March 26
Yesterday's (or the week before's) news
Just for kicks, for the past two months we've been keeping track of the lag between a newsworthy event and the Times-Dispatch's comments thereon. Click here to download Andrew's notes.

This is hardly scientific—Don's the only one of us who can bring himself to read that paper every day, and we only noted the most egregious examples (generally we don't bother to keep track of editorials that seemingly come from outer space, which is more often than you'd think, or those that appear within three days of the event, the exception being George W. Bush's State of the Union speech, roundly panned by even his top advisers and lauded by the T-D in all its lickspittle glory). Still, we think the ten examples highlighted here are sufficient to show there's a pattern.

The average lag time between the event and the editorial is 8.3 days. So if you get your news from the Times-Dispatch (and remember: You can now get home delivery of a good newspaper in Richmond), you have to wait a median of more than a week for awkwardly argued, weirdly reasoned comment. Some might say that's not such a great loss—is it really a problem to be without such lousy writing?—but we think it's a missed opportunity for a newspaper to be a nimble voice of the community.

In fact, you could probably make the depressing argument that being late, strange, and inaccurate reflects our community perfectly, but we refuse to give in to such defeatism. We think we deserve better, and we hope you'll take a moment to email the paper's rah-rah ombudsman Jerry Finch and tell him you think you feel the same. Feel free to enclose a copy of the PDF. He probably won't answer you (he never responded to Andrew's letter asking why the editorial board urged restraint when Education Secretary Rod Paige called teachers "terrorists," lest criticism become "one-note," though it persisted in referring to Howard Dean as "The Scream" throughout primary season), but perhaps if enough people (we reckon the threshold for waking him up is three) get in touch he'll shuffle over to his bosses and ask whether he can write a column belittling our complaints.


March 24
Why we wish we went to more City Council meetings
(Note the change in nickname. Calling her "2 G's" Hedgpeth just isn't cutting it anymore.)

Hedgepeth shoots! She scores! She leaves the possibility open that there may soon be two taxpayer-financed rooms with her name on them (one the multipurpose room in the now-$1.9 million community center she wants to build in her district, the other a...let's call it an ENFORCED multipurpose room). She defaces City Hall with pink stickers (read down) and gives immigrants scripts to read before council. Sample passage, written for "Adult 3": It hardly seemed possible that City Council could get any weirder. Mayor Rudy emerges from beneath stack of plans to improve school district in ten years ("Action item numero uno: Take down banners saying 'Destination: Full Accreditation' from failing schools--DOES NOT FOCUS-GROUP WELL") to vote against considering Brass Ones' plan to fund Castle Hedgepeth (full name to be worked out at later date) from her discretionary funds, seeing as she's, you know, about to be tried for misusing discretionary funds.

The vote fails. Huzzah for government! We shall debate issue honestly and openly. Still, Manolo "Willy Loman" Loupassi objects. Brass Ones, a.k.a. Biff, dast blame this man! Rest of council spots post-Line of Fire opportunity to pander to audience wielding scripts and fails to restrain itself in election year. Measure passes, a big win for a woman who desperately needs something to point to other than a successful 2001 hunger strike during which she wore only black until council appropriated $1.5M for this same center (big deal--half the assistants at the magazine we used to work at in New York did that for considerably less money).

So what's this campaign, with its racial overtones and scripted support (and pink stickers, which, if she put one promoting a band on a telephone pole she'd receive a visit from the police though apparently it's different if you're only defacing THE HALLS OF GOVERNMENT) in aid of? Making Castle Hedgepeth bigger. That is especially crucial since neighborhood is limping by with only THREE city-run pools near the wildly overpriced site chosen for Castle H (Swansboro indoor pool 2.42 miles/6 minutes away; Bellemeade pool 3.2 miles/9 minutes away; Blackwell pool 3.38 miles/9 minutes away—thanks, Mapquest!).

But we suppose everyone needs a good soaking now and then.

March 20
Try these on for sighs
This was in the "news" paper today.

