The Newport sign sure would be a beacon of hope all lit up, wouldn’t it?

And more in Addy Smith’s informative and fun If You Read the Paper for Monday, September 26, 2011.

Plus the possibility of tolls on I-95; Bobby Scott is a good, non-gay hating dude; Gov. McDonnell acting like a vice-presidential candidate; the VA Tea Party Alliance taking aim at state Dems; and more in today’s If You Read the Paper.

Kat from AltDaily’s Monthly Art Events suggests these hot tickets.

Rock, Country, Hip-hop. We got it covered this week. Plus, a sic act coming out of VA.

Plus, the effect of redistricting on Hampton Road’s political power.

Look up, and you’ll see a remnant of the building’s origins: an opening to the loft, from which hay was dropped to feed the horses.

“Who says a park has to be green?” Grant Cothran proposes that his current favorite “dog park,” Scope Plaza, ought to be downtown’s official dog park.

We can shift poverty, but we cannot force people out of our city. They will still need the services that downtown needs now, they will still have people living below the poverty line, and they will still be supported by Norfolk’s tax base. In essence, all we really will have accomplished is a grand veil.

There are bike-friendly routes to be found in Norfolk. In fact, there’s a whole network that is passed by, unnoticed, by speeding motorists: parallel side streets and slower byways, where the speed limit doesn’t exceed 25mph, and the streets are bare of traffic-controlling yellow and white lines.

Architect and urban planner Lennie Araujo reviews what Norfolk is missing, how it can get it, where it could go, and why any of it matters.

The success of Phoenix’s Light Rail bodes well for The Tide’s chances.

Can Norfolk be a city that boasts both metropolitan architecture and green space?

Before: It could have been worse; we’re lucky the plaster was able to protect the delicate, original wood and stone features it obscured for decades.

So for nearing fours hours I’ve been watching the construction crew slowly chip away at this ugly veil…
While the lack of one big, dramatic, ‘Tah-dah’ moment was a little disappointing, it somehow seems appropriate. This big thing I’ve been waiting for, expecting to be a crash-boom kind of affair, is instead almost delicate—a respectful unveiling of a forgotten structure past its prime.