Un-Wildering in 2009: Richmond's Year That Was

Mayor Dwight Jones has been on the job at City Hall for almost a full year. The contrast between his style and his predecessor’s has been vivid. Former-Mayor Doug Wilder delighted in the constant attention he earned from the working press during his four years in office. As mayor, in 2009, Jones has been nearly as quiet and invisible as Wilder was omnipresent.  

In that respect, Richmonders have lived through a year in which they experienced a noteworthy reduction in overcooked drama and raw bombast. Still, are we better off than we were a year ago?

Maybe … probably.  

After all, last year at this time anxiety over what alarmists were predicting would be another Great Depression hung over the holiday season like a cold fog. Although the economy took a beating and unemployment pushed past double digits, the year is ending on a more optimistic note. Now the worry is more about health care reform.  

In Richmond the noisiest rhubarb of the year has to have been the baseball stadium issue, which ended abruptly in the summer with the would-be developers of the Shockoe Bottom Center throwing in the towel.

People who rose up to put the kibosh on the push to shoehorn a baseball stadium into ancient Shockoe Bottom have to be mostly happy with how 2009 turned out. High-profile Baseball on the Boulevard advocate Charlie Diradour summed up what he sees as the debate’s best results:

"$77 million worth of taxpayer backed bonds weren’t issued, thereby allowing the city to focus on school improvements and a new jail ... While the Flying Squirrels will profit from being in Richmond, and Richmonders will have a great baseball experience to enjoy, there will be an organic quality to economic development along The Boulevard [and] not a forced new urbanism project in The Bottom."

The City of Richmond’s awkward moves that have put the First Fridays Art Walk scene in jeopardy were ill advised, at best. Somehow, in the coming year Richmond must find a way to avoid stifling one of the best things going for its Downtown revival. The City’s new public safety programs may be well-intentioned, but they can’t be allowed to trump all other concerns.

During 2009 Richmond’s crime rate dropped for the fourth consecutive year. It’s worth noting that we moved down the list of cities from the 49th worst to the 99th worst, in terms of crime rankings.

Speaking of crime, Club Velvet owner Sam Moore managed to keep his name in the news using displays of art on an outside wall of his building in Shockoe Bottom. Moore’s anti-baseball stadium banner and his President Obama as the Socialist Joker mural both drew lots of attention from the media. Predicting what will be next for Moore isn’t easy, but it’s hard to believe he will become a shrinking violet in 2010. Stay tuned …

On Sept. 12, after all the fundraising, expectations and finger-pointing that whirled around the project for years, CenterStage opened for business with a splash. Once again hopes that Richmond can support a thriving arts/theater district in that neighborhood have been raised.   

Early next year City Council will vote on a paper that will seek to change the way The City collects its seven percent admissions tax. If passed, the new law will do away with taxing complimentary tickets that promoters give away. This should be the first step toward eventually eliminating the admissions tax, altogether.

In 2010 the Echo Harbour controversy that simmered throughout 2009 will probably make big news when the developers of the hotel/condo project either get their way with City Council, or not. My sense of it is the protectors of the view of the James River from Libby Hill Park will prevail.

Regular Ukrop’s customers certainly aren’t going to stop carping about the local chain’s sale any time soon. The flagpole controversy in Henrico County doesn’t look like it’s really over, so no one should be surprised if every politician within a thousand miles of the incorrectly angled pole eventually weighs in.

At this writing smokers in some local restaurants are huffing and puffing in open defiance of the new statewide regulations. This trend can be expected to gain more traction. My guess is a judge will rule that the ban on smoking is unenforceable, as it is currently crafted, which will put the ball back in the General Assembly’s court.

Nonetheless, with all of what happened in 2009, what didn’t happen stands out. Doug Wilder did not dominate the local political news.

After four decades of being an important voice in all matters political in Richmond, Wilder’s influence is no longer much of a factor. Which was all too evident in the gubernatorial campaign, when the former governor and mayor played his signature game of withholding his endorsement until the 11th hour.

On 2009’s Election Day nobody cared much who Wilder wanted to trumpet. So, his decision to endorse no one had landed somewhere way off in the woods, where no one heard it. Three or four years ago who could have predicted that then-Mayor Wilder could burn up so much political capital so fast?

So, the political prognostication game ain’t getting any easier.  

Now, with a new decade opening before us, it will be Mayor Jones’ decisions that will matter. From here on he has to become more than just the quiet Un-Wilder. Where Jones stands on the issues, like those mentioned above, needs to be more clear in 2010.