City Council Meeting June 22, 2009 - How we Set Water Rates / Meet the new CAO

Above, I spoke in opposition to ordinances 2009-113 and 2009-114 which exempt 836 residential water customers [ most who live in the "affluent first district," Mr. Tyler's district ] from higher water rates for having water meters larger than 5/8 inch.

DPU conducted a survey of over 200 of the 836 households and found that they all had appropriate sized meters for the type and number of water fixtures used by the customer. 93% of the 836 households [777] would have had to pay less than $20 a month additionally on their monthly water bill.



Above, Byron C. Marshall testifies on his own behalf before the Council and the public. He described why he feels he is qualified for the position and outlined his wide ranging professional experience in larger cities including Washington, DC, Atlanta, Houston, and Austin. He answered questions about his degree, the audit in Austin, other issues raise in local media.

COMPLETE, UNEDITED VERSIONS



Above, video of the first hour of the evening's Council meeting. Includes the Awards Period and the Citizen Comment period.

Mrs. Ellen Robertson (6th District) presented the Richmond Human Service Award to Carol Negus, President of Bridging Boundaries International.


The speakers for the Citizen Comment Period were Cynthia Hinds, August Moon, Victor Reed, and Darryl Badley.



Above, the second half of the evening's meeting, complete and unedited.

Organizational Development June 1, 2009 - Censorship & Closed Door Dealmaking

Above, complete video of Richmond City Council's June 1, 2009 Organizational Development Committee meeting.

The first minute of this video is a compilation of clips from the 10 minutes I was waiting for the meeting to begin. It is one of my constant criticisms that Council does a crummy job starting their meetings on time. However, if they were good about starting their meetings on time, my complaint would change and I'd ask them to start the meetings 5 minutes after the hour to allow additional time for citizens to arrive without missing any of the meeting.

The first topic discussed, Dr. Tyrone Jackson, Director of Human Resources, asked the Committee to waive a requirement that jobs must be advertised in the newspaper. Dr. Jackson was requesting this for seven positions that are currently staffed but are proposed to be done away with. The seven employees will have "first crack" at 200 vacancies the city is planning to fill.

...

At the end of the meeting the committee went into Closed Session to discuss Ordinance 2009-105 which proposes to extend the option to sell 3101 East Main Street, Intermediate Terminal Building No. 3, and adjacent land fronting East Main Street, at 4303 and 4319 East Main Street to "Restauranteur, Inc." which is registered with the State Corporation Commission. The registered agent since August 15, 2003 is William F. Etherington, and the previous registered agent was D. H. EURE beginning in August 25, 2001. The registered address is 701 E. Franklin Street Suite 1200 which is the offices of Beale, Davidson, Etherington & Morris, PC.

The ordinance seeks to grant the purchaser 7 additional months in which to buy the property for $725,000. View the original ordinance, Ord. 2004-133-156. According to this ordinance [2004], the purchaser was supposed to build a restaurant on the property. The purchaser paid a deposit of $25,000 once the ordinance was adopted and had 5 years to complete the purchase, which was supposed to include $57,000 from meals taxes paid by purchaser on sales above $2 million in the first 12 months of operation of proposed restaurant. Doesn't this financing scheme sound similar to the plan to pay for Shockoe Center?



Shocking Revelations on President Graziano's Leadership Style

Censorship or what?

In the clip above, Angela Montgomery, a policy analyst in Council's Legislative Services Department, read a prepared report regarding the May 18 Public Safety Committee meeting.

In Ms. Montgomery's report there was no reference to the 50-65 motorcycle club members who came out to register their opposition to a recent modification in the Code of Virginia that prevents establishments that serve alcohol from serving patrons who are wearing gang colors or insignia. Ms. Reva Trammell objected to the omission and it turns out President Graziano request that portion of the report be omitted in order to save time. Both Ms. Trammell and Mr. Marty Jewell stated they resented the action.

This is not the first time Mrs. Graziano has taken liberties with "shortening" a meeting. In fact this is the fourth time I am aware of shenanigans like this. Most recently at the second Council meeting in February '09, she insisted that the public comment period be shortened to 15 minutes [from the normal 30 minutes] for each side regarding two ordinances dealing with the Commission of Architectural Review [CAR], Oakwood Heights, and a fence in front of Jennie Dotts' house near Chimborazo Park. There were many citizens to speak in opposition to the Oakwood Heights development who did have an opportunity to speak.

The first time I recall Mrs. Graziano doing something similar was in February 2008, when she was chairperson of the Land Use Committee. Mr. Hilbert and Mr. Jewell had co-patroned a resolution, Resolution 2008-R13, to express the City of Richmond's opposition to Dominion Power's proposal to build a new coal fired power plant in Wise County, in Southwestern Virginia. At this committee meeting there were many environmental activists and Mrs. Graziano said when they considered this resolution that each side would have 15 minutes to comment. She requested the environmentalists speaking in support of the resolution each take only two minutes. Meanwhile, the only opposition to the resolution was a lawyer representing Dominion Power and he was allowed to speak for the entire 15 minutes. It's not fair, and it is a clear sign that Mrs. Graziano does not hold the citizen comment period in high regard.

The citizen comment period is the public's most effective tool for holding elected officials accountable and allows citizens to contribute to the political discussion, though comments are often disregarded by the Council.

Are you looking for work in Richmond, Virginia? *

A couple of good friends are unemployed and looking for work; so whenever I come across a job listing website I'm sure to pass it on. I thought it would be helpful to a broader audience to list the resources I have found for job listings in Richmond, Virginia.

