Good morning, RVA! It’s 50 °F, and highs today will hang out in the mid 60s. Expect some clouds and teensy chance of rain here and there throughout the day. Tomorrow looks like a possible stunner, though.

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 764 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 29 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 85 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 45, Henrico: 21, and Richmond: 19). A while back, VDH started posting positive cases, hospitalizations, and deaths disaggregated by race. I only started capturing those numbers on April 29th (and I can’t find historical data on the VDH’s website at the moment—they seem to replace the data with a new spreadsheet every day?) but I now have a week’s worth of data. Here’s a chart of the percentages that Black people make up of positive cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield combined. As of yesterday, Black folks are overrepresented in all three categories and make up 38% of the positive cases, 56% of the hospitalizations, and 44% of the deaths, while they only account for 32% of the region’s population. I’ve linked to a couple of things in the past about how Black people are acutely impacted by COVID-19—as a result of centuries of inequitable health and social policies—and the reality in Central Virginia is no different. When our local leaders start talking about recovery, we should hold them accountable to an equitable recovery process that seeks to protect our region’s people of color. In other random spreadsheet news, VDH has continued to post both the number of “total people tested” and the number of “unique people tested.” Yesterday, according to the data, 1,368 unique people got tested 6,802 times. I’m not sure what to make of it, but that’s what the numbers say! Either way, it’s still not enough tests. The Richmond Times-Dispatch says Virginia still sits at the very, very bottom (48th!) when it comes to testing rates among states.

Karri Peifer, also at the RTD, talked to a bunch of restaurant owners about how the ever-changing nature of the crisis and total lack of certainty has been incredibly frustrating for their businesses. This paragraph captures, I’m sure, what thousands and thousands of small business owners are feeling after Governor Northam’s decision to lurch Virginia into Phase One of recovery on May 15th: “Some restaurant owners kept their doors open, some closed. Some opened, then closed, then opened again. Some are ramping up to open, given Gov. Ralph Northam’s announcement Monday that some restrictions could be lifted starting next week. None of them are sure which was the right decision. Many are still waiting on their federal Paycheck Protection Program loan. Those who got it aren’t sure how they’re supposed to use it.” Like yesterday’s article on the supply chain for testing swabs, this look into the practicals of navigating state and federal relief programs is stressful. Note: Standard disclaimer about how I think restaurants get the lion’s share of coverage, of course, applies.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 50 °F, and highs today will hang out in the mid 60s. Expect some clouds and teensy chance of rain here and there throughout the day. Tomorrow looks like a possible stunner, though.

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 764 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 29 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 85 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 45, Henrico: 21, and Richmond: 19). A while back, VDH started posting positive cases, hospitalizations, and deaths disaggregated by race. I only started capturing those numbers on April 29th (and I can’t find historical data on the VDH’s website at the moment—they seem to replace the data with a new spreadsheet every day?) but I now have a week’s worth of data. Here’s a chart of the percentages that Black people make up of positive cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield combined. As of yesterday, Black folks are overrepresented in all three categories and make up 38% of the positive cases, 56% of the hospitalizations, and 44% of the deaths, while they only account for 32% of the region’s population. I’ve linked to a couple of things in the past about how Black people are acutely impacted by COVID-19—as a result of centuries of inequitable health and social policies—and the reality in Central Virginia is no different. When our local leaders start talking about recovery, we should hold them accountable to an equitable recovery process that seeks to protect our region’s people of color. In other random spreadsheet news, VDH has continued to post both the number of “total people tested” and the number of “unique people tested.” Yesterday, according to the data, 1,368 unique people got tested 6,802 times. I’m not sure what to make of it, but that’s what the numbers say! Either way, it’s still not enough tests. The Richmond Times-Dispatch says Virginia still sits at the very, very bottom (48th!) when it comes to testing rates among states.

Karri Peifer, also at the RTD, talked to a bunch of restaurant owners about how the ever-changing nature of the crisis and total lack of certainty has been incredibly frustrating for their businesses. This paragraph captures, I’m sure, what thousands and thousands of small business owners are feeling after Governor Northam’s decision to lurch Virginia into Phase One of recovery on May 15th: “Some restaurant owners kept their doors open, some closed. Some opened, then closed, then opened again. Some are ramping up to open, given Gov. Ralph Northam’s announcement Monday that some restrictions could be lifted starting next week. None of them are sure which was the right decision. Many are still waiting on their federal Paycheck Protection Program loan. Those who got it aren’t sure how they’re supposed to use it.” Like yesterday’s article on the supply chain for testing swabs, this look into the practicals of navigating state and federal relief programs is stressful. Note: Standard disclaimer about how I think restaurants get the lion’s share of coverage, of course, applies.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 51 °F, and so long, excellent weather. Today you can expect highs in the mid 50s and rain later this afternoon. Rad weather maybe returns on Thursday?

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 821 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 24 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 26 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 0, Henrico: 10, and Richmond: 16). Today is Tuesday, so you can probably expect a spike in those numbers. At the Governor’s press conference yesterday, he announced that, despite whatever the data may say, he expects Virginia to move into Phase One of recovery by May 15th. Here’s Kate Masters at the Virginia Mercury: “The announcement comes before a 14-day downward trend in new COVID-19 cases or a decline in hospitalization numbers — metrics Northam previously said the state would need to meet before loosening the business and social distancing restrictions that have become the new normal for Virginians since March.“ This is incredibly frustrating. What was the point of announcing all of those data-based guidelines if Northam just had his sights set on May 15th anyway? What happens if the data don’t cooperate and get in line for his new two-week deadline? Northam’s also switching his messaging to “safer at home” instead of “stay at home,” but, as always, safer at home for whom? Phase One sends employees at “restaurants, recreation, and personal care business such as hair salons and spas”—mostly working-class people—back to work. Folks who are privileged enough to have good insurance and can work from home are encouraged to continue doing so. Here’s a quote from the Governor, take a second and think about who the “you” in this quote is: “Here’s the bottom line…You’ll be able to get your hair cut, but you’ll need an appointment. It means you can go out to eat again, but restaurants will use less of their seating to spread people out. Phase One means more retail establishments can be open, but they’ll have to operate at lower capacity.” At some point we substituted “flatten the curve” for “the healthcare systems will not be overwhelmed,” and those two things are not at all the same. We wanted to do the former to prevent the latter, but just because we’ve managed to keep our hospitals up and running doesn’t mean that the virus has vanished. In fact, the Commonwealth is still short on testing, more and more Virginian’s are reporting positive every day, and new hospitalizations are not going down. Plus, do we even really understand the impacts of COVID-19 yet? This sentence, again from Kate Masters, shouldn’t make any Virginians feel great: “The new guidelines align Virginia more closely with southern neighbors, including Tennessee and Georgia, than with other regional partners including Maryland and Washington, D.C.” Great.

Here, instead, is some guidance from Mayor Stoney: Stay home! You can also read the memo the Mayor sent to Council the other day (PDF). It’s got lots of good info, including a breakdown of Richmond’s COVID-19 data by race. As of May 1st, 14 out of 15 Richmonders who have died as a result of the virus are Black.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 51 °F, and so long, excellent weather. Today you can expect highs in the mid 50s and rain later this afternoon. Rad weather maybe returns on Thursday?

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 821 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 24 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 26 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 0, Henrico: 10, and Richmond: 16). Today is Tuesday, so you can probably expect a spike in those numbers. At the Governor’s press conference yesterday, he announced that, despite whatever the data may say, he expects Virginia to move into Phase One of recovery by May 15th. Here’s Kate Masters at the Virginia Mercury: “The announcement comes before a 14-day downward trend in new COVID-19 cases or a decline in hospitalization numbers — metrics Northam previously said the state would need to meet before loosening the business and social distancing restrictions that have become the new normal for Virginians since March.“ This is incredibly frustrating. What was the point of announcing all of those data-based guidelines if Northam just had his sights set on May 15th anyway? What happens if the data don’t cooperate and get in line for his new two-week deadline? Northam’s also switching his messaging to “safer at home” instead of “stay at home,” but, as always, safer at home for whom? Phase One sends employees at “restaurants, recreation, and personal care business such as hair salons and spas”—mostly working-class people—back to work. Folks who are privileged enough to have good insurance and can work from home are encouraged to continue doing so. Here’s a quote from the Governor, take a second and think about who the “you” in this quote is: “Here’s the bottom line…You’ll be able to get your hair cut, but you’ll need an appointment. It means you can go out to eat again, but restaurants will use less of their seating to spread people out. Phase One means more retail establishments can be open, but they’ll have to operate at lower capacity.” At some point we substituted “flatten the curve” for “the healthcare systems will not be overwhelmed,” and those two things are not at all the same. We wanted to do the former to prevent the latter, but just because we’ve managed to keep our hospitals up and running doesn’t mean that the virus has vanished. In fact, the Commonwealth is still short on testing, more and more Virginian’s are reporting positive every day, and new hospitalizations are not going down. Plus, do we even really understand the impacts of COVID-19 yet? This sentence, again from Kate Masters, shouldn’t make any Virginians feel great: “The new guidelines align Virginia more closely with southern neighbors, including Tennessee and Georgia, than with other regional partners including Maryland and Washington, D.C.” Great.

