Good morning, RVA! It's 65 °F, and today you should expect another warm and awesome day with temperatures returning to the mid 80s for at least the next two days. Get out there and enjoy it!
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,105 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 18 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 128 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 52, Henrico: 49, and Richmond: 27). Since this pandemic began, 1,273 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 1,098.
Yesterday, the CDC released new guidance on wearing masks outside and put together this helpful page about “choosing safer activities.” I really like the framing of information on this page, putting common activities on a spectrum of risk for both vaccinated and unvaccinated folks (rather than a prescriptive DO this or DON’T DO that). The big change is that the CDC now says both vaccinated and unvaccinated people can, unmasked, “walk, run, or bike outdoors with members of your household” and “attend a small, outdoor gathering with fully vaccinated family and friends.” This is great news for tweens patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for the FDA to authorize the Pfizer vaccine for 12–15 year olds. Don’t throw away your masks, though, because you’ll still need them for crowded outdoor events or almost all indoor situations. This is life for a long while, I think!
And, just as a reminder, all Virginians aged 16 and older (sorry tweens) are eligible for vaccination. Richmonders and Henricoans can now go to vax.rchd.com and schedule an appointment for themselves directly—no more pre-registration!—or call 804.205.3501 and have an appointment scheduled over the phone. We’re no longer in a place where demand for the vaccine far outstrips supply, so finding an appointment to get jabbed has never been easier.
Richmond Police are reporting a shooting on the 4000 block of Midlothian Turnpike involving five people. Here’s the statement from the police: “At 6:31 p.m., Richmond Police responded to the 4000 block of Midlothian Turnpike for a shooting. Officers arrived on scene and located two adult females, two teenagers, and one child suffering from gunshot wounds. The victims were transported to a local hospital, two with non-life threatening injuries, two victims with life-threatening injuries, and one adult female succumbed to her injuries while at the hospital.” And here’s a brief statement from Mayor Stoney: “Earlier this evening, five innocent bystanders in our city were shot, one fatally, in a single, senseless act of gun violence. This is a tragedy that no community should have to experience. My heart aches for our families. The investigation is ongoing, and we will continue to monitor the situation. If you know anything, please say something. Call Crime Stoppers at (804) 780-1000.”
Chris Suarez at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has some really interesting casino updates on the thoughts and feelings of local civic associations. For example, the Richmond Highway Neighborhood Civic Association supports the proposed 8th District location, meanwhile “nearly a dozen neighborhood groups in the Fan District and North Side are opposing” the proposed 2nd District location. On my walks and rides through the Northside, I’ve definitely seen “No Casino @ Bowtie” signs (as seen above) pop up in the last week or so—even as far away as Ginter Park. It’ll be real interesting to see how much the public support/opposition plays into the final decision made by the City’s evaluation panel.
Tangentially related and directly a bummer, Gregory J. Gilligan, also at the RTD, says Movieland has scrapped its plans to build a drive-in movie theatre in its parking lot this summer.
Yesterday, I mentioned RPS’s #ReopeningWithLove2.0 community conversations—Northside, your conversation is up next on May 4th. In the meantime, if you’re interested in learning more about the District’s reopening plans, you should read Superintendent Kamras’s email from yesterday. He’s got a partial list of health and safety measure that families, students, and teachers should expect when school reopens this fall along with three guiding principles for reopening: 1) Extend grace and love to all students, staff, and families, 2) Protect everyone’s health and safety, including their mental health, and 3) Communicate, communicate, communicate. If you’ve been paying attention, these are basically his three guiding principles for all things, but they fit really well here, too. I especially appreciate the first! Folks reentering the world will do so at their own pace and face their own challenges, and we should all be supportive of that!
City Council’s second budget amendment sessions is up on The Boring Show, and actual City Council, not the podcast version, will meet today for their third amendment work session. Based on Roberto Roldan’s tweet from earlier this week, it sounds like Council still has a lot of work to do. Speaking of, here’s Roldan’s write up of Council’s decision not to move forward with an unvetted salary increase for police and fire employees—an increase that would have been in addition to and outside of the approved Gallagher compensation study. I’m still kind of surprised Council even considered it.
Now that the rad Ms. Bee’s parklet has approval from the City, you can help fund part of its construction by chipping in a couple of bucks on this GoFundMe. Even the pre-fabbed parklets popping up around town are expensive, so I imagine an entirely custom, bee-themed parklet will cost a chunk of change. Honestly, I think getting this parklet funded and built is important: Richmond needs to see, with their own eyes, what’s possible with the existing parklet program. Renderings can only do but so much convincing!
This morning's longread
Envisioning a Federal Program to Increase Transit Service
Operational funding for public transit is yet another example of federal COVID relief programs that we should just keep doing forever and ever.
But the need to invigorate American transit service predated the pandemic. And after the pandemic recedes, a federal program to support transit service could yield immense dividends. In most American cities, the fundamental shortcoming of transit is its sheer scarcity. Buses and trains simply don’t come often enough or connect enough places to be a reliable transportation option. More abundant service promises to unlock economic opportunity for people with low incomes, improve mobility for Black and brown residents who rely on transit the most, and reduce carbon emissions. The current federal transportation policy regime, however, has done little to change the scarcity of transit service.
If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.
