Richmond Dirtwoman, Parks & Power Bills (RVA legend, energy costs, JRPS projects, etc) — Unscripted #037

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In this episode of Vera House Unscripted, we discuss a wide range of Richmond topics, beginning with seasonal shifts, Lunar New Year traditions, and Daylight Saving Time. We talk about how routine, cleaning, and home maintenance affect daily life, and how time changes and seasonal transitions impact energy levels and productivity.

The conversation then moves into rising electricity costs in Virginia, questions around data centers and power usage, and how increasing infrastructure demands may be affecting local utility bills. We discuss HVAC use, household energy consumption, and broader concerns about long-term energy planning in the Richmond area.

A major portion of the episode focuses on Richmond counterculture history and the legacy of Dirtwoman, (Donnie Corker) a well-known and controversial figure in the city’s underground scene. We talk about Dirtwoman’s reputation, local radio history, and how certain personalities become lasting parts of Richmond folklore.

Later in the episode, we shift into Richmond parks and public space development, including the Richmond Inspire parks and recreation planning process, updates around Brown’s Island, Arthur Ashe Boulevard area improvements, and the James River Park System (JRPS). We discuss public input, city growth, and how outdoor spaces shape quality of life in Richmond.

This episode covers Richmond Dirtwoman, rising power bills, Virginia data centers, Daylight Saving Time, Lunar New Year traditions, Richmond parks planning, Richmond Inspire, Brown’s Island updates, Arthur Ashe Boulevard development, and the James River Park System.

Quick interjection to invite you to Vera House Studios. If you are a local Richmond business, entrepreneur, brand owner, or service provider—and you know you need to create better content to get your products and services in front of the right people—we can help.

Transcript

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Welcome back to the Vera House podcast. Today we talk about the legendary Richmond dirt woman, which could be the most insane thing ever spoken into this microphone. Easily just insane. I try to keep it PG. It was, it's a very difficult story to tell. It is just insane. And, uh, it's a lot of hard work over here at Vera House. So if this is not your first time listening to the Vera House podcast, we would be very grateful if you would leave this podcast to review five stars, of course, on whatever platform you're listening to. We would greatly appreciate it. This episode was a fun one. A lot of great Richmond topics. What else did we talk about? Yeah, that dirt woman story is definitely one for the books. Yeah. You're, you're really going to enjoy it. Uh, we talked about city parks, infrastructure in general, and now is your time to get involved with the city parks planning process and how to do so. We also talked about the Lunar New Year that started on February 17th and is going through the middle of this month. And some of the do's and don'ts that come along with celebrating that time of year. So stay tuned, leave us a review and enjoy. We were talking before we started and you said something about horses. Yeah. Horses are from outer space. You think? Yeah, it's probably true. Yeah. They're, uh, they're really cool, but they're so freaking weird, dude. They're just like, they're so big, giant heads. They don't have any fingers. They like walk around with like giant, like fingernails, his feet. Yeah. Horses are pretty weird. They don't sleep sitting. Like they usually sleep standing up. I think. Yeah. I think most of them like sometimes they lay down, but I think they sleep standing up. Yeah. They don't eat meat, but they're massive. That always confused me. Like animals that don't eat meat, but they're just, they're ginormous. Like a giraffe. Yeah. It's like, where does all the protein go? Like a rhinoceros. Right. Yeah. Is it a rhino or like a herbivore? I think so. I did not know that. Yeah. Pretty sure. That's wild. Um, dude. Okay. Horses check this out. So Richmond, Richmond police posted a hype reel. Like, what is this? Happy Lunar New Year. Look at that horse. It's the year of the fire horse. It is the year of the fire horse. That's silly as hell though. It's like, well, but what was the point of that? I mean, just to like do something goofy online. I guess so. You know, I mean, there's social media people that work for the city and this is their job, you know, do cool stuff. Can we call that cool? I don't know if we can call that cool. I think it's, I mean, I would imagine they thought it was cool. I would imagine that it's almost, yeah, I don't know. It's hard to say like, is it a parody or is it serious? I think it's probably a little bit of both. Yeah. Yeah. That's just, I don't know. I don't know how to feel about that. Horses. They got the Lunar New Year thing at the end. I don't get it. I just, I have more questions. Yeah. It's um, I don't know. I like it. It's funny. It's silly. It's funny. It's good. It cracked me up. Have you ever ridden a horse? I rode a pony when I was a kid for like a giant group birthday that my babysitter used to throw. She threw these giant birthdays for all the kids that were like the same age, all the kids that she watched, um, that were like the same age. Yeah. And I remember, I don't know where, but like I saw like years back I saw a video of, of like one of these parties. And it was like my aunt and my uncle and my mom was there and everybody's all young and looking fit. And then, yeah, this is like North side, Battery Park area. Yeah. And yeah, they just in like the back of one of those like single story rancher houses in North side, she had a like a giant barbecue with a pinata and rented a pony for the kids to walk up and down the alley on. That's, that's awesome. That's wild. Yes. Ponies can be actually pretty mean. Um, remember last episode we were talking about pets and I grew up with like all these pets. Yeah. We had horses and ponies. And one of the ponies almost knocked my dad out. Literally kicked him in the head. Damn. Yeah. Yeah. I'm worried about that. Like not worried about it. Cause you know, I don't mind anywhere near ponies, but I would be worried about it if I was like, you know, hanging out on a farm. Yeah, definitely. I do want to ride a horse because it looks cool. It just, it looks, looks really cool when people are doing it really well, but I don't know if I'd be able to do it that well off the jump. So, you know, it would take me some time to get in there, but like, it looks cool. It looks like it's fun. Look, it'd be a really cool cool way to get around the farm. Yeah. Like if I lived on a ranch, like I talked about last time, I got my giant piece of land with my house and my dog, which is like just the dog that keeps coming back for dinner. I just call it dog because it's its own animal. It doesn't need me to name it. And then, yeah, there's a horse hanging out back. Yeah. Yeah. Same deal. It's, um, not that it's really hard to ride a horse, but it's, it's way more physical than you would expect. That's what I imagined. Yeah. Cause like you gotta, you're like standing up and sitting down at the same time. You kind of have to like, like, it's like, it's, you have to like hover over it. You need that, that core strength. Yep. Yeah. That's what I had imagined. Yeah. It's a workout, man. It's definitely a workout. Um, I haven't ridden a horse in forever, but it's probably a good skill to have, you know, the apocalypse rolls around. We're going to need some, uh, bow and arrows and some horses. I mean, did you see the walking dead? No, I didn't. Okay. I'm not surprised. Those. Yeah. I didn't, I never watched the walking dead. Yeah. You're, you're missing out. Uh, it's dated now. So like, don't go into it thinking it's going to be just this incredible thing. So if you do watch it, you know, just go into, go into it knowing that, but like the first episode of the first season, it's a cop. Uh, uh, I think he was the sheriff wakes up in the apocalypse in the zombie apocalypse. And he finds a horse and that's what he rides everywhere for like, I don't know, a year, I think. I don't remember. It's been a while since I've seen it, but yeah, he just, all the cars are busted. Nobody's got batteries. Nobody's got gas horse. All he does, he feeds it, you know, oats and grass and it's good to go. Yeah. Yeah. It's the way to go, man. We'll have to get a couple of horses. Well, I mean, it is the year of the fire horse and it's the lunar new year. There