URbanStudies

On the evening of April 11^th, I attended a forum on the state’s plans for an office complex at the 8^th and 9^th St. office buildings.  In planning the construction and renovation of this site the state has utilized a lot of input from citizens and select members of Richmond organizations. People from the states Department of General Services, the APVA, Historic Richmond Foundation, ACORN, Venture Richmond, Capitol Sq. Preservation Council, Department of Historic Resources, and the City of Richmond aided the local architects, Commonwealth Architects, and the national architects, Perkins + Will, in the design process.

Through using the input of citizens with experience in the field and the future of
Richmond in their minds, the architects were able to work around many of the controversial issues.  The 8^th and 9^th St. buildings are approximately 100 years old and are historic landmarks.  Unfortunately, the 8^th St. building, originally The Murphy Hotel, has become a victim of demolition by neglect.  8^th St. will be torn down and 9^th St. will be totally renovated.  In respect to the old building, it will be recycled and materials salvaged for the new one.  This also helps in efforts to gain LEED silver certification for the future building.

While this will be a modern building it will respect surrounding buildings in terms of elevation.  The design of these buildings will correspond with plans for the whole Capitol Square area, which aim to increase access, walkability, and connection with the rest of the city.  Bank
St. will be made two-way and more pedestrian friendly and 14^th St. will be reopened to all traffic.

Other points of interest from the forum:

1.                            Historic St. Peter’s Church will be at risk during the construction, but many precautions are being taken to avoid all risk to the building.  Where necessary repairs and reinforcements will be made on St. Peter’s.

2.                            The APVA recommended to the state that reports be conducted of all buildings so that unnecessary demolition will not occur in the future.

3.                            The VA State Capitol has been nominated as a potential World Heritage site.

4.                            Concern was expressed about the demolition of 8^th St. before the state allocates funds for the new construction.

Mayor Doug Wilder may have been the chief executive officer of Virginia, but Richmond’s city council and the mayor are still working out their respective roles and relationship in the city’s new mayor-council system.  Last week, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on the event organized by the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce in Oklahoma City, a “peer” city that some who attended think could be a model for Richmond with its temporary sales-tax increase to fund capital projects.  Although various leaders from around the region traveled to Oklahoma, Mayor Wilder will have to hear about it second-hand because he chose not to attend.  As Michael Paul Williams writes in his column, Wilder is isolating himself rather than leading with his recent decisions to withhold funds from the city school system until they comply with his request for a second audit, to forego attending the event in Oklahoma, and now recently to demand that the city council’s staff reapply for their jobs if they wish to retain employment while threatening to replace the city assessor.  These are issues that are novel to Richmond under its
new city charter, “whose boundaries have not been fully defined,” as the Times-Dispatch writes. 

But another issue here, as the newspaper aptly points out, is Mayor Wilder’s behavior.  Differences should be resolved through discussions, deliberation, and collaboration rather than through challenges and demands.  I applaud the city council for overturning Wilder’s veto of a requirement to make mayoral advisory group meetings open to the public.  As for the school board funds and council employees, those are issues that will have to be resolved as the new city charter is interpreted by the mayor, the council, and the courts.  However, Wilder’s absence from the Oklahoma event is inexplicable.  The current president of the Greater Richmond Chamber, James W. Dunn, put it fittingly when he said, ‘The mayor holds an extreme position of importance in the region…and certainly when you have a key person like that missing, you feel like you don’t have your whole team present.’  Furthermore, our local representatives should remember that the whole idea behind the new strong mayor system was to reduce parochial and personal interests in favor of the city as a whole.  Again, Dunn: ‘I think both parties just felt that given what was going on, the timing wasn’t appropriate…the whole issue of what we’re trying to do for our schools, our kids and our neighborhoods, it transcends any body or individual.’

