🏴‍☠️ Good morning, RVA: A new park Downtown, masks optional in RPS, and a pirate ship

Good morning, RVA! It’s 46 °F, and today’s highs will settle in just under 60 °F. That’s chilly! Temperatures will creep up over the next couple of days, but each evening still brings temperatures down in the 30s. Freeze warnings, frost warnings, bundle-up-in-the-morning warnings all abound!
 

Water cooler

Michael Schwartz at Richmond BizSense has a fascinating report about the future of the old Dominion tower site down on 8th and Cary Streets: “The dormant, leveled-out lot will now be transformed into a site that will include 28 electric vehicle charging stations, all to be powered by solar panel canopies and wind turbines. The park will also have energy storage in the form of batteries, and green space for public use.” I don’t know how to feel about this! Scrapping plans for a huge tower and replacing it with 28 car chargers seems like…not the best and highest use of that land. On the other hand, more public (but privately owned) green space Downtown would be nice. On the third hand, parking spaces, car chargers, and landscaping seem like easy things to tear down if/when Dominion decides to build something else on that block. No renderings or plans or drawings exist for the space yet, but I’m sure we’ll get a peek in the coming weeks.
 

The City’s Land Use, Housing and Transportation Committee will meet today, and you can find their full agenda here. On deck, a presentation about GRTC’s Essential Transit Infrastructure plan, which would bring shelter or seating to 50–75% of bus stops by 2027. To reach this (in my opinion, ambitious) goal GRTC will probably need the City to chip in some money, support applications for funding (especially through the regional Central Virginia Transportation Authority), and make the current right-of-way process way more streamlined. That last thing I could see really throwing a wrench in the works. LUHT will also consider ORD. 2022–276, which would rename the “Robert E. Lee Memorial Bridge” to the “Belvidere Bridge.” While the easiest renaming choice for sure, and certainly better than the current name, I’m not sure we should proactively name things after mansions built by slave-owning colonial white men.
 

Two short Richmond Public Schools updates while we wait for the actual reporters to get some sleep and turn in their stories covering last night’s School Board meeting. First, yes, the Board had another way-too-late meeting last night: KidsFirst RPS says the Board wrapped up the public portion of the meeting and went in to closed session at 12:11 AM. Oof. Second, RPS announced that as of yesterday, the District’s masking policy has changed: “Masks are now optional for all RPS staff, students, & other individuals - both indoors & outdoors - unless you are recovering from COVID-19. All are welcome to continue masking if they choose.” From the District’s COVID-19 protocols page: “Moving forward, if/when the CDC community level returns to ‘High’ for 2 consecutive weeks, RPS will return to requiring masks indoors for all adults and students (although families could opt out via the mask opt out protocol). If/when the CDC community level returns to ‘Medium’ or ‘Low’ for 2 consecutive weeks, RPS will return to making masks optional indoors and outdoors for all adults and students.”
 

The application for the Virginia Department of Health’s 2023 Virginia Walkability Action Institute is up, and you should apply if you’re looking for learn how to “pursue policy, systems, and environmental changes and interventions to improve population health and reduce chronic disease risk and burden through increased access to physical activity and active transportation.” I feel like that long sentence—which I’d summarize as “causing a fuss over how to make our streets safer”—applies to a lot of folks subscribed to this newsletter. There are some eligibility requirements but they seem generally flexible. If you’re interested, you’ve got until October 28th to apply.
 

Karri Peifer at AXIOS Richmond has a story about a pirate ship Airbnb called the Jolly Lodger anchored off the Northern Neck. I think I’m really into this? Or maybe just really into the concept more so than the reality of driving out to the Northern Neck to spend a night on a boat. Still though, love the dedication.
 

The federal student debt relief portal has officially launched, and, if you’re eligible, you can apply for relief today. While you’ve technically got until the end of the year to do so, the form is incredibly short and will take just a couple of minutes to fill out—like, literally three minutes—so don’t put this off. Just go do it right now!
 

This coming Saturday, October 22nd, Blue Sky Fund will host their 11th annual Hike For Kids, a fundraiser supporting their mission to make the outdoors more accessible for youth of color in Richmond. Starting at the Virginia War Memorial, the event offers hikes of three, eight, or 14 miles through Richmond’s amazingly remote yet still incredibly downtown James River Park System—you know, Richmond’s best stuff. Tap through to sign up and support making sure everyone has the opportunity to experience the city’s wild and wonderful side.
 

This morning’s patron longread

The Woman Behind the Long-Awaited Obverse Quarter Design

Submitted by Patron Sam. Numismatists rejoice! A really rad design—sculpted by a woman—for the front of the quarter (the obverse) is coming to pocket change near you. I love the specific language of coinage.
 

In 1931, Congress held a competition to design a coin to honor the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s birth. The original competition called for the obverse of the coin to feature a portrait of George Washington, based on the famed life-mask bust by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon. The reverse was to feature a design that was to be “national” in nature. Laura Gardin Fraser submitted a design that features a right-facing portrait of George Washington on the obverse, while the reverse shows an eagle with wings spread wide…While her design was popular, it was not chosen…In 2022, 90 years after she intended for it to do so, Laura Gardin Fraser’s design will fittingly take its place on the quarter. It will be the obverse for the American Women Quarters Program, a four-year program that celebrates American women and the contributions they made to this country.
 

If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.
 

Picture of the Day

Ride a bike for 30 minutes and suddenly you’re in beautiful, pastoral Virginia.