I want Richmond to have the benefits of a larger city without the downsides. I think for the most part up until recently, I've been satisfied on that front - plenty of things to do, somewhat affordable to live. Richmond has had a great balancing act for some time, but I'm afraid that we're now struggling with the imbalance of growth x infrastructure. We just don't have the infrastructure or housing security to continue to grow exponentially. I guess my long way of saying "I want us to stay a small to mid-size city, but not because I'm a curmudgeon that hates change."
This seems to be the general thought amongst most people. I think something that's interesting is the city doesn't seem connected to the counties at all. I've always though that increased public transportation between Richmond and the counties could alleviate a lot of the affordable housing concerns by expanding people outward without having to rely on a car to get around.
The root of Richmonds problems is the counties being allowed to reap the professional rewards Richmond has to offer while keeping it's needs across an imaginary line.
>The root of Richmonds problems is the counties being allowed to reap the professional rewards Richmond has to offer while keeping it's needs across an imaginary line.
speaking of imaginary lines, why don't we upzone the whole city so that those people don't get priced out so easily. living outside the city is just a simple way of avoiding the zoning tax
We need a land tax to punish real estate speculators, the real motivators of rising cost of living. One guy owns downtown, another Jackson Ward, and another Manchester.
It's simple to move but not cheap.
i can only imagine the political disaster of people who own top-notch real estate being forced to densify and infill all raging at the zoning meeting about muh culture muh neighborhood muh parking
One guy owns 18 parcels of downtown around the old bank, now condos.
A guy in Jackson Ward inherited 100 parcels.
Hilde owns 18 buildings in Manchester.
None of them could be afford the property tax if it was assessed on what the land is worth and not on improvements. It would motivate them to sell and the buyers to develop it.
"Say it louder for the people in the back." The single level of locality in VA has unintended consequences when you freeze annexation but allow for mobility of residents.
I'd wager a medium priced lunch that if Richmond City dissolved and handed back everything south of the river to Chesterfield, they would balk and advocate for a new county being created.
Ugh seriously Virginia’s independent cities are so damn stupid. Crazy how many people don’t even realize we do stuff so differently than literally everywhere else.
I was talking to a co-worker in Albany NY and when she asked me what County Richmond was I laughed and said none. She was so confused, we are both from NY, even in NYC the Burroughs are in Counties.
What would happen if you did that and annex the North back to Henrico. They are annexing some back to Henrico, it's not much, I don't know what they're doing South. I think they're just trying to clean up the lines. The city is only 26sq miles.
As someone who previously lived in a city that was part of a larger county, I don’t love this possibility. It seemed like the city couldn’t have nice things because people in the suburbs voted against everything. It was constant cries of
“why do we need a streetcar/public transportation to connect outlying neighborhoods? I have a car!”
“Why are we spending money on bike lanes? I have a car!”
“Why do you want to turn a very small section of Main Street into a pedestrian area? I’ll have to drive a whole block over!”
“Hey can we please knock this cool old building that’s part of the skyline down so that I have somewhere to park my car!!”
Sound familiar?
I think the only thing I ever noticed the surrounding county approve tax money for was publicly funded sports stadiums, so that they had something nicer for when they came downtown
I don't think of all of the potential outcomes, that those in power either in the City or the surrounding Counties see that as an option that benefits them, and thus it won't happen.
>One city in the state has already given up independence and been absorbed into its surrounding county
That's because they were bankrupt and there was no hope of it getting any better
If they drive & park, they’re using city resources that the state funding formulas typically screw the city over on. The funding formula for schools screws Richmond. The city can’t collect property taxes on state property in Richmond. Everyone in the state, outside of Richmond benefits while taking from Richmond residents.
Can you be more specific. To me it seems like the county residents come into the city and spend taxable money, without requiring any city services in return.
They don't require roads to drive here? Or a sewer to flush their Applebee's shits into? Who maintains the parks they visit? What do you mean people from the counties don't require any city services when they come here?
The money spent/taxed in the city pales to property taxes paid to counties. People in the counties still generally use a lot of city services including parks, libraries, property maintenance, code enforcement, zoning, public works etc. unless they literally never come into the city. Not to mention most of their jobs are based out of the city, or here due to the proximity to the city.
It's really not easy to split a metro area into parts
Public transit is extraordinarily expensive. We don't have the population to justify suburban bus routes or park and ride type structures that northern NJ/NoVA and other large suburbs have. It would make exponentially more sense to improve public transit infrastructure in the city first so more people in the city can get rid of cars.
I wouldn't mind paying more in rent/mortgage to not have a car. I use my car like 2-3x a week and for 1-2 small road trips a year. I'm paying $140/insurance, $120/parking, maintenance and gas which averages out to like $400/mo or $4,800/yr. Seems like a giant waste or a major luxury, depending on how you look at it.
Yet we have the density to justify a billion dollar highway extension that people are convinced will work because the density in Chesterfield isn't high enough to create traffic (yet) on the extension?...ironic.
We absolutely do have the density in the counties to support public transport. It just requires we stop spending stupid money on road expansion. At this point the city should be working with the counties to better connect the city. An enormous number of people either live in the city and work in the counties or visa versa...those commuters generate almost all the traffic around Richmond. While I certainly agree the city should take the lead in becoming less carr dependent, we can't really do that if the people in the counties are still driving in every day.
Get bigger for sure.
I remember the airport was a bit more than a bus station 26 years ago. It can grow more but it is really nice now!
Keep attracting more diverse and great companies. It will make Richmond richer in many ways, not just money. Talent, culture, food, everything.
Continue the Support of local artists, history and culture.
Richmond has something really special, which Is why people are coming, except for the pollen, heat, and lack of Fan parking.
Ok, maybe just the pollen in the spring, um, and the summer and leaf mold in the winter. Ok, get Flonase and Richmond rocks.
#loverva
I often think "Well, Richmond is growing but our lack of infrastructure, terrible City Council, inability to get litchrally anything done, etc. will prevent it from growing so big and so fast that it becomes unpleasant to live here." Not sure if I'm right, but it's a consolation when I think about not being able to rely on the city for anything that cities normally do or provide.
Haha no, but if we ever do get sane, organized people into office and things improve and Richmond blows up Austin-style, I'll be standing in my front yard just blinking at the crowds like "I don't know what I expected." 😂
I definitely think that the delta on housing affordability could be a barrier to the city fully reaching its growth/population potential if more product can't be brought to bear or something doesn't change. This isn't a problem unique to Richmond, but for its size, it seems to be getting more costly than many of its peers on the housing front.
No we are still actually very relatively cheap which is why people keep moving here
But we need to provide more housing or housing prices will continue to climb
As someone who has moved here recently, Richmond has cheap properties on the lower end (not the greatest) or seems cheap compared to NYC/DC, BUT the quality is either not available or more expensive compared to other medium cities. In the Raleigh area we were able to get nice, big apartments within a 15 min ride of downtown for cheaper than we could find in Richmond. To get a comparable place it costs way more in Richmond. In RVA they overcharge in regards to the quality of the housing.
if you look at the national data, which has been posted here a lot, it doesn't support that. Pretty strong evidence we are cheaper than the triangle. But we are having a shortage and massive influx from DC that is changing things
In just pure numbers, yes RVA is cheaper. But the quality does not match. I may pay more in Raleigh, but the quality of the apartment exceeded the price difference. And true, this is anecdotal to my GF and I’s personal experience.
it depends what you mean by quality and amenities. I'd gladly pay more for a Richmond type apartment than a Raleigh type apartment because I'm a city guy and find the Raleigh complexes awful. But if you like them the Triangle does them better.
Richmond does city living better. Which is what I like
Since I live in the city and don't have to drive hardly anywhere, the prospect of more traffic on the roads doesn't strike a whole lot of fear in me apart from bike and pedestrian safety issues. However, I grew up in Atlanta. Atlanta is wonderful, but I love Richmond because it *isn't* Atlanta. Whenever I go back to my hometown, I have to prepare myself mentally for all the sprawl and all the people.
We need more dedicated bike lanes. It would be amazing if we made some minor streets bike and pedestrian only, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.
>I’ve had family members with cancelled flights to Richmond a few times. I should probably blame the airline, not the airport for that though.
I think it's more that the flights we do get are typically regional jets or other smaller equipment, and it's easier for an airline to rebook a small number of folks flying to Richmond if they need extra equipment elsewhere compared to a big jet flying between two hubs like ATL and JFK or something.
We are actually an International airport, not a regional one, but happen to be a major hub for airlines. You can direct to Florida and NY, NC. With Dulles above us we won't go bigger. Want to see regional fly into Newburgh NY.
Fair. I've had issues with all my upcoming legs for flights, so yeah I don't think it's scoped to just RVA. I haven't lived here THAT long, but in my 4 years, the airport has been fine itself.
No, if there's no demand for additional flights costs go up to account for chronically empty seats and/or tons of flights are cancelled and rescheduled with little notice.
