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It sounds like your Portland days were also your college days. I wonder how you'll feel about it now.
My wife and I are excited to move back at the end of summer. We have way too many family and friends there that we miss, and a number of them have babies or having babies and we feel like we are missing out being so far away.
Personally I think it will be fun to experience Portland from a different perspective, live in a much different neighborhood than before, and get to really plant some roots in the city.
No, Portand can't compare to Richmond, that's obviously fact, but hey I'm still going to talk about it. Richmond's improving for sure so for those of you that haven't visited within the past 20 or even 10 years shouldn't say too much. The crime is improving, homophobia and etc is decreasing, and the food scene is really great now with a very cool grocery store called Ellwood Thompson's. Independent grocery stores are popping up everywhere around here. There's a strip of shops called Carytown that has a rad FroYo place called Yapple, a few skate shops, a supposedly haunted movie theatre with really cheap movie reruns, a 1920s-themed clothing shop, a chocolate shop, camera shop, an American Apparel, and a few restaurants. VCU is expanding rapidly as well which is improving the city, but Richmond definitely has to rely on it. All the trendy people are VCU students. If you have kids though, the schools are pretty awful with a few being the exception. For high schools, Open is the exception and the best middle school is probably Albert Hill Middle. Transportation is definitely a nightmare, but with Norfolk, a nearby city, getting above-ground rail, Richmond shouldn't be far behind. There is an airport nearby that calls itself international, but it can only take you to like Atlanta and Newark. The music scene is pretty cool with a sweet venue called The National. "It's a cool looking theatre," said Andrew Vanwyngarden, of MGMT, just last night. Richmond's river isn't beautiful, but atleast it's there so for locals it's a fun place to stop by on a hot day. If you ever get stuck here though, I definitely reccommend going by Hollywood Cemetary, Carytown, Maymont Park, The Forest Hill Farmer's Market, and one of the local restaurants. Bandito's if you want Mexican, Athen's Tavern if you want Greek, 8 1/2 for Italian. There's an African food place downtown that's worth checking out as well. Honestly, I won't be living here my whole life, but for people who like a small and hip city, Richmond's a good choice. Check back on it in the future and it will have improved even more.
-Richmond's improving for sure so for those of you that haven't visited within the past 20 or even 10 years shouldn't say too much. No it isn't.
-The crime is improving, homophobia and etc is decreasing. No it isn't.
-Independent grocery stores are popping up everywhere around here. No they are not.
-There's a strip of shops called Carytown.. Carytown and Historic Shockoe Slip are the only straws people love to grasp. These are the whitest hubs of Richmond. These are the most modern, clean and overall rare places where you won't feel like you'll need to take a shower. If you love a few blocks of whites only and old classic antiques you'll love these areas but otherwise, dare I say it's mostly black or mixed.
-VCU is expanding rapidly as well which is improving the city, but Richmond definitely has to rely on it. VCU is like PSU if PSU continued to gobble up nearby buildings. Soon you'll have to rename the damn city VCU instead of Richmond. Another problem is the crime. VCU students are mugged terribly. Imagine if all the homeless in Portland was all concentrated to PSU campus and mostly black, because again, most of Richmond is black. The students do seem to be what you'd expect here in Portland, very diverse and so on but because of this as a local born there they seem completely out of place.
-with Norfolk, a nearby city, getting above-ground rail, Richmond shouldn't be far behind. Norfolk is about 2 hours away, nearly as long as the distance to Seattle depending on traffic. Richmond is the STATE CAPITAL of Virginia.. By this logic, Richmond should have had light rail when DC got it. Or when all the other major cities in the south got it. This is just symbolic of how truly behind and corrupt Richmond is. Richmond barely has a decent BUS system for God's sake. Henrico just went independent and they will NEVER pay for a bus system that won't benefit them. All of that money would go to Richmond, who clearly couldn't do it when Henrico was with them so how could they do it now?? Not only that but the citizens there are old fashioned, they moan and complain whenever some new tech is introduced. They will boycott the crap out of some fancy moving cars. They can't even get a new coliseum built, new schools built or even a decent sewer system built. Not to mention Richmond roads are crap to begin (POT HOLES ***ING EVERYWHERE!!!) with so I can't even imagine what it would take to get some decent urban planning for once.
There is an airport nearby that calls itself international, but it can only take you to like Atlanta and Newark. The music scene is pretty cool with a sweet venue called The National. "It's a cool looking theatre," said Andrew Vanwyngarden, of MGMT, just last night. I think Westfield Vancouver is two times bigger than Richmond's BYRD AIRPORT (lol, "international"). But I will say as I left for Portland it was the best place in the city. Richmond has no music scene, the last decent thing they had was hip hop like D'Angelo several decades ago. Richmond actually had a ridiculous "noise ordnance" so they are very ANTI music. Again, very backwards here so any type of creativity is often beaten out of the youth. As a youth your only sanctuary is VCU. The National is just a regular old building (Richmond is a museum for old rundown buildings) that can barely house a decent crowd.
