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Good morning, RVA! It’s 69 °F at the moment. Today you can expect highs in the mid 80s and…no rain! Just sunshine from here to wherever—enjoy!

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Richmond Police are reporting that Joshua A. Grey, 23, was shot to death on Monday afternoon at the intersection of Mechanicsville Turnpike and Carver Street.

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Good morning, RVA! It’s 76 °F, and today we’ve got highs in the mid 80s and a chance of thunderstorms later this afternoon.

Yesterday, the area saw its first deadly tornadoes “since the 1990s.” John Boyer at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has the science reasons behind the storms and here’s a few drone photos of the major damage in Chesterfield County off Hull Street Road. Over the course of the evening, the National Weather Service issued 19 tornado warnings for the region.

Richmond and Chesterfield Public Schools will open two hours late as crews work to assess, clear, and repair any damage. Be safe if you’re out and about today!

Good morning, RVA! It’s 75 °F, and we’ve got rain in the forecast today. Temperatures will hover around in the mid 80s, but there’s a pretty decent chance for rain all day long.

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Last week, I wrote about ORD. 2018–236 (PDF), introduced by Councilmember Gray, which would allow certain homeowners to defer the payment of increases in their property tax. I posted some of my concerns and questions on Twitter, and what resulted was an excellent, thoughtful, and interesting conversation. It’s worth your time to explore the thread and read what all the folks, way smarter than me, have to say.

Colleen Curran in the Richmond Times-Dispatch says someone has bought Sharp’s Island—a small island in the middle of the river near Mayo Island. While the new owner sounds like an outdoors-focused dude, I’d prefer if all the river’s islands that sit within the James River Park System belonged to the City. The new, private owner puts it perfectly on why the public should own resources like this: “When I think of the James River, I want to go and explore…And to know that one of those places is mine where I can take my kids and bring my friends, you can’t put a price on that.”

Good morning, RVA! It’s 74 °F, and today you should expect wind and rain as the first bits of hurricane Florence begin to move through the region. You should continue to expect this throughout the weekend. As always, John Boyer at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has the even-handed and level-headed coverage of the storm that I’ve enjoyed all week long.

Lots of things are and continue to be canceled. Make sure you check before you head out into the wide, wide world.

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Starting this Sunday you can take a bus to Short Pump! This, of course, is huge and major in many ways, not least of which is that it demonstrates Henrico County’s willingness to work with the City to begin creating a truly regional and functional public transportation system. Also, there are just a ton of jobs out there that are now, for the first time, accessible to folks who can’t or choose not to drive a car. You can see a long list of all the changes that begin on Sunday over on GRTC’s website, or you can just download and marvel at the new #19 West Broad Street schedule (PDF).

Good morning, RVA! It’s 74 °F, and you should probably expect some rain later today.

Here’s last night’s Florence update from the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s John Boyer. The storm has slowed way down and shifted south, leaving Richmond’s weekend wet but without having “to worry about hurricane conditions.” Of course there’s plenty of uncertainty when predicting what a massive rotating wall of wind and water will do with it’s time and energy, so keep an eye on things.

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Ned Oliver at the Virginia Mercury has the update on the Virginia General Assembly’s attempts at redistricting. To summarize: 🙄 and 🤷‍♂️. It’s hard to be optimistic about this story, a story about people’s right to fair elections, when the central plot-line focuses on sketchy tactics and partisan bickering. I mean, it certainly is not lost on anyone that a letter Republicans wrote complaining about Democrats writing a letter and giving that letter to the press was itself given to the press. Come on! Remember, the GA is required to have a new map in place by October 30th, or federal courts will go ahead and draw the map for them. At this point, that seems likely to happen.

Photo by: adamwilliams4405

Good morning, RVA! It’s 72 °F, and it’s cooled off a bit. Today, expect highs in the mid 80s and maybe a few showers here or there.

As for Hurricane Florence, models have rain totals in Virginia trending downward—with Richmond seeing 2 to 4 inches of rain over the next seven days. The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s faithful John Boyer has the update from last night, but check back later this morning for the new news.

Weather-related cancellations are flooding in, too, with Virginia Tech’s football game against ECU cancelled; UVA’s game against Ohio moved to Nashville; VCU is closed beginning tomorrow; and Henrico and Richmond public schools are closed on Friday. Lots of folks are waiting to see how or if the forecast shifts today to make a call on Thursday, so this list could change a ton.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 72 °F, and today you can expect reasonable highs in the mid 80s and a pretty good chance of rain scattered throughout the entire afternoon.

Florence-related rain, though, begins on Thursday, and weather-related cancellations are starting to trickle in. Prepare accordingly and double check with event coordinators and websites if you’ve got something on your calendar Thursday through Sunday.

Andrew Freiden from NBC12 says there’s maybe a bit of good news for Virginia with the latest hurricane update.

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Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and today we’ve got highs in the upper 80s and a small chance of storms late this afternoon. At this point, everyone’s got their eye on Hurricane Florence and the potential for sustained rain and flooding in the region—the Governor has already declared a state of emergency. In the next couple of days, follow some good weatherfolks, try and stay away from clickbait panic trash, and do a bit of prep work ahead of time.

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On Saturday evening, Richmond police arrived at the 2000 block of Mansion Avenue on the City’s Southside and found Norbert D. Laury, 30, shot to death.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and today we’ve got highs in the upper 80s and a small chance of storms late this afternoon. At this point, everyone’s got their eye on Hurricane Florence and the potential for sustained rain and flooding in the region—the Governor has already declared a state of emergency. In the next couple of days, follow some good weatherfolks, try and stay away from clickbait panic trash, and do a bit of prep work ahead of time.

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On Saturday evening, Richmond police arrived at the 2000 block of Mansion Avenue on the City’s Southside and found Norbert D. Laury, 30, shot to death.

