editorial by Scott Burger Today’s Times Dispatch Business section had an article on Richmond tourism. It quoted the same ol’ city leadership (notably, Richmond Renaissance/Venture Richmond) with the same ol’ underlying message: we need to keep investing in downtown projects to bring in tourists. The problem is that they mean ‘investing’ with public taxpayer dollars in pet projects of ‘the business community’, and that even after more than $1 billion, downtown still has long way to go. Corporate welfare projects include the Sixth Street Marketplace (built with public money, then used public money to demolish), the super-sized Convention Center, the downtown arts center/Center Stage project, the Broad Street CDA…the list goes on. The Times Dispatch, which espouses a supposedly ultra-conservative anti-tax philosophy, is hypocritical when it comes to this corporate welfare. It regularly turns a blind eye to the corruption involved in these projects and continues to cheerlead them. For years now, the Richmond Greens and sites like SaveRichmond.com have been calling them out on their hypocrisy, but the corporate welfare still goes on, hiding behind things like ‘regional effort‘ (even though City residents have paid the most by far), and lingering in various forms. Recently, the Mayor and City Council have tried to slow down efforts to reform water and utility rates because large corporate entities became concerned that they would have to actually pay for what they use (while citizens pay among, if not the, highest minimum use rates in the country. Yet another Richmond Greens press release is forthcoming on this issue.) So what, counter-critics say, Broad Street is ‘turning a corner’. ‘We will eventually build a larger tax base’, they say. Tourism can be ‘eco-friendly’. The problem is that, even if these comments are remotely true, there are opportunity costs and judging from years of failed promises, there is no return of taxpayer money from downtown. The City of Richmond is more than downtown, more than Broad Street. While public money get diverted into these corporate welfare schemes, the City government fails to deliver needed maintenance on neighborhood streets, parks, and schools. In fact, the City is acting illegally by not properly funding ADA access to City public schools. Even with the Patrick Henry charter school initiative, parents are expected to fund-raise to pay for basic ADA improvements, never mind that there is no ETA on ADA for the rest of the 5th District schools. Think about that for a second. Oliver Hill’s legacy is an equal access to a public education, and yet Richmond leadership is deciding corporate welfare projects are more important. Tax base? The City’s population has fluctuated a bit, but overall residents’ taxes continue to skyrocket. The fact is that Richmond’s leadership’s priorities are way out of line, and this is leading to legal and moral crises, at a time when the City should be preparing for future challenges and concentrating on raising its next generation of leaders. Unfortunately, the corporate welfare scheming just does not stop. Recently, 2nd District Councilperson and President of City Council, Bill Pantele suggested that a plan to renovate and reopen the historical Hippodrone theater in Jackson Ward should receive a $600,000 ‘boost’ from the City coffers. No one is against seeing this theater coming back, and no one is against downtown renovation, especially with private money. But the corporate welfare and opportunity costs involved should give all Richmond citizens pause. The Richmond Greens call for an end to downtown corporate welfare, and demand attention for Richmond’s schools and neighborhoods on behalf of its citizens.