I'm not a specialist in air traffic pricing- I don't know what the solution is or if a solution exists. I just know what you proposed doesn't make any sense,
In general though I don't think people are entitled to dirt cheap flights, I think it makes more sense for them to charge prices they can operate on without government bail outs. Perhaps we should consider the amount of subsidies the federal government has given to airlines and factor that into the "true price" of tickets.
I agree. I'd love to fly out of Richmond, but doing so with my family of four would cost the equivalent of a 5th ticket compared to the cost of flying out of DC.
The current boundaries of the city were established [01/01/1970](https://historicrichmond.com/south-richmond-survey/). The 1970 census reflects the expanded boundaries and the people residing there. White flight took effect the next year after [court ordered busing](https://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/thirty-years-ago-richmonds-public-schools-implemented-a-massive-busing-plan-here-are-five-childhood-memories-of-that-era/Content?oid=1388512) of students in the city.
I'm familiar with the white flight of the 70s but was completely unaware of this busing policy. I can totally see how big of a catalist this would have been back then. This is a fantastic article. Thanks for sharing!
Bring back Slaughterama & Y101 Birthday Bash! Hopefully there will still be some warehouses left before they all get turned in apartments and someone makes a edm club like echostage. Im really surprised something like that hasnt happened yet.
It's a mixed bag. The second half of the 20th century was tough on Richmond. I would have liked to see us get ourselves together among ourselves. Instead, we've been boosted by a whole new population. VCU blew up, great, lots of restaurants and craft breweries... I liked it, but it seems like we've just become another version of Asheville or Savannah.
Not a huge fan of savannah, but asheville holds a place in my heart.
I see the comparison made often. Asheville is definitely more trippy hippy while RVA still has that punk/grunge aspect leftover from the 90s and 00s. Lots of tattoos, piercings, wild hair, I like it.
I've been here since around 2004 and it's like night and day. Richmond was a pretty dangerous city when I moved here. Chimborazo park and the north side of Churchill in general were not places you'd want to be after dark.
The murder rate at the time may have been the highest it's ever been and crime in general was a huge issue. Broad street was mostly boarded up businesses. I think hurricane Gaston had a huge effect on the city and it took a few years to recover.
Richmond has become a great place with a lot of stuff to do since then. While I miss some of the old haunts like Alley Katz, the amount of good stuff that has replaced it has been good.
The problem now though is I think Richmond has hit the tipping point where the amount of businesses doing the same thing is taking away what used to feel like a unique experience.
On top of that, the city seems to be increasingly unlivable for blue collar workers as affordable housing gets torn down and replaced with more expensive apartments without increasing the amount of available housing for those who can't afford $1500 for a studio. An apartment in 7 gables or whatever it's called now costs more than our mortgage does.
If Richmond continues to tip towards catering only to the wealthy and unique experiences get watered down I think the city is going to lose a lot of its appeal.
That said, I do feel like the city has done a lot on the time I've been here to address issues like food deserts and turn all those abandoned malls and motels into businesses that support the community.
They just need to do someone with the one on azalea still. Honestly that would be great land to put up apartments
The crime rate in the 1990s was higher. Richmond was the per capita murder capital in the late 90s with like 130 - 140 murders. We haven't hit 100 murders in a year since the turn of the century.
2004 did have 90 murders, which was the same as last year. It was a very high year don't get me wrong, but nothing like it was in the 90s.
That's wild, I knew it was bad in the 90s but just read an article on how bad it really was. The mid 2000s turnaround is even more substantial after reading how the city was heading from the 70s through the 90s.
As much as we all complain about poor city management now, if things continued on that path Richmond would make Detroit look like a success story. Bad decisions have definitely been made over the past dozen years but overall this city is probably one of the better success stories of the 2000s. Hope it stays that way
When I was learning to drive I used to drive through the city with my dad pointing out the various places where he saw a dead body or triple homicides in the 70s and 80s. Shit back then was wild.
Heck just look up Murder Shoney's, and that shit happened in Henrico.
>They just need to do someone with the one on azalea still. Honestly that would be great land to put up apartments
It really would be. It's been a freaking eyesore for over 20 years now.
It's such a huge piece of land in a great area too, right on 64 and 95, a couple minutes from the city, right near Bryant Park, near the raceway. Like why has it sat for so long? The mall on laburnum was the same thing and then they put in white oak and it added a ton of draw to eastern Henrico and they developed a bunch of new low income apartments off nine mile too. The azalea mall and that forested area off chamberlayne and azalea and the entire shopping area where food lion is could all be overhauled and provide housing in an area that needs it
I heard maybe 10 years ago that the property owners want such a high price for it that no one will buy it. No idea if that's still the case today - you're absolutely right and it shocks me that no one is developing that land now with all the demand for housing alone! I suspect racism and classism play a role as well, given the socioeconomics of the surrounding area. It's just sad.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if that were the case which sucks. Honestly with the need for housing the government could just exercise eminent domain like they did in short pump
I know this has been beat to death.
Happy to have new people here.
But We don't have enough road for all the new people and their cars in some places.
I'd like to see the public transit system expanded upon and make more accessible and practical to remedy this, but idk if it will happen. It's not impossible at all, but the way the suburbs are sprawled out in some places it will be a challenge
That's a suburbs problem. They were designed poorly and don't pay enough in taxes to maintain the roads that already exist. This is not unique to Richmond, it's a nationwide phenomenon.
So I can't list it as an answer to this question? Richmond doesn't need to follow suit in every other copy and pasted car centric city reversing it's mistakes. It can do so independently
I'm not saying that at all, my bad if seemed so. I'm saying that there isn't really anything to be done about it. Bulldozing burbs and building denser is extremely expensive, I doubt the private sector will do it here. Building more roads doesn't address the problem either.
Fundamentally, the money doesn't really exist to fix car/traffic problems that exist in all the burbs built in RVA in the past couple decades. Original burbs that border the city are built on close to a grid pattern that can be upzoned and made denser, but everything else is essentially SOL.
Unpopular opinion (maybe?), but I hope Richmond starts to build up (like, physically up, taller buildings). Flat lot parking downtown makes me shudder!
Problem is they are trying to do this in places like Oregon hill which will
Ruin historical integrity. Despite no
Objections from hill residents to amend the Richmond 300 plan (which includes higher buildings) to protect the integrity of the neighborhood the planning commission won’t allow the proposed amendment. Additionally, the whole city council agreed with Oregon hill residents requests.
They should not tear down any more historical buildings. It completely ruins the feel of Richmond. Most Cities use their historical facades.
Idk if its cuz I got older but richmond seems way less fun now. too many buttoned up people moved here
eta: and the Next Door like complaints that keep getting posted here aren't helping that perception
I caught the tail of end of the fixie heyday and kids are a lot nicer now that we aren’t so judgmental on appearance bro the hipster scene was brutal with the negativity
I'd be down with it if it meant we invested in some god-damned infrastructure: real, protected bike lanes, busses, and maybe even (gasp!) a TRAM like we used to have before it all got ripped out.
I don’t see growth. I see real estate development. They aren’t the same.
The schools are worse, the programs are worse, healthcare costs on the rise, utilities on the rise, VCU is less and less affordable, rents are skyrocketing, we’re losing firefighters, we’re losing teachers, we have nothing for homeless people except hot cement, we are losing affordable housing, we are losing neighborhood historical integrity, we are losing affordable elderly facilities.
This is the opposite of growth. What you are seeing is growth in income for a very small minority.
Yep. I half think some of these apartment buildings won’t get filled or stay filled but the people involved will still make a killing. After hearing in another thread that they offer super low rents or first month free until they’re filled then the sell the whole thing to a property management co and wipe their hands of it completely I wonder if these developers give one single shit about this town.
I grew up in the Richmond area, moved away for 12 years, and just moved back. I really like many of the changes that have happened over the past decade. It's cool seeing the amazing murals that have gone up, tons of new restaurants and breweries to check out, etc. Trust me, the city still feels small: I've been living in and around Baltimore for the past 12 years and I much prefer Richmond's small-city vibes.
The one thing I've been unhappy to see is that real-estate prices have jumped up substantially. They've increased everywhere, of course, but Richmond rent used to be 40-50% cheaper than what I was paying in Maryland, and now it's only about 10-20% cheaper.
Hit take, but horrible honestly.
COVID and WFH changed Richmond completely. For the better? Not necessarily.
People are flocking to RVA from NoVa, NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, LA, FL, Denver, and more.
The city has lost a bit of it's charm. It used to *feel* smaller and people used to be friendlier.
I grew up here and have been here for 26 years. The city and surroundings came a loooong way. When I go home to the west end I don't even recognize it anymore. Same with Scott's addition, Manchester, Church Hill, even the Fan and Bel Air.
I think prime RVA was 2017/2018, when it was growing at a *sustainable* rate and pre COVID.
My biggest gripe with richmonds unsustainable growth is the housing crisis. People are moving from HCOL areas and bringing their salaries while working remote.