 An article in the Richmond Times Dispatch from Apr 12, 2007 proudly boasts of the huge increase in the percentage of
Richmond third-graders passing their SOLs (Standards of Learning tests) in reading, claiming that while still behind state averages, the percentage of third graders who passed has doubled since 2000. The article also stated that other grades have also significantly improved in reading and math SOLs. (Here is a link to the article http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/entertainment_living/education.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-04-12-0153.html)   Initially when I read that I thought that that was great to hear how
Richmond schools were improving. However it did seem a little strange – I’ve volunteered with children in the city school system for years and I had not noticed any significant change. While possible that some of the schools in the area are significantly improving and it’s just that the children I work with all go to the worst of the worst schools (mostly Chimborazo Elementary, Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, and Armstrong High School) a change claiming 50% improvement since 2000 would surely have at least impacted some of the children.  I asked around the community a little bit and visited two of the elementary schools and was shocked to find that they way the schools achieved this massive increase was a complete manipulation. Children who were not performing well were removed from the children who were taking the tests. I’m sure the number of students who passed stayed about the same, however by removing many of the children who would not have passed there was a major change in the percentage of children who passed. This was very cleverly worded in the article, I don’t know whether the reporter was aware of this or whether the information was presented to her like that, but either way such deception is horrifying. The worst part of this to me though, was the way the children who would likely not have passed the SOLs were carefully detained from taking the tests. Children who were seen to not be performing well were said to have a learning disability and put into remedial classes where they were babysat and not taught anything at all. The children who need the most help with their education are the sacrifice the school system seems willing to make to improve their scores.  

1) What is your position entail at the VOP? What is the mission of the VOP?
 The Virginia Organizing Project (VOP) is a statewide grassroots organization dedicated to challenging injustice by empowering people in local communities to address issues that affect the quality of their lives. As a non-partisan organization, VOP especially encourages the participation of those who have traditionally had little or no voice in our society. By building relationships with diverse individuals and groups throughout the state, VOP strives to get them to work together, democratically and non-violently for change.

My job title is organizer and I work in the central Virginia region by conducting community analysis and identifying people who want to work together on issues. Once a group has agreed to work on an issue, I facilitate discussions about becoming a chapter within VOP or being a network on several issues. I coordinate and facilitate workshops on leadership development, racism, and classism around the state.

2) How and when did you first become involved at VOP?
I became involved with VOP in 1996; I attended a weekend Dismantling Racism workshop and worked with a local community organization that was a VOP affiliate at the time. After the racism workshop, I volunteered to be a trainer for the statewide racism workshops. To become a trainer I participated in VOP’s training for trainers workshop. I served on the facilitation team until I came on staff in 1998.

3) Why did you choose to go into the non-profit sector as opposed to the private sphere?

Actually, I began because I enjoyed flexible work schedules as well as the mission and work of organizations in the Richmond area. The non-profit organizations I have worked with have served people and provided community services addressing issues that affected individual lives and the community. The private sector never appealed to me because I have always been interested in the needs of the community.

4) In your experience, what are the benefits, if any, as a woman working/leading in a non-profit as compared to a private organization?

I don’t have any personal experience working in a private organization so I don’t think I can make an accurate comparison.

5) How do non-profits, especially the VOP, lead in the community?
VOP’s leadership is participatory and our approach is to create leadership and let the people speak about the issues from their experience. An organizer focuses on developing leaders and assisting people in solving issues they have identified.

6) Where does the VOP get its funding from? Ideally, where would you like to see more funding coming from?

VOP is supported through individual donations and foundation grants. We do not apply for any government funding.

7) In one of my classes on race and gender studies we discuss intersectionality, whereby women of color are statistically at a distinct disadvantage due to prejudice in society. In your professional experience, what are your thoughts on the subject?

What and how we are taught to think about people who differ from ourselves affect the institutions we operate in everyday. We bring these teachings into every area of our lives. I have found it helpful to examine my own prejudices and assumptions and identify how racism and classism are influencing my behaviors and decisions about people. Statistics and studies show that we need to continue working on all oppressive systems that are weaved into our culture and institutions.

