Kim Gray Wants to Hit the Pause Button on the Monument Avenue Commission

Richmond City Councilor Kimberly Gray hand-delivered a letter to Mayor Levar Stoney today, expressing her concern about his call to widen the scope of the Monument Avenue Commission without allowing other members to weigh in.

“A decision of this magnitude,” she writes, “should be made with the full consideration of those who accepted your offer to serve on the commission.” Gray’s worry is that Richmond may become a magnet for the kind of violence seen in Charlottesville this weekend and at a protest in Richmond on Sunday. “I worry deeply about similar events happening again at rallies, vigils, or even at public meetings hosted by the Commission. The current inflammatory climate only makes such a public attack more likely to occur,” she writes.

Gray continues, “Richmond cannot become another Charlottesville. I believe now is the time to take a breath and allow cooler heads an opportunity to prevail.” To that end, Gray recommends suspending the commission’s work until “we can once again engage in respectful and productive dialogue.”

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