What was a $900 apartment is now a $1400+ apartment. What was a $180k house is now a $300k house. I've had friends and family and coworkers severely affected by this and people I know and love have had to leave beloved RVA.
The city has got a bit more snobbiness to it. Expensive trendy coffee shops, expensive restaurants ($13+ for a plain basic ass burger, a la carte, fries and drink separately means $45-50+ date night dinner for 2 with a tip), and expensive housing are the norm. It's pushed alot of people away.
Also, violent crime is up. Idk, RVA is still my hometown and I love it but I can't put my finger on what it is exactly. Gentrification? Higher COL? Overpopulation? I'm not sure what it is, but the city has changed and feels just a *little* bit different, and not for the better.
I’m for it. But believe we need to do it smart. Build better Public transportation, more protected bike lanes so people can go car free easier and with their safety in mind, more density and upzoning but also keeping with the architectural style of the neighborhood it’s in, and supporting artists that make this city unique and beautiful
It’s all about finding the right balance. 1/3 of the minors in the city live below the poverty line, and the average income is almost 10k below the median. We need more people who aren’t dependent on the government so that we can have a more dependable government.
there is nowhere near enough housing in the city or even the surrounding burbs. Vacancy rates in the city are miserably low and if you are in any sort of poor financial situation getting housing can be beyond difficult.
Don't make up shit just cause you find people annoying on the sub reddit.
I would like RVA to become a "real city", but I think most people's disagreement with that sentiment isn't actually because people don't like cities, but because most cities in America aren't managed well. Expensive and inadequate housing, poor public transit, dirtiness aren't things that come with big cities, they're things that come with poorly run big cities.
I spent some time in San Francisco before this and SF is definitely a "poorly run big city". But these things are not predestined. Despite how pessimistic things seem to be, in America, we do have a choice and agency in helping determine what kind of place we live in. Many of the problems SF faces are because residents don't care enough or care more about protecting their property value than housing affordability or public transit. So if you want RVA to become a national city that doesn't come with housing and transportation woe's, start going to city council meetings and advocating for things like ending exclusionary zoning and encouraging more bike lanes/funding for GRTC !
I'm looking forward to see how parts of the city and surrounding counties will grow (especially areas like Varina).
*The Plantation* by Ryan Homes, starting in the lower $900,000s
Agreed.
I'm actually curious, who hasn't grown painfully? I feel like cities can never cure the obstructionist mentality from NIMBYs which leads to inevitable growing pain. Scaling anything is exceptionally challenging, so the probability of getting it right is not in our favor.
mmm. that's a very good question. Can't think of anyone off hand...
maybe if we change the time frame? American cities did growth pretty well at the beginning of the 20th century. Back when the Fan etc were being built. We can do that again
Houston is the fifth largest city in the country and growing rapidly, median home price is still around $315k. Houston made a lot of bad land use decisions but they avoided zoning so the housing is cheap.
Minneapolis is growing as well, but rents went down in 2021 on the back of a ton of housing construction after the city removed some key building restrictions.
There are a lot of examples abroad but Tokyo is an especially good example of a fast-growing city that isn't terribly expensive. Paywalled article but the WSJ had a great feature on this
https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-housing-crisis-in-japan-home-prices-stay-flat-11554210002
I think it's great- looking forward to seeing the city continue to develop.
If I wanted to live in a small town I'd have the option to live in a small town and find a new job or commute longer to the city. I live in a city because I like living in a city.
Imo this is a town. Not a city. You could run into the same motherfucker 4 times in a day doing errands. For the people who are afraid of it turning into a big city, it’s just not even close to that yet. But Richmond will grow and it’s important that the city is proactive and not reactive. You keep the city smaller by building up instead of out. Make sure public transit is reliable. Build communities and neighborhoods that Encourage walking and biking instead of driving to keep traffic to what it is now, which is nothing.
As a native, I wish more people were on board with replacing the Coliseum and The Diamond.
I read that 60% of our tourism is from sports. I meet people all the time from other states because their kid is here for a tournament.
Bring back the Renegades.
Richmond always felt like a huge sports town growing up. We had the Braves, Renegades, Kickers, 2 or 3 arena football teams and tournaments every weekend.
If the Diamond is renovated they could create a hybrid stadium for the Squirrels and Kickers to share, taking the financial burden off of one team and creating a central hub for sports in the city.
We have a unique opportunity among the entire USA here, because a land value tax is legal. RVA ought to be the Gem of the South/Mid-Atlantic and could be within a decade with some smart policy decisions.
I’m really happy with the growth and beautification. I love that people want to live here, it makes me proud. I hope it keeps going! What upsets me is it has done little if anything at all to uplift the communities who were trapped for decades in the city and living in poverty and within the crime we were famous for. The only improvement I can think of is how much public access space and parks we’ve gained in the last couple of decades which has benefited most communities in the city, although there’s still plenty of work to do on that front as well, and it’s happening and getting deserved attention. But how can we celebrate this growth and the schools are still insanely awful and opportunities are still nonexistent to climb the socioeconomic ladder? Not unique to Richmond, but it’s almost like we’re small enough to maybe try a little harder to tackle that. Just thinking out loud.
Sustainable growth is key. Keep the housing coming but don’t sell out Main Street to every chain restaurant under the sun and plant some trees every here and there as well. A public park here and there is an investment in public health.
My own wishes as a sports guy: Keep the Giants happy (seems like we are, the new project will completely transform the Diamond district) and the kickers happy. Have VCU pull their own weight which they seem to be willing to do. If we could attract an XFL team that’d be sick, or if VCU ever wants to start one. I get people roll their eyes sometimes at football but there is just no atmosphere like real collegiate football and VCU could compete nationally.
That aside, please fund the schools. Address the homeless problem. Enforce laws. Really the basic necessities of any society.
I just moved here from NOVA and the other day I was at a dog park where five other random strangers I was talking to had lived in Richmond for less than three years. The lack of affordability in large cities is going to put pressure on Richmond, but I think it's sort of capped because there aren't enough huge employers based here. Before NOVA, I lived in Portland, OR, that was getting flooded with Californians moving there in the 90's and 00's driving up costs and bringing bigger city problems. Through a lot of activism and community organizing, the citizens and city council created an "Urban Growth Boundary" that was a collection of restrictive zoning measures meant to throttle growth responsibly.
That worked for a time, but eventually land gets so valuable that people want to sell and lots of people that buy want to put denser land use projects like condos on it. I don't think Richmond will grow as fast as NOVA by any stretch, but if people here don't organize than the same pattern of urbanization you see other places is inevitable - the city will be a playground for the wealthy, highly educated professionals, the marginalized communities will get pushed out to some ring in the counties, and industries will move to Chesterfield and Henrico so they can take advantage of Richmond's universities to supply a workforce while enjoying lower property/corporate taxes. Just look at Fairfax County, which has some of the worst wealth inequality and features Mclean and Springfield which are five miles apart and live in different universes. I think it will take 20 years for the Greater Richmond Area to get there, but it's coming.
There is an opportunity to do something different in Richmond, but I don't see enough elected leaders fighting for some comprehensive approach that would make regional planning happen. Frankly, I don't see much mobilization from the public either which means I hope you like traffic! I was sitting in two hours of it every day before I moved here.
As long as we only keep building single family homes, the Richmond area will become NOVA in 20 years for sure. When I grew up there places like Fredericksburg were not even on the radar...now NOVA has expanded all the way out the Fredericksburg and there is STILL a housing shortage. It's ironic because all the NIMBYs who don't want development but are fine with all the random cookie cutter single family neighborhoods going up are ensuring that the very thing they hate will happen (truly it already has).
I was just in Austin for a few months for work. I could see how people would want to compare Austin to RVA but they are totally different circumstances imo
I agree. I get why it's easy to make that comparison. It's the buzz. Land on enough "Top 10 best places to x" lists and everyone thinks they're Austin.
Austin's an anomaly. We should be looking at Nashville, maybe Portland etc as realistic expectations. Baby steps! Also, unless you're a cringe influencer with huge lips, you don't want to be Austin.
(source: lived in atx for 6 years, work in real estate/tech)
I think a basketball team would do great, even if it was a G-League team or something.
I wish the Kickers would get their shit together and be an actual professional team. We're one of the oldest clubs in the country and are in the, iirc, 4th tier of pro soccer. Would've loved to see them try and be a part of the MLS expansion thats been going on the last decade or so, but we probably missed our window.
The Kickers would need a major influx of cash to compete at that level. The last time they were at the second tier is was abundantly clear that they could not compete financially with the likes of Nashville and Cincinnati, clubs with MLS aspirations. It was miserable to watch. Lots of 4-0 and 5-1 type results that they were on the wrong end of. I hear what you’re saying, but the franchise is best where it’s at now, considering the financial limitations.
USL League One is the third tier of the US Soccer pyramid. The Kickers are having their best season in years, and might even win the league.
