Good morning, RVA! It's 39 °F, and today, you guessed it, more of the same with highs in the mid 50s and some cloudy skies. Temperatures will drop over the weekend, but not enough to be like “Oh wow it’s so much colder, I better pull out the long johns!” However, NBC12’s Andrew Freiden says that tonight we could get a “rain/snow mix with some light accumulation on elevated surfaces but it’s going to be a close call between snow and rain.” AS PER ANNOYINGLY ALWAYS. Come Monday, we’re right back at it again with highs in the mid 50s for as far as the extended forecast can see.
Water cooler
Yesterday, City Council sent out this really interesting news release that’s most directly about the recent meals tax situation and a victory lap for how Council passed ORD. 2024-024 this past Monday. But the release also challenges the Mayor’s administration to, more generally, overhaul the City’s finance system: “Richmond City Council believes that Richmond deserves an effective, efficient, and responsive finance system...Richmond needs a culture change that establishes, engenders, and supports ongoing real and direct lines of communication to resolve real issues.” In fact, Council requests (well, “invites”) the Administration to provide updates and timelines on that culture change in just two weeks, at their March 4th Organizational Development committee meeting.
Specifically, they’d like the Mayor and his team to:
- Create plans for all accounts to come into compliance, with detailed policies for an appeals process, forgiveness, refunds, and payment plans.
- Work directly with affected communities to create solutions that work for them.
- Create online visual/text materials informing businesses on best way to pay taxes.
- Provide ongoing updates to Council and the public.
Not a ton of turn around time there, but I’d guess many folks at the City are already working on many of these bullet points. We’ll check back in March to see what they come up with!
Two quick General Assembly updates:
- Bike humans can read the Virginia Bicycling Federation’s legislative update for bike and bike-adjacent bills that still yet live.
- VPM’s Jahd Khalil reports that the House and the Senate will publish their versions of the budget on Sunday. Good luck to the reporters that cover this sort of thing, and I appreciate your hard work over the weekend!
When the world feels like a lot, one member of my family sits quietly in the backyard and watches the birds do their thing. This weekend, you can also take a minute (well, 15 minutes) to come down from world events...FOR SCIENCE!...and participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count! It’s easy and charming—I mean, come on: “Spend time in your favorite places watching birds–then tell us about them! In as little as 15 minutes notice the birds around you. Identify them, count them, and submit them to help scientists better understand and protect birds around the world.” If your backyard is, like, the interior courtyard of an apartment building in Scott’s Addition (there are still probably birds in there!), you can, instead, head over to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens on Saturday, February 17th from 9:00 AM–12:00 PM to do some counting with a couple actual Bird Experts (aka birdwatchers aka tweetpeepers aka chirplurkers).
Logistical note! This coming Monday, Virginia celebrates George Washington Day, aka Presidents’ Day (if you’re in Hawaii, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, or Washington), President’s Day (if you’re in Alaska, Idaho, Maryland, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Tennessee, West Virginia, or Wyoming), or Presidents Day (to those of you in Nevada and Oregon).
I’ll be taking the day off to do my regular day-off stuff (coffee, bikes, horror films, etc), but if you also have time to yourself and are looking for something to get involved in, consider joining the Fund Our Schools rally at Capitol Square at 1:00 PM. Make sure you also read this week’s issue of the RPS Legislative Advocacy Update email to learn more about the event, the remaining schools-related bills floating around the General Assembly, and other ways you can get involved.
This morning's longread
Sisyphus and the Impossible Dream
Here’s a long(ish)watch that I really enjoyed from internet person Casey Neistat, who is not normally my thing. Two thoughts about this video:
First, you will probably be inspired! And, if you get all the way to the end, you’ll definitely see the ties between this video and the recent longread about pointless goals. To paraphrase Neistat, “when you take all of those stupid meaningless obsessions and accomplishments, what they equal, what they add up to, is your life.” Or, put another way: It really is all about the journey, man.
Second, this video ended up in my inbox via Jason Kottke, who adds this really important caveat to chasing stupid goals: “I think it’s good and healthy to let go of your goals and dreams if they do not serve the person you have become since setting them. I’ve never been much of a goal person, but I’ve definitely had thoughts about directions I’ve wanted to head or things I’d like to have had happen that just aren’t relevant for what’s important to me right now. If it’s not working for you, chalk it up to sunk cost and let it go.”
Winter 2007. I was on a scooter, the other guy ran a red light. I'm a mess. They rebuilt my leg out of metal, and the doctor said I'd mostly recover but they made it clear I'd never run again. In that moment, I thought: I would heal, and I'd run a marathon, and I'd do it in the impossible time of under three hours. Now, a marathon is always 26.2 miles long, and to break three hours you have to run faster than a six minute and 50 second per mile pace. That's impossible. First attempt: Richmond, Virginia, the Richmond Marathon. The goal was 2 hours and 59 minutes. I'd never run 26 miles in my life, but I was confident I could do it. Uh, I failed.
If you’d like to suggest a longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.
Picture of the Day
Hello from my natural habitat.
