Richmond
City Council – Richmond City Hall - 900 E. Broad Street, Suite 305 - Richmond, Virginia 23219
U.S.A. - www.council.richmondva.gov
COUNCIL PUBLIC
INFORMATION NEWS RELEASE
IMMEDIATE RELEASE TO BE FORWARDED AND SHARED
Tuesday,
27 May 2014
Councilman Charles
R. Samuels and Councilman Jonathan T. Baliles release joint statement regarding
proposed Shockoe
Bottom Baseball Ordinance
WHAT (Richmond,
Virginia U.S.A.) – The Honorable Charles R. Samuels, Councilman, Richmond City Council, Richmond
North Central 2nd Voter District, and The Honorable
Jonathan T. Baliles, Councilman, Richmond City
Council, Richmond West End 1st Voter District, release the
following joint statement regarding the Mayor’s proposed Shockoe Bottom
Baseball Ordinance:
“We
are disappointed that the Administration has decided in favor of yet another
delay in providing details of their Shockoe ballpark plan. They introduced the
latest version of their plan on May 12 with a requested public hearing date of
May 27 and, to date, have not asked for a continuance. A special four hour
mid-day meeting was requested only after 5:00 p.m. on Friday, without
consulting Council members' schedules.
Council has followed regular
procedure and bent over backwards to get more information through all of the
hearings over the last six months. The plan has been vetted by multiple Richmond
City Council Finance and Land Use Standing Committee meetings and Council as a
whole has been continuously patient in allowing the Administration to miss
deadlines that they themselves presented to Council.
Only after they were aware the vote
might not go in their favor did they appeal for a special meeting. Council has
never set a deadline for this plan and is simply following the Administration's
date which was to have the public hearing, per their request, on Tuesday
evening.
We have kept open
minds with everything this Administration proposes. However, after six months
with a proposal that has far more questions than answers, as site control is still
in doubt and it is already over budget, this plan is not ready. After all, we
are talking about $80 million of public debt. In the meantime, we have schools,
roads and other issues which require our local government’s attention. We
extend the olive branch to the Mayor to work and find solutions to the issues
that face our City. "
CONTACT For more information, please contact:
The
Honorable Charles
R. Samuels, Councilman, Richmond City Council North Central 2nd Voter District,
at 804.646.6532 or by email, at charles.samuels@richmondgov.com
and/or
The
Honorable Jonathan T. Baliles, Councilman, Richmond City Council, Richmond West
End 1st Voter District,
at 804.646.5349 (tel), or jonathan.baliles@richmondgov.com (email)
-
E N D -
Steve Skinner
Council Public Information Manager
RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL
OFFICE OF THE COUNCIL CHIEF OF STAFF
Richmond City Hall
900 E. Broad Street, Suite 305
Richmond, Virginia 23219 U.S.A.
804.646.6052 (office)
804.335.4054 (mobile)
804.937.1386 (home/mobile)
804.646.5468 (fax)
steven.skinner@richmondgov.com (email)
www.council.richmondva.gov(website)
____________________________________________________
MISSION The mission of Richmond City Council is to
represent citizens in creating and amending local laws,
providing government
policy and oversight, and
approving the city budget.
VISION Richmond City Council is committed to
creating a vibrant community that is a great place
to live, work, learn, play, visit and raise a family.