Talk:Richmond, Virginia/Archive 1

message: *Is the big fire yesterday worth mentioning? Tuf-Kat 23:29, Mar 27, 2004 (UTC)
** My opinion: Maybe under recent events, but that's not that big, is it? MAybe if you put it in context of development of VCU area. MPS 20:04, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Fire 

message: * Are the "River District" and Shockoe Bottom/Slip distinct entities? I had kind of always assumed the River District was an area of town that included the Bottom and the Slip... MaxPower 17:38, 10 Sep 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  River District 

message: I just did a major rearrangement to make RVA page to make it a little more intuitive and readable. I also just realized there is a category page for Richmond VA. [[[Category:Richmond, Virginia]]]. We may want to check out how other "major" cites are laid out based on their category pages.  MPS 17:03, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Category of Richmond=

message: Why is manchester listed both in the neghborhoods of richmond and then as a huge paragprah in the history section? That's overemphasis in my book.  I say merge what content is in the history section there into the manchester negighborhood section. Also, I have never heard the about a free bridge agreement in exchange for incorporation. Did User:Vaoverland make that up? MPS 20:09, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Manchester isn't that important 

message: I was thinking: The West End (Richmond, Virginia) has a character and identity of its own distrinct from Greater Richmond. Perhaps a separate article on this sub-region would be appropriate. Topics would include Commercial Geography (natural division categories would be exits along the highway including Staples Mill/Westampton, Glenside, Parham, Gaskins/Innsbrook, Short Pump, 295, 288/West Creek/Goochland), Parks and recreation (Deep run park, pony pasture), Culture ( School rivalries such as Godwin vs Tucker vs Freeman). 
A companion article might be South Side with Residential Neighborhoods (Brandermill, Bon Air, Stony Point), Industrial (Defense Supply, PMUSA manufacturing, Overnite, Deep Water Terminal, Pocohontas Parkway), Commercial districts (Chesterfield Town Center, Hull Street, Midlothian.), Parks and recreation (Pocohontas park, ) and Cultural (increase in Hispanic population, quality Chesterfield schools and libraries, ). The categorization could again be possibly made by exits from the Powhite parkway (forest hill ave, parham, midlothian, hull, 288).
(This does not preclude the possibility of The East End (Richmond, Virginia) or  North Side (Richmond Virginia) articles but really what I want to do is a West End article for now.)
I want to get a head nod from somebody as a sanity check. Is this a good idea?? Anyone??? MPS 19:21, 30 Dec 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: West End as separate article?

message: Below is a big outline of how I think the *new* Richmond page should look. Please leave your comments and maybe we will have to vote on some stuff, I dunno. I think it is a good start to making the page cleaner, easier to read, and more informative. Its pretty long, so sorry about that.
:Oh one more thing. I uploaded the city flag and city logo that I'm going to hopefully put in the city box. So no need to upload them if you were going to. --MaxPower 20:59, 2005 Jan 24 (UTC)
===Things Richmond needs (based mostly off the Chicago article)===
*General 
**City Box(Seen on San_Diego, Baltimore, Maryland, Chicago) Although I don't think it needs to be at the very top of the page, I like how Chicago does it.
**I think we should aim for more paragraph style text and less Headings and bullet points. At least for me this makes it look more like an article, and less like a collection of stubs.
**I think we should ditch the "Mottos, Slogans, and Nicknames" section and pick one (maybe the official one or "Easy 2 <heart>") and put it in the City Box. If someone is really attached to that information, maybe it can be stuck in another section in paragraph form.
**I think we need to do something about the Recent Richmond Events bit. I am not sure what to do though. I haven't really seen anything like it on other city pages, although I do like it. Perhaps it could be condensed, or reformatted or something. I dunno.
**It would be cool to have a picture of the Robert E. Lee statue somewhere in the article.
*Sections
**History
***Remove "Sprague electrifies the streetcars of Richmond" from section. This could go into it's own article, or into the Frank_J._Sprague article -- or somewhere else. It just seems out of place.''
***I would like to see a 20th century category in the History section. We could move the Manchester bit under there. I'm sure there is interesting hisory (I'll break out  my richmond book) that we could add. I'm sure there is some embarassing segregation stuff we could put in there.
***There is no mention of the 1992 Presidential Debates at UR. I think these were the first Town Hall style debates ever.
**Government
***Move the Capitol picture under this section
***Wilder was the nation's first 'elected' black governor. There was another one in Lousiana I think that was not elected. So Wilder isn't the nation's *only* black governor. Have there been black Governor's since Wilder?
***Andre Parker and Calvin Jameson have both left their positions. I don't know if new ones have been hired yet or not.
***There is no mention of how Richmond is the political seat of virginia and as such has many state politcal agencies/offices etc.
**Geography
***If we could get a color sattelite photo of richmond that would rock. All I could find was this arial photo taken in '94. Anyone find anything better?
***We need to break out the neighborhoods section. Maybe into a category like Chicago does. Or at least a seperate page. A link to that page can go here.
***Some city pages have a Climate section. I could go either way. It could be a sub section of Geography I think.
***Fold in "Surrounding Cities and Counties" section
**Demographics
***Looks pretty good to me
**Economy
***We don't even have an economy section. Obviously the "Significant Businesses and Non-Profits" section can get folded into here. It might be nice to know things like employment numbers, how much money is made – I dunno, this isn't my balliwick.
***Something that needs to go in here maybe is when those banks left for Research Triangle. Didn't that screw Richmond over some how?
***Perhaps some history in this section too. Obviously history of Big Tobacco, and maybe Richmond's economic role in the civil war.
**Education
***No mention of MCV?! Can it be? This section could be expanded, maybe give a little history about UR and the civil war? 
**Culture/Arts/Tourism/Recreation
***Rename the "Notable Sites" section to something like this.
***Add "Annual Events and Festivals" under here, preferably in paragraph form.
***Put the suggested media outlets in here?
**Sports
***Put he existing "Professional Sports Team" section here.
***Add in some stuff abotu college sports. I guess mainly Div IA basketball, and maybe Div II basketball. Isn't VUU #1 Div II? I think they are, or used to be? VCU soccer is pretty good too.
**Transportation
***Looks good.
**Famous Richmonders
***Didn't Patch Adams, of Robin Williams movie fame, graduate from MCV?
**External Links
***Could use some updating/cleaning
--MaxPower 19:19, 2005 Jan 24 (UTC)
:I'll review and comment soon, but not today. MPS 16:00, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proposed Richmond Revamp 