8 ) In your organization, does the topic of regionalism ever arise? Would there be advantages for your organization if the city and counties were to have a mechanism for shared policy and resources?

As an organization, we have not talked about the affects of regionalism and its impact issue work. Personally, I am a supporter for regional cooperation and developing systems that build community resources to benefit the full community.

9) What is the most pertinent government policy you would like to see succeed in Richmond?

A living wage ordinance that includes contracted workers.

10) Anything you think I should know that relates to you personally with regard to race, gender, leadership, or local activism?

I am an African-American woman. I have worked on poverty issues with my local faith community and the Catholic Diocese of Richmond. I have been involved with the Richmond Peace Education Center for several years. This year, I am serving as the board chair of the Richmond Peace Education Center. In addition, I am completing a term with the Leadership Commission with the National Black Catholic Congress.

I had the chance to talk with Sally Syrquin, a real estate agent with Long and Foster, about a few issues including sprawl, housing developments in Richmond, the real estate market, and buying in Richmond. Here is what she had to say:

“My personal opinion on sprawl: I deplore sprawl and support efforts to place as much farmland in conservation easements as possible to limit future sprawl.  In Europe, there is farmland close to the city and they had quite a head-start on development, being settled much earlier than the U.S.  We should study what the Europeans have done to limit sprawl and adapt their methods to our circumstances.  Without green space within close proximity, a city suffers. To be able to leave the city and be in the country within a few minutes should be a right every city dweller enjoys, both for the beauty and the economy of produce being readily available without a long truck ride.  In Oregon, the initiative to limit development has been overturned by the developer lobby in the state.  This was a sad day for pro-conservation forces, as Oregon has been touted as an example for the rest of the country to emulate.  The pro-development lobby asks, “where will people live if we don’t build more houses?” The answer is never to take rich farmland and convert it to vinyl-sided tract housing placed on cookie-cutter cul-de-sac lots.  The appropriate answer is the adaptive re-use of the city building stock, much of which is vacant, but solidly built. This also has the additional benefit of reducing fuel consumption and limiting the need for new schools and other municipal services.  In Richmond, we have a lot of good renovation occurring, partly due to the wealth of suitable buildings, partly thanks to economic incentives such as the city’s tax abatement program, state and federal tax credits, and neighborhood-specific grant programs.  The renovators in our city are good businesspeople who do well for themselves while doing good for the community.  This is capitalism at its best.”

“There are numerous new developments in Rihcmond. Most are not affordable for a family of average income.  Just as buying a new care is more expensive than buying a used one, new houses tend to sell for a premium.  An example an up and coming new development is Twin Hickory in Glen Allen.  The young families who are flocking to this subdivision are attracted by new schools, a wonderful YMCA, and the chance to start on equal footing with the neighbors.  The price for a home starts in the mid $300,000’s and goes up to $500,000 plus.  Some older areas of Richmond are also considered up and coming. For example, the neighborhood of Oregon Hill, located south of the VCU campus in the eastern part of the Fan District, is enjoying substantial investment in renovation and new construction. The increase in demand for this neighborhood is driven largely by VCU’s expansion, although the newly-built Overlook Townhouse development at the southern edge of Oregon Hill is mostly inhabited by business professionals, young and old, who are drawn to the city lifestyle.”

 ”The real estate market in Richmond faces several important issues.  The first providing affordable housing in a safe neighborhood for every citizen who works hard and saves to purchase housing.  The second is preventing ill-conceived development from ruining Richmond.  For instance, Chesterfield County faces a significant increase in traffic jams and school overcrowding due to approving too many new subdivisions.  The traffic on Route 360 West near Brandermill and Woodlake is the worst in Richmond.  It is anticipated to worsen significantly with large developments to the west slated to being construction soon.  Our transportation infrastructure will be taxed heavily by all of these new developments.  The third challenge for Richmond real estate is balancing the needs to preserve our rich historic heritage with the demands of population growth.  Our state has recently been named most business-friendly in the U.S by international business publications.  This accolade is leading to businesses relocating to Richmond and bringing their employees with families here. Philip Morris, Genworht, Mead/Westavo, Qimonda and other corporations are adding to the demand for Richmond real estate.”

