Good morning, RVA! It's 49 °F, and today's temperatures will almost reach 80 °F! You can expect similarly warm temperatures for the next four days, and I hope you'll find at least a couple of chances to get out there and enjoy it. Maybe plan a trip to one of Richmond's parks that you've never visited and spend an afternoon exploring?
Water cooler
I've got two City Council items to kick off your morning! First, I posted this past Monday’s budget work session over on the Boring Show for your listening pleasure. It's a long one and I'm only about an hour into it, but the discussion focuses, at least in part, on how the City can become an "employer of choice." It's really interesting stuff, and I recommend you queue it up at 2x speed next time you've got three baskets of laundry to fold. Second, Council's Land Use, Housing and Transportation committee will meet today (full agenda here) and will consider ORD. 2023-057, which would unprohibit a roundabout at the intersection of Hermitage Road and Laburnum Avenue, repealing one of the most dripping-with-NIMBYism ordinances passed in recent(ish) memory. To be clear, I don't know that a roundabout is the best and safest solution for this massive intersection now that the monument no longer sits in the middle obscuring views from every which way. I'd probably prefer a protected intersection. However, I think it's incredibly smart to get the bad 2009 ordinance off the books so that this generation of grumpy neighbors—or maybe even the same grumpy neighbors from 2009 that still live in the area—can't use it to oppose whatever the City eventually propose to make this intersection safer for everyone. P.S. The Committee will also have a discussion on "future Housing Plan to include Richmond 300 growth nodes with transit corridors and a system similar to Arlington’s Revitalization Zones." I'm interested and would like to learn more!
The Richmond Times-Dispatch has the news that Governor Youngkin appointed two high-level officials. David Ress reports that Gerald Lackey, former "vice president of business optimization at GAF, the world’s largest roofing manufacturer," will serve as the DMV commissioner. And Anna Bryson reports that Lisa Coons, former chief academic officer of the Tennessee Department of Education, will take over as the new State Superintendent of Public Instruction. I think the latter probably has more opportunity to make headlines than the former, but you never know!
State Senator Scott Surovell started looking into the Governor's process for restoring the voting rights of people convicted of a felony. Unfortunately, after hearing back from the Gov, Surovell found that the process is pretty much a black box (Twitter). To quote the Senator: "Modern bipartisan evidence-based restorative policy that reduced recidivism is dead & ex-felons can now only have voting rights restored using a secret process with secret criteria in the complete absolute discretion of the Governor of VA - we are back to 1902-era policy in VA." This is, unfortunately, the Governor's constitutional prerogative, but, with recent administrations, we've seen a move towards the "automatic restoration of rights" end of the spectrum. This, having the Governor personally consider each applicant individually, seems like a big step backward.
Via /r/rva, on this day in 1775, Patrick Henry gave his "Give me liberty or give me death!" speech.
Mark your calendars! Local pro-housing group RVA YIMBY—Yes In My Back Yard, the opposite of NIMBY, Not In My Back Yard—will host their inaugural meeting this coming Saturday, March 25th from 2:00–4:00 PM at The Barrel Room in Ardent Brewery (3117 W. Moore Street). If you've spent the last couple of years watching the blank stares of your friends as you yell about Richmond's housing crisis, maybe stop by on Saturday. You might find your people! You can RSVP, and, if you’d like, sign up for the RVA YIMBY Slack here.
This morning's longread
How Far-Right Movements Die
I'm not nearly as optimistic as the author of this longread that Trump's MAGA people will suffer the same fate as the members of the now-mostly-defunct John Birch Society. Things are just so different today: 60 years ago, the Birchers didn't have complete control over one of the major news networks and facts still existed. I do think you should still give the piece a read though, because, like the author says, this is certainly one possible future for America's current crop of far-right extremists.
The decline of the John Birch Society is partly a story about political leaders, grassroots activists, and liberal institutions intervening to defend American democracy. But it is also a story of an implosion from within. As the group attracted ever more conspiratorial members, some prone to bigotry and even violence, the society was consumed by internal strife. Some members resigned. Others protested that Birchers weren’t anti-Semitic enough. The leadership sometimes tried to police and expel more troublesome individuals, but that process proved fractious and chaotic. By the mid-’60s, “John Birch”—the name came from an evangelist turned warrior who had been killed by Chinese Communist forces—became a common epithet. The factors that prevented the society from metastasizing are relevant to a country now struggling to contain election denialism, white supremacy, and political violence.
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Picture of the Day
I'm trying to learn the names of all the tools.
