The movement didn’t get that big simply because AdBusters, a Canadian magazine, sent out a flashy email promoting it, or because the hacker collective Anonymous flicked out a few tweets. Instead, it took a group of about 200 committed activists 47 days to outline the ground rules that have allowed the protest to flourish.

To read Matt Sledge’s account of how the Occupy Wall Street movement got started, “Reawakening The Radical Imagination: The Origins of Occupy Wall Street,” click here to visit the Huffington Post.

A statement by The Honorable Charles R. Samuels, Councilman, Richmond City Council, North Central 2nd District:

“Richmond needs an Arts District.  It should be inclusive, vibrant, clearly defined and something that can be recognized and enjoyed by all.

“This is important for not only our families but for those visiting Richmond and our future as we work toward building our city as a strong tourist destination. For these and many other reasons it is incumbent upon us to make sure that we get it right.

“Getting it right means that we need to make sure we have a consensus from both residents and businesses regarding the boundaries and the incentives to be used in establishing our Arts District.

“I believed we had that consensus but, after several meetings with numerous stake holders, it is clear we are not quite there.

“I believe this sort of project must be a grass roots, bottom-up endeavor. It appears there is still a little more consensus building to be done.

“So, rather than just moving forward with the legislation and bringing it to a final vote now. I am withdrawing my current proposed legislation and will hold off on proposing new legislation until there is the buy-in from residents & businesses alike.

“I believe this is the right thing to do and anticipate that our community will rise to the occasion and that we can come to agreement.”

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For more information, please contact Councilman Charles R. Samuels, at (804) 646-6532; or by email: charles.samuels@richmondgov.com.

In 1985, when the 6th Street Marketplace opened, those who questioned the wisdom of the venture were said to have been anti-Downtown. Some boosters for the project suggested it was racist to say the mall was a bad idea. Although private money wouldn’t touch the concept of dropping a suburban style shopping mall into the middle of a decaying downtown retail district, with no surrounding residential neighborhood, Richmond’s City Council thought it knew better.

Now, in Richmond, to invoke the specter of the 6th Street Marketplace’s utter failure is to speak of folly, of good intentions gone wrong. Public money was used to build and dismantle it.

Since 1985, using public money, Richmond has also built a convention center and a canal walk. It has built the CenterStage complex. If all the money it has cost taxpayers to finance such projects, since 1985, was laid out in a row of one dollar bills, it would stretch halfway to Cloud Nine.

Probably the best thing that has happened in/to Downtown Richmond in the last decade has been the First Fridays Art Walk, which was born and has thrived without the City of Richmond‘s help. In fact, so far, City Hall has done far more to undermine this monthly event, which has art lovers strolling from one gallery to the next, than to help it.

In addition to raining stifling regulations onto the First Friday parade City Hall has passed new statutes to discourage nightlife in Richmond, in general. Now, it seems Richmond’s City Council wants everyone to go home to dance. And, once there you’d better keep the music turned down way low — perhaps headphones would be better.

Putting pubs and nightclubs out of business hardly seems to be consistent with notions of revitalizing Downtown Richmond. But it is consistent with what Richmond has been doing to strangle the life out of show business ventures for decades. Why Richmond turned against the entertainment industry after World War II is debatable. But anyone who is familiar with how this city treats theaters and live music venues knows that Virginia’s capital city has been decidedly anti-show biz a long time.

Perhaps the most damaging policy mistake Richmond’s government continues to make is to cling to its out-of-date admissions tax revenue, as if it couldn‘t be replaced with other money. The City of Richmond takes seven cents from every dollar spent on an admission ticket sold within its boundaries. But please note: this admissions tax comes off the top of the gross — before any other splits or payments are made.

Since Chesterfield County and Henrico County don’t have such a tax, here’s how that’s a problem: The movie theaters and distributors generally agree to split the revenue that comes in at the box office. The percentage each might take can vary greatly, depending on the situation. To keep this simple, let’s say the distributor of “Hellhounds at My Heels,” a new summer semi-blockbuster in its first run, agrees to a 50/50 deal with two theaters.

The Suburban Cinema in Henrico County and the Urban Theater in Richmond open the picture on the same Friday; both theaters will pay the title’s distributor 50 percent of the box office take.

Unfortunately, “Hellhounds at My Heels” flops; it plays just one week. Both exhibitors take in the same amount of money — a paltry $2,000 each. So, according to terms, the distributor will get a check for $1000 from the Suburban and a check for $930 from the Urban, which had to send the City $140. Of course, the beleaguered Urban will also be subject to all the ordinary taxes and fees businesses must pay.

