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Why Richmond, Why?!?

It's been a month since we launched the first "Why Richmond, Why?!?" and Richmond, you've impressed us.

Your questions have been diverse, interesting and covered all parts of Richmond and its surrounding counties. Your questions have not only shown us what you want to know about your city, but also what frustrates, fascinates and baffles you about it. Most importantly, it shows us what you want from your city.

So keep the questions coming, and we'll keep getting you the answers.

We're still working on a few that you've sent in, an update on a Starbucks downtown, the story behind a mysterious Church Hill church and frustration over the toll increases are just a few. We should have the answers in time for the next column.

In the meantime, from Ikea to busted sidewalks, we've got plenty of your questions answered this month.

I heard a rumor that Ikea is coming to Richmond, is it true?

-- Jennifer

Boy do I wish it was, but sadly that's not the case. According to Joseph Ross , director of public affairs for Ikea , the Swedish retailer has no plans to open a store in Richmond. He says, "We typically require at least a population of about 2 million people to support one Ikea store."

The populations of Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield and Hanover combined put us at a little over 1 million people. So if we want an Ikea store in Richmond, we've got our work cut out for us.

The city of Richmond has a lot of construction going on. In many cases the street needs to be dug up to do utility work. Why do the contractors have such a hard time repaving the street properly? Every time this work is done in our streets, the repaving is horrible. What, if any regulations does the city have on repaving of streets by contractors?

-- Benjamin Wright  

Marc LaFountain , public information manager for Richmond's Department of Public Works , answers:

The city is in the process of improving how pavement is repaired after utility work.  Mayor L. Douglas Wilder has the Department of Public Works following new pavement repair standards that are more timely and efficient.

The city has also hired a contractor to specifically handle pavement repair after utility work. And, training is available to other companies that make road repairs.

The timing of permanent pavement repairs depends on construction timetables. Temporary repairs may be necessary in examples such as:

w  After the Federal Courthouse Building and the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation / Richmond Center Stage project is completed, Seventh Street will be milled and new asphalt will be applied. Because of this, it does not make financial sense to do permanent pavement repairs until both projects are finished.

w Underground gas and water projects can delay permanent pavement repairs until the project work is complete.

w If repairs are needed on a street designated for repaving, temporary repairs will be made until the street is resurfaced to save costs and staff time.

Anyone with a question or concern about pavement repair issues can call the city's Customer Care Center at 3-1-1.

We in the Carver community have requested quite a few times the installation of a sidewalk on 1/2 of the even side of the 800 block of Kinney Street for the many pedestrians that travel on this busy block. Can you find out what the status is on this?

-- H. Massenburg Jr.

Again, Marc LaFountain , answers:

New sidewalk requests are prioritized based on how they would best serve pedestrians in the city and then built when funding is available. There are currently more than 90 open requests that would cost more than $7 million to build.

The 800 block of Kinney Street is prioritized in the top quarter of open sidewalk requests and would cost approximately $100,000. The high cost would come from dealing with trees and a steep land bank in the construction area. The sidewalk may be constructed in the next fiscal year, which begins on July 1 and goes through June 2009, depending on the priority of other requests and the availability of funds.

So I am an out-of-towner visiting Richmond.  I am walking around and I see this big Coliseum, I wonder "Wow, I wonder what's going on there." Well, there is no marquee for anyone to know what is going on at the Coliseum. That same person continues his or her walk around Richmond and sees this big new convention center and wonders, "Wow I wonder what is going on there." Well again there is no way of knowing because there is no marquee. Richmond spends all of this money to build a new convention center and no one knows what is going on inside it. We have a Coliseum, but yet no one knows what is going on inside it. I drive by and see all these people at the Coliseum or Convention Center and I don't know why they are there. Why Richmond, why?

-- Benjamin Wright

I'll let the folks from the Coliseum and Convention Center answer separately. Michael A. Meyers , general manager for the Greater Richmond Convention Center , answers:

There are a few ways that visitors can find out what is taking place at the convention center:

w  We maintain a calendar of events on the center's Web site at richmondcenter.com. Our Virginia Lottery Cyber Café on site offers free internet access on six kiosks.

w Our main desk can be reached for information at 804-783-7300

w We have an information desk inside the facility at the corner of Third Street and Marshall Street that is staffed seven days a week.

w We have television monitors located throughout the convention center that displays daily event activity.

w Within the next six months we expect to add as many as three exterior marquees on the outside of the facility as an additional means to let the public see what is or is going to be taking place at the center.

w Events taking place at the center typically advertise their event in a variety of means including, but not limited to, newspaper and television outlets.

Robert Fleskes , director of marketing for the Richmond Coliseum has a similar answer:

There has been discussion over the years about having a marquee near the building. However these days we find that most event attendees get their show info and calendar information from various local event websites. Those sites include richmond.com, inrich.com, styleweekly.com, richmondcoliseum.net or ticketmaster.com

Every year when the [Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey] Circus comes to town a very long train sits on the tracks on Riverside Drive. I assume this is how the people and animals get to Richmond. Is this where the circus people stay while they are here? Do they travel back and forth to the Coliseum? How do the animals get to the Coliseum? Do the animals stay at the Coliseum?

-- Rudy Galloway

The answer comes from Crystal Drake, southeast regional public relations manager for Feld Entertainment Inc., who produces Producers of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey:

The elephants and horses travel on the train in custom designed train cars with an animal handler with them at all times. All other animals travel by specially designed truck trailers. All transportation is climate controlled, well ventilated and, depending on the needs of the animals, there are sprinklers and misters, heaters and padded floors.

There are 61 cars on the train that was in Richmond: four animal stock cars, 31 coaches (living quarters), two concession storage cars, 20 flat bed cars, one pie car (restaurant), two generator cars (noise attenuated) and one shop car (maintenance). The Ringling Bros. train is more than one mile long. Each year, an average of 1,000 hours is spent traveling by train from city to city. The train that was in Richmond will travel an average of 16,000 miles in one year.

At each arena, the animals are safely housed in individual stables or enclosures. All of our stables or enclosures were specially designed by Ringling Bros. to meet the unique needs of each animal. While on the train or at the arena, animals have round-the-clock care from animal handlers, vet techs and/or veterinarians. Fresh food -- protein-enriched grains, fruits, vegetables, meat, vitamin- and mineral-enriched granular mix -- is shipped directly to the arena from local sources in each city (fun fact: an average of 160 pounds of food is eaten each day by each elephant!). A total of 92 animals are a part of the show.

There are 110 cast performers, hailing from 20 countries on five continents. Most performers live on the train in coaches and come to the arena each day on a Ringling Bros. bus