Good morning, RVA! It's 47 °F, and today continues yesterday afternoon’s beautiful weather. Expect highs right around 80 °F and sunshine. We’ve got some really wonderful (and unseasonable) weather lined up over the next six or so days. Find time to enjoy it!
Water cooler
This afternoon, City Council’s Governmental Operations committee meets with a very short agenda: just one paper, a cool presentation, and a discussion—luckily all three are interesting. First, GovOps will consider ORD. 2023-315 which is a second attempt at establishing a Public Utilities and Services Commission. I have no idea how this attempt differs from the previous one, but that previous paper, (ORD. 2023-188), has been withdrawn. Second, they’ll hear a combined sewer system program update presentation! This is a great and short presentation, and you’ll definitely want to check out slide five which lays out the cost effectiveness of all the proposed CSO projects. That’s cost effectiveness measured in cost per billion CFUs removed from the James River. I had to look it up, but I think “CFU” means Colony Forming Unit—like, colony of bacteria. That’s a neat measurement, and the Department of Public Utilities has a requirement to reduce the annual discharge of bacteria into the river by 3.6 million billion CFUs. The presentation ends with a call for Council to advocate for the state to restore the $100 million in CSO money they dropped from last year’s budget and to ask for $200 million in this coming year’s budget. These are definitely things you could ask your state legislators for, too, by the way (but maybe wait until after they’re elected in two weeks). I love this stuff! Third, GovOps will discuss City Charter next steps. This is an important discussion as Council probably needs to figure out their vibes on any changes to the Charter ASAP. Once we get too far into Budget Season and next year’s elections, I have a feeling these big structural changes might could get lost in the shuffle.
Jahd Khalil at VPM has some more reporting on Casino 2.0’s proposed wages. I’m fascinated by how hard it is to accurately talk about what people working at this casino will get paid, but, after doing some math and talking to some experts, Khalil estimates the “average” (again, it’s hard to even say what that word means here) wage for casino workers at $15.87 per hour. For context, he also points out that in just two years, the commonwealth will raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Tomorrow, Breakaway RVA will host their final, very-Richmond ride of the 2023 season. This month (the final month!), our most informative and casual group bike ride will take a leisurely 7.7 mile tour through some of the city’s most interesting...alleys! Meet at Scuffletown Park at 5:45 PM on Thursday, and bring your helmet, water, any bike other than a skinny-tire carbon-fiber racer thing, and “a good alley story if you’ve got one.” Wheels up at 6:00 PM, and then, if you want, hang for a bit back at the park after the ride wraps up. Thank you to everyone who makes Breakaway RVA happen, it’s a great part of Richmond’s bike culture!
Are you looking for a spooky stack of halloweekend events to jam onto your calendar? RIC Today has you covered with a regional(ish) map of maddening movies, creepy concerts, petrifying parties, and sinister special events.
On November 14th, the Virginia Museum of History & Culture will host Beth Macy, author of Dopesick, for a discussion of her new book, Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of America’s Overdose Crisis. Middle of November is, like, three full weeks from now, but I think tickets will probably sell out quickly, so grab yours online this morning. Just $10!
This morning's longread
The Path to Reducing Pedestrian Deaths Is Steep but Straight
Jamelle Bouie writes a, frankly, depressing piece about pedestrian safety, transportation infrastructure, and traffic violence. I link to it not to bum you out but to note yet another national columnist—one who writes about history and politics, not even close to a transportation-adjacent beat—reporting on how unsafe our streets have become. To me, it does feel like the tone and scope of this conversation has started to shift!
Unfortunately, the path to drastically reducing pedestrian deaths is a steep one. It would require our cities to completely rethink their vehicle and pedestrian infrastructure, with an emphasis on reducing traffic speeds and redesigning streets to force drivers to slow down. It would require big, new investments in transit and public transportation, to allow those who don’t want to drive to stay off the road. It would require new policies, like vehicle weight taxes, to penalize the purchase of large trucks and SUVs. And it would require effective traffic enforcement, from the use of automated traffic cameras, which have been shown to reduce the number of vehicle crashes and deaths from speeding, to swift, certain and meaningful penalties for habitual offenders. America’s City Councils, city planners and traffic engineers would, in short, have to prioritize safety over speed and the efficient movement of vehicles.
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Picture of the Day
Keeping an eye on Carver.
