Good morning, RVA! It's 40 °F, but highs today should hit somewhere in the mid 60s. Wonderful! The entire weekend, really, looks pleasant and filled with good opportunities to spend some time outside.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,954↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 36↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 176↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 68, Henrico: 53, and Richmond: 55). Since this pandemic began, 446 people have died in the Richmond region. Here's this week's stacked chart of Virginia's daily reported positive cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. This week I've focused on the new hospitalizations data, and yesterday, for the first time since since back in July, the state reported over 100 new hospitalizations in a single day. That scares me, especially as the Central Region creeps up towards having 90% of its hospital beds occupied. I wonder if we'll start seeing folks begin dusting off some of those early, springtime plans to convert the Convention Center into an emergency field hospital? Locally, we're seeing consistent, springlike new case numbers—also scary.
A bunch of interesting emails showed up in VPM's Roberto Roldan's inbox yesterday. The first, from the state Democratic Party, calling for Richmond's General Registrar to resign after this month's rough and confusing election process. The second, from the Party's lawyers laying out some of their legal concerns. The third, in which City Council candidates Tarvaris Spinks and Amy Wentz, who saw their vote totals bounce around after Election Day in a weird and concerning way, joined the call for the Registrar's resignation. Not in Roldan's inbox, but fellow VPM reporter Alan Rodriguez Espinoza says, "During his COVID-19 press briefing, Mayor Levar Stoney says he agrees with calls for the General Registrar to step down." Finally, a note from the Registrar herself saying she will not resign and is currently recovering from COVID-19. As for who gets to decide the Registrar's fate, Chris Suarez at the Richmond Times-Dispatch says: "In Virginia, registrars are appointed by local three-member electoral boards. Circuit court judges appoint the board members, but state law requires that two members of the board belong to the same party as the governor, so local party officials typically recommend candidates for appointment...The boards, according to state law, are permitted to remove by majority vote any registrar or election officers who do not comply with election law."
NPR, like, national NPR, has a story about how folks living in Richmond's redlined neighborhoods—today!—have dramatically lower life expectancy than folks living in, say, the West End. It's pretty bad: "They compared the [redlining] maps to the current economic status and health outcomes in those neighborhoods today and found higher rates of poverty, shorter life spans and higher rates of chronic diseases including asthma, diabetes, hypertension, obesity and kidney disease." The two most important maps for understanding Richmond, in my opinion, are the 1930s redlining map and the map of annexation. Understand those two maps and you understand a ton about why things are the way they are.
The City has hired Jason Alley as "a provisional policy advisor to liaise between the restaurant community and city administration. In this position, he will assist in innovating and implementing safe ways to support restauranteurs and their staff during this challenging time for the restaurant industry." You might know Jason Alley as the chef and co-owner of both Comfort and Pasture (RIP) and Bingo Beer Co., plus he's been featured on some Duke's Mayonnaise commercials. I think he might be as close to a celebrity chef as we have in Richmond. Karri Peifer at the Richmond Times-Dispatch says the job's CARES Act funded and will, at least for now, end before the start of the new year. I dunno! I'm trying not to be cynical over here! I hope Alley has more success working with the City on creating safe, outdoor space for folks over the next couple of weeks than did a mess of advocates throughout the entire spring, summer, and fall. Lots of (most?) cities figured this out months ago, so it's not like we need to invent rocket science: Make it dead easy for restaurants to remove parking to make space for distancing while eating and drinking—bonus points if you can help businesses keep folks warm while outside through these winter months. There's a whole separate conversation we can and should have about how this new work plays out equitably across the city. We can't just suddenly pop up a bunch of new outdoor dining in Scott's Addition and call it a day. See the previous paragraph!
An update on the Richmond Police Department's External Advisory Board, which, remember, does not replace the ongoing work to create a Civilian Review Board: Earlier this week the RPD released the names of the EAB's members (Facebook). Police leadership and EAB membership had previously balked at taking this board public due to some reasonable worries about potential harassment.
Ned Oliver at the Virginia Mercury, who may officially have the weed beat, asks eight interesting questions to consider as the General Assembly gets ready to debate legalizing marijuana.
For the past bunch of years, Better Housing Coalition has hosted the Gingerbread House Challenge, which raises funds for a good cause (BHC) and tests folks' baked architecture and sugar construction skills. It's like making a show stopper in the Great British Baking Show, but without any of the crushing stress or unreasonable timelines. Plus, if you win, you get to take home a $1,000 prize curtesy of Hardywood Park Craft Brewery. This year BHC has waived the entry fee but is asking teams to raise $250 for the good of the cause. Teams have until November 27th to register.
This morning's longread
‘We deserve it’: Larimer residents reflect on the neighborhood’s history and the long fight for redevelopment
Do you need an inspirational community housing story to take you into the weekend?
But much has changed in recent years, largely due to grassroots advocacy from residents to spur development projects like the transformation of the former Larimer School into housing and the building of the Cornerstone Village mixed-income housing complex. Both projects are being funded in part with a $30 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “We deserve it,” Dolores Marinello, 80, said. “We’ve waited a long time. We fought hard to get the money to redevelop, the whole community did.” She calls the projects “a dream.” But in reality, they’re the result of years of work by Larimer community members who refused to let their neighborhood be forgotten even through hard economic times and lack of government investment.
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