Good morning, RVA! It’s 70 °F, and that’s about where temperatures will stay for most of the day. You can expect a slightly warmer evening and maybe some sunshine to take in at the end of your day. You’ll probably find me on a porch or in a hammock!
 

Water cooler

Eric Kolenich at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has a quick and charming report on the first couple of families in our region to get their littlest kids vaccinated against COVID-19. People have been waiting a long time for this, and it’s heartwarming to read about their reactions; how many mornings do I link to a pure, wholesome, good-news story? Very few! Take advantage of it and tap through. Also, if you’re looking to make a vaccination appointment for the child under five in your life, you can do so through your pediatrician, local pharmacy, or with the health department by visiting vax.rchd.com.
 

VPM has posted an update on their Peoples Agenda Congressional election project. You can read more about journalism professor Jay Rosen and the ideas behind the Peoples Agenda (or Citizens Agenda) here, but the short of it is: Ask people what that want to know about their elected leaders and use their answers to direct media coverage—avoiding the horserace journalism of who’s beating who in whatever poll. So, after asking around, what did VPM find concerned most folks? 1) The lack of action in congress due to polarization, and 2) Climate change. The first seems pretty challenging to address since one political party exists almost entirely to prevent action and admitting that in news reporting would challenge The View From Nowhere (another Jay Rosen concept). The second, I’m glad to see so high up on the list, and hope VPM’s journalists are relentless about it. Now VPM will take what they’ve learned and use it in coverage of the 5th and 7th U.S. House of Representatives elections. Stay tuned!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 64 °F, and you can expect heat, humidity, and storms today. Highs will top out near 90 °F, and NBC12’s Andrew Freiden says we could see a couple inches of rain burst outta the sky this evening. I think I’ll make a huge jar of ice tea while keeping an eye on the hot, humid, and wet outdoors from the safety of my air conditioned home.
 

Water cooler

I knew the Pulse’s red lanes would be red, but, whoa they’re real red. Here’s a quick video of Mayor Stoney applying the first stretch of coating at the Convention Center westbound station—in white shoes no less! Bold move!
 

Yesterday you could have attended a Richmond Connects kick-off meeting, today you can fill out a very quick Richmond Connects survey. The survey is incredibly short, incredibly broad, and asks just one long-answer question: What needs to be improved to make transportation in Richmond safe and easy for everyone? After writing the previous sentence, I submitted “There is no safe way for pedestrians or people on bikes to cross Chamberlayne near Lombardy.” You can submit as many responses as you’d like, so feel free to brain dump the 600 specific places Richmond’s transportation infrastructure makes you feel unsafe.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 63 °F, and today looks pretty pleasant with highs in the mid 80s. Can anything top this past weekend though? What wonderful weather!
 

Water cooler

Over this past weekend, each necessary domino of vaccine authorization fell, and, as of Saturday, “all Virginians from the age of six moths and older are eligible now to get a free COVID-19 vaccine.” Finally! This is great news, and I know a wave of relief washed over a bunch of families out there who’ve waited to vaccinate their babies for years at this point. If that describes you and your family but you’re still trying to figure out where to make a vaccination appointment, you’ve got a bunch of options: Firstly, you should call your pediatrician (if you have one), but you can also head down to your neighborhood pharmacy for kids three and older, or check the list of vaccination events put on by the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts. I’m not trying to raise a Mission Accomplished banner on COVID-19 or anything like that, but having everyone eligible for vaccination does seem like a big milestone. Great work, everyone.
 

Jenna Portnoy at the Washington Post continues to write about “the embattled Virginia health commissioner who in comments to his staff and media interviews dismissed the role of structural racism in public health.“ In a piece published this past Friday, Portnoy reports a couple new items, including that the Commissioner issued a statement—expressing regret yet not apologizing—saying in part “I am fully aware that racism at many levels is a factor in a wide range of public health outcomes and disparities across the Commonwealth and the United States. I also deeply regret that any of this has caused you to feel discounted or disrespected; such has never and will never be my intent.” Senator McClellan called the statement “gaslighting.” Looking forward, the Commissioner will give a report to the State’s Board of Health this coming Thursday—the chair of which thinks he should resign.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 63 °F, and today looks pretty pleasant with highs in the mid 80s. Can anything top this past weekend though? What wonderful weather!
 

Water cooler

Over this past weekend, each necessary domino of vaccine authorization fell, and, as of Saturday, “all Virginians from the age of six moths and older are eligible now to get a free COVID-19 vaccine.” Finally! This is great news, and I know a wave of relief washed over a bunch of families out there who’ve waited to vaccinate their babies for years at this point. If that describes you and your family but you’re still trying to figure out where to make a vaccination appointment, you’ve got a bunch of options: Firstly, you should call your pediatrician (if you have one), but you can also head down to your neighborhood pharmacy for kids three and older, or check the list of vaccination events put on by the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts. I’m not trying to raise a Mission Accomplished banner on COVID-19 or anything like that, but having everyone eligible for vaccination does seem like a big milestone. Great work, everyone.
 

Jenna Portnoy at the Washington Post continues to write about “the embattled Virginia health commissioner who in comments to his staff and media interviews dismissed the role of structural racism in public health.“ In a piece published this past Friday, Portnoy reports a couple new items, including that the Commissioner issued a statement—expressing regret yet not apologizing—saying in part “I am fully aware that racism at many levels is a factor in a wide range of public health outcomes and disparities across the Commonwealth and the United States. I also deeply regret that any of this has caused you to feel discounted or disrespected; such has never and will never be my intent.” Senator McClellan called the statement “gaslighting.” Looking forward, the Commissioner will give a report to the State’s Board of Health this coming Thursday—the chair of which thinks he should resign.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 72 °F, and, oof, today looks hot. You can expect nearly triple-digit highs, a chance of storms after lunch, and every reason to stay inside next to a fan. Temperatures drop starting tomorrow, though, and it looks like we have a really pleasant long weekend ahead of us (for those of us who have Monday off). Enjoy it, y’all, and get some rest.
 

Water cooler

Fallout continues from the Washington Post’s article about how the Virginia Department of Health’s Comissioner has “rejected the state-recognized declaration that racism is a public health crisis and downplayed the role of racism in health disparities”. This man is still, ultimately, my boss, so writing about this remains an anxiety-filled task. With that in mind, here are some quotes and links:
 

• Mayor Levar Stoney released a statement that reads, in part, “The impact of racism on public health disparities among people of color is not anecdotal or subjective, it’s science. Hiding from these realities doesn’t make them go away. Dr. Greene needs to stop being a coward and do something about them. Virginia families are counting on him to do better”
• The Governor released a statement that reads, “I am outraged that right now in Virginia a black mother is three times more likely to die from child birth and that hasn’t materially improved in a generation. We all must be laser-focused on closing the maternal health gaps. Our administration must have a common, unifying objective to deliver measurable results on behalf of women and especially those in communities of color where this substantial gap exists. We need to ensure we are addressing factors, including access to medical services and screening, prenatal care, nutrition, and counseling—which play important roles in a mother and child’s health. I was disappointed to hear that Dr. Greene did not effectively communicate our mission. Virginians must share the common objective to close maternal health gaps, reduce health disparities, and deliver on behalf of all women in the Commonwealth.”
• The Washington Post’s Jenna Portnoy has a follow up article with quotes from Black legislators from across Virginia, including this one from Sen. McClellan, "The impact of decades and centuries of racist public policy under Jim Crow did not go away with a magic wand when laws were changed…I’m going to do something about it, I invite [the Youngkin administration] to join me in doing something about it or get out of the way.”
• A growing list of health-focused organizations have signed a statement that “Denounces Commissioner Greene’s Views on Racism and Public Health.” Here’s a quote from that statement: “The views espoused by Dr. Greene show a stubborn refusal to reflect and learn even when presented with facts and opportunities for growth. The individual leading Virginia’s public health efforts cannot hold these dismissive and harmful views and have any hope of meeting the unique health needs of every Virginia family. Understanding of the historical and modern-day impact of racism on the health and well-being of people of color is asking the bare minimum of anyone charged with leading public health initiatives.” Interested organizations can sign on to the statement using this form.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 73 °F, and today looks hot and cloudy with maybe some rain here or there. You can expect highs in the 90s, which, while hot, will seem real temperate compared to what tomorrow has in store. Stay cool, and make sure to check on your outdoor plants.
 

