There is a special meeting of the City’s Land Use Committee today.

Wed, April 9, 4:00pm – 5:30pm
Description
The Land Use, Housing and Transportation Standing Committee will conduct a special meeting to consider bids received regarding Ord. No. 2014-10.

NOTE: No public hearing will be held at this meeting as it was held at the 3/24/14 Richmond City Council meeting that was held at 6:00 p.m.

Bob Powell’s Richmond Examiner outlines some of the issues in the controversy. Here is an excerpt from his article:

It also goes to a fundamental question of society. To what extent should a private company be allowed to run a public trust ?

Advocates for the Homeless say the Charter Park concept is just a way to remove the Homeless from the park. Monroe Park is home to several feeding programs run by churches and the secular activist Food Not Bombs.

Activists and civil libertarians feel that a Charter Park will usurp the legal rights of dissident groups who often use the park for rallies,demonstrations and marches.

The right of center Richmond Times Dispatch editorial page has opined that the Charter Park machinations by the Mayor lacked transparency.

There is one bit of agreement among all parties . Monroe Park needs repairs and upgrades to its infrastructure. Maintence people complain that pipes and other lines underneath the ground are a nightmare in need of modernization. Trees need to be trimmed, grass grown, old greenery put out. New tech toys like WiFi need to be introduced.

In 2010, plans were introduced to shut down the park for repairs. A fence was to be built around the park to keep people out. Homeless advocates , in March of 2011, moved into the park as a protest against shutting down homeless feeding programs. The occupation ended with 9 arrests.

In October of 2011, Occupy Richmond was thwarted by the police from taking over Monroe Park.

From 2011 until December of 2013, a period of two years, there was no money in the City coffers to afford a $6 million do over for the newly created Charter Park. The fence nor the improvements happened.Suddenly, the Mayor comes up with $3million while Alice Massie promises $3million in nine months from corporate donors.

The Monroe Park fight is not the first in a series of fights over public spaces in Richmond. The Washington Redskins, second richest pro football team, was handed a sweetheart deal for public land space last summer. There is a controversy over development in Shockoe Bottom over a minor league baseball system.

The Charter Park controversy is not new to Richmond. Municipalities all over the country have wrestled with the private corporate influnce over open space.