Richmond Takeovers, Taxes & Tornados (Broad St chaos, missing money, extreme weather, etc) — Unscripted #040

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We will be guiding 2 groups — a comfortable run pace, and a walking group — so whether you want to push yourself a little or just come out, get active, and meet some new people, you’re officially invited and all are welcome and encouraged.

In this episode of Vera House Unscripted, we discuss a range of Richmond topics including extreme weather, city infrastructure, local culture, and recent events across the city. We start with Richmond’s unpredictable weather, from warm temperatures to snow and ice within days, and how the city continues to struggle with winter road conditions and storm response.

We also talk about growing awareness around local government and city spending, including questions about how tax dollars are being used and recent concerns around missing funds.

A major portion of the episode focuses on the Broad Street street takeovers, including cars doing donuts, large crowds gathering at intersections, and how this behavior has become more visible across Richmond. We discuss the role of social media, the difference between past car culture and what’s happening now, and the risks for both participants and the public.

We also cover increased enforcement, surveillance, and legal consequences tied to these events, along with Richmond nightlife, local DJ events, and the Monument Avenue 10K through Sports Backers.

Topics include Richmond weather, winter storms, city infrastructure, government spending, Broad Street takeovers, Richmond car culture, surveillance, law enforcement response, nightlife, and community events.

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 Verahouse Podcast. We've got another fun one for you today. Today's episode, we get into a couple of fun things. One, and the most interesting of which, I think, is Richmond has ADD weather. It just can't make up its mind. It was 70 degrees, and then it snowed, and now the sun's out. It's all over the place. So, we talked about that. We also talked about where to get our sweet treats. We've got a couple of fun places that we like to go and get our treats around town. And we also talked about this new phenomenon descending on Richmond, street takeovers, and how we feel about them and maybe some of the consequences. What else we talk about? Yeah. Speaking of sweet treats, right? There's lots of donuts, but not the kind that you eat, I guess. So silly. Yeah. Talked a lot about a lot of great kind of hidden local gems where you can pick up some good stuff. We talked about the Monument 10k, which is coming up soon. And we'd love to invite you to come and walk or run it with us. And if you decide to do so, you'll get a discount when you sign up for the Monument 10k, and you'll get a limited edition piece of apparel, which is going to be probably a tank top. Yeah. But we're pretty pumped about that. So, all the details for that are in this episode and linked in the description below. We also briefly talk about the flock camera situation again. And then we talk about how Richmond decided to remove the wrong flock, right? So, what did they do with the geese in Bird Park? What's going on with that? Who knows, man? Man, only one way to get rid of the goose poop in Richmond, I suppose. So, you have to stay tuned and learn about that. Tune in. Enjoy the episode. Well, it's great when the pizza place is all closed down and then you can't have any pizza because it's somehow like the snowpocalypse in the middle of March. You're telling me, man, I left the house today and I didn't know what to wear because the weather is got ADD or something. Yeah. It was 75 degrees this morning. Then it was 35 degrees and cloudy. And then it rained. Then it snowed. Well, actually then it's like hailed slash sleet came down like ice chips. Then it snowed. Then the sun came out and it was beautiful. We like disclaimer, right? Because the weather is such a cliche thing to talk about. But today was something else. Like today, I don't know that I've ever really seen anything quite like it. And I was even looking at like there was this Reddit thread that somebody just posted recently. And it says, so the apocalypse is happening here, right? It was 75 degrees this morning, but it's been raining all day. Then it was thundering at my office for a few hours. And all of a sudden there was a huge crack of thunder and then snow. Now the sun's out and it's beautiful. And yeah, you know, it's, I know we joke about experiencing like all the seasons. It's like, dude, we checked them all in a single day. I mean, I want to say this is a first, but I can't really say that it has to have happened here before. Probably. Not to my knowledge, like not to my memory that this has happened. It's, it was definitely a weird one with the, because I didn't check the weather. I think I saw a friend, a friend's like group chat put like this special report thing in our group chat. And I just didn't read it because of the last couple of days, it's been really nice out 65, 75, 85 last couple of days, sunny, maybe a little cloudy, no humidity. It's been really, really nice. Especially after having like, you know, the ice blizzard thing come through. So I'll go outside 10 o'clock in the morning, 65, it's a little cloudy. It's supposed to be, you know, kind of gloomy all day. Cool. And I'm just, I'm working at home and then I see it start to like precipitate, but then it's like misty. And then it's like hail, but like tiny little bead hail, like the little small ones. And then I ran out, went out for an errand, came back full on like dumping snow. Like we got like an inch, like a half an inch of snow today at least. And then right before we came here, the sun came out and the temperature went back up. It's bananas. Well, and not to mention yesterday was almost 90 degrees. I know man, I had the AC on full blast, sweating in the car. And then today it's snowing. That's just that, just that is like wild. It is. And like you said, it's cliche, talk about the weather all the time, but it's because of this. Like this is, this is like noteworthy. The lady that came into the store at Montana had something to say about it. It's like, it's on people's minds because it is very strange. Yeah, definitely strange. And it's, I guess it's just coincidence that we, we just had our viral video where you were talking about all the seasons of Virginia. I know. And look, and here we are, Virginia proving me right. It's just, it is, it's a part of living here, man. You get used to it. I mean, not unfortunately, but it is, you know, it's part of what living here is like, you know, we talked to other people from different parts of the country and they don't have like a spring time. They'll ask like, you know, what's it like in Virginia? Okay. Yeah. You know, summer, spring, fall, whatever, like spring, what is spring? It's like, it's either hot or cold. Most places don't have that. That's like a, consider that a luxury of living here. Today is a perfect example. We had summer, winter, spring, and then tonight it's going to be fall because it'll