Good morning, RVA! It's 72 °F, and today is this week’s Big Weather Day. You can expect super hot highs in the mid 90s, lots of humidity, and an off chance of severe storms. Seriously: The Feels Likes today could reach 105 °F, which is a large number that demands your attention. Keep the bikes in the shed, take the bus, stay inside, drink water, and do all the things that make up a regular part of life in Richmond during the deep summer. Cooler weather returns on Sunday—I even see an early-morning low that starts with a five! Get excited!
Water cooler
Former Virginia Mercury reporter Mechelle Hankerson, now at WHRO, reports that the Virginia Beach School Board has voted not to adopt Governor Youngkin’s anti-trans policies. This question of whether or not to adopt Youngkin’s harmful policies will end up on School Board agendas in our region, too—and soon. While it’s splashy to go first and make headlines, I’m content with letting a few large, progressive school districts set up a precedent for breaking from the Governor and protecting children in public schools. Unless I’ve missed it, I think only Spotsylvania County Public Schools has voted to adopt these policies, and, if I had to bet, I’d guess that Richmond and Henrico will follow Virginia Beach, with Chesterfield and Hanover following Spotsylvania.
Related, the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Anna Bryson reports that “Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has found that Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s K-12 transgender policies comply with state and federal law.” This is incredibly unsurprising, of course, and mostly a nothing burger designed to generate headlines—although we could, I guess, see some legal action brought against school districts that decide not to explicitly adopt the Governor’s anti-trans policies. Also, about large, progressive school districts setting precedents, Bryson notes that a bunch of Northern Virginia localities have issued statements saying they already have regulations in place to address the rights of trans kids and they’ll just continue to follow those existing regulations. I could definitely see Henrico choosing to do the same, avoiding a big, showy vote.
Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense reports on the planned redevelopment of Gilpin Court. Related to my previous comments about Creighton Court redevelopment: Today, Gilpin has 781 units, and the current redevelopment plans include “about 450 replacement housing units, 850 mixed-income and market-rate units, and 600 homeownership units.” Again, just like with Creighton, I have questions about the unit math, because it seems like we may lose over 300 units of public housing? However, there are many, many pieces to this massive project, and I’m not sure I’ve got my brain wrapped around all of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m missing something, and I’d like to learn more.
Whoa, via RICtoday “Tortillería Mixteca, Richmond’s first large-scale tortilla manufacturer will host a grand opening celebration tomorrow.” I hope they get some distribution going in town, because I would love nothing more than to start making my food burritos with fresh, local tortillas.
Axios Richmond reports that Shades of Moss, a new plant shop / record store / vibes spot will open this weekend at 2128 W. Cary Street. Shades of Moss is a Black-owned business relocating from Charlotte after getting priced out of retail spaces, which I think is fascinating and makes me wonder if we’ll see more of that in the near future. Anyway, I love plants, plants are great, and fun places to buy plants are great, too.
This weekend, on both Saturday and Sunday, you can get your fill of live music at the first Iron Blossom Music Festival. Because I’m an old person who doesn’t really enjoy live music and spends most of his listening time with strange metal from Europe or old Ethiopian jazz, this is not for me! But it may be for you, especially Sunday, when you can check out Matthew E. White and Angélica Garcia, artists I’ve both heard of and have added to my Apple Music Library. Tickets are pricey / sold out in some cases, but, again, old man here, so who can even say how much music festivals cost. Small urbanist note: The festival will take place at the Bon Secours Training Center, something that is now possible since the Washington Commanders no longer hold the field hostage over concerns about the health of the turf. Maybe we’ll finally start getting some interesting uses out of this space!
This morning's longread
Not the Happiest Place on Earth: Motion Sickness and the Messy Truth of Theme Park Ride Design
I think I’ve inherited my wife’s love of vomit humor, because parts of this deep dive on amusement park rides cracked me up. I didn’t used to be this way.
Instant regret. My heart is beating hard, I’m accumulating spit in my mouth, and after a few seconds, I’m already dizzy and nauseous. I’m hyperaware of my body as it shifts and sways at the mercy of a robotic arm that lurches me, tilts me, turns me. I hold on for dear life. I’ve been told that the ride is about four minutes long. But it feels like I’ve entered a portal to another dimension where time loops on and on. I’m reminded of that time I ate an innocent-looking THC-laced peanut butter cup and spent the night in a fetal position. I just pray I make it through alive. Or better yet, maybe I’ll die and the misery will end. I suddenly remember the $8 Butterbeer that I chugged right before the ride. Whoops. I close my eyes; I know I’m going to be sick. I can’t escape it, but maybe I can delay it. I take deep but shaky breaths. I brace against the unpredictable movements. And then, I let it happen.
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Picture of the Day
I’m getting real into high school sports, I guess.
