Last week, out-of-state planners unveiled a slideshow of what downtown Richmond could look like. The computer-generated renditions showed happy couples strolling along a bustling, tree-lined Hull Street. A streetcar ran down the middle. Winos and boarded-up buildings were nowhere to be seen.

The slideshow was the grand finale of an event called a charrette, a fancy word that in this context means ‘brainstorming and design session.’ It felt more like a charade. Or a three-act play; one part comedy, one-part drama, and perhaps, ultimately, one part tragedy in a know-your-fate-but-can’t-escape-it-kind-of-way. The Mayor said at the start of Thursday’s powwow that he doesn’t want this master plan to just sit on the shelf in City Hall like previous ones. Gulp.

Plant Zero hosted the standing room only shindig. Planners, landscape architects and traffic engineers worked the crowd. When speakers used words like “walkability,” “pedestrian first” and “more parks,” the audience erupted as if Emeril just yelled “garlic.” Sadly, there were no Arsenio Hall “whoof, whoof, whoofs.”

It felt like a charade because the crowd gave itself a round of applause.

It felt like a charade, because the Mayor rambled on and on and then said he didn’t care what other cities do to refurbish their downtowns. That it doesn’t matter what other cities use, or what works and what fails miserably. Richmond only needs to do what Richmond needs to do.

Let’s think this through. The mayor of a major East Coast city said he doesn’t care what other cities are doing. He doesn’t care how other locations faced with similar challenges are improving themselves. Yikes. Learning from others is what separates us from the animals. Urban planners are constantly searching for what separates thriving downtowns from abandoned ones. It’s called studying and it’s where knowledge comes from.

It felt like a charade because the planners never addressed the economics of downtown. Let’s not forget that the problem and the solution are both economic. Cities were built, remember, as stores for shoppers. Not as art galleries. Not as loft communities. But as stores where people bought the things they needed or as factories where workers turned materials into products. Richmond competes with other cities for luring major new employers, corporations that infuse downtown with shoppers and create demand for new businesses. The new Philip Morris Building ought to help. But Mr. Mayor said he doesn’t care what other cities are doing. He doesn’t care that Charlottesville turned its downtown drag into a thriving centerpiece by making it pedestrian-only. He doesn’t care that Baltimore made the waterfront hip.

The planners had a lot of good ideas, although you don’t have to be a degreed urban planner to know people like parks. They pointed out that parking should be a public service. That the city needs to relax its ironfisted rule that businesses provide a sea of parking lots. Maybe some of the one-way streets should be turned back into two-ways, they said. (Boston and New York both have one-ways, incidentally). There should be more access to the River.  New office buildings should be part of neighborhoods (that means you MeadWestvaco).

It felt like a charade because not once did planners from Kohl and Partners—who are charging a tidy $300,000 to update the city’s master plan—explain how the city will pay for such changes. Turn Mayo Island into a park. Wow. Make the river open to all. Yippee. A trolley that runs along Broad and another one along Hull. Mama Mia.

Let’s take a break from fantasy land for a moment. Who will buy Mayo Island from its owners? Why should stores or offices open or relocate downtown? What can the City do to stimulate business? What tax breaks, or public infrastructure improvements are necessary? Does the City have the leadership to implement bold changes?

Please, God, no more talk about empty nesters and young professionals flocking downtown. Please. Vistas on the James, the new residential tower next to Toad’s Place isn’t full. Got that. NOT SOLD OUT. The condo market is sluggish and heading farther south.

It felt like a charade because planners didn’t discuss the shuttered Sixth Street Market. Nor did they discuss the Diamond (perhaps they were warned not to). But it could be the centerpiece of a plan. Other cities feature beautiful ballparks.

Oh yeah, the Mayor doesn’t care what other cities do. Well, at least Richmond’s got plenty of live theater.

There you go again, bothering people with facts and “spreading lies” about Doug Wilder.  What are you, a Communist? 

Hi!

I enjoyed reading your article, such as it was.  (The title was a little silly.)

At the hands-on work session on Saturday, I tried to inject some of the reality you are talking about in your article.  I wanted to mention that all the plans the people were coming up with would cost tons of money, and would come on top of the many things that the City already can’t pay for—like building new schools fit for our children and their children.

I also wanted to mention that the plans being proposed, like putting a “green” top over I-195 as it comes into Downtown or giving up a travel lane in each direction on the Manchester Bridge to “green” space, might not only take a little green (money). These plans might be completely ouside the City’s control since the City does not actually own many of the major traffic arterials in and out of Downtown.

I was told that I could not step out of the process long enough to talk realities.  That is not what the day was all about.

Your article does a great job of challenging the foundations of the planning process from this standpoint.  However, it is too bad that you do not give any attention to the complete lack of diversity among the participants all throughout the process.

It was as if people putting the process together had gone out of their way to see how skewed a representation of the community they could assemble in one room.

A “charrette” by definition is supposed to commence with a gathering of a representative cross-section of the community, which then engages in a dialogue that sets the stage for core transformative effects on overall perspectives.  I sure didn’t see any of that cross-cultural exchange on Saturday.

The T-D has not come to grips with this critical failing of the process just yet, after about 4 tries.  Please look at this issue more closely as things move forward.  You will do the community a favor.

Thanks.

          -  Mike Sarahan