New Market for the First Market*

*aka Baseball. the Bottom and other market related activities




Some people see irony in the fact that the 17th St Market used to be known as The First Market. So that means the Ukrops put the First Market out of business by building all those damn grocery stores, then stole the name for their own bank, which they turned around sold to some other robber baron bank. It's all very sordid.




The post is not related to that story. Well maybe a little.




First off, there is a new market and a new blog to go with it. The newly established THE MARKET UMBRELLA AT CROSSROADS, owned by Karen Atkinson is located at the Crossroads Art Center, 2016 Staples Mill Rd and is a climate controlled (read indoor) year round market. Hooray for Karen, who is behind two or three other European style markets. I'm looking forward to checking it out on my next foraging expedition in "near" Henrico county.





Our oldest and "first" market, the 17th Street Market, is nearly as underused as the rest of Shockoe Bottom and now it lies smack dab in the middle of the newly expanded flood plain. Well it's long past the time that this old market got a new face and as wonderful as Market Umbrella might be it can't match the history and tradition of 17th and Main. Anybody ever been to the Eastern Market in DC or some of the other great city markets around the country. Now's the time for some creative thinking and some action to save this landmark from obsolecense.

The East Market on Capital Hill




My idea, stolen from a former vendor, is to rebuild the market as an indoor/outdoor year round market. Imagine a 2 or 3 story market, rebuilt on the footprint of the old market, with sliding door facing the outside for pleasant weather, and and indoor climate controlled market that would open the market up for small shops, booths and food vendors. Imagine a fish market with a refrigerated display case or a tiny bakery with killer pastries. Imagine some more and fill in your own blanks.





Now comes the snag. None of this will happen without a solution to the flood plain issue. It's not the only solution, but we have a proposal on the table to do just that. It's also a solution that could draw 1/2 million consumers to Shockoe Bottom between April and September. Now I've been told that none of these people will eat, drink or spend money anywhere but inside the ballpark, a ballpark that will virtually open up into the market. A ballpark that is just steps away from some of the most interesting dining in Richmond, 3 blocks from the James River and surrounded by condos and apartments, not mention 60,000 downtown workers nearby.



If you're satisfied with the status quo or can find tax money to restore Shockoe Creek and support yet another park, some public/private partnership solution needs to be found. Before you condemn such a partnership as CORPORATE WELFARE or another cynical plan to rob the taxpayer, consider that any major construction project built anywhere involves taxpayer funds invested in roads, police, street lights and sewers. There's not a lot of difference here except that this provides great fodder for CAVE people Citizens Against Virtually Everything. Not that there aren't at least two sides to every issue, but these folks never consider any other side than there own and anyone who feels differently can go (you fill in blank). Their main tactic is to be so unpleasant and persistant you'll either give up or keep your mouth shut.






I've experience some of their courtesy first hand, but this isn't about me or them. It's about a chance to change Richmond for the better and to make downtown the regional draw it should be. I've talked to former residents whose children and grandchildren have never visited downtown, much to their chagrin. There is a lot of goodwill residing in the counties and people are just looking for the chance to share the Richmond they once new. Don't tell me suburbanites won't come dcwntown. I'm one who's lived for the past ten years. Myself and many others have staked out a home in Richmond and are tired of waiting for it to succeed. No time like the present.

Urbane Renewal 4 - Vistas

More accurately Vistas on the James. This was the last stop on my tour. I skipped Emrick Flats, since I saw it last year and Riverside on the James, which I wish I had seen, but I think would have been overkill after the highlight of the trip which was this 15th floor conversion of 2 units into one, giving a 270 degree view of the James River, Downtown and Shockoe Bottom. I could get used to hanging out here. These people throw some mean parties and I could drink in these views all night. Just enjoy the slide show. I'm all out of commentary. All these were taken from a single residence.













Pardon the absence of interior shots, my Kodak just wasn't up to the task. Next time I'll borrow someone else's camera.

Urbane Renewal 3 - Gotham on Main

It's one thing to create a home out of an old warehouse in Manchester and another to adaptively reuse a relic in trendy Shockoe Bottom, but carving a modern condo out of the heart of the business district is hardcore and cool. Imagine this as your front porch. This is urban living by any standard.






I'm not an art or interior design critic so make your own judgements on what you like. Having no sense of style myself, I'm in way over my head, but I'm cool. I could sip cocktails here. This is a Richmond that I'm not used to seeing. It's a lifestyle that is not for or affordable to everyone, but brings a certain class and excitement. Others beg to differ, but it's hard for me to see Richmond being a better place without these spaces and the people who occupy them.

Urbane Renewal 2 - Shockoe Bottom

With the exception of the flood plain itself, the high ground surrounding Shockoe Bottom itself is chock full of new living spaces with more on the drawing board. While the economy has slowed, the Shockoe area is still attracting new residents. My 2nd stop on the loft tour was on 19 street just above the market and possible new baseball stadium.

