Good morning, RVA! It's a wintery 32 °F, and highs today will stay in the mid 40s. We should also expect plenty of sunshine, setting us up for a lovely, cold, bright, and clear December day. If you can find 15 minutes in your day, bundle up and take a quiet walk around your neighborhood. I love Richmond in the winter!
Water cooler
Yesterday, the Governor set the date of the special election to fill Rep. McEachin’s Congressional seat for February 21st. If you remember our date math around these special elections from last week, candidates have 60 days from the date of the special election to file their paperwork, which means Democrats need to decide on their candidate by...December 23rd. 10 days from now, eight working days, the week before the holidays. While it is the Governor’s prerogative to schedule special elections, nothing says he has to be so petty about it. Now, with so few days to organize, Democrats will scramble to hold a Firehouse Primary on Tuesday, December 20th—a week from today. This is new territory for me, but apparently “a Firehouse Primary, or unassembled caucus, allows any Democrat in VA-04 to cast their ballot. There will be multiple locations across VA-04 where voters can cast their ballot for their preferred candidate.” First, the Governor could have picked March 7th for the date of the special election and avoided this mad year-end scramble, but he didn’t and I think that’s petty and unnecessary. Second, thank you to all of the volunteers who now need to spend these next two weeks putting together a primary instead of winding down and spending time with their loved ones. Third, more information on next Tuesday’s primary as soon as I see it!
Super related and super exciting: “On Tuesday, December 13th at 10:00 AM, Sen. Jennifer McClellan will make a major announcement at the Bell Tower in Capitol Square.”
I still need to ride by and check it out for myself, but the A.P. Hill monument came down yesterday, and Richard Hayes at RVAHub has a few pictures of the removal. Ned Oliver at Axios Richmond ominously reports that, “Workers spent the rest of the day slowly disassembling the stone pedestal, carefully searching its interior for Hill's remains, which, by nightfall, remained unaccounted for. The excavation continues today.”
Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense reports on the plans for a new apartment complex to take the place of the Quality Inn on Arthur Ashe Boulevard just north of the highway. The current proposal has way too much parking (510 spaces for 366 apartments and zero commercial space), but maybe it can become shared parking for visitors to the Diamond District? Anyway, Old Man Bicycle complaints aside, building more homes in this part of town seems great.
Quick City Council update: The real estate tax rebate ordinances passed as did the eyebrow-raising ban-convenience-stores resolution. About the latter, as you all know, a resolution like this is just the first step of many in Doing A Rezonning. Planning Commission will surely have lots to say, as will the Director of Planning who is directed to create some sort of “neighborhood-based convenience store overlay district.” I’m still confused and have yet to see a decent explanation of the why behind this zoning change. David Ress at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports “[Councilmembers Ellen Robertson and Ann-Frances Lambert] cited public safety concerns and the fact that the stores do not offer a broad range of fresh foodstuffs.” Public safety concerns at literally every single convenience store across the entire city? If there is a real problem with the safety of convenience stores in the 3rd and 6th Districts, maybe that’s a conversation to have with the Police instead of the Planners? It just doesn’t seem like zoning is the right tool for this job.
Also zoning-related, the City will host the final meeting to discuss Those Three Zoning Changes tonight, in-person at the Main Library (101 E. Franklin Street), at 6:00 PM. Whether or not you attend tonight, make sure you fill out the very short public comment survey (my opinion: 👍 by-right ADUs, 👍 eliminating parking minimums, 🫤 removing the Airbnb residency requirements). Also, completely unrelated to the meat of these changes, I really enjoy how they were branded the “Three Zoning Changes” and how that branding stuck so quickly and effectively.
This morning's longread
Becoming Athletic In My 50s
I share today’s longread knowing I’ve shared something similar by Anne Helen Petersen before (mentioned in this piece!) and that I’m only further cementing my status as resident old man who rides bikes. But! I think Clive Thompson’s experience with bikes can be true for anyone who doesn’t consider themselves athletic—whether you’re 20, 50, or 70. Maybe that’s you??
With long-distance cycling, though, it really did feel like I was just measuring myself against myself. There was no competition with others. It felt more like a deeply nerdy experiment in science and psychology: So, Clive - can you handle this? And what I've found is that, delightfully, most often I can. And it's also fine when I can't, or shouldn't. Listening to how my body responds to athletic demands, and respecting its natural limits, is another odd pleasure in this new life of mine. It no doubt helps that I have no interest in racing. I don't care if I'm faster than others. Quite the opposite: When I do these epically long rides, I ride quite slowly, certainly compared to the heads-down lycra-clad cyclists blowing past me in hyperspace mode, straining atop their elite carbon-fiber featherweight bicycles reverse-engineered from crashed UFOs. Me, I ride an inexpensive and frankly kind of heavy standard hybrid bike. I do not ride in an aerodynamic posture. I just mosey along. I'll get there when I get there. My goal is sheer, mulish endurance.
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Picture of the Day
I have no idea. I’m guessing very specific pornography or an educational video from the 80s?
