Good morning, RVA! It's 55 °F, and I’ve got some personal news.

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Bittersweet news: This is the last edition of Good Morning, RVA for the foreseeable future! I’ve taken a job with the City’s Office of Strategic Communications and Civic Engagement—which I’m incredibly stoked about—and I think this professional transition marks the perfect time to press pause on this, Richmond’s premiere zoning and rezoning newsletter.

The last time I had to write a post like this it was for dramatic and sad reasons: Closing down RVANews because I couldn’t find a way to financially support a newsroom of multiple people doing good work in an industry that was (and still is!) struggling to figure out how to make ends meet. This time, though, I get to write a see-you-around post (very different from a so-long post) with a much better perspective: Making a proactive choice to do something new. I’m excited to move on, interested in exploring new projects, and, without a doubt, looking forward to getting a little more sleep each morning—because, to answer a Frequently Asked Question, I do (did!) write everything fresh each morning, waking up at 5:15 AM (another FAQ) to make tea and read the news.

Good morning, RVA! It's 60 °F already, and that’s about the temperatures you can expect today, with highs creeping up a tiny bit to 70 °F by lunchtime. At that point it’ll probably start to rain. Deal with it, though, because come tomorrow morning, the sun will come out, and we’ll be headed into a long stretch of really beautiful weather.

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Part of the official GMRVA process each morning includes checking the City Auditor’s website for fresh, hot-off-the-presses audits. Today, I found two new documents—the first for this year and the first from the City’s new auditor Riad Ali:

1. Non-Audit Services: Meals Tax Delinquent Notifications

2. Citywide - Continuous Auditing

Good morning, RVA! It's 59 °F, and if you can squeak past this morning’s chance of light rain, I think you’ll have a warm and dry day. Expect highs in the upper 70s and lots of clouds. For me, I’m definitely riding my bike in slip ons with one pant leg rolled up—my final form.

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The City posted the video from this past Monday’s third budget session, and I’ve gone ahead and put it up on the Boring Show. This is when I make the joke about listening at 2x speed—which, for me, is not a joke and definitely what I actually do, and to hear Councilmembers speak at 1x speed when I see them in real life makes me feel like I’m dodging bullets in The Matrix. Anyway, this week’s episode clocks in at just over three hours, so you’re gonna want to set aside some serious time if you plan on listening. I’ll most likely permit it to pass over and through me during a couple bike rides and laundry foldings—you should do the same! If you’d rather just scroll through some slides, make sure you grab all three decks: the operating budget, the City’s revenue, and its compensation and benefits plan.

Good morning, RVA! It's 58 °F, and today looks cloudy but with amazing highs right around 80 °F. You can expect cooler temperatures over the next couple of days—with each a little cooler than the last—but nothing that’ll make you break out your big shirts and wool socks. I think we did it! We finally turned the corner, and spring is here to stay!

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In accordance with the timeline set out by state law, the Governor has “completed action” on all 1,046 pieces of legislation the General Assembly sent his way. Head over to the State’s legislative website to find the full list of bills he signed, amended, and vetoed.

The budget sits in that middle bucket of amended bills, and Graham Moomaw, Charlie Paullin, and Nathaniel Cline at the Virginia Mercury report that Governor Youngkin has sent the budget back with 233 suggested amendments. That’s a lot of amendments, and I have no idea how successful the General Assembly will be in sorting them all out. Are they designed like dominoes, where if the GA rejects one amendment the rest of them cascade into dust? Is the budget still even balanced? I guess we’ll find out in the coming weeks; legislators return to Richmond on April 17th.

Good morning, RVA! It's 41 °F, and today looks absolutely lovely. Expect clear skies for most of the day and, after lunch, highs in the 70s. Other than some rain Thursday evening, this week’s weather look great. I hope I’ll see you out there!

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Reminder! We’ve got a partial eclipse (of the heart) today! The astronomical party starts at 2:02 PM and runs through 4:31 PM, but peaks right at 3:19 PM. Schools have changed schedules, business will have rescheduled meetings, and people will probably stare up into the sun while driving their cars. Enjoy, because the next eclipse visible from the Commonwealth will take place on May 11th, 2078.

Good morning, RVA! It's 39 °F, and temperatures bottom out today and tomorrow (as much as they can “bottom out” in the middle of spring, I guess). You should expect highs in the 50s, some sunshine to warm things up a bit, and a forced return to your sock drawer. Sunday, things start to warm up again, and then, by this coming Tuesday, we’re back to the springtime 70s. We’ve got plenty to enjoy before then though, so throw on an additional layer and spend a bit of time outside with these sunny skies!

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Yesterday, GRTC announced they’ve won a big $750,000 grant from the Federal Transit Administration to help kick off some very important land use planning. Specifically, the money will “plan for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) on Chamberlayne Avenue in advance of GRTC’s future North/South Pulse Bus Rapid Transit Line.” I imagine the final product will look something like 2017’s Pulse Corridor Plan, which helped the City figure our the proper land use and zoning around Broad Street ahead of actually building the Pulse. Spend six seconds driving down Chamberlayne Avenue and you’ll see a corridor with industrial sections that need drastic upzoning and sleepy sections of old single-family-home street-car suburbs. It’s a complex corridor and will need a thoughtful planning process to figure out the best way to build great transit that’s supported by great neighborhoods.

Also, did you catch that GRTC called this north-south BRT the “Pulse” too? I think that’s the first time I’ve seen “Pulse” used when referring to this new potential line. That makes the most sense to me; we don’t need to have cute names for each and every bus rapid transit line we build. We will, however, need some sort of way to differentiate these lines eventually—by color or number or something. Cardinal direction won’t work when we have a bunch of these things running diagonally across the region.

Good morning, RVA! It's 40 °F, and whoa it rained hard up here on the Northside last night. Today, you can expect highs in the mid 50s, so I hope you didn’t pack away all your flannels and big shirts (what my house inexplicably calls sweatshirts). I think we should see the sun at some points both today and tomorrow, so maybe by this weekend things’ll have dried out enough that all the mountain bike trails will be open and ready to shred!

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As foretold, I spent my bus trips yesterday with an absolute must-listen episode of The Boring Show. No joke, City Council’s second budget work session, which features a presentation about the Children’s Funding Project and then Superintendent Kamras walking through his proposed budget for Richmond Public Schools, is really something anyone interested in supporting RPS and our city’s kids should give a listen.

First, the Children’s Funding Project! Earlier this week, I’d forgotten I’d written about the Children’s Funding Project back in October. Back then, at one of Council’s Education and Human Services committee meetings, they’d teased a “fiscal map” that would lay out the funding streams for any and all things supporting children. They’ve now completed that map, and it seems like a really cool tool for doing deeper analysis which you then hope leads to better and more-informed decision making. Unfortunately, I can’t find a link to the tool at the moment, but you can watch a demo of it here (staring around the seven minute mark).