probably be freezing. Yup. Yup. Yeah. I have a client, I was talking to them today. They live in Lake Como in Italy and it's like full blown spring there. And in the zoom call, they could see like behind me, it was snowing and they were like, where do you live again? Like I live on the East coast of the US, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I think it's weird happenstance, you know, it's just kind of random that today gave us all four seasons in 24 hours. Pretty crazy. Yeah. It's pretty crazy. But again, the charm of living in Virginia as opposed to living somewhere like New York, for example, especially during the winter months, it's been my luck that I've only been to New York in the wintertime. Like I haven't been there to my recent memory during the spring or summer. So I've only been there when it's brutally cold or snowing, but I'd take what we had this winter over that any day. Yeah. I mean, I'm from New York. I love New York, you know, and I don't know if people know that I'm from New York, you know, I've lived here forever, by the way, but I was born in New York. I was not born here. But I think New York, like wintertime in New York is stunning. It's beautiful. You know? You prior to Christmas, right? Like once Christmas is over, then like the novelty wears off a little bit and you're like, all right, I'm over this. Cause it's just like chaos. Yeah. But especially New York city, like New York city, it's snowing. It's like a movie, you know, it's like amazing. So it's, if you're going to experience New York city, it's not a terrible time. And you know what, dude, like they handle, put it this way. You think about how Richmond handled all the snow and stuff, you know, like New York's got it down. And Boston is also very, very good as well. Yeah, man. I mean, you make a good point. I've been up there during the holidays or like shortly thereafter. So beginning of the new year, I've been up there and it is, it's beautiful. Like downtown Manhattan, Brooklyn, the cityscape is really nice, but then we'll, like you said, the novelty for me quickly wears off because I am from Virginia at a friend who lives there telling me that he doesn't have a car because his coat is his car. He spent $2,000 on a Canada goose coat and he walks most places because he doesn't need a car, but he walks most places with his $2,000 coat because it is negative 10 degrees just about every day. The wind is like 25 miles an hour crosswinds through the streets. You need a coat that costs two grand just to get back and forth to work. And I'm not prepared because I don't live in New York. I go up there with my, like what I call winter clothes and I'm like shivering and like just cursing the ground that I walk on because I'm not prepared for winter time in New York. Yeah. Fair enough. Fair enough. Yeah. You know, and even during all the like snowpocalypse here, it's not like the temperature, I mean, it was cold at night, but like all the snow and the ice that lasted, the weather during the day was like 50 degrees. It really wasn't bad. It's just that everything was covered in ice. And like, because it was so condensed and packed, it just didn't melt, you know? It was a weird time, man. When it was starting to like, you know, kind of calm down and some of this, the ice was melting, but you know, a lot of the ice that was still along the sides of the roads where people's street park wasn't, especially in Carytown, there were people struggling to not slip and bust their ass walking down the sidewalk and to get in and out of the parking spaces. I watched a guy popped into a Zorch. It's my spot popped into Zorch to get a slice. You know, you pop the curb, the hump that is the ice block that was there and you get into a spot that somebody left prior because their car was there before all the ice fell. And you kind of like snuggle in because your car settles back into the spot. This guy did that and he was in a Prius and he goes to leave and can't get out. Of course, the wheels are just spinning. He comes back into the Zorch. He's like, can I get like a used box, a pizza box to like help me get out of this spot? I'm stuck. Meanwhile, this is like almost a week after the ice storm. The weather is about 55. It's sunny. It's mostly, the ice is mostly gone, but there's just this remnant still there that people were still struggling with. And I was like the biggest gripe that I had when it came to like the city not taking care of it. That was an inevitable situation that could have been avoided. It could have been preempted by some pretty standard issue actions like laying down salt and then continuing to do that and like all these other things. Like we went into that a couple episodes ago, but I saw this like time and time again, people's cars aren't prepared for, you know, ice like that. And this dude, he just wanted a slice of pizza and he got, he three people stopped to help him and they couldn't get his car out. Wow. Yeah. As soon as you said pizza box, I was like, yeah, like stick it underneath the wheel and like try to get traction and no, that was never going to work. Um, yeah, you mentioned, you know, like, uh, griping about the city and stuff like that. You know what I saw not long after our last conversation was the Congresswoman that you mentioned, I think Elizabeth Guzman, I believe it's the right person. She's actually also leading this whole like investigation into the like spending of the city. And I guess there's like$10 million unaccounted for not as present. Yeah. And she's like digging into all that stuff and basically like requesting the information from the mayor and from the city. And they're basically like avoiding it and not answering just like typical. Yeah. Very strange political situation. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know, but that just made me think about what I was looking into. I was like, damn, that's not good. The political activities and the circumstances surrounding where money goes and doesn't go has never been a subject that I had lots of interest in really until we started talking about infrastructure, plans, things that affect you and I, but also affect lots of our friends. And now that we have, you know, the ability to talk through some of these things, I'm realizing that I do care a lot more about them because they do generally affect me and the city at large. And those, those big numbers, like 5 million, 10 million, 15 million dollars of trickles downhill, and it will eventually affect you or someone, you know, directly. I mean, that's a huge amount of money. Yeah. You know, they're putting what just misplaced my briefcase full of $1,000 bills. Yeah. It's, I mean, it's crazy. Right. Cause they're spending, you know, what was it like an estimated 30 million on Browns Island? Yeah. Right. So it's like, dude, 10 million bucks is not a small chunk of change. Like that's a ton of money. And I agree with you. I think, I think two things, I think, I don't think it's just us in Richmond. I think people all over this country have recently become more aware of like, wait, where's all my tax money going? You know? So I think that's a recent thing, but it's also