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Your economic argument focusing on the major contributions of each city to somehow show diversity of industry seems flawed because both cities will arguably touch on all the sectors and areas mentioned. For example, Richmond's 8 F500s are: Dominion Energy (energy); Altria Group (tobacco producer); WestRock (packaging products), Carmax (nat'l auto retail), Owens and Minor (health), Markel Corporation (insurance); Genworth (insurance); Performance Food Group (food distribution). None of these directly pertain to law, finance - apart from insurance -, or government as you've suggested above. Let's be honest, both cities have diverse economies and trying to argue one has the more diverse economy than the other isn't going to take you anywhere. My money would still be on Richmond. Bet you didn't know, the city also has a deep-water port that supports ocean-going ships. No, Richmond doesn't have the Indianapolis 500 or pro sports, but it has a large and growing base of tourism and cultural amenities that are on the ball. And with DC up the road and mountains and an ocean short drives away, it's fantastic location. Btw, speaking of tourism, for its size, does Indy have a 5 star/5 diamond hotel in its repertoire? Hmmm...
You do realize that supporting ocean-going vesales isn't the same docking and off loading in port? I reside in Hampton Roads and I see deep draft vessels on a daily basis. I hope you aren't trying to convince me that the Port of Richmond docks and off load large ocean-going shopping containers? SMH. You point to the fact that Richmond is host to 8 F500 companies as proof of economic diversity. One would think that a city with 3 times more F500 companies would have an economy that was 3 times larger. What happened? How is it that city with less F500 companies double the economic output? Btw I'm glad you're in close proximity to D.C. I don't know what that has to do with the topic but I am happy for you.
I'll be visiting Indianapolis for the first time this October (I've driven through it a few times).
I'm really looking forward to the visit (niece's wedding) and am eager to check out what appears to be a really nice city.
Richmond is pretty great. The land is hilly and densely forested. The main river (James) is warm and accessible for swimming, snorkeling, kayaking and fishing. Lots of large tidal rivers (measurable tides occur in the downtown area) are just a few minutes away, the Chesapeake Bay is just a little over an hour away. The Atlantic is about two hours away (same distance to the Blue Ridge and Washington). Virginia, of course, has an embarrassing wealth of natural beauty and sites of national significance.
The city is sultry and sexy with great architecture and cultural institutions. Of course it has plenty of ugly areas and pockets of poverty but most of the metro is very pretty and equitable.
This is a sensible post. You stated Richmond's strengths without over sensationalizing. I can't disagree with nothing you wrote.
It used to be very busy as it was the port used to ship cigarettes manufactured at Philip Morris to Europe and Asian. Around the turn of the last century (as in 2000) those products were made over seas and the port volume dropped dramatically.
The port of Hampton Roads (6th busiest in the nation) is involved, of course.
You do realize that supporting ocean-going vesales isn't the same docking and off loading in port? I reside in Hampton Roads and I see deep draft vessels on a daily basis. I hope you aren't trying to convince me that the Port of Richmond docks and off load large ocean-going shopping containers? SMH. You point to the fact that Richmond is host to 8 F500 companies as proof of economic diversity. One would think that a city with 3 times more F500 companies would have an economy that was 3 times larger. What happened? How is it that city with less F500 companies double the economic output? Btw I'm glad you're in close proximity to D.C. I don't know what that has to do with the topic but I am happy for you.
How is a city with 718,000 fewer people gonna have a larger economy than the larger city? That isn't possible, the literal only example would be those cities with larger economies than the Inland Empire--but that is such a unique example because the IE is largely viewed as an LA suburb instead of its own metro. So it's not possible for Richmond to have a larger economy than Indianapolis when it's only 64% the population of that city. And at any rate, a truer measure output productivity is per capita, and Richmond wins there...
Also, it is entirely plausible to say that Richmond has the more diverse economy, cut it out...
I just remembered, you're from Hampton Roads, a chronically underperforming metro. Is this some more of that HR inferiority complex sneaking through to try to disparage Richmond?
I just remembered, you're from Hampton Roads, a chronically underperforming metro. Is this some more of that HR inferiority complex sneaking through to try to disparage Richmond?
You can't talk about Richmond without letting personal attacks come out. I get it that you're passionate about your city, but you act like Richmond is some hidden gem that is the best city in America.
Well, first of all Richmond is nowhere near three times smaller than Indy...
Perhaps Richmond is so small because it's geographically hemmed in by a 6 million metro to the north and 1.7 million multi-nodal metro to the southeast? How many other cities can you say this about? Guarantee, the other ones who are, are as well comparatively small to multiple surrounding metros 1.7 million-plus...
"Small" definitely isn't an accurate descriptive of Richmond anyway. Not when there's more cities the size of Evansville, Indiana and Charlottesville, Virginia in the country than cities that are actually larger than Richmond. But to each his own...
RIC is a busier airport than either of the "international" airports in Hampton Roads, which has two. Any explanations for that one?
Well, first of all Richmond is nowhere near three times smaller than Indy...
Perhaps Richmond is so small because it's geographically hemmed in by a 6 million metro to the north and 1.7 million multi-nodal metro to the southeast? How many other cities can you say this about? Guarantee, the other ones who are, are as well comparatively small to multiple surrounding metros 1.7 million-plus...
"Small" definitely isn't an accurate descriptive of Richmond anyway. Not when there's more cities the size of Evansville, Indiana and Charlottesville, Virginia in the country than cities that are actually larger than Richmond. But to each his own...
RIC is a busier airport than either of the "international" airports in Hampton Roads, which has two. Any explanations for that one?
