Near West End

According to an article in Style Weekly, this week, not only is Mary Munford Elementary the best place to skate in the city but also according to mayoral hopeful, Paul Goldman, a skate park in downtown could revive Richmond.

But the city has more catching up to do, Quillen says: “Every city on the East Coast, not even mentioning the West Coast where it all started, has a small, city-run skate park.”

“You want to attract younger professionals, you want to put out that hip vibe,” the elder Goldman says.

“But no skate park,” Quillen laments.

“Bee-bop boo boo,” Goldman’s son adds, mimicking the sound from the Donkey Kong video game when a player loses a level.

Some of the best city skating right now is at Mary Munford Elementary School, Goldman says. If he wins the mayoral election, he’d like Thomas to switch to a city school, like Munford, and out of the county school he attends. (Thomas’ mother lives in Henrico.)

But Mary Munford wasn’t built for skating. Skate parks feature concrete paving with bowls and ramps for skateboards to thrash around in.

As Goldman mulls over the idea, it gains symbolic weight. Approving a skate park — even if you’re more football- or basketball-oriented — he says, signifies a live-and-let-live philosophy important to a mayor or any leader, really.

The wheels seem to be turning: Without the Braves, Goldman posits, a park could be a new monument to regional cooperation where county and city skaters could glide side by side. The perfect complement to Richmond’s rich preservation tradition, it would demonstrate how cool the city is. In fact, Goldman reasons, if Richmond had only sculpted a downtown skate park before the dot-com bubble, the city wouldn’t have lost tens of thousands of jobs to places like Raleigh, N.C.

hmmm. Well I’m not skater, but my daughter goes to Mary Munford and I have to say, I’m not sure what makes Mary Munford good for skating. Yes, there is a blacktop, but that’s about it. And, I’ve never seen skate boarders there. Scooters, yes, skate boards, no.

Not that I think having a skate park in downtown Richmond is a bad idea — just not the stuff you run a mayoral candidacy around.

I was at Ellwood Thompson’s yesterday and you know what they told me? In addition to no longer having plastic bags in 2008, in a few weeks they eliminate paper bags as well. Your options: buy (ugly green fabric) reusable ones that cost $1.99 or carry your stuff in your arms. If you ask me, that is pretty typical of Ellwood’s approach to customer service.

I am all for supporting reuse of bags and recycling, but to me this seemed a bit extreme — especially in light of the fact that Whole Foods Market will be coming to Short Pump this Spring and there have been unconfirmed whispers that the mysterious Trader Joe’s will follow suit. Just to let you know how pro-reusable bag I am, I carry my reusable bags into *gasp* Walmart, and endure many huffs and puffs from the Walmart clerks who are just not used to that, and find it so much more trouble than double plastic bagging excessively.

When I asked the Ellwood’s manager on duty what he would do if someone forgot their reusable bag, he said they had two choices — no bag or buy a very expensive reusable one. No other options. I won’t even mention all of the other bad customer service I observed on this visit. Ellwood Thompson is in for a rude awakening when Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s do open.
Personally, I like Trader Joe’s approach to reusable bags. Give people the freedom to choose, paper or reusable ones, but make the reusable ones so cool looking, sturdy and practical, that you just really want to use them. Trader Joe’s bags are made out of Polypropylene, a woven plastic type surface (think tarp) that is incredibly sturdy and wipes clean easily. The handles are long and reinforced nylon webbing. And best of all, they make a statement. In fact, they have trouble keeping them in stock they are so popular. And, they sell them at a loss, because they want you to own one and use it. Helps the environment and it is free advertising for one of the coolest grocery stores in the country.