Good morning, RVA! It's 44 °F, and the next couple of days—today included—look beautiful. This afternoon you can expect highs around 70 °F and maybe a couple of clouds, but tomorrow and Thursday (not Wednesday for some reason) we could see temperatures near 80 °F. Fall-like weather returns this weekend, though, so get out there and take advantage of summer’s (potential) last hurrah.
Water cooler
This past Friday, the folks opposing Casino 2.0 posted these jaw-dropping audio clips from a radio program featuring Urban One Board Chair Cathy Hughes. Pulitzer Prize Winner Michael Paul Williams has the best recap of what the heck is going on here, but you should probably tap through and listen for yourself. Warning: The clips contain racist, sexist, antisemitic, and offensive language. First, as a white man, I definitely do not have the context or lived-experience to fully process or comment on some of the language used by Hughes and her fellow radio hosts to describe the local, Black anti-casino advocates. I do know, however, that I would be incredibly offended if someone—someone with a serious amount of wealth, influence, and power—spoke about me in that way on a public forum. The folks involved have since (briefly) apologized for the blatantly antisemitic comments directed at Paul Goldman, who has organized most of the opposition to this second casino attempt, but, as far as I know, none of the local advocates have received an apology from anyone involved. Second, Allan-Charles Chipman (one of the aforementioned local advocates) has a really nice piece in the Richmond Times-Dispatch explaining all of the hard, quantitative reasons why you should vote against Casino 2.0. Because he’s a better person than I am, he doesn’t mention anything about the major concerns I have with the City working alongside a developer whose Board Chair regularly took part in racist, sexist, antisemitic, and offensive discussions on a public radio show. Will any of this impact the outcome of tomorrow’s referendum? I have no idea, but it certainly makes me feel good about my vote against.
Back by popular demand: GRTC’s Rider Advisory Council! GRTC wants you!...if you are a bus rider looking to “be a part of a team that meets quarterly to advocate on behalf of riders, work with GRTC on new initiatives, and generally improve the system.” As a deeply bus-oriented person, this sounds like a ton of fun to me. If you’d like to apply to join the Council, you can fill out the form online until December 1st.
Today, City Council will host a special meeting to consider a paper about an affordable housing development on 44th Street, appoint an interim City Auditor, and, maybe most interesting, introduce four new pieces of legislation. This legislation, to quote from the agenda, will look at “(i) establishment of an inclement weather shelter at 1900 Chamberlayne Avenue, (ii) planning, development, and operation of a cultural space to be located at the Main Street Station, (iii) establishment of a new real estate tax rate of $1.15, and (iv) to amend a Non-Departmental agency line item in Fiscal Year 2023-2024 General Fund Budget.” I’m especially interested in item number three, which would lower the real estate tax rate by five cents. I am suspect of the timing and have a bunch of questions! Why introduce a paper that would have a massive impact on City finances at a special meeting and why today? Is this related to the casino? Who’s the patron? I hope we’ll learn more this afternoon.
Logistical note! This week is weird with state holidays celebrating both Election Day and Veterans Day, so you’ll miss me in your inbox on Tuesday and on Friday. Since I’ll have the day off, I’ll use this space to give you one final reminder about tomorrow’s incredibly important election. You can check your registration status and find your polling place here. If you missed the deadlines to register to vote, don’t worry: You can head to your polling place tomorrow, register to vote on site, and cast a provisional ballot. There’s absolutely no reason not to get out there and vote! Good luck, and I’ll see you on the other side!
This morning's longread
Stock and flow
As the entire social media landscape starts to transition to whatever’s next, it’s worth thinking about the types of content you’re creating (and of course where that content lives). The below blog post is a great example of “stock”—something that’s still useful over a decade later; GMRVA is almost entirely “flow.” I’d love to write more stock-type things, but I’m not entirely sure what that would look like. I’m open to suggestions!
There are two kinds of quantities in the world. Stock is a static value: money in the bank or trees in the forest. Flow is a rate of change: fifteen dollars an hour or three thousand toothpicks a day. Easy. Too easy. But I actually think stock and flow is a useful metaphor for media in the 21st century. Here’s what I mean: Flow is the feed. It’s the posts and the tweets. It’s the stream of daily and sub-daily updates that reminds people you exist. Stock is the durable stuff. It’s the content you produce that’s as interesting in two months (or two years) as it is today. It’s what people discover via search. It’s what spreads slowly but surely, building fans over time. Flow is ascendant these days, for obvious reasons—but I think we neglect stock at our peril.
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Picture of the Day
If I was independently wealthy, I would just take pictures of found gradients all day long.