Water cooler

Yesterday, the FDA’s advisory committee voted to unanimously recommend both the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for children under the age of five. Step 1: Complete! Now full FDA needs to have their say, then CDC’s advisory committee (which meets on Friday and Saturday), then full CDC, and then, finally, the Virginia Department of Health. Those last two usually happen fairly quickly, and it still looks like the littlest Richmonders will be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine early next week. I’m so stoked for the families who’ve been waiting literal years for this. Katelyn Jetelina has a great post answering some common questions folks may have—specifically, I think families should read through the answers to “Does my child actually need the vaccine?”, and “Which vaccine should my kids get?” The answers to the former is easy: Yes! The number of COVID-19 deaths among kids this young is way, way higher than flu, Hepatitis A, or rotavirus. COVID is no joke, even in babies. The answer to the latter question, though, is a bit more complex, and Jetelina lays out four reasons why her daughters will be getting the Moderna vaccine. Anyway, tap through, read the post, call your pediatrician and ask for their recommendation, and then make a plan to get the littlest kids in your life vaccinated.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and we’ve got another hot day ahead of us. Unlike yesterday, it looks like we’ll avoid sudden downpours, but you should again expect highs in the 90s and lots of sweaty backs—including your own, probably! Stay hydrated, y’all.
 

Water cooler

Yesterday, an FDA advisory committee recommended that the agency authorize a Moderna vaccine for children aged 6–17. That decision, which probably doesn’t change much for many folks, sets the stage for today’s meeting, when the same group will consider both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for the littlest of children—all the way down to 6-months-old. Should the FDA authorize these baby vaccines, the next step in the ancient and honored process will be for ACIP, a CDC advisory committee, to take a look. ACIP has meetings scheduled this coming Friday and Saturday, which means, if everything goes according to plan, come next week everyone—regardless of age, health, or vocation—will be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine. Kind of a surreal moment for me! It sure has taken a long, long time to get here.
 

I know I said I hate writing about municipal branding campaigns unless they’re especially bold, but Pulitzer Prize Winner Michael Paul Williams wrote up his take on the newly launched Richmond Real campaign, and you should read it. To quote a bit, “The people enduring these circumstances don’t need branding; they need a break. They need affordable housing, better schools, safe neighborhoods, healthy food access and more hope than a slogan can provide. And that’s what’s real.” As for the cost of the campaign, I don’t know that the $450,000 spent on this new branding could have even made a dent in our housing crisis or the issues facing our schools; I don’t think it’s an either-or type of situation. However, I do wonder which department’s budget it came out of, though, and what else that department has on their priority list.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and we’ve got another hot day ahead of us. Unlike yesterday, it looks like we’ll avoid sudden downpours, but you should again expect highs in the 90s and lots of sweaty backs—including your own, probably! Stay hydrated, y’all.
 

Water cooler

Yesterday, an FDA advisory committee recommended that the agency authorize a Moderna vaccine for children aged 6–17. That decision, which probably doesn’t change much for many folks, sets the stage for today’s meeting, when the same group will consider both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for the littlest of children—all the way down to 6-months-old. Should the FDA authorize these baby vaccines, the next step in the ancient and honored process will be for ACIP, a CDC advisory committee, to take a look. ACIP has meetings scheduled this coming Friday and Saturday, which means, if everything goes according to plan, come next week everyone—regardless of age, health, or vocation—will be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine. Kind of a surreal moment for me! It sure has taken a long, long time to get here.
 

I know I said I hate writing about municipal branding campaigns unless they’re especially bold, but Pulitzer Prize Winner Michael Paul Williams wrote up his take on the newly launched Richmond Real campaign, and you should read it. To quote a bit, “The people enduring these circumstances don’t need branding; they need a break. They need affordable housing, better schools, safe neighborhoods, healthy food access and more hope than a slogan can provide. And that’s what’s real.” As for the cost of the campaign, I don’t know that the $450,000 spent on this new branding could have even made a dent in our housing crisis or the issues facing our schools; I don’t think it’s an either-or type of situation. However, I do wonder which department’s budget it came out of, though, and what else that department has on their priority list.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 70 °F, and today looks hot. You can expect humid highs in the mid 90s with no respite in sight until Saturday. Remember: Hydrate or diedrate! Stay cool out there, y’all.
 

Water cooler

Over the weekend a bipartisan group of Senators (including enough Republicans to overcome a Senate filibuster) announced they’d reached an agreement on how to finally pass a tiny bit of gun violence legislation. Vox has a good explainer of what’s in the proposed agreement, and opens with this great summary: “Perhaps what is most surprising about the [gun violence] framework is that it exists at all.” As you might have guessed, the framework is heavy on mental health and increasing the presence of armed police officers in schools and light on, you know, actual legislation to prevent people from getting guns. Disappointing, but, like Vox said, while there’s nothing shocking about these proposals, it is surprising that more than just the same few Senate Republicans have decided to do anything at all to help keep their communities safer. We’ll see if any of these proposals become actual laws and if this small moment of compromise leads to more action in the future.
 

Exciting news! Richmond’s Department of Public Works has a new survey up to collect feedback on the next round of proposed bike lanes. This round features some new infrastructure on the Southside, in Scott’s Addition, and a couple other bits here and there that would help connect pieces of our existing bike network. If you need help getting oriented, the folks at RICToday put together this handy map of all the proposed segments. You should definitely take this survey before it closes on June 26th, and you should definitely rank poorly every option featuring sharrows. Sharrows, the weird arrow/bike glyph stenciled on a street, are not bike infrastructure and do not keep people safe. They shouldn’t even be in the City’s tool box. Anyway, exciting news, and I’m impressed at the regular pace the City has kept up rolling out new infrastructure over the last couple of years.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 71 °F, and today looks pretty decent. Expect highs in the upper 80s, and, according to NBC12’s Andrew Freiden, a bit less humidity than we sweated through yesterday. He says tomorrow “looks perfect,” which is just what I want to hear for the Friday following a long week!
 

Water cooler

The Washington Post has a nice article about the new intersection improvements at Marshall and Adams Streets—which include a beautiful new street mural, some bike parking, and a lovely new parklet. It looks nice, sure, it has tons of beautiful seating, yes, but it’s safer too: A recent study shows a “50% decrease in the rate of crashes involving pedestrians or other vulnerable road users” after installing sweet-looking asphalt art. It’s awesome seeing cool projects in Richmond make the national news, but it’s even more awesome when Richmond implements low-cost ways to make our streets safer. Like Janette Sadik-Kahn, the Janette Sadik-Kahn, says in this piece, “This data shows that safer, sustainable streets don’t need to cost millions of dollars.” All it takes is finding the political will to get project like this on the ground, or, even better, finding the political will to empower City staff to just go out and do this sort of thing.
 

Patrick Wilson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports on some of Virginia’s LGBTQ advocacy groups boycotting the Governor’s pride event, which does not surprise me in the least. Here’s James Millner, director of Virginia Pride, “I have serious concerns about the Governor’s on-the-record positions on issues like same-sex marriage and rights and protections for the transgender community, especially transgender youth. If the Governor can demonstrate that he and his administration are true allies to our community by working with us to protect and advance our hard-won progress, I would happily attend a celebration with him next year.” And here’s Narissa Rahaman, executive director of Equality Virginia, “The Governor spent months campaigning on a platform of homophobia and transphobia, attacking some of the most marginalized members of our community — transgender and non-binary youth…We encourage the Governor to meet with us, hear our stories, learn about our lives, and make a commitment to fight for our lived equality.” Related, Patrick Larsen at VPM reports that five members of the State’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board will not seek reappointment. Every day is a another reminder of how important the 2023 elections will be to the lives of so many Virginians!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 71 °F, and today looks pretty decent. Expect highs in the upper 80s, and, according to NBC12’s Andrew Freiden, a bit less humidity than we sweated through yesterday. He says tomorrow “looks perfect,” which is just what I want to hear for the Friday following a long week!
 

Water cooler

The Washington Post has a nice article about the new intersection improvements at Marshall and Adams Streets—which include a beautiful new street mural, some bike parking, and a lovely new parklet. It looks nice, sure, it has tons of beautiful seating, yes, but it’s safer too: A recent study shows a “50% decrease in the rate of crashes involving pedestrians or other vulnerable road users” after installing sweet-looking asphalt art. It’s awesome seeing cool projects in Richmond make the national news, but it’s even more awesome when Richmond implements low-cost ways to make our streets safer. Like Janette Sadik-Kahn, the Janette Sadik-Kahn, says in this piece, “This data shows that safer, sustainable streets don’t need to cost millions of dollars.” All it takes is finding the political will to get project like this on the ground, or, even better, finding the political will to empower City staff to just go out and do this sort of thing.
 