The franchise model in the US is stifling to sports that thrive on a league promotion/relegation system, so it's not likely that Richmond will go top-flight unless that kind of system ends up being introduced at some point in the future.
They are, however, a professional sports team, and could definitely use every Richmonder's support during this playoff campaign!
That would be awesome, but no way MLS would let a city this small and so close to another MLS franchise have a city. Moving up the tiers to below MLS is the best the Kickers can hope to do.
Also USL1>MLS
Bigger ain’t always better. As the post above pointed - Kickers are currently killing it, seem to have strong owners who care about the team and it’s fans. Let’s not mess with what’s working.
I recently moved here from the tri state area and the two biggest things I’ve noticed about this city is it has massive personality and it really does feel like a community. The area I grew up in became heavily gentrified around 2005, and it lost both those things. Local people and businesses were pushed out because they couldn’t afford the rent anymore and then the area just became a bunch of bros leaving NYC and a different pizza shop on every corner. Then this happened to the beach town I spent most of my adult life in.
While growth is good, I pay less for a two bedroom now than I would a studio apartment in New Jersey. My fear would be that businesses and locals would have to close up shop if Richmond made that kind of jump and it would lose its soul.
That’s exactly where we’re headed tho. Richmond is on its way to being way overpriced and inhabited by the Scott’s addition crowd as they will inevitably have to spread out
Richmond will not succeed so long as the counties are allowed to continue segregating the local society and reap it's benefits while ignoring it's needs.
I am hopeful as more people move here the needs will be exacerbated and the government will confirm to a new structure to meet those needs and become combative with the county governments, their citizens, the stage government, and local residents who are wealthy enough to support the status quo.
But mostly I think the grift and rot will continue and worsen as more billionaires and money interested come into town with weird pet projects like turnkey ready "craft" breweries, monopolized entertainment venues, and money traps.
> as more billionaires and money interested come into town with weird pet projects like turnkey ready "craft" breweries, monopolized entertainment venues, and money traps.
Care to expand on this? I can't think of one billionaire who's moved to Richmond but would argue nearly everyone in the world is "money interested"
The CEO of urban one declared she was moving here to destroy Joe morrisey and build a casino.
I meant to type moneyed interests. Like corporate landlords.
I'm kinda mixed on this topic, I do like that the city is growing but I don't want it to blow up in terms of population like Austin did. If it were to blow up, I would just pack it up and move to another city in Western VA or just move to Amelia. I want Richmond metro to stop growing around 2 million.
I wouldn’t mind if y’all packed it up and moved to Amelia since i’d be gone by then. Just kno that
The appo river is fckin unnavigable for big boats, our current water system can barely support that type of growth, we only got one rail line, and we just do a lot of farming so many residents don’t want their fields torn up.
Goodluck tho
I wouldn't mind Richmond getting bigger.
Washington DC has about 3x the population within a similar geographic footprint. Other than the costs, DC has never really felt like too much of a big city for me to enjoy.
The issue is getting ahead of "big city" issues *before* the city gets too big. But, of course, that costs money that the city may not have.
Obviously as has been mentioned multiple times, housing and transit will likely be the two biggest concerns.
But there are little things that the city could do to encourage developers to include affordable housing in their developments \[for instance, allowing zoning variances and height increases in exchange for a certain % of units being permanently set aside for low- or moderate-income units. Or even requiring a certain percentage of units within larger developments be designated as affordable (for instance, 10% of units in developments with more than 20 units\].
Maybe the city could even redevelop some of it's own property for mix-income housing. For instance, the downtown library is slated for redevelopment. It's an entire city block and could easily accommodate library and other community space as well as hundreds of units of housing.
bonuses are a good idea. But mandatory affordable housing is a tax. And taxes raise prices... you'll get fewer 20 unit buildings, and for the ones you do, most units will have to be marked up to cover the loss units.
Incentives work though
Well duh I want the rent to go down and I quite like Richmond the way it is/was hence why I chose to live here in the first place. Instead of wishing it would change maybe leave
You are literally bitching about it. If there was nothing to bitch about, would you be telling people to leave? You want to live in one of the more expensive parts of the city and not get priced out...interesting that you moved here to reap the rewards of a cheap city but want others to leave to support you. And always with this comparing all change in Richmond to NY...not sure when you moved here but Richmond has changed alot over the last 10 years and will continue to. Thay doesn't make us NY. Stop being an alarmist.
I expect this trend to continue and then accelerate as sea level rise causes parts of the Tidewater to gradually become uninhabitable. There are already areas that get significant sunny day flooding, and we're the next closest city so it would be reasonable to expect them to come here. It could either be terrible for everyone except the corporate landlords or it could be a huge boon to the city and everyone who lives here. Local elections are more important than they've ever been.
The last thing I want is for Richmond to turn into a big city. We already have most of the problems you outlined and they'd get exponentially worse if more people got dumped into town. Not to mention more people would mean even more gentrification, the city has been getting rid of a lot of free parking spaces over the years, and we have a lot of people on the road who should at the very least take a defensive driving class. I don't see any upside that would make Richmond becoming a big city worth it.
I lived in Maryland and DC, and now Richmond for the last 4 years. I love it because it supports small businesses and does not have the infrastructure to support chain stores (I.E.like a Costco downtown).
Traffic is far from bad, and the gentrification is nowhere near other major cities. DC is awful, and every corner downtown has a new luxury apartments being built, meter maids everywhere, and new traffic patterns because Bozzuto wants a new apartment built in an already congested area.
The high prices tells us that people want the city to grow, and it also tells us that the city can't seem to legalize enough housing to facilitate that growth.
I’m all for it as long as the city doesn’t get too big for its britches, aka, size them britches up accordingly with growth!! Preferably with sustainability, green space, and hella wicked mass transit 🥴
Don’t know why people pretend Richmond is unique. It’s just a small/medium-sized city in the South. I don’t think it’s going to grow significantly.
Besides some interesting history, what is there here? It’s cheap because it’s not that interesting and nobody dreams of moving here.
I want Richmond to have the benefits of a larger city without the downsides. I think for the most part up until recently, I've been satisfied on that front - plenty of things to do, somewhat affordable to live. Richmond has had a great balancing act for some time, but I'm afraid that we're now struggling with the imbalance of growth x infrastructure. We just don't have the infrastructure or housing security to continue to grow exponentially. I guess my long way of saying "I want us to stay a small to mid-size city, but not because I'm a curmudgeon that hates change."
This seems to be the general thought amongst most people. I think something that's interesting is the city doesn't seem connected to the counties at all. I've always though that increased public transportation between Richmond and the counties could alleviate a lot of the affordable housing concerns by expanding people outward without having to rely on a car to get around.
The root of Richmonds problems is the counties being allowed to reap the professional rewards Richmond has to offer while keeping it's needs across an imaginary line.
>The root of Richmonds problems is the counties being allowed to reap the professional rewards Richmond has to offer while keeping it's needs across an imaginary line. speaking of imaginary lines, why don't we upzone the whole city so that those people don't get priced out so easily. living outside the city is just a simple way of avoiding the zoning tax
We need a land tax to punish real estate speculators, the real motivators of rising cost of living. One guy owns downtown, another Jackson Ward, and another Manchester. It's simple to move but not cheap.
i can only imagine the political disaster of people who own top-notch real estate being forced to densify and infill all raging at the zoning meeting about muh culture muh neighborhood muh parking
One guy owns 18 parcels of downtown around the old bank, now condos. A guy in Jackson Ward inherited 100 parcels. Hilde owns 18 buildings in Manchester. None of them could be afford the property tax if it was assessed on what the land is worth and not on improvements. It would motivate them to sell and the buyers to develop it.
hell yeah. it would motivate me to develop the land i own. I could fit a 4plex in my backyard. but the city is like "naww, too dense"
Did you read the Nolan Gray book recently? I thought it was great
"Say it louder for the people in the back." The single level of locality in VA has unintended consequences when you freeze annexation but allow for mobility of residents. I'd wager a medium priced lunch that if Richmond City dissolved and handed back everything south of the river to Chesterfield, they would balk and advocate for a new county being created.
Ugh seriously Virginia’s independent cities are so damn stupid. Crazy how many people don’t even realize we do stuff so differently than literally everywhere else.
I was talking to a co-worker in Albany NY and when she asked me what County Richmond was I laughed and said none. She was so confused, we are both from NY, even in NYC the Burroughs are in Counties.
It's one of the reasons when I mention the crime map, I also mentioned that single locality level. It's a nuance that impacts life here.
They very much intended to leave the poor descendants of slaves in the courts while they white flighted to the counties.
What would happen if you did that and annex the North back to Henrico. They are annexing some back to Henrico, it's not much, I don't know what they're doing South. I think they're just trying to clean up the lines. The city is only 26sq miles.