Photo by: adamwilliams4405

Good morning, RVA! It’s 77 °F, and we’ve got another hot day on deck with highs in the mid 90s. There’s a chance for storms late this evening which will continue into tomorrow and throughout the weekend.

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Here’s a feel-good Richmond Public Schools story from Justin Mattingly at the Richmond Times-Dispatch: Rodney Robinson has been named Region 1 Teacher of the Year. That’s for all of Central Virginia! It’s tournament-style, so next week he’ll move on to the Virginia Teacher of the Year competition, and then on to National Teacher of the Year from there. Robinson teaches History and Social Studies at the Virgie Binford Education Center, which is part of the juvenile detention center. I love this quote from him, “I just made it a point to try to cover every inch of this building with motivational material and something to inspire them…even though [the students’] situation is bad, it’s a reminder that their minds can still wander and when you get out, your mind can still take you places.”

Photo by: adamwilliams4405

Good morning, RVA! It’s 77 °F, and we’ve got another hot day on deck with highs in the mid 90s. There’s a chance for storms late this evening which will continue into tomorrow and throughout the weekend.

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Here’s a feel-good Richmond Public Schools story from Justin Mattingly at the Richmond Times-Dispatch: Rodney Robinson has been named Region 1 Teacher of the Year. That’s for all of Central Virginia! It’s tournament-style, so next week he’ll move on to the Virginia Teacher of the Year competition, and then on to National Teacher of the Year from there. Robinson teaches History and Social Studies at the Virgie Binford Education Center, which is part of the juvenile detention center. I love this quote from him, “I just made it a point to try to cover every inch of this building with motivational material and something to inspire them…even though [the students’] situation is bad, it’s a reminder that their minds can still wander and when you get out, your mind can still take you places.”

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Good morning, RVA! It’s 76 °F, and temperatures are back up near 100 °F. If you’ve got things to do outside get them done early or after the sun sets, I guess. Also something to keep in mind: The forecast for the next several days looks real wet.

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A woman hit by a driver on Parham Road in Henrico County near Tucker High School last month has died. @transitrunner points to Google Streetview photos of kids walking to school along Parham and asks if Henrico County or Schools are willing to do anything to make this area safer. This is the latest of several pedestrian deaths in Henrico County this year. Then, in the City yesterday, a driver rammed their car into the Shockoe Bottom Pulse Station—luckily no one was seriously injured. @notAlexWinston on Twitter puts it well (and has pictures of the scary damage to the station): “If our elected officials are serious about achieving Vision Zero and cracking down on public nuisances on city streets, they need to start being honest about what the problem is. It’s not the scooters. It’s the cars.” This is not hard or impossible: Slower speeds and safer streets will save lives—all it takes is the political will.

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Good morning, RVA! It’s 77 °F, and today you should expect sunny and hot—again. Temperatures will hover around 90 °F, but it’ll feel way hotter.

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Justin Mattingly at the Richmond Times-Dispatch says the Richmond Public School Board passed a five-year strategic plan last night. You can/should download the final, approved version of the strategic plan and read through the 40 action items (PDF). The plan itself says that “baseline numbers, as well as five-year and annual targets, will be developed for each goal” over the course of the 2018–19 school year, and Superintendent Kamras says he’ll begin costing out the plan over the next couple of weeks. I look forward to updating my PDF library with both of those things!

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Good morning, RVA! It’s 77 °F, and today you can expect highs in the 90s and maybe some clouds here and there. It’s looking like a rain-free next couple of days.

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Late last week, Richmond’s Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Herring, declared Marcus-David Peters’s death a justifiable homicide. Ali Rockett at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has a bunch of details and WTVR has the actual report from the Commonwealth’s Attorney for you to download and read (PDF). Behind the RTD paywall, Michael Paul Williams tries to make sense of what it all means and where we go from here 💸. I’ll quote from his piece briefly: “There are no winners here. The pervasive cynicism surrounding the criminal justice system gives this outcome the appearance of a fait accompli. In America, the killing of unarmed black men has been justified far too often by a criminal justice system designed to protect its own.” I’m disappointed in some of the news coverage’s focus on the “drugs” found in Peters’s toxicology report—which only serves to help create a justification for his death. I also don’t understand the sense of inevitability we have regarding police-involved shootings. Killing a person as a last resort only exists as an option for police officers because we’ve allowed the system to be designed that way. I don’t accept that this is the only way, and I think that, if you look around at the rest of the world, you’ll find lots of other folks who agree.

Photo by: Gamma Man

Good morning, RVA! It’s 72 °F, and last night’s storms brought cooler temperatures with them: Expect highs in the upper 80s today. There’s an OK chance of more thunderstorms this afternoon, so expect that, too. And then, kind of expect a similar thing throughout the weekend.

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The previous coverage on the General Assembly was dead-on in predicting that yesterday’s redistricting session would amount to very little. Graham Moomaw has a recap in the Richmond Times-Dispatch containing this perfect sentence which explains it all: “With no competing proposal to push, Republicans spent hours Thursday trying to make the Democratic plan seem unpalatable.” Mechelle Hankerson, with the Virginia Mercury talks with Brian Cannon from OneVirginia2021 about how, duh, if you give a politician a chance to redistrict, they’re going to draw a partisan map based on their own self interests. To fix this obviously suboptimal situation forever, Cannon’s group has put together a bipartisan committee of citizens to “draft an amendment to the Virginia Constitution that would ensure fair, non-partisan redistricting after the 2020 Census.” That sounds awesome, let’s do it. Finally, the Virginia Public Access Project has a bunch of neat maps that let you toggle and compare the current and proposed districts under the Democrat’s plan (aka The Bagby Plan). Whew, that’s a lot of links—and after reading them all, I’m not sure I’m super clear on the path forward.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 79 °F, and no heat advisory today but still a chance for temperatures in the upper 90s. Keep your eye out for thunderstorms this afternoon, too, which may help cool things down.

