December 22
Hold that thought. Hold that gift. Hold the door.
Apparently the T-D article on Opus is on hold. Maybe the realization that one of Opus' principles, Erin Bishop, has the maiden name Armstrong (yes, she's Brad's daughter) put the kibosh on it, but I'm guessing it's more because Jeremy Redmon's astonishing right-place-at-the-wrong-time scoop on yesterday's attack in Mosul is gonna eat up front-page space for a while yet.
Anyway, thanks to the dashing young professional Scott Nystrom for these clear-headed questions about the Robins gift to VAPAF, which seem to have eluded anyone else who's written about it, including us:
- Since Robins had given $1MM a while ago, isn't the new gift just $4MM?
- The $4MM gift is over a whopping seven years, which works out to only $570k per year. Why is it over so much time, and are there other restrictions?
- For the love of pete, won't somebody, anybody, ask them how much money they have in the bank today and ask to see a bank statement—it cuts through all the b.s., and I think the answer will be interesting.
Well, to be sure, $570,000 a year sounds a lot worse than "$5 million gift," especially when you consider that the head of VAPAF makes about $300,000 a year, which he claims will never be paid with public money, and very little private money is actually in the bank. So aside from keeping the lights on at Armstrong Acres, how much of an effect will this have on construction? Good question about the money in the bank—as we've pointed out repeatedly, there's a big difference between what Brad Armstrong tells the press and what VAPAF tells the IRS (download pdf). And once more, why is our stupid little website the only place that these questions are getting raised? Come on, Mayor-elect Wilder, jump on this!
In other news, there was a typically without-meaningful-analysis piece about Calvin Jamison's going-away bash in today's T-D. There was some he-said-he-said with Paul Goldman, the Cardinal Richelieu of the next four years, and some blah-de-blah from Jamison and Rudy McCollum about how great things have become under their tenure. To hear them tell it, you'd be surprised to read they were run out of town on a rail in the November elections. As a homeowner (Andrew writing, btw), I appreciate a $50 tax cut as much as the next guy, but I'd be happier paying it and, oh, I don't know, having Government Rd. reopened.
December 18
Nice young people
Apparently we're about to get hit with a little "Ukrop Justice": an article about good, upstanding young folks who support the Performing Arts Center project and think we're a bit batty and possibly even Democrats will be speaking about it. Just a quick primer for these busy, important businessyoungsters:
- There has never been a feasibility study for the music hall.
- Brad seems a lot more confident about the amount of money he's raised when talking to the press than when talking to the IRS (download VAPAF's most recent IRS filing here).
- The only research that was done on this project doesn't think UR's well-funded, exquisitely programmed Modlin Center will have any effect on the audience for the Richmond Symphony and friends.
If Brad's assurances to the contrary are enough for you, enjoy Convention Center/Canal Walk/Sixth Street Marketplace/Main Street Station: The Sequel.
December 17
3/40ths of the way there!
Congratulations to Brad Armstrong and the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation for getting a $5 million gift from the family that brought you the Dalkon Shield. The T-D article (first link) says VAPAF has $54 million now. Well, most of that is pledges, or money it expects to receive from various tax hikes. It has maybe—including this gift—$16 million in cash.
Now all they have to do is find the rest of the $150 million they'll need to build the damn thing. And then build it and hope that overruns and x-factors such as the rocketing cost of steel (75-120 percent in the last year alone) doesn't push the price up to $200 million or more. Then find a way to make it self-sustaining. That shouldn't be a problem: A downtown hinging on conventions and performing arts couldn't possibly fail. And would it be churlish to note that $5 million dollars will pay Brad Armstrong's salary for only 15 years?
Yeah, probably. Kudos, Brad. You're on your way.
December 3
West is best when it comes to protest
Seems there's trouble, right here in River City. Seems someone wants to build a stadium in an established neighborhood. Seems the people who live there are concerned about noise, parking and traffic. Fortunately for these folks, they don't live downtown, so they've got some power to put the kibosh on UR's plan to move its football stadium to its campus. In an especially rich turn of events, the person leading the charge against this stadium is none other than Susan Armstrong, better known as the wife of Beverly W. "Booty" Armstrong, a leading proponent of the Performing Arts Center and business partner of Jim Ukrop, who's still pushing for a baseball stadium in Shockoe Bottom.
Susan, there's only one thing we can say to you: WE KNOW HOW YOU FEEL.
You see, those of us who live in the City of Richmond are veterans when it comes to people foisting plans on our environment and forcing us to live around them. In fact, it was this very topic that inspired Andrew to unknowingly initiate the process of Save Richmond getting kicked out of the Alliance for the Performing Arts, when he wrote this piece last year about how Richmond needs to do more to keep people here rather than try to bring suburbanites in once in a while.
Just today (this is Andrew writing, by the way, hence the plug for my own piece), I was driving down Marshall on my way to meet some of the nice folks at A.C.O.R.N., and I passed Chimborazo Elementary School, which has had a banner up that says: "DESTINATION: FULL ACCREDITATION" since I moved back to Richmond two years ago. I'm torn about this banner. As the spouse of an educator, I realize just how difficult it is for urban schools to comply with No Child Left Behind and Virginia Standards of Learning, which require an equal partnership between schools and parents. If either side lets the other down, it's trouble. But now I'm a parent, and I'm not too entirely jazzed about sending my kid to a school that hasn't managed to thread this particular needle yet (and at the very least has such a poor grasp of public relations that it doesn't take that banner down after two years). And you know what else? I HATE driving nearly 30 miles round trip to see a movie. I know, I know, these are old arguments, but damn, man, where's MY performing arts center? The one that shows National Treasure and maybe a Sunday matinee of the odd foreign film?
