🖋 Good morning, RVA: Governor signs the anti-mask bill, losing local reporters, and another time capsule

Good morning, RVA! It’s 53 °F, and today, while a bit cloudy, will feature lovely springlike temperatures in the 70s. Feels odd, but I’m into it and will schedule some time to at least walk around the block after lunch. I hope you’ll find some time to get outside, too.
 

Water cooler

The Virginia Mercury’s Graham Moomaw reports that Govenror Youngkin signed SB 739, the bill banning school mask mandates, into law yesterday. The bill did end up with an emergency clause, adding a March 1st deadline for school districts to comply. I think Richmond Public Schools superintendent Jason Kamras put it best: “Earlier this afternoon, the Governor signed new legislation from the General Assembly banning masks mandates in schools as of March 1. As I’ve shared before, I think this is bad policy that will undermine our ability to keep everyone safe and limit interruptions to learning. That said, it is now the law in the Commonwealth. We’re assessing exactly what the legislation requires and its implications for RPS.” I continue to think that this legal prohibition against a legitimate public health tool is anti-science and dangerous. I also think that, in a couple of months (🤞), we could be living in a world where most folks do not need to wear masks inside. This was always the goal, and it’s ridiculous we couldn’t get there in a safe, science-based way.
 

City Council’s Finance and Economic Development committee meets today with a couple interesting items on their agenda, including a few papers that look related to Councilmember Addison’s proposal to raise the threshold for the Business, Professional and Occupational License tax (BPOL). I wrote about this earlier in the week and wondered how much money the City would lose out on if we raised the threshold at which businesses start paying significant taxes up from $100,000 to $250,000. Lucky for us, the ordinance’s Staff Report (ORD. 2022–032) has the details: “Reducing the tax obligation of 13.0% of all Richmond businesses, based on the analysis of FY21 actuals, would lead to a minimal impact of FY23 revenues of approximately $417,768 dollars (a reduction in BPOL taxes of -1.4% of the observed FY21 amount).” A little more than $400,000 does not seem like a ton of cash, especially if it gets us more in line with the Counties on this particular tax. Also on the Finance committee’s agenda, RES. 2022-R007, the non-binding resolution that express Council’s support of the Mayor’s plan to reduce the real estate tax should the casino referendum pass. At the moment, the resolution has three patrons: Councilmembers Robertson, Newbille, and Trammell. While I know at least some members of City Council do not support this shortsighted plan to reduce the City’s revenue, I don’t know if you could find five votes against it. We’ll see. We’ll also see if the looming costs of replacing Fox Elementary changes anyone’s willingness to place bets with the City’s future revenue.
 

Bummer local news news: The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Mark Robinson got laid off yesterday. In just a couple of weeks the RTD has lost their housing reporter and their education reporter (Kenya Hunter, who left to take a job in Atlanta). It doesn’t sound like the paper’s parent company plans on filling the roles, either. I don’t know about y’all but “housing” and “education” are not the two beats I’d have picked to cut reporters from—those folks had years of knowledge, context, and contacts.
 

Patrick Larsen at VPM reports that work crews have found another Lost Cause time capsule, this one buried under the Jefferson Davis monument. From the piece: “It’s a time capsule which, according to historical reports, was intended for a Confederate temple in the city’s Monroe Park.” Wait, a what now? Tap through to see a drawing of what would have been a massive, ridiculous monument to white supremacy right in the middle of Monroe Park.
 

I haven’t listened yet, but The Cheats Movement podcast hosted Mayor Levar Stoney on their most recent episode. Marc’s a great interviewer, so I’m confident this is worth your time, and I’m going to bump it to the top of my queue (right after this episode of Maintenance Phase).
 

This morning’s patron longread

Pedestrian Deaths Spike in U.S. as Reckless Driving Surges

Submitted by Patron Lisa. A couple folks sent this to me, and, yeah, not great! The rise in enormous, deadly vehicles—plus the added layer of whatever pandemic trauma folks are dealing with as they drive around—points to how clearly we need safe, separate, protected infrastructure for people who walk, roll, or ride. Asking drivers to slow down just isn’t going to cut it. We’ve got to change the streets to make them safer.
 

New Jersey had its highest number of pedestrian fatalities in more than 30 years. Last year was also the deadliest on Utah’s roads since the start of the century, as pedestrian deaths rose 22 percent. Washington State ended 2021 with a 15-year high in traffic fatalities. And pedestrian deaths in Texas climbed last year to a record high. Going into the pandemic, some traffic specialists were optimistic that pedestrian deaths would decline. After all, millions of motorists were slashing their driving time and hewing to social distancing measures. The opposite happened. Empty roads allowed some to drive much faster than before. Some police chiefs eased enforcement, wary of face-to-face contact. For reasons that psychologists and transit safety experts are just beginning to explain, drivers also seemed to get angrier.
 

If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.
 

Picture of the Day

A cold, wet yucca (?).