Also, it seems as if there will be a baseball stadium downtown, even though everyone seems to hate the idea. Jesus, we're on the same page as the mayor on this one. Lord take us now!

March 20
Clean up CANCELED
Okay, so we drove by the site, and guess what? It's been cleaned! Some inconsiderate yob trimmed the grass, cleaned up the trash, and swept the sidewalk. There's literally nothing to do out there. Do NOT join us. We will not be there.

March 19
Clean up downtown
So we're not sure if our application to clean up Laurel St. between Broad and Grace went through or not, so we're just gonna clean up there on Saturday morning anyway. If you're interested in joining us, we'll be there at 9:30 a.m. (we're stunningly good-looking; you can't miss us). We'll bring garbage bags, a couple rakes and brooms, some shears for the grass growing over the sidewalk, and doughnuts if you get there on time!

March 5
Judge dread
Big ups to the Richmond Free Press for exposing the racist comments of a Richmond General District Court judge, leading the judge to resign. The Free Press found out about Judge Ralph B. Robertson's rhetoric--"African-Americans are prone to crime and violence because it is in their genes," and calling the Civil Rights Movement a "scam," for instance--because another participant in the Yahoo chat room he used as a forum for these opinions recognized him and alerted the newspaper.

This is how the press is supposed to operate, ladies and gentlemen. Unfortunately, the Free Press doesn't have a website, so you'll have to toddle on down to a newspaper box or read about its scoop in a somnolent daily that the whistleblower appears not to have even considered going to.

March 5
Don't fence me in...
This week's focus, "Wide Open Spaces," comes from Greg Will, a former VCU urban planning student. Greg looks at some other cities that have erected performing arts complexes and details the mixed results. Greg also goes into some of the reasons he thinks organic, small-scale arts scenes tend to weather the tough times that are proving so deadly to "high art."

Let's face it, your chances of getting the Times-Dispatch to run an op-ed piece you've written aren't that good (since you're not, you know, dead). Why not submit one to us instead? We know there are people with unheard opinions in this town—why not take a few minutes to type yours up? We want to hear from you on any Richmond-related issue, even if you think we might not like what you'd say.

Check out some of our previous pieces: "The Soft Return," by Mark Nelson; "Following Footprints," by John Rickman; "The Clanging Bricks of Calvin Jamison," by Don Harrison; "This Business of Jazz," by Andrew Beaujon.

Or yell at us at First Friday tonight, or at the 804 Noise show at Artworks on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. sharp. Ting Ting Yes! Have a great weekend, everybody.

March 3
Those dastardly nightclubs!
They can't keep you from being murdered. They can't do anything about corrupt officials (that takes the feds), and Line of Fire got canceled and not a peep was raised in protest! But the city of Richmond can sure keep you safe from failing cornices, especially when they happen to be in a nightclub.

You remember nightclubs, don't you? Or, as we call them in Virginia, restaurants that feature music. Faced with a choice between cracking down on crime and cracking down on exit sign lights, guess which way the city's decided to go? In the past month fire inspectors have shut down five clubs and one art gallery in the name of safety.

That's one kind of safety, sure, but it's not the same as "Delores McCollum has a safe council seat because she's Henry Marsh's patsy." We'd go so far to call it illusory safety, like emergency air curtains on a non-unit-body construction SUV. Last year we met with a city council person who told us nightclubs were dangerous places and had no idea that the Flood Zone had closed down.

Well, we go to nightclubs a lot. For two of us, it's part of our job. And while we're sensitive to some of the issues raised by the Station fire in Rhode Island, we're more than a little suspicious of the motivations behind this recent spate of surprise inspections. Where are the surprise inspections of non-nightlife restaurants? And why does this coincide neatly with Bill Pantele's efforts to convene a task force that looks at the city's relationship with the ABC board?

