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Editor's
Note: Richard Florida, author of "The Rise of
the Creative Class" created a huge stir in
Richmond when he spoke in January. Many Richmond
citizens, including those who previously had no
voice in the governing process, have used his ideas
to re-think what it takes to build a stronger
economy and more vibrant community.
This
"open letter to the City of Richmond"
represents the viewpoint of artists, musicians,
painters, sculptors, writers, dancers, poets, DJs,
promoters, composers,
dramatists, web designers and
arts-related small business owners living and
working in the city. Even though many of the issues the authors
raise are particular to Richmond, and even though we
don't agree with every conclusion, Bacon's Rebellion
is publishing this letter because it provides
fresh perspectives that could be profitably applied to every
community in Virginia.
In
January, Dr. Richard Florida of Carnegie-Mellon
University
was invited to be the keynote speaker at the city's
Economic Conference. Dr. Florida, the author of The
Rise of the Creative Class, presented to business leaders and city politicians a
prescription for city revitalization that included the following:
a)
Respect for the city's street-level arts and music
scenes;
b)
Less emphasis on costly and artificial downtown
projects, more emphasis on historic preservation and organic
culture;
c)
An open environment of city government where new
ideas and opportunities can "plug in";
d)
Tolerance toward gays and other alternative
lifestyles.
In
the wake of Dr. Florida's appearance, town fathers and politicians publicly
claimed that Richmond's artists could help in the city's
rebirth. This was positive news. We were also
encouraged by talk of how the talents of Richmond's "creative class" (Florida's term) would
attract people who will revitalize downtown and all
of
Richmond.
But
for every step forward in rhetoric, there have been
several steps back in reality:
Clearly,
fundamental changes are in order.
Downtown
Performing Arts Center
If
city and private business groups want to build a new
downtown performing arts center, we sincerely wish them the
best of luck. By keeping Richmond's historic theaters in the balance, they have
crafted
a plan that is worthy of serious attention. The
sponsoring Virginia
Performing Arts Foundation (VPAF)
will find no shortage of noteworthy entertainment
right here in their own backyard. We fundamentally oppose, however, the
use of any public tax dollars to fund this proposed project until
basic questions about
community involvement are addressed.
The
board of the VPAF has yet to release an independent,
verifiable feasibility study or a business plan supporting the
project in its current form. Most important to area performers and
potential patrons,
the VPAF has not supplied specific details of the
types of entertainment the venues comprising the center will
provide beyond the offerings from those arts groups who are
affiliated
with the project.
Who
will be in charge of programming the entertainment?
What are the criteria? These are not small details.
Richmond's woeful track record in downtown-
rehabilitation
projects does not encourage us. We remain
unconvinced that an
arts complex is the answer to downtown's torpor.
Dr. Florida
spoke of setting priorities. "Arts complexes
may provide some infrastructure, but they
are far from the solution," he said about
Richmond
's plan. "Communities need street-level arts
and music scenes and the energy
they generate to be successful."
Music
and Entertainment
First
Fridays brings people downtown. A performing arts
center may well do the same thing, but we feel the greater
challenge is keeping
people downtown. To that end, we ask that the
city encourage the
opening of locally owned bars, restaurants, and
nightclubs in the blighted Broad and Grace Streets corridor. The city
can start by eliminating or reducing the meals and admissions
taxes and discarding laws mandating security guards for crowds over 100
patrons. Contrary to hype, unruly audiences and unsafe pyrotechnics
aren't the issues holding local clubs back - high taxes, the
overzealous Richmond
chapter of the A.B.C. board, short-sighted council
rulings and hostile neighborhood associations represent the four biggest
threats to entertainment and nightlife in the city.
The
raising of the meals tax would be a direct assault
on the entertainment industry of Richmond. There are numerous studies that conclude that meals and restaurant taxes actually
target local residents, not tourists. Since many in the arts and
music communities work "day jobs" in the food and service
industry, raising the city's meals tax will hurt area artists, performers and
musicians most of all.
While
Richmond's indigenous nightlife deal with increased taxes
and regulations, the board of the VPAF propose owning
and operating a nightclub as part of the downtown arts center. While
another music venue would indeed be welcome downtown, a subsidized
nightclub shouldn't be built and operated on the back of the
city's genuine, and competing, music scene and run by a public-private
partnership.
Access
to City Planning
When
Dr. Florida
spoke in January about creating a environment in the
city where new ideas can "plug in easily,"
he wasn't talking about a place that allowed public/private partnerships to
largely determine public policy. We ask that the council institute
some form of
legislative accountability for past downtown
failures before considering any other large taxpayer-funded
public/private ventures such as a Downtown Performing Arts Complex.
The
proliferation of largely unaccountable
taxpayer-funded consortiums, such as Richmond Renaissance, the Broad
Street Community
Development
Authority and (now) the Virginia
Performing Arts Foundation, ensures that real city planning power in
Richmond
will continue to remain in the hands of a select few.
Yes, Broad Street
is a mess. But how galling that the current vision of a
future downtown consists of little more than parking garages and
huge artificial projects, situated in limbo.
As
we contemplate the demolition of 6th Street
Marketplace, let's remember that many of the same people who promoted
that doomed project to great taxpayer expense are now promoting this new
vision of
downtown Richmond
as a
tourist destination and arts corridor.
What
We Want
-
We
ask the council to hold off on any vote
pertaining to the downtown performing arts center until basic
questions about feasibility, programming, inclusion and
alternate funding sources for its construction are addressed and discussed. A
detailed independent study should be made available to the citizens
of the city for review.
-
We
ask that, if funded by public money, the arts
and music programming and booking committee of any
authorized downtown performing arts center be comprised of proven
arts administrators, local performing artists, regional promoters and
arts authorities, including members of the
city's street-level arts and music scenes.
-
We
ask the council to revoke the recent ordinance
which requires club owners, at their own expense, to hire
off-duty police officers
for music performances that draw more than 100
people. This
is a financial and regulatory drain on nightclub and
restaurant owners.
-
We
ask for more pubic accountability of
public/private partnerships such as Richmond
Renaissance and the Broad Street
CDA. We ask the city to begin to hold public/private partnerships
accountable for the tax money they request from all Richmonders.
If these consortiums consistently fail to live up to their own
estimates for projected growth from large taxpayer-funded projects they
spearhead, these
entities should not continue to receive
budgetary funds or de-facto governing power from the city of Richmond.
-
Tolerance
was a key plank in Florida's celebrated speech in January. We call on the
city manager to initiate a climate of tolerance
by
establishing an office to liaise between the gay
community and city government. Further, we ask that the city
instruct the police to not
target gays or gay-owned businesses (and
especially gay-owned
nightclubs) for selective enforcement.
Richmond
needs to do more than pay lip service to the arts.
It needs to do some soul-searching. Does the city truly value
its most creative citizens or will its future represent closed-door
governance, Big
Tobacco and the Civil War? Before you drive the rest
of your artists and musicians and all those in the "creative
class" away to neighboring communities, we ask you to begin giving
everyone in this city a voice and a seat at the table.
Scott
Burger
Alternative
radio dj, former co-editor, Throttle Magazine, Richmond
resident
burp@mindspring.com
Ewa
Beaujon
Research
Editor, substitute school teacher, Richmond resident
Andrew
Beaujon
Musician,
contributing editor, Spin Magazine,
Richmond
resident
andrew@beaujon.org
Don
Harrison
Musician,
former Associate editor, 64 Magazine,
Richmond
resident
harrisond@mindspring.com
Their
website, Save Richmond, can be found here.
--
July 14 2003
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