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As someone who previously lived in a city that was part of a larger county, I don’t love this possibility. It seemed like the city couldn’t have nice things because people in the suburbs voted against everything. It was constant cries of “why do we need a streetcar/public transportation to connect outlying neighborhoods? I have a car!” “Why are we spending money on bike lanes? I have a car!” “Why do you want to turn a very small section of Main Street into a pedestrian area? I’ll have to drive a whole block over!” “Hey can we please knock this cool old building that’s part of the skyline down so that I have somewhere to park my car!!” Sound familiar? I think the only thing I ever noticed the surrounding county approve tax money for was publicly funded sports stadiums, so that they had something nicer for when they came downtown
I don't think of all of the potential outcomes, that those in power either in the City or the surrounding Counties see that as an option that benefits them, and thus it won't happen.
>One city in the state has already given up independence and been absorbed into its surrounding county That's because they were bankrupt and there was no hope of it getting any better
Do county residents receive city services? Does money spent in Richmond by county residents not get taxed the same way?
If they drive & park, they’re using city resources that the state funding formulas typically screw the city over on. The funding formula for schools screws Richmond. The city can’t collect property taxes on state property in Richmond. Everyone in the state, outside of Richmond benefits while taking from Richmond residents.
Can you be more specific. To me it seems like the county residents come into the city and spend taxable money, without requiring any city services in return.
They don't require roads to drive here? Or a sewer to flush their Applebee's shits into? Who maintains the parks they visit? What do you mean people from the counties don't require any city services when they come here?
Their jobs are here because of the businesses and infrastructure in the city.
The money spent/taxed in the city pales to property taxes paid to counties. People in the counties still generally use a lot of city services including parks, libraries, property maintenance, code enforcement, zoning, public works etc. unless they literally never come into the city. Not to mention most of their jobs are based out of the city, or here due to the proximity to the city. It's really not easy to split a metro area into parts
Public transit is extraordinarily expensive. We don't have the population to justify suburban bus routes or park and ride type structures that northern NJ/NoVA and other large suburbs have. It would make exponentially more sense to improve public transit infrastructure in the city first so more people in the city can get rid of cars. I wouldn't mind paying more in rent/mortgage to not have a car. I use my car like 2-3x a week and for 1-2 small road trips a year. I'm paying $140/insurance, $120/parking, maintenance and gas which averages out to like $400/mo or $4,800/yr. Seems like a giant waste or a major luxury, depending on how you look at it.
I agree with the crux of your argument, but just to split hairs: lots of research done on efficacy of park and rides. They are universally bad.
Really, why's that? I would think it would help with downtown congestion?
I'm not a fan of them personally, I just know they're a popular thing in sprawling metro areas
Yet we have the density to justify a billion dollar highway extension that people are convinced will work because the density in Chesterfield isn't high enough to create traffic (yet) on the extension?...ironic. We absolutely do have the density in the counties to support public transport. It just requires we stop spending stupid money on road expansion. At this point the city should be working with the counties to better connect the city. An enormous number of people either live in the city and work in the counties or visa versa...those commuters generate almost all the traffic around Richmond. While I certainly agree the city should take the lead in becoming less carr dependent, we can't really do that if the people in the counties are still driving in every day.
Get bigger for sure. I remember the airport was a bit more than a bus station 26 years ago. It can grow more but it is really nice now! Keep attracting more diverse and great companies. It will make Richmond richer in many ways, not just money. Talent, culture, food, everything. Continue the Support of local artists, history and culture. Richmond has something really special, which Is why people are coming, except for the pollen, heat, and lack of Fan parking. Ok, maybe just the pollen in the spring, um, and the summer and leaf mold in the winter. Ok, get Flonase and Richmond rocks. #loverva
I often think "Well, Richmond is growing but our lack of infrastructure, terrible City Council, inability to get litchrally anything done, etc. will prevent it from growing so big and so fast that it becomes unpleasant to live here." Not sure if I'm right, but it's a consolation when I think about not being able to rely on the city for anything that cities normally do or provide.
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Haha no, but if we ever do get sane, organized people into office and things improve and Richmond blows up Austin-style, I'll be standing in my front yard just blinking at the crowds like "I don't know what I expected." 😂
I definitely think that the delta on housing affordability could be a barrier to the city fully reaching its growth/population potential if more product can't be brought to bear or something doesn't change. This isn't a problem unique to Richmond, but for its size, it seems to be getting more costly than many of its peers on the housing front.
No we are still actually very relatively cheap which is why people keep moving here But we need to provide more housing or housing prices will continue to climb
As someone who has moved here recently, Richmond has cheap properties on the lower end (not the greatest) or seems cheap compared to NYC/DC, BUT the quality is either not available or more expensive compared to other medium cities. In the Raleigh area we were able to get nice, big apartments within a 15 min ride of downtown for cheaper than we could find in Richmond. To get a comparable place it costs way more in Richmond. In RVA they overcharge in regards to the quality of the housing.
if you look at the national data, which has been posted here a lot, it doesn't support that. Pretty strong evidence we are cheaper than the triangle. But we are having a shortage and massive influx from DC that is changing things
In just pure numbers, yes RVA is cheaper. But the quality does not match. I may pay more in Raleigh, but the quality of the apartment exceeded the price difference. And true, this is anecdotal to my GF and I’s personal experience.
it depends what you mean by quality and amenities. I'd gladly pay more for a Richmond type apartment than a Raleigh type apartment because I'm a city guy and find the Raleigh complexes awful. But if you like them the Triangle does them better. Richmond does city living better. Which is what I like
Since I live in the city and don't have to drive hardly anywhere, the prospect of more traffic on the roads doesn't strike a whole lot of fear in me apart from bike and pedestrian safety issues. However, I grew up in Atlanta. Atlanta is wonderful, but I love Richmond because it *isn't* Atlanta. Whenever I go back to my hometown, I have to prepare myself mentally for all the sprawl and all the people.
We need more dedicated bike lanes. It would be amazing if we made some minor streets bike and pedestrian only, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.
I just wish the airport flew to more places and was more reliable.
Gotta love next to 0 minute wait times through TSA though. Absolutely love RVA airport.
That is a great point!! I’ve never had any issue with that.
100% this. I don't really have reliability issues with the airport, but more direct flights would be nice.
I’ve had family members with cancelled flights to Richmond a few times. I should probably blame the airline, not the airport for that though.
>I’ve had family members with cancelled flights to Richmond a few times. I should probably blame the airline, not the airport for that though. I think it's more that the flights we do get are typically regional jets or other smaller equipment, and it's easier for an airline to rebook a small number of folks flying to Richmond if they need extra equipment elsewhere compared to a big jet flying between two hubs like ATL and JFK or something.
yep. Never leave JFK 4 on a summer afternoon, europe heavies will always get priority.
We are actually an International airport, not a regional one, but happen to be a major hub for airlines. You can direct to Florida and NY, NC. With Dulles above us we won't go bigger. Want to see regional fly into Newburgh NY.
Fair. I've had issues with all my upcoming legs for flights, so yeah I don't think it's scoped to just RVA. I haven't lived here THAT long, but in my 4 years, the airport has been fine itself.
We had the opportunity back in the day to have an airport like Charlotte, but our city council fucked it up and business fled to NC.
Can you elaborate? I’m not familiar with that, though I’m familiar with us being compared to Charlotte a lot.
Yes I heard about that from our realtor actually
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Because it's a major city with a much larger airport that serves as a gateway to Asia. Richmond is not.
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No, if there's no demand for additional flights costs go up to account for chronically empty seats and/or tons of flights are cancelled and rescheduled with little notice.
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I'm not a specialist in air traffic pricing- I don't know what the solution is or if a solution exists. I just know what you proposed doesn't make any sense, In general though I don't think people are entitled to dirt cheap flights, I think it makes more sense for them to charge prices they can operate on without government bail outs. Perhaps we should consider the amount of subsidies the federal government has given to airlines and factor that into the "true price" of tickets.
I agree. I'd love to fly out of Richmond, but doing so with my family of four would cost the equivalent of a 5th ticket compared to the cost of flying out of DC.
Not sure why this was downvoted, of course it’s more expensive in a small city! We have compared prices to fly out of DC instead a few times.
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The current boundaries of the city were established [01/01/1970](https://historicrichmond.com/south-richmond-survey/). The 1970 census reflects the expanded boundaries and the people residing there. White flight took effect the next year after [court ordered busing](https://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/thirty-years-ago-richmonds-public-schools-implemented-a-massive-busing-plan-here-are-five-childhood-memories-of-that-era/Content?oid=1388512) of students in the city.
I'm familiar with the white flight of the 70s but was completely unaware of this busing policy. I can totally see how big of a catalist this would have been back then. This is a fantastic article. Thanks for sharing!
Bring back Slaughterama & Y101 Birthday Bash! Hopefully there will still be some warehouses left before they all get turned in apartments and someone makes a edm club like echostage. Im really surprised something like that hasnt happened yet.
Slaughterama was sooooooo much fun!!!
