Its pretty random and you'll hear different opinions about when, where and how. I think the whole idea of "shooting your shot" is ignoring all that and hoping whoever you're talking to is amenable. If you do it enough you'll find someone who doesn't get annoyed is the idea.

Personally, this kind of thing is why I gave up on meeting women.

I got some hate for this last time, but I don’t understand the need to have every minor road outlet onto the big b streets. Turn some of them into no outlet, with that part of the road becoming a park or parking lot.

All these little nowhere streets are such a waste of land.

I was blown away by this when I first saw it. Fascinating. Not so much that slums cause crime, which is unsurprising, but that so many other things didn’t.

That's a widespread problem in the US. We like to put shops and houses right next to roads where cars are trying to go fast.

I'm reminded of this problem with some elementary school; I don't recall which. The issues was cars would cut through the road in front of the school while driving fast. This is dangerous.

I looked at the map and... they can just make that road a dead end. Problem solved. Makes me so mad.

>It's all neighborhood behind it, and they don't want people gaming the back routes through the hood to sheets.

This is frustrating to me. There are ways to resolve these issues. The fact that they don't happen makes me very skeptical of neighborhood concerns about it.

Closing the little gap next to the McDonald's on Old Westham should be sufficient without meaningful inconvenience for the homes there. There are more things you could do based on how much residents actually care about traffic.

You’re good. I feel like I wasn’t giving the discussion enough attention. I can see why you’d feel a little offended given your knowledge and experience as well.

I’ll think back on this discussion some more. Housing is a major issue that I’m passionate about, but that also means being open to learning. Thank you for the conversation and I hope it wasn’t too uncomfortable.

>it really is this simple. We have data. Data trumps anxieties.

This isn't my understanding, but, I hope you're right. Seems like lead as an issue has been taken more seriously over the 10 15 years so its getting a lot better anyway.

For the rest, sure. I'm skeptical things are as cheap and easy as you're implying, but, perhaps I'm wrong.

>For mobility impaired individuals who rely on ADA ramps, there's still plenty of work to do. The city has plenty of hills, so they're already in an uphill battle on top of plenty of less than accessible ramps/sidewalks.

Hardly the only thing to do, but expanding the CARE program would be great, especially later into the evenings. It's basically a shuttle service. Being in a wheelchair doesn't mean you don't want to get a drink or go to a punk show.

>it's just not an issue if you don't let your kids eat the house. I was raised in a lead paint house.

Unfortunately it isn't this simple. Unless your only concern is with acute exposure, breathing in dust or other particulates can cause long-term damage during childhood, say, lower IQ, impulsivity and other mental health related issues. Google the lead-crime hypothesis for a broader view of chronic lead exposure. Luckily things aren't nearly as bad now as then, but, children are getting lead exposure from somewhere.

Kids often dig in the dirt and get filth on their hands, which then can end up in their mouths, which is another avenue for lead exposure. Digging in the yard is a normal part of childhood and soil contamination, say paint shedding into the yard over time, is not at all unusual in older homes.

>Given I've been building and remodeling houses, primarily old houses, for 20 years now, yeah, I'm sure you have worked on them less than I have.

I was reflecting on this, and I can see why what you're saying would make a lot of sense from a contractor's perspective. You're likely to deal with known lead issues, with owners (presumably of single-family houses) who are willing and able and aware to address maintenance issues, you are focused on the houses themselves directly and you aren't there for DIY home renovations.

Not everyone lives in a single family home where they're in full control of maintenance, not everyone has access to high quality contractors like yourself, not everyone is as knowledgeable or careful as you or your parents.

>There are no cracks that are impossible to fix btw. It may be that you guys don't want to pay to fix them, which is another thing. Condos are famously cheap and pass the buck on repairs, it's the incentive structure

For sure, although I'm not sure you can lift a multifamily unit for major foundation repairs. The issue here is primarily cost over time. Typically newer homes don't need foundation repairs.

Otherwise I agree. The incentives are pretty fucked for condos. People really, really hate tall buildings which understandably leads to bad policy.

I suppose your experience does mean than tens of thousands of young children aren’t being poisoned by “not a big deal” lead right now. Mostly from lead pipes and paint. I do appreciate your condescension of course.

After seeing a stairwell begin peeling away from the floor, AC units fail and dangerous knob and tube wiring, and my own experience and research, we’ll have to agree to disagree.

Lead as a concern is less about cost and more about giving your kids brain damage. For example, lead that has chipped and fallen into the nearby soil. Related infrastructure is also a problem as it’s not always accessible to the resident.

Perhaps. I’ve also worked on houses but I’m sure less than you have. I’m also aware my condo building has cracks in the brickwork and foundation that are impossible to fix. It also gets tiresome having to pay 5-10k a year to maintain the 100 year old building in general.

That’s a bit circular. Yes, more expensive brick homes built in the past are better than cheap wood homes today in some ways.

Unfortunately anything built before the 80s will have major lead and asbestos problems. The 60s and 70s are better, for sure, but if we go back further you’re running into places with bad insulation, cracks in foundations, old wiring, and poisoning like I mentioned earlier. Fixing these means is practically building a new house anyway.

For point 3, I’m not so sure that’s a good way to think about new vs old homes. Part of why older homes might have a lower sticker price is because they’re so expensive to maintain and upkeep. If you’ll have to drop 5-10 grand on repairs every year it’s cheaper on paper but in reality you aren’t saving much if anything.

Maybe Joe Manchin is moving out here?

Forgive my bitterness.

I bought into an old building, which I don’t regret necessarily, but a $11,000 per unit adjustment are brutal. I would have to charge $2000 in rent just to break even. All to preserve the look of a historically all white neighborhood with the monuments as mascots.

Yep. Plus old buildings are fucking expensive to maintain. Fuck old buildings and their rats and roaches.

Unfortunately not. Rush hour largely comes from the lower density suburbs. Separating jobs and where people live is a huge mistake.

It’s not clear to me how the rich are being eaten. What the union is saying sounds a lot like what wealthy homeowners want but with a socialist spin.

I care about reality but unfortunately most people don’t. The union needs to make a decision; are they about improving the lives of renters or are they about rhetoric people want to hear. It seems like the latter in which case they are, unfortunately, useless.

Wow, that's cool.

Their proposal, as I saw referenced in their most recent news item, is quite bad. Rent control discourages migration. This only makes the intense segregation in RVA worse by freezing out new tenants.

Their apparent opposition to development is quite confusing in this regard as well; to desegregate Monument avenue to match the diversity of the city as a whole would require the POC population to more than double. There's not enough housing to do that without displacement.

The hostility to zoning being a major source of this problem is very confusing. More than one thing can be true at a time.

Right. It’s called segregation and has been around for a long time.

Deed restrictions. They hide exclusionary zoning through HOAs.

Besides, for a city that large it’s comparable in price to RVA. Could be a lot worse.

The effect of zoning is a legally enforced price fixing scheme among homeowners. This is explicit; just talk to homeowners and they’ll tell you.

Landlords are essentially free riding on the policies that ordinary homeowners, who’ve won the lottery for the American dream, created.