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Today, the General Assembly reassembles to theoretically tackle some federally required redistricting. Ned Oliver and Mechelle Hankerson at the Virginia Mercury have the details, but also say you shouldn’t get your hopes up on any dramatic changes—or anything at all—happening soon. Dilly dally too long, though, and the courts will step in and redraw the maps themselves. Reema Amin at the Daily Press has a good explainer on how we got here that you should read, too. Finally, if you want to get involved, you can join One Virginia 2021 throughout the entire day as they advocate for fair redistricting. Festivities start at 9:00 AM with bagels down at the SunTrust Building (919 E. Main Street).

Yesterday, Mayor Stoney announced a big expansion of after-school events for elementary and middle school students. It sounds like Richmond’s philanthropic community upped their contributions to a handful of nonprofits already providing after-school programs by $2 million. This allows the nonprofits to serve more students at more schools, plus—and this is big—transportation will be provided. Trucking kids around, to and from events and activities, is real expensive and often a huge barrier to attendance for youth. This makes me think that maybe we should expand our yet-to-launch free bus pass program to elementary and middle school students as well. Not that they’d ride the bus around by themselves, but, with appropriate supervision, we could probably get (some) kids to and from programs while teaching them how to move around the City.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 79 °F, and no heat advisory today but still a chance for temperatures in the upper 90s. Keep your eye out for thunderstorms this afternoon, too, which may help cool things down.

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Today, the General Assembly reassembles to theoretically tackle some federally required redistricting. Ned Oliver and Mechelle Hankerson at the Virginia Mercury have the details, but also say you shouldn’t get your hopes up on any dramatic changes—or anything at all—happening soon. Dilly dally too long, though, and the courts will step in and redraw the maps themselves. Reema Amin at the Daily Press has a good explainer on how we got here that you should read, too. Finally, if you want to get involved, you can join One Virginia 2021 throughout the entire day as they advocate for fair redistricting. Festivities start at 9:00 AM with bagels down at the SunTrust Building (919 E. Main Street).

Yesterday, Mayor Stoney announced a big expansion of after-school events for elementary and middle school students. It sounds like Richmond’s philanthropic community upped their contributions to a handful of nonprofits already providing after-school programs by $2 million. This allows the nonprofits to serve more students at more schools, plus—and this is big—transportation will be provided. Trucking kids around, to and from events and activities, is real expensive and often a huge barrier to attendance for youth. This makes me think that maybe we should expand our yet-to-launch free bus pass program to elementary and middle school students as well. Not that they’d ride the bus around by themselves, but, with appropriate supervision, we could probably get (some) kids to and from programs while teaching them how to move around the City.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 78 °F, and we have a heat advisory in effect today from 12:00–7:00 PM. Expect highs in the upper 90s but for it to feel 10 degrees hotter. Stay cool, stay safe, and stay hydrated.

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Since Sunday, Richmond has seen three murders. On Sunday, August 26th, Shirley Washington, 78, was stabbed to death in her home at the 3800 block of Peyton Avenue. Later that same day, police were called to the 3000 block of P Street where they found Michael Allen, 41, shot to death. Finally, Krissia Henderson-Burrus, 21, the victim of a Saturday-evening double shooting on the 1100 block of Starview Lane, died on Monday.

You can see the full list of 2018 murder victims over on the Richmond Police Department website.

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Good morning, RVA! It’s 62 °F, and, again, today’s weather looks absolutely incredible. Expect highs right around 80 °F, lots of sunshine, and no rain. It’s a beautiful Friday, so spend some of it outside!

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The Virginia Pilot has done some extensive, national reporting on how people with mental illness die in jail. What they found is horrific—no other way to put it. Here’s just some of the stark statistics: 41% of those that died in jail were in isolation; 44% were by suicide; and in 11% of the cases, family members warned the jail that the inmate had a mental illness with associated needs. Keep in mind, these are jails, not prisons. Often folks in crisis who need space in a mental health facility end up instead arrested, which means they go to jail, which means time spent in a place designed only to temporarily store humans away from others—the last thing people in crisis need.

Photo by: FGleach (and taken in 1985 at Shafer Court!)

Good morning, RVA! It’s 65 °F, and, whoa, expect way cooler temperatures today. Expect highs near 80 °F, and there’s not a rain cloud to be seen on the forecast. Things will heat up over the next several days, but, for now, enjoy!

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Unannounced, mid-week emails from Superintendent Jason Kamras usually bring with them some bad news, and yesterday’s email ‘twas no different. The Virginia Department of Education released SOL scores for this past year and, I’ll just quote the Superintendent here, “Overall, scores for Richmond Public Schools declined from last year, with pass rates hovering near 50–60% for all subject areas. Math, Writing and History scores decreased by 2, 3 and 5 percentage points, respectively. Reading improved by 1%, while Science remained flat. I’m not going to sugar coat it. These scores are deeply disappointing.” You can see the scores for the entire district over on the VDOE website or use this tool to search for specific schools. Conversations about whether or not SOLs are cool and good aside, I really love the way our new Superintendent communicates. He’s often the first source I read on a given schools-related issue, and his blunt, honest, yet optimistic tone leads me to trust him—or at least give him the benefit of the doubt. This lets him set the tone and narrative instead of having it set by local media (or by local opinion-havers with an email newsletter).

Photo by: FGleach (and taken in 1985 at Shafer Court!)

Good morning, RVA! It’s 65 °F, and, whoa, expect way cooler temperatures today. Expect highs near 80 °F, and there’s not a rain cloud to be seen on the forecast. Things will heat up over the next several days, but, for now, enjoy!