Here, instead, is some guidance from Mayor Stoney: Stay home! You can also read the memo the Mayor sent to Council the other day (PDF). It’s got lots of good info, including a breakdown of Richmond’s COVID-19 data by race. As of May 1st, 14 out of 15 Richmonders who have died as a result of the virus are Black.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 64 °F, and today looks pretty wonderful. Enjoy highs in the mid-to-upper 70s and lots of sunshine. Spend some time on the stoop!

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 940 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 44 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 57 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 8, Henrico: 28, and Richmond: 21). As you might have noticed, I’ve switched from highlighting the total number of reported positive cases and deaths to new reported positive cases and deaths. Now that the cumulative numbers are sufficiently large (18,671 total reported positive cases in Virginia) my brain has a hard time telling even basic things like if more people are getting sick each day. I hope writing about this different set of numbers will help with that. For those keeping track at home: The number of new reported positive cases continues to go up, so has the number of reported tests, but hospitalizations have stayed mostly flat with a slight increase. Over the weekend, VDH also started posting “total people tested” in addition to “unique people tested” since, presumably, folks can get tested multiple times. These two numbers, unfortunately, aren’t comparable so for now at least I’ll keep making my charts using the original numbers. Kate Masters at the Virginia Mercury reports that state officials say “…the new methodology will make it easier for the state to calculate the total percentage of COVID-19 tests that come back positive. That metric is considered important in evaluating the severity of outbreaks in different areas and — once more widespread testing is available — whether the virus appears to be accelerating or abating.” I wish the State would have started with this methodology, or at least announced a change of methodology when they announced the goals they’re looking to meet to lift some of the social-distancing restrictions. Now it just looks like a way to increase the denominator in that percent-positive calculation.

Lots of local budget conversations today for you, yes you, to participate in! First, if you want to weigh in on the $24 million of cuts Richmond Public Schools needs to make, you can send a public comment to speakers@rvaschools.net by 1:00 PM today. Here’s a table of proposed cuts (PDF) if you’d like to advocate for protecting anything in particular. Personally, I’ll be sending a note of support for the middle school STEM academies, one of which is at Henderson, my neighborhood middle school. Second, City Council will host another budget amendment session today. So far they’ve had a discussion on exactly one budget amendment, submitted by Councilmember Lynch. Unless something dramatic happens, like a quarantine-fueled outburst of productivity from one or several councilmembers, it looks like we’re headed toward adopting the Mayor’s budget pretty much as is. If you like the Mayor’s budget, that’s fine! If you feel like he could have done a better job—or if you’re a councilmember that’s spent some time criticizing that budget—there’s not a ton of time left to make improvements. If you’d like to weigh in, you can send an email to cityclerksoffice@richmondgov.com by 10:00 AM (note the earlier time). Maybe ask Council to preserve the $900,000 of new sidewalk money that could have done some real good on The Southside: Where the Sidewalk Ends.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 62 °F, and today’s weather looks pretty great. Expect highs in the mid 70s and, eventually, some sunshine. Rain moves into town tomorrow evening!

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 890 positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth, and 22 people in Virginia have died as a result of the virus. That’s almost double both numbers from Friday morning (460 and 13 respectively). VDH reports 78 cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 13, Henrico: 40, and Richmond: 25). Over 10,000 people have received the COVID-19 test.

Samuel Northrop at the Richmond Times-Dispatch as a brutal recap of the situation at the Canterbury Rehabilitation & Healthcare facility which has eight of Henrico’s 40 COVID-19 deaths. Health officials have introduced a number of measure to prevent the spread of the virus in and out of the facility, including showers and “bleach foot baths.”

Good morning, RVA! It’s 53 °F, and today’s highs are way up into the mid 70s. Enjoy it while you can this afternoon, taking a walk, run, or a roll around your neighborhood. Rain will move in tonight, and the rest of the weekend looks pretty cloudy.

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 460 positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth, and 13 people in Virginia have died as a result of the virus. VDH reports 35 cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 12, Henrico: 21, and Richmond: 14). New on the aforelinked page are age, sex, and race information for reported positive cases. To dispel any sense you may have that this disease only impacts the elderly: About 45% of all reported positive cases are folks between the ages of 20 and 50. The Richmond Times-Dispatch has some more clarification on the accuracy of these reported numbers: “On March 19, state health officials said there’s a 19-hour lag in the reporting of statewide numbers, and figures on the website might not include cases reported by individual localities or local health districts. The Health Department did not explain Thursday precisely why there could be an eight-day lag between reported symptoms and test results. A shortage of tests and testing equipment have been reported across the country this month, and Virginia has turned to private labs to help provide test results.” So, please, don’t use these numbers as a direct indicator of the spread of coronavirus in Virginia. Don’t let them convince you that “it’s only 460 case.” But, please, do stay home if you can and help prevent further spread of the virus!

The Governor “directed all hospitals to stop performing elective surgeries or procedures to help conserve supplies of personal protective equipment.” That’s good and cool, I guess, but, like, when he is going to commit to a full stay-at-home order? Remember what Dr. Fauci says about our response to this pandemic: “…if it look like you’re overreacting, you’re probably doing the right thing.” Personally, at this moment in our viruscurve, I’d like to see more overreacting from the State before things get out of hand. Also, I think it’s time for an emergency session of the General Assembly. Localities need guidance and support—both through policy and through cash. As far as I know, the State’s budget is not yet finalized, and legislators could work through the changes they’ll need to make to give cities and counties across the Commonwealth the funding needed to maintain core services. A couple days ago, Del. Carroll Foy asked for an emergency session to raise the weekly unemployment cap. I wonder if Richmond’s legislators will ask/have asked for an emergency session? The City will have a ton of needs very, very soon, and I think I’d like to see some of that Fauci-style overreacting from our elected reps sooner rather than later.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 53 °F, and today’s highs are way up into the mid 70s. Enjoy it while you can this afternoon, taking a walk, run, or a roll around your neighborhood. Rain will move in tonight, and the rest of the weekend looks pretty cloudy.

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 460 positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth, and 13 people in Virginia have died as a result of the virus. VDH reports 35 cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 12, Henrico: 21, and Richmond: 14). New on the aforelinked page are age, sex, and race information for reported positive cases. To dispel any sense you may have that this disease only impacts the elderly: About 45% of all reported positive cases are folks between the ages of 20 and 50. The Richmond Times-Dispatch has some more clarification on the accuracy of these reported numbers: “On March 19, state health officials said there’s a 19-hour lag in the reporting of statewide numbers, and figures on the website might not include cases reported by individual localities or local health districts. The Health Department did not explain Thursday precisely why there could be an eight-day lag between reported symptoms and test results. A shortage of tests and testing equipment have been reported across the country this month, and Virginia has turned to private labs to help provide test results.” So, please, don’t use these numbers as a direct indicator of the spread of coronavirus in Virginia. Don’t let them convince you that “it’s only 460 case.” But, please, do stay home if you can and help prevent further spread of the virus!

The Governor “directed all hospitals to stop performing elective surgeries or procedures to help conserve supplies of personal protective equipment.” That’s good and cool, I guess, but, like, when he is going to commit to a full stay-at-home order? Remember what Dr. Fauci says about our response to this pandemic: “…if it look like you’re overreacting, you’re probably doing the right thing.” Personally, at this moment in our viruscurve, I’d like to see more overreacting from the State before things get out of hand. Also, I think it’s time for an emergency session of the General Assembly. Localities need guidance and support—both through policy and through cash. As far as I know, the State’s budget is not yet finalized, and legislators could work through the changes they’ll need to make to give cities and counties across the Commonwealth the funding needed to maintain core services. A couple days ago, Del. Carroll Foy asked for an emergency session to raise the weekly unemployment cap. I wonder if Richmond’s legislators will ask/have asked for an emergency session? The City will have a ton of needs very, very soon, and I think I’d like to see some of that Fauci-style overreacting from our elected reps sooner rather than later.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 41 °F, and the rain has moved on outta here. Today expect sunshine at some point and temperatures right around 60 °F. This might be our coolest day for a while.

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 391 positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth, and nine people in Virginia have died as a result of the virus. VDH reports 35 cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 11, Henrico: 20, and Richmond: 13). This is the biggest single-day increase in reported positive cases so far, and it’s important to remember just that: These are folks that have been tested and have had those test results reported by VDH. “391” should not be taken as a direct measure of the amount of COVID-19 cases in Virginia! There are, most likely, many, many people who are not in high-risk groups and weren’t tested or simply never developed major symptoms (an especially sneaky part of this particular virus that aids in transmission). When looking at these numbers each day, please keep in mind that both reported positive cases and deaths are only indirect measure of the extend of the virus in Virginia. For comparison: Georgia has 1,387 reported cases and 47 deaths, while Maryland has 423 reported cases and four deaths.