message: *General 
**City Box(Seen on San_Diego, Baltimore, Maryland, Chicago) Although I don't think it needs to be at the very top of the page, I like how Chicago does it.
**I think we should aim for more paragraph style text and less Headings and bullet points. At least for me this makes it look more like an article, and less like a collection of stubs.
**I think we should ditch the "Mottos, Slogans, and Nicknames" section and pick one (maybe the official one or "Easy 2 <heart>") and put it in the City Box. If someone is really attached to that information, maybe it can be stuck in another section in paragraph form.
**I think we need to do something about the Recent Richmond Events bit. I am not sure what to do though. I haven't really seen anything like it on other city pages, although I do like it. Perhaps it could be condensed, or reformatted or something. I dunno.
**It would be cool to have a picture of the Robert E. Lee statue somewhere in the article.
*Sections
**History
***Remove "Sprague electrifies the streetcars of Richmond" from section. This could go into it's own article, or into the Frank_J._Sprague article -- or somewhere else. It just seems out of place.''
***I would like to see a 20th century category in the History section. We could move the Manchester bit under there. I'm sure there is interesting hisory (I'll break out  my richmond book) that we could add. I'm sure there is some embarassing segregation stuff we could put in there.
***There is no mention of the 1992 Presidential Debates at UR. I think these were the first Town Hall style debates ever.
**Government
***Move the Capitol picture under this section
***Wilder was the nation's first 'elected' black governor. There was another one in Lousiana I think that was not elected. So Wilder isn't the nation's *only* black governor. Have there been black Governor's since Wilder?
***Andre Parker and Calvin Jameson have both left their positions. I don't know if new ones have been hired yet or not.
***There is no mention of how Richmond is the political seat of virginia and as such has many state politcal agencies/offices etc.
**Geography
***If we could get a color sattelite photo of richmond that would rock. All I could find was this arial photo taken in '94. Anyone find anything better?
***We need to break out the neighborhoods section. Maybe into a category like Chicago does. Or at least a seperate page. A link to that page can go here.
***Some city pages have a Climate section. I could go either way. It could be a sub section of Geography I think.
***Fold in "Surrounding Cities and Counties" section
**Demographics
***Looks pretty good to me
**Economy
***We don't even have an economy section. Obviously the "Significant Businesses and Non-Profits" section can get folded into here. It might be nice to know things like employment numbers, how much money is made – I dunno, this isn't my balliwick.
***Something that needs to go in here maybe is when those banks left for Research Triangle. Didn't that screw Richmond over some how?
***Perhaps some history in this section too. Obviously history of Big Tobacco, and maybe Richmond's economic role in the civil war.
**Education
***No mention of MCV?! Can it be? This section could be expanded, maybe give a little history about UR and the civil war? 
**Culture/Arts/Tourism/Recreation
***Rename the "Notable Sites" section to something like this.
***Add "Annual Events and Festivals" under here, preferably in paragraph form.
***Put the suggested media outlets in here?
**Sports
***Put he existing "Professional Sports Team" section here.
***Add in some stuff abotu college sports. I guess mainly Div IA basketball, and maybe Div II basketball. Isn't VUU #1 Div II? I think they are, or used to be? VCU soccer is pretty good too.
**Transportation
***Looks good.
**Famous Richmonders
***Didn't Patch Adams, of Robin Williams movie fame, graduate from MCV?
**External Links
***Could use some updating/cleaning
--MaxPower 19:19, 2005 Jan 24 (UTC)
:I'll review and comment soon, but not today. MPS 16:00, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Things Richmond needs (based mostly off the [[Chicago]] article)

