Axios Richmond

May 27, 2025
Let's make every weekend three days long, yeah?
βοΈ Today's weather: A chance of showers, mainly after 1pm. Cloudy, with a high near 68.
π§ Sounds like: "Alright" by Kendrick Lamar.
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π Happy belated birthday to our Axios Richmond members Adam Mercer, William Berry and Heather Szajda!
Today's newsletter is 838 words β a 3-minute read.
1 big thing: Five years since the monuments fell
A vast majority of Americans say the increased focus on race and racial inequality after police killed George Floyd in 2020 didn't lead to changes that improved the lives of Black Americans, a new Pew Research Center survey finds.
The big picture: Over months of protests in Richmond that year, police tear gassed protesters, streets burned and people graffitied Confederate monuments that were eventually taken down.
- The city's landscape is forever changed because of it.
- Monument Avenue is a succession of grassy mounds filling in the plots where the vestiges of our Confederate past stood for over 100 years.
- The peed-on Jefferson Davis statue protesters took down lies inside The Valentine.
- And scraps of other monuments fill a statue graveyard by the city's wastewater treatment plant.

Yes, but: Five years later, the momentum appears all but gone.
- The creation of the region's first Civilian Review Board began in 2020, but it's still in limbo.
- City Council has yet to adopt the policies dictating how the board would review and investigate use-of-force incidents. Legislation to do so was withdrawn in April.
- And the Marcus Alert System, a program meant to limit police involvement in mental health crises, has struggled with staffing.
By the numbers: Nationwide, 72% of Americans say the increased focus on racial inequality didn't lead to significant changes that helped Black people, per Pew.
- More than half of U.S. adults (54%) say the relationship between Black people and police is about the same as before Floyd was killed.
- 82% of Black Americans say the nation hasn't gone far enough when it comes to Black people having equal rights with white people.
What they're saying: "We're not where we hoped we'd be," says Sunny Slaughter, a law enforcement expert and CourtTV legal analyst. "But we're not where we were either."
2. πͺ Needing the lottery to afford rent (kind of)


People in the Richmond area have to make more than $68,000 to afford the typical monthly rent here, according to a new report.
Why it matters: That's 40% higher than you would've needed to earn five years ago, per the analysis from Zillow.
- That percentage is one of the biggest increases recorded out of the 50-plus U.S. metros Zillow analyzed.
What they did: Zillow assumed rent should take up no more than 30% of household income, a common standard for calculating affordability.
- By that measure, affording the typical Richmond-area rent β which came in at roughly $1,700 in April β requires an annual income of $68,307.
- And the median household income for the region is $84,332, per the U.S. Census.
Yes, but: Census data also says the average income for a single person in the Richmond area is about $46,400, nearly $22,000 less than the income you need to afford rent.
What they're saying: Rents are growing faster than wages, Orphe Divounguy, senior economist at Zillow, said in a statement.
- "This often leaves little room for other expenses."
3. π The Current: Over 700 mysterious graves
There are over 740 people buried underneath a Confederate marker established in 1939 in Swansboro, according to a radar search, but there aren't any records to identify who they were. (Times-Dispatch)
π City Hall has seen a few temporary leadership changes lately until the permanent positions are hired, including new water plant management, chief administrative officer and deputy CAO for finance. (The Richmonder)
- Fun fact: The deputy CAO is on loan from Henrico.
πͺπΌ "Survivor" spoiler alert! Kyle Fraser, a 31-year-old Hampden-Sydney grad from Roanoke, won the latest season of the long-running reality show and went home with the $1 million prize. (Times-Dispatch)
π» Tonight is take your cat to the ballgame night at The Diamond. (Instagram)
- Cats must be registered and leashed or crated to attend. Come for the ballgame, stay for the cat fights.
4. π€ We asked AI to break up with you
If the idea of starting the summer wifed up is giving you heartburn, you're in luck: ChatGPT told us the best places to break up with someone in Richmond.
Why it matters: You can just blame it on AI if it goes badly.
Here are some of its suggestions, divided by the type of break-up you're going for (we asked it to be a little petty):
- The "we should just be friends" β Libby Hill Park at sunset: "You can gesture toward the city and say, 'Go be great out there.'"
- The situationship β Halfway across the Belle Isle Suspension Bridge: "Perfect metaphor. Neither here nor there, just like your relationship."
- If you hate them βΒ The DMV on Broad Street or the Bass Pro Shops parking lot.
Our picks: Lemaire, so they can find a new sugar mama (or daddy).
5. βοΈ Reconsidering being Mr. Worldwide
Are rising prices β or concerns about being detained at customs β making you rethink your upcoming international trip?
If so, we want to hear from you for a story about what's impacting the way we travel.
- For some, it's the economic uncertainty.
- Others, even naturalized U.S. citizens, have concerns about being detained at customs after videos about it have gone viral.
π£οΈ Hit reply (or email) and tell us what's on your mind.
π πΌ Karri thinks every weekend should be a long weekend.
π€ Sabrina thinks all of her best friends should move to Richmond and live on the same block next to each other with tunnels connecting all of their houses together.
Thanks to Alexa Mencia Orozco for editing today's edition.
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