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Strong Mayor -- Weak Richmond

Watching the five mayoral candidates in another "debate" last week, I could only wonder at the growing dimensions of the job one of them will fill next year. With the national economy crashing and big state spending cutbacks a certainty, the four men who don't become Richmond's next mayor could well consider themselves the winners.

Let's not kid ourselves. Governments at all levels are tapped out, and a weakening economy surely will raise demand for the very public services that will be getting harder and harder to supply. Bailouts, we we'll learn, don't happen at the state and local level.

In what was billed as the first of three mayoral debates sponsored by the League of Women Voters and Style Weekly , the topic last Tuesday was The Future of Downtown . Unfortunately, downtown issues were not seriously addressed by those who lobbed questions at the candidates. But, then, neither was the evening much of a debate. All five candidates replied to each question in identical time segments

It was all very fair and most of it was predictably boring.

Architecture and development writer and critic Edwin Slipek Jr ., one of the three questioners, should have been the only questioner, and should have been freer to ask pointed follow-up questions. As it was, Paul Goldman , Robert J. Grey Jr ., Dwight C. Jones , William J. "Bill" Pantele and Lawrence E. Williams Sr . were generally allowed to rehearse their campaign promises in front of a polite audience gathered at The Renaissance Conference Center downtown on West Broad Street.

They got asked about trash collection -- a burning issue for The Future of Downtown. They got asked about public transportation and regionalism, which is one of my personal favs but not so much a downtown topic. Public housing? Again, of crucial importance to Richmond but not at the heart of downtown issues. Baseball, which at least could effect downtown, was another topic. Ditto on vacant buildings.

The candidates supported the Downtown Master Plan in their opening remarks -- an apple-pie position for the kind of Richmond audience that would show up for a debate. As the evening wore on, the fab five seemed puzzled that this subject wasn't more central to the questions they were asked. Me, too.



The closest we came to one of the $64 questions about downtown was when the candidates were asked about the expansionist policies of Virginia Commonwealth University and what the city's position should be regarding future VCU growth. Their answers stressed that VCU's expansion has been great for the city but that it's time for the city to step up and require the university to be a more thoughtful partner in development decisions.



With VCU churning over recent missteps in granting a degree to former Richmond Police Chief Rodney Monroe , and with President Eugene Trani having announced plans to retire next June a year ahead of schedule, it's a safe bet that the university will be a more compliant neighbor in the future. Still, I would have loved half an hour on this topic instead of five 90-second replies that were necessarily heavy on generalities.



By now, you may have gotten the clue that I'm not a big fan of this debate structure. Cities aren't managed in 90-second sound bites.   The keys to being a good mayor are in the details of administering city departments and budgets. Let's grill the candidates on these issues.



If we did, Goldman and Pantele would fare the best, at least in a debate. They know the most about how Richmond government does and does not work these days. Many commentators have stressed how useful it is to have Goldman's thoughts and expertise but don't see him as mayor. There is that Howard Cosell factor about Goldman (apologies to younger readers), which is not attractive to Richmond sensibilities. Even so, he might make one heckuva administrator.



As for the other three, common wisdom is that Jones and Grey will split most of the African-American vote, with Jones doing the best. No one will win a majority of the city's nine election districts in the first go-round, so we'll see a run-off vote, either between Jones and Pantele or Jones and Grey.



There will be ample opportunities to hear the candidates during the five weeks remaining until Election Day. When given the opportunity, in debates, other forums and, especially, in media news interviews, they should be repeatedly asked to provide specific and detailed answers about how they would govern and manage the city. Among my top questions:

City Auditor Dalal Umesh has identified many millions of dollars in wasteful city spending but we've seen precious little about what's being done to capture those dollars. What's your plan to do so, and how would you spend these monies (or would you give them back to taxpayers)? Chesterfield County owns half of the Greater Richmond Transit Co. and contributes nothing to its budget. Henrico County is cheering its efforts to create a county mailing address for its residents, and the biggest reason for the effort is to capture tax revenues that had been flowing to Richmond. With such close friends on either side of you, how the heck are you going to get the kind of regional cooperation the city desperately needs? Remember the schools? Other than saying better schools are a big priority, lay out details of how you're going to deal with the schools' educational and infrastructure issues. What about the Master Plan? Lay out your priorities for helping to implement the plan, including a timeline and funding sources. And, to close, a bonus question: Why are Richmond's water and sewer rates so expensive and what are you going to do about it?

While we're holding our breath for these answers, here are the web sites of the candidates. Check them out for position statements and the like:

Paul Goldman Robert J. Grey Jr.      Dwight C. Jones      William J. "Bill" Pantele      Lawrence E. Williams Sr.     

Also, check out any number of Richmond-centric blogs for a wealth of observations about the election. Lots of opinion here, to be sure, but also lots of insights.

Phil Moeller is a Richmond-based business writer and communications consultant. This is his last Our Time column; he soon will begin writing a column as a contributing editor for U.S. News & World Report. Want to know more about the future of Richmond, then check out the "Our Time" archives .