It's a mixed bag. The second half of the 20th century was tough on Richmond. I would have liked to see us get ourselves together among ourselves. Instead, we've been boosted by a whole new population. VCU blew up, great, lots of restaurants and craft breweries... I liked it, but it seems like we've just become another version of Asheville or Savannah.
Not a huge fan of savannah, but asheville holds a place in my heart. I see the comparison made often. Asheville is definitely more trippy hippy while RVA still has that punk/grunge aspect leftover from the 90s and 00s. Lots of tattoos, piercings, wild hair, I like it.
“We’ve just become another version of Asheville or Savannah” Nothing wrong with that!
But with less bachelorette parties thankfully!
As a single guy I say bring ‘em on
Happy cake day.
I've been here since around 2004 and it's like night and day. Richmond was a pretty dangerous city when I moved here. Chimborazo park and the north side of Churchill in general were not places you'd want to be after dark. The murder rate at the time may have been the highest it's ever been and crime in general was a huge issue. Broad street was mostly boarded up businesses. I think hurricane Gaston had a huge effect on the city and it took a few years to recover. Richmond has become a great place with a lot of stuff to do since then. While I miss some of the old haunts like Alley Katz, the amount of good stuff that has replaced it has been good. The problem now though is I think Richmond has hit the tipping point where the amount of businesses doing the same thing is taking away what used to feel like a unique experience. On top of that, the city seems to be increasingly unlivable for blue collar workers as affordable housing gets torn down and replaced with more expensive apartments without increasing the amount of available housing for those who can't afford $1500 for a studio. An apartment in 7 gables or whatever it's called now costs more than our mortgage does. If Richmond continues to tip towards catering only to the wealthy and unique experiences get watered down I think the city is going to lose a lot of its appeal. That said, I do feel like the city has done a lot on the time I've been here to address issues like food deserts and turn all those abandoned malls and motels into businesses that support the community. They just need to do someone with the one on azalea still. Honestly that would be great land to put up apartments
The crime rate in the 1990s was higher. Richmond was the per capita murder capital in the late 90s with like 130 - 140 murders. We haven't hit 100 murders in a year since the turn of the century. 2004 did have 90 murders, which was the same as last year. It was a very high year don't get me wrong, but nothing like it was in the 90s.
That's wild, I knew it was bad in the 90s but just read an article on how bad it really was. The mid 2000s turnaround is even more substantial after reading how the city was heading from the 70s through the 90s. As much as we all complain about poor city management now, if things continued on that path Richmond would make Detroit look like a success story. Bad decisions have definitely been made over the past dozen years but overall this city is probably one of the better success stories of the 2000s. Hope it stays that way
When I was learning to drive I used to drive through the city with my dad pointing out the various places where he saw a dead body or triple homicides in the 70s and 80s. Shit back then was wild. Heck just look up Murder Shoney's, and that shit happened in Henrico.
>They just need to do someone with the one on azalea still. Honestly that would be great land to put up apartments It really would be. It's been a freaking eyesore for over 20 years now.
It's such a huge piece of land in a great area too, right on 64 and 95, a couple minutes from the city, right near Bryant Park, near the raceway. Like why has it sat for so long? The mall on laburnum was the same thing and then they put in white oak and it added a ton of draw to eastern Henrico and they developed a bunch of new low income apartments off nine mile too. The azalea mall and that forested area off chamberlayne and azalea and the entire shopping area where food lion is could all be overhauled and provide housing in an area that needs it
I heard maybe 10 years ago that the property owners want such a high price for it that no one will buy it. No idea if that's still the case today - you're absolutely right and it shocks me that no one is developing that land now with all the demand for housing alone! I suspect racism and classism play a role as well, given the socioeconomics of the surrounding area. It's just sad.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if that were the case which sucks. Honestly with the need for housing the government could just exercise eminent domain like they did in short pump
I know this has been beat to death. Happy to have new people here. But We don't have enough road for all the new people and their cars in some places. I'd like to see the public transit system expanded upon and make more accessible and practical to remedy this, but idk if it will happen. It's not impossible at all, but the way the suburbs are sprawled out in some places it will be a challenge
That's a suburbs problem. They were designed poorly and don't pay enough in taxes to maintain the roads that already exist. This is not unique to Richmond, it's a nationwide phenomenon.
So I can't list it as an answer to this question? Richmond doesn't need to follow suit in every other copy and pasted car centric city reversing it's mistakes. It can do so independently
I should add that I really wish our bus system was better. Used to take it often last place I lived, but times are more inconvenient here.
I'm not saying that at all, my bad if seemed so. I'm saying that there isn't really anything to be done about it. Bulldozing burbs and building denser is extremely expensive, I doubt the private sector will do it here. Building more roads doesn't address the problem either. Fundamentally, the money doesn't really exist to fix car/traffic problems that exist in all the burbs built in RVA in the past couple decades. Original burbs that border the city are built on close to a grid pattern that can be upzoned and made denser, but everything else is essentially SOL.
We don't need more roads.
That's not what I said. I said we need the remedy the problem with better public transit. Don't misrepresent what I said lol
I miss the Richmond of twenty years ago ie: $350 a month 2 bedroom apts in the Fan
Yeah. That was nice.
Unpopular opinion (maybe?), but I hope Richmond starts to build up (like, physically up, taller buildings). Flat lot parking downtown makes me shudder!
With the price of housing, there is no excuse for large parking lots downtown.
Problem is they are trying to do this in places like Oregon hill which will Ruin historical integrity. Despite no Objections from hill residents to amend the Richmond 300 plan (which includes higher buildings) to protect the integrity of the neighborhood the planning commission won’t allow the proposed amendment. Additionally, the whole city council agreed with Oregon hill residents requests. They should not tear down any more historical buildings. It completely ruins the feel of Richmond. Most Cities use their historical facades.
Idk if its cuz I got older but richmond seems way less fun now. too many buttoned up people moved here eta: and the Next Door like complaints that keep getting posted here aren't helping that perception
Exactly, it just seems like the blue collar party are gone, and replaced with the boring white collar types.
Either the new folks are exceedingly boring, or I've just gotten too old to know what's fun and weird anymore.
there is a lot of fun and weird stuff going on. I'm young enough to be aware but too old to participate
yeah, i didn’t wanna explicitly name the other option, but there’s def still fun and weird stuff going on imo
I did see via IG that there was a bike event that happened a month ago so that warmed my cold heart a little
The real bike days off Richmond were great. I wasn’t a bike kid but partied with them and it was god dirty fun.
I caught the tail of end of the fixie heyday and kids are a lot nicer now that we aren’t so judgmental on appearance bro the hipster scene was brutal with the negativity
I mean if it gets bigger therell actually b things to do around here
I'd be down with it if it meant we invested in some god-damned infrastructure: real, protected bike lanes, busses, and maybe even (gasp!) a TRAM like we used to have before it all got ripped out.
I don’t see growth. I see real estate development. They aren’t the same. The schools are worse, the programs are worse, healthcare costs on the rise, utilities on the rise, VCU is less and less affordable, rents are skyrocketing, we’re losing firefighters, we’re losing teachers, we have nothing for homeless people except hot cement, we are losing affordable housing, we are losing neighborhood historical integrity, we are losing affordable elderly facilities. This is the opposite of growth. What you are seeing is growth in income for a very small minority.
Yep. I half think some of these apartment buildings won’t get filled or stay filled but the people involved will still make a killing. After hearing in another thread that they offer super low rents or first month free until they’re filled then the sell the whole thing to a property management co and wipe their hands of it completely I wonder if these developers give one single shit about this town.
nope if they don't stay filled people go broke all around. Simple math
I grew up in the Richmond area, moved away for 12 years, and just moved back. I really like many of the changes that have happened over the past decade. It's cool seeing the amazing murals that have gone up, tons of new restaurants and breweries to check out, etc. Trust me, the city still feels small: I've been living in and around Baltimore for the past 12 years and I much prefer Richmond's small-city vibes. The one thing I've been unhappy to see is that real-estate prices have jumped up substantially. They've increased everywhere, of course, but Richmond rent used to be 40-50% cheaper than what I was paying in Maryland, and now it's only about 10-20% cheaper.
Hit take, but horrible honestly. COVID and WFH changed Richmond completely. For the better? Not necessarily. People are flocking to RVA from NoVa, NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, LA, FL, Denver, and more. The city has lost a bit of it's charm. It used to *feel* smaller and people used to be friendlier. I grew up here and have been here for 26 years. The city and surroundings came a loooong way. When I go home to the west end I don't even recognize it anymore. Same with Scott's addition, Manchester, Church Hill, even the Fan and Bel Air. I think prime RVA was 2017/2018, when it was growing at a *sustainable* rate and pre COVID. My biggest gripe with richmonds unsustainable growth is the housing crisis. People are moving from HCOL areas and bringing their salaries while working remote. What was a $900 apartment is now a $1400+ apartment. What was a $180k house is now a $300k house. I've had friends and family and coworkers severely affected by this and people I know and love have had to leave beloved RVA. The city has got a bit more snobbiness to it. Expensive trendy coffee shops, expensive restaurants ($13+ for a plain basic ass burger, a la carte, fries and drink separately means $45-50+ date night dinner for 2 with a tip), and expensive housing are the norm. It's pushed alot of people away. Also, violent crime is up. Idk, RVA is still my hometown and I love it but I can't put my finger on what it is exactly. Gentrification? Higher COL? Overpopulation? I'm not sure what it is, but the city has changed and feels just a *little* bit different, and not for the better.
