Good morning, RVA! It's 68 °F, and today you should expect highs in the mid 80s and some thunderstorms possibly developing later this afternoon.
Water cooler
On Friday evening, Richmond Police officers responded to the 3900 block of Peyton Avenue and found Sherece Cook, 21, shot to death.
Catherine Komp at Virginia Currents turns in this piece on affordable housing, which is part of a larger series called “Where We Live” that I’m excited to dig in to. Here’s a surprising line from the folks who put together the Invest Health RVA market value analysis that I’ve linked to in the past, “The most inexpensive part of the Richmond area market is substantially more expensive than the least expensive parts of either Pittsburgh, Akron or frankly Philly or Baltimore...” Whoa, I would have never guessed! Of note for transit geeks: The imbalance between affordable housing—mostly in the city’s East End and Southside—and modest-wage jobs—mostly in the city’s West End—with no public transportation connection between them (yet!).
Hey, do you subscribe to Superintendent Kamras’s email list yet? You really should, it’s a low-volume list (just one email every Friday evening) and is consistently excellent and informative. This past week, he addressed the news that Richmond Public Schools and the City of Richmond hadn’t properly reconciled their books in the last forever(!), and after doing so “found” $12 million. He breaks down the new-to-him capital funds and details how much is available for what kind of thing, ending with “Let's not forget that our facilities needs far outstrip our balances. Anyone who has spent five minutes in our buildings knows this. I assure you I will spend every last penny we have and fight like hell for more.“
Time Magazine has named Christie Coleman, CEO of the American Civil War Museum, as one of the 30 people changing the South. State Delegate Danica Roem also makes the list.
Ned Oliver is a dang good photographer and you can see some of the photos he took this past weekend in Charlottesville as he covered the intense police presence and anti-racist rally for the Virginia Mercury.
Katie O’Connor, also at the Virginia Mercury, has an article about the longhorned tick invading Virginia (blech) in which she interviews someone from the Virginia Cooperative Extension, which means I must link to it.
I am fascinated by museum curators and how that is a neat job that very smart and talented people do. Amanda Dalla Villa Adams at Richmond Magazine talks to Valerie Cassel Oliver, the VMFA’s curator of modern and contemporary art. You can see Oliver’s first work as a curator at the Howardena Pindell: What Remains To Be Seen exhibit which opens on August 25th.