Comments for Alix Bryan

Comment on Does First Fridays Art Walk face sketchy future and is racial tension a factor? by Toni

Toni — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:54:12 +0000

I’m just now reading this, but I had to put in my $0.02. I live on Broad Street, and typically open my windows during First Fridays. FF was a primary reason for moving to Broad Street, in anticipation of more events of its nature. I made comments to my friends during the summer of 2011 that there was a large increase of youth, who typically travel in sizable packs. No comments of race were even shared, because we understand the social statistics involved (a – the closest communities to FF have large concentrations of blacks, b – the city is majority black, c – lack of free activities, especially for kids in the proximity (largely due to socioeconomic reasons, not race) = increase in their attendance.

We used to actually walk amongst the crowd, eat, enjoy the art, etc. Now (meaning from summer on) we just open the windows and crowd watch, enjoying our wine and food in house. It’s not (for us at least) the makeup of the crowd; it’s the shear volume of visitors who don’t seem to appreciate the purpose of the event (evidence as you said Alix, are they purchasing anything? going into art studios? etc? no, just walking!).

Christina is absolutely correct when she says the issue is not easily fixed. Let me add a little analysis about why. The kids who are coming to FF walking up and down the streets have brothers and sisters. A very, very typical activity for Richmonders with little money is to drive up and down Broad Street before clubs open. They don’t go to the bars and “pre-game”. No pre-club meals at the many Richmond eateries. No – let’s take our car (or mom’s car) and just drive until the club opens. So, if kids are hearing that this activity is occurring from their older counterparts, don’t you think they’d be more inclined to perform their own version? That’s just my theory.

And, for the record, I am of color, so this is not racially motivated. Alix, I greatly appreciate the color in your article, but I can see why some of the earlier comments took issue with your choice of word order. “Increase of blacks” at FF is so general – I’ve been attending FF for years and there have always been black people, but blacks of age [typically from VCU or just more mature adults 25&up]. I think saying “increase in black youth” would be spot on. Even though you say youth is only a part of it, it really is the stem from which all of the other problematic leaves grow.

Bottomline, get the youth some other activities. Then we can take FF back. We being everyone who wants to celebrate the true purpose of the event = art walking!

Love the blog. Keep it up (and stay blunt; of course you can’t always be 100% with your word choice when you are blunt; we know that and most of us like that!)

Comment on A seedy neighborhood transformed into an economic corridor by hokie1999

hokie1999 — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:51:02 +0000

One perspective on the origin of the Devils Triangle starts on Grace Street in the early 1990s. The blocks of West Grace Street between Harrison Street and Cherry Street were the “Combat Zone”.

There were bars like the Jade Elephant, Hababa’s, The Village Cafe and there was the Lee Art x-rated movie theater. People flooded the sidewalks like Atlantic Avenue at Virginia Beach and people constantly trolled along in their cars on Grace Street.

After complaints from VCU, businesses and citizens in the area, the city got the ABC to revoke some liquor licenses while cutting back the serving hours of other bars. This forced a number of bars out of business.

After that, a lot of the down-and-outters came to my part of town, the Devil’s Triangle. Though there had always been bars in the DT, and there had always been a certain clientele, that all mushroomed when the city tried to solve the problem on Grace Street, only to worsen the problem @ the DT.

Comment on A seedy neighborhood transformed into an economic corridor by hokie1999

hokie1999 — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:21:36 +0000

I lived in the Devil’s Triangle in the 1990s and the stories you’ve heard about the place are no exaggeration. One of my favorite memories was the Great Motorcycle Fire of 1992.

The Felix, now Caliente, was the bar of choice for all the bikers in Richmond at the time. My apartment was on Monument Avenue and backed up to the Felix. Though the bikers never gave me a problem, last call was traumatic. At two in the morning, the bikers would come out of the Felix, rev up their Harleys, wake everyone up, and drive off.

One Sunday morning in May 1992, this guy came out of the Felix, red-lined his bike for about 10 minutes. VROOM, VROOOMMM, VROOOOMMMM!!! The blinds in my apartment rattled from the noise. He took off north on Sheppard Street to Monument Avenue, where he tried to turn right, but was so drunk, he hit the curb and fell off.

The gas cap came off the bike, gas poured on the engine, it caught fire, and when I got there, the flames were 20 feet in the air. The guy was on the sidewalk with one of his shoes lying nearby. He was semi-conscious or perhaps semi-sober. All the lights are on at all the houses on Monument Avenue. The people were on their balconies watching the show, music was playing. It was a carnival.

The fire department showed up and rather than put the fire out, they let it burn. The bike’s dials melted, the wiring and seat burned up; it was a mess. The tail lights of the cars parked nearby melted from the heat.

About this time, the bike’s OWNER shows up. Apparently he had lent the bike to his friend or now former friend. The owner looked like the Wolfman; bushy red hair, a beard, stocky. He dived on the driver and started choking him. Four cops come up and each grabbed a limb. They threw the Wolfman into the paddy wagon. They arrested a few other people and took the driver away in an ambulance.

So end of story.