• Shockoe Valley Lofts are nothing to look at from the outside with plain white rectangular porches facing the streets. Once inside, these modest size residences become more modern and inviting. The first unit had an tidy kitchen with modern appliances and a breakfast bar

From the inside those nondescript porches blossomed into this pleasant sitting area.


As you would expect, residents here were younger and attracted by the mix of clubs and restaurants nearby. On the whole it was a much more livable neighborhood with more of the minimum requirements for everyday living than Manchester. Groceries, pizza, a health club and the river are short trips by car, foot or bicycle.

The views are a mix of industrial, 19th century streetscapes and downtown high rises of the city center towering above. One additional view not shown would be of left field in the new ballpark, which would make it a unique place to live, attractive to some but not all.

• Sterling Row, across the street and down the block is actually new construction that blends in well with the neighborhood. Great interiors, cozy living spaces and downtown views are all standard.

The circular stairway to the roof deck was challenging and made me wonder just how you would carry hors d'oeuvres and drinks there, but the destination was worth the effort.





Not sure I'd want to live here, but that wasn't the point of this trip. Many people do and I got peeks into homes and lifestyles I otherwise wouldn't.




The next two stops were definitely the most unique and spectacular, Gotham on Main St and Vistas on the James, which definitely earned it's name. I'm going to do my homework and get those out today. There's too much happening in Richmond and it's time to move on.

Beginnings and Endings at the RTD

The top story on the Richmond Blogosphere yesterday were the sea changing job cuts at the Richmond Times Dispatch. These were not just matters of speculation and interest to me. These were coworkers, friends and acquaintances and their family members, some of whom learned they were unemployed by showing up to work yesterday. I know that newspapers and other industries don't exist to provide lifetime employment and that other industries have collapsed completely as have their jobs and pensions. Not working or writing directly for a newspaper doesn't make it any easier.




Newspapers have always been a part of my life and the lives of millions. That part has grown increasingly smaller as TV, the Internet and a youth culture that doesn't care to be informed, but I have always felt newspapers were vital to almost any community worthy of the name, usually a defining part. When I was growing up in St. Louis, there was both the morning Globe Democrat and the afternoon Post Dispatch. Kansas City had the AM Times and the PM Star. In both these cities the morning paper folded and the afternoon papers shifted to the AM to become the single major daily. The same pattern repeated itself nationwide and the industry seemed to settle down for 20 years.




Then came the explosion of cable TV and the unending shift towards the Internet swallowing even radio and TV. The news industry became segmented by opinion, specialty blogs, celebrity news and fragmented reporting, but there was no one source that seemed to bring all this together, along with a sense of community like a newspaper. Now, the industry is changing and I have to go along for the ride in my back seat near the IT department. Ultimately it is up to consumers as to whether they want or need a newspaper. It's become a vicious circle, as readers disappear, revenue disappears, pages and content disappears, cost go up and more readers disappear. New business models are being pursued daily to keep up with changing technology, demographics and culture. I don't think anyone has been more aggressively promoting change than John Sarvay of Buttermilk & Molasses. To quote::

If I was to really get into a prescription for the Times-Dispatch it would be to cut more, cut faster and revolutionize FAST. Companies who spend 2009 whittling away because of in-the-moment budget woes and today's economic conditions are not likely to survive into 2010 -- I'm telling my clients that now is the time to replace incremental change with revolutionary change. It sucks for the people making the decision, for the people let go and for the ones who are left, but I believe we're in a game-changing shift in our economy, not a recessionary hiccup. Everyone's going to suffer through this transformation. The TD just happens to be a more public example than most.

There's been a bit of piling on by those who see justice and vengeance in the fall of the once proud and might, but John has been a critic, not any enemy of newspapers and knows the constructive role they can play, again.

We'd be fools not to either cross our fingers and hope the Times-Dispatch figures itself out, or to cross our fingers and hope that another publication emerges that can deliver the news and information that our community requires in order to stay engaged and connected.

Even Jason Roop at Style expressed some regret over events.

We do have compassion for our colleagues, and have spoken with many of them. It's important for a community like Richmond to have a strong daily newspaper.

and later,

We are naming several of the folks because readers (ours and the T-D's) are interested in knowing which reporters, and what they cover, will be missing from their daily newspaper. For everyone interested in this story, including Times-Dispatch staffers, the No. 1 question has been "Who." Who are we losing? As we note in the story, many of these people are veterans and award-winning writers. Their names are familiar to readers.




We can empathize with our media colleagues and indeed our own company is going through many of these painful layoffs and financial decisions, and we understand it is a difficult time for all.




We'll all be watching to see how this changes the Times-Dispatch's coverage of the Richmond area. We all have been forced to make adjustments in this incredibly shifting media landscape.

The Times Dispatch traditionally doesn't like reporting on itself, which is too bad because this is real news, important to the community, the newspaper and it's employees, which up until recent years has tended to feel like family. It feels a bit like a broken family now. Desks are empty, friends are gone and there is work needed to be done.

