Mayor Wilder’s announcement Thursday of a new committee to study how best to get the Carpenter Center back in action elicited much unity, hand-holding and back-slapping from Richmond’s halls of power.
From developers:
Robin Miller said he remains bullish on downtown and doesn’t believe the arts center controversy is having any chilling effect on development. “I’m hopeful that a compromise will be reached . . . there’s just too much momentum going.”
From financial titans:
“It’s very positive, it gets us off the stalemate,” said James C. Cherry, Wachovia Bank’s regional chief executive officer, who has been a project backer because it could stimulate business at the Greater Richmond Convention Center.
“It’s an opportunity for a fresh look to say what is it we need, maybe we can come up with a better idea.”
“Wherever you go downtown, in every block, there’s a building being redeveloped . . . What happens to half a block, I don’t think makes any difference,” said S. Buford Scott, chairman of the brokerage firm Scott & Stringfellow and a member of the foundation board.
From legal behemoths:
Foundation board member Gordon F. Rainey Jr. sees the new committee as a breakthrough. “The most important thing now is to get the Carpenter Center rehabbed.”
And even from a certain grocery magnate:
With an agreement on the Carpenter Center, Ukrop said he thought fundraising would pick up. “I think we’ll have the confidence of the community.”
There was, however, at least one jayvee skunk at the picnic:
Executive committee member Martin J. Rust, market executive for RBC/Centura Bank, said he would not be surprised by additional resignations.
“It would be largely out of feeling that they can’t contribute to the process,” he said. “They’ve given all they can give. They signed up to raise money and build an arts center, not to get into politics.”
For followers of the arts center saga who have been saving up tossable rotten fruit lo these last few months, I present to you a most inviting target - Martin J. Rust. Perhaps no single individual other than Jim Ukrop and poor Brad Armstrong is more responsible for the gaping hole on Broad, the lights being turned off at the Carpenter Center, and the general pervasive acrimony than is Mr. Rust. As President of the Carpenter Center, Rust had the fiduciary duty to protect and further the historic venue’s interests. Here are some of his notable achievements:
1. Played a central part in forcing out Joel Katz. Katz was the only member of the VAPAF board with any real experience running a performing arts venue, and the only Foundation member courageous enough to blow the whistle on the organization’s poor planning, punk fundraising and profligate spending. Today, all of Katz’s criticisms have been borne out, and all of Rust’s allegations against him have proven baseless;
2. Signed over the Carpenter Center and all of its assets to the VAPAF. We can only assume that he never did the proper due diligence to see if the Foundation could make good on its promises - he would only have had to ask for a bank statement. Because if he knew how broke the VAPAF was, and still went along with the deal, well…that’s another thing entirely;
3. Allowed the VAPAF to blow through the Carpenter Center’s $3 million+ endowment in a matter of months without ensuring that the money was actually spent on the Carpenter Center. Among the matters that need to be looked into more closely is the $8.6 million the Foundation spent on architectural and engineering plans for the new PAC. Where did all of this money end up? As for the plans themselves, my guess is you’d be lucky to get $37.50 for them now on Ebay.
So, when bitter-guy Rust and his friends threaten to resign from the VAPAF board because they “can’t contribute to the process” anymore, perhaps we should all breathe a big sigh of relief.