On Monday night, at Visual Arts Center of Richmond, area artists, arts companies and arts patrons can hear from the consultants firsthand, find out more about what their research has yielded and inquire about the status of the Plan, which hopes to re-structure how organizations of culture in the metro area get local funding. John Sarvay at Buttermilk & Molasses has more here. Podium time is 5:30PM.
Christina Newton of Curated Culture (the fine folks behind the First Fridays Artwalk) is on the Cultural Action Plan Task Force and fills us in on what’s going on. In a recent mass email, she wrote:
The focus of the meeting will be an update on the research for the cultural plan for those in the arts and cultural community. It will include a detailed presentation of the findings of the cultural census survey of over 2,500 Richmond area residents by the consultants working on this project with us, WolfBrown (Alan Brown and Rebecca Ratzkin), as well as updates on the other research areas - financial data from cultural organizations and cultural education programming. There will be an opportunity to ask questions and comment.
Please come to this important meeting and spread the word to friends, colleagues, and acquaintances.
I admit that I originally had some reservations about the Regional Cultural Action Plan — especially their (now closed) Cultural Action Survey — but after having a meeting with WolfBrown’s Rebecca Ratzkin a short time ago, I felt more positive about this new (hopefully fairer) re-jiggering of the limited number of regional arts dollars currently available. What I worry about now is that a good plan will actually emerge, and then it will rot on top of the pile with all the other consultant-driven studies that get commissioned around here and never acted on.
But if you are a Richmond artist, or arts-related professional, you probably owe it to yourself to attend the meeting on Monday and hear some feedback, and also find out more about what’s being proposed.
Here is Save Richmond’s locally-seasoned view of the Winners and Losers from Tuesday’s elections:
THE WINNERS:
America
The Obama victory on Tuesday has prompted an amazing worldwide reception, from our allies in Britain to our longtime foes in Iran. Can anyone remember the last time crowds formed on foreign streets in order to hail the United States? Anyone see a burning American flag in the video montage above? What a refreshing change from the last eight years.
Democrats
We can only hope that Congressional Dems don’t read their impressive 2008 victories — you can’t call it anything but a mandate, folks — as a broad welcome mat for pork and excess. They should remember what happened when George Bush misjudged his “political capital” after the 2004 election. When ideas generated by the minority GOP party make sense for the good of the country, Democrats should put party politics aside and adopt them. When they don’t, the donkeys should remember their mandate. That’s how it is supposed to work and let’s hope that it does.
Virginia
For the first time in 44 years, Virginia went Blue. Now, neither political party will be able to take the Commonwealth for granted. Can that be anything but good news for all of us, regardless of party affiliation?
Dwight Jones
We still don’t know what kind of mayor that Dwight Jones will really be, but if we are to judge him by his campaign rhetoric, he will (among other things) fight for the popular Downtown Plan (a.k.a. “The People’s Plan”), make new schools a priority and not a political punching bag, and install transparency at CenterStage and other formerly-closed-off public-private partnership “deals” that use public money but eschew citizen input and inquiry. But for all of his talk about a “different” kind of administration, let’s hope a Mayor Jones won’t be afraid to buck the city council and the school board when they are wrong — which is often. No, we don’t need more events like “Fiasco Friday” but honest debate and a system of checks and balances are what is required. The ball is in your court now, Rev. Jones.
Richmond Public Schools
I have no idea how some of our newly-elected school board members will actually pan out, but anything that shakes up that board (five new members!) is a good thing — even if noted watchdogs Keith West and Carol Wolf will not be among the returning representatives. It’s too bad that the most inspiring candidate of them all, Jonathan Mallard in the 4th, didn’t get in. Let’s hope someone in a position of authority has been paying attention to the excellent forensics work he’s done on school spending and makes constructive use of it. If no one does, it will be a strong signal that nothing has really changed.
Style Weekly
Did the rest of the area’s establishment media see how Style covered the local political races? Did they take notes? Not only did the scrappy weekly co-sponsor a series of informative mayoral debates with the League of Women Voters, it distinguished itself with updated election night coverage that went beyond just the raw numbers. This is called journalism and civic engagement, people. Isn’t it cool?
The Local Blogosphere
Elsewhere on the vast series of tubes, independent webbers such as SlantBlog, Buttermilk & Molasses, and J’s Notes (and we can’t forget our neighborhood community blogs, including John Murden’s pioneering Church Hill People’s News) helped to elevate the public discourse and provided not only strong opinions but postings of campaign events and actual breaking political news. Sure there were obvious partisan hacks that seemed to exist only to parrot campaign talking points — but even those bloggers served a purpose by encouraging hot debate on our local web.
Jack the Blogger
Horndog, man about town, drink-mixer and controversial observer — Richmond’s more charismatic version of Joe the Plumber managed to take a hedonistic worldview and make a sizable splash on the local political scene as a would-be kingmaker. I don’t always agree with him, but I hope that Jack never “settles down.”