 ”The most important aspect to consider when buying a new or new-to-you home in Richmond is: Location, location, location! This old saw still holds true when considering buying a new home in Richmond or anywhere.  Almost anything else can be changed about a house except location.  The second most important consideration is the ease of maintenance.  It’s no fun being a slave to a property that requires constant maintenance.  It is also important to consider the school district and any neighborhood association covenants prior to purchasing a property.  When buying new construction, it is imperative to analyze the developer’s plan regarding the eventual size and composition of the neighborhood and your property’s relative position therein.  For those able to tolerate dust and construction noise, buying at the beginning of a subdivision’s creation can reap rich financial rewards, as long as the location is good.”

 Sally’s comments capitalize on many readings we have discussed throughout the semester.  It makes me really scared to grow up knowing all of the considerations to keep in mind as far as home-ownership goes.  I guess I’ll leave that to the graduating seniors who have to move on now.  Let us know how it goes! I say go to the city! 

Below there are two interviews of local activists/organizers who are doing very important work in the Richmond area. As you will notice, several themes arise from these interviews. Pay close attention to the challenges identified by these organizers as specific to the Richmond area.

Name: Christie

How long have you bee living in Richmond:
6 years

What is your educational history?
I graduated from VCU two years ago

What organizations have you worked with?
Richmond Food Not Bombs, VCU Living Wage, The Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project (an abortion fund), The Defenders for Freedom Justice and Equality, the Moth Squad (which works with sexual assault and domestic violence), and the Virginia Anti-War Network

When did you become an activist/organizer?
I started working with Food Not Bombs when I moved to Richmond (2001)

What issues are most important to you?
Right now my focus is on the abortion fund, but I think it is always important to link one thing I’m doing to another.

What regional issues do you think are most important to the Richmond area?
I think the police shootings and the related issues of prisoner abuse is important to a lot of people, and I would say that the raising of the minimum wage is a big one too.

Please describe your organizing work around these issues.
I worked for a few years on the VCU Living Wage campaign, we also worked at times in conjunction the the Richmond Coalition for a Living Wage. None of those groups are functioning in quite the same way any more, but there have been other groups, particularly some of the unions that have been taking on the issue. And as you know the VOP has also been working on the minimum wage issue. I’ve been to some court watches with the Defenders in cases of police brutality, and there is a lot of coverage on police and prison issues in the Defender Newspaper.

How does the racial and class make-up of Richmond influence your work?
Richmond is of course very segregated both race wise and class wise. For instance a majority of the people coming to the FNB meal are African American, as were many of the temp workers we were talking to for the RCLW. Unfortunately the converse of this is that the majority, though certainly not all of people in the organizations I work with are white. And of course that is not because people of color are not doing activism, it is because like the rest of Richmond and the U.S. as a whole activist organizations tend to be split along lines of race and class. So it is something which we need to be constantly aware and critical of. I think it is a work in progress for us to learn how to be good allies, which includes working in conjuction with other groups that are based in a community that is not your own, but not trying to take over; just helping by saying I’m here to do what you want and to share the resources and experiences I have. It’s important to understand that what we are doing is interconnected and can only work if we think of it in that way. Out of the groups I work with the most diverse race and age wise is the Defenders, and in the bylaws it says that the group must be at least 2/3 non-white, because it was acknowledged that in a place like Richmond what often happens when a group is majority white is that it becomes all white.

How do you feel about the local media’s coverage of things you’ve organized/ your issues?
There have been a few good reporters, and we’ve worked on occasion with some of the smaller papers. But there have been many problems, especially with the Times Dispatch of misquoting people or generally changing around what people are saying or what has happened at events. A big problem is that they often won’t report on actions at all. On the other hand the local radio station WRIR has been really great.