The Richmond Police Department has released their guidelines for dealing with folks violating the Governor’s new rules on social distancing. If you need a refresher on those rules, you can find it here, but, basically, no gatherings over 10 people and a bunch of non-essential businesses need to close as of last night. First: Even if you think you’re being helpful, do not call 911 if you see a business out of compliance or a gaggle of springbreakers at Texas Beach with their PBRs. Please use RPD’s non-emergency number instead (804.646.5100). To handle noncompliant businesses, springbreakers, or corona truthers, the RPD will first give a warning to the responsible parties, then issue a Class 1 misdemeanor, and then “contact supervision for assistance and proceed with criminal charges, if appropriate.” Maybe this is naive, but I’ll be surprised if anyone is actually charged with a misdemeanor for violating the Governor’s executive order.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 40 °F and rainy. Looks like the rain will continue throughout the day and into the afternoon. After we get through today’s wet forecast, we’ve got two wonderful-looking days ahead of us.

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 290 positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth, and seven people in Virginia have died as a result of the virus. VDH reports 35 cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 10, Henrico: 14, and Richmond: 11).

Alright! RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras got some guidance from the Virginia Department of Education (which you can read for yourself right here (PDF)) about how to handle students, graduations, and curriculum in This Most Unusual Time. Since it’s from the State, this applies across the Commonwealth, but there is some flexibility in the guidance. Your mileage may vary with how different school districts decide to go about implementation. The gist: high school seniors will receive their diplomas, GPAs are kind of a question mark, and students will not be held back. That last one though comes with some caveats. Here’s Kamras again, “That said, we will need to provide a plan for how students will learn the content they would have otherwise been exposed to this spring. That could take the form of online learning and/or physical packets now, additional instructional time this summer, a longer 2020–21 school year, and/or other measures.” Sounds like those of us trying to quickly figure out homeschooling will have even more to learn over the next couple months. If you’ve got questions—in general or about your specific situation—you can submit them to RPS here.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 45 °F, rainy, and it looks like it’ll stay rainy for most of the morning. In fact, you should expect a chance of rain each of the next several days.

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Richmond Police are reporting that a male 16-year-old was shot to death outside of a store on the 3000 block of Nine Mile Road this past Thursday.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and highs today will top out in the mid 80s. Sounds like a fantastic day for a run or a roll in your favorite park. Take advantage of today, because tomorrow temperatures drop and rain rolls in for maybe the next handful of days.

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 94 positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth, and two people in Virginia have died as a result of the virus. VDH reports 12 cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 6, Henrico: 3, and Richmond: 3). Almost 2,000 folks have received the test, up from just 408 at the beginning fo this week. Here’s a quick and not-very-helpful graph of reported positive cases each morning since March 14th. Remember: Until we’re testing everyone, this graph will always be extremely influenced by the number of tests available.

I really enjoyed reading this strong open letter to our state and federal legislators from Phillip Ray, co-founder of Center of the Universe Brewing Company up in Ashland. Since the pandemic started impacting folks' day-to-day, COTU has seen a 70% drop in revenue, which is terrifying. I wonder if one of the longer-term impacts of the coronavirus on American culture will be more folks getting more politically involved.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 54 °F, and we’ve got a chance for rain here and there throughout today. Highs near 80 °F, though! If you can, make sure you spend some socially-distanced time in your backyard or on your balcony.

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Richmond Police are reporting that Javon A. Tuck, 34, was shot to death on the 1900 block of Mechanicsville Turnpike yesterday at 1:11 AM.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 49 °F, and today looks a lot like yesterday. Expect highs in the 60s, some clouds here and there, plus some rain overnight.

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Richmond Police are reporting that Rushard O. Grant, 40, was murdered in an abandoned semi-tractor cab on the 2400 block of Lamb Avenue. Officers arrived on the scene and found Grant dead, suffering from “apparent trauma to the body.”

Good morning, RVA! It’s 42 °F, and highs today should hangout in the upper 60s. All things considered, looks like a pretty nice day, weatherwise, ahead of us.

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 51 positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth. Two people in Virginia has died as a result of the virus.

Justin Mattingly and Bridget Balch at the Richmond Times-Dispatch have an update and more details on all the local coronavirus cases of which they’re aware. Mattingly and Balch point out that their numbers differ from the official Virginia Department of Health numbers—or at least it’s unclear if the VDH totals include some of the newer regional cases. As I said a couple days ago—400 years back in virus time—high-quality information is critical during a crisis. At least in my view, the VDH coronavirus page should be the most authoritative and up-to-date source of all coronavirus info in the Commonwealth. That probably means bringing a person from the web team to all of the meetings and empowering them to make near-real-time updates to the website. I know VDH is ultra busy dealing with an actual, literal crisis, but clear communication is so super important at this moment in time.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 39 °F—suddenly chilly again! Highs today will stay in the upper 50s, but things should warm up as the week moves on.

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 45 positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth. One person in Virginia has died as a result of the virus.

On Friday, Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover, and Goochland all declared local states of emergency. I don’t know why I couldn’t find it in the code last week, but § 44–146.21 defines a local emergency and what new powers the localities can wield once it’s been declared. One of the more interesting bits for me (especially as budget season and its public hearings rapidly approach) is the power to “proceed without regard to time-consuming procedures and formalities prescribed by law (except mandatory constitutional requirements) pertaining to the performance of public work.” That gets my brain churning on how the City could quickly roll out some good public policy. I’ll be looking for how the Mayor uses this and the other defined powers in the coming weeks and months—there’s a lot of flexibility to do some real good in there, I think. Along with the State of Emergency, the aforementioned localities will all close their offices today for “planning and to begin additional cleaning in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.” Almost every public service is delayed, has had their schedule adjusted, or is outright closed—including the Richmond Public Library. You shouldn’t be going anywhere if you don’t have to, but, if must leave the house, make sure you check a website before you do.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 61 °F, and, as a bit of rain moves through the area, temperatures are headed up, up, up. Today, you can expect highs in the mid 70s!? Take advantage of it, though, because temperatures will drop Saturday and Sunday. Remember: Going for a run or a roll through the park can still count as social distancing!

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The Virginia Department of Health is reporting 17 presumptive positive cases of coronavirus in the Commonwealth. The VDH reporting page has upgraded to now include a map and reports by locality, which is very helpful.

What a difference a day can make. Yesterday it felt like Richmond and Richmonders definitively decided to take the coronavirus seriously and start disrupting their lives and routines to #flattenthecurve. Now that we’re all in this together, I want three things out of our State, City, and institutions: 1) High-quality and up-to-date information, 2) Whatever the institutional version of social distancing is, and 3) Clever policy and action to keep folks safe and thriving until this crisis passes. All things considered, I think we’re seeing a bit of all three from across the region.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 46 °F, and today looks a lot like yesterday. Expect highs in the mid 60s and a sneaky chance of rain throughout the day.

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According to the Virginia Department of Health, there are nine presumptive positive cases of COVID-19 in the Commonwealth.

Today’s coronavirus update is vastly different than yesterday’s, which just goes to show how quickly things can change. VCU and UR have both suspended class next week, through March 20th. When instruction resumes on the 23rd, VCU says “classes will be taught remotely for the foreseeable future” while UR says “faculty will prepare for the transition to remote instruction beginning March 23. Our community should be prepared for an extended period of distance learning.” Staff for both universities are expected to just come in and work like normal though, and that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 53 °F, and the string of warm days continues. Today you can expect highs near 70 °F and a bit more sunshine than yesterday.

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I guess, for the foreseeable future, these emails will lead off with a coronavirus update—something I’d trade away in a second to go back to continually talking about the Mayor’s proposed downtown arena. As of this moment the Virginia Department of Health reports eight presumptive positive cases of coronavirus in the Commonwealth, with none in Central Virginia. Today, let’s look at how the region’s educational institutions are responding to this rapidly evolving situation. While some schools and universities across the country have begun to shut down or started to plan on moving instruction entirely online, Richmond-area institutions are (at this point) taking a more cautious approach. While class goes on at VCU, I got an email last night saying that I should start thinking about how to teach my class remotely and pointing me to this page of resources to do just that. UR will share their coronavirus plans by the end of the week, and VUU has asked anyone traveling during spring break to let them know. Chesterfield has the best and most up-to-date information out of the region’s public schools and have cancelled all field trips outside of Virginia. If I were running comms at a school or university, I’d be posting daily updates—even if nothing had changed. The thing about a viral outbreak is that it spreads virally, and up-to-date information is incredibly valuable.