was also an eclipse on Tuesday, which was the 17th, 17th, 18th and 19th and the 20th is today. So yeah, that, that was a pretty big day for like the Zodiac and the Chinese new year and an eclipse. There's a, I think there's a nine to 10 planet alignment happening now as well. So 10 of the planets I think are lining up, which is a rare occurrence. This is like a kind of a big energy wise, big for the beginning of the year. If you're into that kind of thing, it's you're probably at home with your, with your candles and your pentagram, watching water spin the other way or whatever it's happening. Yeah. But I was curious about the lunar new year because I hadn't really heard much about it. I know that the Chinese new year starts after hours. I actually saw a video of their celebration. Incredible. Just the Chinese new year. Like they count down just like we do from, you know, from 10 to one and it's like happy new year, but like fireworks and like the dragons and like everything is red and like the buildings are illuminated with the number two, 2026. It was dope. That's cool. It was really cool. Uh, but then I kept seeing these videos about like, okay, so what's the year look like for your horoscope? What are the traditions of the lunar new year? And there's a lot, there's a bunch of stuff that you were supposed to have done before the 17th. A few of them were like, you're supposed to get your haircut. You're supposed to clean your house. You're supposed to do all this stuff. You're supposed to like prepare certain meals. You're supposed, supposed to have like red articles of clothing. Um, there's like a handful of things that you're supposed to have. And then on the day, and then for the force, the first four days, you're not supposed to clean and you're not supposed to cut your hair. I see you got a fresh haircut. I know. I remember like the day you told me, you were like, yeah, you're not supposed to cut your hair. I was like, I literally just left the barbershop. I didn't know that. I haven't had my haircut, uh, this week. So like, I'm good. But I looked into it a little bit and it has a lot to do with how you start the year, how the energy, the chi starts the year for you. So this being like the fire horse year means a lot of forward movement and a lot of momentum and a lot of forward directional push. Some good, some bad. And there's a lot of energy behind that. But the general lunar new year, you're supposed to clear out all the mess, clear, cut your hair, clean your house, do your dishes. And then on the day, you don't clean anything because the days, the, the new year's day, the lunar new year starts off with a fresh batch of new chi. And if you clean, you're cleaning out the new chi. So you're supposed to leave it, let it settle. And then tomorrow on the 22nd, you're supposed to clean everything so you can like actually start clean and start fresh. Yeah. I like it, man. I like it. And I think not to dive into this too early on in the episode, but yeah, when you see like all these really cool traditions that these other countries and you know, these other cultural communities have, yeah, it makes you kind of jealous a little bit because like in America, our cultural tradition is like go to work and pay your tolls and pay your taxes. And it's like, yeah, that's what we do every year. It's like, how fun is that? Yeah. Um, yeah. And I don't know. It's just hot dogs and apple pie and Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior. That's really about it. Yeah. But then you have like all of these other nations that have these millennia like long traditions that permeate through all aspects of their life. Dude, I was watching, um, this guy cover, um, a store worker, some guy owns a shop in Japan and I liked Japanese culture. I always have been to Japan years ago. It's incredible. If you have the opportunity to go absolutely do it at the top of your list, you should go there because it will 100% change your life. It will change the way you see the world irrevocably or your money back guaranteed. Yeah. They were talking about this shop being like a used tool shop, which is big. Their used equipment is like a big market in Japan, just like most places. Most modern countries have like a used market, but their used market is so good that most people start there when they're going to buy anything for the first time because their equipment, their tools, the cars is, it has all been taken care of so meticulously throughout its life that even the used stuff is cared for the same way that something that is new would be. And this is because they practice and embody Shinto Buddhism, which means you care for things with lots of effort and empathy and genuine focus throughout the entire life that you possess it, own it, or work with it. That includes the tools that they sell, the shop itself and the surroundings of the shop. Once or twice a day, the guys go out there and sweep up the sidewalk because they want it to be as good as it could possibly be for as long as it possibly can. Which is just like, you didn't have to tell them that they grow up knowing that that is how you do things. It's just awesome. Yeah, it is. And I don't know for sure if Marie Kondo is Japanese, but I mean, it's similar philosophy, um, which is, you know, don't over consume, use what you need, the things that you buy and that you keep and that you hold onto should be things that you genuinely love and care about. Um, it also reminds me of the concept of Ikigai. Yep. Um, which like there's actually a lot of confusion around the origin of Ikigai, but for the most part, the concept that people know it as people refer to it as Ikigai, which is like a reason for being, which is, it's basically the meeting point of what you're good at, what you love, what you can get paid for and what the world needs. Yep. And yeah, these are things that have been spoken about and taught to children in Japan forever, you know? And yeah, instead we're taught the fake food pyramid, which isn't real. We're taught Thanksgiving also fake. Yeah. We're taught, um, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and discovered America also not true. Like it's like all of our traditions are lies. Why don't we get any cool stuff? You know, it's like, we got the musket. That was pretty cool. You know, so there's a couple of cool things along the way. We got the musket. Yeah. That's like the only cool thing I can think of, you know, we got the, uh, we got the model T, but I think even the model T is built entirely in America. I think the parts from other countries. Yeah. We, uh, we got route 66 that's wholly American, but I'm pretty sure that asphalt was, is a combination of different nations. So not ours either. Uh, we got daylight savings time. That's definitely ours because a lot of other countries don't observe that. Yeah. Yeah. And how, man, what would we do without daylight savings time? It's been very helpful. I think, I think we would do just fine. I think so too. Just fine. We do not need an hour extra once a year and then an hour less once a year. None of us are farmers and the farmers that do farm, the lands that provide all of our food and produce, they have clocks. They don't need what I mean is they know how to manage the farm. They don't need a sundial and they don't need the world to give them an extra hour so that they have their crops. Yeah. And since we're on the topic, you know, one of America's favorite things to do is destroy the small farmers. It's like their favorite thing, you know, and now there's this crazy stuff going on with all the glyphosate glyphosate. Yeah. Glyphosate. This whole law that they're like passing around glyphosate and pesticides that are like mandatory to be sprayed on food and stuff. And your food can still be considered organic, even though it's sprayed with all these kinds. I'm not even going to get into it, but don't get into it. It's a whole thing, you know, but all these other, but they have all these great, wonderful things like the lunar new year. And mac and cheese. Yeah. Mac and cheese. Mac and cheese. