You gotta remember, Trani already promised before not to encroach on the neighborhood and has now gone against his word. He cannot be trusted.

VCU is hellbent on bulldozing more Richmond history (so much for the open Downtown Development Plannig charettes’s suggestions) and chipping away more of the neighborhood. Its sad, because we are hearing about some good development plans by private Cary Street developers, for a change.

VCU is in land-banking, empire-building mode. It owns parking lots all over Grace and Broad that would make great student rec center sites. Remember, years ago Oregon Hill residents helped suggest to Trani that he redevelop Broad Street instead of tearing up more of the neighborhood. That argument still applies and has more weight from the success that VCU has had on Broad Street.

This VCU project will come at a huge cost to state taxpayers and students. The cost of “reconstructing” (notice how that was changed from moving) the one stable, demolishing the other, cleaning the ground that includes the underground storage tank, putting a monstrous addition to the very beautiful City Auditorium should make everyone think twice about this.

It would nice if VCU took our residents’ advice and helped continue the Belvidere Greenway up to Monroe Park and into Carver and northward. It would be nice if VCU partnered with the City to create a modern streetcar styled circulator transportation system. It would be nice if VCU did more to discourage bad student behavior (unruly parties, grafitti, littering, etc), instead they point to the Fan’s Party Patrol (they want City taxpayers to pay for these problems).

In short, VCU seems to be more about press releases and corporate interests than caring about the community and listening to citizens.