November 26
Gravy, or more turkey?
We gotta give mad props to Lisa Taranto, the Church Hill artist and architect who figured out how to get city council to listen to artists. Last month we went to the meeting she organized under the auspices of unindicted city councilman Bill Pantele. He didn't, uh, show up for it, but it was an excellent meeting all the same. We met a lot of other artists and arts professionals concerned about the same things as us, and we had a good old bitch session about the city and what needed to change. Then we had hors d'ouevres, provided by the good folks at Richmond Renaissance. Who says this community-action lark is without reward?

Last night was the second meeting, organized with the intention of turning our beefs into actionable items for the city. This time Pantele showed. There were lots of concerns about city funding for artists addressed, but our point, which we think we made successfully, was that what the city needs to do for the rest of us is just get the hell out of our way. This means loosening nightclub restrictions. Dismantling obscenity laws. Reworking building codes, parking requirements and zoning laws so that they make sense. And, of course, pressuring the ABC to lighten the freak up on local establishments. Pantele even mentioned that he thought the ABC needed to recognize the difference between nightclubs and restaurants. That's totally true, and the fact that this is a radical idea, one even we haven't bothered to propose, shows how completely messed up things are in our commonwealth.

So it looks like a few things are going to happen. As Richmond goes, this is a glimmer of hope. But it will quickly fizzle if the wrong people are involved. By the wrong people, we mean the same 20 influential businessmen and lawyers who are gleefully ripping up downtown and ripping off taxpayers so they can build a performing arts center that will not benefit most people in the city. By the wrong people, we mean people who think the arts begins and ends with Beethoven's Ninth and gaily painted fish outside of banks. By the wrong people we mean surly bureaucrats and corrupt politicians.

It's time for all of us who care to get in the dugout and start chalking up our hands. This is going to take a lot of time and a lot of work, and for almost all of us, that's going to mean working for free. But this is important work, and it has to be done. You don't have to be on a committee or go to every hearing. But if you care about the issues we've been raising at all, you need to contact and stay in touch with your city councilperson to let them know how important this is to you. Remember, politicians' attention tends to wane without pressure.

Let's apply some.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving, everybody, and do not let anyone tell you creamed pearl onions are good for you.

November 24
Richmond reborn (not the city)
Wow, wow, wowwwww. Buy the new issue of Richmond magazine and read all about councilman Bill Pantele's tenuous grasp on plausible deniability. Some salient points: The worst part of all of this sordidness is that there were clearly a lot of people involved that knew better. Someone should have pulled the plug much earlier; that they didn't is a sign of how deep the culture of corruption is in our city. And who wants to bet that there aren't more embarrassing revelations on tap?

Too harsh? Hey, while you have your Richmond magazine out, turn to page 60 and read "Dead Dogwoods," the magazine's rundown of the year in shameful city politics. It's completely depressing, not just that we more or less accept this state of affairs, but that there's so little chance of things changing. The elected-mayor proposal passed over the strenuous objection of most city politicians, and even if it somehow makes it through the general assembly, guess who's considering runs for the office? Yep, current mayor Rudy McCollum and...Bill Pantele.

This might be a good moment for another belated shoutout, this time to Richmond for its transformation from a best-burger advertorial vehicle to a darn good muck-raking mag. If you're not reading it every month, you're making a big mistake. Keep up the pressure, dudes. All together now: We deserve better!

November 20
Salutes
How about a couple shoutouts? We gotta give one to Silver Persinger, whose publication The Crow is a true public service. Silver goes to as many city council meetings--that includes committee meetings--as his schedule permits (apparently there's some room there). From him we've learned that Gwen "Spelled with two G's" Hedgepeth has trouble keeping an assistant (maybe she's not paying enough), and that the city's cracking down on small grocery stores that sell beer. Silver's a socialist, but his accounts of the meetings are free of any ideology other than the belief that citizens should know what's going on in their government, which I think we can all agree on.

We don't really have a position on Andre Parker—the police chief, not the Ohio University defensive end—but we're intrigued that a disgruntled Richmond police officer has started a website calling for his dismissal. Though it's probably not the wisest move, career-wise (hope you like bike patrol in February, big guy), we gotta salute him for taking his grudge to the public. At least Michael Graham will have something to link to tomorrow. (By the way, have you been following his Oedipal crisis with Rush Limbaugh? Fascinating stuff.)

