http://riverdistrictnews.com/2008/07/04/rachel-flynn-on-the-downtown-master-plan/ News and events in Richmond's River District - Shockoe Slip, Shockoe Bottom, Manchester, Tobacco Row, Rocketts. Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:25:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 http://riverdistrictnews.com/2008/07/04/rachel-flynn-on-the-downtown-master-plan/#comment-2164 Stewart Schwartz Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:23:07 +0000 http://riverdistrictnews.com/?p=509#comment-2164 I hope people will attend tonight's hearing and support the Downtown Plan as drafted. This is a great plan that achieves the right balance on all issues. It has been drafted with more public involvement than any process I've seen in Virginia and harnessed the talents of one of the best planning and design firms in the nation. Our planning director Rachel Flynn is a great asset to this city and she has made it possible for the community to craft a great vision for the future. The biggest challenge to the plan has come from major corporate and academic landowners. They should support, not frustrate, the integration of their facilities into the fabric of the city. Their buildings should face the street with active uses like ground floor retail, should include public spaces and should maintain and restore the historic street network. "Office park" styles like those that have been built in the past have no place within an urban city. It is time to approve this plan and send it to the City Council for approval so that Richmond can realize its amazing potential -- a city with strong history and great people that can become a model of a walkable, green, economically prosperous and vibrant city. I hope people will attend tonight’s hearing and support the Downtown Plan as drafted. This is a great plan that achieves the right balance on all issues. It has been drafted with more public involvement than any process I’ve seen in Virginia and harnessed the talents of one of the best planning and design firms in the nation. Our planning director Rachel Flynn is a great asset to this city and she has made it possible for the community to craft a great vision for the future. The biggest challenge to the plan has come from major corporate and academic landowners. They should support, not frustrate, the integration of their facilities into the fabric of the city. Their buildings should face the street with active uses like ground floor retail, should include public spaces and should maintain and restore the historic street network. “Office park” styles like those that have been built in the past have no place within an urban city. It is time to approve this plan and send it to the City Council for approval so that Richmond can realize its amazing potential — a city with strong history and great people that can become a model of a walkable, green, economically prosperous and vibrant city.

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