Good morning, RVA! It's 38 °F, and today's highs should make their way into the low 60s. Expect plenty of sun and warmish temperatures for the rest of the week.
Water cooler
Edward F. Brown, 50, was struck and killed by a driver last week near the intersection of Cowardin Avenue and Bainbridge Street.
Cowardin is a massive street—up to seven lanes—in that area. It's crossed by Semmes Avenue to the north and Hull Street to the south, and all three of these streets will have 15-minute buses on them soon. However, if our streets are not safe for pedestrians, it won't matter how frequent or far-reaching our public transit system is.
Related, the City is in the middle of putting together a Vision Zero action plan "to eliminate all traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries on city streets by 2030." You can fill out this Vision Zero Action Plan Survey to let the City know your "existing safety priorities." If it were me filling out this survey, I'd focus in on Question #6 and ask that we support the Department of Public Works financially, logistically, howeverly, to make the physical changes to our streets necessary to keep humans safe.
Ned Oliver at the Richmond-Times Dispatch has the hot tip on the Mayor's plan to act on the City's internal audit they conducted with the help of VCU's Wilder School of Public Affairs this past summer. I like the focus on boring stuff that, nevertheless, is the critical lifeblood of a functioning city. Also of note is the bit near the bottom of the article about how the City will change how it allocates the nondepartmental budget, aka funding to area nonprofits. There's already a new application process in place for those funding requests (PDF, due 4:00 PM on Friday, December 15th). I know lots of local groups count on that money year to year, so it'll be reeeeeal interesting to see this coming year's budget. Anyway! You can bet your bottom dollar that this is a PDF I'm looking forward to reading. P.S. Here's the original Wilder School audit (PDF), if you want to dig in deep.
While we're talking about the City's budget, I've relaunched The Boring Show, a podcast that's just audio from some of the City's public meetings. It's kind of a pain to scrape the audio from the City's website and make a podcast out of it, so, for now, I'm focusing strictly on this year's budget meetings. If that sounds appealing to you, you can start with the Budget Retreat from last week.
Listen, we might as well go full boring with today's email: The City is looking for ready and willing Richmonders to serve on over 50 boards and commissions. You've got your Advisory Board of Recreation and Parks, your Citizens Transportation Adivsory Committee, and even the Planning Commission—all looking for new, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed members. You can find the full list here, along with some of the stipulations for the various appointments. If you've got the time and meet the qualifications, serving on one of these boards is a great way to have a direct impact on life in the City.
What the fudge is all this business about split precincts in Fredericksburg? The Virginia Public Access Project has the answers, but unfortunately those answers are in the form of a really tall .jpg posted on Twitter. Better than no answers at all, I guess!
RVA Mag was out at the Need Supply Shoe Situation™ the other week talking to folks waiting in line for those limited edition shoes. I still am not cool enough to understand what's going on here, but at least now I know the gist!
The return of Richbrau? J. Elias O'Neal has the details in Richmond BizSense.
Sports!
- Wahoos (roundball) host Wisconsin tonight at 9:00 PM.
- Hokies beat the Hoos, 10-0, to close out both of their regular seasons.
This morning's longread
How One Woman's Digital Life Was Weaponized Against Her
Well, this is a brutal longread that leaves me with pretty much no hope.
But Courtney’s concerns were mounting. The day before, she had gotten an email to an account she only used for spam. “How did you even GET this email address?” Courtney wrote back. “Leave me and my family alone!” A reply came accusing Steven of also using unsavory cybertactics to find out about Courtney’s online behavior, but added: “I am MUCH better at it. For example. Your Jetta, in the driveway”—and yes, that’s where it was. The message included the car’s vehicle identification number. Courtney had started having nightmares; just going outside made her afraid. She felt violated by the images of her that were circulating who knew where, and anxious about what might come next.
If you’d like to contribute a longread, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.