I live on one of the only blocks between Harrison and Meadow that isn’t part of Zone 1 or Zone 2, so I’m waiting to see if my parking will be affected by those without decals taking up space on my block. If it does, I may decide to petition the FDA for our street to be added to Zone 2. With small children it’s nice to be able to park relatively close to our house.
How is the new parking zone going to affect you? Are you concerned at all about VCU parking moving farther and farther west?
NBC 12 ran a story on Fan parking last night and brought up an interesting dilemma for those stuck between Zones 1 and 2.
Decals are available at City Hall in room 102, see this page for applications. Ticketing won’t start until 4/30/09, so there’s a little grace period to get used to things and get a decal (good until June 30, 2010).
Shaka Smart
RVANews has the news of VCU’s new basketball coach. AD Norwood Teague has gone back to Florida to steal another assistant coach. This time it’s Shaka Smith. More info here.
I like the philosophy of hiring good assistants from proven national programs. But more than that I like all of the potential with Coach Smart’s name. First of all, it’s a bonanza for headline writers–Shaka Smart–are you kidding me?
Plus, there are immediate pre-game or post-game cross-promotional possibilities with Chiocca’s Downstairs in WOTB. What should the drink special be?
Currently the GoldRush dancers are combing through Shaka Khan’s discography is preparation for next season. Can you imagine the routine they’ll cook up as homage to Coach Smart using ‘I’m Every Woman’? Matt White’s head may explode.
And the VCU Department in charge of promoting the basketball team must be salivating over the possible slogans for next year. The early favorite, according to sources, is Shaka and Awe.
Our friends over at River District News have posted about the widespread(?) frustration with River City Real Estate, a management company that oversees apartments in the Fan as well as in the downtown loft area. Anyone have experience–good or bad–with River City Real Estate?
The film crew for Body Politic (a pilot for the CW network) is wrapping up shooting today in the Fan. I wrote about this in a previous post, you can read it here.
This picture was taken in the alley between Allen and Lombardy and Park and Monument.
food service
This picture and the next one are of the median on Allen between Park and Monument.
wardrobe
movie trailers
According to a source (thanks Stephanie) the crew “is lighting from [Grace Covenant's] roof and using the fellowship hall to host crew meals. It’s quite a scene. I know that they were previously at the Governor’s Mansion, and that filming at the house [at 1635] Monument is supposed to finish today.”
Also, the show may have picked up two more stars, Gabrielle Union and Brian Austin Green, which might mean it’s more likely to be picked up as a series. Maybe more filming in Richmond?
Zone 2 Fan Parking
Maybe you’ve noticed new signs up–showing expanding parking restrictions in the Fan. The restricted parking zones continue their intrepid march westward, now extending basically to Meadow (with a few exceptions). More information can be found at the Fan District Association Parking site. Here’s the quick and dirty:
The new restricted parking signs are being installed in the expanded Fan
Residential Restricted Parking District (Zone 2) today [Friday], the first signs were
install on Grove Ave. Affected residents should be getting a letter next
week about the purchase of 2010 decals and Annual Visitor Passes
Parking decals are $25/year. Annual visitor passes are $35. 2010 decals (valid through June 2010) are available via online application.
In related news, local towing companies are hiring. . .
Sorry, I couldn’t help the obvious Clueless reference…
Grant moves to Alabama
If you aren’t carbo loading tonight in preparation for the 10k and if you are a procrastinator when it comes to making plans, here are a couple of quick ideas on what to do tonight:
The Visual Arts Center at 1812 W. Main Street has its 23rd Annual Collectors Night. It ain’t a cheap night out (tickets are $100) but it sure looks nice and that price includes an open bar. It’s being catered by Mosaic and the tent out back is decked out nicely.
Under the big tent
The Mosaic trailer
Alternatively, if your cultural tastes run more towards the musical arts than the visual arts, check out the No BS Brass, playing at the Camel tonight. Shows at 9:45 PM. RVAJazz is a great source for events like this.
Or, if you–like me–have kids, suffer from exhaustion by Friday evenings, and/or have failed to secure a baby-sitter, there ought to be some good college hoops on tonight.
So we’ve been posting for a couple weeks now but without really introducing ourselves. Fan of the Fan, so far anyway, is the work of Erik and Sarah Bonkovsky. We’re new to the Fan–having just moved at the beginning of the year. And we’re new to web-based community news, too. But we’re thankful for the folks over at RVANews for the encouragement and support to get us started. Our hope is that through this adventure we’ll all learn something new about our city and our neighborhood. And we hope to have some fun doing it.
But we also want (and need) your help. The potential of this community-based news thing depends on, well, community. Please help us–send ideas, improvements, links, news, events our way. We think the key to any community–whether online or face to face–is participation from all sorts of people. We’ll keep our eyes and ears open and post stuff that seems interesting to us, but we can’t keep track of it all. We need you. So, as others have invited us, we invite you: ‘join the party’ of this blogging thing–post a comment, send a link, say hello.
Remember the news from a few months ago about VCU’s Real Estate Foundation scooping up the shuttered Ukrops at Harrison and Grace? Here’s news about a Fan District Association Meeting where VCU will reveal their plans for the space. The meeting is Monday at 7 PM at 208 Strawberry St.
Sounds like some might soon be spoiling for a fight. If you’re concerned about that property and VCU’s expansion, this might be an important meeting.
Any other guesses as to VCU’s plans?
If you follow VCU Ram basketball at all, you know by now that the University of Alabama has been (full-) courting VCU coach Anthony Grant. He and his wife flew down and visited Tuscaloosa yesterday, making quite the impression. Tide blogs are atwitter with news. Grant apparently has to the weekend to make a decision on the $2 million year offer made by UA officials.
Here are my (fully biased) top 3 reasons Grant should not go to Alabama
1. He’s a basketball coach, not a football coach. The SEC is a football conference, not a basketball conference (Florida’s aberrant back-to-back national championships notwithstanding). Basketball will always play second fiddle in Alabama.
2. Is an extra $1.15 million really all that important? (Grant made $850,000 this season at VCU.) Plus, I’d chip in like $20 bucks or so more if Grant stays. Anybody with me?
3. Grant’s natty fashion will not be adequately appreciated by Alabamans. I mean, look at their football coach:
Money Bags Saban
Sweet hat Saban
