Good morning, RVA! It's 52 °F, and, don't worry, the warm weather has returned! Today you can expect wonderful highs near 80 °F paired with some beautiful afternoon sunshine. Honestly, I don't think you could ask for a better Thursday. I hope you can find the time to get out there and enjoy it!
Water cooler
A downside to scrapping Navy Hill—which, don't get me wrong, needed to be scrapped—is that we're still left with a miserable section of Leigh Street between Fourth and Eighth that dips down to serve the basement of the Coliseum. One clever piece of the Navy Hill project would have filled in that dip, returned Leigh Street to grade, and immensely improved bike and pedestrian connections through that part of town. No Navy Hill means no return-to-grade for Leigh Street, but today the Urban Design Committee will consider streetscape improvements that include a new, at-grade multiuse path along the north side of the street. The path will be "wider than a standard sidewalk" and will connect to the bike lanes over the viaduct at 11th Street "using a new street crossing specifically for use by bikes." If you can read engineering diagrams, scroll through this PDF to get a better sense for the project. This is great news for me personally, as I ride through there all the time and hate descending into the depths of Leigh Street, but, more importantly, this new path will fill in an annoying gap in our bike network.
Ian M. Stewart at VPM has a really nice look back at the Capital Trail after seven years of being one of our region’s best amenities. The Trail is such an amazing, diverse, all-ages-and-abilities space! It's a wonderful place with a wonderful vibe, and if you haven't been out that way you really, really should. We're lucky to have the trail, and its tremendous success as a locality-spanning multi-use path makes the work on future trails, like the Fall Line Trail, exponentially easier.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch's Chris Suarez reports that the City "will begin enforcing parking restrictions on Saturdays later this month, adding a sixth day to M–F work schedule." The restrictions take effect on October 15th, so make a mental note if you're used to parking for free wherever you want Downtown. Honestly, sounds great to me, and, in general, the less free parking the better. I'm sure folks will get salty about this, but the need to enforce parking limits in certain parts of Downtown on the weekends most likely means there are a lot of actual humans Downtown on the weekends! This is great news and hasn't always been the case over the last couple of decades. P.S. The stock imagery the City chose for their social media post about this new change is really wonderful.
Jack Jacobs at Richmond BizSense sat down with the chief of Virginia’s Cannabis Control Authority to talk about the ever-pending state of the Commonwealth’s retail weed market. It sounds like we're maybe—fingers crossed—on track for legal retail sales beginning in 2024 (which still seems like an eternity to spend in this transitional state). Nothing's a certainty, especially given the divided nature of the General Assembly, and we'll just have to wait until the upcoming GA session to see how legislators feel and what marijuana-related legislation they end up submitting.
Ned Oliver at AXIOS Richmond reports on the Richmond Police Department’s recent crime stat update. Oliver says homicides are down 30% as compared to this time last year, which "mirrors a similar drop in major cities around the country." Richmonders, though, should hold that good news in tension with the fact that three teenagers have been shot in the City just this month; a 14-year-old boy was shot while riding his bike this past Monday.
RVAHub's Richard Hayes has put together his must-see list for the Folk Festival (which is this weekend!). Tap through for a Spotify playlist of a bunch of the Folk Festival bands, to further help you narrow down your weekend set list.
This morning's longread
Why Do I Care What I Wear in the Woods?
I love thinking about the signifiers of subcultures—they've all got them, and they're all fascinating!
I looked at the tawny, chilled-out men and women who populated my extended social orbit. People with dogs (usually working breeds, who could keep up with their adventures). People who owned tents, wore hiking boots that had been re-laced and re-soled, who definitely knew what to do when they entered a climbing gym. I remember watching, impressed, as a friend unpack her stocked camping mess kit, each lightweight dish popping out of the next like a nesting doll. There seemed to be a correct way to partake in this, but I suspected it was also dumb to care about it. So I pretended to know what I was doing—that I was part of the culture. Like every sport or subculture, hiking and camping have their totems, signifiers, and uniform
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Picture of the Day
Sometimes you just need to lay on the floor.
