Ex-councilman opposes baseball in Shockoe
Bob Brown / Times-Dispatch
Former richmond City Councilman Sa’ad El-Amin stood at the corner of 17th and Franklin streets in Shockoe Bottom yesterday.
Foul ball? Former City Councilman Sa’ad El-Amin formed the Society for Preservation of African-American History and Antiquities to oppose plans to build a ballpark in Shockoe Bottom. Read his essay.
• Letter to the mayor and council
• Essay on Shockoe Bottom
Former Richmond City Councilman and federal prisoner Sa'ad El-Amin has resurfaced to oppose baseball in Shockoe Bottom and to help save black-heritage sites, such as the collapsed Eggleston Hotel.
El-Amin sent a letter and an essay to Mayor Dwight C. Jones and the City Council on Sunday, making the case that the Shockoe Center ballpark project should be rejected and that much of the Bottom be reserved to memorialize the area's role during the slave trade.
The former firebrand 6th District councilman has kept a low profile since serving 32 months in prison for income-tax fraud conspiracy, but he said yesterday that he's injecting himself into the ballpark debate because city leaders are showing signs of accommodating the developers.
Last month, Jones said it may be possible for the ballpark development to co-exist with efforts to preserve the area's cultural heritage, as well as high-speed rail and a bus-transfer center at Main Street Station. The mayor challenged groups pushing each of the projects to work together to see whether differences can be resolved.
In the case of Shockoe Center, that's not possible, El-Amin said. He argues that baseball is too frivolous to mesh with the Bottom's weighty past and that the land should be reserved for a black-heritage museum and a historical district, with a re-created Lumpkin's Slave Jail and slave-auction houses.
"We don't have a single inch of ground in Richmond that's dedicated to this awful part of our history," he said.
Tammy D. Hawley, Jones' press secretary, and Del. Delores L. McQuinn, D-Richmond and chairwoman of the Richmond Slave Trail Commission, had no comment on El-Amin's correspondence. Neither did Paul W. Kreckman, who is leading the development group proposing Shockoe Center.
El-Amin said the recent collapse of the Eggleston Hotel in Jackson Ward inspired him to establish the Society for Preservation of African-American History and Antiquities. He said he intends to seek nonprofit status and use the organization to preserve and restore sites that are significant to Richmond's black history, including Shockoe Bottom, as well as the Hippodrome Theater, the Elks Lodge and the Armory in Jackson Ward.
"This is the kind of activity that has to be almost evangelical," he said.
El-Amin is the corporation's sole director and registered agent, according to the Virginia State Corporation Commission.
El-Amin was known for making incendiary remarks on race during his three terms as the council's 6th District representative. He surrendered his seat in July 2003 as he pleaded guilty to a tax-fraud conspiracy charge. He served 32 months of a 37-month prison term and was released in August 2006.
El-Amin said his time in prison helped to reset his priorities and probably saved his life. He said he entered prison with undiagnosed heart disease and underwent triple-bypass surgery while incarcerated.
After his release, El-Amin said he was impressed by Richmond's revitalization but disturbed that it hasn't extended to the majority of its residents.
"What my fear is, given the present momentum and the present inertia, it won't be long before people only hear about African-American history in the Valentine or in history books, because it's all gone," he said.
Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or
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Reader Reactions
THE DIAMOND AND MOVIELAND- A
GOOD MIX
No this is not a return to get back politics and asdf1234 is correct. As stated before the Shockoe discussion is a real estate maneuver—It has nothing
to do with baseball or entertainment. But baseball fans think it does—That’s what they want you to think. So all of the arguments that we want to hold
the City back are bogus. I want the City to think practically—not “big”—It is thinking “big” that has gotten the city into trouble before—including private efforts—such as the “Valentine Riverside” which was a multimillion dollar flop—or the City’s “Canal Walk”
which is the most underused and dismissed effort seen yet—next to the 6th Street Marketplace disaster. The stadium idea is an investment racket to energize an otherwise loser real estate
scene that is slowly being realized downtown. They want to do this at the expense of the history and uniqueness
of the neighborhood.
A revamped Diamond together with the new
Movieland complex at the other end will revive Boulevard as never before. It will also increase new business
traffic for the surrounding Broad St- Boulevard area; a b-line from the Museum and Monument Avenue. It is an ideal property that already exists as a venue for baseball-Saad is correct on this one—
Let me see if I get this straight: my taxes go up; historic buildings get demolished, and Purple Martins lose an oasis so that some millionaires get bragging rights and some lilywhite yuppies get to snark about a stadium they won’t attend and won’t have to pay for? Gosh, where do I sign up???
