Good morning, RVA! It's 73 °F, and today you can expect highs in the 90s with a chance of thunderstorms here and there. Sounds like summer!
Water cooler
It's Primary Day across Virginia! Use the Department of Elections's tool to find your polling place, and, if you're a last-minute person, learn about the candidates on your ballot. Polls are open from 6:00 AM to 7:00 PM.
Today, Michael Paul Williams writes not just about the children that were murdered last week, but about what surviving and living with that kind of violence does to kids. The statistics are staggering: children who live through "Adverse Childhood Experiences" are "550 percent more likely to be an alcoholic and 1,500 percent more likely to attempt suicide." Keep an eye out for a Virginia Health Department report on ACEs this July.
Density watch! BizSense has the news on a proposed 18-story tower located directly south and adjacent to the ICA. The existing zoning supports this sort of height and development, and the owner plans on including ground-floor retail and a bowling alley (à la Uptown Alley) on the next two floors. The RTD version of the story says the building will contain five levels of parking, which sure seems like a lot given the proximity of transit and the walkability of the neighborhood—BUT, if it's contained within the building on this privately owned land and above the retail...shrug. Maybe with all of those levels of parking, the city can delete some of the on-street parking to make way for things like bike lanes and wider sidewalks. NOTE! Here's a conspiracy theory I will entertain: Developer proposes a tall building that will literally cast a shadow on the ICA to drive up the price VCU is willing to pay for the property.
Two transit-oriented development newses in the RTD today. First, a new Chick-fil-A opens this week across the street from Willow Lawn and the western terminus of the Pulse. Second, construction started on the Lidl planned for the old off-track betting site—right next to the CookOut stop on the Pulse. Something that Henrico and the City need to start thinking about is how pedestrians will safely cross the street at these locations. There will be hungry / hangry teenagers taking the bus to both of these spots for milkshakes and waffle fries. It should be a priority to get them safely across Broad Street after they eat a kind of disgusting amount of food.
I know the point of school bus stop-sign cameras is to keep kids safe while crossing streets (see above!), but it looks like they're a kind of serious revenue generator, too? I think, assuming I did the math right (never assume!), they brought the system $100,000 in the first month?
The newest episode of the Sam and Ross Like Things podcast is out! On this episode Sam introduces me to Rick and Morty for which I am grateful.
Today in live-streaming testimony news, Attorney General Jeff Sessions will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee at 2:30 PM.
Sports!
Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 129-120, in the NBA Finals last night.
- Squirrels begin a home series against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats tonight at 6:35 PM, and tickets are available online.
- Nats fell to Atlanta, 10-11. They've now lost four straight and will try to rectify that tonight at 7:05 PM.
This morning's longread
The Crime of Being Married
LIFE magazine from profiles Mildred and Richard Loving in 1966, before their Supreme Court victory in Loving v. Virginia.
"It never was like a lot of other places," Richard explains. "It doesn't matter to folks around here. They just want to live and be left alone. That's the way I feel." A family of simple wants and needs, the Lovings keep largely to themselves. Richard keeps busy as a $5-per-hour construction worker. On weekends he likes to go drag racing in a souped-up car, which he owns with two boyhood friends, both Negroes. The Lovings' white neighbors have grown accustomed to the marriage, and they encounter hostile stares only when they venture away. "It makes me want to ask them what the hell they are starting at," he says. "I haven't yet, but once we are allowed to live here legally, I will."
Also, read the Goodyear ad that follows the article: "A lady can't change a flat tire. Everybody knows that. That's why she ought to drive on Goodyear." 🙄