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Unannounced, mid-week emails from Superintendent Jason Kamras usually bring with them some bad news, and yesterday’s email ‘twas no different. The Virginia Department of Education released SOL scores for this past year and, I’ll just quote the Superintendent here, “Overall, scores for Richmond Public Schools declined from last year, with pass rates hovering near 50–60% for all subject areas. Math, Writing and History scores decreased by 2, 3 and 5 percentage points, respectively. Reading improved by 1%, while Science remained flat. I’m not going to sugar coat it. These scores are deeply disappointing.” You can see the scores for the entire district over on the VDOE website or use this tool to search for specific schools. Conversations about whether or not SOLs are cool and good aside, I really love the way our new Superintendent communicates. He’s often the first source I read on a given schools-related issue, and his blunt, honest, yet optimistic tone leads me to trust him—or at least give him the benefit of the doubt. This lets him set the tone and narrative instead of having it set by local media (or by local opinion-havers with an email newsletter).

Good morning, RVA! It’s 75 °F, and expect more of the same: Temperatures in the mid 80s, plenty of humidity, and a decent chance for rain. If you’re moving around the City today by foot, scooter, bike, or bus, may you successfully find the dry spots in today’s weather.

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Ali Rockett at the Richmond Times-Dispatch lists out the four times this year an officer from the Richmond Police Department has shot someone.

I took two things away from this Mark Robinson update on the Historic District situation in Blackwell 💸. First, the Hilds—who originally said that if the decision to expand the Historic District was delayed they would pull out of $250 million of investment in the area—had no comment for this story. 🤔. Second, the state Department of Historic Resources says they have “never done as intensive community outreach for any historic district” as they have for Blackwell. I can’t decide if this means that maybe they consistently don’t do enough community outreach for these things or that they’ve definitely gone above and beyond in this case.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 75 °F, and expect more of the same: Temperatures in the mid 80s, plenty of humidity, and a decent chance for rain. If you’re moving around the City today by foot, scooter, bike, or bus, may you successfully find the dry spots in today’s weather.

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Ali Rockett at the Richmond Times-Dispatch lists out the four times this year an officer from the Richmond Police Department has shot someone.

I took two things away from this Mark Robinson update on the Historic District situation in Blackwell 💸. First, the Hilds—who originally said that if the decision to expand the Historic District was delayed they would pull out of $250 million of investment in the area—had no comment for this story. 🤔. Second, the state Department of Historic Resources says they have “never done as intensive community outreach for any historic district” as they have for Blackwell. I can’t decide if this means that maybe they consistently don’t do enough community outreach for these things or that they’ve definitely gone above and beyond in this case.

Photo by: drewesque

Good morning, RVA! It’s 76 °F, and, while highs will stay in the mid 80s, there’s a chance for thunderstorms throughout the afternoon. Keep an eye out!

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Justin Mattingly at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has an update from last night’s RPS school board meeting 💸. The board talked about how they’d spend their new-to-them money, and it’s no surprise what they intend to focus on: HVAC, bathrooms, that kind of stuff. There are some other interesting items of note hidden behind the paywall, one of which is new school buses. The existing bus fleet is getting old, so, makes sense, but it’s unfortunate that the timing didn’t work out a little better with RPS’s new public transit initiative for high school students. I imagine, in the long run, the plan is to reduce school bus spending.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 73 °F. Expect a cooler day today—highs in the low 80s—and a chance of thunderstorms until dinner time.

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Police are reporting that Leon M. Chandler II, 24, was shot and killed early Sunday morning. Richmond police arrived at the the 3500 block of Meadowbridge Road and pronounced Chandler dead at the scene.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 76 °F, and you should expect a hot, sunny Friday with highs in the mid 90s.

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Well that was quick. Ned Oliver at the Virginia Mercury says the City has impounded all of the Bird electric scooters that popped up yesterday. I’m bummed, but, honestly, I can’t fault the City. Bird’s whole deal of dropping a bunch of scooters into a city without giving anyone a heads up is not appealing to me at all. But, as y’all know, I’ve been shouting from the rooftops to whoever will listen to me for the past couple of months that Richmond needs a scooter ordinance ASAP. Now we have no ordinance and no scooters, and folks are dissapointed. Moving forward, I hope to see an ordinance hit Council’s agenda for their September meeting and the return of the scooters before too long.

OH WAIT NOT SO FAST. Just after I finished writing that paragraph, I saw this post on reddit and a couple folks posting screenshots of the Bird app this morning. Birds are back, baby. See what I mean about not being super into their kinda of sketchy business practices? Get ready for some more scooter drama today.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 76 °F, and it’s gonna be a hot one. You know the drill: Drink water, maybe wear a hat.

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There’s a a ton of multimodal transportation news to dig into this morning, so let’s get started.

Last night, a driver struck and killed a 17-year-old boy on W. Broad Street near the Libbie Place Shopping Center. The teenager was walking home after a shift at the McDonald’s nearby. No one should die walking home from work. No one should die walking on our streets. But as our city grows and our transportation networks begin to reach out into the surrounding counties (Libbie Place is a likely spot for a future Pulse extension), we have to do a better job at protecting pedestrians. Henrico’s got a lot of work to do to make the entire length Broad Street safer, and they need to start immediately.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 71 °F, and highs will creep back up into the 90s today. It’s been a while since I’ve reminded you, so: Stay hydrated!

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I feel like I have to link to this Jeff Schapiro piece in the Richmond Times-Dispatch about taxes 💸. It’s very long and sounds very smart, but my eyes kind of glaze over when reading about the political implications of state-level tax/finance schemes. Never the less, I persisted and read to the end, and it sounds like Northam will do a thing to help poor people maybe, but then I also saw a comparison to the car tax and we all make fun of Gilmore for that now, so, honestly, I don’t know. 🤷‍♂️

GRTC announced that Charles Mitchell will serve as their interim CEO. This is the second time Mitchell has filled the role, and, now, with a temporary leader in place, GRTC will move forward with a search process for the new CEO. That is exciting!

Good morning, RVA! It’s 66 °F, and today’s forecast looks extra pleasant. Expect highs in the upper 80s and tons of sun.

