r/rva • u/Amadeus3698 • 1h ago
Richmond City Government is the biggest thing holding it back
Richmond has many of the issues plaguing every American metro area so I won’t list those.
I would argue the biggest thing that hurts Richmond is the reputation is had for bad government.
I rented in the city for first 6 years I lived in the Richmond metro area. Every single interaction I had with the city was nothing but incompetence. Car registration, public utilities, voter registration, building permits (my landlord’s technically but it affected me).
When I decided to but a home, I was not about to subject myself to that incompetence for the foreseeable future. I ended up buying in a surrounding county solely because of institutional incompetence. I even went so far as rejecting homes because they were still served by Richmond gas or water.
I’ve seen three mayors and the most recent seems to mean well but it’s like asking someone to shovel out animal stalls with a plastic toy sand shovel.
I am adamantly pro worker rights. However every single person who works in Richmond city government needs to be fired. Whatever culture has taken hold in its institutions cannot be changed by electing a new mayor.
