Good morning, RVA! It's 44 °F, and, dangalang!, highs today will hit almost 70 °F. Get out there, walk around a bit, ride your bike, and do whatever it takes to spend some time outside.
Water cooler
Justin Mattingly has the latest version of a regularly occurring article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch: That the new superintendent makes more money than all previous superintendents. I was unsurprised when I read this article about Dana Bedden and am unsurprised to read it about Jason Kamras. I look at it like basketball coaches; the only way RPS will pay less for a new hire is if they need to replace someone who ends up a Shaka Smart-type allstar who takes us to whatever is the public schools equivalent of the Final Four and then leaves for a job in a major city. Most interesting takeaway from the RTD piece, though: As part of his contract, Kamras will get a "home fax-copy-scan machine." Lol faxes!
Speaking of Richmond Public Schools, somehow I missed that applications to join the Education Compact team are now open! The School Board will select up to six folks to join the Compact, and they're looking for parents, teachers, staff, or even students. If you are one of these things, and you're interested in helping to guide the future of education in Richmond, you've got until December 15th to apply. As Shia LaBeouf says, JUST DO IT.
As Richmond's premier zoning and rezoning daily email, I'm excited to link you to this story in Richmond BizSense by Jonathan Spiers about a new development in Scott's Addition. Due to the recent change in zoning (as part of the Pulse Corridor Plan), this new development is now taller—which, hooray for density. The developer involved thinks the new zoning "portends a lot of new, significant higher-density projects in the area"—which, also hooray. Transit aside: I think we're gonna need some more bikeshares in that neighborhood to ferry people down to the Pulse station at Cleveland Street.
It might be time to officially retire Petersburg Woe Watch™, because the RTD has this positive-headlined (!) piece by Vanessa Remmers: "Financial update shows Petersburg in improved shape." While things are still rough in Petersburg, we're miles removed from conversations about dissolving the locality into the surrounding counties. Sorry to disappoint, armchair constitutionalists!
The City announced a Bond Thing that I definitely do not understand but sounds lovely. It looks like, due to Republican control of the federal government, tax laws may change in such a way that will cost the City major money. By doing this Bond Thing before the end of the year, the City saves $3-4 million. Council will have a special meeting tomorrow to expedite a resolution introduced by the Mayor.
Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense talks to the owner of Whisk about her plans to open a new ice cream shop in the Fan. The owner, in this quote, gives you all you need to know: "I'm also going to work in croissants somehow." I'm pretty sure most businesses would be better off if they spent some time seriously considering how to work in croissants.
Sports!
- Rams dispatched App State, 85-72.
- Spiders host Vermont tonight at 7:00 PM.
- Hokies handled Iowa, 79-55.
This morning's longread
The Nationalist's Delusion
Settle in for this truly long longread from the Atlantic about White supremacy in America throughout the ages.
One hundred thirty-nine years since Reconstruction, and half a century since the tail end of the civil-rights movement, a majority of white voters backed a candidate who explicitly pledged to use the power of the state against people of color and religious minorities, and stood by him as that pledge has been among the few to survive the first year of his presidency. Their support was enough to win the White House, and has solidified a return to a politics of white identity that has been one of the most destructive forces in American history. This all occurred before the eyes of a disbelieving press and political class, who plunged into fierce denial about how and why this had happened. That is the story of the 2016 election.
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