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OK! The Brook Road Bike Lane is back, and I’ve got action items for those of you who wish to see more—not fewer—safe ways to move about the City. First, Jeremey Lazarus at the Richmond Free Press says Councilmembers Gray and Hilbert will meet with the presidents of Northside civic associations tomorrow at the Ginter Park Library. Ostensibly this meeting is for the councilmembers to answer any questions the civic association leaders may have about the already approved, designed, and funded bike lane. However, as far as I’m aware, to date neither councilmember has accurately described the planning and facts that support this project, so…color me skeptical about the fairness of the information presented at this meeting. I kind of don’t want to put the civic association heads on blast about this, as they’re mostly just regular folks, but this is an important issue to their neighborhoods annnnnnd their email addresses are totally available on the City’s website. So, the first thing you can do is, if you’re a Northside resident, kindly email your civic association in support of the Brook Road bike lane. The second thing you can do, regardless of where you live, is sign this Sports Backers petition in support of the bike lane. They’ll print out all of the signatures and present them to City Council if/when the ordinance to prevent the bike lane (which, again, is already approved, designed, and funded) shows up on the agenda. Third, if you feel like you need talking points to send to your civic association, or just want some scintillating dinner conversation, download this informational PDF Bike Walk RVA has put together about the bike lane. You’ll learn the answers to such great classics as “Will emergency vehicle response times be affected?” (No!) and “Will all the parking be deleted?” (No!), and who could forget “Will any once and future apartments flood Brook Road with so many cars that a bike lane would create a gridlocked mayhem?” (No!) Any way, it’s a good PDF, and you should check it out.

Michael Paul Williams in the Richmond Times-Dispatch turns his keyboard toward Fulton, its history, the current developments, and the neighborhood’s future 💸. I knew the Artisan Hill development was big, but I didn’t realize it’d bring 204 apartments to the area—some of them “priced at workforce rates,” whatever that means. As always, more housing is good, but, like with other Richmond neighborhoods experiencing growth, we’ve got to be proactive in policies to prevent folks from being displaced while leveraging the development to bring needed amenities to the area. I’ll keep looking towards advocates like Cheryl Groce-Wright of the Neighborhood Resource Center of Greater Fulton for guidance and leadership on how we can best thoughtfully move forward.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and today you should expect highs in the mid 80s and some thunderstorms possibly developing later this afternoon.

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On Friday evening, Richmond Police officers responded to the 3900 block of Peyton Avenue and found Sherece Cook, 21, shot to death.  

Good morning, RVA! It’s 77 °F, and you can expect today’s highs to hit 91ish. Should be a bright, maybe cloudy, day. Enjoy!

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The City’s Department of Budget and Strategic Planning along with Richmond Public Schools finance staff have “completed a preliminary reconciliation of all RPS managed capital projects through the end of the 2018 fiscal year.” The result? About $10 million in remaining funds spread across a couple of accounts. It’s hard to tell from the aforelinked City release, but if you read this Justin Mattingly piece in the Richmond Times-Dispatch 💸, it definitely sounds like money that just…kind of got lost in a spreadsheet somewhere. Superintendent Kamras says “I’m happy to have it, but we didn’t have it on our books…This is new to us.” 😳. I mean, no matter how you look at it, it’s not great to have your books off by seven digits. That said, I’m glad the new administration is steadily and publicly wading through all these embarrassing issues the previous set of leaders—all of them: superintendent, School Board, City Council, and mayor (some of whom are still around!)—left behind.

Michael Paul Williams in the RTD has a reflective piece before this weekend’s anniversary of Charlottesvillle 💸, it’s got good quotes from state Senator Jennifer McClellan, Mayor Stoney, and an excellent one from Jonathan Zur—“Bryan Stevenson argues that the foundational step toward achieving justice is proximity. In the Richmond region, it is very easy to not be proximate to those who have different lived experiences. People can then assume that their experience is the dominant or only experience.”

Good morning, RVA! It’s 77 °F, and you can expect today’s highs to hit 91ish. Should be a bright, maybe cloudy, day. Enjoy!

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The City’s Department of Budget and Strategic Planning along with Richmond Public Schools finance staff have “completed a preliminary reconciliation of all RPS managed capital projects through the end of the 2018 fiscal year.” The result? About $10 million in remaining funds spread across a couple of accounts. It’s hard to tell from the aforelinked City release, but if you read this Justin Mattingly piece in the Richmond Times-Dispatch 💸, it definitely sounds like money that just…kind of got lost in a spreadsheet somewhere. Superintendent Kamras says “I’m happy to have it, but we didn’t have it on our books…This is new to us.” 😳. I mean, no matter how you look at it, it’s not great to have your books off by seven digits. That said, I’m glad the new administration is steadily and publicly wading through all these embarrassing issues the previous set of leaders—all of them: superintendent, School Board, City Council, and mayor (some of whom are still around!)—left behind.

Michael Paul Williams in the RTD has a reflective piece before this weekend’s anniversary of Charlottesvillle 💸, it’s got good quotes from state Senator Jennifer McClellan, Mayor Stoney, and an excellent one from Jonathan Zur—“Bryan Stevenson argues that the foundational step toward achieving justice is proximity. In the Richmond region, it is very easy to not be proximate to those who have different lived experiences. People can then assume that their experience is the dominant or only experience.”

Good morning, RVA! It’s 75 °F, and highs should settle into the low 90s today. A bit cooler than yesterday, but still pretty dang hot.

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As we approach the one-year anniversary of Charlottesville—which has become another place we say the name of with a certain inflection to mean a certain unspoken thing like Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook—the governor has declared a state of emergency, allowing state resources to be used in responses of whatever does or does not happen on August 12th. You can read the governor’s release here, see a helpful list of what a State of Emergency is and is not over on the Virginia Department of Emergency Management’s website, and if you really want to get into the specifics you can check out the text of the executive order (PDF) for more details (like the authorization of $2,000,000 for “state and local government mission assignments”).

