Good morning, RVA! It's 42 °F, and, with highs in the 60s, today certainly feels more like a Wednesday in November than the last couple of Wednesdays did. That said, it looks like we’ve got some warmer weather on deck in the next couple of days before chilly, True Fall Weather sets up shop (for good?).
Water cooler
Yesterday, elections happened! And, turns out, the “red wave” predicted by less-than-useful horse-race journalism did not materialize. The New York Times—who are certainly guilty of forcing that sort of narrative—has put together a nice page of the results from across the country (trigger warner: there are four needles). Many key races remain uncalled, as does which party will control the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Locally, Rep. Spanberger won in her newly redrawn district, which was one of the national Will They Or Won’t They races to watch. We’ll have to wait a couple of days before we know what it all means, but, as of this morning, things look slightly more hopeful than they did 24 hours ago.
The Richmond Police Department reports that a driver hit and killed a 75-year old man on Robinson Street just north of the Starbucks in the Fan. According to RPD’s release, this past Sunday afternoon, the victim was “attempting to cross [Robinson] just south of the intersection heading towards Stafford Avenue when he was struck by the [driver].” While the head of Richmond’s Department of Public Works thinks that “we can’t infrastructure our way out” of speeding, some easy infrastructure could have slowed down this driver and maybe saved a life. Robinson at the intersection of Kensington does not have a four-way stop or a stop light—just an odd, single yellow light and an aspiration pedestrian crossing sign.
Megan Pauly at VPM reports on how localities in Virginia are using zoning to restrict their citizens’ access to abortion and medical care. This is what you get when federal protections for people’s rights get stripped away and localities with Republican leadership are left to wield whatever tools they have for nefarious purposes. It’s also what happens when your zoning code is extremely use-based instead of form-based. Get excited/depressed, because we’ll definitely see more of this sort of thing in Virginia over the coming years—especially since, as a Dillon Rule state, zoning is one of the few tools localities have that don’t require State permission.
WTVR’s Tyler Layne reports on a new study out of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, which lays out a few of the critical investments the State needs to make in public education as we move out of the pandemic. On the turnover rate for teachers, State Senator Jeremy McPike says, “That is a widening gap that is going the wrong direction. That is not going to be supplied by [American Rescue Plan Act] funding but by long-term funding solutions that we have to address.“ And Virginia Excel’s Taikein Cooper underscores the need for continued state-level investment in education, saying “We don't improve anything by cutting money...That was what excited me.” Keep all this in mind while we gear up for the Governor to introduce his first budget this winter, then we’ll see how serious he is about education in the Commonwealth—your budget is your priorities written down for all to see!
Karri Peifer at Axios Richmond reports that Main Street Station is getting it’s own postage stamp! That’s neat! See which other stamps USPS plans on releasing next year over on this charmingly circa-2010 website.
This coming Thursday (that’s tomorrow), STAY RVA will host Kim Gomez, Mike Memetic, and Danny Gomez to “talk about how culture plays a roll in community building and supporting students.” What’s not to like!—Interesting folks, interesting conversation, and a solid organization that’s dedicated to repairing some of the harm that racism has and continues to inflict on our schools. You can read more about STAY RVA here and you can sign up for tomorrow’s event here.
This morning's longread
Bertrand Piccard’s Laps Around the World
Well this long New Yorker piece about hot air balloons, deep-water submarines, exploration, and the environment really hit all my buttons. Strong recommend!
By now, he had launched a foundation, to reframe sustainability into the language of profit and job creation. But in 2016, when he was in the middle of delivering an address at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, he felt an acute sense of dissociation. “Everybody was bored, thinking it’s just one more N.G.O.,” he recalled. “I had to tell them something that would wake them up.” His mind drifted to his former psychiatry practice, where he helped patients parse the seemingly insurmountable problems before them into concrete, achievable steps. He announced that his foundation would devise a thousand profitable solutions to bring about a more sustainable future. The audience erupted in applause. Backstage, Piccard’s colleagues at the foundation asked when he had come up with this plan. “Just now,” he replied.
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Picture of the Day
I don’t know what to make of cemetery balloons.
