Dude, where’s the skate park?

There are no walls blocking the way, no tolls at the city line and no security checkpoints to clear when driving into Richmond from the suburbs.

So why don’t more people come here to take advantage of what the city has to offer?

That was the question a group of business people and academics attempted to answer in an all-day session Friday at the University of Richmond’s downtown campus.

The program, Frontier Sessions, was hosted by The Frontier Project, a Shockoe Bottom-based consulting company that specializes in leadership and strategy.

The focus session was done as part of the company’s pro-bono mission of donating 15 percent of its work to the community, said Frontier Project founder Scott Wayne. This is the first Frontier Sessions program the company has done, he said.

Monday Q&A: A class with South University’s president

Troy Ralston is the president of Richmond’s newest institution of higher learning, South University. The university opened for classes in October at its campus in West Broad Village in Short Pump.

Other South University campuses include Virginia Beach, Savannah, Ga., Columbia, S.C., Montgomery, Ala., Tampa, and West Palm Beach, Fla.

Ralston was president of Everest College’s Arlington campus before joining South. Before that, he had worked at DeVry University, where he held a variety of positions that included director of start-up operations and regional director of operations.

Ralston also has worked in sales for professional sports organizations, including the Oakland Athletics, the Phoenix Suns and the Denver Nuggets.He graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Keller Graduate School of ...

Siblings launch web startup

Charles Bice and Amy de Venoge think they have come up with a way to take the juggling out of scheduling.

A ’sign’ of the times

The FastSigns store at 8707 W. Broad St. has moved to a new location in the Innsbrook area. The company’s store at Horsepen Road and Broad Street can serve the area that the original FastSigns store in Richmond had served, said company executive Bill Sroka. Sroka and Ed Fagenson are partners in SignRush Inc., a company that owns and operates four FastSigns franchise stores in Richmond and one in Fredericksburg. They started the business here 22 years ago, becoming the first FastSigns franchise east of the Mississippi River, Sroka said. “The FastSigns move was an upgrade in location more than anything else,” Sroka said. “We believe we need to have our far West End location nearer to the growth in this part of the Central Virginia market that we serve.” He said the new location also offers better access and visibility from Broad, than the previous location. It ...

Richbrau files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection

Richbrau Brewery owner Michael T. Byrne said his Shockoe Slip restaurant collapsed under the weight of the recession. For 17 years he ran the restaurant, pub and microbrewery out of four connecting buildings that took up nearly 40,000 square feet of space in the 1200 block of East Cary Street. Last week he padlocked the front doors and on Friday he filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. A Chapter 7 filing means the business and any inventory will be liquidated under the direction of a court-appointed trustee. The filing listed assets of $150,739.59 and liabilities of $222,656.86. SunTrust Bank is listed as the largest creditor, owed $97,159.73 on a term loan and $29,256.58 on a line of credit, according to court documents. The bulk of the ...

Remodeling Carytown

Carytown is getting a face lift. You might not have noticed yet, because most of the work is still to come. But by summer, streetscape improvements should be quite noticeable, said Bob Broomfield, president of the Carytown Merchants Association. Broomfield is owner of the Play N Trade video game store. In September, the city paved the entire stretch of Cary Street through the shopping district, as well as some of the connecting side streets, Broomfield said. The next steps call for construction of brick crosswalks, extending curbings at selected corners along Cary , adding colored, rubberized matting at curbing cutouts to aid visually impaired pedestrians, and erecting a marble-and-metal Carytown entrance sign that will stand 20 feet high. “I can’t say enough about how the city has stepped up,” Broomfield said. The city is funding the road work, and the Merchants Association is ...

Home and garden shows join forces during slow economy

This weekend’s Maymont Flower & Garden Show is an anticipated mid-winter event in Richmond, signaling that spring is on its way. This year’s show at the Greater Richmond Convention Center is combined with the MAC Events Home Show, giving attendees an opportunity to find items for inside the house, as well as out. While it’s a treat for those who attend, it is a way of life for many of the 300 vendors who travel the country from show to show trying to sell their wares. The road is proving even more of a grind in the middle of a recession, some of the vendors say. “The economy is affecting the shows pretty remarkably,” said David Davis Jr., with Innovative Spas of Virginia Beach. “Business is off probably 20 to 30 percent.” A couple of hours into the show which began at 1 p.m. on Thursday, ...

Sequel coming soon to East End Theater

The place was once frequented by the likes of Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne and Bette Davis. But that was so long ago. In fact, a movie star hasn’t been on the screen there since 1970. That was the year the 850-seat East End Theater shut its doors, ending a run of 32 years.

A shot in the arm for injector inventor

Evan Edwards was named Richmond’s Engineer of the Year, and it was an honor he never saw coming.

Toyota “firestorm” continues

First it was Ford’s problems with the Pinto’s exploding gas tanks. Then Audi had an unintended acceleration problem. That was followed by exploding sidesaddle gas tanks on a line of General Motors trucks, and then the Ford Explorers rolling over because of blowouts from Firestone tires. Now it is Toyota that is in the throes of what Virginia Commonwealth University economics professor George E. Hoffer calls the fifth “major safety firestorm” he has seen in his 40 years of studying the auto industry. Federal government data released Monday attribute 34 deaths to alleged sudden acceleration in Toyotas since 2000. The company has recalled 8.5 million vehicles to repair sticking gas pedals and another 440,000 of 2010 Prius hybrid models to repair brake problems. The debacle has put the pressure on dealerships across the country to repair the vehicles. There are two factors that make Toyota’s ...

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