Why Richmond, Why?!?: State Inspections and Urban Bookstores
Why is it that, in the entire rest of the Commonwealth, one can drive up to a designated vehicle inspection station and, basically, get your vehicle inspected in about 15 minutes, but in the Richmond area, you first have to "make an appointment" with a dealer or service center and then leave your car for most of the day?
When I call up any of the local dealers or service centers, I feel like I'm trying to make reservations for dinner at the country club.
This morning, since I happened to be in Reston (Fairfax County), I drove up to the local Chevron station, where the attendant waved me right up to the repair bay, and in 10 minutes he handed me the keys and I was off and running.
This has been my experience everywhere else in the state.
Why, Richmond, why is it so blinking hard to get your car inspected in the greater Richmond area? It's not like they have to take the car apart or anything. What's the difference between here and everywhere else?
-- Hugh
Deborah Cox, public relations officer with the Virginia State Police, answers on behalf of the Safety Division:
According to the Virginia State Police Motor Vehicle Safety Inspection Manual, inspections are performed on a first-come, first-served basis. Motorists are not required to make an appointment for inspection.
However, businesses that take in motorists’ vehicles for inspection at the beginning of the work day shall not be required to stop the work already taken in to provide an inspection for a drive-in motorist, provided inspections are actually being performed at the time and will continue through the day.
In addition, there is also a program where if an inspection station meets certain requirements and is approved, the inspection station may have one lane for first-come, first-served customers and an additional lane designated for motorists who have made appointments for a specific time slot.
Also, if any motorist feels there is an issue, concern or complaint regarding inspection stations in your area, they can call the Virginia State Police Safety Division –Richmond Field Office at 804-743-2217.
Why did the column get renamed to ‘Your Questions Answered?’ Lame.
Great question, Bryan. Basically it’s about SEO which, if you don’t work online, probably doesn’t make much sense. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Search engines, like google or yahoo, don’t like when people, like me, insist on calling something the same thing week after week (like Why Richmond, Why?!?). It lowers the ranking, or something like that, and means that Why Rich (and the site) will get fewer pages views as a result.
I guess the short answer is, to make it easier to find … which brings me to a question that came in via Facebook.
Why, Richmond.com, why, is it so blinkin' hard to find the "Why Richmond, Why?!?" feature on the newly designed web site?
Great question, Hugh. Basically when we change the name each week to increase our SEO, we end up hiding a column name that users know and trust and then our readers can’t find us. I’ve been trying to use the same column art, or throw Why Rich in the headline in some way, but that doesn’t always help. And we’ve actually had more than a few people complain about it.
So now there’s one, happy page where all the old "Why Richmond, Why?!?" columns live. You can access it here. The other problem with finding it is that I haven’t been writing it as regularly as I used to. I’m trying to get back on the wagon, so keep sending the questions.
Why are there no large bookstores east of I95 in the Richmond Metro area? In the new White Oak Village shopping center, we all expected a bookstore, but it is open and we were disappointed. There is the same mix of stores often found around Barnes & Noble stores, but still they are not there.
I don’t have a good answer to this question, but I’ve noticed the same thing. I had hoped that South Richmond’s smaller, crappy version of White Oak Village, The Shops at Stratford Hills, would get one too. We’ve got an Ukrop’s, a Target, a Chick-fil-a, but where is our Barnes & Noble?
I’m putting this out there, though, because I want someone at a big-box bookstore to do something about it. Of course, there is Fountain Bookstore in Shockoe Slip and, I have to say, the Barnes & Noble at VCU isn’t half bad, but now that Books-a-Million pulled out of its Midlothian location, the only close-to-the-city bookstore is Barnes & Noble at Libbie Place. And is that even the city?
It’s terrible. It’s like a midsize city not having a first-run movie theater for over 20 years. Oh wait …
So what do you want to know, Richmond? Send questions to kpeifer@richmond.com with "Why Richmond, Why?!?" in the subject line or leave your question in the comments sections below. And you can read old "Why Richmond, Whys?!?" here.
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