Good morning, RVA! It's 52 °F, and our streak of epic days continues. Today you can expect highs around 80 °F, sunshine, and a strong chance for good vibes across the region. While it’s still early, the forecast for the long weekend ahead of us does contain a bit of rain, but I say that’s fine. I’ve got like 10 Korean films stacked up in my queue that I need to knock out anyway.
Water cooler
City Council updates! This past Monday saw two interesting papers introduced at Council. First, ORD. 2023-170, 2 Casino 2 Furious, would kick off the City’s second go at bringing a casino to Richmond’s Southside. I’m pretty sure we need to wait until the State finalizes this year’s budget (and who knows when that will happen) before we can truly know if Richmond may attempt a casino sequel. However, if I were a betting man—which I am most certainly not and is part of the reason I am very against casinos as municipal revenue generators—I’d say you’ll, once again, have a chance to vote against the casino resort project on your ballot at this coming November’s election. Second, ORD. 2023-172 begins the approval process for the proposed riverfront amphitheater. That hits Council’s Organizational Development committee’s agenda on June 5th—mark your calendars if you’re a public comment watcher. Also, while we’re talking about ordinances and resolutions, at their meeting today, the Governmental Operations committee will consider RES. 2023-R011, which starts the process of acquiring Evergreen and East End Cemeteries from the now-defunct Enrichmond Foundation.
Speaking of public comment, Em Holter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that a citizen was removed from Monday’s City Council meeting after making transphobic and homophobic remarks. To quote Council President Mike Jones, “We will not tolerate anything that would demean any person that lives in the city...Everyone has a right to live in the city.” I’m really glad and thankful to hear that City Council took action on this in the moment.
Richmond BizSense’s Jonathan Spiers reports that Henrico County has landed the 2024 and 2025 A-10 women’s basketball tournament at their not-yet-completed sports and event center out by Virginia Center Commons. This is not the County’s Green City arena development, it’s an entirely separate (but pretty nearby) sports tourism facility. I think that’s fascinating and really demonstrates Henrico’s focus on sports tourism as a key way to bring folks into the County. I think my big question is: Can they build a cohesive neighborhood up there that connects all of these things together and gives the sports tourists something to experience—other than sitting inside a basketball gym for eight hours and then eating dinner at a Chili’s. To be determined!
Ned Oliver at Axios Richmond has a partial answer to my question about how many working pay phones could possible exist in the region. He talked to the State Corporation Commission, who, for some reason, are the folks who keep track of this sort of thing, and they said 40 working pay phones remain in Virginia. Oliver only gets partial credit, because “Unfortunately, the SCC doesn't keep track of where those 40 pay phones are located, so finding them will remain a scavenger hunt.” Maybe a worthy scavenger hunt, though??
RVA Bike Month has some great options for you this, the penultimate Wednesday of May. First, you can join Truetimber Arborists for a Tree Tour of Richmond at 5:30 PM (meet up at Barker Field by Dogwood Dell). Second, you’ve got an intriguing Capital Trail Scavenger Hunt that kicks off at Stone Brewing at 5:30 PM. And, finally, you can join the Urban Cycling Group for a premier of the film _Changing Gears_ at 6:00 PM over at Starr Hill Brewing. Life’s all about the choices you make, and you’ll have to make some hard bike-related choices tonight, that’s for sure. Good luck!
Hey, did you read that article in The Atlantic and think to yourself, “Yes, Twitter is in fact a far-right social network and that does not align with my values at all.”? If so, I encourage you to leave the bird site be and experiment with other, gentler, forms of social media. You can, of course, join the Mastodon instance I set up over at rva.fyi, but there are plenty of other options, too. Honestly, maybe just go hang out in a public park for a couple hours, because that sounds pretty nice.
This morning's longread
Four Lenses for Better Understanding Your City
I really liked this piece from Strong Towns about “noticing” the city around you. Take a walk, take some pictures, take some notes, and think through why certain parts of your neighborhood feel like wonderful treasures and other parts feel like desolate wastelands. I love doing this kind of hands-on urbanism study—everyone can do it, too! Cities aren’t rocket science!
Exploring the built aspect of the city also gives us a chance to more deeply engage with the story of the city. Every building, every road contains part of the city’s history, identity, and values. A road is not just a road; a building is not just a building, they are all the results of relationships, conversations, and maybe even contested visions of what the city ought to be and who it should serve. So, start here. Start with the walk around various neighborhoods, noticing buildings, researching building styles, looking into the stories behind why certain roads and parks were placed where they are. Wrestle with the connection between the physical and the metaphysical: Why do some places feel more like places than others? Which places inspire you with a sense of belonging and connection? Which ones don’t? What kinds of patterns do you notice? How do these patterns of design affect the pattern of your life?
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Picture of the Day
Alley yarrow!