local. And I think it's because you and I now spend time intentionally doing research about what's happening. Whereas, you know, maybe a couple of years ago, that wasn't really the case. Right. So now week in and week out, we're hearing feedback from people in our audience. We're doing research for the podcast episodes. We're meeting people in real life that are saying, Oh, we heard about this or we heard about that, or you guys should talk about this. So I definitely think it's like more in our, it's no longer in our peripheral. It's like in our main side of vision now. And we're, it's not even really like, we're going out of our way to think about it or participate in it. It's just, we're way more aware of what's going on now because of the, you know, the environment that we're in and doing this, I think. It's honestly fascinating. And, you know, it was a by-product, like you mentioned of just having this, the podcast, then an opportunity to talk about the city and then, you know, to learn about it at the same time, you learn the good and you learn the bad and you learn the weird or whatever in between, which I think has been very cool for me as a Richmond native. And I mentioned, you know, that politics necessarily isn't my subject matter of interest, but the, the through lines and the proximity to things that I am interested in and the connecting threads to politicians, to legislature, to bills that get passed, to laws that are made and to the way that we operate in the city, it's undeniable. So it is interesting now, not that I'm going to dive headfirst into it and just study the, you know, the city code and, you know, all of these things that have to do with the specificity of some of these, these problems that we're having, but in the process of researching, I'm finding like, okay, this is actually kind of interesting. And you kind of like the nuts and bolts. This is 100% my like personality, right? Like I grew up taking things apart without knowing how to put them back together so I could learn how to put them back together. This is kind of the same thing. I like cars, I like mechanics, I like fixing things. We're just popping the hood on the city and seeing how it all works and then finding out, well, that bolt doesn't go there. Why is it there? And why is no one talking about it? I think like, we would all wish for politics to be simple, you know, because if we think about, well, oh, these are the simple things that I want out of the city that I live in and the community that I'm in. This is fulfillment to me, this is happiness to me. And there's probably some pretty simple bullet points that most people that live here could agree on. And so I think on the surface, it's like, okay, this is pretty simple. It's pretty straightforward. But I guess the truth about politics is that it's not simple. And there's a ton of nuance to it. It's like very complicated, very complex, and there's so much to it. But yeah, like not everybody's going to agree on a lot of things. And then how do you find a happy medium and find a solution? Like, it's not a job I would want, that's for sure. That's true, man. Like, I'm watching again, maybe for the fourth time at this point, the show Veep on HBO. I don't know if I've ever heard of that. I thought you were gonna say House of Cards. No, but also a great show. Yeah. No, Veep is on HBO. It's the vice president becomes a president. It's Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who plays Elaine in Seinfeld. Oh, nice. She is the vice president at the beginning of the series, eventually becomes president, loses the presidency. And it's like their version of what they think working and existing in the DC politics would actually be like, but if it was a sitcom. It's hilarious. But some of the stuff that they talk about, the situations that they find themselves in, that are diametrically opposed, but they have to make a decision, because nothing happens if nothing gets decided. And it's a lose-lose scenario on both ends. And there's like one big payoff with one big loss and another big payoff with another big loss. And you have to like, someone has to swallow the bullet, and then they move on to the next win-lose-win scenario. And that's just how politics works. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, there's some, I've never seen that show. There's some good ones though. And it reminds me of like the intensity of some of that stuff. Like it makes me think of House of Cards. It makes me think of Succession. Yeah. Even like Suits a little bit. Yep. You know, it's like some of these really good shows that kind of gives like an inside look into what you normally wouldn't be able to really see or understand. And of course it's, you know, it's a show, it's entertainment. So who knows how close that is to reality, but obviously those people do plenty of research into these industries to try to get their show as close to reality as possible. So it's like, yeah, there's probably a lot to learn from that stuff. And at least gives you a glimpse into some of it, you know? Did you know they filmed the last episode of Succession at the Jefferson Hotel? I don't think I knew that until you mentioned it like recently. Yeah. So I didn't know that originally. But I do think you like mentioned that sometime within the, like maybe over the holidays or something. Yeah. That's awesome. It's really cool. It doesn't look like Richmond unless you're looking or unless you can, you know, you're paying very close attention because they shot it specifically to not, you know, showcase or advertise Richmond. Right. Like it's not location specific. No, but it is. The Jefferson fits that vibe. Exactly. It's, you know, obscure enough so it can't be placed anywhere because it is a very unique building. And even the, there's a shot of the motorcade of, I don't know, I can't remember the main character's name, but his motorcade is like driving down Monument Avenue and then pulling up to the roundabout at the Jefferson. And then they're in one of these giant suites. And it's at, they filmed all of it on location in the city. It's really cool. Like you should take another look at that last episode of season one. I'm going to have to go back and watch that because that is sick. And I remember watching that show and at that time, it was like the best, I was like, dude, this is hands down the best show I've seen in a long time. I was really impressed with it. And I remember like, maybe that was like 2021 or something. I don't remember. And I just immediately, it was like binging these episodes. Yeah. And actually I do remember because I was in Florida speaking at an event and I was like in my hotel room, like watching the episodes back to back and like was basically delaying getting ready to go give like a keynote speech. Like, and I was like, man, I would almost rather sit here and watch succession than like go down to the, you know, conference and actually like talk at this thing. I do remember that. And I think it was like 2021 or something like that. Yeah. What a great show though. Yeah, man. I mean, I'm a big TV, I wouldn't say buff, but I'm a big fan of television. I know you