Favorite Parts of the Riverfront Proposal

Deep Thoughts on Slide 2 of presentation

Recently the third part of a three part presentation of the Richmond Riverfront Plan was released. Public meetings were held to share this info. but not all of us could make the meeting. Fortunately we have folks like Phil Riggan who do attend the meeting and give us nice summaries on Richmond.com and we have folks like Ross Catrow at RVANew who takes a serious look at the maps and give intelligent, well thought out commentary.  You will get neither of those from me. Instead what I’ve done is taken the items I want to see done and ranked them from 1-5, with 1 being most desired and added my 2 cents. This is strictly personal and doesn’t take into account ROI, population served, etc. Continue on for #5.

River Access at Brown's Island

We have a river, here’s a crazy idea, let’s give folks access to it at the most popular festival spots in RVA. Possible drawback is having to stand next to a drunk dripping river water.

Manchester Bridge Pedestrian & Bicycle Improvements

I’ve never had a need or desire to ride a bike or walk across this bridge. I would like to have this option when I do decide to walk or ride across this bridge.

Mayo Island Rebirth

I know it would be a shame to say good bye to the metal scrap buyer, the ugly illegal billboard, and the empty buildings but this could be cool.  Downside we could probably build a new island for how it will cost the city to buy up this land.

Belle Island Xtreme

If I were in shape, this would be #1. Improved mt. bike course, white water course, zip line, rock climbing, this location is a step away from being a live action Mt. Dew commercial . One of the items I’m most intrigued by is the idea of restoring the old hydro plant into a environmental center.

Floodwall Improvements

The floodwall is the ugliest feature in all of Richmond. It is the Berlin wall of the city and serves as both a visual and physical barrier to connecting the people to the river and to the other side. I understand the need for having it but we certainly could do more to make it attractive to the eye and usable for river access.

Check out the full presentation (previous presentations) and let me know your favorite parts.  If Richmond were to somehow act on even 1/3 of these proposals it would be a huge step for the city.