Finally, who else can't wait for the December 2 debut of Line of Fire on ABC? A mob drama set in Richmond? (You'll need to suspend your belief long enough to imagine anything being organized in this town.) As a mid-season replacement for whatever reruns of According to Jim and movies about tornados has already replaced? We are so proud! What I wanna know is: Did Leslie Hope get a discount at Halcyon when she was in town or did she forget to ask?

November 18
Depends who's "just asking"
Today the august editorial board of the Times-Dispatch is skeptical that publically financed entertainment projects justify tax hikes.

We quote: How odd. Back in July, the editorial board enthusiastically supported raising the meals tax in Richmond to facilitate the construction of the proposed performing arts center. (The Virginia Performing Arts Foundation's argument? "Build it and they will come.")

We quote (read the full editorial here): Now, we know that sports is less popular than ballet, opera, and symphony. And we know that Richmonders are reknowned the country over for their passionate support of arts. Especially such Richmonders as Bobby Ukrop, who led a campaign against a rock artist he had no interest in seeing, and our city council, which immediately responded to Ukrop's concerns by passing a superflous and constitutionally perilous obscenity law to protect him from future public performances he has no intention of seeing.

But that's old news. What's great about this editorial is that it illustrates exactly what's wrong with the Times-Dispatch. Just the other day it ran one of those half-drunk editorials with a straw-man argument condemning "liberals" for being wishy-washy on death—for opposing capital punishment but favoring right-to-die laws. Now, the thinking behind this argument is dismal enough—right-wingers don't have any contradictory positions on death?—but the larger issue is why the Times-Dispatch editorial board is so bad for Richmond.

The problem isn't that the board is conservative. Loads of conservative writing is excellent. It's that the Times-Dispatch editorial board is staffed by idiots. They giddily point out what they view as contradictions in the thinking of others but are clueless when it comes to their own blindspots. And these giddy, clueless idiots are the most public face of opinion in our city. Their stupidity tars the rest of the often-fine work of their colleagues at the paper, and makes our town look like a backwater.

The word for a situation like this is small-time. And it's exactly why arguments like "if you build it they will come" are as bad as any position the Times-Dispatch editorial board struggles to take.

November 16
Pay to play
Because we live in Richmond, we can't hear Studio 360 on our ridiculously conservative NPR affiliate (if you like pipe-organ music, however, the world is your oyster). That's too bad, because yesterday's show was about arts funding in a poor economy. Kurt Anderson's main guest was Dr. Richard Florida, whose theories about the creative class economy helped spur us into action. Florida has an unappealing tendency to weasel out of tough questions, but we agree with his main contention, which is that the future of arts in America is going to depend on artists financing their own work.

Rock bands, novelists, and to a lesser extent jazz artists already operate the principle that you have to pay your own way in this world, and we think it's not too radical to suggest that big-hall musicians take a look at freeing themselves from the tyranny of fund-raising. Imagine not having to depend on conservative older patrons who turn tail at the the mention of a piece that postdates Shostakovich or an adventurous opera like La Juive. Like Florida, we don't have the answer as to how to pull off such a feat, but the group that cracks the puzzle—and we'd love to sit down over beers and brainstorm with anyone who does this sort of thing for a living—is going to prosper in a way arts groups today can only imagine.

Anyway, it's an interesting show. Give it a listen and let us know what you think.

November 13
Rob Ukrop's big screen! And other media notes
Hot on the heels of last week's appreciation of burritos, ace Times-Dispatch reporter Cynthia McMullen tries her hand at celebrity profile. Here's what we learn about Rob Ukrop, center forward of a small-city minor league boutique-sport team: I dunno, maybe it's just a by-product of moving back here after a few years in a city where people who own grocery stores (and their high-sights-setting kin) aren't a source of endless fascination for the press, but this profile kind of weirds me out. Who gives a flying freak about Rob's 65-incher or his infrequent pedicures? Or McMullen's love of a " 'rito with a 'tude"?

