Buttermilk & Molasses: The Crupi Report: Change Is Coming a-callin'

I don't write many must-read posts. Here's my exception.

When consultant Jim Crupi steps up to the mike tomorrow afternoon, all ears will be attuned to his observations of what a subset of Richmond's movers and shakers perceive about the state of the Richmond region. I think there's a different way to listen to Crupi.

There will be three audiences for Round Two of the Crupi Report (Round One took place in 1992 when Crupi delivered his first controversial assessment of the region) -- the perception of the power class, the experiences of the region's underclass, and the actions of the area's creative class. You don't have to read Crupi's 1992 report to know that those three audiences don't take hang in the same room in the Richmond region very often.

Which very well could be the root of our region's problems.

Take this snippet from the original report (available in full at Save Richmond):Things have been accomplished, but by a limited number of people. As one Richmond business leader put it: “Those with the resources (Fortune 500), lack the will to lead. Those with the will to lead, lack the resources”. The result is a group of leaders who point the finger at each other for a lack of leadership. “Second tier” players are trying to get “first tier” players involved. (Crupi, 1992)

And that's exactly where Richmond remains, though I have little doubt that Crupi will observe at least a bit of progress when he reports out tomorrow.

The First Conversation
The region's power class -- corporate leaders, well-vested politicians and heads of Richmond's larger educational and cultural organizations -- have one experience of the past 15 years. It has been -- by and large -- a very good experience, which shouldn't be a surprise since the past 15 years have been an economic boom for many in the region. The economic environment has been very good for the region's big players, and their initiatives.

VCU's biotech and engineering initiatives -- mere gleams in the averted eyes of the university's president, Eugene Trani, when he arrived in Richmond just before Crupi's first report -- have been accompanied by a reshuffling of the Medical College of Virginia and a student housing boom along West Broad Street and into the Carver community. The once-pioneering idea of converting old warehouses into new condominiums has overtaken almost every peripheral edge of downtown -- from Jackson Ward to Manchester to Shockoe Bottom. The Virginia Museum is turning the corner on its largest expansion in history. And let's not forget the faceless gargantuan known as the Richmond Convention Center, the contentious Performing Arts Center (less well-known by its creative new moniker, CenterStage), or the gleaming research center built by Philip Morris.

Housing prices and property values have soared. Wages at the top of Richmond's businesses have followed suit. The market has been good to the area's corporations, and they've been good to their larger non-profit partners.

But if Crupi looks beneath the veneer of the region's power class -- and reminds himself that old money can't help but have made some new money in the years since he first visited town -- he would do well to ask how much regional leadership this class of movers-and-shakers has exhibited, and how much things have remained the same:

People tend to center on their own area of interest. Individual “pet” projects substitute for coordinated action. Change is seen as an evolutionary process that stands on individual efforts, not cooperative schemes. Hardworking, generous, and well intentioned individuals and corporations are working at the fringes but have not locked on a clearly defined community vision. The community resembles a bicycle wheel turned on its side - a continuous cash circle where people contribute to each other’s individual projects. The wheel,however, is not on the road and heading in any direction. (Crupi, 1992)

I can't help but think back to a meeting held by urban planning consultants Dover and Kohl as part of their work on a new Downtown Plan for Richmond. About a dozen representatives of many of Richmond's major cultural institutions sat around a table. That moment in time speaks volumes about what might have been missing during the 15 years the bicycle wheel we call Richmond has continued to turn:

You have to look hard to find good leadership in Richmond these days.

In a meeting with representatives of Richmond’s cultural institutions, Dover asked how often the groups got together to talk about the future. You could hear a Van Gogh drop.

The next time you have coffee with Mayor Wilder, ask him why it was appropriate for his relationship with City Council to be “characterized as that of mutual dispute and disdain” (his words) for almost three years. Or ask your councilperson – they own half of that relationship.

Or, ask the 26 business leaders who wrote the letter about Richmond schools that sparked a debate about the School Board, and backed away with claims that they were just trying to start a conversation, what sort of conversation they really wanted. How committed are they, really, to changing the way our schools operate?

Richmond's power class has evolved, even changed, since Crupi last visited. New faces, new initiatives, new partnerships. The degree to which that change has been a result of a booming economy versus a new set of values or an evolved perspective on leading change in the community should be apparent in Crupi's latest report.

The Second Conversation
If you are poor -- especially if you are poor and black -- tomorrow's presentation from Jim Crupi might sound like Greek. You'll recognize some of the issues that Crupi might touch upon -- poverty; economic racism; public transportation,; affordable housing; crime; educational chasms at the secondary, university and basic workforce levels. You'll also be able to nod appreciatively if Crupi examines the progress made in the region since his 1992 visit -- not only has progress been slow or non-existent within the City of Richmond in many of these areas, but the problems have expanded to touch the counties of Henrico and Chesterfield, as well.

