Good morning, RVA! It's 32 °F, and today you can expect highs right around 60 °F. I know I'll soon have an endless list of complaints about the cold, but I would trade today's comparatively mild weather for a foot of snow in a second.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 4,398↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 21↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 384↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 134, Henrico: 159, and Richmond: 91). Since this pandemic began, 488 people have died in the Richmond region. Nature is once again reminding us how exponential growth works, and it's something that I don't think our brains are built to understand intuitively. We hadn't had a day with over 3,000 new coronacases until November 28th (without a reporting issue), now, just 11 days later, we've got over 4,000 new cases in Virginia. It's shocking, the speed of these increases, when you've got a brain that just chugs along assuming everything moves nice and linearly. Well, brain, viruses spread virally, which is why the longer you wait to do something about it the more shocking things can get. I've been waiting all week for the Governor to do something about it, and it looks like that may happen today. From his public schedule (at 2:00 PM): "Governor Northam and Virginia Emergency Support Team to provide updates on the Commonwealth’s ongoing response to COVID-19". So what's on the list of possible restrictions? My best guess: Even smaller gathering sizes, further cuts in indoor occupancy limits, and maybe some restrictions on outdoor activities (like rec sports). I can't seem him wading into either schools of faith gatherings. At the less-likely end of the spectrum, maybe some sort of stay-at-home order? Earlier this week, the Governor of North Carolina issued a 10:00 PM–5:00 AM curfew, which seems like something Northam could implement without too much blowback. Of course, even that still leaves a lot of time for people to get together and hang, which isn't great as public health officials keep saying that generically small gatherings have driven a lot of the recent spread. So! We'll see what all the Governor decides to do and if it'll be some sturdier slices of Swiss cheese—to use yesterday's longread's parlance—than the restrictions he implemented before Thanksgiving.
Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense reports that the Mayor's office has withdrawn the ordinances that would rezone the Pulse Corridor between Arthur Ashe Boulevard and Belvidere. This is, of course, a major bummer, but delaying the vote for a couple of months means putting these ordinances in front of a new and, with any luck, slightly more progressive City Council. The City can continue to futz around and prohibit density along our major transit corridors, or we can do things that address our affordable housing crisis (like build tall buildings). Due to, what I feel like is an incredibly small number of people, only the former seems politically possible at the moment. Honestly, I wonder how many people, in total, make up this small-building lobby? Is it more than eight?
Sometimes it's nice to have a city-focused update that's not about a virus or zoning fight or a new grocery store. Today, the Urban Design Committee will consider greening projects at four libraries across the city: Westover Hills, North Avenue, West End, and Broad Rock. If you're into it, you can find the ungrokkable engineering diagrams (along with some fun drafts of interpretive signage) at each of the four previous links.
Hey, this certainly seems like something that might be interesting to readers of this email: the Department of Environmental Quality has posted a job listing for an Environmental Justice Director. From the posting: "This is a critical position responsible for planning, organizing, and directing all environmental justice activities, ensuring compliance with the Agency’s mission, goals and objectives, state and federal laws, regulations, policies and procedures; works with all stakeholders to constructively and collaboratively address environmental issues and concerns, and coordinates and facilitates Agency efforts to protect the environment in minority, low-income, tribal and other vulnerable communities by integrating environmental justice in all applicable programs, policies and activities." If you even have the slightest interest in this position, you should apply. Just do it! Always apply!
I don't understand anything about baseball—especially minor league baseball–so the tone of this announcement from the Flying Squirrels about their "invitation to remain the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants" seems weirdly serious. Is this...bad? I feel like the Squirrels are nothing if not unserious about almost everything!
Yesterday I complained about Terry McAuliffe jumping into the governor's race (again). Someone sent me herexcellencyva.com, a site supporting both Jennifer Carroll Foy and Jennifer McClellan in their campaigns to become Virginia's next governor. From the site's vision statement: "Now we’re demanding that the Democratic Party and the press acknowledge that the time has come for women to break that final glass ceiling in Virginia. An historic opportunity is before us now to uplift two qualified women of color to compete and shine in the upcoming months before the June 2021 primary." Tap through to sign the statement of support and even split donations to both candidates.
The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts will host a community COVID-19 testing event today from 2:00–4:00 PM at the Southwood Management Property Offices (1400 Southwood Parkway). These are free testing events and are great, safe, and easy ways for uninsured or underinsured folks to get tested. Do it and/or spread the word!
This morning's patron longread
Mayors Know Cities Are Permanently Changed
Submitted by Patron...Someone! I forgot who sent this to me and I'm incredibly sorry about that, but the city-focused impacts of the pandemic are fascinating/terrifying to me. With budget season right around the corner, we're about to get a good, hard look at how Richmond's basic services—already desperately underfunded—will fare in the face of the coronarecession.
Yet this dark winter doesn’t exactly feel like March and April. It doesn’t quite match the sobriety of the moment. I think there are a couple reasons for that. First, the initial shutdown was so novel, a radical change to the American lifestyle, that nothing will replicate that. Second, over the ensuing months the politics of shutdowns became divided, and those divisions have taken precedence once again. The solidarity we once had collectively over keeping safe has frayed. But ask any mayor in the country whether things are different now and they’ll emphatically say yes. We’ve now incorporated so many facets of the shutdown mindset that there doesn’t have to be an actual order anymore. Those with the ability to work from home do so. Less driving means less parking, so fewer meter fees and fewer parking tickets. Transit systems carry on without as many riders. Businesses lack customers. And cities lack revenues.
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