Patrick Wilson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports on some of Virginia’s LGBTQ advocacy groups boycotting the Governor’s pride event, which does not surprise me in the least. Here’s James Millner, director of Virginia Pride, “I have serious concerns about the Governor’s on-the-record positions on issues like same-sex marriage and rights and protections for the transgender community, especially transgender youth. If the Governor can demonstrate that he and his administration are true allies to our community by working with us to protect and advance our hard-won progress, I would happily attend a celebration with him next year.” And here’s Narissa Rahaman, executive director of Equality Virginia, “The Governor spent months campaigning on a platform of homophobia and transphobia, attacking some of the most marginalized members of our community — transgender and non-binary youth…We encourage the Governor to meet with us, hear our stories, learn about our lives, and make a commitment to fight for our lived equality.” Related, Patrick Larsen at VPM reports that five members of the State’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board will not seek reappointment. Every day is a another reminder of how important the 2023 elections will be to the lives of so many Virginians!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 70 °F, and today looks hot and humid. We’ve also got a distinct possibility for some thunderstorms later this afternoon, too, but nothing certain yet. Stay hydrated, stay dry, and we’ll get back to better weather soon, I’m sure!
 

Water cooler

Right on the heels of the Richmond Times-Dispatch announcing their new president and publisher, Style Weekly has a long piece by Rich Griset about how the RTD has absolutely hemorrhaged staff over the last couple of years. Griset talks to a bunch of former and current staff, and none of what they have to say sounds good. Like this quote: “It all feels like a death…It all feels like we’re mourning the loss of this institution, because we don’t see how it will continue to exist.” Tap through to read about the recent layoffs; the current, and what sounds like, incredibly negative work enviornment; and the uncertain future of our one and only local paper. Not great, and you should prepare to be bummed. This is another reminder to financially support our local journalists however you can by subscribing, donating, joining, patreoning, or participating in whatever other business models are out there! If you read a thing and love it, please consider supporting it with actual money!
 

The City will host a Diamond District public meeting tonight at 6:00 PM in the Bon Secours Training Center (2401 W. Leigh Street). The agenda—which you can find along with a bunch of other Diamond District information on the City’s website—is pretty straight forward: Taking a look at some public-private partnership case studies and explaining the details/next steps of the Request for Offers. While we’re talking Diamond District, I think you should read through each of the 1-page pitch sheets from the three remaining developers (Richmond Community Development Partners, RVA Diamond Partners, and Vision300) and think excited thoughts about how much better moving through that part of town could get. Also, you can submit any questions or comments—any at all!—to the evaluation panel and they’ll be “reviewed every other week and distributed to the Evaluation Panel during the evaluation process.” So if you’re wondering, just as an example, how the Diamond District will improve bike and pedestrian connections to Brookland Parkway via the terrifying and horrible I-95 overpass, this is an opportunity to ask!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 62 °F, and today you can expect highs in the mid 80s again but with more clouds this time around. Still no significant chance for rain, but that changes tomorrow night so plan accordingly. The last couple of days have been absolutely perfect, weatherwise, and I hope you’ve had plenty of chances to take advantage of that!
 

Water cooler

In news news, the Richmond Times-Dispatch announced that Kelly Till will become the paper’s new president and publisher—“the first woman to lead the organization in its 172-year history.” Till currently serves as the vice president of sales for both the RTD and Lee Enterprises’s Virginia markets (that’s the paper’s parent company), and will now oversee sales in Lee’s southeast region. I don’t know a ton about the roles of president or publisher at the RTD, but that’s a lot of experience from the sales side of things, and I wonder how the newsroom feels about it. Till replaces Paul Farrell, who was also a vice president of sales for Lee before taking the top job at the RTD, but, before that, Tom Silvestri held the role for years. Silvestri had a deep news background and spent years working as a reporter and an editor. Again, I don’t know anything about how things work in the newspaper industry these days (does anyone??), but it seems like a choice to keep hiring ad people instead of news people to run the show.
 

Michael Martz, from the news side of things at the RTD, has an update on adding more tracks at Long Bridge in D.C. and expanding rail service south from Richmond to Raleigh. Long Bridge, which has a pretty interesting history, functions as a bottleneck for passenger rail traffic going to and from Richmond and, if we want decent service between Richmond and D.C., desperately needs expanding. As a spokesperson for the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority says: “It all goes back to Long Bridge.” Luckily, federal grants are in the works and by 2030—just a blink of an eye in train construction time—we should have good, hourly train service from Richmond to D.C.! How cool will that be, and how very old I will be when I can finally take a spontaneous trip to the nation’s capital!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 53 °F, and was that not a perfect weekend? Expect more of the same today with highs in the mid 80s, lots of sunshine, and not too much humidity. Storms move in midweek, though, so get out there and enjoy today and tomorrow!
 

Water cooler

Whoa, big news: Seattle’s Sound Transit will hire GRTC’s Julie Timm as their next CEO. Sound Transit runs Seattle’s regional rail, light rail, and express buses, and, no shade intended, is a huge step up from GRTC. I mean, it’s Seattle! One of America’s few transit cities! So, while I’m incredibly nervous about what this means for Richmond’s tiny regional transit system—especially as GRTC’s entire governance model has just shifted—I’m pretty stoked for Julie Timm.
 

I’ve got three interesting City Council updates for you this morning! First, Council’s Organizational Development committee will consider the rank-choice voting ordinance (ORD. 2022–119). Remember, OrgDev is made up of all nine councilmembers, so today’s discussion should give you a pretty good sense of where the full Council would vote on this paper if forced to do so today. Second, OrgDev will also hear a presentation on a Fiscal Efficiency Review requested by Council a while back. This is a big document (104 pages), and I haven’t had the time to read through the whole thing, but, flipping through the executive summary and a couple thing stood out! 14 years ago, when we first started electing mayors in Richmond, I would have never guessed that “strong city financials” would be one of our City’s strengths, and that “the current city charter does not enable the Mayor-Council form of government” would be one of our weaknesses. We’ll see how Council intends to act on this document which is full of interesting suggestions. Finally, Planning Commission will meet today and consider ORD. 2022–157, which would allocate money to improving the site of an African burying ground at 1305 N. 5th Street and connect it into the larger work of memorializing Devil’s Half Acre. I’ve written about this piece of land before; it’s currently home to a billboard and an abandoned building.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 53 °F, and was that not a perfect weekend? Expect more of the same today with highs in the mid 80s, lots of sunshine, and not too much humidity. Storms move in midweek, though, so get out there and enjoy today and tomorrow!
 

Water cooler

Whoa, big news: Seattle’s Sound Transit will hire GRTC’s Julie Timm as their next CEO. Sound Transit runs Seattle’s regional rail, light rail, and express buses, and, no shade intended, is a huge step up from GRTC. I mean, it’s Seattle! One of America’s few transit cities! So, while I’m incredibly nervous about what this means for Richmond’s tiny regional transit system—especially as GRTC’s entire governance model has just shifted—I’m pretty stoked for Julie Timm.
 

I’ve got three interesting City Council updates for you this morning! First, Council’s Organizational Development committee will consider the rank-choice voting ordinance (ORD. 2022–119). Remember, OrgDev is made up of all nine councilmembers, so today’s discussion should give you a pretty good sense of where the full Council would vote on this paper if forced to do so today. Second, OrgDev will also hear a presentation on a Fiscal Efficiency Review requested by Council a while back. This is a big document (104 pages), and I haven’t had the time to read through the whole thing, but, flipping through the executive summary and a couple thing stood out! 14 years ago, when we first started electing mayors in Richmond, I would have never guessed that “strong city financials” would be one of our City’s strengths, and that “the current city charter does not enable the Mayor-Council form of government” would be one of our weaknesses. We’ll see how Council intends to act on this document which is full of interesting suggestions. Finally, Planning Commission will meet today and consider ORD. 2022–157, which would allocate money to improving the site of an African burying ground at 1305 N. 5th Street and connect it into the larger work of memorializing Devil’s Half Acre. I’ve written about this piece of land before; it’s currently home to a billboard and an abandoned building.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and today’s weather looks pretty great. Expect highs in the 80s, less humidity, and a break from the blazing heat of the last couple of days. These cooler temperatures continue right on through the weekend. Enjoy!
 

Water cooler

As of last night, Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield all remain in the high COVID-19 Community Level. The 7-day case rate per 100,000 people for each locality is 236, 239, and 267, respectively, and the new COVID-19 hospital admissions over the last seven days per 100,000 people for the entire region is 10.5. That’s a lot of numbers to wrap your brain around, but they’re a touch lower than they were a week ago, and, overall, the CDC’s map of Virginia has a whole lot less orange than it did last I checked. A high level in our region, though, still means you should be wearing a mask in indoor public places regardless of your vaccination status! Speaking of, yesterday, President Biden’s coronavirus response coordinator said children under five could receive their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as early as June 21st! This, of course, assumes smooth passage through the time-honored authorization process we’ve all come to know and love—and we have been burned by this before! But, now it really does sound like almost evvvvveryone will soon be eligible for vaccination. Fingers crossed, because that’s a big deal.
 

