Richmond Freedom, Flock & Forgotten Places (privacy, Coliseum, 6th Street, Train derailment etc) — Unscripted #055

Visit a Goodwill near you for Tax Free Weekend (Aug 7-9) and National Thrift Shop Day (Aug 17): https://goodwillvirginia.org/location-finder/

The Richmond Parallel Parking Championships are officially happening July 22nd

Join the waitlist below to get early access to registration, event updates, and be the first to know when we announce the special NASCAR guest and additional details: https://verahouse.myflodesk.com/rva-ppc

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A free community run for all experience levels focused on movement, connection, and getting outside with good people in Richmond.

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Jeff Sovern Legal Defense Against Flock Fund:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/jeff-sovern-legal-fund

In this episode of Vera House Unscripted, we discuss a range of Richmond topics including Flock surveillance cameras, privacy, the Richmond Coliseum, Sixth Street Marketplace, Hull Street, the Parallel Parking Championships, the Richmond train derailment, and how technology is changing everyday life.

We start with updates on Carytown Run Club and the upcoming Richmond Parallel Parking Championships before discussing Perry’s Fourth of July performance at the Kennedy Center, Myke’s trip to Key West, the story behind the treasure hunter Mel Fisher, and Richmond’s record-breaking summer heat.

Later in the episode, we dive into the arrest of a Virginia man accused of destroying Flock cameras, the expansion of surveillance technology, digital privacy, government trust, and the growing role technology plays in modern society. We also discuss getting outside more, reducing screen time, and why real-world experiences still matter.

The second half of the episode focuses on Richmond itself, including Hull Street improvements, Southside nostalgia, the demolition of the Richmond Coliseum, the future of Sixth Street Marketplace, Richmond’s changing architecture, the recent train derailment near Dock Street, and why preserving the city’s history remains so important.

Topics include Flock cameras, privacy, the Richmond Coliseum, Sixth Street Marketplace, Hull Street, Southside Richmond, Carytown Run Club, Parallel Parking Championships, Richmond train derailment, Mel Fisher, Key West, Goodwill, Richmond history, and local development.

Quick interjection to invite you to Vera House Studios. If you are a local Richmond business, entrepreneur, brand owner, or service provider—and you know you need to create better content to get your products and services in front of the right people—we can help.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome back to the Vera House podcast. We've been away for like that long, but it seems like it's been a little bit of time. But we are back with some, of course, just nuggets of gold to talk about today. Uh a couple of quick shout-outs. The Carrytown Run Club is coming up tomorrow. Because by the time this episode comes out, it will be Friday. And the Carrytown Run Club is going to be tomorrow. What's tomorrow's date? It'll be Saturday, July 11th. So Saturday, July 11th at 8 o'clock in the morning, 8 a.m. at Blackbird Goods in Carrytown. We'd love to see you all there. New runners, experienced runners, anyone who just wants to be social. We're welcoming everybody to come meet us, hang out, chop, chop it up a little bit, shop at Blackbird, and go on a little run and then hang out afterward. So we'd love to see you there. We're also proud and so pumped to present to you officially the Richmond Parallel Parking Challenge, sponsored and presented by NASCAR, is happening on July 22nd. We are so pumped for this. If you think you are good at parallel parking, this is your chance to prove it. Come pull up, you'll drive your own car, you will parallel park, it'll be pass or fail, and you'll be judged by myself, Mike, and an official NASCAR race driver. So if you think you can, bring it. We also talked a little bit about a spot that's a little close to my heart is old Richmond, old Richmond infrastructure and buildings, and one in particular, the Sixth Street Marketplace. I found some really cool photos of what the inside of that building complex looks like. And it's incredible. It just makes me wish that we still did and still built things like that, especially here in my hometown of Richmond. So stay tuned for all of that.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

What else we talk about? We talked about a bunch of good stuff. Um we say goodbye to the beloved Richmond Coliseum. Uh many of our listeners would have spent moments of their childhood and adulthood at the Richmond Coliseum, whether it was for the Richmond Renegades, the Monster Truck Shows, the Circus, all kinds of different things that happen at the Coliseum. And maybe you were there back in the 70s for some very, very special appearances that we talk about inside of this episode. There was also a crazy train derailment. You know, it's nuts, man, because every week we think like, oh, what could there be to talk about? And there's just, you know, drunk raccoons and lost cats and, you know, all kinds of crazy stuff. And um, you know, this time a train just completely derailed and ended up in the canal downtown. So surely you've probably heard about that, but we talk about that on today's episode. And then also, quick heads up you have tax-free weekend coming up August 7th through 9th. And Goodwill is the place that you need to be. So Goodwill, big friend of the show, and they do a lot of amazing things for the community and for Central Virginia as a whole. And they are doing a lot of special things for tax-free weekend, especially for back to school season. And then also you have National Thrift Day coming up on August 17th. It's a good excuse. Get out to your local thrift shop, go to Goodwill. They have amazing stuff there. We've gotten some great bargains, some great steals there. So, that being said, all of the links are going to be in the description for everything we just mentioned. Sit down, tune in, enjoy the episode.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

Yeah, I was at the Kennedy Center for the 4th of July, and it was an experience. I was asked to DJ the 250th anniversary celebration at the Kennedy Center. Have you ever been to the Kennedy Center?

SPEAKER_00 3:46

I've never been. I mean, I've been to DC plenty of times, but I've never been to the Kennedy Center.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

It's cool. I've only been one other time before, and that was actually to DJ for something unrelated. It's cool. It's it's a museum, it's a facility. I sound a little ignorant because I don't really know what else they do there. But uh it was cool. It was weird. And there were some some mishaps and some miscalculations and some angry people that were waiting for fireworks for five hours. And the fireworks got delayed because uh our you know, our glorious leader decided to uh move up his speech, which was happening right when the fireworks display was supposed to start. So the people that paid to be at this event had to wait for four hours and then an additional hour because the fireworks didn't start until midnight to see the display. And the display itself was was really cool. It was outside and you know, obviously it was outside, but um the president, I believe he said he wanted to produce the world's largest display or break the record for the world's largest firework display. It's the biggest, the biggest. He wanted it to be the biggest, and it was big, notably, it was big. But it was so long. It was like 35 minutes of straight fireworks. Wow. And uh it had rained previously, so people were kind of like cooped up until the end of the night there. Then everyone kind of rushed outside to see the fireworks. But it went on so long, like we thought multiple people thought it was over, and then it just kept going. So it was an experience. The fighter jets looked cool. The fighter jets were awesome because we were on the roof of the Kennedy Center, so we were like not quite eye-level, they were flying like right overhead.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

And I mean, they had B-52s, they had the um the stealth bomber out there flying like in formation with other cargo planes, and then they had like F-22s doing like stalls and like hovering and doing 360s, and then they had this or a choreographed fight squadron, Air Force One flew over a few times. As cool as that was, this is how I know I'm getting old. I looked up and I see the jets like flying around, and they're doing their afterburner across the sky, yeah, as fast as they can go, and then like complete like 90 degrees straight up in the air, and then like flipping around and coming back down and flying around. It was incredible. I looked at that and my first thought was that's cool. My second thought was what a waste of money. Yeah, yeah. It's just like yeah, what are we celebrating? The fourth, and you're you're spending like billions because this was it wasn't the only city that they had the fighter jets out, like New York and some other big cities were there too. And it's just like, what are we doing out here, man?

