Photo by: Gabriele Diwald

Good morning, RVA! It’s 71 °F, and those were some exciting early morning storms! The chance for more thunderstorms continues throughout the day and really picks up this evening. Stay dry out there!

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The chamber of commerce has come out in support of the Coliseum redevelopment proposal with this piece co-written by both the ChamberRVA chair and president. They end their argument for the proposal with a bunch of questions, but none of them are the questions I’d start with. Honestly, it’d have been nice to have a public conversation about whether or not we even need a downtown arena. Assuming that we do (which, meh), I think we first have to ask whether taking on this project impacts our ability to fund our existing, critical schools, public housing, and transit needs over the next couple of decades. These are things that we know we need and we know will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to cover decades of underinvestment. We shouldn’t let an arena hold us back from our obligation to invest in the basic needs and infrastructure of our city. I’m not saying this particular proposal will do that, and I’m also not saying we can’t redevelop the Coliseum while also funding schools, public housing, and transit. We’ll just have to look at the financials details when they come out and let all of our elected officials know how we feel about them then.

Photo by: Gabriele Diwald

Good morning, RVA! It’s 71 °F, and those were some exciting early morning storms! The chance for more thunderstorms continues throughout the day and really picks up this evening. Stay dry out there!

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The chamber of commerce has come out in support of the Coliseum redevelopment proposal with this piece co-written by both the ChamberRVA chair and president. They end their argument for the proposal with a bunch of questions, but none of them are the questions I’d start with. Honestly, it’d have been nice to have a public conversation about whether or not we even need a downtown arena. Assuming that we do (which, meh), I think we first have to ask whether taking on this project impacts our ability to fund our existing, critical schools, public housing, and transit needs over the next couple of decades. These are things that we know we need and we know will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to cover decades of underinvestment. We shouldn’t let an arena hold us back from our obligation to invest in the basic needs and infrastructure of our city. I’m not saying this particular proposal will do that, and I’m also not saying we can’t redevelop the Coliseum while also funding schools, public housing, and transit. We’ll just have to look at the financials details when they come out and let all of our elected officials know how we feel about them then.

Photo by: clayshek

Good morning, RVA! It’s 69 °F, and we’ve got a whole day of cooler temperatures! Expect highs in the mid 80s and the rain to probably even stay away until tomorrow.

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Infuzion, the Scott’s Addition Club outside of which a quadruple shooting took place a couple weeks ago, has closed says Karri Peifer in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. I don’t know anything more than what’s in this story, and I definitely don’t know the specifics of Infuzion’s liquor license (which was revoked the day after the shooting) or their relationship with the building’s owner, but I do want to quote from what Marc Cheatham wrote earlier this week: “But my next thought was a concern for Infuzion, one of the only hip-hop clubs in that area (I think it’s the only one in Scott’s Addition). Will they now become a target of the high-level scrutiny that only a club with majority black patrons can be subject too? … When I heard the news, my thoughts turned to: Will Infuzion be subject to some sort of forced evacuation? Let’s face it, Scott’s Addition, “the upcoming neighborhood” that is a hub for new breweries and an influx of young professional patrons – I don’t know any of those breweries to be black-owned and the majority of their patrons who visit them are not black – may not want a hip-hop club and lounge in their ‘up and coming’ mix.” And now, back in the Karri Peifer piece, I want to quote from the building’s owner: “Our goal is to lease the space to a tenant that complements the building and the neighborhood.” Again, I don’t know the specifics of anything, but I’ve been thinking about Marc’s words since he wrote them, and then, today, this.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 70 °F, and highs are stuck in the upper 80s. Take it all in, because there’s some weekend rain headed our way.

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This morning, the Richmond Times-Dispatch talks to the other elected members of our government—City Council and School Board—to get their thoughts on the Coliseum redevelopment proposal. The School Board has no say, authority, or input on the proposal, but takes advantage of the media opportunity to remind everyone that our school facility needs were not fully funded by this year’s meals tax increase 💸. While maybe some of the Board’s concerns about the City taking its eye off the schools-facilities ball are valid, it’s pretty disingenuous to imply that future Coliseum funding could have instead been used for schools. To be clear, this article does not do that, but it gets close. It’s also wild to me that every person talking about schools funding isn’t shouting “property tax increase!” from the rooftops. It’s the only bucket of money big enough to get it all done.

Over on the other side of City Hall, Mark Robinson talks to City Council, who are thinking about commissioning their own independent study of the Tom Farrell proposal 💸. I feel pretty good that most everyone on Council sounds like they’re willing to wait until the full details of the proposal come out before making any judgments and are also willing to take however long it takes reviewing that proposal—even if it throws off Mayor’s/Farrell’s timeline.

Photo by: cpjRVA

Good morning, RVA! It’s 71 °F, and yesterday’s rain has cooled things down a bit. Expect highs in the upper 80s for the next little while.

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Alright, my dudes, I went to yesterday’s Land Use, Housing and Transportation committee meeting so you wouldn’t have to. Here’s the update on the four bills that I’d prefer to never see on an agenda again:

Good morning, RVA! It’s 76 °F, and we’ve got highs in the 90s with a reasonable chance of thunderstorms after lunch. ‘Twould be nice to cool things off a bit.

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Richmond Police are reporting that a 19-year-old shot last month has died from his injuries. Andrew K. Hensley was fatally shot on June 29th on the 5800 block of Willow Oaks Drive.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 76 °F, and we’ve got highs in the 90s with a reasonable chance of thunderstorms after lunch. ‘Twould be nice to cool things off a bit.

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Richmond Police are reporting that a 19-year-old shot last month has died from his injuries. Andrew K. Hensley was fatally shot on June 29th on the 5800 block of Willow Oaks Drive.

Photo by: adamwilliams4405

Good morning, RVA! It’s 77 °F, and today’s high is a toasty 94 °F. If we play our cards right, some rain tomorrow should cool things down a bit for the rest of the week.

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Richmond Police are reporting a murder that occurred on Friday. At 2:07 AM, officers arrived at 1400 Roseneath Road and found Terrance C. Peters, 46, shot to death. This murder was part of an incident in Scott’s Addition where three other people were also shot.