The Virginia Employment Commission
Capitol Region Workforce Center
Craigslist
Snagajob.com
RichmondJobNet.com

Non-Website

Richmond Career Advancement
201 W Broad St
Richmond, VA 23220
(804) 225-9017‎

* Or do you know of other resources that should be linked to here. Leave a comment.

Fan and Museum District Associations Organize Info Session on Proposed Shockoe Center Ballpark

On April 22, 2009 Paul W. Kreckman from Highwoods Properties [the master developer of the proposed project] and Bryan T. Bostic [an investor with Richmond Baseball Club LLC] discussed the proposal to build a ballpark in Shockoe Bottom with interested citizens at Albert Hill Elementary School.

The meeting was organized by the Museum District Association and the Fan District Association and was attended by Council members Bruce Tyler [1st District], Charles Samuels [2nd District], and Marty Jewell [6th District].

The first video is the presentation given by developer Kreckman and investor Bostic. Mr. Bostic begins speaking at 32:00 minutes



The second video includes questions that were asked by assembled citizens in attendance.

New Mayor vs. Old Mayor

I am in a unique position to make some casual observations about differences I see in the administrations of former Mayor Douglas Wilder and our new Mayor Dwight C. Jones.

Granted these observations are being made only 100 days into the Jones Administration. To date, Mayor Jones' chief accomplishment is the creation of a two year budget [ get the 17 MB 400 page PDF ]. Proposed $629.6 million for the Fiscal Year 2010 beginning July 1, 2009; and $636.5 million the following year. The current fiscal year budget that was just formally adopted on March 23 is $655.3 million.

Mayor Wilder took a more assertive and confrontational tone with the Council. Gone are the days of long speeches delivered from the pulpit of Council Chambers' floor. I've got to admit it was entertaining, but it was also a waste of money, and no way to conduct a government.

A distinct policy change with the new Mayor is improved communication between department heads and the Council and more openness for directors to speak with reporters and citizens. Mayor Wilder had restricted Council's ability to speak directly with department heads and all questions were to be directed through Linwood Norman, Wilder's Press Secretary. It was a ridiculous policy but it was implemented. At the end of his term, sometimes members of the Administration were not even present at Council committee meetings to present legislation that was being sponsored by Mayor Wilder.

Another notable difference is that no top staffer such as Chris Beschler [Acting CAO], Michael Terry [Acting CFO], Suzette Denslow [Mayor Jones Chief of Staff], or David Hicks [Jones' Senior Policy Advisor] has yet emerged as a strong surrogate for Mayor Jones. In the Wilder Administration, Kim Neal [Wilder's Senior Policy Advisor] and Harry Black [Wilder's Chief Financial Officer and Acting Chief Adminstrative Officer] often presented reports to the City Council and advised the Council of the Wilder Administration's positions.

Mayor Jones is also doing a good job meeting with Council members' constituents at Town Hall meetings. I have seen him at a couple of neighborhood events. And he is always willing to take questions.

If you have some memories of the Wilder administration or impressions of the Jones' Administration, leave a comment.

Citizen Comment Against the Use of Inmate Labor in Richmond, Virginia

In a rare act of public inclusion at a budget work session at Wednesday's meeting, Vice President Ellen Robertson opened the floor for citizen comments and since I was the only "citizen" in the room, she made a direct appeal to me to see if I had anything I would like to add.

Earlier in the meeting, the Finance Committee [Councilpersons Robertson, Bruce Tyler, and Charles Samuels] along with President Kathy Graziano, Councilman Jewell, and Interim Member Betty Squire were given a presentation on the Community Development Block Grant (aka CDBG) budget. CDBG is grant money from the Federal Government to fund lots of worthwhile programs like Emergency Shelter Grants, Housing for Persons with AIDS [HOPWA], housing revitalization and code enforcement.

However, there is an obscure line item, entitled, "Environmental Code Enforcement." This program is operated by the Department of Community Development, the Sheriff's Office, and a private contractor. Inmates at the City Jail are paid $10 for 8 hours of labor to do things like cut grass, trees and remove brush. The program is proposed to be funded at $260,000, an increase of $5000 over last year and it would be the third year of the program's existence.

News on New Richmond City Jail

Council Vice President Ellen Robertson (6th District) and Finance Committee co-members Bruce Tyler (1st District) and Charles Samuels (2nd District) as well as Council President Kathy Graziano, Doug Conner (9th District), and Interim Council Member Betty Squire (7th District) attended the meeting.

This clip from Tuesday's Budget Work Session is the most significant description of the new jail that has been given to the Council.

Philip "Tony" Jones, Operations Manager, Facilities for the City of Richmond opens video discussing the proposed $250,000 in this year's budget for "stabilization of the [jail] building until we can build a new jail."

John Winter, Special Capital Projects Manager for the City of Richmond, Virginia discussed some design concepts and policy decisions that were going into the designing of the proposed new Richmond City jail. Mr. Winter said the total project cost would be $137.6 million. The rated capacity at the current city jail is 882, the inmate population varies between 1200 - 1500, usually at the higher end. The new facility would be built by 2013 at the current location and most of the old jail would be torn down. The new jail is proposed to have a rated capacity of 1032 and a key component of the jail would be the development of alternative programs to keep less serious offenders out of jail. This is to be implemented over the next 2 - 3 years.

There were about 30 people in the audience, all city employees whom I recognized for the most part. There were no other private citizens nor news media present at the meeting. Watch the video, it's only 16 minutes long.