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. Also pizza and fortune cookies, American, not Italian and not Chinese. Really? Yes. I could see that pizza though. Look it up. All right. I don't have all the facts, but I have heard and have seen and was told that pizza is an American concoction. It's an amalgamation of different cultures, which at its core is what America is, right? It is a combination and an amalgamation of different cultures that join together to form a new culture. That's what the core of America was supposed to be, at least. Right? Well, no, maybe not. I think that's like, that's like the, the rosy, the rose tinted sunglasses. Yeah. Yeah. The, you know, even like the concept and the phrase of melting pot was not created by Americans, you know, it was created for America. Yeah. But yeah, you know, like the, you know, the Europeans that took off were basically people where when they were in Europe, they were having taxes enforced upon them. And slavery was being, or at least signs of slavery beginning to be abolished was happening in Europe. And so our forefathers left Europe to avoid that because they didn't want to pay taxes and they didn't want to give up their slaves. So then they came here and started America because they were like, yeah, we're not going to do that. And that, you know, I mean, there's so many different angles on the founding of America and all of that, but I would say it's not controversial, pretty safe to say that that was a huge part because even like the revolution there's documented evidence where a lot of those like aristocrats in Europe were basically paying protesters and riots to rise up against taxes, even though those taxes, like they were basically paying people to revolt in order to make it seem like it was a bigger deal than it was. That's not new. That's not new stuff. Yeah, probably. Yeah, totally. Well, I mean the, you know, vast majority of protests are funded, you know, the vast majority of them are all paid for. Yeah. But anyway, so happy lunar new year, dude. Happy lunar new year. Yeah. You can finally wash your dishes tomorrow. Yeah. Thanks man. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know about you, but dishes laundry trash are actually things that like are not very frequent parts of my week. Like I take out my trash, like I don't, I don't create a lot of trash. I take out my trash, like probably once, honestly, like once every like two and a half weeks, probably maybe even three weeks. How do you not create trash? I don't know. I don't know. Um, that's interesting. Like one bag of trash, like every like two or three weeks probably. And hardly ever do dishes cause I just don't use all that much dishes or like I just wash one plate and I just ended up reusing the same plate all the time. So yeah, I'm definitely a little bit different. I create, I don't create a lot of trash, but I, well, I guess I need to evaluate how much trash I'm creating because it is more than like a week and a half, but it's like once a week or right. It's at least once a week. Yeah. I feel like that's normal. What I try to do is to limit that because I don't want to waste trash bags. What I, what I typically do is I eat a lot of fresh produce and I eat a lot of meats and proteins. Um, but with that becomes, comes waste and like leftovers that get tossed because I didn't get to them or fruit that was left out. Yeah. Or you cut off the end of carrots and stuff and stuff like that. So that all that goes into the bag. So I try not to have to take the bag out, but maybe once a week. But unfortunately from time to time, you know, you put a couple of banana peels in a trash bag and they're rotting in like 12 hours and then you put in, you know, some avocado skins and some strawberry pits or straw. Yeah. Strawberry, you know, the stems or whatever. And then leftovers from a meal that I made in like three or four days, it has to go out because it starts to smell and that's just kind of how it goes. Yeah. Washing dishes. I wash dishes every other, almost every day. And I try not to create a lot of like excess mess in my space. So I try to keep it tidy, but I cook and I eat off of a plate and that'll put the plate in the sink. And then I cook again and then I cook on, I use another plate. And then I have to do dishes in the morning when I need to like make breakfast and then starts the whole day doing a load of dishes. Maybe that's not the most efficient way. That's how I do things. Yeah. I mean, I don't even know that I necessarily try to be efficient, even though I should. I mean the one plate thing, like, yeah, I guess that's efficiency. Yeah. I used to do that, but I have more than one plate. Yeah. And I'm like, I don't want to do this now. I'll just do it later. I, yeah, I actually have a ton of dishes. Like I have tons of plates and cups and stuff. And I just, I don't know, I guess I just don't really use much of them. Um, but then same thing with laundry and laundry is one of those things where I wish I did do it more frequently, because what happens is number one, I have so many clothes, man. Um, and then I just have like this mountain of clothes and I'm like, Oh, this is like a whole project. Yeah. So I do my laundry like twice a year. You told me that once. And I was like, no, there's no way. Yeah. Yeah, dude. Like you should see the mountain of clothes. It's insane. Yeah. Um, that's crazy. I don't, I think I maybe I do it once a month maybe. And I don't have quite as many clothes as you do. I have a decent amount, but I never have too much. I don't think I don't, I try to, and this is not even like a conscious thing that I do. I don't think after a certain point, there's usually just part articles of clothing that I don't wear anymore. And when I start to realize that I'm like putting these aside and not wearing these and it becomes a pile, I'm like, well, let me just get rid of all this stuff. Like maybe one or two bags worth of stuff. I have, I have a bag of stuff literally sitting by the door now because I'm going to keep filling it up and then I'm going to take it to goodwill. But the rest of the stuff that I typically wear is like fall stuff, summer stuff and like pants. And I wear like one or two pairs of pants, three or maybe three pairs of pants on a rotation. So I'm not like washing lots of clothes. It's like maybe once a month. I do a lot of laundry. I'm like terrible. Do I need to go through my wardrobe so badly? Like, no, I probably have like 35 pairs of pants. I'm not even kidding. That's too many pairs. It's way too much. Yeah. And then it's like analysis paralysis. Right. So I probably only rotate through like seven or eight of them. The other ones are always just sitting there cause all these different, even like suits. I've got like 12 different suits, like all different colors. It's like so many suits. I know. It's like, why? I have two suits. Yeah. I've got a lot. I actually have three suits. I think, I know I have two for sure. And like pieces of a third, which I, but I don't wear, I'm not a regular suit. I don't Dawn a suit on a regular basis. I got one that's like my fresh to death, just got a stun on some people going out to you. And then I got the black suit. Yeah. Which is just the suit you need. Yeah. You got it. Yeah. You got to have a standard black suit. Yeah. Well, I, I used to wear a suit all the time. Cause I'll go do a bunch of like speaking, it was like a work thing. Yes. And then now that like after COVID it's just like, yeah, hardly, and everything is online. Yeah. You know? So it's much less like in-person events just stock up on slippers and sweatpants. Literally. It's like my whole life now is just living in a sweatshirt, bro. I kind of, I had that realization not too long ago, and especially since starting the podcast studio and freelancing videography and not having a nine to five, that's my daily wardrobe, which is the stark contrast to what I was wearing for work, which is like chinos kind of like these and like a nice looking shirt. Maybe I wear a hat, maybe I don't, but like, you know, put together cause I've got to go see clients. We're doing work in the office, so on and so on. Most days I don't even need to leave the house. Yeah. So it's slippers, gym shorts, or sweatpants and a hoodie. Yeah. Yeah. It's a, you know, it's a double-edged sword. Man, during like the ice storm, like here in Richmond, I bought a pair of a set of long Johns. Yeah. I don't know. After I just finished saying, I have so many clothes. You didn't have any. No. And I don't think I've ever had a set of long Johns like ever. How do you feel about it? Dude, they're awesome. Yes, they are. And during that whole, and you know, the heating is not great in my house. So that's why I got a pair. Cause I was like, I don't know what's going to happen. And if I lose heat, like I need to be prepped and ready. So I got a pair of long Johns. And like a bunch of other stuff and put them on. I don't think I took them off for like over a week. I was like, dude, I was like, I love this. This is great. It's like wearing clothes, but not wearing clothes. Yeah. Yeah. It's great. I was like, dude. Yeah, man. They're just, they're just long underwear. Yeah. Cause you can put them on under anything and you'll feel warm. So you don't need to wear like a big coat. Yes. Yeah. I felt like I was in like permanent movie mode for like two weeks. Yeah, buddy. Yeah. Super cozy. It is, it is. It's nice, you know, and today was beautiful out. Right. Like this is the first time I've worn a t-shirt on the podcast. I know I saw you wearing a t-shirt. I was like, yeah, it is kind of, it's like 60 some degrees tonight at night, which is, it's great. I mean, I think it's a little too soon, but this is Virginia. So we'll have, I think I saw this list of the Virginia weather, the seasons in Virginia, which is like fall, fake spring, winter, fake spring, brutal snow storms and ice storms, actual spring. Yeah. And then it's like fake summer, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet summer, dead summer, sweltering, hot, just center of the sun, summertime, fake fall, more summer, more hot, more summer, more hot, actual fall. And then quickly followed is like winter again. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty accurate too. Um, you and I both have spoken about how we like all the seasons, right? We're clearly becoming old people, but I like all the seasons, but I think that's definitely true. You know, normally on average February is the coldest month in Virginia. I remember I looked this up like a year or two ago and on average, February is the coldest month, but I think maybe this year, maybe January was, I mean, is the ice storm. The ice storm was in February. Was it right? I don't, I guess so. I don't know. I don't think so. Yeah. I guess we'll find out two weeks ago, three weeks. It was three weeks ago. Yeah. Which would have been right at the, at the transition. Yeah. Um, and we, you know, we still got a week and a half or whatever February left. So I guess we'll see what happens, but yeah, not long and spring will be upon us. I'm looking forward to it. I, days like today, for sure. We were walking in here to get, to get started recording and you know, there's people riding bikes and people, walking up and down the street and it's, it feels nice to just be outside, which is great. Like I, I love spring and summertime and in the city when it's warm outside all day long, it's warm and like balmy at night. So, you know, people can be outside, sit on patios and things like that. But then very shortly thereafter it will be, well, one, it'll be allergy season before it gets too nice to be outside. So I'm going to start sneezing and miles are going to start like burning in like four weeks. That's just going to be a thing. And then it's going to be too hot to be outside most days. Yeah. So we have like two and a half months where it's really nice. June, July, August, it's going to suck. It's just going to be hot and muggy and gross. And that's just what it's going to be. Yeah. Well, you know me, dude, I'm a masochist. Like I love it. I'm like, dude, the hotter, the better, whatever, like rain, snow, 102 degrees. You'll see, I'll be out on a run. I will say I can more, I can way easier deal with sweltering heat than I can with the cold. Now that's not to say that I don't enjoy the wintertime. Cause I do, I really do enjoy like coats and wintertime things, but like the bitter, like chill to your bones like we had during the ice storm for days on end is like, all right, give me a break, give me like a 75, enough with this 20 degrees bull. Like I need some warmth, but then in the summertime when it's just like 90 degrees for a week straight, I can manage. That's fine. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we almost had 75 degree weather today. It was getting up there. It was pretty close. And I'm prepped for anything now. Cause you remember last year, my inside my house was over a hundred degrees. That was crazy. Jungle Mike is a real thing. You were living in the tropics. It was, it was crazy. I've like, you know, I spent a month in Africa and even there where there's no air conditioning, I got to save my house because the houses are different. Like when you go to Africa, it's much more like open air. There's a lot more like wind at like the structures are just different because it's built for that. Like the houses here are not built for that. So I'm just like inside my little brick rancher house and like, yeah, it's a straight sauna. It was crazy. Um, but this year that won't be the case. Cause I, I have to cough up the money and put in a new HVAC system in my house. So I'll be doing that here in the next like 45 days. But I hope for your sake that it helps with your electricity bill. Yeah. I got my bill was more expensive this month too. And I thought I was going to be safe from all of these like crazy, like crazy electric bill hikes that I keep seeing. Like somebody posted that their bill went from like a hundred dollars to like 400 something dollars. Yeah. And, uh, I know that your bill on average is pretty high. It's not good. So I'm hoping, I'm hoping that when you, you know, when you have to, you know, pump buck up that money for the AC unit that, you know, you're, you're saving a little bit of money, but I did see it. And maybe you know about this. I saw an article or a YouTube title. I didn't get into the video, but it was like, data centers are the reason that our electricity bills are so high now. I've I have, I don't know a lot about it, but there's some rumblings about all that, you know, which is most likely true, you know, leave it up to any multi-billion dollar company to make profits and then pass their expenses onto their own customers. It's their favorite thing to do. Yeah. You know? Um, yeah, my bill in December was $466. My bill in January was $557. And my bill for February was 722. That is, or, uh, January was, that is insane. Yeah. $722. Bro. Are you sure it's not broken? I mean, if it is, I don't know what I'm paying for. It's definitely broken. I mean, dude, the whole thing's broken. The whole system's broken. It's all broken. $700. What the freak, bro? Yeah. What the flip? What the flip? It's crazy, man. It's crazy. Yeah. My bill was $60 most of the time throughout the end of last year. And, uh, it was $80 last month and it was $110 this month. Dang, man. I think it probably takes 60 bucks just to like run my computer for the week. Probably, you know, cause I, I do have a lot of like technology and stuff in my house, but the thing that's killing me is the HVAC stuff. It's gotta be the HVAC. It is. Like being inefficient, not cooling and not running or running so long while still not getting to the desired temperature. It's gotta be the case. Your house isn't that big. Yeah. You have a big computer set up. You got a few monitors, you some speakers, TV, lights, appliances. I got all that stuff. Yeah. And most people have that stuff. There's no reason for a $700 electricity bill. Yeah. And I think I mentioned this before. I was like, I know you're the kind of guy that will easily roll up on the, the office of whoever's.com or LLC companies, whatever office building and be like, yo, let me speak to the boss about my bill. This is a problem. Yeah. I think it's time. Yeah. Well, you know, I did have half a mind, one of the like local creators around here, I think his profile is like lunch special or something. He posted something like basically calling out dominion and I was so close to commenting on it and like tagging dominion and say, explain yourself, you know, do it. What are they going to do? Yeah. Charge you more money. Probably. I don't know. You know, I mean, how much more could they possibly charge? Right. It is crazy, but no, it's my, it's my HVAC unit. And then I'm having to run space heaters to make up for what the HVAC unit is not doing. That's doing it. Yes. And I have a humidifier in the basement. Yeah. Because I have these little plug in things that like measure the cost and just between the humidifier and the couple of space heaters, just that alone is like a couple hundred dollars. So it's gotta be like space heaters are, they're usually like 12 to four 14 volts, but they pull so much energy, which is why they don't. They tell you that they're a, they're a fire hazard, not because the heating element will catch on fire. A lot of times they can, but it's the, the power supply to the outlet isn't strong enough to power more than one of them or that plus something else. It always trips the breaker. Yeah. It's definitely that I hope. And, uh, I wish that you were able to remedy this, this issue. This is a, this is a silly problem to have, but I understand why it's taken. Yeah. As long as it's taken to get it sorted. Yeah. It's a little bit of insulation stuff, but it's most of the, it's most