"For Lease" - The Richmond Admissions Tax

Richmond's City Council has become an obstacle to Richmond's development.

Growing the entertainment sector is the way to move Richmond forward

Richmond's blighted "Arts District"

Has anyone out there seen any of the Final Destination movies? It is a common theme of mythology that the gods will punish mortals who attempt to avoid their destiny. In each of the Final Destination movies a group of people survive a disaster, only to have death stalk them afterwards.

It is Richmond's destiny to become a regional entertainment center, and if we refuse to become a regional entertainment center then we are going to be cursed with large areas of urban blight, and empty storefronts, unemployment, and poverty. Let's be completely unabashed about the fact that we want to entertain visitors in exchange for some of their money. Think Las Vegas without the gambling. Think New Orleans, but with a more diverse musical scene and a stronger visual arts community. Think of jobs in the entertainment and hospitality sector. Think of the boost in revenue from the sales, meals, and hotel taxes paid be people who don't even live in Richmond.

Consider Central Virginia and the Richmond Metropolitan Area—this region has a population of about 1,200,000 million people. Of that total, just over 200,000 actually live within the city limits of Richmond, Virginia. The 1,000,000 people in the Richmond region that don't actually live in Richmond represent a pool of potential customers for Richmond businesses that Richmond does not otherwise have to support. Richmond contains the vast majority of the region's entertainment infrastructure. Think about it: Centerstage, the Landmark Theater, the Coliseum, the Convention Center, Dogwood Dell, the Richmond Symphony, the Richmond Ballet, the Diamond, Brown's Island, the James River Park system, and hundreds of restaurants and other entertainment venues. The list goes on and on. There are only a handful of theaters in the Richmond region that are outside Richmond's city limits. Richmond is already a significant entertainment center, but we can do much, much more.

Broad Street closes at sunset

So what is holding us back? If Richmond's leadership wonders why there are so many empty storefronts on Broad Street they need look no further than the admissions tax. If Richmond repealed its admissions tax, this city then could rapidly develop a local music scene that would rival Austin, Memphis, Nashville, or Seattle. In fact, we have many advantages over these other cities, because we have a visual arts community—come to Richmond to hear some music and buy some art to take home with you. It's not beyond imagining that Richmond could become a city started studded with live music venues, art galleries, an upscale dining.

But Richmond's punitive admissions tax stifles this vision—it punishes any arts entrepreneur who decides to take the risk of sponsoring or staging ticketed entertainment in Richmond. Richmond's admissions tax is a gross receipts tax, which means that it comes off the top of the businesses revenue at the door and it is paid out of the businesses proceeds. The admissions tax is not a sales tax paid by customers, nor is it a tax on net income after the business has deducted its costs and expenses. The admissions tax is imposed whether not the business makes a profit. It can turn narrow profit margin like say 5% into a 2% loss. It can turn a loss into an even bigger loss, adding insult to injury.

The ground floor of the renovated Miller & Rhoads building remains empty years after completion.

The admissions tax actually costs Richmond more revenue than it brings in because it discourages the formation of an entertainment sector in Richmond that would generate significantly more revenue than Richmond would lose if it eliminated the admissions tax. I'll write more about the negative impact of the admissions tax tomorrow.

Federal judge blocks Florida's third party voter registration law

Republicans bent on voter suppression in Florida have suffered a big setback.

Florida Voter Registration

Scott Bass' "The Perfect Mayor" is far from "visionary"

Back on April 24, 2012, Style Weekly's news editor Scott Bass published an opinion piece masquerading as a cover story entitled "The Perfect Mayor." Bass has been very critical of Mayor Dwight Jones, but has sometimes been short on detailed alternatives. In "The Perfect Mayor," Bass laid out his own agenda for a "true visionary" that would "move the city forward" and be the "perfect mayor." Bass makes four suggestions, three of which relate to a single idea: regional government.

1. Expanding GRTC bus service to the counties (regional government)

Bass wants to expand GRTC bus lines, but as anyone who has written existing system buses knows they are mostly empty during the day. As for extending bus routes into the counties, are the counties willing to cooperate? Will they fund the expansion of GRTC? Will they pay for signage and the new bus stops? The counties already have Park and Ride facilities. I haven't seen anything that suggests that they want to expand these services.

2. Handing key city properties over to developers

Bass would have the city turn over key city properties for mixed income housing and big-box retailers. Bass thinks that the site of City Stadium would be ideal for big-box retailers, even though such development would be out of character with nearby Windsor Farms and would kill the unique marketplace that exists in nearby Carytown.

The city should ensure that any new projects are made up of more-, not less expensive housing. What the city needs to do is draw the upper-middle-class back to the city. Henrico County has built the West End off the tax base provided by the inhabitants of Glen Allen's "McMansions." Richmond needs to maintain and build its tax base; it doesn't need additional places to warehouse and further concentrate poverty.

The former GRTC bus barn on the edge of the Fan should be developed as a mixed-use development with retail on the ground floor and four or five floors of high-end apartments or condos. Dallas, Texas' West Village could serve as a model for this kind of development. It would bring additional small retail to the Fan and additional middle-class housing without overpowering the Fan.

City stadium should be renovated or rebuilt as a stadium for Virginia Commonwealth University to have a football team and track events. Any leftover acreage at that site should be devoted to high-end apartments and condo developments consistent with that neighborhood.

