Good morning, RVA: Anti-density ordinance, homeless services, and pizza

Good morning, RVA! It’s 51 °F, and you can expect highs in the 60s and a persistent chance of rain throughout the day. More of the same tomorrow.

Water cooler

City Council will meet today at 6:00 PM for their regularly scheduled meeting, and you can download the lengthy agenda here(PDF). Tonight, they’ll consider ORD. 2019–328, a special use permit that would allow the Salvation Army to repurpose a building at 1900 Chamberlayne Parkway for a 100-bed homeless shelter (and also provide a bunch of wrap-around services). I think that’s great, and Kelly King Horne, the executive director of Homeward, who would know better than probably anyone in the entire region, says that the new facility completely aligns (PDF) with the City’s homeless services strategies. 3rd District Councilmember Hilbert, however, has been vocally opposed to the project, yet will “recuse himself” from tonight’s vote, says Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch. In my opinion, this is a great location, adjacent to frequent transit, and I hope Council passes ORD. 2019–328 tonight (as of this moment it sits on the Consent Agenda). Also on tonight’s agenda is ORD. 2019–352 (PDF), Councilmember Gray’s anti-density ordinance which not only prevents new some housing in the City (most of it near transit and bike infrastructure!) but runs counter to the vibe of the City’s ongoing master planning process. I’ve been writing about this particular issue since back in June when it was RES. 2019-R025, and, seven months later, it’s still a bad idea. Richmond needs more, denser housing and we should not prevent that across the City because one Councilmember wants to prevent one specific development on Monument Avenue. Take a minute to read Doug Allen’s thread on Twitter for a few great talking points on why this ordinance takes Richmond in the wrong direction, and then take another minute to email your City Council rep saying as much.

Ned Oliver at the Virginia Mercury writes about the Equal Rights Amendment’s journey though the General Assembly and its New Democratic Majority. Oliver says we could see a vote on the ERA in the Senate as soon as this Wednesday, and, assuming it passes, it’ll head over to the House of Delegates. After that it goes to the Archivist of the United States, and then…who knows! Honestly, “who knows!” probably means “interminable court battle,” but still, Virginia will make history on this one—and soon!

I’m having a hard time grokking the education portion of the Governor’s proposed budget, and, despite Justin Mattingly’s help outlining Northam’s new spending 💸, I’m still a bit lost. As I understand it—and this may be false, so beware—the State Board of Education asked for a billion dollars in new money and there’s an additional need for about $800 million to “rebenchmark” the Commonwealth’s budget to account for new students, inflation, and other boring stuff. $1 billion + $800 million = $1.8 billion, yet the Governor only proposes to spend $1.2 billion. $1.2 billion < $1.8 billion. What gives?

Colleen Curran in the Richmond Times-Dispatch has an interesting but kind of airing-of-dirty-laundry piece about the Byrd Theatre, which just fired their long-time manager. I’ve got less than zero thoughts on movie theater personnel issues, but I’m not super worried about the future of the Byrd.

You know that I’m extremely excited for Cobra Cabana’s new pizza venture called Hot for Pizza. Here’s what they’re shooting for: “a killer restaurant and good-ass pizza, but they also have a cool bar.” This sounds absolutely perfect.

Here’s an important reminder if you plan on spending any time Downtown today: The Senate’s Judiciary Committee will consider a handful of gun safety laws, and that will probably draw a bunch of people to the Capitol, bristling with longarms and handguns gleefully intent on intimidating the rest of us as we try and go about our lives. I even got an email from the VCU Police this morning alerting/warning me about “individuals carrying approved firearms.” I’ll tell you what, I’ve never gotten an email warning me about folks working on, say, transportation or education issues. 🤔

This morning’s longread

‘No tricks. No mantras. I just want to learn how to do nothing’: my quest to stay still

I loved this piece! It’s kind of related to the “productivity is ruining my life” thing from a couple weeks back. Sometimes you can just do nothing, and that’s fine!

I have always found the late December void we are currently enduring to be discombobulating and stressful. I’m neither at work nor am I on holiday. I am supposed to just relax and do nothing. It sounds nice in theory, but by midday on 28 December, usually while watching Mrs Doubtfire on Channel 5, I tend to slip into an existential crisis. When my wife and kids are out of the house, and I have no pressing work deadlines, I become anxious: the nagging thought that I really should be doing something productive but can’t think what, the pressure to absorb myself in something genuinely relaxing. I start half-watching a documentary about veganism on Netflix, while idly scrolling Twitter on my phone and, with my other hand, inexplicably researching the 1980s band DeBarge on Wikipedia on my laptop. Eventually, I go upstairs to lie silently on my bed, having a small panic attack.

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