“We hope that this would be a sign that the mayor is seeing the light here,” says Scott Price with Alliance for Progressive Values. Channel 8 News
Tonight Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones withdrew his official plan to construct a baseball stadium in the historic Shockoe Bottom district of the city. APV has lobbied constantly in opposition to what we feel is a vaguely explained, poorly thought out, potential white elephant that would sit on top of some of the most sensitive and important archeological sites in Virginia and in fact America, the site of a major slave market through which the ancestors of a significant portion of all current African Americans may have passed.
This weekend 5 of the 9 City Council members indicated that they would vote against the proposal which has been light on details and heavy on pressure. We want to thank the Council members who had the courage to ask hard questions and stand their ground when it would have been easier to give in. For the last half year the mayor has pushed hard for this plan that features noncompetitive contracts, ex-felon developers (guilty of bribing former members of this same City Council), suspect numbers and no articulated plan to address traffic, parking or other basic issues.
We worked hard to stop this proposal in its tracks and we can claim a real victory here, but the mayor has made it clear that he has no intention of backing down and aims to come back with the same ballpark venture once he has got his talking points in order. APV opposes the current plan and we will be here to closely scrutinize any new developments or suggestions. This is not over, but the large and vocal crowds and the many members and citizens that spoke out over the last 6 months had a strong effect on the outcome and we can be veryproud of our role. We say it a lot, but it is true, when people stand up, they win!
We have a long road ahead of us, but tonight we won.
Thank You All!
