😒 Good morning, RVA: A disappointing non-vote, new Northside development, and state-level education funding

Good morning, RVA! It’s 42 °F, and highs today are suddenly back up in the mid 60s—on the 17th of December! Keep an eye out for a possible chance of rain now and later this afternoon.

Water cooler

Yesterday, making a prediction about which of the 10 school rezoning options the RPS School Board would ultimately choose, I said, “I’d bet on whichever of the options is the most status-quoy.” I figured that would be Option W (PDF), which RPS describes as “No changes to northside zones.” Literally the status quo, right? Well, in one of those shocking-yet-not-surprising-at-all moments that keep happening in Richmond politics, the School Board went even harder toward the status quo by just…not voting for anything? At all? Justin Mattingly at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has the incredibly disappointing details. A quick recap: 3rd District Rep Gibson motioned to adopt Option 5 (PDF), one of the new options that did not go through the established, months-long process; that died on a 3–6 vote; and then, when no one else suggested an alternative, the Board moved on with the agenda. That was that. As a Northsider, I feel disappointed, angry, and disrespected by the School Board. It’s unfathomable to me that the Board could watch folks spend so much time and energy participating in a public engagement process that lasted the better part of a year (PDF) and then just not vote. Why did they even schedule this special meeting, a mishandled process that lacked transparency? Couldn’t they have spared us all a couple weeks of Facebook vitriol and voted for Option W at their previous Board meeting? Last night’s non-vote was peak Culture of Continuation—doing nothing to avoid doing anything—and I’m incredibly sick of it. We elect representatives to make tough decisions for us, and if those representatives are unable or unwilling to do so, maybe they should find different jobs. It’s so bad at this point, that I think we need to look hard at how our local government works, how it’s set up, and if we need to reopen the City’s charter and make some structural changes. Because right now, it’s real broken.

Ooo heck yes! Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense says VUU has bought the motel on the southeast corner of Brook and Lombardy. I’m excited for this area to grow into something more interesting than surface parking and auto shops—especially with the recent rezoning and neighborhood plan (PDF).

A small public housing update: The RTD’s Mark Robinson says that RRHA will extend its eviction freeze through January 2020, which sounds like a good idea. Additionally, while poking around on the Authority’s website, I saw that they’ve hired Angela Fountain as their new communications and public relations director. I’m super familiar with Fountain, as I have hundreds of emails from her in my email archive from her years running communications for the City’s Department of Public Utilities. I keep saying that RRHA needs better comms, and this seems like a good hire.

The Governor says he’ll invest $1.2 billion in K–12 education in his upcoming budget. I’m not smart enough to know if that’s new money or a redistribution of existing money via some sort of budgetary shell game. Thankfully, Mel Leonor at the RTD talked to Chris Duncombe of the Commonwealth Institute, who definitely is smart enough to know what’s going on. Duncombe says that Northam’s plan falls short of what the Virginia Board of Education outlined earlier this year. Unacceptable! Do better, New Dem Majority!

The string of NoBro meetings continues tonight with a public hearing at Carver Elementary (1110 W. Leigh Street) at 6:00 PM. Show up, weigh in, let them know what you’re against or what you’re for. Related, read through this oppositional statement on the project released by the Partnership for Smarter Growth yesterday (PDF). I don’t agree with everything in there (particularly the stuff about Planning Commission’s role in the process, which I wrote about in this very email a handful of times), but as far as burn-it-all-down statements go this is the most constructive one I’ve read. I especially like one of the closing paragraphs: “Because Richmond is now such an attractive area for investment, the city can re-do the process quickly, smartly, and with confidence. We can determine if we need a coliseum in this location, and if it’s even necessary for the city and for Navy Hill redevelopment. We can ensure that community members truly have a voice in the planning of the new neighborhood, through a focused small-area plan. This blueprint would inform a new RFP for redeveloping the neighborhood on terms that have community buy-in. Richmond neighborhoods have the capacity to develop organically, led by community members.” Of course, I do realize that we’re far, far too deep into this process for anyone driving it to be willing to start all over, but that paragraph does paint a nice picture of what could have been. Anyway! Public hear tonight and every night until Thursday. If you can’t make one of the meetings, feel free to email members@navyhillcommission.org with your public comment (make sure you include your name, a general description of where you live, and tell them that it’s a public comment).

This morning’s longread

A Deadly Day of Chaos at the Top of Mount Everest

I…do not know why climbing Everest sounds appealing to anyone? Seems pretty terrible?

And then there are the growing crowds. For this year’s climbing season, Nepal handed out 381 permits to scale Everest, the most ever. The Chinese government distributed more than 100 permits for the northern side. According to the Himalayan Database, the number of people summiting Everest has just about doubled in the past decade. And in that time the mountain has become accessible even to relative novices, thanks to a proliferation of cut-rate agencies that require little proof of technical skill, experience, or physical fitness. “Some of these companies don’t ask any questions,” says Rolfe Oostra, an Australian mountaineer and a founder of France-based 360 Expeditions, which sent four clients to the summit this year. “They are willing to take anybody on, and that compounds the problems for everyone.”

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This morning’s Instagram