Good morning, RVA! It’s already 63 °F, and today you can expect highs right around 90 °F. It looks just beautiful outside at right now, but I think we may have some storms roll through this afternoon—I hope to watch them pass from the screen porch. Weatherwise, the rest of the weekend looks incredible, though, so make sure you find some time to get out there and enjoy it (while remembering to hydrate, of course).
 

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At this past Monday’s City Council meeting, 1st District Councilmember Addison introduced ORD. 2023–188, which would establish a Public Utilities and Serivces Commission. The purpose of this new commission would be to “provide the Council and the Mayor with information and advice concerning the management and operations of the utilities operated by the City, including natural gas, water, wastewater, solid waste, and stormwater.” I think this new commission would cover a good 30% of this email newsletter’s content, so I’m pretty excited about it. Honestly, when I saw this ordinance, my first thought was “oooo maybe we can infiltrate its membership and force the commission to consider how to transition the City away from its role as a natural gas provider.” Then, I just opened the ordinance PDF and there it was: One of the stated objectives of the commission—written right in the legislation—would be to “provide advice on how the City may facilitate a transition of the gas utility in accordance with the City’s climate and ecological emergency declaration.” Incredible! I think this may be an important/fun commission to sit on, so keep an eye out for details on getting appointed (if, of course, Council does decides to pass this ordinance and create this new advisory body).
 

Thad Green and Luca Powell at the Richmond Times-Dispatch covered the really beautifully, heartbreaking, and complicated funeral for Shawn Jackson and Renzo Smith, who were both shot to death outside of Huguenot High School’s graduation last week. Some of this piece feels a little bit like grief tourism, so I’d understand if you want to skip it, but I do think it does a good job of underscoring just how wide an impact trauma can have on a community.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 59 °F, and we’ve got some real beautiful weather ahead of us. You should expect highs in the mid 80s for at least another handful of days, and then temperatures may start to creep up a bit. Today looks dry, but keep an eye out for a chance of rain tomorrow, which, while a bummer for the start of the weekend, is a real boon for my new azaleas.
 

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VPM’s Lyndon German has a deeper dive into how Hanover County Public Schools’ inane book-banning policy works. News to me: the committee reviewing potential books to ban is “made up of seven Hanover residents, one from each magisterial district, along with the school district’s assistant superintendent of instructional leadership or a designee. Committee members are appointed by the school board each August for one-year terms with no term limits.” Despite this committee—which will surely reflect to incurious, book-banning proclivities of the Board who appoints them—the School Board can step in and remove “any and all materials from libraries, classrooms, school buildings or the entire division by majority vote.” German also has a list of the 17 books banned by the Board this week, which includes two of the Sarah Maas books about fairies (that everyone I know is reading) and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (that everyone I know should read). All of this sounds like a huge, unnecessary burden on teachers, and I wouldn’t be surprised if folks across the district start dusting off their resumes. P.S. Richmond Public Schools currently offers all teachers a $4,000 hiring bonus.
 

Ned Oliver at Axios Richmond points out that the folks pushing the Casino 2.0 project have mostly dropped the casino language from their public pitches. In fact, Oliver’s eagle eyes noticed that in the Mayor’s statement following Council’s approval of Casino 2.0 he never once used the word “casino.” I mean, if the City wanted to build a “destination resort” or a “spa” or a “new venue for live acts,”—all things mentioned by the Mayor and Council—it could totally do that without attaching a predatory casino. It’s telling that City leaders would rather not mention that part of the deal…except for Councilmember Jones, who, while I disagree with him on this, I do appreciate the honesty of his home-team take of “people are going to gamble, and when they do, he thinks they should do it in Richmond, not Petersburg.”
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 60 °F, and we’ve got another great day ahead of us. Today, you can expect highs in the low 80s, some gusty winds, and a continued break in the humidity. I know this sort of weather can’t last forever, as we approach full and actual summer, but I’m excited for it to stretch out for as long as possible.
 

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Richmond Connects, the sort of umbrella project for the City’s transportation planning process, has released 17 different Needs Assessment maps, each detailing the specific pedestrian, bicycle, and transit needs for small areas of Richmond. For example, here’s the map of the transportation issues facing just the Manchester/Swansboro area that highlights how unsafe biking on Semmes feels and how the unreliability of buses makes using transit a challenge. I think, especially in the areas in which you live or spend a lot of time, none of the needs will surprise you—which is good! Things like too-fast streets, scary intersections, and dangerous bike lanes are pretty obvious to anyone who uses them. The Richmond Connects folks will be back in our inboxes this month or next with proposals for actual projects that could address these actual transportation needs. Exciting! Stay tuned.
 

The City has updated their legislative website following this past Monday’s meeting, and that means I have just the tiniest City Council update for you today. First, they continued the ordinance to ban exotic animals (ORD. 2023–130) until their June 26th meeting. Em Holter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch explains with this headline: “Richmond to reconsider proposed animal ban following outcry from falconers. OK! Second, the resolution to get the CAO to put together a plan for the City to take ownership of Evergreen and East End cemeteries (RES. 2023-R011) was sent back to the Governmental Operations committee. You can, as always, follow along with the legislation I’ve got my eye on via the GMRVA Legislation Tracker. So far this year, 15 ordinances and resolutions I’ve followed have passed and zero have failed! I’m not sure what that means, but I think it’s interesting.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 59 °F, and today looks sunny and wonderful. Expect highs around 80 °F but with a lot less of yesterday’s sticky humidity. Looking ahead at this week’s exceedingly dry (but lovely!) forecast, and I don’t know if yesterday’s intermittent sprinkles cut the mustard for all of my outside plants. If I’m late for a meeting or a hangout, it’s probably because I’m carrying buckets of water this way and that and lost track of time!
 

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Cars ruin Carytown. That’s just a fact! Cars make Carytown—one of Richmond’s densest, most popular urban shopping districts—unsafe and way less fun. This is super apparent when events like the annual Watermelon Festival open Cary Street up to people and everyone loses their minds about how great it is (despite the inevitably sweltering heat). We could make Carytown a place for people, not cars, whenever we wanted—maybe we could even take a baby step (which is way safer on a street without cars) and start with just one Sunday a month. We choose not to do this for some frustrating reason. So if you want to publicly proclaim your frustration while supporting a good cause, you can pick up the 2023 version of the Cars Ruin Carytown T-shirt with proceeds benefiting Richmond City Safe Routes to Schools. As for who holds the levers of power to make this car-free vision an actual reality? I’d say the 1st, 2nd, and 5th District councilmembers, but only if the Carytown Merchants Association gets onboard first. If I had unlimited free time and energy to work on removing cars from Cary Street in any sort of regularly recurring way, I’d start by talking with members of the Merchants Association.
 

While I wait for the City to update their legislative website with last night’s Council votes, Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense reports that they easily passed the Casino 2.0 papers, with only 2nd District’s Councilmember Jordan voting against. The General Assembly still needs to sort out their feelings on the matter, but, even with that bit still undecided, I think there’s an above average chance Richmonders will see another casino referendum on the ballot this November. Spiers also reports that Council approved the operating agreement for the riverfront amphitheatre, too.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 67 °F, and today you can expect highs in the 80s with a decent chance of rain throughout the whole day. Some of my yard’s newest plants could really use a soaking, so I’m for it, but do keep an eye on the sky if you’re out walking or rolling or riding somewhere today.
 

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City Council meets today for their regularly scheduled meeting and has a meaty, Consent-only agenda of 38 different items. You can see which resolutions and ordinances I’ve got my eye on by checking out the public GMRVA Legislation Tracker Trello board, but of most interest to most people is probably the Casino 2.0 papers (ORD. 2023–170), the riverfront amphitheater (ORD. 2023–172), and the ban on exotic animals (ORD. 2023–130). There is of course — even down to the very last minute — always the opportunity for Council to move items off the Consent Agenda and on to the Regular agenda or to continue them to a future meeting. But, I don’t think that will happen here and all of these papers will probably stay right where they are and pass without issue. Also of note, at their informal meeting today, Council will hold a closed session to discuss “Council Liaison Compensation.” I hope that means they’re think about paying liaisons more, hiring more staff for each councilmember, or both!
 

VPM’s Lyndon German reports on the Hanover County School Board’s proposed policy to make book banning easier in public school libraries. The County’s School Board meets tomorrow to consider the new policy which would “give any parent, student, or Hanover resident the agency to challenge a book and have it immediately removed from school libraries until it’s reviewed.” Sounds like a policy designed specifically so Republicans can remove as many books from libraries as quickly as possible while burying school staff under administrative busy work. Gross stuff, especially how one of the board members wants to ban books that are “not happy reading.” No one tell this guy about Where the Red Fern Grows, I guess.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 55 °F, and today looks bright, sunny, and hazy. Expect highs around 80 °F with a forecasted Air Quality Index of 97 or “moderate” (however, the current AQI sits at 139 for my location). As we move through the weekend, keep an eye on the AirNow website and make smart decisions! I could end up being totally wrong, but I don’t think we’ll be trapped inside hiding from bad air all weekend long.
 

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Pulitzer Prize Winner Michael Paul Williams writes about the mass shooting at Huguenot High School’s graduation, saying “The graduation ceremony has joined the grocery store, the schoolhouse and the house of worship among spaces that can no longer be assumed safe.” Williams calls to task the Governor for his ineffective and wasteful policies, the Lt. Governor for her “tone deaf and ill-timed” screed, and the continued impact systemic racism has on our Black communities. If you can handle it, it’s worth reading.
 

FYI, today, June 9th, is the very last day to apply for a vote-by-mail ballot to be mailed to you for the June 20th primary. Voter registration offices open for early voting tomorrow, June 10th. We’ve got a handful of fun elections across the region, so get your situation figure out and make sure you can participate!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 57 °F, and we’ve got another temperate, smoky day ahead of us. Expect highs in the upper 70s, hazy skies, and an Air Quality Alert that lasts through midnight. Yesterday, our Air Quality Index topped out at 179 around lunchtime and stayed in the “unhealthy” zone until around 7:00 PM. Today, Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality forecasts another unhealthy air day with an AQI around 151 (which is the threshold between “unhealthy” and “unhealthy for sensitive groups”). While we’ve got an AQI above 150, the EPA recommends that everyone “choose less strenuous activities (like walking instead of running) so you don’t breathe as hard, shorten the amount of time you are active outdoors, and be active outdoors when air quality is better.” Climate change continually reveals strange and horrible impacts that I’d never once thought about ten years ago.
 

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You should read RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras’s email from last night, in which he talks to Kevin Olds, a former assistant principal at Huguenot High School who knew Shaw Smith, one of two people killed at this week’s mass shooting. To quote just a bit of it, “Shawn had a joyous and infectious smile. His sense of humor made him full of life, laughter, and all things fun. He was also a very bright young man who could master any textbook.“ Additionally, “out of an abundance of caution,” Kamras has decided to close all RPS schools today and tomorrow, effectively and abruptly ending the school year. Like yesterday, I just feel sad. Sad for these kids who live in this world where missing out on the last day of school because of gun violence is just a regular part of life. If you or your family need any sort of resources to help process through this moment, you’ll find a good starting list down at the bottom of Kamras’s email.
 

