Good morning, RVA! It's 67 °F, and, while it may get a tiny bit warmer later this afternoon, this is pretty much what we've got for the rest of the day. Expect rain to roll in, set up shop, and stick around until some point tomorrow.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 845↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 45↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 97↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 35, Henrico: 41, and Richmond: 21). Since this pandemic began, 349 people have died in the Richmond region. Yesterday's caveat about the new death numbers still applies, and this note still appears at the top of VDH's data dashboard: "Regarding the death data for Wednesday, September 16, 2020, there is an existing data backlog. VDH is working diligently to identify COVID-19 related deaths using vital record death certificate information." I haven't written about testing in a while, but the number of daily testing encounters has steadily declined over the last month and a half. I wonder if that's a result of testing availability, testing fatigue among Virginians, or something else entirely. I haven't heard much about folks having a hard time finding a test—in fact, here's a big list of places you can go get tested. However, I can easily see, as the pandemic wears on, folks less willing to go get brainswabbed if they're experiencing some COVID-19 symptoms.
Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch digs into the most recent fundraising numbers for the mayoral race. If you want, you can check out the VPAP profiles for Mayor Stoney, Councilmember Gray, and Candidate Rodgers yourself. Unsurprisingly, Stoney significantly outraised and outspent his competition. The 2016 race was about a million dollar race, something that still blows my mind, and, with just a handful of weeks left to go, Stoney has raised more than half that for his reelection campaign. Robinson also pulled each candidate's major donors—and all three candidates have major, major donors. Just this reporting period, the Mayor collected $10,000 each from a homebuilder and an Altria-related group, Gray landed a $30,000 donation from a local realtor, and Rodgers saw a Charlottesville couple give her campaign $25,000. Rodgers is way out in front on donations of $100 or less this period with 505—nearly triple her competitors. Lots of small donations is good, but you probably can't win without a few large donations floating the majority of your boat. For example, just two donations (0.3%) accounted for 41% of all the money raised this period by Candidate Rodgers. Again, Richmond's mayoral race is a million dollar race, and you can get there in a lot of different ways—but 10,000 $100 donations sounds like of work. And that's why (among other reasons) I'll never run for office!
I didn't explicitly highlight this, but in the announcement of the City's new Office of Equitable Transit and Mobility, the Mayor came out in support of zero-fares for GRTC bus service. Chris Suarez at the RTD says that now all three candidates mentioned above—Stoney, Gray, and Rodgers—support zero-fares. And it's not just folks running for office talking about this: The GRTC board just heard a presentation on the impact of zero-fares at their board meeting earlier this week (you can flip through those slides here (PDF)). I'm a zero-fare convert, mostly because I think that the pandemic presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experiment with going fare-free across the entire bus system. If not now, probably never. Of course, ditching fares does come with some risks. Mayoral candidates can talk a big game now, but, when it comes to funding GRTC in their budgets, will they put in enough cash to keep fares free AND expand bus service? It's absolutely unacceptable to make our currently inequitable transit system free and call it a day. Additionally, are these candidates willing to continue to increase funding to GRTC to keep up with the inevitable ridership that'll come with getting rid of fares? It's a fun campaign platform for candidates, but this is a big decision that will have long-term impacts on Richmonders trying to get to work, school, healthy food, all kinds of things.
The Virginia Mercury's Kate Masters says that the State Corporation Commission "agreed to extend an existing moratorium on utility disconnections until Oct. 5." That sounds like good news, but I would not want to have my utilities cut off with colder temperatures just around the corner. Apparently the General Assembly is working through how to use their special-session budget update to address this issue for folks who have unpaid bills. Fingers crossed.
Related to yesterday's news about the Pizza Hut on Patterson closing down, several folks sent in the Used to Be a Pizza Hut blog. So what used to be a Pizza Hut? Mostly other restaurants, but some pharmacies, liquor stores, and even a church or two. Do we have any used-to-be Pizza Huts in town? I feel like surely.
Did you read that part about coronavirus testing up at the top of this email? Because if you're experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and would like to get tested, the Henrico and Richmond City Health Districts will host a free community testing event today at the Robinson Theatre (2903 Q Street) from 9:00–11:00 AM. Rain or shine (most likely rain)! No excuses!
This morning's longread
“Fixer Upper” Is Over, But Waco’s Transformation Is Just Beginning
Well, I have now learned a lot about "Chip and Jo." Also, because this is the sort of thing I do when I read an article about a place I've never been, if you have a second, go pull up The Silos in Waco on a satellite map and just look at all the surface parking lots scattered around their downtown. No wonder there's plenty of opportunities to fixer-upper the place.
Like so many small cities across America, Waco had lost its downtown core and the economic vibrancy that once accompanied it. (Unlike most small cities, the process had been catalyzed by a 1953 tornado that killed 114 people and razed 196 buildings.) And in the ’90s, it lost its reputation to the deadly 1993 standoff between federal agents and Branch Davidian cult leader David Koresh, who had established a compound near town. As the two-person engine of an entire small industry and economic boom, the Gaineses have cleaved history in two: Before Chip and Jo, and After. The Old Waco, and the New.
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