Good morning, RVA! It's 69 °F, and today looks exactly like yesterday. Expect hot, humid weather, plus more of the same for the next couple of days. It's definitely summer!
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 453 (▃▁▇█▂▁▆) new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 8 (▄▃██▁▁█) new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 29↘️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 13, Henrico: 5, and Richmond: 11). Since this pandemic began, 220 people have died in the Richmond region. Just a quick reminder, the increasing/decreasing emoji arrows represent the change in the seven-day average of that stat since yesterday. I know it's uninteresting to turn this section of the email into just reposts of terrifying graphs from the COVID Tracking Project, but I thought this particular one from yesterday showing new cases by state was fascinating. Maybe it's a lack of mandatory mask requirements, maybe it's more robust testing than what we have here in the Commonwealth, maybe it's some other as-yet-unknown factor, but Virginia's neighboring states are absolutely exploding with positive coronavirus cases. Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia all reported more than 1,000 positive cases yesterday. It's like we're being surrounded! Now, on that note, remember that tomorrow Virginia moves into Phase Three of the Governor's recovery plan (PDF).
I think, but am not certain, that the city saw no after-dark protests last night. If so, that'd be the first day in over 30 days, which is fine by me. Everyone needs to take some time to get rest and hydrate! As far as changing the policies around policing in our region, the Henrico Board of Supervisors wants your input on potentially creating a civilian review board. If you live, work, or travel through the County on a regular basis you definitely should drop them your thoughts by sending an email to <civilianreviewboard@henrico.us data-preserve-html-node="true">. There are many types of civilian review boards with many different types of powers, and it's important to build one that fits your community. If you're looking for a place to start learning about CRBs, this PDF from the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement is the best I've found so far. Also in Henrico, C. Suarez Rojas in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, says the County's Commonwealth's Attorney's office "will soon add a deputy prosecutor in charge of overseeing complaints against police officers."
Richmond's School Board met last night to begin preliminary discussions on how the heck to reopen schools in the fall. The Board went over the survey RPS ran asking families and staff how they thought reopening should go, and you can/should check out the full results of that survey here (PDF). The results for families are pretty interesting and evenly split. On whether or not families would be willing to send their students back on a "staggered scheduled that limits the number of young people in school at any one time to allow for significant social distancing," 49% of respondents said "likely" or "very likely" and 51% of respondents said "not sure," "unlikely," or "very unlikely." Fascinatingly, about 53% of respondents said they'd be "very likely" or "likely" to go for a fully-virtual option if presented with one. For staff, though, the numbers are less even: Only 39% said they'd feel "very comfortable" or "comfortable" with a staggered schedule, and 61% "not sure," "uncomfortable," or "very uncomfortable." Kenya Hunter at the RTD has a recap, and it sounds like the Board won't make a decision any time soon.
I mentioned it last week, but the Governor's rent/mortgage relief program (the Virginia Rent and Mortgage Relief Program, or RMRP) officially launched yesterday, supported by $50 million of federal CARES Act money. There are, of course, some eligibility requirements for people looking for help, like folks must have a rent or mortgage below 150% of the Fair Market Rent and households must make less than 80% of the Area Median Income. For context, FMR for a two-bedroom home in Richmond is $1,061 and 80% AMI in Richmond for two folks is $55,300 (PDF). It's a statewide program but a local group will manage things, and you can use this online tool to find out who you need to contact to get the process started. The RMRP will start with households making less than 50% of the AMI until July 20th and will "complete targeted outreach to communities of color across Virginia."
C. Suarez Rojas at the RTD says GRTC has passed their FY2021 budget and it includes zero-fares through the entire fiscal year. That means every bus ride in the region is free to the rider for the next 12 months—at least that's the plan as it stands right now. My constant coronavirus caveat certainly applies here: Who knows what the next month looks like, let alone the next year. Also of note in this piece, Rojas says that GRTC can expect $10 million in new funding from the soon-to-launch Central Virginia Transportation Authority. This is way, way down from the previous projections of around $25 million. In fact, in setting up the CVTA, the State allowed Richmond and Henrico to cut their local contribution to GRTC by 50%—a combined $12.5 million. Does that mean we're looking at a $2.5 million shortfall next year? I need to do some more digging, but it sounds like, pending more federal or state relief money, the region's localities will need to increase their contributions to GRTC in this coming year's budget to avoid cutting bus service. It'd be incredibly disappointing if the region finally created a dedicated funding stream for public transit, only to have it result in less money for public transit.
This seems cool: Begining tomorrow, YWCA Richmond will launch a 21 Day Racial Equity and Social Justice Challenge. Sign up for their email list, and each weekday from July 1st through July 29th you'll get an assignment to complete—like a podcast, article, or reflection exercise. The goal, well, I'm just going to quote these two great sentences from the YWCA: "The work of justice starts with learning more. We invite you to join this journey as together we challenge ourselves to recognize and understand the embedded issues related to racial inequity, in order to do more and be more—civically and interpersonally—until the world sees women, girls, and people of color the way we do: Equal. Powerful. Unstoppable."
Oh no, devastating news to six-months-ago Ross: The RTD's Karrie Peifer reports that the food hall project in Scott's Addition has been permanently canned due to the coronavirus. Present-day Ross is not super bummed because he's terrified of any sort of hall filled with people—especially an indoor one where folks are eating and not wearing masks.
Today from 7:00–8:00 PM you can join State Senator Ghazala Hashmi, Councilmember Stephanie Lynch, Councilmember Michael Jones, and Dr. Eli Coston from the Richmond Transparency and Accountability Project for a virtual town hall discussion about protests, racism, police policy, and probably all kinds of other stuff. Take advantage of the opportunity to hear from lawmakers and experts, and let them know what you want to see when it comes to state and local policy. Make sure you register ahead of time to get the Zoom link.
This morning's patron longread
What Is Owed
Submitted by several patrons. By Nikole Hannah-Jones, this long piece in the New York Times Magazine lays out the history behind and the case for reparations. If you haven't heard them before, prepare yourself for some shocking statistics about how stacked the deck is against the building of Black wealth.
To summarize, none of the actions we are told black people must take if they want to “lift themselves” out of poverty and gain financial stability — not marrying, not getting educated, not saving more, not owning a home — can mitigate 400 years of racialized plundering. Wealth begets wealth, and white Americans have had centuries of government assistance to accumulate wealth, while the government has for the vast history of this country worked against black Americans doing the same. “The cause of the gap must be found in the structural characteristics of the American economy, heavily infused at every point with both an inheritance of racism and the ongoing authority of white supremacy,” the authors of the Duke study write. “There are no actions that black Americans can take unilaterally that will have much of an effect on reducing the wealth gap. For the gap to be closed, America must undergo a vast social transformation produced by the adoption of bold national policies.”
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