Charlie Paullin at the Virginia Mercury reports that the State Air Pollution Control Board approved the withdrawal of Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. That the Board voted to backwardly double down on climate change the very same day the Commonwealth’s air was literally unhealthy to breath due to climate-change-fueled air pollution, seems, honestly, a little too on the nose. Sounds like a done deal to me, but the Virginian-Pilot quotes Sen. Hashmi, saying that she thinks the General Assembly has final say over Virginia’s RGGI membership. I guess we now wait and see if the courts get involved to sort things out.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 61 °F, and you may see some rain early this morning. For the rest of the day, though, you can expect some partly cloudy highs right around 80 °F. Also, you should probably keep an eye on the air quality. We’re currently under an Air Quality Alert until midnight tonight due to wildfires all the way up in Canada—check out the EPA’s AirNow website for the latest maps, data, and actions to take. Our region has Air Quality Index of 105, putting us at the low end of an Orange Alert, or “unhealthy for sensitive groups” (that’s people with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children). Anything over 150 is “unhealthy” (for everyone), which we hit last night when the sky filled with haze and turned the setting sun red. Your weather app of choice will most likely tell you our region’s AQI, so keep an eye on it, and, if you fall into one of the “sensitive groups,” consider adjusting your schedule to spend less time outside or at least avoid strenuous physical activity outside.
 

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Last night—after Huguenot High School’s graduation ceremony at the Altria Threater wrapped up, with students and families heading out into Monroe Park to celebrate—someone shot seven people, killing two and sending one to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. School is cancelled for RPS today, and the remaining high school graduations have been rescheduled for next week. If you can handle it, here’s the Superintendent’s email from last night, an interview with him literally moments after the shooting while he’s still wearing graduation robes (warning: it’s hard to watch), and some reporting from the Richmond Times-Dispatch collecting reactions from across the state. I’m not sure I have any helpful, or even angry, words this morning. It’s just so, so sad. It’s sad that people are dead, hurt, and traumatized—lives changed forever. Sad that kids who’ve worked incredibly hard had one of their landmark, celebratory moments taken away from them by gun violence. It’s sad that a regular part of life now is texting your kids or your friends’ kids to make sure they’re alive after something like this happens. And it’s unbelievably upsetting that the people who have the power and opportunity to make a difference, to help protect children from gun violence, just don’t care. If you or your child needs to speak to a counselor, you can call the ChildSavers Immediate Response Helpline at 804.305.2420 or Richmond Behavioral Health Authority at 804.819.4100.
 

Today at 1:00 PM, the Board of Zoning Appeals will meet and consider the proposed fire training facility planned for a piece of land near the Southside’s Hickory Hill Community Center. This plan—which community members oppose and both the City’s Planning Commission and Urban Design Committee have rejected—was, for some reason, endorsed by City Council back in May. I think the UDC’s denial puts it really well and clearly lays out why Council should have left things well enough alone: “UDC stated that it recommended denial of this application because the proposed use and proposed aesthetics are inconsistent with the neighborhood, existing open space, and existing community center. The UDC further recommended denial because the proposal will remove existing greenspace in a historically marginalized neighborhood; removal of a greenspace is counter to the Master Plan (Richmond 300) and RVAGreen 2050 statements of increasing and protecting green and open space, especially in historically marginalized communities.“ I’m sure the RIchmond Fire Department needs a training facility, but I’m also sure we can find another location for it that doesn’t remove green space from a marginalized community. I mean, I have a hard time imagining that this project would have made it this far if it were proposed for, say, Bryan Park or Byrd Park.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 54 °F, and today looks beautiful with sunshiney highs right around 80 °F. In fact, the rest of this week’s weather looks amazing. Remember to, of course, spend some time outside if you can but also to water your garden / whatever plants you’ve got sitting outside. I don’t think we’ll see a good, soaking rain for a while, and it’s important for plants to stay hydrated, too.
 

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City Council’s Organizational Development committee meets today at 4:00 PM and will consider a couple big important papers of note. First, they’ll tackle the two ordinances and one resolution needed to advance the if-at-first-you-don’t-succeed referendum on the casino: ORD. 2023–170, ORD. 2023–171, and RES. 2023-R027. Remember, all nine councilmembers sit on the OrgDev committee, so today’s vote (assuming they do actually vote) will act as a preview for the vote at full Council later this summer. I anticipate a pretty strong, nearly unanimous vote to approve. Second, the committee will consider ORD. 2023–172, which would greenlight the new Amphitheatre down by the riverfront. Setting aside how I feel about the casino re-vote (a nauseated exhaustion), the City has really hit a stride in working together to move large project forward. I can’t really tell if this is a shift from previous mayors and councils, or if it just feels like a lot of action after three years of COVID-19 standstill.
 

PlanRVA has wrapped up their West Broad Street BRT Corridor Analysis study, which you can download and flip through. This is just one of many necessary studies that our region needs to crank out before we can take the next obvious step with the Pulse and extend it westward. To spoil it for you: PlanRVA recommends a phased approach, with an initial extension all the way out to Parham Road. I really recommend scrolling through this PDF as it highlights all of the basic infrastructure improvements—think sidewalks and crosswalks—that need to be made up and down the length of this corridor. I’m not really sure what happens next, but, in the immediate future, PlanRVA will present the study to the GRTC Board of Directors and the Richmond Regional Transportation Planning Organization for formal adoption.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 54 °F, and today looks beautiful with sunshiney highs right around 80 °F. In fact, the rest of this week’s weather looks amazing. Remember to, of course, spend some time outside if you can but also to water your garden / whatever plants you’ve got sitting outside. I don’t think we’ll see a good, soaking rain for a while, and it’s important for plants to stay hydrated, too.
 

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City Council’s Organizational Development committee meets today at 4:00 PM and will consider a couple big important papers of note. First, they’ll tackle the two ordinances and one resolution needed to advance the if-at-first-you-don’t-succeed referendum on the casino: ORD. 2023–170, ORD. 2023–171, and RES. 2023-R027. Remember, all nine councilmembers sit on the OrgDev committee, so today’s vote (assuming they do actually vote) will act as a preview for the vote at full Council later this summer. I anticipate a pretty strong, nearly unanimous vote to approve. Second, the committee will consider ORD. 2023–172, which would greenlight the new Amphitheatre down by the riverfront. Setting aside how I feel about the casino re-vote (a nauseated exhaustion), the City has really hit a stride in working together to move large project forward. I can’t really tell if this is a shift from previous mayors and councils, or if it just feels like a lot of action after three years of COVID-19 standstill.
 

PlanRVA has wrapped up their West Broad Street BRT Corridor Analysis study, which you can download and flip through. This is just one of many necessary studies that our region needs to crank out before we can take the next obvious step with the Pulse and extend it westward. To spoil it for you: PlanRVA recommends a phased approach, with an initial extension all the way out to Parham Road. I really recommend scrolling through this PDF as it highlights all of the basic infrastructure improvements—think sidewalks and crosswalks—that need to be made up and down the length of this corridor. I’m not really sure what happens next, but, in the immediate future, PlanRVA will present the study to the GRTC Board of Directors and the Richmond Regional Transportation Planning Organization for formal adoption.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 58 °F, and today you can expect highs in the upper 80s—maybe even 90s depending on what kind of urban heat island you spend your time on. I think this is the first real sunny, hot day of the season, and, to be honest, I’m looking forward to it! As for the next few days, temperatures will cool off just a bit, the sun will continue to shine, and I hope you will remember to wear sunscreen.
 

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Thad Green at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the work to landscape the circle at Monument and Allen (aka Marcus-David Peters Circle) has started in earnest! Tap through for a profile on YME Landscaping, a local, Black-owned company, that’s handling most of the work. Remember, the horrible fencing won’t come down until the landscaping wraps up, and it sounds like that could be as soon as next month.
 

Richmond BizSense’s Michael Schwartz reports that Dominion has scrapped their plans to build the laughably named “clean energy park” parking lot down on 8th and Cary. Good! The last thing we need in literally the most dense, most valuable part of the entire region is a surface-level parking lot—that land alone is worth $10 million! A Dominion spokesperson says that the company will soon begin a process to sell the property, and, with any luck, the next owner will want to build an actual building on the site.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 59 °F, and we’ve got a great Thursday ahead of us with highs in the 80s plus a bit of sunshine. Tomorrow’s forecast looks actually hot, but, other than that, we’re staring straight into a significant stretch of really nice weather.
 

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It’s officially June, and that means it’s the one time of year I remind you, reader of Richmond’s premiere zoning and rezoning email, that you can support this work directly (like, with money) by joining the Good Morning, RVA Patreon. Over 400 readers pitch in a small amount of cash each month, a number that, honestly, feels shockingly larger. However! Due to capitalism and things, I would, of course, like that number to be just a bit shockingly larger. To that end, this year I’ve set a goal of increasing GMRVA’s monthly patron support by $381. I think that seems like a challenging but still achievable goal. So, existing patrons, consider upping your donation by a dollar or two; new patrons, go ahead and starting chipping in a couple bucks each month. While I will continue to wake up at small-prime-number o’ clock to write this email regardless, I do think the work—while sometimes silly and simultaneously dry—is important and would deeply value your support.
 

I only just barely had on my radar the Supreme Court’s recent Sackett v. EPA decision and its impacts on the definition (and protection) of wetlands. Definitely tap through the previous link for a great summary by SCOTUS Blog, and then read this piece by Patrick Larsen at VPM, who reports on what could happen in Virginia as a result. Luckily, and fingers crossed it stays this way, it sounds like Virginia already has strict regulations and definitions that will continue to protect our wetlands.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 57 °F, and today—plus for the next handful of days—you can expect slightly cooler temperatures right around 70 °F. Sounds great to both me and my bicycle, to be quite honest. I’ve still got my eye on the five-day forecast which, unfortunately, has increased its prediction of rain to: Here and there for the whole time. So maybe expect a damp (but restful) long weekend.
 

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The final version of the Staples Mill Small Area Plan dropped this week from VDOT, and, for a suburban highway that literally just this week I could not figure out how to safely cross on bike, it looks…pretty good! The recommendations include intersection improvements, continuous sidewalks and bike lanes, and conducting a study for possibly installing dedicated transit lanes, too. I’m impressed that so much progressive, urbanist stuff made it into a plan for what’s basically a long, linear strip mall (one that buzzes with potential, though!). Of course a small area plan is just that, a plan, and it will now be up to Richmond, Henrico, and probably the train people, to spend the money to get any or all of this implemented. Fingers crossed, because how nice would it be to safely and conveniently take the bus or ride a bike to a modern, high-speed train station on Staples Mill Road? Maybe in my lifetime even!
 

