Good morning, RVA! It's 46 °F, and today looks like a stunner. Expect highs in the mid 70s and lots of sunshine. If you listen closely, you may hear the sound of me zooming by on my bicycle with a huge smile on my face.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 627↘️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 6↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 86↘️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 39, Henrico: 26 and Richmond: 21). Since this pandemic began, 356 people have died in the Richmond region. Remember how the CDC changed their guidance about aerosols and airborne coronavirus transmission? Well, as of yesterday, they've reverted that guidance saying, "A draft version of proposed changes to these recommendations was posted in error to the agency's official website. CDC is currently updating its recommendations regarding airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). Once this process has been completed, the update language will be posted." It's a bad look for the CDC to have the highly publicized political involvement of Health and Human Services futzing around with the testing guidelines followed immediately by this screw up. Reading the aforelinked story on CNN, though, and this really does seem like an honest mistake. Running websites is hard, and sometimes people mess up. I bet we'll see some sort of real update to this guidance fairly soon, but in the regular way in which CDC goes about updating their guidance—not stealthily on a Friday.
Public school during a pandemic continues to be complicated—even down to the level of the day-to-day schedule. Last night, Richmond's School Board met to talk through some proposed changes to the current school day after board members and administrators have heard from some parents that the length of the online day is too long—especially for younger, K–3 students. To address those concerns, Superintendent Kamras proposed some draft adjusted schedules that shorten the day for most students (PDF, p. 10) by making portions of instruction asynchronous. I'll tell you what, I do not envy School Board in trying to figure out next steps. By shortening the day, they reduce the burden on younger students who, by all accounts, are having the hardest time with virtual learning. But they also increase the childcare burdens on families—some of which will not have the capacity to help a young student with asynchronous learning for a couple of hours each afternoon. Also, it's only been two weeks on the current schedule, so who knows how folks will feel after a month or two. Moving forward, I'm really, really interested in who's having which problems and how RPS can address the needs of Richmond's most vulnerable families. Reading this report from Kenya Hunter in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, I get a quote from a Mary Mumford Elementary parent "demanding shorter school days" and a quote from a parent who's already pulled their child from RPS as a result of the schedule. The only quote supportive of keeping the schedule as-is comes from a teacher at Overby-Sheppard Elementary who says, "We must consider choosing a path and putting all we have into it because we will be successful if given the time and chance to pursue success." I don't know the race of the speakers, but, for some context, Mumford is 75% white, while Overby-Sheppard is 4% white (btw, you build your own interesting schools demographic tables here). So, like I said, complicated. The Board will attempt to survey families and teachers this week and make a decision soon.
City Council's Land Use, Housing and Transportation committee—my favorite Council committee—will meet today and discuss a few things. Here's the entire agenda (PDF), but of note are ORD. 2020-153 which would rename the section of Route 1 in the City to "Richmond Highway" and RES. 2019-R068 which lays out Council's support for a couple Vision Zero goals. Specifically: Reducing the use of private automobiles as a primary transportation mode by 50 percent within 12 years, increase access to public transportation in areas that have "a below average transit access rating," publish a GIS map of the City's High Injury Street Network, and get the Department of Public Works to prepare a quarterly report about our VZ progress. This paper has sat on the agenda for almost a year, and I have no idea why—seems fairly benign. Oh, also, related to VZ, RES. 2020-R051 asks for enhanced speeding penalties on Harrison and Colorado Streets between Idlewood and S. Allen Avenues. I'm not going to argue with enhanced speeding penalties, but, for a big, wide, gently-curving street like this—one that runs through a residential neighborhood—why not put in some physical infrastructure to make it harder for drivers to speed? There's lots of space for roundabouts, curb extensions, or physically separated and protected bike lanes. Heck, just throw a bunch of cones down for now and see if the situation improves.
Jack Jacobs at Richmond BizSense says The Jackson Ward Collective, "a new incubator program aimed at supporting Black entrepreneurs," launched on September 14th. The Collective is looking for about 50 more members for their inaugural class, so if you're a Black entrepreneur with a business idea, looking for technical help, trying to scale up, or just wanting to meet some like-minded folks, head on over to the Jackson Ward Collective website and check it out.
The Henrico and Richmond City Health Districts will host a free community coronavirus testing event today at the Neigborhood Resource Center in Greater Fulton (1519 Williamsburg Road) from 9:00–11:00 AM. Rain or shine, but just lots of shine today. If you need a test, roll up there and get one. If you've got a coronaquestion, give the hotline a call at 804.205.3501.
This morning's patron longread
For the First Time, America May Have an Anti-Racist Majority
Submitted by Patron Casey. This piece, while filled with lots of depressing-and-true history, is generally optimistic about the state of things. It's nice to read something at least a little hopeful this week.
Trump was elected president on a promise to restore an idealized past in which America’s traditional aristocracy of race was unquestioned. But rather than restore that aristocracy, four years of catastrophe have—at least for the moment—discredited it. Instead of ushering in a golden age of prosperity and a return to the cultural conservatism of the 1950s, Trump’s presidency has radicalized millions of white Americans who were previously inclined to dismiss systemic racism as a myth, the racial wealth gap as a product of Black cultural pathology, and discriminatory policing as a matter of a few bad apples.
If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.