Good morning, RVA! It's 64 °F, and the day ahead of us looks hot and humid. Still sunny though!
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 570 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 5 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 97 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 35, Henrico: 32, and Richmond: 30). Since this pandemic began, 197 people have died in the Richmond region. Honestly, the numbers are all over the place lately, which makes a lot of sense to me given that everyone's got a lot going on. One thing to keep an eye on: VDH reported under 4,000 new tests yesterday—which might speak to the difficulty in getting people tested over the last couple of days. It is Pandemic Tuesday, so keep an eye on the numbers announced today to see if they jump significantly or not.
OK. Police update. First, last night the Richmond Police Department released a statement from Chief Will Smith, which reads like a response to Ned Oliver's piece yesterday listing all the information RPD was unwilling to disclose to the public. You can read the full statement here (PDF) and decide for yourself if it answers any of the questions posed by Oliver. Smith closes with: "I will provide the public with an update on the investigations and any disciplinary steps taken once they are complete and a determination is made by the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office that allows such discussion."
Second, 9th District Councilmember Mike Jones released a statement saying "we need to have an honest and transparent discussion about the amount of funding allocated to our police department...I am calling for a deep dive into the Richmond Police Department's budget with the intention of defunding the police." For context, the RPD budget is about $100 million and is the largest of Richmond's budget line items outside of schools. You've probably seen a lot of talk lately about defunding the police, disbanding the police, or abolishing the police. For someone like myself—someone who's rarely impacted by the police at all and hasn't spent a whole lot of time thinking about why that's the case—"defunding/disbanding the police" is shocking language. However, rather than condescendingly roll my eyes and do nothing, I'm looking toward people who have more wisdom and lived experience than I do about how to think through what, practically, disbanding the police looks like. This thread from Minneapolis City Councilmember Phillipe Cunningham was helpful, especially this bit: "For me, 'disband the police' means 'end policing as it current exists and build new alternative systems to public safety.' That isn’t easy and is going to take time, but we can do it together." Councilmember Jones says as much in his statement: "Funding must be reallocated to communities that have been disproportionately impacted by over-policing and a continued lack of resources. We must reinvest in and support Black people, Black organizations, Black creatives, and Black businesses in our city." If I can talk about banning cars, I can talk about disbanding the police. Both—policing and transportation—call for deep change to remake broken, racist systems that we think are immutable but, ultimately, are not.
Ned Oliver at the Virginia Mercury reports that the Supreme Court of Virginia has ordered all local courts to "stop hearing eviction cases through at least the end of the month." I knew that the Governor had put evictions on hold for a while, but I didn't realize evictions had started back up at some point last month. I should be paying closer attention! In the Governor's release, he says that his administration plans on implementing a "comprehensive rent relief program for the thousands of Virginians facing housing insecurity in the midst of this public health crisis." Looking forward to learning more about that, for sure.
I left out one, super important detail from yesterday's news that a Hanover County man had used his pickup truck as a weapon to attack protestors on Lakeside Avenue. According to Henrico's Commonwealth's Attorney Shannon Taylor, this man is "an admitted leader of the Ku Klux Klan and a propagandist for Confederate ideology." She's looking into hate crime charges.
Annoying: Brad Kutner at Courthouse News reports that a Richmond circuit court judge has issued a 10-day injunction blocking the state from removing the Robert E. Lee monument. Sounds like the Monument Avenue Preservation Group is spearheading this lost cause and, by god, will not go quietly into the night. You may remember the Monument Avenue Preservation Group, which is not the Monument Avenue Preservation Society, from such great quotes as this from when the VMFA installed Rumors of War: "Richmond’s cultural elites beclown themselves in adulation of a monument commemorating nothing." Beclown!
As of Today, June 9th, it is now illegal to use your phone will driving in the City of Richmond. It is a primary offense meaning you can (and should) get pulled over for texting, tweeting, tiktokking, or literally any other use of your device. The ordinance (ORD. 2019-288 (PDF)) is pretty clear: "Any person who drives a motor vehicle on any public street or highway in the city while using any handheld personal communication device is guilty of distracted driving." So put it down, keep your eyes on the road, and save some lives.
Quick City Council note from last night: RES. 2020-R034, which would have surplussed all of those downtown properties, was indeed amended (PDF). Now the administration wants to surplus only 500 N. 10th Street—aka the terrible Public Safety building, aka the building ex-Navy Hill developers want to buy to build a $350 million tower. As I've said a bunch of times before, I'd love, love, love to have a small area plan for that neighborhood completed before any development begins. Council will take up this amended paper on June 22nd.
Alert for the Richmond Public Schools community! An RPS employee who was at Broad Rock Elementary on June 1st has tested positive for COVID-19. The employee was not part of the food distribution prgoram, but, if you dropped by on the 1st, you still need to self-isolate! Folks can call the Richmond City Health District and get a free coronavirus test (804.205.3501), and the RCHD will host free testing today at Second Baptist Church (3300 Broad Rock Boulevard) from 10:00 AM–1:00 PM. Check out their website for a long list of testing events.
Tonight at 6:00 PM, Richmond 300 will kick off a month of virtual summits with an Inclusive Housing Summit, and you can register over on the Eventbrite (which you must do to get the Zoom or Microsoft Teams or whatever link). This conversation will focus on Chapter 5 of the draft master plan, which I swear is a breezy and fascinating read. Each chapter of the plan will have its own summit, so don't worry if Thriving Environment or Equitable Transportation is more your thing. You can find the calendar of events on the Richmond 300 website.
This morning's patron longread
How Police Unions Became Such Powerful Opponents to Reform Efforts
Submitted by Patron Cait. Fascinating stuff, and, I have to admit, I know almost nothing about Richmond's police union. I don't hear it come up or see representatives speak at Council. I'd love to learn more about what kind of power they hold in town, especially considering some of the above links.
Over the past five years, as demands for reform have mounted in the aftermath of police violence in cities like Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore and now Minneapolis, police unions have emerged as one of the most significant roadblocks to change. The greater the political pressure for reform, the more defiant the unions often are in resisting it — with few city officials, including liberal leaders, able to overcome their opposition. They aggressively protect the rights of members accused of misconduct, often in arbitration hearings that they have battled to keep behind closed doors. And they have also been remarkably effective at fending off broader change, using their political clout and influence to derail efforts to increase accountability.
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