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.

Good morning, RVA! It's 36 °F, and our stretch of appropriate, wintery weather continues with highs right around 50 °F and a few more clouds. On this, the last day of January, the sun sets at 5:32 PM—which means we’re getting there! Yes, we’ve got to trudge through a dark February, but, by the time March rolls around, a decent slice of your evening will not be spent in complete darkness.

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Last night, Mayor Stoney delivered his final State of the City address, which you can either read in full here, watch over on the City’s YouTube, or skim the highlights from the Administration’s press release. It was definitely a reflective speech in tone, with the mayor looking back across his seven years in office and hitting on key accomplishments across a variety of important areas—streets, housing, education, parks, and finances. I was struck by how much better Stoney has gotten at doing this sort of thing; this was a good, well-delivered speech (and I hope he thanked his speechwriter)! I couldn’t find his first State of the City address, but, to compare/contrast a bit, scrub to about 22 minutes in this video of Stoney’s inaugural address and watch for a bit. He’s gotten so much better and more comfortable! I guess nearly a decade of practice will do that. Anyway, back to last night’s speech: Make sure you watch Brandy Stoney’s introduction. She’s got natural stage presence, did a great job (at eight months pregnant!), and I’m sure we’ll see plenty of her during Mayor Stoney’s gubernatorial campaign. As for specific priorities announced—other than laying the foundation for his run at the governor’s mansion—the only one I caught was a commitment to turn the Washington Training Camp over to the City’s Department of Parks and Recreation and make it public space. If I missed something else, let me know! Next up on Stoney’s speaking agenda: The introduction of his budget a month or so from now.

Always a big moment in the lives of local stat nerds: UVA’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service has released their 2023 Virginia county and city population estimates, which you can view in a simple spreadsheet here. As per Virginia’s ancient and time-honored ways, independent cities are at the bottom of this otherwise alphabetically-sorted list. So! As of July 2023, the Weldon Cooper folks estimate Richmond’s population at 229,035, a slight, 1.1% increase from way back in 2020. Henrico saw a slightly bigger increase, growing 1.7% from 334,389 to 339,918; and Chesterfield experienced the biggest population increase of all at 6.4%, up from 364,548 to 387,703. Richmond is almost, almost, almost back to its pre-white flight 1950s population—which, I don’t know what that means but it is interesting. You’ll definitely want to pull up and read this chartsandgraphy blog post alongside the spreadsheet, too, which does a good job of breaking out some of the big trends seen around the Commonwealth. You’ll learn all sorts of interesting things like lots of people are moving from NOVA to Richmond, and that “at some point early this year, the size of the population in the Richmond Metro Area will have surpassed Virginia’s total population living west of the Blue Ridge Mountains for the first time since before the American Revolution.”

Good morning, RVA! It's 33 °F, and winter in Richmond is back. Along those lines, today you should expect a partly cloudy sky, highs just below 50 °F, and crisp, clean air that turns your cheeks red. I’ve got a pretty good set of layers worked out for bike commutes in this sort of weather, and it definitely involves a Survivor-style buff. “Look dumb, stay warm”, that’s my motto!

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Tonight, at 7:00 PM (doors at 6:00 PM), Mayor Levar Stoney will give his final State of the City address. You can stop by the Science Museum tonight with your actual human body, although this thing is usually live streamed over on the City’s YouTube or by one of the TV stations. Typically, the Mayor will use the State of the City as a chance to highlight his accomplishments over the last year, tease a few of the priorities in his upcoming budget, and push any big policy initiatives he wants to move forward on in the coming year. This year, though, we might could see a different, more reflective tone from Mayor Stoney as he gets ready to pack up his office in City Hall and move on to the next thing. Or, I guess, since that next thing is a gubernatorial primary against Rep. Spanberger—who’s currently raised more than four times the money—maybe he takes a broader, more sweeping, visionary tone? I dunno, but I’m excited to find out. I really enjoy watching this specific speech (while shouting at the screen or into the group chat, of course)—it really sets the tone for Budget Season and the coming year.

Good morning, RVA! It's 40 °F, and this past week’s weirdly warm weather has passed. Today, and for the next several days, you can expect seasonally appropriate highs around 50 °F with some clouds here or there. Looking at the extended forecast and we’re definitely going to make it through January without a significant snow, which makes my 2024 goal of riding a bike in a snow-covered forest less and less likely.