Speaking of suburban highways, Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense reports on the interchange expansions and modifications coming to Short Pump. It’s wild that folks think adding more interchange will solve the area’s traffic issues when we know, for a fact, demonstrated time and time again, that building more roads just leads to more traffic. The cost of these “improvements”, which will, in just a couple of years, result in the same backed-up, horrible traffic that we’ve got now? $250 million! One quarter of a billion dollars for, at best, a short term fix! Bananas! Also, side note, these enormous diverging diamond interchanges seem like the highway engineering version of supertall buildings—like, sure, they can exist but do they need to?
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 52 °F, and our streak of epic days continues. Today you can expect highs around 80 °F, sunshine, and a strong chance for good vibes across the region. While it’s still early, the forecast for the long weekend ahead of us does contain a bit of rain, but I say that’s fine. I’ve got like 10 Korean films stacked up in my queue that I need to knock out anyway.
 

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City Council updates! This past Monday saw two interesting papers introduced at Council. First, ORD. 2023–170, 2 Casino 2 Furious, would kick off the City’s second go at bringing a casino to Richmond’s Southside. I’m pretty sure we need to wait until the State finalizes this year’s budget (and who knows when that will happen) before we can truly know if Richmond may attempt a casino sequel. However, if I were a betting man—which I am most certainly not and is part of the reason I am very against casinos as municipal revenue generators—I’d say you’ll, once again, have a chance to vote against the casino resort project on your ballot at this coming November’s election. Second, ORD. 2023–172 begins the approval process for the proposed riverfront amphitheater. That hits Council’s Organizational Development committee’s agenda on June 5th—mark your calendars if you’re a public comment watcher. Also, while we’re talking about ordinances and resolutions, at their meeting today, the Governmental Operations committee will consider RES. 2023-R011, which starts the process of acquiring Evergreen and East End Cemeteries from the now-defunct Enrichmond Foundation.
 

Speaking of public comment, Em Holter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that a citizen was removed from Monday’s City Council meeting after making transphobic and homophobic remarks. To quote Council President Mike Jones, “We will not tolerate anything that would demean any person that lives in the city…Everyone has a right to live in the city.” I’m really glad and thankful to hear that City Council took action on this in the moment.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 54 °F, and we’ve got another great day ahead of us. Expect highs in the mid 70s, some clouds here or there, and a bit of wind. There is a 100% chance you’ll find me riding a bike to one of my morning meetings and then nervously checking in on the newly-planted vegetable garden in the afternoon. I’m loving spring this year and trying to spend as much of it outside as possible!
 

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OK, yes, it’s official, the entire RVA Bike Share system has shut down after the vendor, Bewegen, unexpectedly pulled the plug. Yesterday, DPW sent out a release saying, “Due to a last-minute, two day notice and shut down by Bewegen Technologies, the city was forced to suspend the current bicycle rental system until a new software system is in place. Bicycles will not be available to rent while the City secures a new contractor. In the meantime, the City encourages bike share users to utilize the three e-scooter vendors - Bird, Lime, and Spin. Once the new bike share system is operational, the City will welcome users back with free rides for everyone for 30 days.” I have so many questions! Does the City now own any of the code or the app that ran RVA Bike Share. If not, are they planning to hire a contractor to rewrite the whole system from scratch? At what cost and timeline? Or does a company exist that can just come in and run Bewegen’s now-defunct system? Will they be able to make upgrades and fixes moving forward? At what point does it make more sense to scrap the Bewegen hardware and just start over? Maybe I’m overly cynical, but I’ll be (pleasantly!) surprised if RVA Bike Share is back up and running before the end of the year. Honestly, I’ll be even more pleasantly surprised if the City just goes ahead and quickly announces an entirely new bike share vendor.
 

I absolutely love the Virginia Department of Health’s new Wastewater Surveillance data dashboard which shows the amount of SARS-CoV-2 detected in wastewater. It’s a fascinating combination of sewer stuff and COVID-19 data stuff—two of my favorite stuffs for sure. Tap through and take a look at the map, which is interesting, sure, but the real winner is the “COVID-19 Wastewater Surveillance Percentiles” chart. It’s a super clever way to see the changing COVID-19 picture over time across the whole commonwealth. I love it! As you can see, pretty much everywhere, the amount of COVID-19 people are pooping out in Virginia is very, very low. That’s great news. Data on this dashboard are updated weekly on Tuesdays, so set a reminder if you’re dying for a first look at the week’s newest coronadata.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 54 °F, and we’ve got another great day ahead of us. Expect highs in the mid 70s, some clouds here or there, and a bit of wind. There is a 100% chance you’ll find me riding a bike to one of my morning meetings and then nervously checking in on the newly-planted vegetable garden in the afternoon. I’m loving spring this year and trying to spend as much of it outside as possible!
 

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OK, yes, it’s official, the entire RVA Bike Share system has shut down after the vendor, Bewegen, unexpectedly pulled the plug. Yesterday, DPW sent out a release saying, “Due to a last-minute, two day notice and shut down by Bewegen Technologies, the city was forced to suspend the current bicycle rental system until a new software system is in place. Bicycles will not be available to rent while the City secures a new contractor. In the meantime, the City encourages bike share users to utilize the three e-scooter vendors - Bird, Lime, and Spin. Once the new bike share system is operational, the City will welcome users back with free rides for everyone for 30 days.” I have so many questions! Does the City now own any of the code or the app that ran RVA Bike Share. If not, are they planning to hire a contractor to rewrite the whole system from scratch? At what cost and timeline? Or does a company exist that can just come in and run Bewegen’s now-defunct system? Will they be able to make upgrades and fixes moving forward? At what point does it make more sense to scrap the Bewegen hardware and just start over? Maybe I’m overly cynical, but I’ll be (pleasantly!) surprised if RVA Bike Share is back up and running before the end of the year. Honestly, I’ll be even more pleasantly surprised if the City just goes ahead and quickly announces an entirely new bike share vendor.
 

I absolutely love the Virginia Department of Health’s new Wastewater Surveillance data dashboard which shows the amount of SARS-CoV-2 detected in wastewater. It’s a fascinating combination of sewer stuff and COVID-19 data stuff—two of my favorite stuffs for sure. Tap through and take a look at the map, which is interesting, sure, but the real winner is the “COVID-19 Wastewater Surveillance Percentiles” chart. It’s a super clever way to see the changing COVID-19 picture over time across the whole commonwealth. I love it! As you can see, pretty much everywhere, the amount of COVID-19 people are pooping out in Virginia is very, very low. That’s great news. Data on this dashboard are updated weekly on Tuesdays, so set a reminder if you’re dying for a first look at the week’s newest coronadata.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 55 °F, and this morning looks cloudy with the sky maybe clearing up and getting its act together late this afternoon. Other than that, you can expect highs in the 70s and a generally good vibe. Temperatures increase a bit tomorrow, but I think we’ve got a really great weekend ahead of us—plus, the early forecast for next week looks wonderful, too!
 

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Earlier this week, the City’s Department of Public Works sent out a press release announcing pedestrian safety improvements to almost three dozen intersections across Richmond. Over the next year, crews will install high-visibility crosswalks, accessible ramps, and pedestrian countdown signals at locations currently without them. While this is good and important work, it does feel like, as a community, we’ve moved beyond celebrating the installation of these kind of basic, table-stakes improvements to our streets. I’m not even sure I should call them “improvements,” they’re just the standard, necessary things you include in an intersection and without them these intersections are unsafe and incomplete. Additionally and fascinatingly, @rvadotra on Twitter points out that some (most?) of the 35 intersections already have crosswalks, ramps, and pedestrian countdown signals. What does that mean? I dunno! Honestly, I’m not trying to be overly cynical about critical infrastructure like ADA curb ramps, but I am trying to be more realistic about how much actual action the City is taking to make our streets safer. Just look at the pictures in this article by Jake Burn at CBS6 and see the large corner radiuses (once you see, you can’t unsee!), long crossing distances, and overly-wide streets. We could install real, physical infrastructure—above and beyond curb ramps and countdown signals—to make these places actually safer for people…if we wanted to.
 

Ian M. Stewart at VPM has a nice recap of the Ride of Silence at which folks installed a Ghost Bike for Jonah Holland. Make sure you flip through the pictures at the bottom of the article, too.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 51 °F, and today looks absolutely beautiful. You should expect some sunshine served up alongside highs in the 70s, plus a strong desire to take a stroll or a ride around the block later this evening. We’ve got a great one ahead of us, and I hope you can find the time to take advantage of it!
 

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Today, City Council’s Finance and Economic Development committee will meet and consider ORD. 2023–151, which would require Airbnbs to pay the City’s hotel tax. If I read the staff report correctly, new State legislation went into effect last year that allows the City to expand the scope of its hotel tax to short-term rentals, aka Airbnbs. We should 100% tax these things! But we’ll have to see what sort of impact it has on Richmond’s bottom line, because, turns out, the City (and other participating localities in the region) gives the entirety of its hotel tax to the Greater Richmond Convention Center Authority. Through a formula I don’t really understand, if the Authority collects too much revenue it will rebate some of that back to the City. However, “these rebates have recently been reduced given the impacts of COVID-19 on travel.” The process of the City making actual money from this new expansion of taxes is, in the staff report’s own words, “slightly circuitous.”
 

OK nerds, the City’s Charter Review Commission meets tonight for, what I think is, their penultimate meeting (6:00 PM on the 5th floor of City Hall). I encourage you to attend and whet your nerd whistle, because next week the Commission will host their final meeting at which they really, really want to hear your thoughts and feelings on how best to update the City’s Charter. I know this seems like extremely dry subject matter, but the Charter controls all sorts of things that make up the very foundations of how Richmond’s government works. What if we had two at-large City Council seats? What if School Board was appointed? What if we just didn’t with the strong mayor form of government? Some of those are maybe bad ideas, but all of them are laid out in our Charter. Anyway, I’m really interested to see what this group comes up with in their final recommendations (and if the General Assembly, which must approve any changes the City wants to make to its own Charter, is willing to go a long with those recommendations).
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 62 °F, and that was a lot of rain last night! Today, though, you can expect dry skies and highs in the mid 70s. It may be the best day of the week weather wise, but it’s hard to tell since the five-day forecast looks so amazing. Definitely time to queue up your best late-spring outside plans, which, for me, means (finally) getting the vegetable garden planted.
 

