It seems to me that a bit of a substantial shift is happening in the ongoing (and going and going) debate about the future of baseball -- in Richmond, generally, and in Shockoe Bottom specifically.
Part of the shift happened over time as a series of public discussions organized by the developer of a proposed $360 million-plus mixed use reinvention of the Bottom were more divisive than decisive -- most in attendance at the sessions appeared more captivated by the details in Highwood's balance sheets and financial calculations than in the vision the developer and local baseball afficianado Brian Bostic were pitching.
When financial statements tank a compelling vision, it's probably a good time to find a relief pitcher.
With public opinion increasingly fractured, this week's press conference in which Mayor Dwight Jones discussed the results of a $100,000 financial study of the proposed development and accompanying ball park was not what Highwoods wanted. Jones changed the game with a very simple change-up -- figure out how the proposal should factor in a GRTC bus transfer station, a future high-speed rail connection, and the deep African-American historical roots of the area.
Not what Highwoods wanted. But maybe exactly what they needed.
There are three ways Highwoods can proceed with their multi-million play. Two paths are sure-fire ways to lose everything.
They can call the game due to inclement weather -- the collision of two fronts, an economic low pressure system and increasingly high pressure of public dissatisfaction. Highwoods walks. The Bottom continues to increment its way forward. Hello, status quo.
They can keep on slogging through the game, relying on an inning-by-inning strategy developed long before the game got interesting. It's always fascinating to watch a team run the same play, again and again, even as the entire game has transformed around them. Fascinating in that sick, car crash sort of way. Recent articles in the Times-Dispatch about parking challenges and prospective teams waffling -- along with Style Weekly's consistently solid reporting on the numbers -- are an example of the water torture that will ultimately ensure the plan falls apart.
Shared Air's Mark Brady alludes to the third way, the way opened up this week by Jones:
This thing is on life supoport unless Highwoods and GRTC, the two organized projects many oppose, get their acts together and find a way to integrate their missions/goals and offer one hellacious destination that brings along, in a meaningful clearly explored way, the other two pieces of unfocused heritage projects people like — historic green market, Lumpkins 1/2 acre — into the mix. When it comes to Shockoe and it’s potential, maybe some folks are suddenly realizing they hang together or they hang separately. Maybe.
The real opportunity -- the bold, visionary one that Richmond will most likely resist -- is to bring all the players into a new conversation. Using Highwoods' proposal as a starting point, organize an aggressive, hands-on charrette that includes the developers, the ball team investors, GRTC, Virginians for High-Speed Rail, representatives from Shockoe Bottom and adjoining neighborhoods, the Capital Trail folks, champions of the Slave Trail, the city's community development division, the Sierra Club, the James River Park system, property owners and more.
Transform the conversation from one about baseball into one about transforming the former heart of the city back into a healthy, vibrant organ -- one that is green, sustainable and energetic. One that connects the people of the region with transportation, history and soul. A place with a ball park, perhaps, but certainly a place that transcends America's pasttime by creating a space that represents the best of America's values -- built on community, connection, conversation and commerce.