Last night, President Biden addressed the nation and called on congress to pass gun violence legislation. You can read a recap over on the New York Times. I’m incredibly cynical about the possibility of Republicans considering any legislation—any at all—that would protect the lives of Americans. So while it’s nice to hear the President calling for an assault weapons ban and naming Republican Senators as the problem, I don’t think it’ll have any actual impact on those senators. At this point, I’d like to see Biden sign a bunch of legally-tenuous Executive Orders and see what sticks. That’s not how things are “supposed to work,” but it’s better than begging a bunch of bad-faith legislators who have no intention of listening.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and today’s weather looks pretty great. Expect highs in the 80s, less humidity, and a break from the blazing heat of the last couple of days. These cooler temperatures continue right on through the weekend. Enjoy!
 

Water cooler

As of last night, Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield all remain in the high COVID-19 Community Level. The 7-day case rate per 100,000 people for each locality is 236, 239, and 267, respectively, and the new COVID-19 hospital admissions over the last seven days per 100,000 people for the entire region is 10.5. That’s a lot of numbers to wrap your brain around, but they’re a touch lower than they were a week ago, and, overall, the CDC’s map of Virginia has a whole lot less orange than it did last I checked. A high level in our region, though, still means you should be wearing a mask in indoor public places regardless of your vaccination status! Speaking of, yesterday, President Biden’s coronavirus response coordinator said children under five could receive their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as early as June 21st! This, of course, assumes smooth passage through the time-honored authorization process we’ve all come to know and love—and we have been burned by this before! But, now it really does sound like almost evvvvveryone will soon be eligible for vaccination. Fingers crossed, because that’s a big deal.
 

Last night, President Biden addressed the nation and called on congress to pass gun violence legislation. You can read a recap over on the New York Times. I’m incredibly cynical about the possibility of Republicans considering any legislation—any at all—that would protect the lives of Americans. So while it’s nice to hear the President calling for an assault weapons ban and naming Republican Senators as the problem, I don’t think it’ll have any actual impact on those senators. At this point, I’d like to see Biden sign a bunch of legally-tenuous Executive Orders and see what sticks. That’s not how things are “supposed to work,” but it’s better than begging a bunch of bad-faith legislators who have no intention of listening.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 71 °F, and we’ve got another hot one on deck. Today you can again expect sweaty highs in the mid 90s until a cold front moves through this evening—bringing with it a chance for some severe weather. Keep an eye out for storms tonight, but prepare for cooler, more temperate weather tomorrow.
 

Water cooler

Yesterday, the General Assembly passed their budget and sent it on to the Governor for him to sign. If you want to dig in to the details, The Commonwealth Institute has put together a really excellent PDF comparing the version of the budget proposed by the House, the Senate, and the compromise that they ultimately ended up with. Not only does this PDF show you the difference in priorities between the House and the Senate, but it gives you a great look at the Commonwealth’s priorities as a whole in the first (mostly) pandemic-transitional budget. Unfortunately, I’m not smart enough to know what a lot of these numbers mean—like is $251.3 million for the state’s Water Quality Improvement Fund a lot? Is it enough? No idea. Regardless, I’ve saved this PDF to my library, because it feels like something I’ll want to look through over the next couple of months. Next up: The Governor can amend or veto certain items in the budget, and then the GA will get another crack at it in a couple of weeks. Exhausting!
 

Ben Paviour at VPM has Governor Youngkin’s early legislative / policy reactions to the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas—which are mostly a nothingburger. The Governor sidestepped reporter questions about actual legislation that would make Virginians safer, and, instead, pointed to new funding in the budget for additional cops in schools, which we know, from this very shooting in Uvalde, do not necessarily keep children safe from gun violence. Ned Oliver at Axios Richmond digs into that new spending on “school resource officers” and notes that Democrats would have preferred to fund counselors and psychologist instead. I imagine the Governor and Republican legislators will stay quiet on guns over the next couple of months, hoping you’ll forget or get distracted, and then work to repeal what little gun violence legislation we have in Virginia.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and today looks a lot like yesterday. Expect highs in the mid-to-upper 90s and lots of sunshine. If you’re spending time outside, do it early or late, and don’t forget to hydrate! Cooler weather returns this weekend.
 

Water cooler

The Richmond Police Department reports (with the incredibly passive headline “Pedestrian Struck on East Broad Street”) that a driver hit and killed a woman on the 1700 block of E. Broad Street during yesterday’s rush hour. I ride through there all the time, and it’s a busy, fast, and scary intersection that folks often walk through on the way to and from the hospital. That portion of Broad Street is on the High Injury Network and a handful of people have already been injured in the immediate area. We know it’s dangerous—and now deadly—but what are we going to do about it?
 

The General Assembly should be on track to finally pass a state budget today, and the Virginia Mercury’s Graham Moomaw has a really thorough breakdown of the compromises made on each side. Given the tenuous state of the Democrats' power in Virginia’s government at the moment, I think what we ended up with is not too bad and could have been a lot worse. Many thanks to legislators like Sen. Jennifer McClellan who worked hard to hammer out these compromises while protecting some important priorities.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and it looks like we have an even chance for storms, some severe, today—the region’s under a tornado watch until 2:00 PM. But, this weekend! This weekend looks incredible with highs in the 80s, dry skies, and even some sunshine. First, I hope you have Monday off. Second, I hope you spend the long weekend getting some rest, spending at least some of the time on the patio or porch of your choosing, and having at least one great conversation with a good pal.
 

Water cooler

As of last night, Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield all have a high COVID-19 Community Level. 7-day case rates per 100,000 people in each of the localities are 274, 297, and 309, respectively (the threshold for a high level is 200). The 7-day rate of new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people for the whole region is 10.5 (the threshold for a high level is 10). This is the first time we’ve seen a high level in Central Virginia, and it does meaningfully change the CDC’s guidance for individuals: Everyone, regardless of vaccination status, should wear a well-fitting mask indoors in public. I don’t think we’ll ever again see any sort of mask mandates—especially not from the current state-level leadership—as we’ve mostly thrown up our hands over requiring public health measures, but you may see employers and businesses change their masking policies over the next few days. If you haven’t yet, you probably should just keep a mask or two stashed in each of your bags.
 

Here’s another reason to build a good mask habit: Yesterday, Virginia reported its first case of Monkeypox. Luckily(?), the patient had traveled to Africa and was not infectious during their travel back to Virginia—so we’re not seeing the disease spread around in the community (not yet at least). To quote the release: “No additional cases have been detected in Virginia at this time.” OK, whew, but I’m keeping an eye on you, Monkeypox.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 59 °F, and I think, today, we emerge from the wet and the clouds and may even see the sun for a minute. You can expect highs in the mid 70s, probably dry skies, and a chance to catch a single sunbeam later this afternoon. Storms return tomorrow though? Bleh.
 

Water cooler

Jack Jacobs at Richmond BizSense reports that the bus will officially remain fare-free for the next year. GRTC’s Board met earlier this week and approved spending $1 million to keep the program afloat for another 12 months. That’s great and good for this year, but if the region wants to keep its zero-fare program moving forward, it needs to start having the conversations about how to distribute the (increasing) costs of that program…like, ASAP. If we wait until next year’s budget season to figure it out, we’ll either end up resuming fare collection or, more likely, using money intended for bigger and better bus service to cover the growing cost of the fare-free program. I see tense conversations about this in our future!
 

VPM’s Ben Paviour reports on the depressingly limited options for gun violence legislation still floating around in the as-yet-approved state budget. Sen. McClellan and the Senate want $24 million to create a new Virginia Center for Firearm Violence Intervention and Prevention that would focus on “collecting and disseminating data, research, and strategies on preventing gun violence.” Meanwhile, House Republicans are willing to consider $5 million for a similar thing “more narrowly focused on gang violence.” OK, that seems vaguely racist and also ignores the fact that 54% of gun deaths in this country are suicides. With any luck they’ll end up somewhere in the middle.
 

Good morning, RVA. Today I’m going to focus on yesterday’s school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. If you’re simply too full-up, at capacity, and unable to process any more this morning, it’s OK to skip today’s email (and the news or, especially, your timeline).
 

Water cooler

Yesterday, an 18-year-old gunman shot and killed 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in the small town of Uvalde, Texas. That number of deaths has steadily increased overnight. The Texas Tribune has the evolving story with reactions from folks in Uvalde.
 