Photo by: sandy's dad

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and we’ve got a hot one on deck. Expect highs in the mid 90s and a clear blue sky.

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Yesterday, I talked about the TIF (tax increment financing) that NH District had proposed to fund the redevelopment of the area around the Coliseum. Catherine Komp from WCVE has a good Twitter thread filled with more reading on (mostly the perils of) TIFs. I especially like this one which recommends requiring affordable housing, job creation, living wages, and a clawback clause that forces “developers to pay back all or part of the subsidy if they fail to meet their job, wage, and other responsibilities.” Maybe these things are included in the proposal? We won’t know until more information is made public. The RTD’s Editorial Board has some effusive praise for the proposal.

Photo by: cpjRVA

Good morning, RVA! It’s 62 °F, and highs today should stay in the 80s with plenty of sunshine to go along.

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Police are reporting that Kevin V. Burks, 57, was hit and killed by a driver while riding his bike near the 5300 block of Hull Street Road. That portion of Hull Street has an inconsistent and patchy network of sidewalks and certainly no bike lane to protect people on bikes.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 77 °F, and today’s highs are back up in the 90s again. But! There’s a decent chance for some cooling thunderstorms later this afternoon. Either way, tomorrow—and the rest of the weekend—looks a heckuva lot more temperate than the last couple of days.

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I am skeptical of this editorial from the RTD Editorial Board that praises the Monument Avenue Commission’s report (PDF), celebrates the recommendation to take down the Jefferson Davis monument, but advocates for removing just his statue and leaving the rest of the colonnade and other materials behind. They argue especially for keeping the statue on top of the large central column, that “allowing Vindicatrix to remain on her perch — even as a statue of some worthy Richmonder fills the pedestal below that once elevated Davis — offers an opportunity for symbolic justice and healing.” My dudes, this statue, which has nothing to do with justice and healing, is also known as “Miss Confederacy” and is used today as a rallying image by neo Confederates. I’m not necessarily against repurposing the colonnade or even the big huge column, but if we decide to do something like that the new monument must starkly contrast with the existing one and clearly stand against white supremacy and racism. Leaving Miss Confederacy atop her column does neither.

Michael O’Connor at the Richmond Times-Dispatch continues the trickle of updates coming out of Henrico’s Brookland District: We’ve now got three official candidates and one maybe candidate to replace Courtney Lynch. Sounds like the Board of Supervisors will finalize the details for the November special election this coming Tuesday. Full disclosure: Democrat Danny Plaugher sits on the RVA Rapid Transit board, my full time employer, and is a tireless advocate for public transportation. That’s a good play on words because he’s the executive director of Virginians for High Speed Rail.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 77 °F, and today’s highs are back up in the 90s again. But! There’s a decent chance for some cooling thunderstorms later this afternoon. Either way, tomorrow—and the rest of the weekend—looks a heckuva lot more temperate than the last couple of days.

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I am skeptical of this editorial from the RTD Editorial Board that praises the Monument Avenue Commission’s report (PDF), celebrates the recommendation to take down the Jefferson Davis monument, but advocates for removing just his statue and leaving the rest of the colonnade and other materials behind. They argue especially for keeping the statue on top of the large central column, that “allowing Vindicatrix to remain on her perch — even as a statue of some worthy Richmonder fills the pedestal below that once elevated Davis — offers an opportunity for symbolic justice and healing.” My dudes, this statue, which has nothing to do with justice and healing, is also known as “Miss Confederacy” and is used today as a rallying image by neo Confederates. I’m not necessarily against repurposing the colonnade or even the big huge column, but if we decide to do something like that the new monument must starkly contrast with the existing one and clearly stand against white supremacy and racism. Leaving Miss Confederacy atop her column does neither.

Michael O’Connor at the Richmond Times-Dispatch continues the trickle of updates coming out of Henrico’s Brookland District: We’ve now got three official candidates and one maybe candidate to replace Courtney Lynch. Sounds like the Board of Supervisors will finalize the details for the November special election this coming Tuesday. Full disclosure: Democrat Danny Plaugher sits on the RVA Rapid Transit board, my full time employer, and is a tireless advocate for public transportation. That’s a good play on words because he’s the executive director of Virginians for High Speed Rail.

Photo by: cpjRVA

Good morning, RVA! It’s 77 °F, and highs will hit the low 90s today, but it’ll feel hotter. Tomorrow, some rain should come our way and cool things down.

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Justin Mattingly at the Richmond-Times Dispatch says State Senator Bill Stanley has sent Mayor Stoney a letter asking: “Do you believe failing to provide the funding necessary to do basic maintenance to avoid conditions the School Superintendent called “heartbreaking” is consistent with Brown II and Article VIII, Section 1 of the Virginia Constitution?” This, my friends, is political garbage. One of the main reasons Richmond is so far in the hole when it comes to schools is that the state government refuses to fund education at appropriate levels. The Mayor calls this out in his response, naming “the General Assembly’s negligence in adequately funding public education.” For a state senator to condescendingly lecture Richmond about money for schools while he sits there with the power to actually do something about it is infuriating. I’m amazed that the Mayor responded in such a measured way; I would not have. The RTD has PDFs of both Stanley’s letter and the Mayor’s response.

Photo by: cpjRVA

Good morning, RVA! It’s 77 °F, and highs will hit the low 90s today, but it’ll feel hotter. Tomorrow, some rain should come our way and cool things down.

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Justin Mattingly at the Richmond-Times Dispatch says State Senator Bill Stanley has sent Mayor Stoney a letter asking: “Do you believe failing to provide the funding necessary to do basic maintenance to avoid conditions the School Superintendent called “heartbreaking” is consistent with Brown II and Article VIII, Section 1 of the Virginia Constitution?” This, my friends, is political garbage. One of the main reasons Richmond is so far in the hole when it comes to schools is that the state government refuses to fund education at appropriate levels. The Mayor calls this out in his response, naming “the General Assembly’s negligence in adequately funding public education.” For a state senator to condescendingly lecture Richmond about money for schools while he sits there with the power to actually do something about it is infuriating. I’m amazed that the Mayor responded in such a measured way; I would not have. The RTD has PDFs of both Stanley’s letter and the Mayor’s response.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 79 °F, and the heat advisory continues today from 12:00–8:00 PM. Watch out for a heat index up to 107!