What is unique about organizing in Richmond?
Well it is a very small town so on one hand smaller actions get more attention, but on the other hand the activist community is very very small which can be hard.

What have been your biggest challenges?
Working in a conservative town and getting people to take on responsibility long term in organizations

Is it easy/difficult to get everyday Richmonders involved in your organizing efforts? What influences this?
It depends, I feel like there will be a flury of interest when something new happens with an issue but then people loose interest. I think it is easy enough to get people involved but very difficult to get people to commit on a long term basis. Part of this is people are busy with work and family. Or on the other hand you have a large student population which draws some people who want to stay, but many people who tend to move on. I think the trick is getting people to feel included and invested in a group, so they feel responsible for it. That can be really tricky.

_______________________________________________________________
Name: Yvonne

How long have you bee living in Richmond:
14 years

What is your educational history?
Graduated high school. Attended VCu and graduated w/ a bachelor of Science/Biology concentration

What organizations have you worked with?
Food Not Bombs, General Strike Collective, Better Days Collective, Community Space Project, The Moth Squad, Flying Brick Library, Richmond Anti-globalization Network.

When did you become an activist/organizer?
In 1997, during my last year of college.

What issues are most important to you?
Gentrification/ anti-poor policies, Gender liberation, Sustainability/Environmental health.

What regional issues do you think are most important to the Richmond area?
Gentrification and anti-poor policies.

Please describe your organizing work around these issues.
Currently, the projects I am working on do not explicitly address them. In the past, groups I worked with addressed these issues through various ways: A food program to provide breakfast and lunches to temp labor workers. We would go to the same temp labor office site once a week and provide fruit, pastries and sandwiches to the people lining up to work there. With Food not Bombs I helped prepare a full hot meal for 100 to 200 people in Monroe Park every Sunday for about 5 years. We were also very involved in supporting attempts of the homeless community to counter anti-poor policies being proposed or enacted by city hall. One year, General Strike staged a tent city in Monroe Park to protest the criminalization of the homeless during “sweeps week” (the week that VCU students return to their dorms for the semester). Groups I was in also supported the Living wage campaign by attending city hall meetings, spreading announcements, attending picket lines, helping organize fundraisers and educational events. All the groups I’ve worked in have always tried very hard to keep a consciousness of class issues in our organizing work and have made a lot of effort to educate Richmond about the struggles of working class people all over the
world.

How does the racial and class make-up of Richmond influence your work?
Well, since Richmond is a majority African-American city, a lot of the issues around poverty and gentrification are centered in the black communities and a lot of the support on those issues has been solidarity work with leaders or groups in the black community. I think that almost all the local grassroots groups that we’ve worked with have been members of the black community who were addressing issues that troubled their communities. Other work that didn’t center on those issues has been mostly with white dominated organizations because there still seems to be a lot of isolation between the white and black community in Richmond. Saying that sounds weird, because there is no monolithic “white community” or “black community”…but that’s just the point. In a lot of ways I feel like Richmond remains very segregated because this myth of the monolithic community based on race persists. Racism and white-privilege are alive and kicking in this town, but that doesn’t mean that either the white or black community is some kind of united homogenous political unit.

How do you feel about the local media’s coverage of things you’ve organized/ your issues?
Well, I don’t really have any kind words to say about it. I still remain totally miffed by what sorts of stories they prioritize for coverage and think that a lot of it really depends on whose PR person gets to them and how much prestige they have. I have had a lot of experience with them taking things totally out of context, misrepresenting things etc. For example, at the recent demonstration at the Science Museum when Bush came the RTD and other outlets portrayed it as mostly a student demonstration, which was far from the truth. Most people there were not in school. They also have a tendency to report things in a way that’s clearly meant to discredit. For example, that same protest coverage was part of a larger article about Bush’s visit. In it, they said the protest crowd was young (not true), mostly white, and cursed a lot. Most ridiculous of all was the picture of the protestors they showed, which showed a young mother covering the ears of her baby from the angry curse words of the protestors. Not one word was mentioned about the age or racial makeup of those attending the event, nor was there any mention of the threats yelled by event attendees at the protestors. This is part of a larger pattern in which the practices, institutions, and people being opposed by grassroots protest efforts and campaigns get little analytical coverage by the news media, but the protestors/activists get picked apart. In general the coverage of issues is totally shallow and the media constantly passes by opportunities to educate the populace about issues that are affecting us all.