Here’s Micheal Paul Williams on the chance that the NAACP’s lawsuit against Hanover County over their Confederate-named schools could get thrown out due to a nonsensical two-year statute of limitations 💸: “So let me get this straight: The Hanover NAACP, during Massive Resistance, was obliged to file a lawsuit protesting the name of a high school that black students weren’t even allowed to attend?” I agree with MPW, that’s just ridiculous.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 55 °F, and highs today are back up near 70 °F. You should expect some clouds and a small chance of rain throughout the day. These warm-weather vibes should continue for the rest of the week.

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The Virginia Department of Health announced that the Commonwealth now has five positive cases of the coronavirus—including one in Spotsyvlania. VDH recommends, first and foremost, that you wash your hands with soap and water and avoid coughing directly into other people’s faces. If you’re sick, stay home, and “avoid non-essential travel.” This is an extremely rapidly changing situation—going viral is named after actual viruses for a reason. Keep your information up-to-date and solidly sourced (like, from the CDC or VDH).

Quick short-term rental update: City Council continued ORD. 2019–343 to their March 23rd meeting. I tuned in to the meeting late, so I didn’t catch their reasons for continuing the paper, but this does mean that all Airbnbs in Richmond are still illegal. Council’s Culture of Continuation strikes again! City staff have worked on this legislation for years and there have been many opportunities for folks to get involved—both regularfolks and councilfolks. Do we really need another 14 days to ask people how they feel about this particular ordinance? One other, unrelated-but-interesting Council update: At 10:00 AM, the Land Use, Housing and Transportation committee will meet today to interview new candidate for the Richmond Redevelopment & Housing Authority board of commissioners. They’ll post up in the 2nd Floor Conference Room which, I think, means no live audio—but maybe you could pop in??

Good morning, RVA! It’s 44 °F, and highs today will hit 70 °F! I’ve got a feeling we’ve missed out on any chance for serious snow this winter—I mean, it’s almost spring.

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Richmond Police are reporting that Keandre N. Robinson, 29, was shot to death on the 2200 block of Creighton Road late Saturday night. Robinson was the ninth person murdered in Richmond in 2020, according to the RPD.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 41 °F and rainy. Temperatures are a bit cooler today, staying below 60 °F, and you should probably expect rain at some point throughout the day. This weekend though! A+!

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Reminder: Clocks spring forward on Sunday. I dislike how chipper the clocks seem about this.

Today, in Council Chambers at 3:00 PM, Mayor Stoney will deliver his proposed budget to City Council. You can, of course, show up in person like an awesome nerd, or you can listen online (still nerdy, but less awesome). We’ve heard about ending fines for all library patrons and $30 million for paving, but what else will we learn about in today budget presentation? The budget is the manifestation of the City’s priorities, and as such I’m looking for a commitment to priorities like: schools, transit, housing, and sustainability. I’m also looking to see if / how many of the dozens and dozens of vacant City positions get filled. We can’t have excellent core services if the entire City is run by a skeleton crew! We’ll learn a lot more at 3:00 PM, stay tuned!

Good morning, RVA! It’s 44 °F, and today you can expect cooler highs in the 50s and a cloudy sky. I know it’s only Thursday, but this weekend’s weather looks amazing.

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The Mayor announced that his budget, which drops tomorrow, will include “$32 million for the paving of roads and maintenance and placement of sidewalks.” Breaking down the paving portion: $15 million of that will come from Richmond’s local share of the new regional transportation money and $15 million will “come out of the city’s coffers.” That’s a lot of money for paving, but, to be honest, a lot of Richmond’s roads are in pretty bad shape. I think what I’d like to see, if we’re going to invest tens of millions of dollars into paving streets, is an equitable prioritization of where we pave. Take the pavement conditions map and then overlay the red lining map, the racial dot map, the life expectancy map—there’s tons of data out there—and figure out which neighborhoods to pave first. Not just the neighborhoods who complain the most, or the neighborhoods with the most cars, or the neighborhoods with the most traffic—but the neighborhoods where, due to systemic racism, we’ve spent the last century ignoring. As for sidewalks, they don’t state it explicitly, but $32 million - $30 million for paving = $2 million for fixing and installing sidewalks. There are TONS of new sidewalk needs, particularly on Richmond’s Southside. Again, if it were me, I’d equitably prioritize this money and spend the vast, vast majority of it in the 8th and 9th Districts. And because I can’t not: 1) All of this paving is a huge opportunity to stripe bike lanes everywhere, and 2) The more people we get out of cars and onto their bikes or taking the bus or walking around, the less often we’ll need to pave our streets.

Oh, hey, related: City Council’s Education and Human Services committee will meet today and consider RES. 2020-R013, which would request that the Mayor put $221,770 in the budget for racial equity training and an equity survey. Richmond is part of the Government Alliance on Race and Equity, and this money would pay for those folks to train City leadership and staff as well as set up an internal Core Equity Team that “will pilot a racial equity tool within the City, utilize data to develop and track racial equity strategies and action plan.” The funds would also go towards an equity survey of current City policy. To me, this seems like money well spent—as long as the recommendations that come out of this process are implemented and taken seriously. Richmond loves a study, but doesn’t necessary love doing things with the results of a study. Sounds like the training and survey will take about six months, so, assuming this ends up in the budget, lets check back later this year and see how things have progressed.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 45 °F, and highs are back up in the 60s today—plus we should see lots of sunshine. Sounds great to me!

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Yesterday, Virginia voted and Joe Biden came out ahead in the Commonwealth and across much of the country’s Super Tuesday primaries. I’ll leave the national race prognostication to someone else and focus on what, if anything, the results mean locally. First, turnout was way, way up from 2016’s Democratic primary—@taber says up 64% this year! I imagine that—if we survive until November—turnout will also be way, way up in the General Election. That means lots of folks voting locally for Mayor, City Council, and School Board. Looking at the results by Council District and using Bernie vs. Biden as a lazy proxy for progressiveness, I think extremely progressive/urbanist candidates should run for City Council in the 2nd District, 5th District, 6th District, and 7th District. Of course, I could also phrase that as “incumbents in the 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 7th should run on extremely progressive/urbanist platforms.” Here’s Bernie’s margin in each of those districts, respectively: +28%; +13%; -8%; -2%. I didn’t have time to throw Elizabeth Warren votes into Bernie’s bucket, but I think you get the picture. Especially in the 2nd District, where Councilmember Kim Gray has started to explore a run for mayor, I think there’s support for a very progressive voice on City Council.

Speaking of people running for mayor, I was at the Main Library yesterday and someone asked me to sign a petition to get Paul Goldman on the ballot for mayor? I don’t know what that means, but I thought I’d share it with you.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 49 °F, and highs today are once again back up in the mid 60s. That’s too wonderfully tempting to keep me off my bike, but, given the small chance of rain throughout the day, I may show up damp to a couple of my meetings. That’s not the end of the world!

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It’s Super Tuesday, which means in Virginia, we vote! Polls are open from 6:00 AM–7:00 PM, and you can find your polling place using this tool on the Department of Elections website. I will be voting for Elizabeth Warren!

In what may become a more regular section of this email, I’ve got some updates on the coronavirus. Dr. Avula, director of the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts, updated City Council on the virus, and you can flip through the slides from his presentation (PDF). While the situation is rapidly evolving, so far zero people in Virginia have had a confirmed case of coronavirus. Of course, that could change, and, if this is the sort of thing you want to get fixated on, I recommend bookmarking the Virginia Department of Health’s Coronavirus Disease 2019 page. That’ll get you the most up-to-date information—the same stuff you’ll read in media reports. Also, the City released a statement, and Mayor Stoney has the best advice for Richmonders: “As always, wash your hands frequently, cover your mouth and go to the doctor if you are experiencing flu-like symptoms.” That’s pretty much all you can do at this point. I guess if you’re in charge of hanging up things on your workplace bulletin board, you could print out this pretty well-designed flyer from the Virginia Department of Health, too. It sounds to me like we’re definitely still in the “use your common sense and don’t panic” phase of things.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 49 °F, and highs today are once again back up in the mid 60s. That’s too wonderfully tempting to keep me off my bike, but, given the small chance of rain throughout the day, I may show up damp to a couple of my meetings. That’s not the end of the world!

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It’s Super Tuesday, which means in Virginia, we vote! Polls are open from 6:00 AM–7:00 PM, and you can find your polling place using this tool on the Department of Elections website. I will be voting for Elizabeth Warren!

