Ballpark is bad fit for Bottom, activist argues

By: Will Jones | Times-Dispatch
Published: May 10, 2009

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Jean Wight joined the fight to save a historic building in Shockoe Bottom soon after moving to Richmond about 10 years ago.

"There's a great immediacy when you live here. You don't need to live here all your life" to get involved, she said.

Wight, who lives in Church Hill, is now helping to wage a preservation fight to keep a minor-league ballpark out of Shockoe Bottom.

She agrees the area's gritty, vacant lots should be developed but argues that it should occur naturally, even if slowly, and in a way that builds on the area's history.

A ballpark or some other "mass entertainment venue" wouldn't be authentic or necessary, she said.

"You don't lose your sense of place and lose your competitive advantage," she said. "This isn't Disneyland."

Wight worked as a lawyer and in international banking before moving to Richmond. She now owns a small business that buys antiques for interior decorators, and she volunteers for a human-rights commission in Guatemala.

She's also served on Richmond's Commission of Architectural Review and its Urban Design Committee.

Wight said some area residents have encouraged her to run this fall for the City Council's open 7th District seat. She said she's not interested but believes the East End suffers from a void in leadership.

"I just find her a real asset in anything I've worked with her," said Mary Hunton, a member of the Commission of Architectural Review. "In a lot of ways, I think she's one of the unsung heroes. She walks the walk."

Wight said her interest in urban-development issues stems from having lived in Europe, including London, Munich, Brussels and Paris. She said Richmond, like those old cities, can evolve with its history intact if the right decisions are made.

"That's prime real estate," she said of Shockoe Bottom. "It doesn't need a magnet. It just needs the economy."

Wight said she's skeptical of publicly financed sports facilities in general and said The Diamond did little to spur development along North Boulevard.

She argues that it's only a matter of time until high-speed rail comes to Main Street Station and transforms Shockoe Bottom and Richmond into a bedroom community for Washington. She notes nearby public investments in the expansion of VCU Medical Center and the proposed overhaul of the Richmond City Jail.

"It's worth waiting to do it right, particularly if it involves tax dollars," she said.

Wight and her husband, Jonathan, live in the 1810 Ann Carrington House on East Grace Street, across from Bellevue Elementary School and less than a block from St. John's Church. They've recently completed an eight-year restoration of the home.

"I'm living proof that historic properties attract investment," she said.

Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or wjones@timesdispatch.com.