🍕 Good morning, RVA: 943↗️ • 96↗️; an Office of Equitable Transit and Mobility; and civilian review boards

Good morning, RVA! It’s 55 °F, and don’t tease me, weather. Are we standing on the precipice of fall, or what? Should I ready my hoodies?? Today you can expect highs in the upper 70s, so maybe keep the hoodie on hold for now, but temperatures continue to drop bit by bit over the next couple of days.

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 943↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 96↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 73↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 35, Henrico: 11, and Richmond: 27). Since this pandemic began, 345 people have died in the Richmond region. Before you spit out your coffee at the number of new deaths, read this notice VDH has put up on their data dashboard: “Regarding the death data for Tuesday, September 15, 2020, there is an existing data backlog. VDH is working diligently to identify COVID-19 related deaths using vital record death certificate information.” So while this is still a lot of new deaths, it’s not like these folks all died yesterday. Still terrible, but maybe not as shocking. I don’t know. In other data news, I’m still seriously impressed by the lack of virus outbreaks at VCU. These graphs of “active” cases and new reported cases by day are pretty close to a dream scenario for VCU’s administrators. I’ve asked a couple of folks associated with the University why they think, so far (🤞), that VCU has avoided outbreaks and an abrupt abandoning of in-person learning like UNC or JMU. The answers have mostly all come down to “LETS GO VCU!” which blows my mind!

Up next in my cavalcade of coronacorrections, which may just need its own section moving forward: Yesterday I incorrectly said that Hanover County’s Kersey Creek Elementary School shut down after a teacher tested positive for COVID-19. The actually reality, which was clearly stated in both the headline and the lede of the Richmond Times-Dispatch article is that just that single classroom will move to remote instruction. Lemme quote in full: “A class of students at Kersey Creek Elementary School in Hanover County will move to remote instruction after its teacher tested positive for COVID-19, according to an email Monday from school Principal Allison Mullens.” This makes a ton more sense! Also, and importantly, I still think that this move by Hanover Schools has the potential to influence how other counties who’ve yet to reopen to in-person instruction will handle positive cases. It’s just not practical to reopen and reclose entire schools with each and every positive case. I bet lots of regional school administrators have their eyes on Kersey Creek Elementary School this week.

Yesterday, the Mayor announced the creation of the Office of Equitable Transit and Mobility. First, this is not the same thing as creating a Department of Transportation—something folks have asked the Mayor to do since before he even took office. The OETM will live within the Department of Public Works and will still report up through that department’s director. A true Department of Transportation would have its own director, own staff, and own seat at the table. Second, this new office will, for now and as far as I can tell, not include any new employees. Dironna Moore Clarke, the current Multimodal Transportation Manager, will head things up. So if you were looking for the City to hire a bright young person steeped in equitable transportation planning, you will (for now) be disappointed. Those caveats aside, I do think that the creation of this office is a step in the right direction. Properly empowered and staffed the OETM could provide needed checks on the City’s transportation projects. I’d have liked to seen a bolder, more specifically equity-driven mission for the office, as their current stack of priorities seems like things either DPW or the Multimodal Transportation Manager should already be working on: universal free bus fares, enhancing Richmond’s Complete Streets approach, designing a mobility action plan, expanding Vision Zero work, liaising with the Central Virginia Transportation Authority, evaluating and developing the city’s bus and paratransit system, and improving last-mile connectivity. Centralizing all of these things into one place is Good™, but what other authority will the office have? Will OETM get to weigh in on infrastructure decisions like where paving projects take place? Will they have a say on basic access questions like the location of the Registrar’s new office? Will the Director of DPW treat the new office with the same seriousness that they treat the existing engineers? Will money exist (maybe from the CVTA?) to fully staff and fund this new office? I dunno! We will have to wait and see. P.S. Mayoral and City Council candidates: Please, please, please keep “Create a Richmond Department of Transportation” as a central part of your campaign platforms!

Mel Leonor at the RTD says the Senate has passed legislation to give civilian review boards set up in Virginia’s localities the power to issue subpoenas (SB 5035). I’m still confused about what CRBs can do today and what this new legislation would allow them to do differently. The City’s Attorney has said before that a CRB created in Richmond would already be able to have subpoena powers, but the dang General Assembly seems to think this legislation is necessary? Anyway, the House version of the same legislation requires localities to create CRBs (HB 5055), which I’m sure will lead to some good conversations between the two chambers down the road. Henrico and Chesterfield, take note!

Extremely sad news for one particular member of my household: Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense reports that the Pizza Hut on Patterson Avenue is now closed. I’m torn, because it’s not the best use of space in a part of town that could use more dense connective tissue, but you can’t just get rid of those bizarrely iconic Pizza Hut buildings!

Something for your calendars! Tomorrow at 6:00 PM VPM will host a panel exploring equitable and fair access to education featuring Dr. Benjamin Campbell, Dr. Cassandra Boyd Willis, and National Teacher of the Year Rodney Robinson. This seems like a rad and engaging panel, and you should go register and snag a spot this morning. If you can’t make it, VPM will edit and re-air the discussion on October 1st.

This morning’s longread

Racism has shaped public transit, and it’s riddled with inequities

Richmond, of course, is not exempt from racism in transit planning—or any of its planning for that matter. However, the Pulse did a pretty good job of improving bus service along a pre-existing, high-ridership bus route (the old #6) while avoiding trips into low-density, sprawly suburbs. When the Central Virginia Transportation Authority money starts flowing into regional coffers, we’ll need stay vigilant for plans to build purely aspirational transit for “choice” (aka affluent and white) riders.

That dual mandate never really got reconciled in the world of transit, and it still shapes the transit we operate today. It’s often expressed in terms of “dependent” and “choice” riders — terms that sound neutral (even thoughtful) but can lead to policy with racist impacts. It’s a pejorative, dated and inaccurate way of thinking about transit ridership — but it has profoundly shaped our transit networks. For the “dependent riders,” transit agencies preserved and somewhat expanded urban bus (and sometimes rail) systems. But “dependent” meant they weren’t going to be picky — the primary emphasis here was on providing service, not providing a good experience. For the “choice riders,” however, agencies needed to provide great service — shiny new rail lines, and limited-stop express commuter buses — that had to be fast, reliable, comfortable and safe to get people out of their cars.

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This morning’s Instagram