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Articles by Bob Rayner
Seeking friendship, a group of men ended up breaking down barriers
5 min ūüďĚ Bob Rayner is a retired newspaper reporter, columnist and editor. He lives in Richmond. It‚Äôs a hot, sunny Saturday morning in June. East Richmond‚Äôs Chimborazo Park is already busy. Couples walk dogs and stroll their babies. Older kids dart ahead, on the prowl for adventure. An enthusiastic crowd of protesters assembles beneath a gazebo.
Richmond IG clears former city spokeswoman’s purchases from companies owned by prior business partner
Former Richmond communications director Petula Burks broke no city policies when she bought media production services from two companies owned by one of her former business associates, according to a recently released report from Inspector General James Osuna. Osuna’s investigation into the transactions concluded Burks didn’t violate any city policies on procurement and conflicts of interest.
A relic of Richmond’s vanished ‘most historic’ neighborhood can be found…on the Northern Neck?
Richmond is young even by the standards of major American East Coast cities; Boston and New York are both fully a century older, while Philadelphia predates it by still half as much. Even nearby Hampton has about 120 years on us. Still, as with most other urban centers, the city has been through momentous changes over its comparatively short lifetime, never more so than over the last century or so.
Maymont is using an $8 million COVID-era grant to enhance its facilities
Earlier this year, Maymont broke ground on “major enhancements” to its grounds and mansion, but the seeds for what will blossom in a year or so were planted back in the COVID era.
First Fridays turns 28; one studio owner reflects on its beginnings
First Fridays Art Walk, the signature event in the Arts District of downtown Richmond in the historic Jackson Ward neighborhood, celebrates its 28th anniversary this week. First begun in February 1997, galleries, shops, restaurants, nonprofits and more open their doors in celebration of art in the Richmond community. Most of the galleries in the Arts District have been participating since the event's inception, including Anne Chay, who owns anne’s Visual Arts studio on Broad Street.
Why Virginia Democrats Should Support the New School Accountability System
by Todd Truitt In 2021, Republican Glenn Youngkin was able to flip the education issue on Democrats to pull off a victory. In 2025, Democrats need to reclaim the education issue to flip the Governor’s mansion back. One way of doing that is by supporting the new statewide public school accountability system, which furthers core Democratic values. If Democrats don’t get out ahead of this issue, Republicans will use it as a political issue.
Footloose Aaron Spence. Having Fun On Loudoun County’s Dime
by Kerry Dougherty Let’s just admit it. Those of us who thought Aaron Spence was a disaster as Virginia Beach School Superintendent are experiencing a shameless bout of schadenfreude. Yep, we’re enjoying the misfortune of others. Those “others” would be Loudoun County parents and taxpayers. Aaron Spence is their problem now.
Education and Remembrance on the Banks of the James
by Jon Baliles The Virginia War Memorial sits solemnly upon the edge of Oregon Hill overlooking the city and the James River and honors the 12,000+ Virginia names of those who have fallen in service of our country since 1956. But in recent decades, it has become a place of education as well as of remembrance. In 2010, the memorial opened the E. Bruce Heilman Amphitheater overlooking the city and hosts annual Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies plus other events.
Factors Impacting Teacher Vacancies
by Matt Hurt Last week Jim Bacon published an article about the fact that our teacher vacancy rate problem is not all about salary, and I agree that other factors also contribute to this problem. Jim also posited that “It’s caused by teachers dropping out of the profession because they think their jobs suck”, and recent data seems to support an approximation of this idea.
EVs More Likely to Kill Pedestrians, Damage Roads and Bridges
by Hans Bader “A recent study published by the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found that drivers of electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrids are twice as likely to hit pedestrians compared to those driving traditional gas-powered cars, potentially leading to more fatal accidents. This conclusion came from a review of British road accidents.
Two-Mile Moonscape in Virginia Beach: Thanks, Bureaucrats!
by Kerry Dougherty Virginia Beach politicians are doing their happy dance. Earlier this week state officials gave them good news: They’re “near the finish line” on the Laskin Road project. Oh, please. We’re seen this movie before. Let’s review, shall we? In 2019 construction began on the two-mile long road widening project through the heavily traveled Hilltop corridor of Virginia Beach.
Mysterious Attempt to Breach Quantico
by Kerry Dougherty If not for a feisty online news organization, Potomac Local News, we wouldn’t know that earlier this month two Jordanian nationals attempted to bring a truck onto Quantico Marine Base: On May 10, PLN reported: “Two people inside a box truck tried to force their way onto Quantico Marine Corps Base.
