Good morning, RVA: The future of the paper, a Diamond District meeting, and gun buybacks

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Good morning, RVA! It's 70 °F, and today looks hot and humid. We've also got a distinct possibility for some thunderstorms later this afternoon, too, but nothing certain yet. Stay hydrated, stay dry, and we'll get back to better weather soon, I'm sure!

Water cooler

Right on the heels of the Richmond Times-Dispatch announcing their new president and publisher, Style Weekly has a long piece by Rich Griset about how the RTD has absolutely hemorrhaged staff over the last couple of years. Griset talks to a bunch of former and current staff, and none of what they have to say sounds good. Like this quote: "It all feels like a death...It all feels like we’re mourning the loss of this institution, because we don’t see how it will continue to exist." Tap through to read about the recent layoffs; the current, and what sounds like, incredibly negative work enviornment; and the uncertain future of our one and only local paper. Not great, and you should prepare to be bummed. This is another reminder to financially support our local journalists however you can by subscribing, donating, joining, patreoning, or participating in whatever other business models are out there! If you read a thing and love it, please consider supporting it with actual money!

The City will host a Diamond District public meeting tonight at 6:00 PM in the Bon Secours Training Center (2401 W. Leigh Street). The agenda—which you can find along with a bunch of other Diamond District information on the City's website—is pretty straight forward: Taking a look at some public-private partnership case studies and explaining the details/next steps of the Request for Offers. While we're talking Diamond District, I think you should read through each of the 1-page pitch sheets from the three remaining developers (Richmond Community Development Partners, RVA Diamond Partners, and Vision300) and think excited thoughts about how much better moving through that part of town could get. Also, you can submit any questions or comments—any at all!—to the evaluation panel and they'll be "reviewed every other week and distributed to the Evaluation Panel during the evaluation process." So if you're wondering, just as an example, how the Diamond District will improve bike and pedestrian connections to Brookland Parkway via the terrifying and horrible I-95 overpass, this is an opportunity to ask!

NBC12'S Henry Graff reports that the City will launch a $500,000 gun buyback program this summer. This is news to me, and I'm super interested to see how it works out. Who's got the best longread about gun buyback programs so I can learn more about best practices and success rates?

Megan Pauly at VPM has an update on rebuilding Fox Elementary after it burned down earlier this year. The RPS School Board voted to move forward with a rapid, emergency procurement process, which Pauly contrasts to the forever-long process we just went through with replacing George Wythe High School. I don't think that's necessary a fair comparison—Fox did burn down and RPS is trying to preserve what remains of the building before it crumbles into dust—but I do think it's important to interrogate these sorts of things when dealing with an affluent, well-resource school in a District where that is typically not the case.

The Richmond Public Library, the City's Department of Public Utilities, Four Winds Design, and the James River Association, have wrapped up some really nice green infrastructure projects at the Broad Rock, North Avenue, and West End libraries. You should check out the before and after pics, they're great! I watched the plans for these projects work their way through Planning Commission and the Urban Design Committee for what felt like forever, so congratulations to everyone involved for finally getting everything on (and in) the ground. Next up: The East End Library! Head on over to the James River Association's website for more information on how to get involved (there's a survey to fill out and a public meeting on June 15th).

This morning's longread
And We Are Not Saved

I've been thinking about this essay for days, so now you get to think about it, too. Be warned: 1) It's about guns, so if you're tired of hearing about gun violence in America, skip it, and 2) The author questions the motives behind a lot of our gun-safety advocacy organizations, and that feels stressful? offensive? in this moment. But, like I said, I'm still thinking about it days later and think it's definitely worth your time.

Unlike many other causes that people are fighting for in America, the struggle for a saner set of gun laws has no diversity of tactics. It’s a monoculture, one that’s gotten very good at converting outrage into requests for money that keep organizations going while the problem they claim to be solving gets worse. And yet, like the other parts of the gun crisis cycle, nothing in the advocacy space changes. Why? We should look hard at this question, because when change organizations keep making promises and failing to deliver, they add to the cynicism that already permeates our society, that it’s not worth trying to push for anything because nothing will change.

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