Richmond off-topic postings

[eandslee]

My hope through all of this is that somehow, Richmond comes out of this positioned economically stronger than before all this started!

[Richmonopoly]

How has Corona affected you?  
I am lucky to have job security, so I won’t lose my job, and will get paid as I am under contract by the state.  I’m working from home, but not really working much.  
I have a compromised immune system so I am freaked and haven’t really been out of bed, though I can’t sleep.  
I haven’t left the house and won’t allow anyone over.  
Bummed.

 

You? 

[georgeglass]

4 hours ago, Richmonopoly said:

How has Corona affected you?  
I am lucky to have job security, so I won’t lose my job, and will get paid as I am under contract by the state.  I’m working from home, but not really working much.  
I have a compromised immune system so I am freaked and haven’t really been out of bed, though I can’t sleep.  
I haven’t left the house and won’t allow anyone over.  
Bummed.

 

You? 

I work at Johnston-Willis hospital and got exposed outside of work and got tested Wednesday and still no results. I had to self quarantine and take my own PTO (I only have about 70 hours). My husband is a project manager for a small construction company based in Ashland. He has been furloughed for 6 weeks and will have to use all his PTO (he doesn't have 6 weeks). We are greatly concerned about the future of his job and that company. They rely heavily on the retail and service sector to be thriving. I think we may be ok, but can't say we are not worried. Personally, I am having no symptoms currently and feel what I did have was allergy sinus related. My hope is that it doesn't get as bad at the hospital as some fear, but reading what is going on in other places like even Albany, GA...I feel the worst seems like it's yet to come. I have never been more hopeful to be wrong. That said, I see a much larger contraction of our economy and fear many restaurants and other business won't be able to reopen because so many of us will end up wiped out financially and unable to support them.

[DowntownCoruscant]

I am a state employee and have a prudent boss who established a telework system much earlier than most. I’m balancing work with young kids at home. I sacrificed money for quality of life and now feel very lucky. My wife is deemed an essential employee at a retirement home (she’s not a nurse or CNA), and her employer has ignored every plea for a telework option. It’s basically all for one, one for all there until further notice. She is scared and discouraged. 

[Downtowner]

I work for a wholesale landscape supplies company and my fiancé is a nurse at henrico doctors hospital forest campus and works in the surgical intensive care unit. She has been very stressed lately with all the coronavirus stuff. She told me last night they made a new unit for just cornavirus patients that used to be another unit that served something else. But she is very worried about possibly catching corona virus though she is young like me she does worry about getting it and passing it to me since we live together. I’m worried about my parents catching it as my parents are both in there early 70s. But they have to wear the same mask now at work the whole time because there is such a shortage in masks that they have to keep the same on now till they get restocked which could be weeks. So she has been sewing surgical masks today as well as tomorrow on her day off with her sewing machine. She saw on YouTube a video on how to make a surgical mask by sewing it. So she’s hoping that will last her till they get more in. This is definitely a very scary time and I don’t wish it upon anyone. It’s a very scary situation. Stay safe everyone.


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[Shakman]

Being calm and having common sense is what we should focus on.  It's better than worrying.

Edited March 23, 2020 by Shakman

[vaceltic]

This is an interesting 100-year history on various failed plans to create a Richmond government/civic campus in downtown. 

https://theshockoeexaminer.blogspot.com/2020/03/a-season-of-big-ideas.html?m=1

[RVA-Is-The-Best]

Between quarantine and everything else, it's been pretty slow so I've been doing a lot of surfing. Found some various odds and ends that seem interesting enough

Metromont Construction is the contractor for South Falls I and has a cool update photo from two days ago. Looks massive

https://www.facebook.com/Metromont/

 

Also, found another market research firm Berkadia that does quarterly/construction/all kinds of market reports for many areas; Richmond is one of them. Here's the link to the page where it's filtered for Virginia. Latest uploads are Q4 for Norfolk, Northern Virginia, and Richmond.