SPEAKER_00 6:43

I mean, you know, I'll I'll refrain from going into a hardcore rant only five minutes into the podcast, but um, you know, leave it up to we're just printing money, you know. It's like money is not real to these people, you know, they just print it when they need more. Yeah. I'll leave it at that, you know. But um, I did look up what the Kennedy Center is. Like obviously it's related to JFK, but I wasn't quite sure how. So it says the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is the United States National Cultural Center and the official living memorial to President John F. Kennedy. Located in Washington, D.C., along the Potomac River. It is a premiere venue for theater, dance, opera, and music. It is the home of the National Symphony Orchestra. Wow, I feel ignorant as hell. I mean, no, that's how it goes. You know, they assassinate you and then they give you a building to say sorry. Yeah. Like, oh, sorry about that, you know. But hey, we'll remember you forever. You know, don't worry. There's anyway.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

I know we're uh so I know we haven't been on for a while, so there's there's a lot of tangents we can go on. But uh yeah, you know, let's let's keep things moving. You know, we're just kind of getting warmed up after having been gone for a little bit. You know, we took a little bit of hiatus. You took a personal vacation. How was that?

SPEAKER_00 7:54

It was cool. It was cool. In the name of history, the one probably the coolest thing was I went to this place called the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, and it's about this guy, Mel Fisher. He is the person who discovered the largest treasure in the world. Um, and he's pretty badass. So, like many hundreds of years ago, there was a Spanish Armada that sunk somewhere near the Bahamas, and it had like basically $500 million in silver and gold and sisterces and like all it was very, very cool, right? And it was like legend of this ship was missing. And this guy spent his entire life like following this legend, hoping that the treasure was real. He quit his career, he moved his entire family around the entire like southern coast of Florida, um, and eventually moved to Key West as his permanent headquarters to try and find this mythological treasure. And he found it, dude. Jesus. He found it. Way to pay off a bet. Hundreds of millions of dollars. And then when he found it, the state of Florida and basically every government entity, including the federal government, tried to take it from him.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

And they said, That's not yours. That belongs to the state, that belongs to the country. You can't have that. Well, he fought them in court and won. Okay. He's like the most badass dude I've ever heard of. And I had never heard of him before. Yeah. And there's a whole museum in Key West like dedicated to him. Okay, that's pretty sweet. And when you walk up, there's a statue of him with a big gold chain around his neck. And um, very, very cool. All right, that's pretty sweet. Very, very cool. So that was like the highlight. So basically, I went on a cruise. Um, it was cool. You know, cruise isn't always necessarily like my flavor of vacation, you know, it's not my personal way to relax, but it was a family thing. It was fun, got to spend some time with my grandpa, and that was really cool. Also, Ernest Hemingway's home is in QS. He lived there as well. Um, if anybody, I mean, everybody knows Ernest Hemingway, right? But he was basically a notorious drunk rider, but he's a fantastic rider. Yeah. Uh, pretty chaotic personal life. But I love stuff like that. So that was really cool. That was like kind of the highlight of the trip. And um put my running shoes on in uh, you know, I know I missed out on the Richmond hot weather, but it was it was hot down in Key West for sure. I put my running shoes on and went on a, I think like a six-mile run, uh no, seven mile run all around the island of Key West. Everyone looked at me like I was out of my mind because they're like, what are you doing? First of all, I was on a cruise. So I got off the cruise to go on a run. Yeah. And everyone's like, what? We're here for the snow cones and the um the key line pie.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Uh so I came back and obviously I was like, oh, you would think that coming back from Florida that it would be not as hot. I came back and it was hotter here than it was in Florida. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

It was crazy. It was honestly, it was insane. You know, I think we like to embellish, and like talking about the weather is something that old people do as a pastime, but yeah, you know, it is there, it's very much a Richmond thing. It's like, yeah, the because the weather here has always been predictable for the most part. We have four clearly defined seasons, and those seasons are at the same time every year, with the exception of the last few. They've been shifting a little bit. So spring is a little later and fall is a little later in the year than it used to be, at least to my recollection of recollection. It's because of all that fighter jet fuel in there. Yeah, man. They're just, you know, chemtrails and they're spraying the air zone and you know, whatever else is happening. But I will honestly say that to my memory, that was the hottest four or five days in a row that I'd ever experienced in in Richmond proper. Wow. It was like recorded temperature in downtown, I think, was 100 degrees for at least two days in a row, was the high. And the other three or four days, it was mid-90s. And then the last four or five days, it's been between eighty and ninety every day with rainstorms at the same time each evening, which is very similar to very Florida, yeah. Florida weather. Um but it's just it is to me, it's a sign of like geological change. You know, I'd like to kind of pay attention to what's going on with the the atmosphere and the temperature globally and how the weather patterns change. I've just I like I like weather, I think it's cool. But things like that mean when they're out of well, the weather is a series of balancing acts, right? Hot weather in the summer is because the earth is a little closer to the sun, or at least our part of the earth is a little closer to the sun. Just five to ten degrees, slightly geared more towards the sun, so we have more of that radiation, disturbs the weather, it's hotter, which means the storms were more intense. We actually had a storm a couple days ago that took down some trees in the north side. But hotter weather being a trend, we've talked about or heard about global warming. It's true and it's not true, but it's to me, it's just the sign of the times. Like spring was longer than it was supposed to be. We had a crazy ice storm in winter, and now it's the hottest summer record. So it's a rebound or balancing act. So we have that to look forward to as the year goes on.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

Yeah. And maybe it's like recency bias, but I mean, I remember it being pretty hot last summer, and I guess I just felt like, oh, this is normal, but like who knows? Because I'm not as interested in the weather. So I I guess I don't really pay attention to it very much. Um, but I definitely knew that it was it was quite hot.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

And um yeah, not to beat a dead horse, but we like to beat dead horses on this show from time to time. Now I have air conditioning, uh, which is great. Yes, you do. So, you know, summer, not even thinking about it. Bring it on.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

Bring it on. Give me your best, right? Give me your best shot. I'm good. Welcome to the rest of us. I mean, I guess I just got patio furniture for the first time. Nice. And sitting outside at eight o'clock at night sweating wasn't how I thought I'd use it for the first few days. But it'll do. Yeah. You know, you know what I mean? Take what you can get. Yeah, I'll take it. I'll take it. But yeah, man. It's uh it's been a summer. Um I I came across a headline. Virginia man gets arrested for destroying flock cameras. And I know we've talked about flock uh a few times on the show trying not to beat a dead horse, but they just keep handing us the baton, man. It's just we're not really looking for stuff like this to talk about, but it keeps coming up. Yeah. Turns out we're not the only ones that think it's weird that these cameras are spying on everybody.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

So you're saying that maybe it was you that went around and took out some cameras while uh while I was out of town. I'm not gonna not say that. Or maybe I wasn't out of town.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Maybe you were on vacation. That's right. Yeah, you were on a hiatus.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

Um yeah, I mean, I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised because yeah, eventually somebody's gonna, what do they call it, fall on the sword, you know? And I do think that this is an issue important enough where people absolutely could feel strong enough to where they take actions into their own hands. Um, and I guess the big question is, is that the right thing to do or is it not? And the truth is, like, yeah, when a government uh breaches its trust with its people, that is what happens. You know, people rebel and they're like, no, I don't accept. I do not accept this.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

