😶 Good morning, RVA: Abortion, River City Middle rezoning, and a cool map

Good morning, RVA! It’s 57 °F, and today looks pretty nice—at least until this evening when some storms could roll through. Expect highs in the mid 80s today and tomorrow and then a bit cooler temperatures for the rest of the week.
 

Water cooler

Last night, Politico reported a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion in which the Court voted to strike down Roe v. Wade. First, and importantly, this opinion is, for now, still a draft and abortion remains legal in Virginia. Second, should this opinion become a final, full opinion of the Court, decisions on abortion rights would be left up to the states. At the moment, there are 21 democratic senators—an impossibly slim two-vote majority—protecting the rights of the over four million women in Virginia. It’s incredibly, foundationaly, ground-shakingly important that the next time you have the opportunity to vote for state-level and local representatives you do so. Don’t stay home because whatever candidate is uninspiring, don’t vote for a third-party as a sophomoric protest, just get out there and vote for whatever Democrat you’re presented with. Maybe that sounds bleak, but there’s literally no margin left to screw around with! Third, if you’re looking for an outlet for your anger this morning—something to do while the world spins—you can donate to the Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project which “provides practical and financial support for abortion services in Virginia and surrounding communities.”
 

Your COVID-19 Community Level in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield is low, with respective 7-day case rates per 100,000 people of 105, 120, and 167. Chesterfield, we’re keeping an eye on you. As for the global and national coronapicture, Katelyn Jetelina (aka Your Local Epidemiologist) has a good State of Affairs post up from May 2nd. I think I’d summarize the entire worldwide situation as “in flux,” but here’s how Jetelina puts it: “We are getting mixed signals across the world and across the U.S. as different Omicron mutations take hold. We are confident, though, that vaccines continue to protect against severe disease and death. But keeping transmission low is still important so vulnerable populations don’t get swept up in the waves.”
 

Last night, after a week of intense backlash, RPS’s School Board voted to approve the rezoning of River City Middle School, with four of the five-member voting bloc flipping their votes and only the 4th District’s Jonathan Young voting against. Jessica Nocera at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has the details. I listened to most of the meeting, and I’m not sure I’ve ever before seen such a unified, diverse group of citizens unanimously against an elected body’s previous decision. Parents, teachers, staff—even school principals—all made thoughtful and effective comments in support of the rezoning. Southside parents asked for a humane learning environment for their kids, Northside parents voiced their support for welcoming new students into their neighborhood schools. Honestly, it was pretty rad to watch. 1st District’s Liz Doerr had the best comments, which I will link to if i can find them, laying out all of the ways the five-member voting bloc had opportunities to get involved in the rezoning process but chose not to. While this does feel like a win, it came at the cost of the District’s COO, and I don’t think we’re any closer to a functional School Board. I’m almost positive that whatever decision the Board needs to next make it’ll be made in a similarly chaotic and exhausting manner. You can watch the entire meeting over on RPS’s YouTube.
 

Kevin Finity posted this really fascinating/striking map on Twitter of flipped houses in Richmond over the last eight years. “Flipped” is defined as a single-family home resold within two years, and the redder the dot the more profit made in the sale. This map clearly lines up pretty well with Richmond’s redlining map, with the most sales—and the most profit made in those sales—coming from historically disinvested neighborhoods. You can also see “stable” neighborhoods with hardly any flips: Ginter Park, Forest Hill, and Church Hill south of Board. I think this map tells us a lot about our City’s history and a lot about where it’s headed in the next couple of years, and I’m still unpacking it.
 

Hey! Got a stack of parking tickets? The City of Richmond has launched a parking ticket penalty amnesty program: Any tickets received prior to May 2nd will have any and all penalties forgiven if you pay them before September 12th. By the way, it is much harder to get a parking ticket when you walk, roll, or bus around instead of driving!
 

This morning’s longread

Honestly, We Just Hate Women

This morning, an appropriate piece from McSweeny’s from back in 2019.
 

As yet another anti-abortion bill is signed into law in this great nation, it’s time that we, men, came clean to you, women, about what we’re really up to here. You’ve raised some pointed objections to all of our logic thus far. If we were really pro-life, wouldn’t we care about the perilous maternal mortality rates in the United States? If we were really anti-abortion, wouldn’t we want to spend our resources on comprehensive sex education and contraception? If we really cared about babies, wouldn’t we support paid parental leave and government-sponsored childcare? You know what? You’re right. We could argue with you about this but we don’t see the point in that anymore. Your voices are super-grating and it actually doesn’t matter what you say, because we don’t care. We’re tired of lying about it so we’re going to come out and say it: The truth of the matter is, we hate women.
 

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Picture of the Day

Two baby apples on my apple tree.