In what may become a more regular section of this email, I’ve got some updates on the coronavirus. Dr. Avula, director of the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts, updated City Council on the virus, and you can flip through the slides from his presentation (PDF). While the situation is rapidly evolving, so far zero people in Virginia have had a confirmed case of coronavirus. Of course, that could change, and, if this is the sort of thing you want to get fixated on, I recommend bookmarking the Virginia Department of Health’s Coronavirus Disease 2019 page. That’ll get you the most up-to-date information—the same stuff you’ll read in media reports. Also, the City released a statement, and Mayor Stoney has the best advice for Richmonders: “As always, wash your hands frequently, cover your mouth and go to the doctor if you are experiencing flu-like symptoms.” That’s pretty much all you can do at this point. I guess if you’re in charge of hanging up things on your workplace bulletin board, you could print out this pretty well-designed flyer from the Virginia Department of Health, too. It sounds to me like we’re definitely still in the “use your common sense and don’t panic” phase of things.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 36 °F, and highs today will top out in the mid 60s—a totally March-like temperature range, right? Expect some pretty serious wind, though, if you’re planning on spending any of the day outside.

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Arjanae Avula and Danny Avula (more from him later) have a pair of columns in the paper about gun violence that you should read. First, Arjanae writes powerfully about growing up and living in danger with guns. In her words: “If you live in danger and operate in danger, it’s hard to think outside that box. Being exposed to what safety looks like now that I live with the Avulas, I can sometimes think outside the box of the way I grew up. But it’s hard. This safe feeling I have isn’t something you can explain to somebody. Until more kids can get out of survival mode, they won’t be able to see anything more for themselves.” Then, Dr. Avula brings the medical perspective to living with that kind of trauma: “In fact, childhood trauma has reached an almost epidemic level in our city, with 1 in 5 Richmond residents experiencing enough trauma to create lifelong negative impacts. Exposure to violence, or even the threat of violence, has lasting negative effects on brain development and mental and physical health. Kids who have faced these adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) often grow into adults who have difficulty learning or maintaining a job, are at greater risk of drug and alcohol dependency, and exhibit trouble maintaining personal relationships.“ Gun violence is a public health issue, and the gun-violence bills the General Assembly has put forward this year will make Virginia safer.

Ahead of the Census, the Richmond Times-Dispatch did short profiles on 14 different Richmond neighborhoods, looking at how some of these neighborhoods have changed or are in the process of changing. It’s an interesting and new format for them, and you should check it out.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 31 °F, and that’s cold! Temperatures should work their way up into the upper 40s today, and by Monday we should see highs in the 60s. Looks like a pretty nice weekend ahead of us.

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Public parks are awesome, but public libraries are so freaking rad. They’re climate controlled spaces that anyone can use to learn, access the internet, take a break, use the bathroom, get connected with important services—not to mention, check out a book. In Richmond, we’re lucky to have an excellent library director in Scott Firestine—the only person to make me tear up during a departmental budget presentation. We’ve seen investment in our public libraries from Mayor Stoney and City Council over the last couple of years, and yesterday, that continued with the announcement that Richmond Public Library has ended overdue fines for all patrons. Firestine says “Our library has removed a punitive, inefficient and misguided practice that was a barrier blocking our most vulnerable users. This is a giant step forward to inform, enrich and empower.” Heck yes. This is such a heck yes, that I’m surprised it didn’t get announced in the Mayor’s budget presentation, which is scheduled for a week from today.

OK, redistricting reform, what is even happening with you? Mel Leonor at the Richmond Times-Dispatch says the House and the Senate are at loggerheads 💸, each with their own plan on how to move forward: “The divisions have resulted in a staring contest that has allowed legislation tied to both alternatives to survive in each chamber.” Great sentence. Leonor also says that it’s gotten to the point where the Governor will consider creating his own alternative and then calling a special session to get the General Assembly to take action. Sounds like the House Privileges and Elections Committee, though, will consider the Senate version today—we should know more on Monday!

Good morning, RVA! It’s 31 °F, and that’s cold! Temperatures should work their way up into the upper 40s today, and by Monday we should see highs in the 60s. Looks like a pretty nice weekend ahead of us.

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Public parks are awesome, but public libraries are so freaking rad. They’re climate controlled spaces that anyone can use to learn, access the internet, take a break, use the bathroom, get connected with important services—not to mention, check out a book. In Richmond, we’re lucky to have an excellent library director in Scott Firestine—the only person to make me tear up during a departmental budget presentation. We’ve seen investment in our public libraries from Mayor Stoney and City Council over the last couple of years, and yesterday, that continued with the announcement that Richmond Public Library has ended overdue fines for all patrons. Firestine says “Our library has removed a punitive, inefficient and misguided practice that was a barrier blocking our most vulnerable users. This is a giant step forward to inform, enrich and empower.” Heck yes. This is such a heck yes, that I’m surprised it didn’t get announced in the Mayor’s budget presentation, which is scheduled for a week from today.

OK, redistricting reform, what is even happening with you? Mel Leonor at the Richmond Times-Dispatch says the House and the Senate are at loggerheads 💸, each with their own plan on how to move forward: “The divisions have resulted in a staring contest that has allowed legislation tied to both alternatives to survive in each chamber.” Great sentence. Leonor also says that it’s gotten to the point where the Governor will consider creating his own alternative and then calling a special session to get the General Assembly to take action. Sounds like the House Privileges and Elections Committee, though, will consider the Senate version today—we should know more on Monday!

Good morning, RVA! It’s 38 °F, and, with highs in the mid 40s, today looks appropriately chilly. There’s a teensy chance of rain, but the forecast looks generally dry from now until next week.

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Equality Virginia says that the Virginia Values Act (SB 868) passed the Senate again last night and will now officially head to the Governor’s desk. This bill adds sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes and gives folks a way to take legal action if they are discriminated against. It’s so rad to see concrete results of Virginia’s 2018 election so rapidly. We voted, the New Democratic Majority legislated, and now people’s lives in Virginia will be better.

As the Hanover County School Board refuses to rename their schools named after White supremacists, the Hanover County Board of Supervisors has to pick up the legal tab. C. Suarez Rojas at the Richmond Times-Dispatch says that yesterday the Board voted to transfer $75,000 from a contingency fund to cover the costs of an ongoing lawsuit 💸. Richmond and Henrico have both renamed schools, and it was…totally fine. The world did not end, and we—somehow, someway—have not forgotten that the Civil War or Harry F. Byrd existed. Hanover will end up renaming these schools eventually, and every penny spent dragging their feet is a penny spent looking super racist. It’s not a conservative use of money, I’ll tell you that.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 48 °F, and whoa did the sun come out last night for a spectacular sunset. Great work, everyone involved! Today you can expect fog in the morning, clouds following, and possibly some rain later this evening. Temperatures should hover around 60 °F, though.

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The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Mel Leonor says the General Assembly is having a hard time making up its mind about how to reform redistricting and stop with all of the partisan gerrymandering 💸. It sounds like the Senate wants to move forward with the constitutional amendment we’ve all been talking about for a couple of years now, yet the House of Delegates thinks that amendment wouldn’t ensure people of color having enough membership in the process. For now, they’re at an impasse. Surely, though, we’ll end the first season of New Democratic Majority with some kind of redistricting reform, right? Like, the redistricting advocacy group is called One Virginia 2021 for a reason, and post-Census redistricting is right around the corner. Status quo on this is unacceptable!

C. Suarez Rojas, also in the RTD, has the details on Henrico’s new short-term rental (aka Airbnb) legislation 💸. The City has toiled away on their on short-term rental ordinance (ORD. 2019–343) for a while now, and it currently sits on Council’s March 9th agenda. Operators in both localities hate the clause that requires them to live in the Airbnb-able property for a significant portion of the year. This prevents folks from buying up houses to use solely as Airbnbs, which depletes the available housing stock, which exacerbates our housing crisis. I’m OK with this restriction. I should say, however, that I have read conflicting studies on the impact of short-term rentals. This study out of Seattle says that allowing short-term rentals has no effect on the number of commercial landlords in an area and may even support home ownership. While, in Santa Fe (PDF), they found that “the conversion of houses and apartments into short-term rentals reduces the supply of housing, putting upward pressure on rents and home prices citywide.” Better safe than sorry, I think, and Council should pass the ordinance with the owner-occupancy restriction.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 45 °F and rainy. You can expect the rain to continue for most of the morning and dry out later this afternoon. By then, temperatures should have made there way into the 60s—looking like a pretty OK afternoon.

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Last night, City Council adopted ORD. 2020–030, the Special Use Permit which will allow developers to build a 12-story apartment building with 168 places for people to live on the northwest corner of Broad & Lombardy. The vote was 7–2 (YES: Addison, Hilbert, Larson, Lynch, Robertson, Newbille, Jones; NO: Gray, Trammell), which I think speaks to the growing trend of Council passing (at least small scale) urbanist legislation. In recent memory we’ve seen the vote to kill the Brook Road bike lane ban, the rezoning of Scott’s Addition and Monroe Ward, approving a new shelter and services center for folks experiencing homelessness on Chamberlayne Ave, and now this dense urban housing on Broad. While it’s frustrating that we—the people who live in the city and want it and its residents to thrive—have to spend our time advocating for these small-scale projects, it’s exciting that we’re just winning a lot of them. What I’m looking for now is an opportunity for Council to act boldly and pass some Big Time urbanist legislation. I don’t know what qualifies at the moment, but I’ll know it when I see it!

Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense says a D.C.-based developer has offered to “buy nearly 15 acres of the Navy Hill project site from the City of Richmond for $15 million.” My personal, uneducated opinion on this is that its an unserious offer—mostly because it expires May 18th. If we learned anything through the entire downtown arena process, it’s that we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us to figure out what we want from that city-owned land. Plus, honestly, a bunch of trust-building to do, too. An arbitrarily imposed couple-month deadline, while Council figures out the process of creating a small area plan, just isn’t going to cut it. If that dude is interested in helping to rebuild the neighborhood, he can hold his developer horses until the City gets its ducks in a row. Roberto Roldan at VPM has posted the letter to the City on which the developer has handwritten “I AM THE RIGHT GUY FOR THE JOB!!”

Good morning, RVA! It’s 36 °F, and today we’ve got highs in the upper 50s with a bunch of clouds in the sky. Tomorrow you can expect warmer temperatures and some early-morning rain.

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Correction! Last week, in an attempt to find bipartisan agreement in the, of all things, immunization discussion, I attributed a pro-science quote to “Republican Del. Adams.” This was incorrect! There are two Del. Adamses, and the Democrat, Del. Dawn Adams (a nurse practitioner), is the one with the good, pro-herd-immunity quote. For what it’s worth, the Senate version of the immunization bill in question did see actual Republican Sen. Dunnavant vote for it in committee, so, at least in that chamber it’s not strictly party lines.

Today, City Council meets for its regularly scheduled meeting at 6:00 PM, and you can find the agenda in its current state here (PDF). Two things to note! First, Council will consider ORD. 2020–030, the Special Use Permit allowing a 12-story apartment building on the northwest corner of Broad & Lombardy. This is high-density, transit-adjacent, urban living that helps us meet our housing and climate goals. If you’re a City resident—especially of the 2nd or 3rd Districts—take a minute and email your City Council rep telling them to support ORD. 2020–030. If you’ve got more than a minute, consider heading down to City Hall tonight and giving public comment in support—which is always both fun and nerve-wracking. Maybe once we get a bunch of new folks living at that intersection we can start pushing for an in-fill Pulse Station? Second, at their informal meeting, Council will get an update on what they’ll need to do should the casino bills floating around the General Assembly move forward. Since both the House version (HB 4) and the Senate version (SB 36) require holding a referendum, City Council has a bunch of work to do should they want to hold that referendum this coming November. This handy two-pager explains all of the state-mandated deadlines the City must comply with (PDF). Basically, if we want folks voting on casinos this coming election, Council needs to get moving. Graham Moomaw at the Virginia Mercury has a piece about how the State needs to take problem gambling more seriously if its going to legalize casinos.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 26 °F, and you shouldn’t expect temperatures to get above 40 °F today. Bundle up, stay warm, and look forward to a sunny weekend with highs back up in the upper 50s.

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I appreciate this thread by Twitter user @SheriShannon27 about the casino proposed for Richmond’s Southside. Before anyone can build any sort of casino in Richmond, they’ve got to jump through a couple of legal hoops. And before those hoops even get set up, the General Assembly needs to pass HB 4 / SB 36. And before I decide whether or not I think this is a good plan for Richmond’s Southside, I’d like to read some more about giant casinos dropped into off-the-beaten path parts of towns because I’ve got a ton of questions. Do these casinos typically succeed? Do they create local jobs and tax revenue? What impact do they have on folks with lower-incomes? What impact do they have on nearby housing affordability? What does it mean that the proposed location of this specific casino is adjacent to Hillside Court? Like I said, lots of questions, and I’m sure I’ll have more in the coming months. Luckily, both the House and Senate versions of the enabling legislation require Richmond to hold a referendum, so, should they pass, I’d imagine we’ll start seeing some opportunities for the public to learn the answers to some of these questions.

There are now 17 RVA Bike Share stations, thanks to the new one that just opened at Main Street Train Station. This is a particularly useful spot for shareable e-bikes since it sits at the very bottom of a valley and gives folks a quick and easy way to get up either hill into Downtown or Church Hill. I still haven’t renewed my membership to RVA Bike Share yet, but it is nice to see some sort of progress made toward the 40 stations we were promised years ago. With 40 stations, I think you’d have a usable system. Then, maybe we’d get the buy-in from folks needed to expand to 60 or 80, which is when things start to get interesting. Station density is super important to a successful bike share system, and we should shoot for something like four stations per square mile. To put that in context, Downtown should have about 16 stations on its own.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 47 °F, cloudy, and that’s about today for you. However, tomorrow there is a small chance of…snow! Andrew Freiden at NBC12 says, as per always, Richmond is right on the line but could see actual snow—that accumulates—tomorrow evening! S(n)o(w) exciting.

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Richmond police are reporting two murders. First, at 5:40 PM on Monday, officers on patrol near the 200 block of W. Charity Street heard gunshots, responded, and found Katrez T. Bryant, 18, shot to death. Second, later that same evening, police received a call of a person shot, arrived at the corner of Redd and Coalter Streets, and found Kieshell L. Walker, 25, shot to death.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 34 °F, and today’s highs are in the 60s. Enjoy it while you can, because it looks like we’ve got some rain and colder temperatures later this week.

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WTVR reports that a driver hit and killed Shelly Johnson, 41, as Johnson walked along Bethlehem Road towards the Wawa on Staples Mill Road. Bethlehem Road is one of the few ways to connect to Libbie Mill while avoiding both Broad Street and Staples Mill, but, unfortunately, the street lacks side walks and the intersection is massive, unsafe, and designed to maximize vehicle speeds. It’s unsurprising that “the preliminary investigation indicates that [neither] speed nor alcohol were factors in this crash” because the area is not designed as a place for people to safely exist. What will Henrico do to make this part of the County—where they plan on adding thousands of people and jobs—safer for folks moving around? Will they respond to Johnson’s death and change how this intersection works?

Good morning, RVA! It’s 37 °F, and that’s about the temperature for today. Expect a bit of clouds until tomorrow when we’ll, with any luck, fully see the sun again. Temperatures will stay in the 40s and 50s until Monday when thing start to warm up a bit (again).

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This week’s email from Richmond Public Schools’ Superintendent is short, sweet, and right up my alley. He gives folks two ways to concretely get involved in the civic process as it relates to schools funding: 1) Call the legislators who will put the final touches on Virginia’s budget proposal(s) to ask them for more money for RPS, and 2) Show up at the General Assembly building on Sunday at 12:00 PM to immediately respond to the proposed House and Senate budgets (Facebook). For the latter, fingers crossed, the response will be “Hey, thanks for fully funding your share of public education, Commonwealth.” But, should that not be the case, you can be on hand to cast scornful looks upon the legislators.

Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has a summary of a recent report released by the City Auditor that focuses on overtime pay at the Sheriff’s Office. You can read the full, 14-page audit here (PDF). The short of it: Overtime pay went, way, way up—from $643,985 in FY2018 to $2,786,220 in FY2019—and it does sound like some of the operational procedures at the jail could benefit from some tweaking. That said, pay at Richmond’s Sheriff’s Office still lags behind neighboring facilities, and, something I’m always interested in knowing, the Office has about a 15% vacancy rate. Until the Mayor and City Council find a way to fully fund vacant position at City departments (by, oh, I dunno, raising the real estate tax to pre-Recession era levels), we’ll always need folks to work overtime and we’ll always see huge overtime line items. At some point, surely, you save some money by filling a couple of those vacancies, right?

Good morning, RVA! It’s 37 °F, and that’s about the temperature for today. Expect a bit of clouds until tomorrow when we’ll, with any luck, fully see the sun again. Temperatures will stay in the 40s and 50s until Monday when thing start to warm up a bit (again).

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This week’s email from Richmond Public Schools’ Superintendent is short, sweet, and right up my alley. He gives folks two ways to concretely get involved in the civic process as it relates to schools funding: 1) Call the legislators who will put the final touches on Virginia’s budget proposal(s) to ask them for more money for RPS, and 2) Show up at the General Assembly building on Sunday at 12:00 PM to immediately respond to the proposed House and Senate budgets (Facebook). For the latter, fingers crossed, the response will be “Hey, thanks for fully funding your share of public education, Commonwealth.” But, should that not be the case, you can be on hand to cast scornful looks upon the legislators.

Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has a summary of a recent report released by the City Auditor that focuses on overtime pay at the Sheriff’s Office. You can read the full, 14-page audit here (PDF). The short of it: Overtime pay went, way, way up—from $643,985 in FY2018 to $2,786,220 in FY2019—and it does sound like some of the operational procedures at the jail could benefit from some tweaking. That said, pay at Richmond’s Sheriff’s Office still lags behind neighboring facilities, and, something I’m always interested in knowing, the Office has about a 15% vacancy rate. Until the Mayor and City Council find a way to fully fund vacant position at City departments (by, oh, I dunno, raising the real estate tax to pre-Recession era levels), we’ll always need folks to work overtime and we’ll always see huge overtime line items. At some point, surely, you save some money by filling a couple of those vacancies, right?

Good morning, RVA! It’s 49 °F, and highs today are back up around 60 °F. Don’t get your slip-ons out just yet, though, because there’s a solid chance of rain until late this afternoon.

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The RTD’s Samuel Northrop has the details on Richmond Public Schools’ increased absentee rate and how the Superintendent’s proposed budget plans to address it 💸. Turns out chronic absenteeism isn’t just kids who don’t want to go to school but involves complicated issues like a student’s housing stability. Related, while poking around the School Board site, I found this pretty interesting (and very readable) FY21 Budget: Board Questions and Answers PDF. It’s worth reading because the School Board is just regular people with regular-people questions—probably some of the same questions you’d have if you looked through the budget presentation (PDF).

Whoa! Mallory Noe-Payne, from RadioIQ, has the single best Twitter thread about the General Assembly that I’ve seen all year—and maybe ever. It’s one-sentence reviews, plus bill numbers, for the 75 bills she thinks are worth knowing about—sorted by topical category! For example, you’ve got “You don’t need a photo ID to vote (HB 19)”, “Localities can ban guns (HB 421)”, “To get charged with larceny you have to steal $1,000 of goods (currently it’s $500) (HB 995)”, and “Must be 18 or older to use a tanning bed (HB 38).” This is a simple and wonderful resource. It must have taken forever to put together—and yet she’s considering doing the same thing for Senate bills, too?? Now she’s got me thinking about how to do something similar for RIchmond City Council ordinances and resolutions 🤔.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 49 °F, and highs today are back up around 60 °F. Don’t get your slip-ons out just yet, though, because there’s a solid chance of rain until late this afternoon.

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The RTD’s Samuel Northrop has the details on Richmond Public Schools’ increased absentee rate and how the Superintendent’s proposed budget plans to address it 💸. Turns out chronic absenteeism isn’t just kids who don’t want to go to school but involves complicated issues like a student’s housing stability. Related, while poking around the School Board site, I found this pretty interesting (and very readable) FY21 Budget: Board Questions and Answers PDF. It’s worth reading because the School Board is just regular people with regular-people questions—probably some of the same questions you’d have if you looked through the budget presentation (PDF).

Whoa! Mallory Noe-Payne, from RadioIQ, has the single best Twitter thread about the General Assembly that I’ve seen all year—and maybe ever. It’s one-sentence reviews, plus bill numbers, for the 75 bills she thinks are worth knowing about—sorted by topical category! For example, you’ve got “You don’t need a photo ID to vote (HB 19)”, “Localities can ban guns (HB 421)”, “To get charged with larceny you have to steal $1,000 of goods (currently it’s $500) (HB 995)”, and “Must be 18 or older to use a tanning bed (HB 38).” This is a simple and wonderful resource. It must have taken forever to put together—and yet she’s considering doing the same thing for Senate bills, too?? Now she’s got me thinking about how to do something similar for RIchmond City Council ordinances and resolutions 🤔.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 45 °F, and we might see temperatures warm up a bit later this afternoon. There’s a small chance of rain throughout the day—but it’s pretty small.

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Dang, y’all! The various chambers of the General Assembly continue to pass major progressive bills each and every day like it’s no big deal. Yesterday, the final day before crossover, when the House and Senate swap bills, was no exception. First, Justin Mattingly at the Richmond Times-Dispatch says both the bills giving localities control over their Confederate monuments 💸, HB 1537 and SB 183, passed their respective houses. The Senate version is unnecessarily intense and requires localities to pass a resolution with a two-thirds majority to take down a monument. I hope that gets changed before something ends up on the Governor’s desk. Next, Ned Oliver at the Virginia Mercury has the details on the GA’s plan to increase the minimum wage in the Commonwealth. Here again the House of Delegates version (HB 395) is more progressive, increasing the state-wide, across-the-board minimum wage to $15 by 2025. The Senate version (SB 7), on the other hand, does a weird regional thing based on proportions of median incomes. It’ll be interesting to see how that all gets sorted before something heads to the Governor. Moving on, Dean Mirashani at WRIC notes that both the House and Senate have passed bills to decriminalize marijuana possession—that’s HB 972 and SB 2. Legalization was a bit too far for even the New Democratic Majority, but I bet we’ll get there in a couple of years. And that’s only three of the things our elected legislators are working on! Please, please keep in mind that plenty can happen between now and the end of this year’s General Assembly session—a bill that looks like a done deal can suddenly up and die. Honestly though, even if some of the marquee bills fail to become laws, this has already been a sea change of a session. Look at what elections do! They really matter! Graham Moomaw at the Virginia Mercury has a much better, broader summary of the session up to this point.

Ben Dennis at WRIC says that the City’s 311 app has updated to include the ability to report a “Public Right of Way Violation”, which you, a regular person, might know as a closed or blocked sidewalk or bike lane. This is great news, and the City staffers responsible for checking tickets submitted through RVA 311 are about to get real familiar with my user account. You can submit your own service requests via RVA311.com or through the mobile app, and the Public Right of Way Violation is listed under “Zoning and Code Enforcement.” Now, keep in mind, that because the City refuses to implement a policy to require that sidewalks and bike lanes remain open during construction, some of the Right of Way Violations you encounter may actually be totally legal and fine. To fix that, you’ve got to move beyond RVA 311 and email Bobby Vincent (the Director of Public Works, Bobby.vincent@richmondgov.com) and Mayor Stoney (RVAmayor@richmondgov.com). Honestly, you should just do that right now and ask both of them to implement this super common-sense policy that prioritizes people over construction.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 56 °F, and there’s a pretty good chance of rain throughout the entire day. Temperatures will stay right around 60 °F, though! You take the good, you take the bad…

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Last night, five members of City Council voted against the Mayor’s downtown redevelopment plan aka NoBro aka Navy Hill—NO: Gray, Hilbert, Larson, Lynch, and Trammell; YES: Addison, Robertson, Newbille, and Jones. Technically, the Council voted against unstriking the handful of necessary ordinances that they struck at last week’s Organizational Development committee meeting, but, you get the gist. It was a long Council meeting, a historic night (I think), and I have a lot of thoughts. But, before diving in, Roberto Roldan at VPM has a recap that includes a nice timeline of the last couple dozen months. OK!

First, whoa! I don’t think I ever, not even a single time, really expected this project to fail. It just seemed too big, have too much power and money behind it, and address too many of the City’s actual needs. I figured it’d tumble forward, like a big katamari clumping up supporters and amendments, until it ultimately splattered across the finish line. In Richmond, “I guess it’s either this or do nothing, and we already have nothing” has typically been a powerful argument. Turns out, not so anymore!

Good morning, RVA! It’s 56 °F, and there’s a pretty good chance of rain throughout the entire day. Temperatures will stay right around 60 °F, though! You take the good, you take the bad…

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Last night, five members of City Council voted against the Mayor’s downtown redevelopment plan aka NoBro aka Navy Hill—NO: Gray, Hilbert, Larson, Lynch, and Trammell; YES: Addison, Robertson, Newbille, and Jones. Technically, the Council voted against unstriking the handful of necessary ordinances that they struck at last week’s Organizational Development committee meeting, but, you get the gist. It was a long Council meeting, a historic night (I think), and I have a lot of thoughts. But, before diving in, Roberto Roldan at VPM has a recap that includes a nice timeline of the last couple dozen months. OK!

First, whoa! I don’t think I ever, not even a single time, really expected this project to fail. It just seemed too big, have too much power and money behind it, and address too many of the City’s actual needs. I figured it’d tumble forward, like a big katamari clumping up supporters and amendments, until it ultimately splattered across the finish line. In Richmond, “I guess it’s either this or do nothing, and we already have nothing” has typically been a powerful argument. Turns out, not so anymore!

Good morning, RVA! It’s 37 °F, and today’s highs will hit the upper 50s. This morning looks pretty chill, but there’s an ever-increasing chance of rain this afternoon stretching into tomorrow.