Yeah. It was one of those things it honestly reminded me of in a lot of these things. We talked about the red light cameras and how I got a ticket for it, and it just kind of stoked the fire and the flock cameras hearing about hundreds of people, maybe thousands at this point, being cited or having citations sent to them um without having any due process, no police involvement, they're just getting mailed tickets and being told that they have to you know pay these fines. And then seeing people like this guy and hearing about other people in other cities taking the law back or taking their rights back, so to speak, or taking action until they're on hands. It just reminds me of um the protests during the George Floyd. And I don't know what you were up to during that period of time, but this is in the middle of lockdown. You know, we were told that we were you know, everything was closed, we were told we couldn't leave the house, it was mask requirements to go in into public spaces. But despite all that, the entire city, to my knowledge, I was even I wasn't even in the middle of some of it, rallied around taking the ownership back of that moment in time and taking Monument Avenue back and rebelling against blatant racism against black and brown people in the city. And it's like it made me proud because it wasn't a misuse of entitlement, it was warranted and it was valid, and there was no one else that was going to come and do it for them. So you kind of have to step into those shoes. You couldn't depend on your city, you couldn't depend on your your representatives, you couldn't depend on the lawmakers, and you couldn't depend on the officers that are supposed to impose the law. You kind of had to do your what was necessary on your on your own terms. Now, there's an argument to be made that that can very easily get out of hand and people can take like liberties that veer off the path. You know, I don't typically support that, but this isn't to me the example of that just yet. So it just reminds me of that. It's like, all right, you know, this might be another one of those moments where the the power that be or the powers that be try to inflict something onto the populace without any questioning, without any permission, and without any warning, and they're getting a lot of pushback. Yeah, you know, and this is just a manifestation of that.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Well, and you know, even if you go back to like the early 2000s and the Patriot Act and all this stuff that happened with uh the NSA and just national security and homeland security as a whole, you had all these people that were speaking out originally saying like this is unconstitutional, this is unlawful. Um, and everybody's like, oh, that's a conspiracy. That's not gonna happen, that's never gonna happen. And then over the following two years, everything unrolled, and that's exactly what happened. Um, is a huge breach of public privacy. Um, and that's you know, now don't get me wrong, there was the big rollout of like the TSA at the airport. And it's like, you know, that's you know, it's probably done more good than bad. Um, but it's like, yeah, you give an inch and they take a mile. Um and that it continue continuously happens. And it is like a delicate balancing act. It's, you know, if the if the people, right, we the people just accept everything that's you know put on us, then yeah, you end up in a totalitarian, author, you know, authoritarian government that just puts you as a cog into the wheel of society. And that, you know, that is their goal. And that's not really a conspiracy. Like a government is a business, you know, and even if it's not a business, it is ran as one because it needs to be efficient. And I feel like a long time ago, it was focused on having willing, inspiring public servants, you know, public people that wanted the good of the people. And that has since disappeared. And actually, the opposite happens. When you have, you know, a member of Congress or a politician that speaks out against any of this stuff, they actually get voted out, you know, and they get attacked. Um and so, yeah, I don't know. It's it's just crazy. And not to get too um cheeky with it, you know, but even talking about July 4th and Independence Day, it's like, okay, we may have gotten our independence from Britain many, many years ago, but uh I think there's questions to be asked about are we independent now or are we maybe being controlled by some other entity? Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

It's yeah, and you know, this is not a political podcast, and we we try to do a pretty good job of of talking about things that are on point and like in the lexicon, but that's not the entire goal of our conversation. Yeah, not that. But it it you know, it can't go without being said that it's it's here. Yeah, you know, we're gonna have to talk about it. That particularly, we we fought for our freedom from the imperial state of the United Kingdom. And if you've been to the UK, or if you're familiar with the UK as it stands now, or at least in the last 20, 30 years, they're a surveillance thing. There's cameras everywhere. That's it, they don't they don't have armed forces, they don't have not armed forces, but they don't have armed police officers, they outlaw firearms in the uh in the United Kingdom, but there's cameras everywhere. Yeah, and there's they send you citations and you're written up for things that you do in public and all these kind of things. And this is that's been the the thing for them for years and years.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Yeah, you can't even say anything, right? If you're out in public and you say something that is not agreed upon by the majority, you'll get arrested.

SPEAKER_02 21:58

Yeah. And this feels a little bit like that. It's like, well, if we fought for freedom from the empire, are we repeating the same mistakes?

SPEAKER_00 22:10

Yeah, or have we been stuck inside of something that nobody has recognized for over a hundred years and now it's just becoming blatantly obvious. Yeah. I would argue the latter. Um, but yeah, you know, and I tend to step back and, you know, the we're in a sci-fi movie, dude, and uh, we're just surfing through it. Like it's kind of you know, it's like concerning, but it's also kind of fun because it's like whatever.

SPEAKER_02 22:32

Yeah. I mean, my my stance has always been, and I I talk to some of my friends about this, especially my friends, they get like really up in arms, and it just it visibly upsets them and it impacts their emotional state and their like daily life. I do my best, one to be blissfully unaware until it directly affects me.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

Right.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Now, whether that's the smart thing to do is debatable because I wasn't doing anything and I Wasn't paying attention and I got a citation in the mail anyway.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

That's when it directly affected me, so now I'm paying attention. But it's like it's going to happen anyway. Is are there things that we can do about it as people or as individuals? Yes. You can obviously stay informed, you can educate yourself. But I would argue there needs to be a limit because you're going to drive yourself up a wall. You're going to be crying in a corner at home. And that's you and I both know this. That's exactly the way that the news apparatus is designed to deliver you terrible news on repeat for hours on end so that you feel a sense of despair. So that you're willing to accept the new status quo as the alternative and the resolution to whatever the problems are.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

Yeah. Well, and people aren't going to like this, but those that get caught up in news and political jargon and one party versus the other, it's because they have a lack of purpose. And when you have a strong purpose and when you know it's important in your life, you don't get caught up on things like that. Now, like you said, yes, it's like, okay, should I be concerned about certain things? Of course. But often these in groups and like people that say, I support the current thing, I support the current thing, it is the perfect opportunity for somebody to stand up and say, oh, wow, like this is my purpose or this is the thing that I care about more than anything. And for some people, that is true. Like some people are political activists and they dedicate their entire lives to it. But for somebody, you know, the average person just roaming the streets and getting drunk every weekend, for them to stand up on a Wednesday and be like, I commend that you agree with what I think or whatever, it's it's a play, dude. It's theater. It's it's not real. Um, you know, if there's a cause that somebody cares deeply about, like, yeah, stand up for it and say something. Um, but when you make it your entire identity, it's often because there's no other identity there to be found. And again, that's just my opinion. But I think that, like, yeah, when you when you lack a strong passion or a strong purpose, when you don't know what your morals and your principles are, then you look for other people to tell you what they are. And that could be the news, that could be the president, it could be some political leader, it could be some local leader, it could, it could be whatever, you know? And I do think that there's just a lack of rational reasoning and people don't take time to really think about what do I want for myself? What do I want for the people around me? What do I want for the country that I live in and what is right and what is wrong? Um, because it's the if the answer were easy, then it would be clear and everybody would agree. But it's not. It's like a very complex topic about like how does this society operate? And it's really hard to figure that out, you know, and it's never going to be perfect. Like whatever was going on 200 years ago is going on now, and it will continue to go on. So to get hung up on it and let it ruin your life or ruin your day or ruin your whole week or c cause you to excommunicate family members and friends, it's silly and it's pathetic, to be honest. Like, so yeah, that's why I say grab your surfboard, enter the world of sci-fi, and we're sci-fi surfing throughout whatever this craziness is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

The only difference, if this was happening a hundred years ago and it's the same thing that's happening now, the only difference is now that we we have iPhones.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

So we can't not pay attention.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

So it behooves everyone to our loyal listeners, our friends, family, and the people that you and your loved ones carry about care about, in small doses, yes, pay attention, but do yourself a favor, enjoy the world around you because despite how it may seem on channel six, the world is actually pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Yeah. And um, you know, mainstream media is not where you should get your information. YouTube's a really good place to get information. It is, it absolutely is, yeah. And just real life, observe, like look at things. You know, people are like, oh my God, this is happening, and there's racism and there's terrorism. And yes, those things exist, but it's like, look around, you know, it's like because the internet makes things that aren't a big deal into a big deal.

