Good morning, RVA! It's 52 °F, and today you can expect highs around 60s and some sprinkles here or there. Temperatures start kicking back up in earnest tomorrow and Friday, and maybe we’ll see the sun again soon!
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,005 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 27 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 100 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 41, Henrico: 27, and Richmond: 32). Since this pandemic began, 162 people have died in the Richmond region. VDH has reported a single-day total of over a thousand cases just four times ever, and three of those times in the last week. The data’s a lot spikier for testing, but we are pretty dang close to hitting the federal goal of reporting 99 tests per 100,000 Virginians each day (assuming the Feds have even kept the same goals from weeks ago). We’re also creeping up on Virginia’s goal of 10,000 tests per day with a seven-day average of around 7,600. Data note! The testing data VDH provides is a bit of a mess at the moment, and I’ve just kind of thrown all possible testing data into a column in my spreadsheet and called it “frankentests.” It’s column as generous toward the the Governor and VDH as possible. If scientists, analysts, economists, or any other kind of -ists saw what I was up to, they’d probably be physically sick—so keep it to your self!
At a press conference yesterday, Mayor Stoney announced what the City will be doing with its time over the next couple of weeks as Richmond prepares to (possibly) enter Phase One. He's got a multi-pronged approached that involves: Expanding testing capacity in high-need areas, providing 40,000 masks to residents, supporting small businesses with some zero-interests loans, and expanding public spaces in the form of both bigger patios for restaurants and open/slow streets for neighborhoods. This all sounds good! It's nice to see the Mayor using the Governor's two-week Phase One stay to get stuff done rather than just sitting in his office refreshing VDH's percent positivity graph over and over again (although I can relate to that). Specifically, you know I'm excited about the Mayor's move to open up more space to the public. We're all trying to be trapped inside less while sufficiently distanced from other folks who are also trying to be trapped inside less. It's a tension that increasing public space helps resolve. If you're a restaurant owner, you get your own dedicated form to fill out that'll kick off the process to expand your outdoor patio space. If you're just a regular person and want an open/slow street in your neighborhood, you'll have to email your City Councilmember and ask them to ask the Mayor's administration to ask the new internal team dedicated to reviewing this sort of thing.
Richmond Public Schools adopted their budget last night! I think that wraps up our local budget season and officially moves us into the "Now We Review The Budget Super Often Because Who Even Knows What Is Happening Right Now" stage of things. In his now-daily email, Superintendent Kamras says the following list of "enhancements" are official: 2% raise for teachers and all staff; 1.17% step increase for teachers, principals, and nurses; new salary schedules for custodians, bus operators, instructional assistants, and APs; 15 new teachers to reduce K-3 class sizes; 10 new ESL teachers; 10 new preschool teachers to expand VPI enrollment by over 250 students; nine new social workers; eight new middle school teachers; five new nurses; five new reading specialists; new elementary behavior intervention program; new recent immigrant support program; new STEM academies at MLK and Henderson; and new support to increase student attendance. This is a bananas list of new stuff considering we've got a pandemic on.
One teensy City Council update: Most of the interesting legislation I had my eye on escaped yesterday’s Land Use, Housing and Transportation committee and now sits on City Council’s May 26th agenda (PDF). Honestly, assuming that agenda avoids a great Cull and Continue between now and then, Council’s gonna have a pretty interesting night—worth tuning in for, I’d say!
Yesterday, Taber from the Internet launched an everylot bot for Richmond, and I am so incredibly excited about it! An everylot bot posts Google Streetview images of every single lot in a city over the course of many, many years—until August 2024 in Richmond's case. It's a small, delightful way to experience the City's urban fabric, and, fingers crossed, generates useful and productive conversations about our blocks, streets, neighborhoods, trees, land use, zoning, and a bunch of other stuff. Think of it like the urbanist version of a Word of the Day calendar or a twice-hourly land-use conversation starter. Two examples: The post about 1301 W. Main Street ended up in a conversation about high speeds on Cary and Main, while this one about 2937 Brook Road reminded me that the Northside has a ton of Sears kit homes. So, if you're a Twitter type, give @everylot_rva a follow and see if it sparks joy.
If you must, the Flying Squirrels will offer ballpark food for curbside pickup this Friday from 11:30 AM – 5:00 PM, says RVA Hub. I wonder if I could get a beer as big as my head, which is my current favorite item served at the Diamond?
This morning's longread
Data for Black Lives: COVID-19 Movement Pulse Check and Roundtable Report
Data for Black Lives is worth checking out and subscribing to their email list, and this report, issued after a recent COVID-19 round table, is worth your time.
Data for Black Lives is working to make data a tool for social change instead of a weapon of political oppression in the lives of Black people. When it comes to the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black people, we assert that race on its own is not a risk factor but that racism is; that racism is above all, a technology aimed at deciding who will live and who will die. Our work at Data for Black Lives is to expose and dismantle these forces especially as COVID-19 becomes a compounding force in making structural racism ever more present and even more deadly.
If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.