of the HVAC. Yeah. Um, but you know, we're building the, uh, the Vera house fund and people can help us by leaving us a review. You can, you can donate your kind words and that will fill up the deposit of goodwill and intentions so that we can at least make Mike feel good in his dire time of need. Yeah. So if you're listening on Spotify, if you're watching on Spotify, hit the review button, give us five stars and leave a, leave some, some kind words. Yeah. We will read them. And if your review or comment is entertaining, we might even read it on the show. Yeah. Would love to. And, um, yeah, regardless, definitely appreciate it. It helps the show. It helps everything. And if I do overheat and die this summer, this will become the solo Buddha Perry show. So it'll still, it'll still help in the future. It's all going to a good cause. Exactly. Exactly. Um, dude, I think it's time that I tell you about this crazy story. Have you ever heard of the legend of dirt woman? I have heard of dirt woman. I don't know too much about said person, but I remember, and this is going to age me, but dirt woman used to be a regular like appearance on the Elliot and the morning show on XO one on two on the radio station. And I just remember it being like the most unhinged to comical segment that I'd ever heard on our radio show. I had so many questions because I could, I'd never seen what they look like, but I could just picture and this, the wild stuff that they were talking about it and I hadn't heard or seen anything about dirt woman in a very long time. I think they passed on some years back. So that's really all I knew about it. It's insane. Yeah. Do yourself a favor. Look it up. Look up dirt woman, Richmond. Okay. Dirt woman was a male prostitute, cross-dresser and drag queen who became one of Richmond's most recognizable and controversial underground cultural figures from the late 1970s through the 2000s. His performances involved graphic and controversial acts that cemented his status as both a cult icon and a polarizing figure within Richmond. Donnie Corker born and raised in Richmond. His family life was pure chaos. The children were frequently drunk and at times even caught having sex with each other by their mother. He was also found having sex with strangers in the woods when he was 12 years old. He would spend most of his time on the streets, tricking around downtown Richmond and the VCU area. He claimed to have sex in the dumpsters around VCU and was even caught with a VCU professor. He would dress in a wedding dress and would catcall young VCU students. He spoke openly about engaging in prostitution with thousands of men as a young teenager along gray street and even many times on the balcony of the mosque during shows. He was once stabbed by a truck driver after not disclosing that he was in fact a man and flaunted the scar to prove it. He headlined many mud wrestling competitions at the Cha-Cha Palace in the 80s where witnesses were horrified when he got completely undressed and his opponent started penetrating him with a dildo. What? It's this is the most you said unhinged earlier. This is the most unhinged thing we've ever talked about. His Dirt Woman persona emerged in the late 1970s and became prominent throughout the 1980s and 90s. The persona was intentionally exaggerated, crude and confrontational. Dirt Woman was known for heavy makeup, unfiltered language, raunchy sexual humor and deliberately shocking behavior. He was known to frequently be covered in his own feces and had often spoiled himself on stage. He frequently performed at local clubs, underground venues and gay clubs during a period when Richmond was far more socially conservative than it is today. Despite his notoriety, Donnie was also also maintained connections across unexpected parts of the city. He was a street informant for the Richmond Police Department and even helped solve even helped solve a bomb threat at the governor's mansion. What? Later, he would himself be arrested during the inauguration of Governor Wilder, where he was granted a press pass, but then arrived wearing sweatpants and he was attempted to be escorted out, where instead he just completely undressed himself in front of the governor's mansion and the thousands of attendees defecated on the floor and was then arrested. He then told the court that he is, quote, partially retarded and illiterate, but he was still convicted in 1990. Later in 2008, he then himself ran as the independent candidate for the mayor of Richmond, reinforcing his longstanding desire to be deeply rooted in Richmond's identity. Beyond nightlife and performance, Corker remained active in Richmond's civic life for decades. His dirt woman persona became widely regarded as one of the most dominant personalities of Richmond's counterculture during the late 20th century. He was both celebrated and criticized for his wild behavior, but few disputed his visibility or impact on the city's LGBTQ history and underground art scene. Donnie died in 2017. At his celebration of life, a man with a huge foam phallic inseminated a replica of Dirt Woman's rear end, only to birth a small man in a diaper out of it moments later. For all of the disgusting and brazen moments that Dirt Woman brought to Richmond, one thing that was always said about Donnie is that he was one of the most loving and compassionate people that they had ever met and that nothing is truer than the fact that there will never, ever be another Dirt Woman. Whoa. Okay, while you're reading that, I'm also looking at this video, Dirt Woman documentary trailer. Yeah. So that's the documentary I watched. Okay. This is insanity. There was a well-known photographer here that did a pinup calendar of Donnie, and it was like one of the most relished, like, souvenirs of Richmond. There are some people that still have them, and there's like one on eBay that was like, you know, a couple thousand bucks or something. I watched it. It was hard to get through. Dude, it was hard to watch. It's hard to get through. It's insane. And I always describe things as insane, but this was, like, truly insane. Jesus. And after I started watching it, I realized I was like, I've seen this guy. Like, when I was in my early 20s, I had seen him and, like, cross paths and just like, but I never knew anything about any of that. Okay, yeah. I don't think I've ever seen him now that I'm seeing pictures of him. I don't think I, like, had seen him anywhere. I don't even know what to say, man. Yeah, me neither. Like, ran for governor. Like, if you could just create. Defecated in front of the, at the governor's mansion. Yes. Like, just drop trowel, defecated at the governor's mansion. And this is during one of the most, like, historic moments in Richmond because it was the first African-American governor. Governor Wilder, I remember that. I was young. Yeah. So, Donnie was there and there's some murky details of, like, did he actually have a press pass? Who gave him the press pass? Yeah. There was, like, a member of Congress who was, like, very much into drag and supposedly slipped him, like, a press pass to let him get into the inauguration. But then once he was there, you know, he just, like, I mean, you see the pictures of this guy. And especially, like, later in life, he was, you know, there's this story about him doing a show where he's dressed up in this pink sheet and he's on stage doing a performance. And he turns around and it clearly just totally crapped his pants. And then that was, like, his M.O. That was, like, his look. And so he just. That's so crazy. What the flip? So, imagine, yeah, imagine, like, a 500-pound guy showing up to the inauguration in sweatpants. He, his belly, like, you know, hung down between his legs, covered in poop, shows up to the governor's mansion with a press pass. They let him in and then they're like, OK, who is this person? So, then they decide, never mind, you need to be escorted out into, like, the general attendees. He refuses to leave, just completely undresses. And then, yeah, defecates on the governor's mansion lawn and gets arrested. I, I, I don't, I don't even, I, yeah, I don't even know what to say. Like, OK. You mentioned the radio show thing. Yeah. I know you remember that. And I think, yeah, there was like this segment that they used. And in the documentary, they talk about how, I forget which radio station it was, but they actually auditioned a bunch of people for that role where they were going to use the voice as like some sort of segment for Richmond. Yeah. And yeah, he says something like, this is Dirt Woman, the queen of Richmond, kiss me, baby, or like something crazy like that. Yeah, yeah. I