Good morning, RVA! It's 29 °F, and I think things are warming up! Highs today will hit the mid 50s, which makes my son extremely excited as he does not have to wear his big coat. Expect even warmer temperatures over the weekend and a bit of rain here or there.
Water cooler
It's St. Patrick's Day. Don't be surprised when you show up to your normally chill happy hour spot only to discover a bunch of green shenanigans.
It's official: There will be a Whole Foods on Broad Street at the old Pleasants Hardware spot, says Susan Winiecki at Richmond Magazine. Ultimately this is good news—the possibility of new development on this site was a big reason to locate a Pulse station directly across the street. A grocery store is better than an empty surface-level parking lot, and I love the juxtaposition of having a Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken adjacent to a Whole Foods. But man! I am super disappointed by the site plan renderings. Look at the dang sea of parking that faces the street! This is not where parking should go! It needs to be hidden away behind a building so we don't have to ever see it with our eyes! Listen, let me quote what the Pulse Corridor Plan requires for this part of town: "ground floor parking along the street is prohibited." The Corridor Plan isn't official yet, so I don't imagine it applies to what Whole Foods wants to do here—insert conspiracy theory about the timing—but I'd love to be wrong. I understand Whole Foods wanting to use the old Pleasants building's existing footprint, but this, like the Grace Street Parking Tower does not fit with the long-term vision for this Corridor. And boy am I tired of significant development trying to sneak in under the wire before we set that vision in stone/code. Planning Commission will hear a presentation on the Pulse Corridor Plan on Monday.
Ned Oliver has the, I think, second story on the City administration declining to work with the City auditor to review the tax-collection process. I can imagine a bunch of reasons why the mayor and the administration would not feel the need to continue with this audit, which was started by the previous admin, and they should probably say some of those reasons out loud. Keeping quite on transparency issues leads to things like a string of stories in the paper, a councilwoman introducing a resolution formally supporting the auditor over the mayor, and folks talking about it on the playground (literally a topic of conversation on the elementary school playground yesterday).
UberEATS exists in Richmond. However, the culture of sexism and poor leadership still exists at Uber, too. Remember #DeleteUber? So, if you'd like food delivered right to your door, maybe check out local QuicknessRVA instead.
The Toys of the '50s, '60s, and '70s exhibit at the Virginia Historical Society seems awesome. Karen Newton at Style Weekly has a longer write up, but, honestly, the title of the exhibit itself was enough to sell me. See you soon, VHS!
It seems like everywhere I turn, I read about gamelan! Today, I just opened Richmond Magazine, and there it was! The Gamelan Raga Kusuma Balinese ensemble will perform this Sunday at 8:00 PM at the Grace Street Theatre. Get your ticket now!
Sports!
- Rams finished out their season with a loss to St. Mary's, 77-85.
- Spiders host Oakland at 7:30 PM on Sunday. You can watch on ESPN2.
- Hokies fell 74-84 to Wisconsin, ending their season.
- #5 Hoos escaped UNC Wilmington, 76-71, and will face #4 Florida on Saturday at 6:40 PM.
This morning's longread
David’s Ankles: How Imperfections Could Bring Down the World’s Most Perfect Statue
I didn't know that at any moment the David could fall over and shatter into a million pieces!
If looking at Michelangelo’s David is the equivalent of eating chocolate, then walking the streets of Florence is like drowning in Willy Wonka’s gushing chocolate river. The image of the David is everywhere. There are bookmarks, mouse pads, T-shirts, posters, watches, key chains, mugs, ballpoint pens, commemorative plates, pie servers, snow globes, sugar spoons, USB sticks and Christmas ornaments. There are leather shops and pizzerias and even parking garages named after him.