Mapping the National Bridge Inventory (Credit: Jonah Adkins)

CITY OF RICHMOND

Richmond City Council delays action on document-posting measure

The Richmond City Council on Monday night decided to delay action on a measure that would require city officials to post documents and contracts for costly city projects on a centralized website. The council unanimously voted to take the matter up again on June 27 following further discussion and research after some city officials initially balked because of the estimated cost. Councilman Parker C. Agelasto, who sponsored the measure, participated in the meeting via telephone from Florida.

Richmond payment to Redskins climbs to $360K going into fourth year of training camp

Three years after the Washington Redskins started holding summer training camp in Richmond, the amount of money the city has been required to pay the franchise annually as part of the deal that brought the team here continues to climb. The city’s Economic Development Authority, which manages the camp, this week drafted a $360,694 check to the team — $75,000 more than last year, despite efforts by city officials to push the number down by securing additional sponsorships. Authority officials also said they’re abandoning efforts to lease out empty space on the second floor of the building constructed at the camp, saying the rent they were asking proved unrealistic. Instead they plan to build it out as an event space.

Reinventing Broad: The Heart of Downtown Richmond is Changing Again

Richard A. Waller Jr. is a watchmaker and jeweler like his father, his uncles and his grandfather before him. His son, the third in the family to carry the name, works beside him at Waller & Co. Jewelers at 19 E. Broad St. Waller greets customers from the working side of a solid wooden showcase with a life spanning more than nine decades. He recalls wiping down the glass when he was just old enough to pitch in around the shop. On a nearby wall, customers can get a glimpse of family lore through black and white portraits of his father and grandfather. Above them is a painting of himself in 1980, working dexterously at his bench. It’s a snapshot in time of the 78-year-old when he had jet-black hair.

CHESTERFIELD

Supervisors grapple with schools budget deficit

The General Assembly wasn’t quite as generous as members of the county’s School Board had hoped it would be. Will the Board of Supervisors pick up the slack? Several citizens asked the board to do just that last week at a public hearing on the county’s fiscal year 2017 budget, imploring the five supervisors to fully fund a schools budget that remains nearly $800,000 in the red. “It is unwise to listen to anyone who speaks against approving the school budget,” said county resident Ray Richardson, one of 23 citizens who spoke at the public hearing. “A quality educational system stabilizes and enhances communities. It’s an investment in Virginia and in the United States.”

New proffer law could undercut school revitalization
New state legislation potentially could create a $2.9 million hole in the local school system’s seven-year plan to revitalize several of its most aging facilities. Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed a bill into law earlier this month that will make it much more difficult – if not impossible, in many cases – for Virginia localities to collect cash proffers from real estate developers. The governor’s action was a significant victory for the homebuilding industry, which vigorously lobbied members of the General Assembly and argued that some local governments had used the proffer system to effectively extort millions of dollars from developers.

HANOVER

Refunding education – how Hanover looks to ensure schooling results

If a Hanover County Public Schools (HCPS) student doesn’t demonstrate knowledge of computation, communication and career skills in their post-secondary education or career, their employer or secondary school institution can demand a refund. Since about 1990, the school division has implemented its graduate warranty program where a refund would come in the form of paid-for remediation. The policy states that an employer can contact Hanover schools if they hire a graduate (within the past two years) who does not “demonstrate competence” in the aforementioned skills to include writing, adding and subtracting. When students graduate, they receive two certificates—one that the student could give to an employer and another would go to  the post-secondary education institution, depending on their chosen career path.

State budget puts more money into Hanover’s spending pocket

The 2016 Virginia General Assembly session wrapped up a few weeks ago and now Hanover has been reviewing how Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s budget will impact the county’s spending plan. Kathy Seay, finance director, presented the Board of Supervisors with some good news at its March 22 meeting—$463,000 more will go toward Hanover’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget. Of that funding, a large portion will support Hanover County Public Schools. The proposed budget now totals $428.1 million. The General Assembly approved $418,000 that will be included in the education budget to fund an additional position in HCPS’ school technology department. Seay said the money will also assist the schools in adding some flexibility for staffing adjustments due to changes in student enrollment.

One proposed high-speed rail option leaves residents in Hanover uncertain

On the front steps of a house nestled in the back corner of a 90-acre farm her family tilled for generations, Michelle Tobin told of the sweat that was spilled to build the Hanover County home she said she never would leave. She and her husband pictured raising their family in a rural setting, with plenty of open space and woods to explore, Tobin said, as the family dog, a Shih Tzu named Thumper, scampered nearby. So they found a company in Montana that harvests dead pine trees, and with help from family and friends designed and constructed the log home where they’ve lived for the past 12 years. Tobin’s sons, ages 10 and 11, ride four-wheelers, play along the creek, and have picked the land where they plan to build their houses.

POWHATAN

Board advertises 90-cent tax rate

The Powhatan County Board of Supervisors last week voted three-two in favor of advertising a proposed 2016-2017 real estate tax rate at 90 cents, giving the five board members room to decide on a course of action as they discuss and gather more information about the proposed county’s budget and capital improvement program needs. The board voted toward the end of its workshop on Monday, March 21 to advertise the proposed rate at 90 cents in time for a public hearing to be held during a 6 p.m. meeting on Monday, May 2 in the Village Building. This is the same night the board will approve the final rate.