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Hey, I think this is a medium-big deal: The Department of Public Works is, once again, asking for your feedback on the proposed bike lane on Westover Hills Boulevard south of the Nickel Bridge. Back in February, I wrote about DPW’s original survey, suggesting that folks request physically protected bike lanes as part of the project. In this new survey, DPW notes that they “received significant feedback to add physical protection to the proposed bike lane. DPW proposes placing a physical barrier between the bike lane and traffic.” First, thank you to everyone who wrote in asking for a better project design. Look, it made a difference! And, honestly, we really shouldn’t even be building bike lanes without some sort of physical protection at this point. Second, thank you to DPW for listening to the folks who wrote in—it’s really gratifying to see the public engagement process working properly. However, because I can’t leave well enough alone, I do still think this project can be even better: As currently designed, the bike lane leaves Westover Hills Boulevard at Clarence Street and continues down 49th Street—with just sharrows!—and dead ends at Hill Top Drive. Currently, there’s no way to get from that dead end over to the apartments by Reedy Creek or, more importantly, George Wythe High School. I’m not sure I know the best and safest way to make this connection other than to just extend the bike lane all the way down to Midlothian Turnpike instead of branching off to 49th. So…that’s what I’m going to ask for, emphasizing a safe connection to George Wythe, when I fill out this new survey!
 

Speaking of George Wythe, this evening, Richmond Public Schools will hold another one of their school-renaming public hearings, this one for George Wythe High School. The renaming committee has come up with an interesting set of names for folks to consider, which includes zero options that feature people(!): Capitol City High School of the Arts, Culture High School of the Arts, Gateway High School of the Arts, Heritage High School of the Arts, and South Richmond High School of the Arts. All told, RPS will rename four schools this round—Binford Middle, John B. Cary Elementary, Ginter Park Elementary, and George Wythe High—and I think I’ve now written about them all! We’re not done, though, because I imagine there are still schools within the District named after dead Confederates or slaveowners (looking at you John Marshall), so I bet we’ll see at least one more round of renaming at some point in the future.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 62 °F, and that was a lot of rain last night! Today, though, you can expect dry skies and highs in the mid 70s. It may be the best day of the week weather wise, but it’s hard to tell since the five-day forecast looks so amazing. Definitely time to queue up your best late-spring outside plans, which, for me, means (finally) getting the vegetable garden planted.
 

Water cooler

Hey, I think this is a medium-big deal: The Department of Public Works is, once again, asking for your feedback on the proposed bike lane on Westover Hills Boulevard south of the Nickel Bridge. Back in February, I wrote about DPW’s original survey, suggesting that folks request physically protected bike lanes as part of the project. In this new survey, DPW notes that they “received significant feedback to add physical protection to the proposed bike lane. DPW proposes placing a physical barrier between the bike lane and traffic.” First, thank you to everyone who wrote in asking for a better project design. Look, it made a difference! And, honestly, we really shouldn’t even be building bike lanes without some sort of physical protection at this point. Second, thank you to DPW for listening to the folks who wrote in—it’s really gratifying to see the public engagement process working properly. However, because I can’t leave well enough alone, I do still think this project can be even better: As currently designed, the bike lane leaves Westover Hills Boulevard at Clarence Street and continues down 49th Street—with just sharrows!—and dead ends at Hill Top Drive. Currently, there’s no way to get from that dead end over to the apartments by Reedy Creek or, more importantly, George Wythe High School. I’m not sure I know the best and safest way to make this connection other than to just extend the bike lane all the way down to Midlothian Turnpike instead of branching off to 49th. So…that’s what I’m going to ask for, emphasizing a safe connection to George Wythe, when I fill out this new survey!
 

Speaking of George Wythe, this evening, Richmond Public Schools will hold another one of their school-renaming public hearings, this one for George Wythe High School. The renaming committee has come up with an interesting set of names for folks to consider, which includes zero options that feature people(!): Capitol City High School of the Arts, Culture High School of the Arts, Gateway High School of the Arts, Heritage High School of the Arts, and South Richmond High School of the Arts. All told, RPS will rename four schools this round—Binford Middle, John B. Cary Elementary, Ginter Park Elementary, and George Wythe High—and I think I’ve now written about them all! We’re not done, though, because I imagine there are still schools within the District named after dead Confederates or slaveowners (looking at you John Marshall), so I bet we’ll see at least one more round of renaming at some point in the future.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 61 °F, and today we’ve got a pretty good chance for not only rain but maybe even some pretty intense storms. NBC12’s Andrew Freiden says we could see “downpours with localized flooding” (Twitter) this evening—so keep an eye on the sky, especially if you’re commuting home later this afternoon.
 

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The City has released a new draft of the Shockoe Small Area Plan, which you can view and comment on through Knoveio. I feel like I’ve read through this plan previously, and the Richmond 300 email newsletter tells me that, “The development of the plan began in 2019 but was put on hold in 2022 while a critical Hydrology and Hydraulics Study (H&H Study) was completed. The H&H Study determined what can and cannot be constructed in Shockoe because of the floodway and floodplain.” That study seems pretty important, because a quick scan of the draft plan’s executive summary reveals this bit about the proposed “Heritage Campus” site (which includes Devil’s Half Acre and the African Burial Ground): “The recently completed Hydrology and Hydraulics study shows that the floodplain, floodway, and major stormwater management infrastructure will have a substantial impact on development within the Heritage Campus footprint. Buildings with large footorints cannot be achieved in this area. These impediments will require innovative and creative solutions.” Sounds ominous, and I wonder what impact those “impediments” will have on some of the pretty renderings we’ve previously seen of the future of that space.
 

Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense reports on an opportunity to rezone three entire blocks of Manchester on Semmes Avenue to TOD-1. Given all of the new development and traffic patterns in that area, I think it’s time to figure out what to do with the section of Semmes between the Belvidere Bridge and the 9th Street Bridge. It’s unnecessarily highwayish and, with some creativity, could maybe better connect a couple neighborhoods in some thoughtful ways. Honestly, taming Commerce Road is probably the bigger need but seems like a much more intimidating project…
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 55 °F, and all of this week looks wonderfully springlike. Today, you can expect highs in the mid 70s and probably some clouds, and we may see some rain tomorrow, but, other than that, the week looks dry, temperate, and welcoming!
 

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Luca Powell at the RTD talks with Kevin Cianfarini, “a volunteer with the local environmental advocacy group Beyond Methane” who travels around the City looking for natural gas leaks using his own high-end gas detector. He’s found hundreds of leaks and, according to records the RTD dug up, the Department of Public Utilities knows about almost 900 leaky pipes. Seems bad, right? It gets worse: “Last year, the city lost nearly $4 million worth of gas, according to purchasing receipts reviewed by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.” And then this bit absolutely blew my mind: “In Richmond, the leaks are also worsening. In January 2022, the system leaked 14% of all its gas into the atmosphere — the highest leak rate ever recorded by the utility in a month.” Honestly, it’s getting harder and harder for me not to see a death spiral in DPU’s natural gas future. As their gas infrastructure ages, the utility raises rates to pay for fixes, then more people transition away from gas to cheaper and cleaner alternatives, and the utility is forced to raise rates to fund the gap. As those electric alternatives get more affordable and available—sometimes even subsidized by the federal government—the cycle will only speed up. I know it’d be a monumental lift, but the City really needs to fight off the sunk-cost fallacy and start exploring how to break up with natural gas and get out of that business entirely. P.S. I first heard about Kevin Cianfarini’s citizen data journalism work over on rva.fyi, a friendly Mastodon server that you should join if you’re looking for a way to escape the ever more horrific Twitter hellscape.
 

Luca Powell RTD double header! They also report this extremely dumb thing: “Richmond is spending $300,000 in ARPA money on 120 ballistic shields for the police department.” The money comes from the Office of the Attorney General and is earmarked by the General Assembly for “community-based gun violence prevention programming.” You’d have to do a set of real complex and convoluted mental gymnastics to convince yourself that riot shields for cops have anything at all to do with community-based gun violence prevention programming. So while I’m sure the OAG is stoked to have this money spent on equipment for police officers, I think that Richmond’s actual community-based gun violence prevention programs could use the $300,000 instead (and, let’s be honest, the RPD probably needs fewer riot shields not more).
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 55 °F, and all of this week looks wonderfully springlike. Today, you can expect highs in the mid 70s and probably some clouds, and we may see some rain tomorrow, but, other than that, the week looks dry, temperate, and welcoming!
 

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Luca Powell at the RTD talks with Kevin Cianfarini, “a volunteer with the local environmental advocacy group Beyond Methane” who travels around the City looking for natural gas leaks using his own high-end gas detector. He’s found hundreds of leaks and, according to records the RTD dug up, the Department of Public Utilities knows about almost 900 leaky pipes. Seems bad, right? It gets worse: “Last year, the city lost nearly $4 million worth of gas, according to purchasing receipts reviewed by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.” And then this bit absolutely blew my mind: “In Richmond, the leaks are also worsening. In January 2022, the system leaked 14% of all its gas into the atmosphere — the highest leak rate ever recorded by the utility in a month.” Honestly, it’s getting harder and harder for me not to see a death spiral in DPU’s natural gas future. As their gas infrastructure ages, the utility raises rates to pay for fixes, then more people transition away from gas to cheaper and cleaner alternatives, and the utility is forced to raise rates to fund the gap. As those electric alternatives get more affordable and available—sometimes even subsidized by the federal government—the cycle will only speed up. I know it’d be a monumental lift, but the City really needs to fight off the sunk-cost fallacy and start exploring how to break up with natural gas and get out of that business entirely. P.S. I first heard about Kevin Cianfarini’s citizen data journalism work over on rva.fyi, a friendly Mastodon server that you should join if you’re looking for a way to escape the ever more horrific Twitter hellscape.
 

Luca Powell RTD double header! They also report this extremely dumb thing: “Richmond is spending $300,000 in ARPA money on 120 ballistic shields for the police department.” The money comes from the Office of the Attorney General and is earmarked by the General Assembly for “community-based gun violence prevention programming.” You’d have to do a set of real complex and convoluted mental gymnastics to convince yourself that riot shields for cops have anything at all to do with community-based gun violence prevention programming. So while I’m sure the OAG is stoked to have this money spent on equipment for police officers, I think that Richmond’s actual community-based gun violence prevention programs could use the $300,000 instead (and, let’s be honest, the RPD probably needs fewer riot shields not more).
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 61 °F, and today looks legitimately hot! Expect highs in the upper 80s, followed by a chance for rain tomorrow, and then—to round out the weekend—a pretty excellent spring Sunday. Enjoy, stay hydrated, and find some time for yourself if you can!
 

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The Richmond Police Department reports that a person was hit and killed by a driver early in the morning this past Wednesday on the 5200 block of Orcutt Lane in the City’s 9th District. First, the driver did not stop, so if you have any information you can call the RPD’s Crash Team Investigator at 804.646.1369. Second, while Orcutt Lane is not part of the City’s High Injury Street Network, at least two other people have been seriously injured or killed on that same stretch of road (it’s hard to tell for sure given the quality of this map, see below). Third, this is a chance for the Mayor and City Council to show that they can and will respond to traffic violence throughout the City—not just north of the river, not just when one of the partners involved is a tremendously powerful university, and not just when the victim was well-known and well-connected.
 