Amnesty: Governor Youngkin Has No Power at VMI
Introduction: For those unfamiliar with the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), disciplinary actions against Cadets include “demerits” recorded in their records, confinement to barracks, and “penalty tours” (PT) or a combination of those for misconduct ranging from minor infractions (uniform violations, dirty rooms) to major (drinking in barracks, disrespect to cadet officers, breaking VMI regulations).
Lack of Credit, RVA Edition
by Jon Baliles City Hall has spent the last few months trying to fix the meals tax fiasco where they were charging restaurants thousands and tens of thousands of dollars in penalties and interest that accrued that the restaurants never knew about and the city never made any attempt to contact them that the bills were ballooning.
Riley Gaines: Role Model
At a fundraising luncheon for Del. Anne Ferrell Tata at the Princess Anne Country Club on Thursday, Gaines told the enthusiastic crowd of more than 200 women that her plans to go to dental school were postponed and ultimately abandoned after she found herself leading the fight to preserve single-sex spaces for females. She now travels around the country, reminding Americans that Title IX was crafted to protect women’s spaces.
No, Virginia Beach Did NOT Cut Taxes
Not a chance they would do that. Too many festivals and projects to fund! By reducing the rate by 2 cents, they actually RAISED taxes on almost every single property owner in the city. Virginia Beach city government has a media relations department. It would be nice if the media challenged the spin now and then. Want a laugh?
Virginia Beach Budget Will Lower Your Standard of Living
When Councilman John Moss narrowly lost his seat on City Council in a 2022 three-way race, Virginia Beach lost the lone elected official who actually understood municipal budgeting. Moss could be counted on to make city budgeteers squirm as he peppered them with intelligent questions about why they continually funded vacant city jobs and then used the surplus as a slush fund for the pet projects of city cronies.
Frosted Fame in Chesterfield
by Jon Baliles The Chesterfield County weekly newsletter featured a great story last week about Bailey Sheetz, a 13-year old Chester resident who is now on a first-name basis with Jerry Seinfeld and Melissa McCarthy in Hollywood. Sheetz made his movie debut in Seinfeld’s new Netflix movie “Unfrosted,” the satirical comedy about the launch of what we now know and love as the Pop-Tart.
Mother’s Day in Virginia
by Kerry Dougherty It all began in 2020. Our annual Mother’s Day escape. Four years ago Ralph Northam’s reign of Covid despotism was underway and we were desperate to shake off the suffocating restrictions he imposed on a weekly basis.
Spying in Salem
by Scott Dreyer On March 9, 2010, in the heated struggle to approve the controversial “Obamacare” legislation (aka “Affordable Care Act”), then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) made national headlines when she tried to support the bill and remarked, “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it….” Pelosi’s line comes to mind regarding the roiling debate in Salem about proposed surveillance cameras that may (or may not) be installed at some yet-unclarified...
Parking Decks, Debt, & Trap Doors
by Jon Baliles On Wednesday afternoon at 3:00pm in City Council Chambers, City Council will vote and approve the plan presented by the Mayor and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) to allow Richmond to issue $170 million in bonds to pay for the new baseball stadium on ten acres that will be surrounded by about 57 acres of new development built out over the next decade plus.
Ignoring FOIA?
by Joe Fitzgerald I’ve wondered since college, if not high school, what happens when a public body decides to just ignore the Freedom of Information Act. I don’t know if that’s what the Rockingham County School Board is doing right now, but if they are, the criticism might be just the cost of doing business. It’s not Hell to pay. It’s Hell to pay off before moving on to the next liberal interference in their drive to replace education professors with City Elders.
Virginia Is Not California. Or New York.
When the weather turned wet on Friday, these delicate revolutionaries defied no-tent orders and began unpacking their nylon shelters, pointing to an old UVA guideline that seemed to exempt recreational tents from the no-tent rule. As if this were an outdoor club on a nature retreat. Please. According to The Washington Post, the Hamas cheerleaders in the tents were warned Saturday morning to pack up or face the consequences.
RVA Car Tax Elevator: Going Up!
by Jon Baliles A reader alerted us this week that if you have not yet gotten your personal property tax bill (car tax) from the city of Richmond, you soon will — and it will be notably higher than last year unless you bought a newer model of drive a jalopy. The city receives roughly $16.7 million per year from the state to provide for car tax relief originally established by the state in 1998 (which is a whole other topic for another day).
Fairness + Accountability = Thriving City
by Jon Baliles The city of Richmond seems to be trying to plug all of the holes in its boat, also known as the U.S.S. Meals Tax Fiasco, that has been taking on water for months. It seems that the city is finally wiping out the erroneous meals tax payments and interest they had charged numerous restaurant accounts in recent years, that often amounted to tens of thousands of dollars, without ever telling them the bills were so enormous.
