Good morning, RVA! It's 44 °F, and today you can expect a cloudyish sky with temperatures in the upper 50s. Overall, a pretty decent first Monday in December, I think. Looking forward into the seven-day forecast, and we’ve got a chance for rain on Wednesday and unseasonably warm temperatures this weekend. I’m keeping an optimistic eye on it, but I’m already pretty excited about my weekend bike-riding plans!
Water cooler
I’ve got two quick City Council updates for you this morning. First, Council’s Organizational Development committee will meet to consider sending the General Assembly a set of proposed changes to the City’s Charter (RES. 2023-R057). If you’re brave and fully locked in this morning, you can tap through to check out the 33-page, track-changes list of tweaks to the Charter’s actual language. I’m almost that brave—but probably not on a Monday—and really wish I could find a simple explainer linking the Charter Review Commission’s final recommendations report to what ended up in this resolution. There are definitely big, big changes contained within this document worth exploring, but one small thing I want to point out this morning is a shift to gender-neutral language, from “councilman” to “council member.” OK, on to the second Council update: Planning Commission will hear a presentation on Richmond Connects, the City’s long-awaited update to its transportation plan. This is your reminder that you can give feedback on the Draft Action Plan portion of Richmond Connects through tomorrow, December 5th. The Action Plan, as its name suggests, details the short-term actions the City could take (as soon as today!) to improve our transportation infrastructure. However, if you’re very brave and still fully locked in, you can check out the full Richmond Connects Draft Strategic Plan here (weighing in at 413 pages).
Also Council-related, Connor Scribner at VPM reports on Richmond’s proposal to set up City-run inspections of residential rental units. Kind of dry reading, but, turns out, it’s a pretty interesting example of how the Dillon Rule—which forces the City to ask permission from the General Assembly to do much of anything—can limit progressive programs in the City (see above, re: making changes to our own Charter). This quote gets at the issue: “Chief planner Kevin Vonck told the Land Use, Housing and Transportation Committee that Virginia prevents its cities and counties from inspecting rental units localitywide. Instead, officials must identify districts where rentals are deteriorating or blighted, or add them to the program on a unit-by-unit basis...Vonck said he’s concerned about the effect of labeling specific areas that way. ‘How does that establishment of a district impact how we feel about it, how we think about it and about future investment?...How does it impact the perception of a neighborhood?’” Vonck is a thoughtful guy, and you should tap through to read/learn more.
Today’s weird but lovely thing is this new art exhibit featuring “surrealistic painted portraits” of rare Virginian animals. That previous sentence really does a disservice to the paintings, because what we’re actually talking about here is animals wearing tiny little suits and dresses and hats. Trust me, you’re gonna love it. You can read a Q&A with the artist, Cassandra Kim, over on the Department of Conversation and Recreation’s website where you can also find this year’s lists of Virginia’s rare plants and animals. For $22.50 you can also pick up a 2024 calendar featuring a bunch of the portraits at Mongrel or over on Kim’s website.
Richmond BizSense’s Mike Platania reports that a new restaurant-owner will attempt to break the spooky curse on 203 N. Lombardy Street: “Joe Kmetz, who formerly co-owned The Shaved Duck in Midlothian, is preparing to open Trouvaille at 203 N. Lombardy St., the space that in recent years has housed restaurants including Balliceaux, Poor Boys of RVA and cigar bar Brun.” I love how this spot turns over again and again, while, next door, Lombardy Market quietly chugs along with its signboard proudly proclaiming “The Best Deviled Eggs in RVA.”
Richmond Public Schools will host four Dreams4RPS meetings this week at various locations across the city (one virtual, one on the Northside, one in the East End, and on in the Museum District). This is your chance—for RPS families, community members, and even alumni—to get involved in the update to the District’s strategic plan. If you can’t swing a meeting this week because that just seems like a lot, make sure to at least fill out the Dreams4RPS feedback form. It’s got a ton of free-entry text boxes ready and willing to accept all of your great and creative ideas about improving Richmond Public Schools.
This morning's longread
Federal Court Ends Dramatic Fight Over Meaning of “Double-Spaced”
I will never understand lawyer stuff, but this sort of thing—passionate arguments over the definition of “double-spaced”—brings me so much joy. Gotta love their attention to detail!
On the one hand, this was a completely ludicrous court fight that involved nine law firms that combined for 66 pages of briefing, declarations, and exhibits, all inflicted on a federal court because of a dispute over what “double-spaced” means. It should never have happened. On the other hand, this was a completely ludicrous court fight that involved nine law firms that combined for 66 pages of briefing, declarations, and exhibits, all inflicted on a federal court because of a dispute over what “double-spaced” means. And it is great that it happened. There is also a right answer to the underlying question, trivial though it may be, and if you’re a lawyer, you really should know it.
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Picture of the Day
2023’s batch of year-old eggnog turned out great!