Perhaps Ross MacKenzie does. He's one of the geniuses behind the Times-Dispatch's celebrated editorials, and his breakout op-ed yesterday consists of nothing more than unrelated quotes that prop up his fuddiest-duddy worldview (Islam/Hillary Clinton/slavery reparations bad, barbecuing good). It's the kind of thing that makes you wonder if there's really no better writing out there (Rob Ukrop's shopping list, Booty Armstrong's snappy comebacks to people asking him for spare change) to fill the pages of the best newspaper to serve Goochland and Mechanicsville.

We enjoyed reading that the Neptunes are one of the hottest new names in hip-hop in this week's Style. Guess it depends what your definition of "new" is—if you mean "having produced Top 10 hits since 1998," it's a perfectly apt adjective. That aside, this week's special hip-hop package is a very welcome reminder that music in River City doesn't start and end with Carbon Leaf (nothing against them, but enough already). Perhaps the police could even read it and decide not to force potential nightclub owners to promise they won't book hip-hop shows, and then our hip-hop scene might start to resemble the one 90 minutes away that spawned those new hitmakers the Neptunes, and then....

Sorry, dreaming. Like those darn city councilmembers Les Schreiber doubts will capitalize on the fantastic deal the Broad Street CDA cut to finance the construction of new surface parking lots where downtown used to be. You know, the one that requires the convention center (which requires a performing arts center to succeed) to succeed in order to save downtown. Yeah, if they can't make that work, we should really throw the bums out.

November 10
"Richmond has rarely felt that it had to aspire to be something better"
A consultant came to Richmond. Here's what he found: Before you nod your head sadly, consider this: This report was done ten years ago.

Since then, what has changed? Well, the answers to what plagues us have changed (depending on who you are, the problem with Richmond is either a lack of a symphony hall, a lack of a 300-foot-tall statue to religious freedom, or the presence of homeless people within the city limits). But what hasn't changed is that this community is fractured, casting about aimlessly, and more concerned with petty turf wars and pie-in-the-sky schemes than real change. The changes that have made similarly sized cities players in the 21st century haven't happened here, and might never happen if we allow business-as-usual to direct "growth."

Because here's a sobering thought: What if the problem is us?

Read the report here (though please note we don't own its contents, and we're only posting it as a public service). It's a looooong read, but it's worth it.

November 5
Put it where the sun don't shine (Chesterfield, apparently)
Meet Beverley W. "Booty" Armstrong, patron of the arts. Nice. We'd pay a buck or two to hear what word he used instead of "the homeless" as well. Who does Booty think is "putting" the homeless in the "downtown area"? Al Gore? Jane Fonda? The Rooskies? If you're looking to hear more of Booty's keenly nuanced grasp of social issues, be sure to attend the next board meeting of the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation, as he is its treasurer. Yep, that's right, an officer.

"Doddering musings" department: An eagle-eyed reader brought to our attention an editorial yesterday in the Times-Dispatch, which, nearly a full month after the game in question, "just asks" when baseball started resembling professional wrestling. A month later. We look forward to the rapid-response crew's take on the rest of October's sports news as the year winds to a close.

Finally, last night's election results completely invalidate the bizarre claims made by our current mayor, vice-mayor, and various cronies that only an unelected mayor can reflect the voice of the people. When 80 percent of the public says the system needs changing, it's time to stop making weird statements and start listening.

November 4
Young, talented, and elsewhere
Hello Cleveland! Say, Save Richmond, why are you saying "Hello Cleveland"? Why, because Cleveland is a more attractive place for educated young professionals than Richmond. Cleveland for the love of Pete! This and other depressing facts were reported yesterday by the Census Bureau (you can read the full report, in pdf form, here). So let's look at what college educated people ages 25-39 bring to an economy:
You know what similarly sized cities attract these people? Boise. Portland, Maine. Charlotte. Charlotte for the love of Pete! You ever been there? It's a couple of bank buildings by a lake. But it offers more than Richmond, apparently. Here's what Bill McCoy, director of UNC Charlotte's Urban Institute says:

"I think there is a grapevine.... Young people are coming here from the Northeast or other parts of the South, and word gets back. The climate is nice, there's lots of things to do. We haven't done anything in terms of a public relations campaign. It's happened more underground."