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Dun dun dunnnnn…The Monument Avenue Commission’s final report is out for you to download and read (PDF). The recommendations begin on page 32, but, to summarize: remove the Jefferson Davis monument, add signage/context to the rest of them, and install some new artwork along the avenue. These recommendations are not nearly as bold as they could have been but are slightly bolder than I thought they’d be. So that’s something? I guess?

Setting aside removing Jefferson Davis, which may involve sussing out some state-level legal issues, I’m fascinated by what the process will look like to design signage that “reflect[s] the historic, biographical, artistic, and changing meaning over time for each” monument. Will we equivocate in the language on these signs, writing that only some people say these men fought to oppress and own other humans? Will the signage be of significant scale so that when you look down Monument Avenue and see these tremendous White men towering on their literal pedestals you also see monumental reminders that they were white supremacists? Or will we end up with tiny brown plaques filled with tiny writing that no one will read and no one will see that quietly points out the reality that these monuments should have been removed? I do have a bit of hope, since the report recommends that the Public Art Commission could possibly be involved, that if we are limited to providing context to these monuments that we can do it in an interesting way and at an appropriate scale. Stay tuned for a public presentation of the report later this summer.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 77 °F, and today will be HOT—there’s even a heat advisory in effect from 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM today. Temperatures will reach 100 °F, but the heat index could hit 107 °F. Brutal.

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The ridership numbers for the first couple days of service for the Pulse are in, and whoa! Sunday through Wednesday (the only days for which GRTC has released ridership data at the moment), our new BRT saw tons of folks hop on board, obliterating goals and expectations. Goal: 3,500 daily riders. Actuals for Sunday–Wednesday: 6,240; 8,669; 7,968; and 7,877. I’m sure the newness of the thing and the week of free fares helped push those numbers up, but still! Dang! We’ll know more about regular ridership after this week, but keep in mind we’ve got a holiday on Wednesday, which will probably throw things off a bit. Now that the Pulse (and the redesigned bus network) are off and running, we can focus on the smaller things that will make day-to-day usage of the system better. The most immediate need, in my view, is that new spots across the City where many folks end up transferring between bus lines need benches, shelters, and trash cans. Then, for a great list of Pulse-specific recommendations, see this Twitter thread by @DFRSH757. I agree with #3, #4, and #6 a ton ! Safe pedestrian access to Pulse stations and strict enforcement of no-parking in the bus lane will be huge moving forward. P.S. All of those improvements I just mentioned are the responsibility of the City, not GRTC. So if you want to holler at someone, make sure it’s the right someone.

City Council will have a special meeting this evening to consider some expedited papers. First, the mayor will appoint four folks to the RMTA, which sound boring but could be important as the region starts to get its transportation act together. Second, they’ll look at two resolutions to update City Council’s reimbursement policy. These new resolutions will allow Council, in some cases, to reimburse itself for expenditures without requiring a resolution to do so (RES. 2018-R065) and will increase the threshold of those reimbursements from $1,000 to $5,000 (RES. 2018-R066). I’m not out here suggesting Council is trying to reduce transparency under the cover of night in an expedited special session—putting together an ordinance to approve the purchase of pizza for a meeting is most likely a tedious waste of time. But, like, what’s the rush? I swear, I do not fully grok this Council. Half the reason they delay or kill things is to continually do additional studies, get more information, and allow the community to further weigh in. Sometimes, though, stuff just zips right through. It’s fascinating.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 76 °F, and temperatures keep on creeping up. Today, expect highs in the mid 90s and maybe a few clouds if you’re lucky. Wear sunscreen and stay hydrated!

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Well, I went to Councilmember Hilbert’s 3rd District meeting last night to hear what he had to say about his ordinance to prevent bike lanes on Brook Road (ORD. 2018–194 (PDF)). I gotta say, while 50+ folks showed up and many had incredibly thoughtful/smart things to say, I walked away very disappointed. After an hour and a half of conversation with Hilbert and Councilmember Gray (who also showed up), I still don’t have a clear picture of why this ordinance was introduced or the real reasoning behind it.

Early in the meeting, Councilmember Hilbert said the 300 new apartments going in at the Westwood Tract (remember that whole situation?) would create a biblical flood of traffic that a Brook Road, narrowed for a protected bike lane, would be unable to handle. If he’d of done the same amount of research I did just now, in my pajamas at 6:00 AM, he’d have found two things: First, in 2016, the peak annual average daily traffic for any segment of Brook Road from Chamberlayne Parkway north to the city line is 10,000 vehicles (PDF) and, second, the Federal Highway Administration “advises that roadways with ADT (average daily traffic) of 20,000 vpd (vehicles per day) or less may be good candidates for a Road Diet.” There is no way, in any world, that the residents of 300 apartments, no matter how many cars they own or how much they love driving up and down Brook Road, will double the amount of traffic.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 74 °F, and today looks pretty dreamy. Expect highs near 90 °F and some sun shining down on you as you move about the City. Don’t forget: Free buses for the rest of this week!

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Well, this incredibly disappointing: Councilmembers Kim Gray and Chris Hilbert have introduced legislation (ORD. 2018–194) to prevent the construction of the Brook Road bike lane due to unsupported claims of “traffic congestion” and a worshipful deference to “the efficient movement of motor vehicle traffic.” This project is one of the highest priorities listed in Richmond’s Bicycle Master Plan (PDF), would provide a much needed north-south connection from the City’s Northside to Downtown, and has already been designed to accommodate the amount of traffic on Brook Road (spoiler: there’s not a ton). This ordinance runs counter to Richmond’s adopted Complete Streets and Vision Zero resolutions. This ordinance prioritizes people driving cars over the safety of folks riding bikes. This ordinance reads like it was drafted by an evil, car-obsessed Buddy Garrity. I am against this ordinance, you should be against this ordinance, and even Councilmember Gray should be against this ordinance as she’s the one that said, referring to Scott’s Addition, “The number one goal is to have a walkable, bikeable space.” But, here we are. It just so happens that Councilmember Hilbert will host his regularly-scheduled district meeting tonight from 6:00–7:30 PM at the North Avenue Library (2901 North Avenue). If executing the City’s longstanding plan to build a safe network of bike lanes for people to get around town is important to you, I’d encourage you to show up at this meeting and let Councilmember Hilbert know that this ordinance is unacceptable and moves Richmond in the wrong direction.