are, but to a different degree. And I was thinking about this today. It's, there are things about our society that some people view as like a waste of time or a useless, you know, a useless waste or use of your energy and your time and your attention. And a lot of entertainment is seen that way. Movies, TV, video games. And during the like early nineties, you know, there was a whole pushed to reduce the amount of television that teens and young people were watching and reduce the amount of video games that teens and young people were, you know, were playing and exposing themselves to. And I was thinking about this today, man, on the other side of the TV is bad, it rots your brain conversation is an entire world of creators, industry professionals, artists, super talented people that like their entire lives depend on creating entertainment for people. And I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts is the Conan O'Brien podcast. And he interviews occasionally, like once a week, he interviews members on his staff and he's interviewing a writer that works for the show. And he was talking about how, you know, he came up and like took a leap of faith and went into trying to be a writer for a comedy skit and then worked his way up the ladder and made it into the Conan show. And he's now writing jokes for the Oscars for Conan to tell on stage in front of literally millions and millions of people. The joy that TV brings to some people is immeasurable. The joy that something like a keynote from someone like Conan O'Brien brings to the audience to people watching at home is incalculable. So it's just, that's my like, like rosy tinted glasses view on like TV and educate or TV and entertainment. You know, as someone who's also behind the camera from time to time, and, you know, kind of divided between providing and being a part of the entertainment like this podcast, and then also producing and being the creative mind behind the video and behind the scenes part. Yeah. Well, you know, in typical fashion, it makes me think of ancient history, right? It's like TV used to just be in the form of a play, you know, and you think about people like Shakespeare and, you know, it's like, yeah, entertainment has always been a really important part of human life, you know, to help you, you know, especially when life was much harder than it is now, you know, as much as people would like to say, like, Oh, things are crazy. And things are, you know, yes, true. But things used to be much more difficult many, many years ago, and entertainment was desperately important, you know, or direly important. And, yeah, you know, it's no different than a play, you know, but I think now we've got algorithms and screens and all this stuff. And there's a, it reaches a point where it becomes a bit of an issue, you know? So yeah, you know, mediation and being able to know when it's time to like, turn the TV off and go to bed, you know? Yeah, that's where I struggle. I was like, I'm falling asleep in front of the TV too many nights a week at this point. Yeah. But I mean, you know, especially nowadays, there is a lot going on. I think we talked about, I was doing the edit for this for last week's episode. And we talked about how it felt like an entire year has gone by, and it's only been a month and two weeks. Yeah. A lot of stuff has happened in the last two months. But a lot of stuff has happened in the last five years. Just more stuff that has had an impact on your nervous system and your psychological well-being and your stress levels in your relationships. There's been more of those things by leaps and bounds than like decades prior. And a lot of that is to do with social media and news outlets. And you are exposed to everything that's happening around the world at all times. And obviously mediating or mitigating that is very important. But also to try and counterbalance the amount of anxiety-inducing stuff you scroll through on your Instagram feed. Maybe you want to watch a lighthearted show about who's going to marry the richest guy in California or whatever. Yeah. I think you sent me this thing about ADD or ADHD and how certain brains, like, what do they call it, neurodivergent, right? Yeah. People that their brain chemistry is a little bit different typically do stay up at night and either are doing creative work or yeah, stay up watching shows. For me, it's documentaries. I just go down these rabbit holes of all this crazy stuff, all this different history and weird stuff. Yeah. It's just part of it. And a lot of it, there's joy that comes with it. But yeah, there gets to a point where it's like, all right, I need to turn this off and it's time for me to go to bed so that I don't screw up my schedule tomorrow and all that other stuff. It can be tough. Yeah, dude. I'm actually, maybe I'm re-realizing it, but I think I already knew it. But prior to March, maybe April of last year, when I was still kind of going out on the weekends, going out to see my friends DJ or go to hang out with friends at the bar or whatever, staying up late was a part of my weekly routine. Now, it's really not so much. I'm on the other side of it. I'm in bed at home and in bed by midnight most of the time, but I still get this, there's this palpable surge of energy as soon as the sun goes down. And I know that there are lots of people that can resonate with this. And I don't know the specific science behind it, but there is something to do with the bewitching hour and nighttime activities, things that you don't do during the daytime that are more exciting, just inherently, just more thrilling. And as soon as the sun goes down, it's like, oh, what are we going to get into today? And then instead of doing that, I'm like, you know, taking a shower, cooking dinner, putting on some chill beats, and then watching V, except for on the weekends, you know, occasionally I'll go out and see a friend DJ or I'll go out and DJ myself. But there's definitely something about that. In that post I sent you, it said that, and I'm going to paraphrase, that people with ADHD or ADD get a boost of creative juices and creative mental energy when the sun goes down because during the day, you're being bombarded by all of these things that require your attention, taking care of your house, going to work, talking to your friends and family, dealing with your finances or whatever else you got going on. But when that's all over, your brain has personal time, free time, you are more in control of what's going on because all of your, let's call them obligations, are simply just kind of fade away after the sun goes down for the most part. So you feel way more focused on anything creative. You're more excited about doing that creative work because you feel like you're making progress without having the distractions of things that are going on around you, which makes total sense why I really enjoy doing creative work or learning about things creatively at night. Yeah. Well, speaking of people who have an exciting nightlife, I want to talk about this like craziness that's going on on Broad Street. Yeah. But there's two quick things I want to talk about first. One is you mentioned