Does Richmond tend to retain it's young, professional creative class?

[VASpaceMan]

@Octa - I was talking about high schools

[richmondpics]

I think Richmond's old reputation as a very insular place along with the old reputation as the murder capital keep it under the radar.

[VASpaceMan]

@rp I agree

[VASpaceMan]

I went to the Carytown Watermelon festival this weekend. Richmond is definitely bursting with personality and character. From all of the research I've done on Richmond I think it's really going to start to bloom.

[brocco]

well from what i've seen of vcu students they usually take 8-10 years to graduate lol (if they even do) so they're here for a while. obviously not all of them but you're asking in general, so. definitely a quirky crowd around VCU and many are there long term

[GeorgiaTransplant]

Originally Posted by VASpaceMan

While researching top Virginia high schools - all of the top schools were NoVA and Richmond (I didn't see one Charlottesville or Hampton Roads school listed)

Originally Posted by Octa

I think UVA would count as a top tier school in Charlottesville lol

Edit: VASpaceMan beat me to it, up top.

HIGH schools. UVA is probably the best university in VA though, for sure. (Yes, I understand some other schools have individual programs that are just as good, e.g. W&M, UofR, some programs at Tech or VCU-I mean overall).

[Captain07]

It seems to me that Richmond is definitely turning into a mini-Austin or something. I grew up in Virginia Beach, and like an earlier post said, we stayed away from RVA. It was the place that little kids had nightmares about. Now when I go visit my friends from college who live there (we're all in our mid 20's), it seems like it has truly turned a corner. There is a large 20-30 year old population living there.

More tech-savvy, more environmentally conscious, and the built environment is starting to look "alive" again. It's definitely on the come up.

[BuiltforSin]

Most 20-30 year old individuals stay in the city, but when they're ready to settle down and start a family the county schools are a much more attractive option than city schools.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by VASpaceMan

The thing is if Richmond keeps getting better, it might become a victim of it's own success. If it starts appearing in magazines as the great new place to live in the Mid Atlantic, and too many people start flooding the area, it'll ruin it.

Portland, OR is amazing in a million different ways. Quality of life, pristine otherworldly wilderness, fun, creative, safe, unique neighborhoods, on and on.. The one main negative is 8 months of overcast, drizzle. I remember one summer day talking to a co-worker at the tech company I worked at about how ridiculously perfect the place was, except for the 8 months of rain. He said he was glad for the rain, because it acted as a filter. He said if it wasn't for the rain, too many people would pile into the area and it would be ruined like L.A.

The key would be to NOT let a city go hog-wild with developers. Portland could have gone the same way of L.A. or Houston or Atlanta or anywhere else, but had zoning in place to prevent that.

So, I guess it depends on Richmond's zoning laws. Does it encourage or discourage developers to sprawl things out everywhere, or would it try to contain the sprawl?

[richmondpics]

The city encourages density, but the counties are only now starting to recognize the pros and cons of suburban sprawl.