So Sa’ad El-Amin is back,.. when I covered City Council, Chuck Richardson, Cluadette Black- McDaniel and Henry Marsh were “mere” council members,.. and they were the Minority!! But things changed and following one election the majority changed and by one member, the black leaders held the majority on city council.
Richmond went from Bill Leidinger as City manager to Manny Deese, (and Manny was a good man!)and then starting playing what I call “get back” politics. It’s what led major corporations looking at locating in the city to head for the counties and the emptiness which remains in the downtown area now.
Folks, I grew up just south of Richmond but I remember coming into town on the weekend with my parents and downtown Broad street was chock full of people, both side of the street on a Friday night. I don’t intend to be racist at all,.. but the re-emergence of Sa’ad El-Amin to promote his black agenda just takes us backward, I hope no one is listening. Having grown up in the segregated, racial South that Virginia was, I no longer want to see “get back” politics. I know how ugly the racism was, (I wonder if the young people today understand)but there is no place for trying to destroy a redevelopment idea to promote a single agenda.
Black heritage sites in Richmond do need to be preserved but not at the expense of progress for not only the city but the metro area as well.
If this parasite was standing there yesterday, did no one have a steering wheel…. Yes Richmond does have a history.. All the Great ones always come back to save us… since the Ballpark conversation started, including tearing down the “Diamond” and developing the property… our old friend and EX City manager BOB BOB came back on the scene attached of course to a developer with the perfect plan.. of which there was not one good plan during his time as our city mgr. Our Historical Governor Wilder becomes the laughing stock by becoming the Mayor.. seems like someone forgot to explain that you move up the ladder. Not only was this Diamond not forever but maybe the plan all along was to hire cheap and underquallified contractors as mandated by the city (see example of City Halls previous fix of banding marble slabs on the building and then spending a ton more money to pretty up the outside when in fact the building is still falling apart. Millions of dollars waisted) But I digress So Wilders claim to fame… killing off the Richmond Braves Ballclub, All because someone could not figure out a way to get the park where “he” I mean they could make a lot of money or how to let go of his BALLOONED EGO. But back to the “Great Ones” Now our pain in the EAR comes back… Why not let’s get Coucilman Chuck and while we are at it, Someone get Marion Barry on the phone. Lets get them all to come over to the Egleston and spend the night and save it too. And 6 Street Marketplace. I really would like to see that Masterpiece bridge of Racial repair come back. A bridge to repair the racial divide in the city??? What a load of crap. I’m not sure what is in the air that they breathe in city hall but I would check the evidence room.
Well enough for now but I wish someone would clear the pipe downstream… seems like our sewer rats keep poping up in the strangest places…. Appropriatley enough this time…it’s a place know as the Bottom.
Phew…...I’ve been loosing sleep because I didnt know how ex-cons felt about the possible location for the ball park. I can rest now. Thanks!!!
DickTracy, I really enjoyed your post. (Even though I see the Shockoe Ballpark idea more optimistically than you). I especially agree when you say, “Look forward to a new Diamond and the small time enjoyment it always was in Richmond.“
And so Richmond will continue to remain in the year of 1978, where we’ve been stuck since…1978.
A federal “thief” should remain “low profile”
citycynic: It wasn’t a reference to Al Gore. It was a reference to the fact that many of your arguments revolve around your fictitious credentials. For example, “I go to the bottom a lot more than you do.“ You have made this statement in the past with no idea who you’re talking to. For all you know the person your addressing may live in the bottom. When you get stuck you pull out obviously fictitious, exaggerated, and embelished arguments that are simply meant to deride the credentials of the person with whom you disagree. To be honest with you, you don’t even have a position on the ball park other than you don’t like it and don’t like the bottom. I’m not necessarily sold on baseball in Shockoe Bottom either, but when you start to spout I can’t help but think that the other side is the right choice because your position is so badly framed, and seems to center more around a personal distaste for Shockoe Bottom than a legitimate point about baseball and redevelopment being a bad idea there.
As for the links that you claim to have posted, I don’t recall seeing any. Maybe you could repost them.
Wow - for someone you guys want to discount you sure spend a lot of time writing about me. “Spreading lies?“ References to Al Gore? What - are you in middle school?
I have posted link after link - heck FanGuy - mine even work! Of course, if I posted a court transcript from Highwoods I doubt it would satisfy you. But please don’t stop writing about me - I find it amusing. However, you might also try reading from time to time.
Why does anyone care what Jeroyd Green wants.
Hasn’t he cost the city enough over the past years?
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