DJs and you have a show coming up soon, right? I do. I have a show. What are the details on that? So it's called Low Frequency. I have a event series called High Frequency, which is a rooftop party that we've been doing at the Graduate Hotel. That is coming up in May when the Graduate Hotel's rooftop reopens. But while it's still a little chilly outside, we're doing what's called Low Frequency and we're doing it at Black Iris on April 11th from nine to midnight, excuse me, from nine till two a.m. And it's me and three other DJs. We bring in the entire setup. We revamp Black Iris with lights and decorations just to create a really cool space to come and vibe out and dance. They usually have some specialty cocktails for us that night. We did one a couple months ago and it was a hit. That was actually in the middle peak of the ice storm. And because a lot of places were closed, we had a big crowd of our friends come through and hang out that night and it was a lot of fun. So if you like dance music, if you like adults, when I say adult, I mean grownups having a party. I don't mean like kids in lasers and glow sticks. I mean like grownups having fun. Come to Black Iris on April 11th for our little shindig. Yeah. And I was at the last one. It was a blast. It was definitely a good time. And that's such a cool, unique venue too. The way that it was laid out, the way that it was set up was awesome. It's like a speakeasy vibe, but it's also kind of like a chill art lounge. It's cool. It's definitely cool. So where do people get info? Do they go to your Instagram? Was it MassFX Music? So yeah, you can go to my Instagram MassFXMusic on Instagram. You can also go to the High Frequency Instagram page, which is highfrequency.rva on Instagram and the flyer and links to buy tickets are on my MassFX page and on the High Frequency page. Both of the links are in the bio. So you just click there and get all that information. Dude, let's go. Real quick. One other thing I want to talk about is we recently partnered with our good friends over at Sports Backers. You've heard of Sports Backers, right? Yeah. Everybody has. They're the best, man. They're a Richmond nonprofit whose mission is quite simple. They inspire people across our region in central Virginia and beyond to live more actively. And one of their most iconic events is coming up soon. Surely you've heard of it. It is the U-Crops Monument Avenue 10K. It is easily one of Richmond's favorite spring traditions. Since the year 2000, I didn't know that it had been going on for that long. Me neither, dude. That's crazy. Yeah. So since the year 2000, tens of thousands of people from across Richmond and beyond have gathered on the beautiful Monument Avenue to run, jog, or walk the course together. And it's not really just a race. It is like a citywide celebration. They have porch parties, costumes, music, and there are thousands of spectators lining the streets the entire way with signs and confetti cannons and all kinds of crazy stuff. It's a blast. But what makes it really special is that it's literally for everyone. It's not just for serious runners and athletes and competitors. It is for first-time 10Kers. It's for people who just want to walk and have fun, families, groups of friends. Everybody just shows up together and they share the same finish line for the same reason. And this year, we've put together our own VeraHouse squad for the 10K, and it's called the VeraHouse Creative Club. And we'd love to invite you to join us and participate in the Monument Avenue 10K. So if you've been following us, you already know that we're all about bringing people together in Richmond. So whether you're a creator or entrepreneur or none of the above, you can just be somebody who just wants to get out and kind of be part of something happening in the city. Anyone who joins our 10K team, you'll get$5 off your race entry. And more importantly, you'll get a limited edition VeraHouse collaboration tank top and an invite to come meet up with us, come hang out. And we're going to do coffee and bagels prior to the race before we hit Monument Avenue together. And we'll be guiding two groups. So we're going to do a comfortable run pace, I'll lead that one. And we'll do a walking group and Perry will lead that one. And so whether you want to push yourself a little bit, or you just want to come out, get out of the house, get active, meet some new people, you are officially invited and all are welcome and encouraged to join us. So you can sign up today at sportsbackers.org. Now use code VeraHouse, just all one word, for $5 off your entry. And then most importantly, be sure to choose Vera Creative Club as your team. That's really important. That's how we get your name and your info. And we know that you're somebody who is going to get a limited edition collaboration tank top. So we look forward to seeing you there. The 10K is a ton of fun. I've done it before. Have you ever done it? I've never done it. Okay, it's dude, it's a celebration. My first one. What a great time to like do it for the first time. Right? Like if you're going to do it, go go all in go big. Yeah. And yeah, the idea is like, it's going to be fun. You know, it's a reason to get together. I'm you know, I think we both are but I'm definitely a big advocate of like, yeah, just get active. Go do something. I know it can be hard to like, meet new people and force yourself to do something social. It's also hard to force yourself to do something physical too. Yeah. So it's like, you know, give yourself an excuse. Use this as a reason to come out, have a good time. It's for a good cause. Sportsbackers is a great nonprofit. They're obviously very well known. They do all types of other events too. So they're part of, you know, the River City Marathon, or Richmond Marathon and the River City Half Marathon. I just ran that last week. I crushed my goal. Did quite well, but we'd love to see you there. Go to sportsbackers.org. Follow the instructions. We'll also link everything down in the description below. So Monument Avenue is beautiful. It is. How about Broad Street? Also beautiful. It depends on what you just determined as beautiful because apparently burnout lines and busted tire bits can be beautiful. Yeah. I have it in my notes here. I put quote, Broad Street is cooked. Literally being sauteed by tires. Yeah. We got a bunch of young kids with ADHD just burning up Broad Street, man. And you know, we're definitely going to go a little deep into this one. This is not a new thing. So it's actually kind of cool for me to see this. This is a resurgence of car culture in Richmond, but specifically on Broad Street. Now, is this the best, most appetizing way to engage in car culture? I'm not even gonna say probably, definitely not like don't do it. But I grew up in car culture. I grew up street racing into the downtown area and car meetups on Broad Street were a massive thing in the early 2000s. They were. I mean, I've had, I've been fortunate. I've had plenty of nice cars throughout adulthood and I love car shows and car meetups. I've been going to them ever since I was a kid. I'm a huge fan of Formula One, which we don't really talk