For one thing, it's an election year. Rudy McCollum and the other members of council desperately need accomplishments to point to--they can't seem to do anything about crime within or without council chambers, so they're going for easy wins. For another, it's probably fair to say that the nightlife is a bit of a mystery to a lot of people at 900 E. Broad. And that's as much our fault as their's--as a community, we need better PR. Sure, there are problems in nightclubs. But you're more at risk in the parking lot at the Market at Tobacco Row than you are at Alley Katz, and we have to figure out a way to make the powers that be aware of this fact.

We've started selectively bringing city leaders to music events, but there's got to be more to it than this. Ideas? Guys? We're looking for some ideas here.

March 1
EZ 2 Leave
Just got back from the "informal discussion on the arts and economic development" sponsored by Richmond Renaissance at Comfort. (To get on the email list for events such as this, would you PLEASE subscribe to the Renaissance Partners mailing list so we're not the only ones at these damn things?)

My takeaway (this is Andrew writing) is that basically nothing happened. I got into a back and forth with Brad Armstrong of the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation about what he said were "silly" questions about the proposed performing arts center. Those silly questions include who will have access to it. He says that those questions have been answered, and we say, in bold letters, not to our satisfaction. Until we know what sort of firewall is being built between the facilities operations committee and the conservative businessmen who are running the foundation (whose arts bona fides include campaigning to keep Howard Stern off the air and giving interviews stating that homeless people should be shipped off to neighboring counties), we are not satisfied. For instance, Brad said that Gwar wouldn't be able to rent the facility, "because they have a history of trashing venues." Yo, Brad, when was the last time you saw Gwar? Still, Brad was very nice afterward, and he promised to look into the fact that the Alliance for the Performing Arts changed its rules so people who don't toe the party line about the Performing Arts Center in public (i.e., us) can't go to the meetings anymore.

The rest of the meeting was a mixed bag. Councilman Bill Pantele was there talking about the arts community proposals he's been sitting on since Thanksgiving (look into the economic effect of the ABC laws and city licensure issues, for one) and how they're going to be incorporated in some sort of plan. The people from the Richmond Jazz Society were there to pooh-pooh anyone whose arts organization wasn't organized as a 501(c3)--like, I guess, MOST OF THE JAZZ MUSICIANS ON EARTH. And the publisher of Style Weekly had an amusing anecdote about parking in Richmond and in Austin, Texas.

So I guess it wasn't a total wash (Pantele said Austin's "musicians loading" lane was a great idea) but I guess I should mention that I was one of three guys not wearing a suit or a sportsjacket. So there's your arts scene, Richmond. Enjoy it!

February 26
Soft persuasion
Man, what an embarrassment of riches we're sporting in the Focus department lately! Former Labradford/current Pan American dude Mark Nelson has written a charming meditation on debating whether to move back to Richmond called "The Soft Return". How much of that has to do with him freezing his butt off in Chicago we cannot say. What we can is that this is a damn nice piece. Anyone wondering why twenty- and thirtysomethings flee or stay should have a look.

We want to hear from you. Save Richmond aims to be the voice of our community--how about speaking up and writing a Focus piece of your own? All it takes is a simple email to get the ball rolling. Check out some of our previous pieces: "The Clanging Bricks of Calvin Jamison," by Don Harrison; "This Business of Jazz," by Andrew Beaujon; "Following Footprints," by John Rickman.

February 23
And you don't stop...
This week's Focus, "Following Footprints," comes to us courtesy of legendary drummer-turned-tax analyst John Rickman. John writes about Stop It!!, a Richmond-based post-hardcore band who make John look back fondly on getting into punk rock when he was a little nipper at Midlothian High School. Thanks, John!

Hey, if you're interested in writing a Focus piece for us, just get in touch. We want to hear about your search for the perfect portabello mushroom sandwich, about why you choose to live here, about anything you love or hate (even if you hate us).

February 20
Mr. Big
"We now have Stony Point Fashion Park anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue—and yes we now have Saks in the city." —City manager Calvin Jamison, in today's Times-Dispatch.

Actually, Calvin, a better HBO reference is The Wire.