I'm just going to stop at the fact you're listing a cemetery as one of the highlights of visiting Richmond, sadly he is right. Anyway after living in Portland for a few months, I would extremely advise against it. This isn't a hipster city, it's a wannabe hipster city. It has no future, it only attempts to imitate that of others. I have no idea why you are assuming x, y and z will "improve" is that because these are what YOU are wishing for? people in Richmond DO NOT like change. That is the whole point in this once capital of the Confederacy..
-Richmond's improving for sure so for those of you that haven't visited within the past 20 or even 10 years shouldn't say too much. No it isn't.
-The crime is improving, homophobia and etc is decreasing.No it isn't.
-Independent grocery stores are popping up everywhere around here. No they are not.
-There's a strip of shops called Carytown.. Carytown and Historic Shockoe Slip are the only straws people love to grasp. These are the whitest hubs of Richmond. These are the most modern, clean and overall rare places where you won't feel like you'll need to take a shower. If you love a few blocks of whites only and old classic antiques you'll love these areas but otherwise, dare I say it's mostly black or mixed.
-VCU is expanding rapidly as well which is improving the city, but Richmond definitely has to rely on it. VCU is like PSU if PSU continued to gobble up nearby buildings. Soon you'll have to rename the damn city VCU instead of Richmond. Another problem is the crime. VCU students are mugged terribly. Imagine if all the homeless in Portland was all concentrated to PSU campus and mostly black, because again, most of Richmond is black. The students do seem to be what you'd expect here in Portland, very diverse and so on but because of this as a local born there they seem completely out of place.
-with Norfolk, a nearby city, getting above-ground rail, Richmond shouldn't be far behind. Norfolk is about 2 hours away, close to the distance to Seattle depending on traffic. Richmond is the STATE CAPITAL of Virginia.. By this logic, Richmond should have had light rail when DC got it. Or when ALL the other major cities in the south got it. This is just symbolic of how truly behind and corrupt Richmond is. It was assumed Richmond would have rail by 2015 also. This rumor has been going every 5-10 years since the time of my grandparents.
Richmond barely has a decent BUS system for God's sake. Henrico just went independent and they will NEVER pay for a bus system that won't benefit them. All of that money would go to Richmond, who clearly couldn't do it when Henrico was with them so how could they do it now?? Not only that but the citizens there are old fashioned, they moan and complain whenever some new tech is introduced. They will boycott the crap out of some fancy moving cars. They can't even get a new coliseum built, new schools built or even a decent sewer system built. Not to mention Richmond roads are crap to begin (POT HOLES ***ING EVERYWHERE!!!) with so I can't even imagine what it would take to get some decent urban planning for once.
There is an airport nearby that calls itself international, but it can only take you to like Atlanta and Newark. The music scene is pretty cool with a sweet venue called The National. "It's a cool looking theatre," said Andrew Vanwyngarden, of MGMT, just last night. I think Westfield Vancouver is two times bigger than Richmond's BYRD AIRPORT (lol, "international"). But I will say as I left for Portland it was the best place in the city. Richmond has no music scene, the last decent thing they had was hip hop like D'Angelo several decades ago. Richmond actually had a ridiculous "noise ordnance" so they are very ANTI music. Again, very backwards here so any type of creativity is often beaten out of the youth. As a youth your only sanctuary is VCU. The National is just a regular old building (Richmond is a museum for old rundown buildings) that can barely house a decent crowd.
I'm just going to stop at the fact you're listing a cemetery as one of the highlights of visiting Richmond, sadly he is right. Anyway after living in Portland for a few months, I would extremely advise against it. This isn't a hipster city, it's a wannabe hipster city. It has no future, it only attempts to imitate that of others. I have no idea why you are assuming x, y and z will "improve" is that because these are what YOU are wishing for? people in Richmond DO NOT like change. That is the whole point in this once capital of the Confederacy.
This is how I feel. They aren't very comparable.
Also, Portland is not at all comparable to Ann Arbor, MI, Durham, NC or Brattleboro, VT either. Give us a break and at least bring comparable cities to the table.....least Richmonds more comparable to Portland than any of those strictly small college towns...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anders15
People in Richmond DO NOT like change. That is the whole point in this once capital of the Confederacy.
-Richmond's improving for sure so for those of you that haven't visited within the past 20 or even 10 years shouldn't say too much. No it isn't.
-The crime is improving, homophobia and etc is decreasing. No it isn't.
-Independent grocery stores are popping up everywhere around here. No they are not.
-There's a strip of shops called Carytown.. Carytown and Historic Shockoe Slip are the only straws people love to grasp. These are the whitest hubs of Richmond. These are the most modern, clean and overall rare places where you won't feel like you'll need to take a shower. If you love a few blocks of whites only and old classic antiques you'll love these areas but otherwise, dare I say it's mostly black or mixed.
