Good Morning, RVA: The weather outside is grumpy

Dum dee dummm dee dummm dee dumpy.

November 10, 2015; 7:04 AM • by Ross Catrow

Photo by: D Punch Photography

Good morning, RVA! It’s 60 °F, and the crummy weather is not quite done with us yet. Expect the clouds to continue while the teensiest chance of rain throughout the day will make cats, wicked witches, and people made of sugar nervous.

Water cooler

City Council was a doozy last night! While a significant portion of the massive agenda was deferred to a later date, stuff still happened worth knowing about. Highlights:

• Several people spoke against Bus Rapid Transit during the public comment period. The gist of their concerns was that the proposed BRT does not serve enough folks and should therefore be reevaluated and replanned. I maintain that if you want to build a functional transportation network, you need to start somewhere! The Pulse is the first step in that process.
• The real estate tax rate will stay at $1.20 instead of rolling back to $1.17. Councilman Agelasto had some concerns because he wanted Council, not the administration, to be able to specify where that extra money (about $6 million) would go. Councilman Hilbert spoke against the meddling General Assembly, who’s the entire reason localities have to consider rolling back their tax rate if assessments increase. He called the state law a “contrivance” and “offensive.”
• Councilman Baliles said he’d heard from the children’s hospital folks that very evening, who told him they would not be perusing the Boulevard as a location for a children’s hospital. This piece from Ned Oliver sure does make it seem like that entire idea is toast.

Here’s a crazy thing: a planned residential community in Hanover themed around farming. As you read more about the concept, unfortunately called Agriburbia, think about how much better off these folks are going to be come the Zombie Apocalypse. They’ve already got a built-in way to sustain their community! I wonder if it comes with a massive chain-link fence?

I really enjoyed this piece by Amanda Gibson about getting on the same financial page with your partner in life–especially her advice about having low-stress chats while walking around the neighborhood.

Well that didn’t take long: Mizzou President Tim Wolfe has resigned.

The FDA has set a recommendation on the amount of sugar you should eat in a day: 50 grams. This is about a quarter of a cup of white sugar or slightly more than what’s in a 21-oz Coke. Think about straight eating a quarter cup of sugar! That’s crazy!

Another day, another Republican debate. Only eight candidates on stage at tonight’s Fox Business Network debate, a channel that I did not know existed until right now. Things kick off at 9:00 PM (there’s a JV debate that starts at 7:00 PM), and you can stream this one online.

This morning’s longread

What’s Really Going On at Yale

Here’s some of the context you need that’s missing from well-written, well-meaning articles like this one from The Atlantic.

By now, you’ve probably seen the video of a Yale student yelling at a professor, the Facebook post about a “white girls only” party, or the email about offensive Halloween costumes. Unfortunately, the short YouTube clips and articles I’ve seen don’t even come close to painting an accurate picture of what’s happening at Yale. I’m a senior here, and I’ve experienced the controversy firsthand over the past week (and years). I want to tell a more complete story and set a few facts straight.

This morning’s Instagram

#rva #rvanews #richmond #virginia

A photo posted by Matthew Huntley (@floridaman1985) on Nov 9, 2015 at 10:13am PST

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November 10, 2015 7:04 AM 0