What is unique about organizing in Richmond?
There seems to be a lack of a real established historical movement of struggle here. People have definitely organized on different subjects throughout Richmond’s history, but I haven’t really noticed a core or history that people draw on for inspiration or support. It’s a small city, so you usually know of most of the different groups that are working on an issue.

What have been your biggest challenges?
The conservative culture of Richmond and Virginia in general. There are so many issues that a lot of people here are really misinformed/uninformed or just plain nasty about. Getting people to commit to work on things.

Is it easy/difficult to get everyday Richmonders involved in your organizing efforts? What influences this?
It’s difficult if you are not from here or working in a neighborhood group. The conservative culture is one thing. Like I said, there isn’t really a history of grassroots popular struggle here, so I think that many people in Richmond won’t attend or help out with activities. Organizations or actions don’t seem legitimate if they are grassroots. The media hasn’t exactly helped with this. I think having a radio station(WRIR) who is willing to air announcements and other political perspectives has helped greatly. I really think that a lot of people here are a bit apathetic and very willing to let “those who know best” handle things. The transience of a student population makes thing difficult. Honestly, some of the organization’s that I worked with have been a bit disorganized, confusing and possibly intimidating for someone who is new to activism, so I wouldn’t put it all on Richmond’s shoulder’s.

In an article featured last Thursday on Richmond.com, Mayor Wilder spoke from the neighborhood of Battery Park about the city’s plans for expanding the green space in the neighborhood. The city began clearing (what will end up being eight) properties last Wednesday to begin the process. Wilder said that these properties had been left uninhabitable and would be cleared to make room for a new community center and a public park in the area.

“The phase of the Battery Park revitalization that we’re involved with now reminds many of us of areas around the country that have not been as fortunate as we have been in terms of addressing the needs of the people,” the mayor said, refering to Katrina efforts on the Gulf Coast.

Due to Battery Park’s amount of flood-prone property, the city has also begun construction of a $30 million sewer tunnel that will bypass a landfill that the old sewer tunnel crossed through. Wilder said “the project has been given the green-light by both FEMA and the state.”

The city apparently paid pre-flood market price for the properties, equalling at least $4 million additional dollars. It is important to the city that the residents are happy, and “beginning in May, the city’s department of parks and recreation will conduct public forums to solicit input from neighborhood resident on what to do specifically with the land (as the community center and public park are only two of the possibilities).”

Most of my blogs have negatively portrayed the
Richmond police departments in their efforts to decrease crime and adequately house criminals. Though this is true in some respects, one cannot deny the fact that the nature of the
Richmond’s police force is changing for the better. I found this great article IT website for GIS and Mapping software that included some positive notes and statistics about
Richmond’s success.

The Richmond Police Department was recently awarded Gartner 2007 Business Intelligence BI Excellence Award. The innovative enterprise platform for which they received the award accounts for “powerful geographic information system (GIS) mapping and analysis capabilities combined with BI technologies.” The award was presented at the Gartner BI Summit, from March 12-14, in
Chicago, Illinois.

Rodney Monroe, Police Chief with the Richmond Police Department, said, “Instead of reacting to crime, we wanted to be proactive to predict where future crime might happen.” It’s apparent that the department has accomplished these goals through innovative use of advanced mapping and regression technology. Sophisticated models of criminal activity allow police officers to characterize probably, future criminal activity.

