Good morning, RVA! It's 56 °F, and you can expect another warm day with temperatures in the mid 60s. There’s a low-grade chance of rain today which really amps up over the next couple of days. Might be a while before we see another dry, sunny afternoon.
Water cooler
Police are reporting that Sharmar Hill, Jr., 3, was shot to death on the 1700 block of Southlawn Avenue this past Saturday afternoon. Police have put together a string of possibly connected events and are looking for people involved in a nearby carjacking of a white, newer-model Kia. You can read the full statement from the Richmond Police Department here, and you can, if you have any information, contact Crime Stoppers (804.780.1000 or 7801000.com).
Alright y’all, it feels like we’re in the final hours, maybe the death throes, of NoBro. Yesterday, Roberto Roldan from VPM said the General Assembly for real killed (all dead) Del. Bourne’s bill to have the State pay for a portion of the proposed downtown arena. Then City Council’s Organizational Development committee met to discuss the report Council paid a third-party consultant to put together—which I totally spaced on yesterday and failed to mention in this space for some reason. You can download and read that report here (PDF), its stated focus being to “review and opine on the reasonableness of assumptions presented to Council, the ordinances introduced to implement the Project, and various reports and studies completed to date.” The report feels generally positive towards the project, but I’m not sure I see much new info in here—although I could just have developed a case of NoBro Blindness over the last two years. The Mayor, however, takes the report as a win, saying “This third-party report, requested and funded entirely by City Council, confirms that the proposal is ‘written in the city’s favor,’ and reaffirms our confidence that in the event of a default, ‘the city has no legal or moral obligation’ and ‘retains control if the development does not perform.’” I’m a little confused about what happened next—since I was watching The Witcher instead of listening to a City Council committee—but Roberto Roldan says “A majority of Richmond City Council members voted Monday night to send the project’s full proposal, which includes 10 new ordinances, to the next full council meeting with a recommendation to kill it. Then, a majority also voted in favor of a resolution asking Stoney to pull the current plan.” What this means, I think, is that City Council will vote for real and for a final time on the Mayor’s proposed downtown arena project this coming Monday, February 10th. What happens after that is anybody’s guess.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Richmond announced that they’re converting the old Eastlawn Shopping Center into “an expansive teen-centric center that will incorporate a variety of programs and activities that help teens effectively transition to continuing their education beyond high school and/or undertaking careers.” Somehow I’d missed that the Boys & Girls Clubs had bought this parcel, which sits out on Nine Mile Road near the city limits. Sounds like a pretty rad use of the property—especially considering that an “adjacent space of similar size will serve as a collaborative venue housing resources (e.g. career training and counseling, mental health services, college prep) from other organizations throughout the Greater Richmond community.” They plan to open the new facility next spring. Samuel Northrop has a bit more over in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Read this complex story in the RTD by Micheal Martz about a proposed casino resort situation on Richmond’s Southside 💸. I’m pretty unclear about what the State currently allows with respect to gambling, what bills the General Assembly will consider this year to change the current gambling rules, and what Virginia’s Indian tribes can just do by right. Like I said, it’s complex. Regardless, I’m pretty meh about gambling in general, and I’m certainly against building anything that comes with a 1,000-space parking garage.
I’m loving this picture of last night’s moon ring, via /r/rva.
The day after the Iowa Caucuses, with impeachment still in process, President Trump will deliver his 2020 State of the Union address tonight at 9:00 PM. Should be...something, that’s for sure.
Speaking of the Iowa Caucuses, what happened? As of yet, no one knows! Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight says the technical difficulties that have delayed the Iowa results mean less narrative bump for candidates who found success in last night’s caucuses: “But there’s a good chance that the candidates who did well in Iowa get screwed, and the candidates who did poorly there get a mulligan.“ Keep in mind he wrote this piece at three in the morning, so, grain of salt.
This morning's longread
I survived the Warsaw ghetto. Here are the lessons I’d like to pass on
From a couple years ago, but still a fascinating first-person account that’s worth reading as we barrel forward into the 2020 election season.
Third, do not underestimate the destructive power of lies. When the war broke out in 1939, my family fled east and settled for a couple of years in Soviet-occupied Lwów (now Lviv in western Ukraine). The city was full of refugees, and rumours were swirling about mass deportations to gulags in Siberia and Kazakhstan. To calm the situation, a Soviet official gave a speech declaring that the rumours were false – nowadays they would be called “fake news” – and that anyone spreading them would be arrested. Two days later, the deportations to the gulags began, with thousands sent to their deaths. Those people and millions of others, including my immediate family, were killed by lies. My country and much of the continent was destroyed by lies. And now lies threaten not only the memory of those times, but also the achievements that have been made since. Today’s generation doesn’t have the luxury of being able to argue that it was never warned or did not understand the consequences of where lies will take you.
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