One More Bites the Dust

Another violent crime occurred on Broad Street Saturday night on the same block where a daylight murder took place only days ago. I'm not sure if this was a random crime or the result of a dispute, but City leaders need to move aggressively and clear the bad guys out of here. This section of Broad is becoming notorious and lies just between the convention center, Centerstage area and the gallery/restaurant district on West Broad. No hotel manager in their right mind is going to send a customer for a stroll down Broad. For Richmond to be a livable walkable city it is going to have to be safe to do so, both in perception and reality. Right now it is neither. All affected parties, business, restaurants, residents and transit users need to demand the city take action. They know who a lot of these bad guys are. They can't arrest them for just standing around, but they can a must increase their street presence and encourage the bad guys to take their business elsewhere. All the progress that has been made recently downtown stands at risk. The millions of dollars recently invested and the future progress of downtown stand in the balance.

A Place You Want To Come

Another Snippit from the RTD Op/Ed Page

"A fatal stabbing on East Broad ... is not the type of think that makes residents want to hurry downtown."

This is a bad stretch of Broad. There is a very busy bus stop here loaded with actual passengers and many hangers on. It is usually covered with litter and nobody seems happy being there except for the "hangers on". Why couldn't the RPD station a uniformed cop there, not to harass, but just chat it up with the passengers and others. The legitimate users of this stop would probably appreciate the security, and the others would probably move to a less supervised corner. Either way, the security presence downtown needs to be upgraded.

I have stated these same feelings elsewhere and I still believe it. If we are serious about having an successful downtown then we need to make it as attractive and safe as possible. You just can't count the number of people that don't come and the attitude that if they can't take the heat then we don't want or need them doesn't make sense. This attitude helps explain why downtown remains separate and distinct from the rest of the city and the same holds true for the city as a whole. We need to make Richmond a place where people want to come and feel good about coming to, not just a place they are willing to go to.

Here's a two year old essay from Urban Richmond that gives a bit of inspiration to what Broad Street could be.

New development for downtown Broad St.

Doug for President ?

In a Letter to the Editor in today's RTD the writer claims it is noting short of a tragedy that Doug Wilder, due to his opposition to Creigh Deeds, should be in the White House instead of the "current arrogant, ostentation" president we have. It makes one wonder if the writer was paying any attention at all the last four years. There's no question though that he would keep his cabinet in line. I'm not sure if he would call out the marines or just the FBI to surround the Education department and move their furniture out on the National Mall. It would make for interesting TV.

Wait a second, wasn't Doug Wilder an early endorser of Barack Obama. Oh well, I like it when they put the funniest letter first.

Ordinary Woman - Extraordinary Song

For once I wish I had watched America's Got Talent. As overwhelmed as I was by the first time I saw Susan Boyle perform on BGT, I hadn't seen any other performances and heard considerable flack about her including the fact that she didn't win the competition. She still is one of the most incredible human interest stories this past year and this new performance of Wild Horses just confirms that. I admit it, I am a sucker for this kind of emotional slop. She transports me. What could be wrong with that?

Another Spate?

These may be reruns, but the dates, times and details seem different from my previous post.

From the Fan District Hub:

• Aggravated assault: Aug. 26 at 10:14 p.m. A teenage female reported she was shot with a BB gun by an unknown male 15 S. Stafford Ave. Her injuries are not life threatening.
  
• Robbery: Aug. 26 at 10:28 p.m. two females reported they were robbed by two unknown males with a gun at Floyd Ave. and Rowland St.
  
• Robbery: Aug. 27 at 12:40 a.m. Five males reported they were robbed by three unknown males with a gun 1½ S. Vine St. . One male victim was also assaulted.

I recognize these are not downtown, but that's a detail that will be lost on the VCU students on my side of Belvidere, or my roommate for that matter. He gets home between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. each evening. He has the misfortune to be a smaller man over 60. A former resident of Upper Manhattan, he feels less safe in Richmond than in his Columbia University neighborhood, not the first time I have heard this comparison.