Urban Hayride

Williams Mullen Building Approved

From the RTD:

The council voted 8-0 to approve an agreement with the Virginia Beach development company Armada Hoffler for the construction of an office building at 10th and Canal streets. The Williams Mullen law firm would be the main tenant.

The $60 million building would stand between One James Center and Riverfront Plaza, and a portion would rise over the Expressway Parking Deck.

The agreement calls for the city to contribute $2.1 million in grants over five years, with some of the money going for parking deck and streetscape improvements.

Construction would start in the late fall with completion anticipated in mid-2010. Williams Mullen, with about 350 attorneys and staff members, is based in Two James Center.

This is good news overall for the City and its residents - higher tax receipts are projected.  I wonder what will fill the gap left in James Center II?  Eluting to a previous post, if structured correctly, form-based code could have had a significant impact on the creativity and appeal of this proposed building.

Kaine, Next VP?

Thought I would mention this,

From Politico (Via Drudge):

Kaine, an early Obama supporter whose biography nicely dovetails with the Illinois senator’s, "ranks very, very high on the short list," said a source who has spoken recently to senior Obama aides about Kaine.

Kaine "is getting a critical examination," the source said.

Article here
RTD Article

Regional Planning in Richmond

From the RTD:

Community interest in planning is on the rise with worsening traffic congestion, school overcrowding and other side effects of growth...

Planning in the Richmond area has improved in recent years, with more emphasis on building denser, mixed-use communities with urban design principles, said Morton Gulak, an associate professor of urban and regional planning at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Still, he sees plenty of work to be done to move away from sprawl development and to make sure the individual plans make sense regionally.

"They have this legacy of 50 years that they have to overcome," Gulak said of the localities. "It's both a political and a social problem that we have to deal with."

Also,

James W. Theobald, a Richmond-area land-use attorney, said though planning is a worthy community exercise, it shouldn't be used to slow growth. He also cautioned that plans must be viewed as flexible guides that respect landowners' rights.

"Comprehensive plans are somebody's best guess as to how it should all come together at some point in the future," he said.

Although I have a feeling Theobald has a much looser interpretation of planning than myself, he isn't entirely wrong here; property rights are important. I continue to struggle with balancing strong laissez-faire, free market intution and beliefs with central planning theories.  It's not always very easy.  Form-based code (see: presentation) is the best planning option I see in creating livable, sustainable, human-scale environments while still maintaining fairly strong landowner's rights. I hope this becomes a reality in Richmond sooner rather than later.

Any thoughts?

"Traditional Landmark" Proposed, Part II

The RTD comments on what they actually think of the Williams Mullen building proposed downtown. 

There is something symbolic about the geography of Richmond.  Our city is in the middle of the state that sits middle of the Mid-Atlantic; our population is "medium" sized; we lose a Fortune 500 company and then we gain one; our skyline is mediocre.  Our tallest building, 449ft, is probably the median height of all high-rise structures in North America.     We're not known to be the best at anything; we're arguably not the worst at anything.  Very simple-minded analysis? Yes, but true.

Just having a signature building will not change this terrible cycle in which we're caught, but it sure would make me feel better.  Thoughts?

America's Debt

Interesting video podcast from The Economist on the history of debt in America. 

Still Bored: Richmond's new tower

Well, I think banal was the right description for the proposed Williams Mullen building in the CBD. A rendering was posted on RCW.
It doesn't seem to be getting good reviews on the boards.

Not every building is going to be awe-inspiring, but damn.  That's all I've got.

"Traditional Landmark" Proposed Downtown

More cranes might be rising downtown; RTD has the story.

A 15-story corporate office building planned for downtown Richmond could rise beginning this year and become home to the Williams Mullen law firm...

An office tower was anticipated on the site when the Richmond Metropolitan Authority built its Expressway Parking Deck. The deck opened in 1992 and has about 1,000 spaces on nine levels, including three levels underground.

The office building's proposed design got a tepid review from Rachel Flynn, the city's director of community development.

"I'd like to see more glass," she said. "I'm not thrilled with all the pre-cast [materials]. It's another banal building on the Richmond skyline."

