Good morning, RVA! It's 72 °F, and the tropical storm is upon us. At this moment we're still under a tropical storm warning until 1:30 PM and we had a flash flood warning earlier this morning. It has rained a lot and will continue to rain a lot for the next couple of hours. Keep an eye out for strong winds as this storm moves through our region. If you've got plans, meetings, or errands to run today, it's probably a good idea to make sure they've not been cancelled or postponed. Stay vigilant and stay safe!
Water cooler
Richmond Police are reporting that Jerome Montague, 30, was shot to death early Sunday morning. Police responded to the 2000 block of Dawson Road and found Montague fatally shot.
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,324↘️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 0↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 207↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 77, Henrico: 84, and Richmond: 46)—just the second time that number's been over 200. Since this pandemic began, 296 people have died in the Richmond region. Remember: The new emoji methodology compares the average of the last seven days to the average of the seven days before that—that's how we get zero reported new deaths paired with an up arrow. The emojis are nice, but, in my opinion, nothing beats looking at the statewide stacked graph of new cases, new deaths, and new hospitalizations. Also worth looking at today is this graph of new cases (and new deaths) across the Richmond region. Henrico is reporting an average of 63 new cases per day, which is an all-time high. However, the seven-day average of percent positivity in the County, according to the VDH website, sits at 6.2%. This probably means Henrico has been out there testing, testing, testing. For comparison, Richmond and Chesterfield have seven-day average percent positivities of 6.5% and 7.9% respectively.
Last night, City Council unanimously adopted ORD. 2020-154 and has now officially complied with the state's mostly-dumb process for removing Confederate monuments. While everyone eventually voted for the paper, 8th District Councilmember Trammell said something along the lines of "I'm going to vote yes, but I don't think we should." Which, OK. That's an easy way to let folks who are paying attention know how you really feel but avoids putting you on the record as "super pro Confederate monument." Now the City will spend the next 30-or-so days looking for folks to come get these huge statues. At last night's meeting—which I dipped in and out of so may have missed a few comments—it sounded like the Italian-American Cultural Association of Virginia wants the Columbus statue and J.E.B. Stuart's family and the J.E.B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust in Patrick County want his statue. Who will come to claim the Maury statue, I wonder?
Here's the reopening PDF from last night's School Board meeting! I've only given it a quick once-over, but it's divided into five sections: the Academic Office Plan, Talent Office Plan, Schools Office Plan, Engagement Office Plan, and Operations Office Plan. There's a lot in here, and there are a lot of services the district plans on providing to students and teachers as everyone figures out virtual learning together. Specifically, check out the Engagement Office section (p. 37) for how the District plans on getting the word out about the changes to this coming school year.
This, from the Richmond Times-Dispatch's C. Suarez Rojas and Kenya Hunter, seems like a disaster: "Hanover County Public Schools says it is temporarily returning signage with the current names of Lee-Davis High School and Stonewall Jackson Middle School as the school system works through the process for renaming them." I mean, sure, I guess. The schools will be renamed, and I think they'd have survived without signage for a couple of months.
ZONING NEWS. Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense says the Richmond Planning Commission "adopted a pair of resolutions declaring the city’s intent to amend its B-3 General Business zoning district." B-3 is a car-oriented, sprawly zoning district that is almost entirely (82%!) found in the City's 8th and 9th Districts—tap the link and take a look at the map. Page two of the staff report (PDF) gives you an idea of what they're trying to tweak about B-3, and it's good stuff all around: removing "adult" uses, getting rid of parking lots as a principal use, moving parking lots to the back or side of properties, and adding breweries and dwelling units to the list of principal uses. Basically making B-3 more livable, more like a neighborhood and less like a never-ending stretch of strip mall parking lots. A tiny percentage of the City's B-3—1/100th of one percent, says a city planner—is, unfortunately, along the very edge of Oregon Hill and a few folks from the neighborhood oppose the change. To accommodate, Planning Commission will look to rezone those properties in addition to making the tweaks to B-3, which, who knows, may just generate even more opposition. We'll have to wait and see.
Note! Today's free COVID-19 testing event at Fairfield Middle School has been cancelled due to the tropical storm. The Health District will hold their next community testing event on Friday, August 7th at the Hotchkiss Field Community Center (701 E. Brookland Park Boulevard) from 9:00–11:00 AM. If you think you've got the virus, need to get tested, or just have questions, give the local COVID-19 hotline a ring: 804.205.3501.
This morning's longread
Ask Yourself, Who Gets Left Behind in Cycling?
Here's a short piece by Keith Benjamin, the Director of the Department of Traffic and Transportation in Charleston, South Carolina. We don't have a Department of Transportation in Richmond, so we don't have anyone at the director level thinking about and advocating for those who are most impacted by traffic violence in our community.
In Charleston, the top city in South Carolina for bike and pedestrian deaths and injuries, Black citizens make up 22 percent of our population but represent over 40 percent of bike and pedestrian deaths and injuries. Our hospitality industry is the backbone of our downtown, but only 20 percent of these workers live downtown, so many are relegated to disconnected alternative modes of transportation just to get to work on time. For our fixed transit routes, 65 percent of our riders are Black, over 70 percent have a household income of $45,000 or less, and over 89 percent walk or bike to the transit stop.
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