That L. Douglas Wilder has a wicked sense of humor. As a parting gift to the City of Richmond, he has appointed me as a director of the Arts Council’s Metro Richmond Arts and Cultural Funding Consortium (serving alongside my man, William J. Pantele). Ain’t that a kick?
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only sick humor on display at City Council last night. The city also added a trio of add-ons and fixes to the CenterStage comprehensive agreement. See them here, here and here. [UPDATE: Readers report that one of three things happen when you click these links to the papers — you either get an error message from the Richmond city website, or your internet browser will inexplicably close, or you will actually get to view the ordinances. Think of it as a civic crap shoot, or a very, very expensive internet game of hide and seek — played with your tax dollars.]
Among the chestnuts in these sweeteners — all of which passed a depressing 8-0, natch — is a provision that would seem to make the entire Comprehensive Agreement irrelevant:
7. Termination. A new section of 21(c) is hereby added to the Comprehensive Agreement as follows:
“(c) Termination of City Lease.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, no termination of this agreement shall act as a termination of the City Lease. The terms and conditions of the City Lease shall govern the remedies of the parties thereto with respect to the City Lease in the event of a default under this Comprehensive Agreement.
Did anything pass that would make the project more transparent to the taxpayers funding it? Mayoral candidate Robert Grey will be shocked to learn… no.
On the contrary — another alteration in the deal (See: 6. Carpenter Theatre Management Agreement) pretty much sets in stone the publicly-funded project’s “private” status.
So, in addition to future oversight, there go all the assurances about the city taking over the Carpenter Center if VAPAF/CenterStage/RPAC fudges their fundraising numbers again, and has to return to the city, hat in hand, for more money. And the project will be shielded from future Freedom of Information Act inquiries, despite the considerable public money that will be funneled into the project. The City Auditor’s recommendation that the Foundation post its financial information online for taxpayers to see has been long forgotten about.
Did someone say that this was Richmond’s “Bridge to Nowhere”? Yeah, except that someone with some spine eventually realized that Alaskan deal was screwy and reined it in.
Did I mention that all three of these ordinances passed 8-0?
Yep, I sure do appreciate the honor of serving the City of Richmond and the arts community in whatever capacity I can (I promise to wear clean pants to Consortium meetings). And I’m grateful to our citizen legislators for confirming me to the Arts and Funding Consortium last night — even my buddy Bill — but methinks we need a new City Council to go along with that new mayor on November 4th. One that at least asks a few questions, like where our money’s going.