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Writing for Next City as part of their Equitable Cities Reporting Fellowship For Reparations Narratives, Barry Greene Jr. reports on Faith Ministries and their work to build housing on parking lot they own out in Chesterfield. Del. Mike Jones (who you may remember as Councilmember Mike Jones) is the lead pastor of Faith Ministries, so he has plenty of experience with Richmond’s affordable housing crisis. Greene also links over to SB 233, the YIGBY (“Yes In God’s Backyard”) bill that would have made affordable housing on property owned by a religious organization a by-right use. It’s a good idea: Churches own tons of parking lots, and I imagine at least a few of them would like to do more for the common good than store empty vehicles for a couple hours each week. Unfortunately, if I’m reading LIS right, the General Laws and Technology committee continued that bill until 2025.

Speaking of housing, the New York Times recently rehashed a study by “Point2” that scored cities on how easy it is for their Gen Z residents to purchase a home, and...Richmond made the bad side of that list (#94 out of 100). I skimmed the actual study, and it looks like we get dinged hardest for a very low current Gen Z homeownership rate? I mean, it’s not good news by any stretch of the imagination, but I’d like to see where the Richmond region falls on this list because of the whole independent city thing. Honestly, digging in a little further and I have some questions. Manhattan ranks #76 but has a median home sale price of $1.1 million? Irvine ranks #91 but homes “cost almost 33 times Gen Z’s median income”? Seems like it’s probably harder for someone in their 20s to buy a home in Manhattan than Richmond, right?

Good morning, RVA! It's 65 °F and drizzly, but I think the rain should clear up early this morning. Highs today will reach a bonkers 75 °F—a full 30 degree warmer than the daily average temperature. Don’t get too excited (or concerned), because cooler weather—and more rain—moves in tomorrow, and, by Sunday, we should resume our winter(ish) trudge through February.

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Richmond BizSense’s Jack Jacobs reports on GRTC’s meeting about where downtown to put a permanent, structured bus transfer station. They’ve got five proposed locations, three of which they call “high priority potential sites.” I shall keep an open mind, but really just two sites makes sense to me at this point: The current location and the old Public Safety building across the street (which you may remember as the location of the previous temporary transfer plaza). The others—a parking lot near the federal courts building and two Dominion-owned properties down by the river—seem too cramped or too far away from the Pulse. If the transfer station does end up in the same general area it sits now, I’m definitely interested in how it fits into the recently adopted City Center small area plan. Heck, if a reader wanted a research project: I’d love to look at examples of a structured bus transfer station integrated into a mixed-use building—not a parking deck. I’m sure they exist, I’ve just never seen one with my own eyes!

Good morning, RVA! It's already 62 °F, and things will get even warmer as the day moves on. You can expect highs right around 70 °F and a pretty decent chance of rain starting some time after lunch and ending before the late night. It’s eerily warm, y’all—23 degrees above the average daily high warm. Ominously warm, maybe. Anyway, I’m gonna pretend like it’s not super concerning and, instead, try and find some time to walk around the neighborhood before the rain really moves in.

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On Tuesday, I complained about the lack of School Board coverage from our local media outlets and made a salty comment or two about it. Well, I owe both Anna Bryson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Tyler Layne at WTVR (and maybe others!) an apology. Both of them endured a long Board meeting, put together a late-night report, and were awake well after I went to bed. I can’t find timestamps on the RTD’s website, but Lane’s article went up at 11:40 PM and was last edited at 12:30 AM on Tuesday morning. I don’t know how I missed both of these, but I did and that’s on me! Aside from me screwing up, one interesting thing mentioned in both of these reports is that 2nd District Boardmember Mariah White voted against two motions made by 3rd District’s Kenya Gibson. In the past, these two have mostly voted together and mostly against whatever thing the Superintendent is trying to do. This possible shift in alliance is something to keep an eye on as the Board has some important budget votes coming up in a couple of weeks and still lacks a ninth member.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 25 °F, and that’s officially cold in my book. Today you can expect highs in the mid 40s and probably a little more sunshine than yesterday. Rain moves in on Saturday while temperatures stubbornly stay in the 40s—which is a real bummer. Big sighs all around from me, because I think I might need to give up on my dream of riding my mountain bike through a snow-covered forest. If you do want to go looking for snow this weekend, head west and you might have a decent chance of finding some.
 

