What? You say you don’t know the first thing about Virginia Supreme Court decisions, no-bid contracts, high-rolling developers, deep-pocketed consultants and new city resources? Well, you sound like you might be ripe and ready for another in our series of Richmond online puzzlers!
Yes, you. The one in the hat. C’mon … TAKE THE EZ 2 LOVE OUR CITY quiz and GET KNOWLEDGED about current events in R-Town!
[Warning: May induce dizziness and vomiting. You may get night sweats. Do not take the EZ 2 LOVE OUR CITY quiz if you experience intestinal discomfort or begin losing teeth. Do not take the quiz while operating, or fueling, motor vehicles, or when giving birth, or when walking with a beloved pet. For god sakes, don't stay at that dangerous hotel out by the airport while taking the EZ 2 LOVE OUR CITY quiz. Before taking it, ask your doctor if the EZ 2 LOVE OUR CITY QUIZ is right for you.]
1. Richmond City Council recently voted against confirming Mayor Wilder’s choice for the city’s chief administrative officer. Which of the following is NOT a reason given by council for turning down Harry Black as the city’s top administrator?
A. Harry Black had issued two no-bid contracts to a Washington D.C.-based accounting firm to conduct outside audits of the Richmond school system and the assessor’s office… without council’s permission.
B. Harry Black was already referring to himself as the city’s chief administrative officer without the council’s consent.
C. Harry Black fired legislative services director Ellen Bowyer when he had no authority to do so.
D. Harry Black’s designated nickname, “Baby Wilder,” is unacceptable. Council would prefer to call him, “Li’l Dictator.”
2. According to Style Weekly, the Finance Department of the City of Richmond accidentally sent 129 homeowners…
A. Free gas cards.
B. 129 love notes.
C. To Oklahoma City
D. Real estate tax bills for more than 60 times what some residents owed.
3. The New York Times recently published a travel piece on Richmond. From the following, pick the one quote that was missing in the final version:
A. “Richmond today competes with Washington, its near neighbor, in up-to-date cultural sophistication.
B. “HIP Richmond is in Carytown, the city’s oldest shopping district.”
C. “Shockoe Bottom is a district of nightclubs and restaurants.”
D. ” A good way to wrap up a visit to Richmond is with a flat-bottom boat tour along the city’s canals, an extensive system once used to ferry tobacco, wheat and passengers.”
E. “Boy, this Greater Richmond Partnership brochure really contains a lot of handy information.”
4. Earlier this year, the Richmond School Board sued Mayor Douglas Wilder over his attempts to change how school funding is allocated, and a Richmond circuit court judge ruled in favor of the Mayor. This month, the Virginia Supreme Court refused to hear the school board’s appeal of that verdict. Which of the following did NOT happen after the board’s appeal was turned down:
A. School Board Chairman George Braxton stated, “The Richmond City School Board looks to City leadership to provide greater clarity in dealing with the appropriation of School Board funds…”
B. School Board Chairman George Braxton argued, “The school system has done more than any public body around to open our books.”
C. School Board Chairman George Braxton opined, “It really was no decision, and our feeling was that we have been denied an opportunity to get some clarity on this.”
D. School Board member Keith West said that he believed chairman George Braxton should be dismissed because he “produced a budget that attacked our lowest wage workers but left intact huge areas [of] waste pointed out by studies and audits.”
E. All of the above happened.
5. The Virginia Performing Arts Foundation’s contract with its longstanding consultant, AMS Planning & Research, is up for renewal this summer. Which of the following is NOT an accomplishment of this consulting firm?
A. Advised and wrote the original plan for Miami’s Carnival Performing Arts Center, which has now gone $250 million over budget, with monthly costs bloating from an original estimate of $306,000 to more than $616,000.
B. Advised the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, which opened in an unfinished state, and with cost overruns that contributed to a $30 million debt.
C. Claimed that the shows presented at University of Richmond’s Modlin Center would have no effect on Richmond’s arts center project because the Modlin was “at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.”
D. Hired Michelle Walter to advise the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation not long after she resigned as the Chief Operating Officer of the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation.
E. Still clears $10,000 a month from the Richmond project.
F. All of these are AMS accomplishments.
6. The “Richmond Fraud Squad” is…
A. ABC’s new hit series, set in the late ’60’s, which follows a trio of hippie administrative auditors.
B. Probably the saddest superhero collective ever.
C. “One bad mother…” [Shut your mouth]… “I’m talking ’bout the Fraud Squad.”
D. A website where you can “report any suspected waste, fraud and abuse in City government.”
7. What made a city auditor suspicious that Richmond city workers might just be abusing the gas credit cards used to fuel up city-owned vehicles?
A. One worker managed to put 65 gallons of gas into a 16-gallon tank.
B. There were at least 645 instances where city workers pumped more gas than their vehicle could hold.
C. There were at least 160 instances found where the same gas card was used to fuel multiple times during the same 24 hour period.
D. Richmond’s manager of fleet service operations had been under criminal investigation for his previous work in fleet administration with the New York Department of Environmental Protection.
E. All of the above, plus an oil check.
8. D.C. Developer Douglas Jemal, who purchased the Central National Bank building, has announced that he wants to buy the entire 100 block of East Broad. What’s he going to do with it?
A. Three words: “New Arts Center”
B. He wants to revive the block with new businesses, restaurants and apartments.
C. He wants to turn it into the world’s largest Ruby Tuesday.
D. He wants to raze the buildings and build the biggest evil-looking James Bond Villain fortress ever.
9. D.C. Developer Douglas Jemal, and others like him, will be able to easily peruse other empty downtown buildings by relying on Vacant Richmond. Vacant Richmond is…
A. The best Sex Pistols tribute band in town
B. $129.95, complete with Swedish massage
C. A website that enables a person to search through the city’s database to find vacant or abandoned properties in Richmond (at www.vacantrichmond.com)
D. Venture Richmond’s lesser-endowed booster cousin, which shares an office in a seedy strip mall with a bail bondsman.
10. 7th District GOP Congressman Eric Cantor attacks House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent trip to Syria on his spiffy new blog. “Pelosi’s decision damaged the security of Middle East and is bad for America,” he writes. But what does Rep. Cantor fail to tell his area constituents about this “dangerous” trip:
A. Several Republican lawmakers accompanied Pelosi.
B. Pelosi was told beforehand by President Bush that her trip to meet with President Assad of Syria was no threat to national security.
C. Republican lawmakers had made earlier, similar diplomatic trips to Syria that Rep. Cantor did not object to.
D. In meeting with Syria, Pelosi was following the recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group.
E. All of these facts went unmentioned by Eric Cantor
1. D, 2. D, 3. E, 4. E, 5. F, 6. D, 7. E, 8. B, 9. C, 10. E.