Whoa, the big public transportation news in Richmond keeps on coming! In his CEO Connector newsletter, GRTC CEO David Green announced he’d be leaving the transit agency for “new challenges and professional growth” at the end of the month. Green leaves behind a pretty impressive list of accomplishments including the Pulse, the redesigned routes, unlimited ride fare passes, and the as-yet-to-be-launched high school bus passes. This is a big moment for our city, and I hope GRTC will find an interim leader while starting a national search for some bright, amazing, rockstar transit CEO. Move to Richmond! It’s awesome! You’ll love it!

Good morning, RVA! It’s 75 °F, and highs should settle into the low 90s today. A bit cooler than yesterday, but still pretty dang hot.

Water cooler

As we approach the one-year anniversary of Charlottesville—which has become another place we say the name of with a certain inflection to mean a certain unspoken thing like Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook—the governor has declared a state of emergency, allowing state resources to be used in responses of whatever does or does not happen on August 12th. You can read the governor’s release here, see a helpful list of what a State of Emergency is and is not over on the Virginia Department of Emergency Management’s website, and if you really want to get into the specifics you can check out the text of the executive order (PDF) for more details (like the authorization of $2,000,000 for “state and local government mission assignments”).

Whoa, the big public transportation news in Richmond keeps on coming! In his CEO Connector newsletter, GRTC CEO David Green announced he’d be leaving the transit agency for “new challenges and professional growth” at the end of the month. Green leaves behind a pretty impressive list of accomplishments including the Pulse, the redesigned routes, unlimited ride fare passes, and the as-yet-to-be-launched high school bus passes. This is a big moment for our city, and I hope GRTC will find an interim leader while starting a national search for some bright, amazing, rockstar transit CEO. Move to Richmond! It’s awesome! You’ll love it!

Good morning, RVA! It’s 75 °F, and today you should prepare for heat. Temperatures will reach the mid 90s but probably feel way hotter. My eternal advice: Stay hydrated.

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Apparently, a couple of poorly-named, pro-Confederate, white supremacy groups plan to hold a Lost Cause rally in Richmond on August 19th. First, these people are just not good at coming up with names for their groups: “CSA II” and “Virginia Task Force of Three Percenters aka the Dixie Defenders”? Lol! (If you were wondering, the VTFoTPakaDD are so named because “only three percent of the population of the Thirteen Colonies fought against the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolution,” says Wikipedia.) Second, this quote from Dixie Defender Wendy Hayslett is illustrative, “Once we found out that the mayor is pushing more about taking Jefferson Davis down, putting signs around our statues, we knew we had to defend Dixie.” If you thought “adding context” in the form of small, tasteful plaques would keep white supremacists from parading around Monument Avenue with their little flags, think again! As for this upcoming rally, in the past these events have been laughably attended, so I will continue with my eyerolly tone, but I guess be aware. Oh, also! Mark Robinson answers my questions about who got cleaning crews out to the Lee Monument so quickly on a weekend—it was the state’s Department of General Services.

I am OK-pleased with this headline from Justin Mattingly at the Richmond Times-Dispatch: “Richmond Public Schools has fewer teacher vacancies now than at this point last year.” This easily could have gone towards something like “Richmond has the most teacher vacancies in the region yet again.” The district, just like Henrico which has 62 vacancies, plans to have them all filled before the start of the school year. Keep in mind we’re still a couple weeks out before school starts.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 74 °F, and you should expect highs in the mid 90s. Looks like you might could avoid thunderstorms today, though!

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Somehow I missed this column in the RTD by Mayor Stoney about keeping a citizenship question off the 2020 Census. If we want to know how many people live in Richmond (and beyond) we need to make sure folks aren’t intimidated to fill out the dang Census questionnaire. Why’s this important? Fewer people living in Richmond (as determined by the Census) could mean fewer federal dollars when those dollars are distributed in a per-person way. You can let the Department of Commerce know that the citizenship question is a bad idea by filling out this form—you’ve got until tonight at midnight. The Southern Poverty Law Center has some language to help you with your response should you need it.

NPR has a good piece about what’s done with Confederate monuments after they come down. It’s a national piece, but does have some quotes from Christy Coleman, the CEO of the American Civil War Museum. She says they can’t take them, so don’t get any ideas. The best quote, and one that we should think long and hard about as we process the recommendations of the Monument Avenue Commission, comes from Ben Wright of the Briscoe Center for American History, “[The monuments] say things about gender, they say things about race, they say things about militarism that would take more than a plaque to sanitize.” Let’s keep that in mind as we begin talking about what “adding context” looks like on Monument Avenue.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 75 °F, and it looks like you’ve got a hot day ahead of you with highs near 90 °F and a small chance of thunderstorms this afternoon.

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Ali Rockett has an interesting story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch about the New Virginia Majority trying to get stop-and-frisk data from the Richmond Police Department. RPD claims the data doesn’t even exist at the moment but a police spokesperson says, according to Rockett, that the department “plans to try to provide the information in the future.” Honestly, the data the New Virginia Majority is after doesn’t seem that intense or onerous to collect: total number of civilians stopped, how many of those resulted in frisks or searches, how many of those resulted in an arrest/summons/warning, and demographic data. Obviously, without data like this there’s no way to check in on who’s being stop-and-frisked and if the RPD’s policy is implemented in a racially inequitable way—intentional or otherwise. Related, just yesterday I was reading the latest email from local brilliant person Tressie McMillian Cottom, and came across this bit, which applies deeply to this exact situation: “We will not even keep track of police violence because to create a category for something - an ontological place holder says something is possible - undermines the entire enterprise. Not that data would help much beyond building some careers, perhaps. Still, I would like to have the data even if these kind of technocratic solutions are rarely tools for justice.” Data helps, but it doesn’t get us to justice by itself.

