Would anyone in Richmond ride it ?

Apparently, if you’re a U of R employee, the answer is no.

I heartily applaud the new president’s efforts to green the campus and hand out free bus passes to employees. However, only 97 of 1500 employees had accepted the offer when the TD published their story on Saturday. That’s just over 6% of folks taking a FREE bus pass- never mind how many actually ride the bus.

30-40 employees were regular bus riders before the program began. So about 60 people may be enticed onto the bus. Which, don’t get me wrong, is fabulous. I’d just hope for more.

A 10-story or taller high rise to extend over the expressway and the RMA parking deck? Maybe. People are talking, but nothing’s certain yet.

A surface parking lot between 9th & 10th on Canal has been under contract since early this year, according to the TD.

An RMA exec said the adjacent RMA parking deck “was built in anticipation that someday there would be a high-rise building adjacent to that deck and actually cantilevering over a part of our air rights.”

The deck was built 16 years ago. Slow down that development pace! We can’t keep up!

Cantilever. An unfortunately underused word for the common building practice of building overhanging structures without external bracing. And that’s what they’re talking about doing over the deck and possibly the expressway. But I say, don’t hold your breath. The number of proposals flying around this town that don’t come to fruition is depressing.

Until they name a developer, which city and RMA officials aren’t yet doing, I refuse to get excited.

The Hotel John Marshall, long-rumored to be slated for some kind of adaptive re-use (condos? apartments? hotel? a mixture?), now has its own website indicating that someone’s still planning for the place.

The website is long on design and short on details.  In fact, there are no details to be found.  But you can see cool old pictures, and learn that the name is “Residences at Hotel John Marshall.”

The Monroe Ward community news site reported on some rumors several days ago:

The John Marshall is expected to be under renovation in early summer. The rooftop sign will be airlifted to The Diamond, restored and re-mounted after construction is completed. First Market Bank will establish a branch there as well as a grocery store (Ukrops?) and other commercial space will be available. Across Franklin (where the barber shop is presently located), all buildings from mid-block to and including the ugly one on the corner of 6th and Franklin will be demolished and a garage for tenants will be erected on the lot. Dominion Partners is the developer.

The place, to be called The Residences at the John Marshall, is either a condo development or will be apartments.

Commenters indicated that Ukrop’s is a no, unsurprising in terms of their latest downtown failure, and that First Market is a maybe.  No sources were named, however, so take it all with a grain of salt.

At the very least, while we stare at the giant vacant high-rise building, we can go to the website, hear some nice old-timey jazz, and see what Richmond used to look like.  Here’s hoping the future looks better (and more racially integrated).

Ed Trask, famed Richmond artist and public mural painter, speaks his mind about the recent demise of his Pricess Di mural on the side of Club Velvet.

He’s interviewed in a new free Richmond magazine, Urge: Try Something Different, which “celebrates all that is creative and innovative in the city and region.”

Actually, he and Gordon Stettinius (photographer and adjunct VCU prof) interview each other.  Here’s the excerpt about the Princess Di painting:

Stettinius: Do you like seeing your work get old?
Trask: I adore it. It becomes thematically what I like to look at. Quite often when I put a mural up, I know it’s not going to be there that long. Everybody’s freakin’ out about the “Princess Diana” [mural] being gone and I’m like thank god! When I first put it up there, there was a restaurant and two geourgous [sic] billboards. You’d come off the exit and there was a Marlboro man kinda looking over at Princess Diana. But the billboards came down, a strip club came in, she started fading out, the shadows started coming out more. It gave joy to a lot of people as long as it could but I’m glad it’s gone. It’s time for a rebirth, let’s put something else up there.

When I received Ukrop’s letter about the Grace St. store closing, I thought it was a perfect reason for me to come out of blogging hibernation with some breaking news.  Then River City Rapids beat me to the punch.  Well I have details he didn’t report:

Ukrop’s will close at 6 p.m. on May 10th.  (Jon forgot to mention the time, which gave me something else to report! Ha ha).

The letter also says they’ve been operating the store “at a significant deficit” for the 5 years it’s been open, and that they’ve been in conversation with “nationally recognized businesses attempting to find an alternative retailer to take over this location.”

Nationally recognized? Does that mean a chain?

In the good news category, they’ve offered positions at other Ukrop’s to all employees affected by this decision.

…I’d write about this week’s cover article in Style about gun crime.

I’d probably title the post with this quote from a gun dealer: “Richmond is kind of like a bad neighborhood…”

I’d write about the poor logic of statements like this: “ Some people may want tougher gun laws, but the point between a legal sale and a crime can be a long, winding road.”

I’d write about how the people lobbying for and profiting from liberal gun laws are not bearing the high societal cost of their actions.

Crime and the health of urban environments is clearly within the scope of my blog, yet I’ve taken on so much in my personal life right now that I just can’t find the time to write a well-reasoned, well-researched response to this article.  And I know you can’t criticize gun laws in this country without entering a political minefield.  So for now, I’ll just point out that this article, particularly its conclusions, should be read with your critical thinking skills fully engaged.