Outside the community forever changed by gun violence (an ever-growing collection of sister cities), people are fractured, upset, motivated, apathetic, exhausted, and every other human emotion. Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy—the Sisyphus of the Senate, still trying to pass gun violence legislation since Sandy Hook—asks “what are we doing?” and promises to compromise with Senate Republicans to do even the single smallest thing to make mass shootings less likely in America.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 58 °F, rainy, and it’s gonna be rainy for a while. You can expect highs somewhere in the 60s and every reason to wear boots. Celebrate today’s cooler temperatures by taking five minutes to crack the window and quietly listen to the rain fall on the street outside.
 

Water cooler

As foretold, Path to Equity (RES. 2022-R027) was the only paper that I’m keeping an eye to pass City Council last night. Council continued the rest of them until the middle of June, so we’ll revisit then. I’m keeping an eye on the calendar, though, because there aren’t too many more meetings until Council’s summer break, and I’m wondering if some of these more complicated papers (like the collective bargaining pair) will get kicked to the end of this year. That’d be a bummer. Also of note, councilmembers introduced a couple of interesting new ordinances and resolutions last night, including ORD. 2022–156, which would extend the due date for personal property taxes to August 5th. Your car tax bill, due June 6th and often showing up just a week or so before it’s due, probably went up this year because the market value of used cars has, weirdly, gone up. With any luck this ordinance will pass quickly and folks will have more time to deal with the possibly unexpected cost.
 

Also kind of Council-related, Patrick Larsen at VPM reports on the City’s proposed Strategic Plan for Equitable Economic Development. You can download the full PDF here, if you want to flip through. Because I’m petty, I immediately looked for the plan’s remote-working goals, which are found under Objective 2 (page six): “Launch a remote worker attraction and retention initiative— RemoteRVA—to make Richmond a destination of choice for remote workers in the Eastern US.” I’m glad the City is making this a priority, unlike the Governor or even the Mayor, I guess?, who tweeted his support of the Governor’s backward in-person-or-bust telework policy for state employees.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and cooler weather has returned! Gone are the baking, near-triple-digit highs, replaced with some temperate, mid-70s vibes. You can expect clouds to hang around most of the day, which will maybe switch over to some rain this evening. Looks like the sky opens up tomorrow, though!
 

Water cooler

Monkeypox! You’ve got questions, Katelyn Jetelina’s got answers. The bad news: “American ground squirrels are also highly susceptible to the virus. If monkeypox were to become established in a wildlife reservoir outside Africa, the public health setback would be difficult to reverse.” Terrifying! But, there’s good news, too: “Smallpox vaccines work on monkeypox, especially if the vaccine was recent. In fact, the CDC reports that smallpox vaccination within 3 years is 85% effective at preventing monkeypox disease.” Also, if you’re extra worried about monkeypox, masks and improved ventilation are good mitigation measures for this disease, too. Jetelina closes with this hopeful/realistic context: “It’s too early to tell if we should be worried, but we are confident the current outbreak will be nothing close to the COVID-19 pandemic. We live in the harsh reality where the next epidemic is just around the corner. We need to learn from the lessons of the past and present and prepare for the future.”
 

Over the weekend, Delegates Willett and VanValkenburg wrote a good column in the Richmond Times-Dispatch about the shortsightedness of the Governor’s choice to revoke telework agreements from all state employees. There are a million and one reasons why forcing every state employee back into an office is a bad policy—including childcare, gas prices, climate change, employee retention, and job competitiveness (“While the commonwealth frequently cannot compete with private-sector salaries, we can and do offer great health benefits, a retirement plan and, until recently, workplace flexibility.”). While I appreciate the public support from elected Democrats, I don’t think it’ll do anything to shift the Governor’s thinking on this—not that I believe he’s even still thinking about it.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 66 °F, and today looks HOT. You can expect highs in the upper 90s, with even more heat over the weekend. This kind of heat is dangerous, serious business, and you should make smart choices if you’re planning on spending some time outside under the burning eye of the sun. Additionally, remember: Hydrate or diedrate.
 

Water cooler

The CDC updated their COVID-19 Community Level numbers last night and now Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield are all at the “medium” or “yellow” level. The 7-day case rates per 100,000 people in each locality, respectively, are: 248, 321, 268. Worryingly, the new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people for the region is 9.8. Once that number hits 10 (on a Thursday), a locality switches to “high” Community Level and the CDC guidance is to wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status. It seems pretty likely that’ll happen next Thursday. I dunno y’all, 9.8 is pretty dang close to 10, and, for the next little while, you will not find me indoors without a mask on my face.
 

Yesterday, the Virginia Department of Education, at the direction of Governor Youngkin, released this 34-page report about the state of Virginia’s public schools. I think this is a really confusing document to try and understand! There’s definitely a lot of petty, distracting, misleading, offensive garbage in this PDF, but I also think it might highlight real areas for improvement. This confusion and obfuscation of reality is probably the point, and I have no doubt that the Governor intends to use this report to further his goal of dismantling public schools in favor of private-run charter schools come next General Assembly session. I haven’t found it yet, but I’d love to read something from someone smarter than me explaining the “hoensty gap” and what’s actually happening with Virginia’s public schools. In the meantime, here’s Graham Moomaw at the Virginia Mercury’s coverage. P.S. If you believe, that in the Year of Our Lord 2020, the number of Virginians homeschooling their children increased because of some systemic “frustration with the state of public schools,” I have a bridge to etc.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 65 °F, and today you can expect highs approaching 90 °F with a smallish chance for storms late afternoon. Fingers crossed against that, though, because I’m trying to bike month it up tonight! Also, keep an eye on the weather for this weekend, which, at the moment features potential, dangerous highs of 99 °F!
 

Water cooler

KidsFirst RPS has a nice and thorough recap of this past Monday’s RPS School Board meeting. No major fireworks, but boardmembers continue to introduce and vote on substantive policies with little-to-no heads up—to the public, the RPS administration, or even to other boardmembers." Not great. Additionally, read through all the way to the end to see a preview of what could be the next exhausting School Board thing we’re all forced to deal with: Surplussing the Arthur Ashe Athletic Center. It’s a picture perfect scenario for the five-member voting bloc to tussle with the Mayor by disrupting the Diamond District process. Sounds bad, no thanks!
 

First reported (to me) by my son who went on a school trip to Belle Isle and found the suspension bridge closed, Chris Suarez at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has the follow up that “Richmond officials have temporarily closed the Belle Isle pedestrian walkway underneath the Lee Bridge…after engineers found that concrete pieces had fallen from an open joint in the Lee Bridge.” Yikes, but only temporary yikes! The bridge should safely open back up to folks tomorrow. Still though, I bet this is pretty stressful news for all of the people hard at work on kicking off Riverrock.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 53 °F, and today looks like another stunner. You can expect highs in the 80s, less wind than yesterday, and dry, beautiful skies. I’m taking advantage of today’s excellent weather to do bike month stuff, and you should too.
 

Water cooler

Whether you have children or not, you should read RPS Superintendent Kamras’s email from last night about the racist murders in Buffalo. The whole thing is worth your time—including the list of resources to help you talk with kids about racism and violence—but here’s a great excerpt: “At the core of this heinous attack is the pernicious idea that ‘real’ Americans are White and Christian and that everyone else is an interloper, scheming to ‘take over’ the country. This worldview has a long and ugly history in our nation, our state, and our city. For centuries, it has nourished violence against Black Americans, and anyone else considered ‘other’ by those who cling to this wretched ideology. We all have a part to play in denouncing it. Calling out those who espouse this odiousness, and actively working to right the wrongs created by it, is a responsibility for us all – and especially for those of us who are White. The hard and exhausting work of fighting the seemingly eternal tide of racist lies and villainy cannot rest solely on the shoulders of Black, Latino, and Asian Americans. Tragedies like this weekend’s are also why we must teach so-called ‘divisive’ concepts in our schools. We need all of our children – of all backgrounds – to understand the full history of our nation so that they can prevent the ugliness of our past and present from becoming the reality of our future. In short, if our students graduate having passed all their SOLs, but lacking a deep sense of responsibility for each other, then we will have failed them miserably.”
 

A quick COVID-19 update: Yesterday the FDA authorized Pfizer boosters for kids aged 5–11. CNN reports that the CDC’s advisory committee will meet tomorrow to discuss the newly eligible age group—a step which needs to happen before you can walk on down to your local pharmacy and get your kids boosted. Vaccination and boostering continues to be the most effective way to prevent little ones from getting COVID-19, so if you spend a lot of time with a grubby-but-cute 5–11yo, make some plans to get them boosted as soon as this weekend.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 54 °F, and today looks lovely. Expect highs in the mid 80s, sunshine, and, if it weren’t for the gusty winds, I’d say it’s a perfect day to take off from work early and ride your bike into the sunset. The beautiful weather continues for the next day or two and then big heat moves in this weekend—looks like we can expect highs in the 90s! In May!
 