Hey, we have a nice climate! And a low cost of living! And great old buildings and many neighborhoods that just need a little TLC. But we don't have much to do, because it's next to impossible to open a nightclub or, God forbid, a bar, or a gallery, or a cafe, or any of the kinds of amenities young, educated people look for in cities. We don't have that because Richmond is still trying to direct its growth. This top-down approach has brought us turkey after turkey, and they're not done yet. No baseball stadium, no performing arts center, no sidewalk next to the canal is going to plug this leak. We've been telling anyone who will listen that the answer's already here and doesn't need to be brought in from the suburbs once a month. It's young people. Young people. Young people. The question behind every urban initiative should be, "How will young people like this?" If you think that Tosca is something they like, I'll buy you a ticket to Boise.

Now for the love of Pete, get out there and vote today.

October 31
(Line) space is the place
Just read Ray McAllister's column.

In the Times-Dispatch.

You know it, a daily paper that comes out every day.

Usually one-line paragraphs drive me nuts.

But I kind of like this column.

Because Ray suggests that Gwen Hedgepeth's statement that ""We have not had mass corruption in the city of Richmond" might look great on a brochure. He also suggests some others that make canny use of diminished expectations. My favorite: "The Richmond Times-Dispatch: We publish every day!"

Oh, I guess I made that joke earlier.

Also in today's paper, there are a couple more stories about the mayor-at-large issue. One's about who's funding the vote-yes and the vote-no campaigns, respectively. The other is an interview with former city manager Robert Bobb, who talks about how the role of the city manager will probably change if we go to an elected-mayor system.

And then there's the editorial page, which once again doesn't disappoint, weighing in on the prospect of a 300-foot statue to religious freedom downtown, a scant 50 days after the plan was announced (in the Times-Dispatch). The take of the editorial board? Pretty soon, lots of cities might have big memorials! What a crazy mess that would be!

Nice try, anyway. Here's what I don't get: How does it take 50 days to come up with a couple of good lines about a proposed 300-foot statue to religious freedom? This, in the public-comment biz, is what we call a gift from the gods. Now that every other publication in Richmond has weighed in (both of them!), we get a couple jokes about how we could build a bridge to outer space instead. Sorry dudes, but we're sticking with "Ray-turn" McAllister.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

October 29
Here comes the sun
I have a problem: I'm an optimist. Even when it comes to Richmond. Still, it's awfully hard not to feel like the tide is turning against business as usual. That's partly because the disconnect between our city government and us has never been more visible, but when I read features like Scott Bass' look at the massive gamble the city's taking with its plans for Broad Street, I can't help feeling hopeful. Not about the plan, especially after reading this key point in Bass' article: "The only way the city might get stuck holding the bag [for the $66.7 million the Broad Street CDA raised via bonds to redevelop Broad Street], says Edwin Gaskin, deputy director of economic development for the city, is if parking revenues don't grow. That would mean the convention center had failed—and that's a bigger problem than the CDA, he says. 'That's an almost apocalyptic scenario for downtown,' he says."

Gee, and for a second there, I was worried.

But the larger point is this: People are asking questions. Voters are seriously considering changing Richmond's form of government. The long-dormant press (with the exception of the Times-Dispatch) is waking up. Check out Susan Winiecki's editorial in Richmond magazine. She says, "The big, contrived projects either do not work, or they're most often planned with the wrong people sitting around the table. They will not put our city on the road to recovery." Or read Edward Slipek Jr.'s back page in this week's Style Weekly. He's talking about the proposed baseball stadium, and he says, "it's an unfortunate fact of life here that residents have become immune to ill-conceived urban design and architectural ideas." And yours truly got a hell of a lot of emails from people who agreed that a 300-foot statue to religious freedom may not be exactly the anodyne downtown's looking for.

Is something happening here? Could we finally be building momentum toward saying "enough" to the people who are consistently, to borrow Slipek's description, foisting one "hairbrained, sledgehammer" plan after another on us?

The only thing I'm certain of is that a massive voter turnout next Tuesday (I know, I know, but remember I am an optimist), whichever way the mayor-at-large vote goes, would signal that we're paying attention. There are plans afoot that require your indifference. We here at Save Richmond respectfully request that you refuse to grant it.

October 28
News from Bizarro World
Let's just enjoy this quote: "We have not had mass corruption in the city of Richmond." —City Council member Gwen Hedgepeth, speaking at last night's council meeting, where she vigorously opposed the upcoming ballot measure to let Richmonders elect our mayor directly. Hedgepeth was recently indicted by a federal grand jury on bribery charges.

