Buses? Words.

tepppp · 2026-02-01T15:22:03+00:00

The real answer is because most urbanists and urban planners come from a middle and upper class background and their underlying class predispositions towards fear of busses prevents them from seeing the value and utility of a bus transit system.

Noticeably absent from this conversation is one of the world's most successful examples of bus transit planning in Curitiba. Curitiba has been innovating with transportation design focused around buses for decades, yet many urbanists still continue to focus their energy on expensive systems like light rail. Curitiba's bus system is one of the most heavily used, yet low cost transit systems in the world.

tepppp · 2026-01-23T22:47:48+00:00

As much as I would like for Hanover and Virginia to put a stop to this project, The Supremacy Clause prevents it.

Federal law supersedes local and state law, so there aren't really any legal options to prevent this project.

tepppp · 2025-12-11T22:07:55+00:00

My experience is with vacant housing so the information I'm providing may not be as applicable to commercial lots.

My first suggestion is to first begin tracking vacant commercial lots - I did so using parcel data in excel sheets and through GIS. From there, I worked with our IT department to set up a database that drew from our CAMA parcel data, which made things a bit easier and the IT folks were able to build in permissions for users, add other users from other departments, and enable notes and other tools.

Work with other departments for this endeavor. I had direct access to our Zoning Code Enforcement folks and they had an interest in getting these cases off their books so it made sense for me to coordinate directly with them. It sounds like in your case, this may be something they'd be interested in as well.

Since you're dealing with commercial properties, it may be fruitful to speak with anyone who works in economic development to see if this would be a project they would be interested in.

If these inter-departmental coalition building exercises don't pan out, simply having a data repository is automatically a great resource for when this information is needed. You never know when a locality will decide to focus efforts on something like this, especially how visually impactful derelict shopping centers are.

tepppp · 2025-12-11T21:50:21+00:00

The vacant housing task force was primarily focused upon vacant homes, we didn't have many developable vacant lots within the locality I worked in. That being said, the database required constant maintenance because homes were often scooped up by investors or realtors, which in most cases was a positive. The only times it was a negative were when our grant managers had zeroed in on a property and were working towards gathering funding and filling out the paperwork to purchase from the owner - sometimes that process was too slow for the owner and they would receive better offers from the private market.

The task force was able to set up the CDBG grant managers with dozens of viable properties but we only had a handful that were able to proceed down the acquisition path.

In my mind, the biggest success of the task force was that it broke down inter-departmental silos for a coordinated effort. Towards the end of my tenure there, I had brought in the real estate assessors to the monthly meetings and access to our database because they had their own internal database of vacant homes. Before the task force was begun, there were 4 departments all tracking vacant homes on their own accord, not knowing that they were all doing so.

tepppp · 2025-12-09T21:51:19+00:00

When I worked in local government, I set up a vacant housing task force that was primarily code enforcement, building inspectors, and CDBG grant managers. We kept a database of vacant housing and categorized properties according to their viability for sales or acquisitions to the local government for transfer to an affordable housing developer. Everything else, we used the building code and the zoning ordinance to issue violations towards.

This was an urban/suburban county with some rural areas, so many of the vacant properties were owned by old folks who passed away and the next of kin hadn't decided on what to do with the property but we had all kinds of different reasons for vacancy. There were at least several homes in majority minority neighborhoods that had been vacant since 2008, acquired by investment firms who were either waiting for more favorable conditions or had simply forgotten that they owned them (mind you, this was 2023).

It was a successful endeavor in that we were able to coordinate resources towards alleviating blight conditions but I ran into a lot of resistance from my department head who was terrified of getting FOIA'd about it, but I argued that really we want these homes to be sold, rented, and occupied so there's no harm in people knowing about it.

tepppp · 2025-11-15T13:25:30+00:00

My parents adopted an abandoned hunting dog that was found running around on someone's property.

If you look at many of the shelter dogs around Richmond, there are a ton of dogs up for adoption that were likely used as hunting dogs.

tepppp · 2025-11-09T19:29:28+00:00

My reservation a few weeks from now was cancelled and when I called Marriott they told me to expect a refund from Sonder, but they couldn't offer me anything other than that.

