Good morning, RVA! It's 67 °F, and today we’ve got highs in the 80s. There’s a chance for rain this morning but not a very large one, so I’m still going to call it a great day to hang outside. Tomorrow looks even better, but we could see some thunderstorms on Sunday. Mixed-bag weekend!
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,559 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 4 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 143 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 48, Henrico: 70, and Richmond: 25). Since this pandemic began, 1,195 people have died in the Richmond region. Here's this week's stacked chart of new reported cases, hospitalizations, and deaths to help you decide whether we're on a bumpy plateau or if case counts have truly started to rise again. Please note that the deaths graph is, at this point, utterly meaningless. Not only did the push to enter a backlog of winter death certificates obliterate the y-axis, but VDH recently removed a bunch of deaths that did not qualify as COVID-19 associated deaths. That means that, as of right now, the seven-day average of new reported deaths across the Commonwealth is... -5. Also, here's your graph of new reported cases in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield. Again: Bumpy plateau or beginning of a rise?
Sabrina Moreno at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports on the rocky rollout of the State's Community Vaccination Clinics, specifically one in Danville that saw thousands of people—not from Danville—driving out that way to get their first dose. I get that people are frustrated and scared and desperate, but driving hours to get a vaccine from somewhere you do not live does have actual logistical consequences for the folks trying to vaccinate the state. To quote from the piece: "So if there are 500 Blue Ridge Health District individuals who went to Danville and got their first shot and then come here and expect to get their second shot, that is going to be 500 fewer first doses that we will have available...Because their second dose wasn’t sent to us. It was sent back to Danville.” We're less than five weeks away from Phase 2: Everybody Else, and, I know it's tough, but the rest of us can be patient!
This morning we've got more casino reactions. Roberto Roldan at VPM has this take from Del. Betsy Carr, which set the stage for the next couple of voices I want to share: "I am very concerned about the Bally's proposed location behind the Target and Publix on Forest Hill Avenue. Residents who live and shop in the area with whom I have spoken have almost universally mentioned their fears about significant increased traffic through the day and into late at night in an area that already experiences congestion." Then, later in the same release, "I hope City Council will give serious and substantive consideration to the Urban One proposal, located near Philip Morris. This is an opportunity for the City to act on behalf of economic justice, supporting a Black owned business, to make a difference. With the history of our country and our Commonwealth, I hope we will be able to use this opportunity to support this minority authored proposal." To summarize: The Casino is bad for an affluent white neighborhood because of traffic, but probably fine crammed into a disinvested, Black and Brown neighborhood. This is a bad take, and, to be completely honest, it's a take that I'm guilty of taking, too. I don't want a casino anywhere in the City, but, if I look at what I've written over the last couple of weeks, I've definitely advocated for the location by the port if we are ultimately forced to have a casino within the city limits. That's wrong, and I can do better. Here's Amy Wentz correcting my specific narrative on Twitter: "Just want to ensure people understand that there IS a cute little neighborhood that backs up to the proposed site in the 8th. I see & hear the narrative rolling out that it's away from homes. It's actually closer to homes than the other two." And here's J. Elias O'Neal arguing for the City's Southside elected leadership to protect and elevate Black and Latino resident voices: "It's rich and poor; and Black and white. To think that our neighborhoods are undeserving of council protection from predatory, out-of-market casino cos shows that our council doesn't value Black or Latino voices at all, because this should have been DOA from the jump." Maybe they have already, but I think the very next thing that should happen is for the City's Southside Councilmembers to weigh in on the proposed locations in/adjacent-to their districts.
Tangentially related, Wayne Eps at the RTD reports on some progress VCU has made towards purchasing the old ABC building out by the Diamond. That property is a critical piece of the University's planned "Athletic Village." Back to the previous topic, I'm really interested to hear how VCU officials feel about a potential casino just a couple blocks from their college sports complex.
VPM's Ben Paviour and Whittney Evans report that the Governor will ask the legislature to change their marijuana bill to "legalize the adult possession of an ounce or less of marijuana beginning on July 1st." As it stands, legalization won't happen until 2024. Who knows if this change has enough juice to pass both houses in the General Assembly, but I'm glad to see the Governor has changed his mind / modified his position. Also, I will note that gubernatorial candidate Sen. Jennifer McClellan has continued to push for early legalization from the get go.
I don't know a ton about the Mayor's Downtown Task Force, but it's a "cross-departmental downtown action task force assigned with developing and executing solutions to improve our downtown corridor." They've got a survey up that'll inform their work, and you know I can't resist sharing a civic survey. There are a lot of open-ended questions near the bottom of the survey to talk about things like parking, transit, sidewalks, public spaces, and place making. Get in there and get creative!
The US Department of Transportation dropped this video on YouTube a couple of weeks back, and now I must share it with you: Lo-Fi Transportation Beats to Chill/Relax To. I'm sorry.
This morning's longread
You are not the person you were before the pandemic
I loved this, but it is depressing in a lot of ways.
You follow the rules. You break the rules. You judge everybody else for breaking the rules. You forget to Purell or mask up one day and have a grocery store stress-dream that night. You feel trauma work its way through your system in real time and wonder how it will later annihilate you psychologically. You cough once and have a panic attack. You think, We are not going to be okay after this. You tweet it. You delete it. (Not enough likes.) Progress is always followed by a setback. Cases go down and restrictions get loose. Restrictions tighten up and cases go back down. You can’t believe there are people who don’t accept that the two are connected; that there are places in the world that have this all figured out, but you live in one that treats it like a baker refusing to make a cake for a gay wedding.
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