think I remember that. Yeah. And it became like one of the most iconic little, like, taglines for that radio station. DC 101. Yeah. It's on iHeartRadio now. You can listen to it if you want to. You can just Google Dirt Woman, DC 101, Elliot in the morning. It's on iHeartRadio. Yeah. I, I don't know what to say. Yeah. That's insane. I have so many thoughts and questions. Like, did he have, you said he had kids and his kids were drunk all the time. So he was the kid. So he was the kid. OK. And, you know, if you learn about his childhood and you see his family situation, you can connect the dots of like why this person was a bit wild and out there. Yeah. So they are a wild family, dude. Many, many siblings. I think there was between like a dozen of them. The, they were drunk as kids, like as kids and their siblings. And their own mother would catch them like having intercourse with each other. What? Yes. Where, where was this? This is in Richmond. Like, like, like, yeah, it's hard to tell exactly where they lived. But look, when you watch the documentary, it looks like it could be like Kerrytown or Jackson, it could be anywhere. But it's definitely somewhere in the city. And I think it was Gray Street. Like, I think it was on Gray Street. And when he was young, people would remember driving by and his parents would be outside with him and he was sitting there in a dress like as a kid. And people would always like drive by and remember like, what? And people remembered him as a young boy knocking on their door, asking to give the residents blowjobs. Like there's a guy literally in the documentary where they interview. They were like, yeah, I remember him as a kid coming up and he was like collecting glass bottles because back then you could like turn in glass bottles for change. Yeah. And whenever people didn't have glass bottles, he would like offer them oral sex. It's like, yeah, it's crazy. So from the time he was a child, he got like he was involved in like an early arrest or the person that he was engaged in prostitution with got arrested, but he didn't get arrested because he was a child. He was literally got arrested like in the woods, like in the woods as a 12 year old boy, like like, yeah, prostituting himself to adults. And by the time he was a teenager, it's like the craziest thing, dude. I came into this and I was like, I don't even know if this is actually going to end up on the podcast, but I figure we had it's just like a lot of people have requested that we talked about. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I did see a couple comments. Yes. Even figuring out how to talk about it in a way where you could put it on a podcast was quite difficult. I could not. It was very hard to even make it through the first like 15 minutes of the documentary. Yeah, it's it's brutal. You know what, man? I'm thinking about this now, this guy. There's a perspective, this guy got more out of life than most people could ever imagine would be possible. Is it horrific to an extent? Absolutely. Is it shocking and brazen and offensive? Yes. Obviously, that was his entire point and motif and like way of living. But it is in that that whole sense that he just he did whatever he wanted. Probably like you said, a little retarded, a little whatever he said. Yeah, he's yeah. He told the court, he said, I'm retarded and illiterate. And they convicted him anyway. Right. But I mean, yeah, look, he had a huge cult following, had a lot of support. I recognize a couple of faces from the trailer of the documentary. Yeah, I know some people that were that probably knew who he was. And he obviously had a fan base, was playing all these or doing all these shows and performances and whatnot. I don't know. I mean, I'm just I'm just paying the turd right now. I'm trying to make it sound good. You know, the one thing I will say that was really cool about the documentary is that they curated a lot of really old clips and stuff of Richmond. Yeah. And that is that was pretty cool. Like seeing all the cool vintage videos of Richmond in the 80s and the 90s and old VCU and especially the the circumstances around the Cha Cha Palace thing is crazy. But when they showed the place, I was like, damn, that looks awesome. Yeah. And it does. It gives you some nostalgia and like some FOMO of a little bit. Yeah. Imagine to imagine being alive back then and seeing all this stuff. I mean, dude, even 15 years ago, Richmond was a very different place. Yeah. The Chaco Bottom area was booming. There were like literally dozens of cool places to go and hang out and have a drink and listen to music. Now, all that's gone. Yeah. And then you think about the fan VCU before all of the overdevelopment, there were mostly just old homes and parking lots where people were hanging out, shooting basketball. People were going to the pool over in Randolph. Like Richmond was a really cool and fun place to just exist. Yeah. Right. This is before social media, before, you know, the takeover of like lots of people using computers. I remember being here, you know, being in like a summer camp program. We would go down to Battery Park. You go to a little facility. There's there's a existing like park facility that has bathrooms and water fountains. And then there's the tennis courts and there's a basketball court. And there was a pool. Battery Park used to have a pool in it. Yeah. You can go down there, public pool. There was a lifeguard. You know, parents drop your kids off for an hour with like maybe their neighbor, because that was fine 15, 20, 30 years ago. And, you know, it's not like that anymore. Right. It's not even close to being like that. It's very rigid. It's very like sectioned and cordoned off. You like this place is like made for this and you need the credentials to go there. Or it's the bones of what used to be a cool place that hasn't been turned into anything new yet. And it's a bummer, like especially seeing the stuff on the documentary. I'm sure it's like, man, we had some cool stuff and now we just we don't. Yeah. We have cool stuff now, but we don't have that. Yeah. I used to go to the Randolph pool and it would have been, yeah, pretty much 15 years ago. I used to go there and yeah, I remember it would be packed. I'll go there with my friend Jonathan. We go swimming and stuff. And yeah, it's definitely cool. You know, the there's so many other stories that are in that documentary and about Dirt Woman that like we haven't even touched on a glimpse into it is like one time he's on Gray Street because, you know, the police station on Gray Street used to be called Newgate Prison. I did not know that. And then they turned it into a police station. It literally was a jail. It was like a little privatized jail called Newgate Prison. The logo was like painted on the front of it says Newgate Prison. And during that time, like Gray Street was a pretty dangerous place to be, like right there where strange matter in the village and all that stuff was like, yeah. And it's like, you know, like tensions are high. And he saved this woman from being shot like he like there was a shootout happening and he grabbed this lady and pulled her into the little corridor where Newgate Prison was. And there used to be a bullet mark there from the bullet that went like right over their head. And they talk about it and they interview the woman. And obviously now that building has been revamped into the police station. Yeah. There was another time where this woman was like almost being abducted by some guy right there in the parking lot. That's now 7-Eleven next to the village. Yeah. And the police pull up and Dirt Woman interrupted the cops and was like, do you mind if I handle this? And the cops are like, what? And apparently he steps in and like grabs the abductor and drags him away and like holds him down for the cops to arrest, like puts him in a headlock or something. There's another one where during like on Main Street, there's something going on, like some big parade or something. This woman falls in the street and he runs out there and picks her up and saves her from getting trampled and goes and puts her over in the grass. And she recounts this and gives a testimony of like Dirt Woman saved my life. Like, it's crazy, dude. It's like if you took a myth and then you're like, no, but that's actually all real. Yeah. Now, I do think there are elements of it that are like mythical. And I didn't include that in what I read. So everything that I read is like directly from first person accounts. Yeah. First person in the documentary. But there's all kinds of other crazy, wild stuff about this person. That's pretty cool, though. Yeah. That