Good morning, RVA! It's 56 °F, and today looks like another excellent day with highs in the upper 70s. There’s a small, small chance of rain this afternoon, so be aware (but not too aware).
Water cooler
Justin Mattingly tells the tale of the Richmond Public Schools’ Joint Construction Team, which the RPS School Board approved last night with a 5-2 vote. It’s a confusing tale about whose responsibility it is to build new schools, and its one I’m not sure I have too strong an opinion on. Michael Paul Williams thinks that responsibility lies with the School Board, saying “It stands to reason that educators should be best-equipped to oversee the design and building of education spaces.” I dunno, that kind of thinking reminds me of the time Homer Simpson designed a car for the average American. And then, when School Board Member Young starts talking about school buildings designed for “a radical new approach to education,” I remember my high school: Built in the 70s and designed with open classrooms that all had to be retrofitted with partitions because it turns out walls are important. Superintendent Kamras says it best, I think, “We are an education system, not a construction company.”
After reading that New York Times piece about eviction rates in Richmond, state lawmakers and housing experts are getting together to see how they can help (journalism at work!). Graham Moomaw from the Richmond Times-Dispatch has the details, and you should read this piece for the great Laura Lafayette quotes! P.S. I’m still waiting for someone at the City to just go ahead and install some dang lockers at the John Marshall Courts Building. Just do this thing and make a bunch of folks’ lives better!
Mayor Stoney showed some senior federal Housing and Urban Development officials around Richmond’s public housing neighborhoods, including the HUD Deputy Secretary Pam Patenaude. The Mayor later @-ed Secretary Ben Carson on Twitter, which I enjoyed. I don’t know what—if anything—will come of this, but it seems promising!
Check out the map of the proposed bike and pedestrian path from the Science Museum back to Scott’s Addition that Alix Bryan from WTVR put together. You can’t look at this thing and not instantly think about linking Pulse and bike share trips to get safely back into Scott’s Addition while avoiding both Broad Street and the Boulevard. As Councilwoman Gray says, “The number one goal is to have a walkable, bikeable space.” I agree! (I also agreed when she was against bike lanes on 2nd Street, too, but that’s in the past. I GUESS.)
Reddit user u/garthereddit found the PDF with some more details on the proposed Carytown Exchange, which would replace a lot of what exists on the northeast corner of W. Cary and Thompson Streets (aka where the old Ukrop’s used to be before it became the old Martin’s). A thing I’m stoked on: retail fronting W. Cary Street. A thing I’m not super stoked on: A two-story parking deck—but it looks mostly hidden behind some buildings so I guess I’ll deal. If you’re interested in learning more, there’s a community meeting tonight at 7:00 PM in the old Martin’s for folks to ask the developers questions.
Sports!
- Squirrels fell to Akron, 3-6, but will try again tonight at 6:35 PM—tickets are available online.
- Nats picked up an 8-5 win over San Diego and will get after it again tonight at 10:10 PM.
- With a 2-1 win over the Penguins, the Caps head to the Eastern Conference Final for the first time in 20 years.
This morning's longread
The Apology Tour
Everyone should apologize more, it’s so easy and so worthwhile. I don’t know if you should write a whole thing about how you spent all this time apologizing though...
We all have a perception of ourselves, but to every other living person, we are whatever our actions suggest we are. And that’s a difficult concept to reckon with. But once you’ve put yourself through enough of them, you realize that an apology is an action. Its purpose isn’t to cancel out the wrongdoing, it’s to correct the perception that the wrongdoing is a reflection of the person who was wronged. In some sense, apologizing is like paying a debt. We don’t pay off debt because it feels good. It usually doesn’t feel very good. We pay our debts because it’s the right thing to do.
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