Sports Editor, Petersburg, VA

But then you could live in the Fan District... That alone would be worth it for me.

 

True enough, and you can find good cheap studios and 1-bedrooms in Shockoe Bottom, where all the good bars are. Tradeoff: that's where all the good flooding is too.

 

So the happy talk from the city that Old Town Peterburg's bouncing back with renovations and new restaurants is a bit overinflated, eh?

 

No, that part is legit. Problem is, there's Old Town Petersburg and old Petersburg. The former is getting art galleries and haute cuisine. The latter is a scale version of D.C. or Detroit. And there isn't a lot seperating the two. It's hard to quickly turn around a town with the many, many problems Petersburg has had in the last 50 years.

 

Petersburg is a dump -- plain and simple, but at least Richmond is close for those late-night antics. For a young guy just beginning his career, the paper isn't an awful place to start. Could be better, could be worse, like a lot of shops.

 

I concur with the "shithole" assessments. When we take road trips, we try to avoid chain restaurants just off the exit ramps to try some local flavor. In Petersburg about five years ago, we found what seemed to us to be the classic townie place, looked like something out of the 1940s with menu choices to match. I went into the men's room to wash my hands, walked right out and said to my wife, let's go, we can't eat here. Unfortunately, we found no better options and after about an hour settled for McDonald's. My wife looked like she wanted to kill me. I shrugged, swallowed part of a Royale with Cheese and said, "You said you weren't hungry when we got to Richmond."

 

Didin't you read above? I said Petersburg has a Golden Skillet.

 

So what you're saying is that for the second time in history, Petersburg has cratered.

Applied for a job there nearly 30 years ago and still have the "Not this time, but we might have an opening in a couple months and we'll be in touch" letter someplace. One of the fortunate breaks of my life that I wasn't hired there.

 

Pberg is fucked up. No question. However, you will have a lot of stuff to cover and will get a chance to do many different things. This is a good spot for someone who wants to work their ass off. The pay could be much better but the job could payoff with a better spot somewhere else. It doesn't get the full boots seal of approval but it's not a bad spot for someone with experience and a vision.

 

Hearing rumblings that this job has been filled.

 

Good luck to them. They'll need it.