SPEAKER_01 27:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

Because the internet is a whole different world, it's a different dimension. When you put your internet helmet on, there's all kinds of weird stuff going on in there. And if you get roped into it too much, you'll start to believe that that is reality.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

So I wonder why Google Glass or or Apple virtual VR, I don't even know what it's called, why they didn't do so well. No one really wants to like disappear from reality. Like virtual reality seems like a cool idea. It definitely seemed like a cool idea in the 90s, right? When it was like sci-fi and in in every single movie, and I was the first one to subscribe to the idea that virtual reality would be the way to go. But uh as we've seen, the more we are thrust into a technological age, the more we need and thirst after human connection, person-to-person connection, and like in-person communication and being outside in nature. I was actually talking to uh my therapist a couple weeks ago. You know, since like last summer, I've been working at home more often, working on my business, working on this business with you. Spent a lot of time at the coffee shop, spent a lot of time staring at my iPad. And I was talking about, you know, feeling kind of stressed and kind of just anxious as you know, overall. And um I'm not really one to subscribe to prescription medicines. I'd rather not, if there's a holistic way to manage things like that. That's my first go-to. And funnily enough, the recommendation from my therapist is like sounds like you're inside a lot. Yeah. You should take a break, go outside, and just sit and be go on a walk without your headphones, sit on your patio and get some fresh air.

SPEAKER_00 28:56

Yeah. Well, like the human mind is cape, it is the master at solving problems, right? The human mind is capable of solving most of our problems on its own. And I think people don't want to believe that, but it absolutely can. The problem is that we are constantly inundating it with information and screens and everything else. And it's why I always talk about just going on a walk. Like go on a five-mile walk and you'll solve most of your problems, you know. It's kind of crazy how that works. It is, dude. It is. And I think like it's really hard to help somebody understand that when they're struggling with somebody really something really, really difficult. Because of course, it seems like, well, going on a walk is not going to solve my problem. I can't think my way out of this. And that's kind of the point, is you're thinking too much often in many cases. Now, of course, there's a lot of nuance to this, but you know, going on a walk is what empties out your mind. And it's not going on a walk and listening to a podcast or listening to music or taking on more information. It's just doing exactly what you said, which is go touch grass, literally. And get in the sun, go on a walk and actually empty your mind so that you can just be. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I'm obviously, you know, I'm I'm totally on board with that. Um, so what happened to this guy? He cut down the flock cameras. Did they find out who he was? Or yeah, they did. Um, so we should get his mugshot printed out and um We can.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

We can put it on this. Make t-shirts. He's our hero. Virginia-based Air Force engineer and mechanic Jeffrey Sovereign is facing 13 counts of destruction of property, as well as six counts of both petty larceny and possession of a burglary of burglary tools related to the destruction of flock license plate cameras. These automatic license plate readers or ALPRs are starting to blanket the United States, spreading across small towns and bustling cities alike by the thousands.

SPEAKER_01 30:55

Yeah, free free that guy.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

Yeah, free that guy. So he there's a GoFundMe page for him because he was cited for all of those accounts, but I don't think he was actually charged.

SPEAKER_00 31:07

Which is surprising, right? Because I would imagine they'll try to make a huge example of that person. Of course they would. And they're gonna do that all across the country.

SPEAKER_02 31:15

So there is no shortage of citizens who prefer a more direct action approach, armed with garbage bags, spray paint, and even chainsaws, and not an insignificant number of privileged privacy village vigilantes have taken to the flight taken to fight the flock. Using any means they deem necessary to free the neighborhoods of anonymous, ominous uh surveillance poles. So there's a statement from him. I appreciate everyone's right to privacy. So from what else I've read about this is that this dude took down these cameras, he got charged, and then the community rallied behind him, starting a GoFundMe to keep him uh to keep him out of prison. So he's you know he's gonna be facing some bail, uh bail money. And his community, the community, is supporting uh his attempt to be the freedom fighter for lots of people.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

Yeah. Well, here's the thing is if you asked him or any of these community members and said, Hey, what are your issues with flock? And could you maybe explain why you're against this? They would have a plethora of reasons and they'd be able to articulate why they don't agree with it. But if you were to put out a bulletin board and say, hey, anybody who's pro-flock, could you please stand up and raise your hand and explain why you're excited about this? Yeah. Crickets, dude. No one's gonna say anything. And that's because the reason behind it is devious. Yeah. And everybody knows it. Like it's, you know, you can't hide in plain sight. They tried. Well, yeah. They definitely tried. And you already know I've talked about it, but when you go try to talk to these politicians or ask anybody, like, hey, why do you support this? They play stupid, dude. They're like, What? What are you talking about? Uh what bill? I didn't sign any. What do you mean? I I don't know. I'd have to reference my notes or like, you know, it's like, dude. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:57

Um says the uh the Virginia resident initially set his funding goal at $8,500. As the news of his case spread across the web, the amount of support has far outpaced has far outpaced those already hopeful aspirations. At the time of writing this, Sovereign's legal fund currently stands at $15,000 from over 400 donors. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:18

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

Well, we'll put the link to it in the description. And uh everybody should give five bucks. Because why not?

SPEAKER_02 33:24

Five dollars.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:25

You know, this guy, and then since this has come out, like this this happened a few weeks ago, but since this has come out, I've seen at least a dozen clips on Instagram and you know, the other social media platforms from other cities of people taken to the streets. Yeah. You know, masking up, taking a chainsaw or a sawzall to the poles with the flat cameras on them, spray painting the cameras themselves. And again, it just reminds me of the George Floyd protest. It's like this is unconstitutional, it's a violation of privacy, and we will not stand for that.

SPEAKER_00 34:00

Yeah, yeah. And that's you know, that's the thing. It's like, how do you even argue for it? You know, it's like how is this a country if the main standing principles of the whole place are just broken by the people that run the place? Doesn't make any sense.

SPEAKER_02 34:17

It doesn't make any sense. And you know, like I said, this isn't a political podcast, but this is a it's it's one of those things where you it's it's so in your face and it's so kind of I think that was the goal in the first place was to interrupt everybody's regularly scheduled program and think that no one would notice. Yeah. We kind of have to talk about it. So we'll put the link for for his GoFundMe in the description if it's still going on by the time we uh we post this episode. But um in other news, they fixed Hall Street. I'm skeptical on that one, but I don't know about that.

SPEAKER_00 34:54

How so? How so?

SPEAKER_02 34:56

They actually they fixed Whole Street.

SPEAKER_00 34:58

I don't know when's the last time you've driven down Hole Street, I mean I used to live over on Hull in Warwick by Southside Plaza. Okay, and so I would frequent that whole area all the way from Chippenham up into the city, and I mean it's always been quite rough. I don't know what part of Hole Street you know this is about to refer to, but I don't know, man. Hall Street's always been a bit of a it's been rough. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

It's been rough. So one of the Southside's busiest roads is getting attention on social media after the major repaving project. I actually I saw the clips on this. They repaved most of Hole Street on the Manchester end, okay, going towards the South. And I was like, all right, finally, finally, finally.

SPEAKER_01 35:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:45

It you know, I'm a native to Richmond, you've been here for a long time. We know the neglectic neighborhoods. We've seen them, they've been the same for for years and years and years. And it's always been a question as to why a neighborhood why some areas get attention and why others don't. And it's just kind of a bummer that the the lower income area of South Side has always been that place.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:04

You know, it's it could be awesome. There's so much potential in that area, in that neighborhood, but it just never got the attention that I thought it deserved.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:12

So Hole Street is now open after months, after a month-long effort to repay from Coordin Avenue to Belt Boulevard. Oh wow. Yeah. There's uh there's a quote from Keanu Key. Our tax dollars were not used in vain. They finally fixed Hole Street. Oh my God. Thank you, Lord, for the man who fixed the streets. Is another quote. People are saying, Oh my god, they took away the roller coaster. I mean, we didn't deserve that as Richmond residents. I was like, Yeah, I kind of agree that with all of that. Like I remember the the car that I had before, the car that I have now was like a a compact coupe or compact hatchback. So not a station wagon, but like small or like a Mazda 3 hatchback. And kind of lower to the ground, not the greatest suspension. Going down Hol Street Road was like going off-road. Especially if you're in the right lane. Right. Yeah. And the traffic wasn't any better. Like there was no no rules. Yeah. The only rules that people abide by were green lights and red lights. Yeah. Barely. Barely. So you had to make your own way. You couldn't just abide by normal laws. You had to deal with Southside law while you're over there. But yeah, they finally put some attention to Southside. It looks like uh Richmond Department of Transportation has secured a $900 million uh discretionary funding for transportation projects to improve the the uh the built environment. And a good portion of that is going towards Southside. Wow. So that's some good news.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

It is, it definitely is. I mean, I love Southside just because like I lived there for quite a while. It was also held up three times there, so that was fun. But I used to drive up and down those roads all the time. I went to the had to go to the courthouse there many times for speeding tickets and such. And um, yeah, fond memories, fond memories of the road. Yeah, fond memories.