Good morning, RVA! It's 54 °F, and rain is headed our way. You should expect wet weather for most of the morning and maybe even into the afternoon. Temperatures look great, though, with highs in the mid 70s. Soak it up, because, starting tomorrow, we’ve got about a week of highs in the 50s before we again see temperatures that start with a seven.

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VPM’s Patrick Larsen has an update on DPU’s Combined Sewer Overflow work at Gillies Creek. Look at this amazing stat: “In 2019, the sewer outfall there overflowed 43 times. The city’s installing a new sewer pipe and relocating the outfall point to increase capacity — and take advantage of unused sewer system space. When construction is completed this fall, officials expect that under the same rainfall conditions, overflows will be cut from 43 to five.” This particular project is part of the important work to limit the amount of actual poopy sewage that ends up in the river during extreme rain events—which are only getting more and more frequent. And while this work is good and important and should be a priority for the City, the General Assembly has legislated Richmond into doing it and doing it along a pretty unrealistic timeline. Not only that, but the GA and Governor have subsequently failed to properly fund the City, so meeting that timeline doesn’t feel entirely possible. Larsen reports that the Commonwealth’s current proposed budget allocates $50 million towards Richmond’s sewers, but that lawmakers rejected an amendment to add another $100 million (which would have made up for the money “forgotten” in last year’s budget).

Good morning, RVA! It's 51 °F, and today looks cloudy but amazing. Expect highs in the mid 70s, no reason at all to wear socks, and a near perfect opportunity late in the afternoon to sit on the stoop and watch the day end. Tomorrow, rain returns and cooler weather follows immediately.

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Richmond Police are reporting that an officer shot and killed an individual on the 1900 block of Cedar Street earlier this week. Here’s some information describing the incident, quoted directly from the RPD press release: “Yesterday at approximately 4:58 a.m., officers were called to the 1900 block of Cedar Street for the report of a disturbance with an armed person. Officers arrived on the scene within minutes and located the male suspect, [Kenneth] Sharp. After a brief encounter during which Sharp produced a firearm, Sharp was shot. He was transported to a local hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.“ Police Chief Rick Edwards has said in the past that, following fatal shootings by police officers, his department would produce and release a “Critical Incident Briefing video” featuring audio and video from the investigation—from sources like body cameras and 911 calls. RPD hopes to release the briefing video for this incident within the next two weeks.

Good morning, RVA! It's 49 °F, and, while we’ve got a decent chance for rain this afternoon, the temperatures look downright amazing. Expect highs in the 70s for today and the next two days until more seasonable weather moves back in. You know, despite the rain, I’m really feeling Richmond’s current weather patterns, mostly because my yard is absolutely exploding with springtime action: hostas, apple blossoms, red buds, coreopsis, and clematis—every dang thing!

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Happy, April 1st! Just a quick reminder that some of the things you see on the internet today may be fake—although brands spending their time making up entirely fake product lines seems like a less successful marketing strategy these days. You can, of course, be assured that the thrilling content below about budgets, legislation, and potholes is as real as real gets!

Good morning, RVA! It's 46 °F and still rainy—at least from where I’m sitting. The chance of rain dwindles as the day progresses, but the weather most likely won’t dry out entirely until this afternoon. The slog through today is worth it, though, because the weekend looks stunning: Sunny and clear with highs in the mid 60s and 70s.

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Yesterday, the Mayor introduced his FY25 budget, and you can watch the video of his remarks via the City’s legislative website, listen to them at 2x over on The Boring Show, or read them as prepared in this PDF. The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Em Holter has an overview and, of course, you can dive straight into the official proposed budget document here.

I haven’t had much time to dig through the PDF yet, but highlights include: pay raises for City employees, $21 million for street maintenance (that covers paving but can also include additional infrastructure like sidewalks and bike lanes), $10 million to make improvements to Brown’s Island, $6.1 million for the Fall Line Trail, and a $15.8 million increase for Richmond Public Schools. There’s a bunch to discuss, of course, but that last item for schools will be top of mind for a lot of folks. Remember: The budget passed by the RPS School Board requested an additional $25 million from the City, and they’ll now need to come up with $9 million worth of cuts.

Good morning, RVA! It's 44 °F, and rain should move into the region before lunch. As you’re trapped inside or hiding under eaves and awnings, you can expect highs in the mid 50s. The wet weather will most likely continue straight on through to tomorrow afternoon, dumping upwards of two inches of rain onto our already sodden region. Hang in there, because clear skies and a beautifully warm weekend sits just around the corner.

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Today at 3:00 PM, Mayor Levar Stoney will introduce his FY25 budget at City Council Chambers. He’ll give some prepared remarks, which usually serve as a sort of budget executive summary, and, should you find yourself with some time to spare this afternoon, you can stream the whole thing live over on the City’s legislative website. PDFs of both the Annual Fiscal Plan (operating budget) and Capital Improvement Plan (capital budget) should be available online shortly thereafter. I’ll make sure to get the Mayor’s speech up on The Boring Show as soon as I can, because I’m sure it’ll be worth a listen.

By the way, I put this past Monday’s City Council kickoff session up last night, so, if you hurry, you can listen to that before the Mayor gets to speechifying later this afternoon. It’s only 38 minutes long—just 19 minutes at 2x—and something you could crush out on your morning commute or maybe even while eating breakfast. Oh, also, you should just subscribe to The Boring Show in the podcast player of your choice, too.

Good morning, RVA! It's 35 °F, and today you should expect cloudier skies with highs in the 60s. A bunch more rain shows up tomorrow morning and will probably hang around until Thursday evening, so get ready for another couple days of squishy, soggy weather.

It sure seems like it’s been a wet March, doesn’t it? I wanted to know if my gut feeling matched reality, or if I’m just annoyed about how all the wet weather keeps me from riding my bicycle as often as I’d like. So, I turned to my favorite, overly complex weather website, which says that days with “at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation” are considered wet days, and in March we typically see 8.5 wet days. Turns out, so far this month, we’ve had seven wet days—just the regular amount! As is often the case, my gut is just frustrated and wishes it were riding a bicycle.

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While I await the video from yesterday’s Budget Season kickoff meeting with City Council, Em Holter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has the details to tide me over. To get ready for the Mayor’s budget presentation on Wednesday, Council has put together five big buckets to hold all of their own priorities: Strong futures for children and families; safe and clean neighborhoods; strategic infrastructure projects; planned growth, economic progress, and affordable housing; and responsible, accountable, and innovative government. If you really want to dig in, you can scroll through this 48-page PDF—hop down to page 30 for the list of specific priorities City Council wants funded and how much each of those priorities will cost. Next up: On Wednesday we’ll get to see how closely Council’s vision aligns with the Mayor’s vision.

Good morning, RVA! It's 32 °F, and we’ve got an up-and-down weather week ahead of us. Today, expect clear skies and highs in the 60s; then get ready for cooler, wetter weather to move through on Wednesday; but, later, celebrate truly excellent weather this weekend with highs right around 70 °F. I know it’s early to start looking forward to the weekend, but too bad! I’m gonna do it anyway!