about on the show because why would we, but I love motor sports and I know that you do too. And maybe from different perspectives, different angles, you know, like I grew up go-karting and like watching Michael Schumacher and all of a sudden I just, I love it. This is a different vibe. This is like something else, man. I can't say that I ever really participated in something quite like this. Now I've seen these types of videos, you know, off and on over the years of, you know, stuff like this going on. To me, this is like a very Atlanta vibe. You know, you got the Hellcats, you got the Chargers. It's just like pure pandemonium. People doing donuts, people getting run over, hanging out of the cars, you got the GoPro, they're like antagonizing the cops. Like it's just, it's wild. It's wild to see this in the DMV, in the Richmond DMV parking lot. That, that video is kind of nuts because like, and honestly that's the MO, right? It's like pushing the envelope. You have so many people surrounding the cars doing all the crazy stuff that when the cops show up, they just disrespect the cops because they like can't do anything. They can't arrest everybody and they can't run anyone over. So they have to like stand back and sit in their cars and wait for people to just disperse. So it is aptly named a street takeover because they occupy Broad and Belvedere or Broad and Boulevard or Broad and that the science museum for hours, and there's nothing that anyone can do because there's just too many people. Yeah. You know, and as soon as the cops pull out the mustard gas or whatever, you know, and they shoot the tear gas, then it's going to be like, oh, the cops attack kids or, you know, whatever. It's going to be a whole headline. So yeah, their hands are tied. And like, I mean, that's the things like the, in spirit, the spirit of like, you know, rebel car culture. I'm fully on like, I'm fully on board with like back road street racing or like meeting up at the, at the parking lot when it's closed that I'm down for this. Not so much. I'm also like not a charger guy that became somewhere along the line, becoming or owning a charger became a personality. Just is not my thing. Yeah. Well, I think it's, you know, let's think about like a Dodge Viper, right? A hundred thousand dollar car. Yeah. Essentially you have a much more affordable Dodge Viper. Yeah. You know, it's like, oh, I can get a charger, you know, for many, you know, you can get a pretty busted one for like 11 grand, you know, up to like a pretty nice one for, you know, call it 20 to 40 grand. Right. Right. So it, you know, talking of cars, it's an insanely powerful vehicle for a much more affordable price. You know, I think with us growing up, yeah, you're not getting your hands on like, you know, a 400 to 800 horsepower vehicle for 20 grand. It's just not happening. It's kind of, it's kind of bananas. Now I'm split on this because on the one hand, I like the, the anarchy. And I like the, the rebel spirit of both the people that are participating in like the car culture and of the manufacturer Dodge specifically is the only car maker that's making cars like this. And they have been like really trying to push their, from that advertising perspective, they've been pushing their historical roots as moonshiners. And I think I was telling you about moonshining and running and that used, that was the lineage that led to NASCAR and they have roots in muscle cars and the charger and the challenger were huge muscle cars in the forties, fifties, sixties, and seventies. And they're the only manufacturer that's still perpetuating that lifestyle. It's unfortunate that now, if you're 18, you can get a license. If you've got decent credit, you can get a loan and buy one and then just do whatever you want with it. Yeah. Like implode your life in about 20 minutes. Put yourself on the internet showing you breaking 15 different laws and running over somebody who's still in high school. It's shenanigans and it's fun when you're with your friends and you're filming and you're like, and the adrenaline's pumping and you're doing donuts. It's not fun when two days later they just come knock on your door and say, Hey, you're under arrest. And you're like, Oh, I thought I got away with it. It's like, no, not really, dude. There were 35 people that took a video of you doing that. How'd you think you were going to get away with it? It's like your license plate, like, you know, you basically antagonizing the cops, like all this other stuff. We got it all. Yeah. And this is the beauty of it. Like back when I was doing this stuff, like we could, we could run a few races in the downtown area. So like near the CSX, um, train, the intersection of the train station or the train railroad tracks and an industrial park that was largely closed. Actually, Ironwood automotive is back there. Oh yeah. Yeah. Back there where the, the, uh, the change where the interchange of the tracks were, there were plenty of like half mile, quarter mile stretches of street that were completely desolate because they were just business parks. So we could run back there, call it 50, a hundred people would meet up at the Kroger parking lot on broad street here. No problem from the cops, no problem from the neighbors. Nobody's burning out. Everybody's literally just standing around looking at cars. Midnight comes around. Everyone quietly pulls out, meets up at the race spot. You pull up, you turn your lights off, no systems, no burning out. You do a couple of runs until you get into his complaint and then everybody packs up and runs to the next spot. Yeah. The next spot would be 15 minutes up 95 on bells road and put all that, get off at the bells road exit. There's another industrial park there. No one's there cause it's closed. Do a couple of runs until the cops show up. By that time it's two o'clock in the morning and you just go home. Yeah. Nobody's getting hurt. Nobody's running over kids that are still in high school. This is also before social media. I was dude, you beat me to it. I was living to say this is 100% like a social media phenomenon because you know, I remember like I drove like a pretty gnarly Subaru. Um, it's like a funny statement to make. Right. But like Subarus can be, you do have a really bad-ass Outback. Yeah. Yeah. It was not an Outback, like Subaru WRX STI. It was pretty sick. And uh, you know, I was in my early twenties, but like, dude, to us, what was fun is like, you detail your car, you get together with the squad, you meet up in a parking lot and then you go on like a joy ride down the highway. And that was always like a lot of fun, you know? And sure there was maybe a little bit of mischief, a little racing, a little speeding here and there. And like, it was a blast. Um, it wasn't this, you know, and I think about this, like even just thinking about being a sports car owner, you know, it's like, dude, these cars, like I think about my BMW, like I had the BMW M6 Grand Coupe competition, right? Thing is almost 700 horsepower. The tires on that thing are almost 12 inches wide. And it's like, there would be no point in doing that. It's like, man, you're talking about a $1,200 set of