Good morning, RVA! It's 63 °F, and today looks warm and cloudy. There's a chance of rain overnight and into tomorrow, so if you spent all of yesterday inside—guilty as charged—you may want to take advantage of the drier weather this afternoon to move your body through space a bit.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,615 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 28 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 116 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 13, Henrico: 54, and Richmond: 49). Since this pandemic began, 170 people have died in the Richmond region. This is the second day in a row with a new all-time high of reported positive cases. Today, though, there's no notice pinned to the top of the site about combining multiple days of data.
Yesterday, I said to watch for a bunch of important coronavirus-related announcement from our elected officials—and announce they did!
First, the Governor announced that, beginning Friday, if you are ten-years-old or older, which I assume is most of y'all, you must wear a "face covering at all times while entering, exiting, traveling through, and spending time in" this list of public settings: personal care and grooming businesses, essential and non-essential brick and mortar retail spots, restaurants, at bus stops and on public transit, government buildings, and "any indoor space shared by groups of people who may congregate within six feet of one another or who are in close proximity to each other for more than ten minutes." Obviously, you don't have to wear one while eating or drinking. There's also an exemption for exercising that I'm sure will be abused in all sorts of interesting ways. Violating the Governor's Executive Order is a Class 1 misdemeanor. I'm a big pro-masks guy and have even started wearing one when I ride my bike for exercise (the sidewalk on the Nickel Bridge is not wide enough to distance from anyone in any direction), but, as with all things, equitable enforcement of this new requirement should be a big concern. I'm especially nervous about what it means to require masks on public transit. Who enforces that? The operators? What happens when someone gets on a bus without a mask and refuses to leave? Who's impacted the most by requiring masks on public transit and what have we done to mitigate that impact?
Second, late yesterday morning, Mayor Stoney announced that he'd sent a letter to the Governor requesting "approval for the City of Richmond to enter into a modified Phase One of the Virginia Forward Plan." Specifically, the Mayor wanted to maintain restrictions on indoor gatherings for places of worship and restrictions on personal care and grooming services. Mayor Stoney cited "the percent positivity data recently reported by the Virginia Department of Health for the City of Richmond still shows a concerning upward trend" as a reason for the request. He also said "many faith leaders have told me that they do not believe it is safe to reopen at this time, do not intend to reopen, and are worried about the health and safety of their parishioners. Barber shops and salons...also have concerns for the safety of their employees with prolonged exposure to clients." The Mayor was in a tough position: The data set by the Governor did not support the move into Phase One but the political pressure to do something is everywhere you look. Then, later in the evening, the Governor sent a letter back, denying the Mayor's request. I'll be honest, the tone of this letter really rubs me the wrong way. It totally disregards the Mayor's primary concern: Richmond's percent positivity (24.1%) is close to double the statewide number (14.1%) and moving in the wrong direction. As the Governor continually reminds us, percent positivity is his primary indicator for safely moving into recovery. But the Governor ignored the numbers and suggested that City Council has the authority to enact the legislation required for a modified Phase One if it wants, which, I guess we'll see what the City Attorney says. Like the Mayor, I'm disappointed in the tone and content of the Governor's response. Now we look to the Mayor and City Council to use whatever limited authority they have to plot a safe course through to Phase One.
Alright! City Council met last night and did pass some of the ordinances and resolutions I had my eye on. I listened live for the first time in a long while and felt my civic battery recharge by at least seven percent. Most importantly, the two-stage budget review process, RES. 2020-R035, passed easily and we should start seeing documents and reports come out of the technical team as early as next month. You can read all about that process in this special bonus GMRVA from this past Monday, if you have not already. Council also overruled the Commission of Architectural Review on their decision to preserve part of the old George Mason Elementary school (RES. 2020-R015). Councilmembers Gray, Larson, and Trammell voted against, and, while I think passing this resolution was probably the right call, like Councilmember Gray, I do wonder how we got this far down the road with the construction of the school to replace George Mason Elementary without having this particular piece already sorted out. And because it wouldn't be a City Council meeting without continuing papers that have already been continued a jillion times, the resolution to surplus downtown properties (RES. 2020-R034) and the Airbnb ordinance (ORD. 2019-343) were both postponed until Council's first and second meetings of June, respectively. Apparently the administration wants to amend the former, but to continue the latter to further consider what property owners want out of the short-term rental ordinance? I mean, how much more can we consider before we're all just plain considered out? It's pretty clear folks running—currently illegal!—Airbnbs want to keep doing so and want the clause requiring them to live in the property the majority of the year stripped out. Keep the Airbnb ordinance in mind when you read today's longread.
Dangalang, Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense says passenger traffic at the airport in April dropped by 96% when compared to last year! That is a whole lot of percents!
Finally, please fill out the open/slow streets form if you have not already. Not only are open streets a great way to safely increase folks' mobility during the pandemic, but they also help build a compelling case for permanent infrastructure as we enter into recovery. Want a sidewalk in your neighborhood? A pilot project through the open streets program is a great place to start.
This morning's patron longread
This Is Why Your Holiday Travel Is Awful
Submitted by Patron Maritza. Whoa, did this long article in Politico really get me thinking. How many projects and policies in Richmond die at every single meeting due to extremely diffuse power? Does the way we do government here really serve the public's best interest? How do we make it better??
Penn Station, like so much of the region’s infrastructure, remains in tatters today not because men like Robert Moses are no longer on the scene, but because the system in which Moses operated has been replaced by an entirely new, and remarkably dysfunctional, architecture. Beneath America’s deep frustration with government is something else: a deep-seated aversion to power. Progressives resolved decades ago to prevent the public from being bulldozed by another Robert Moses—and the project to diffuse power to the public has succeeded. But the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. The left’s zeal to hamstring government has helped to burnish the right’s argument that government would mess up a one-car parade. The new protections erected to guard against Moses’ second coming have condemned new generations to live in civic infrastructure that is frozen in time.
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