Michael O’Connor at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has an early look at some of the candidates who could replace Henrico’s soon-to-be-ex Supervisor Courtney Lynch. Remember that if the County decides to go with a special election this November, whoever wins will have to run again next November as well. Sounds exhausting.

Photo by: cpjRVA

Good morning, RVA! It’s 70 °F, and highs today will settle in around 86 °F. Will the rains return? Possibly! Keep an eye on the sky.

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Whoaaaaa, Graham Moomaw at the Richmond Times-Dispatch says that a federal court has rules “the Virginia House of Delegates unconstitutionally packed African-American voters into 11 legislative districts and ordered the General Assembly to draw new district lines by October 30th.” Packing is a gerrymandering technique where you concentrate a bunch of folks you disagree with—in this case, Black people—into a small number of districts so that those voters end up with fewer elected representatives in the legislative body. The opposite strategy, cracking, dilutes voters you disagree with across a large number of districts. Republicans say they’ll appeal this decision to the United States Supreme Court. If you believe that Virginia’s legislative districts should be drawn in a nonpartisan way (currently, legislators drawn their own districts??), head over to One Virginia 2021 and get involved in the work to bring fair redistricting to the Commonwealth.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 69 °F, and today looks pretty chill. Highs near 80 °F, maybe some clouds, and definitely some relief from the heat.

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Richmond Police are reporting a murder at the 1400 block of Drewry Street on the City’s Southside. Early yesterday morning, officers arrived to find Stephon B. Clarke, 33, shot to death.

Photo by: sandy's dad

Good morning, RVA! It’s 72 °F, and today’s weather looks wonderful. Highs should hit the mid 80s, and thunderstorms should stay far, far away. Good riddance.

Speaking of, the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s John Boyer has a look at this past weekend’s record-breaking rain that made this month the wettest June on record. 10 points to John for tying our extreme local weather to global climate change!

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Good morning, RVA! It’s 74 °F, and temperatures should be a bit cooler than the last couple of days with highs around 80 °F. Unfortunately, there’s a decent chance for storms from now until tomorrow.

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Yesterday, the Richmond Times Dispatch’s editorial team ran this disgusting cartoon about immigration. First: “Stay away” is a heartless and cruel take on immigration that has no basis in reality and only serves to normalizes our current president’s push for more xenophobic and white-nationalist policies. Running it was irresponsible. Second: The reaction to this cartoon has come quick and from a few folks I would not have expected. First, the Editorial Board claimed that “We love balance!” and included a condescending exclamation point to make sure you really felt gross. Reporter Graham Moomaw, who at this point must be exhausted from tweeting this same thing over and over again, reminded us that the newsroom has zero control over whatever disturbing thing editorial chooses to run. The Mayor called the cartoon “shameful” and threw in a #ThisisAmerica, too, while Delegate Jeff Bourne said it was “disgusting.” VCU prof and national thinker on inequity Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom wrote up a great thread comparing this sort of garbage to role the RTD played in massive resistance. Finally, Publisher Tom Silvestri weighed in and said that while he disagreed with the cartoon, “it represents a viewpoint that invites discourse and debate.” Nope. The current editorial side of the paper is a liability to the newsroom and, in my opinion, diminishes the hard work of the reporters out there keeping all of us informed. While it is true that these two things, editorial and news, are functionally separated, they both sit under the same leadership and are paid for by the same advertisers and the same subscribers. When one side vomits up racist garbage under the guise of “balance” it can’t not hurt the long-term future of the other side.

I keep thinking and reading about the stuff going on in Blackwell, the expansion of the Manchester Historic District, and how public engagement works (or doesn’t) in Richmond. Somehow I missed this thoughtful piece by Barrett Hardiman from over the weekend. Here’s something that I don’t often read: “I am a white gentrifier, a colonizer. That’s not a title I want, but it is the one I deserve. We moved here with good intentions. We want to be a part of the history of this neighborhood, celebrate it, and tell its story. However, despite our best intentions and efforts, we are still contributing to the erasure of that history. We both cause and benefit from rising home values, increased rents for businesses, and the replacement of the historic barbershop with the hipster coffee joint.” Additionally, RVADirt wrote up a thread on Twitter about the timeline of this whole thing, and, while it feels medium conspiratorial, brings up some heckin’ good points. Meanwhile, since I’ve been writing about this over the past couple of days, I’ve received a bunch of really thoughtful comments from folks who are genuinely disappointed and hurt that this part of the Southside is possibly missing out on a major influx of cash and development. All of that to say: This is a real complex and sensitive issue only made more so by the lack of strong affordable housing policy in the City (and in the State—if we want to get technical, we’ve got to change some state-level policy before we can take big steps on affordable housing).

Photo by: sandy's dad

Good morning, RVA! It’s 71 °F, and today’s forecast looks a lot like yesterday’s: Highs around 90 °F and a chance for thunderstorms later in the day and into evening.

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Vanessa Remmers in the Richmond Times-Dispatch writes this unreal but extremely, very real story about a local woman who has taken refuge in the First Unitarian Universalist Church to avoid being deported back to Honduras and back to a domestic abuser.

Photo by: Graylight

Good morning, RVA! It’s 73 °F, and today’s highs are, thankfully, a bit cooler than yesterday. Expect temperatures near 90 °F and a chance for some more thunderstorms this afternoon.

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Yesterday, Governor Northam “ordered the recall of four Virginia National Guard Soldiers and one helicopter from the U.S. Southwest border in response to the federal government’s enforcement of a ‘zero-tolerance’ policy that separates immigrant children from their families.” This is a good state-level response to a truly evil federal policy. What were those National Guard soldiers doing there in the first place? The Gov says, “preventing criminals, drug runners and other threats to our security from crossing into the United States.” But the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Graham Moomaw linked to this over on Twitter, which isn’t super specific but does make it sound like training on the helicopter was a big part of the mission. If you feel appalled by Trump’s policy to separate parents and children at our southern border but helpless and frustrated about how to get involved, check out this trustworthy list of organizations mobilizing to help. Donations to these organizations support the important, on-the-ground work to make a difference.