tires to just like do a couple of donuts and kind of show off, you know, you're roasting those tires. Obviously your license plate's going to get caught in those cameras. And yeah, as an adult, you're like, yeah, I'm going to be, I'm going to be cooked. If I do this, there's no way, there's no way I could do that. Now we use the, we use the term, like, I think you use it most often. It's like clever shysters. Yeah. This is, this is not clever shysters, right? It's like, cause normally what you would do is say like, um, this video is AI. This is not real. No one was harmed in this. This guy did the, or this person did the complete opposite. Their caption is AI did not make this. Cause they want the credit, right? They want the credit. And the crazy thing is they might get it. Yeah, no, they, they're definitely getting it. The crazy thing is, I guess maybe not the crazy thing is, but like, this is a whole culture, right? Like I've seen street takeover videos for years. This isn't new, but it is very new to Richmond. Yeah. It's, it's probably not new in Richmond and surrounding counties. Cause maybe it happened like Petersburg. Maybe it's happened in other like counties or whatnot. It's definitely new to like downtown Richmond, but it's not new at all. Like it, it started and actually had to look this up. It started in California in the eighties. Really? Yeah. And it was called something else. It wasn't called a street takeover, but it was basically outlaw souped up cars would occupy an area. And maybe there's some gang affiliations, maybe there's some shots fired, but it was basically the same thing, but in the eighties and then just kind of migrated across the country and in different, different iterations, but it didn't blow up until COVID happened. And the reason it got so big is because social media, like obviously social media is everyone covering everything all the time, but because there were no cars on the street, no cops out on the road and no one had to go to work. So you had a hundreds of thousands of people with nothing better to do than to meet up and do burnouts in the intersection with no consequences because COVID. And then it just became like a cultural, like a subculture phenomenon. And like, I saw some of the cars in that video and I saw, you know, a couple of jacked up cars with like giant wheels on them and like big rims and whatnot. It's a color conglomeration of different types of car culture. But I mean, honestly, most of it is like black young men and women that participated in like participate in the street takeover culture. And it's perpetuated some to some degree by like hip hop culture. It's like, you know, rap music videos or whatnot, but that's, that is nothing new. Yeah. Well, yeah, I guess I mentioned Atlanta and yeah, that's like, what makes you think of it? Like Atlanta is like hip hop capital of the planet, you know? Yeah. Big trucks, big lights, loud cars. Like it's fun, you know? Cause don't get me wrong. I'm not a lame. Like, I think like it's, I like a little mischief. I like a little chaos. I like a little anti-authority like, you know, screw the system. Like, yeah, let's do a burnout in the middle of the road. I think the thing that kind of like irks me about this is that the timing is wrong and you've just given like the green light on this whole like surveillance camera thing. Yeah, man. And it's like, this just completely validates the reason to have these cameras because what will happen is, you know, immediately these cameras are going to recognize those license plate and they'll just immediately get a warrant for your arrest, you know, and the cops are going to come and just arrest you or show up at your house when you're done, you know? And like, and I'm not, I'm not making a statement on like, what should happen to the person participating in this. That's not really what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the cameras specifically, you know, it's like little things like this are just another check mark of like, okay, you know, and now all of a sudden the budget for the city is being spent on all this technology. That means that in theory, less police are needed, right? Is that what people want? Like, I don't, I don't know, maybe, but it's like, you know, less police are needed. There's less city jobs because it's all being handed to technology. There's no due process because it's like, you're just being monitored all the time. And then it's like, Oh yep, you're going a little bit over the speed limit. Or, you know, you ran a yellow light and it was kind of questionable. So you just get a ticket in the mail and you have no say in it, you know, or yeah, you know, you make a little swerve or a little maneuver or something and it's like, Oh, ticket. And you know, the thing is the city's incentivized to do this because this is how they make money, you know, and this is not like a, it's not even a debatable thing, right? Like when the city needs to make money, they put out a bulletin and they say, okay, we need to issue more parking tickets. We need to issue more of this. We need to issue more of that. We need to have more speed cameras. We need to have more speed traps. We need to do all this stuff because we're trying to generate revenue for the city. And then they disguise it as safety and protection. That's how it always is, dude. They disguise taking your freedom as safety and security and protection. And it never is. It never is dude. You know, we won't even get into it today, but you know, the only, uh, the only flock that they got rid of was the bird park flock of geese. Did you see that? So it's like, we said no more flock, no more flock, get rid of flock. Everyone had their signs and said like, get rid of the flock camera system. And, uh, instead the city came and they removed 100 geese from bird park. Oh yeah. Another great use of public resources. And, uh, you know, I don't even, I don't even hate on the fact that they did that, but I just thought it was ironic that it's like no more flock. And they like got rid of the flock of geese. Um, it's like, I wonder if they're kind of being funny, you know, maybe I bet you, somebody thought that that was a clever approach, but like, that's not, it's not funny. It's it's stuff like that. That is someone thinking that they're funny, but doing something stupid that gets no laughter or fun, funny reaction. And both people are just upset because the person that did, it didn't get any laughs. And the, the person that's watching is like, why did I have to watch you do something idiotic? Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, I look, I'm like, I hate shit like that. It's so dumb. Same, same. But I will say as somebody, you know, that's my hood over there. And I walk through that park all the time. The goose poop is like out of control. It's out of control. Yeah. Um, so I, you know, I am actually glad that they did that. So cleaned it up, no more poop in the city. Uh, but we'll keep the crime going. Yeah, man, let's keep the crime going. I mean, I had to look this up because I was curious here. We talked about legislation and laws and politics and everything. And we're talking about, you know, the street takeovers and giving the city an excuse to then expand its reach to cite people for minor offenses or whatever. That's not considered a minor offense as of January one, that's considered like reckless endangerment for sure. And they can impound your car, they can take your license and they can fine you $2,500 and sentenced you to 12 months in jail if they catch you. And now it's not even an, if it's just a, when, because they have the flat cameras, they have everyone who was there documenting on social media. So it's just like, Hey, yeah, I had a great weekend last weekend. Do you want to come to the, uh, to the ice cream social with me? I'm going to go and get some ice cream with my girl. And you go to leave and the cops are outside putting your car on a trailer and then waiting to take you to jail with no due process. You don't go and see a judge, you just get arrested. Yeah. And you know, like we're not parents, but I mean, dude, you know, and I, again, I hate to sound like a lame, but the thing is like, if your kid was there, you would surely sit down your kid and be like, Hey, have fun, be safe. But like, how about you don't step into the middle of two, you know, 4,000 pound vehicles doing donuts in the middle of the street. Like don't step into the middle of that and be filming. Like, that's not funny. And it's, you know, it's only funny until something happens. Right. And it's like, yeah, you're just, you're just asking for it. And I think with all this stuff, um, you know, we've talked about the, the high school kid at Benedictine and some of these little things. And, um, yeah, you know, I'm, I'm not a, you know, I'm not a narc. I'm not going to tell, well, I guess we're kind of telling on them right now. Right. But they told on themselves. That's the thing. Yeah. But it's, you're just at the window. Yeah. You're asking for trouble, dude. Like for sure those kids in those videos are, I don't know, cause I haven't looked into it for sure. Someone's getting arrested for sure. Someone's having their license suspended. They're going to have court dates. It's going to happen. There's no way it doesn't. Cause it became this whole big thing. As soon as it happened, I saw those videos everywhere. And it's like, when was that? I mean, this is literally like a week ago. This was like, I saw it. I mean, this was probably this past weekend. That tracks because I think I heard it. I think I heard it like late night on Saturday. This isn't far. Yeah. It's not far from you. And I was, I remembered, you know, I hear I'm, I'm not far from the highway. So, you know, I hear loud cars or motorcycles cruising up and down the highway, but this went on for like an hour. And I was like, man, somebody must be, I thought, I thought somebody was street racing, which I'm like, cool. Go for it. I used to do it. No, whatever. No big deal. Must've been that. Yeah. And now, yeah, this, you ruined it for everybody. Yeah. Yeah. I wonder like how, like, what is the solution, right? Do you like, instead of sending the cops, do you just pull up with a fire truck and spray everyone with water? Like, what do you mean? How do you break it up? I don't think you, I don't, I don't know. Like, based on the videos I've seen, cause this is the first time I've seen it in Richmond, but in the past I'd see bigger cities, bigger intersections, more weight, like twice as many people, twice as many cars, two and three cars doing donuts at the same time with cops at the stoplight lights on spotlights on sirens going. And people just like walking up with their cameras, you know, flicking them off, walking back into the circle because what are the cops going to do? Right. Right. They're committing a crime. Technically like they're breaking the law, but it's not a violent crime. They're not robbing anybody. Yeah. And that's, I don't know. And I think it reminds me of one of the rules or the unspoken rule. Maybe it is a rule of law that I would hear about cops chasing motorcycle riders. Right. So the cops will always chase you if you're driving, especially in Virginia, they'll always run you down. If your car is faster than theirs, they'll just radio ahead and, you know, they'll get somebody else to find you. Yeah. They almost always get them. Like somebody is doing excessive speed over a hundred miles an hour. They will always chase you. If you're riding a motorcycle, they won't chase you. If you, if you're going faster than the speed limit, because it's dangerous. Yeah. They don't want to force anyone who's riding a motorcycle into a deadly accident. Maybe this is something like that where it's like, yeah, we could pull up and shine the light on them. But if we like drive our car into the middle, we're at risk of running someone over totally. What if the car that they're in hits us and they get hurt? I don't know, man. Yeah. You know, they're having like internal meetings to try to figure out the approach. Personally. I like my idea. Pull up with a fire truck, just drench it. Imagine you're, you know, you're a kid, you're there filming, having a good time. You just get totally drenched. You're like, all right, I guess my night's over. Like my phone's soaked. I'm so this isn't fun anymore. Now I'm cold and wet. And I like, I like the future approach. Like maybe they get out there with like some, some sound cannons or, or something like that. And they just start blasting terrible music. And then, you know, they have a loud speaker, like just telling everybody to disperse. I'm thinking like the nonviolent crowd control solutions, which I know that they have. And there's always going to be, you know, kickback or blow back from people that say that the nonviolent solutions are still violent. Pick a lane. Yeah. You let it go on, or you find a way to dissolve the problem. And if this is the way that they have chosen and it works, then it works. If you can think over, find over, create a better way, that is more humane by all means. Dude, we got to do the Vera house fire truck ride along. I did. I do. I don't know if I've ever done a ride along. I don't think I've ever really done a ride along like that either. That'd be cool though. Right. Like little, little undercover Richmond ride along, like behind the scenes. I want to do one of those things where they, they like test how fast you can like get up out of a dead sleep and get all dressed up with the gear. I want to do that. Dude, that would be cool. Yeah. That'd be cool. Well, the, the monument 10 K will get us ready. Oh yeah. It'll get our heart rate locked in and like ready for the, you know, the adrenaline of a overnight Vera house undercover Richmond fire department ride along. That could be cool. What it would be cool for Vera house to go out and like, see some of these like city facilities, meet with like the fire department, meet with the, the, the fire chief, talk to some of the firefighters and like do a ride along. That would be cool. Yeah. Well, we'll ride to the city and as we see everyone, we'll wave. Yeah. We'll do the parade wave. Yeah. This podcast was recorded at Vera house studios in Richmond, Virginia and produced by Perry Young and Mike Metzger.