Ben Paviour at VPM reports on the Governor pulling Virginia from the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, which states created to improve accuracy of voter rolls. I mean, whatever, classic Republican dumb stuff. What I think is more interesting than what’s actually happening with ERIC is the brutally honest tone Paviour takes while covering this Republican dumb stuff. It’s definitely a step towards what we need from news organizations as we head into the 2024 presidential elections and leaves me with a little hope—especially given what I’ve seen from CNN over the past few days (Twitter).
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 52 °F, and another beautiful day stretches out ahead of us. Today you can expect highs right around 80 °F and some potentially overcast skies. It’s probably our best day of the week, weather-wise, at least until Sunday. I hope you get out there and get after it (whatever “it” may be for you today)!
 

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Today, the federal Department of Health and Human Services will end the Public Health Emergency for COVID-19, which, unsurprisingly, means a lot of things. Katelyn Jetelina at Your Local Epidemiologist had a good write up back in February about how bringing the PHE to an end will impact various government policies and services, and you can watch the Virginia Department of Health’s Dr. Forlano explain some of those impacts here in the Commonwealth. As for how we continue to track COVID-19 and make smart decisions about our own personal behavior, it sounds like the CDC’s Transmission Level metric will go away, but I’m still unclear on what will happen to their green/yellow/orange “Community Level” maps. A new update to those maps is due this evening, so we’ll have to see! You can read more in a new post by Jetelina in which she focuses on how the COVID-19 data we’ve all grown accustom to looking at over the past three years (some of us more than others) will also change.
 

VCU Parking sent out a map confirming the locations of 10 speed tables the City plans to install on and around VCU’s Monroe Park campus over the next week. This is an exciting map, and these are some pretty well-placed traffic calming measures—with most of them situated on long, pedestrian-dense blocks where drivers have the chance to floor it and reach unsafe speeds. I’m especially pleased (and surprised!) that there’s even a speed table planned for Main Street east of Belvidere, near the intersection where a driver hit and killed VCU student Shawn Soares last week. Crews will close roads one by one, and, by this coming Tuesday, we might have 10 new pieces of quick, rapid-response infrastructure designed to make our streets safer for everyone. While I’m mad and frustrated that it took two students dying to move the City to action, I’m really hopeful that this—analyze an area after a serious crash, work with partners and neighbors, and then quickly install infrastructure—becomes a regular practice for Richmond’s Department of Public Works.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 48 °F, and today looks like a stunner. Expect sunshine, extremely A+ temperatures in the upper 70s, and every reason in the world to take an evening beverage out on the stoop, porch, or deck. If bikes are your thing, it’s a great day to get out there and get rad—otherwise, I hope you at can find at least a little bit of time to spend outside.
 

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Proving that they can in fact rapidly respond to serious incidents of traffic violence, Richmond’s Department of Public Works will “install speed tables in the VCU Monroe Campus vicinity from Belvidere Street to Harrison Street” beginning tomorrow, May 11th. While this new infrastructure won’t address the portion of Main Street where a driver killed Shawn Soares last week, it will help slow traffic in and around VCU’s campus—one of the city’s most pedestrian-dense neighborhoods. I hope this will be good practice for DPW, and that the Mayor’s administration will see that rapid-response infrastructure is possible and should be a regular part of Richmond’s Vision Zero toolkit.
 

About two months ago, the Governor announced he’d allocated $30 million for Learning Recovery Grants to pay for “qualifying education services intended to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students' educational progress and well-being.” Those grants have since been renamed “Learning Acceleration Grants,” and, if you’re a parent of a school-aged kid in Virginia, you can now apply online. Should you choose to take advantage of this opportunity, you’ll need to spend the grant funds on an approved tutoring service, specialized educational therapy services, or assistive technology (you can read through more comprehensive definitions here). Definitely seems like something to take advantage of if your young learners have some tutoring needs over the summer. Note: Anyone can apply for the $1,500 grant, but only folks making below 300% of the Federal Poverty Limit can apply for the $3,000 grant.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 63 °F, and today brings a chance for wet weather and cooler temperatures. Keep an eye out for the rain around lunchtime and, with it, highs somewhere in the mid 70s. If you can manage to dodge the precipitation, the day looks pretty lovely!
 

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Eric Kolenich at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports on City Council’s informal discussion on making Main Street near VCU slower and safer. You can listen to a recording of that meeting here. Sounds like a handful of traffic-calming measures are up for discussion, things like curb bump-outs, speed tables, and lowering the speed limit—all good stuff. I really appreciate Councilmember Addison’s push to not just focus on VCU but on the entire City and his request that Council make “bold, unpopular decisions.” Once again, I’ll shout into the void about my bold, unpopular decision: Some of these traffic calming measures, especially bump-outs, could be implemented this afternoon with simple cones and barrels. We don’t need to wait for concrete to make our streets safer and protect people’s lives.
 

Today is National Fentanyl Awareness Day, and it’s probably a good time to sign up for free narcan training through your friendly neighborhood local health district. Fentanyl is a powerful, dangerous opioid that’s often—unknowingly!—combined with other drugs and is part of what’s driving today’s opioid epidemic. It’s scary stuff. If you’d like to learn more, I’d suggest spending some time today over on the National Harm Reduction Coalition’s website, they’ve got a ton of great resources to get you started.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 44 °F right now, but the rest of today looks amazing! Expect sunshine, highs right around 70 °F, and tons of excited college kids sitting outside celebrating the end of the semester. The excellent weather (and vibes) continues through the next few days with highs on Sunday most likely topping out in the low 80s. Enjoy, and I hope you have an excellent, outdoor weekend.
 

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WTVR reports that a person died after a fatal crash on W. Main Street and Madison Street. Police haven’t released any details yet, but WTVR says a vehicle “smashed into the side of a law firm building, which sits just across the street from the VCU School of Business” and that “a scooter was involved in the wreck.” I’m sure we’ll learn more details in the coming days but, 1) this part of Main Street is on Richmond’s High-Injury Street Network, we already know it’s too fast and too dangerous, and 2) this intersection is just a couple blocks from where a driver hit and killed a VCU student earlier this year.
 

Vice President Kamala Harris stopped by Scott’s Addition yesterday, and Michael Martz at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has the report. Sounds like Republicans’ drunken dance on the edge of the debt-ceiling cliff was a major topic of conversation.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 45 °F, and temperatures have started to creep back up. Today you can expect highs in the mid 60s, tomorrow the 70s, and then, by this weekend, highs in the mid 70s. Every day for the next handful of days should be more beautiful than the last! Get excited!
 

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Whoa, big news in my inbox from the City’s Department of Public Works: A portion of the lanes in the roundabout at Monument and Allen, aka Marcus-David Peters Circle aka the old Lee Circle, will close on May 10th at 8:00 AM for installation of landscaping. If all goes as planned, on July 7th, the roundabout will reopen—without the horrible fencing! That’s just two months away! Now that we’ve got a short-term plan for the circle that removes the horrible fencing, I’d love to hear more about the long-term plans for reimagining this particular circle, yes, but also for reimagining the entirety of Monument Avenue. I don’t think folks are going to forget that both the City and the State have committed in various ways at various times to run some sort of process to think through how best to use that space. I certainly haven’t forgotten!
 

Anna Bryson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch sat down for a Q&A with Lisa Coons, Virginia’s newish Superintendent of Public Instruction. Coons comes to the Commonwealth from Tennessee, which, we all know how their state-level government is going at this point. But, setting that aside, you should read this interview if only to have something to reflect back on as the Governor’s administration works with the General Assembly to finalize this year’s budget—which, depending on whether or not they decide to cut taxes for the wealthiest Virginians, could mean millions more for public schools. Related, here’s an interesting excerpt to keep in mind: “When the accreditation system is changed, do you think those schools that lose their full accreditation should receive more resources from the state? 100%. The goal of accreditation is to support our schools so that every child can have the same equitable opportunity. So if a school is deficient in their accreditation, it is our responsibility as a state agency to give them the support they need to provide that opportunity for that child.”
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 45 °F, and today looks like the chilliest day of the week. You can expect cloudy highs right around 60 °F, but I’m hoping to squeeze a couple more degrees out of the day because I’ve got big back-deck plans this evening. Either way, warmer temperatures start to return tomorrow, and next week looks pretty excellent.
 

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VPM’s Jahd Khalil reports that this past Monday, the City’s Planing Commission signed off on the land transfer needed to finalize the Diamond District deal. Khalil also reports on a few changes to the deal that will help cover the now larger-than-anticipated costs as the project’s timeline has slipped and as interest rates have climbed. Specifically, the size of the TIF district has grown a bit, but not even close to the size of the all encompassing Big TIF from the Navy Hill days, and the City will “now be responsible for the public infrastructure in the first phase of the project’s four phases, at a cost of $54 million.” I’d love if someone put together a table of these recent changes so I could get a feel for their scope. I totally get the need to cover increasing costs, but I would like a better way of understanding what those new costs are and how the project expects to pay for them. Maybe this exists somewhere?
 

Zach Joachim at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the pedestrian bridge to Texas Beach will remain closed for at least another year. It’s kind of charming, in a dirty Richmond way, that folks keep prying off the barricades that prevent people from using the bridge, but, seriously, you should not do this! You will never ever catch me crossing a canal and a set of train tracks on a decades-old, “structurally unsafe” span! The multi-year delay in reopening Texas Beach to the public is a huge bummer, of course, but it’s far less of a bummer than if people got seriously injured by an old bridge giving up the ghost and dumping people into the canal.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 51 °F, and the chillier weather continues. Today you can expect highs in the mid 60s with even cooler temperatures moving through tomorrow. Don’t be afraid to put on an extra layer—yesterday, on my ride in to work, I big-time regretted not wearing gloves! On Thursday, overnight lows bottom out in the low 40s, and then things start to heat up from there. I think next weekend might even be the weekend to move some plants outside.
 

Water cooler

tl;dr: I set up a Mastodon server for folks trying to figure out how to get off of Twitter but confused or intimidated by how Mastodon works. Twitter is bad, and the person running Twitter is also bad. Unfortunately, a lot of news takes place exclusively on Twitter and nowhere else—stuff like transportation survey announcements, live coverage of public meetings, and sometimes our elected officials even make official statements and only put them on Twitter, which, again, is a bad place run by an incredibly offensive and unserious person. Honestly, if Twitter were a brand of cereal or a fast-food chain we’d all have boycotted it years ago, but, since Twitter provides a valuable service, we begrudgingly give all of our content to a childish memelord. This frustrates me! So I thought about it, and I felt like I could maybe be helpful in getting people in Richmond to move off of Twitter and onto something else. To that end, I set up a new Mastodon server at rva.fyi. This server is, for now, open to anyone, but I’d particularly like it to be a place for people interested in the types of things that would show up in a Good Morning, RVA. Like I said, there are a million Mastodon servers floating around out there, and, in fact, Mastodon just announced a default server for new users that you’re more than welcome to join instead! There’s nothing special about rva.fyi, other than I wanted a new project and wanted to make it as easy as possible for local people to take two steps back from Twitter. Truthfully, I don’t know that Mastodon is the best alternative to Twitter, but it’s here, it exists, and I’ve been enjoying my time on it over the last few months! Come check it out and see how you feel, it might be awesome!
 

