Tag: Jon Baliles
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“Blessed“ Is the Second RVA Casino Referendum
by Jon Baliles Early voting has begin in Virginia and the Richmond casino advocates have gone all-in with the mayor and City Council to make sure the referendum got back on the ballot and now are betting the house with an absurd amount of money to make sure the referendum passes this time. Jimmy Cloutier…
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Cheers to the Man in Plaid
by Jon Baliles One of Richmond’s great characters and personalities has decided to step away from spotlight that he occupied and managed so well for years (and always with a smile) after enduring incredibly long days and nights, rainouts, major league talent, loyal fans, a street art festival, a crumbling office, broken political promises, and…
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Short Term Rentals — Long Term Impact
by Jon Balilies The City of Richmond has been discussing altering and revising regulations about short-term rentals (STR’s) and the next action will take place at the Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday afternoon (September 5th). It is an important decision because it is entirely possible the decision by the Commission and ultimately City Council could…
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How Did VCU Miss the Red Flags?
by Jon Baliles The unravelling saga of a failed development proposal downtown a block from City Hall that was supposed to rise out of the ashes of the failed Navy Hill project is still smoldering. The failed deal has come with a price tag of about $80 million so far (and growing) for VCU Health.…
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Ham Cemetery Stands Strong
by Jon Baliles Over in the woods behind Bandy Field Nature Park in the West End along (and overlapping with) the border of Henrico County near the Village Shopping Center, there is a small African-American cemetery with an enormous history that recently appeared in a feature by Bill Pike in the Henrico Citizen; it is…
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Slush Funding Housing
by Jon Baliles There has been a lot of talk about the affordable housing crisis in the region in recent years, but it has been constant in 2023. The entire region needs 39,000 units as fast as it can get them; but interest rates are high, the market is stalling — every week there is…
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RVA History: Quintessential Preservationist
by Jon Baliles Historic preservation is important for many reasons, like helping us better understand our past and how to improve it for future generations. One great advocate of preserving Richmond’s history to convey stories forward was Mary Winfield Scott, who passed away in 1983, but whose legacy lives on in neighborhoods across Richmond, and…
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RVA 5×5: Referendum Waiting In The Wings
by Jon Baliles Three weeks or so ago, the regurgitation of the casino referendum got a round of approval from almost everyone on City Council in a meeting that was filled with unearned righteousness about how it was going to save the city (kudos to Councilwoman Katherine Jordan for the lone no vote). Richmond BizSense…
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RVA 5×5: Behind in the Count
by Jon Baliles Baseball season is in full swing and I have already been to three games to celebrate spring, sport, and sun. And because this is Richmond, I sometimes wonder how much longer I will be able to repeat this ritual in Aprils in the future. This week, the city announced it had reached…
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RVA History: Merging Manchester
by Jon Baliles I often joke with people when I am asked about Manchester that it was an independent city until 1910 when they merged with Richmond — and they have probably regretted it ever since. Em Holter has a nice piece in the Richmond Times-Dispatch about the merger of the city nicknamed “Dogtown” that…
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RVA 5×5: Valet Parking
by Jon Baliles There was a lot of talk and coverage this week about the City of Richmond’s Planning Commission unanimously approving the removal of parking minimums citywide with the full City Council expected to take the matter up at its meeting Monday night. The ordinance as written would allow developers to decide how much…
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RVA 5×5: Heard the Noise, Seen The Light
by Jon Baliles Well, it seems Mayor Levar Stoney has finally picked up on a problem on Richmond’s streets that many of us have known about for three-plus years. If you live downtown, or in the Fan, Oregon Hill, Jackson Ward, the Museum District, Randolph, Scott’s Addition, Byrd Park, Malvern Gardens, parts of Northside, Monroe…
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RVA 5×5: Monopoly on Richmond
by Jon Baliles There has been a lot of chatter this week about Monopoly doing a Richmond version featuring notable places and landmarks to replace the well-known properties like St. James’ Place, Reading Railroad, and Boardwalk. According to Em Holter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the creators of Monopoly want to hear from YOU about what…
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RVA 5×5: Incentivizing Derelicts
by Jon Baliles Housing has become a vital issue all across our region; it is a pressing need, but not simple to resolve. It will be with us for some time to come and we have to seek out a multi-prong strategy to address it. But there are some steps that can be taken to…
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RVA 5×5: Restoring A Richmond Treasure
by Jon Baliles One of Richmond’s favorite architectural wonders and spooky places is the Pump House along the Kanawha Canal and adjacent to the Boulevard Bridge. It has been the target and talk of renovations and adaptive reuses for almost a century since it closed in 1924 (the city wanted to tear it down in…