Good morning, RVA! It's 45 °F, and we might see temperatures warm up a bit later this afternoon. There’s a small chance of rain throughout the day—but it’s pretty small.
Water cooler
Dang, y’all! The various chambers of the General Assembly continue to pass major progressive bills each and every day like it’s no big deal. Yesterday, the final day before crossover, when the House and Senate swap bills, was no exception. First, Justin Mattingly at the Richmond Times-Dispatch says both the bills giving localities control over their Confederate monuments 💸, HB 1537 and SB 183, passed their respective houses. The Senate version is unnecessarily intense and requires localities to pass a resolution with a two-thirds majority to take down a monument. I hope that gets changed before something ends up on the Governor’s desk. Next, Ned Oliver at the Virginia Mercury has the details on the GA’s plan to increase the minimum wage in the Commonwealth. Here again the House of Delegates version (HB 395) is more progressive, increasing the state-wide, across-the-board minimum wage to $15 by 2025. The Senate version (SB 7), on the other hand, does a weird regional thing based on proportions of median incomes. It’ll be interesting to see how that all gets sorted before something heads to the Governor. Moving on, Dean Mirashani at WRIC notes that both the House and Senate have passed bills to decriminalize marijuana possession—that’s HB 972 and SB 2. Legalization was a bit too far for even the New Democratic Majority, but I bet we’ll get there in a couple of years. And that’s only three of the things our elected legislators are working on! Please, please keep in mind that plenty can happen between now and the end of this year’s General Assembly session—a bill that looks like a done deal can suddenly up and die. Honestly though, even if some of the marquee bills fail to become laws, this has already been a sea change of a session. Look at what elections do! They really matter! Graham Moomaw at the Virginia Mercury has a much better, broader summary of the session up to this point.
Ben Dennis at WRIC says that the City’s 311 app has updated to include the ability to report a “Public Right of Way Violation”, which you, a regular person, might know as a closed or blocked sidewalk or bike lane. This is great news, and the City staffers responsible for checking tickets submitted through RVA 311 are about to get real familiar with my user account. You can submit your own service requests via RVA311.com or through the mobile app, and the Public Right of Way Violation is listed under “Zoning and Code Enforcement.” Now, keep in mind, that because the City refuses to implement a policy to require that sidewalks and bike lanes remain open during construction, some of the Right of Way Violations you encounter may actually be totally legal and fine. To fix that, you’ve got to move beyond RVA 311 and email Bobby Vincent (the Director of Public Works,
I’m kind of excited to learn more about the development going on in and around the original Hardywood—but I’m not really sure what that part of town is called? Regardless, Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense has the details. With VCU’s planned athletic village, the potential to upgrade the existing bus service and bike infrastructure, and connections to the new Whole Foods development, this neighborhood (whatever it’s called) could end up quite the spot.
Henrico County has approved some new construction on the old Aazlea Mall site 💸, and C. Suarez Rojas in the RTD has all the details. That space, which straddles Richmond City and Henrico County, is in desperate need some planning love. It’s great and good that the Westminster Canterbury retirement community will build a bunch of places for folks to live, but people need to buy things, too! Let’s get some mixed use over there! What about some green space? Maybe pilot how the City and the County can work together on a small area plan? A guy can dream, can’t he??
This morning's patron longread
When The Conversation Doesn't Include You: LGBTQ Sex Ed In A Small Town
Submitted by Patron Ed. When progressive folks argue against getting rid of the Dillon Rule, which would give localities more authority, it’s because of stuff like this. What an awful reminder that we’ve still got a long ways to go.
Back in Allendale, the school district has removed any mention of gender and sexual identity in school materials. It has also removed the mention of LGBTQ+ students in the anti-bullying campaign, and it has no plans to include queer and trans issues in a new sex ed program that it's working on now. For her part, Robinson cannot wait to leave. She is headed to Chicago for college, where she says she hopes to finally find a community that will accept her for who she is. "I just wanted them to understand that I'm a normal person," she says. "I want to be treated just the same as everybody else. I want to get some job, and I want to be seen as just the register lady or something, you know what I'm sayin'? I don't wanna be looked at as 'Oh, the trans girl.' I just wanna be me."
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