aspect is pretty cool. I mean, mythical is probably the right way to put it because legend has it seems to take the wheel in a lot of a lot of these stories. But, I mean, I don't know of anyone anymore that has that sort of lore surrounding them. You know, when I was coming up in the city, there were a handful of people that had like, there was like a story behind their name. Yeah. It's like, hey, you know about this guy. I'm like, no, who's that? Like, oh, well, let me tell you. He was over here one night. He did this crazy thing at this party. If you see him, just walk the other way. Do you don't want any of that nonsense? You're better off blah, blah, blah, blah. He's harmless, but don't talk to him. There was a handful of people like that. Never heard of Dirt Woman. But nowadays, everyone is obviously way too worried about them ending up on the Internet. This is his stuff was before the Internet, before social media. So there is something to be said about expressing yourself in a way that was like truly legitimate. Without the fear of the world criticizing you, but obviously you would still be criticized by your community and your peers and whatnot, but. I keep trying to spin it, but I don't know where to go. Yeah, I mean, it was Dirt Woman as a personal brand before the personal brand was a thing, you know, and he had a lot of inspiration from other people. They traveled all over to visit like other similar personalities and drag queens and stuff like all along the East Coast and in New York City and go to these crazy drag shows and stuff. It's pretty wild, man. You know, we posted this clip a couple of weeks ago when I was telling the story about being outside a Third Street diner and about this guy in the purple suit. And turns out that guy is like kind of one of those characters. I think his name is Bo. And after we posted that clip, a bunch of listeners posted there like, that's Bo. Yeah, and apparently I kicked Bo in the nuts, but because remember me telling that story about the guy with the sign with the kick me in the nuts for 20 bucks. No, dude. So, yeah, we talked about it when we were talking about Third Street diner and this guy, he has on like brass knuckles that says the word PIMP, P-I-M-P, and I have a picture with him. And, you know, I had no idea who this guy was, but apparently he's kind of like a performance artist and a musical artist. And he has these music videos on YouTube that are just like totally unhinged. Yeah. And he was kind of one of those big Richmond personalities. And that would have been like 2011, you know, between 2010, 2012, something like that. You know, so basically 15 years ago, something like that. And yeah, there are some of those characters kind of. But they're yeah, these days they're kind of few and far between. And it probably is because of that element of the Internet. And maybe it's like. Yeah, not that it's easy. I mean, I guess it is easier to have like a brand, you know, and to be a persona on the Internet. Right. Everybody's doing it, us included, you know. Yeah. Now, I don't know that we'll ever live up to Dirt Woman, but R.I.P. Rest in peace. That's a tall order, man. I think I think we're better off staying in our lane. I think so, too, to be real. Dude, I don't know that anybody will ever traverse the lane that Dirt Woman traversed. No, that's that's a tough act to follow by even some of the greats. That's for sure. But everybody that knew the person said that they loved him. And yeah, he was one of one. Rest in peace, Dirt Woman. Yeah. Rest in peace, truly. Yeah. So he died in 2017 of like heart failure or something. And, you know, had a lot of health problems and stuff like that. But went out fighting. I think he was 65, you know, so he lived. I mean, he had a long life. Yeah. Lived a long, exciting life. Yeah. Definitely exciting to the fullest degree. Yeah. It's freaking incredible. Insanity. We were talking about or I was talking about, like the parks and some of the pools and things like that. And just kind of reminded me of something I came across pretty recently. You know, we talked about infrastructure in the city and like how it's like a little lackluster here and there. But then there are there are some programs and some things like Browns Island and, you know, Carmex Park and whatever else they're doing, trying to revitalize the city. But there's more there's more going on. And this project is something that hasn't happened in the city in like 50 years, and they want your input on it. So you can like message them and leave comments to like tell them what's up. It's called Richmond Inspire, and it is a citywide rewriting its park playbook type of project. Richmond Inspire Citywide Parks and Recreation Vision Plan led by the City Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities in partnership with the Design Workshop. Right now, it's 90 percent draft is open for public comment. Residents can read the full draft or shorter or the shorter executive summary, leave feedback and take a take a short big moves survey with comments accepted through March 6th. So they're doing this big city wide city park revamp, and you can see the plans on their website, RichmondInspire.com. And you can it's 150 page plan. So if you don't want to read the whole thing, there's like a summary and then you can leave a comment on it if you like, approve or disapprove. And, you know, maybe put a palm tree here, put a water fountain over there. Yeah. I mean, we should take this opportunity to tell people to do that. Right. Because I think I wish people would give more feedback. I never thought of myself as somebody who would be like deeply involved in the community and like giving my thoughts and opinions and like, you know, sharing like, oh, we should do this or we should do that. But over the past, I think since buying a home, I think that's kind of what changed for me. You know, I bought a house and now I actually do have input like in my neighborhood and like what's going on. You know, like the the bells in the carillon haven't been ringing. And I was like, I should probably send an email about this. And I did. And then I yeah. And then I found out like the whole carillon war memorial project was taken over by the Veterans War Memorial Foundation, the one that runs the war memorial on Belvedere. And I'm going on a little bit off topic, but I wanted to find out what was going on. So I was like, I'm going to send a message, you know. So I reached out to like the carillon civic community and asked about it. And then they pointed me to these people. So I went and asked. And then I found out that they're opening a museum on the bottom floor of the carillon tower. Very similar to kind of because there's no other like dedicated World War One memorial. And so that's what they're doing. And that's like what's been going on with the carillon. And even the carillon civic community didn't really know. So it took me as just a citizen reaching out to find out. And yeah, I wish people would like leave their thoughts, leave their feedback and stuff on what they want to see at enrichment, because that's the only way that you're going to see change, you know, and you'd be surprised at what just a single message could do. I agree, man. And this is a really cool opportunity because I haven't seen or heard of anything like this. And if I'm not mistaken, there hasn't been a citywide project of this magnitude for city parks in 50 years. So this is a big deal. And it's open for feedback until March six. You got two weeks from today, which will be a week from the release of this episode. Yeah. And there has already been some input from like people that I think they did a survey of like residents. And the general consensus is pretty much what you would expect. Residents rated the park system at about a two point seven out of five. So not great. Yeah. And I would agree. That's brutal. That's I guess it depends. Right. Because I think I probably would have felt the same way prior to really discovering the whole trail system. Once I really got into like running and cycling and discovered the trail system, it completely revolutionized my opinion of the entire city, to be honest. You know, we did a little bit of the trails like on when we went on that bike ride last year, but the trail system is awesome. I, I agree. After going on that trail, the trail ride with you. It is really cool. And as someone who's like a Richmond native and you, someone who's been here for a long time, like still discovering parts of the city that you didn't know were there that like are literally just around the corner, I really like that. I think that's