Good morning, RVA! It's 75 °F, and today looks hot, humid, and rainy. NCB12's Andrew Freiden says we've got a decent chance for some downpours but, with any luck, will steer clear of severe weather. I guess keep an eye on the weather app of your choice this afternoon, and stay hydrated while trying to also stay dry? Today's already too complicated.
Water cooler
The Governor has until Thursday to submit his budget amendments and vetoes, so, until then, we wait and speculate. VPM's Megan Pauly reports that Youngkin may try to tweak the existing budget language to allow private universities to create "lab schools," which is his quickest path to shifting public money away from the public school system and into charter schools. Here's Sen. McClellan: "I'll be watching very closely to make sure they don't try to turn this into charter schools...Lab schools are supposed to be partnerships to allow our higher-ed universities and our public schools to test out new teaching pedagogy and innovative ways of learning. And they should not be expanded beyond that model." Additionally, Michael Martz at the RTD reports that the Governor may still be considering his ineffective and anti-climate gas tax holiday. We'll see if either of these idea float in the Senate, what they'll decide to do about them, and if we end up with a budget by July 1st or not—the alternative is, I guess, government shutdown? I have no idea how that works!
We'll this was a long time coming: Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense reports that VCU has finally purchased the old ABC headquarters on Hermitage Road from the State. I'm not sure there was ever any doubt this deal would eventually go through, but now that it's done, "VCU has successfully pieced together the land it needs for its planned athletics complex near The Diamond." Dang there is just a TON going on over that way: The Diamond District, VCU's Athletic Village, all the apartments popping up over by Hardywood—we'll soon have a ton of folks living over there all within walking distance of a bunch of different things. I think my biggest question is how do we provide the safe pedestrian, bike, and public transit infrastructure to make getting around the neighborhood easy for folks? We've got a couple of plans that address this now, and I hope the forthcoming Richmond Connects will do so as well.
I missed this from last weekend, but Katharine DeRosa at VPM reports that the City unveiled a historical marker at the site of the Shockoe Hill African Burying Ground. An official declaration of the importance of this land—land that sits north of Gilpin Court and currently holds an abandoned gas station and a billboard—is just one more step toward reclaiming the space. City Council took a step last night by considering an ordinance to add Shockoe Hill to the work being done to memorialize Devil's Half Acre (ORD. 2022-157), and the National Historical Landmark Registry will take another step if it decides to add Shockoe Hill to its list of historical places. Lenora McQueen's been the driving engine behind reclaiming this space for a bunch of years—all the way back to when it was slated to end up as a small corner of the Richmond to D.C. high-speed rail project. I know I've said this before, but it's wild/inspiring how much impact a single person can have!
This morning's longread
Gun buyback programs- Here's what the research says
Reader John sent me this article in response to my request for gun buyback best practices. From this piece, which links a ton of research, it seems like gun buybacks are _a_ tool cities can use when trying to limit gun violence but not the tool (as if there were a the tool). Tap through and read the whole thing, though, to find a really cynical sentence or two about buybacks being something politicians usually do when they just want their constituents to feel like they've done something. I'm not sure that's the case here in Richmond—just because we're so intensely limited by the State government—but it did make me go hmmmmmmm.
Early research on gun buybacks, mostly from the 1990s, largely finds these programs ineffective at curbing gun violence. Recent research frames gun buybacks in a more favorable light. On their own, buybacks might not be effective if the goal is to use them to directly reduce violent crime. But research shows buybacks can help if they’re part of a broader effort to reduce gun violence. They can influence public perception of how authorities are dealing with gun violence and serve as opportunities to educate communities about gun violence reduction strategies, according to academic researchers.
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