And please, spare me the spill....
You want to base a city off the airport traffic?
Indianapolis is besides other major cities (Louisville, Chicago) so Richmond's location is a poor excuse.
Compared to Indianapolis, Richmond is small. It's roughly 1/4 the population...
GDP per capita was negligible, as somebody proved earlier because the difference was marginal.
Richmond looks good on paper but is an average city, I'm a resident in a good part of the city. That's not a knock on it, but Indianapolis is clearly better. It's crazy that this is a blowout.
I've visited Indianapolis a couple of times and was very impressed with the downtown area. Monument Circle and the Soldier's and Sailor's Monument has to be one of the grandest urban spaces in all of America and the nearby American Legion Mall/Veteran's Memorial Plaza adds to the grandeur. IMO, Indianapolis is the finest city of its size in the Mid-west.
Richmond OTOH is much older (1742) with a built environment spanning 275 years of American history. I once lived in the city and have visited many times over the years. What makes Richmond special (and better) to me is its history (from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War) and the many, many museums and historical sites pertaining to that era.
When I walk the streets of downtown Richmond I don't just see a collection of buildings, I see the city during the desperate years of the Civil War when Richmond was the Confederate Capital. I imagine the giant siege balloons and hear the roar of cannon from battles raging east of the city. I hear the rattle of wagons bringing thousands of dead and dying soldiers to Richmond's many hospitals. I picture the bread riots caused by hundreds of starving men and women breaking into the food warehouses. I picture the fall of the city as people fought to get on the last train out as the city burned and exploded around them. And I picture Abraham Lincoln walking to the Confederate White House with hundreds of jubilant freed slaves cheering him on.
Richmond IS a gem--beautiful and historic. And IMO, there really is no other city in America that can compare with it!
Indianapolis is besides other major cities (Louisville, Chicago) so Richmond's location is a poor excuse.
Compared to Indianapolis, Richmond is small. It's roughly 1/4 the population...
GDP per capita was negligible, as somebody proved earlier because the difference was marginal.
Richmond looks good on paper but is an average city, I'm a resident in a good part of the city. That's not a knock on it, but Indianapolis is clearly better. It's crazy that this is a blowout.
Louisville and Chicago make for poor comparison. First, Louisville is a logistics center for UPS (WorldPort), as most everyone is aware and has the added infrastructure. It's the same reason Memphis (FedEx) has unusually high air traffic and underutilized terminal. As for Chicago, it's 3+ hours away from Indy so as to be irrelevant and would be like figuring Philadelphia and Baltimore into the equation for Richmond. Not realistic.
I don't think air traffic is all that important to the nature of living in the city, but Indy's airport does serve a greater geographic area by default. On the other hand, VA has a cluster of major airports all within a very close-in radius serving a greater population. Richmond does pretty well considering it competes with all these. Admittedly, I fly out of Dulles and DCA almost or more than flying out of Richmond. I have also flown out of Williamsburg-Newport News on occasion, under an hour SW of Richmond. There are just so many airports in the crescent from HR to RVA to DC that it's almost moot, but there are some great deals to be had.
Richmond is not average. It's culture is a unique hodgepodge of southern meets Mid-Atlantic. For a city/metro its size, it performs well enough to compete with much larger areas, winning out for corporate expansions and hq's. Moreover, it has the history, natural beauty, and cultural amenities to boot, including one of the largest art museums on the East Coast. Ironically, I just met a guy from Indy last week who recently moved to Richmond and he shocked me by saying something to the effect of although Richmond and Indianapolis "are about the same size.." [we know they totally aren't - though it might feel that way at times, as noted above, Indy is quite a bit more populous overall]...Richmond's restaurant scene, arts scene and everything there is to do "is so much better." Those were his words. I think perhaps he was talking mostly about Richmond's core.
Now, I've been around Indy myself and I honestly think it's a great city offering a lot, and a nice, pretty clean downtown experience. The downtown retail a la Circle Center is definitely more developed than Richmond's current city center offerings, though it's very national chain heavy; Richmond focusing on independent, local brands and retail. Indy also offers the sports franchises Richmond doesn't have, Richmond essentially a secondary media market for DC teams. But at the same time, I can see how a place like Indianapolis might legitimately feel less interesting from an activities/weather/topographical/diversity perspective. For the Midwest, Indy comes off particularly sterile. (Compared to Cincy, Cleveland, St. Louis, even Columbus, Louisville, etc. all of which I ultimately prefer to Indy). It feels quite spread out as well. I just wasn't particularly impressed, though I like a lot of what I saw around IUPUI. Was not really that hot on Broad Ripple. It felt much too much like a watered down version of Carytown (Richmond) without the charm. To me, bigger is not always better. I would probably vote for Charleston or Providence, RI over Indianapolis as well, for example.
How is a city with 718,000 fewer people gonna have a larger economy than the larger city? That isn't possible, the literal only example would be those cities with larger economies than the Inland Empire--but that is such a unique example because the IE is largely viewed as an LA suburb instead of its own metro. So it's not possible for Richmond to have a larger economy than Indianapolis when it's only 64% the population of that city. And at any rate, a truer measure output productivity is per capita, and Richmond wins there...
Also, it is entirely plausible to say that Richmond has the more diverse economy, cut it out...
I just remembered, you're from Hampton Roads, a chronically underperforming metro. Is this some more of that HR inferiority complex sneaking through to try to disparage Richmond?
You're right. Richmond best Indy in every measurable category. I don't know what I was thinking. Btw, living in Hampton Roads and being from Hampton Road isn't the same.
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