https://www.berkadia.com/research-and-resources/search-reports?report_query=&state_code=VA&report-category[]=construction-pipeline-report&report-category[]=quarterly-reports

(They have market reports on so many areas that I've been browsing for fun too. DC, Philly, New York, etc)

 

Also have been moving things around on the development map, tying up loose ends here and there. Herod Seed Factory for example is well under construction and is purple (btw, are there any renderings for the new building they're constructing just south of the viaduct? Can't find anything)

EDIT: Herod Seed Factory redevelopment is now known as 'The Oliver'. https://theoliverrva.com/

Edited March 26, 2020 by RVA-Is-The-Best

[Icetera]

16 hours ago, RVA-Is-The-Best said:

Between quarantine and everything else, it's been pretty slow so I've been doing a lot of surfing. Found some various odds and ends that seem interesting enough

Metromont Construction is the contractor for South Falls I and has a cool update photo from two days ago. Looks massive

https://www.facebook.com/Metromont/

Nice shot of The Current as well:

[benstyree]

SOMEBODY POST SOMETHING!

[eandslee]

3 hours ago, benstyree said:

SOMEBODY POST SOMETHING!

Seriously!  This is pathetic! 

[vaceltic]

Some interesting opinion pieces out there about rethinking city development in light of the pandemic. More modular construction, closing auto-focused streets for more pedestrian traffic, and decentralization of essential services. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-04-22/coronavirus-pandemics-architecture-urban-design%3f_amp=true

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5e9eb1e5c5b63c5b587419a3

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wired.com/story/pandemic-opportunity-remake-cities/amp

https://www.citylab.com/design/2020/03/coronavirus-urban-planning-global-cities-infectious-disease/607603/

[Wahoo 07]

On 4/24/2020 at 11:19 AM, vaceltic said:

Some interesting opinion pieces out there about rethinking city development in light of the pandemic. More modular construction, closing auto-focused streets for more pedestrian traffic, and decentralization of essential services. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-04-22/coronavirus-pandemics-architecture-urban-design%3f_amp=true

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5e9eb1e5c5b63c5b587419a3

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wired.com/story/pandemic-opportunity-remake-cities/amp

https://www.citylab.com/design/2020/03/coronavirus-urban-planning-global-cities-infectious-disease/607603/

Good stuff.  As someone currently residing in New York, this experience has made me rethinking living in such a place.  The appeal of smaller but still dynamic places has increased.  Many friends of mine here, especially those who are not native New Yorkers, feel similarly.  Maybe there will be a redistributing of people out of the mega cities towards smaller communities.  If you take New York and subtract all of the elements that make it a great place, you are left with millions of people jammed into expensive boxes that they cannot leave.  Richmond looks pretty good by comparison.

[rjp212]

Video that Visit Richmond VA posted last week. 

 

[Brent114]

I noticed this when I raised my blinds this morning...

Another hopeful sign that things will return to normal quickly.  I was worried that niceties like this would be ditched.  These flowers didn’t exactly flourish last summer (the first summer the city installed them) but I really appreciate the effort to elevate the Broad Street corridor. 

Edited May 15, 2020 by Brent114

[eandslee]

48 minutes ago, Brent114 said:

I noticed this when I raised my blinds this morning...

Another hopeful sign that things will return to normal quickly.  I was worried that niceties like this would be ditched.  These flowers didn’t exactly flourish last summer (the first summer the city installed them) but I really appreciate the effort to elevate the Broad Street corridor. 

Nice plants. Definitely a sign of things getting back to normal.  Too bad the Mayor closed the city for another two weeks though.  SMH. 

[eandslee]

Just FYI -

Richmond City Council is scheduled to vote this evening on a resolution to authorize the surplussing of a number of city-owned properties; including the Navy Hill site. 

The Partnership for Smarter Growth sent a letter to the members of City Council urging them to defer voting on this resolution in order to provide more time for the public to give their input, and for community benefits required of any future development on these sites to be identified. 

I appreciate what the PSG is trying to do, but this is a no-brainer.  For Pete’s sake stop slowing down the economic progress of the city for no reason.  This is dumb!