Good morning, RVA! It’s already 80 °F, and today’s anther hot one. Count on highs near 100 °F for most of the day followed by a possible chance of rain this evening.

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Richmond Police are reporting a double shooting on Saturday as a homicide and an aggravated assault. Early in the morning, officers arrived to the 1700 block of Carlisle Avenue and found Tevon M. Cook, 26, suffering from a fatal gunshot wound. Another adult male was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Good morning, RVA! It’s already 80 °F, and today’s anther hot one. Count on highs near 100 °F for most of the day followed by a possible chance of rain this evening.

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Richmond Police are reporting a double shooting on Saturday as a homicide and an aggravated assault. Early in the morning, officers arrived to the 1700 block of Carlisle Avenue and found Tevon M. Cook, 26, suffering from a fatal gunshot wound. Another adult male was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 71 °F, and it’s gonna be hot today! Expect highs in the upper 90s and plenty of sun. Stay cool, and stay hydrated!

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GRTC will host a public meeting tonight at 6:00 PM (2300 W. Broad Street) to discuss removing a stop at Davis & Broad. They’ll also solicit feedback on a proposed permanent redesign of the three routes that turn around on the block bounded by Broad, Davis, Grace, and Robinson. The fact that a single block of humans and a single councilperson were able to force GRTC into redesigning our new bus network—a system used by tens of thousands of Richmonders every day—just weeks before that new network even launches is…not promising. Council does not and should not have the authority to design bus routes and place bus stops, for good reason. I’m attending tonight’s meeting to hear what GRTC proposes as their permanent redesign and to ask them how much it will cost to implement. Any additional costs to move service away from these folks in the Fan likely means cuts in service from folks living elsewhere in the City. It’s a fixed budget, that’s how it works. However, I do hold out some hope that GRTC’s planners have found a clever way to expand service as part of their permanent plan to remove these three bus routes from this Fan neighborhood. We’ll see. If you can’t make tonight’s meeting but would like to weigh in, you can email planningcomment@ridegrtc.com.

Gentrification is very complicated. Read this thorough piece from Mark Robinson in the Richmond Times-Dispatch about an attempt to expand the Manchester Historic District to include Blackwell 💸 and you’ll probably have some complicated thoughts. Then you’ll get to the part of the article about CONSPIRACY and will maybe roll your eyes the folks involved. Ultimately, if you are a white dude trying to wholesale modify a majority Black neighborhood—a neighborhood that was once bulldozed under the guise of “revitalization” and never rebuilt—you’ve got to go talk to the community and neighbors first. And, to be fair, maybe the Hilds did just that, I don’t know!

Photo by: sandy's dad

Good morning, RVA! It’s 69 °F, and highs are back in the upper 80s. Expect warm temperatures and sunshine over the weekend. Keep an eye out for some real hot temperatures in the mid 90s on Sunday.

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Today, the City will retire See-Click-Fix (RIP, ol’ buddy), and will launch RVA311 as the primary way for Richmonders to report non-emergency problems and get them fixed. Got a massive pothole? Storm drain backed up? Garbage in the bike lane? These are the kinds of things that you can submit using the RVA311 website (RVA311.com) and, theoretically, those issues will make their way through the dark twists and turns of local government and end up in front of the exact right person. As of this very second, it looks like the tool has not yet launched, so keep your potholes to yourself until later today. A mobile app should hit the app store of your choice later this month.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 74 °F, and today’s highs are back up in the 90s. Expect tons of sun, tons of fun, and probably some sweaty underclothes.

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Michael O’Connor at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has the astounding news that Courtney Lynch will resign from the Henrico County Board of Supervisors this month 💸. Lynch’s election and vote were critical in expanding public transportation into the County, and her public insistence on higher teacher pay—which ran totally counter to The Henrico Way—ended with the $3.2 million more allocated for Henrico County Public Schools. I don’t get it, like, those are some serious successes in a really short period of time. The Board of Supervisors will soon make some decisions about when and whether to hold a special election, but now it’s hard not to feel like progressive Democrats are toast in the Brookland District of Henrico County.

The City has taken another step toward redeveloping the area around the Coliseum by entering into negotiations with the NH District Corporation. These are the folks led by Dominion’s Tom Farrell and the only cats who submitted a response to the City’s Request For Proposal. The Mayor says he believes “there is potential in this proposal to provide transformational change in an underutilized portion of downtown, without negatively impacting the city finances or debt capacity.” We still haven’t seen the group’s juicy proposal PDF, which would give us some insight into how the NH District Corp plans to meet all of the kind of numerous requirements set out in the RFP (PDF). I’m looking forward to getting my hands on it and hope it checks some of my boxes like: reconnecting the street grid; returning Leigh Street to grade; good pedestrian, bike, and transit infrastructure; affordable housing; not a ton of parking decks; and, fingers crossed, zero surface parking lots. Did I miss anything?

Photo by: sandy's dad

Good morning, RVA! It’s 67 °F, and highs are back up near 90 °F today. I think, fingers crossed, we should see a return of the sun as well!

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VPAP has all of the primary election results that you could ever want or need. Women won the Democratic primaries in Congressional Districts 1, 2, 6, 7, and 10—that’s 100% of the Democratic races in which a woman was on the ballot! Good luck moving forward to Vangie Williams, Elaine Luria, Jennifer Lewis, Abigail Spanberger, and Jennifer Wexton. Vox even declared Democratic women as one of their winners from Tuesday’s primaries. On the other side of the ticket, Confederate sympathizer Corey Stewart won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate by about 5,000 votes. His fixated-on-the-past supporters chanted “Lock her up!” at his victory party last night. He’s disappointing and disgusting, but his nomination is unfortunately unsurprising. Vox had some words to say about him, too.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 61 °F, and highs will settle in around 75 °F. Expect those clouds to stick around, though.