SPEAKER_02 38:00

And like I I think for for a while, like I lived in in Churchill, and occasionally I would go over to like Montrose Heights, or I would go up to like further into Southside, going to like Chesterfield to go to Apuletas, get some good Mexican food over there. Um and I have family that lives on uh Midlothian Turnpike, kind of in between those two areas. But it was, I mean, it's since I was a kid, I spent most of my time in the West End and Henryco and then downtown. I never went to Southside for anything if I didn't really need to. Because it was a it was a bummer, dude. It was depressing. It's like it's like a time war. Yeah. Most of the rest of the city has like been overhauled to some degree. Has has some new additions, some new uh economical areas, some new school district improvements, some new neighborhood improvements, and Southside just didn't get any of that.

SPEAKER_01 38:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:55

Neighborhoods to Midlow to none of it. It's rough over there. And when I heard about Hall Street, I was like, all right, some good news. We like to hear it.

SPEAKER_00 39:05

I think because it's so close to the border of the city limits, yeah. And because you've got Chippenham there, you know, it just gets pushed to the back burner and nobody, you know, it just doesn't get the attention that it deserves. It doesn't get the benefits of being in Chesterfield, right? Because it's not far enough out.

SPEAKER_02 39:22

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 39:22

And then it barely gets the attention of the city because it's on the other side of the river. Didn't get that Chesterfield County money. Right. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, but uh thinking of old Chesterfield reminds me, I lived in Chesterfield for a while too. That's like where I went to high school and everything. Makes me think of my old grade school days and everything like that. It's back to school season.

SPEAKER_02 39:42

It is back to school season. I was actually at a school yesterday. I was doing some work with uh my friends over at collegiate. And uh yeah, it is I was talking to a friend there about um having dreams about homework. You have nightmares about homework?

SPEAKER_00 39:57

Luckily, not in a while. I mean, I I hardly did my homework to begin with. Um, but I hate, you know, you have ADHD. I do too. Yeah. Homework is the devil.

SPEAKER_02 40:05

Yeah, dude. I I remember distinctly there was a period like a year or two ago where I was just having like the recurring nightmare, waking nightmare of being late to school and forgetting to do my homework, which is like the bane of my existence in school. It's like, oh crap. I'd wake up and I'm you know, I'm almost 41 now. I'd wake up and like in a cold sweat, like I didn't write my report. It's like I didn't do my math homework. It's like, no. It's gotta catch the bus. Gotta catch the bus, man. No, it's it's just um yeah, it is back to school season. What's going on with that?

SPEAKER_00 40:35

Well, this will be a throwback from some of our longtime listeners. We did that vlog with Goodwill we did just a couple months ago. And I was talking to our friends at Goodwill and they were reminding us that back to school season is coming up and that includes tax-free weekend.

SPEAKER_02 40:49

Oh, yes. Yep. I forget about the tax-free weekend. What's going on? How does that work?

SPEAKER_00 40:55

Well, have you ever have you ever taken advantage of tax-free weekend?

SPEAKER_02 40:58

I I mean, I think maybe by accident, but like I don't think I've ever done it on purpose.

SPEAKER_00 41:01

Dude, I'll tell you a good story. So when I first bought my house back in 2019, um, there was this place called East Coast Appliances. And like during tax-free weekend, a lot of businesses participate. I would say most businesses do, but you know, basically you don't pay sales tax on anything, yeah. Right, which is great. So people go and they especially make big purchases on tax-free weekend. They go and buy appliances, buy a car, buy their TVs. You know, the car dealerships go crazy. It's tax-free weekend. So you don't pay, you don't pay taxes on anything that you pay for in full.

SPEAKER_02 41:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 41:30

Um, I could use a new car. That's what I'm saying. So, you know, especially for people who have big purchases planned, they often take advantage of tax-free weekends. So I did that when I bought my house and I went and bought all my appliances on tax-free weekend. And so you save thousands of dollars that you don't have to pay in taxes. But that like this weekend is especially helpful for anybody who's on a budget for any reason. And even if you're not on a budget, but especially talking about back to school, Goodwill specifically does tax-free weekend for school supplies. And of course, they have, you know, clothing, backpacks, they have books, they have home goods, they have all kinds of different stuff. Um, so I would highly encourage people to take advantage of tax-free weekend. And that is August 7th through the ninth. So anything you buy at Goodwill, um, of course, there are some qualifications and stuff. So for school items, I think it's $20 or less. And then for anything else, I believe it's $100 or less. But honestly, you'll have a hard time even finding anything at Goodwill that cost more than $20 for school items or $100 for anything else. You know, like when we went there, I think we left there with like three grocery carts full of stuff and we spent like $200.

SPEAKER_02 42:38

Yeah. It was, yeah, I was just gonna say, it kind of blew my mind, especially, you know, the one out in in Shorpump. I've been like the best buy out there. The stuff out there was one, it was surprisingly good quality. We found a lot of stuff that was still in the package, like brand new that wasn't even ever opened, but it was all like 90% off. Yeah, like I'm talking stuff that's usually 50 bucks for five dollars. Yeah. And it's just it is an untapped resource, I feel like, for a lot of a lot of people, like maybe in the city. We actually used to have a goodwill down the road, but I think they've relocated since then. So the one out in shore pump is definitely the one I would recommend going to visit. And uh I think in addition to the tax-free weekend, there's also National Thrift Shop Day. Yeah. Which I remember, I remember National Thrift Shop Day. It's actually it's it's August 17th. So coming up here in a couple of weeks. Um yeah, National Thrift Shop Day um is a great time to go to Goodwill, to the other thrift shops in the area, but specifically to Goodwill to uh you're gonna find gems there that you didn't think that you wanted or that you didn't think that you needed. Yeah. Which is like sounds maybe counterintuitive. I know I don't have like the typical shopping habits, like maybe like a lot of folks. I prefer to decide specifically what I'm going to go and buy, and then I'll go to there, go to the shop, find it, buy it, and leave. I don't want to talk to anybody. I don't want to, I don't need to back and forth. I don't need to shop around. I don't want to, I don't window shop. That's the thing I want. I know how much it costs, buy it, I'm out. But going to Goodwill is the perfect opportunity to just browse. Yeah. Because you never know what they're going to have. They get new stuff every single day.

SPEAKER_00 44:16

And you, and you don't have the consequence of like overspending. You know, it's like everything there is already affordable. So especially if you go on tax-free weekend, you're not paying taxes on anything. Um, they have all types of school supplies and stuff, like stuff for college dorm rooms, um, even stuff for you know your apartment if you're a college student, and let's say you're renting in Oregon Hill and you just, you know, you want to get ready for the school year, whether it's headphones, backpacks, electronics, um, you know, you can get lucky there and find some really cool stuff. You remember I found that camelback that you know what a camelback is, right? You did. It was like brand new. It was brand new. And those bags are like $150. I paid eight bucks for it. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 44:52

It's insane. Yep. My favorite thing to find at a at a any Goodwill is furniture. Yeah. Because You might not think that, oh well, Goodwill, all they have is old t-shirts. It's like, well, yes, they do. They also have like chinos and suits and stuff like that. But occasionally they'll have like a really prime piece of furniture, like a nice chair or an outdoor set or a table. And that's kind of like the beauty of it. It's like you can't go online and pre-shop. You can't window shop. You have to take the trip there and see what you find. Yeah. The little treasure hunt.

