It appears as though the collective protest/hacker group known as Anonymous has taken a rather parochial interest in Richmond’s proposed minor league baseball stadium in Shockoe Bottom. In a letter to Mayor Dwight Jones and the Richmond City Council, the group issues a demand for the project to cease…or else:
We demand that the city permanently halt attempts by its white landowners to build a ballpark in this critically important district and commit fully and transparently to enacting recommendations by the Richmond Trail of Enslaved Africans Commission for a heritage site in Shockoe Bottom.
There’s a lot of racially charged rhetoric in the letter (the text of which you can read at the link). But Richmond residents have seen this movie before: the local Babbittry decides it wants to move the baseball stadium downtown. The current location — on the Boulevard — is simply too old/cramped/frumpy for their tastes. A stadium in Shockoe Bottom, though, would transform downtown from the gritty, grungy mess it is today into an urban oasis suited for families, shoppers, and much more. Yes, some historic sites would get dinged in the process and yes, there is the matter of slave burial grounds. But apply sufficient grease to the local pols, and those problems disappear. Plus: they will gladly provide whatever taxpayer funds may be needed to build the project.
The last time this issue was seriously considered, it was throttled by then-Mayor Doug Wilder. That plans for the new stadium continue to percolate is rather troubling. Then again, this is Richmond, where a combination edifice and inferiority complex stalks the streets, boardrooms and council chambers of the great and good.
The projects that have resulted — a much scaled-down arts complex, the convention center, the now-demolished Sixth Street Marketplace and the still kicking idea to bring electric trolleys back to RVA — have not exactly been smashing successes.
Will a generic threat from Anonymous give the local electeds pause? We shall see. The threat itself doesn’t add much new to the discussion except the possibility of digital mischief. That will likely change nothing, and may actually serve to stiffen the spines of those dedicated to the baseball stadium project (a very Richmond thing to do).
But it adds the kind of drama that usually skips River City and alights elsewhere (to the chagrin of the area’s boosters). So congratulations, Richmond. You’re finally getting the attention you’ve long pined for. Not the kind you were seeking, and certainly not what your marketing plans envisioned. But it’s a start. Take that, Charlotte!