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It’s primary day in Virginia! If you’re a Richmond City resident and looking to vote for a democrat, I have bad news: They’re all running unopposed (PDF). I mean, maybe that’s not bad news, but there’s no one for you to vote for today. If, however, you live in the 7th Congressional District, you’ve got the opportunity to vote for either Abigail Spanberger or Daniel Ward. Not sure what’s your situation? You can check your voter registration information here, which includes info on all of your various districts.

City Council met last night and approved the creation of a Human Rights Commission (and now I wonder how the nomination process for this commission works). They also heard public comment from community advocates and family members of Marcus-David Peters. Folks on Twitter were not happy about the lack of response from Council, and RVA Mag has a quick recap of some of those public comments. Since I’m a little confused about what exactly did or did not happened at the meeting, I’ll get the audio up over on The Boring Show as soon as it hits the City’s website.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 70 °F, and today looks cloudy with a continued, but smallish, chance of rain later this afternoon. Things will dry out and heat up beginning tomorrow.

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Katie O’Connor at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has written an excellent piece on mental illness and housing instability in Richmond and Virginia. Please block out some time this morning to read it in full, because the picture it paints is a dark one: “And even though the state has made some efforts to address the issues, people with mental and behavioral issues still wind up in hotels, tents and jail cells.” Those are not great options. And while the state’s recently passed budget does include more money for mental health services, we’ve still got a long way to go to adequately provide for the thousands of Virginians with mental health issues floating between unstable housing and homelessness.

Do you spend a lot of time thinking about where and how much parking Richmond has and needs? Do you dream of removing park spaces and replacing them with sidewalks, bike lanes, and bus lanes? No? Just me? As part of the Richmond 300 master planning process, the City will host seven public meetings about the parking in seven different neighborhoods. These meetings will share and discuss the data collected as part of the ongoing parking study and will focus on these neighborhoods: Libbie & Grove, Scott’s Addition, Carytown, the Fan, Brookland Park Boulevard, Downtown, and Manchester. The meetings kick off with a Carytown-focused meeting tomorrow at 8:00 AM at Studio Two Three (3300 W. Clay Street), and you can download the full schedule of meetings (PDF). I’ll try and get all the PDFs that these meetings are based on for folks that are interested but can’t make seven meetings in a single week!

Photo by: sandy's dad

Good morning, RVA! It’s 64 °F, and today expect temperatures to top out near 90 °F. This weekend: Probably some rain.

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Richmond Police are reporting a murder on the 900 block of Belt Boulevard. Officers arrived and found Kenneth L. Brown, 43, shot to death. According to the RPD website, this is the first murder in the City since May 17th and the 21st murder in 2018.

Photo by: sandy's dad

Good morning, RVA! It’s 63 °F, and today you can expect another round of excellent temperatures in the low 80s. Sounds great!

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A group of Richmond Times-Dispatch reporters has a long piece on the background of the man who drove the tank through town. My favorite part of the article is when they explain who the Wu-Tang Clan is.

Photo by: sandy's dad

Good morning, RVA! It’s 63 °F, and today you can expect another round of excellent temperatures in the low 80s. Sounds great!

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A group of Richmond Times-Dispatch reporters has a long piece on the background of the man who drove the tank through town. My favorite part of the article is when they explain who the Wu-Tang Clan is.

Photo by: JOzPhotography

Good morning, RVA! It’s 65 °F, and, with highs in this upper 70s, today has some amazing potential. Use it wisely!

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Last night, a man stole a tank (more accurately, but less fun, an armored personnel carrier) and drove it from the Fort Pickett military base in Nottoway County, all the way to Richmond, through the Fan, and ended up out front of City Hall. @RichmondGL has put together a comprehensive set of videos that bewildered folks shot on their phones as this thing sped through the City (warning: those videos mostly all contain NSFW language, which is a completely understandable reaction to seeing a tank and dozens of police vehicles drive by on Broad Street). Jokes aside, it’s really hard not to immediately think of Marcus-David Peters. One man—naked and unarmed—was shot to death by police, while another man—who stole a military vehicle and led police on a inter-city chase—was apprehended without issue and without a single shot fired.

Photo by: VaDOT

Good morning, RVA! It’s 64 °F, and more sunshine awaits you today. Expect highs in the pleasant low 80s and a chance of thunderstorms near midnight.

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The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Justin Mattingly has a bunch of budget-related updates from last night’s RPS School Board meeting. Something to keep your eye on for next year: The Board approved the Superintendent’s plan to use one-time money to fund recurring operating costs. This, of course, means schools will either need to make cuts elsewhere to keep this money or will ask for more operating money next year. Jot it down in your text file of Things To Remember Several Months From Now.txt and we’ll come back to it.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 58 °F, but don’t worry, highs will creep back up into the mid 80s before the day’s out. Expect plenty of sunshine and no rain!

Speaking of, the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s John Boyer has a really great thread on Twitter about this past month’s place in the Weather Hall of History, featuring Edward Avery Evans, Richmond’s first meteorologist.

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Yesterday, the mayor tweeted out this picture of himself, Chesterfield County Manager Joe Casey, Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas, and Hanover County Board of Supervisor Rep Angela Kelley-Wiecek hanging at the Greek Festival. Part of the promise of electing a fresh, young mayor was for him to repair, reestablish, reinvigorate—whatever the right word is—the City’s relationship with the surrounding counties and work together on important things like housing, transportation, and education. I don’t know what, if anything, they’ve got cooking up, but hanging out like actual humans over some baklava certainly can’t hurt.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 73 °F, and it’s gonna be hot today. Sunshine and highs in the mid 90s mean you need to drink water and stay hydrated—it’s important!

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Logistical note: Beginning today, the Richmond Times-Dispatch has turned on a partial paywall, meaning certain articles are only available to paying subscribers. I’ll try to mark those stories I link to behind the paywall with a 💸. I’m really interested to see which and how many stories end up subscriber-only and how that impacts both the paper’s coverage of local news and general human awareness of local news. You can subscribe to the RTD here.