Water cooler

It’s Tuesday, and your COVID-19 Community Level for Richmond remains at low (kind of), while Henrico and Chesterfield have both increased to medium. The 7-day case rates per 100,000 people in each locality, respectively, are: 221, 299, and 219. Remember: The CDC only updates this metric once a week on Thursday nights, but to flip a locality from low to medium, those case rates need to cross the 200 threshold. To flip from medium to high, however, you’ve got to look at two different, hospital-related numbers: 7-day new COVID-19 admission per 100,000 and 7-day percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients. If either of those two numbers are greater than 10 while case rates are greater than 200, your localities is experiencing a high COVID-19 Community Level. At the moment, the admissions per 100,000 people for all three localities is: 8.7. That’s creepingly close to high, and you should keep an eye on it as we approach that Thursday night update. The big change in CDC guidance when we do switch from medium to high is that folks should: “Wear a well-fitting mask indoors in public, regardless of vaccination status (including in K-12 schools and other indoor community settings).” CDC calls this an “individual- and household-level prevention behavior,” which gets at the reality that we’ll probably never again see mask or other mitigation mandates from our local, state, or federal governments. Anyway, the current coronacontext means we need to prepare to ride whatever coronawave gets put in front of us, and right now that sure looks like another approaching peak.
 

One way you can prepare to ride those coronawaves, and keep other people around you safe, is to make sure you’re stocked up on COVID-19 tests. Luckily, and as of yesterday, you can order another round of free Joe Biden tests from USPS—this time you get eight instead of four. The form, which I just filled out while writing the previous sentence, takes less than a minute to complete, and you should do it before reading the next paragraph!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 54 °F, and today looks lovely. Expect highs in the mid 80s, sunshine, and, if it weren’t for the gusty winds, I’d say it’s a perfect day to take off from work early and ride your bike into the sunset. The beautiful weather continues for the next day or two and then big heat moves in this weekend—looks like we can expect highs in the 90s! In May!
 

Water cooler

It’s Tuesday, and your COVID-19 Community Level for Richmond remains at low (kind of), while Henrico and Chesterfield have both increased to medium. The 7-day case rates per 100,000 people in each locality, respectively, are: 221, 299, and 219. Remember: The CDC only updates this metric once a week on Thursday nights, but to flip a locality from low to medium, those case rates need to cross the 200 threshold. To flip from medium to high, however, you’ve got to look at two different, hospital-related numbers: 7-day new COVID-19 admission per 100,000 and 7-day percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients. If either of those two numbers are greater than 10 while case rates are greater than 200, your localities is experiencing a high COVID-19 Community Level. At the moment, the admissions per 100,000 people for all three localities is: 8.7. That’s creepingly close to high, and you should keep an eye on it as we approach that Thursday night update. The big change in CDC guidance when we do switch from medium to high is that folks should: “Wear a well-fitting mask indoors in public, regardless of vaccination status (including in K-12 schools and other indoor community settings).” CDC calls this an “individual- and household-level prevention behavior,” which gets at the reality that we’ll probably never again see mask or other mitigation mandates from our local, state, or federal governments. Anyway, the current coronacontext means we need to prepare to ride whatever coronawave gets put in front of us, and right now that sure looks like another approaching peak.
 

One way you can prepare to ride those coronawaves, and keep other people around you safe, is to make sure you’re stocked up on COVID-19 tests. Luckily, and as of yesterday, you can order another round of free Joe Biden tests from USPS—this time you get eight instead of four. The form, which I just filled out while writing the previous sentence, takes less than a minute to complete, and you should do it before reading the next paragraph!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 64 °F, and today looks warm—with highs in the mid 80s—and a possible chance of storms this afternoon. Keep your eye on the weather app of your choice if you’ve gotta dash home on a bike or a sidewalk this afternoon!
 

Water cooler

Richmond’s Planning Commission meets today at 1:30 PM, and you can find the full agenda here. Of note are two items being pushed to a later date: The plans for replacing the bridge on the 1500 block of E. Broad Street and the designs for renovating the Main Library. Both of those have been continued “to allow the applicant to return to the Urban Design Committee at its June 9th meeting.” That makes me think the May 3rd UDC meeting did not go particularly well for these two papers, which makes me really want to listen in and hear what happened. Also floating around on the agenda: A resolution to add the City’s public housing neighborhoods as priority growth nodes on Richmond 300’s Future Land Use Map, an update on the City Center rezoning plan, and a paper that would transfer the Coliseum property to the City’s Economic Development Authority (ORD. 2022–140).
 

Related, Richmond BizSense’s Jonathan Spiers reports on that Colisseum paper: “Once sold, the property would become subject to city real estate taxes and its new owner would be required to demolish the arena within 12 months. Development of the property would then need to be completed within 42 months, or 3½ years, the agreement states. If the property is not sold within 24 months after it’s conveyed to the EDA, its title would revert back to the city, according to the document.” First, I imagine any interested developers would want to see the final results of the related rezoning before signing on the dotted line—so I think that process has to finish up first. Second, two years is not a ton of time to sell a decrepit sports arena, even acknowledging its absolutely prime downtown location. I wonder if the City has had some soft, unofficial interest between Navy Hill’s demise and now…
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 60 °F, and the damp weather continues. Expect highs in the 70s, a chance of rain kind of all over the place, and maybe even some thunderstorms. Similar vibes continue through the weekend, but I do hope you’ll find a sunbeam to curl up in at some point.
 

Water cooler

It’s Friday! That’s not my normal COVID-19 update day, but, for the first time since it’s debut, Henrico and Chesterfield’s COVID-19 Community Level has switched from low to medium (aka green to yellow). Richmond’s level is, technically, still low, but so very on the cusp as to be functionally medium. The 7-day case rates per 100,000 people in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield as of yesterday are: 193, 295, and 226 (with 200 being the threshold between low and medium). So what does this mean? Mostly that more disease is working its way through our communities. The CDC’s guidance between the low and medium levels doesn’t change a ton, but if you are or spend a lot of time with a high-risk individual, you might consider shifting your behavior a bit, wearing masks more, and being generally more thoughtful about your specific context and risk level. Are we headed for another coronapeak or just a taller coronaplateau? It’s hard to tell, but you should prepare yourself for either (or both)!
 

Best tweet of the week, via @GRTCPulse: “Red median lanes.” The City will close sections of Broad Street between 3rd and 195 for about a week (during off-peak hours!) to start putting down some pavement markings—“this includes preparations for Pulse lane paint.” Yes! Exciting!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 56 °F, and the chance for rain begins tonight and heads on through weekend. You can expect highs in the upper 60s today as we wait for warmer weather next week.
 

Water cooler

Whittney Evans at VPM reports on a weird and troubling exchange on The Fighting Joe Morrissey Show, a radio show hosted by State Senator Joe Morrissey of which I was completely unaware. Here’s a lengthy quote from the piece: “The producer asked Morrissey during the live radio show whether he is for or against the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. ‘Any state bill that’s passed, you have to have exceptions. I’m also very much of a libertarian, and I do not like government telling us what to do,’ Morrissey said. ‘I’m much more in favor of a strong state government, as I think are most people.’ ‘So in a roundabout way of saying, you’re for overturning Roe v. Wade?’ the producer asks. The question, suggesting Morrissey didn’t clearly state his position on the issue, caused Morrissey to get agitated. ‘Don’t ever tell me what a roundabout way I’m doing. Do you understand that?’ Morrissey shouts before going to commercial break. Once off the air, a now-deleted Facebook live video shows the heated verbal altercation continue inside the studio. At one point, a woman in the studio tries to restrain Morrissey.” I have no idea what to make of these remarks and what they portend, but a lot of Virginia’s hopes for maintain access to abortion rest on Sen. Joe Morrissey. Should Morrissey defect and side with Republicans on banning abortion, the two-seat Democratic Brick Wall in the State Senate quickly becomes a 20–20 tie, which would be broken by the Republican Lt. Governor. It’s incredibly stressful to have the rights of millions of Virginians depend on such a chaotic individual.
 

Meanwhile, in totally unsurprising news, the U.S. Senate failed to pass a federal abortion rights bill on a 49–51 vote. Jennifer Shutt at the Virginia Mercury has the details. 100% of Republicans, plus, of course, Joe Manchin, voted against the bill, but given the insurmountable filibuster hurdle, it was never even close.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 53 °F, and I had a really pleasant bike ride yesterday despite all of the wind. Today you can expect highs in the 70s, more wind, but continued dry skies. Wet weather could move in tomorrow, so, if you can, get out there on your porches and patios tonight!
 