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The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Michael Martz has some more reporting on the governor’s proposed (and regressive) tax plan. This first sentence is kind of incredible: “When Gov. Glenn Youngkin challenged the General Assembly last month to eliminate the ‘hated’ car tax, he acknowledged that his proposed two-year state budget does not mention a way to do it.” I think this is the third time I’ve written about the governor’s plans to reduce taxes for the very wealthy while raising taxes for regular folks, but this piece by Martz connects some dots on how a lot of Youngkin’s tax tinkerings advance his goal of defunding public schools. First, localities across the commonwealth depend on the car tax to fund a portion of public education. Second, the governor’s proposed budget would not “replace money that localities lost when the state eliminated a portion of the sales tax on groceries and personal hygiene products that helps pay for public education.” Finally, when you add in changes to the education funding formula, you’ve got a consistent and coherent plan to defund public schools in a bunch of different ways. It’s not great. This is complicated stuff but really clear and comprehensive reporting by Martz, and I’m thankful for it. P.S. Make sure you read down to the “Four deck chairs” section to watch a Republican delegate unintentionally use the classic equity vs. equality illustration to describe how regressive taxes don’t really bother him or his Party.
 

VPM’s Dave Cantor has some follow up reporting on the whole “City quietly charging restaurant owners late fees on their unpaid meal taxes” thing. Cantor talked to CAO Lincoln Saunders who says it’s not a widespread problem, and, to make things easier, the newish RVAPay Personal Property Payment Center will expand to allow residents to pay their real estate, lodging, and (maybe) meals taxes by the end of the the year. Sounds good, and I’ve put a note on my Landscape calendar to check back in come December.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 37 °F, and we’ve got a little bit of rain moving through the area as I write this. That should clear up with the sun and leave us facing another cool, sunny day with highs in the mid 40s. Early morning commuters: Maybe put on your thicker socks and bundle up just a little more!
 

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Since December 20th, when Governor Youngkin announced his plan to cut personal income taxes and raise sales taxes, I’ve been waiting for The Commonwealth Institute’s analysis—because surely the Governor’s proposal enriches the wealthy and makes life harder for regular folks, right? Just 15 days later, and Jahd Khalil at VPM has the scoop from TCI. As foretold: “Youngkin is proposing to cut personal income taxes by 12% across all tax brackets and to raise the sales-and-use tax from 4.3% to 5.2%, an increase of 21%. That would, on balance, see the bottom one-fifth of Virginians pay more in taxes each year.” The Governor’s proposal would ultimately cut $3.5 billion from Virginia’s revenue over two years, and, instead of funding things like education, child care, or public transportation, “Two-thirds of the benefit…will flow towards high income tax filers in the top 20% of incomes in the state and then 20% alone will go towards the top 1%.” Classic Republican stuff, for sure, and I hope that Democrats in the General Assembly have a good plan for scrapping the more regressive parts of the Governor’s budget while also adequately funding critical public services—like education. Remember, as a result of the proposed budget, “Richmond Public Schools would face a $5 million reduction in its current budget and a nearly $21 million decrease in state funding for next school year”.
 

Also at VPM’s Dave Cantor reports on some issues with the City’s Finance Department collecting meals tax from restaurants—and, more importantly, not notifying those restaurants when they’ve missed a payment. While I totally get that it’s the business owner’s responsibility to check, double check, and triple check that they’ve made all of their required tax payments, it does seem just plain mean for the City to silently charge compounding late fees and not say a word about it. I mean, Cantor spoke to multiple restaurants who got hit with surprise five- and six-digit penalties! I think this might speak to some sort of structural issue within Finance, and newly-elected Council President Kristen Nye sort of points to the same thing, saying, “We’ve had challenges over the years with the meals tax and restaurant owners being able to see their accounts in real time…If a discrepancy happens … they are not notified. And once they get behind, if they don’t know, then it affects every payment.” This sounds like something for the new auditor to investigate, and I was stoked to see Cantor mention it at the very bottom of this piece!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 28 °F, and this morning looks cold and sunny while this afternoon looks cloudy and a bit warmer, with highs near 50 °F. Overnight temperatures for the rest of the week will hunker down below freezing, so keep that in mind if you’ve got any quick-to-freeze pipes. One of my favorite nerdy-yet-useful things I’ve done is create a Shortcut on my phone that checks the overnight temperatures and, if they drop below 25 °F, creates a reminder to drip our bathroom faucet. You can download it here if you vibe with this sort of automation! And, yes, our shared family reminders list is called “Catrow House of Horrors” for some reason.
 

