A butterfly in the Amazon flaps its wings...
Last year I wrote a story about the marching band at the United House of Prayer near my house. In it, I mentioned that several members of the group wore Atlanta Braves caps to go with their red, white and blue uniforms, which prompted the Richmond Braves to send over some caps to the church. It was a cute postscript, I thought, but the law of unintended consequences is equally amusing.
From today's Times-Dispatch:
I'm still on the fence about the stadium. On the one hand, I feel like it's a classic Richmond solution-in-search-of-a-problem. Let's face it, the reason the Braves don't draw isn't that the Diamond is charm-challenged. Like most examples of Richmond's mediocrity, the Braves suffer from a confluence of problems: a meager sporting tradition, a disinterested fan base and the fact that most player development is at AA now. AAA is a holding tank for slumping big timers and a form of purgatory for guys who will probably never make the Show their home (like, say, Stubby Clapp).
Moreover, R-Braves games are already a hell of a lot of fun, and I seriously doubt that the kind of guys a new retro stadium attracts (you know, the ones who tie their sweaters around their necks) are enough of an economic base for a team. They're not real fans, and they don't go often enough.
Still, Shockoe Bottom is a bit of a wasteland. The farmer's market and train station are jokes, the bars are mostly meathead magnets that change owners every 90 days or so, and even the jewel of the area, Cafe Gutenberg, would be unremarkable in any other city. I can't see a stadium screwing this hodgepodge up much more.
But I also don't buy the stadium boosters' claims that it will be self-financing, and I'm glad Wilder is holding their feet to the fire on this one. While the noise of the debate over this thing rises (and, okay, I am a bit uncomfortable with my role in same), I'm hopeful fiscal responsibility will be the final note.
From today's Times-Dispatch:
When a group of 50 protesters crashed a pro-ballpark rally at the 17th Street Farmers' Market, the stadium crowd kicked up the volume, literally.
A 12-man band from United House of Prayer in Church Hill—all wearing Richmond Braves caps—played their tubas, saxophones and drums as loud as they could and drowned out the anti-stadium cries.
I'm still on the fence about the stadium. On the one hand, I feel like it's a classic Richmond solution-in-search-of-a-problem. Let's face it, the reason the Braves don't draw isn't that the Diamond is charm-challenged. Like most examples of Richmond's mediocrity, the Braves suffer from a confluence of problems: a meager sporting tradition, a disinterested fan base and the fact that most player development is at AA now. AAA is a holding tank for slumping big timers and a form of purgatory for guys who will probably never make the Show their home (like, say, Stubby Clapp).
Moreover, R-Braves games are already a hell of a lot of fun, and I seriously doubt that the kind of guys a new retro stadium attracts (you know, the ones who tie their sweaters around their necks) are enough of an economic base for a team. They're not real fans, and they don't go often enough.
Still, Shockoe Bottom is a bit of a wasteland. The farmer's market and train station are jokes, the bars are mostly meathead magnets that change owners every 90 days or so, and even the jewel of the area, Cafe Gutenberg, would be unremarkable in any other city. I can't see a stadium screwing this hodgepodge up much more.
But I also don't buy the stadium boosters' claims that it will be self-financing, and I'm glad Wilder is holding their feet to the fire on this one. While the noise of the debate over this thing rises (and, okay, I am a bit uncomfortable with my role in same), I'm hopeful fiscal responsibility will be the final note.
posted by Andrew Beaujon at 08:43
8 Comments:
Maybe I'm just an ignorant hillbilly retard, but WTF? The farmer's market is great. They put on lots of good family-friendly festivals, there's a wide variety of high quality produce, and if you know how to shop, it's just about as cheap as buying from the supermaket. A lot of people put a lot of hard work into making the farmer's market successful, and they don't deserve snide BS insults.
The incessant griping about how even the good things in Richmond aren't good enough for our urban sophisticate betters is at least as aggravating as the RR attitude that the sky is falling, capitalism can't be trusted to save downtown, and the city government needs to flatten everything to make way for taxpayer-financed magic bullet behemoths.
- Steve K.
