Council Approves Use of Inmate Labor on City-Owned Property

My 2¢: Richmond City Council Approves Use of Inmate Labor on City-Owned Property from Silver Persinger on Vimeo.

At Richmond City Council's Formal meeting of February 28, 2011, I spoke in opposition to Ordinance 2011-21 which authorizes the use of inmate labor on City-owned property such as rights of way along highways, streets, alleyways, parks, City owned cemeteries and vacant lots. Such work on public property SHOULD be done by City employees paid a LIVING WAGE which is $10.19 an hour adopted by Council in 2008.

In 2006, Richmond City Council approved the use of City Jail inmate labor to clean up neglected PRIVATE property.

The Council approved the ordinance unanimously. Council members Marty Jewell [5th District], Reva Trammel [8th District], and Cynthia Newbille [7th District] offered comments in response to my comments.

Finance Committe Meeting - July 22, 2009 - "Accelerating" City Jail Construction Budget

Above, discussion of Ordinance 2009-145 to accelerate funding for the new Richmond City Jail. John Winter, Manager of Special Capital Projects from the Department of Public Works explained the paper.

Mr. Winter said these funds would be for used for procure and initiate the design phase and construction is planned to start Late Summer 2010. Mr. Winter said that the current fiscal year's budget [2010] was adopted at $2 million but they want to increase it to $17.6 million. The new City Jail's total projected cost is $137.6 million [$137,600,000].

This how it breaks down for this year's proposed budget:

$5 million = Projected Design Cost
$2 million = Site related work
$10 million = Phase I Construction, Mid-rise tower, 572 beds

Citizen Comment

Above, I spoke briefly about how the Council and Public weren't receiving sufficient information about this important project. This is the 3rd major presentation given to Council in recent months and the media (ie. Times Dispatch, Voice, Free Press or Style Weekly) has never been present to report this information to the public. Yet here they are asking for a major increase in their budget, and this money will be borrowed against the "City of the Future" line of credit established by Mayor Wilder and Harry Black.

Check out the guy in the upper right hand corner, blah, blah, blahhing, shaking his head, rolling his eyes. I guess he doesn't like transparency in government. His name is William A. Pace and on January 26, 2009 Richmond City Council appointed him a member of the Advisory Board of Recreation and Parks for a term of three years.


WATCH THE ENTIRE MEETING UNEDITED

THE AGENDA

Richmond Public Schools Fund Balance

State PILOT Assessments & Collections – Department of Finance

Papers for Consideration

1. Ordinance 2009-43 (Patrons: Vice-President Robertson, Mr. Tyler and Mr. Samuels) – To amend *** the Code *** for the purpose of providing partial tax exemption in redevelopment or conservation areas or rehabilitation districts.

2. Ordinance 2009-129 (Patron: Mayor Jones) – To authorize the Acting Chief Administrative Officer to accept $1,078,936 from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and to appropriate the increase to the Fiscal Year 2009-2010 Special Fund Budget by increasing estimated revenues and the amount appropriated to the Department of Social Services by $1,078,936 for the purpose of providing funding for the Richmond Shelter Plus Care, Housing First and A Place to Start homeless assistance programs.

3. Ordinance 2009-133 (Patron: Mayor Jones) – To authorize the Acting Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to enter into the Sixteenth Commercial Area Revitalization Effort Program Cooperation Agreement between the City of Richmond and the Economic Development Authority for the purpose of providing for the operation of the Commercial Area Revitalization Effort (“CARE”) Program.

4. Ordinance 2009-134 (Patron: Mayor Jones) – To authorize the Acting Chief Administrative Officer, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to enter into the Sixth Extra CARE Agreement between the City of Richmond and the Economic Development Authority for the purpose of continuing the operation of the Extra Commercial Area Revitalization Effort (“Extra CARE”) Program in the Belt Boulevard and the Upper Hull Street commercial corridor.

