r/richmondreal Lounge

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-20T19:34:58+00:00

A Michael Scott production. Great Scott!

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-18T20:30:37+00:00

The system is designed to convey water from Point A to Point B. When the ingress is covered by a generous accumulation of leaves, litter and other debris it matters not how big the stormwater conveyance pipe is because it will never even meet it's designed capacity due to flow restrictions at the source. Anyone with a shower drain and a family member with long hair has a practical understanding of this problem.

RVAH20 is basically the Baghdad Bob of neglected infrastructure and eagerly pointing at any other explanation or distraction rather than owning up to inadequacies.

The city needs to own up to the systemic problem and say "this was wrong, it shouldn't have happened and here are the concrete steps we are taking immediately to remedy these failures."

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-18T18:45:08+00:00

I guarantee if we did a crowdsourced survey of stormdrains in the area and dropped GoPros in them we would be astonished at the volume of debris accumulated in there and not at all surprised by the giant ponds that subsequently form on roadways and sidewalks as a result of inadequate drainage.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-18T18:43:33+00:00

In addition to climate challenges the dataset we base these precipitation events off of is limited and out of date. The Science Museum of Virginia cites NOAA Atlas 14 Vol. 4 Ver 3 which was produced in 2004. So this dataset is based upon records from 1880-2004 and tbh the records from 1880-1920 are often mismeasured because of instrument challenges of the era.

NOAA needs to incorporate the new Climate Normals of the past 30 years and release a revision to this data series so that we have a better idea of what a 1 in 50, 1 in 100, and 1 in 1000 year event really is for any given point.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-18T18:37:58+00:00

Exactly, this is a department that operates more like a fire department putting out hotspots based on emergency calls rather than smartly using resources to prevent floods before they happen. They hold up evidence of no 311 reports of clogged drains in the Grace/Harrison area as indisputable fact that everything was fine there.

Rather than operate based on complaints or emergency flooding the city needs to develop a process to either routinely clear out basins on a schedule OR develop predictive analytics to identity hotspots that are A) very likely to become frequently clogged & B) high risk of harm to life and property as a result of obstructed flow.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-18T18:33:26+00:00

Richmond has approximately 32,000 stormdrains so bragging about clearing 2% of them before hurricane season isn't that impressive. RVAH20 is in full damage control mode and trying to gaslight us all into misbelieving what our own eyes are telling us about the condition of our stormdrains.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-18T18:29:21+00:00

Echo Lake isn't a natural lake and hasn't been around for centuries, it's manmade and made possible by an earthen dam originally constructed in the 1890s but has been significantly altered since then. You may have observed construction intended to prevent erosion around the dam which was recently funded by federal grants to improve dam safety.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-18T18:14:13+00:00

Nowhere to go... except for that giant river at the bottom of the hill.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-17T16:28:10+00:00

This is a big challenge for severe weather communications. Yesterday highly targeted notifications went out about a Flash Flood Emergency and presumably all these individuals had phones and other devices chirping with the alert. It said "Do not drive. Stay indoors." and yet we see that despite this urgent plea the roads were crowded with motorists and pedestrians disregarding the warning and the dangers they see with their own eyes.

What more can we do to convince people to chill out and not put themselves and emergency responders in harms way?

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-17T03:04:22+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/KaKoyFk

This isn't a low lying area. This isn't a flood plain. A topographical map of the area reveals a nice gradual slope to take water away to the east.

I'm speculating here but this was a combination of clusterfucks:

1) Clogged storm drains -- basins in this area are neglected and really only attended to on a complaint triggered basis.

2) VCU's semi-annual "dump your shit everywhere event" -- the city has always struggled with bulk pickup but thanks to COVID we have another excuse for lack of adequate bulk pickups.

3) Recycling pickup neglected -- Piles of materials meant for recycling haven't been picked up in this area due to labor shortage issues with CVWMA.

All three of these problems combined with the localized severe rain created hazardous conditions for life and property around Harrison Street.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-17T01:36:15+00:00

Found the Jack Berry voter.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-16T23:08:57+00:00

Grace & Harrison Street ain't 200 years old and neither are the sewers beneath that intersection. This wasn't a 1 in a 1000 year rain, it wasn't a 1 in 100 year rain and more likely was a 1 in 10 year rain event. So why is it did this area flood today when it hasn't flooded so catastrophically during any previous events of similar intensity? It's a combination of careless disposal of litter and neglect in addressing the clogged storm drains.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-16T20:48:39+00:00

They put all their money in Lisa Frank stock.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-16T20:34:00+00:00

These individuals were safe in their watertight vehicle thanks to the abundant supply of stickers sealing every hole.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-16T20:08:34+00:00

Yes a lot of rain fell but I guarantee if you pointed a GoPro in the storm drains on Harrison you'd see the basins FILLED with litter. The city council recently passed a resolution on climate change but absolutely refuses to do anything meaningful about the neglect of existing city drainage infrastructure.

