Good morning, RVA! It's already 74 °F, and today you can expect highs near 100 °F with Feels Likes above and beyond that. I love being outside, but, dang, not today. Stay cool, stay hydrated, and stay inside if you can.
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: 129, 21, and 6.3, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 17 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 0.9; Henrico: 10.6, and Chesterfield: 5.6). Since this pandemic began, 1,349 people have died in the Richmond region. 45.8%, 57.2%, and 53.7% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
OK! I think, when VDH updates their COVID-19 dashboard later this morning, Virginia will have reached President Biden's goal of 70% of adults with at least one dose of a vaccine! Right now, looking at yesterday's numbers, the Commonwealth sits at 69.9%, and the Governor has an event scheduled at Hope Pharmacy in the East End this morning to "celebrate vaccination milestone." That's pretty good work, Virginia, as it looks like the country as a whole will not hit Biden's goal by July 4th (and some states may not even hit the goal period). Of course, I immediately want to know where we go from here and what numbers I need to start putting in my spreadsheet next. I do wonder if July 4th and Biden's "freedom from COVID" language is a sort of pandemic mission accomplished banner. Maybe I should take a hint and hang up the spreadsheet? But, for now, here is the graph of new people with at least one dose across the state and the graph of total people with at least one dose in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield.
The City's Planning Commission meets today with a hefty agenda that's sure to generate plenty of discussion. Not only will they take up two significant rezonings—one in Greater Scott's Addition (the Diamond District) and one covering the area between the Science Museum and VCU / VUU Pulse stations—but they'll also discuss the plans for removing the remaining Confederate monuments and plinths. My prediction is that all of these things pass and head on to the next step. For the rezonings, that's City Council, for the monuments...I'm not really sure. Planning Commissions might could have the final say, and then, assuming they approve, the Parks Department (?) can get to work. While I'm obviously not super clear on the process, I'm incredibly supportive of the effort and excited for the City to make some of these intersections safer and more humane (in a bunch of different ways).
Clara Haizlett, reporting for VPM, has the details on a "green street"—a cool piece of infrastructure that's in the early stages of implementation in the Bellemeade neighborhood. It's part of the larger Bellemeade Walkable Watershed Plan (a lovely PDF worth your time), and you can learn more about the plan itself and how the green street plays a role over on the James River Association's website. I absolutely love thoughtful infrastructure to connect communities to resources like parks, schools, and community centers.
Jessica Nocera at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the Chesterfield County School Board has joined the entirely made-up Republican war on Critical Race Theory. I really love how Nocera opens her piece: "The Chesterfield County School Board condemned racism last June and affirmed the school system’s commitment to an inclusive school environment amid a national reckoning on race. A conversation series followed. The board recognized Pride Month for the first time and shortened the school year by a day to observe Juneteenth. But this month, the all-white, predominantly Republican body presiding over a school system comprising mostly students of color joined a nationwide conservative backlash to teaching about systemic racism, issuing a formal statement at a board meeting denouncing critical race theory." Like I said last week, almost every conversation about Critical Race Theory is one held in bad faith with Republicans uninterested in actual discourse. That's made pretty clear in Nocera's piece: "Harter, the School Board chairman, declined to answer a list of questions, including about his understanding of critical race theory, instead only saying that critical race theory is not part of the state education curriculum."
Also in the RTD, Mark Robinson reports on the state of the Gilpin Court pool. This story covers a lot of ground and lays out a lot of the problems Richmond needs to tackle over the next couple of decades. First, in Richmond (and in most cities), some of the hottest parts of city are where some of the poorest people live. Second, Richmond needs dramatic investment in its public housing neighborhoods—like big, big ten-digit investments. Third, Richmond needs the leadership and the plans to secure and guide that investment. So, when Gilpin Court residents, who live in a sweltering-hot part of town, rightfully want their pool fixed, a whole entire conversation about the long-term future of housing in Richmond unspools and you end up, instead, with a pool sitting empty for the better part of a decade.
School's out for the summer across the region! Again, congratulations to everyone involved, from students, to staff, to families, and teachers. What a thing everyone accomplished. If you haven't already, I strongly recommend you watch this end-of-year message from RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras—regardless of your age or locality! I think it sums things up nicely.
This morning's patron longread
Just Be Rich
Submitted by Patron Susan. I loved everything about this piece, especially the title. Rich people, just get off social media and have fun being rich!
But let's not get hung up on a cancel culture debate, because the issue here is people choosing to be rich and famous in a disastrous way. They are not doing this thing properly. The whole point is to style yourself as an aloof semi-alien species, permanently adorned with sunglasses and a half-smirk as you roll away from the paparazzi in the back of a jet-black Escalade. You are getting paid large sums of money to do interesting things—star in movies, play concerts for tens of thousands of people—and also, basically, to just exist. Why are you tweeting? What are you doing here? As someone who has a professional obligation to marinate in the ocean of awful, it instills in me a cocktail of mad and sad to watch others do it willingly.
If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.
