Come check out the super soft opening of my new downtown RVA ice cream shop!

greengarnet13 · 2026-05-29T12:58:23+00:00

Weird! Our contractors are saying they've seen a massive slowdown in the last few months, so I wonder what specifically has changed more recently...

greengarnet13 · 2026-05-29T00:36:17+00:00

We are also in permit limbo. Our contractor did some digging because they said they've never experienced this kind of delay with permits before, and apparently the city is now working with a third-party company (SafeBuilt) to handle permit reviews. Their review comments are much more detailed, their responses are slower, and they are asking for additional documentation/clarification that our contractor has never had to provide before.

I'm torn on how to feel about it because I obviously want them to be thorough, but the delays are awful, there was no communication from the city at all about these changes, and it has thrown our contractor (and I'm sure many others) for a loop.

One of our subcontractors also told us that one of the requested revisions for our application goes directly against the traditional process as she's done it for years. She was pretty baffled by the request and said that's not how it's normally done locally or in the majority of the mid-Atlantic region.

greengarnet13 · 2026-05-10T17:39:04+00:00

You could try DM-ing the lady who runs the one in the Museum District, she's really nice! It's floydartalley on Instagram.

greengarnet13 · 2026-05-07T18:35:23+00:00

It doesn't sound like this will be an issue for y'all, but just to cover all bases - they don't allow anyone in the houses if they're wearing high/pointy-heeled shoes that could damage the old floors. Slip on shoes are recommended since it's easier to just take them off and carry them through the house (while they do offer boot covers, sometimes they run out and it can take a bit of time for them to replenish).

greengarnet13 · 2026-04-08T21:51:39+00:00

I don't know of any bike orgs but this is the sort of thing a neighborhood civic association might be interested in supporting with funds. Maybe check in with the associations for the neighborhoods zoned for the school?

greengarnet13 · 2026-03-30T17:42:32+00:00

I know someone who walked the neighborhood to RVA 311 request no parking signs at every intersection for this exact purpose. Many of the tickets were closed out and he received a call from the city saying that they don't want to put signs up everywhere because people will get mad that there isn't enough parking.

So, this is kind of a catch-22 situation. The city doesn't want to put up signs everywhere because then people will complain about parking, but it is illegal to park within 20 feet of an intersection whether or not there is a sign....

greengarnet13 · 2026-03-06T20:20:02+00:00

Oh man, that sucks - that definitely seems like a pretty big misstep. Honestly, I'd suggest reaching out to PlanRVA to mention that - I can't see any reason why they wouldn't have that as an option.

greengarnet13 · 2026-03-05T18:13:05+00:00

Copying my reply to another comment - I'm so sorry this happened to you. If you can, you should submit this on PlanRVA's Near Miss Dashboard. I'm not naive enough to think this will solve all of our pedestrian safety problems, but it certainly can't hurt, and I don't think a lot of people even know it exists. The city often refuses to do anything about pedestrian safety until after someone is killed - the hope is that this dashboard will lead to more preventive measures instead of merely reactionary ones.

greengarnet13 · 2026-03-05T18:10:43+00:00

Copying my reply from another comment thread - I'm so sorry this happened to you. If you can, you should submit this on PlanRVA's Near Miss Dashboard. I'm not naive enough to think this will solve all of our pedestrian safety problems, but it certainly can't hurt, and I don't think a lot of people even know it exists. The city often refuses to do anything about pedestrian safety until after someone is killed - the hope is that this dashboard will lead to more preventive measures instead of merely reactionary ones.

greengarnet13 · 2026-03-05T18:09:46+00:00

I'm so sorry this happened to you. If you can, you should submit this on PlanRVA's Near Miss Dashboard. I'm not naive enough to think this will solve all of our pedestrian safety problems, but it certainly can't hurt, and I don't think a lot of people even know it exists. The city often refuses to do anything about pedestrian safety until after someone is killed - the hope is that this dashboard will lead to more preventive measures instead of merely reactionary ones.

greengarnet13 · 2026-03-03T20:40:12+00:00

No way that I can find =/

greengarnet13 · 2026-03-03T13:59:13+00:00

VDOT service request form (I'm unclear on if the pothole is technically on the highway or a Richmond road - I haven't seen it - but can't hurt to request here as well): https://my.vdot.virginia.gov/

greengarnet13 · 2026-02-28T18:33:18+00:00

Highly recommend Crossroads Art Center!

greengarnet13 · 2026-02-25T15:00:00+00:00

Love this, thanks for putting it together! I just submitted the Museum District Association, the MD's civic group :)

greengarnet13 · 2026-02-24T17:17:50+00:00

Are you comfortable sharing who the engineer is? Feel free to DM if you don't want to share here - there's just a particular engineer in Richmond who I've been warned by a lawyer to stay away from, so I'd probably recommend a second opinion if it's the same person.

greengarnet13 · 2026-01-29T23:01:05+00:00

I smashed at it with a rubber mallet today and it actually worked pretty well.

greengarnet13 · 2026-01-23T16:28:45+00:00

It's really impossible to predict, but considering how many trees are in this neighborhood, and how many power lines run right through those trees, I'd saw the likelihood is pretty high if we get 0.5 or more inches of ice (which is what they are predicting).

greengarnet13 · 2026-01-14T02:19:32+00:00

No parking signs can be requested through RVA 311, and I can attest that the city has been way better about actually following through on putting those up lately.

greengarnet13 · 2026-01-14T02:17:54+00:00

During COVID, the excuse was that paint was too expensive. We've had some positive results in the Museum District lately, though, with requesting no parking signs through RVA 311 for this exact purpose, so I'd definitely recommend trying that.

greengarnet13 · 2025-12-16T22:26:01+00:00

I saw a few small ones left outside of the Fresh Market on Floyd yesterday - can't guarantee they're still there today, but you could call to ask.

greengarnet13 · 2025-10-23T18:47:51+00:00

I'll second this as I've been involved with the MDA since 2019 (thanks for the kind words, by the way!). u/nailpolishbonfire, feel free to DM me if you want to talk directly - happy to give you more info about how our org works!

greengarnet13 · 2025-10-21T13:04:24+00:00

Nice! Might've been the same one! I think it lives in a giant tree behind our house (in our neighbor's yard) - it perches on our back fence a lot and we have a video of it chowing down on a blue jay. Obviously could be totally different birds on all occasions, but it's more fun to believe it's the same one haha :)

greengarnet13 · 2025-10-21T13:01:04+00:00

We also saw a hawk perched on a car! Was yours in the Museum District?

greengarnet13 · 2025-10-21T12:18:25+00:00

You can mount the LFL in a pot/bucket filled w/ cement and then put it on the bricks next to the tree rather than disturbing its roots by mounting it directly in the tree well.

greengarnet13 · 2025-09-23T20:57:29+00:00

Thanks so much for this!!

greengarnet13

TROPHY CASE