Good Morning, RVA: Hot and awesome

Two words that, if you put your mind to it, could describe your day.

September 2, 2015; 7:01 AM • by Ross Catrow

Photo by: moonlightbulb

Good morning, RVA! It’s 72 °F, and today, as far as the weather goes, you can expect more of yesterday. We’ll see some highs in the low-90s, maybe a tad more clouds than the last couple of days, and there’s a chance for a thunderstorm late tonight. Summer weather!

Water cooler

Ned Oliver is following the planning for future development in Bon Air, specifically the commercial area at the intersection of Buford and Forest Hill. Folks worry that Bon Air will turn into a Short Pump, but the plan, which you can read a draft of right here (PDF), calls for increased access for pedestrians and cyclists, reduction in sprawling surface parking, preservation of trees, and underground power lines. Dudes, this is the opposite of Short Pump!

Yesterday, I saw this tweet from Chris Bopst, one of Richmond’s musical treasures, announcing the reopening of Balliceaux. Someone needs to go back in time and tell past me how dumb I was for ever doubting that they’d reopen after closing for the summer. Live music begins tomorrow at 8:00 PM with Jessy Carolina & the Hot Mess, $5.

If you drive through VCU’s Monroe Park campus, beware! Workers are constructing two pedestrian bridges ahead of the Big Bike Race. Roads are closed, and your experience in the area may be…unpleasant.

Style Weekly has resurrected their “You Are Very Richmond If…” piece, where readers write in with witty Richmond-based inside jokes. These kinds of things usually make me sad, but there are a lot–way more than I expected–of positive, totally not sarcastic entries. This one, by Mike Dillon, made my morning: “Your Are Very Richmond If…You have a mural tattooed on your bicycle.”

We safely shot some humans into space yesterday. Always a cause for celebration.

Sports!

• Squirrels fell to Harrisburg, 0-5, last night. They’ll try again tonight at 7:00 PM.
• In a repeat of Monday’s game, the Nats lost to the Cardinals, 5-8. I wonder how often an entire series ends with the exact same score in every game? There’s a chance to make that happen tonight, the final game of the series, at 8:15 PM.

This morning’s longread

I live in Iran. Here’s how sanctions have shaped my life.

Here’s one guys experience living in Iran through war and sanctions, plus a bit of his reaction to the news that those sanctions may be on the way out.

The impact of sanctions outside my academic bubble is far worse. Vitamins have become hard to find. My mother’s supplements disappeared off the market, as did tampons and foreign-made baby formulas. We went to drugstore after drugstore across the city but were told the same thing everywhere: The item you want is no longer being imported due to sanctions. My grandfather’s German-made eye drops vanished. The Iranian ones hurt his eyes.

This morning’s Instagram

Bridge to Somewhere

A photo posted by Phill Keiper (@pdkeiper) on Sep 1, 2015 at 5:18pm PDT

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September 2, 2015 7:01 AM 0