They Come in Threes

Published June 24, 2009 at 7:15 p.m.

While I wasn't looking during the past few days, some interesting developments occurred regarding Richmond as a whole and several of its communities.

Restart, Reboot, Richmond
Perhaps those verbs will replace the phrase allegedly uttered by parents to children in North Carolina and Southwest Virginia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries — that they should apply themselves to reading, writing and the road to Richmond.

First, some statisticians at BusinessWeek magazine donned their priestly robes and conducted the secret rites of their offices to determine that Richmond is in the top 10 of cities in which to "start over." We're at  No. 6 between Omaha, Nebraska, and Winston-Salem, N.C.  

According to Richmond BizSense, these rankings "were based on the percentage of companies planning to hire in the third quarter, according to an April survey by Manpower."

BizSense's illustration for showing our blue-sky opportunity was the high-rises of downtown reflected in the James with a kayak gliding across. At one local blog, however, we got a striking picture of...the Jefferson Davis Monument. The headline "looking to start over" seemed a bit at odds with the image, which I'm sure was chosen for aesthetic quality rather than any particular message.

I could go into a whole long digression here about Jeff, the statue, Monument Avenue, beginninngs, endings and Lost Causes. I could get into all that, but I won't, because it just makes me tired and sad.

But thank you to BusinessWeek's numerical druids.


Woodland Heights Historic
The Virginia Department of Historic Resources named the South Bank neighborhood of Woodland Heights among 29 new state landmarks.
 
The community grew up in the early 20th century at the end of a streetcar line, which was one of the big selling points for moving there. Downtown Richmond a century ago was seen as cramped and smelly at best, dangerous at worst.

Woodland Heights developers in 1909 boasted in big newspaper ads of free sewage and granolithic sidewalks. Prospective residents were promised “A Square Deal” and “Famous Chesterfield water” while enjoying the “Magnificent views of the city and river. Superb location but a few minutes’ ride from the centre of the city; one fare to all points and a car every fifteen minutes.”


Church Hill: Danger! Danger!
Last night the top story on NBC 12 was a report released by a Rhode Island-based, for-profit neighborhood-search service that for some reason decided to take a swing at Church Hill. You can see it here: Part of Church Hill has apparently been declared the "tenth most dangerous neighborhood in America." This in the same week when the This Old House magazine rated the community as having some of the most affordable classic housing.

The main picture shown wasn't even of a porch within the supposed danger zone. (How do I know this? A friend of mine owns the house attached to said porch.)

Oh, you can read all about it at Church Hill People's News.

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