Ned Oliver at the Virginia Mercury has the drone photo you’re looking for of the red-paint vandalism at the Robert E. Lee Monument. Thumbs up to Oliver for a fantastic headline, with “Someone threw a lot of red paint on the Lee Monument in Richmond.” Here’s a thing I’m interested in: Who made the weekend call to get cleanup crews out there ASAP?

Good morning, RVA! It’s 75 °F, and it looks like you’ve got a hot day ahead of you with highs near 90 °F and a small chance of thunderstorms this afternoon.

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Ali Rockett has an interesting story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch about the New Virginia Majority trying to get stop-and-frisk data from the Richmond Police Department. RPD claims the data doesn’t even exist at the moment but a police spokesperson says, according to Rockett, that the department “plans to try to provide the information in the future.” Honestly, the data the New Virginia Majority is after doesn’t seem that intense or onerous to collect: total number of civilians stopped, how many of those resulted in frisks or searches, how many of those resulted in an arrest/summons/warning, and demographic data. Obviously, without data like this there’s no way to check in on who’s being stop-and-frisked and if the RPD’s policy is implemented in a racially inequitable way—intentional or otherwise. Related, just yesterday I was reading the latest email from local brilliant person Tressie McMillian Cottom, and came across this bit, which applies deeply to this exact situation: “We will not even keep track of police violence because to create a category for something - an ontological place holder says something is possible - undermines the entire enterprise. Not that data would help much beyond building some careers, perhaps. Still, I would like to have the data even if these kind of technocratic solutions are rarely tools for justice.” Data helps, but it doesn’t get us to justice by itself.

Ned Oliver at the Virginia Mercury has the drone photo you’re looking for of the red-paint vandalism at the Robert E. Lee Monument. Thumbs up to Oliver for a fantastic headline, with “Someone threw a lot of red paint on the Lee Monument in Richmond.” Here’s a thing I’m interested in: Who made the weekend call to get cleanup crews out there ASAP?

Good morning, RVA! It’s 73 °F, and looks like we’re in for cooler temperatures and a decent chance for rain scattered throughout the day. Keep an eye on the sky!

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Michael Paul Williams weighs in on the possibility of bringing a homeless shelter (and space for needed services!) to the south side of the river. Please do not stare directly at this quote without protective eyeware, because, daaaanng: “‘I too, wish [the proposed homeless shelter] could remain a church,” one reader commented on the blog entry. ‘A lot of people were saved there.’ Apparently, saving souls is fine as a religious enterprise, but saving the homeless from freezing temperatures — and perhaps landing them in permanent housing — is an endeavor best carried out in another neighborhood far away. Not in my backyard!” Tangentially, I think this continual distinction between Richmond and RVA is unhelpful. There have always been NIMBYs—lots of them racially motivated—who have worked hard to destroy and segregate our community. We see the impact of their decades-old work today in Fulton, Jackson Ward, Manchester, and everywhere else. But, now, there are lots of folks whose vision for “RVA” includes the desegregation of schools and neighborhoods, the humanizing of public and affordable housing, and the rebuilding of a regional public transportation system stunted by racism. Of course that doesn’t describe everybody we toss in the “RVA” bucket, but, in my life, there are more YIMBYs than NIMBYs.

If you’d like a perfect example of how not to behave in life followed by a perfect example of how not to react when you face consequences for your behavior, read this story about the firing of Classic Rock 96.5’s Brady DeAngelo in the RTD. You can see his original post in this Twitter thread and how he then responded to criticism from the official 96.5 Facebook account. HOT TAKE: If you roll up to the bar and a woman instantly turns her chair away, having sex with you is probably the last thing on her mind and maybe you should just mind your own business? Wait, wait, wait, here’s a better HOT TAKE for most of life’s situations: Maybe you should just mind your own business?

Good morning, RVA! It’s 75 °F, and you can expect more of the same: Highs in the mid 80s and a chance of rain throughout the day.

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Did you see yesterday’s Big Bus News? VCU and GRTC signed a one-year agreement giving all VCU students, faculty, and staff unlimited free rides effective immediately! This includes VCU Health System, too. That’s over 50,000 people (31,036 students and 22,888 employees) that now have the option to get to and from work or school for free without using a car. Additionally, as part of the $1.2 million deal, GRTC will increase the frequency of the Pulse up to every 10-minutes on weekdays from 5:30 AM to 7:00 PM, effectively making peak hours most of the dang day. The Pulse is the way most bus riders move east-west in our city. The increase in frequency makes the system better for everyone—VCU fam or otherwise. My next question is: Which other major employers will offer free transit access to its employees?

If you’re looking for even more bus coverage, Ned Oliver at the Virginia Mercury has a very fair piece on all the transit-related things going on in Richmond over the past couple of months. The focus on what’s next is a good one. Which, speaking of the future, yesterday, GRTC released their 2018–2022 Transit Development Plan which includes one million facts about the current and future state of our transit agency. If nothing else, check out the recommendations section in the executive summary (p. xv) to get a feel for just how badly we’ve underinvested in transit as a region: We’d need to basically double GRTC’s budget and invest $47.91 million to pay for all of the short- and medium-term recommendations (out to 2028).

Photo by: sandy's dad

Good morning, RVA! It’s 76 °F, and today looks a little hotter than yesterday, with highs in the upper 80s and another chance for storms this afternoon.

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Y’all, I think I’ve done given up on Richmond’s bike share system. Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that there “is no target date for completing the system’s expansion.” Well that’s grim. Right now, we’ve got 15 operational stations instead of 40. This is even five fewer than the original 20 promised as part of Phase 1—we’re moving backwards! With so few stations, the coverage area is small and has large gaps around important destinations like the Main Library, Carytown, most of the East End, and the entirety of the Southside. I don’t know what we need to do to move this project forward, but, as a person who loves getting around by bike, this is incredibly frustrating. I guess we just wait for dockless bikes and scooters to show up and provide the coverage we need to make a useful system? I dunno. What a missed opportunity.