SPEAKER_00 45:25

And I mean, Goodwill is great, you know, because they do so much more than just have like affordable stuff, right? We spent a bunch of time there. And you learn about all the other things that they do. You know, they have um, you know, they re-uh reintroduce people into the workforce, right? People that have struggled with incarceration or poverty or homelessness, and they help teach them the skills needed to re-enter the workforce and get their life back together and just have a good career. Um, and of course, there's a lot of benefits that come along with working at Goodwill. So they have a bunch of training programs. They do a lot of stuff revolving around sustainability because, of course, Goodwill takes donations, but Goodwill also donates a lot from Goodwill. Uh, so that way when you donate stuff there, you know that it's not just going to waste. Um, and yeah, they just do a lot of good for the community. And of course, Goodwill's a huge organization, but I think people underestimate how involved they are in their local community. So tax-free weekend and national thrift shop day are happening at all of the Goodwill locations, especially here in Central Virginia. We highly encourage you to go check them out. The sooner the better, right? So, like make sure you put it on your calendar. Take this opportunity to put these dates on the calendar so that you can go get what you need, either for yourself, for your family, for your loved ones, for your kids that have the school season coming up. Um, and Goodwill's always been a great friend of the show. So we highly encourage you, please go check them out. Let them know that Vera House sent you. Yes. And um congrats to everybody for back to school. Anyone who's graduating this year has, you know, exciting things coming up. And uh, if you're not a student, just go for National Thrift Day and we'll probably see you there. Yep, 100%. Um, so one of the things that is big Richmond news is we're saying goodbye to the Coliseum.

SPEAKER_02 46:57

Yeah, man, it's bittersweet. It's bittersweet for sure, but it's also about goddamn time. Yeah. It's been sitting there for years, and everybody's, you know, in in like, you know, bar conversations and and kind of casual coffee shop talk, you know, maybe not so much recently, has been you know, what's going on with the Coliseum? Have you heard? Do you know? Is it gonna be are they gonna reopen it? Are they gonna revamp it? Like what's happening? So it's finally time they're getting rid of it.

SPEAKER_00 47:28

Yeah, yeah. And I think before COVID, I think it was I think LeVar Stoney had plans to try to like redevelop it and turn it into a whole new complex. Yeah. And I think like he just couldn't get support for that idea or couldn't get backing, or I I wouldn't I wouldn't be surprised if it just cost an insane amount of money. Yeah, um, and that's why it's been sitting, obviously, because it's probably a huge project and it's almost it's expensive to demolish it. It's very expensive to demolish it. It's like 10 or 15 million dollars to knock the thing down. Yeah, so I couldn't imagine how many tens of millions of dollars it would have cost to rehab it and turn it into something useful. Did you ever go as a kid?

SPEAKER_02 48:05

I did. I went a few times. I went to Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey's circus. Yeah. And then I think I went to a monster truck show one time.

SPEAKER_00 48:14

Me too. Me too. I think I went to the monster trucks a few times and um the Renegades played there, right? They did. So I went to the Renegades.

SPEAKER_02 48:20

Yeah, yeah, I went to a couple renegades games. And um yeah, I mean, bitters, like I said, bittersweet, fond memories. Um, I think one of the biggest gripes that I've had about Richmond as a whole is not having a central sporting arena, a sporting facility. We have the diamond now, we have the squirrels stadium where it had the diamond.

SPEAKER_00 48:44

Uh Carmax Park.

SPEAKER_02 48:45

Carmax Park, yeah. So we we have a really nice baseball complex now, but we don't have a football, basketball, ice hockey arena. And to me, the other the big cities of note, they all have that. Yeah, right. It's it to me they used to make it more legit. When downtown was like, you know, it was the the Knicks is downtown New York. Yeah, right. That's the Knicks, or Maddoxon Square Garden is downtown New York. Yeah. And the Coliseum used to be that for Richmond. So when it closed, I was rosy eyed, starry-eyed that they would reopen it and make it that thing. But that's not going to be the case.

SPEAKER_00 49:24

I know. I wish I agree. I wish it was though, because you know, even DC, they've got like Capital One Arena or whatever, you know. Um, and it's crazy because the Coliseum held like over 13,000 people. Like the amount of stuff that's happened at the Coliseum is honestly it'll blow your mind. Like Elvis Presley performed there four times. What?

SPEAKER_01 49:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:43

Elvis in the 70s. Isn't that nuts? Okay. Dude, um, check this out. The Coliseum famously launched the Jackson 5's first ever tour in 1971.

unknown 49:57

Shh.

SPEAKER_00 49:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:58

Okay.

unknown 50:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:00

See the Richmond is the underdog city.

SPEAKER_00 50:03

Totally. It's the underdog city. That's crazy. Think about that. The the first stop on the Jackson Fives' first tour ever was the Richmond Coliseum.

SPEAKER_02 50:12

There's gotta be pictures about that.

SPEAKER_00 50:14

I'm sure probably. Um, there's a documentary about Elvis that features quite a bit of the Richmond Coliseum and Elvis's performances there. I think he performed um, let's see, I pulled it up. He performed there um in 1972, in 1974, again the following night in 1974. So he played two back-to-back nights, and then he played his final performance at the venue in 1976. Um pretty crazy. You know, so to think about the everything that's happened at the Coliseum is kind of nuts. I also went there for the circus when I was a kid. Yeah. Um, some hockey games, some monster truck shows, maybe a couple other things. But yeah, it's a shame. And hopefully there's something that'll pop up one day where we are able to say that we're a city that has like a big, you know, stadium venue like that.

SPEAKER_02 51:09

Yeah, if there's anyone of our listeners that um that has like 700 million dollars. Yeah, you know, you just you needed something to do on a weekend and you, you know, you got a bunch of money to spend, we could really use a an official sports arena to make Richmond a proper city. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:27

But what were you gonna say? Were you gonna say if anybody has pictures of when Elvis or the Jackson 5 was was here in town?

SPEAKER_02 51:32

Yeah, I mean, if there is, if there are, you know, there are people out there that were around or even went to that show and know the show that we're talking about, know the date that they played, send us a message, send us a picture. If you got a ticket stub that you saved, send us any of that stuff. Like, we would love to see that.

SPEAKER_00 51:48

That'd be awesome. Yeah. You know, I saw where I see these videos pop up on Instagram from time to time of people that are like sneaking into the Coliseum recently in the past several months, and they go in there and see all the old, you know, all the old stuff and sneak into all the old corridors and hallways and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 52:03

Okay, I think I found a picture which is was posted in January of last year of the Jackson 5 in Richmond, Virginia. Wow. 1971, December 30th. Yeah. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 52:19

Isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_02 52:20

Look at him, look at him, little Michael.

SPEAKER_00 52:22

I know, dude. That's nuts. That's so cool. It's crazy to think about like Richmond historically, because I mean, dude, even from the 1800s, like this place was booming, dude. Like this place was booming. Like Richmond was a big deal, and um, it's a big deal in a very different way these days. Um but yeah, man, it was a it was a very big deal. And people forget like what all has gone down here.

SPEAKER_02 52:50

So this is reminding me of some pictures that I saw that I think there was some like vigilante, if you want to call them that. Some vigilantes that snuck into the coliseum and took pictures of it, what it looks like now. Yeah. It's it's depressing. Oh, it's just trash. It's just trash full of water, there's trash everywhere, graffiti everywhere. It's you know, it's cooked. In addition to pictures of the Coliseum, I found pictures of the inside of the Sixth Street Marketplace. Oh. Do you remember the Sixth Street Marketplace? Yeah. We talked about that once before a while back, but there's an image that was circulating on Facebook for a while of the catwalk that stretched across Broad Street that connected the Sixth Street Marketplace to the other side of Broad, which was also a shopping center. Yeah. And I remember this like fondly. Like I went to the Sixth Street Marketplace all the time because it was an indoor mall, it was right there on Broad Street, you walk across Broad, and it's still there. They never tore it down. The the Coliseum side of Broad Street, the Sixth Street Marketplace building is still there. If you go to the convention center, and I'm not sure what road that is back there, but it takes you behind the Marriott Hotel.