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City Council has a busy and fun schedule today. First, they’ll meet at 3:00 PM for their budget season kickoff—a thrilling meeting that mostly consists of them getting on the same page with their own priorities for the operating and capital budgets. This meeting can sometimes serve as a barometer for how spicy Council plans on getting with the Mayor’s proposed budget (which, remember, drops on Wednesday). You can tune in live over on the City’s website, and I’ll make sure to get the audio up on The Boring Show as soon as I can.

Second, Council will get together for their regularly scheduled meeting with a ton of items to consider, but they all sit entirely on the Consent Agenda. That’s sort of been the way of things lately, but it’s double smart considering the potentially long budget meeting beforehand. I mean, who wants to spend eight hours in meetings? Not this guy.

Good morning, RVA! It's 35 °F, cold again, and that big rain I wrote about earlier in the week shows up tonight. After a day of cloudy skies and highs around 60 °F, you should expect the wet weather to start late this evening and continue straight on through until tomorrow afternoon. Sunday looks nice and crisp, though.

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It’s here! Yesterday, City Council released their schedule for the 2024 (aka FY2025) budget season! I’m excited and want to point out a couple important dates for you to put on your calendar:

1. This coming Monday, March 25th, Council will host their first budget work session—a sort of a pre-season game—to get everyone on the same page about shared priorities.

2. Then, on Wednesday, March 27th at 3:00 PM, the Mayor will introduce his budget, and this show will finally get on the road for real.

3. After that, we’ve got a handful of work sessions and public hearings before Council (theoretically) votes on a final, amended budget on May 13th.

Good morning, RVA! It's 35 °F, and today we’ve got more of the same ahead of us today: Highs in the upper 50s and clear skies. I’ve got my eye on Saturday, which, according Weather.app, will dump over two inches of rain on our just-dried-out city. I guess if you’ve got outside plans, make sure they get done either today or tomorrow, because it’s gonna rain!

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John Murden at South Richmond News has put the City’s list of vacant properties onto a Google Map that you can scroll around on. I love this sort of citizen data project, and, almost 17 years ago (gasp!), I put together something similar with the help of a dear friend who died back in 2018. Daniel was so smart and kind and curious, and I’m constantly wondering what creative projects he’d have thrown himself into to support his community through the pandemic. What a loss for Richmond!

Anyway, here’s my one story about running a website dedicated to highlighting the details of Richmond’s vacant properties: A thousand years ago in 2007, a couple of weeks after launching VacantRichmond.com, some random man showed up in my office and threatened me with...I guess violence? He wasn’t specific about his intentions, but he was pretty upset about how I’d highlighted the fact that he owned a bunch of vacant properties, had for years, and was, at least partially, responsible for a bunch of safety issues in several neighborhoods across the city. It was scary and we called the cops!

Good morning, RVA! It's 41 °F, and temperatures rebound today, heading back up into the upper 60s / maybe 70s. Expect some wind this afternoon, but, other than that, we’ve got some really excellent weather in front of us. In fact, this may be the warmest, most spring-like day in our 10-day-forecast future—make sure you get out there and enjoy it!

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Michael Martz at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports on the Virginia ABC’s $100 million revenue shortfall. Pressured by the Governor’s “chief transformation officer,” the ABC forecasted a 5% growth in sales revenue last summer but, adjusting for reality, has only seen an increase of 1.4%. Now folks are scrambling to figure out what went wrong and how to fill the sizable gap left in the state’s budget. Just to be super clear here, we’re talking about the Governor pushing the state’s liquor monopoly to find ways to sell more alcohol to more Virginians because it’s a core money generator for his budget. Seems like a legal retail marijuana market would also generate a ton of cash for the commonwealth, but, for some reason, the Governor’s “not interested” in that, and it’s hard for me to understand the difference between the two things!

Good morning, RVA! It's 31 °F, and, what the heck, I thought we’d fully moved on to spring. While I sit over here hoping my about-to-bloom azaleas make it through this mini cold snap, you can expect clear skies and highs in the mid 50s today. Looks like we might have one or two more potential overnight freezes ahead of us this week, so fingers crossed for the little plants out there!

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Today both the Land Use, Housing and Transportation committee and the Planning Commission meet for some good ol’ fashioned regularly scheduled meetings.

Land Use, Housing and Transportation will consider RES. 2024-R011, which would adopt Richmond Connects as the “official comprehensive transportation plan for the City of Richmond.” This is super exciting! The City hasn’t updated their official transportation plan in a ton of years, and we’re way past due for an update. The Richmond Connects team has put together a good plan—one that centers equity, community, and action—and, if you’d like, you can reach out to your City Council reps in support of it (or just to thank everyone for their hard work). After LUHT recommends this paper, which I think they totally will, it’ll head over to full Council to make it official official in the coming weeks.

Good morning, RVA! It's 45 °F, and today you can expect cloudy skies and highs around 60 °F. That’s still basically springlike but is quite a drop from yesterday’s weather perfection. I think we’ll see these cooler temperatures stick around throughout the week, with a couple warmer days sprinkled in here and there.

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The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s editorial board did the research around VCU’s PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) that I couldn’t find the time to do last week, and I’m very thankful for it. Tap through to read the whole thing, but, as foretold, VCU pays the City of Richmond just a fraction of what they’d owe if they were required to pay real estate taxes. Some of the low points:

• Richmond misses out on $45 million dollars per year of real estate tax revenue due to all of the state-owned buildings downtown (and that includes VCU and the health system).

• The City receives just $3.8 million annually in PILOT payments from the State.

• And the State doesn’t even want to pay that much: “The state not only takes land and pays almost nothing in return, but it has a history of making only partial PILOT payments. And since 2014, the number of state-owned parcels subjected to PILOT decreased by more than half, from 71 to 32.”

Good morning, RVA! Whoa it is already 60 °F, and today you can expect highs right around 80 °F. For most of the day clouds will probably fill the sky as we wait for some potential rain to move in later this evening. Don’t get too down about it, though, because the rest of the weekend looks pretty dry with temperatures in the upper 60s. You should definitely plan to move forward with whatever full slate of excellent, outdoor weekend activities you already had planned.

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Yesterday, the Governor “took final action on 50 pieces of legislation, signing 30 bills into law and vetoing 20 bills.” In what’s either good news or bad news for RIchmond’s new women’s soccer team, the Governor vetoed HB 1167 which would have prevented the sale of English ivy in Virginia. Looks like the Governor is totally fine with sustaining a legal retail market for this particular weed.

Good morning, RVA! It's 46 °F, and, dang, was yesterday nice. For me, the overwhelmingly pleasant evening turned into drinks on the front stoop with—as foretold!–the setting sun shinning on my face. So good! Today you can expect even more of the same: Highs right around 80 °F and plenty of sunshine. I think I will not wear socks. Temperatures do look like they’ll drop a bit come Monday, but not before the incredible weekend just around the corner. Enjoy.

