Coliseum Vs. Schools: Time For A New Referendum

Well, this one has been bubbling for a while…but the Coliseum vs. Schools debate is about to rise to a new level. What? You say you don’t know what I am writing about? Click here for a quick refresher course.

Yesterday’s headlines made it pretty clear that Tom Farrell and VCU are going to play hard ball to make sure that their coliseum scheme comes first-

VCU Cancels University-wide Spring Commencement Ceremony

I was going to write a whole bit explaining this, but let’s allow Paul Goldman to do it:

Earth to RVA citizens: Why do think VCU is being denied use of the current Coliseum in May/2019 despite having used it for commencements since 1970’s? HINT: The Stoney/Farrell plan to use $500 million in PUBLIC RVA CITY money to build and finance a new Coliseum that will NOT be to owned by the city calls for demolishing the current Coliseum in March/2019! FACT: Farrell’s team is going around Richmond promising no-bid contracts to politically connected individuals if they will lobby the Council to ram thru this fiscally irresponsible Coliseum without giving RVA taxpayers a fair chance to weigh in. That’s why my citizen group is circulating the “Choose Children over Costly Coliseum” petition so you can sign it and put to Special Election vote as called for in the City Charter. Sign the petition! It’s your only way to truly be heard.

In other words, this is the ol’ fait accompli thing -“citizens can’t stop this new plan, it’s already been decided and in the works“…………. WRONG!

We can still make sure that the City of Richmond PUTS SCHOOLS FIRST! Before the coliseum. Before any other giant corporate welfare project.

What Goldman is referring to is his new City referendum effort to establish by law that the City has to put money from certain types of financing towards SCHOOLS FIRST. It will not be on the ballot this Election Day, but referendum supporters will be collecting signatures for a petition to get the new referendum on the ballot in 2019. It’s going to be interesting to see if a good coalition of grassroots can come together like the last time. Goldman is looking for more poll volunteers and donations for this new campaign.

And by the way, speaking of last time, that original PUT SCHOOLS FIRST referendum became law this year. Tick tock, Mayor Stoney, City Council, School Board. Citizens want to see a real school modernization plan come together before the end of the year- if the Education Compact can’t do it, then figure it on your own. Relying on increasing state funding only goes so far, when there is plenty of corporate welfare that should be cut anyway. Don’t be scared this Halloween, it’s time to lead and PUT SCHOOLS FIRST.

Education Compact Meeting Scheduled/Goldman’s Proposal

On Monday, July 30 at 6pm City Council, the School Board, and the Mayor are meeting for the Education Compact quarterly joint meeting at the Main Richmond Public Library (101 East Franklin Street).

It will be very interesting to see if there are substantial changes in direction and priority. From an earlier post:

One big question is if the Mayor and other leaders who ran and were elected on ‘Education’ platforms will continue to champion the Tom Farrell coliseum plan while ignoring the Put Schools First movement. No doubt, we will hear the same tired and false arguments about how Richmond needs to increase its tax base BEFORE modernizing schools. Don’t fall for them. Take note of what is being financed before school modernization, and who proposes what. Another question is what political candidates will eventually emerge to challenge the leaders who don’t want to put schools first.

Meanwhile, from former Chairperson of the Democratic Party of Virginia and local activist Paul Goldman, on school modernization financing:

Part (1): STATE LEVEL. Assuming the $250 million annual projection is accurate, it is being both principled and pragmatic to propose using $150 million of the $250 million to support the debt service on the first-ever state K-12 school bond issue. To repeat: These are not funds from a new tax but merely from taxes currently owed yet knowingly not paid. Thus both parties can support this approach without violating any platform promises. Part (2): LOCAL LEVEL. Since this is a first-ever proposal, it makes sense to ask localities – legally responsible for local school maintenance and modernization – to match $100 million from this historic state contribution. I have studied local financial resources. This is a very fair number to use with accomations for certain distressed localities. Part (3): Brown II Mandate: The fact Virginia refused or failed, depending on your point of view, to live up to the state’s responsibility under the long overlooked maintenance and modernization part of the decision doesn’t justify continuing to avoid responsibility 63 years later! Indeed, the opposite imperative is more to the point. In that regard, the state can afford to allocate $150 million annually to fix school facilities covered by that case but never properly addressed.
THE BOND ISSUE MATH:’
Part (1) can pay debt service for roughly a $ 3 billion dollar 30 year bond issue at current rates. Part (2) can pay debt service for roughly another $ 2 billion and Part (3) can pay debt service for roughly an additional $3 billion. Added together: $8 billion potential. The plan outline assumes the state will be backing everything and that certain laws will be amended accordingly. Thus a bipartisan consensus is possible to develop an historic state/local effort to address the “crumbling” school facility crisis distressing Governor Northam. I have conceived it as a pilot program, requiring state and localities to work together here. Should the Kaine-Evans legislation pass, the dramatic reduction in local school modernization costs for many projects would allow the bond issue contemplated here to be more far reaching.

The key point: All three parts are independent by design . Part 1 is the base of any state initiative. It can pass stand alone. Part II is my judgment of a likely political decision to have a match type requiremeant with consideration for hard pressed areas. Part III is my own view that a Brown II initiative is both orally and historically justified/right thing to do and would be enactable you got pervious consensus for Parts 1 and 2. Like any other bold out of the box idea, it is a work in progress, designed for improvement by others. But progress requires someone doing the work to get it out there so the discussion has a concrete reference point. Improvements welcomed!