Good morning, RVA: Lowering speed limits, density, and the French Film Festival

I know it’s exhausting work, but I still want early-morning reporting on
important School Board meetings.

Good morning, RVA! It's 29 °F, and this morning we start to climb out of the pit of freezing-cold temperatures we’ve found ourselves in over the last couple of days. Today you can expect cloudy skies and highs in the 50s with more of the same to come—until things really start to cook on Thursday. And then, get excited, because as of right now, Friday looks dry, unseasonably warm, and maybe even an afternoon worth taking off to go ride bikes.

Water cooler

Last night, RPS’s School Board did meet and did discuss the recently released Graduation Day shooting report. I can’t find any coverage of the meeting this morning (other than this tangle of threads on RVADirt’s Twitter account), so we’ll need to wait a bit for details. But! Given the lack of late-night reporting, no spiraling threads on the /r/rva, and absolutely zero overnight messages in various group chats on my phone, I think the Superintendent remains employed by the District. That’s positive news, for sure, but I’m still going to wait on a meeting recap before I fully celebrate the Board for staying far, far away from a clear opportunity to cause chaos.

This afternoon, City Council’s Public Safety Committee will meet with one single thing on their agenda: ORD. 2023-356, which would “reduce the speed limit on Brookland Parkway between Hermitage Road and Brook Road from 35 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour.” I love this sort of paper, obviously, and am pretty sure it’ll move out of committee and on to Full Council with a recommendation to approve. This particular stretch of Brookland Parkway—despite removing a travel lane and installing a bike lane a couple years back—is still pretty swoopy and fast, and I’m not surprised residents want further traffic calming. But I’m not really sure what the infrastructure solution here is. Maybe hardening some of the intersections? That sea of pavement at Loxley Road sure doesn’t help anything. Or maybe just some stop signs?

Richmond BizSense’s Mike Platania reports that an 8-story development will most likely replace the now-shuttered Dairy Bar in Scott’s Addition. Hey, it was only a matter of time. Land in that neighborhood is just too valuable to support old, single-story restaurants (or shuffle board venues or whatever)—regardless of how iconic those spots are/were. Density and height are the name of the game, and this development is no different!

Harry Kollatz Jr. at Richmond Magazine reports that, after 30ish years, the French Film Festival has officially closed up shop. What a bummer. The French Film Festival was one of those Richmond things that punched way above its weight and, almost inexplicably, brought people from all over to Carytown for hours and hours of movie magic. I’ll miss it and now regret I didn’t make more of an effort to catch the festival’s last couple of years.

Logistical note! I’m switching email providers this week. After years and years of using Mailchimp, I’ve decided to move to something simpler and less focused on “sales funnels” and “marketing channels.” I’m just over here trying to send emails, y’all! I’m planning on making the shift Thursday morning, and the entire process should, fingers crossed, be mostly transparent to readers. With any luck you’ll get the same great zoning and rezoning content each morning, just in a slightly different package. If, after Thursday morning, you see anything weird (or just don’t get an email from me at all) please let me know! The podcast version of this email (yes, there is a podcast version that I never talk about for some reason!) remains unchanged, as does the web version (which even has an RSS feed to which you can subscribe). Also, Patreon supporters, nothing changes for you on that end of things either (although if you haven’t yet in 2024, you should definitely check to make sure your payment information is up-to-date).

This morning's longread
Air Jordan Is Finally Deflating

I am not a shoes person but am related to one, and the culture fascinates me. Here’s a look at how the meaning of Jordans (the shoes) continue to change long after Jordan (the person) has exited popular culture.

“There’s a growing dichotomy in how different generations understand the Jordan brand,” Dittrich told me. “Somebody who is 18 years old doesn’t know the brand because MJ laced up the Concord 11s when he came back to the NBA. They know the brand because Jordan shoes have recently sold out or have otherwise been very hard to buy.” In other words, young people know Jordan’s shoes. They know the formally elegant Jumpman logo. But they may not know much about the man himself. If the brand is going to capture a new generation, it will need to put out fresh products, Dittrich said: “They can’t keep leaning on the same old Jordans from the ’90s.”

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Picture of the Day

A citrus still life.