Good morning, RVA! It's 64 °F, and you can expect this past weekend's rain to continue right on through most of today and into the evening. Things should dry out tomorrow, though.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 811↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 4↘️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 29↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 15, Henrico: -12, and Richmond: 26). Since this pandemic began, 381 people have died in the Richmond region. I...don't know why a few times lately localities have posted negative coronacounts. I assume there's a complex labyrinth a positive test result must wind its way through before it ends up posted to VDH's public dashboard, and I imagine there's all sorts of administrative minotaurs waiting to screw things up.
Today is Indigenous Peoples' Day in both Richmond City and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Last year, Mayor Stoney officially replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous People's Day, and this year the Governor followed suit at the state level. Actually, since Columbus Day is a federal holiday, I think "replace" might be too strong a word. Maybe "recognized in addition to" is a better way to put it? I'm not sure how this whole holiday process works.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch released the results of a mayoral poll they conducted with the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University. I don't know if this is the same poll that ended up in the Richmond Free Press last week, but the results are similar. Mayor Stoney leads in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 9th; Councilmember Gray leads in the 2nd; and the other districts are too close to call. WIth 30% of respondents undecided, theoretically, anything could happen, including a run off. Polls are polls, and you won't find me making any sort of bets about what could happen locally (or nationally) on Election Night.
We're coming down the home stretch on these RTD candidate questionnaires. This past weekend the paper posted the 7th District questionnaire for both City Council (Councilmember Newbille and Joseph Rogers) and School Board (School Board Rep Burke, unopposed). I'm starting to get excited about the prospect of a new City Council. We'll have at least two new members—maybe more! Can't wait.
City Council's Finance Committee meets today at 1:00 PM and will consider the Mayor's Affordable Housing Trust Fund ordinance (ORD. 2020-214) and the annual ordinance to set the real estate tax to $1.20 (ORD. 2020-215). Because we live in bizarro austerity world and the suburban-and-rural-run General Assembly mostly treats cities as an afterthought, each year Richmond must pass an ordinance preventing its real estate tax rate from dropping to some state-calculated level ($1.176 at the moment). We could, of course, raise the real estate tax in some progressive-minded way to pay for essential services that folks will need to safely and successfully climb out of this pandemic. We probably won't, but we definitely could!
Speaking of essential services, the Partnership for Housing Affordability has a Housing Resource Line that you should put in your contacts (804.422.5061). If you or someone you know need help navigating housing needs, call the resource line and they'll get you pointed in the right direction. From the website, this includes stuff like: financial assistance, foreclosure prevention, emergency assistance, legal support, and ramps. I've had the need for a number like this a couple times—something to give folks who are in need but aren't facing homelessness—so I'm glad this resource line exists. Oh, also, the Homelessness Crisis Line also exists and you should put that in your contacts, too (804.972.0813).
I love this story by Bill Lohmann in the RTD about reclaiming the forest behind Dogwood Dell from invasive species. I had no idea some of the older trees date back to just after the Civil War! If you haven't been out that way, I recommend it (once the weather dries out)—it's a pretty magical place with some great mountain bike trails, if that's your thing.
Via /r/rva, a picture of an actual pay phone near Broad & Arthur Ashe Boulevard. Almost better than the picture itself is the string of comments from old people who remember and used pay phones on the regular.
This morning's patron longread
Power Play: Inside the Dominion lobbying blitz that's going to raise your electric bills
Submitted by Patron Gumby. Patrick Wilson at the RTD digs in on Dominion's influence in Virginian politics as part of his (I think, ongoing) collaboration with ProPublica. Even if you're like shrug about these specific issues, this piece will give a peek into how complex legislation is made in the Commonwealth—where our legislative body only meets for a couple of months each year.
At the behest of Dominion, records show, a senior Northam administration official made last-minute changes to the legislation that increased the wind project’s price tag by an estimated $2.5 billion. The tweaks meant more money for Dominion, because state law guarantees utilities roughly 10% profit on construction projects. Neither the environmental representatives who helped craft the bill nor the state senator who sponsored it said they were aware of the changes until after the legislature passed it. What happened in those 11 weeks — detailed in emails, internal documents and dozens of interviews conducted by The Richmond Times-Dispatch and ProPublica — offers an inside look at how Dominion wields political influence in Richmond, even as growing ranks of lawmakers denounce its name and refuse its money.
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