The technology platform has lowered city crime rates, and dropped
Richmond from 5^th to 15^th in the “most dangerous city” category. This included a 2l% reduction in major crimes from 2005-2006. For the year of 2007, major crime is down an additional 19%. The police department hopes to have
Richmond drop out of the top 25 dangerous cities by the end of the year. This shows
Richmond as a successful example of effective use of advanced technology in police work.

That’s right, coming to a city near you is a simulation of urban fighting by our country’s military. As Michael Paul Williams (who recently visited our classroom) has written in today’s Richmond Times Dispatch, for the next week 2,200 soldiers will be using Richmond as a war simulator. So when you hear those fully automatic weapons (with blank ammunition) cracking and see those low flying helicopters whirling, have no fear… yeah right.

This is a brilliant idea. Given the tragic events of last week at VT, what could be more appropriate than to honor this country’s fatal fascination with guns by shooting off loads of them? When those guns go off I’m sure that no one in the surrounding neighborhoods will call the police or have a heart attack. Obviously a few people are perturbed at the idea.

Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality, a local Richmond organization has responded to the event with what I consider to be a rational statement. Ana Edwards of the group had this to say:

“First, the sound of gunfire will be deeply disturbing to many city residents, particularly children, already upset by the tragic events at Virginia Tech. Second, it perpetuates the atmosphere of conflict that can create a context for such senseless acts of violence. And third, it implies official local support for the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Maybe the group’s stance is a little too extreme for you? You’re probably saying, ‘yeah the timing is unfortunate but what about the troops, they need this’. I agree they need this but not now. Where are our sensibilities? Push it back a month, push it back two months, but tomorrow is too soon. I don’t like the idea to begin with but I’ll accept it as necessary to helping our soldiers when they go to Iraq. Some of you will say, that’s impossible on such short notice. My answer to that is simple. The military can’t expect things to always work out as planned, they adapt the best they can when they must. Consider this practice for the big game.

VT shook us all, but for some of my classmates here at the University of Richmond who have friends and family there, it brought them to a dark place. I know it will take a long time for them to recover. This is not an issue of toughness, we Americans are as strong and brave as they come, this is distinctly different. Pushing back or cancelling these war-games in Richmond is about us as mourners coming together and embracing those Richmonders who still feel sensitive to the massacre. When they’re still down from last week’s terrible events, this simulated combat is gonna be kicking them.

The following is a transcript of Lt. Governor Bill Bollings remarks at the 59th Annual Shad Planking in Wakefield, VA: 

Thank you all very much and good afternoon.

What a pleasure it is to be back at the Shad Planking, Virginia’s annual political rite of spring.

I want to thank the Wakefield Ruritan’s Club for inviting me to be here today and giving me a chance to serve as the keynote speaker for this year’s event. I’ve enjoyed attending this event for many years, but you honor me greatly today by giving me a chance to stand atop this old flatbed trailer and give the keynote address.

And I want to thank the Ruritans, here in Wakefield and hundreds of other places all across Virginia, for the hard work you do every day to reach out and serve your community. You do good work, and that sense of community spirit is one of the things that make Virginia a very special place.

I want to thank my good friend and colleague Fred Quayle for being here today to introduce me. I have served with Fred Quayle in state government for the past 12 years, and I can tell you that he does a great job representing the people of the 13th district in the State Senate.

Now my friends, I know that this is supposed to be a light hearted event and the keynote speaker generally takes his time to poke fun at our state’s politicos and fire up the crowd for the fall campaigns. I assure you that I had a number of very good zingers all lined up for you today, but quite frankly, in light of the events of the past few days, this is not a time for light heartedness and poking fun. So, I want to spend my time this afternoon speaking to you from the bottom of my heart about a much more serious situation.

Needless to say, this is a difficult time for our Commonwealth.

On Monday of this week a young man who obviously had many deep and dark problems went on a shooting spree on the campus of Virginia Tech and killed 32 innocent people.

I have served in the public life of this Commonwealth for the past 16 years, and I can honestly tell you that the past two days have been the most difficult days of that service.