Which means theaters within the city limits are operating at a disadvantage. Traditionally, they have had a harder time getting good product from distributors. That’s part of why there was a 37-year gap between the opening of MovieLand in 2009 and the last new cinema to open in Richmond — the Biograph Theatre in 1972.

The same problem plays out with live shows, too. If you are managing a tour for Bruce Springsteen that will put him into 20 venues, you will weigh several factors in choosing the best situations. In this region, one will stand out — if you rent a music hall in Charlottesville absolutely zero admissions tax will come out of the gross.

Seven percent off the top of a $1 million gross from a Bruce Springsteen live show is $70,000. Why would a savvy promoter choose to blow off that kind of money?

Richmond takes in about $1.4 million a year in admissions taxes. No doubt, City Hall will say it needs every blessed penny. The admissions tax in Richmond is not unique. Unlike Charlottesville, most cities in Virginia have such a tax; the rate varies. Which only means backward thinking exists in lots of places.

But there’s no admissions tax in Austin or Nashville. There are so many music-loving tourists and conventioneers going to those cities, every year, to spend money in all sorts of other ways that get taxed, their governments hardly miss what revenue might come in from an admissions tax. When the hotels, restaurants, nightclubs and theaters are full a lot of revenue problems take care of themselves.

Meanwhile, in Richmond, which like Austin and Nashville has an abundance of musicians, our government officials are still wishing they could charge a seven percent admissions tax on a show that didn’t come here. They’re dreaming of taxing shows at theaters and clubs that don’t exist … while we all turn down the volume on our stereos to listen harder for hellhounds that didn’t bark.

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– Words and art (SLANT cover June 1985) by F.T. Rea. The flag in the ‘toon was Richmond’s official flag then, which I found amusing at the time. To look at (or join, if you like) the Facebook page Stop Taxing Tickets, click here.

Should the City of Richmond, which owns the facility, sell it off to be developed or fix it up? What limits should be put on what a developer can do? Who would be willing to see the City go in debt to fix it up?

Click here to read my article on this matter at Richmond.com.

The Museum District Association’s board voted 7-3 to not oppose a revised ordinance that would allow the developer to turn the Verizon building into about 42,000 square feet of retail space. The association’s stance has no legal standing, but having the official neighborhood organization not oppose the proposal is a big help for the developer as it prepares to go before the Richmond Planning Commission on Monday night.

Click here to read the entire article.

Click here to read the

Now comes Sa’ad El-Amin to tell Richmonders just whose names ought to be on a bridge over a creek in Forest Hill Park. According to a Richmond Times-Dispatch’s report on Jan. 4, 2011, former city councilman El-Amin sent a letter to City Council calling for names to be added to the official name of the bridge.

Click here to read “El-Amin’s Bridge to Bitterness.”

For background, visit the Save Byrd Park page here.

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has received approval from the state architectural review board to install a 15-foot-high sign on the Boulevard — a sign that includes a 4-foot-by-8-foot illuminated electronic screen.

Click here to read the entire article.

Does it come as a surprise that some of the museum’s neighbors are not all that happy about this development?

A team of Richmond fact-finders went up to inspect Go Ape’s one-month-old Maryland business in June. In July Go Ape made its presentation to representatives of Richmond’s department of Parks and Rec (and others). So when J. R. Pope and whoever else decided the Go Ape plan for Byrd Park was a good idea, Pope, et al, were basing their decisions on rather scant evidence of Go Ape’s ability to build and operate a ropes course on public property in the USA without there being problems.

The City’s Urban Design Committee voted thumbs-up on the project in August and sent it to the Planning Commission for approval. Until some of the neighbors started squawking, Pope had been planning to break ground for the project in December without input from the neighbors.

Now Pope is no longer the Parks and Rec boss and the ropes course project is in limbo. Currently, no one at City Hall is answering questions about it. Hopefully, before this whole issue is settled, we will get a good answer from The City to this question: What was the rush?

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Updates:

• New piece up at Richmond.com, “Anywhere but Byrd Park” — click here to read it.

• Click here to read “Dissecting aftermath of J.R. Pope’s Parks department departure” at the James River News Hub

• Click here to read “Byrd Park’s Go Ape! fallout halts Dogwood Dell bike trail project” at the James River Hub

Due to internal changes, the public meeting scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 18, at the Carillon on the proposed Go Ape ropes course for Byrd Park has been postponed. A new date and time will be announced when it becomes available.

To read more about the Go Ape ropes course click here.