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On Tuesday, I wrote about how the General Assembly wants VCU to terminate the agreement that requires them to pay PILOTs as part of the deal to redevelop the Public Safety Building. That such an agreement even exists is such a huge shift from how things typically happened in Richmond 15 or 20 years ago, when we handed out our precious and finite city resources for free to anyone willing to look our way. Times have changed, and, thankfully, Richmond can set the terms in some of these development negotiations and demand that they work out to the advantage of Richmonders.

Along those lines, yesterday the Mayor released this statement that I wish I could just quote in full because it does a great job of explaining why the PILOTs are important and how the City worked to get a deal that would benefit its citizens. I loved this part:

Good morning, RVA! It's 45 °F, and today looks beautiful. Prepare yourself for sunshine; dry, clear skies; a slight breeze; and temperatures in the mid 70s. If ever there were two spring days made for sitting on the grass outside with your eyes closed, face pointed up at the sun, it’s today and tomorrow.

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Last week, Governor Youngkin signed HB 174, a marriage equality bill, into law. The new law “provides that no person authorized to issue a marriage license shall deny the issuance of such license to two parties contemplating a lawful marriage on the basis of the sex, gender, or race of the parties. The bill also requires that such lawful marriages be recognized in the Commonwealth regardless of the sex, gender, or race of the parties. The bill provides that religious organizations or members of the clergy acting in their religious capacity shall have the right to refuse to perform any marriage.” Seems pretty good? Please let me know if there’s some sort of hidden catch, but, as David Ress at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports, the Family Foundation is upset which is always a great sign. Not that it matters to the lives of regular Virginians just minding their own business, but I am sort of constantly confused by the Governor’s political strategy and wonder what he’s angling to do after his job wraps up in the next couple of years.

Good morning, RVA! It's 40 °F, and thus begins our stretch of dramatically good weather! Today and tomorrow you can expect dry, sunny highs in the 70s, and, then, Thursday and Friday, get ready for temperatures that could hit 80 °F. We might see a bit of rain on Friday, but, most likely, we’ll stay dry and warm until at least early next week. Get out your tank tops and slip-ons, because it’s happening!

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Did you get trapped in brutal car traffic yesterday morning? VPM reports that “several protesters blocked Interstates 95 and 64 near the Bryan Park interchange for over an hour on Monday morning.” According to an email sent to VPM, the protestors called for the U.S. to “cease all funding for the genocidal, Israeli occupation of Palestine at once.” Fair warning: I’m going to set aside the focus of this protest, which, I know is exactly the opposite of the point, and, because my brain can’t help itself, write about infrastructure. I don’t intend to minimize horrible situation facing the people living in Gaza, but I’m aware it could read that way even though that’s not what I intend.

With that said, I think yesterday’s protest was fascinating from an urbanism and infrastructure perspective. First, it’s super dangerous to go out and stand on I-95! That in itself says something about our highway system, but every time I think about these people just...standing...in the middle the interstate, my heart rate literally increases. Second, how fragile is the car-based infrastructure we’ve built across this country? It’s optimized to speed people in and out of the suburbs as quickly as possible, but if anything—anything at all!—goes wrong, the whole system immediately fails. A total of 10 people disabled an entire region just by choosing the right place and time to simply stand still. Plus, not only did they shut down the interstate, but they also disrupted neighborhoods across the region as drivers tried to find alternate routes around the gridlock. The highways suck, yes, but, ultimately we need to make it easy and efficient for folks to take fewer trips by car. I assume bike commuters were not impacted by the sudden influx of traffic.

Good morning, RVA! It's 35 °F, and this week’s promised excellent weather starts...tomorrow! Today’s no slouch, with lots of sunshine and highs right around 60 °F, but set a reminder for tomorrow morning to get stoked on six consecutive dry days with temperatures in the 70s.

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Another COVID-19 update! That’s two in as many weeks! Last week, CDC updated their guidance on COVID-19 vaccines for folks aged 65 and older. Here’s the direct quote from their website:

People aged 65 years and older who received 1 dose of any updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or Novavax) should receive 1 additional dose of an updated COVID-19 vaccine at least 4 months after the previous updated dose.

Good morning, RVA! It's 43 °F, and today looks pretty good, with highs in the mid 60s and no real chance for rain—it won’t compare to the beautiful parts of yesterday, though. Tomorrow you can expect, yet again, more wet weather, but!, after that begins a long stretch of what appears to be True Spring. Next week, prepare yourself for highs in the mid 70s and excellent chances of riding bikes through the forest. So sit tight, endure another wet weekend, and then get ready to slide on into spring.

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Ian M. Stewart at VPM put together a good piece about Richmond’s Vision Zero plan (our City’s attempts to eliminate fatalities and severe injuries caused by traffic). To underscore how far we have left to go, Stewart talked to John Murden (currently of South Richmond News!) about how arduous and unsafe it is to get his kid from Forest Hill to Bon Air for school via cargo bike.

I feel all sorts of ways about this. Richmond really has made a ton of progress over the last six years. Time was, every dang bike lane needed to move through the entire City Council process, and so many people spent so much time trying to drag the smallest infrastructure projects across the finish line. Now, DPW will slap a new bike lane down while repaving a street, and most folks won’t even bat an eye. That said, we need to stop being reactive and start being proactive: Last year, it took the deaths of two students on VCU’s campus to get real, speed-reducing infrastructure installed on streets that everyone already knew were fast and terrifying. We could be doing so much more.

Good morning, RVA! It's 50 °F, and, idk, is the rain done? I think it might be—at least until this weekend. Today, though, you can expect highs in the mid 60s, absolutely no rain, and to even see the sunshine at certain points throughout the day. That sounds pretty OK!

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Em Holter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that, following last week’s Freedom of Information Act situation and whistleblower complaint, the City has updated how they will respond to future FOIA requests. Holter got ahold of a memo the City’s Chief Administrative Office sent City Council in which he proposes five changes to the current process:

1. reinstating a decentralized FOIA response process

2. appointing a new interim FOIA officer

3. establishing a new FOIA email

4. creating a new inner-department strategy to address requests

5. hiring a legal firm to assist with FOIAs moving forward.

Good morning, RVA! It's 53 °F, and today’s a wet one. You should expect a better-than-average chance of rain starting at 10:00 AM, that then continues on through my bed time (which, admittedly, is earlier for me than it is for a lot of folks). Temperatures continue to hang around 60 °F, and I continue to have a hard time choosing between sneakers and boots.

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COVID-19 news! It’s been a minute! This past Friday, CDC announced new respiratory virus guidance that applies to COVID-19, flu, and RSV. The first big shift here is moving to a combined and simplified guidance—regardless of which nasty respiratory virus has taken over your body. I think this makes a lot of sense, mostly because regular people cannot and will not keep multiple similar-but-different sets of public health guidance in their brains. Additionally, access to testing is not as good as it has been in the past, and, for a lot of different reasons, folks are just not testing when they get sick and have no idea what they’re sick with.