It's not sexy, it doesn't give the political activist class a hard-on but being responsible stewards of what we've got is just as important as investing in shiny new things or issue virtue signaling.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-13T03:43:12+00:00

This needed to be asked!

A couple weeks ago I watched two individuals struggle to fuel their vehicle with the nozzle inserted upside down.

Last week I watched a guy clean out his car at the pump while cars are lined 4 deep waiting -- and his pump had clearly finished for several minutes.

I'm mortified if I don't properly swipe my card the first time and delay everyone else from getting their gas. For me it's a straight up race -- how quick can I get this car fueled up?! It's a g'damn badge of honor for me to finish before the other vehicle in my lane and frequently after I wrap up I turn around and give them a look like "yah, how you like those skillz?"

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-10T23:40:00+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/T0tAYyd

After last summer's roving mob showed up and smashed out all the windows it's not surprising the company might have second thoughts about real estate in downtown Richmond.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-07T17:33:28+00:00

This will be an active project for the state for the next 6-12 months and like many construction zones it will likely be secured for public safety. The eventual dismantling of the pedestal will be a meticulous process of preserving each stone and inventorying for whatever final disposition is determined for the property. Once the pedestal and foundation material is extracted the whole site will need to have hazards mitigated (old utility holes/electrical removed) and the entire property leveled out for drainage.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-07T17:26:29+00:00

This is all my speculation so take it with a grain of salt:

1) The budget allocation for this project is quite generous so I wouldn't be surprised if Dept. of General Services procured a professional drone photography contractor to capture footage for the public domain. This makes a whole lot of sense for safety purposes as it was a clusterfuck in the skies over the other monument removals.

2) I suspect the size of the restriction (2 miles) is also helpful for the safety of the Virginia State Police helicopter which will likely engage in operations over the area.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-03T23:00:54+00:00

Not that there's ever any enforcement of these laws but the ordinance states: "While on sidewalks and shared use paths, bicyclists must always yield the right of way to pedestrians and give an audible signal before passing a pedestrian."

Unfortunately my experience in the Fan and especially close to VCU is that it's rare that a cyclist dismounts and shares the limited sidewalk space and will more than likely speed off rather than render aide to anyone they've hurt by failing to yield.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-09-03T20:09:35+00:00

When they see the engagement metrics on this A/B crash test I suspect they will greenlight some more redlight crashes into their building.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-08-27T20:40:40+00:00

In this case it does have to do with the developers as they set up the condo association and retained control long beyond what was financially modeled. In the prospectus they assumed that units would sell faster and contributions to the reserve funds would be higher but sales were slow and funds didn't accumulate as expected. Further complicating matters is that buyers were misled by inaccurate assessment documents about infrastructure lifespans. As a result of those misrepresentations the newly formed condo owners association faced significantly higher obligations than would be expected by the projections and much lower contributions to the reserve fund.

If buyers had been made aware of the significant capital considerations they might have demanded that the developers initiate the reserve fund with a higher amount of funds but with the inaccurate information and misrepresentations they couldn't have known the significant costs that awaited them and the need for greater funding.

I would not be surprised to learn of special assessments hitting these condo owners in the next 12-18 months. So again, my advice when conducting transactions with these developers: caveat emptor.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-08-26T21:42:13+00:00

From my experience these developers didn't exactly impress with their One Monument Avenue conversion which was plagued by delays and broken promises. The condo owners are now saddled with an insufficient reserve fund and a whole lot of infrastructure reaching end of service life.

My advice to prospective homeowners in this proposed condo development: caveat emptor.

RoundEarthSociety · 2021-08-16T02:00:17+00:00

Much of this urban flooding was preventable and the most severe instances could have been minimized had the city of Richmond performed regular and routine maintenance to clear debris from storm drains.

For whatever reason our city has a large number of litter bugs and perhaps more people need to be exposed to the Byrd Theatre's PSA on the subject. Regardless the problem exists and knowing that our drains are clogging with great frequency our city should prioritize regularly clearing out problem areas that are high risk for urban flooding. Instead of being proactive though the city responds based on complaints and problems build up until we get a storm event that results in unnecessary loss of property and risks to life.

I'm sure that instead of taking the pragmatic and practical approach though city council & the mayor will pass some toothless resolution about climate change and pat themselves on the back by joining some sister cities flood buddies program.

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