🏮 Good morning, RVA: Packed Council agenda, fire training facility approved, and illegal deliveries

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.
 

Water cooler

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.
 

Also from VPM, Sterling Barbett has the disappointing update that Richmond’s Board of Zoning Appeals “unanimously approved an exception that will permit construction of a new fire training facility near the Hickory Hill Community Center — weeks after City Council greenlit the project over multiple committee rejections.” I’m not trying to argue that the Richmond Fire Department doesn’t need their own training facility—maybe they do! I have no idea! But I do think removing Southside greenspace is not an acceptable solution, and the City needs to put more time into figuring out an alternative. Unfortunately, I’m not sure what, if any, next steps remain for the public to oppose this project, although, I think if the Mayor or CAO wanted to direct the RFD to find a different spot, they’re well within their rights to do so.
 

Eric Kolenich at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports on the illegal marijuana delivery companies that are currently thriving due to Virginia’s weird and untenable marijuana laws. The vibes in this piece are interesting, with officials clearly not putting these companies at the top of their to-do lists: “When [Commonwealth’s Attorney] McEachin learns about potential illegal activity, she asks the Richmond Police Department to investigate. She declined to say whether cannabis delivery could merit an investigation, and Richmond police did not respond to questions on the matter.” Add cleaning up our mess of marijuana laws to the stack of reasons to get out and vote this coming November (and in the June 20th primary!).
 

1708 Gallery has opened up the 2023 InLight call for proposals, and you can jump straight to the application if you want. This year, InLight is back on Broad Street in the Arts District, right smack dab in the center of Downtown, and artists are encouraged to consider the neighborhood’s past and present while designing their installations: “Artists are invited to propose projects that engage with and expand upon the histories and activities that comprise InLight, as well as Broad Street’s current uses. These include the industrial, economic, and racial histories of downtown Richmond and their legacies; public transit and mobility; regional and commercial architectures and their many styles; the role of public art in the upper South; and the significance of Broad Street’s surrounding communities.” Interested artists can join one of two informational Zooms on June 14th or 15th at 4:00 PM, and applications are due July 3rd.
 

This morning’s longread

Some blogging myths

More people should blog! Even though literally one of the blogging myths listed in this piece is that everyone should blog, I still think there are plenty of folks out there who are not blogging but should. It’s easy to get started: I use micro.blog which is cheap, interesting, and straightforward (with a philosophical view of how the internet should work that I deeply agree with). There are absolutely millions of place to set up shop on the internet, and if you do decide to launch (or relaunch) something, please let me know!
 

Someone who read this mentioned that they feel like writing has gotten harder as they get more experienced, and I feel the same way. I think this is because the gap between me and who I’m writing for has gotten a bigger over time, and so it gets a little harder for me to relate to people who know less about the topic. I think on the balance having more experience makes my writing better (I have more perspective!), but it feels harder. I don’t have any advice to give about this right now. I just want to acknowledge that it’s hard because someone who read a draft of this mentioned it.
 

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

Picture of the Day

I rode bikes in some cool places this past weekend.