-VCU is expanding rapidly as well which is improving the city, but Richmond definitely has to rely on it. VCU is like PSU if PSU continued to gobble up nearby buildings. Soon you'll have to rename the damn city VCU instead of Richmond. Another problem is the crime. VCU students are mugged terribly. Imagine if all the homeless in Portland was all concentrated to PSU campus and mostly black, because again, most of Richmond is black. The students do seem to be what you'd expect here in Portland, very diverse and so on but because of this as a local born there they seem completely out of place.
-with Norfolk, a nearby city, getting above-ground rail, Richmond shouldn't be far behind. Norfolk is about 2 hours away, nearly as long as the distance to Seattle depending on traffic. Richmond is the STATE CAPITAL of Virginia.. By this logic, Richmond should have had light rail when DC got it. Or when all the other major cities in the south got it. This is just symbolic of how truly behind and corrupt Richmond is. Richmond barely has a decent BUS system for God's sake. Henrico just went independent and they will NEVER pay for a bus system that won't benefit them. All of that money would go to Richmond, who clearly couldn't do it when Henrico was with them so how could they do it now?? Not only that but the citizens there are old fashioned, they moan and complain whenever some new tech is introduced. They will boycott the crap out of some fancy moving cars. They can't even get a new coliseum built, new schools built or even a decent sewer system built. Not to mention Richmond roads are crap to begin (POT HOLES ***ING EVERYWHERE!!!) with so I can't even imagine what it would take to get some decent urban planning for once.
There is an airport nearby that calls itself international, but it can only take you to like Atlanta and Newark. The music scene is pretty cool with a sweet venue called The National. "It's a cool looking theatre," said Andrew Vanwyngarden, of MGMT, just last night. I think Westfield Vancouver is two times bigger than Richmond's BYRD AIRPORT (lol, "international"). But I will say as I left for Portland it was the best place in the city. Richmond has no music scene, the last decent thing they had was hip hop like D'Angelo several decades ago. Richmond actually had a ridiculous "noise ordnance" so they are very ANTI music. Again, very backwards here so any type of creativity is often beaten out of the youth. As a youth your only sanctuary is VCU. The National is just a regular old building (Richmond is a museum for old rundown buildings) that can barely house a decent crowd.
I'm just going to stop at the fact you're listing a cemetery as one of the highlights of visiting Richmond, sadly he is right. Anyway after living in Portland for a few months, I would extremely advise against it. This isn't a hipster city, it's a wannabe hipster city. It has no future, it only attempts to imitate that of others. I have no idea why you are assuming x, y and z will "improve" is that because these are what YOU are wishing for? people in Richmond DO NOT like change. That is the whole point in this once capital of the Confederacy..
Pretty much a spot on summary of Richmond and Virginia in general. There is a reason why Virginia couldn't keep me wanting to live there after growing up in that state. Nothing about Virginia could compare to Portland and Oregon.
Pretty much a spot on summary of Richmond and Virginia in general. There is a reason why Virginia couldn't keep me wanting to live there after growing up in that state. Nothing about Virginia could compare to Portland and Oregon.
It's not spot on though. Crime is definitely decreasing in Richmond. It's fallen out of the Top 100 most violent cities and was up around 6th as recently as the late 90s. They've done a great job cutting down on violent crime there.
It's not spot on though. Crime is definitely decreasing in Richmond. It's fallen out of the Top 100 most violent cities and was up around 6th as recently as the late 90s. They've done a great job cutting down on violent crime there.
There was more to his post than just crime I was commenting on. You are right, Richmond has managed to decrease their crime rate, that doesn't make it a great city.
There was more to his post than just crime I was commenting on. You are right, Richmond has managed to decrease their crime rate, that doesn't make it a great city.
You would be in the minority of people who feel that way.
You would be in the minority of people who feel that way.
One doesn't rank a city's greatness by the level of crime. Richmond has done a good job lowering its crime, but that doesn't make it as hip as Portland or even in the same playing field as Portland.
If someone is looking for a hip city to live in on the East Coast that has a Portland feel to it, I would tell them to move to Philly which is much more on par with Portland.
If someone is looking for a hip city to live in on the East Coast that has a Portland feel to it, I would tell them to move to Philly which is much more on par with Portland.
Philly does really have a ton of hipsters/hip feel. I'd also add in Baltimore and Pittsburgh even over Philly. Philly's giant compared to Portland. It's almost like comparing Portland to Richmond in that sense.
Also, Baltimore and Pittsburgh are overshadowed by the surrounding larger cities like Portland tends to be with SF/Seattle and young hip artists people find it easier to manage moving to them as they are far and away cheaper yet still offer that urban feel they're looking for. Though, I think Portland will more quickly rise to regional prominence (it already is getting there) than Baltimore or Pittsburgh for obvious reasons.
Last edited by kapetrich; 03-02-2014 at 01:39 PM..
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