Food for the Weekend Thought
Word has been getting out about the bombshell, politically incorrect bitch slap coming to Richmond on Monday. Stephen Colbert could not deliver such an abrupt account on Richmond if he were here himself.
A consultant who told Richmond much of what it didn't want to hear 15 years ago is coming back to town to tell it what it may or may not want to hear yet again. Tough talk is sometimes necessary.
Style Weekly has a good story on the upcoming report. John Sarvay posts his thoughts as well. The sponsor of this whole shebang is the Chamber of Commerce, where you can register to attend (or sign up at the door).
Absolutely astounding is this: the only place that you can read the original smackdown 1992 consultant's report and read what he said then is on SaveRichmond.com. They have ever word start to finish. The paper does not have it, the sponsor does not have it, zip, zero, nada.
It is lengthy and blunt reading, kind of like a cold shower after a hard day's work outside in July. It shocks you at first, but it is good and necessary for the body and soul and you strangely find yourself not turning the heat up, but seeing how cold it can get.
Or maybe that is just me.
If you are even halfway thinking of attending the Monday afternoon session to hear the new report (4pm at the Siegel Center), then take the 10 minutes to read the old report and be prepared for what comes next.
The great thing is no one knows what is coming next and as Sarvay puts it:
"The fun thing about "Crupi: The Return of the Jedi" is the consultant's modus operandi is to not share his findings with his clients until he's done -- so, the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce and other movers-and-shakers around town have to wait until Monday to see if the sequel is as uncomfortable as the original."
My bet is that Crupi's report will be as hard-hitting and divisive as the 1992 version (The dude's got so much better material to work with these days!) -- and that Richmond is a little better prepared to hear the tough messages.
Sounds like my kind of chat.
I wrote about all this last year in "The Future of Richmond Part I."
That is one of the best (IMHO) posts I have written in three years of this blog. I mentioned how Crupi's report said Richmond was at a crossroads and we could take a new direction, go back, or stall out. My favorite part about Crupi's tough talk was this passage:
A theme throughout Richmond’s history emphasizes its lack of collective planning and vision. Richmond has always relied on the strength of individual leaders and their benevolent paternalism for direction. But times have changed. Just as businesses around the world are reorganizing and utilizing the individual strengths of each member of the team in pursuit of a clearly defined task, so too must Richmond.
The strength of individual vision made Richmond what it is today. In the future, it will not survive without the strength of collective vision."
We all know what that attempted vision brought us in the 1990's and early part of this decade, but things are starting to to change. Look at the Downtown Plan sessions participation. Look at the people becoming more involved in every aspect from their neighborhoods, to what comes through City Council, to finally sitting up and taking notice of what is going on with the schools and not accepting the usual excuses.
Much of this city has forged ahead in the last 15 years without help from the government, but now it may seem (all conflict aside) that a collective vision is starting to take shape, led (as always) by the private sector and citizens. It may not yet be a coherent vision, but coming into focus just the same.
That is more than I can say has been the case in recent years when we were all told that convention centers, art centers, meals taxes, and new sidewalks and parking decks would save this city if we only followed the anointed.
What our "leaders" may have thought was a collective vision was not that at all but just their vision and the expectation we collect in behind them. As it turns out, us little folk have not only some good ideas but taken many small steps and big risks and are turning around parts of this city with much better results than the next big idea.
It seems we might finally be heeding some of Crupi's advice in the collective vision regard, which makes me very eager to hear what comes around on Monday.
I am anxious to discover where he thinks we might be heading next, if we have the courage to face up to it, and then decide whether to blast through that stop sign at the crossroads we have been stuck at all these years.
~
A consultant who told Richmond much of what it didn't want to hear 15 years ago is coming back to town to tell it what it may or may not want to hear yet again. Tough talk is sometimes necessary.
Style Weekly has a good story on the upcoming report. John Sarvay posts his thoughts as well. The sponsor of this whole shebang is the Chamber of Commerce, where you can register to attend (or sign up at the door).
Absolutely astounding is this: the only place that you can read the original smackdown 1992 consultant's report and read what he said then is on SaveRichmond.com. They have ever word start to finish. The paper does not have it, the sponsor does not have it, zip, zero, nada.
It is lengthy and blunt reading, kind of like a cold shower after a hard day's work outside in July. It shocks you at first, but it is good and necessary for the body and soul and you strangely find yourself not turning the heat up, but seeing how cold it can get.
Or maybe that is just me.
If you are even halfway thinking of attending the Monday afternoon session to hear the new report (4pm at the Siegel Center), then take the 10 minutes to read the old report and be prepared for what comes next.
The great thing is no one knows what is coming next and as Sarvay puts it:
"The fun thing about "Crupi: The Return of the Jedi" is the consultant's modus operandi is to not share his findings with his clients until he's done -- so, the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce and other movers-and-shakers around town have to wait until Monday to see if the sequel is as uncomfortable as the original."
My bet is that Crupi's report will be as hard-hitting and divisive as the 1992 version (The dude's got so much better material to work with these days!) -- and that Richmond is a little better prepared to hear the tough messages.
Sounds like my kind of chat.
I wrote about all this last year in "The Future of Richmond Part I."
That is one of the best (IMHO) posts I have written in three years of this blog. I mentioned how Crupi's report said Richmond was at a crossroads and we could take a new direction, go back, or stall out. My favorite part about Crupi's tough talk was this passage:
A theme throughout Richmond’s history emphasizes its lack of collective planning and vision. Richmond has always relied on the strength of individual leaders and their benevolent paternalism for direction. But times have changed. Just as businesses around the world are reorganizing and utilizing the individual strengths of each member of the team in pursuit of a clearly defined task, so too must Richmond.
The strength of individual vision made Richmond what it is today. In the future, it will not survive without the strength of collective vision."
We all know what that attempted vision brought us in the 1990's and early part of this decade, but things are starting to to change. Look at the Downtown Plan sessions participation. Look at the people becoming more involved in every aspect from their neighborhoods, to what comes through City Council, to finally sitting up and taking notice of what is going on with the schools and not accepting the usual excuses.
Much of this city has forged ahead in the last 15 years without help from the government, but now it may seem (all conflict aside) that a collective vision is starting to take shape, led (as always) by the private sector and citizens. It may not yet be a coherent vision, but coming into focus just the same.
That is more than I can say has been the case in recent years when we were all told that convention centers, art centers, meals taxes, and new sidewalks and parking decks would save this city if we only followed the anointed.
What our "leaders" may have thought was a collective vision was not that at all but just their vision and the expectation we collect in behind them. As it turns out, us little folk have not only some good ideas but taken many small steps and big risks and are turning around parts of this city with much better results than the next big idea.
It seems we might finally be heeding some of Crupi's advice in the collective vision regard, which makes me very eager to hear what comes around on Monday.
I am anxious to discover where he thinks we might be heading next, if we have the courage to face up to it, and then decide whether to blast through that stop sign at the crossroads we have been stuck at all these years.
~
Labels: change, Crupi, development, gov't, history, regional
posted by Jon Baliles | 8:10 AM
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