SPEAKER_01 54:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:04

If you go down that road, to your left is a very narrow but very old kind of Victorian-era looking building. This is what it looks like. Oh, yeah, yeah. This is the entrance behind the Marriott Hotel. It's right there. Yeah. And this is what the inside of the Sixth Street Marketplace looks like. It was massive. Like, look at it looks like a castle.

SPEAKER_01 54:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:28

And it was covered in this glass roofing, like vaulted ceiling roof. So it was very futuristic, but also very like paid an homage to like that old architecture. Yeah. And just like seeing that picture of the Coliseum, seeing these pictures of the Sixth Street Marketplace, it makes me miss old Richmond. But it it just makes me w want these things in our city now. Yeah. And it also kind of reminds me now that seeing these old Victorian or this this old kind of like castle architecture in in the marketplace. We talked about it on the like one of the last episodes.

unknown 55:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:03

Is why is everything ugly now?

SPEAKER_00 55:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:05

We like we need to return to things being beautiful and things being artistically drawn and created and designed. There needs to be a color injection. I was even thinking about it when I was putting on this yellow hat that I'm wearing. If you're just listening, I'm wearing a yellow hat and I don't wear it. Actually, this is the first time I've ever worn it because it sticks out. I like that hat. I like it too. And I like it looks good on my head and you know, it kind of goes with my skin tone and all that. But like I had to really think about wearing this because I was just going to wear like a navy blue hat. Yeah. Because it's like monotone and kind of like the the trend now is to not use pops of color. And I think we should go back to that.

SPEAKER_00 55:45

Yeah, I agree. You know, I call it the shittification of everything. Yeah, I do. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 55:50

It's so good.

SPEAKER_00 55:51

Um, because yeah, it's true. You know, and and dude, Richmond, it it's on topic with a lot of the stories and stuff that we talk about on this podcast. And we have to do a lot of research for these stories. And that research often consists of looking at very old pictures and maps and diagrams of of Richmond. And it's so fascinating. Like it's so cool to see some of these old buildings, even buildings like the mosque is a good example. Yeah. But all of the buildings here used to be like that. All of the buildings down Broad Street used to look just like that.

SPEAKER_01 56:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:19

And it is cool that that one's kind of like a capsule in time where it's encased in glass and you, you know, in theory, could see it somehow.

SPEAKER_02 56:27

Yeah, it just makes me wonder like, you know, with the Coliseum, what are the plans for Sixth Street Marketplace? Because it's been there in that state for years. And I imagine it's similar to the the uh the Coliseum. There was talk about the Navy Hill project where they were going to revamp the other side of that building, yeah, where the Navy Hero, technically the Navy Hill district is like where the courthouse is and all that that area back there.

SPEAKER_00 56:50

And I think that that also um had the Coliseum as a part of it, right?

SPEAKER_02 56:54

Yeah, it included all of that. They were going to revamp it, revitalize it, turn it into a like some of it was gonna be um pedestrian accessible, so like lots of walking paths. There were gonna be some shopping areas, it was gonna be like an open-air market, I think was a part of like one of the concept drawings. And that didn't happen. The Navy Hill project died. I think Stoney again didn't get the support that he wanted. And the Coliseum is getting bulldozed, and I imagine, unfortunately, that would be the same fate for the Sixth Street Marketplace.

SPEAKER_00 57:25

Yeah, I hope not. Um, yeah, you know, in place of the Coliseum, I believe the plan is uh to make way for a new 500-room hotel and downtown redevelopment. So it makes you wonder is the marketplace part of that redevelopment? And is that a good thing or is that a bad thing? Um, only time will tell, I suppose. And I guess it depends on how much money and care is put into it. You know, a lot of these big projects like this are invested in by out of town people, you know, it's like these big corporate investments, it's not local people, right? Especially once you're in like the tens of millions, you know. Um, and yeah, it's a lot of outside capital because of course what those people look for is up and coming booming cities, which is exactly what we are. Um, so sadly, I don't know if we'll be seeing a resurrection of Victorian style buildings anytime soon, but um, I think there's a lot of, you know, inspiration that could be taken through art, through architecture, all these things. And very much like technology and even like all the political stuff, like I think the generations that are coming up behind us, you know, Gen Alpha and Gen Z, I think that they are turning the the other way in a good way, right? Like they are wanting to back away from um, you know, big tech and all this other stuff, you know, um, big corporate interests and stuff. And that's why you see a lot of them that they're they're turning their back on things that you and I grew up with, um, reality TV, um even like Facebook and social media and Instagram, right? Like Instagram is Facebook for millennials, right? You know what I mean? It really is. Yeah. Um, and I, you know, Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids, like they're they're not even interested in it. And the ones that are, they treat it totally differently. Yeah. Um, and I just think it's interesting to observe those things. So I, you know, I do hope that the generations that are a bit younger than us find a resurgence in, you know, not entirely the way that things used to be done, but especially in, you know, artistic values and just, I don't know, doing doing things different, you know, just doing things less synthetic. How about that?

SPEAKER_02 59:40

Less synthetic. I like that. Well, there couldn't be more of a uh a representation of something that's less synthetic than knowing how to parallel park. Because you can't fake that.

SPEAKER_00 59:54

Yeah, that's an OG skill right there.

SPEAKER_02 59:55

Oh, that's a millennial skill. Yeah. Right? I think you and I both had plenty of opportunities to mess it up a bunch of times. You know, maybe you know, put a few extra scuffs of paint on somebody else's car. And if you lived in a busier city, that was just how you learned how to drive. And I've made this comment before, I think we've just gotten worse. And with the advent of technology and driver aid, there's less of a need for people to know how to do those certain things. And the idea was initially good, but I think it just made people a little lazy. Yeah. So if that sounds like you, we challenge you. And this is the official challenge for the Parallel Parking Championship in Richmond, Virginia. Hosted and sponsored by NASCAR. Yes. So if you think you're up to the challenge, we invite you to join us on July 22nd.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:50

So in a couple weeks, July 22nd, we will be hosting the official parallel parking challenge sponsored by NASCAR. And the idea is I like to think I'm a pretty good driver. I know you like to think you're a pretty good driver. We've both witnessed and observed and observed some pretty uh let's just call it what it is, heinous driving and especially parking. And we're in right here in Carrytown. We see it all day, every day. So we we we invite you, our listeners, our friends, our family, and our fans, to come out, try your luck at parallel parking, in front of me, in front of Mike, and in front of a NASCAR driver. So we're gonna have a NASCAR driver out, we're gonna be commentating, we're gonna be judging, we're gonna be critiquing, and we're going to be awarding those of you who do a really, really good job. And uh I could not mean be more pumped about this.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:49

