Previously unpublished photograph of the original SAVE RICHMOND staff. From left to right: Andrew Beaujon, “Eagle Eyes” and Don Harrison. Not pictured and probably hiding: Ewa Beaujon.
Don here. I sat down to write a teary-eyed goodbye and to say how much I’m going to miss everybody and how it was the end of an era and that times are changing and the cow jumped over the moon… blah blah blah.
And then I realized that I’m not really going anywhere.
At any rate, it’s all true. Your humble narrator has accepted a position at Style Weekly — I’m the new Arts and Culture Editor. But it’s not all a kick and a gas. I have to give up posting here at Save Richmond.
That doesn’t mean SR is going away. This web address will live on. “Eagle Eyes” will continue to post here, and bring you his tenaciously-researched overview of Metro Richmond. Yes, he is a skeleton in a top hat (see photo above) but don’t let that shake you.
And, obviously, I’m not going to go away either. I have to assume that, if you read Save Richmond, you also read Style Weekly. If not, get thee to a big newsbox adorned with an S immediately! Or click on this spot right here. Save Richmond has been linking to Style’s excellent arts and news coverage, and discussing their reporting, for years. Now I get to work with these talented people. How cool is that?
A couple of weeks ago, when we celebrated our sixth anniversary, I explained that Save Richmond didn’t start out as a blog. And it would never have been one without the seminal snark of Andrew Beaujon and the early support of his wife Ewa Beaujon. Save Richmond has also been enhanced by the savvy financial forensics work of “Eagle Eyes” — that kid’s a keeper. Basically, all I’ve been trying to do here is to keep up with those folks.
For the school board races, I’m forced to take another “throw the incumbents out” stance — even though I like some of the board members personally, you could not say that they have distinguished themselves in any substantive way (in fact, they’ve been extremely embarrassing). But, one more time, I want to point out just how smart and diligent the 4th district candidate Jonathan Mallard is. He’s proving that over at his website right now with his “10 Issues in 10 Days Series.” If you have a child in Richmond public schools, you owe it to yourself to read what Jon has to say. And if you live in the 4th, you can take it one step further and help to put him on the board. Can it be over-emphasized just how important it will be in the future to have someone on that woeful, excuse-ridden body who both understands finances and how to implement audit recommendations? Since watchdogs Carol Wolf and Keith West will be gone, it will be particularly important to have someone watching the numbers and where the money goes. [And if you can't vote for Jonathan, Bert Berlin is also a fine 4th district candidate. We already knew that he was a superior blogger.]
The Mayor’s race is the toughie. Right now I’m leaning toward Dwight Jones although Robert Grey has been getting some last-minute endorsements that has caused me to think long and hard about my earlier dismissal of him.
But in the end, I just can’t in good conscience vote for someone who thinks that public-private partnerships should run the city and who could be persuaded to sign a letter disenfranchising voters (that should never be an “experiment” or a “conversation starter” for a public figure). Plus: Grey was less than honest and forthright with taxpaying citizens who tried to engage him during the performing arts committee meetings that he chaired. He publicly stated there would be open public outreach in regards to a publicly-financed project and then it never happened. I can easily see where that kind of thing would be the norm in a Grey administration — smiles and backpats with citizens on Monday, closed-door meetings and private “deals” with Tom Farrell and Bill Goodwin on Tuesday. I fear that he would be just like Wilder, but with a nicer smile and a cool mustache.
I’ve said it before: Mr. Grey is a very friendly and engaging guy, and if he were running for Ambassador of Richmond or the head of the Chamber of Commerce, Robert Grey would have my vote. Hell, I’d campaign for him. But the last thing we need in this town is a candidate beholden to county-dwelling Republican interests who thinks that secretive public-private partnerships like the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation/Centerstage represent the future of Richmond. That isn’t any kind of meaningful “change” that I can recognize.
Having said that, Mr. Grey has a lot of people that I respect who will be voting for him. Like Carol Wolf. That ain’t hay, brother. So I’ll concede that the Mayoral question is (pardon the pun) a gray area.
Yes, I know that voting for Jones would be a bit like re-hiring Calvin Jamison and Rudy McCollum. Yes, I’m aware that he has his own smelly baggage that might rear up and embarrass the city down the road. To vote for Dwight Jones requires more than a little bit of faith that he can be different from McCollum, Roy West and other lackluster/shady Richmond mayors of the past that he has aligned himself with. But this was a less-than-persuasive candidate field to start with, and voter faith was going to be necessary no matter who got the nod. In the end, it makes more sense to put faith in what a politician says he’s going to do rather than hope that he won’t do as he publicly pledges. That’s the choice before us as we compare Jones and Grey.
