Regular RVA contributor and friend of the magazine John Lewis Morgan, of onewayrichmond.com, scored quite the scoop this week, landing a 20-minute interview with Richmond City Mayor Dwight C. Jones. As a longtime Richmond booster and someone who is always informed on a wide variety of local issues, I'm sure John had plenty of questions he wanted to ask Mayor Jones, but as his time was limited, he decided to focus on the recent problems in the underground music scene here in Richmond, specifically that of overzealous enforcement by CAPS (Community Assisted Public Safety). John begins by pointing out that, even though CAPS was originally formed to fight urban blight and enforce drug and building safety laws, the majority of their recent actions have been focused on collecting the city's tax on admission to public events. The discussion proceeds from there, with John saying a lot of things to the mayor that I'm sure a lot of us are thinking, focusing on building a better relationship between the city government and its underground music scene. The mayor's responses are equally interesting, helping to illuminate the thinking behind recent policies of enforcement by CAPS and other city government agencies. This is must reading for anyone who is interested in the way issues relating to Richmond's music scene are being discussed within the walls of City Hall, and if nothing else, John's work in making this interview happen should be inspiration to us all to make our voices heard and our opinions count where the way this city is run is concerned.
CLICK HERE TO READ ONE WAY RICHMOND'S INTERVIEW WITH MAYOR DWIGHT JONES