Good morning, RVA! It's 45 °F, and it looks like the rain has mostly moved on leaving behind a bit of wind and, with any luck, a lot of sunshine later in the day. If you choose to bike commute, may the wind be ever at your back—in both directions!
Water cooler
Today marks crossover in the General Assembly, when surviving bills head over to test their mettle in the opposite chamber from whence they originated. It’s a big milestone for the GA—but, of course, nothing truly lives or dies until the Governor puts down his pen at the end of the session.
For example: Remember yesterday when the Virginia Senate punished the Governor for some salty public remarks he made by killing his plan to build a professional sports arena in Alexandria? At the time (literally just 24 hours ago), I said it was mostly for show by Senate Democrats because the House version of the proposal still yet lived. This morning, VPM’s Jahd Khalil reports that that version escaped committee and made it to a floor vote in the House of Delegates right at the last minute. Now, as the bill crosses over, we’ll see if the Senate stays salty and spikes Youngkin’s arena proposal for a second time or if this week’s stern warning was enough to remind the Governor that Democrats mean business (and that he needs to think through some of the impact of his public comments).
Last night, City Council passed both those papers I had my eye on (ORD. 2023-356, to lower the speed limit on Brookland Parkway; and ORD. 2024-024, to at least partially fix the meals tax situation). Em Holter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has some victory-lap quotes from local restaurant owners and councilfolk on the latter. More interesting, at least to me, is the last little bit at the very bottom of the article from 2nd District’s Councilmember Jordan: “We had tried to get this very paper a couple of years before, and we were told that it wasn’t possible. I’m glad we have a different reading of what is possible now.” Remember ages ago when I’d go on and on about how much power the City Attorney held? This is why! An extremely conservative, risk-adverse Attorney has a lot of opportunity to kill creative legislation before it even gets to City Council for discussion. I haven’t seen (public) frustration around this point in a while, which means either 1) the newish Attorney has brought a different set of vibes to the office, or 2) Council hasn’t attempted to put together too much legislation that pushes up against what is possible.
Eric Kolenich, also at the RTD, reports on the region’s housing crisis—focusing mostly on young, middle-class, suburban homebuyers. Things are bad everywhere for everyone!
Via /r/rva: “Is everything north of the river...the Northside?” I love this sort of question and the arguments it will inevitably kick off.
Tonight at 6:00 PM, the Valentine (1015 E. Clay Street) will host a community conversation that will “address the history of media, and how it’s been used both to perpetuate bias and conversely, spread truth.” The conversation will also feature a panel of local media folks who will share their visions for a more equitable future in news coverage. Pop by the (free!) event to see/hear Karri Peifer from Axios Richmond, Macaulay Hammond from Style Weekly, Myself(!) from the region’s premier daily zoning and rezoning email newsletter, and Pulitzer Prize Winner Michael Paul Williams. I plan to spend most of the evening deferring to and then listening to whatever MPW has to say!
This morning's longread
Chesterton’s Fence: A Lesson in Second Order Thinking
I’d never heard of Chesterton’s Fence until this past weekend, but I love it as a thought experiment. Reflecting on my own life, I could probably think harder about why fences were put up in the first place before I throw them in the trash.
Chesterton’s Fence is a heuristic inspired by a quote from the writer and polymath G. K. Chesterton’s 1929 book, The Thing. It’s best known as being one of John F. Kennedy’s favored sayings, as well as a principle Wikipedia encourages its editors to follow. In the book, Chesterton describes the classic case of the reformer who notices something, such as a fence, and fails to see the reason for its existence. However, before they decide to remove it, they must figure out why it exists in the first place. If they do not do this, they are likely to do more harm than good with its removal. In its most concise version, Chesterton’s Fence states the following: Do not remove a fence until you know why it was put up in the first place.
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Picture of the Day
I’m such a tourist when I’m in a different town—always looking up!
