RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – Jackpot! Here, only on WTVR.com and just for you, the results from a private poll taken for Mayor Jones on his Shockoe Stadium plan. How did I get access to it? As James Bond might say, “if I told you, I would have to kill you.”
But I can say this, it proved easy. I did what the Mayor’s aides should have done. I did what the Mayor’s pro-stadium posse should have done. I did what City Council and the Richmond Times-Dispatch should have done to get the results.
I did what WRIC and WWBT and the Richmond Free Press and Style Magazine and WRVA and WRIR should have done. Bingo! I went right to the source. That’s right, I went right to the Mayor’s own private source.
I went right out and talked to the people of Richmond, the way a Mayor and City Councilperson is supposed to do. How else do you get a poll of what the people are thinking, but to talk with the people?
Yes, I know this a “radical” idea in Richmond today among our elected leaders.
“Say what PG? You mean you actually go out and speak with the people, like Lincoln and Roosevelt and Kennedy and Dr. King use to do?”
Shocking, I know! Someone who actually gives a damn what the people think! How retro!
I confess, I actually think the Mayor and City Council should give the people their City Charter right to vote on the Stadium. The Mayor and City Council don’t want to do it.
So I am trying to do it the only way now possible, along with the citizen’s group.
In that connection, I bet I spoke to more citizens in an open, free “tell me what you think” discussion THEN THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL COMBINED last week.
Like Abe and Frankie and John and Martin, I had a real conversation with real people, not the phony “photo Ops” of today, the staged events, staged town meetings, staged this or that.
There are no aides hovering around, no entourage, no titles, nothing but me and you: whatever you want to say you get to say. Now it is true I am there to ask for your signature to put the two Stadium referendums on the ballot this November.
But once I explain all that, then the conversation goes where you want it, and believe me, the people of Richmond have been giving me an ear full. Two ears full.
Earth to Mayor Jones and City Council, you really need to get out more! You folks are tearing this city apart with how you have handled – and continue to handle – the Jones/City Council Shockoe/Development issue.
But you say, “Paul, your Mayor’s Poll isn’t scientific in the strict statistical sense.”
Yes, the Goldman Poll will not satisfy a PHD thesis, but it will satisfy doctorate requirements for those of us who have run an historic winning campaign or two in their day.
Just come out with me this Friday night, anytime Saturday or Sunday evening and see if the Goldman Poll isn’t right on. I would be happy to share the full results with the Mayor, but between us, I am the only one apparently interested in what the people think.
Paul Goldman is in no way affiliated with WTVR. His comments are his own, and do not reflect the views of WTVR or any related entity. Neither WTVR nor any of its employees or agents participated in any way with the preparation of Mr. Goldman’s comments.
