Richmond Free Press © 2015 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 24 NO. 38
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
www.richmondfreepress.com
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Serena loses at U.S. Open, but remains a champion
SEPTEMBER 17-19, 2015
Show them the money 6 local black businesses expect to cash in on UCI races By Joey Matthews
Lester Johnson, co-owner of Mama J’s Kitchen in Downtown, set the wheels in motion last year to try to earn a piece of the economic pie that the 2015 UCI Road World Championships is expected to generate when cyclists from across the world roll into town this weekend. “We really wanted to be a part of it,” Mr. Johnson told the Free Press this week. So Mr. Johnson said he submitted a bid by the popular black-owned eatery to Richmond 2015, organizers of last spring’s USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships to cater meals. The bid was approved and Mama J’s made 1,800 box lunches for volunteers who worked at the college championships from May 2 through 4. The strategy was simple: Mr. Johnson wanted to work with officials with Richmond 2015 early because they would be selecting vendors for the bigger, nine-day UCI Road World Championships in Richmond Sept. 19 through 27. “We wanted to get in front of the people we knew would be making decisions for the UCI bike races,” he said. Fast forward to this weekend. Mama J’s is contracted by Richmond 2015 to serve 2,700 meals to about 900 people who will watch the final three days of the races Friday, Sept. 25, through Sunday, Sept. 27, from a VIP tent on Libby Hill in the East End. Mama J’s is one of at least six black-owned businesses performing work for the UCI Road World Championships, the Free Press has learned. The others are marketing firms Johnson Inc. and West Cary Group, Ty’s Hauling and Paving, Kleane Kare cleaning services and the Astyra Corp. staffing agency. Owners of the six businesses declined to say how much they are being paid by Richmond 2015. Please turn to A4
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Mama J’s Kitchen co-owners Lester Johnson, left, and his mother, Velma R. Johnson, are working with Russell Bennett of Outdoor Affair Catering to provide food at the Libby Hill VIP tent during the UCI Road World Championships.
Going to the races: A quick guide to the UCI Championship bike races By Thomas Kidd Team Rwanda’s senior rider, Nathan Byukusenge, far right, has qualified to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janiero. Team Rwanda is among several teams from African nations expected to compete in the 2015 UCI Road World Championships in Richmond. Photo by T. Kisambira
The world will be in our front yard starting this week as cyclists with the 2015 UCI Road World Championships race through Richmond. Beginning Saturday, Sept. 19, through Sunday, Sept. 27, more than 1,000 world-class cyclists representing 75 countries will be competing for international honors. If you are among the expected throng of thousands of spectators who will line Metro Richmond’s streets, or if you elect to join the more than
300 million viewers online or by television, here are a few facts to help you to fully enjoy and understand the nine-day event. The Importance to Richmond
The UCI Road World Championships, or “Worlds” as they call it, is one of cycling’s elite events. The international competition began in 1921, in the first host city of Copenhagen, Denmark. Now in its 94th year, this is only the second time that a United States city has been selected to host the
event. The first time was in 1986, when Colorado Springs, Colo., hosted the races. Other host cities have included Zurich, Rome, Montreal and Barcelona, Spain. The Races
The event is comprised of 12 different races, with each race crowning a world champion in the event. The races will be held on four courses. Two of the four courses start at the Greater Richmond Convention Please turn to A4
City hands keys to port to state authority By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Jobs, jobs, jobs — that’s the vision being conjured up as Richmond hands the keys to its 120-acre port to the state of Virginia for 40 years. On Monday, the same night as Richmond City Council gave a thumbs up to a proposal for a freestanding children’s hospital on the Boulevard, the nine-member governing body also unanimously approved the award of a fourdecade lease of the shipping facility to the state. The hope: That the VPA will do for Richmond what it has done for another inland port in Front Royal — spark major job growth by attracting new businesses seeking port services. The VPA, best known for operating the state’s main ports in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News, has been in charge of Richmond’s neglected port off Commerce Road in South Richmond since 2011 when it gained a five-year lease. The state authority beat out two other bidders for the long-term lease, including PCI of Virginia LLC, which currently operates the city’s port under a contract with VPA. Councilman Jonathan T. Baliles, 1st District, cited the Front Royal example in supporting the deal.
Mr. Baliles said the Front Royal port took time to develop, but has taken off since 2002. Today, that operation has created 8,000 jobs by attracting 39 companies that collectively have invested $749 million to set up operations, he said. That’s the kind of job growth that Richmond needs, he said. Councilwoman Reva M. Trammell, 8th District, who represents the port area, also expressed delight at the prospect that a revitalized port could generate employment opportunities. “That’s what everyone talks about — the need for more jobs,” she said. Mayor Dwight C. Jones pushed the 40-year deal, describing it as an important element in the city’s efforts to fight poverty. He, along with area business groups, envisions the VPA deal as generating new investment and providing “access to good jobs, an important ingredient to mitigate poverty” that grips one in four city residents. He said a revitalized port under VPA control should ultimately yield a bounty of jobs in logistics, transportation, warehousing and processing, creating opportunities for more residents “to participate in Richmond’s resurgence.” The city has given the neglected port area more priority after spending $13.5 million to
relocate its fleet of cars and trucks and repair facilities from the Boulevard area to Commerce Road in the past three years. During the next few years, the state and city plan to spend least $18 million to improve Commerce Road and Deepwater Terminal Road to better accommodate tractor trailers and portassociated vehicles. VPA also is promising to keep the port dredged to handle larger ships, modernize and enlarge aging warehouses and replace the aging crane that unloads containers.
Meanwhile, city officials will be seeking to attract businesses that could benefit from the port to 14 acres of vacant land on the port’s property and 300 acres of available property on nearby Commerce Road. City Council also voted 9-0 to join Mayor Jones in endorsing the concept of replacing The Diamond baseball stadium on the Boulevard with a modern, freestanding children’s hospital to improve services for ill children. Please turn to A8
From ‘Mumbles’ to ‘MVP’
Petersburg basketball icon Moses Malone dies at 60 By Fred Jeter
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
‘Journey for Justice’ in Richmond Marchers on America’s “Journey for Justice” make their way along U.S. 1 in Ashland on route to Washington. The nearly 1,000-mile trek, organized by the national NAACP for justice, equality and voting rights, came through Richmond last week, where a rally and teach-ins were held. Please turn to B2 for coverage and more photos.
Moses Eugene Malone, the Petersburg native and basketball icon whose talent took him directly from high school to the pros, died of apparent heart failure while sleeping Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015. The three-time NBA Most Valuable Player died in Norfolk, where he was to participate in a charity golf tournament with the Still Hope Foundation, an organization founded by NBA referee Tony Brothers and his wife, Monica, to assist single mothers in Hampton Roads. Mr. Malone, 60, who resided in Houston, had been treated days earlier for an irregular heartbeat and was wearing a heart monitor when he was found unresponsive in a Norfolk hotel room. The state medical examiner’s office said Mr. Malone died of natural causes and listed those causes as hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Ranked with the greatest of all time, Mr. Malone was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001, the first year he was eligible for the honor. But before gaining celebrity status, he was just another youngster — albeit a towering one — grow-
Moses Malone stands head and shoulders above his fellow Petersburg High School classmates in this June 1974 photo. He was the most heavily recruited high school basketball player in the nation, going directly from high school to the pros.
Please turn to A8 Associated Press photo