Thanks, Steve. If all one's looking for from a farmer's market is a great day out once every couple months, then ours is adequate. But as a place where you can buy fresh produce from a variety of farmers, it's anemic at best. There's two days a week that even happens--and even then there's only a few vendors--plus a bone-thin flea market on Sundays.
I'm gonna go ahead and suggest that, while I do appreciate your comment, simply taking umbrage at suggestions that things we like aren't good enough is an attitude that allows mediocrity to thrive. Which happens a lot here.
good t'know that things remain Richmondesque in Richmond !
meanwhile in the Savage West:
dying railroad town Roanoke is set to have a new art museum really soon. architectural mock-ups show us a structure that looks like a distressed hubcap. or maybe a crashed saucer. people are digging it. and it's going to happen, yo, because the money's there. primary organizer/contributors include a guy who owns a chain of retirement homes and the spouse of another Mr Who, a former Israeli beauty queen (Miss Golan Heights 1957?) who is graciously contributing her designer handbag collection for permanent exhibit.
I came across your blog a while ago, through SaveRichmond.com, and just had to comment on this one.
Some sort of development should be encouraged in Shockoe Bottom, but I'm dead set against a stadium. For one thing, I seriously doubt it'll bring in the kind of tax revenue the city needs. For another, on the 300-odd days per year when there ISN'T a game there, the place is going to sit empty and locked up. Third, I live in Union Hill. If I had wanted to live within spitting distance of a sports stadium, I'd have lobbied to buy and restore a house in Scott's Addition. The list goes on and on, but I'll stop with three for now.
Here's what I think should be done in Shockoe Bottom:
It should be developed into something like Carytown. It would be great to roll out of bed on a Saturday or Sunday and walk down to Shockoe Bottom to run errands or do some shopping, rather than having to drive or ride miles.
I also think the Slave Trail Commission should figure out how to use the Emily Winfree cottage as part of a memorial to or education center about the history of slavery in Richmond, and that should be in Shockoe Bottom as well.
Sorry, I'm working on a master's in urban planning. Can't help myself.
Hey Lora, thanks for reading and for your comment. What do you think would need to happen for Carytown-style development to take place?
I am still in favor of moving the Greyhound station off Boulevard and down near Main Street Station in order to encourage intermodal transportation.
That's not to say a greenway/bike trail/slave history trail/ Carytown development can't happen right along with it.
Well, I'm not at all sure how commercial development proposals are done--I just registered for Urban Commercial Revitalization for next fall--but I imagine catching the imagination of the right people is the most important factor in a deal like this.
A proposal for a Shockoe Bottom retail district would probably have to include a market study to show that the area could support the kind of development proposed, maybe a case study of Carytown and similar shopping areas, a model of how the area might look, and a few other things I don't know about yet. It would also probably have to have some sort of support from a developer or bank willing to finance it. I'll ask one of my professors and let you know.
Richmond already *has* a Carytown, and there's no reason a new Shockoe stadium can't be accompanied by new dining, shopping and strolling options. I'm strongly in favor of the stadium proposal -- with one exception. The design is completely closed, which is supposed to reduce the visual and aural impact on the neighborhood, but it also keeps the game from drawing passersby in. (And as for neighborhood impact, games are typically over by 10:30.)
Andrew's right that the bulk of player development happens at AA, but as I type this I'm listening to the A-Braves pregame show on the radio and Joe Simpson just namechecked Pete Orr, who was at The Diamond last season, along with Roman Colon, Ryan Langerhans and Wilson Betemit. (Dan Meyer will no doubt pitch for the A's against the O's up in Los Angelos.) So big talent continues and will continue to play for the former Atlanta Crackers.
And for the record, Sr. Beaujon, it's not all yuppie scum at retro ballparks. I went to Norfolk Tides games for years and saw families of the non-yuppie and non-scummy variety -- though I do remember a doctor being thrown out for alcohol-induced foul language.
Does it strike anyone as weird that in all the coverage of the stadium issue, no one has looked at Norfolk? People talk about Memphis and Louisville, similar to the RVA in market size. But isn't a AAA team moving from a functional but ugly stadium whose best atribute is freeway access to a new facility downtown an example worth looking at? Maybe not, because Richmond is so obviously superior to the larger metro area to the east -- you know, the one with a better airport, a better newspaper, better restaurants . . . and beaches.
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