Yeah, this was originally your um just sort of like blurted out excitement idea on one of the previous podcasts just a couple months ago. And the feedback we got was immediate. People were like, we want to do this, we want to do this. Yes. And what started out as kind of a little joke has become a pretty serious endeavor. Yeah. And it's meant to just be a fun thing. Um, entry will be free. We're gonna do prizes and giveaways and do a bunch of fun stuff on that day. We're gonna be streaming it and filming it and just having a bunch of fun with it. Um, NASCAR is gonna be involved and help us with a lot of the logistics and stuff like that. So we'll have volunteers from them. There's gonna be official NASCAR pace cars there. There's gonna be a NASCAR driver there that's gonna be at the commentator booth with us, commentating and just observing everybody having fun. Um, you will be driving your own vehicle. There will be no rear view cameras allowed. So we'll have black construction paper and we'll have like masking tape to just cover any rear view cameras when you pull up. And you can get all the description, all the uh details for that in the in the description and join the waitlist for that um in the description below this video. So we have a link where you can put your name and your email. You'll get all the details for that. So yes, that will be July 22nd. Um, and it'll be a pass or fail you know model. Um, so you know, to do a bracketed parallel parking championship thing, it'd be a little crazy. Yeah, maybe we'll do that 2027. But basically, we want it to be fun. We want you to be able to pull up, participate, and you'll get either a pass or fail. And then there will be uh a lucky handful of people that win some prizes and stuff like that. And the rest of it, you get street cred. You get clout, you get the street cred. Yes, uh, you get uh, you know, some fun social clout, and uh it's just gonna be a fun time. So yeah, there'll be a bunch of other like stuff going on. Um, obviously, we're continuing to put this together and kind of build it as we go, but it is official, it is happening. Yep, it's all thanks to Perry. It wouldn't have happened without him bringing it up in the first place.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:46

There's I mean, yeah. I mean, I I yeah, it was kind of a joke at first, but NASCAR got wind of it and they they hit us up. They said, Hey, we think this is awesome. We're in. Let's do it. When they said we're on board, we took it seriously and we're making it happen.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:02

Yeah. Yeah. So we'll see everybody on July 22nd. We'll have some further details on like exactly what time and all that type of stuff. Um, we'll get you all that information. So if you want to be on the wait list to make sure that you have all the details and that you're ready to go and you want to participate, all you got to do is click the link in the description, put in your info, and we'll be in touch. Yeah. Um, so probably last interesting thing to talk about would be the train derailment.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:26

Yeah, man. I saw so many clips and videos about that. It's kind of crazy. I didn't read too much detail into it, so I don't really know what went down.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:38

Here's what happened. You know, they're kind of closed lipped on what actually caused it. You know, a lot of people speculate that it was the heat, but I did see a lot of pushback on that because people are like, look, that metal is rated to deal with an insane amount of heat. You know, you've got these huge locomotives that are on these rails. Like those things are like 115 degree weather is not going to cause that to happen. That's just my conclusion based on all I was reading. But essentially, you had a 200-car train. It was carrying all um corn and grain, and something happened on the railroad bridge that goes above the beginning of the Capitol Trail. So the walking trail that's coming from the flood wall past Shiplock Park, past Dock Street Park, and then down into Rockets Landing. So, for anybody who isn't familiar with that area, you basically have a huge train that is going overhead of a walking trail. So there are people walking below it, riding their bikes, riding scooters, riding skateboards, walking dogs, pushing strollers, all right underneath this train track. And this past week, three entire train cars got derailed and came off the bridge into the canal, into the James River. And they were all full of corn. Um, and yeah, pretty crazy. People got some good pictures, some good videos, some good shots of it happening. Luckily, nobody was injured in the grand scheme of things. It's like, you know, not a big deal. Luckily, it wasn't, you know, hazmat fluid or oil or something that would destroy anything. Like, luckily, it's just it's just grain, nobody got hurt, the railroad is pretty easily fixable, everything is fine.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:23

This could have gone so much worse.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:25

Dude, it could have been a disaster.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:26

If there were people, because like you can see here that three cars that fell into the river, you know, if there was going to be a derailment on this bridge, that's the best outcome.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:36

Imagine if this was a busy day with traffic going out to Rockets Landing, because that road gets packed because of it's a two lane road and it's a twenty five mile an hour speed limit. So, you know, more than twenty cars and it's it's slow, slow traffic. Yep. Three like three train cars falling off the track onto traffic, anyone on the Capitol Trail, people just walking under the bridge could have been catastrophat.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:57

Easily, you know, because yeah. If it if they just simply fell to the other side, no doubt there would have been cars there because traffic already gets bunched up there and they have these new speed humps that they've put in there. So everybody slows down and it does and it backs up the cars there. And surely there would have been cars on the street when that happened. I I don't doubt it. But yeah, people captured some videos in the aftermath. You know, it's not anything like crazy to look at, but basically they fell off. Nobody has video of it actually happening. Um at least not that I've seen. But most of the videos and stuff that I've seen are like immediately after where you can see basically three cars fell off. There was two that were like stuck and almost falling off and that were very unstable, and the corn was like pouring out of it down into the water and stuff like that. So, you know, luckily, not that corn is organic material because over 95% of it is GMO, so don't eat it. But uh, it just means that it fell into the river. And uh I think they, you know, they put out a cleaning crew to go get it out of there and just clean it up. But yeah, yeah. But I'm sure the fish were having a heyday, dude.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:59

I'm sure they were. You know, best feeding day that they've had in decades.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:03

Yeah, I mean, glad nobody was hurt, glad you know, it wasn't worse. Stuff like this rarely happens, which is a good thing. And I think, you know, that is a large part to do with Virginia facilities, like the construction team, the the people that maintain the tracks, because I know that they're pretty diligent about cleaning them. You'll see those they're like F-250s with train wheels on them, they like run up and down the tracks. You know that they're like checking the stop points and the gaps and things like that. So you know, props to the team for for taking care of it and making sure that people were safe while they were fixing up that mess.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:37

Yeah, yeah. So it's uh public service announcement for everybody to go fishing down in the canal and get you some grass-fed grass carp. Grass-fed-fed, corn fed grass carp.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:48

Corn fed grass carp. 35-pound fish. There you go. But um last thing we just hit 40,000 followers on Instagram. We did. Yes. So I want to say personally, thank you to everyone who listens, who watches, who follows us on Instagram, who engages with the content, who sends us comments and messages. We couldn't do any of this without your support. Um, so thank you. We appreciate it. We love every single one of you. We see you out in public sometimes. If you see us, don't hesitate to come up and say what's up. We love talking to you, you love meeting people. So it is an achievement that uh Mike and I didn't really see see coming. Not really. We kind of started this a couple, you know, a year or so ago, and to see where it is now is is really, really cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:39

Yeah. And for anybody who wants like the background lore of like, how in the world did we start this podcast? Um, you know, Perry and I started a test episode just to kind of like see how it would go. And we put our headphones on and we sat in this very room with them on, and we just kind of bantered back and forth. And at the end of the recording, we were like, huh, dude, I think we should do this again next week. And that's kind of how it started, you know. Now, obviously, there was a lot more thought put into it than just that. But the fact that this podcast has really become what this whole brand revolves around is because we chose to do this together and we're both fascinated in like different things, right? Whether it's history or science or even, you know, the logistics and the bureaucracy, and it all kind of creates this weird little interesting blend that we call the Vera House podcast. And um, people love the stories, right? Everybody loves these stories. We just did the one on the Marshall Reservoir. Um, so our goal is to keep those stories coming because I think that that's like it's a staple of our show. Um we don't always go into the deep dives on these stories because it takes a lot of time, takes a lot of research, a lot of effort. Um, but yeah, of course, if nobody was interested in them, then we wouldn't do them. Yeah. Um, but yeah, thanks to everybody for following along with our journey. It's been a lot of fun. We're uh yeah, we're grateful that we get to show up and talk into a microphone and hang out and have a good time. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. You know, people might not think so. And we've definitely made some jokes along the way of like, oh, you know, another sweaty day in the studio. Uh, but it is a lot of work. And so if it wasn't worth it, we wouldn't keep doing it. So yeah, big thank you to everybody. Uh hopefully it's just one of many more accomplishments. We hope to hit a hundred thousand followers maybe by the end of the year. Who knows? Who knows? Who knows, man? You know, that'd be that'd be insane. But uh, you know, we'll see what happens. But our goal is to keep trucking along and enjoying every step along the way.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:29

This podcast was recorded at Vera House Studios in Richmond, Virginia, and produced by Perry Young and Mike Metzger.