Also, the city has a gang problem, Save Richmond has learned. We thought the 81 people killed so far this year were unfortunate bystanders during gun-cleaning accidents, but apparently there's criminal activity right here in River City! Don't believe us? Ask the chief of police.

Finally, kudos to Richmond magazine. Not only does this month's issue have an excellent editorial by Susan Winiecki about saving downtown (quick precis: We are losing people, no one knows how to stem this tide, and throwing money at big projects is the wrong approach), there's a very interesting article called "Who Owns Downtown?" If you're wondering why there are so many vacant buildings downtown, get yourself a copy of this issue. Now!

October 27
You know when all the clowns get out of the car?
How dire is Richmond government? So bad that even the Times-Dispatch could find dirt on six of the seven candidates running in next week's council election. One has declared bankruptcy twice. Another rented out a house despite the inconvenient fact that it had been condemned. Another paid his delinquent real-estate taxes only after reporter Jeremy Redmon asked him about them. Another receives hundreds of thousands of dollars annually via the city for her community development corporation. Another owes back taxes. Another has three DUIs and has, yes, declared bankruptcy.

We gotta give Redmon props for this one. And also concede that he was funny in How High.

Can we really do no better than this? Is there nobody in this town who pays their taxes, doesn't take bribes, has a demonstrated record of fiscal responsibility, designates a driver, cares about their community and their city, and has two brain cells to rub together? Man, it is just so depressing sometimes!

However you feel about the mayor-at-large issue that's on the ballot as well, please take the time to vote. Only by showing that we care are we going to get the government we deserve here and end this parade of bozos.

In other news, there was a huge chunk missing from the Sixth Street Marketplace pedestrian bridge when we drove by yesterday. If anyone has photos or video of the demolition, please get in touch.

October 22
Standing on ceremony
This is Andrew writing. I'm still convinced that the Times-Dispatch's regular columnists are usually sleep-writing (and the way the editorial board discusses week-old news as if it just happened makes me think there should be an alcohol counselor on hand up there on Franklin Street, or at the very least someone at MediaGeneral should reach out to sports call-in shows so the board members can air their doddering musings on America's pastime elsewhere). Still, it was a nice surprise to read Ray McAllister's column on the demolition of Sixth Street Marketplace today, because he quotes city officials at the time it went up. Especially nice is this quote from then-city manager Manuel Deese (awesome name, btw): "We can be assured that this event will be remembered as a shining achievement for decades to come." McAllister even signs off with what seems like a note of cynicism that the planned replacement for Sixth Street Marketplace might save downtown: Speaking of the celebration marking the beginning of the demo work, he says, "But don't rule out another celebration one day."

"[T]he Richmond metropolitan [area] has all of the problems one associates with a big city, but none of the perks...." Is Richmond really one of America's lamest cities? (Thank you, Style, for noticing this piece on some website.)

October 21
Less money, more problems
This week's "Focus" is a conversation with JazzTimes editor Christopher Porter about economics of jazz. Currently, jazz is the only "pop" music that's going to presented regularly at the proposed performing arts center.

Apparently there is/was/might have been some sort of ceremony today to inaugurate the demolition of Sixth Street Marketplace.

Elliott Smith, R.I.P. Very sad news.

Finally, this week's Style has an article about the artists' meeting we went to last week.

October 16
Amazin'
Andrew has an opinion piece in this week's Style Weekly. Don't bother looking for a copy because he ransacked all the newsboxes in town so he can send them to his mom, who he hopes will now consider him employed.

October 15
Boats Against the Current
Over the past four months (feels like a year), we've been listening to musicians, artists, restaurateurs, writers, fans, city councilpeople, business leaders, people from public/private partnerships and just plain folks about what they think ails Richmond's music scene and what can be done about it. The result of our labors is now ready. It's a plan called "Boats Against the Current," and it details 11 steps Richmond can take to improve the music scene here. It's cheap, it's easy and it's a quick read. We hope you enjoy it; please email us your comments. (If you'd like to download the file as a pdf, click here.)

