Why does Richmond have such a bad rep? (appointed, crime rate) - Virginia (VA) - City-Data Forum

RVAtoCNC · 03-31-2011, 05:47 PM

Over my adult life, I have lived in Richmond 8 years. But folks from other places almost always have a negative impression of Richmond. Why is that? I have heard this in other places in Virginia and is common impression of most in NC where I currently reside. I always thought Richomd was OK. Back in the 80's when I first lived there, Richmond was the murder capital of the US, but that was long ago. Thoughts?

GeorgiaTransplant · 03-31-2011, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVAtoCNC

Over my adult life, I have lived in Richmond 8 years. But folks from other places almost always have a negative impression of Richmond. Why is that? I have heard this in other places in Virginia and is common impression of most in NC where I currently reside. I always thought Richomd was OK. Back in the 80's when I first lived there, Richmond was the murder capital of the US, but that was long ago. Thoughts?

The fact that 95 goes through nearly the worst looking part of Richmond doesn't help.

Until I started dating my wife, a West Ender, I really thought all of Richmond looked like the Shockoe Bottom/Church Hill/Boulevard area. The prettier areas are kind of hidden away from the main freeway most people form their impression of Richmond from.

Yankeerose00 · 03-31-2011, 11:05 PM

Definitely because of 95. People like to act like know it alls and say something about an area they really know nothing about. They drive 95 and suddenly they know the area.

I think there are a few other reasons as well: the city has changed a lot from 20-30 years ago but reputations take a long time to die.

Also, Richmond lives in the shadow of DC. Everyone sees NOVA as better than the rest of the state, including Richmond. It's not really different than other areas in the US where smaller cities live in the shadow of larger cities and are viewed as less desirable.

After we moved there and I had friends and family come visiting, every single person was extremely impressed with the city and suburbs. There are many parts of the city that are gorgeous and anyone who says otherwise has obviously never been there. I would honestly say that the good outweighs the bad in Richmond.

Before moving to Richmond, I was a bit skeptical. I originally wanted Charlotte, NC. My husband and I visited both cities in a trip and we were both pleasantly surprised with Richmond and disappointed in Charlotte with how many ghetto parts there were. Not that Charlotte didn't have beautiful parts. I just thought for the reputation, it was a bit overrated, where I think Richmond is just a very underrated city.

ShannonMilligan · 04-01-2011, 06:59 AM

I moved from Nova and my initial feeling was "dirty" for no other reason than that is what I had HEARD. We took a dirve down here as I am not one to go on others impressions, and I LOVED it. We went back to Nova, put our home on the market, sold it in two days, and never looked back! Here is what I love about Richmond:
The cost of living. My home here is larger than the one in NOVA, newer, and A LOT less in the mortgage department. That in turn allows us to actually LIVE life as oppossed to just being house poor!
There is a lot to do here...at an affordable price. The concerts, plays, museums, Carytown, Nascar, etc. Sure, Nova has a lot of that but 1) it is more expensive to do those things there and 2) try getting there in the awful traffic. (people tried to tell me there is traffic here in Richmond. Just not true compared to Nova. It takes my husband 10 minutes to get home from work where in Nova it took 45-1 hour.
The people - I find the people here so friendly. I can talk with someone in line at the grocery store and not feel like someone is keeping me at an arms length. Now, that does lead to one negative in my mind...I find stores very SLOW here. In Nova, everything is such a hurry so it is taking me some time to get used to a slower paced schedule

It's sad that some people have a negative opinion of Richmond, but I think that is changing. There are LOTS of Nova people who are discovering this area and are moving here.

I love it here!

CrossArmant · 04-05-2011, 07:45 AM

All the truly city areas are pretty rough and the gems are really hidden. That and with such a high crime rate, our reputation precedes us.

hgnmx · 04-05-2011, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVAtoCNC

Over my adult life, I have lived in Richmond 8 years. But folks from other places almost always have a negative impression of Richmond. Why is that? I have heard this in other places in Virginia and is common impression of most in NC where I currently reside. I always thought Richomd was OK. Back in the 80's when I first lived there, Richmond was the murder capital of the US, but that was long ago. Thoughts?

Maybe that's why. Reputations tend to follow and linger

Yankeerose00 · 04-05-2011, 03:58 PM

I heard that it was the murder capital in the 80's but I've never been able to find any evidence of that. While I know the city was worse in the 80's, I just don't see how it could have been the murder capital because that would mean it outranked DC, Miami, NYC? In the 80's these cities were horrible. Actually a lot of cities were pretty bad in the 70's and 80's.
But anyway, now Richmond ranks really low in crime compared to other US cities these days. Plus the metro area has expanded so far out that you really don't need to live in the downtown in order to live in the "city"

hgnmx · 04-05-2011, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yankeerose00

I heard that it was the murder capital in the 80's but I've never been able to find any evidence of that. While I know the city was worse in the 80's, I just don't see how it could have been the murder capital because that would mean it outranked DC, Miami, NYC? In the 80's these cities were horrible. Actually a lot of cities were pretty bad in the 70's and 80's.
But anyway, now Richmond ranks really low in crime compared to other US cities these days. Plus the metro area has expanded so far out that you really don't need to live in the downtown in order to live in the "city"

You forgot Philadelphia, most importantly. (and i think DC is actually more dangerous now than it was in the 80s)

But yes richmond really was that bad, in fact i believe it still had the 3rd highest murder rate in 2005. Keep in mind a city like NY is very large and the murder "rate" was much lower for cities of that size, despite that you probably heard more about those cities because they're so large.

richmondpics · 04-05-2011, 05:12 PM

Richmond's crime rate has dropped significantly since 2005, and thankfully has stayed down. Some areas of town, such as Shockoe Bottom, have seen reductions of approx. 50%. Since the independent city thing skews Richmond's numbers, when comparing metropolitan areas, we're nowhere near the most dangerous.

JD984 · 04-05-2011, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hgnmx

You forgot Philadelphia, most importantly. (and i think DC is actually more dangerous now than it was in the 80s)

But yes richmond really was that bad, in fact i believe it still had the 3rd highest murder rate in 2005. Keep in mind a city like NY is very large and the murder "rate" was much lower for cities of that size, despite that you probably heard more about those cities because they're so large.

Murder rates are per capita. Richmond doesn't have a huge population, but it has some violent areas that most C-D posters avoid and that give the city a bad reputation and jack up its murder rate in bad times.

I lived in the Fan one year in the 80s and it seemed reasonably safe at the time. Richmond has some beautiful neighborhoods and very nice suburbs. Monument Avenue is a national treasure.

DC is definitely safer now than it was in the 80s and early 90s; hopefully, that's true for Richmond as well.