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Get excited, because we have a new-look City Council for the remainder of 2024! Yesterday, Council gathered for their first meeting of the year and swore in 9th District’s Nicole Jones to replace the outgoing Mike Jones (no relation). They also elected 4th District’s Kristen Nye to serve as president and 3rd District’s Anne-Frances Lambert to serve as vice president. I couldn’t find any new committee assignments (yet), so I’m not sure if the current assignments will stand for the remainder of the year, if the new leadership hasn’t had a minute to dig in, or if I just didn’t look hard enough. Don’t get too attached to this City Council lineup, though, because, come November, we elect a whole new set of legislators. I bet we’ll even start seeing people announce their candidacy in just a couple of months, and, I’ll tell you what, I can’t wait!
 

Via VPM, last month the Libby App put together this list of the most borrowed books in 2023. First, as I’ve said a million times, you should definitely get the Libby app and a library card at the three local libraries—Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield. They have a membership sharing situation so no matter which locality you live in you can get a card at all three, really expanding the catalog that’s available to you at any given moment. Second, three of these books—A Court of Thorn and Roses, A Court of Mist and Fury, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue—also have the honor of making the list of books banned by Hanover County Public Schools.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 35 °F, and today looks clear and cool with highs in the mid 40s. I keep looking ahead, deep into the 10-day forecast, for a really, truly cold day that might bring with it a chance of snow. So far, no dice. I’m keeping my fingers firmly crossed, though.
 

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Hello and welcome to 2024! I hope you had a chance to rest and reflect over the last week, or, honestly, a chance to binge, like, three TV shows and not think a single thought. I managed to do mostly the latter (Beef, For All Mankind, and Haikyu!!), but, on one very caffeinated morning, I went through the GMRVA Legislation Tracker and pulled last year’s Most Interesting Ordinances and Resolutions. I probably missed a few here and there (please let me know if I missed something major), but it feels like 2023 was a mostly chill year for Council—at least in terms of the legislation they passed.
 

The Three Zoning Changes

Good morning, RVA! It's 26 °F, and that’s a cold and appropriately December-like temperature. Today, however, you can expect highs back up near 50 °F with clear, sunny skies. Bundle up if you’ve gotta be anywhere before 9:00 AM!

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Yesterday, the City’s Department of Public Works released public engagement surveys for two different intersections: Laburnum Avenue & Hermitage Road and 7th Street & Semmes Avenue. Both of these surveys frustrate me, and, once again, I’ll link to this Charles Marohn essay titled “Most Public Engagement is Worthless” and the follow up, “Most Public Engagement is Worse Than Worthless,” by Ruben Anderson. Here’s a quote from the former: “The meeting started out with the standard public policy questions planning professionals like to ask. What do you like about the city? What do you not like? If you could change one thing, what would it be? The answers were worse than worthless, and it was painful to watch non-policy people trying to answer questions that weren’t designed for them.” That’s how I feel about these two surveys, especially the Laburnum Avenue one. Do you, as a regular person with no engineering experience, feel like you know enough to decide between a “protected intersection with left turns” and a “roundabout with only one northbound and southbound lane” This stuff is literally my hobby, and I had to talk to three different people before getting it all straight in my head—honestly, filling out the surveys made me feel bad about myself! Which is ridiculous! This quote, from the second essay I linked above, gets at it for me: “We need to be more aware of different kinds of expertise, and who has it. Each expert—engineer, resident, or designer—only specializes in a narrow field, and we mustn’t ask them to do each other’s jobs.” Yes! Don’t make me, as a resident, choose between hard-to-read engineering diagrams. But do, please, by all means, work very hard to understand how exposed I feel biking through this intersection on Hermitage and why I entirely avoid biking on Laburnum at all costs.

OK, back to the actual survey options. First, you can see all the concepts for Hermitage & Laburnum in this one PDF. My preference is for 2A, a fully protected intersection. I think 3B would also be a good improvement, but I’d be nervous about folks flying down Laburnum carrying 45mph of bone-crushing-speed into and out of the roundabout. I’d rather cross against a red light, I think. For what it’s worth, I have no idea what the red bar labeled “95 % Queue” represents, maybe something bad for drivers? Who can say. Also, while we’re talking about head-scratchers, check out options 1A, 1B, and 2B which all eminent domain away people’s property. Absolutely wild to me that DPW would casually present an option that has folks U-turning into what was once a person’s front yard. Bonkers!