Interesting breakdown of Richmond-area communities.. (Petersburg, Mechanicsville: lease, condos, home)

[540_804]

Saw this on Richmond.com

Its called Love it Or Leave It: where the author gives points about what he likes and dislikes about the particular community...

Ashland
Love it: The Center of the Universe boasts eclectic tunes (Ashland Coffee & Tea) and out-of-this-world chicken salad (Homemades by Suzanne).
Leave it: If you get caught in your hammock and can’t reach your phone, there are only 6,000 people to hear you and possibly help. And 5,999 of them are all drinking moonshine on the same front porch.

Carytown / Museum District
Love it: Grab a great meal, some used vinyl and catch a retro-fitted flick for less than $20.
Leave it: Spend $1,300 on a tank top, have your beamer’s rims stolen by a band of homeless Frisbee golf junkies, and get kicked out of Ukrop's for swearing.

Church Hill
Love it: Has made a comeback that L.L. Cool J, Lisa Kudrow and Vladimir Putin would be proud of.
Leave it: Give me liberty or give me a mugging at knife-point over $5 and a box of day-old donuts.

Colonial Heights
Love it: In how many towns can you catch a Hank Williams musical on stage at the world’s oldest grist mill?
Leave it: See above.

The Fan
Love it: A next-door bacchanal for jovial drunks, fun-loving foodies and 33-year-old college freshmen.
Leave it: In 10 years, it will be overrun by tattoo removal shops.

Fulton Hill
Love it: The first train line in the States ran through these here parts.
Leave it: Empty Night Train Express bottles now litter the brown fields at the decrepit old Gas Works.

Glen Allen
Love it: Home to Richmond’s Wall Street (Innsbrook) and shopping with a suntan (Short Pump Town Center); Gordon Gecko’s country mouse cousin would love it.
Leave it: The world's busiest post office welcomes Woodstock-esuqe lawn parking jobs.

Goochland
Love it: Hides more millionaires (West Creek) and pro athletes (Justin Verlander) than your typical sleepy farming county.
Leave it: According to our Magic 8-Sprawl-Ball, there will be 23 Applebee’s operating by 2011. Riblet bones will become the county's new currency.

Jackson Ward
Love it: The Harlem of the South is overcoming blight and recapturing its cool thanks to First Fridays and cozy coffee shops.
Leave it: The Hippodrome is still closed.

Lakeside
Love it: Affordable bungalows and thriving mom-and-pop shops line turn-back-the-clock Lakeside Avenue.
Leave it: We triple-dog-dare you to find us the lake.

Mechanicsville
Love it: Home to the Battle of Cold Harbor, Jason Mraz and everything eclectic in between.
Leave it: There is a reason it’s not called Brainsurgeonville.

Oregon Hill
Love it: Some of the best views of the James and Italian grub around the RIC.
Leave it: The ongoing gentrification may one day cause a riot, with half the mob wielding broken PBR bottles and the other half calling the police while sipping Amstel Light from their comfy (and deadbolted) new condos.

Petersburg
Love it: A haven for diehard history buffs.
Leave it: I would never say anything bad about an entire city’s police department, even though I have zero intention of ever staying at the local Rodeway Inn.

New Kent
Love it: The beautiful horses, the colorful jockeys …
Leave it: Here is a sure bet: If the racetrack leaves, it’s King William County without the regal namesake and whimsy.

Sandston
Love it: It’s tough to oversleep your flight with the airport mere minutes away.
Leave it: it’s tough to sleep with the uninterrupted soundtrack of 757s circling overhead.

Shockoe Slip/Bottom / River District
Love it: If you have a lousy car lease, there is no better place to park it when the rain comes.
Leave it: Driving on cobblestone streets has a direct link to male infertility.

Short Pump
Love it: Local traveling bar troubadour John Small’s song lyrics say it all.
Leave it: The new plastic planned community lining the south bank of Broad Street leaves you yearning for skyscrapers, dirty water dog peddlers and fake Gucci bag peddlers.

Southside
Love it: Known for responsible growth, strong business and sweet BBQ joints.
Leave it: Any time you stop at a red light could be a surprise drag race against a strange car branded with a bumper sticker of Calvin & Hobbes defecating on someone or thing.

West End
Love it: It’s the kind of place where friendly neighbors invite you over for hot dogs and Pictionary.
Leave it: These same neighbors staged an intervention about your choice of warm earth tone siding color. Your options are to cowtow to the home exterior police, or burn an effigy of Rachel Ray in their back yard - and then leave, quickly.

Westover Hills
Love it: Hey, it’s like the Fan flew south for the summer and brought cleaner neighborhoods, cheaper digs and bigger back yards.
Leave it: it’s Friday night!!! So, do you want to go to O’Toole's or ... CVS?

Rest of the story: Richmond.com: Blog Post : Love it or Leave It?! (http://social.richmond.com/blog/mward/2009/08/love-it-or-leave-it/ - broken link)


Your thoughts?
If not particularly accurate, it is at least somewhat humorous....

[ric75]

Haha Oregon Hill was dead on. He could have done a much better job with the Shockoe/River District Love It though.

[EricD]

Seems like 'Short Pump' was done three times... it's mentioned in the Glen Allen one, there's a 'West End' one, and then obviously the 'Short Pump' one... Seems like he could have just left it as West-End and Glenn Allen, but that's just me being picky.
=X

[ric75]

Yeah the West End and the Far, Far, Far West End (aka Short Pump) are all the same 'hood in my opinion. Then again I don't go out there much so there may actually be something differentiating those areas.