message: I think we need to distinguish a bit between the term 'nickname' and 'colloquialism'. A nickname, such as River City, is designated by the city or the tourism office to describe the city somewhat favorably and use this in tourism brochures and publications and the promotional campaigns and the like. A colloquialism, on the other hand, is designated by the locals, the population, as a common term for the city. Kind of like shorthand. Examples of this would be RVA, The 804, or RIC.
I thought it should be clarified as I just saw River City added to the opening paragraph under colloquialisms, and thought I should clarify the reversion, since the term is already in the infobox under nicknames. Dr. Cash 04:58, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Colloquialisms vs. nicknames

message: I just started a very large stub article on Culture of Richmond, Virginia as referenced in above conversations. I need y'all's help filling in radio, TV, and news media, as well as any other contribution ideas you may have. The idea for this page came from Culture of San Francisco, California as well as some of the debates we had about where to put information from the main Richmond article. I may migrate some of what's on the Richmond page to the culture page, so be aware of changes in the next month or so. MPS 18:52, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Culture of Richmond, Virginia

message: I remove the specific reference to 'Fortune 500,' because it implies that the companies earlier in the list are all F500, and I don't believe (e.g.) Infineon Technologies to be F500.  Similarly, Philip Morris and Genworth Financial aren't 'companies' in the F500 sense (although their parents are).  In fact, now that I think about it, I'm gonna remove this remark with its 'prominent' puffery altogether.  The Economy section ought to stand on its own (at least after it is alphabetized), and this finesses the question as to whether PM in Henrico County was an "also" or not.<BR> Oh, yeah, what I came here to do was add: Universal (UVV) which is NOT a Fortune 500 company. Tribune 05:54, 15 July 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: <Blockquote>That is a strange statement claiming that the "Wall street of Black America" is in Richmond, Virginia.  I don't believe that a "Wall Street of Black America" exists.  Richmond, Virginia was in the center of slavery. Someone is inventing some superior hi-jinks. 141.151.183.82 21:51, 12 August 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually, a Google Search for "Wall Street of Black America" reveals 47 pages which it is mentioned, most sites of course, refer to Richmond. The term is also mentioned on the city's official website and richmond.com. Dr. Cash 03:40, 13 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Edit under 'Economy'

message: Somehow the InfoBox (top right) was reverted back to its original format (User:Boothy443), without any talk or discussion or even any comments as to why this was done. The Infobox that I reverted back to involves linking to a Template:RichmondInfoBox (which can be edited by going to the actual Template page for the RichmondInfoBox and editing there, as opposed to putting variables in the page directly with links to the city template provided in Wikiproject Cities. While I realize that several major cities (Seattle, Washington, Houston, Texas) use the "variable" template format, I think that format is flawed for several reasons. First, on many pages, it looks absolutely terrible; the image of the downtown skyline is often sized differently than the width of the InfoBox, which just doesn't look professional. Secondly, the text for the motto and the nickname is too small. The size of the text almost looks like it's all subscript/superscript-sized. Why isn't it the same size as the Mayor's name and Area, also on the same infobox?!?! It also makes editing more difficult. In order to add a new category to the infobox, you have to edit the template and create the correct variables, instead of just editing the template simply. The format for the time zone is also incorrect as well. It stated that the time zone for Richmond was "Easter (UTC 5)". In fact, it should "Eastern (UTC-5)". UTC+5 is probably somewhere to the east of Greenwich, England, perhaps Iraq or India? Some of the horizontal lines in that infobox are also different sizes, which I cannot figure out why, but it looks bad? The line directly above the image of Va. and the very bottom line were a bit thicker than the rest of the lines. This makes no sense. Also, the caption for the city skyline picture, in my opinion, really isn't needed because it really doesn't take a lot of brainpower to figure out what it's a picture of, with the city name above and all the info below,...
The Infobox currently used now (Template:RichmondInfoBox, is very similar to the ones used on the Louisville, Kentucky (featured article) and Chicago (featured article candidate) articles. It's also nice because it's a lot easier to customize; if there's specific data that we want to highlight about a particular city, we can add that easily without messing with the templates used for every other city. Dr. Cash 02:01, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Infobox Format

