Buttermilk & Molasses

Leaders Create Conversations, Not Solutions

With a new baby in the house, it makes a lot of sense that I would start reading Peter Block's new book, Community: The Structure of Belonging -- I'm managing to get through about three paragraphs before collapsing into a brief bout of sleep. The more time I spend pondering Block's work as it relates to civic engagement and community building, the more convinced I am that his main premises -- that the conversation is the change; that the questions are more important than the answers; that the role of leaders is to convene, to listen and to give voice to others -- are spot on.

And as various organizations and individuals in the Richmond region continue to grapple with the appropriate way to lead change, I can't help but go back to a recent interview I read with Block:

Well first of all, we pay too much attention to leaders and CEO’s so I would not worry so much about changing their minds. I would just leave them alone because they’re very busy. Plus if you want to create an alternative future, leaders are not in a good position to do this. They are often helpless to really bring about change. Everybody thinks that leaders are essential and the way we construct leadership is too small a version of what they are; the leader’s main job is as a convener of new conversations and to bring peers together, it’s not to be role models. It’s not to be the answer...

... community is created by citizens through the conversations they have with each other and the conversation of what we want to create together is the heart of creating a future distinct from the past. And all we have to do to create the future is to change the nature of our conversations and go from blame to ownership, and from bargaining to commitment, and from problem solving to possibility.

Block's new book should be a must read for everyone involved in trying to recreate the Richmond region.

Trask at Schindler

You have four more days to swing by the Eric Schindler Gallery in Church Hill to see an excellent new collection of work by Richmond artist/muralist Ed Trask. "Flowers & Bones" closes on May 13.

The Downtown Plan: One More Hearing

What might be the final hearing before the Planning Commission for Richmond's proposed Downtown Plan is slated to take place during the woefully inconvenient afternoon hours of Monday, May 19. If all goes well, the revised document will get a cheerful stamp of approval from the Planning Commission and head to Richmond's City Council for a more aggressive game of political football.

The draft plan -- created during the latter part of 2007 with a great deal of community involvement -- has been moving through a series of discussions and hearings since it landed on the desks of the appointed members of the city's Planning Commission in January. To its credit, the commission held another series of public discussions on the plan in January and February, which allowed another swath of stakeholders from the community to weigh in on the proposed plan.

A public hearing on the plan will be held in front of the City Planning Commission on Monday, May 19, 2008 at 1:30pm in the conference room on the 5th floor of City Hall. The City Planning Commission will consider adoption of the plan and recommendation for approval to City Council.

The public is encouraged to attend the meeting to share thoughts on the plan with the City Planning Commission.

For more information contact Brooke Hardin City of Richmond at (804) 646-6310 or Brooke.Hardin@RichmondGov.com.

The Planning Commission requested a number of changes to the plan. The changes are available for review by the public in text-only PDF documents with changes highlighted in red.

Citizen Journalism Is So Hot, It Beats Traditional Journalism to the Punch

Back in April, a number of local webloggers pointed the web savvy community to a report issued by the Project for Excellence in Journalism that tapped Richmond at the top of 15 large, medium and small cities for the number of and quality of news and community focused weblogs. (The Fan District Hub has the original source email.)

Richmond.com just tackled the subject in a bit of a content lite piece (part one of two) on the matter, though to call the folks behind community weblogs "citizen journalists" feels like a stretch to me. A force for good, yes. Powerful beyond the ken of any man, certainly. But not journalists.

Still, the points stands -- Richmond has got far more community weblog activity than your average bear.

The Nominee

After weeks of hammering Barack Obama for failing to "close the deal," Hillary Clinton has been unable to close it herself. Not only was she hammered in North Carolina, as expected, but Clinton barely pulled out a narrow win in Indiana -- one of the blue-collar states she was expected to win handily.

I think the deal has been closed. The only question is whether Clinton will throw her support behind Barack Obama for President this week and regain some credibility and influence, or wait until the convention and put the final nail in her political career.

