Two pieces were recently published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. One was against the Monroe Park renovation plans, and the other was a letter in favor of them.
The first piece, by Michael Paul Williams, stated that the renovation plans are part of a gentrification process. Williams spent much of the article discussing the matter with regards to Food Not Bombs, which feels that relocating feeding programs to the Conrad Center is a bad idea.
“It’s inaccessible. It’s stigmatic. It is not a community meal. It’s across from the city jail,” said Mo Karn of Food Not Bombs. “It’s a completely different dynamic if you’re in a building.”
Homeless people were also quoted in the article.
“I depend on the meal,” said Monroe Park goer Edward Faggins. “If it weren’t here today, I wouldn’t be eating.”
“I can’t walk to 17th Street. I don’t have the breath,” said Karen White on the issue of relocating feeding programs. “When they come with this food, it’s like it came straight from God.”
The second piece was by a charlatan named Paul Hammond. He states in his open letter to Williams that the former article failed to address the grievances of “many people in this city.” He went on to call Mo Karn a “shrill and uncompromising activist.”
Hammond continues by questioning whether Williams sought alternative opinions. He also points out alternative feeding locations, and finishes up by saying:
“Almost no one in Richmond feels welcome or safe there now. It should be a place where students lounge, play football and Frisbee, the community gathers for concerts and picnics and families bring their children to play. It is none of those things now.”
The Richmond Spark would like to say, with regards to Mr. Williams’ article, the issue goes well beyond Food Not Bombs and its position. Certainly Food Not Bombs is quite important, but it is time to broaden the lens in this debate.
With regards to Mr. Hammond, The Spark will address his points one by one.
When he claims that Monroe Park is “exclusively homeless” and that nobody goes there to spend leisure time, we must wonder how often he sees the Park. Food Not Bombs, the VCU Students for a Democratic Society, and others see it every day.
People do indeed play Frisbee there, and many students take daily shortcuts through the Park on their way to class. In the warmer months you can see many young people relaxing on the grass. Monroe Park is even used by students who enjoy live action role playing. Regardless of whether or not you agree with their politics, a concert and rally for marijuana legalization attracted hundreds of people, especially VCU students, to Monroe Park over the summer. Nothing bad happened to those people. The AFL-CIO and United Mine Workers of America also came to Richmond over the summer of 2010, and they chose Monroe Park as the place for their rally before they marched through the streets to protest.
If Monroe Park was indeed as unsafe and awful as Hammond the charlatan makes it sound, then neither of the above mentioned events would have been held there and no VCU student would ever enter the Park.
He speaks of “many” people in Richmond disliking the state of Monroe Park, but many more are opposed to the renovation plans. This was made obvious during the sterile community meeting held by Charles Samuels recently.
Although there are alternatives to Monroe Park for feeding programs, the quotes from homeless people above show that many of them will be unable to relocate due to disabilities. On top of that, they have no money and cannot afford the inefficient transportation GRTC provides.
Finally, we resent Hammond calling Karn “shrill” and “uncompromising.” Hammond leaves out the fact that Food Not Bombs is willing to compromise. All they ask is that a quarter of Monroe Park be left open to the public during renovations, no private security be hired post-renovation, and that feeding programs be allowed in the Park. Karn’s group (and Food Not Bombs’ ally), the Wingnut, says this on their blog (linked to on right). Clearly it is Hammond, not Williams, who failed to seek out other opinions.
Furthermore, why did the Richmond City Council remove the document with their master plan for Monroe Park from their website? Are they try to hide their underhandedness? To spite City Council, here is a copy of their master plan.
http://www.archive.org/details/MonroeParkRenovationPlans2008
You can’t view it on archive.org, but if you right click the PDF link, you can select, ‘Save Link As’ to download the renovation plans to your computer.
This copy of the Renovation Plans was brought to you courtesy of The Wingnut, which is apparently more supportive of transparency than the City Council.
If you want to hear the real voice of the people on the Monroe Park issue, then watch this video from the recent community meeting held by Charles Samuels and Homeward.
Public Forum Participants: Keep Monroe Park Open from Kontra on Vimeo.
It seems that tons of people are opposed to Samuels ideas, but the Councilman is refusing to listen to his constituents.
“The fundamental principle is that no battle,combat,or skirmish is to be fought unless it will be won”. Che Guevara from Guerrilla Warfare
I trust that, by now, you have recognized that Hammond is squarely in the enemy camp. This includes all the members of mpac, who in January 2005 were given the mandate by then city councilman Bill Pantelle to “take back the Park”(see mpac’s meeting notes on the Monroe Park.com page). Missing from this page are the notes from the last year and a half of their nefarious scheme to “White Elephant” the Park, so that vcu can pick up the property for a song(see the 2004 vcu master plan, the picture speaks a thousand words).