Water cooler

Land Value Tax is rad and, if implemented properly in Richmond, could help sustain much needed revenue while making the distribution of who pays how much tax more equitable. The idea is you split our current, single real estate tax rate—$1.20 per $100 of assessed value of the land and the building which sits on the land—and split it into two rates—a big one for the land and a small one for the building. You can see how this has a couple of impacts, like encouraging denser development: The amount of tax a developer would pay on a vacant lot downtown would be about the same that they would pay for a lot with an apartment building. Councilmember Addison has been hard at work on getting an LVT implemented in the City and has a nice explainer this week in his newsletter. Check it out, and tap through to some of the resources he includes, especially this helpful video from Strong Towns.
 

The Diamond District Hunger Games continues! Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense reports that the City has announced the three finalists in the competition to redevelop the huge area over by the Diamond. The remaining three will need to submit another, more detailed proposal by June 28th, and the City hopes to pick a preferred developer in July. Once we get those more formal proposals, I’m definitely going to need someone to walk me through all three PDFs—assuming the proposals end up in front of the public at some point.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 50 °F, and today looks a lot like yesterday which turned out to be a real stunner. Expect highs in the upper 60s, some sunshine, and, for at least three minutes, not a care in the world. Enjoy it, because this weekend’s starting to look real wet.
 

Water cooler

It’s Tuesday, and the COVID-19 Community Level in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield is low…kind of. The 7-day case rate per 100,00 people for each locality sits at 142, 245, and 193 respectively. Assuming hospitalization rates and capacities stay the same, the magic case rate threshold for Community Level to flip from low to medium (green to yellow) is 200. Henrico’s already there and Chesterfield’s knocking at the door. The CDC updates their Community Level indicator once per week on Thursdays, so, technically, the region is remains in low today, but if we were to run the numbers this morning, we’d have a split decision with Henrico medium, while Richmond and Chesterfield remained low. There’s more disease out there than previously, so maybe start to think through your own actions and risk levels.
 

Here’s a quick piece from Henry Graff at NBC12 about bike lanes and bike share. Two interesting tidbits worth noting: 1) The City has 15 miles of bike lanes ready to roll out with the current street paving schedule (which I think you can find listed here), and 2) the new Southside bike share station(s) opens the week of May 23rd (🤞). Actually, looking at the bike share map for the first time in a while, and I see five new stations planned for the Southside and four new stations on the Northside, and, gasp, even one in Carytown. I’ve been burned before, RVA Bike Share, so I’m not holding my breath, but several of those proposed stations would create useful trips for me and my family!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 42 °F, and it’s chilly again! Today you can expect things to warm up, though, to just about 70 °F by late afternoon. We’ve got a similar deal on deck for tomorrow, and then warmer weather starts to return (with some rain) towards the end of the week. Enjoy the next couple of dry days!
 

Water cooler

Early Friday morning, a crash involving multiple drivers spilled onto the sidewalk of the 700 block of E. Broad Street killing a pedestrian. This is right outside the National, a busy section of sidewalk most times of day, and, had it been an hour or two later, would have taken place right as hundreds of folks are walking to work. I’m tired of writing it, but the City’s public works staff should investigate every crash that causes serious injuries or deaths and deploy cheap, effective, and temporary measures to keep it from happening again.
 

City Council meets tonight, and, I think, will hold the final public hearing on the FY23 budget. Unfortunately, I’ve lost the thread a bit as the season comes to a close—especially about how Council plans on funding Richmond Public Schools given the School Board’s delays and disorganization in submitting their own budget. Tonight, however, Council will consider an amendment to the school-related budget papers that will allocate $15 million to a reserve fund that can only be unlocked with a future budget amendment. This is City Council oversight in action! Council staff recommended this course of action given the lack of timely budget information from RPS, and it’s a technique that the City has used to deal with school budget shenanigans in the past. I like the oversight, but dislike that it’s necessary, and am nervous about the School Board successfully navigating the process to unlock those funds.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 57 °F, and this week we’ve had a consistent chance for afternoon rain which never once materialized—today’s the day though! Keep your rain jacket handy this evening and, unfortunately, most of the weekend. Your freshly planted garden will appreciate it, though!
 

Water cooler

Meg Schiffres at VPM talks to some City employees about the two different collective bargaining papers floating around City Council agendas. Both, ORD. 2021–345 and ORD. 2021–346, are teed up for consideration at this coming Monday’s full Council meeting. I’m really interested in how this plays out and feel like we’ll probably end up with the more expansive, Everyone Gets a Union paper passing—maybe even on Monday night. After that, though, I want to see how a public employees' union works in Richmond, how they flex their muscle, and what kind of improvements they can secure for the work force. Related, perhaps, Kate Masters at the Virginia Mercury reports that last night the Governor revoked each and every state employee’s telework agreement, requiring the entire workforce back into the office by July 5th.
 

Also at the Virginia Mercury, Sarah Vogelsong reports on Dominion Energy’s sleight of hand with the costs they’ve passed down to the consumer as part of Virginia’s membership in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. I can’t even get into the dumb shenanigans the electricity monopoly pulled because I’m too busy being newly anxious about the Governor’s continued plan to pull the Commonwealth out of the RGGI. I can count on less than one hand the number of elected officials that represent me or my region that take climate change seriously, and it’s terrifying.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 60 °F, and today you can expect clouds and highs in the 70s for pretty much the entire day. We might escape rain-free though! Enjoy, because it looks like the chances of that happening over the next couple of days are slim.
 

Water cooler

OK, it’s been a minute, but I finally got around to listening to all of City Council’s budget sessions—you can, and should!, listen to them all at 2x speed by subscribing to The Boring Show podcast. Last week, Council wrapped up their amendment sessions, came to consensus on a final budget and Capital Improvement Plan, and sent Council staff off to finalize all of the budget-related papers for introduction this past Monday. That means this coming Monday, May 9th, at the public hearing, will most likely be your final opportunity to have any sort of say on the FY23 budget (although it’s pretty much a done deal by now). This year felt like an incredibly amicable budget session, with Council and the Mayor’s administration mostly agreeing on mostly everything. While a couple of meetings did get shifted and added to the schedule, we didn’t see contentious arguments stretching into the night, Councilmembers yelling at the administration, or angry speeches from City staff. All things considered, it went pretty smoothly!
 

This year, like nearly every year, really underscores the budget powers of the Mayor. The budget he submits is almost never altered in a substantial way by Council, because, turns out, restructuring an $836 million budget is a ton of work and City Council is a part-time job with hardly any staff. If Council’s priorities diverged from the Mayor’s (which they haven’t really at this point), it’d require a bunch of councilmembers to get on the same page and do a ton of work together leading up to and during the budget session. It’s a lot to ask and doesn’t seem incredibly likely. So, the lesson here for advocates is: If you want something in the budget, you need to start bothering folks about it before the Mayor’s staff starts putting the budget together—basically immediately following the passage of the previous budget.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 58 °F, and you can expect more of the same: Cloudy skies, a chance for rain this afternoon, and highs somewhere in the 80s. Temperatures start to fall tomorrow!
 

Water cooler

May is Bike Month, and that means Bike Walk RVA has put together exactly 6,000 bike and bike-adjacent events throughout the month for your biking pleasure—with more events being added as we speak (probably)! Today we’ve got Bike to School Day, which I mention in this space mostly to alert folks who may be driving around this morning. Please keep a patient eye out for roving packs of kids adorably riding their bikes to school! Later this month, you can sign up for bike ped counts, take part in the mythical pizza crawl, chill with some fellow cargo bike aficionados in Byrd Park, and join folks in Bike to Work Day on May 20th. I love Bike Month, and if I didn’t have any life responsibilities I would attend every single one of these events! Go check out the full list, add some stuff to your calendar, and I’ll see you out there!
 

The Washington Post has an informative set of maps and charts about what happens across the country when the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Virginia is just one of a handful of states in the “no explicit laws protecting or banning abortion” category, which, again, means Democrats' slim 2-seat majority in the State Senate is all that protects the rights of millions of women in the Commonwealth. Patrick Wilson and Andrew Cain at the Richmond Times-Dispatch put it plainly: “Youngkin wants Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.” In Virginia, it’s always an election year, so, like I said yesterday, when you’re next presented with an opportunity to vote for a Democrat you should do so. That 2-seat brick wall in the Senate is far too fragile to even contemplate staying home on Election Day.
 

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.”
 

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.”
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 59 °F, and today looks great. Expect highs in the mid 80s with more of the same tomorrow. Starting Wednesday, though, we could see some rain move in and bring cooler temperatures with it. I definitely (and finally) got the pollen washed out of my screen porch over the weekend, so you’ll find me out there most afternoons—rain or shine!
 