message: The History of Richmond, Virginia article has been cleaned up and rewritten. As a result, I redid the summary in the main Richmond, Virginia article as well. Feel free to modify and fill in any gaps in the history that are present. Dr. Cash 02:21, 5 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Great job but I disagree that we need to eliminate the timeline. I reverted the redirect at Timeline of Richmond, Virginia. MPS 18:31, 5 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I still disagree on the timeline. Having two separate history articles is completely redundant and unnecessary. Plus, there is a serious potential for conflicts to arise if one edits the history page and not the timeline, or vice versa. We need to stick with only one history article. Redirect reinstated. Dr. Cash 20:18, 5 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: History

message: Should Richmond have one of these?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Seattle  MPS 14:09, 17 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: It will probably take more than 2 or 3 of us working on articles to make it a Wikiproject for Richmond. Vaoverland 15:18, 17 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Whether we formalize it as a subproject of its own or not, the Richmond work should probably follow Wikipedia:WikiProject Cities. I haven't taken time to compare with the hierarchy for state articles, but I will try to do so. Vaoverland 15:32, 17 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Wikicities

message: * http://www.vcu.edu/graduate/pdfs/beginners_guide.pdf
::I am tired of these getting added back in . I am ok with them being on the talk page though. MPS 04:28, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: link farm

message: someone on the The West End (Richmond, Virginia) page is adding articles for inidividual schools (freeman, godwin, etc) schools. Isn't there a wikipedia policy against articles for high schools. I was thinking we could add an article similar to Richmond City Public Schools for Chesterfield, Henrico, and Hanover Counties. Would it be better to just add this to the county pages since they're not that developed? Comments? MPS 21:02, 28 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm not exactly sure if there's a specific policy against it, but the general consensus I've seen is that wiki pages for things like high schools and malls are generally non-notable in terms of an encyclopedia and generally discouraged. Lists of elem/mid/high schools on school district pages are acceptable, and if the school is particularly notable (i.e. some famous person graduated from there or the school is really old and had some outstanding program, governor's schools, etc), then a wiki page may be acceptable in that case. But wiki pages for every high school in America are generally not needed. Dr. Cash 23:40, 1 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: On a quick glance, Wikipedia:WikiProject Schools seems to encourage individual articles when there is enough substance. There is more information at Wikipedia:Schools.It is clear that the preferred method is to start with the school district, which wasn't done with the Freeman and Godwin High School articles. I did go in each of those and attempt to clean them up a bit. I'll try to review all of this later tonite if no one else get to it first.  Vaoverland 00:55, 2 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: The other day I added Chesterfield Public Schools, Petersburg Public Schools, Henrico County Public Schools, Hopewell Public Schools, and Colonial Heights Public Schools. FYI these are called school divisions and not districts. Any GRR schools will be listed (mostly red-linked) within these school division pages. See also List of school divisions in Virginia. MPS 16:03, 14 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: RVA high schools

message: I created this template: Template: Greater Richmond Region... and added it to the linked articles. Sort of a rush job but I think it is an excellent navigational aid. MPS 16:03, 14 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I think the template looks a little bit awkward being vertically-oriented and right-justified as it is. Depending on various individual's browser settings, it could cause the box to overflow into the next text section. This information seems like it would be better presented as a box at the bottom of the article, similar to the 'Regions of Virginia' or 'US State Capitals' boxes. Dr. Cash 22:24, 2 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  I don't think it would look good at the botom. On the Richmond page, I put the template in the neighborhoods section, but in (for instance) the Amelia County  page, the box complements the county box and contextualizes the county/region article as being a county in the Greater Richmond MSA. MPS 01:11, 3 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The region box would look fine in that case if it is directly underneath the city/county infobox.  But the city/county infobox should be above the region box. I looked at the Amelia page and it does not look right with the skinny region box above the wider/fatter infobox. The design of the county infobox is also such that it belongs in the top right. I tried moving the region box to below the county/city infobox, but it wanted to put the region box to the left of the city infobox, which looks even worse. If we could place the Richmond Region box directly below the city infobox and county infoboxes, I think it would look much better (either that, or merge the Richmond Region box with the city/county infoboxes). Dr. Cash 04:38, 3 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Template

