Satisfaction and Reality

In 2009 a handful of boosters/activists for baseball in the Bottom worked tirelessly to promote it with their comments under every article published online. They didn’t miss many blog posts, either. Mirage-like, they pretended to be many people. They routinely said the citizens who opposed their pet scheme were ignorant curmudgeons, geezers against fun, etc.

Nonetheless, they failed.

Five years later, the same sort of propagandists for privatizing profits -- while socializing risk! --  have been doing basically the same thing. Some are exactly the same characters. Again, they say they don’t want to hear about the failure of 6th St. Marketplace, etc. Again, they blow off the rather obvious truth that most Richmonders don't want Shockoe Stadium. Once again, they vehemently oppose holding a referendum, saying such an exercise in democracy would unleash anarchy, or worse.

While those busy boosters for Shockoe Stadium will go on bad-mouthing a referendum forever, any fair-minded person in touch with reality knows why. Furthermore, whether it’s initiated by five members of City Council, or a petition drive by citizens, a stadium referendum remains the only path to settling this longstanding debate in a satisfying way that will have staying power.