The Baby with the Baboon Heart*

It was a slow day


And the sun was beating

On the soldiers by the side of the road



There was a bright light

A shattering of shop windows

The bomb in the baby carriage

Was wired to the radio



These are the days of miracle and wonder

This is the long distance call

The way the camera follows us in slo-mo

The way we look to us all



The way we look to a distant constellation

That's dying in a corner of the sky



Therse are the days of miracle and wonder

And don't cry baby, don't cry Don't cry




It was a dry wind

And it swept across the desert

And it curled into the circle of birth



And the dead sand

Falling on the children

The mothers and the fathers

And the automatic earth




These are the days of miracle and wonder

This is the long distance call



The way the camera follows us in slo-mo

The way we look to us all




The way we look to a distant constellation

That's dying in a corner of the sky




These are the days of miracle and wonde

rAnd don't cry baby, don't cry Don't cry




It's a turn-around jump shot

It's everybody jump start

It's every generation throws a hero up the pop charts

Medicine is magical and magical is art

The Boy in the Bubble

And the baby with the baboon heart




And I believe

These are the days of lasers in the jungle

Lasers in the jungle somewhere



Staccato signals of constant information

A loose affiliation of millionaires


And billionaires and baby



These are the days of miracle and wonder


This is the long distance call




The way the camera follows us in slo-mo

The way we look to us all


The way we look to a distant constellation

That's dying in a corner of the sky




Therse are the days of miracle and wonder

And don't cry baby, don't cry

Don't cry

*Dedicated to the people of Zimbabwe.

Nate's Makin Bagels - No Foolin*

Having just polished of my last powdered sugar delight, I am pleased to announce that Nate Sams is now making fresh, made from scratch, honest to goodnes bagels. He swears he does not have a Jewish Uncle, but knowing Nate he can pull it off. So if you are in the vicinity of 4th and Grace and you fancy yourself a bagel, stop by Louisiana Flair and say hello. Also tell him where you heard it. I'm in the mood for some free food.




Cream cheese and lox are on their way.





*Nate will be celebrating his Bris soon by smoking a pig. Details will be released as soon as he gets approval from his rabbi.

Style's Weekly Baseball Bash(ing) Updated***

Just flipped to the back page of this week's Style and not unexpectedly found Pie in the Sky, the latest Style screed against baseball in Shockoe Bottom. I'll take the time to read it later to see if there is anything original in it. The illustration is clever, a jar of change, a dollar bill and a worn out baseball. I've nothing against Charles Diradour, I've registered and contributed on his website and am familiar with his views. It's not his opinion that I find irritating, but Style's no holds barred campaign against the stadium. I have to give them credit, when they weigh in on something, the jump in with both feet*.




How has Style done this? Let me count the ways, backwards.

1. The current Back Page.
2. Watered Down, Amy Biegelsen's sarcastic piece on Toad's Place and the failure of the Canal Walk.**
3. Don Harrison's bi monthly essay on the spiritual superiority of the "independent" arts community in his ongoing attempt to Save Richmond from the Ukrops family.
4. Let's see, there was the Umpires New Clothes cover piece nicely done with the nekkid ump behind a chest protector.
5. There has been the odd assortment of Street Talk blurbs I don't feel like researching.
6. I just found one more, CenterStage Counting Down, Still Without Director, same theme.
7. And oh, to be fair there was a letter to the editor, I think and one Back Page piece before the onslaught began. On the whole though there has been a lot of ink spilled on the con side of this subject. I see it as one part community service and one part marketing to the too hip to care crowd.

Time for some objectivity. Contrary to some opinions there are two sides to this argument, maybe three and the jury is still out. There's a real case to be made for this investment in downtown and the future character of this city. It's a case I'll try to make, again, but not now. Now I just feel like complaining.




I hope this doesn't affect my submission for next week's Back Page, in which case apologies are due all around, including Don.





* Mixed metaphor alert.


** In this week's issue Amy reports the National may reopen Toad's.




***Just a few more thoughts on this subject. There's no question I had been unhappy with Style's coverage of this issue already. Today's Back Page piece just seemed like piling on. One thing I don't dispute is their right to take this position. It's part of what makes Style, well Style. It's edgy and aggressive when it wants to be. It's what makes it a fun read and I have enjoyed it when they have taken stands I agree with, like the ludicrous administration and personality of our former Mayor. I enjoyed each and every jab. In this case I am heavily invested (emotionally, not financially) in the prospects of a downtown stadium, not just recently, but going years back to the Jameson proposal. I've seen the rise and prospective fall of this concept three times and it seems this time we are closer to reality than at any time in the past. I respect the right for anybody to disagree with me. I don't pretend to be fair. I am a proponent because I think this will benefit Richmond in a way few other things can. I'm not going to explain my position now, leave it to say I am a believer, not with blind faith, but at a gut level and I'm going to advocate my position till it's either hopeless or I am convinced otherwise.