February 19
Just asking
In the past 20 days, Gary Brookins, the Most Incisive Small-Market Political Cartoonist in America™, has published 13 cartoons in the Times-Dispatch. Of those 13, SIX (46 percent of his output) were about the decline and now demise of Howard Dean's campaign. We're just wondering--does Brookie have an actual editor there or is he just allowed to turn in anything he doodles up while he listens to Rush?

Perhaps some light on this situation can be shed: Since Janet Jackson bared her right breast at the Super Bowl 18 days ago, THREE editorials about it have run; today's is such a blazingly obvious argument that it's a wonder it wasn't made before. Oh wait! It was! EVERY-FREAKING-WHERE ELSE IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY, THE DAY AFTER THE EVENT.

February 17
Doing God's work
Hey, Times-Dispatch! Could you possibly run fewer editorials that sound like the mumblings of befuddled old men? Bring back rail travel!

Ha! Anyway, we just wanted to send out some kudos to the General Assembly, which can't figure out a way to balance the budget but has still managed to address the urgent problem of sexual acts taking place in public. Well, if you can't make homosexuality illegal, we guess that's the next best thing. Also accomplished this month: And so a great legislative tradition marches on (okay, the Janet Jackson thing is a joke). Meanwhile, as Michael Paul Williams notes today in his column, "[E]very trip up Interstate 95 to Washington seems like a stop-and-go drive through Hades. And I'm worried that the state seems chronically cash strapped, even as the folks down at the Capitol seem paralyzed about how to resolve this."

Talk about your public obscenities.

February 16
The Year of Truth
It's the Year of Youth! Really! You can tell Mayor Rudy is serious about it because of the way he makes it so easy for the Youth to see classical music, opera, and ballet and so damn hard to see movies! You can tell Mayor Rudy is serious about the youth, like the ones who like to see art at the dastardly Polka Dot Gallery, which got shut down this past week because it lacked "proper credentials." You can tell Mayor Rudy is serious because he types in ALL CAPS.

It's the Year of Youth because Rudy demonstrates the pitfalls of not paying attention in debate club, torturing the language with passages like, "ALTHOUGH, IN RICHMOND, TOTAL CRIME FOR THE YEAR WAS ACTUALLY DOWN BY 15 PER CENT. WE CAN BE PROUD OF THIS DECREASE FROM LAST YEAR EVEN THOUGH THE CITY RECORDED AN INCREASE IN HOMICIDES OVERALL." Yeah, thanks, Mr. Mayor! We appreciate not being mugged too frequently while we are lying dead! He also demonstrates the pitfalls of not paying attention in Math and Social Studies, saying that the Performing Arts Center will cost $105 million, when it's been public knowledge for months that the dang thing will cost $45 million more than that! Rudy is demonstrating what happens when you don't read the papers!

We are excited about the Year of Youth but probably not as excited as the civic leaders who hire youths to encircle city council chambers with garlands as they "debate" new ways to spend taxpayer money on things Youths have no interest in using! That's one way to get to Rudy's ambitious goal of ONE THOUSAND summer jobs: pay Youths to be excited about the performing arts center!

We are excited about the Year of Youth because Mayor Rudy listed a 30-second earthquake that did NO DAMAGE WHATSOEVER as the second of the three great challenges that faced Richmond this year. The hurricane, yes. The snowstorm...okaaaaay. Bribery scandals, not so much it seems. A little shaking and some snow aren't really the same thing as the myriad federal investigations going on in City Hall right now, but, hey, it's for the kids! Kids LOVE snowdays. Guess Mayor Rudy thinks they love snow jobs as well. Hey Youth! Especially Youth of 18 years and older! How about making this the Year of the Youth vote this November?

MEDIA (GENERAL) NOTES: The only difference between Times-Dispatch ombudsman Jerry Finch and a cheerleader is that Jerry can't find his pom poms. In other news, the bourbon apparently kicked in early last night as the T-D editorial board was preparing today's insights. And the Most Incisive Small-Market Political Cartoonist in America™ weighs in on the proposed Comcast-Disney merger by imagining Mickey Mouse as a cable guy! Great stuff, Brookie!

