Sunday, August 15, 2010

The Worst of Richmond

We moved to Virginia in 2008. It's a different place from Houston and Huntington Beach. We've had some great - and terrible - experiences. Earlier I posted a Best of Richmond list. Here's a list of the worst so far (in no particular order).
  • 821 W. 30th St. This is the house we rented. I posted about it earlier.
  • Richmond Department of Public Utilities - my Houston water bills were around $15, here they start at $64 - before you've even turned on the faucet!
  • Richmond City Public Schools - there are a couple of good ones - but most are really horrible - and the RPS seems to actively prevent any attempts to offer Richmond kids better options.
  • Terry Shulman. He's one of the landlords who hasn't returned our deposit after more than a month. According to his wife Patti he's "in charge of the rental business". They have other businesses.
  • Patti Shulman. She's the other landlord who hasn't returned our deposit after more than a month. Despite being named on the lease she seems to want to wash her hands of it, leave it to Terry, and keep our money.
  • Richmond drivers who pull into the middle of an intersection when there is not enough room on the other side to cross completely through the intersection. This is illegal - and dumb. There is so little traffic here that other Richmond drivers don't seem to mind. No one honks at these intersection blockers. I do. Hopefully they become chagrined enough to not do it again.