I have to be honest, I had to Google "banal" to find out what the hell it means.  Flynn must like to remind everyone she studied at Harvard.  Anyhow, at least Richmond finally has someone looking out for our image. 

Now, take a peek at this project happening in Louisville. 

It will contain a contemporary art museum, restaurants and retail stores, 85 luxury condominiums, 150 lofts, a 300-room hotel, office space and a 1,100-car underground parking garage.

The $380 million Museum Plaza, a radical skyscraper whose design is being introduced to the public today, will add a contemporary landmark to downtown Louisville when it's completed in 2010.

Ah, yes - a contemporary landmark.  We have so many landmarks in Richmond, just none of the contemporary nature.  I guess we prefer the traditional landmark in our city.

I've never been to Louisville, but Louisville and Richmond aren't very different as far as the numbers go.  Similar sized metro areas, similar demographic, Richmond City is two times as dense and... oh yeah, Louisville is a consolidated city-county.  I guess Louisville gets along with its neighbors, huh?  Just three years after "Louisville Metro" was formed this tower was proposed.  I'm not suggesting city-county consolidation inherently brings exciting buildings, just thought I'd bring it up...

I'm not a student of architecture, but I know skyscrapers do not make a city.  Street-scape makes a city livable.  Skyscrapers and skylines are just a city's way of saying, "mine's bigger than your's", but it sure is nice to brag. 

Any time a new building is proposed downtown, it's usually a good thing - someone is investing in the city.  I hope something exciting and at least somewhat contemporary is eventually presented for this project.  If you run across a rendering, let me know.

I Second That: Save Richmond

From Save Richmond:

It’s so reassuring to know that the R-Town Mayor’s race will be decided not at the ballot box by a majority of city voters, but in the smoky backroom of the Commonwealth Club by the Metro business community

Welcome to Richmond where it’s all been chewed for you.
(Hit the link for the pic accompaniment)

I actually read the Style article Friday night.  I picked up a copy from Cap Ale around 2am.  That may explain why I forgot to write something about this topic. 

I'll wait for more substance out of the campaign until I throw anyone under the bus.

Going to Charleston - Any Food Tips?

I'm headed to Charleston Thursday for July 4 weekend.  I'm looking for cheap eats; anyone have suggestions.

Shoot them this way.

Obama-Rama

I've noticed some interesting Obama t-shirts lately.  I gathered some of those images below.

UPDATE: Check out Obamosaic for a great collection of 200+ Obama t-shirt designs. 

Power Plant - Let Me Clear this Up

Just so everyone understands, I don't always make myself clear.  In my previous post, I did not mean to suggest that this coal plant was being built in Rockingham County or Harrisonburg. 

If you read the RTD article, it states that 20 people were protesting as part of the group Blue Ridge Earth First!.  I was only referring to the three JMU students mentioned in the article.  I was trying to suggest that there actually are political activists attending James Madison - something I thought was lacking while I was there... only 7 months ago.

Also,

I understand that coal is probably not the best option for energy production, but the article states that the same group is protesting a proposed nuclear plant addition.  So, my initial thought is to wonder how exactly Dominion is supposed to expand its energy production capabilities. Given that they cannot expand their production plants, that seems like a hard task. 

So, all of that being said, over at Carmelized Opinions there is some more perspective and a little more passion for the subject.  Check it out.

I still haven't heard of viable renewable alternatives for energy production.  I really need an explanation as to why nuclear power is such a bad idea.  Is it the heating of the water?  On the Blue Ridge Earth First! website the only suggestion came from a visitor,

We do, however, have available to us a potentially large-scale, economical, carbon-neutral alternative to coal: algae. Native algae grows like wildfire in the presence of wastewater (as the annual New Jersey-sized pollution-fueled bloom in the Gulf of Mexico vividly attests). Algae, intentionally grown on effluent from municipal sewage plants and agricultural sources, could be dried and burned directly in solid-fuel power plants, providing for cleaner air and water as well.

Algae? Interesting I suppose.

I have a feeling I don't agree with much of BREF's politics, but this most recent protest did catch my attention, and as far as I know no one was physically hurt.  So, mission accomplished. 

Honestly, I was just excited to see students from JMU make an RTD article - a rare occurrence