Good morning, RVA! It's 52 °F, and you can expect another wonderful day ahead of us with temperatures in the mid 80s—another wonderful day to get out there and enjoy!
Water cooler
The Richmond Police Department and VCU are both reporting that the person shot to death on the 400 block of Gilmer Street was 20-year-old student Cody Woodson. Woodson was murdered around 8:00 PM on Monday night. Ali Rockett and Reed Williams in the Richmond Times-Dispatch report that this is the second deadly shooting on the same block of Gilmer in as many days.
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,434 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 41 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 155 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 81, Henrico: 43, and Richmond: 31). Since this pandemic began, 1,238 people have died in the Richmond region. Locally, we've seen reported case counts fluctuate over the past month or so, but, looking at Richmond City's numbers specifically, I think you can spot a trend. One month ago, on March 7th, the seven-day average of new cases in Richmond sat at 27.4. Today, that number has increased to 42.1. Across the region we've seen about a 19% increase in new reported cases over the last month, almost entirely driven by the numbers in Richmond. I don't know what the deal is, but it's just another reminder to continue treating this disease seriously. It's also another reminder to go pre-register for the vaccine at vaccinate.virginia.gov if you haven't already. Everyone can pre-register, and it takes five minutes! Just go do it!
Sabrina Moreno at the RTD reports that the Centers for Disease Control will award Virginia a $77.1 million grant "to help remove accessibility barriers limiting vaccine uptake and equitable distribution among the state's most-affected populations." Sounds like most of this money will flow back out to local health districts to support their work in Black and Brown communities and their vaccine hesitancy work (which can, but do not necessarily, overlap). That's a lot of cash to dump into outreach programs! I'm really interested in what happens once the entire state is eligible for vaccination. Do we see a huge crush of folks queueing up at the Raceway? Has everyone who's stoked to get vaccinated already done so? I just don't think we know yet. With only a little over 30% of Virginians with at least one dose, we've got a lonnnnng way to go before we reach our herd immunity target of 75%. I imagine connecting with the huge and remaining chunk of folks not yet or not interested in getting vaccinated will be a lot of ongoing, hard work.
Two boring updates! First, I've got the audio from Council's third budget work session up on The Boring Show, which you are free to listen to while you enjoy today's wonderful weather. I only recently got around to listening to last week's second work session, and I really recommend that you try to find the time to do so. There's a good back-and-forth between Councilmember Larson and CAO Lincoln Saunders about funding CIP projects in councilmembers' districts, and Councilmember Trammell delivers one of her classic monologues. I am sympathetic to some of the councilmembers' concerns, but, also, they have the full authority to amend the Mayor's budget! I like to listen to these work sessions, hear the complaints from Council, and then compare/contrast to the budget amendments they ultimately submit. Second, that Planning Commission resolution to declare a citywide rezoning to allow ADUs passed. Onward and upward!
VPM's Whittney Evans recaps yesterday's Commonwealth's Attorney forum, if you missed it. And, over on the Virginia Mercury, Graham Moomaw reports from last night's Democratic gubernatorial debate. I watched the latter, and for me the headlining moment came when Lt. Gov. Fairfax compared himself to George Floyd. Here's Kenneth Gilliam, Jr., policy director for New Virginia Majority, on the comments: "There is so much to unpack about Fairfax's comments this evening. but, without question, they were traumatizing for many and an insult to the lives lost due to white supremacist violence." Here's Jamil Smith, writer at Rolling Stone, "Justin Fairfax, who is credibly accused of sexual violence by two black women, joined the likes of Bill Cosby, R. Kelly, and Clarence Thomas by likening such allegations to a lynching. And he actually did it in Virginia, while talking about real lynchings."
The City installed these "stop for pedestrians" signs in the middle of Brookland Park Boulevard at its intersection with the Cannon Creek Greenway, and, seven days in, this one has seen better days. I guess it's either "hilarious" to hit a sign protecting pedestrians with your car or that intersection is dangerous enough that it needs real improvements to slow traffic and make crossing there safer on foot or on bike.
I don't know if this is useful, but Venture Richmond posted some downtown-related numbers as part of their Annual Community Update. For example, did you know that downtown accounts for 53% of the city's jobs? Or that downtown holds a quarter of the retail businesses and a third of the restaurants and bars? Here's the full study from where these numbers come if you'd like to stash it away in your PDF library.
Will Virginia legalize possession of marijuana on July 1st? Find out (maybe) today at 12:00 PM as both chambers of the General Assembly return for a reconvened session. You can stream both meetings using the previous link!
This morning's longread
Making Sense of Greater Richmond’s Transit Governance
OK, you're going to tap on this link, see the flow chart, freak out, and then close the tab. However, before you do! I found this visual description of the region's transit governance system(s) and the accompanying narrative really helpful. Maybe even enjoyable!
First and foremost — what is transit governance? Think of it as Government+, like how Disney+ is Disney plus a few other networks. So for governance, in addition to elected officials, laws and ordinances, and other formal institutions of the state, governance also can include “elected and non-elected government officers, nongovernmental organizations, political, parties, interest groups, …and other relevant actors in the decision-making processes that produce government action”. For example, bus riders, political parties, RVA Rapid Transit, and city officials all fall into the umbrella of transit governance. In regards to Richmond’s transit governance, there are 4 main bodies that comprise most of the decision-making, funding, and operation of transit here in Richmond. They all have different roles. Different localities, agencies, and groups all have varying levels of influence for each body listed below.
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