[Shakman]

Just build a damn high rise Pre-K through 12 and university under one roof.  Hopefully it will shut up the NIMBY's.

[DalWill]

6 hours ago, Shakman said:

Just build a damn high rise Pre-K through 12 and university under one roof.  Hopefully it will shut up the NIMBY's.

If they will SUPPORT it. They can build anything and council can approve it but until the community (plus RPS/Council/Mayor Administration) put their money where their mouth is, things will stay the same.  On top of that, an EDUCATION REFORM with updated infrastructure is needed for progress.

[eandslee]

Well, it doesn’t appear to be all bad news.  I see what City Council did here. They did delay the surplus designation of all the Navy Hil property (including the few that were not part of the NH plan) with the exception of (what was known under the NH plan) block D, which houses the Public Safety building.  What they are doing is splitting out that parcel from the surplus designation proposal.  Says here:

“Dividing the Public Safety Building property out from the others would allow the city to pursue a request for proposals specific to that property without involving the other properties that were set to be deemed surplus. While it remains council’s call on whether to pursue multiple RFPs or one overarching one, separating the Public Safety Building would free it up to be declared surplus individually.”

To me, that means they can move forward (maybe quicker) on getting RFPs for that parcel to move that project along.  Maybe VCU is using its power to get Council to help get the new proposal for that site moving along. 

I’m still disappointed about the delay on the other NH surplus properties though.  Seems like they are just stalling making this a process longer than it needs to be because no one on the City Council can make a decision.  Sigh...what are we going to do with these people?!  Gee...

[Icetera]

3 hours ago, eandslee said:

Well, it doesn’t appear to be all bad news.  I see what City Council did here. They did delay the surplus designation of all the Navy Hil property (including the few that were not part of the NH plan) with the exception of (what was known under the NH plan) block D, which houses the Public Safety building.  What they are doing is splitting out that parcel from the surplus designation proposal.  Says here:

“Dividing the Public Safety Building property out from the others would allow the city to pursue a request for proposals specific to that property without involving the other properties that were set to be deemed surplus. While it remains council’s call on whether to pursue multiple RFPs or one overarching one, separating the Public Safety Building would free it up to be declared surplus individually.”

To me, that means they can move forward (maybe quicker) on getting RFPs for that parcel to move that project along.  Maybe VCU is using its power to get Council to help get the new proposal for that site moving along. 

I’m still disappointed about the delay on the other NH surplus properties though.  Seems like they are just stalling making this a process longer than it needs to be because no one on the City Council can make a decision.  Sigh...what are we going to do with these people?!  Gee...

The fact that the delay seems to be coming from Economic Development rather than council I think is more acceptable.  Hopefully things move forward after the Early June appraisals.  It is clear that Gray is going to delay as much as possible, for political reasons, but it looks like she is the exception here.

"Earlier Tuesday, councilmember Kim Gray, one of Navy Hill’s more vocal opponents, issued a statement questioning the surplus designation proposal and calling for more review."

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by Icetera

[Icetera]

Oh Richmond, I love you:

Edited June 4, 2020 by Icetera

[Shakman]

Someone tell Fuzzy Wuzzy the One James River Plaza implosion happened last Saturday.

[Icetera]

2 hours ago, Shakman said:

Someone tell Fuzzy Wuzzy the One James River Plaza implosion happened last Saturday.

I highly doubt that is what a Black Bear was here for.  Seriously though, going to the implosion Saturday morning I thought that would have been the biggest event of the week.  It has certainly been a wild one, and hopefully transformative for the better.

Edited June 6, 2020 by Icetera
typo

[Shakman]

21 hours ago, Icetera said:

I highly doubt that is what a Black Bear was here for.  Seriously though, going to the implosion Saturday morning I thought that would have been the biggest event of the week.  It has certainly been a wild one, and hopefully transformative for the better.

I was joking about the black bear wanting to attend the implosion.  

Edited June 7, 2020 by Shakman