Good morning, RVA! It's 74 °F, and today you get more of the same. Expect highs in the 90s, humidity, and probably no rain. Water those plants—I bet they're thirsty.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 635↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 24↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 52↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 19, Henrico: 13, and Richmond: 20). Since this pandemic began, 253 people have died in the Richmond region. I don't think I can replicate VDH's Number of Cases by Date of Symptom Onset graph with the data I've got, but its an interesting chart worth looking at. Since, I think, they're backfilling new cases to the date symptoms began you get a little bit of a different picture than the straight graph of new reported positive cases. Remember that data further toward the right side of the graph will likely change as they find new cases and stick them in their appropriate spot. Maybe the former graph shows a more marked increase in cases over the last two, three weeks? Maybe not? Regardless, both graphs do show an increase in new cases since about the middle of June while percent positivity has stayed mostly flat or gone down a couple tenths of a percent since then. I keep feeling like one more day of data will expose some sort of trend, but that just never seems to be the case!
The Mayor's very thorough warehousing of our city's Confederate monuments continues! Yesterday he had the mass-produced man atop the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors monument mothballed and got crews to clean up the remaining bronze bits of the Jefferson Davis monument. However! Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that an anonymous person filed a lawsuit earlier this week asking "among other things, that a judge bar Stoney from ordering or authorizing any further removals." As of 12 hours ago a hearing had not been scheduled, so I imagine the takedowns will continue throughout this week until a judge orders otherwise. Honestly, this lawsuit, and whichever ones that follow, seem like a waste of everyone's time. Council will vote to get rid of the monuments on August 3rd, just 25 days from now and in line with the dumb and required State process, regardless of what a court decides about this particular lawsuit.
Yasmine Jumaa at VPM has an update on the state of evictions in the Richmond region. While some folks living in some properties are protected from eviction for at least a little while longer due to the federal CARES act, the reality seems much more technical and confusing. For example: "Marra added that renters facing eviction in protected properties would need to file a motion to get their case dismissed, on the basis that a judge heard and granted an eviction before they were allowed to under the federal protection. Marra said tenants would have to act fast, because they only have 10 days to appeal these eviction judgements once they’re granted by a judge." "File a motion" is, I feel, not something that the average person knows how to go about doing in the middle of a pandemic. Also, if you really want to get angry this morning, keep reading to learn about Seminole Trail Management, LLC who received millions of dollars of federal PPP money yet has filed 92 evictions at one apartment complex on Richmond's Southside.
Tonight at 6:00 PM the Richmond School Board will meet to discuss (not vote on!) two different plans to reopen schools. You can watch the meeting live over on RPS's Facebook. The two options on the table are Plan A and Plan B. The first, Plan A, includes a fully virtual option, a two days in-person and three days virtual instruction option, and five days of in-person instruction for students with greater academic needs. The second, Plan B, includes a fully virtual option and a fully in-person option. I'll be tuning in to learn more tonight, but, at this point, I'm leaning toward Plan B. With both options, RPS will need to figure out procedures and policies to keep teachers and adults (who are much more likely to catch and spread the virus) safe in reopened schools. That will not be an easy, cheap, or trivial task. With both options, teachers are asked to prepare fully virtual versions of their work. Also not an easy, cheap, or trivial task. My main thing is: I just don't see how Plan A, which keeps kids at home three days out of the week, will allow folks who need to return to work to do so. That will absolutely devastate some families. These are serious choices that will involve serious trade offs, and I hope our leaders—and the RPS community!—are prepared to make thoughtful, informed decisions with a willingness to be flexible as the situation inevitably changes.
Also School Board related, 9th District School Board member Linda Owen has withdrawn from the race. In a Facebook post, she said: "I support Nicole Jones in her candidacy for this seat and encourage all others in the district to do the same. I believe she is a strong supporter of our Strategic Plan and the administration’s efforts to continue to improve our schools, leading and teaching with love. I am happy to pass the torch!" I think this leaves two Joneses running unopposed in the 9th District—Mike Jones for City Council and Nicole Jones for School Board. I'm sure that won't be confusing at all. I don't have any contact information for Nicole Jones, and would love to update my Big List of Richmond's 2020 Candidates, so holler at me if you can help.
Reminder! The Richmond City/Henrico Health District will host a community COVID-19 testing event today from 9:00–11:00 AM at the Powhatan Community Center (5051 Northampton Street). If you'd like to go get swabbed, make sure you call the hotline first: 804.205.3501. The next testing events will take place on Tuesday, July 14th and Thursday, July 16th.
This morning's longread
Stop Building More Roads
There are a ton of shovel-ready transportation projects in the Richmond region that don't involve building unnecessary new roads. Extending the Pulse to the airport/Short Pump and the Ashland to Petersburg Trail are just the most obvious two.
New Zealand is a global leader in disaster recovery, having recently rebuilt sections of the city of Christchurch after an earthquake in 2011. Its greatest lesson was how to set priorities. This year, it is setting out with a Covid-19 “rebuild” plan that begins with shovel-ready investment, to be followed by transformational, generation-defining projects. In New Zealand as well as Australia, those projects include investment in kindergartens, busways, cycleways, urban pedestrian lanes and flood protection improvements. Such short-term, socially oriented projects create the political and economic space to tackle the next, much larger phase.
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