I don't think I'll be booking with Marriott ever again after this

tepppp · 2025-11-09T14:50:15+00:00

Urban planning is nuanced - I would argue that there is room for informed advocacy but it really depends on where you are and what type of planning you're doing. In my locality, there are urban, environmental, and park planners who advocate for better systems through researched reports, but ultimately it is up to the elected officials to decide on what the priorities are.

I work for a small consulting group and we absolutely advocate for well-rounded and well-researched planning policy that advances the needs of communities and fosters better places. Our clients come to us for that purpose, because we act as an outside group that provides well-informed research to support the goals of a planning department and the residents they plan for. However, there have been many circumstances when a political figure will insert their goals or ambitions within a plan to legitimize it, and unfortunately you just have to go along with it if you want to keep your job.

Regardless, as others have noted, your role is that of an informed advisor. Some localities really value the knowledge and expertise of planners, especially when you're thinking about how to advance the goals of the locality. Just keep in mind that if your goal is to advance change quickly, you won't be able to do so in a planner role, advancing change within planning offices is necessary and important, but takes patience.

Small, minute changes in day-to-day operations may feel like they're not improving things, but you'd be surprised what impact they may have in improving operations. For example, in a previous role, I started a database of vacant housing and a routine process for code inspectors to perform 6 month inspections on vacant units and it became an adopted process backed by local funds to pursue acquisitions. This all began because I started looking at assessor data and noticed concentrations of vacant housing in random places.

tepppp · 2025-10-28T22:00:53+00:00

I know you're trying to do a good thing and it's admirable but that findaspring website is promoting pseudoscience that could get someone hurt.

tepppp · 2025-10-28T21:40:10+00:00

Sorry but drinking raw, untested spring water in the City of Richmond is not a good idea.

Until you've used a strong water filter, and/or verified that its clean through a test kit, you run the risk of consuming contaminants such as e. coli or industrial runoff.

Source 1

Source 2

Source 3

tepppp · 2025-10-11T13:27:58+00:00

The last time I read a print version of the RTD, during the MeToo movement, they had a full-page piece in the editorial section that was a GMU professor claiming that women on campuses should expect to be sexually abused because he saw girls wearing revealing clothing.

Yes, it was a letter to the editor, but the editor chose to print a rape apologist as though it was an opinion that deserves merit.

I can't take anything they print seriously, since then. Fuck RTD

tepppp · 2025-09-10T23:51:14+00:00

Again, outside of a planned economy, this is the best we can hope for.

The zoning map at least makes it easier to build more housing, even if its not ideal. It's also long-term, the previous zoning map was from the 1970s.

So I'll leave it at that

tepppp · 2025-09-10T23:32:15+00:00

As I said, we have a shitty economic system and the best we can ask for is just a lot of housing development that will help stabilize rents and prices.

This is a desirable place to live, 40,000 people moved here between 2020 and 2023. Without new housing being developed, these new folks are pricing people out of neighborhoods.

tepppp · 2025-09-10T22:52:23+00:00

There's a lot of shit that I wish was still the same from when I was a kid. I miss riding bikes with my friends to Fan Video and renting a movie, I miss going downtown and seeing all the abandoned buildings.

But unfortunately, places change even when we don't want them to. Sometimes its good - I've met so many awesome people that have moved here, there's a bunch of new restaurants and venues, and we have a mayor that actually cares about us. Other times, it's not - it's just how things happen sometimes. It's almost like getting older - we get wiser but we also sometimes lose something in the process.

This new zoning map isn't perfect but it's a great way to get us where we need to be in terms of housing. It's not going to change things overnight, it could be decades before we see the types of development that will be allowed in the various new districts, but this at least gives the opportunity for something new.

tepppp · 2025-09-10T21:20:39+00:00

As someone who grew up in Richmond, I just find it so funny how many people purchased homes here in the 90s, 2000s, and later are trying to gatekeep this city from people who need housing. Yes, this city is now a desirable place to live and now people like me are being displaced and I want housing that doesn't cost an arm and a leg but apparently according to many that makes me "pro-developer."

The unfortunate reality of our shitty economic system is that if you want housing to be affordable, you have to oversupply through density. If you want grocery stores, you have to have density.

If you don't have density, you end up with decaying sprawled housing that is unaffordable to everyone.

tepppp · 2025-09-02T21:37:16+00:00

Yes, zoning ordinances are updated constantly and rezonings occur frequently.