The second big shift is a change in what you do when you do get sick. Previously, CDC recommended isolating for five days after a positive COVID-19 test, which for a lot of folks—because of Capitalism and America and a lot of men wearing suits sitting in board rooms—is simply impossible to do. It’s an incredible challenge to strike a balance between guidance that’s science-based and keeps the most people safe and guidance that actual humans will actually follow. I appreciate the need to find a new—but still imperfect—way to do both of those things. Here’s what CDC has come up with:

Good morning, RVA! It's 48 °F and drizzly. Today, after the rain moves out and on its way, you can expect cloudy skies and highs in the mid 60s. Tomorrow looks real wet, so plan accordingly. And I know it’s only Tuesday, but next week is shaping up to be an absolutely stunner—something to look forward to!

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This coming Monday, City Council will consider RES. 2024-R007, which will tweak some of Council’s existing rules and procedures. The PDF describing all of those potential modifications is a 33-page document with track-changes turned on, and last week I just could not. So I am very thankful for Jesse Perry at RVA Dirt for summarizing most of what Council will consider on Monday. And, like Perry, I think it’s worth noodling on how the proposed changes to public comments at City Council will work.

For those new to Council meetings: Each week there are a set number of slots for folks to give public comments that do not have anything to do with any particular agenda item. To get on that list, you email the City Clerk, let them know you’re interested, and give them a really brief description of what you’d like to comment on. For example, here’s the list of speakers for this coming Monday’s meeting. It’s a fun part of the City Council Ritual and an opportunity to address the full body on topics they haven’t yet, but maybe should!, consider. The quality of the comments varies greatly from week to week, but they’re usually interesting, thoughtful, and give councilmembers something to think about.

Good morning, RVA! It's 43 °F, and today we’ve got highs near 70 °F with a chance of rain late this evening. Honestly, this whole week says to me that we’ve solidly moved on into spring—even though Richmond typically has at least one last winter hurrah at some point in the month of March. Maybe not anymore, though! Anyway, if you can dodge the rain, the week ahead looks really nice.

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Last Tuesday, WTVR’s Tyler Lane reported that the City has repeatedly failed to meet the legally required timelines for fulfilling Freedom of Information Act requests. Frustrated, I’m sure, by lack of timely responses to his own requests, Lane, in a sort of “Well now this is happening!” way, FOIA’d the City’s internal communications about FOIA. I think that’s pretty smart, and what he found is pretty concerning. Tap through and you’ll see a lot of back-and-forth between City leadership and the FOIA officer (the person in charge of responding to these sorts of requests) about what should or should not be released—all of which, of course, is FOIA-able. The tone’s not great, but the City did eventually release the records Lane requested...almost. Lane ends with this: “CBS 6 is also aware of an email that should have been responsive to our request for emails in which [the FOIA officer] warned Burks that the city could face a lawsuit for not complying with FOIA. Burks has acknowledged the existence of the email and has said she would provide the email to CBS 6. But as of February 27, Burks has still not provided the email.” Then, this past Friday, Lane somehow got a hold of the missing email, and posted the whole, spicy thing on Twitter.

Later that same day, Em Holter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that the City’s FOIA officer was fired back on January 19th and has since filed a whistleblower complaint against the City alleging wrongful termination. If you want to really dig in, the RTD has posted a PDF of the full complaint that you can read for yourself. It’s full of bad, but here’s one of the more concerning bits, summarized by Holter but found on page 11 of the complaint: “After [the FOIA officer] was instructed to deny personnel records related to the mayor’s office for two requests that came from Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s gubernatorial campaign, [the officer] was told by two separate city officials to no longer answer mayor’s office FOIA requests” and that those requests would be handled directly by the Mayor’s office. I suspect we’ll hear more about this particularl aspect in the coming days.

Good morning, RVA! It's 31 °F, and today you can expect highs in the mid 50s with, again, some rain showing up late this evening and on through to tomorrow morning. I’m choosing to ignore what I think is a freezing rain? sleet? icon in my weather app. Once Saturday morning’s rain tapers off, though, it looks like we’re in for a really pleasant weekend. You can probably guess what my family and I are doing for the next couple of days (volleyball), but if you happen to have some sort of life that’s not related to youth sports, I recommend you spend some of it outside!

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In his email from last night, RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras has some really thoughtful words at the conclusion of the Graduation Day shooting trial: “Many of you may not realize that Shawn and Amari were childhood friends. They even played at each other's homes as young boys. Now one is dead at the hand of the other, and both families are forever destroyed. I long ago lost count of the number of RPS students lost to gun violence. I can tell you with certainty that it is more than 50 since I've become superintendent. Like many of you, I have become weary – depleted really – by the anguish, the heartache, and the trauma.” Tap through to read a joint statement from Kamras and RPS School Board Chair Stephanie Rizzi.

If you’d like more details on the trial itself, Luca Powell at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has more coverage. But I’d skip it—content warnings for violence, of course, plus the all-caps, bold, alliterative headline makes me feel gross.

Good morning, RVA! It's 33 °F, and cooler weather has returned (at least for a minute). Today, and for the next two days, you can expect highs in the 50s before temperatures return to their springlike, mid-60s ways. We should get a bunch of sunshine today, too, so fingers crossed that it’s enough dry everything out a bit after yesterday’s soaking rain.

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Barry Greene Jr. at VPM has some more of the details, story, and life behind this week’s Shockoe Project announcement. It’s such a massive project and I’m nervous about it stalling out before it ever really gets off the ground, but, the more I read about it and the more I flip through the 130-page master plan, the more excited I get.

Good morning, RVA! It's 58 °F, and our streak of warm-but-wet weather continues. Today you can expect highs near 70 °F with a good chance of wind and rain throughout the day. Honestly, sort of seems like a great day to stay inside, if you can. Cooler weather returns tomorrow!

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Remember last week when the Richmond Crusade for Voters put out a press release that called for the RPS School Board to fire Superintendent Kamras? At the time, I said ignoring the impact COVID-19 has had on our school district was unfair, School Board Chair Stephanie Rizzi cautioned against putting all the blame for every challenge facing RPS on to one person, and City Council’s Education and Human Services committee agreed with her (in a public statement). Now, it sounds like RCV’s membership may also have some concerns with the group’s original sentiments. Here’s the full text of a new press release I found in my inbox yesterday:

On February 19, 2024, the Richmond Crusade for Voters Board of Directors voted to publish its opinion that RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras be removed from office. However, the membership of the Crusade for Voters is continuing to review and discuss this matter. ­

Good morning, RVA! It's 50 °F, and welcome to day two of our three-day streak of warm weather. Today you can expect highs in the mid 60s and a decent chance for rain later this afternoon. I think, if you time it right, you can still find plenty of chances to get outdoors without getting soaked.

