Who is this guy and what has he done with Doug Wilder?
In a matter of just a few days, Mayor Doug Wilder has made moves toward ... toward ... hold on while I smack myself in the back of the head to get the word out ... compromise with two groups he seemed downright unbudgeable with last week: The Virginia Performing Arts Foundation and the Richmond School Board. ("Unbudgeable"? I'm a writer. If I say it's a word, it's a word.) In the first move, Wilder proposed a commission — including Jim Ukrop, president of the foundation (and lately the Obi Wan Kenobi to Wilder's Darth Vader. Or is it the other way around? That's a matter for another post.) — to study the arts-center situation and perhaps move beyond stalemate to a workable solution for everyone. Imagine that! In the second move, Wilder, who just days ago was throwing the School Board out on its butt like Felix Unger with the clothes flying and the door slamming all of sudden decides he won't kick the Board out of their City Hall offices by Jan. 1, as he insisted he would last week. Now he's given the Board time to find money in its budget for new headquarters and has given it until July 1 to move.
Doug, what gives? We elected you because you're so darn ... what's the word again? Oh yeah, unbudgeable.*
*The spellchecker didn't like unbudgeable either. It suggested "ombudsperson."
posted by Janet Freisner @ 11/15/2005 04:53:00 PM
1 Comments:
Janet,
The School Board has no money. Wilder and Goldman slashed the School Board Capital Improvements budget from $7 million to $2 million, which resulted in a federal lawsuit brought by parents and students with disabilities who think that the city has had 15 years to come into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Only four out of 61 RPS buildings are ADA accessible and now the Mayor wants the school board to spend what little money it has for capital improvements to move out of City Hall so he can have the 17th floor of City Hall.
This oughta be a no brainer for folks. Wilder's Whims should not have priority over this fundamental Civil Rights law that requires public buildings to be accessible to people in wheelchairs and with other gait impairments.
Doug is still Doug and wants it all his way. The performing arts people are trying to "work" with him because they know what a mean and nasty person he can be.
Doug and Paul Goldman are a whole lotta show and no go. Now, they're talking about how Wall Street will loan them $200 million dollars but they are unwilling to put anything IN WRITING. These guys need to GET REAL and figure out that they might be able to bully the people in Richmond, but their act is not ghoing to get them where they want to be on Wall Street.
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