Powhatan County educators prepare to adjust

Behind all of the jubilation within Powhatan County Public Schools at getting the green light to move ahead with plans to renovate and rebuild the outdated Powhatan Junior High School, a great deal of hard work and some tough decisions have gone into making the change a reality. School district staff members have been working hard to balance the tasks involved in closing a school, redistributing teachers and students from being situated in six locations down to five, and undertaking the actual building project, Dr. Eric Jones, superintendent, said. The county is in for an unusual time ahead, and there will be some real challenges that come with such a big change, he said.

School board presents $45.8M budget

The Powhatan County School Board presented its almost $45.8 million proposed budget for the 2016-2017 school year to the Powhatan County Board of Supervisors last week a day after the school members passed it unanimously in their own meeting with minimal dissension. The two boards met in a joint meeting on Wednesday, March 23, with the bulk of the meeting focused on laying out the school district’s achievements, the figures for the new school year and where the extra money would be spent in the proposed budget. Dr. Eric Jones, superintendent, presented the budget and talked about the details of what school staff are proposing and the school board agreed to support at its meeting on March 22.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Ware will head group working on broadband expansion

Del. Lee Ware, R-65, of Powhatan has been named chairman of the Virginia Wireless Infrastructure Work Group, a panel formed to lead the General Assembly in identifying ways to expand broadband service in rural areas of the Commonwealth. “In Powhatan, Goochland and Fluvanna in my district, the need for high-speed Internet and broadband services has become in many instances critical,” Ware said. “The same is true in many other rural counties of the Commonwealth, so our group will meet with industry and governmental officials and all other stakeholders to propose the best possible solution for a cooperative approach between private business and our state government.”

NATIONAL

Mapping the sorry state of America’s bridges
About 10 percent of America’s 600,000 bridges are structurally deficient, requiring “significant maintenance, rehabilitation or replacement,” according to a 2013 report by Transportation for America. Many of them have exceeded their intended lifespan by more than a decade, and yet Americans continue to use them, taking 260 million trips over deficient bridges on a daily basis. Alarming stuff, especially now that the cartographer and GIS consultant Jonah Adkins offers us a new opportunity to stare down this data on a map. In the new dot map Bridges of America, Adkins lays out the sorry facts of the Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory, which accounts for data on bridge type, structural conditions, average daily traffic, and more, going back to 1992. You can zoom and explore the country’s bridgespans and viaducts by their daily traffic count or by their condition: “Ok,” “Structurally Deficient,” or “Functionally Obsolete.”

Welcome to the next housing crisis: chronic undersupply of homes for a growing country

A decade after the collapse of the housing market set into motion a series of events that brought the national economy to its knees, the country is mire in another housing crisis. We’re out of the frying pan of speculative excess and into a subtler and more insidious problem of chronic undersupply. A country that’s always prided itself on open spaces, abundant housing, and ample opportunity now has too few homes and is building too few to keep up with its needs. That’s the bad news. The good news is that unlocking the stuck glue of housing supply would solve multiple economic problems at once. Most obviously, people could have more and better places to live. But beyond that, a surge in housing building would  also be the jobs engine the country needs – decently paying blue-collar work that isn’t going to be outsourced to China.

ELECTIONS

Wilder summons packed field of Richmond mayoral hopefuls to debate

You never know what L. Douglas Wilder might do. In 2012, the man who became Virginia’s first black governor abruptly declined to support President Barack Obama for re-election. As Richmond’s mayor, elected as a healer and doer, he kicked the school system out of City Hall in 2007. All the while, he pushed an image of being a visionary and builder. Now he’s holding a forum for mayoral candidates next week at Virginia Union University, as first reported by Richmond magazine. About 10 declared and undeclared candidates say they’ll attend. Wilder’s gambit seems odd because the forum is April 6 — weeks before candidates must formally file to run, June 14.

Morrissey officially announces Richmond mayoral bid

Criticizing city administration and saying his campaign will focus on education and school infrastructure, former state delegate and Commonwealth’s Attorney Joseph D. Morrissey announced his candidacy for Richmond mayor Thursday. The announcement, which was held at the Satellite Restaurant on Jefferson Davis Highway, was briefly canceled following the shootings at the Greyhound station in Richmond. But the announcement was eventually held 30 minutes after it was originally scheduled. Morrissey began by offering thoughts and prayers for the first responders and victims, according to a spokeswoman, Debbie Repp, who said about 250 people attended the announcement.

Mayoral prospects getting in, out of election race

Richmond School Board Chairman Jeff Bourne this week dropped out of the race for mayor before the contest even began. After several months of considering a run, Mr. Bourne said Tuesday he decided that the time was not right for him and his family to get “involved in the kind of campaign that would be required.” Also shouldering the responsibilities of his job as a Virginia deputy attorney general, Mr. Bourne said his wife and two young children “come first with me.” He said he didn’t believe he could make the time commitment needed to run for mayor. He said he is still mulling whether to seek re-election to the 3rd District seat on the School Board or whether to run for the 3rd District City Council seat that Councilman Chris A. Hilbert would vacate to run for mayor.