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We’ll look at this! City Council has hired a manager for the Civilian Review Board! I can’t remember when this was originally supposed to happen, but it feels like we’ve been waiting a long time for the CRB to get off the ground and to get started reviewing. The new manager, Joseph Lowery, has a deep background in law enforcement, with time spent at the Department of Justice, FBI, and Chesterfield County Police Department. On the one hand, in order to have any sort of success in this role, the person filling it must be able to build at least some sort of trust with the Richmond Police Department. You’d think someone with this much law enforcement experience would definitely have a head start in doing just that. On the other hand, is an ex-police officer really the best person to help keep police officers accountable? I honestly don’t know but am willing to give Lowery the benefit of the doubt, and I am thankful we’ve now got someone in this role. According to Council’s release, “Mr. Lowery’s first order of business in office will be to draft Board Policies and Procedures,” which I’m sure we’ll get our hands on in just a bit.

Good morning, RVA! It's 39 °F, and today, tomorrow, and the next day you can expect temperatures at least in the mid 60s—and maybe even some moments that hit 70 °F, depending on where you find yourself. This is clearly not normal and about 20 degrees above this week’s average temperatures, but I say put aside your existential dread and spend some time outside. Spring has nearly sprung! Take some time to get out there and appreciate it!

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Gross billboard update: Em Holter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that “Richmond officials on Friday rejected a proposal by Lamar Advertising to remove a billboard on the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground in exchange for help finding locations for additional advertising in the city.” Good for the City! Holter also has this new-to-me tidbit: “The company in November sent the city Planning Department a proposal that said it would surrender the Shockoe Hill billboard if the city found six other locations to house 12 front-facing billboards.” Just wow.

Good morning, RVA! It's 50 °F and cloudy, and that’s about the weather today. You should also expect some rain to roll in late morning and stick around through the afternoon—which will probably soak any plans you may have had for riding a bike in the forest after work. This weekend, the highs stay stuck right around 50 °F, but, get excited, because the start of next week kicks off the warmest four-day streak we’ve had in a long time.

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An update! Thanks to reader Olivia for pointing out that, earlier this week, someone pulled the advertising from the billboards on the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground. Also, thank you to reader Sean, who rode by yesterday and grabbed this pic of the newly blacked-out billboards. I’d love to have been a part of the conversations leading up to this change. Did the advertisers themselves read Pulitzer Prize Winner Michael Paul Williams’s column and have a change of heart? Did the City finalize their swapsies deal with billboard-owner Lamar (which, to be clear, is suboptimal and gross on Lamar’s part)? Or, maybe, Lamar decided to do the right thing and remove the billboards from their inventory? I dunno, but this seems like progress!

Good morning, RVA! It's 30 °F, but highs today will top out in the 60s—bring on the warm weather, I say! I’m trying to get back to digging in my yard on the weekends, riding bikes without my toes going numb, and putting away my wool socks in favor of just not wearing socks ever. Get ready, because next week looks lovely—unseasonable, sure, but lovely.

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A correction and an update! First, yesterday I mangled the members of City Council’s Education and Human Services committee. The correct list of members is as follows: Lynch (chair), Newbile (vice chair), and Jones.

Second, John Murden at South Richmond News found School Board member Stephanie Rizzi’s comments on the Richmond Crusade for Voters call to remove the superintendent of Richmond Public Schools. Rizzi gets at some of the important context that RCV has chosen to ignore: “Though there is undoubtedly more work to be done and a need for growth and change, there are conditions beyond RPS’ control that disproportionately impact our students...Perhaps the original strategic plan did not take all of this into account and did not do enough to acknowledge that addressing the inequities our students face necessitates an all hands on deck effort and that assigning blame without recognizing the complexities of our challenges is not a constructive approach.” Love that last little bit so much that I put it in bold!

Good morning, RVA! It's 27 °F, and, by now, you know the routine: Chilly mornings, clear skies, and afternoons with highs in the mid 50s at some point. Warmer temperatures do move in tomorrow, though, and will start to disrupt our current run of extremely stable weather.

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Unfortunately, trying to fire the RPS superintendent has become one of Richmond’s top hobbies—like starting a brewery, having opinions on grocery stores, or complaining about the long-dead 6th Street Market Place. I honestly thought we’d reached a more stable situation with RPS leadership—and, in some ways, we have—but, yesterday, I got a press release from the Richmond Crusade for Voters calling for “the release of Jason Kamras from Richmond Public Schools.” You can probably find the full text if you look hard enough, but I’m not going to link to it. Ignoring the reality of the last four years and never once mentioning COVID-19 or its impact, the release mostly points out ways in which the District didn’t hit some of the goals set forth in its 5-year strategic plan. I don’t think that’s fair. I wouldn’t even have mentioned RCV’s release except, later in the day, City Council’s Education and Human Services committee (made up of Councilmembers Lynch, Newbille, Robertson, and Addison) sent out this statement:

“We echo the sentiments of our colleague, School Board Chair Rizzi and agree that the issues that ail Richmond Public Schools do not lay on any one person’s feet. We recognize the tremendous challenges that public education systems face everyday, particularly in a post-pandemic era. In a city that has seen an increase in families experiencing homelessness, continued gaps in our mental health system and an ever-widening wealth disparity. These challenges are intertwined with classroom management issues, teacher retention rates, academic, and absenteeism outcomes.

Good morning, RVA! It's 26 °F, but, don’t worry, temperatures should head back up in to the mid 50s by this afternoon. Looking ahead, deep into the extended forecast, and I can see some highs that will almost crack 70 °F! Does that mean winter is officially over? I dunno, but March is fast approaching and bringing with it warmer weather.

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NPR national—like true-blue, regular NPR—caught up with local safe-streets advocate, cargo bike rider, and all around rad person Tara FitzPatrick to talk about the new speed enforcement cameras the City installed near Linwood Holton Elementary. Are speed cameras a magical fix for a street designed specifically so that drivers can hurtle along at unsafe racecar speeds? No, of course not. As FitzPatrick says, “A lot of us feel desperate...If I could make a quick fix tomorrow, it would not be any type of speed enforcement. It would not be school zone speed enforcement cameras. But that's the option that we're left with at this point." P.S. Setting aside my standard rant about journalism’s continued dedication to The View From Nowhere, I like how the oppositional point of view in this article is provided by a guy from “the National Motorists Association, a diver advocacy group.” I’m not sure I could think of an advocacy group I’d less like to join!

Good morning, RVA! It's 39 °F, and today, you guessed it, more of the same with highs in the mid 50s and some cloudy skies. Temperatures will drop over the weekend, but not enough to be like “Oh wow it’s so much colder, I better pull out the long johns!” However, NBC12’s Andrew Freiden says that tonight we could get a “rain/snow mix with some light accumulation on elevated surfaces but it’s going to be a close call between snow and rain.” AS PER ANNOYINGLY ALWAYS. Come Monday, we’re right back at it again with highs in the mid 50s for as far as the extended forecast can see.

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Yesterday, City Council sent out this really interesting news release that’s most directly about the recent meals tax situation and a victory lap for how Council passed ORD. 2024-024 this past Monday. But the release also challenges the Mayor’s administration to, more generally, overhaul the City’s finance system: “Richmond City Council believes that Richmond deserves an effective, efficient, and responsive finance system...Richmond needs a culture change that establishes, engenders, and supports ongoing real and direct lines of communication to resolve real issues.” In fact, Council requests (well, “invites”) the Administration to provide updates and timelines on that culture change in just two weeks, at their March 4th Organizational Development committee meeting.

