Good morning, RVA! It's 65 °F, and today looks pretty stunning. Expect highs in the mid to upper 80s and a ton of sunshine. Happy June! Maybe spend some time on a bike?
Water cooler
Density, density, density. Read this piece by Carol Hazard about a couple new developments in the Bottom, then read today's longread, and then poke around on Seattle's Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) site. As we speak, that city is working on a citywide Mandatory Housing Affordability policy that requires new development to include affordable housing or contribute to an affordable housing fund. That initiative is, of course, paired with zoning changes to allow for denser development. Life / an affordable housing crisis comes at you fast, so it's important to get ahead of this sort of thing.
Big transit news, y'all! Chesterfield Supervisor Jim Holland will propose a new bus line in actual Chesterfield!? This new line would serve communities along Jeff Davis Highway that desperately need better access to jobs, education, healthy food, and the other practical bits of life. Take note: This plan is supported by the county's (republican) sheriff.
This story about a break in at Alex Mejias's campaign office—he's running against Del. Delores McQuinn—is bizarre. I didn't link to it yesterday because, like, break ins happen all the time? And to suggest that this one is politically motivated seemed, and still seems, like a stretch. But I will say, the Wet Bandits vibe and total value of items stolen (below the felony threshold) is weird.
Richmond Magazine's Susan Winiecki has a letter of unsolicited advice for Mayor Stoney. I'm interested, if you could give the mayor any single piece of unsolicited advice—now that we're through budget season and his audit of City Hall—what would it be?
Alert! The Greek Festival begins today, and it's an excellent day to sit outside and take in some spanakopita with a couple of your best pals. You can consume baklava through Sunday at 7:00 PM.
Sports!
- Weather cancelled the Squirrels' plans yesterday. They'll finish up the series with Hartford this morning at 10:35 AM.
- Nats beat the Giants 3-1 (and managed not to punch anyone).
This morning's longread
Doing Something Real About Gentrification and Displacement
A tale from Seattle about their ever increasing population, gentrification, and displacement and what the city can do about it. Seattle is orders of magnitude ahead of us in terms of just about everything—tranist riders, humans, congestion—but this is still a pretty compelling piece that we can learn a lot from.
There actually is something we can do about gentrification and displacement. We can't stop it. Snark can't halt tectonic shifts. The thing we can do? It's the same thing we can do about about traffic: build a truly regional, truly rapid transit system. A comprehensive regional rapid transit system will make displacement—being forced to move from one neighborhood to another by economic forces beyond the control of our local elected officials—less devastating and less isolating for those who will inevitably be impacted.