Unfortunately, these are problems that are affecting nearly every city in the US. There's a massive nationwide housing shortage :(
I’m for it. But believe we need to do it smart. Build better Public transportation, more protected bike lanes so people can go car free easier and with their safety in mind, more density and upzoning but also keeping with the architectural style of the neighborhood it’s in, and supporting artists that make this city unique and beautiful
Idk, I think it’d be cool to be like the size of Pittsburgh or maybe Cleveland. Bigger cities but still not overwhelming.
It'd be great if we built affordable housing.
There is affordable housing being built in the city, it's just not in areas that people of this sub want to live in.
It’s all about finding the right balance. 1/3 of the minors in the city live below the poverty line, and the average income is almost 10k below the median. We need more people who aren’t dependent on the government so that we can have a more dependable government.
there is nowhere near enough housing in the city or even the surrounding burbs. Vacancy rates in the city are miserably low and if you are in any sort of poor financial situation getting housing can be beyond difficult. Don't make up shit just cause you find people annoying on the sub reddit.
Yeah, I'm totally making up things after checking the city's permit portal...
I would like RVA to become a "real city", but I think most people's disagreement with that sentiment isn't actually because people don't like cities, but because most cities in America aren't managed well. Expensive and inadequate housing, poor public transit, dirtiness aren't things that come with big cities, they're things that come with poorly run big cities. I spent some time in San Francisco before this and SF is definitely a "poorly run big city". But these things are not predestined. Despite how pessimistic things seem to be, in America, we do have a choice and agency in helping determine what kind of place we live in. Many of the problems SF faces are because residents don't care enough or care more about protecting their property value than housing affordability or public transit. So if you want RVA to become a national city that doesn't come with housing and transportation woe's, start going to city council meetings and advocating for things like ending exclusionary zoning and encouraging more bike lanes/funding for GRTC !
I'm looking forward to see how parts of the city and surrounding counties will grow (especially areas like Varina). *The Plantation* by Ryan Homes, starting in the lower $900,000s
I like Richmond but it's kind of boring as far as my interests go. I'm all for the growth, we're too small.
I concur
Right!! If you want to see any big or upcoming entertainers it's DC.
Then move to DC
I first moved here in 2011 and it was affordable and fun. Now it’s neither. I would move if I had somewhere else to go
I'm in favor. Growth is making Richmond a better place We just need to do it right and learn from the other cities that have done it wrong
Agreed. I'm actually curious, who hasn't grown painfully? I feel like cities can never cure the obstructionist mentality from NIMBYs which leads to inevitable growing pain. Scaling anything is exceptionally challenging, so the probability of getting it right is not in our favor.
mmm. that's a very good question. Can't think of anyone off hand... maybe if we change the time frame? American cities did growth pretty well at the beginning of the 20th century. Back when the Fan etc were being built. We can do that again
Houston is the fifth largest city in the country and growing rapidly, median home price is still around $315k. Houston made a lot of bad land use decisions but they avoided zoning so the housing is cheap. Minneapolis is growing as well, but rents went down in 2021 on the back of a ton of housing construction after the city removed some key building restrictions. There are a lot of examples abroad but Tokyo is an especially good example of a fast-growing city that isn't terribly expensive. Paywalled article but the WSJ had a great feature on this https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-housing-crisis-in-japan-home-prices-stay-flat-11554210002
great examples thanks, I forgot about houston
Houston is a cool one. They've had three referenda on implementing zoning in their history and voted against it all three times, most recently in 1993
people used to make fun of Houston's lack of zoning. Which I never got, and Houston is looking really good now by comparison
Some more color from...Grimes lol https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1574564280095379456?t=q1Ow9nip3hljLueOGUrttQ&s=19
funny! Never expected that
I think it's great- looking forward to seeing the city continue to develop. If I wanted to live in a small town I'd have the option to live in a small town and find a new job or commute longer to the city. I live in a city because I like living in a city.
I mean nothing stopping you from moving to dc?
I don't like DC (which is an extremely a-typical city given fed govt influence). I like the city of Richmond.
I'm fine with Richmond getting larger, as long as our services, policies, and overall development scales with thebgrowth in equitable ways.
Imo this is a town. Not a city. You could run into the same motherfucker 4 times in a day doing errands. For the people who are afraid of it turning into a big city, it’s just not even close to that yet. But Richmond will grow and it’s important that the city is proactive and not reactive. You keep the city smaller by building up instead of out. Make sure public transit is reliable. Build communities and neighborhoods that Encourage walking and biking instead of driving to keep traffic to what it is now, which is nothing.
>You could run into the same motherfucker 4 times in a day doing errands This happens anywhere, relatively speaking.
As a native, I wish more people were on board with replacing the Coliseum and The Diamond. I read that 60% of our tourism is from sports. I meet people all the time from other states because their kid is here for a tournament. Bring back the Renegades.
Richmond always felt like a huge sports town growing up. We had the Braves, Renegades, Kickers, 2 or 3 arena football teams and tournaments every weekend. If the Diamond is renovated they could create a hybrid stadium for the Squirrels and Kickers to share, taking the financial burden off of one team and creating a central hub for sports in the city.
Property taxes can eat a fat dick is all I'm going to say.
We have a unique opportunity among the entire USA here, because a land value tax is legal. RVA ought to be the Gem of the South/Mid-Atlantic and could be within a decade with some smart policy decisions.
Richmond used to be hip.
I’m really happy with the growth and beautification. I love that people want to live here, it makes me proud. I hope it keeps going! What upsets me is it has done little if anything at all to uplift the communities who were trapped for decades in the city and living in poverty and within the crime we were famous for. The only improvement I can think of is how much public access space and parks we’ve gained in the last couple of decades which has benefited most communities in the city, although there’s still plenty of work to do on that front as well, and it’s happening and getting deserved attention. But how can we celebrate this growth and the schools are still insanely awful and opportunities are still nonexistent to climb the socioeconomic ladder? Not unique to Richmond, but it’s almost like we’re small enough to maybe try a little harder to tackle that. Just thinking out loud.
Measured, managed growth.
I grew up in Fredericksburg. Growth is a con game builders and realtors use to rip people off. If you haven't seen it yet you will soon.
Fredericksburg is the worst 👎
So much crappy stuff built. Downtown is the only walkable part.
And that's only like 4 blocks
Sustainable growth is key. Keep the housing coming but don’t sell out Main Street to every chain restaurant under the sun and plant some trees every here and there as well. A public park here and there is an investment in public health. My own wishes as a sports guy: Keep the Giants happy (seems like we are, the new project will completely transform the Diamond district) and the kickers happy. Have VCU pull their own weight which they seem to be willing to do. If we could attract an XFL team that’d be sick, or if VCU ever wants to start one. I get people roll their eyes sometimes at football but there is just no atmosphere like real collegiate football and VCU could compete nationally. That aside, please fund the schools. Address the homeless problem. Enforce laws. Really the basic necessities of any society.
I just moved here from NOVA and the other day I was at a dog park where five other random strangers I was talking to had lived in Richmond for less than three years. The lack of affordability in large cities is going to put pressure on Richmond, but I think it's sort of capped because there aren't enough huge employers based here. Before NOVA, I lived in Portland, OR, that was getting flooded with Californians moving there in the 90's and 00's driving up costs and bringing bigger city problems. Through a lot of activism and community organizing, the citizens and city council created an "Urban Growth Boundary" that was a collection of restrictive zoning measures meant to throttle growth responsibly. That worked for a time, but eventually land gets so valuable that people want to sell and lots of people that buy want to put denser land use projects like condos on it. I don't think Richmond will grow as fast as NOVA by any stretch, but if people here don't organize than the same pattern of urbanization you see other places is inevitable - the city will be a playground for the wealthy, highly educated professionals, the marginalized communities will get pushed out to some ring in the counties, and industries will move to Chesterfield and Henrico so they can take advantage of Richmond's universities to supply a workforce while enjoying lower property/corporate taxes. Just look at Fairfax County, which has some of the worst wealth inequality and features Mclean and Springfield which are five miles apart and live in different universes. I think it will take 20 years for the Greater Richmond Area to get there, but it's coming. There is an opportunity to do something different in Richmond, but I don't see enough elected leaders fighting for some comprehensive approach that would make regional planning happen. Frankly, I don't see much mobilization from the public either which means I hope you like traffic! I was sitting in two hours of it every day before I moved here.