Congress Values Names More Than Housing for Service Members
by Donald Smith “Removing the last vestiges of Confederate history from the U.S. military, including renaming nine Army posts, will cost more than $62 million, a congressional commission said Tuesday.” That quote is from Alex Horton’s Washington Post article on the recommendations of the Naming Commission, dated September 13th, 2022.
Unmask the Death-To-America Rioters
by Kerry Dougherty It’s time. Time to burn the last foul-smelling remnant of the Ralph Northam regime. Actually, it’s long past time to once again enforce an important part of the Code of Virginia: 18.2-422. “Prohibition of wearing masks in…any public place.
Beach College Weekend Was a Dud: The Good News & The Bad.
by Kerry Dougherty Talk about spinning until you’re dizzy, get a load of the local coverage of last weekend’s taxpayer-subsidized Audacity Oceanfront Concerts: Describing the anemic “crowds” as “smaller-than-expected” the Virginian-Pilot added “That’s not to say those who attended didn’t have a good time.” Oh please.
Greedy Cities and Speeding Ticket Chicanery
by Kerry Dougherty Hire more traffic cops. At the very least hire Virginia companies to fleece Virginia drivers. That’s the advice I have for Chesapeake and Suffolk where instead of sending cops with radar guns out to catch speeders, they’ve hired out-of-state vendors with cameras. Worse, according to attorney and former Del. Tim Anderson who’s filed suit to stop the practice, the cities allow the vendors – did I mention they were out-of-state? – to impersonate cities when collecting fines.
Freebees Aren’t Free
by Kerry Dougherty I can’t be the only Virginia Beach taxpayer sick of watching my real estate taxes climb every year while the city council wastes money on pricey gimmicks like “free” Tesla rides for residents and visitors to the city. For two years we’ve picked up the tab for a small fleet of Teslas to be summoned to haul swells and drunks around the oceanfront. The first year, the misnamed “Freebee” program cost taxpayers $500,000. Last year the project cost $1.3 million.
The Budget Do-Over: A Game of Chicken?
by Jock Yellott Speaking off-the-cuff at a Charlottesville/Albemarle Bar Association lunch on April 18, 2024, Senator Creigh Deeds offered some pointed remarks about Governor Youngkin. The Governor and the General Assembly had just the day before agreed to scrap the budget and the Governor’s proposed amendments and start over from scratch in May, averting a crisis. Youngkin’s more than 200 proposed budget amendments are evidence of a CEO mentality, Deeds observed.
State Legislatures Control Budgets - Virginia’s More Than Most
by David J. Toscano For over a month, Virginia’s legislature and governor have been embroiled in a “two scorpions in a bottle” fight over the new biennial budget, which must be passed by June 30, 2024, to fund the government. Last Wednesday, each of them loosened the cork in the carafe.
Diamonds Aren’t Forever
by Jon Baliles The entire saga of the development of the Diamond District project in Richmond has come full circle in the last 18 months as Mayor Levar Stoney, desperate for an economic development win after the failure of his Navy Hill boondoggle and two failed casino referendums, has rounded the bases trying to get a baseball stadium built before the franchise was going to be moved by the powers at Major League Baseball (MLB).
Fairfax Spends More, Teaches Less
by Arthur Purves (Editor’s note: Arthur Purves, president of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance, addressed the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Feb. 13, 2024. His remarks, with updated numbers, are posted below.) At church I get to ask students and parents around Vienna about our schools. The feedback is positive, and we appreciate your dedicated teachers and administrators. However, as FCPS spending goes up, achievement goes down.
Are Nonchalant Adults Responsible For School Shootings?
In fact, according to a civil suit filed by Ms. Zwerner who’s seeking $40 million in damages, the shooter was a persistent discipline problem. He’d been kicked out of kindergarten and sent to another school after he reportedly tried to strangle and choke his teacher. On the day of the shooting, Zwerner reportedly told Parker that the child was in a “violent mood.” Yet nothing was done.
Youngkin Kicks the Can Down the Road on Affirmative Action
by Jock Yellott By partisan votes, the Democrat controlled General Assembly presented Republican Governor Youngkin with HB 1404 mandating affirmative action in Virginia government contracts. Bacon’s Rebellion published a piece that listed the bill as a veto candidate. One of those that would “have the greatest negative economic impact on the Commonwealth.” But instead of a veto, at the 11th hour on Monday April 8, 2024 Governor Youngkin proposed amending it.
An Epidemic of Stars and Medals Inflation
by Thomas M. Moncure, Jr. We live in a time when every kid gets a trophy just for participating. Grade inflation has made C’s obsolete … where we still have grades. Awards shows seemingly appear on TV every week. And – if the last session is any indication – every person and organization in Virginia is eligible for a commending resolution from the General Assembly. (See, Commendations) An inflation of symbols and merit has particularly afflicted the military.