Several of you have noticed and commented on my lack of blogging lately- thanks for your support of this blog and I hope to get back into the game soon.

The editorial board of the Times Dispatch weighs in today with its thoughts on the future of the West Hospital:

The [preservationist] stance suggests mere aesthetics should hold back medical progress. Preservationists — and advocates of the city’s ostensibly “bottom-up” planning process who also have denounced VCU’s plans — doubtless will protest such a characterization. Nevertheless, at least some of them seem to care more about how VCU’s hospital looks to those walking by on the outside than how much it can help the people in need on the inside. It is a badly skewed set of values that places a higher priority on lifestyle than on life itself.

I’ll ignore for now the swipe at the master planning process (I’m struggling to remember what positions the editorial board has expressed regarding the planning process-anyone?) and focus on the comments on the West Hospital.

I am one of those who will protest their characterization of preservationists having badly skewed values.

My question is, when did we accept VCU’s proposition, without challenge, that they have only two options: keep using an outdated ineffective hospital building or tear it down.

Why not sell the building and use the proceeds to build a new hospital nearby?

There’s plenty of vacant land around MCV- currently used as surface parking lots (View Map of Broad & 14th area).

I absolutely agree that MCV should build a new hospital building- I just don’t buy the dichotomy we’re being sold: tear it down or fail the patients.

There may, of course, be good reasons that MCV cannot acquire the vacant land near them- but that their spokespeople (and the TD) never mention it as an option while harshly criticizing their opponents suggests they are bent on pursuing their own agenda.

The rumor mill is buzzing about a new restaurant to open downtown:

There is another exciting project on the way. The venue is going to be called AURORA and it is brought to Richmond by a company called EuroEnterprises. A former bank building on the corner of Grace and 4th Street is currently being converted into a coffee shop/bakery tastefully combined with a European style cocktail lounge and restaurant. It is scheduled for opening in summer. Promotion campaign should start in coming next several weeks.

The rumor mill in this instance is my blog, and the buzz is a comment left on an earlier post (two posts, actually).

EuroEnterprises- an intriguing name- trying to bring a little European flair to our city center?

A few savvy business people have taken to using my blog to promote their new restaurants and developments. They know that my blog is read by hundreds of thousands of Richmonders daily. (OK, hundreds, and I can’t guarantee where my readers live).

Nevertheless, I like this trend. Makes updating this blog easier for me; my content has been sparse recently due to a change in my work situation. So reader submissions can help keep this community conversation going about what makes Richmond great.

From Jake Crocker, Prodigy Partners, left as a comment:

Jake Crocker, partner with Prodigy Partnership and the Canvas Restaurant checking in. Yes progress is excruciatingly slow but trust us it is being made. 306 and 308 E. Broad had been gutted and the build out should resume any day now. We have scaled this project up from the original concept and of course designs take time to get approved when dealing with historic buildings. We now understand why Toad’s, The National and pretty much every other restaurant in town does not open when expected, it an effort just to get through the bureaucracy.

This will be an iconic facility for that area and do for that stretch of Broad what the Tobacco Company did for Shockoe Slip. Our website is not up yet either as we have been focused on the restaurant. We will update you all when we get that up and running. We’re shooting for fall but this thing is going to get done, we making a substantial investment in the block so it’s going to be done right so we’re not rushing.

With our project, The National coming online soon, the new restaurant opening up next to that, the Hilton, Federal Courthouse and Richmond CenterStage opening soon Broad Street will be a different world by 2009/2010. Don’t forget Douglas Jemal has his hands in the area and has already started renovations on his properties at 2nd and Broad, plus look for him to do something with the old CNB tower soon. Exciting times, just be patient.

Jake Crocker
Prodigy Partnership, LLC

Jake commented on an earlier post with details about the restaurant Canvas, click here for a restaurant description.

And if you’re wondering who Jemal is and what the CNB is, read this.

According to a downtown property owner, the city is setting itself up for lawsuits for the audacity of creating a master plan. Read on:

With the stroke of a pen, Ms. Flynn has officially designated private property as a public park and arbitrarily reduced potential development on other private property — without compensating the owner. This so-called planning is nothing less than a taking of property rights, known as “regulatory taking.” Regulatory taking is wrong on so many fronts, not the least of which is its illegality; unfortunately, it is all too common in today’s government.

Terrell Bowers, Manager
Super Duper Properties LLC

He wrote this accusation to Style, where he also accused Rachel Flynn of dishonesty, poor leadership, and arrogance.

I can’t figure out how to search for all the properties owned by Super Duper (any help?), but did discover that they own at least one vacant property downtown at 12 N. 8th St. A google search showed that one of the co-owners lives out of state.

What I find particularly galling is Mr. Bower’s accusation that Rachel Flynn “arbitrarily” created the plan. First, Mr. Bowers ignores the public nature of the planning process and attributes the plan to one city official. Second, he calls the plan arbitrary when a great deal of planning philosophy and public input created it.

But the upshot is- looks like we can brace for another lawsuit.

And it seems he’s not alone in his anger- a visitor to this blog commented on my post about Rachel Flynn suggesting that she’s incompetent and acting illegally.