Good Morning, RVA: Recyclables! City money! More mowing! Wayfinders! River safety!

Beautiful gin-and-tonic weather on tap for today and most of this weekend.

May 27, 2016; 7:16 AM • by Ross Catrow

Photo by: m01229

Good morning, RVA! It’s 70 °F already, and that sounds fantastic. Later this afternoon, however, there is a teeny, tiny chance of rain–but I don’t think it’s enough to spoil anyone’s day. Other than that, just plenty of sun and highs in the upper-80s.

Water cooler

OK people, make sure you’re sitting down, because I have big news: At some point in the very near future (most likely July 1st) we will be able to recycle all plastics #1-7, not just dumb ol’ #1 and #2. But! Before you rush out and start digging through your super can (or your old bin) you need to know that the boring business details behind all of this are still being worked out, so nothing is official yet. Theoretically your hopes and dreams of recycling the prolific #5s in your life could be crushed like so many Miller High Lifes. Don’t worry, we’ll let you know once all of the Is and Ts have been dotted and crossed.

You may have seen this headline from NBC12 floating around yesterday: “Report: $28.6 million missing from Richmond finances.” Ned Oliver was at last night’s Governmental Operations Standing Committee meeting–because he’s simultaneously at all public meetings at all times–and councilfolk brought up this report to the Administration. Selena Cuffee-Glen responded strong, and Oliver levies this sick reporter burn: “[NBC12] did not have a reporter at Thursday’s council committee meeting.” So. Is it possible that the City lost $30 million in our collective couch cushions? Before Selena got here, I would have said ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, but now, I’m pretty sure that if this were the case she would just straight up say “We are $30 million short due to XYZ reasons.” Unfortunately the damage has been done, and for the next several months you’ll hear folks talking about how the City lost millions of dollars and that’s why the grass is so long and why there is no new baseball stadium and why the Sixth Street Marketplace failed.

Mowing update! The Sheriff has announced a partnership with the City to get non-violent residents from the Richmond Justice Center to “focus on the beautification of public owned City parks” aka help cut the grass. Keep in mind that these folks must be compensated for their work, so it’s still a cost for the City…kind of. Ned Oliver will tell you what that cost is.

I will link to anything that’s a How to Win Friends and Influence People joke.

Call me old-fashioned, but a “175-foot long ‘lazy river’” is not something I’m looking for out of the new–and totally theoretical at this point–ballpark.

So, what do the colors on the new wayfinding signs mean? I’ve been wondering for months! Mike MacKenzie finally tells me.

The beautiful weather this weekend will have folks flocking to the river as if called by some sort of Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? river Sirens. If you feel the irresistible call, please, please keep in mind these Dos and Donts. Also keep in mind the actual river: it’s current stage is over five feet and will probably remain so throughout the weekend. This means you must have a life jacket to even get in the river, but maybe just don’t get in at all?

Sports!

• That’s three straight wins for the Squirrels, plus they took the series against Binghamton! They start a series at Erie tonight and won’t return home until Tuesday.
• Kickers host FC Montreal tomorrow at 7:00 PM. Get your tickets online.
• Nats picked up their first win in the series against the Cardinals, 2-1. They’ll continue tonight at 7:05 PM.

This morning’s longread

Crying

What would happen if you logged every time you cried for an entire year? This is amazing.

I’ve always considered myself to be a bit of a crybaby, triggered frequently and privately and sometimes for hardly any reason at all. I’ve also always considered myself to be a fairly strong person, stable and resilient and able to work through challenging situations. I found it difficult to reconcile that part of myself with my overwhelming sensitivity, and I wondered about the exact nature of the things that were capable of pushing me over the edge. Naturally, I turned to spreadsheets to help me find the answers to my curiosities.

This morning’s Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/BF2pkuAFI_J/

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May 27, 2016 7:16 AM 1