Good morning, RVA! It's 53 °F, and today looks lovely—in fact, NBC12's Andrew Freiden say today's your best day of the week weatherwise. Expect highs in the 80s, low humidity, and not a bit of rain. Looks like severe weather could be in the forecast later this week, though, so organize your out-of-doors calendar accordingly.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as: 347, 45, and 17.6, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 44.6 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 6.6; Henrico: 18, and Chesterfield: 20). Since this pandemic began, 1,329 people have died in the Richmond region. 43.5%, 54.3%, and 50.7% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Over in vaccine world, we are so, so close to reaching President Biden's goal of 70% of adults with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by July 4th. Right now, according to the VDH dashboard, 67.0% of Virginians 18 and and older have had their first jab. I'd said to mark your calendars for June 12th, but we may cross the 70% threshold even sooner. As per always, data reporting issues continue to ruin my pretty little graphs and have made unclear, at least to me, the picture of how many new people are getting vaccinated each day in the Commonwealth. That number's not falling off a cliff though, so that's something. Locally—defined as Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield—I don't think we'll hit Biden's goal by the 4th, but we'll be close. Check out our creeping progress towards (mostly) that goal on this chart. I can't find daily, 18+ vaccination data for localities on VDH's dashboard, so this is what I've got!
Over the weekend, Jessica Nocera at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on the now-faltered effort to create a Civilian Review Board in Henrico County. Disappointing stuff: "For now, [Supervisor] Nelson said if there is a different Board of Supervisors in a few years, maybe the civilian review board would come back for consideration." Nelson had led the effort to create the County's CRB, but met a lack of support from the police and, more importantly, from the rest of the Board of Supervisors. Rather than push forward and end up with something with no actual power or authority to, you know, review the police, Nelson has decided to hang it up until he's joined by a few more progressive boardmembers. Local elections, y'all! So important.
Also in the RTD, Chris Suarez reports that Richmond's bike share system may finally expand beyond its 17ish stations. I mean, sure, that sounds awesome. Although, it's sounded awesome for a bunch of years now, and somehow we have fewer stations than we did when the system launched. When it comes to Richmond's bike share system, I'm in definite believe-it-when-I-see-it mode . Suarez says we should have some opportunities to weigh in on the locations for the new stations soon and that the City will look in to providing RRHA residents with free memberships. Free bus fares plus free bike share memberships (and an expanded bike share network) would really open up some transportation options for folks with lower-incomes. I'm excited to see if we can make all of these pieces work together in a cohesive system.
Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense asks a big question that I also have: "What's next for Bow Tie Cinemas site after failed pitch to become a casino?" While the owners don't have an answer yet, the property is zoned TOD-1 which allows for all sorts of fun things that would be more interesting than the expansive parking lot currently in place. I'm hopeful!
I don't know quite what to make from this chart of endorsements Ned Oliver put together in the Virginia Mercury, but I just spent too long playing with it this morning. I think one of the interesting things to me is how there's no solidified McAuliffe ticket.
Northsiders and park lovers! The Bryan Park Bike Races return tonight after a one-year COVID hiatus. This means that from 5:30–8:00 PM on Tuesdays throughout the summer you should expect to see portions of the park's paths closed off and people on bikes zipping around in a circle. If you've got a planned Tuesday evening stroll or roll, adjust accordingly! This is the 47th season of these races, which is incredible.
This morning's longread
I’m Not Scared to Reenter Society. I’m Just Not Sure I Want To.
I'm way into the title of this piece.
You could admit that you’d accomplished nothing today, this week, all year. Having gotten through another day was a perfectly respectable achievement. I considered it a pass-fail year, and anything you had to do to get through it—indulging inappropriate crushes, strictly temporary addictions, really bad TV—was an acceptable cost of psychological survival. Being “unable to deal” was a legitimate excuse for failing to answer emails, missing deadlines, or declining invitations. Everyone recognized that the situation was simply too much to be borne without occasionally going to pieces. This has, in fact, always been the case; we were just finally allowed to admit it.
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