Good morning, RVA! It's 64 °F, and today looks pretty wonderful. Enjoy highs in the mid-to-upper 70s and lots of sunshine. Spend some time on the stoop!
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 940 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 44 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 57 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 8, Henrico: 28, and Richmond: 21). As you might have noticed, I've switched from highlighting the total number of reported positive cases and deaths to new reported positive cases and deaths. Now that the cumulative numbers are sufficiently large (18,671 total reported positive cases in Virginia) my brain has a hard time telling even basic things like if more people are getting sick each day. I hope writing about this different set of numbers will help with that. For those keeping track at home: The number of new reported positive cases continues to go up, so has the number of reported tests, but hospitalizations have stayed mostly flat with a slight increase. Over the weekend, VDH also started posting "total people tested" in addition to "unique people tested" since, presumably, folks can get tested multiple times. These two numbers, unfortunately, aren't comparable so for now at least I'll keep making my charts using the original numbers. Kate Masters at the Virginia Mercury reports that state officials say "...the new methodology will make it easier for the state to calculate the total percentage of COVID-19 tests that come back positive. That metric is considered important in evaluating the severity of outbreaks in different areas and — once more widespread testing is available — whether the virus appears to be accelerating or abating." I wish the State would have started with this methodology, or at least announced a change of methodology when they announced the goals they're looking to meet to lift some of the social-distancing restrictions. Now it just looks like a way to increase the denominator in that percent-positive calculation.
Lots of local budget conversations today for you, yes you, to participate in! First, if you want to weigh in on the $24 million of cuts Richmond Public Schools needs to make, you can send a public comment to speakers@rvaschools.net by 1:00 PM today. Here's a table of proposed cuts.pdf) (PDF) if you'd like to advocate for protecting anything in particular. Personally, I'll be sending a note of support for the middle school STEM academies, one of which is at Henderson, my neighborhood middle school. Second, City Council will host another budget amendment session today. So far they've had a discussion on exactly one budget amendment, submitted by Councilmember Lynch. Unless something dramatic happens, like a quarantine-fueled outburst of productivity from one or several councilmembers, it looks like we're headed toward adopting the Mayor's budget pretty much as is. If you like the Mayor's budget, that's fine! If you feel like he could have done a better job—or if you're a councilmember that's spent some time criticizing that budget—there's not a ton of time left to make improvements. If you'd like to weigh in, you can send an email to cityclerksoffice@richmondgov.com by 10:00 AM (note the earlier time). Maybe ask Council to preserve the $900,000 of new sidewalk money that could have done some real good on The Southside: Where the Sidewalk Ends.
Oh! One other quick Richmond Public Schools thing: It's Teacher Appreciation Week. If there's a teacher in your life that you know and love, you can shoot a short video proclaiming their greatness and send it to outreach@rvaschools.net. Honestly, this is a great idea for any teacher in your life, regardless of what school system they teach in. Just send them a quick thank you note, video, email, or text. It's a weird time, and teachers—as much as anyone—are doing their best!
Sabrina Moreno at the RTD has a good piece about a new mural on Hull Street of Black women—by artist Austin Miles based on work by Kristal Brown. Of the need for work like this, Brown says, "It was something that I felt like we needed to talk about, particularly in Richmond, where the city is still very much divided...There were many times I wanted to say, ‘Me too.’...It makes you know that it’s not just you."
Today is May 4th. Alongside many, many Star Wars jokes, you will find all of the Star Wars movies streaming on Disney+. Sounds like it's time to force my family into watching several dozen hours of Star Wars movies over the next couple days!
This morning's longread
My Restaurant Was My Life for 20 Years. Does the World Need It Anymore?
While I do think, at least in Richmond, restaurants have sucked up a lot of the air in the room when we talk about service-related businesses, this excellent piece in the NYT feels applicable to any small business recently shuttered by the coronavirus.
The concerns before coronavirus are still universal: The restaurant as we know it is no longer viable on its own. You can’t have tipped employees making $45 an hour while line cooks make $15. You can’t buy a $3 can of cheap beer at a dive bar in the East Village if the “dive bar” is actually paying $18,000 a month in rent, $30,000 a month in payroll; it would have to cost $10. I can’t keep hosing down the sauté corner myself just to have enough money to repair the ripped awning. Prune is in the East Village because I’ve lived in the East Village for more than 30 years. I moved here because it was where you could get an apartment for $450 a month. In 1999, when I opened Prune, I still woke each morning to roosters crowing from the rooftop of the tenement building down the block, which is now a steel-and-glass tower. A less-than-500-square-foot studio apartment rents for $3,810 a month.
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