But for years afterward the motorcycle fire was a landmark in the Devils Triangle. There was a greasy spot on the sidewalk at the corner where the bike burned. A few months after the fire, this woman’s car broke down at the corner. While she was waiting for the wrecker, people were telling her: “Yeah, lady, this is the spot where the motorcycle burned up. See that big greasy spot there by your right foot….” She had a scared look on her face and waited impatiently for a cab to arrive.

The Devil’s Triangle. Never a dull moment!

Comment on A seedy neighborhood transformed into an economic corridor by 5 mistakes

5 mistakes — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 11:56:15 +0000

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Comment on Following the squash trail by Hedwig Bradford

Hedwig Bradford — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 02:09:43 +0000

My planting area is kind of small would this be possible with less space?

Comment on Does First Fridays Art Walk face sketchy future and is racial tension a factor? by admin

admin — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 21:55:13 +0000

@Mike, thanks for reading, and a town hall sounds like a great idea. I hope that happens.

@Mareesa, yea, inner city teens, black/white/whatever color, need a place. When I was in high school we had ROCK INXS–a West End club. I lived there practically, for 2 years. I think kids need exposure to art. I don’t want them to be left out of First Fridays. Thanks for reading.

@Justin. We have to be courteous to each other. Even if SD ate donuts, we shouldn’t profile anyone. Thanks for reading.

@SD Thanks for shedding some light on what it takes to ticket a juvenille. I had no idea it was that complicated.

@Christinia The person who told me that info is a cop who has worked the beat for a long time–SD. I will look into more. It is a lot of info to sort through, and I definitely get different answers from everyone it seems! Thanks for all that you do Christina. We all love First Fridays very much.

Comment on Does First Fridays Art Walk face sketchy future and is racial tension a factor? by Christina Newton

Christina Newton — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 12:37:17 +0000

Thanks Alix for sharing your thoughts on the July 1st First Fridays Art Walk event. I want to clarify that the number of police officers assigned to the event was only slightly more than usual. It is incorrect that there are normally only 4 officers and whomever shared that with you has no background on the event at all. This may be true for very early years but not over the last say, five years. On average there are usually a dozen officers and busy nights such as the summer normally sees a bit of an increase. Since we have recently seen increasing number of attendees at First Fridays and had experienced an unfortunate incident in June, a few more officers were needed. There is no issue of racial profiling, simply a need for public safety which is of the utmost importance to everyone.

Also, information about the evening shared by @sd and @Charles do indicate truths in the matter. While we agree that we would have preferred for the RPD to cite curfew violations, it is actually a very timely process that would take officers away from the area where they were needed. Large gatherings of people around Belvidere around 10pm and after did also attract a noticed police presence which was not First Fridays related but just in the area.

This is a very complicated situation overall and there’s no easy fix unfortunately, but our organization is aware of the concerns and are meeting with the Richmond Police Department, city administration, and the participating venues to discuss plans for the future.

Christina Newton, Director
Curated Culture

Comment on Does First Fridays Art Walk face sketchy future and is racial tension a factor? by sd

sd — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 03:11:10 +0000

In defense of the police, I will tell you that issuing a “ticket” to a juvenile in Richmond is not nearly as easy as you might think it is. The juvenile has to be taken into police custody, a lengthy form has to be filled out. Then that juvenile has to be transported to police headquarters where he/she is fingerprinted, photographed and only then can an attempt be made to contact a parent or legal guardian so they can come and pick them up. The way the system is designed it takes about an hour to an hour and a half to process one juvenile for a curfew violation. That is the fault of the system, not the officers involved. If an officer decided to snatch up a group of say seven kids, and process all of them for violating curfew, at 10pm, he would probably be done with that around 4am. @JustinB, police are not “stoking the tension” by not doing their jobs. They are limited by staffing and the ability to be everywhere at once. Cops don’t make the policies and procedures that bind their hands, they just have to do the best they can with what they have to work with. As for the donut comment, that just makes you sound like an asshole. I’m a cop, and a vegetarian. Wouldn’t touch one if my life depended on it.

Comment on Does First Fridays Art Walk face sketchy future and is racial tension a factor? by Beth M.

Beth M. — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:29:25 +0000

I don’t get it. There’s been plenty said about how there was some violence. That’s pretty clear from Alix’s account too. So I don’t understand what details support the thought that the police were there because of racism instead of a need to restore order. Were all 17 officers acting out of racism? Was Richmond’s Chief Norwood, an African American, sending his officers in because he engages in racial profiling against other black people? Seriously, that makes no sense to me.

Comment on Does First Fridays Art Walk face sketchy future and is racial tension a factor? by admin

admin — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 21:43:27 +0000

I said people are in denial if they think it is just an age problem. It seems like a lot of your comments are just interpretation.
There might be a lot of young people out, but because they are black, there were more police than needed–that’s where the racism and denial comes in.
I don’t think the police are using very good methods. I challenge them to do better.
I can’t break it down anymore than that.
You seem to care about the issue, so I’m glad. And I celebrate the power in voicing different opinions so that education can happen.
Thanks.