Good morning, RVA! It's 39 °F, but today you can expect another warm day with highs in the mid 60s. I think, if it were me, I’d get outside this afternoon, because tomorrow and Friday look damp. I know it’s early, but the weekend ahead of us looks pretty nice!
Water cooler
It’s here! Richmond’s official 2023 budget schedule is out and available for you to carefully transcribe over into your own personal calendar. Big, important dates to keep in mind: The Mayor needs to submit his proposed budget no later than March 6th, Council will hold a public hearing on the Mayor’s budget on March 27th, amendments drop on April 12th, and on May 8th Council hopes to wrap up the entire process. Of course, other than a few state-required deadlines, this entire schedule can shift, shrink, or expand as Council tries to make sense of the Mayor’s proposals and put their own stamp on the City’s fiscal priorities. Get excited, because it truly is the most wonderful time of the year (for a very small subset of very nerdy people)!
Lyndon German at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has an update on the City’s Marcus Alert System, which aims to support people during a mental health crisis with mental health professionals—instead of with police. Some stats from the piece: “Richmond’s Crisis Response Team responded to 227 calls for service from August to December 2022. Those calls of service resulted in a 91% crisis diversion rate, 21 temporary detention orders and two arrests in relation to a domestic matter.” I don’t know enough to say whether that’s good or bad, but I’m glad to see that the program is not stuck in a pile of organizational mud somewhere. You can learn more about Richmond’s implementation of the Marcus Alert over on the City’s website, and, if you know someone experiencing a mental health crisis you can call 988 or, if the situation is immediately dangerous, 911. Both numbers will take steps to try and ensure the proper response.
Also in the RTD, Michael Martz prognosticates a bit on what the General Assembly will do about a budget for the Commonwealth. It sounds like a mess, honestly, and I wonder if the most likely scenario right now is that they’ll do nothing and just ride the current, two-year budget passed back in 2022.
Related, Graham Moomaw and Sarah Vogelsong at the Virginia Mercury are tracking all of the state legislators who have announced that they will retire this year—currently 16 legiscritters. With all 140 seats up for election this November and plenty of those seats in newly-drawn districts, it makes sense that some folks would choose now as the moment to step aside / get some rest. All of these changes should make for a pretty exciting election season across the Commonwealth. Virginia: Never Not Voting and We Kind of Love It.
Via /r/rva, someone mocked up what they think the intersection of Arthur Ashe Boulevard and Broad Street should look like. I love this sort of thing, because why not! Honestly, I don’t know if a big huge roundabout is the right answer for this specific intersection, but, regardless, it’s fun to doodle on a map. I am, however, a fan of the mini-tunnel under Arthur Ashe so that the Pulse can completely avoid the intersection—great idea!
This morning's longread
The Colorful History of Haribo Goldbears, the World's First Gummy Bears
Ahhhhh, take a break from caring about things that matter and read this mostly inoffensive piece about the history of Haribo gummy bears.
Just over a century ago, in 1920, German confectioner Hans Riegel Sr. struck out on his own, establishing a new candy company called Haribo—an abbreviation derived from his name and hometown of Bonn (Hans Riegel Bonn). Working out of his kitchen with little more than a copper pot, a rolling pin and a stove, Riegel hired his first employee, his wife, Gertrud, the following year. While she delivered products to customers via bicycle, he experimented with hard candies before creating an entirely new sweet treat: the gummy bear.
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Picture of the Day
My very own orchid!
