What's bad about Richmond? (Mechanicsville, Chester: crime, home, buying)

[Jennifer Parschauer]

OK - considering a move to the suburbs of Richmond, either the west or south side. Have heard loads of good stuff, and the infastructure looks decent (you have to know, I'm near the sticks in the Alps) and the only bad being mosquitos. Can anyone else tell me what they hate about this city - not downtown, not where gangs are - I know any city can have crime spots and traffic, but in general, is there something I don't know yet? My husband will have a home office, so no commute, and we have 3 young kids in school. So, those things considered. Any shockers?

[Homeless Bum]

Never stayed in Richmond, but driving through it, it looks like a dirty city.

[mf12283]

I agree, I went whitewater rafting through the city and it doesn't look like a nice place. You always hear about Richmond being charming and stuff, and I guess that part exists, but I've never seen it.

[Faughorn]

My brother lives there, we kidded him about buying him a tazer and teaching him how to dodge and weave while walking. Most everything I have heard has been bad crime.

[htlong]

richmond gets a bad rap like most urban cities the city is wicked . but the suburbs are great. the southside and the west are just about urban sprawl, every kind of store you could imagine . lots of traffic, on the east side you have mechanicsville which is starting to grow rapidly but not quit as bad . and if you venture for the country quiet type of life try the far east end of henrico county,the varina area, its hard to find a store out there but it is so peaceful not much traffic or crime . all in all i moved to the richmond area 20 years ago and i havent regretted it once! come on down!!

[Jennifer Parschauer]

Originally Posted by htlong

richmond gets a bad rap like most urban cities the city is wicked . but the suburbs are great. the southside and the west are just about urban sprawl, every kind of store you could imagine . lots of traffic, on the east side you have mechanicsville which is starting to grow rapidly but not quit as bad . and if you venture for the country quiet type of life try the far east end of henrico county,the varina area, its hard to find a store out there but it is so peaceful not much traffic or crime . all in all i moved to the richmond area 20 years ago and i havent regretted it once! come on down!!

Nice to hear - do you know anything about the schools out there in Henrico? We'd like to be within 20 minutes of a mall or at least a Walmart; a local little grocery would be helpful, but we prefer more country, but not spooky isolated as my husband has to travel occasionally. Any thoughts? Thank you!

[htlong]

if you want country try east of i-295 south of i-64 and north of the river .
the henrico county schools are very good, there are grocery stores 5 to 10 miles and little country general stores through out the area.
the malls are 25 miles north and south using i-295 .
this area is starting to get alot of housing develoments due to richmond has no where else to grow.
if you want a small town, try hopewell south of the river .
mechanicsville is the place if you want all of the stores but it wont be long till it is to busy.
my freinds live in the south and west part of richmond and i always tell them that any store the need is within two miles from their house.....and there lies the problem.
check out henrico county website and see if it gives any imfo.
and living on the east side you are 30 miles from the outlet stores in wmburg, and 80 miles from va beach
as i said i moved here 20 yrs. ago and never regretted a minute.

[Jennifer Parschauer]

Would you say that Mechanicsville realty is going to jump in the next year or so? When you talk about traffic on the west side, do you mean standing 3 lane stuff and major delays; are the roads built to handle it, or are they expanding too quickly to accomodate the amount of people? Are there parks or places to jog etc. on the east side? Are there many outisders on the east side, or mostly "original" folks? Any info. is so helpful! Thanks!

[htlong]

mechanicsville is going to raise in value,henrico county is great about planning, it is a four lane highway not really standing just conjested.
i dont go out there for anything , i just drive over to mechanicsville or usualy ill cross the river and go to chester, chester is starting to grow but not nearly as fast as the rest of the area. there is dory park on the east end of henrico which has walking trAils and baseball and soccer fields its located on darbytown rd. pretty much everyone is pretty friendly anymore, but 20 years ago the civil war was still being fought and with me being a yankee....but just tell them they really won the war and you'll have no problem.

[Jennifer Parschauer]

Thank you again - I'm so glad to hear these details. Honestly, I hate driving (is this a bad thing?!) - or, hate not so much traffic, but poorly planned communities where not only is there a lot of people, but they are in a rush, frantically changing lanes or merging dangerously in and out all to pick up a carton of milk on the way home from work. I'd really prefer to be in a spot where I can take some little country road most of the way, live in a quieter area, but be less than 20 minutes to a half an hour from a Super walmart and a mall. Really only because we have small kids and they inevitably always need something or are growing out of their clothes overnight. But we prefer country living in general. Are you saying Chesterfield county didn't do such a great planning job when they expanded?

We're "yankees" too, so thanks for the tip!