Richmond – Care4Suffolk https://care4suffolk.org Mon, 18 May 2026 21:16:08 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://care4suffolk.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/cropped-Care4Suffolk-32x32.png Richmond – Care4Suffolk https://care4suffolk.org 32 32 The State of the City is NOT for Citizens https://care4suffolk.org/2026/05/18/the-state-of-the-city-is-not-for-citizens/ https://care4suffolk.org/2026/05/18/the-state-of-the-city-is-not-for-citizens/#respond Mon, 18 May 2026 21:08:50 +0000 https://care4suffolk.org/?p=9155 Read More »The State of the City is NOT for Citizens]]>

Suffolk’s annual “State of the City” event is happening tomorrow (May 19, 2026) 

Have any of you ever attended this event? 

 

No? That’s probably because it is NOT an event that is done for the citizens of Suffolk. It is a regional series that cities participate in at the behest of the Hampton Roads Chamber (HRC). Yes, city staff get paid with our tax dollars to prepare for it every May at the Hilton, creating special videos and slideshows for the mayor to present, but it seems that the event always sells out well before the city even makes any announcement about it. The seats go to elected officials from around Hampton Roads, regional organization members, some locally appointed folks (like EDA, planning commissioners, etc.), and business leaders.

Each city takes turns trying really hard to brag about its economic accomplishments and impress the HRC. This is a win for the HRC because initiating this event series is a big flex for them in perpetuating their own importance. So the point of the “State of the City” is not to inform local citizens of what is going on, it is really to promote the HRC, which itself is very much about promoting regionalism. As the HRC president, Bryan Stephens, said last year in Suffolk when acknowledging the mayors from the other cities: their presence was “ a nod to regionalism.” 

 

Since Suffolk is paying staff to help organize this event, citizens  should probably know a little about some of the agenda that HRC president, Bryan Stephens, has for the region (and megaregion!) –especially in light of our warehouse proliferation and all the data center talk lately. 

 

The Port of Virginia is a “strategic partner” of the HRC, with its CEO getting special recognition from Mr. Stephens at last year’s Suffolk State of the City. The HRC’s key Legislative Priorities includes “continued investment in business and transportation networks that support the expansion of the Port of Virginia.” This may sound nice, but we now know that this means moving westward into Suffolk’s prime farmland with giant warehouses and extra traffic congestion. And neither these regional organizations nor the port care about the blight on our landscapes or the community tensions this causes – prioritizing the port over actual people.

Mr. Stephens is also on the executive committee for a “non-profit” called RVA757Connects, which advocates for data centers and for a Hampton Roads-to-Richmond megaregion and “Global Internet Hub” (GIH). In fact, Mr. Stephens is the co-chairman of RVA757’s “Megaregion Institutional Council (MIC)” and is on their GIH steering committee. There are many other UNELECTED representatives from Hampton Roads regional organizations involved with this as well. 

RVA757 Connects Board Members link

GIH steering committee link

It is interesting that Mr. Stephens and these other UNELECTED regional organizations think that their influence has been so successful in Hampton Roads that they want to create a “megaregion.” These are some of the same people under whose “watch” we have seen an “outmigration” of people from Hampton Roads. A study was just commissioned a couple years ago to figure out why Hampton Roads this is happening (a real head-scratcher!)

We also have billions of dollars in “unfunded needs” for our roads and our regional planners have been pushing for a sales tax increase just for our region to fund this shortfall. Mr. Stephens endorsed this tax increase last year.

As if there aren’t already enough overlapping Hampton Roads regional organizations that can’t seem to keep people here or keep up with infrastructure, the “thought-leaders” that represent some of them believe that creating yet another group involving the same people is the way to truly make a difference; it’s called the Regional Organization Presidents Committee (ROPC). 

 

Mr. Stephens wrote a passionate column in the Virginia Pilot last year about this brilliant new committee. He claimed that we need a smaller, more exclusive group of just these regional organizations’ presidents to focus on “collaboration, advocacy and strategic initiatives that move our region forward.” 

But isn’t that already the purpose of each group? And how does excluding people increase collaboration?

 

Mr. Stephens assures us that the ROPC won’t be “yet another organization.” Shockingly, though, it sounds like the key difference with ROPC is that it’s specifically intended to operate behind closed doors!

 

According to a May 2024 WHRO article about the ROPC:

 

“The ROPC doesn’t have any funding or employees. The only people in the closed-door monthly meetings are the top executives from each member organization – only decisionmakers allowed, no second-in-commands. The group doesn’t answer to anyone.”

What a relief! We wouldn’t want influential people to waste their time answering to anyone! 

The same article quotes Mr. Stephens as saying: 

“What we said is ‘What goes on in this conference room stays in this conference room.’ And so we talked about issues, we talked about regional leaders that were or were not doing what we thought they should be doing. And we made an informal pact that it would stay in the room.”

Sounds like a real regionalism fight club!

In his column, Mr. Stephens confirmed ROPC’s involvement in RVA757Connects: “Through this unified front, the ROPC seeks to advocate for the region as a whole. Whether it’s influencing legislation, championing key initiatives, or ensuring alignment among stakeholders, its influence is felt across the region. Additionally, the ROPC serves as the Megaregion Institutional Council (MIC) working with RVA757 Connects and its mission to advance economic prosperity for everyone in the Richmond and Hampton Roads regions igniting the I-64 Innovation Corridor Megaregion.“

 

(Just so people know, the president of RVA757Connects did give a presentation to Suffolk City Council back in the summer of 2023. His exaggerated flattery of council members was notable while he gushed about turning the I-64 corridor into a “world-class digital interconnection point.”) 

Of course, all of these things are put forward in the name of economic development and prosperity, but they ignore the tangible AND intangible costs to everyday citizens. It seems that they are willing to steamroll and sacrifice everything that residents hold dear just to say they grew the regional economy. 

 

Has anything they’ve been hoisting upon us resulted in more affordability, less congestion, or actual preservation of things like natural and community heritage? Has our quality of life actually improved? Why should we trust their judgement? Better yet, why do so many of our city officials so eagerly follow their lead? 

 

Do we really want OUR city to be influenced by people who think it’s okay to blatantly create their own agendas behind closed doors? How much is our city council letting itself be manipulated by these people?

 

We should not be blinded by the platitudes coming from this elitist, regionalist echo chamber. Their intentions may sound good, but we all know what the road to hell is paved with.

 
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