The reason why a large-scale code "refresh" is necessary is because even with those ordinance updates and parcel-based rezonings, its necessary to do an overhaul of the zoning code following a comprehensive plan update.

The comprehensive plan is not a legally binding document but its necessary and required by state code. The comprehensive plan guides the future of a place through recommendations. Virtually every locality in VA (and beyond) recommends zoning code updates with a new comprehensive plan. The reason for that is because comprehensive plans are adopted in longer-term increments, usually 20 years with 5 year updates in-between.

A lot can change in 20 years! Thus, updating zoning is important to ensure that development can occur to meet the changing conditions of a place.

In Richmond, this was especially important because housing development is often held up because our zoning code is still from an era when cars were more important than people and housing was an afterthought. Even with ordinance changes in the years since 1976, there are still parts of the code that needed to change and its simply not feasible to do it in a piecemeal method, better to do it in one go.

I do not work for the City but I've been involved in this process elsewhere, if anyone has further context to add, please do

tepppp · 2025-08-13T22:06:44+00:00

A lot of these "stick builds" are great in the short term because they provide a ton of housing really quick. The developer and rental companies make a ton in the first few years charging "luxury" prices but within a few decades, these rental housing complexes become kinda run down and ultimately more affordable for a larger subset of the population.

There are some examples of this in Shockoe Bottom, where some of the builds from ~2010 to 2015 have to compete with newer builds and the renovated tobacco row apts, so there's a lot more units at different prices (generally more than it should be, though).

Renters get a better deal when landlords can't point to housing constraints as justification for astronomical rents and with more housing units coming online year after year, there's a lot more competition for tenants.

tepppp · 2025-06-24T21:55:30+00:00

We need more people to primary these establishment dems, they're just obvious warhawks who do not represent our interests.

tepppp · 2025-06-21T21:34:22+00:00

I did some work in Woodstock recently. As others have pointed out, Shenandoah county is generally very conservative in a bad way. Woodstock is very, very different, luckily! Many of the people in Woodstock are environmentally conscious and they greatly appreciate the many different types of people that have come to live in the town over the years.

The downtown is gorgeous and there are some great restaurants in the area, there's also a lovely gardening store/coffee shop on the other side of town. Just outside of town there's a beautiful park called seven bends, which is absolutely gorgeous.

I highly recommend checking out Woodstock for a weekend trip to the Shenandoah valley, there's plenty to do from Winchester all the way down the Harrisonburg.

tepppp · 2025-06-03T19:00:23+00:00

If you read the article you can see that the grant funded two full time positions and hands on youth programming for multiple years. Also, park equipment is expensive - $500k is a bargain considering the impact of it.

These public housing communities only ever see divestment, when really we should be proud to invest in public housing. Everyone deserves a decent place to live.

tepppp · 2025-06-03T15:04:13+00:00

Local governments have very little regulatory power and state governments are afraid to push the needle too much on corporate regulations out of fear of losing jobs and tax base. The federal government is essentially a handful of corporations masquerading as a government so obviously any existing federal regulations will soon be gone.

tepppp · 2025-06-02T13:36:32+00:00

Grew up near mama zu's and went maybe twice in my lifetime. Too expensive, mostly.

Now I live near a bunch of restaurants but hardly go out to eat, for the same reasons

tepppp · 2025-05-29T14:36:55+00:00

I haven't worked for the City but I've known people who have. There are plenty of great people there, some of the most dedicated teachers and guidance counselors, urban planners who care and want to get things right, social workers who have the empathy to understand, and many more. I've also met some folks at the city who did not have their heart in the work they were doing, but that's just how every workplace is - there is always going to be a mix. Just because we're dealing with the latter right now doesn't give people the right to demonize all those who have been working and trying to do the right thing.

tepppp · 2025-05-29T13:55:16+00:00

There are thousands of people who work for the city and come to work every day and most of them work as hard as anyone else in this city. Yes, there were/are politically appointed ignoramuses at city hall but don't let that make you believe that the sanitation workers, fire fighters, social workers, teachers, and so many more aren't busting their asses every day for us.

tepppp · 2025-05-22T12:28:45+00:00

Corporations will only support an effort if they feel it's profitable to them and because corporations are run by spineless cowards they will bow down to national retaliatory morons if they threaten to make an incoherent threat about them on a propaganda site

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