Specifically, they’d like the Mayor and his team to:

Good morning, RVA! It's 28 °F, which is pretty cold. But, don’t worry, by the time this afternoon rolls around we’ll return to our recent “highs in the mid 50s” standard. Later in the day, we should see a bunch of sun, which should help finish drying everything out. Behold! A decent Thursday!

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City Council’s Finance and Economic Development committee meets today, and you can find their full agenda here. This is normally the most boring committee for someone (like me) who has a hard time understanding municipal finance. Today, though, Finance will consider ORD. 2024-039 which would raise the floor of City Council liaison salaries from $47,161 to $70,000, and midpoint from $65,915 to $90,000. This is a big deal! When a smart councilmember gets paired up with a liaison that functions more as a policy advisor than as an admin we start to see Council consider more interesting and progressive legislation (although, to be clear, each role is incredibly important and every counclilmember should have both a policy advisor and an admin). This new salary range would, with any luck, allow for more policy-experienced folks to consider liaisoning—which would be great! I bet there are even people reading this email right now making the hmmm emoji face.

Unrelated, important, and, turns out, still pretty interesting, Sabrina Joy-Hogg, the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Finance and Administration, will give the committee a presentation on the City’s progress with spending down all of that ARPA money. Maybe a good one to stash in the PDF library?

Good morning, RVA! It's 33 °F, and today, again , we’ve got highs in the 50s plus some partly cloudy skies. The 10-day forecast gets us all the way out through the last full week in February, and it’s basically this sort of weather straight on through—so get used to it / I hope you enjoy it! P.S. As for the yesterday’s wind, I did commute by bike, and it was at my back in both directions!

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Thank you to everyone who came out to last night’s event at the Valentine. First, you should go check out the museum’s Sculpting History exhibit when you get a chance, it’s really well written. Second, everyone on the panel talked a lot about the future of news, and, to be honest, no one had anything incredibly optimistic to say about it—which is pretty scary. A thriving and robust local media landscape definitely makes for a healthier city.

Anyway, I had blast, and it was great to meet so many readers of this very newsletter in person and to see many of the actual reporters who make Richmond’s news media happen. Many years ago, when I ran a news magazine, I’d do a lot of these sorts of events, and it was nice to be reminded of that time in my life. Plus I got to sit on a panel with Pulitzer Prize Winner Michael Paul Williams! Surreal!

Good morning, RVA! It's 45 °F, and it looks like the rain has mostly moved on leaving behind a bit of wind and, with any luck, a lot of sunshine later in the day. If you choose to bike commute, may the wind be ever at your back—in both directions!

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Today marks crossover in the General Assembly, when surviving bills head over to test their mettle in the opposite chamber from whence they originated. It’s a big milestone for the GA—but, of course, nothing truly lives or dies until the Governor puts down his pen at the end of the session.

For example: Remember yesterday when the Virginia Senate punished the Governor for some salty public remarks he made by killing his plan to build a professional sports arena in Alexandria? At the time (literally just 24 hours ago), I said it was mostly for show by Senate Democrats because the House version of the proposal still yet lived. This morning, VPM’s Jahd Khalil reports that that version escaped committee and made it to a floor vote in the House of Delegates right at the last minute. Now, as the bill crosses over, we’ll see if the Senate stays salty and spikes Youngkin’s arena proposal for a second time or if this week’s stern warning was enough to remind the Governor that Democrats mean business (and that he needs to think through some of the impact of his public comments).

Good morning, RVA! It's 48 °F, and today you can expect highs near 50 °F, cloudy skies, and a chance of rain this afternoon which increases later in the evening. The wet weather should move out of the area by tomorrow morning, and then the rest of the week ahead of us looks pretty dang nice.

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Pulitzer Prize Winner Michael Paul Williams has a great piece in the Richmond Times-Dispatch about a tacky billboard on the site of the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground. I defer to the folks involved in the project about whether the billboard should stay and advertise the existence of the site—which has, multiple times, been torn up, buried under, and paved over up by infrastructure projects—or have it carefully removed. Regardless, the businesses advertising on the billboard should pull their ads today, and Lamar, who owns the billboard, should donate the space to the City—forever. Doesn’t sound like Lamar is too interested in that, though, because Councilmember Robertson says they’re “willing to swap that billboard out for a different site or a billboard that the city may own.” I think that’s gross, and MPW puts it best: “I’d like Lamar to view this as a form of community repair, and not seek a quid pro quo.” 1000% agree, and I hope now that a literally Pulitzer Prize Winner has weighed in, Lamar will choose to do the right thing.

Good morning, RVA! It's 40 °F, and my weather app says “chance of flurries for the next hour,” which I find to be especially cruel. Later today, when this quick reminder of winter passes, you can expect partly cloudy skies and highs in the mid 60s. Those warmer temperatures will continue throughout the weekend along with a decent chance for rain until, like, Tuesday.

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The project outline for the Cultural Heritage Stewardship Plan, which, up until this point, I’ve referred to as the Cultural Resources Management Plan, now exists for you to download, flip through, and, if you dare, comment on via Konveio. This document is literally the proposed outline for a future document—the plan itself—so don’t dive in expecting a lot of details. That said, I quickly scrolled through and was glad to see sections staked out to address equity (2.2.1), balancing historic preservation and development (2.2.3), and housing affordability (3.2). Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the City request feedback on a document outline before, so it’s a bit odd, but I’m kind of into it! You have until February 15th if you wish to leave a comment or two.

Good morning, RVA! It's 29 °F, and warmer weather arrives today with highs clocking in just south of 60 °F. You should expect partly or mostly cloudy conditions starting now, through the weekend, and into the early part of next week (which will probably bring with it some rain). It’s a great day to sit quietly and stare moodily out a window—bonus points for doing it on a bus.

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Richmond Police are reporting that, yesterday morning, a driver hit and seriously injured a person walking at the intersection of Broad and Lombardy: “At approximately 8:45 a.m., officers were called to the intersection of West Broad and North Lombardy streets for the report of a pedestrian struck. Officers arrived and located an adult female who had been struck by a vehicle, a pickup truck, which had left the scene. The victim was transported to a local hospital for injuries that are considered to be life threatening. The Richmond Police Department Crash Team responded. Investigators determined the pedestrian was crossing West Broad Street southbound in the crosswalk when the driver...disregarded the red traffic signal, struck the pedestrian, and fled the scene without rendering aid.“ Scary stuff. This is a known bad intersection and one I move through several times a week. I’m going to guess speed was a contributing factor to the seriousness of this crash, and I wonder what can be done to slow drivers down on Broad Street so that when they make a mistake like this it doesn’t forever change someone’s life.