Bass talks about the Boulevard, but misses the larger picture there. Boulevard runs between Scott's Addition on one side and the Three Corners district on the other side. The old FFV bakery building and the area behind the Science Museum of Virginia, the DMV, and the C.F. Sauers' extract plant has ample room for development. This area—known locally as Three Corners—is bisected by W. Leigh Street and bounded by Hermitage Road on the east, N. Boulevard to the west, and Broad Street on the south. There is ample private land available for development in these areas, and no need for the city to turn city property to developers.

3. Busing city children to better county schools (regional government)

In "The Perfect Mayor" Bass proposed busing Richmond schoolchildren to Henrico and Chesterfield counties. The proposal is, in short, just plain silly. The counties are not going to solve Richmond's problems for us. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled long ago that busing across municipal boundaries is not required by the Constitution as a remedy for segregation. Richmond has nothing to offer the counties that would induce them to take on the burden of educating a portion of Richmond's children while busing a portion of their children to Richmond's inferior schools. It's just a dumb idea that will never go anywhere.

Right now, middle class families in Richmond move to the counties when their children reach school age or, if they can afford it, send them to private school. The solution is to build better schools and staff them with better teachers so that people begin clamoring to move to Richmond because our schools are so great.

4. Regional Government (regional government)

Scott Bass fantasizes about a regional government that will never be. He wants to combine the City of Richmond with Chesterfield County and Henrico County; something that is unlikely to happen in our lifetime. Bass seems to think things would be ever so much better if we just handed everything over to the counties and let the counties rescue us from ourselves. Bass considers that "visionary."

I'll lay out my vision for Richmond's future tomorrow morning and talk about what holds us back.

Republican staffer calls for acid attacks against Democratic female Senators

Meet Jay Townsend, American Taliban.

More evidence of the sickness consuming the Republican Party as it lurches farther and farther to the right:

Jay Townsend, a campaign spokesman for Republican Rep. Nan Hayworth (NY-19), weighed in on a local Facebook discussion with a violent comment about Democratic women in Congress, and his suggestion is now earning the congresswoman condemnation from one of her Democratic challengers.

The Facebook page, called NY19 U.S. House of Representatives Discussion Center, encourages “civil multi-partisan discussion about issues impacting citizens of New York’s U.S. House District represented by Republican Congresswoman Nan Hayworth.” On it, a question about gas prices was also critical of Hayworth. Townsend responded to one commenter, Tom, by bringing up the “war on women” and suggested they “hurl some acid at those female democratic Senators.”

Read the rest at Talking Points Memo.

This is out of the mouth of a paid campaign staffer--a spokesman no less!

Setback for Wilder could open opportunity for Richmond

The Richmond Times-Dispatch carries this news this morning:

The city of Fredericksburg opposes a plan to resurrect a national slavery museum envisioned by former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, calling the plan to dig out from $7 million in debt unrealistic.

The city is the first of the museum's creditors to cast its vote on a bankruptcy reorganization plan, which relies on donations to generate about $900,000 in its first year after it emerges from Chapter 11 protection and $1.3 million in the second year.

Fredericksburg is owed more than $250,000 in taxes for land where the U.S. National Slavery Museum was to rise. It said in a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court that the proposed plan "does not appear to be feasible or realistic."

The rationale for a National Slavery Museum in Fredericksburg was always thin.

Wilder's failure to come up with a workable plan could open the door to a Richmond based U.S. National Slave Museum. Richmond has the Lumpkin's Slave Jail site to work with and historically was a large slave market. There are a large number of slavery heritage sites throughout the city that would allow to create a mostly outdoor "walking" museum with only a modest brick and mortar establishment. Indeed, with Main Street Station slated to be overhauled soon and immediately adjacent, it may be unnecessary to do any new construction. A renovated Main Street Station will need tenants and could easily accommodate a new U.S. National Slave Museum. A slavery museum in Main Street Station's train shed would provide that area a much needed anchor development in an area that needs culturally and historically sensitive development.

This confluence of events could create a big opportunity for Richmond.

Memorial Day at Rockett's Landing

Replicas of the Nina and Pinta docked at Rockett's Landing.

Rockett's Landing has arrived as a major venue for Richmonders favorite form of entertainment: the outdoor festival. Rockett's Landing is a historic district of Richmond, Virginia consisting of a mixture of old, converted warehouses and newly constructed condo towers along the banks of the James River in Richmond's east end. It is also the home of to notable Richmond restaurants: the Boathouse and Conch Republic.

The beach volleyball court was turned into a beach party.

On Sunday, May 27, 2012, the management of Rockett's Landing transformed the development's beach volleyball courts into the setting for a beach party, complete with sand, blankets, picnic baskets and live entertainment onstage. Better still, the beer truck offered three different microbrews from local breweries. I enjoyed the Legend Brown ale and the Starr Hill IPA. The evening was capped off by a 15 minute long fireworks display over the James River.

The Kings of Swing got the crowd up and dancing.

Richmonders love their giant outdoor parties, and Rockett's Landing has shown that it knows how to throw one. I look forward to attending more events at this venue.

The Kings of Swing in action.

The Boathouse at Rockett's Landing.

Fireworks with Richmond's skyline in the background.

The Shockoe Bottom Jazz Festival

The 17th Street Farmers Market 

I caught the tail-end of the very first Shockoe Bottom Jazz Festival today. Jazz, R&B, beer, food trucks, and a perfect sunny day. Hopefully they will make this an annual event.

The Big Payback performs at the Shockoe Bottom Jazz Festival.

17th Street in historic Shockoe Bottom, in Richmond, Virginia.