Good morning, RVA! It's 67 °F, and, big news, today's highs are in the low 80s! Later this week looks hotter but not blazin' hot, and I wonder, perhaps naively, if we're done with that part of the summer? Keep an eye out for some rain throughout the day and late this evening.
Water cooler
Richmond police are reporting the murder of an as-yet-unidentified man early Saturday morning on the 00 block of W. Clopton Street. Additionally, and I can't remember the last time the police did this, but they're reporting four shootings that took place across the city on Friday night. Two victims were taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Murders are easier to follow in Richmond as each one results in a press release from the police. It's much harder, at least for me, to get an idea of the proliferation of gun violence in the city.
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 938↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 1↗️ new death as a result of the virus. VDH reports 135↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 14, Henrico: 73, and Richmond: 48). Since this pandemic began, 321 people have died in the Richmond region. VCU reported 10 new positive cases (169 people in isolation or quarantine) back on August 28th and did not update their dashboard over the weekend. I'd guess that you'll see a big jump in the numbers reported today (assuming they report today), but keep in mind that's several days worth of data. Regionally, if those Henrico numbers seem big to you—and have seemed big for the last couple of weeks—you're not mistaken. Check out this graph of the seven-day average of new positive coronavirus cases in Chesterfield, Henrico, and Richmond. Not only does the County have a dramatically higher number of cases reported each day, but Henrico's percent positivity sits at 9.0%—compared to 7.0% for Chesterfield and 5.0% for Richmond. Yikes. However, while both the number of daily new cases and the percent positivity are high, they're still below the levels that Hampton Roads saw when the Governor increased their restrictions back at the end of July.pdf) (PDF). Still though, something to keep an eye on.
We're still a ways out from the elections, and I'm still trying to figure out how I want to cover our local City Council and mayoral races. There are just so. many. candidates. Assuming at some point I figure out a smarter and more cohesive strategy, you'll have to live with this scattershot approach of me just linking to stuff that I find interesting for a while longer. On that list is 3rd District Candidate Willie Hilliard's commitment to a Land Value Tax. An LVT taxes the value of the land rather than the value of the building on the land, or, in Hilliard's case, can be split so we tax land at one rate and buildings at another. It's a helpful, progressive tool to recalibrate the way we tax property and make (encourage?) rich people to pay their fair share. First, I'm not sure I've seen other candidates go on record in support of an LVT. Second, I'm not sure I've even seen other candidates admit the basic fact that we need more money to pay for the basic services we need in Richmond. Here's a quote from Hilliard's platform page: "My support for this reform stems from the agreement among economists and urban planners that it would allow the city to raise enough revenue to fund necessary city services in a fairer way while also doing far less damage to Richmond’s economy than the current tax system." It's shocking how few candidates are willing to talk about raising revenues—especially during a moment when the City will almost certainly be faced with cutting programs and services dedicated to helping our most vulnerable citizens.
Also of interest for those tracking City elections, the Richmond Times-Dispatch has put together their questionnaire for 1st District City Council Candidates. I disagree with the frame of some of these questions, especially "Do you believe Mayor Levar Stoney deserves a second term?" I'd rather have heard how those candidates plan on working together with whichever mayor gets elected—something the current iteration of Council and Mayor have not been the best at.
Finally, if you're trying to learn more about all 10 million local candidates, don't forget about the Big List of 2020 Candidate Events. 10 million candidates means an uncountable number of events to learn about their positions on all sorts of things. Tonight, for example, at 6:30 PM you can join RISC for their Zoom Action Assembly which will feature Mayor Stoney, Councilmember Lynch, and Councilmember Addison.
The RTD's Kenya Hunter has a piece you need to read about the lack of racial diversity at the Maggie L. Walker Governor's School and maybe the lack of urgency among some of its board members to address the issue. The school recently adopted a new strategic plan (PDF) which sets as its first goal to "create a welcoming and responsive environment that celebrates and reflects the diversity of the school districts we serve and fosters a sense of belonging for all" with an objective to "codevelop a plan with its districts to increase the enrollment of historically underserved populations." These things always start with an plan to make a plan, so I guess this is a good first step. There is, however, some legitimate concerns about if this planning process will be done in good faith with hard-and-fast goals about the number of Black and Brown students the school wants to enroll—especially when you have quotes like this one from Hanover School Board Chairman John Axselle implying that Black and Brown kids just aren't gifted: “We don’t appeal to everyone, nor do I think we should. I think it might change our vision, mission or our uniqueness if we try to look like a general public school. We’re not. This is a gifted school.” Gross.
Look! A new, beautiful sign popped up at Marcus-David Peters Circle!
Rest in peace, Electric Scooters. Rest in peace.
Somehow a miracle has occurred, and there is another new episode of the Sam and Ross Like Things podcast to which you can listen. On this episode, Sam likes a really fantastic indie video game and I like doing chores in a very specific way. Enjoy!
This morning's longread
Emojiology: 🤗 Hugging Face
I always enjoy these emojipedia entries when I stumble across them. And, I agree, the hands on the hugging face emoji _do_ seem too lifelike.
Perhaps people experience a mild, if sometimes joking, unease with 🤗 Hugging Face because there is something uncanny about those hands. In contrast to the emoji’s more cartoon-like face, the hands seem at once too lifelike, as five fingers break with the Western convention of using four fingers in cartoon characters, and too unnatural, both disproportionately small compared to the head and awkwardly positioned. For others, the appearance and placement of the hands aren’t disturbing. They just don’t look like someone proffering a hug. Which leads us to a second challenge of 🤗 Hugging Face. Many think the emoji is performing jazz hands (also called spirit fingers), a gesture in musical theater where the hands are held, often at the sides, with palms facing forward and fingers splayed, typically waving.
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