On Sunday, Twitter user Wyatt Gordon posted a picture of the Cannon Creek Greenway closed at Dove Street as crews begin to prepare the nearby Highland Grove site for development. Gordon notes that the proposed development includes building at least two new streets, creating new crossings (aka conflict points) on what’s currently a really lovely and safe stretch of bike-and-pedestrian path. Better Housing Coalition, the developers in question, weighed in later in the thread with a few more details and that they’re “working closely with DPW & PDR on a temporary & safe detour.” First, I don’t know how we are still, still!, not requiring developers to provide an alternate safe path through construction when they close existing access. If you close a bike lane or sidewalk, you should be required to provide a temporary bike lane or sidewalk replacement. One-for-one! It’s nice that BHC is working with the City on a solution, but that solution needs to be figured out ahead of time—not only after someone complains on Twitter! Second, Richmond still lacks a body with the necessary authority to review projects like this and advocate for better multimodal transportation options. This could be a true-blue Department of Transportation or perhaps a powered-up version of City Council’s Safe and Healthy Streets Committee. Whoever it is, someone needs the authority to step in with a new development like this and advocate for better and safer transportation solutions. We can build more and more affordable housing in Richmond and make it safer to move around in our City—it’s not a zero-sum game. We just need to make doing so a priority, and this situations shows me that it clearly is not. P.S. Note this whole conversation played out exclusively on Twitter!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 51 °F, and the chillier weather continues. Today you can expect highs in the mid 60s with even cooler temperatures moving through tomorrow. Don’t be afraid to put on an extra layer—yesterday, on my ride in to work, I big-time regretted not wearing gloves! On Thursday, overnight lows bottom out in the low 40s, and then things start to heat up from there. I think next weekend might even be the weekend to move some plants outside.
 

Water cooler

tl;dr: I set up a Mastodon server for folks trying to figure out how to get off of Twitter but confused or intimidated by how Mastodon works. Twitter is bad, and the person running Twitter is also bad. Unfortunately, a lot of news takes place exclusively on Twitter and nowhere else—stuff like transportation survey announcements, live coverage of public meetings, and sometimes our elected officials even make official statements and only put them on Twitter, which, again, is a bad place run by an incredibly offensive and unserious person. Honestly, if Twitter were a brand of cereal or a fast-food chain we’d all have boycotted it years ago, but, since Twitter provides a valuable service, we begrudgingly give all of our content to a childish memelord. This frustrates me! So I thought about it, and I felt like I could maybe be helpful in getting people in Richmond to move off of Twitter and onto something else. To that end, I set up a new Mastodon server at rva.fyi. This server is, for now, open to anyone, but I’d particularly like it to be a place for people interested in the types of things that would show up in a Good Morning, RVA. Like I said, there are a million Mastodon servers floating around out there, and, in fact, Mastodon just announced a default server for new users that you’re more than welcome to join instead! There’s nothing special about rva.fyi, other than I wanted a new project and wanted to make it as easy as possible for local people to take two steps back from Twitter. Truthfully, I don’t know that Mastodon is the best alternative to Twitter, but it’s here, it exists, and I’ve been enjoying my time on it over the last few months! Come check it out and see how you feel, it might be awesome!
 

On Sunday, Twitter user Wyatt Gordon posted a picture of the Cannon Creek Greenway closed at Dove Street as crews begin to prepare the nearby Highland Grove site for development. Gordon notes that the proposed development includes building at least two new streets, creating new crossings (aka conflict points) on what’s currently a really lovely and safe stretch of bike-and-pedestrian path. Better Housing Coalition, the developers in question, weighed in later in the thread with a few more details and that they’re “working closely with DPW & PDR on a temporary & safe detour.” First, I don’t know how we are still, still!, not requiring developers to provide an alternate safe path through construction when they close existing access. If you close a bike lane or sidewalk, you should be required to provide a temporary bike lane or sidewalk replacement. One-for-one! It’s nice that BHC is working with the City on a solution, but that solution needs to be figured out ahead of time—not only after someone complains on Twitter! Second, Richmond still lacks a body with the necessary authority to review projects like this and advocate for better multimodal transportation options. This could be a true-blue Department of Transportation or perhaps a powered-up version of City Council’s Safe and Healthy Streets Committee. Whoever it is, someone needs the authority to step in with a new development like this and advocate for better and safer transportation solutions. We can build more and more affordable housing in Richmond and make it safer to move around in our City—it’s not a zero-sum game. We just need to make doing so a priority, and this situations shows me that it clearly is not. P.S. Note this whole conversation played out exclusively on Twitter!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 47 °F, and today—this whole week really—looks a bit cooler than with highs floating around in the 60s. I say get out there and enjoy it, because we only have but so many boots and flannel days left before True Summer shows up and we’re all sweating through our shirts.
 

Water cooler

Today you can take a couple of minutes to fill out the City’s survey about their plan to implement a one-way conversion on a short stretch of Brook Road south of Clay Street and north of Broad Street. I think the impetus for this change is solely to create 15 new parking spaces in the neighborhood, but the survey also mentions reducing conflict points and increasing road safety. I’m no engineer, but…I don’t know about all that. Typically converting a two-way road to one-way road means drivers have more room, will drive faster, and will pay less attention to bikes/pedestrians coming from unanticipated directions. Also, while I’m not smart enough to say if this conversion will make the neighborhood less safe, I am smart enough to say that it’s annoying to give up a pretty handy way to bike from the Maggie Walker Plaza to Abner Clay Park in exchange for just 15 parking spaces.
 

While I’ve filled out the previous survey (because it took a grand total of 30 seconds), I’m still working my way through the West Broad Street BRT Corridor Analysis PDF before leaving any feedback. I think I mentioned it last week, but this is an early and necessarily analysis that needs doing before the region can move forward on any of the real work to make a westward BRT extension a reality. Honestly, don’t be intimidated, because as far as transportation analysis PDFs go, this one looks pretty enjoyable. So dig into it—you’ve got until May 15th to submit any feedback.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 47 °F, and today—this whole week really—looks a bit cooler than with highs floating around in the 60s. I say get out there and enjoy it, because we only have but so many boots and flannel days left before True Summer shows up and we’re all sweating through our shirts.
 

Water cooler

Today you can take a couple of minutes to fill out the City’s survey about their plan to implement a one-way conversion on a short stretch of Brook Road south of Clay Street and north of Broad Street. I think the impetus for this change is solely to create 15 new parking spaces in the neighborhood, but the survey also mentions reducing conflict points and increasing road safety. I’m no engineer, but…I don’t know about all that. Typically converting a two-way road to one-way road means drivers have more room, will drive faster, and will pay less attention to bikes/pedestrians coming from unanticipated directions. Also, while I’m not smart enough to say if this conversion will make the neighborhood less safe, I am smart enough to say that it’s annoying to give up a pretty handy way to bike from the Maggie Walker Plaza to Abner Clay Park in exchange for just 15 parking spaces.
 

While I’ve filled out the previous survey (because it took a grand total of 30 seconds), I’m still working my way through the West Broad Street BRT Corridor Analysis PDF before leaving any feedback. I think I mentioned it last week, but this is an early and necessarily analysis that needs doing before the region can move forward on any of the real work to make a westward BRT extension a reality. Honestly, don’t be intimidated, because as far as transportation analysis PDFs go, this one looks pretty enjoyable. So dig into it—you’ve got until May 15th to submit any feedback.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 57 °F, and it’s rainy. You should expect the rain to continue for most of the morning and into the afternoon, with it maybe tapering off a bit as the day wears on. Saturday things dry out, and then, on Sunday, more rain. It’s a weekend full of wet weather, and I hope you find some time to curl up somewhere with a book or a horror film and something nice to drink, which, honestly, sounds lovely to me.
 

Water cooler

Yesterday, two RPS students were shot in the parking lot outside of George Wythe High School. One student suffered life-threatening injuries and remains in critical condition. Superintendent Kamras’s email from last night has more details on the incident and how adequate state funding for education can help deter violence in our schools and in our communities: “Like a doctor, I wish we could simply write a prescription to fix everything. While it’s not that simple, there is some medicine on the counter: roughly $1 billion in education funding. That’s what the Senate version of the state’s budget would add to Virginia’s schools, while the House’s would siphon that money off for tax cuts, which would largely benefit the state’s richest residents and richest corporations. That $1 billion would yield about $20 million for RPS. That’s enough money to hire 235 more counselors. Just think what that would do for the students at Wythe and the rest of our schools.” Kamras asks that folks email the legislators who sit on the General Assembly’s budget committees and demand the education funding found in the Senate’s version of the budget (in his words, he humbly requests that you plead with them to invest in our children). It’s absolutely unfathomable that we have the money to invest in education—it’s just sitting right there!—yet Virginia’s Republicans would rather continue their work to defund public schools and further enrich the wealthy at the expense of our children.
 

It’s the last week of the month, so I think it’s time to check back in on our region’s COVID-19 Community levels. As of last night (and over the last bunch of weeks at this point), Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield all continue to have low CDC COVID-19 Community Levels. In fact, the entirety of the Commonwealth and most of the United States sit at a low/green level, with only 74 localities nationwide (out of 3,221) at a medium or high level. I imagine that, at some point, CDC will start to transition away from Community Level as their go-to metric, but, until then, I’ll check in with it about once a month—just to keep an eye on things. Summer has, historically, been a chill(ish) time for COVID, but I’m pretty interested to see if this fall brings with it another mini-peak. However! That’s a million years from now, and we’ve got the wide-open road of summer stretching out ahead of us first!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 49 °F, and, while cloudy, today looks lovely with moderate highs in the 70s. Rain definitely returns tomorrow, and Sunday is a real will-they-or-won’t-they situation. Yesterday the forecast for the end of the weekend looked pretty dry, but today it looks like we’ll have a sopping wet Sunday evening. Anyway, take advantage of today however you can!
 

Water cooler

RPD report that around 8:00 PM this past Sunday, a driver hit and killed a person who was attempting to cross the 3300 block of Richmond Highway. I’m irritated by how the press release nots that the “RPD Crash Team responded to the scene and determined that Taylor was attempting to run across the street when he was struck by the vehicle,” as if running implies wrongdoing when it’s the only reasonable way to cross the terrifyingly fast six lanes of traffic. The entirety of Richmond Highway sits on the High-Injury Street Network, so we already knew that this exact spot is too fast and too dangerous for people—in fact, someone was hit and injured on the same block last August. Now that someone has died, will we do anything to slow traffic down and keep people safe?
 

