Good morning, RVA! It's 44 °F, and warmer weather has arrived! Today we’ll see highs in the mid 60s, making it one of those days that whatever layers you put on this morning will probably feel like overkill for this afternoon’s springlike temperatures. Don’t expect the sun to peek out from behind all the clouds today, but also don’t expect much—if any—rain, either. It’s a break in the winter weather—go enjoy it!
Water cooler
When RPS’s Superintendent introduced his budget this past Monday, he officially kicked off the 2024 Budget Season! I failed to celebrate this moment with an appropriate amount of exclamation points—mostly because I wasn’t 100% certain the Superintendent wouldn’t get fired that same night. But, anyway, he still exists, and here we are in the most wonderful time of the year: Budget Season. To kick things off, RPS will host at least four budget work sessions over the coming weeks (including one tonight), where Board Members will hash through the Supe’s budget, their own priorities, and try to come up with the best way to politely ask the City for an additional $25 million. You can attend these sessions in person or watch via the District’s YouTube from the comfort of your own couch. As for next steps, School Board only has a few short weeks to finalize their budget request before sending it over to the Mayor, who will then incorporate it into this budget, which he then needs to present to City Council on or before March 27th. Budget Season moves pretty fast, and if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it!
Blast from the past...or wave of the future?? John Murden—aka local news godfather, aka the guy who invented hyperlocal news blogs in Richmond, aka the person who ran Church Hill People’s News for forever—just launched a fun project called South Richmond News. From the About page: “This is the very beginning of some sort of community news & events place for South Richmond. This is a work in progress...We hope to find a way to share stories about the area that are not being told, to offer opportunities to make real world connections, and to support and amplify existing community efforts. We need many voices and many talents. Do you have a story idea? Are you a photographer? Want to help cover local events? Interested in local government? Have a suggestion for someone to interview? We’d love for you to contribute.” These sorts of local news projects are so important, and I’m excited to see someone experimenting in the space again! If you live, work, or hang out over that way, drop John a line and ask how you can get involved.
City Council’s Governmental Operations committee meets today, and will consider two papers I’ve got on my tracker. First, RES. 2023-R011, would get the City moving on acquiring Evergreen, East End, and Forest View Cemeteries. This paper has kicked around on various agendas for almost an entire year—345 days to be exact! I haven’t really followed it closely enough to know what has it trapped in an infinitely loop of “continued and referred back,” but perhaps today’s this paper’s lucky day. Second, ORD. 2024-024 is the Mayor and Council’s speedy fix for the recent (and embarrassing) meals tax collection issue from a couple weeks back. This paper will allow the City’s finance folks to apply meals tax payments to the current month’s bill—even if there’s a previous overdue balance. That should, in theory, prevent restaurant owners (who may not even know that they have a previous overdue balance) from racking up huge and compounding late fees as they never quite pay off the current month’s bill. In contrast to the previous paper, look how quickly Council and the City’s administration can move when they want! This paper was introduced on Monday, will move through committee today, and will hit Full Council’s agenda next month—assuming they don’t schedule a special meeting before then.
Logistical note! Tomorrow is the big day—and by “big day” I mean I’m switching email providers and hope that, other than a few cosmetic changes here and there, none of y’all notice anything out of place. If, however, things seem broken or busted (or you just don’t get a newsletter from me tomorrow), please let me know! You can email me directly at <ross@gmrva.com data-preserve-html-node="true"> or message me at @gmrva@rva.fyi over on Mastodon. Fingers crossed, and wish me luck!
This morning's longread
How to be More Agentic
I highlighted a bunch of stuff in this article to think through later, despite the article’s light hints of lifehackery.
This might be the most important item on the list. It took me almost 40 years to learn it, because my instinct is to think more hours mean more productivity as long as you’re really trying to be productive -- that’s just multiplication, right? No. The reality is that grinding, even if it temporarily increases output, kills creativity and big picture thinking. Burnout is the ultimate agency-killer. This is so true that I’ve learned to identify a reduction in agency as one of the first signs of burnout, one that shows up even before I consciously realize what’s happening. A switch flips and I start looking for ways to rule out ideas and actions, to conclude they won’t work or aren’t necessary, rather than chasing better versions. These days I set boundaries that would have made me ashamed at earlier points in my life: I’m offline at 6 p.m. almost every night, and rigorously observe a Sunday Sabbath where nothing with the flavor of effort is tolerated. These will seem like small things to some people, but like a mortal sin to others in the communities I run in. My rule is never to take instructions on how hard I should work from someone who hasn’t burned out before. Very few people take this seriously enough.
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Picture of the Day
I admit that this sign is for me, not my teenage son. I will also admit that there’s another, identical sign for when I turn around but have still not locked the door.
