Richmond looks UGLY! (Chester, Short Pump: 2009, crime rate, houses)

[kdaddict804]

Does anyone else besides me think Richmond is an ugly unattractive looking city? I for one think it looks hideous! There is not much to do here unless you like historic sights and museums. I'm getting tiered of Richmond keeping up old run down buildings. The way it looks is depressing in itself. I think Richmond needs to follow the West End where it is very beautiful and well kept. It is probably one of the reason why we have population growth and sprawl here. No more ugly Richmond, its time that we are about to step into 2009!

[mrstewart]

Richmond is an old city...what would you like? Perhaps we can tear it down, put up a few Chipotle's and an enormous Barnes and Nobles and we'll be set! Maybe we will also contract a few builders that build out in the Short Pump area so EVERYTHING will look alike and be right on top of each other and have the quality of a Barbie Dream House...

Yep, great idea

[kdaddict804]

^Everything does not look alike in Short Pump. Richmond has no glory imo.

[oleo]

Richmond is an old city. Deal with it. The West end is a fairly new suburb.

You're a hypocrite. If you want the City of Richmond to change, stop spending all your money out in the West End.

[kdaddict804]

Growing up I always lived in Chester. We moved up to the West End a little over two years ago. All I'm saying is Richmond is the capital of the state and it can't even compete with other much larger cities in the state. Yes they've built a few new buildings, but they preserve the old run down looking buildings too which is an eye sore and disappointment for me to look at. Richmond = Epic Fail.

Is there a height restriction of how high Richmond can build buildings because a lot of them are tiny in comparison to a lot of other cities.

If you like historic Richmond I really don't have a problem. But from my prospective Richmond is ugly and lacking so much potential that it could have. Ever wonder why people are moving out of the city? Apparently people like the outskirts of Richmond away from Richmond where its safer, cleaner, respectfully prettier but more populated.

[mrstewart]

Originally Posted by oleo

Richmond is an old city. Deal with it. The West end is a fairly new suburb.

You're a hypocrite. If you want the City of Richmond to change, stop spending all your money out in the West End.

Great point!

[NJRAMAL]

Originally Posted by kdaddict804

Is there a height restriction of how high Richmond can build buildings

I really hope someone has an answer to this question! I have always wondered why they would build twin "skyscrapers" of a noninspiring 20 stories or so as opposed to stacking the two and creating a 40 story building that would be the gem of the skyline! 40 stories in Richmond would be the equivalent of the Sears Tower!

[Midwesterns45]

Originally Posted by kdaddict804

Growing up I always lived in Chester. We moved up to the West End a little over two years ago. All I'm saying is Richmond is the capital of the state and it can't even compete with other much larger cities in the state. Yes they've built a few new buildings, but they preserve the old run down looking buildings too which is an eye sore and disappointment for me to look at. Richmond = Epic Fail.

Is there a height restriction of how high Richmond can build buildings because a lot of them are tiny in comparison to a lot of other cities.

If you like historic Richmond I really don't have a problem. But from my prospective Richmond is ugly and lacking so much potential that it could have. Ever wonder why people are moving out of the city? Apparently people like the outskirts of Richmond away from Richmond where its safer, cleaner, respectfully prettier but more populated.

Heck I hope your not one who are moving to the exurb outskirts. If people complain about the grit & crime of the city which they clame could be so lovely than why do we spend money on building subdivisions in the outskirts of our sprawling cities rather than caring and researching into a revitilzation of the city itself?

I understand in what makes our cities are the people and social classes as well as the unfortunate history which has left many US cities to rot and its suburbs to flourish, my point is that people are too scared to live on the fringe of a city because its not in their comfort zone. They hear too much from the media from the comfort of their houses. Most people who I hear this from don't even see these areas in real life SO WHAT DO I KNOW RIGHT?

I live in the 'inner city' yeah nothing that you would imagine because I'm middle to upper class and live in a nice house. I live one block from one of the highest crime areas of the country so you could say that the hood is in my back yard and it is! The street that I live on has expirenced little to no crime in the past 10 years that I have lived on it. People ask me why do I risk to live on the fringe of such a dangerous area and I simply tell them that its the police and our carasmatic neighbors who keep our area safe. It's in our complete control and we have established a foundation of keeping our neighborhood safe and it has worked.

[Anders15]

I completely agree with you. Most of the youth knows it. There is no point in trying to argue with the people here about the city, it's been so long and there has been no change. No one listens. Their excuse is always "if you don't like it do something" yet at every community meeting they deny new proposals to better the city. It is disgusting and pathetic. Half the city is still crumbled up from the war and the other half is VCU.

Yes the West End looks nice. Let's put that that rest. The West End however does not make up the entire city. The city still has a insane amount of potholes, insane crime rate and many many other problems that should not exist for the amount of taxes you have to pay in the city. Maybe if it wasn't all being put in their pockets we could have laptop computers in the school or a nice building downtown that is not VCU.

I agree that the only people the could even remotely find this place livable by choice are people that are retired, historians and people who work at those big businesses downtown like BB&T. Other than that WHAT IS THERE TO DO HERE FOR TEENS, YOUNG ADULTS OR PEOPLE THAT WANT SOME DIVERSITY? Nothing.

To answer your question about the height, I do not think there is height restrictions. Look at Hamption. They have plenty of tall buildings. The problem is the city is actually underwater, no one ever passes requests for such modern buildings and the city taxes are INSANE this is why you mainly see BB&T, Wachovia and other wealthy companies with large buildings.

This is a small city that must redesign the Richmond International Airport twice in a year, sue the school board, build a new baseball field and whatever can be done to waste money in a fast and pointless method.


They keep the crappy shacks up and all over the city because it's historic! Who cares if it's all boarded up and half fallen apart and the paint is chipping off.. This is Richmond!

[KeyserSoze]

I can understand where some of you are coming from, in that Richmond is not living up to it's potential, it being the state capital and all. But Richmond being under sea level? That's new to me. I thought the city lies on the Fall Line, meaning there's an upper city(Piedmont) and a lower city(Tidewater)?