Melissa Hipolit at WTVR has the update on Enrichmond Foundation’s sudden dissolution that I’ve been waiting for: “The Enrichmond Foundation was violating its contracts with nonprofit partners by using nearly $500,000 in partner funds to pay off Enrichmond debts.” You’ll want to read the whole thing, as Hipolit paints a pretty grim picture of the organizations last few months before shutting down. Two things I’ll note: 1) According to a board member, budget shortfalls “were in large part because Enrichmond was not getting enough funding to maintain two historically black cemeteries it acquired in 2017“; and 2) It’s never a good sign when a picture of bankers boxes full of your documents end up on the news. I don’t think we’ve heard the end of this story yet, so stay tuned.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 42 °F, and today stays cool with highs in the mid 60s. You can expect clear skies for the next couple of days, and you should definitely plan a couple of ways to take advantage of them because sure looks like rain will move into the region on Friday (and possibly Sunday, too).
 

Water cooler

Last night, City Council voted unanimously to eliminate parking minimums across all of Richmond (ORD. 2023–101)! This is amazing news and is entirely the result of advocates like you, reader of this email newsletter, working to push councilmembers to build a more progressive and climate-friendly future for our city. I think Twitter user @DFRSH757 gets it right, saying, “Make no mistake this is a big step. No half-measures or special carve outs. Proud of council for being bold. Creating an affordable, accessible, & climate-conscious city takes 1000 cuts but this a big important cut.” I couldn’t agree more! The biggest impact of last night’s vote may not be the policy itself, but Council publicly showing they are willing to take bold steps without futzing around the edges, requesting endless expensive studies, or watering down legislation at the last minute. With the rewrite of the City’s zoning ordinance on this horizon, these are promising steps in the right direction. Also, while they were busy making big parking moves, Council passed two other ordinances I had my eyes on: ORD. 2023–057 to unprohibit a roundabout at Laburnum and Hermitage and ORD. 2023–123 to purchase Mayo Island. All in all it was a great night for the GMRVA Legislation Tracker!
 

Also Council-related, today the City’s Chief of Fire and Emergency Services will give a presentation to Council’s Public Safety committee about “fire safety and school inspections.” For background: VPM’s Connor Scribner and Megan Pauly have done most of the reporting on Richmond Public Schools’ long list of fire code violations over the last seven years. One chart that stuck out to me from their comprehensive work was RFD documented inspections rate of Richmond schools from 2015 to 2022, which shows a steady decline until very recently (after the Fox Elementary School fire, the inspection rate has thankfully jumped back up to 100%). It’ll be interesting to hear what the Chief has to say this afternoon, because, while most of the public focus has been on RPS and their litany of violations, VPM also reports that “city fire officials said they’d been unaware of issues with inconsistent school inspections and follow-ups until the 2021 city audit” and “Richmond Fire Chief Melvin Carter attributed previous failures in the department’s follow-ups to violations to ‘critical’ staffing shortages.” Sounds like a failure in process and staffing. Again, thankfully, the RFD has staffed up since then, and now hopefully Chief Carter has the tools he needs to work with RPS to make sure our City’s school buildings are safer.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 47 °F, and this week looks a lot chillier than last half dozen days. Today, though, you can expect highs in the mid 60s with temperatures warming up bit through Thursday. After that, who knows! Maybe some rain, maybe the return of cooler weather—we’ll just have to wait and see!
 

Water cooler

OK! I think today’s the big day for eliminating parking minimums across the entire city. As of this moment, the ordinance to do so (ORD. 2023–101) sits on the consent portion of today’s City Council agenda—the place where uncontroversial ordinances typically live. That could change before tonight’s meeting, of course, but it’s a good sign! Also in the “good sign” column, 2nd District Councilmember Katherine Jordan, who I’d pegged as a no-vote (at least on the ordinance as written), announced in her newsletter that she’ll vote yes. Tap through and read the thoughtful explanation of her vote, including a really nice description of what the proposed ordinance would and would not do. And, in a final good sign, earlier this week the Fan District Association launched a poorly-written online survey about parking minimums, I guess hoping to show massive opposition to the proposed changes. Well, the results are in, and…drum roll…64.6% of respondent supported the elimination of parking minimums. We’ll have to see if all these positive signs ultimately point toward at least five votes at Council’s meeting tonight, but I feel better about it than I did last week. If you’d like, you can still email your councilmember (and their liaison!) in support of ORD. 2023–101 this morning.
 

City Council will also tackle three other things of note today. First, ORD. 2023–057 would unprohibit a roundabout at the intersection of Hermitage Road and Laburnum Avenue. While I don’t think a roundabout is necessarily the best solution for this now monument-free intersection, it’s super important to wipe the slate clean of any previous shenanigans and give planners the room they need to work. Second, Planning Commission will meet for a special meeting earlier in the day so that City Council can deal with the papers authorizing the purchase of Mayo Island. Fingers crossed that all the details are nailed down and that the City can finally take ownership of the island, because I’m stoked to get rid of that billboard blocking the skyline views! Third, and this is mostly administrative, but Council should officially introduce their amendments to the Mayor’s budget tonight, which, after listening to last week’s budget session, sound like they’ll be fairly breezy.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 61 °F, and we’ve got another round of hot temperatures today. You can expect highs near 90 with plenty of sun, which, honestly, felt pretty nice yesterday. Tomorrow after lunch you can expect some rain, and maybe even some thunder and lighting, bringing with it cooler temperatures for the rest of the weekend. Stay cool today, maybe watch a horror film tomorrow, and spend some time outside on Sunday! Get excited, because it’s the weekend!
 

Water cooler

Earlier this week the FDA updated their COVID-19 vaccine recommendations, with the CDC quickly following suit. Newly eligible folks still need to wait on the Virginia Department of Health to do their thing, which historically has happened pretty quickly after the FDA and CDC get their ducks in a row. So maybe pump the brakes (or at least call ahead) before running out to your local pharmacy for a new vaccination—although, reader of this newsletter, you are most likely already up-to-date on your vaccinations and don’t need to do anything. Despite the FDA headline about simplifying things, the new guidance is…a little complicated. As per always, I think Katelyn Jetelina does a great job about explaining the new guidelines, which I’m just going to copy paste below.
 

You are now considered up-to-date on your COVID-19 vaccines if:
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 61 °F, and we’ve got another round of hot temperatures today. You can expect highs near 90 with plenty of sun, which, honestly, felt pretty nice yesterday. Tomorrow after lunch you can expect some rain, and maybe even some thunder and lighting, bringing with it cooler temperatures for the rest of the weekend. Stay cool today, maybe watch a horror film tomorrow, and spend some time outside on Sunday! Get excited, because it’s the weekend!
 

Water cooler

Earlier this week the FDA updated their COVID-19 vaccine recommendations, with the CDC quickly following suit. Newly eligible folks still need to wait on the Virginia Department of Health to do their thing, which historically has happened pretty quickly after the FDA and CDC get their ducks in a row. So maybe pump the brakes (or at least call ahead) before running out to your local pharmacy for a new vaccination—although, reader of this newsletter, you are most likely already up-to-date on your vaccinations and don’t need to do anything. Despite the FDA headline about simplifying things, the new guidance is…a little complicated. As per always, I think Katelyn Jetelina does a great job about explaining the new guidelines, which I’m just going to copy paste below.
 

You are now considered up-to-date on your COVID-19 vaccines if:
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 56 °F, and today’s a hot one. Expect highs near 90 °F and lots of sunshine. That’s definitely hot enough for me to start my typically summertime reminders of staying cool and staying hydrated—you can’t do your best work if you’re dehydrated! Cooler temperatures will return on Saturday.
 

Water cooler

Richmond Magazine’s Ananya Chetia has a short interview with RRHA’s newish CEO Steven Nesmith in which he gets into the goals for the recently-launched Richmond Development Corp. I’m interested to see how the RDC works out, but, regardless, I’m certainly excited to see RRHA exploring different tools to build and redevelop our City’s public housing stock. The challenges faces by RRHA are enormous, like, we’re talking billions with a B enormous. Business As Usually won’t even touch the scale of the investments we need to make.
 

Erick Kolenich at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has a 4/20 update on the state of a legal marijuana market in Virginia. I’ll spoil it for you: Until Democrats regain control of both houses in the General Assembly (and maybe the Governor’s mansion, too), the Commonwealth is most likely doomed to live in this weird gray zone of marijuana quasi-legality. However, with each an every seat in the GA up for reelection this coming November, maybe there’s hope for some progress in 2024?
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 45 °F, and today you can expect highs in the mid 70s. The National Weather Service has issued a “Red Flag Warning” from 12:00–8:00 PM today, which means that a “combination of dry conditions, low humidity, and strong gusty winds will result in favorable conditions for the rapid spread of fires.” Other than the fire stuff (maybe take a pass on the campfire this afternoon), those other things sound like the makings of a really nice day.
 

Water cooler

Yesterday, Richmond’s Planning Commission voted unanimously to eliminate parking minimums across the city (Twitter)! This is excellent news, and while I did expect Planning Commission to recommend this ordinance for approval at full Council, I didn’t think it’d be a unanimous decision. Now, with Planning Commission’s go-ahead, the ordinance (ORD. 2023–101) will head over to City Council in the coming months for an actual vote. With that in mind, I think now is the time to spin up your email machines and let your councilmember know that you fully support eliminating parking minimums. Remember my tips for writing a good public comment, and just tell them something like: “Dear Councilmember, I’m a 15-year resident of the 3rd District and proud RPS parent. I own a home in the Ginter Park neighborhood. Today, I’m writing in support of ORD. 2023–101 which would eliminate parking minimums. I ask that you support this ordinance, which was recently approved by the Planning Commission with a unanimous vote.” Yes all that stuff about RPS and being a homeowner is gross and tacky, but it helps underscore that residents who would be impacted by the ordinance support this sort of parking reform. I’m sure over the next couple of weeks we’ll hear more from the people who are opposed and read quotes in the paper from councilmembers with “heartburn,” but, for now, I think getting on the record as supportive of ORD.2023–101 is the best thing you can do. You can find all the contact information for all of City Council (and their liaisons!) here. If you’d like to read more, the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Em Holter continues their almost entirely positive coverage of eliminating parking minimums.
 

Related, Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense reports that the 250-unit apartments on Grove Avenue near the highway also got Planning Commission’s approval. The developers made some changes to the building’s height and cut 13 units out of the proposal (mostly to appease resident concerns about “traffic impacts”). Real estate attorney Jennifer Mullen said, “We appreciate the Museum District’s time and their comments through the process, it’s improved the product all over.” Honestly, I don’t know how real estate attorneys make it through the day, having to deal with the same “resident concerns” over and over and over again. I’m not sure I’d be able to give such a level-headed comment!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 57 °F, and today looks beautiful. Expect highs in the 70s, lots of sunshine, and the start of what’s sure to be a really excellent week (at least weatherwise). This lovely spring weather continues straight on through until the end of the week when we could see some honest-to-goodness hot temperatures and possibly some rain. If you put plants in the ground over the weekend, remember to keep them watered!
 

