Illustration by Blake Cale
Best moment for an elected official in 2022
Glenn Youngkin’s win/inauguration as governor
Ushered into office by a 2-point victory over his Democratic opponent, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin wasted no time setting the tone on inauguration day, Jan. 15, pledging to work with Democrats and smooth our bipartisan edges. Then he immediately issued 11 executive orders, starting with a ban on teaching “divisive concepts” such as critical race theory in public schools and lifting mask mandates, even as COVID-19 cases surged across the commonwealth.
2. Remaining Confederate statues coming down
3. Mayor Levar Stoney’s engagement
Worst moment for an elected official in 2022
Glenn Youngkin’s win/inauguration as governor
Cutting taxes, rolling back regulations, influencing school curricula — Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s got that George Allen swagger, complete with the cowboy boots and trademark smirk. While he might be a rising star in the national GOP, he secured a narrow victory here in Virginia, earning just 50.58% of the vote. He’ll need to win over more than a few Democrats to get anything done.
2. Youngkin’s critical race theory opposition and tip line
3. Levar Stoney being reelected as mayor
Best thing Gov. Youngkin has done so far
Nothing
Well, he did get some of his tax cuts through this year’s budget, along with a handy political cudgel thanks to Democrats booting his proposed gas tax suspension. But yeah, he’s toying in the margins so far, notching more political victories than policy wins.
2. Lifting mask mandates, particularly in schools
3. Winning the election
Worst thing Gov. Youngkin has done so far
Opposing ‘divisive concepts’ including critical race theory, setting up a teacher tip line
Youngkin’s first order of business was to ban the teaching of “inherently divisive concepts” such as critical race theory in public schools, along with a tip line to ferret out offending teachers. Too bad the governor can’t find a way to “unteach” the white supremacist tropes and Lost Cause propaganda bestowed upon schoolchildren, white and Black, since Reconstruction.
2. Winning the election
3. Lifting mask mandates, particularly in schools
Most responsive public official
U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger
Well-known for hosting frequent town hall meetings, Democratic Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger has a reputation for grassroots constituent work. “I love my job. I love the ability to go out and meet with people, listen to their challenges,” she told Richmond magazine last November. But after two terms, Spanberger’s current 7th District was redrawn earlier this year. She’s running again, but one thing is guaranteed: She’ll no longer represent voters in the Richmond suburbs.
2. Gov. Glenn Youngkin
3. Mayor Levar Stoney
Least responsive public official
Mayor Levar Stoney
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney had a rough first term, capped by the bungled Navy Hill project and the mishandling of protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Then a year after he was reelected, Stoney lost the casino referendum, which he hopes to resurrect. Next up are plans for a new ballpark, an issue that has historically been a political nonstarter. See a pattern here?
2. Gov. Glenn Youngkin
3. City Councilwoman Reva Trammell
Photo by Jay Paul
Best local news reporter
Curt Autry, NBC 12
If your job involves telling people the news, it’s been a tough few years. Autry, who is in his 28th year at NBC 12, relates how his whole household caught mild cases of COVID-19. But coming to Richmond all those years ago offered a break from demanding morning and weekend hours in Raleigh, allowing more time for his family. In 2018, the 14-time Emmy award winner started anchoring NBC 12’s 4, 5, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts. “When I started, my biggest trepidation was following [12’s longtime anchor] Gene Cox,” he says. “But my family loves Richmond, and we stayed put.”
2. Sara Bloom, NBC 12
3. Jon Burkett, CBS 6
Photo by Jay Paul
Most engaging local radio personality or duo
John Reid, WRVA
He isn’t piped in from a satellite. John Reid grew up listening to WRVA’s Alden Aaroe and John Harding. His life in news, politics and consulting took him around the globe until he returned home to Richmond in 2007. His morning talk show tackles the day’s issues. “I’ve learned that if you’re honest and true to yourself and rooted in the right values, you won’t lead people astray,” he says. “I’m gay, I’m conservative, and I’m from here.”
2. Wicker and Wilde, Mix 98.1
3. Jeff Katz, WRVA
Photo by Jay Paul
Most engaging local television personality
Andrew Freiden, NBC 12
The NBC 12 meteorologist manages to remain measured amid extreme conditions. The station’s meteorologists even text each other behind the scenes to determine how to describe impending weather events. “We have our tools,” he says, referring to weather forecast technology, “and we’re going to get through this together.” Freiden adds that the moment a broadcaster thinks they deserve the viewer’s attention, “then you’ve lost. I show up with a little bit of impostor syndrome. Every day you have to earn people’s trust.”
2. Curt Autry, NBC 12
3. Candice Smith, NBC 12
Best local media website
In today’s media landscape, an outlet’s online component must provide updates on the stories of the moment and supporting content on important issues. In NBC 12’s case, this means making its website both informative and easily navigated. “It’s an honor to be recognized for our local news coverage,” says David Hylton, digital content manager for NBC 12. “We aim to keep area residents up to date throughout the day with impactful stories in their communities.”