Photo by: sandy's dad

Good morning, RVA! It’s 76 °F, and today looks a little hotter than yesterday, with highs in the upper 80s and another chance for storms this afternoon.

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Y’all, I think I’ve done given up on Richmond’s bike share system. Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that there “is no target date for completing the system’s expansion.” Well that’s grim. Right now, we’ve got 15 operational stations instead of 40. This is even five fewer than the original 20 promised as part of Phase 1—we’re moving backwards! With so few stations, the coverage area is small and has large gaps around important destinations like the Main Library, Carytown, most of the East End, and the entirety of the Southside. I don’t know what we need to do to move this project forward, but, as a person who loves getting around by bike, this is incredibly frustrating. I guess we just wait for dockless bikes and scooters to show up and provide the coverage we need to make a useful system? I dunno. What a missed opportunity.

Photo by: sandy's dad

Good morning, RVA! It’s 72 °F, and, what’s this? A chance of thunderstorms? You don’t say! Expect highs in the mid 80s and a decent opportunity for some rain later this afternoon and through the evening.

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Richmond Police are reporting a murder that took place on Sunday evening. At 11:47 PM, officers were called to the 3100 block of Meadowbridge Road and found Joseph Lewis, III, 19, shot to death.

Photo by: sandy's dad

Good morning, RVA! It’s 72 °F, and, what’s this? A chance of thunderstorms? You don’t say! Expect highs in the mid 80s and a decent opportunity for some rain later this afternoon and through the evening.

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Richmond Police are reporting a murder that took place on Sunday evening. At 11:47 PM, officers were called to the 3100 block of Meadowbridge Road and found Joseph Lewis, III, 19, shot to death.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 74 °F, and rainy, and it’s likely to stay rainy for a good part of the day. You should expect temperatures to stay right where they are, though, as a result.

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As part of their response to the police-involved killing of Marcus-David Peters, the Richmond Police Department has released several documents related to its Crisis Intervention Team training and Use of Force training. Other than a General Order on the use of force (PDF), the documents appear to be high-level presentations summarizing the training officers receive. This is a step towards transparency, but I’m going to hazard a guess that folks will want to see even more detailed documents related to these trainings.

Update: Richmond Public Schools has, as of this minute, sold 3,265 Barack Obama Elementary T-shirts, which surpasses their goal. I guess since folks are still out there buying up shirts, they’ve extended the deadline another 13 or so days. If you’ve procrastinated until now, congratulations, you’ve been rewarded!

Photo by: PMillera4

Good morning, RVA! It’s 75 °F, and, today, we might could squeak by without anymore rain. Fingers crossed. Expect highs up in the 90s, though.

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Michael Paul Williams at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has some more/different thoughts on the proposed Coliseum redevelopment 💸. The surrounding counties have mostly decided that sports tourism (a huge lacrosse tournament, for example) is a safer investment than glitzy, sportsy spectator events (like the A-10 Tournament). The former you build a couple fields here and there, the latter you construct an arena. Reading this MPW piece really highlights for me how wild it is that both Chesterfield and Henrico are basically like nah when it comes to supporting an arena that would definitely be used by the entire region. I mean, you don’t fill a 20,000-seat arena on the regular with just City residents.

Photo by: kyle tsui

Good morning, RVA! It’s 70 °F, and we’ve got a break in the rain! For the entirety of today, there is no significant chance of rain, showers, or thunderstorms. I guess, as a result, the high is back up in the 90s—but still!

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Jake Burns at WTVR looks at the rising real estate assessments in the City and talks to the Assessors Office about how they get their job done. I do take a little bit of issue with the chosen headline of “Longtime Church Hill resident moves to Henrico amid property value surge,” which I thought implied that a person moved to Henrico after their property tax bill increased. Instead, this is really a story about the lack of affordable housing in Richmond forcing people to look outside the City when buying a home (necessarily increasing their transportation costs in turn).

Photo by: BeyondDC

Good morning, RVA! It’s 74 °F, and…there may be more thunderstorms later today. But maybe not! I’m really digging the cooler temperatures, though.

Be aware: The flash flood watch remains in effect.

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Good morning, RVA! It’s 74 °F and rainy. We could see rain and possibly thunderstorms for most of the day, so buckle up—seriously, there’s a flash flood watch until tonight. Temperatures are pretty chill, though.

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Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has your Westhampton School rezoning update from last night’s City Council meeting. I don’t think I even mentioned it in yesterday’s preview of Council’s agenda because it seemed, at that point, not super controversial. Councilmember Addison had done a ton of legwork with the community and his constituents, plus Planning Commission just approved the rezoning last week. However, Council’s 5–4 split vote in favor of the rezoning shows you what I know (Y: Addison, Gray, Larson, Robertson, Newbille; N: Hilbert, Agelasto, Trammell, Jones)! The no-votes seem to have a mix of concern for the preservation of the old school building that sits onsite plus a touch of still-fresh angst over the Washington Training Camp deal. Forcing Bon Secours to preserve the school—which they say they’ll do, although now they can technically raze it to the ground—would have been an easy way to remind Bon Secours that the current Council is still unhappy with the Training Camp situation.

Michael Paul Williams, also at the RTD says bike lanes, especially the ones planned for Brook Road, are a good thing 💸. He gets ahold of Najeema Davis Washington, co-founder of Black Women Bike, who says: “Given the economic environment, the needs of people, anything that limits access to more affordable transportation options does everyone a disservice, but particularly people of color.” This is true for bikes, for public transportation, and even for pedestrian infrastructure like sidewalks. The proposed bike lanes on Brook Road would provide a way for folks living nearby on the Northside—which includes some incredibly dense neighborhoods with majority Black residents—to safely ride downtown to school, work, whatever. If you live in the 2nd or 3rd Districts, consider letting your Councilmember know what you think about their proposal to prohibit a safe, affordable transportation option on Brook Road (make sure you copy their liaison).