The Downtown Plan: The River Issue Goes Regional

If you're looking for an issue worth tackling at a regional level, look no further than the James River. While that was not exclusively the focus of last night's Public Square discussion at the Times-Dispatch last night, it was a critical slice of the conversation -- a conversation that drew about 200 people, according to the TD:

The river may suffer as much from influences beyond the city's borders as from the lack of a local vision, speakers said.

"It is our inability to keep our heads above water" in the face of population growth, agricultural runoff and more "impervious surfaces," said another panelist, L. Preston Bryant, the state's secretary of natural resources.

With an increased focus on the James, speakers said, it is a key time in the river's rich history.

While the TD forum was not officially focused on Richmond's proposed Downtown Plan, the James River is at the heart of the ambitious plan to revitalize Richmond's urban core along both sides of the river. Last night's public event should serve as additional proof that the public has a healthy interest in being engaged in meaningful discussions about the future of the city.

Though the regional issue was touched upon last night, the real emphasis last night was a continuation of the ongoing debate between developers and preservationists:

Some speakers emphasized preserving the riverfront and its natural areas over commercial development. Others saw the James as a recreational, entertainment and scenic attraction and noted that it will require a public and private partnership to make the most of that potential.

"If we do it right, this could be the thing that brings people in from Short Pump," said Richmond resident Katherine Godin. "This could be the thing that gets people to turn off I-95," bringing money into the city and helping to reduce poverty.

"My vision is that you all work together to make this happen," Godin told the experts.

The discussion focused on the importance of the river as a historic centerpiece of Richmond -- "a flowing Central Park," said panelist Rachel Flynn, the city's director of economic development -- but a landmark whose reach encompasses about one-third of the state's population.

In the coming weeks, the Downtown Plan proposal will move from Richmond's Planning Commission into the hands of Richmond's City Council. The competing visions for the James River will move right along with it.

Look for several things to happen as a result:

• A slim majority of Council will push passionately to keep Richmond out of the business of promoting an engaging vision for the James River, and argue that private developers should be trusted to act as responsible stewards of the river and the downtown environment.
• The new Envision Richmond advocacy group -- along with one or two Council members -- will push a slightly different agenda, one that encourages the city to have a firm hand in shepherding a strong vision for the James River in partnership with private developers and community organizations.

Word is that a wildly ambitious private proposal is heading to the table -- one that would give private developers free reign to shape, build and profit from a massive riverfront project that would include the proposed public marina. From the little I've heard, the public should look at this proposal as nothing more than a 6th Street Marketplace or a Performing Arts Center, which is to say a plausible idea wrapped in far more public money than it's worth.

Retooling the News

After razzing the Times-Dispatch last month for their first -- and pretty hideous -- attempt at redesigning the front page for the consumer on-the-go, I almost hesitate to take another crack at their content reformatting efforts slated to launch next week. Adding to the hesitation is the fact that sometimes I actually like to see what I'm critiquing, and that a TD staffer called me an "old fuddy duddy" after my last reactionary shot.

Others are also waiting to see what next week brings. Mariane Matera mostly wonders what a "wrap" is, because the revamped TD is going all kinds of Chipotle on Richmond -- with wraps for every occasion. One of her readers provided what might be the best description I've seen for the penny cheap, pound foolish ways to deal with slender, specialized content:

A wrap is one of those freaking annoying one-page things, usually a special ad or something inconsequential that "wraps" around a full section. It's one freaking sheet of newsprint. No opening, no unfolding, no nothing. It's a format that you usually throw away before looking at it.

Amen. Ask me how many times I've read the TD's book section since it was removed from the Commentary section and inserted into Flair as a wrap. The answer would be less than one.

The 804.com puts one of the real issues on the table:

Yeah, they’re definitely in a “maximize revenue/decrease expense” mindset.  They are thinking more like a business and less like a newspaper (that will be the Harbinger legacy), patterning the overall trend in the industry.  For better or for worse.

