Good morning, RVA! It's 74 °F, and we’ve got another hot day ahead of us—highs near 90 °F. Looks like we’ll avoid any downpours like yesterday, though.
Water cooler
C. Suarez Rojas at the Richmond Times-Dispatch says Henrico’s Planning Commission recommended approval of new plans to redevelop Regency Mall 💸. I can’t find the PDF of the plans this morning, but, from Rojas’s description, it sounds like developers want to replace the aging mall with a dense, urban-village-type thing—something Henrico’s been pushing more and more of lately. Infilling old malls (and their associated parking lots) with housing and a bunch of mixed uses sounds great. It’s also sounds like a great excuse for the County to increase the frequency of the #79 bus to at least every 30-minutes. Actually, while we’re dreaming, what if Henrico and VCU extended the Pulse out to Parham where the University plans to move a bunch of VCU Health employees, and then created a new Parham Road route (as suggested by our regional transit vision plan)? That way folks living in this new development (up to 1,250 says the RTD article) and people shopping and working there have easy access to and from the Pulse? This is the kind of thing I think about every time I read about new, dense development in the Counties (or anywhere, really).
I keep forgetting to link to this story by Michael Schwartz in Richmond BizSense about mini-golf coming to Topgolf. This is this second mini-golf link of the week (here’s the first), and that’s totally fine by me. As previously discussed, I am definitely not a Golf Person, but people who are assure me that I will love Topgolf regardless. I have a hard time believing them, but the addition of mini-golf certainly makes me less skeptical. Who doesn’t love mini-golf??
A.J. Brewer will open his new waffle and milkshake spot in Manchester this Sunday, says Eileen Mellon at Richmond Magazine. This is very important and serious news for my family as waffles are my son’s favorite food and milkshakes are mine.
This weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, quidditch teams from Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. will gather in Henrico’s Glover Park for the IQA Pan-American Games. Yes, actual IRL quidditch teams from across North America are coming to Richmond to play actual IRL quidditch, and I think that’s awesome. In addition to the tournament play, you can find intro to quidditch workshops for kids and pick up quidditch games for adults. The after party at Capital Ale House will feature a ton of board games, because of course it will!
Also this weekend, on Saturday at 10:00 AM, head down to the Maggie Walker statue for the beginning of her all-day birthday celebration. Expect speakers, music, food, that sort of thing. Then make your way over to the Maggie L. Walker Historic Site for a Common Good Fair where you can learn how to make a difference in your community.
This morning's longread
New Coke Didn’t Fail. It Was Murdered.
No joke this article about New Coke is so dang similar to that must-read article in the Huff Po about progressive Boomers ruining cities. After reading these two articles I’ve got a thousand and one thoughts on cities, community engagement, and media/social media!
The popular version goes like this: In the early 1980s, not content with producing the world’s most recognizable beverage, greedy executives tweaked the recipe for the first time in 94 years. They redesigned the can, launched a massive marketing blitz, and promised a better taste. But Americans wouldn’t stand for it. In the face of a nationwide backlash, the company brought back the old formula—now dubbed “Coke Classic”—after two months. The story of New Coke is eternal. It’s a parable of hubris. It’s also a lie.
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