2. CBS 6
3. Richmond Times-Dispatch
Worst local media website
Believe us — we know it’s difficult to keep track of things when your daily business is chronicling current events. There’s plenty going on at the jumble of the richmond.com website — so much that it may cause you to squint to better parse the news, ads and videos, and that’s after the site was recently revamped. The search box is at the top by the Gothic script of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Happy hunting.
2. CBS 6
3. ABC 8
Illustration via Getty Images
Best argument for reviving the casino referendum
The revenue it will generate
Casinos aren’t exactly pillars of civic pride, but they do tend to generate enormous sums of cash. The $565 million Urban One casino project that was defeated by referendum in 2021 would have purportedly generated 1,500 jobs and kicked back $50 million annually to city coffers. How much of that would have been new revenue that doesn’t come at the expense of existing restaurants and entertainment venues — i.e., economic displacement — is largely unknown.
2. The jobs it will create
3. There isn’t a good argument; it was already defeated
Best argument against reviving the casino referendum
It was already defeated.
Richmond voters narrowly defeated the casino gaming referendum on last year’s ballot. But Mayor Levar Stoney and a majority of City Council members want to run it back, proposing to drop the real estate tax rate by 2 cents if a second referendum passes. But it’s probably too late: The recently passed state budget includes language blocking a second referendum in the city this fall.
2. The gambling addiction it will foster
3. The crime it will bring
Best local Twitter account
RVADirt (@RVADirt)
Melissa Vaughn became obsessed with Richmond City Council meetings on public TV at age 11, during the “Wild West” days of Chuck Richardson, Leonidas Young and Gwen Hedgepeth in the early ’90s. Today, she’s still at it, live-tweeting meetings with RVADirt partner Francesca Leigh-Davis. “We just get down in the trenches … talk a little trash, give our opinion on stuff,” says Vaughn, who is also president of the Virginia Center for Public Press, which runs independent radio station WRIR-FM.
2. Goad Gatsby (@GoadGatsby)
3. Andrew Freiden (@AndrewNBC12)
Best local email newsletter
As traditional media continues to retract, Ross Catrow works to fill the void with his daily aggregation of local news, Good Morning, RVA. Catrow blends a deep knowledge of environmental, health and transit issues with a reporter’s eye on local government. The result is a newsletter that’s become a must-read for roughly 5,000 subscribers. “I am almost exclusively looking for stories that interest me personally,” Catrow explains. “How the city works, how the city functions, how the city grows.”
2. The Richmond Experience
3. Tie: Richmond BizSense; Richmond magazine; RIC Today
Best local podcast
In 2015, Marc Cheatham launched a podcast focused on hip-hop and the music scene. But it didn’t stop there: Hip-hop’s long history of activism opened the podcast to local politicians and community activists — from school board members to Mayor Levar Stoney to former presidential candidate turned U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg — threading politics and culture. “It’s the community, the art, the fashion,” Cheatham says. “I look at hip-hop culture as this all-encompassing thing.”
2. “Eat It, Virginia!”
3. “Race Capitol”
Photo courtesy The Richmond Experience
Best local Instagram account
The Richmond Experience (@therichmondexperience)
Sometimes it takes fresh eyes to really see all of Richmond’s beauty. Five years after launching The Richmond Experience Instagram account, Samantha and Sean Kanipe have turned their hobby of documenting the coolest restaurants and city hot spots into a “fully operating media company,” Samantha says, with more than 200 city guides, a weekly newsletter and 3,500 paying subscribers. “The goal every day is to just uplift the community,” she says, “and really focus on local.”
2. The West End Mom (@thewestendmom)
3. Richmond Affirmations (@richmond_affirmations)
Best thing about Richmond’s growth
The growing food scene
Richmond’s reputation as a foodie destination has been building momentum for years. Named one of the top food cities in the South (Southern Living) and one of the most underrated (Huffington Post), Richmond has seen its food scene become a major tourist draw and a key driver of the city’s recent population growth. It’s also become a boon to city coffers: Over the last decade (2012-2021), meals tax revenue in Richmond has grown more than 75%.
2. Greater diversity
3. Growing economy, more jobs
Worst thing about Richmond’s growth
Traffic, lack of parking
Perhaps readers are simply frustrated with the shifting traffic patterns on Broad Street in this new rapid-transit era, or dirt bikers’ weird habit of flying down the street doing wheelies at night. But seriously, Richmond hardly has a traffic problem. Parking can be an issue, particularly in places like the Fan, but is traffic really that bad? Have you ever driven to Washington, D.C., or Hampton Roads?
2. Lack of affordable housing, rising cost of living
3. Too many people, crowding
Photo by Jay Paul
Best argument for finally giving the Richmond Flying Squirrels a new stadium
The Diamond is falling apart.
The Diamond was built in 1985, and it’s in desperate need of repairs. But few seem interested in renovating the ballpark, which isn’t old enough, or architecturally significant enough, to inspire widespread nostalgia. While political support for a new stadium has long been lukewarm, the city is now proposing a new ballpark as part of a larger mixed-use retail and entertainment project.
2. They deserve it, we deserve it, it’s time.
3. It will keep professional baseball in RVA.