October 10
The youth problem
Stop what you're doing right now and read this story from USA Today about second-tier cities trying to attract young professionals. We quote:

Say, Bruce, what's Richmond doing to solve this problem? Why, making it easier for young people to see the ballet, of course. Now, we're not dogging the ballet. Or the symphony. Or the opera. (In fact, we're going to let you in on a deep, dark secret here: Don may not have ever sold fudge for a living, but Andrew used to work as a clerk in a classical record store and has strong opinions about early instruments, supertitles, and such.)

All we're saying is what we've been saying all along: Dressing up this performing arts center project as something that's going revitalize this city's arts scene is either desperation or cynicism. These are not arts that young people are going to see in great numbers. Ever. Period. Sorry.

What needs to happen is that this arts center not just be open to other types of entertainment, it must actively court them if it's not going to become another Sixth Street Marketplace, which it is replacing physically and psychically. For that to happen, young people must be involved in the design, planning, execution, and day-to-day operations of the center. There simply are no plans for this to happen right now.

We understand a lot better now why that hasn't occurred. It's damned hard to pull off an urban project this big, and the people behind the arts center are working their tails off just trying to get the darn thing built. What we're worried about is the whole forest/trees scenario, as well as whether at the end of the day anyone involved is going to have any energy to see that the building's relevance extends beyond its component groups (the symphony, the opera, the ballet, several theater troupes).

Moreover, it's simply nuts to assume this project is going to take care of Richmond's sorry-ass image on its own. We have a music scene that is broken. Clubs are driven out of business by the ABC, the police, and the city. It is time for Richmond to face some facts. Within a decade, we are going to be a suburb of Washington, D.C. Think we're crazy? Take a drive to Fredericksburg, which was a couple cow pastures and a civil war memorial ten years ago.

The old ways of doing things are simply not going to work anymore. We desperately need to engage the youth of this city or it's going to slip off into irrelevance, a Manassas of the future.

On Monday, SaveRichmond is going to make a major announcement. It'll be instructive to see who's listening.

October 8
The Alliance
So Don and Andrew just went to our first Alliance for the Performing Arts meeting (Ewa's schedule is a bit less..flexible than ours). The APA is made up of representatives from the component groups who'll be given homes at the proposed performing arts center, but it's open to any arts group, which is how we got there. It's too early to say whether this is the "seat at the table" we've been campaigning for on your behalf, but the meeting was positive, and we were thrilled to learn about the process and meet the good folks from the nonprofit arts community. A lot of ideas got thrown around, and we were pleasantly surprised by the level of candor in the room. It's good to remember how complex the issue of arts is in a city this fragmented. We throw a lot of bombs on this page, and we're always quite sheepish when we realize how gracious our targets usually are. So let's keep talking.

October 8
Oh, and...
SaveRichmond is going to make a major announcement sometime in the next week or so. Can't you just feel the anticipation? It's unbearable!

October 3
Focus, damn you! Focus!
Eight days without power is enough to get anyone behind schedule, but we've finally dug out to the point where we can get back on track. Firstly, we're darn proud to announce a new SaveRichmond feature--our weekly (we hope, anyway) "Focus" page, which will serve as a place for longer editorials, comment pieces and rants by us and our readers. Don's kicking things off with an excellent piece called "The Clanging Bricks of Calvin Jamison." We hope you enjoy it. Please get in touch if you're interested in writing one yourself. The only rule is that it will be edited by us (don't worry, we're professionals), so this probably isn't the place for you if you're one of those "My words! My precious words!" types. (We're those types, and frankly we're rather unbearable.)

Secondly, last night we went to see the taping of the Virginia Currents TV show episode "The Arts in Crisis." Here's something interesting: Philip Davidson, the head of the Alliance for the Performing Arts, casually mentioned on the show that the proposed performing arts center is now going to cost $150 million, not the $100 million it was going to cost a couple months ago. In today's T-D, Clarke Bustard quotes Davidson's assistant, who says the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation "has committed to raising $83 million." Seeing how the foundation "raised" funds last time, we would strongly recommend you get in touch with your city councilperson now on the off-chance you don't want even more of your tax money to go to a plan that's quickly spiraling into surrealism.

Finally, the Times-Dispatch has revamped its website, so many of the links below will no longer work. In fact, the website is way harder to navigate now than before it was "redesigned," and it's only keeping content active for two weeks. Feh.

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