really cool. Yeah. But I think the general consensus consists of the park's trail system, park facilities, park infrastructure and habitat. All of it. Yeah. I mean, we were talking about last week, the park over there around the corner from here with across from the tennis courts is like a decrepit bathroom that's just in the middle of an empty field. Yeah. And it's been there for decades. Yeah. And there hasn't been any change. It hasn't been maintained. It looks hideous and it doesn't work. Yeah. And there's a lot of examples of things just like that. Yeah. They're probably going to bulldoze that particular bathroom, because I think that's where they want to put the the new indoor Arthur Ashe Tennis facility. Yeah, you do. That's probably what will happen there. But I agree with you, like the the parks themselves, the parks and the facilities. I did just see the drone footage where, you know, because they started all the construction stuff on Brown's Island once all the snow melted. It's pretty good. And yeah, it's cool to see stuff going on, you know. And so I do think, yeah, even though it's poorly rated, I do think like it's a lot of that is like underway. Right. I think, yeah, Richmond knows that the parks, we're at a point where the city's growing so fast that there's no option anymore. It's like you have to make this stuff like better and cool, because if not, it just doesn't even it doesn't match. It doesn't fit. You know, it's like, OK, there's all this development going into all these other things. You can't be a city with this big amphitheater and these big hotels and these skyscrapers and all these residential units and stuff. If you don't have common spaces that people are going to enjoy and rave about and talk about, you know, that's kind of the point that we were making last week with that. The the billboard of people saying like ugly houses are coming. And what they're really saying is that there are tons of people that are already on their way here, already here. And they're worried about the infrastructure being able to support it. Now, they're talking about it from the facilities and electric and water and trash parking and just real estate aspect. But the park system is a big part of that, too. What are people going to do? Everyone can't go to the Jasper. Everyone can't go to. Like the Dogwooddale amphitheater, like there have to be enough different versions of spaces for people to be and exist, and there are, but they're not great. And this project is hopefully going to change some of that. But there was there was some statistics that I thought were kind of interesting from the planning commission for this. 85% of parks in the city don't have wayfinding signage. So 85% of the parks don't have a sign that tell you it's a city park. Wow. And I'm thinking about it. I think that's accurate. Yeah. And if they do, it's really hard to see because it's old and it hasn't been maintained. 57% of the parks don't have enough shade to be comfortable in a hot on a hot day. That's definitely true. So trees, who would have thought trees, just trees or like a pagoda or a pergola with like some drapery over or. Just put a pop tin in the middle of something. Yeah, right. Bird Park is a really good example. Like Duck Lake is a good example of that massive park around the really cool lake. But the trees are like 50 yards away from the edge of the water. So you kind of like tuck away in the trees. Yeah. Only 3% of accessible playgrounds and 41% are not accessible by sidewalk. The estimate is 75 million dollars to bring amenities in good condition to the park system. I don't know, man, that sounds like money laundering to me, to be honest. Said on land, the plan says the city will need 312 acres to meet the current needs and about 1200 acres by 2037 as Richmond grows, which raises the big question. What does the land where does the land come from? And what tradeoffs will the city make to get it going? I don't know, man, because look, you know, cities like Los Angeles, they're very, very crowded, right? Yeah. And they find innovative ways to create green spaces, right? Because they're they're even going vertical where they intentionally plant trees and greenery and stuff on top of buildings and things like that. Now, I don't think we necessarily need to do that, but it reminds me of the the little triangle space across from where the Hoff garden is. And there was a proposal to, like, turn that area into like a little park and a little park with a little dog walk thing. It kind of is already like there's a bench there. I see people eating lunch there. I see mostly like, you know, sometimes it's like homeless people sleeping on the bench, but, you know, spruce it up a little bit. Yeah, exactly. And that's kind of what I mean. That's kind of like it's like, OK, sure. I'm sure you're excited to, you know, go take seventy five million dollars of our tax money and spend it to make the city look beautiful. But it's like, why don't you just do the simple stuff first? Like that exact example. Yeah, right there. You could put put a little fountain, put a little thing, put a little 30 grand. It's funny that you're taking this position, because I think when we were talking about Citi's plans for Browns Island and I mentioned that there were lots of comments on the post about the city using that money for other things. This is another example of that. Yeah, they're saying it's going to cost around 75 million dollars over the course of who knows how many years this will take to be completed. If it will ever actually be completed. But looking at something like the triangle spot or looking at some of the parks that actually need some revampings, like, is that the best use of all of that money? Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think Browns Island, it's an existing landscape, you know, so it's a little bit different because same thing with Mayo's Island. I think that's a great repurposing of that, because Mayo's Island was just like a parking lot and a warehouse and whatever. But that's already city owned property. So or I think they just recently acquired it. If I remember, I think it was like 13 million, which is a lot of money. It's a lot of money. But I actually think that that space in particular makes sense for the city to acquire, right? Because it's in the middle of the city. It's right there next to Browns Island. I mean, it's right in the middle of the river and it's right next to Browns Island. And that that's slowly becoming like the little crown in our in our the little jewel in our crown. Right. And I think it makes sense to use those existing spaces. And yeah, you're going to have to pour millions of dollars into it. But I would love to see them open Browns Island with, you know, nice little fountains, way more trees, because I think about these public communities. What I actually think about is Fountain Lake. And I think about Richmond historically. Yeah. Where, yeah, people just get off work and they go and they would go swimming or they go hang out. Right. And the VMFA has sort of been a place like that for a long time, which is great. And it's beautiful. It's awesome. But the VMFA is not big enough to accommodate the population of an entire city, whereas Browns Island and Mayo's Island are. Yeah. So just imagine a community where during the summer everybody's outside hanging out, kids, dogs, all that type of stuff. And yeah, you have shaded areas and people are picnicking and riding bikes. And like, that's what we want. You know, it's like we need to get these kids off these tablets. The adults, too, you know, and it's like if you want a community and you want like a space that you can enjoy and a place that you are proud to call home, that definitely has to be an element of it. Get the kids outside, get them playing tag, get them a squirt gun, have them squirt his iPhone by accident so it breaks and you can't use it for a week. So he has to go outside and find his friends like. That was what we did when we were kids. And I remember we would do a lot of this stuff in the park system, like we would go to we go to Bird Park and use the pavilions for picnics and barbecues. Most of the parks have those rickety old iron grills that you can just pour charcoal in and make a grill or make a barbecue. That's stuff that people did all the time. I don't know any of my friends who do that stuff now or have had had the opportunity or taken the opportunity, I should say, to do it in like the last 10 years. And it's not that the stuff isn't there. It's just that no one wants to do it. Yeah. And making it cool is exactly how you get people to use it. Very true.