Y'all!

Once upon a time I ran a news site, now I just have opinions on the news. 

Good morning, RVA: Club closes, eviction data, and indie media

Good morning, RVA! It's 69 °F, and we’ve got a whole day of cooler temperatures! Expect highs in the mid 80s and the rain to probably even stay away until tomorrow.

Water cooler

Infuzion, the Scott’s Addition Club outside of which a quadruple shooting took place a couple weeks ago, has closed says Karri Peifer in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. I don’t know anything more than what’s in this story, and I definitely don’t know the specifics of Infuzion’s liquor license (which was revoked the day after the shooting) or their relationship with the building’s owner, but I do want to quote from what Marc Cheatham wrote earlier this week: “But my next thought was a concern for Infuzion, one of the only hip-hop clubs in that area (I think it’s the only one in Scott’s Addition). Will they now become a target of the high-level scrutiny that only a club with majority black patrons can be subject too? ... When I heard the news, my thoughts turned to: Will Infuzion be subject to some sort of forced evacuation? Let’s face it, Scott’s Addition, “the upcoming neighborhood” that is a hub for new breweries and an influx of young professional patrons – I don’t know any of those breweries to be black-owned and the majority of their patrons who visit them are not black – may not want a hip-hop club and lounge in their ‘up and coming’ mix.” And now, back in the Karri Peifer piece, I want to quote from the building’s owner: “Our goal is to lease the space to a tenant that complements the building and the neighborhood.” Again, I don’t know the specifics of anything, but I’ve been thinking about Marc’s words since he wrote them, and then, today, this.

Ned Oliver at the Virginia Mercury says a new effort out of the VCU Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs will try and tackle the why of Virginia’s high eviction rates. The effort, RVA Eviction Lab, hopes to have an initial report out later this year, and, in my opinionation, it can’t come soon enough. With local and state legislators apparently pretty motivated to get a handle on the Commonwealth’s eviction problem, they need to have the best data available to craft effective policy.

OK, this piece by Graham Moomaw in the RTD about Corey Stewart and a possible tie between one of his staffers and a group of white supremacists is juicy and weird. Don’t let it get lost in the details, though, that dude HAS TIES TO WHITE SUPREMACISTS. Like, we’re arguing over whether this particular staffer actively participated in a white supremacist group chat? No! Just being in a white supremacist group chat should preclude you and yours from running for office!

Mike Platania in Richmond BizSense has more news about the continued development along Brookland Park Boulevard.

Driver runs into a Pulse station, news for days. Driver offroads onto the sidewalk around the farmers’ market (!) causing thousands of dollars of damage and delaying the opening, hardly hear a peep. 🤔

Richmond Public Schools announced a stack of new principals—including one for Carver Elementary, which, you’ll remember, is under investigation for SOL testing irregularities.

A new episode of the Sam and Ross Like Things podcast is available for your downloading pleasure. On this episode we stereotypically talk about how we both like Richmond’s new bus system.

As a person tangentially involved in Richmond’s media scene, I feel compelled to link to this probably-boring-for-you, inside-baseball piece on Bacon’s Rebellion about the Virginia Public Access Project, aggregation, and independent news. I have lots of thoughts on the matter, but they mostly boil down to “Dang, I’m glad I’m no longer in an ad-supported business.” SPEAKING OF, if you’d like to hear more of those thoughts, you can become a patron (of any level) and we’ll talk about it over on the Good Morning, RVA Slack.

Sports!

  • Squirrels lost a close one to Akron, 11-12, and continue that series through the weekend.
  • Kickers host Atlanta United 2 on Saturday at 7:00 PM. Tickets are available online.
  • Nats pick it back up with a series against Atlanta that begins tonight at 7:05 PM.

This morning's longread

Is This the Most Crowded Island in the World? (And Why That Question Matters)

I learned a lot about Haiti from this piece.

Why do people live on a spit of sand in the ocean, with no water, no electricity, no sewer, no medicine, no services of any type? The sad reality is that the conditions on Ilet a Brouee aren’t all that different from what Haitians must endure across the country. Most Haitians lack these things; what difference does it make if you’re doing it on a sandbar a few miles out in the ocean? At least you’re in the middle of a big reef that’s a comparative bonanza of protein.

If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Good morning, RVA: Chamber support, dead malls, and a Council meeting

Good morning, RVA: Coliseum chats, Pulse riders, and public apologies