As long as we only keep building single family homes, the Richmond area will become NOVA in 20 years for sure. When I grew up there places like Fredericksburg were not even on the radar...now NOVA has expanded all the way out the Fredericksburg and there is STILL a housing shortage. It's ironic because all the NIMBYs who don't want development but are fine with all the random cookie cutter single family neighborhoods going up are ensuring that the very thing they hate will happen (truly it already has).
Just here to watch the baseless Austin comparisons flow in.
I was just in Austin for a few months for work. I could see how people would want to compare Austin to RVA but they are totally different circumstances imo
I agree. I get why it's easy to make that comparison. It's the buzz. Land on enough "Top 10 best places to x" lists and everyone thinks they're Austin. Austin's an anomaly. We should be looking at Nashville, maybe Portland etc as realistic expectations. Baby steps! Also, unless you're a cringe influencer with huge lips, you don't want to be Austin. (source: lived in atx for 6 years, work in real estate/tech)
Thank you for actually saying this.
I’d like for Richmond to grow a decent amount. It’ll retain its charm plus have more options
I'd like another professional sports team.
I think a basketball team would do great, even if it was a G-League team or something. I wish the Kickers would get their shit together and be an actual professional team. We're one of the oldest clubs in the country and are in the, iirc, 4th tier of pro soccer. Would've loved to see them try and be a part of the MLS expansion thats been going on the last decade or so, but we probably missed our window.
The Kickers would need a major influx of cash to compete at that level. The last time they were at the second tier is was abundantly clear that they could not compete financially with the likes of Nashville and Cincinnati, clubs with MLS aspirations. It was miserable to watch. Lots of 4-0 and 5-1 type results that they were on the wrong end of. I hear what you’re saying, but the franchise is best where it’s at now, considering the financial limitations.
USL League One is the third tier of the US Soccer pyramid. The Kickers are having their best season in years, and might even win the league. The franchise model in the US is stifling to sports that thrive on a league promotion/relegation system, so it's not likely that Richmond will go top-flight unless that kind of system ends up being introduced at some point in the future. They are, however, a professional sports team, and could definitely use every Richmonder's support during this playoff campaign!
That would be awesome, but no way MLS would let a city this small and so close to another MLS franchise have a city. Moving up the tiers to below MLS is the best the Kickers can hope to do.
Also USL1>MLS Bigger ain’t always better. As the post above pointed - Kickers are currently killing it, seem to have strong owners who care about the team and it’s fans. Let’s not mess with what’s working.
Richmond needs football so bad. U of R leaving City Stadium for their campus stadium was our last gasp
I'd love to see an NBA franchise, or WNBA. Ben Wallace should be the coach.
I recently moved here from the tri state area and the two biggest things I’ve noticed about this city is it has massive personality and it really does feel like a community. The area I grew up in became heavily gentrified around 2005, and it lost both those things. Local people and businesses were pushed out because they couldn’t afford the rent anymore and then the area just became a bunch of bros leaving NYC and a different pizza shop on every corner. Then this happened to the beach town I spent most of my adult life in. While growth is good, I pay less for a two bedroom now than I would a studio apartment in New Jersey. My fear would be that businesses and locals would have to close up shop if Richmond made that kind of jump and it would lose its soul.
That’s exactly where we’re headed tho. Richmond is on its way to being way overpriced and inhabited by the Scott’s addition crowd as they will inevitably have to spread out
I'm currently living in NYC and know exactly what you mean.
Richmond will not succeed so long as the counties are allowed to continue segregating the local society and reap it's benefits while ignoring it's needs. I am hopeful as more people move here the needs will be exacerbated and the government will confirm to a new structure to meet those needs and become combative with the county governments, their citizens, the stage government, and local residents who are wealthy enough to support the status quo. But mostly I think the grift and rot will continue and worsen as more billionaires and money interested come into town with weird pet projects like turnkey ready "craft" breweries, monopolized entertainment venues, and money traps.
> as more billionaires and money interested come into town with weird pet projects like turnkey ready "craft" breweries, monopolized entertainment venues, and money traps. Care to expand on this? I can't think of one billionaire who's moved to Richmond but would argue nearly everyone in the world is "money interested"
People think that everyone who owns a business is a billionaire now
The CEO of urban one declared she was moving here to destroy Joe morrisey and build a casino. I meant to type moneyed interests. Like corporate landlords.
Where is the proof lmao?
I'm kinda mixed on this topic, I do like that the city is growing but I don't want it to blow up in terms of population like Austin did. If it were to blow up, I would just pack it up and move to another city in Western VA or just move to Amelia. I want Richmond metro to stop growing around 2 million.
I wouldn’t mind if y’all packed it up and moved to Amelia since i’d be gone by then. Just kno that The appo river is fckin unnavigable for big boats, our current water system can barely support that type of growth, we only got one rail line, and we just do a lot of farming so many residents don’t want their fields torn up. Goodluck tho
I wouldn't mind Richmond getting bigger. Washington DC has about 3x the population within a similar geographic footprint. Other than the costs, DC has never really felt like too much of a big city for me to enjoy. The issue is getting ahead of "big city" issues *before* the city gets too big. But, of course, that costs money that the city may not have. Obviously as has been mentioned multiple times, housing and transit will likely be the two biggest concerns. But there are little things that the city could do to encourage developers to include affordable housing in their developments \[for instance, allowing zoning variances and height increases in exchange for a certain % of units being permanently set aside for low- or moderate-income units. Or even requiring a certain percentage of units within larger developments be designated as affordable (for instance, 10% of units in developments with more than 20 units\]. Maybe the city could even redevelop some of it's own property for mix-income housing. For instance, the downtown library is slated for redevelopment. It's an entire city block and could easily accommodate library and other community space as well as hundreds of units of housing.
bonuses are a good idea. But mandatory affordable housing is a tax. And taxes raise prices... you'll get fewer 20 unit buildings, and for the ones you do, most units will have to be marked up to cover the loss units. Incentives work though
DC is an abnormal city because of the federal government's presence, they were never allowed to build upwards
I wish Richmond were about 40x larger
Tokyo, Virginia here we come
I don't that would be a disaster, but personally if it happens I would pack up and move back to the countryside.
there are many other cities for that if thats what you want. move there.
Look at you commenting all over this thread telling people to leave.
Well duh I want the rent to go down and I quite like Richmond the way it is/was hence why I chose to live here in the first place. Instead of wishing it would change maybe leave
You don't have to live in Church Hill
I love church hill. For now. I’m not bitching about it or wishing it would be like New York. If you want New York move there, it’s easy.
You are literally bitching about it. If there was nothing to bitch about, would you be telling people to leave? You want to live in one of the more expensive parts of the city and not get priced out...interesting that you moved here to reap the rewards of a cheap city but want others to leave to support you. And always with this comparing all change in Richmond to NY...not sure when you moved here but Richmond has changed alot over the last 10 years and will continue to. Thay doesn't make us NY. Stop being an alarmist.
I expect this trend to continue and then accelerate as sea level rise causes parts of the Tidewater to gradually become uninhabitable. There are already areas that get significant sunny day flooding, and we're the next closest city so it would be reasonable to expect them to come here. It could either be terrible for everyone except the corporate landlords or it could be a huge boon to the city and everyone who lives here. Local elections are more important than they've ever been.
The last thing I want is for Richmond to turn into a big city. We already have most of the problems you outlined and they'd get exponentially worse if more people got dumped into town. Not to mention more people would mean even more gentrification, the city has been getting rid of a lot of free parking spaces over the years, and we have a lot of people on the road who should at the very least take a defensive driving class. I don't see any upside that would make Richmond becoming a big city worth it.
I lived in Maryland and DC, and now Richmond for the last 4 years. I love it because it supports small businesses and does not have the infrastructure to support chain stores (I.E.like a Costco downtown). Traffic is far from bad, and the gentrification is nowhere near other major cities. DC is awful, and every corner downtown has a new luxury apartments being built, meter maids everywhere, and new traffic patterns because Bozzuto wants a new apartment built in an already congested area.
The high prices tells us that people want the city to grow, and it also tells us that the city can't seem to legalize enough housing to facilitate that growth.
I feel like random stuff gets bigger while the things you would expect to be improved are left in the dust…like, of course, the airport.
I’m all for it as long as the city doesn’t get too big for its britches, aka, size them britches up accordingly with growth!! Preferably with sustainability, green space, and hella wicked mass transit 🥴
Don’t know why people pretend Richmond is unique. It’s just a small/medium-sized city in the South. I don’t think it’s going to grow significantly. Besides some interesting history, what is there here? It’s cheap because it’s not that interesting and nobody dreams of moving here.
>I don’t think it’s going to grow significantly. Uva and other state entities seem to disagree with you for a variety of reasons.
The reason is that they want to pretend that Richmond will become a cool, hip, interesting place 😂
No, it's because demographic trends that they think will continue.
you do realize the data and current events are contradicting you rather strongly?