Cheers RVA!

Today will be partly cloudy with a high of 64 and a low of 32.

the juice:

The Richmond School Board voted 5-4 on Tuesday to approve changes to the collective bargaining policy.

According to Keyris Manzanares at VPM, the new policy:

restructures the negotiation process, gives the school board final say in contract disputes, prohibits union representatives from holding formal meetings during the workday and allows parts of the agreement to be voided or delayed if the district determines funding from the city government falls short.

The Teamsters 322 union, which represents workers in the public sector, specifically custodial workers in RPS, and the Richmond Education Association union, which represents teachers, had both supported a delay in the vote.

Many of the public comments at the meeting were against the resolution.

Superintendent Kamras acknowledged neither party got everything they wanted but called the resolution a good compromise.

the pulp:

• RICToday shares tips from the community for beginners looking to ride their bicycles around the city. One piece of advice that was mentioned a lot is to join a group bike ride, such as the Bike Monday Bros, whose next ride will be Sunday at 11:30 am beginning at Penny Lane Pub.

• The Department of Public Works has announced a new federally-funded multimodal transportation project along Hopkins Road on Richmond’s Southside. Construction is expected to begin this month and be completed by Fall of 2026.

the dive:

Sarah Vogelsong from the Richmonder dives into the various reactions from neighborhood associations regarding the city’s rezoning process.

Richmond’s zoning code has not been updated in 50 years, and the discussions have illustrated the challenges of balancing affordable housing availability with density and maintaining the character of individual neighborhoods.

Vogelsong writes:

“If you ask five different people, you may get six different responses,” said Mark Olinger, president of the Church Hill Central Civic Association and the former director of Richmond’s Planning Department. “There are people in my neighborhood who say the more density the better. And there’s people like me who say, ‘Let’s be conscious of the character.’”

Read the full article here.

the vibe:

Shout-out to the CheersRVA reader who correctly identified the “buffers” along the new bike lane on Willow Lawn drive as armadillos.

Have a wary day RVA!

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