Good morning, RVA! It's 40 °F, and highs today will hit somewhere in the mid 60s. Lots of sun for you to enjoy until rain starts to move in tomorrow.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 9,630 positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth, and 324 people in Virginia have died as a result of the virus. VDH reports 1,213 cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 346, Henrico: 621, and Richmond: 246). VDH now includes probable cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in their data dumps, plus have started breaking out those numbers by locality. 24% (77) of the Virginians who have died from COVID-19 are from Henrico—with a significant portion of those from one single long-term care facility. Yesterday, continuing a pattern that I will keep worrying about until it stops, VDH reported more new cases than ever before (640) yet only 1,619 new tests. As for the number of cases, if I had to guess, part of the spike has to do with the now-included probable cases and part of it has to do with the fact that Tuesdays in general see a big spike (which you can see on this ever more complex chart). As for the number of tests...I have no idea. Our 7-day average of tests per 100,000 people sits at 26.1 (and it needs to be > 150), and our test-positivity rate for yesterday was almost 40%. I don't know y'all! The Commonwealth just needs a test explosion!
Mayor Stoney announced new funding to "address the urgent housing needs within our community, especially for our homeless and housing insecure." $250,000 will go to Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia to support the Eviction Diversion Program and $300,000 will go to Homeward to "provide shelter and services to those experiencing homelessness during the current pandemic." Remember yesterday's story with the eyebrow-raising quote from Henrico's County manager? About the City finding temporary shelter for folks in eastern Henrico hotels that were not in the best of shape? With any luck, this new money will improve that situation. Stoney will also ask City Council to unlock $1 million from the City's Affordable Housing Trust Fund as part of the upcoming budget. That money will "create new emergency permanent supportive and affordable housing solutions to expand the city's capacity to provide supportive housing solutions during this pandemic and beyond." Additionally, the recently-passed federal relief package will open up $2.7 million from Community Development Block Grants, $1.4 million in Emergency Solutions Grants, and about $200,000 of Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS funds (more on this below). Overall, that's $5.8 million in new funding available to a bunch of different programs and organizations dedicated to supporting affordable housing.
One more housing thing: Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense has a nice piece about how the region could use empty hotels and some of the newly available funding to address emergency housing needs.
I did some more poking around on the City's legislative website and found some good budget-related documents that, if you're like me, you'll want to scroll through. First, here's the Administration's responses to all of the budget questions asked by City Council (PDF). You'll want to check out questions #1, 2, #6, #7, and #13. A couple of highlights:
- Here's the City's justification for the projected 10% reduction in meals tax revenue: "This reduction in projected revenue was deemed to be reasonable under the assumption that restaurants which had not shuttered entirely due to the pandemic’s economic realities could return to operations in July 2020, and that there would be pent up spending demand (including events that were previously scheduled for the Spring being postponed to late Summer/early Fall) which would offset a portion of the reductions."
- The City intends to create a "budget review group" that will look at finances monthly and recommend any necessary amendments to the budget as projected revenues either do or do not pan out.
- Council talked about GRTC in particular, and it sounds like they'll use that monthly review process to make sure there's enough money to keep the buses running.
- Question #13 goes into detail about how the above federal and Affordable Housing Trust Fund money will be used. The City believes that the $550,000 they're shelling out immediately to HOME and Homeward could be eligible for federal reimbursement through some of that relief money.
- And, if you want to feel some dark feelings, Question #7 lists out what happens if tax revenues tank even further than projected. None of what's listed should surprise you—furlough of employees, layoffs, eliminating services—but it's still a huge bummer to read them written out in a PDF.
Thrilling, yes? But, hold on to your butts, because there are even more budget documents to flip through. Here's the table of FY21 Amended Proposed Revenue Changes (PDF). That's the one where you can see meals tax drop from $37.2 million to $33.5 million and the admissions tax scooch down from $2.7 million to $2.4 million—which, hmmm, does not seem like that big of a scooch considering we're all about to be terrified of cramming into loud, sweaty rooms with a bunch of strangers. Here's the FY21 Non-Departmental Proposed Amendment Reductions table (PDF). That'll tell you which nonprofits that the City planned on funding now probably have a huge, scary hole in their budgets. Finally, here are the proposed cuts to City programs and departments listed out in a pretty readable yet still depressing format (PDF).
The Richmond Times-Dispatch's Sabrina Moreno covered yesterday's GRTC board meeting and says CEO Julie Timm will propose extending the current fare-free situation through the end of the fiscal year and adding it into next year's budget. You can watch to the entire board (virtual) meeting yourself over on YouTube. As far as I'm aware, this is the first time audio/video from the board meeting has ended up on the internet!
Here's an Instagram video of Senator Mark Warner making probably the worst possible tuna melt sandwich. I shouted "No!" at the screen multiple times.
This morning's longread
Calling Me a Hero Only Makes You Feel Better
Unlike nurses, doctors, and public health workers, folks working in grocery stores did not sign up for this. How will we repay them for their service once the imminent danger from the virus passes? The Weekly Sift, in their weekly news round up, suggests a G.I. Bill-type thing.
Cashiers and shelf-stockers and delivery-truck drivers aren’t heroes. They’re victims. To call them heroes is to justify their exploitation. By praising the blue-collar worker’s public service, the progressive consumer is assuaged of her cognitive dissonance. When the world isn’t falling apart, we know the view of us is usually as faceless, throwaway citizens. The wealthy CEO telling his thousands of employees that they are vital, brave, and noble is a manipulative strategy to keep them churning out profits. I have immense gratitude for my job. I love my co-workers like family. I respect the company that has employed me and given me excellent health-insurance benefits for more than 16 years. The anger I have is not toward my boss, or my boss’s boss, or even that guy’s boss. It’s toward an unfair system that will never change if we workers don’t question the motivations behind such mythmaking.
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