Good morning, RVA! It's 32 °F, and we’ve got an up-and-down weather week ahead of us. Today, expect clear skies and highs in the 60s; then get ready for cooler, wetter weather to move through on Wednesday; but, later, celebrate truly excellent weather this weekend with highs right around 70 °F. I know it’s early to start looking forward to the weekend, but too bad! I’m gonna do it anyway!
Water cooler
City Council has a busy and fun schedule today. First, they’ll meet at 3:00 PM for their budget season kickoff—a thrilling meeting that mostly consists of them getting on the same page with their own priorities for the operating and capital budgets. This meeting can sometimes serve as a barometer for how spicy Council plans on getting with the Mayor’s proposed budget (which, remember, drops on Wednesday). You can tune in live over on the City’s website, and I’ll make sure to get the audio up on The Boring Show as soon as I can.
Second, Council will get together for their regularly scheduled meeting with a ton of items to consider, but they all sit entirely on the Consent Agenda. That’s sort of been the way of things lately, but it’s double smart considering the potentially long budget meeting beforehand. I mean, who wants to spend eight hours in meetings? Not this guy.
Two and a half items to note, though:
- Council will vote on Richmond Connects, the City’s proposed longterm transportation plan (RES. 2024-R011)! Exciting! It’s on the Consent Agenda, which means we’ve done enough work over the last couple of years that passing a very progressive plan recommending all sorts of pedestrian, bike, and transit infrastructure for all sorts of neighborhoods is officially deemed not controversial enough to put on the Regular Agenda. Amazing!
- Both of those tax collection papers (ORD. 2024-081 and ORD. 2024-082) made it onto full Council’s agenda, too. For a minute there, I thought they’d only consider one of them.
Nathaniel Cline at the Virginia Mercury reports on the potential to expand the state’s Virginia Breeze intercity bus service by adding an east-west line, connecting Harrisonburg to Virginia Beach. This seems like a great idea, and I think a lot of Richmond folks would be interested in taking intercity bus service to Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, or Virginia Beach. This part confuses me though: “The Alternative 1 route plan calls for stops at Richmond International Airport and in Newport News, Williamsburg and New Kent, while Alternative 2 includes stops in Suffolk, Petersburg and Richmond’s Staples Mills area, a transportation hub which is also home to Amtrak’s most-used train station in the Southeast.” Putting Richmond’s bus stops in two locations that are incredibly hard to reach by bus—the airport and the Staples Mill train station—seems counter productive at best and, at worst, a great way to create a service that no one uses. Why not have both routes run through Main Street Station where Virginia Breeze’s Capital Connector route already stops?
The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Dave Ress reminds me that “Virginia is the only state that says restoration of voting rights to anyone with felony convictions is subject to the discretion of the governor.” Embarrassing. 39 states (78%!) allow people to vote once they complete their sentences. And with a Republican governor at the helm of the commonwealth, we’ve seen those rights restoration drop each year.
From my inbox: “Meet the new kids at Maymont!”—and by kids, they definitely mean adorable baby goats. Here’s a whole folder of cute baby goats pictures, and you can stop by the Nature Center during Spring Break (April 1st — 5th) to say hi in person.
A look back
Four years ago we still had a lot to learn about COVID-19 and hadn’t really figured out a lot of the mitigation measures we’ve got today. Here’s a very-Richmond quote from the Mayor, way back in 2020, discouraging group hangouts at the river: “If folks are at Texas Beach with a bunch of PBRs, then obviously we’re going to provide some guidance that they should disperse.” You definitely wouldn’t hear this sort of thing today—first because small outdoor hangouts at the river are a great way to help prevent the spread of respiratory disease, and, second, because access to Texas Beach is still closed while we wait for a replacement bridge.
Less local, but still a milestone to mark: Three years ago, Governor Northam signed the legislation banning capital punishment in Virginia. Also tap through that link if you want to read some very early casino coverage.
This morning's longread
Do literally anything
This is great advice for getting unstuck, and I think it’s a lot of the reason that the entire Getting Things Done system relies on breaking tasks down into their very smallest next actions. “Do taxes” is a lot more daunting than “Put all of the year-end tax papers into a pile on the kitchen table.” If I do the latter, I bet I’ll keep going and get some more done.
Sometimes, it all gets to be too much. There are too many things to do! I need to figure out where to start! I get paralyzed by the sheer enormity of it all. This has happened enough times that I know the solution: do literally anything. It doesn't matter what! Write half of an article. Categorize two expenses. Write down all your ideas for videos. Clean your office. Respond to a single email. By doing anything, I find momentum. I find motivation! I ease the heavy feeling and find my stride. The mere act of doing pushes back the tidal wave of thoughts. The problem is primarily emotional. I feel paralyzed. The solution is primarily emotional too! Just do one thing.
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Picture of the Day
Nailed it.