We’ve heard of tragedies of this nature before, in other places, but we never thought they could strike here, not in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and certainly not on the peaceful, safe, rural campus of a great University like Virginia Tech.

But the truth is that events of this nature can occur anywhere at anytime, and the shootings on the Virginia Tech campus vividly remind us that we not immune from these events.

Virginia Tech is one of our nation’s finest institutions of higher education. The students, faculty, staff and alumni of Virginia Tech are a close family, and as the father of a 2006 graduate of Virginia Tech, I consider myself a part of that family as well. In difficult times families pull together, and I have no doubt that the Virginia Tech family will pull together as well in this difficult time.

Likewise, the people of Virginia are a resilient people, and I have no doubt that we will pull together in this difficult time, but the truth is that there is a big hole in the heart of Virginia today.

It is said that tragedies and the difficult times of life make us stronger, and I believe that’s true. By relying on our faith, our families and friends, I am confident that we will endue these present troubles, and emerge from this tragedy stronger that ever.

Yesterday I had the honor of traveling to Blacksburg to attend a Memorial Service with President Bush and Governor Kaine. It was a wonderful event, and it showed the persistent Hokie pride and spirit like it has never been showed before. I was proud to there, and I was proud to be a Hokie.

While there I had a chance to meet with some of the families who lost loved ones in Monday’s shooting, and their stories are just beginning to emerge.

And I can tell you that the magnitude of this event does not sink in until you look into eyes of moms and dads, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, who have lost loved ones.

We’ve learned the story of Liviu Librescu, a 76 year old internationally respected aeronautical engineer. Mr. Librescu was a survivor of the Holocaust, and was gunned down while he tried to barricade a door to save his students.

We’ve learned the story of Ryan Clark, a 22 year old Resident Assistant, who we believe was killed when he responded to the first shooting in the Ambler Johnston Residence Hall, trying to assist another student who was also killed.

We’ve learned the story of Jarrett Lane, a senior civil engineering major who was the Valedictorian of his class in Narrows, Virginia. His friends described him as “fun loving” and “full of spirt”, and they said that “he had a caring heart and was a friend to everyone he met.”

These victims, and 29 others, did nothing to deserve their fate, and there is nothing or no one who was responsible for the fate other than the evil that entered the heart of the one who committed this senseless act.

Today, as we gather together in this field we must remember them, for that is the thing that matters most.

In the face of a tragedy of this nature it is natural for us to look for an explanation for why things like this happen, but there is no explanation that will suffice.

Time will tell what prompted someone to commit these senseless acts, and there are a number of questions that have been raised about what, if anything could have been done to prevent these acts or reduce their magnitude. These are legitimate questions and I assure you that we will find answers to these questions when the investigation has been completed, but this is not the time for questions – this is a time for hurting and crying and mourning and supporting those who need our help.

In his Word God does not tell us that we will be immune from difficulties of this nature, but he does promise that He will enable us to endure them and overcome them if we rely on Him.

I have been reminded of this many times in these past three days.

In 1968, Robert Kennedy, in speaking at a Memorial Service for Dr. Martin Luther King, quoted the Greek play writer Aeschylus, who said, ‘In our sleep, pain that we cannot forget falls drop by drop upon our hearts, and in our despair, and against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.’

I have been reminded of those words many times in these past three days.

And in a more contemporary song, one of America’s favorite bands, The Eagles, sing these words that I have also been reminded of often:

There’s a hole in the world tonight

A hole of pain and sorrow

There’s a hole in the world tonight

Don’t let there be a hole in the world tomorrow

Yes, this is a time of hurting, pain, crying and mourning – and there is a hold in our world today – but if we do our work right, it can also be a time of coming together and of strength.

Now I want to ask you all to help me with something. I’d like to ask that you turn to the person next to you and ask that they quiet themselves for a moment of silence in honor and memory of those who lost their lives at Virginia Tech on Monday.

PAUSE FOR A MOMENT OF SILENCE

My friends we are all Virginians, and today we are all Hokies!

May God bless you all.