Good morning, RVA! It's 70 °F, and highs are stuck in the upper 80s. Take it all in, because there’s some weekend rain headed our way.
Water cooler
This morning, the Richmond Times-Dispatch talks to the other elected members of our government—City Council and School Board—to get their thoughts on the Coliseum redevelopment proposal. The School Board has no say, authority, or input on the proposal, but takes advantage of the media opportunity to remind everyone that our school facility needs were not fully funded by this year’s meals tax increase 💸. While maybe some of the Board’s concerns about the City taking its eye off the schools-facilities ball are valid, it’s pretty disingenuous to imply that future Coliseum funding could have instead been used for schools. To be clear, this article does not do that, but it gets close. It’s also wild to me that every person talking about schools funding isn’t shouting “property tax increase!” from the rooftops. It’s the only bucket of money big enough to get it all done.
Over on the other side of City Hall, Mark Robinson talks to City Council, who are thinking about commissioning their own independent study of the Tom Farrell proposal 💸. I feel pretty good that most everyone on Council sounds like they’re willing to wait until the full details of the proposal come out before making any judgments and are also willing to take however long it takes reviewing that proposal—even if it throws off Mayor’s/Farrell’s timeline.
Over on the RVA Rapid Transit website, I wrote up three thoughts on the ridership numbers for the first three weeks of the Pulse. You can download a PDF of the numbers here, if you want to dig into the data yourself. Keep in mind, we’re in the dead of summer, and if you think the ridership numbers for the Pulse are good now, just wait until students return in the fall. Also, I’m going to see if I can get my hands on three weeks of ridership numbers for the rest of the non-Pulse bus network. The aforelinked PDF has numbers for the single, fare-free week, but I just need. more. data!
Tim Dodson, at the RTD, has an update on some affordable housing coming to Oliver Hill Way 💸. The owners will accept housing vouchers for 15% of the units, targeting folks making 60% of the area’s median income. It’s a bummer that this housing is adjacent to the jail, though.
Madelyne Ashworth, writing for RVA Mag, has the names of the first four women to get statues commissioned for the Virginia Women’s Monument.
City Council’s Finance and Economic Development committee meets today, and on the agenda (PDF) are Councilmember Larson’s ordinances to change how non-profits are funded from the City’s non-departmental fund. I know a bunch of non-profit folks, and I imagine that these changes will impact at least how they get some of their funding.
As far as public apologies go, this one is pretty creative.
Sports!
- Squirrels split yesterday’s double header with Erie and will head out of town for a series with Akron.
This morning's longread
This Modern Home Ec Book Will Stop People From Asking, "You Live Like This???"
I’m willfully ignoring the world around me and, instead, reading about this housekeeping book.
If you already believe a home should be clean/tidy/cozy/happy but have never been able to articulate exactly why it’s so important to you, you will feel seen. And if you aren’t a terribly neat/tidy/clean person, you will feel gently dragged (like, just the right amount). In either case, you will feel inspired.
If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.