February 13
Bad luck?
Another one bites the dust: The Polka Dot Gallery was informed today that it lacks the proper credentials to hold public gatherings and has to cease operations immediately. Why don't you take a second to email Bill Pantele, in whose district the Polka Dot is, and ask him to step to the plate for the arts scene in his neighborhood?

February 11
Give the people what they want
We don't agree on everything here at Save Richmond Towers. We debate a lot of issues pretty heatedly, and if we can't agree on something, we generally keep it out of Save Richmond. Take this elected-mayor thing. We were split on it when it was proposed, and we remain at odds now. What we agree on is that the current system is terrible. Del. Bradley Marrs overstepped by offering a bill in the House of Delegates that ignored what voters asked for in the referendum: that an elected mayor in Richmond must win in a majority of five of nine districts. He called for a straight election.

Now as we noted, we're split on this, so we're not offering any opinions as to which system is better. But it's undeniable that the referendum didn't provide for a direct election. And even if you support direct election, it's troubling that this move on Marrs' part might scuttle the whole idea, as someone is bound to sue.

The state Senate seems to agree. Yesterday the Local Government committee voted to send a bill that mirrors the referendum language to the Senate floor. If this is approved, as it is expected to be, it means that the Senate bill will go to the House, just like the House bill will go to the Senate. Then there'll be a conference committee, and then compromise legislation will be drafted, voted on, and sent to the governor to sign.

It seems like the momentum now is with the original language of the resolution. Senator Benjamin J. Lambert III, who chairs the committee and wrote the Senate bill, said, "I would suggest you vote for what the people wanted," and we think that's good advice. (And anytime the Times-Dispatch editorial board, Michael Paul Williams, and Silver Persinger are on the same page, that's a pretty fair indicator of the city's mood.) Already it's looking like getting a new system into place in time for the November elections is going to be difficult, and we don't want to wait out another two years of corruption and incompetence before we get a mayor citizens vote for. Yes, the debate often sounds like it's taking place in Bizarro World. But as we learn week after week, just because you disagree on specifics doesn't mean you don't want the same things.

In other news, Richmond Indie Radio is holding its monthly meeting tonight to try to figure out how to raise money to buy a transmitter. We're gonna try to be there, and we hope you can make it too. It's at 7 p.m. at the Quaker Meeting House, 4500 Kensington Ave, corner of Commonwealth.

February 6
A plan that might as well be from Marrs
Hey, is it just us or does http://vagenassembly.mgnetwork.com, Media General's General Assembly website, sound like the URL for a fetish site?

ANYWAY, three of the four bills to change Richmond's charter so we can directly elect our mayor were spiked by the House Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns today. The first two, by Del. Robert Marshall, would respect the referendum's language by creating a strong mayor (read: no city manager) who would have to be elected by majorities in five of Richmond's nine districts. Del. Viola Baskerville's bill would have Richmond retain the city manager-- though apparently a weaker one--and the five-of-nine requirement, as well as institute four-year terms for City Council members.

None of those made it out of committee. The one that did was sponsored by Del. Bradley P. Marrs--whose sponsorship has so far trended to many bills restricting abortion, one requiring the words "In God We Trust" to be posted in schools, and, just to make him hard to figure out, a couple of animal welfare bills. Marrs' legislation calls for a strong mayor elected by the majority of citizens of Richmond. Period. And that's the one that made it out of committee.

Still, on first glance, this sounds okay, right? So why are Baskerville and Wilder-Bliley Commission member Paul Goldman freaking out about Marrs' bill? Well, for one thing, the referendum Richmonders voted for called for the five-of-nine requirement to assuage fears that a directly elected mayor would favor white candidates, because white people are presumed to vote more readily for white candidates, and white people vote in greater numbers than black people.

We're not interested in arguing the point (though we'd LOVE to see a bigger dialogue about race in the city--anyone brave enough to hug that cactus?). The bigger problem is, for reasons too depressing to go into here, race is the 500-lb. elephant in the room whenever ANYTHING gets discussed in Richmond. You could argue that there's no black way or white way to fix potholes till the Times-Dispatch endorses Kucinich; the sad fact remains that the distrust between black and white politicians and voters is a barrier to reform even when the system is as obviously broken as it is now.

