Good morning, RVA: An apology, two big projects, and two transit meetings

I joke on it, but I think I’d be pretty stoked to ceremonially lift dirt
out of a box for a big project.

Good morning, RVA! It's already 62 °F, and things will get even warmer as the day moves on. You can expect highs right around 70 °F and a pretty decent chance of rain starting some time after lunch and ending before the late night. It’s eerily warm, y’all—23 degrees above the average daily high warm. Ominously warm, maybe. Anyway, I’m gonna pretend like it’s not super concerning and, instead, try and find some time to walk around the neighborhood before the rain really moves in.

Water cooler

On Tuesday, I complained about the lack of School Board coverage from our local media outlets and made a salty comment or two about it. Well, I owe both Anna Bryson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Tyler Layne at WTVR (and maybe others!) an apology. Both of them endured a long Board meeting, put together a late-night report, and were awake well after I went to bed. I can’t find timestamps on the RTD’s website, but Lane’s article went up at 11:40 PM and was last edited at 12:30 AM on Tuesday morning. I don’t know how I missed both of these, but I did and that’s on me! Aside from me screwing up, one interesting thing mentioned in both of these reports is that 2nd District Boardmember Mariah White voted against two motions made by 3rd District’s Kenya Gibson. In the past, these two have mostly voted together and mostly against whatever thing the Superintendent is trying to do. This possible shift in alliance is something to keep an eye on as the Board has some important budget votes coming up in a couple of weeks and still lacks a ninth member.

Eric Kolenich at the RTD reports on VCU’s planned Athletic Village and maybe paints a slightly different picture than the one I had in my mind. I thought that the City’s delay in buying Sports Backers Stadium would not impact the construction of the Athletic Village’s first phase. Kolenich reports, though, that while some demolition can move forward, the money from the Sports Backer Stadium deal “represents a significant chunk of the funds needed to pay for the new track and field stadium.” What a complicated set of financial dominoes. I’m pretty sure they will all fall at some point, but I’m not sure anyone knows when or how fast.

In other Big Project news, Richmond BizSense’s Jonathan Spiers reports that construction on the riverfront amphitheater has officially started with the Ceremonial Tossing of Dirt by Famous People. I like how they call this sort of thing a “groundbreaking ceremony,” but the Famous People don’t even break the ground with their ceremonial shovels! They just lift pre-prepared dirt out of a box. Spiers says the venue should “open in time for the 2025 summer concert season” and Axios Richmond’s Sabrina Moreno jokes on the amphitheater’s new, very straightforward name.

This afternoon, from 12:00–1:00 PM, you can join RVA Rapid Transit for one of their virtual Transit Talks. Pop in and learn how to use the wonderful Transit app, which is now GRTC’s actual and official app—plus meet a special special guest from the company who makes the app. So cool! Seriously, if you’re not using Transit to plan your trips and get around on Richmond’s bus system, you’re really missing out. It’s one of the best designed apps I use regularly—transportation-related or otherwise!

Also transit (with a small t) related: Tonight at 5:30 PM at the Main Library (101 E. Franklin Street), GRTC will host a public meeting to “discuss potential locations and amenities for a permanent Downtown Transfer Hub.” I’m previously on record—many, many times—as being against any sort of permanent transfer station at all. Back in 2018, Richmond redesigned its entire bus system, and one of the big changes was the addition of a handful of fast, frequent through routes that you could ride all the way from one side of town to the other without needing to transfer. With a new system focused specifically on not transferring, building an entire concrete-and-glass structure so folks could...transfer...seemed like a waste of time, energy, and resources. In the years since, though, GRTC has clipped one of the through routes, forcing a transfer, and sent a bunch of other routes off of Broad Street and over to their (thankfully much improved) Downtown Transfer Plaza. Is this good or bad? I don’t know anymore, but it is true. All of that say, GRTC seems destined (or determined) to build a permanent structure where folks go to transfer between buses, and, if that’s the case, we should probably care a lot about where that building ends up as it will impact a ton of how transit works downtown and systemwide. You can RSVP for tonight’s meeting using this form.

This morning's longread
4,000 of my closest friends

I loved this comic about an artist who had their work sucked up by generative AI and why, after a career of hard work, that makes them furious.

On being listed in the court document of artists whose work was used to train Midjourney with 4,000 of my closest friends and Willem De Kooning. I didn’t expect to be there. I’m small time. In 1999 I drew two cartoon characters. I made them a webpage and some people liked it. For about ten years I scraped together a meager living making work I thought was worthwhile in that way that only young people think their work is worthwhile. Now I have a job. If you can reach any kind of financial equilibrium, it’s tempting to look back on your time with no money as a funny story. I need it to be a funny story. Because it was hard. At times, so hard.

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Picture of the Day

Definitely more fun than I’ve ever had in an elevator.