Good morning, RVA! It's 47 °F, and today you can expect cloudy skies with highs in the 60s. We might see some rain move in late this evening through tomorrow morning. Heck, if we can miss most of the rain scattered about here and there, the next couple of days look great.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,063 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 10 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 103 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 43, Henrico: 41, and Richmond: 19). Since this pandemic began, 1,187 people have died in the Richmond region. Of note, the Governor will hold a media briefing today at 2:00 PM to "Provide updates on the Commonwealth's response to COVID-19 and vaccination program." You can stream it live over on VPM's YouTube. New guidance? Fewer restrictions? More info about when we'll see the Johnson & Johnson bars on the vaccine received graph tick upwards? Find out this afternoon!
Over on the doughnut side of the house, if you present your vaccine card at a Krispy Kreme they'll give you a free doughnut every day until the end of the year. I know some folks have an issue with this, but, like, I'm not going to think too hard about it. Doughnuts are great. Additionally, from their FAQs: "if you have made the personal decision to not receive the COVID vaccine, please visit us on Mondays, 3/29/21 – 5/24/21, to receive a free Original Glazed® doughnut and a medium brewed coffee to get your week off to a good start."
I've been noodling my way through the Mayor's proposed budget and Capital Improvement Program (PDF), and I wanted to highlight two things from the latter.
First, the Mayor has proposed creating a "Complete Streets" project (p. 53) and has funded it between $7–8 million a year for the next five years—totaling $39.4 million. Complete streets are, to quote Smart Growth America, "designed and operated to prioritize safety, comfort, and access to destinations for all people who use the street, especially people who have experienced systemic underinvestment or whose needs have not been met through a traditional transportation approach, including older adults, people living with disabilities, people who cannot afford or do not have access to a car, and Black, Native, and Hispanic or Latino/a/x communities." With that definition in mind, one thing that worries me about this year's CIP is that the new Complete Streets project combines the previous "Citywide Traffic Calming, Pedestrian Safety Crossing Improvements, Sidewalk Projects, Streets, Sidewalks, and Alley Improvements, Traffic Control Installation, and Transportation Projects" into a single project without really laying out how that money will be spent. Additionally, the intro to the CIP describes the Complete Streets project as "funding in street completion throughout the city; funding sidewalks, curb & gutters, pedestrian crossing, and paving." Paving? How much of this fund will go towards paving and how much toward sidewalks, bike lanes, pedestrian safety projects, and traffic calming? I'd hate for money that was once earmarked for projects that prioritized safe transportation access for vulnerable Richmonders to get spent on routine paving projects.
Second, the proposed Enslaved African Heritage Campus project (p. 30) is estimated to cost $38 million, of that, $15 million (about 40%!) will go toward a parking facility. This project is not fully funded in this CIP, with only $28 million of the $38 million allocated over the next five years. However, the plan is to put $15 million towards the project in FY24, which I assume fully funds whatever 665-space parking structure they intend to build. I don't know enough about the details, but almost half of a project spent on parking in a location adjacent to the Pulse and the train station? I'd like to learn more!
A quick City Council update: RES. 2021-R017, which kicks off the rezoning of the western part of Broad Street, passed on last night's consent agenda. Also, I wanted to point out this thread from @RVADirt covering Council's discussion on ORD. 2020-257. This ordinance allows the sale of an RRHA-owned property to the Better Housing Coalition for redevelopment into affordable, multi-family housing (aka apartments). I didn't listen to the entire conversation, which you can do here, but it sounds like a glitch in the deed or title or some other piece of paper left an opening for classic NIMBY complaints to oppose denser, affordable housing in Jackson Ward. This paper ended up passing with Councilmembers Jordan and Larson voting against. Scrub forward to around 1:40:00 to hear Councilmember Jordan's comments. I don't love her vote on this, but it's useful to hear her talk through some of the complexities of this particular situation.
A couple weeks back I mentioned RVA Rapid Transit's Transit Talk series when they hosted GRTC's CEO Julie Timm. They've got a recording of that talk up, and you should go listen to it! Learn about zero fares and if that's a long-term possibility in Richmond.
Tonight, at 6:00 PM, you can hop on a virtual meeting about the City's potential/proposed resort casino (or call in here: 804.316.9457). I'm not sure what they'll cover, but the title of the meeting is "proposal videos." Your guess is as good as mine!
I asked for folks to send me rally-type things in support of our Asian neighbors, so thank you to a reader for pointing out this Stop the Hate Rally (Facebook) tonight from 5:00–6:00 PM at Short Pump Park (3329 Pump Road) hosted by the Asian American Society of Central Virginia.
This morning's longread
Why McConnell Gets Away With Filibustering
This is a great filibuster recap—both the practicals and politics of it. If we want to change anything, including our country's absurd gun violence laws, we've got to get rid of the filibuster. Thankfully, over the last few days, there's been the smallest movement in that direction.
McConnell was saying that certain legislation Obama wanted to pass could have gotten bipartisan support, which Americans would have then seen as affirming its general goodness. But McConnell didn’t want that legislation to pass, or Americans to draw that conclusion. Fingerprints is the most revealing word. It makes clear that what mattered to him was that Obama would take the blame. For Republicans, the filibuster was a win-win-win: It sharply reduced the range of issues that Democrats could advance; it ensured that even bills that got through were subject to withering attacks for months, dragging down public support; and it produced an atmosphere of gridlock and dysfunction for which Democrats would pay the price.
If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.
