Good Morning, RVA: It’s BRT time!
Council meets tonight to decide the future of Richmond’s Bus Rapid Transit plan.
Photo by: Payton Chung
Good morning, RVA! It’s 35 °F. From the 7-day forecast, this week looks about like a week of winter should: cold with a couple of chances of snow. Today’s highs of around 50 °F are the warmest we’ll see for the foreseeable future, and this afternoon clouds will roll in bringing with them the possibility of some evening rain.
Water cooler
The time has come! Tonight, City Council will vote on ORD. 2015-263 (PDF), the Bus Rapid Transit development agreement between the City, GRTC, Henrico County, VDOT, and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transit. This is the vote on Richmond’s Bus Rapid Transit plan (here are a ton of BRT articles if you’re late to the party). A yes vote and we move forward towards construction; a no vote–or a vote to delay–sends the project spinning off into a fog of unknowns, jeopardizing RVA’s first real step towards modernizing its transportation in decades. Council meets tonight at 6:00 PM, consider rolling by to show your support (or opposition, I suppose) of this critical piece of Richmond’s future. Or, if you’re on the fence and don’t want to read through a dozen articles, maybe just read this editorial in the RTD by Rachel Burgess.
There’s a ton of other stuff on the City Council agenda (PDF), and we’ll have a full rundown later this afternoon. And don’t forget! Richmond’s School Board will meet tonight to choose the replacement for now-senator Glen Sturtevant. Big doings in local government this week!
Speaking of local government, is Doug Wilder really planning on running for mayor again? In this scathing editorial about Mayor Jones in the RTD, the former mayor certainly spends a whole heckuva lot of time recounting all of his previous mayoral achievements.
Worried about the lead levels in your pipes? The Richmond Free Press asked the Richmond Health District and the Department of Public Utilities about RVA’s pipes, and it turns out we should be way more worried about all the lead paint floating around.
Remember! Today is the last day to register to vote in the 2016 presidential primaries. Hit the State Board of Election’s website to check your voter registration status and get thee to a registry.
There were many commercials last night, but only one local commercial featuring Iron Mike Tyson. Plus you’ll want to watch this new video from Beyoncé that she teased in the halftime show.
Sports!
Denver beat Carolina in Super Bowl 50, 24-10.
- Rams couldn’t get a last-second layup to go and lost 72-69 to George Washington, ending their 12-game win streak.
- Spiders beat Massachusetts, 69-53.
- #9 Wahoos downed Pitt 64-50.
- Hokies held on to beat Clemson, 60-57, and picked up their fifth ACC win.
This morning’s longread
Marquette King Is the N.F.L.’s Only Black Punter. How Come?
Your post-Super Bowl reminder that the NFL is a strange place.
“A black punter?! It’s a fake! It’s a fake!”
The opposing players, equally eager to impress their coaches by seeming on top of every nuance of the game, scrambled into new positions, King told me, guarding against the possibility that this black guy, inexplicably lined up at the whitest of N.F.L. positions, was really some backup quarterback or receiver–a speedster who would fake a kick and instead run for the first down, catching their whole defense unaware. Clearly some trickery was afoot.
This morning’s Instagram
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Ross Catrow
Founder and publisher of RVANews.
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