Traveling Man
Sa'ad shouldn't rest until he's found the right sister city ... or a way out of this jam.
(F. T. Rea / richmond.com)
Sa'ad El-Amin
F. T. Rea
Richmond.com
Friday, September 01, 2000
Sa'ad El-Amin has a long way to go before he tops the list of outrageous characters to have served on Richmond's City Council.
Richmond has already witnessed the soap-opera stories of Leonidas Young's kinky lifestyle, Chuck Richardson's drug problem, and Raymond Royall's faked death. But as the details of El-Amin's Jamaican junket continue to surface, you can't say he isn't scoring points.
From what's been published about the three-day tour of Jamaica, the amount of money involved isn't his real problem. Elected officials at all levels rarely blink at $1,600 (reports say El-Amin plans to return an unused $400, thus making the amount $1,200) in public funds being spent on travel, or anything else for that matter.
The rub here seems to be that the trip's purpose and subsequent itinerary both sound so amusingly flimsy. Plus, the reports about his traveling companion Paulette Johnson - or whatever her name really is - are putting her in such a bad light.
Which, of course, reflects on the Sixth-District's intrepid councilperson.
See The World With Sa'ad
If Sa'ad El-Amin really thinks his little three-day jaunt down to the Caribbean should be seen as official business, then I've got some suggestions for other trips that he should consider:
How about a fact-finding tour of Nevada's cat houses? El-Amin could interview some of the veteran prostitutes about their career plans once their times come to be put out to pasture. He could get a sense of the fields of endeavor former prostitutes have moved smoothly into.
Armed with all that useful information, he would be in position to serve as a career counselor for the likes of the girls who display their wares in the shadows that fall across the sidewalks of Allen Avenue between Grace and Broad.
If El-Amin steers those streetwalkers toward another line of work, he will have done the Fan District and those struggling curbside entrepreneurs a big favor.
With that solved, a trip to the Cannes Film Festival would be nice. That way, El-Amin could preview the cutting edge of the cinema world and pick up on the buzz.
Back in Richmond, El-Amin could then serve as a consultant to the movie-theater bookers in town.
Richmond's ambassador at-large, El-Amin, would be able to upgrade the quality and variety of movies available in the area. That would make Richmond more attractive to conventioneers.
Sister City Of Mercy
OK, once El-Amin has cleaned up the streets and done what he could to bring in more tourists, what's next?
Well, there's still the pressing matter of finding Richmond's sister city. I don't know how we've gotten by all these years without such a happening relationship with a far-off town in another country.
If El-Amin only goes to Negril to pursue the concept of finding the right sister city for Richmond, it might look bogus. But if he launches a campaign - fashioned after Cinderella's Prince Charming, combing the land for the right fit - then he'll be seen as the player he truly is.
Since there's a Richmond somewhere in Great Britain, El-Amin would be smart to put it on his list. Then, while he's in that part of the world, people do say nice things about Dublin.
Of course, he could touch down in Cannes, too, since he would already know the lay of the land from his film-festival excursion.
I understand that Prague has a fascinating jazz scene. Maybe on the way to Prague, stop-offs in Venice and Florence would seem like a prudent move, logistically. After all, we're talking about the public's nickel here.
I could go on naming cities I've never seen, but at this point, I think the reader has done enough globetrotting to get my drift.
The Bottom Line
Sa'ad! What are you thinking!?!
Get out your checkbook and write the City of Richmond a check for the full amount while you still can. (And keep that travel-agency lady away from any check-writing.)
Say the whole episode was a bizarre mood swing. Maybe you could claim somebody slipped you a Dilantin mickey.
The important thing is timing. The window on this "oops" defense is closing.
A month from now, it isn't going to work for you to say: "Oh! I just snapped out of it and realized I haven't been myself."
Furthermore, I think it would fly if you explained it this way: "Once I actually got there and saw the set-up, I realized, heh, heh, this old dog had been fooled. Of course I'm not really expecting the taxpayers to pick up the tab on this baby."
Take it from me, Sa'ad: People aren't going to buy this Jamaica thing. Silly as it may seem, this one has the potential to do you in. If you can still write a check and make this go away, I can't see how you can pass it up.
Bottom line: There's still time for this Traveling Man to shake the sand from his clothes and avoid joining the list of the Youngs, Richardsons, and Royalls. They went down because they didn't know when to quit. Those men watched time pass them by -- the time when they could have stopped the madness and not had to take the fall.
The opinions expressed here are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect those of richmond.com, its management or its owners.
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