What Would You Do With Windfall?
I’m sure you’ve read about the $60.3 million that RMA has promised the city of Richmond. RTD has a discussion on what some city council people think should happen to the money. Let’s play a little game where somehow magically all the money was going to be spent in the H&H area. What projects or issues facing our section of Richmond could be solved by throwing a little cash at the problem? For a great example of looking at local issues check out this post by Oregon Hill. I’ve got a few ideas but what I really want to hear your ideas.
- Update all the schools in the H&H area.
- Buy the rail to trail spur and build bike line connecting the greenspaces of Southside.
- Tax incentives for local businesses for developing Hull Street in the Manchester area.
- Increase the number of James River Park employees and open all the parking lots.
- Develop parts of the turning Manchester Green proposals.
- Get rid of the Nickel Bridge Toll for residents, increase it for county residents.
So those are some of my ideas. What do you think? Remember we are being selfish/unrealistic so the projects must focus on the H&H area.
How could you even implement #6? Would toll takers have to check the registered address of every car that passed through? Would be very complicated and laborious, especially for such a small toll.
Residents of the H&H area would get a sticker that would trigger the gate and give them a free pass. You would get the sticker with either you yearly assessment or some other bill attached to your property. If you were a renter you would get a sticker by sending a copy of a bill that proves your residency to the official sticker giver folks.
Just throwing ideas out. If you thought that was hard to implement you really need to read some of the ideas in #5.
Actually, that’s how they used to do it, fred. residents on the south side had a different licence plate or something: http://www.qwiki.com/q/#!/Boulevard_Bridge
I think it’d be great to see all the power lines in the neighborhood re-routed through the alleys or underground. Aside from the intrinsic ugliness of black wires in front of blue sky, it gets me salty every time I see mangled or bifurcated trees.
Here’s what we would do the OUR portion of the money.
What Would You Do With $6,666,666.66?
It’s time to invest in things that have a direct payback! Help the Byrd Theatre Foundation restore the Byrd! It would reward the city by generating more tax revenues and pay back the funds over time. More traffic means more meals (and tax receipts) from Carytown. Now that is a smart investment!
I’m with Dan.
Back in the day of the true “nickel” bridge, (in the 70′s) drivers could purchase a window decal for $15 annually for the bridge…..took alot of trips to make that $15 worth it! Not so many now!
I know that the game was set up this way, but it is interesting that everyone wants to spend the money.
I think they should use some of the money to fund the construction of the two schools they already “broke ground” on last fall. instead of nickel and diming the design down to death, do it right.
I’d like to see a very large chunk of that money spent on updating the area schools. In particular, I’d like to see George Wythe High School receive some attention. The facilities there are super sub par. Would love to see major updates to their athletic facilities, for example.
Roundabout?
@Phil … let someone else pay for those roundabouts!
Agree about updating our local schools, both inside and out. Landscaping around some of the school buildings is getting rather sad looking so I can imagine areas inside the schools need some sprucing up is needed as well. All of the other ideas are good, although I think the reduction in tolls doesn’t result in visible results. Audible maybe, with more change jingling in our pockets.
I’m with #4 (trees > power lines)and #10 (schools)
I’d love to see the Golf Course go and a nice new park put in, attaching the Pony Pasture to the rest of the James River Park and allowing a good bike route to be built from the Southampton area. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about how wide forest hill was gonna be cause we could leave it as is. Eventually it would be wonderful if a full circuit for bikes and pedestrians could be built around the river. The park could serve as a hub for lots of activities.
Shouldn’t Dominion Power pay to bury those lines, and not taxpayers?
I think we should keep in mind that the $60 million isn’t some windfall but rather a payment for land used to build a transportation project. Let us remember the true costs associated with this project are far greater than the actual land paid for but involve the destruction of plenty of housing stock, the splitting of neighborhoods, and the deterioration of the tax base in the city as a result of these maneuvers and the subsequent flight to cheap suburbs with direct access to surface parking in the city center. Let’s use the money to improve the connection between Westover Hills/ Stratford Hills with the ultimate Forest Hill Ave improvement plan (not widening) creating a real gateway between our communities that is walkable/bikeable. Next, tax incentives to fill out the Westover Hills Shopping district with viable businesses and create a neighborhood center (I’m thinking bakery/grocery here people, maybe Elwoods wants to start a Westover-Forest grocery, but definitely a bakery) and finally, the next important resource for us is to continue to improve the school system, probably the single most important service that local government administers.