The Mayor’s Education Compact met last night…kind of: Only two of nine City Council members showed up. The RTD’s Mark Robinson covered the meeting on Twitter and was NOT impressed, and it sounds like the Mayor was disappointed at the turnout, too: “‘It’s going to take us reaching some sort of grand compromise, but first it takes everyone being here, as well,’ Stoney said before thanking Larson and Agelasto for showing up.” Augh. After all the tough talk during both the meals tax and cigarette tax debates, you’d think elected officials would make it their beeswax to attend these quarterly meeting where all the decision makers are in the room. Every time one of these meetings slips away, it’s a huge wasted opportunity for our leaders to start building trust and human relationships with one another. I continue to believe that this is incredibly important work to do as we move forward on schools. Tangentially related: Yesterday, I bemoaned the lack of a dedicated Education Compact website, but behold: https://sharepoint.richmondgov.com/EducationCompact.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 73 °F, and it’s gonna be hot today. Sunshine and highs in the mid 90s mean you need to drink water and stay hydrated—it’s important!

Water cooler

Logistical note: Beginning today, the Richmond Times-Dispatch has turned on a partial paywall, meaning certain articles are only available to paying subscribers. I’ll try to mark those stories I link to behind the paywall with a 💸. I’m really interested to see which and how many stories end up subscriber-only and how that impacts both the paper’s coverage of local news and general human awareness of local news. You can subscribe to the RTD here.

The Mayor’s Education Compact met last night…kind of: Only two of nine City Council members showed up. The RTD’s Mark Robinson covered the meeting on Twitter and was NOT impressed, and it sounds like the Mayor was disappointed at the turnout, too: “‘It’s going to take us reaching some sort of grand compromise, but first it takes everyone being here, as well,’ Stoney said before thanking Larson and Agelasto for showing up.” Augh. After all the tough talk during both the meals tax and cigarette tax debates, you’d think elected officials would make it their beeswax to attend these quarterly meeting where all the decision makers are in the room. Every time one of these meetings slips away, it’s a huge wasted opportunity for our leaders to start building trust and human relationships with one another. I continue to believe that this is incredibly important work to do as we move forward on schools. Tangentially related: Yesterday, I bemoaned the lack of a dedicated Education Compact website, but behold: https://sharepoint.richmondgov.com/EducationCompact.

Photo by: adamwilliams4405

Good morning, RVA! It’s 73 °F, and we’ve got highs in the upper 80s and, again, a pretty decent chance of rain starting after lunch and continuing throughout the day.

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Virginia, we have a budget and it includes Medicaid expansion! Michael Martz at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has the details along with some grumpy quotes from Republicans who were unsuccessful in keeping health care from hundreds of thousands of Virginians.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 74 °F, and today you can expect highs in the mid 80s plus…some more rain. There’s a pretty good chance of thunderstorms beginning around lunchtime and lasting through the end of the day.

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It looks like, fingers crossed, that Virginia could have a budget today and it could be one that includes Medicaid expansion. To get to this point, yesterday the Senate Finance Committee experienced the General Assembly version of a rap battle in which Sen. Emmett “also a Republican” Hanger left Sen. Tommy “anti-Medicaid evil genius” Norment crumped and discarded like a used tissue. To normal people, this is pretty boring, but as far as things in the General Assembly go, it was the ultimate, sickest of burns. People in the room gasped! Here’s a thread on twitter that’ll give you the blow-by-blow, but to quickly summarize: Norment got the committee to pass his anti-Medicaid amendments to budget. This was fine because the votes to expand Medicaid exist in the full Senate. But then, in a sneaky-like-a-fox move, he wanted to reconsider for a second time Hanger’s pro-Medicaid amendments which had failed earlier. For whatever procedural reasons, should this have happened the full Senate would not have been able to pass a pro-Medicaid budget. Hanger figured out what was going on and gaveled the committee meeting adjourned before that could happen (that’s when people gasped). OH SNAP / THAT’S ACTUALLY PRETTY BORING. Stay tuned today for the exciting conclusion of Virginia’s Attempts at Medicaid Expansion in 2018.

Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has this week’s zoning and rezoning news. Last night City Council rezoned a property near the 17th Street Farmers Market from M-1 Light Industrial to TOD-1 Transit-Oriented Nodal District, which allows for more height and less parking. You may remember TOD-1 from such great rezonings as Scott’s Addition last fall. By the by, if you ever wanted to know the zoning for any neighborhood or property, you should check out the City’s zoning parcel map.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 74 °F, and today you can expect highs in the mid 80s plus…some more rain. There’s a pretty good chance of thunderstorms beginning around lunchtime and lasting through the end of the day.

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It looks like, fingers crossed, that Virginia could have a budget today and it could be one that includes Medicaid expansion. To get to this point, yesterday the Senate Finance Committee experienced the General Assembly version of a rap battle in which Sen. Emmett “also a Republican” Hanger left Sen. Tommy “anti-Medicaid evil genius” Norment crumped and discarded like a used tissue. To normal people, this is pretty boring, but as far as things in the General Assembly go, it was the ultimate, sickest of burns. People in the room gasped! Here’s a thread on twitter that’ll give you the blow-by-blow, but to quickly summarize: Norment got the committee to pass his anti-Medicaid amendments to budget. This was fine because the votes to expand Medicaid exist in the full Senate. But then, in a sneaky-like-a-fox move, he wanted to reconsider for a second time Hanger’s pro-Medicaid amendments which had failed earlier. For whatever procedural reasons, should this have happened the full Senate would not have been able to pass a pro-Medicaid budget. Hanger figured out what was going on and gaveled the committee meeting adjourned before that could happen (that’s when people gasped). OH SNAP / THAT’S ACTUALLY PRETTY BORING. Stay tuned today for the exciting conclusion of Virginia’s Attempts at Medicaid Expansion in 2018.

Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has this week’s zoning and rezoning news. Last night City Council rezoned a property near the 17th Street Farmers Market from M-1 Light Industrial to TOD-1 Transit-Oriented Nodal District, which allows for more height and less parking. You may remember TOD-1 from such great rezonings as Scott’s Addition last fall. By the by, if you ever wanted to know the zoning for any neighborhood or property, you should check out the City’s zoning parcel map.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 69 °F, and we’ve got clouds as far as the eye can see. Today, we should avoid the rain that’s headed our way later this week.

