Saturday, March 22, 2014

The Citizens Referendum Group

In Saturday’s issue of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Graham Moomaw writes about a new petition drive associated with the 10-year-old baseball stadium issue.
A group seeking a voter referendum related to Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ proposed Shockoe Bottom development plan has filed paperwork with the Richmond Circuit Court to begin collecting petition signatures, said former state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Goldman, who is spearheading the effort.
Click here to read the entire article. 

The name of the ad hoc group that Paul Goldman is working with is the Citizens Referendum Group. I am a member of the group, as well. At a meeting today Goldman handed out copies of the petition. A brief discussion of how to proceed ensued.

It should be noted that the group’s plan is to stay on a positive course, without attacking anybody. Sometimes honest people with good intentions disagree. However, while this group is made up of people who have varied interests and opinions, they stand united by a commonly held belief that addressing the baseball stadium issue through democracy in action is now the best course for Richmond.

Since this brouhaha is over 10 years old most people in Richmond who give a hoot about baseball, Shockoe Bottom, local political priorities, and related stadium issues, have already made up their minds. So, with its petition drive the job of the Citizens Referendum Group will not be that of a salesman. Instead, it will more like a farmer harvesting a ripened crop.

Plenty of signatures are out there; more than enough. They just need to be collected.

Then there’s this: A citizens referendum will get the struggling members of City Council off the hook much better than whatever might come out of another consultant’s study. The definitive results of a plebiscite in November, however it would turn out, would give the side that prevails a stamp of approval that shouldn’t be questioned. 

More news about this developing story will be posted here soon.

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