Richmond Police
For allowing the impromptu election night celebration that peacefully but noisily spilled out onto Broad Street, the Richmond police deserve applause. In other cities, this would be just another day on the beat but city cops have a deserved bad reputation for over-reaction, especially when it involves the activities of young people. Let’s hope this wasn’t an isolated incident.
Mark Warner
I often wonder if our former Governor, Virginia’s new Senator-elect, is ashamed of being a Democrat. But maybe that aggressive neutrality is what makes him so popular with all kinds of folks in our now “purple” commonwealth. In any event, it’s puzzling why other politicians — red and blue — don’t follow his successful lead.
John McCain
If McCain had run his presidential campaign like he delivered his moving, gracious concession speech, he’d be our President-elect today. I’m sure of it. Instead, he chose an inexperienced, divisive, know-nothing running mate and diluted his considerable strengths as a statesman time and again. I’m sure he wishes he could have a do-over. He’d no doubt run like the John McCain that used to champion “straight talk” instead of “hate talk.”
Republicans
The biggest economic downturn since the Depression, two wars (one of them initiated by bald-faced lies), an embrace of torture as an “American value,” the politicization of our judiciary, right-wing Supreme Court judges, etc. etc. … and they ain’t done yet. I’m normally one that votes for candidates over party, but in this election cycle, I failed to see a single reason why any Republican should be rewarded. History will not be kind to the Grand Old Party after what they’ve done to our country the last eight years.
The Metro Richmond “Business Community”
The chosen mayoral candidate of our richest county-dwelling Republicans placed a distant third. The designated pick of Richmond’s developer clique lost too. I won’t delude myself into thinking that either force’s influence will be greatly diminished in the days to come, but I think a signal was sent if anyone wants to see it: The City of Richmond should not serve as the exclusive erector set of the folks at the Commonwealth Club. For too long, Richmond has believed that all its problems can be solved from the top down by corporate leaders who, frankly, have been very inconsistent, barely competent and exceedingly tone deaf in their vision and their leadership. To borrow one national politician’s winning slogan, it is time for a “change” and that is what Richmond voters asked for on Tuesday. They certainly didn’t vote for the “business community” — in whatever form — to maintain an exclusive grip on civic matters at the expense of the rest of us.
The 7th Congressional District
The newly-designated “rising star” of the GOP is getting some positive press right now. But allow me to play the contrarian for a moment and predict that Eric Cantor’s lonely GOP win over Anita Hartke in the 7th district will be a net loss for the area, not a plus. Do we really think this rabid de-regulator, a former friend of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff who has consistently placed partisanship and corporate welfare over the common good, will actually be working hard to represent the needs of the 7th district over the next few years? Nope, this would-be Whip will be w-a-a-a-y too busy alternately “repairing” the GOP brand and engaging in hit-man tactics against Obama, Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats to look out for his district. Take a peek at what Chris Matthews of MSNBC’s “Hardball” does to Cantor here in this TV clip (and how Cantor refuses to answer a direct question from Matthews in the YouTube clip posted above) and tell me again how this guy represents any kind of reasonable “future” for America (and the Richmond-area). [Disclosure: Diana Cantor, Mr. Cantor's wife, does NOT serve on the board of directors of Save Richmond Inc.]
Saturday afternoon update: Bill Pantele and L. Douglas Wilder
Call these the “People’s Choice” awards. A couple of very astute Save Richmonders have written in to suggest that these two love-’em-or-hate-’em pols deserve to be on the Loser’s List. Did his silly quip, “We need less bloggers,” cost Dollar Bill the mayor’s seat? Did Pantele’s role in the firing of Jack the Bartending Blogger sway a vote or two? Were Richmonders simply uncomfortable with the idea of dance divas becoming mayor? Were some folks discomforted by the video of Bill in all of his glory at the CenterStage vote? Just take a peek at the closer-than-close voting tallies in the third and fifth districts and make up your own mind. In any event, Mr. Bosnia is toast. Meanwhile, it seemed at times that the mayor’s race was a straight-up referendum on Pantele’s nemesis Wilder, who swept all nine districts four years ago as Richmond’s first elected mayor in a century but is leaving office with a diminished reputation (although history will be the final judge — did George Bush have any successes comparable to Richmond’s new Downtown Plan?). In a way, the mayor’s race became a small town echo of the Presidential campaign: Doug’s would-be successor Robert Grey became positively McCain-like as he tried hard to distance himself from the previous administration. The Wilder-bashing prompted a snippy and somewhat childish RTD editorial penned by the man himself that should’ve had the headline: “The Hell With All Y’all.” Maybe Obama will now appoint Doug Wilder to be the Ambassador of Bosnia — wouldn’t that be a kick?
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.