So is the elected mayor issue effectively dead now? Marrs' bill could face any number of legal challenges--that it's not faithful to the referendum, or worse, that it violates the Voting Rights Act, which we don't even pretend to have a good grasp on. Those challenges can come because, despite Marshall's, Baskervillle's, or Marrs' intentions, there will always be an implacable factions on either side that believe any reform is the product of some sort of agenda. Maybe Marrs' bill will pass, the best person for the job will get elected this coming November, and we'll all bask in the light of good government once again.

Or maybe we'll all go on being suspicious of one another till the asteroids hit.

February 5
Never make predictions
As if to spite us, the Times-Dispatch weighed in on Boobgate today. Since a mere four days separate this editorial from the event in question, are we to assume that some sort of rapid-response squad has been formed?

February 4
Copy boy? Get this down to the printatorium--STAT!
It must be confusing to be a Times-Dispatch editorial writer. Apparently, it's confusing being the Times-Dispatch's ombudsman as well-- those young whippersnappers want to take his typewriter away! Of course he still uses a typewriter. It must be the only newspaper in America that still allows its staff to expense carbon paper and bow ties.

ANYWAY, you gotta love their elastic sense of consistency. Today's editorial tut-tutting tax increases, particularly as they apply to dining, is especially surreal, considering the Times-Dispatch editorial board enthusiastically supported raising the meals tax to fund the performing arts center back in July. Guess it makes a difference who's asking for that penny--if it's a rich white local businessman looking to subsidize his opera habit, then it's "by all means"; if it's a Democrat looking to save the state's finances, then it's "unfair."

Meanwhile, just to keep things especially weird, the editorial board managed to comment on the New Hampshire primary six days after it happened, on Monday. We'd have blogged this earlier, but frankly, since the Washington Post started home delivery in Richmond, we're having a tough time remembering to keep up with the freak show on Franklin Street. Can't wait to hear what they think of the Janet Jackson "flap"--any bets as to when? Our money is on Sunday, February 8.

February 4
P.S.
Oh good.

February 3
Hot Chop Suey, cold night, lukewarm arguments
Thanks to everyone who made our Andy Greenwald reading such a success (here are some photos). And yes, if you were wondering, that was Andy on Paula Zahn's show last night commenting on Janet Jackson's "mishap" at the MTV awards. Who says nothing feels good, Justin? But seriously, folks, we had a great time on Thursday, and we hope you did, too. We're gonna look into doing some more of these readings, so send us any suggestions.

There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal recently, suggesting that Richard Florida's "Creative Class" theory isn't all it's cracked up to be and mentioning Richmond as a place that's putting his theories into action at its own peril. While we agree Richmond's doing a lousy job of engaging the arts, no one who is conversant with our town's half-assed efforts to remake itself could call them at all Florida-inspired, or even at all inspired. (Moreover, damning Winnipeg as the "murder capital of Canada" is sort of stretching for examples.) But still, it's important to step back and check the numbers, which Steven Malanga did. We don't know much about economic science, but if you do, we'd like to hear what you think of the piece.

Our view is that Malanga's own numbers are a bit fuzzy--when he talks about jobs being created in "non-creative-class" towns he fails to mention what kind of jobs they are--high paid, low paid, etc. And furthermore, anyone who's been to Austin, New York or San Francisco lately and says they'd rather be in Grand Rapids, Tampa or--heaven forfend--here has a screw loose.

Florida's book is hardly the last word on the subject; it merely chronicles his discovery that cities with high concentrations of gays, students, artists and musicians are good places to live economically as well as culturally. Malanga and others should contest the former, but we reckon Florida's cities that "get it" are going to be in a much stronger position to take advantage of a good economy than Grand Rapids in the years to come. Then again, the performing arts center hardly seems like a "trendy arts district" to us, so what do we know?

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