Good morning, RVA! It's 43 °F, and it’s raining now and it’ll be raining later—probably until tomorrow afternoon. So much rain, in fact, that we’re under a Flood Watch and should expect 2.5–3.25 inches of rain from now through Friday morning. Stay safe, and stay dry!
Water cooler
Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has a really complicated story about a tent encampment—with 91 tents—behind the Annie Giles Community Resource Center, which functions as the City’s cold weather shelter. First, the details: VCU owns this property down on Oliver Hill Way, the City uses it as the (“temporary,” scare quotes intentional) emergency cold weather shelter, and a community group has encouraged folks to start living in tents behind the onsite building because they saw a legit need. That’s three different groups with three very different priorities and ways of going about things. My uninformed opinion is that it’s shameful we haven’t done enough to provide housing and support services for the Richmonders experiencing homelessness. I also, simultaneously, believe that 91 tents supported by just two port-o-potties, crammed together adjacent to the railroad is not a humane living situation. It’s complicated, but we’ve got to have more empathy as a City, and we’ve got to do more as a City. Unfortunately, for some of us (PDF), doing more is hard: City Council just a couple weeks ago had a tense debate over whether to even allow a much-needed, proposed shelter on Chamberlayne Avenue. And even that new shelter won’t be enough! The City’s recently released Strategic Plan to End Homelessness (PDF) says we need 150 new emergency shelter beds and 300 new supportive housing units. Those new beds and units aren’t going to appear overnight. So, I guess my question—to VCU, the City, the community group—is if folks are forced to take down their tents and move on, where are they moving on to? Do our current resources have the capacity to support and care for the people living in these 91 tents? Or are we just trying to get rid of the visual of 91 tents crammed together adjacent to the railroad? In a statement, Mayor Stoney said “While we have significant concerns for the health and safety of those living in the encampment, until a longer term solution is identified, we will work closely with these service providers to have a presence, on-site, at the Cold Weather Overflow Shelter so we can help connect those currently living there with available resources and more stable housing as quickly as possible.” Nowhere in that statement does he suggest immediately removing the tents and the people from that space.
I found two interesting items on today’s Urban Design Committee agenda (PDF). First, the City is looking to install sidewalks on Hey Road from Hull Street Road to Walmsley Boulevard on the Southside. I think it’s rad to see infrastructure investment on the southern side of the river, plus, new sidewalks, where none previously existed, are so rare and expensive! Henrico and Chesterfield, take note! The associated PDF with the plans and maps and things is enormous and crashed my browser several times, so know that going in, I guess. Second, VCU wants to build a pedestrian bridge connecting the existing Children’s Pavilion to the impending Children’s Hospital (PDF). Seems cool and necessary, I guess. I know almost nothing about green infrastructure and green rooftops, but this certainly seems like an opportunity to introduce some plants to the area. Not only would a bunch of living, green things planted on top of the bridge make it more pleasant to look at, but would also help with runoff and air quality. Does the City have any policies that relate to this sort of thing? Should it?
Sabrina Moreno at the RTD has some follow up on that KOBE street/fence art put up in Randolph by artist Jake Van Yahres.
Yesterday, the Senate acquitted President Trump on both articles of impeachment—52-48 on abuse of power, and 53-47 on obstruction of justice. In the former vote, Senator Mitt Romney became the first person to vote to remove a president of his own party. impeachment.fyi has one last update with some of the next steps (there are still, somehow, next steps). It’s not on the website, but in the email version of this final update, he closes with these thoughts on media / news / journalism in the current moment: “Finally, I want to share a couple things that I've learned from you over the last four months: The first is that, in spite of everything, information and understanding the world around you is still important. Pretty much every system is aligned to exhaust you right now, and you still want to engage. That's amazing. Stay engaged. But also, demand better. Of your media. Of your politics. The second thing is that people will still pay for information that they value. Nobody believes that in journalism anymore. ‘People won't pay for news’ is practically gospel. But the tips you sent—some big, most small—run counter to that prevailing notion. It's deeply wonderful to me to know that it's not entirely true.” This gave me the feels, because I’ve learned the exact same lesson by working on this email each and every morning. If you haven’t already, I encourage you give Dan a couple bucks for his work informing us about impeachment over the last several months. And, of course, you can always join the Good Morning, RVA patreon and support me with a couple of bucks each month, as well.
This morning's longread
Humans of New York: Bobby Love
This is an incredible story, but put together in a poorly constructed Twitter thread of screenshots of text. The first seven parts (out of 11) you can read over on the Humans of New York website. It’s worth your time tapping through that thread, though!
But the moment I opened the door, twelve officers came barging past me. Some of them had ‘FBI’ written on their jackets. They went straight back to the bedroom, and walked up to Bobby. I heard them ask: ‘What’s your name?’ And he said, ‘Bobby Love.’ Then they said, ‘No. What’s your real name?’ And I heard him say something real low. And they responded: ‘You’ve had a long run.’ That’s when I tried to get into the room. But the officer kept saying: ‘Get back, get back. You don’t know who this man is.’ Then they started putting him in handcuffs. It didn’t make any sense. I’d been married to Bobby for forty years. He didn’t even have a criminal record. At this point I’m crying, and I screamed: ‘Bobby, what’s going on? Did you kill somebody?’ And he tells me: ‘This goes way back, Cheryl. Back before I met you. Way back to North Carolina.’”
If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.