RVA Reality Check

Monday, 13 May 2013

Yesterday, I attended the ULI meeting for Richmond, VA at VCU’s Siegel Center.

The ULI, or Urban Land Institute was founded in 1936 and has members worldwide. They represent the entire spectrum of land use and real estate development disciplines working in private enterprise and public service. ULI Richmond is a local district council where everyone and anyone attends in a forum setting. Leaders grow professionally and personally through sharing, mentoring, and problem solving.

What an awesome experience. The meeting opened at 8am with the multiple speakers such as Timothy Davey of the Timmons Group, Laura Lee Garnett, Ed McMahon, Senator John Watkins and Jeffery Geiger.

I learned a lot from these powerful speakers. I learned that by 2035 Richmond will have 435,000 new citizens and 203,000 jobs. The million dollar question was how will we or Richmond excel to continue meet the needs of our future growth. In meeting the needs, I mean more along the lines of accommodating traffic growth or problems, gaining infrastructure, housing demands, the needs of an aging population, recreational needs, utility needs, and open space preservation.

After opening speakers, the attendees, all 300 of us broke into tables/groups. I had the honor of sitting with some wonderful people, the Mayor of Ashland, Chesterfield County planner, private developers and so many more. We constructed a vision of where we see Richmond heading. We portrayed our vision using 500 Legos of different colors. Everyone had a voice in where they think Richmond will grow in a way that will add value to our economy while preserving the environment.

For more information please go to http://richmond.uli.org

I also sat at the table with a writer from the Richmond Times dispatch. So to my surprise… I am on the front page of the Metro section HERE.

Below is a picture I took of my table, table 29’s vision.

MK