Good morning, RVA! It's 46 °F, and today looks beautiful. After we get through some fog this morning, you can expect sunshine and highs in the mid 70s—definitely do a patio thing this evening. Tomorrow looks real warm, but with a chance of severe storms, and then temperatures drop a bit on Sunday. Positives and negatives, I guess!
Water cooler
In the midst of budget season, School Board drama, and the General Assembly session, I 100% forgot about redistricting. Gasp, I know. Almost 10 entire days ago, City Council adopted "Draft Demonstration Map 2C" for public review and comment. Tap through for a nice map that overlays both the current Council Districts (colors) and the proposed Council Districts (black outlines) giving you an easy way to spot the proposed changes. The 2nd, 3rd, and 6th Districts see the biggest shifts, which makes sense as they had the largest population imbalances that needed to be sorted out. I...don't think I have a lot of thoughts on these new maps! The new districts look less wobbly (aka more "compact" in redistricting parlance), which I think is a win, and, qualitatively, the area around Brookland Parkway always felt more like part of the 3rd than the 2nd to me, so there's that. But if you have more specific and useful thoughts than I do, the official mechanism for feedback is to email your Councilmember and liaison. You've got until April 25th to weigh in.
Earlier this week the Governor's administration released a report on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which, eye roll. The Governor has tried his very best to remove Virginia from the regional carbon market (one of the most conservative, free-market ways to address emissions), but has so far not found the authority to do so. I hadn't linked to it yet because I don't love the idea of encouraging folks to spend their time flipping through a 78-page climate-denying report—plus, I was hoping the Virginia Mercury's Sarah Vogelsong would dig into it for me. And lo! Today you can read her report on the report, which includes choice quotes like: "Multiple environmental groups and state energy policy experts, however, say the document’s conclusions are contradictory and fail to take into account how RGGI costs disincentivize the use of carbon-emitting units in the regional electric grid." and "'The conclusions in this report really don’t match the data,' said Benforado. 'While the governor attempts to brush aside the need for RGGI, the report actually confirms the need for RGGI.'"
I don't know what it means, but I'm interested in this report about the State Board for Community Colleges defying Governor Youngkin's request to restart their chancellor hiring process. Eric Kolenich at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has the details. It's not clear to me if the Governor dislikes the Board's pick for Chancellor or if he's just miffed at not being included in the process; in a letter sent to the Board earlier this month, the Gov wrote these words: "Our exclusion from this process demonstrates misfeasance, and I would be derelict if I did not express that the next chancellor should be aligned with the governor." I also don't know why public official insist on writing this way! No one talks like that!
I love thinking about cursed restaurant spots, and /r/rva has a whole thread of them. Are certain spots cursed because of subtle built-enviornment reasons, like bad street lighting or poor sidewalks? Maybe eager restauranteurs have yet to land on a concept that the neighborhood will support? My favorite cursed spot has to be 506 W. Broad Street, currently The Riviere, but previously Tiny Victory, Antler & Fin, The Belvidere, and Boka Tavern. Spooooooky!
If you're into the proliferation of silly March Madness-inspired Twitter polls this time of year, I'll direct your taps to this bracket of the 64 best small parks in America. Our very own Maymont Park is a 7-seed and matched up against the 10-seed "Laurelhurst Park" in Portland, which is probably a garbage park, right? Ack! Look at what sports does to people! I've never even been to Portland!! Anyway, here's the direct link to vote for Maymont, if you're feeling it.
This morning's longread
Why Americans Hate the Media
Whoa there's a lot to unpack in this piece from 1996—including all of the 1996 stuff! Jay Rosen, one of my favorite media critics, often talks about horse race journalism and the savvy style, and you'll find both criticized in this piece. I'm definitely guilt of both of these things from time to time, especially the latter, so I think this is worth the read for all of us!
When ordinary citizens have a chance to pose questions to political leaders, they rarely ask about the game of politics. They want to know how the reality of politics will affect them—through taxes, programs, scholarship funds, wars. Journalists justify their intrusiveness and excesses by claiming that they are the public's representatives, asking the questions their fellow citizens would ask if they had the privilege of meeting with Presidents and senators. In fact they ask questions that only their fellow political professionals care about. And they often do so—as at the typical White House news conference—with a discourtesy and rancor that represent the public's views much less than they reflect the modern journalist's belief that being independent boils down to acting hostile.
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