5. Ordinance 2009-145 (Patron: Mayor Jones) – To amend Ord. No. 2009-64-87, adopted May 26, 2009, which (i) accepted a program of proposed Capital Improvement Projects for Fiscal Year 2009-2010 and the four fiscal years thereafter, (ii) adopted a Capital Budget for Fiscal Year 2009-2010 and (iii) determined a method of financing the same, to amend the Fiscal Year 2009-2010 Capital Budget by increasing revenues from Commercial Paper Line of Credit borrowings and the amount appropriated to the City Jail Improvement Project by $15,000,000 and to amend the Capital Improvement Program for Fiscal Year 2009-2010 and the four fiscal years thereafter by (i) increasing planned Commercial Paper Line of Credit borrowings and the planned appropriation to the City Jail Improvement Project by $17,600,000 in Fiscal Year 2010-2011 and by $13,100,000 in Fiscal Year 2011-2012 and (ii) decreasing planned Commercial Paper Line of Credit borrowings and the planned appropriation to the City Jail Improvement Project by $22,400,000 in Fiscal Year 2012-2013 and by $23,300,000 in Fiscal Year 2013-2014, for the purpose of accelerating funding for required improvements to the City Jail.

6. Ordinance 2009-146 (Patron: Mayor Jones) – To transfer and appropriate *** $800,000 *** to the Landmark Theater Renovation project in the City Facility Construction and Maintenance category for the purpose of providing additional funding to the “Phase IIA Performance & Performer Infrastructure Project” within the Landmark Theater Renovation project.

7. Res. No. 2009-R93 (Patron: President Graziano) - To approve an expenditure in the amount of $2,034.71 from the Council Districts Funds for the Fourth District to pay Reliance Mailing and Marketing for the mailing of the Fourth District Newsletter for the month of August.

8. Res. No. 2009-R94 (Patron: Mr. Samuels) - To approve an expenditure in the amount of $1,600.00 from the Council Districts Funds for the Second District to pay Reliance Mailing Corporation for sorting, labeling and mailing the Second District Newsletter.

9. Res. No. 2009-R95 (Patron: Mr. Hilbert) - To approve an expenditure in the amount of $1,090 from the Council Districts Funds for the Third District to pay Magic Carpet Bus Tours for transportation to the Smithsonian Museum on July 23, 2009, for the summer camp program held at Battery Park.

Two Interesting Stories from RTD in Last Two Days - 100th Anniversary

The Richmond Times Dispatch recently reported two stories that I found particularly interesting. In yesterday's newspaper, it was reported in an article entitled "Richmond looks to reassign workers to avoid layoffs" that Mayor Jones' budget proposed to eliminate 150 positions bringing the city's number of employees, "non-school, full-time-equivalent positions from 5,108.6 to 4,958.94."

This is interesting because the "total number of city employees" that has been thrown around at City Hall for the last few years has been 4000. Recently and notably by Dr. Tyrone Jackson, Richmond's Director of Human Resources. Listen here as Dr. Jackson references the city's "4000 plus" employees during his presentation to the Governmental Operations Committee on February 26, 2009.

However, the Times-Dispatch article took no exception to this discrepancy, even though it represents a difference of 20% over what had been the conventional wisdom on the employment number. The above example is the sort of thing that bloggers and watchdogs can be effective at exposing. And with the ease of digital recording, it makes it easier to hold people accountable and serves as an aid to remember what they said. It also highlights, the failure of our newspapers to be a valuable asset in assisting the public to make informed decisions about our government.

The second story I was interested to read in today's newspaper was entitled, "Richmond jail inmates to pay $1 a day." The article stated that it would generate $500,000 annually. The jail's current operating budget is $30 million. I think that is a crummy idea and is petty "feel good" act of meanness towards individuals whose lives are already being destroyed by their mere jail sentences. The best way to save money at the City Jail is to reduce the number of people in the jail. Deal with the mentally ill in an appropriate manner and don't jail non-violent and drug offenders and release individuals who can't pay their bonds when such bond is less than $500.

Today marks 100 days of blogging the Richmond City Council Reporter and Telegraph.

It has evolved in that short time. I have decided to focus more on the video format. After three years of making audio recordings at Council meetings, I recently bought a video camera and have been filming the Council meetings. The videos are so much more compelling to watch than the audio recordings were to listen to. There is so much going on in the videos and visual signs of the speakers show meaning that is not captured in an audio recording.

I'm still trying to figure out how I should be making videos. The long format, entire meeting is nice but I know people would be more inclined to watch a ten minute summary. I will experiment and try to come up with different ways to present information. And be sure to leave feedback when you think something is working or not working. And let me know what you want to see.

A couple of weeks ago I thought I was going to give up on this blog. I didn't and in the last couple of weeks, I have really put a lot of work into it. I hope I can keep it up. It is taking up a lot of time and space.

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.