Shockoe Bottom residents, business owners and city officials met Saturday, a day after the city issued a request for proposals for an economic strategy to guide development and redevelopment in the neighborhood.
The project will be financed with $125,000 set aside by City Council this spring.
The meeting, held at The Old City Bar on East Main Street, was the first in a series of discussions on the Bottom's potential, its revitalization needs and its assets.
"We want to use this little bit of money to start having an honest conversation about what really works in this area," said City Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson, whose 6th District includes the Bottom, calling it "the most precious land in the city of Richmond."
She challenged the approximately 60 in attendance to begin thinking about what Richmond lacked, and how the Bottom could fill those needs.
Among the suggestions to focus on were transit, pride and history, creating a sense of place, tourism, blighted buildings, pedestrian traffic and enforcement of ABC laws.
For more on the Shockoe Bottom meeting, see Sunday's Times-Dispatch.
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