Ulimately, it comes down to this in the mayor’s race: Anyone but Bill Pantele.
Now Carol Wolf needs our help. Here’s a mass-mailed letter that she sent out over the weekend:
Dear Friends & Citizens,
I need to decide by this coming Wednesday whether to mount a write-in campaign or to sit this one out and allow Norma Murdoch-Kitt to have a “walk-on” to serve as Northside’s School Board member for the next four years.
I have already heard from so many of you who have called, dropped by or sent e-mails urging me to battle on for a multitude of reasons. Many of you have offered to help.
Serving on School Board involves far more than simply representing one’s district, therefore I am asking to hear from citizens throughout the city. I would appreciate it if you could let me know what district you live in when you post a comment.
In addition to asking for your help with this decision, I would most appreciate hearing from citizens across the city concerning their thoughts are on what the SB’s priorities should be during the next few months leading up to election.
Please weigh in with what you think of the Richmond School Board and what you would like to see happen to improve the quality of education in the City of Richmond for the next four years.
Respectfully,
Carol A.O. Wolf
Third District Member
Co-Chair Student Disciplinary Committee
Member, Finance Committee
Member, Legal, Legislative, Policy and Communications Committee
Personal e-mail: Wolfies@aol.com
It’s time for a “re-do,” parents and taxpayers of the 3rd district. Do you really want to lose the most effective bulldog that the Richmond Public School system has? Best begin practicing your write-in skills.
(And if you are one of those apologists who think we don’t need someone like Wolf speaking truth to bureaucracy, and believe that things have been just peachy at RPS under the stewardship of departing Superintendent Deborah Jewell-Sherman, check this out. As well as this. And this. And this. And this. And this. And this. And this. And this. And this… I could link all damn day).
This gets to the heart of what we’ve been talking about for three years. From Richmond.com:
System Failure
Caine O’Rear City of Richmond CFO Harry Black wants city employees to be held accountable for their performance.
Mayor L. Douglas Wilder came into office promising to clean up the “cesspool of corruption and inefficiency” that he called City Hall.
But one of the mayor’s appointees, Chief Financial Officer Harry E. Black, says he doesn’t have the tools to fulfill the mayor’s vision.
A few weeks ago, Black, who began working for the city in November 2005, encountered a problem that he believes is indicative of the culture at City Hall. One of the three departments that Black oversees (finance, budget and strategic planning and procurement) had issues with payroll on payday, which happens to fall on Friday. Rather than working after regular business hours to solve the problem so that the employees would receive their checks, Black said the department merely shrugged its shoulders, saying, “It can wait until Monday.”
Black was thunderstruck. He then told the employees to remain at work until the problem was solved, which it eventually was. But Black said these types of episodes occur frequently.
During Richmond City Council’s informal session on June 26, a visibly frustrated Black urged the council to pass an ordinance patroned by the mayor that would designate employees within the finance, budget and strategic planning and procurement as “unclassified.” The ordinance also applies to the office of minority development.
Wait for it…
Councilman Ellen F. Robertson (6th) took issue with Black’s approach and called his remarks “inappropriate.” She later asked him why he wanted to change the culture at City Hall.
Why indeed?
Ms. Robertson’s history of looking into waste and city corruption is well established. This is the same city councilwoman who, after Save Richmond contacted her with dozens of citizen comments asking for basic public oversight of the proposed arts center back in Jan. 2005, snapped off this retort from her Blackberry:
As councilwoman for this district which this project is located, I find your comments over bearing and very troubling. As a planners, I agree Richmond downtown redevelopment has been done too many times unsuccessfully. In an orderly, productively, solution driven, constructive way, how may I invite you and all stakeholders to a meaningful discussion.
We invited her to expound upon her notion of a public discussion on the matter, but that was the last we heard of Ms. Robertson. The rest is history.
From a reader who knows his way around a concrete footing:
One comment on your thesis: It depends.
If the foundation system is deep system–drilled shafts (caissons) or driven piles and a pile cap–then yes, it is expensive to get rid of them. So much so that generally they are cut off at a suitable elevation.
If the foundation system is a shallow system, or a series of spread footings–these ae easier to remove. It’s a matter of breaking them into manageable parts.
But overall, you are right: once it is in place, there will be some effort to remove whatever is there.