I say one of the real issues, because the other -- incredibly real -- issue is that newspaper everywhere are struggling to survive, and to figure out what combination of reporting and news and information; design and packaging and reformatting; technology; staffing and revenue streams are going to turn the newsprint ship around. And while it is easy to criticize the TD (believe me, I've done it enough) for what it has and hasn't been over the years, and for what appear from the perspective of some readers as desperate attempts to salvage a sinking ship (it's not quite that bad, folks), it might be worth applauding the paper occasionally for its efforts to reestablish itself as a viable source of news and perspective in the Richmond region.

Next week, a sort-of new TD will land on your doorstep or your desk. It will mostly read different, and familiar anchors will be missing or moved -- sections eliminated or consolidated; the aforementioned wraps hiding the Sports. But even without seeing it, one change that really pisses me off involves the weather:

Readers have told us they have little interest in the listings of world cities, an "area skies" section and a section on heating-degree days, so we have taken them out to provide a clearer map that is easier to use.

That damned world cities listing was manna to me as a kid, dreaming about all of the places around the globe that I wanted to explore when I grew up. Silvestri, stop stealing my dreams!

Next week: A day-by-day critique of the Times-Dispatch's new format and structure.

Learn Locally, Eat Sustainably

One of the biggest challenges facing individuals looking to follow a more local and sustainable diet is getting good information. Goochland's Center for Rural Culture (the folks behind the Goochland Farmer's Market) is working to eliminate that barrier -- by inviting the public to learn more about the value of local, sustainably produced, organic food.

On Monday, May 12, from 11:00 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. the Center will show the Sierra Club's 15-minute video "The True Cost of Food". A moderated discussion will follow -- and local vendors will attend the event and participate in the discussion, as will Marilyn Trownsell, president of the Richmond District of the Virginia Dietetic Association.

Fresh, local, seasonal foods will be provided courtesy of local Goochland Farmers Market vendors -- fresh spring vegetables and salad greens from Old Woman Farm; pastured chicken & fresh pork sausages from Ault's Family Farm; and goat cheese provided by Goats R Us. Each attendee will also received $5 coupons redeemable at the Goochland Farmer's Market.

The workshop will take place in the Parish House of Grace Church, 2955 River Road West, Goochland, VA  23093, where the Goochland Farmers Market is held. Pre-registration is encouraged, but not required.  Call the Center for Caring to register at 804-457-3201.

The Downtown Plan: A Coalition Emerges

Almost a year since the first public conversations began to circulate around a new Downtown Plan for Richmond and just weeks before the draft plan should be migrating through city bureaucracy to City Council, a new advocacy group has emerged to make a case for a Downtown Master Plan that is transformational.

Envision Richmond is an alliance between the Partnership for Smarter Growth, Scenic Virginia, ACORN and the Coalition for Smarter Growth. They'll be throwing their first public event tomorrow night -- an Envision Richmond rally to support the proposed Downtown Plan. The educational and inspirational event starts on the patio at Penny Lane Pub (422 East Franklin Street) at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, May 5, and continues at the Times-Dispatch's Public Square conversation on the James River at 7:00 p.m. (happening just across the street in the TD building).

The timing couldn't be better.

For much of the past year, the creation and refinement of the new Downtown Plan has been a exercise in public engagement and conversation. As awkwardly as it began last summer, the conversation may well be one of the more public, more energetic and more creative processes ever experienced by residents of the city -- inviting thousands of people into a new conversation about the future.

In recent months, as the draft has moved toward adoption, things have become more political. Hard questions about the future relationship between VCU and the City of Richmond -- and between the Commonwealth of Virginia and the City of Richmond -- have emerged. The tension between private developers and public access of the James River has been heightened.

Despite the natural move toward politics -- what is government policy, if not political, really? -- the 10 month journey of this plan has been surprisingly smooth. It helps that it is visionary. It helps that it has had champions at a grassroots level. It helps that it is the very sort of process that the Richmond region is beginning to realize is essential to public engagement.

 

Take some time to visit the Envision Richmond website and learn about ways that you can get more engaged in the creation of a vibrant future for the City of Richmond. And welcome them to the conversation. It's only going to get better and better.