Regional and business cooperation is the key to your success. My proposal would be to incorporate an over-ground monorail system from the West End, North Side, South Side and East End -- the four corners of the Greater Richmond Metropolitan area -- which would all lead to Main Street Station. It is the only way you will reap any benefit from the enormous amount of wasted money dumped into the station.
Ingress and egress to the city and surrounding shopping areas would become an adventure instead of a headache. Have a shuttle service feeding the interior of the city from Main Street Station. That way, the need for additional parking spaces and decks would diminish and you could dig up unnecessary streets between the large office buildings and turn them into parks -- in a sense, turning the city green.
Also, if we really need a baseball stadium in Shockoe Bottom, this system would really help to support it. Richmond could be the "City of the Future -- With a Past." Focus tourism on St. John's Church, where the changing of the guard of world power began, and declare Richmond the city where slavery ended. Use our history to our advantage instead of as a liability. The right team won the war.
Scott Pettit lives in Goochland. He has a degree in urban and regional planning and has served on the Goochland County Industrial Development Authority.
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