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City Council meets tonight for their regularly scheduled meeting when they will decide the fate of the Mayor’s proposed downtown arena project…or maybe they won’t! I honestly have no idea what will happen tonight. Here’s what I do know, though: All of the NoBro-related ordinance are on the agenda as “to be stricken,” which, I think, requires an act of Council to un-to-be-stricken them. I also know, from working with Council on 2018’s bus network redesign, that you can learn a lot about how Councilfolk are leaning at the informal meeting (which starts at 4:00 PM). Finally, I know that Council Chambers are gonna be packed, so if you want a seat you should probably get there early—or you can watch online via this website. We’ll all know a lot more this time tomorrow. I feel bad for ORD. 2019–243, the City’s Airbnb ordinance, which is also on the Regular Agenda for tonight’s meeting. It feels like the City’s been working on this particular piece of legislation forever, and now Council will—most likely—either continue it or debate it after spending all of their brain capacity on NoBro.

Speaking of the Airbnb ordinance, Karri Peifer at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has an excellent history of the thing 💸 and why some folks—folks who operate illegal short-term rentals today—dislike the proposed legislation. It continues to blow my mind that these property-owning people willingly go on the record about doing a crime and have absolutely zero concerns that they could face a consequence for that.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 59 °F, and we may see the sun later today! But, beware the wind! We’re under a wind advisory until 4:00 PM, and you should expect 15–25 mph winds with gusts up to 40 mph. After all that rain, some stuff may fall down, and your power could even go out! Saturday and Sunday look pretty rad though.

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Police are reporting that Leon T. Robinson, 27, was shot to death on the 1600 block of Mechanicsville Turnpike, near the 804 Market, on Wednesday night. This is the fifth murder of 2020.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 43 °F, and it’s raining now and it’ll be raining later—probably until tomorrow afternoon. So much rain, in fact, that we’re under a Flood Watch and should expect 2.5–3.25 inches of rain from now through Friday morning. Stay safe, and stay dry!

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Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has a really complicated story about a tent encampment—with 91 tents—behind the Annie Giles Community Resource Center, which functions as the City’s cold weather shelter. First, the details: VCU owns this property down on Oliver Hill Way, the City uses it as the (“temporary,” scare quotes intentional) emergency cold weather shelter, and a community group has encouraged folks to start living in tents behind the onsite building because they saw a legit need. That’s three different groups with three very different priorities and ways of going about things. My uninformed opinion is that it’s shameful we haven’t done enough to provide housing and support services for the Richmonders experiencing homelessness. I also, simultaneously, believe that 91 tents supported by just two port-o-potties, crammed together adjacent to the railroad is not a humane living situation. It’s complicated, but we’ve got to have more empathy as a City, and we’ve got to do more as a City. Unfortunately, for some of us (PDF), doing more is hard: City Council just a couple weeks ago had a tense debate over whether to even allow a much-needed, proposed shelter on Chamberlayne Avenue. And even that new shelter won’t be enough! The City’s recently released Strategic Plan to End Homelessness (PDF) says we need 150 new emergency shelter beds and 300 new supportive housing units. Those new beds and units aren’t going to appear overnight. So, I guess my question—to VCU, the City, the community group—is if folks are forced to take down their tents and move on, where are they moving on to? Do our current resources have the capacity to support and care for the people living in these 91 tents? Or are we just trying to get rid of the visual of 91 tents crammed together adjacent to the railroad? In a statement, Mayor Stoney said “While we have significant concerns for the health and safety of those living in the encampment, until a longer term solution is identified, we will work closely with these service providers to have a presence, on-site, at the Cold Weather Overflow Shelter so we can help connect those currently living there with available resources and more stable housing as quickly as possible.” Nowhere in that statement does he suggest immediately removing the tents and the people from that space.

I found two interesting items on today’s Urban Design Committee agenda (PDF). First, the City is looking to install sidewalks on Hey Road from Hull Street Road to Walmsley Boulevard on the Southside. I think it’s rad to see infrastructure investment on the southern side of the river, plus, new sidewalks, where none previously existed, are so rare and expensive! Henrico and Chesterfield, take note! The associated PDF with the plans and maps and things is enormous and crashed my browser several times, so know that going in, I guess. Second, VCU wants to build a pedestrian bridge connecting the existing Children’s Pavilion to the impending Children’s Hospital (PDF). Seems cool and necessary, I guess. I know almost nothing about green infrastructure and green rooftops, but this certainly seems like an opportunity to introduce some plants to the area. Not only would a bunch of living, green things planted on top of the bridge make it more pleasant to look at, but would also help with runoff and air quality. Does the City have any policies that relate to this sort of thing? Should it?

Good morning, RVA! It’s 59 °F, and that’s today’s high. You can expect temperatures to drop and rain to fall as the day moves on. Once the rain starts it may not stop until…Friday afternoon? NBC12’s Andrew Freiden says we could see as much as three inches of rain tomorrow!

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VDOT has released their Final Study Report for the Ashland to Petersburg Trail—and it’s not one but many PDFs! If you like the Capital Trail, you’re gonna love the Ashland Petersburg Trail, which will connect the titular Ashland and Petersburg, through Richmond, via a multiuse trail. You can view the alignment of the trail in this PDF, and the Richmond portion starts on page 5. First, having a safe, high-quality north-south path through the city to points beyond will really change things for many, many folks. We all know people, and you may be one!, who say totally legitimate things like “I’d love to bike, but I just don’t feel safe doing so.” This project will give those folks a safe (and useful) place to ride, and that makes me incredibly excited. Second, I’ve got two immediate thoughts on the ATP’s proposed alignment: 1) Sending the kind of bike/pedestrian traffic this amenity will generate across the T-Pot bridge is a bad idea. Just check out the Capital Trail on a nice Saturday—that thing is PACKED with folks. 2) Brown’s Island Way is not a bikeable street and will force northbound folks to walk their bikes up the hill. I ride bikes a TON and Brown’s Island Way is a hill I can barely manage and that I avoid at all costs. There’s a massive bridge with a billion extra lanes just sitting due east that could solve both of these problems. Anyway, rad project, hope the alignment changes, and looking forward to encouraging jurisdictions to fund their portions of it.

Speaking of bike stuff, Bike Walk RVA has a nifty form for you to fill out that’ll let your specific state representatives know that you support the handful of bike and pedestrian safety (and funding!) bills floating around the General Assembly. Take the two minutes and do this!

Good morning, RVA! It’s 56 °F, and you can expect another warm day with temperatures in the mid 60s. There’s a low-grade chance of rain today which really amps up over the next couple of days. Might be a while before we see another dry, sunny afternoon.

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Police are reporting that Sharmar Hill, Jr., 3, was shot to death on the 1700 block of Southlawn Avenue this past Saturday afternoon. Police have put together a string of possibly connected events and are looking for people involved in a nearby carjacking of a white, newer-model Kia. You can read the full statement from the Richmond Police Department here, and you can, if you have any information, contact Crime Stoppers (804.780.1000 or 7801000.com).

Good morning, RVA! It’s 47 °F, and temperatures today will head right up into the mid-to-upper 60s. I dunno, we might could even see 70 °F! Expect a pretty temperate first week of February.

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Richmond Police are reporting that a driver hit and killed a person walking along the 5200 block of Hull Street over the weekend. Police are still looking for the driver and the vehicle—which may be silver or gray in color with heavy damage to the front end. If you have any information you can call the RPD’s Crash Team Investigator (804.646.1665) or contact Crime Stoppers at 80.780.1000 or at 7801000.com.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 28 °F, and highs will hit the mid 40s before dropping a bit this evening. Keep an eye out for rain tonight and tomorrow morning with a pretty neutral weekend following. Temperatures next week, though! Break out your slip-ons.

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Del. Jeff Bourne told Ned Oliver at the Virginia Mercury he’s dropping his bill that would allow some state sales tax revenue to pay for a portion of the proposed downtown arena project, aka NoBro. As far as I understood it, that bill would have given the project developers enough cash to allow them to shrink the 80-block BigTIF back down to a more reasonable size, basically the project footprint. The NH District folks (the developers) told VPM’s Robert Roldan that they are still “committed to reducing the size of the increment financing area and are exploring other avenues to help us achieve that goal.” I would love to know what those avenues are! Honestly, I felt like Bourne’s Bill was pretty OK, all things considered. I’ve no qualms with taking state money to pay for local things given how the state regularly stiffs the City on all sorts of stuff—most directly by taking up a huge portion of our downtown land with their tax-exempt buildings. But, with five councilmembers asking the Mayor to withdraw his NoBro ordinances this past Monday, the writing is on the wall, the blood is in the water, or some other noun is preposition the other noun phrase. Moving forward from this specific downtown project, I love this quote from the Mayor’s press secretary, “Regardless of whether it’s used for Navy Hill, there’s no reason this tool for economic development shouldn’t be available to Richmond, as it is for other cities.”

Also at the Virginia Mercury, Ned Oliver and Graham Moomaw look at all the progress The New Democratic Majority have made on guns this General Assembly session: “Both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly have passed major gun-control bills creating universal background checks, a red-flag law and reinstating the former one-handgun-a-month rule.” Heck yes! Now our elected leaders just need to decide if they’re willing to tackle an assault weapons ban. What a bizarre sentence that you can only write in America.