The conversation you'd want to hear -- if you found yourself mentally checking the box by your name as the above list of challenges was listed -- would be one where Crupi wondered why the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce and the Richmond Times-Dispatch keep raising these issues and challenges (in educational sessions like Vision 20|10 and the Greater Richmond Challenge, or in Public Square discussions) and the region's power class often defers to act collaboratively.

If the second conversation -- the one where the Richmond community was actively listening to its most disenfranchised citizens, that is to say our neighbors -- were taking place, it might look something like the resolution being proffered by Richmond City Council's Bruce Tyler or the work of the Better Housing Coalition.

Which begs the question -- how much time did Crupi spend with some of the real change agents in Richmond, such as the BHC's TK Somanath, or Martha Rollins and the staff at Boaz and Ruth, or Kelly King Horne and the team at Homeward? All three of these organizations are examples of community initiatives that leverage the best hearts, the best minds and the best finances of our region to address real issues confronting our community.

Perhaps one of the most important challenges Crupi could issue tomorrow would be for Richmond's power class to continue to lift their gaze from their own navels -- and to turn more of their energy toward changing the heart of the region.

The Third Conversation
If the attention of the 1992 Crupi Report was largely focused on the power class and the consequences fell squarely in the laps of those residents least involved in the discussion, there is a third group that hasn't been waiting for Jim Crupi to tell them to create change.

Whether you call them part of Richmond's creative class, or think of them as a bunch of bored kids or view them through the more appropriate lens of people who don't wait to throw down hard cash to consultants before they start chasing their dreams. It would be easy to create a laundry list of individuals and organizations actively recreating the Richmond region as it would be to assume they are all urban hipsters; the reality is quite different.

Just ask the residents of the region who have participated in cultural events or taken classes at the Cultural Arts Center of Glen Allen, or the tens of thousands of people who have benefited from the convergence of Plant Zero, Artspace and several dozen local artisans in the Manchester district. At opposite ends of the region, old spaces have found a new life feeding Richmond's creative soul. But it isn't just spaces that provide evidence of a city on the move (despite itself, it often seems). It's individuals.

Want proof? Flip to Style Weekly's 2007 The Arts 25 list or any year of its Top 40 Under 40 list for snapshots of locals turning their corner of this town upside down, or slightly a' kilter. (Disclaimer of sorts: Style threw me on its 40 Under 40 list this year.) Or look to the dozen-plus individuals providing alternative, community-focused news and information through the series of neighborhood weblogs aggregated at RVANews. (Disclaimer of another sort: I run North Richmond News with my wife.)

Or check out the nutcases at Inkwell -- the folks who turned Carytown into the place to be for New Year's Eve in Richmond and who helped turn Gallery 5 into a funhouse in October. Maybe the grassroots success of First Fridays on (and off) Broad Street will help convince you. Really, the list is sort of impossible to crop creating -- a bit like the people creating in Richmond themselves.

The Point
Tomorrow at 4:00, hundreds of people will flock into VCU's Seigel Center to hear Jim Crupi say something. Some will be there hoping that Crupi will eviscerate the white power structure. Others will be listening for more language that suggests that Crupi and the people who hired him are racists. Some will be wondering if Crupi is going to take their legs out from under them, and others will be wondering if Crupi will sing their praises.

Which is sort of the sad irony of the relationship between the Richmond region and consultant Jim Crupi. "Richmond has taken its cue for change primarily from outside forces," Crupi reported (from the outside) in 1992. Guess what hasn't changed? (If you're having a hard time guessing, please note that Richmond will be waiting tomorrow for Jim Crupi to give it direction.)

To paraphrase (rather stupidly) Mark Antony, I don't post here to bury or to praise the Richmond region. No, my hope is that more people will head to the Seigel Center tomorrow with the curiosity to question Crupi's findings, the open mindedness to accept some of his more challenging observations, and the confidence to discover, support and champion Richmond's existing success stories (see the second and third conversations, above, for a few examples).

If Richmond is at its best tomorrow, there will be some awesome conversations taking place during and after Crupi's presentation. If Richmond is at its worst, blind eyes and closed ears will rule the day.

Stop on by the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce's Vision 20|10 event tomorrow and hear for yourself. Or speak for yourself. There's really no sense in letting Crupi speak for us.

You can register online at the Chamber's website, or show up at 3:30 to register in person:

DATE: November 19, 2007
TIME: 4:00 - 5:30 p.m.
LOCATION: VCU-Siegel Center, 1200 W. Broad Street > directions
Complimentary parking available at VCU-Siegel Center Parking Deck at the corner of Broad & Harrison streets.