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I hope I’m not stealing anyone’s thunder, but GRTC has a new trip planning tool that’s preeeeeeetty neat. This is the kind of thing you discover if you’re the type of person who has a recurring reminder to check GRTC’s project page for new information every couple of days. Anyway, this new tool will tell you how to get where you’re going on the bus using both the current and future systems—that way you can compare and contrast the two. A couple of notes! First, take advantage of the “depart at / arrive by” button for figuring out situations like getting to work on time or leaving after school lets out. Second, the new system offers not only improvements in trip time, but trip frequency. This means you may have more flexibility with when you can leave—aka more time for you to get stuff done instead of sitting around waiting for your pokey, hourly bus. Again, I haven’t seen the official announcement about this tool, but I think it uses the new official timetables. So get excited, and start planning your trips, y’all!

Tonight, City Council meets for their first regularly scheduled meeting after successfully passing the budget. You can read through the entire agenda (PDF), which is, as always, susceptible to change. A ton of stuff has been continued or withdrawn, leaving a pretty slim agenda, but Councilmember Addison’s ordinance to open up some more of the City’s data remains (ORD. 2018–127) as does the ordinance which will allow for one week of free rides when the Pulse and new bus network open (ORD. 2018–151).

Photo by: sandy's dad

Good morning, RVA! It’s 65 °F, we’ve got another beautiful day on deck. This weekend the rains return, and don’t even look at next week’s forecast yet—I’m sure it’ll clear up, right?

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Update: Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham will hold a press conference today at 11:15 AM and update media on the killing of Marcus-David Peters by a police officer. The title of the RPD’s media release says “Release of Videos - Security Cameras and Body-worn Camera,” but the body of the release doesn’t mention any footage, so I’m not really sure what’s going on with that. Check your favorite online news source this afternoon for more information. New Virginia Majority will host a meeting this Saturday from 2:00–4:00 PM at Second Baptist Church (1400 Idlewood Avenue) for folks to speak out and mobilize.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 65 °F, and today’s highs are back up in the mid 80s. It’s like a sunny, summertime day out there. Meteorologist John Boyer says we can even expect a (temporary) dip in the mugginess! Enjoy!

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Vanessa Remmers at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has an eye-opening update on Chesterfield’s Goodwill + Uber pilot program. The program, which is only available to Chesterfield residents who receive treatment for opioid addiction, has served 11 total people. Eleven. I’m sure that this service has proved critical for those 11 people, and it’s pretty incredible that, in the face of a countywide transportation desert, Goodwill just went and created a solution for some folks in need. But dang y’all, do not let anyone tell you that a program serving 11 people is a good faith effort to provide meaningful public transportation into and out of Chesterfield County.

I know I keep talking about this Franklin Street bike lane, but I’ve ridden my bike in it to a bunch of meetings over the past couple of days and it just feels so magical! While I was pretty underwhelmed and disappointed at the eventually watered down Floyd Avenue Bike Walk Street, today, I feel 100% the opposite about Franklin Street. This is strong bike infrastructure that will get more people out biking around Richmond in a totally no-big-deal kind of way. While the lane is technically open for business, crews are still installing some finishing touches: First, signs went up yesterday to help confused car drivers figure out where to put their vehicles (see above picture). Second, we’ve got the first (I think) turn boxes in the City! A turn box helps people on bikes make turns across car traffic, and, because Canadians are helpful, here’s a YouTube from Calgary that shows you exactly how to use one. I clamor for more protected bike lanes! Immediately!

Good morning, RVA! It’s 69 °F, and with highs in the mid 80s, today’s a bit warmer than yesterday. And, yes, there is Yet Another Chance of Thunderstorms this afternoon. Things should dry out after today, though.

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The General Assembly, faced with a pressing need to pass a budget and expand Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of Virginians, did not cease their futzing yesterday. In fact, the Senate Finance Committee continued to futz and decided they wouldn’t even meet this week! As you can imagine, folks are displeased with the continued delay tactics—including the Governor, who weighed in with: “This unnecessary delay is made more insulting to Virginians by the reality that the House of Delegates passed a budget that expands health care weeks ago, and a majority of Senators have indicated they would vote for a similar measure if the Senate would simply put one on the floor. Virginians have waited long enough.” To be continued until next week or whenever Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment decides to do a thing—your guess is as good as mine on that guy.

Further fallout from that NYT article about eviction and something to keep an eye on: Yesterday, the Campaign to Reduce Evictions (CARE) hosted their first meeting to present data, and the RTD’s Ned Oliver was there to catch some quotes. If you’ve got an eviction story of your own, you can help their efforts by contributing that story over on CARE’s website.

Photo by: JOzPhotography

Good morning, RVA! It’s 67 °F, and…there’s a chance of thunderstorms this afternoon. I am sorry. Maybe it’ll miss us, though! You don’t know!

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The General Assembly could get over themselves and pass a budget that includes Medicaid expansion as early as today, says Michael Martz at the RTD. That sounds great, but I’ll believe it when I see them quit futzing around and, like, actually schedule the meetings needed to pass the dang budget.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 71 °F, and today’s highs will hit about 80 °F. There’s a bit of a chance for more rain this evening, but we might, if we’re lucky, skate by rain-free. Speaking of, please note the active River Flood Warning, which means: Stay out of the river! Emergency responders have way better things to do with their time than fish you out of a ragin’ James.

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Richmond police are reporting a murder that took place the afternoon of May 17th. Officers arrived at the 4200 block of Walmsley Boulevard and found Elizabeth M. Zeigler, 34, fatally shot.

Photo by: The Piques Family

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and temperatures today will stay in the upper 70s. The chance for thunderstorms continues throughout most of the day and into tomorrow. In fact, there’s at least a chance of rain every day between now and Monday.

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Ned Oliver at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has the excellent news that the John Marshall Courts Building will no longer turn people away with cellphones, leaving folks to stash their electronics in the bushes, or, as one ingenious person on Twitter said, in the stacks at the Library of Virginia. This much-needed change wouldn’t have happened without Emily Badger’s NYT story about evictions (journalism!). It is the lowest hanging fruit for reforming Richmond’s eviction system, but it’s also welcome news for anyone that walks, bikes, or transits to the courthouse for any reason.