We're not getting that. We're getting opera. And baseball. Whether we like it or not. And maybe that'll bring people here (I doubt it—have you been to a performance of the Richmond Symphony or an R-Braves game in the past year? I have, so I'm a little less convinced about the power of these forms of entertainment to spark a virtual Edinburgh on the James.) So Susan, I sincerely feel your pain. But I can't help being a little bit jealous that you've got a better chance of someone hearing you out than I do because of your Zip Code.
December 3
Standoffishness, explained
We've been catching wind of a couple of criticisms of us. Most are about Don's lack of focus. As you can tell by the photo in the T-D article the other day (sadly, this picture is not online), Don has been growing gradually more fuzzy as the years (and years, and years) pass. He's very sensitive about losing his focus, knows there was a Woody Allen joke about it in Deconstructing Harry and would just dearly love to be sharper, but goshdurnit these things happen to the best of us. And to Don.
Likewise, there have been many venomous comments about Andrew's inability to grow hair from the top of his head. He's been valiantly applying some regulatory-gray-area cream that he bought in Oban a few weeks ago that's ostensibly for rethatching aging Highland cows, but the only result has been a curious fuzz growing around the rim of his sink drain, which he's totally gonna have to call Woodfin about. He's also quite defensive about his thin wrists (which the cruel call "girlie"). He points proudly to the fact that he has sired an heir (while wearing lower-arm enhancements, no doubt).
Finally, there's been some griping about the fact that we don't "allow" comments on the site. That's not really a function of anything other than incompetence. If you view the source of this page, you'll notice it's all extremely basic HTML, which is, in fact, the outer limit of Andrew's coding ability. We're actually working on moving the site over to a new host that will allow CGI and PERL and all that good stuff (well, if by "working on" you count "meaning to look into") via wordpress. But until we get around to that--and I wouldn't hold my breath--you'll have to content yourself with emailing us if you'd like to drop some knowledge, or offers of cut-rate Cialis, on our asses.
December 2
That'll learn you
A hearty congrats to JAMinc. for continuing its quiet mission to make music more available to Richmonders; we just got an email from the tireless Wally Thulin noting that JAMinc. has prepared a new section of links to resources for anyone who's interested in learning how to play an instrument or just get better at the one they know. JAMinc.'s site already boasts a list of artists available for in-school performances, and Wally sends out a very informative email each week noting shows of interest, so this just takes the organization's mission to another level. Good on you, mates.
Another person who deserves some props is Paul Goode, whose Think Richmond site is a fine resource for arts events, especially cheap ones, and news about Paul's lighthearted "Make Richmond Weird" campaign. He's sort of modeling it on Austin's Keep Austin Weird campaign. We happen to think Richmond is plenty weird already, but we know Paul's campaigning for a better class of weirdos, and for this reason we tip our very conservatively styled hats to him.
Oh, and you know what else rules? Puppies. The way they can't synchronize all four legs? Kills me. Widdle widdle puppy dawgs.
December 1
The loud voice of a few
Hey! We're back from vacation! Welcome Times-Dispatch readers! If you've ever wondered what commentary not written by cavemen looks like, please have a look around!
So of course we're all a-flutter about the front-page story about us in today's paper. It's always exciting to be acknowledged by the local media. We especially enjoyed Jim Ukrop characterizing us as a "loud voice for a few people." Hey, Mr. Man of the People: If your tax increases are so popular, why don't you put them on a ballot? Give us all a chance to vote on them instead of strong-arming city and county councils? We think it's especially rich that the most visible millionaire backer of opera downtown calls us unrepresentative!
P.S.: If you'd like to be known as one of "the few" people who think we're giving voice to your concerns, drop us a line and we'll make sure Jim knows who you are.
Likewise, we're a bit confused by Brad Armstrong's wistful declaration that he's "saddened by [Save Richmond's] tactics and their personal venom. That's not what this city needs." First of all, we don't think anyone can accuse us of having "tactics" in any meaningful way. We haven't even managed a blog post since before the election. We write stuff on our blog. People can read it if they want. That's it. But compared to Brad's success in fund-raising for this project and keeping positive news in the paper we're geniuses.
And personal venom? We don't think we could do any better than Virginia Performing Arts Foundation board member Booty Armstrong. Our little jokes about Charles Dutton playing Rudy McCollum in a movie about Richmond government can't touch that guy's best work.
Anyway, thanks for having a look around, and if you see anything you like, email us or sign up for our email list. You'll receive updates roughly once every three months (another one of our dastardly "tactics"). Whether you agree with us or not, we're here to keep the voice of people who don't own grocery stores or make 300K a year present in the debate about the future of downtown. If that sounds like just a few people to Jim Ukrop, well, that just kind of proves our point.
News/blog archives
July-November 2004 (lots of venomous tactics that will sadden you)
June 2004 (good reading--mucho money stuff)
May 2004
April 2004
February/March 2004
December 2003/January 2004
October/November 2003
August/September 2003
July 2003