Good morning, RVA: Budget amendments, Ballpark financing, and baseball returns Ross Catrow

Good morning, RVA! It's 58 °F, and today looks cloudy but with amazing highs right around 80 °F. You can expect cooler temperatures over the next couple of days—with each a little cooler than the last—but nothing that’ll make you break out your big shirts and wool socks. I think we did it! We finally turned the corner, and spring is here to stay!

Water cooler

In accordance with the timeline set out by state law, the Governor has “completed action” on all 1,046 pieces of legislation the General Assembly sent his way. Head over to the State’s legislative website to find the full list of bills he signed, amended, and vetoed.

The budget sits in that middle bucket of amended bills, and Graham Moomaw, Charlie Paullin, and Nathaniel Cline at the Virginia Mercury report that Governor Youngkin has sent the budget back with 233 suggested amendments. That’s a lot of amendments, and I have no idea how successful the General Assembly will be in sorting them all out. Are they designed like dominoes, where if the GA rejects one amendment the rest of them cascade into dust? Is the budget still even balanced? I guess we’ll find out in the coming weeks; legislators return to Richmond on April 17th.

Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense has the follow up reporting on yesterday’s news about the City rejiggering its financing plans for the new baseball stadium development. Spiers says, “Council members expressed support for the plan to have the city issue its own lower-interest revenue bonds to fund the project’s anchor ballpark for the Richmond Flying Squirrels and initial infrastructure improvements. Doing so is expected to save $215 million in debt costs over the previous plan to issue the bonds through a community development authority (CDA).” I really like this straightforward quote from the City’s DCAO Sharon Ebert (who oversees things like Economic and Community Development, Housing, and Community Wealth Building): “This is much more cost-effective...There is risk; I don’t want to say that there isn’t any risk. Taking this approach does require the city to put its full faith and credit behind the bond if the tax revenues don’t materialize as expected.” Yes! Just say the thing and let the argument for the new financial arrangement stand on its own.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Anna Bryson reports that the RPS School Board voted to approve an extended school year for Woodville Elementary. Woodville will join Fairfield Court Elementary and Cardinal Elementary as the third school in the District with a 200-day school calendar. Superintendent Kamras mentioned this in his excellent budget presentation the other day, and Bryson says the longer calendars have already led to better outcomes: “The two schools that implemented an extended school year in 2023 have already seen improved outcomes, including lowering the rate of chronic absenteeism, which means missing more than 10% of the school year.” I think we’ll have more data on this in a couple of years, but I could definitely see all RPS elementary schools head to the longer calendar—assuming, of course, that the school district can find the funds to cover the additional costs.

The Richmond Flying Squirrels face the Akron RubberDucks in their home opener tonight at 6:35 PM, and you really couldn’t ask for better weather. Unfortunately, I think tonight’s game is sold out (either that or I couldn’t figure out their website). But! Consider this a reminder to Future You to both put an upcoming home game on your calendar and to not freak out when you hear fireworks coming from the Diamond this evening.

A look back

Four years ago this week, City Council passed the legislation required for them to move to fully virtual public meetings and public comment. Since then, Council has returned to their chambers but much of the virtual infrastructure set up during the pandemic remains, and that’s great! A lot more than respiratory disease keeps folks from participating in Council meetings—mostly stuff like families, dinner, work, school, and just being freaking tired.

However, I think we still have a lot of work ahead of us to ensure residents stay informed and aware of what their government’s getting up to. Here’s what I wrote back in 2020:

The real, hard work for Council remains, though, and that’s making sure their constituents know what legislation is coming up when. They’ll need to dig deep into their community contacts and look beyond their district email list! It’s no joke a lot of work, but I believe it’s possible to keep people involved—maybe even more so than in pre-virustime!

Council’s email newsletter game certainly has gotten a lot better over the last four years, but there’s still work to be done to keep/get people involved!

Also, remember when sports got cancelled, and, for like a week, we all discovered marble league? It still exists!

This morning's longread

Life Aboard a Nuclear Submarine as the US Responds to Threats Around the Globe

Mostly I want to avoid posting military propaganda, which this totally is, but I grew up with The Hunt for Red October and, in the teenage-boy parts of my brain, submarines are the coolest. Just know going in that the Navy doesn’t grant Vanity Fair access to their nuclear submarines for no reason, and you should keep your propaganda detector at defcon four or on red alert or one ping only or whatever.

But I am hard-pressed to think of another mission as daunting as testing a teenager's mettle underwater with a nuclear reactor in back and thermonuclear warheads in front. Beyond their duties, the Gen Z'ers--and the millennials who supervise them--must contend with a life that is practically monastic. They are completely removed from meaningful connectivity, including social media. Their only contact with the outside world involves infrequent (and heavily monitored) emails with family when the sub is at a depth and a posture that permit it. There is also little privacy beyond the confines of a draped bunk that can feel like a coffin. Deprived of many other creature comforts, sailors can avail themselves of exercise gear, which is spread around the boat, including treadmills and free weights--but not when the sub is running silent so as to evade detection.

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Picture of the Day

The stream restoration in Pine Camp is going so well. I’m super impressed at how they’ve turned a very dangerous pit of erosion into something that still looks like a fun place to explore hidden away in the forest.