Gwen Otwell
@onetofu.bsky.social
@Richmondforall treasurer & comms
This machine kills the vibe
This machine kills the vibe
Oh my bad. You have been writing on this a ton. Ty & subscribing
November 25, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Oh my bad. You have been writing on this a ton. Ty & subscribing
Here's the email. Basically, I was asking if the city was evaluating neighborhoods for potential upzoning using the same criteria it uses in the SUP process. SUPs get a bad rep but theoretically they exists to make sure development doesn't disrupt the whole neighborhood or harm residents.
November 25, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Here's the email. Basically, I was asking if the city was evaluating neighborhoods for potential upzoning using the same criteria it uses in the SUP process. SUPs get a bad rep but theoretically they exists to make sure development doesn't disrupt the whole neighborhood or harm residents.
I was told to send follow up questions to the r300 email and the address of a project manager w/ Brick and Story (planning group the city had contracted). Had to follow up a couple times and then randomly got an email directly from Brian Mercer's city email w/o the original email thread included.
November 25, 2025 at 4:21 PM
I was told to send follow up questions to the r300 email and the address of a project manager w/ Brick and Story (planning group the city had contracted). Had to follow up a couple times and then randomly got an email directly from Brian Mercer's city email w/o the original email thread included.
Im also in HP and if they have a single one of these after taking all our stoplights away I'm going to be furious
November 25, 2025 at 2:39 AM
Im also in HP and if they have a single one of these after taking all our stoplights away I'm going to be furious
Hate that the only implausible part of this is that anyone is flexible enough for the Roomba sensor to pick this up
November 25, 2025 at 2:37 AM
Hate that the only implausible part of this is that anyone is flexible enough for the Roomba sensor to pick this up
Yeah, and actually looking at this I'm not sure if this is a renewal of the existing contract and not an additional purchase before the terms of the first ended. Like I'm not sure how much of that cost is the sensors themselves vs whatever recurring costs there are to operate them.
November 25, 2025 at 2:23 AM
Yeah, and actually looking at this I'm not sure if this is a renewal of the existing contract and not an additional purchase before the terms of the first ended. Like I'm not sure how much of that cost is the sensors themselves vs whatever recurring costs there are to operate them.
Oh just kidding there's way more than 30 and we renewed the contract over the summer data.richmondgov.com/Well-Managed...
City Contracts | Open Data Portal | City of Richmond, Virginia
data.richmondgov.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Oh just kidding there's way more than 30 and we renewed the contract over the summer data.richmondgov.com/Well-Managed...
anyone reading this ^ should only do this if you're ready to never show hole at a protest
November 25, 2025 at 2:08 AM
anyone reading this ^ should only do this if you're ready to never show hole at a protest
Original purchase order says 30 so maybe a cursed Easter egg hunt
November 25, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Original purchase order says 30 so maybe a cursed Easter egg hunt
Oh would love to see why you find. The VAST majority of these seem to be in the 7th district but HP isn't.
November 25, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Oh would love to see why you find. The VAST majority of these seem to be in the 7th district but HP isn't.
Interesting that the map of these ravens and the RPDs stated "hotspots" don't always overlap Gilpin doesn't seem to have any. This was the next public housing neighborhood redevelopment that would have displaced the majority of residents based on the original plan.
Gunshot Detection | Richmond
www.rva.gov
November 25, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Interesting that the map of these ravens and the RPDs stated "hotspots" don't always overlap Gilpin doesn't seem to have any. This was the next public housing neighborhood redevelopment that would have displaced the majority of residents based on the original plan.
Ohhh, seems like that two year contract is about to be up for renewal. @dinfontay.com any chance we could get a follow up article? 🙏
November 25, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Ohhh, seems like that two year contract is about to be up for renewal. @dinfontay.com any chance we could get a follow up article? 🙏
Do y'all know when they started rolling these out? I've seen media coverage on the use of the cameras and I see some coverage of VCU adding a few similar devices around VCU but I don't see anything about the Flock gunshot detectors.
November 24, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Do y'all know when they started rolling these out? I've seen media coverage on the use of the cameras and I see some coverage of VCU adding a few similar devices around VCU but I don't see anything about the Flock gunshot detectors.
Oh, love this. Are the gunshot detectors really that concentrated to the east end or is that mapping a WIP? maprva.org/projects/sur...
Surveillance Devices
Mapping the surveillance state we all live in. Cameras, ALPRs, & gunshot detectors.
maprva.org
November 24, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Oh, love this. Are the gunshot detectors really that concentrated to the east end or is that mapping a WIP? maprva.org/projects/sur...
Do what now? This seems like a fascinating use of free will.
November 24, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Do what now? This seems like a fascinating use of free will.
Lol, the chief economics journalist for the WSJ calling the issue of whether people can afford to live "amorphous & poorly defined" feels like a real self own. Like whose job is it to define, Greg?
November 24, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Lol, the chief economics journalist for the WSJ calling the issue of whether people can afford to live "amorphous & poorly defined" feels like a real self own. Like whose job is it to define, Greg?
Any advice for a city trying to manage efforts to densify with failing water supply and wastewater infrastructure? Richmond VA is trying to rezone but has seen very critical infrastructure failures in the last year. I think there's public skepticism local gov can manage both responsibly
November 24, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Any advice for a city trying to manage efforts to densify with failing water supply and wastewater infrastructure? Richmond VA is trying to rezone but has seen very critical infrastructure failures in the last year. I think there's public skepticism local gov can manage both responsibly
This is also mostly true of mug cakes if you've reached mug mug cake levels of exhaustion mid week. As I often do.
November 24, 2025 at 4:24 PM
This is also mostly true of mug cakes if you've reached mug mug cake levels of exhaustion mid week. As I often do.
Yeah, no that's extremely fair. They're not making it easy!
November 24, 2025 at 2:52 AM
Yeah, no that's extremely fair. They're not making it easy!
Certainly doesn't have to be! Tbh Richmond's Code Refresh will have a big impact on this for better or worse so that's definitely a process to follow if you're not already
November 24, 2025 at 2:23 AM
Certainly doesn't have to be! Tbh Richmond's Code Refresh will have a big impact on this for better or worse so that's definitely a process to follow if you're not already
Yeah I think the commerce is definitely coming. IMO it's just a question of how much of the green space we get to hold onto once the development really ratchets up
November 24, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Yeah I think the commerce is definitely coming. IMO it's just a question of how much of the green space we get to hold onto once the development really ratchets up