Why is it that we wait until guests come before we bring out the good dishes?

With the arrival this week of the UCI Road World Championships and thousands of national and international cyclists, the City of Richmond has shown that it, too, suffers from the same dippy syndrome of waiting for guests before bringing out the good stuff.

Like family members, Richmond residents and taxpayers are asking: What about us? Don’t we count? Why does it take a bike race for the City of Richmond to undertake the array of projects that enhance the look and feel of our city? Don’t we, the residents and workers in Richmond, deserve the good stuff, too?

In Richmond, what we see as “good stuff” includes these projects accomplished in a recent flurry of activity: Repaving miles of city streets; erecting pedestrian-friendly walkovers for busy Main Street and Franklin Street around Virginia Commonwealth University; planting flowers and placing giant flowerpots to spruce up the entryways from the interstate into Downtown; and constructing the magnificent Richmond sign with a blue wave at the Interstate 95-64 split to welcome travelers to the river city.

Yes, Southern hospitality, simple courtesy and home training dictate that you make sure visitors feel welcome. But it sure will feel good to have these quality-of-life enhancements around when the company goes home.

Here are a few more suggestions:

• Add a pedestrian walkover on Lombardy Street by the Virginia Union University campus. Make it and the walkovers on the VCU campus permanent.

• Allow pop-up businesses and concessions, including food trucks, along the Downtown riverfront every weekend during the summer.

• Add more colorful Richmond wave signs to the major western, eastern and northern entryways to the city.

To his credit, Mayor Dwight C. Jones asked that 25 percent of the $20 million spent on these bike races be spent with businesses owned by minorities and women. When the races are over and the books are closed, we challenge race organizers to release the details on whether they met that request — to the tune of how much — and in areas beyond discretionary spending.

We all have an obligation to make Richmond the city we all deserve — a livable, enjoyable place with opportunity for all.