Chesterfild Virginia...

Chesterfield VA is a very good county to live in. It has some of the best schools in the state and it has about 500k+ people living in it. There are 12 high schools and nearly 14 middle schools and as many elementary schools . Therefore, overall, it is a very good county to live in.

The bad part is the rapid expansion of the housing market here. With the national market in a slump, it is reflected here as well. In our subdivision, there have been houses on the market for over 9 months and they are still building more houses. In the whole Richmond Metroplex, there are over 10k houses on the market. Why are they still building? There are plans to build two new subdivisions in our area, Roseland and the other is called Branner Station and they will have a total of 10,000 new homes in them. Now my point is this; Chesterfield in the areas that subdivisions are being built does not have the infrastructure to handle them.

The water system depends on wells and Swift Creek Reservoir. With the little amount of rain, that we have had this year and the drought situation that we are in, it can hot handle more houses without expansion of those services. We are reportedly going on mandatory water restrictions as of next weekend due to the drought. This is happening all over Virginia and is not just a local event. The electrical system in our area is ok, we do have some power outages due to storms, but I think that Dominion Power has been trying to upgrade that infrastructure as of late.

The roads in this part of the county are for the most part two lane roads with no shoulders. The will improve the roads in front of the entrances of the subdivisions, but the rest of the roads are unimproved. Genito road coming from Hull Street (360) is a nice 4-lane road, when it crosses Old Hundred/Charter Colony Parkway; it becomes a bad two-lane road that goes through Brandermill and across Swift Creek Reservoir. There are several bad bridges that barely have enough room for two cars to pass at the same time. I hate to drive over them when another car is passing me. This road is on the 5-year plan to be expanded, I can t wait to see that happen.

Most of these properties that are being built had the land purchased in the early 1990s and the taxes were very low. The land developers have to pay taxes to have the city services to be connected to the sites. The land has set for over 15 years and the taxes are estimated to be around $18k, but they are locked in at the $2500k mark. So the developers will give the county land to make up for the difference in the tax base. The developers are ripping off the county and that is the main reason that the services are not up to where they need to be and it falls on the county to find the money to get them up to standered.

Another point I have to make is where are all the jobs coming from to support all of the new building? The main employers are Dominion and Philip Morris. With Wachovia taking leave of the city in 2009 and going to St. Louis and Capitol One having all the lay-offs, the tax base is not here to support all of the home development that is occurring here or to make all of the necessary infrastructure improvements that will be needed as well. With 10k new homes, that is an average of 30k new people going to live here. Where are they coming from? I know that the Fort Lee Military Base going to expand, but most Armed Services folks cannot afford a 300k+ home to live in and most of the new houses are in that price range.

I am not sure what the future holds for the Richmond Metroplex, but it should be interesting…




What is your opinion?
Blogroll Me!

Very Interesting maps...

Thanks to Chris Harrison for all of his work.

World Connection Density








World City-to-City Connections









European City-to-City Connections











North American City-to-City Connections












What is your opinion?
Blogroll Me!

Work Stuff

Well tonight I start the new job. I trained all day Friday.  I am working at a Bank Of America Tier 1 server farm.  This place is the main server farm for the Eastern USA and has 5 floors of servers.  It is amazing. I am working night shift again, but only an 8 hour shift, so it will not be that bad. I will post some more tomorrow…

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced

equation inherent to the programming of the matrix.

You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which despite

my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate

from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision.

While it remains a burden assiduously avoided, it is not

unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control.

Which has led you, inexorably, here." - The Architect, The Matrix Reloaded

 

In the News...

According to an article on Yahoo.
Top 10 worst places to meet someone new after a split:
10. Laundromat (if a person doesn't have his/her own washer and dryer by now or live in place that has a laundry room, that could be very telling)
9. A bar where divorced singles congregate
8. Your attorney's office lobby (the other divorcee you are suddenly attracted to needs time to "unpack" his/her baggage)
7. The water cooler at work
6. Parking garage
5. Anger management class
4. Alcoholics Anonymous
3. Fast food restaurant
2. In the car next to you
1. Jail

Top 10 best places to meet someone new after a split:
10. Your best friend's wedding (it doesn't matter how many he/she has had)
9. Headquarters of your favorite political candidate
8. Your local home improvement or hardware store (women can never find what they need, so the men cruising the aisles are easy recruits for assistance)
7. Your personal trainer's studio
6. Someone else's office, not yours
5. On a ski lift
4. Through a reputable dating service that is known for finding perfect matches
3. Self-help seminar for those who have recently broken up
2. Your place of worship
1. Sting concert (people of all ages attend them)





What is your opinion?
Blogroll Me!

Tiger Army...

It is 6 days till the Tiger Army show in DC.  Mark and I are going to see the show.  I can’t wait to go and hear them. They sound very interesting…

IS anyone else going to see it?  Let me know.

 

October 12, 2007 (Friday) -- Washington D.C. @ The Black Cat
w/ Street Dogs + The Static Age
Venue: blackcatdc.com

 

RMStringer

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You have no conscience and it seems you never will - Cyberaktif

 

New Music...

I saw these two bands on PBS last night. They are called Existor and The Gaskets. Existor is a 3 man band with a bass, drums, and a massive set of keyboards. They are a very good Jam Band and i was really impressed. Their music flowed and one song bled into another one with no interruptions. I was able to see their whole set. The other band i was was the Gaskets. IT was just two guys on stage, one sang and played harmonica and the other did backing vocals and played the keys. Their sound was like an 80s band. They had a good mic and really had the crowd into their set. i was only able to see 3 of their songs. For anyone interested in looking into their music, here is a link to the Music Seen page at the PBS station.

"http://www.myspace.com/musicseenfestival"

Go and listen to them on My Space...


What is your opinion?
Blogroll Me!

Do you do any of these?

Or better yet, have any of these happened to you? I know that they sure have been done to me.

The complete list of "Terrible Ten" behaviors:
1. Discrimination in an employment situation.
2. Erratic/aggressive driving that endangers others.
3. Taking credit for someone else's work.
4. Treating service providers as inferiors.
5. Jokes or remarks that mock another's race/gender/age/disability/sexual preference or religion.
6. Children who behave aggressively or who bully others.
7. Littering (including trash, spitting, pet waste).
8. Misuse of handicapped privileges.
9. Smoking in non-smoking places or smoking in front of non-smokers without asking.
10. Using cell phones or text messaging in mid- conversation or during an appointment or meeting.

Categories of "rude" or "uncivil" behavior were derived from an informal survey, conducted online through Yahoo.com and Survey Monkey during a two-week period in May 2007. The survey polled employees of the Baltimore-based companies Lifebridge Health and E A Engineering Science and Technology, as well as employees and students at the University of Baltimore. Thirty examples of rude behavior were posed to respondents, each linked to a five point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not offensive) to 5 (most offensive). Respondents were asked to indicate the degree to which they personally considered each behavior offensive

Thanks to:
Office of News and Information
Johns Hopkins University
901 South Bond Street, Suite 540
Baltimore, Maryland 21231

What is your opinion?
Blogroll Me!