New Novel: Midnight’s Broken Toll
by Joe Fitzgerald All politics is personal. So it’s an open question why Mickey MacNamara runs for the state Senate. Is it to win the job or to hurt the man who holds the seat? The incumbent had a hand in the failures of Mickey’s father; Mickey has the time and resources to try and make him pay. The opportunity to deliver the killing blow falls into Mickey’s lap late in the game. His October surprise ripples through his life and the lives of those around him.
Eclipsing Speech in RVA
by Jon Baliles Last month, City Council applied a few new stringent guardrails to public comment at Council meetings by altering their Rules of Procedure under the guise of “streamlining” meetings. Now, I am all for free speech, but I also understand that people showing up to Council meetings to push for a ceasefire, fight world hunger, or colonize Mars (i.e., things Council can’t do anything about) take up valuable time on issues that Council should be addressing (or trying to address).
Yes, MSNBC Morons, Virginia IS a Border State.
by Kerry Dougherty Remember back on the night of Super Tuesday when MSNBC’s far-left host Rachel Maddow and former Biden mouthpiece Jen Psaki convulsed in laughter as they reported that the number one issue for Republican voters was the border? “Well Virginia does have a border with West Virginia,” Maddow cackled, sending the panel of unserious pundits into more gales of laughter as they mocked both conservative Virginians and West Virginians.
Remembering Larry Maddry
by Kerry Dougherty What happens when corporate bean counters drive out all of their experienced workers and replace them with fresh-faced kids right out of school? Bad things. In the case of newspapers, it means hiring reporters who are unfamiliar with the area. It means all of the curmudgeonly grammarians are gone and there’s no one around to catch mistakes in copy. And it means that when beloved newspapermen from an earlier era die, no one in the newsroom remembers them.
Small Parcel; Significant History
by Jon Baliles There was some great news last week as the Capital Region Land Conservancy (CRLC) scored another big win on behalf of the city when they announced the successfully negotiated purchase of 4.5 acres along the James River from Norfolk Southern near Ancarrow’s Landing that will be be placed into the James River Park System conservation easement and be transferred to the city of Richmond and become part of the park system.
Time for a Fairfax County Salary Freeze
by Arthur Purves Local government compensation is better than private sector. On April 30 the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will vote on next year’s (FY2025) tax increase. The supervisors have advertised a 7% increase in real estate and car taxes to help pay for $360 million in raises for 38,000 school and county employees. School raises are 6% and county raises range from 4% to 10%. By comparison, the county says that inflation is 2.5%.
VMI Eschews Standards of Excellence, Devalues Diploma
by Joseph D. Elie As an alumnus living in Florida, I have a dearth of information about what is happening at the Virginia Military Institute on a day-to-day basis. I see the superficial social media postings from the public relations department, the Superintendent, and the Commandant; but I crave the scuttlebutt that tells the truer story.
The Letter
by Joe Fitzgerald “Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane.” Depending on your age, you may think of this as the opening to the Box Tops biggest and most iconic hit. If you don’t follow pop music, you may think any song that begins with “gimme” might be from a news story about a county school board chair.
The Cost of Not Voting
by Joe Fitzgerald If I were a more articulate man, I could explain what sorry shape the governments of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County are in right now. Rational people have little doubt about the county. The biggest government expense, the school system, is currently being run by people who do not know what they are doing. That’s one possibility anyway. The other is that they’re causing randomly divisive chaos on purpose.
Marriage Promotes ‘White Supremacy,’ George Mason Professor Says
by Jerome Woehrle “Marriage fundamentalism” promotes “white supremacy,” according to a professor at Virginia’s largest university. “Marriage fundamentalism, like structural racism, is a key structuring element of White heteropatriarchal supremacy,” wrote George Mason University Professor Bethany Letiecq in the Journal of Marriage and Family.
San Francisco’s “Algebra for None” Policy and How Virginia Avoided a Similar Fate
by Todd Truitt On March 5, 84% of San Francisco voters voted in favor of a referendum for San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) to bring back Algebra for 8th graders, overturning their prior ill-fated math reform (a “no middle schooler let ahead” math policy). What does this vote have to do with Virginia? The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) had initially proposed a similar policy for Virginia as part of its Virginia Math Pathways Initiative (VMPI) in 2021.
Another City Hall Fiasco in RVA
by Jon Baliles City Hall suffered another self-inflicted artillery wound last week when within a span of four days they were sued for allegedly violating state Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) laws, pledged a stout defense against the claims, and then announced they would be changing the way City Hall handles FOIA requests.
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