step and I looked at it quizzically. On the cover it read, “Richmond Metropolitan Region.” I wondered, as a child would, what those two words “metropolitan region,” meant. Today I know what they mean, but the concept doesn’t exist.

The City of Richmond is an island surrounded by vast resources it cannot touch. With Henrico County to its east and west, Chesterfield County to the south and Hanover County to the north, Richmond is at the center of a growing, dynamic community. The community, however, is a disjointed puzzle that’s never been able, or willing, to find where tab A should fit into slot B. If the residents of this community start seeing one another as neighbors and not as residents of separate, distinctive areas, we’ll grant the politicians the permission they obviously need to knit us together.

Opportunities for regional cooperation abound. Recently, several corporations agreed to split a $150,000 tab to pay three consultants to study the Richmond Coliseum. The Richmond Times-Dispatch quotes Mayor Dwight Jones, who says the study “is the first step towards charting the city’s and region’s direction where our coliseum needs are concerned.” While the story went on to say that the counties were supportive, it didn’t say in what form that support was being given. The reality is that if the counties had a say in the matter, I expect their political leaders would say what many of us who live in this community, city or county dwellers, would say: “Tear it down and start over. Oh yeah, and you can keep our $150,000. This one’s on us.”

Pericles, the mayor of Athens from 461 B.C. until his death in 429 B.C. is reported to have said, “All things good of this earth flow into the city.” While we continue to pay consultants to tell us things we as residents already know, our region is broken, fractured by a the political structure that holds us back. As Mayor Jones continues on a forward track in his attempt to make Richmond a tier-one city, he is held back by the progress of Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover.

But is it progress? If Richmond continues to struggle to reach its potential, can the region be great? If the city’s schools continue to fail, can the city ever realistically regain a healthy middle-class residential base? If our meals taxes remain 11.5 percent and our neighbors’ remain much lower, do county dwellers have an impetus to “flow into the city”? If the Richmond Metropolitan Authority — which manages The Diamond, the Powhite Parkway and the Downtown Expressway — cannot weigh in on the discussion about where to build a new ballpark, creating a successful regional attraction, then what are we condemning ourselves to?

As John Donne once wrote, “No man is an island, entire of itself. …” The logic must flow that no city is an island unto itself, and therefore we must work together to create a great center for the region to succeed.

While I admire and thank such great employers and corporate partners as Altria, Dominion Resources, Genworth Financial, and MeadWestvaco for stepping up to study the future of the Richmond Coliseum, it’s ultimately the government’s responsibility to take charge of how the fabric of a community is woven. The leaders of each county and the mayor should agree to hold a summit to discuss the fate of the crumbling structure. Its future should not be dictated by private interests.

Given the obvious need for a new venue for sporting events, concerts and the like, and further, given the need to address the overwhelming success of the Richmond Flying Squirrels and the possible limits of The Diamond, the members of the Richmond Metropolitan Authority — a true regional entity made up of political leaders from Chesterfield, Henrico, Hanover and the city — should place a priority on considering creating a true sports entertainment district along the Boulevard. Such a complex could include the land that’s underutilized along Robin Hood Road. People from the counties already have proven that they’re willing to come into the heart of the city to attend a baseball game.

The community should consider upgrading The Diamond, or building a new ballpark along the Boulevard, while building a new sports-entertainment venue on the same tract of land, surrounding it with businesses and residential development, and sharing the costs and benefits as a regional partnership.

The timing is right. The city can shut down its vehicle maintenance shed near the ballpark, saving millions of dollars by outsourcing work and freeing even more land for productive development.

The well-run Metropolitan Richmond Sports Backers already has a stadium next to The Diamond and the city’s Arthur Ashe Center is adjacent to the ballpark, giving the area considerable heft as a sports destination. There’s easy access to Interstates 95 and 64 and a new movie theater just down the road. The Boulevard is already primed; it can become a sports and entertainment destination, and there’s plenty of city and state land nearby that could be freed up for a new indoor arena to replace the Coliseum.

The discussion about the Coliseum’s future needs to take place in the open, involving residents and political leaders in the counties and city. The success story that is the Squirrels’ inaugural season, which wouldn’t have been possible without luring residents from the counties back to The Diamond, should squash the notion that suburban families are afraid to venture back to the city. Regional cooperation has long been a myth in this town. Let’s make it a reality. S

http://styleweekly.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=7B76959E8123447BB357B0138835A18D