Freedom Classic this Saturday A8, B2
Richmond Free Press © 2019 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 28 NO. 3
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
www.richmondfreepress.com
‘Pathetic’
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Meet chair of Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker Educational Foundation B1
January 17-19, 2019
School advocate Paul Goldman fumes over mayor’s school funding resolution that he claims does not meet City Charter requirement
By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Mayor Levar M. Stoney appears to be backpedaling on his pledge to meet a new City Charter requirement to provide “a fully funded plan to modernize” Richmond’s decaying school buildings. He did not “formally present” his full-blown plan to City Council Monday night as the charter provision requires, nor has he met another requirement to “provide an opportunity for public participation” in the development of the plan. Instead, Mayor Stoney quietly submitted to City Council a three-paragraph resolution that calls on the council to endorse his idea of using the city’s borrowing capacity over 20 years to fully pay for $800 million in school renovation and construction
projects by 2048. The mayor was not available for comment. But his chief of staff, Lincoln Saunders, and press spokesman, Jim Nolan, separately told the Free Press the mayor had not considered speaking to the council and that he regarded the resolution drafted by the City Attorney’s Office as meeting his obligation for a financing plan. Mayor Stoney While members of City Council have remained mum on the resolution, advocates for modernizing the city’s schools disagree. “Pathetic,” said Paul Goldman, leader of the Put Schools First campaign and the creator of the charter provision that
won 85 percent voter support in 2017 and overwhelming approval from the General Assembly last year. Mr. Goldman has spent 13 years championing the idea that Richmond students need and deserve modern schools as a matter of justice and fairness. He is dismayed that the mayor believes he has met the charter requirements by “presenting a piece of paper Mr. Goldman that, if passed, would not be binding on him, future mayors or future councils. This is not a plan — just another empty promise,” Mr. Goldman fumed. “No one who reads the charter provision would believe that this kind of flimsy resolution would meet his obligation to offer a fully funded plan.” Mr. Goldman, a former chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party, helped create Richmond’s at-large mayor position first won by former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder in the November 2004 election. He also helped the former governor become the first Please turn to A4
Failure to deliver
Residents describe litany of problems hampering basic mail service By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Clement Britt
Happy 90th Birthday, Dr. King! Richmond Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras, right, speaks at the dedication Tuesday of a new mural honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that is located on the entryway to the Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge and adjacent to the Martin Luther King Jr. Pre-School Learning Center at 900 Mosby St. in the East End. The dedication was held on what would have been Dr. King’s 90th birthday. It is the second King mural on the site done by U.N.I.T.Y. Street Project; the first was completed in July. Muralists Sir James Thornhill and Hamilton Glass joined in the dedication ceremony, along with students from Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School who worked on the project.
Richmond native Corey Blount hits world music at No.1 By Michele Canty
Richmond native Corey Blount is a good musician — so good, in fact, that a song he co-wrote, produced and performs on is No. 1 in New Zealand, Australia and Kurdistan. It also hit the Top 10 on the charts in The Netherlands. And on Anghami, a streaming service big in the Middle East and Northern Africa, it soared to No. 1 in Tunisia, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates. “It shot to No. 1 on Anghami in the first couple of days. It even topped Ariana Grande on Anghami, and I thought, ‘This is so crazy!’ ” Mr. Blount, 27, said in a recent telephone interview from his home in Los Angeles. The hit, “Where Do We Go From Here,”
By Jeremy M. Lazarus
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Groups using Super Bowl spotlight to push against Confederate statues ATLANTA A coalition of civil rights groups in Atlanta is using this year’s Super Bowl to help kick off a renewed “war on the Confederacy,” in a fight to remove Confederate monuments around the nation. Last week, the groups announced a
Richardson gets legal help in action to remove Agelasto from office
the world, the Super Bowl,” said Gerald Griggs of the Georgia NAACP. “We are calling for the removal of all monuments to the Confederacy and we are prepared to bring our message directly to the world as the world descends upon Atlanta, Ga., for the purpose of celebrat-
Ava Reaves
Corey Blount works on his latest projects in a small studio set up in the Henrico County home of his mother, Taryn Blount, during his recent visit during the holidays.
planned Feb. 2 rally on the eve of the championship football game being hosted in the city. The coalition intends to bring its message to fans who will pour into Atlanta for Super Bowl LIII on Feb. 3. “There’s no better time to have this conversation — social justice conversation — than right before the largest event in
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Former 5th District City Councilman Henry W. “Chuck” Richardson said Tuesday he has hired an attorney to continue pursuing legal action to remove the district’s current representative, Councilman Parker C. Agelasto. Mr. Richardson declined to name the lawyer at a news conference he held at City Hall in which he sought to clarify his strategy for removing Mr. Agelasto from office because Mr. Agelasto has moved from the 5th District into a home in the 1st District. Mr. Agelasto In a legal petition Mr. Richardson he previously filed in Richmond Circuit Court, Mr. Richardson argued that Mr. Agelasto has vacated the council seat with his move, citing a section of state law. Mr. Agelasto, who maintains his voter registration in the 5th District, disagrees and is seeking to serve out his term, which ends in 2020. Now 70, Mr. Richardson is disappointed that the other eight current members of City Council have not acted on the matter.
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By Jeff Martin Associated Press
Jean Morris is tired of having the Forest Hill Post Office refusing to deliver packages to her South Side residence. Donna Royster is fed up with not receiving any of the letters her grandchildren keep sending her from Hawaii at her East End apartment. And Christina McGuire is annoyed that she keeps getting letters intended for someone else at her home on East Grace Street, including at least two that were supposed to be delivered to an address in Sandston in eastern Henrico County. They were among L.L. Christian/f7photoz at least 18 people who spelled out problems Donna Royster nearly wept at the they are having with postal town hall last Saturday mail delivery at a when she described the pain of not town hall meeting 4th receiving letters and photos from her grandchildren. District Congressman A. Donald McEachin hosted Saturday at the Robinson Theater Community Arts Center in Church Hill with representatives of the U.S. Postal Service. After the 90-minute session, Rep. McEachin told reporters that he wants to see improvement and will be having his staff follow up with the Postal Service and constituents to see if the issues have been resolved. With tens of thousands of addresses, he knows there can be mistakes, “but not at this level or this voluminous.”