Good morning, RVA! It's 27 °F, and today we’ve got clear skies and highs right around 50 °F. The forest daffodils have popped up but not yet bloomed, and just yesterday I noticed something poking up through the mulch in a bed where I planted bulbs (for the first time ever!). It’s still winter, but the signs of the approaching spring are all around us!

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Richmonders, please welcome Shavonda Dixon as the 9th District’s new RPS School Board representative! Dixon replaces Nicole Jones who replaced Mike Jones on City Council who left for the General Assembly at the start of this year. From the School Board’s press release: “Last night, the Richmond Public Schools (RPS) School Board voted unanimously to appoint Ms. Shavonda Dixon as the School Board Representative for the Ninth District. A Virginia native and dedicated mother of two, Ms. Dixon is a proud RPS alumn and graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School. She is a passionate advocate for serving the community and enriching the lives of children in Richmond Public Schools. Ms. Dixon will be sworn in next week and will be seated at the School Board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, February 20 at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School.” You’ll probably also want to read Dixon’s own statement over on Facebook, which John Murden at South Richmond News picked up. Dixon says, in part, “I am eager to collaborate with fellow school board members, the superintendent, and our constituents. Together, we can continue to create and reimagine an environment where learning flourishes for our children, teachers receive the support they need, and parents are actively engaged through collaboration and transparent communication.” It’s nice to hear new folks on School Board state explicitly that they want to work with the superintendent and not spend their whole lives feuding with him.

Good morning, RVA! It's 29 °F, and today, with highs in the mid 40s, is a bit cooler than the last couple of days but still in the same ballpark. Honestly, I’m kind of loving this weather. I spent some time on a bicycle yesterday, and it was one of those magical times when the temperature, number of layers I was wearing, and amount of effort I was putting in all balanced out perfectly to deliver me to my destination only the slightest bit sweaty and smelly. Great for everyone involved!

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Sports Backers has posted both the full, 94-page Fall Line Vision Plan PDF for you to download and add to your PDF libraries plus a recording of yesterday’s webinar introducing the plan. Why should you care? I like how the plan describes itself: “The Vision Plan is not intended to be prescriptive nor to limit the creativity of the agencies building the trail. Rather, it presents a direction the Fall Line can take based on the foundational principle that the trail is more than just a recreational facility. It is a place to travel, meet friends, enjoy nature, get to work, and explore the neighborhood. Users of this document should embrace the ideas that they like, expand upon them where appropriate, and be inspired by new ideas to transform their community. Above all, readers should be empowered to realize the Fall Line Vision in a way that reflects the culture and heritage of their community.”

Exciting, right?

Good morning, RVA! It's 30 °F, and I feel like we’re stuck in a bit of a weather-related time loop. Today you can expect highs in the 50s, sunny skies, and for that general vibe to continue for at least the next three to four days. I think we’ll have to wait until the weekend to see significantly warmer temperatures and all the way until next week for a chance of rain. So! Get used to it and get your best layers out.

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Today, City Council’s Organizational Development committee meets and will hear a presentation on Participatory Budgeting by Matthew Slaats, Council’s newish Senior Civic Innovation Manager. A bunch of years ago, way back in 2019, Council passed legislation creating real participatory budgeting in Richmond, and now, five years later, it looks like all of the pieces are in place to kick off the process this fall. Tap through to the aforelinked presentation to see an overview of the process and proposed timeline, and then, when you’re ready, dive in to the People’s Budget Richmond Rulebook, 2023–2024 (a surprisingly readable and interesting PDF!). I’m pretty excited for this kickoff—the City has set aside $3 million in the capital budget for this first round of participatory budgeting. That’s real money that can build real things. Stay tuned for more information on how to...participate...in this process!

Also of note and totally unrelated: The Organizational Development committee will discuss “Proposed Amendments to Council’s Rules of Procedure.” Tell me more!

Good morning, RVA! It's 39 °F, and today looks a lot like yesterday: Partly cloudy with highs somewhere around 50 °F. The weekend ahead of us and a bunch of days afterwards will feature clear skies and similar temperatures—perfect weather for spending time in the local forest of your choice!

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February is, of course, Black History Month, and I’ve got my eyes out for interesting local events or celebrations—like this Dawoud Bey photography exhibit at the VMFA. Expect more to come throughout the month, and if you come across something you’d like to share with me, please do!

February is also, according to the RPS Superintendent email, School Board Appreciation Month, a very specific and narrowly focused celebration that I’m not sure I knew about until this morning. Our School Board is complicated and has been described by one particular daily zoning and rezoning email as dysfunctional and chaotic. But I also think things are changing! Over time, they’ve straightened out under their new leadership, my group chats are quiet on School Board meeting nights, and I haven’t felt like I needed to ask thousands of people to email the Board and yell at them for their failure to follow any sort of rational process. It’s real progress, and, this School Board Appreciation Month, I really do appreciate them (most days).

Good morning, RVA! It's 29 °F, and that might be as cold as it gets this week. Temperatures will warm up over the course of the day and should land somewhere in the mid 50s this afternoon—I think we’ll get to see the sun again today, too. Welcome to February, everyone!

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I thought I could avoid writing about Richmond’s Gun Hole, but the situation has spiraled too far out of control to ignore.

Many, many years ago, someone in the Fan pressed a Wild West-looking pistol into wet sidewalk cement, creating what’s only recently become known as “the Richmond Gun Hole”—an unpleasant combination of words to write. First, to understand what the heck is going on here, you need to read the Chicago Rat Hole wikipedia entry. With that (unfortunate) context in hand, you can see how Richmond’s Gun Hole could easily take off in the same viral way as Chicago’s Rat Hole (I already regret writing this paragraph). After a couple days of viral notability, news cameras, and instagram lookie-loos, someone submitted a 311 ticket to get the Gun Hole filled. To quote the ticket entirely: “Vague ‘gun’ shaped impression in the sidewalk is attracting nuisance visitors and littering. Please repair.” Sort of surprisingly, DPW did repair the sidewalk—almost immediately—and filled the Gun Hole. Now, did you read the Rat Hole wiki like I suggested? Because, if so, you know exactly what happened next. Via NBC12: “The strange sidewalk impression that quickly became a neighborhood landmark is back! This comes after city crews filled the hole with cement this morning, but that decision quickly backfired. In the last few hours, someone scoped the concrete out and restored the shrine, giving the gun hole new life.” RVA Rapid Transit’s Richard Hankins puts to words what most of you are probably already thinking: “My reaction was one of surprise; the city is not necessarily known for turning around quickly, especially when it comes to sidewalk infrastructure.” High fives to Hankins for taking the opportunity to turn a Gun Hole interview into advocacy for better sidewalks on the Southside. Honestly, I’m not sure what the City expected to happen after taking such swift action; it feels petty. Instead of having Gun Hole mania die out after a couple of days, I’m here talking about our broken sidewalk infrastructure and you’re stuck reading about Gun Holes in email newsletters for at least another week. Anyway, now you know the legend of Richmond’s Gun Hole, whether you wanted to or not.