message: We need info on Richmond's crime, a la Crime in Washington, D.C. or somewhere in the article. #5 crime in the country is notable.132.159.147.78 20:10, 4 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Crime

message: Is a list of every radio station (particularly one in paragraph form) really necessary in this article?  It seems like somebody looking for information about the city would not be looking for radio stations, and if he or she were, a simple link to another page ("List of Richmond, VA radio stations") ought to suffice.  As it stands, that whole segment bogs down the article.
Daniel 19:39, 8 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  What about a media in article like Media in Seattle, Media in Chicago, and others in new category I created :Category:Regional media. We can leave the most important media like Style and Richmodn magazine, and merge a lot of the media lists into tables and such on a Media in Richmond page. I'll start it in the name of WP:be bold. MPS 02:29, 9 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: An excellent idea.  I don't have the time to create the tables, but I'll keep an eye on it and let you know if I think it needs anything else.  Thanks! Daniel 01:53, 11 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Radio? 

message: Someone keeps adding the following information regarding Richmond's supposed "status" as a Global city to the Economy section:
Law and finance have long been driving forces in the economy. Because of its "GLOBAL LEGAL SERVICE CENTRES" Richmond was named by Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network (GaWC), as having minimal evidence of being a Global city.
I personally don't see how "minimal evidence" (e.g. a minor mention at the very bottom of the GaWC Research Briefing website is notable to the article. Seriously, for a city that's a, "full service world city," or even a, "major world city," maybe it might be worthy of a mention. But minimal evidence? Seriously. This is really stretching it. The only reason this "research" was done was so that city chambers of commerce can include it in their business promotion brochures and the like, and wikipedia is definitely not one of those. Dr. Cash 21:14, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I just now added it back in. Look at it this way. If the article said "Richmond has world class legal services" then somone would come back in and look for a source. Now there is an official source. The section is entitled "Industries that defined Richmond"... surely a legal services sector that is considered "world class" is a notable element of Richmond's industries. Are you doubting that legal and financial services are big industries in Richmond, or are you skeptical of GaWC's survey. I would be ok with the latter but the former is highly supportable and should remain. MPS 21:44, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I just reverted your change. After further review, it is clear to me that the added bit is actually more spam than actual fact. For one, look at the spelling of, "CENTRES" in the text, and considering that it is the common british spelling of the word, as well as the fact that the "GaWC" website he's referring to is in a british TLD, it's clear that the anonymous editor that added this nonsense is trying to promote his "study." Even if you look into the report he's citing, Richmond is listed under, "MINOR GLOBAL LEGAL SERVICE CENTRES." So this thing is really just complete nonsense and junk and does not belong in the article. Dr. Cash 01:29, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Your logic is not logical. Richmond is mentioned in a study on global cities that was conducted by british people in Loughborough University in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. You have baselessly accused it of being spam. You have accused the British of spelling things funny, and you have ignored my previous assertion that Richmond 'is in fact a global legal center. ... centre... or however you want to spell it. Please answer this question: Richmond is a global legal center... yes... or no?  If yes, then the industries section of the Richmond, Virginia article that we are editing needs to have some reflection of how major the legal services are in Richmond, Virginia. If you want to find a different source, then I will, but I need to know what you are disputing, Gawc's legitimacy or Richmond's prowess in the legal industry. I am putting the disputed passage back in because it is verifieable evidence of Richmond's importance in providing global legal services. Note that this study cites other verifiable evidence of Richmond's legal legacy. MPS 17:04, 30 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The "verifiable evidence" that you keep putting back in still is poorly written and, particularly with the capital letters and direct reference to the GaWC in the text, looks a lot like spam to me, instead of a reference. I have rephrased this and moved the part about the Federal Reserve Bank and US District Court to help make the point. Dr. Cash 22:15, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: World City/Global City

message: I've just nominated this article for peer review. I think we're getting pretty close to FAC, and hopefully the peer review will give us a few guidelines with how to move forward towards that goal. Dr. Cash 22:53, 5 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Peer review

message: At Centennial Dome, there's a paragraph about the architecture constructed in the early 1960s. Being an outsider, I don't know whether this would fit better somewhere in the city's article. Eludium-q36 17:33, 9 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Civil War Centennial