The Artless Mayor

Commentary by F.T. Rea

Pretending to care in a convincing way is something any ambitious politician has to be able to do. Mayor Dwight Jones’ problem is that when it comes to feigning an interest in some things he doesn’t care about, such as art and baseball, well, he’s not such a good performer.

Art first, baseball later:

When I first read Jones’ interview in Style Weekly (May 9, 2012), I laughed a couple of times at what I thought were funny answers to Don Harrison’s questions. It was a quick reading. A week or so later, a second reading had me wondering why Jones ever agreed to do an interview for which he was clearly unprepared.

Did Jones not know that Harrison is the periodical’s Arts & Culture Editor and would be asking questions about art and culture, especially questions about City Hall’s policies that have an impact on Richmond‘s arts scene? Of course the interviewer was going to ask about how public funds have been and will be used in connection with CenterStage, the Landmark, etc.

Harrison: Currently, the rents are so high at CenterStage that many of the performing arts groups can't afford to use it. What will you do to ensure that the CenterStage Foundation does what it is supposed to be doing with CenterStage before they are given anything else?

Jones: I'll be honest. I haven't focused on the performing arts groups at CenterStage. ... If there's an opportunity to have a conversation with the groups about some sort of endowment or foundation, I would be more than happy to sit down and have that.

Huh?

Could Jones really have been surprised when he was asked about Richmond’s noise ordinance or its admissions tax? Surprised, or not, Jones blew off the questions.                   

Harrison: Are you happy with the noise ordinance we currently have?

Jones: It's a work in progress. I think it's inartfully drawn and it will be a long time before it is right.

Unfortunately, Jones didn’t explain why it must be a “long time before it is right.” More importantly, when it comes to writing laws, isn’t clarity in word and purpose more important than artfulness?

Harrison: Your administration has done a nice job of filling in budget gaps during the past few years. Why can't we get rid of our admissions tax, which is a real drain on the local music and arts scenes?

Jones: I'm not trying to institute any new taxes, but I'm also not trying to get rid of any of our revenue.

Into the present tense, Jones obviously has no idea what realities are motivating those in the local performance community who are calling for the abolition of Richmond’s admission tax. But, blithely, it seems he’s all for maintaining the status quo … whatever. 

Reading Jones’ glib answers not only underlined how unprepared he was to speak in-depth on any of the aforementioned topics, it revealed he didn’t really care.

So, it’s easy to see why Jones could sign off on the plan to shanghai the original idea of creating an Arts District that flowed out of the gallery and club scene along Broad Street, between Belvidere and 2nd Street. Jones simply doesn’t have the eyes to see how bogus it is to extend the Arts District label over parts of Richmond’s downtown area that are not even close to the Art Walk neighborhood and have nothing in common with it. 

At some point before he sat for the interview, Jones had been briefed on the popularity of the term “creative class,” so he knew enough to drop it into an answer. Yet City Hall seems to have no grasp of how Richmond’s clunky anti-show biz laws and attitudes have been hobbling Richmond’s creative class for decades.

OK, now for the baseball connection:

As I reread the interview, it reminded me of something odd I once heard Jones say at a candidates debate when he was running for office in 2008. At the time, where to build a new baseball stadium was a hot topic and I was covering the debate for a local publisher. 

After other candidates had talked about locations for the stadium, how to finance it and the minor leagues that might want to relocate a franchise to Richmond, etc., along came Jones. He announced that he was tired of hearing the talk about minor leagues. Jones said we ought to forget about attracting another minor league baseball team.

The amiable longtime member of the House of Delegates proposed an all-out effort should be mounted to bring Major League Baseball to Richmond.

Huh?

There were a few chuckles heard, but the audience didn’t break out in laughter. The baseball fans in attendance were either flabbergasted or too polite to embarrass him. No doubt, the absurdity of Jones’ proposal flew right over the heads of some in attendance, who -- like Hizzoner -- could hardly care less about professional baseball’s realities.  

What does Richmond’s blasé mayor do all day to earn his $125,000 (plus deferred compensation) a year?

Can't say. Still, since fixing the baseball stadium problem appears to be just another boring vexation for Mayor Jones, it's only natural to wonder what he does care about, when it comes to Richmond's future. 

At this writing, it’s plain to see it’s not Richmond's creative class.

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