Water cooler

Today, Richmond’s Planning Commission will consider the ordinance to eliminate parking minimums across the city (ORD. 2023–101). Unfortunately, the ordinance now sits on CPC’s regular agenda, which probably hints that some meaningful opposition has started to bubble up. You can, if you really really want, tap through the previous link and read some of that opposition’s letters, which mostly conflate eliminating parking minimums with elimating parking entirely. Assuming this ordinance does eventaually make it out of Planning Commission, it will head to City Council where, until recently, I though it had the votes it needed to pass. Now, I’m not so sure. Councilmember Jordan said this in her recent 2nd District Newsletter, which, if I read between the lines, sounds like someone who will not be voting for the paper as written: “As I shared previously, I will continue to work through questions and concerns to understand how parking minimums fit into a larger city-wide parking strategy that is responsive to the different parking realities throughout the Second, and ensures we’re meeting the goals of lessening cost burdens for housing development and our small businesses, and facilitating sustainable and multimodal future growth in our City.“ We’ll have to see what, if any, changes get proposed, but to water down this bill would be a huge bummer—especially coming from one of Richmond’s most outspoken Councilmembers on the environment. Tune in today at 1:30 PM to get a better sense for how hot the discussion over this proposal will get in the coming weeks and if anyone has thoughtful ideas to help squeak the ordinance through Council.
 

Also today, City Council will meet for what sounds like their last real budget work session of the 2023 season. This afternoon they’ll finalize amendments for introduction at their April 24th meeting and then, on May 8th, will host a public hearing for the final final real and true budget. Fingers crossed, they’ll vote that same night—a week ahead of the deadline to adopt a schools budget and three weeks ahead of the deadline to adopt the City’s budget. This year’s budget season lacked almost any dramatic fireworks (at least so far), and, to my surprise, I kind of liked it that way!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 58 °F, and today we’ll most likely see some rain or even storms this afternoon. We’ll also see cooler temperatures for at least the next couple of days, with highs right around 80 °F. Honestly, get excited because it looks like an absolutely stunning weekend ahead of us (once we get past today’s rain). Enjoy!
 

Water cooler

I posted Council’s sixth budget session over on the Boring Show, which you can and should go ahead and listen to at 2x speed. This budget season, the first led by Councilmember Jones as president, has been extraordinarily smooth, well-run, and fun to follow. I mean, I’ve listened to these things for years now, and I don’t think I can remember another time when City Council and the Mayor’s Administration worked together so well—especially during the amendment process, which mostly wrapped up this past Wednesday. This year, Council came to the Admin with a couple million dollars worth of amendments and, unlike years previous, they managed to work out a path forward. Most impressive to me: Never once did they spend hours arguing about a trivial $50,000 amendment. Such an upgrade from some of the pre-pandemic years! Looks like Council will have one more meeting to finalize a few items, but, at the end of Wednesday’s session, it sounded like they already had the consensus needed to pass a balanced budget. Great work, everyone!
 

Mifepristone, the safe abortion-inducing medication, will remain on the market in Virginia as Republicans continue their nationwide assault on reproductive rights through an activist judge in Texas. VPM’s Whitney Evans reports that a federal appeals court judge “ruled late Wednesday that mifepristone can remain on the market‚ but it reimposed some restrictions that the FDA had eased in recent years.“ If you’d like a lengthy and thorough read on the merits of the mifepristone case, here’s one from this past March. It feels like this is destined for the Supreme Court, and we all know how they feel about preserving people’s rights lately.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 57 °F, and you can expect this afternoon to be truly, actually hot. Highs will creep into the upper 80s, the sun will shine, you will drink plenty of water because you can’t do your best work if you’re not hydrated. Don’t put too much worry into the heat, because a chance for rain moves in tomorrow and will bring cooler temperatures with it. Regardless, it is way, way too early to start complaining about the heat! We just got out of winter!
 

Water cooler

At Council’s Budget Work Session yesterday, Mayor Stoney’s administration introduced ORD. 2023–123, the ordinance to buy Mayo Island from its current private owners and return it to the public. According to the ordinance, the City will pony up $7.4 million from “stormwater utility bond funding” and match it with that $7.5 million grant from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. The $14.9 million price is in between the original $11.4 million offer and the $19 million asking price. This is a huge, exciting move for the City, and I’m still kind of shocked that it’s happening at all. I think I’m going to hold my breath until the paperwork is signed, though.
 

Also City Council related, today the Education and Human Services committee meets with a few interesting items on its agenda. Tune in for updates on the City’s inclement weather shelter plan, public school construction, and RPS’s Head Start situation. All three of these have generated headlines in the past year, and, most likely, will again in the coming year.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 52 °F, and today we’ll see highs in the mid 80s alongside some really beautiful weather. I hope you love it, because we’ve got a few more days of this lined up ahead of us in the weekly forecast, and I’m pretty excited about it.
 

Water cooler

Alright, I’ve got a handful of City Council updates for you today, which, honestly, isn’t that different from any other day. First, I posted Monday’s budget work session up on the Boring Show for your listening pleasure. I’m about halfway through, and, so far, I’d recommend it—3.5 stars out of five! Council walks through their budget amendments and the Mayor’s Administration explains how those amendments are either already funded in the proposed budget or why the Administration recommends not funding them at all. The tone remains civil (at least so far in my listening), which has been true for most of this year’s budget meetings. I can definitely say that I’m enjoying the Councilmember Jones era of City Council and the way he’s run things the last couple of weeks. If you’d like a less exciting and less human summary of Monday’s meeting, you can also flip through the presentation slides.
 

Second, City Council will host their sixth budget work session today at 1:00 PM and will focus on “Discussion and Preparation of Final Council Proposed FY 2024 Budget Amendments.” I can’t believe it, but we’re coming around to the close of the 2023 budget season already!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 52 °F, and today we’ll see highs in the mid 80s alongside some really beautiful weather. I hope you love it, because we’ve got a few more days of this lined up ahead of us in the weekly forecast, and I’m pretty excited about it.
 

Water cooler

Alright, I’ve got a handful of City Council updates for you today, which, honestly, isn’t that different from any other day. First, I posted Monday’s budget work session up on the Boring Show for your listening pleasure. I’m about halfway through, and, so far, I’d recommend it—3.5 stars out of five! Council walks through their budget amendments and the Mayor’s Administration explains how those amendments are either already funded in the proposed budget or why the Administration recommends not funding them at all. The tone remains civil (at least so far in my listening), which has been true for most of this year’s budget meetings. I can definitely say that I’m enjoying the Councilmember Jones era of City Council and the way he’s run things the last couple of weeks. If you’d like a less exciting and less human summary of Monday’s meeting, you can also flip through the presentation slides.
 

Second, City Council will host their sixth budget work session today at 1:00 PM and will focus on “Discussion and Preparation of Final Council Proposed FY 2024 Budget Amendments.” I can’t believe it, but we’re coming around to the close of the 2023 budget season already!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 39 °F, but, after this morning begins a stretch of beautiful weather. Today you can expect sunny highs in the mid 70s and even warmer temperatures over the next five days. With overnight lows in the mid 50s for the next bunch of days, I think it might be a good time to get some plants in the ground!
 

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Richmond’s Interim Police Chief Rick Edwards has launched a new policy to provide “Critical Incident Briefings” to the public after every fatal officer-involved shooting. These briefings will include video and photographic evidence—body-worn cameras, surveillance footage, and crime scene photography—and will be “released to the public within two weeks of the incident(s), unless the Chief determines that a delay is needed to address investigative, prosecutorial, or privacy concerns.” This seems good, and I continue to be impressed with the tone coming out of Interim Chief Edward’s RPD. Of course, it hasn’t been that long since Edwards took over, and he’s yet to come up against an extremely public test of his leadership—but maybe that’s of his own doing. I mean, so far at least, he hasn’t set up an entire press conference to lie about a mass shooting plot. NBC12 reports that Edwards has officially applied to be the actual police chief, so there’s a chance that we’ll see more of him in the future.
 

Yesterday, City Council announced that they’ve appointed Laura K. Drewry as the new Richmond City Attorney. Drewry is an internal hire, and has worked with the Attorney’s office since 2006. I know absolutely nothing about her but am really interested to catch her vibe once she’s forced to make that first public decision on a complex and stressful topic. Lucky for her, we’re in a much better place than we were a while back when it comes to the relationships between the Mayor and City Council. I don’t see them getting into a disagreement that requires the Attorney to resolve (at least not in the immediate future). If I did have to guess where Drewery will need to weigh in, I’d probably pick some future School Board drama—something to do with the Arthur Ashe Center or building new schools, places where the division of authority between the Board and Council gets a bit fuzzy. Not a place I’d want to find myself, but congrats and good luck!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 35 °F, but, despite the current chilly temperatures, today looks pretty springlike and wonderful. You can expect highs in the mid 60s, lots of sunshine, and a perfect afternoon to spend some time outside. After we get through tomorrow morning’s similarly chilly lows, get excited for the truly warm and wonderful days stretched out ahead of us!
 

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Over the weekend, Pulitzer Prize Winner Michael Paul Williams wrote about the decision of Tennessee Republicans to expel two Black General Assembly members for leading a protest over gun violence. Williams ties in a couple other national headlines that also point to the ways America continues to slide away from democracy. Even though it’s a bummer, you should read it—I mean, he won the dang Pulitzer prize!
 

In her newsletter this past Friday, Councilmember Jordan had a quick update on the fencing surrounding the circle at Allen and Monument (which I think is a great way for an elected official to identify that particular circle): “As you may have seen, work has begun this past week on preparing the circle at Allen and Monument for the implementation of the City’s temporary landscaping plan…Once that work is completed later this Spring, the jersey barriers and fencing that currently enclose the circle will be removed, and returned to the state. The barriers and fencing will remain up while the work is done, to ensure the safety of staff.” Can’t wait / about time!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 54 °F, and last night’s rain brought with it some cooler vibes. Today, you can expect highs in the mid 60s, and then, tomorrow, even chillier temperatures when overnight lows could dip towards freezing. Worry not, though: Warmer weather returns early next week—possibly for good!
 

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Last night, the Republican-dominated Tennessee House of Representatives voted to expel two of its members, Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson. The two legislators, both young Black men, led protests against gun violence following the recent Covenant School shooting. A third legislator who also joined the protests, Gloria Johnson, a white woman, kept her seat with a single-vote margin. This morning there will be lots of news and videos and tweets and takes to read about this blatant and anti-democratic step taken by Republicans, but I think you should start with these three videos (all from Twitter, unfortunately):
 

1. If you only want to watch one single thing about last night, make it this speech by Rep. Pearson following his expulsion. It feels historic.
2. I think Rep. Jones gets it completely right in his speech immediately preceding his own expulsion: By removing these legislators, Republicans have galvanized folks into sustained action against them and their idolatrous worship of guns.
3. When asked why she alone was able to keep her seat, Rep. Johnson says “it might have to do with the color of our skin.”