Water cooler

RPS’s School Board meets tonight at 6:00 PM and you can stream the meeting live on their YouTube. They’ll discuss the rezoning plan for River City Middle School, and you can find the full agenda here (which also includes some neat renderings of a new, 1,800-seat George Wythe replacement!). If you’ve been following along, you’ll want to check out this PDF which outlines a few tweaks to last week’s rezoning plan and adds a bucketful of supporting information—like budgets needed to support shifting students around, transportation impacts, and a look forward at potential staffing needs. To address the five-member voting bloc’s bad-faith complaints about not being presented with more than one option, check out pages 11 through 15 which highlight the other options considered by the rezoning committee—each of which the committee felt too disruptive to students. If you’ve got thoughts and feeling about this whole rezoning process, you can show up tonight at Huguenot High School at 6:00 PM to give your public comment in-person or you can email your School Board rep.
 

WTVR’s Tyler Layne reports that RPS’s Chief Operating Officer has resigned, with Superintendent Kamras saying “Despite my best efforts to retain her, she felt she could not effectively perform her duties given the current political climate, in which she has felt harassed, undermined, and demeaned.” As you’d expect, Kamras says everyone should expect delays in operational projects given the reduced staff capacity. The Board’s behavior does have consequences, turns out, and, unfortunately, I don’t think the COO will be the last staff member to quit out of frustration—and who the heck would want to come in and take any of these jobs given everything that’s going on? Like I wrote last week, causing confusion and chaos while reducing the effectiveness of the School District seems to be the end goal of the five-member voting bloc, and I’m not really sure what anyone can do about it.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 40 °F, but this afternoon looks stunning. Expect highs in the 70s, sunshine, drinks on the patio, and charming smiles glowing in the golden hour. The beautiful weather continues straight on through the the weekend, and I hope you get a chance to enjoy it.
 

Water cooler

The fallout continues from the RPS School Board’s decision to prioritize 40 open enrollment seats at Binford Middle, a well-resourced school in an affluent white neighborhood, over the needs of more than 400 Black and Brown students on the City’s Southside. Jessica Nocera at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, on her newly-assigned education beat, has some good coverage of the situation and of yesterday’s press conferences and rallies. An important detail I missed earlier this week: “Binford Principal Melissa Rickey expressed support during Monday’s School Board public comment period for welcoming River City students into her school next fall.” In fact, “the principals of all four middle schools affected by the plan were in favor of the rezoning.” Yet, despite support from principals, the administration, and the community, the School Board’s five-member bloc voted against the plan, citing some hand-wavey, gas-lighty reasons about not being presented with more options. Don’t let them convince you that they’ve had this rezoning plan sprung upon them in a shocking and sudden way! This plan was drafted over the last five months through a community-driven process with plenty of opportunities for those five members to get involved and ask questions. Heck, I’ve known about the meetings for the last forever just because I read the superintendent’s email—and I’m not even on the School Board!
 

Additionally, and like I hoped for yesterday, City Council has started to get involved. NBC12’s Desiree Montilla and A.J. Nwoko covered a press conference outside of River City Middle School hosted by Councilmember Mike Jones, with Councilmember Ellen Robertson and School Boardmember Nicole Jones in attendance. Tap through, watch the video, and then compare and contrast the flat, hollow statements from School Boardmember Jonathan Young about preserving a few open enrollment seats at Binford with the emotional statements from the two Joneses about simply providing a humane and safe learning enviornment for kids on the Southside. I can’t help but see a lot of alignment between Young and the other members of the bloc’s position and the governor’s incessant push for “school choice” at the expense of neighborhood public schools.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 40 °F, and you can expect a windy day with cooler temperatures. It’ll take a couple of days, but, by next week, we should be back up in the 80s. Enjoy the chillier temperatures by spending too much time thinking about when and what to plant in your garden.
 

Water cooler

Yesterday, the four members of RPS’s school board who voted to move forward with rezoning River City Middle School issued a joint statement that you must read (via School Boardmember Nicole Jones’s Facebook). To quote a bit: “The school board prioritized school choice that advantages white and affluent families over the safety and security of Black and Brown students on the southside. We must fight the ugly stain of racism and inequality that interferes with the decision-making of this board…The choice made by five school board colleagues on Monday, effectively abandons 400+ children to overcrowding in River City in order to preserve ~40 open enrollment spaces in one of the better-resourced schools in the district is a clear dereliction of that duty we have to make hard choices. It is overt resource hoarding, and people who purport to be about equity but refuse to make decisions based on the reality of our physical spaces and budgetary constraints are engaging in political theater and nothing more. The entire River City community will pay the price of this unconscionable decision.” I agree with all of this, including the defeated, fatalistic tone. I’m not really sure what, if any, next steps folks in the public have to deal with a School Board majority who seems dead set on destroying the institution they’ve been elected to lead.
 

OK, enough doom and gloom, let’s move on to some possible next steps by different folks:
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 40 °F, and you can expect a windy day with cooler temperatures. It’ll take a couple of days, but, by next week, we should be back up in the 80s. Enjoy the chillier temperatures by spending too much time thinking about when and what to plant in your garden.
 

Water cooler

Yesterday, the four members of RPS’s school board who voted to move forward with rezoning River City Middle School issued a joint statement that you must read (via School Boardmember Nicole Jones’s Facebook). To quote a bit: “The school board prioritized school choice that advantages white and affluent families over the safety and security of Black and Brown students on the southside. We must fight the ugly stain of racism and inequality that interferes with the decision-making of this board…The choice made by five school board colleagues on Monday, effectively abandons 400+ children to overcrowding in River City in order to preserve ~40 open enrollment spaces in one of the better-resourced schools in the district is a clear dereliction of that duty we have to make hard choices. It is overt resource hoarding, and people who purport to be about equity but refuse to make decisions based on the reality of our physical spaces and budgetary constraints are engaging in political theater and nothing more. The entire River City community will pay the price of this unconscionable decision.” I agree with all of this, including the defeated, fatalistic tone. I’m not really sure what, if any, next steps folks in the public have to deal with a School Board majority who seems dead set on destroying the institution they’ve been elected to lead.
 

OK, enough doom and gloom, let’s move on to some possible next steps by different folks:
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 47 °F, and the cold front has arrived! Grab your flannel and Doc Martens, because today’s highs in the 60s won’t even show up until late afternoon. Honestly, looks like some good bike-riding weather out there—see if you can make some time for it!
 

Water cooler

OK, a few more updates on RPS’s School Board meeting on Monday night. First, you can find the full video here. Second, NBC12’s A.J. Nwoko has a good write up of what actually went down and some of the impacts: “But despite the efforts of a rezoning committee established by the district, after five months of planning and community engagement, which recommended rezoning 400 River City students to Boushall, Lucile Brown, and Binford Middle Schools, the board voted 5–4 against the rezoning proposal. Among the criticism of the proposal, many board members brought up concerns regarding the 40 open-enrollment seats Binford Middle School would lose if the rezoning passed.” To summarize where we are now: School Board’s five-member bloc voted against the recommendations of a monthslong community-driven rezoning process to preserve 40 open-enrollment seats at a school in an affluent, mostly-white neighborhood at the expense of hundreds of mostly-not-white kids on the City’s Southside. If this shocks you, you’re not alone. Scrub to about 2 hours and 56 minutes in the aforelinked video and watch both Superintendent Kamras and Chief of Staff Hudacsko’s emotional reactions to the Board’s decision (if you can stomach it). What a toxic work enviornment; your job is not supposed to make you cry! I’m not really sure what the next steps are for the Board or for the public, but the District is pushing up against a deadline to run the open enrollment lottery and notify parents of the results. Obviously, the School Board’s current inequitable decision to do nothing about River City Middle School shouldn’t be their final ones, but, as always seems to be the case with this group, they’re running out of time. 4th District’s Jonathan Young, who voted against the rezoning, mentions maybe holding an emergency vote at the next meeting to vote on some sort of plan? In the meantime, watch as much of the video as you can, email the School Board with your thoughts and feelings, and make sure to copy your Councilperson and their liaison. If you wanted to take it a step further, post a screenshot of your email to the social media platform of your choice.
 

Super related, Jessica Nocera at the Richmond Times-Dispatch says she’s now covering Richmond Public Schools for the paper. Reporters are always looking for folks to talk to about their beat, so if you’re part of an RPS family—especially one with kids at either River City or Binford—maybe hop in Nocera’s mentions and offer to chat about the ongoing rezoning meltdown.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 57 °F, and this morning looks lovely. Later this afternoon, though, expect a few storms to roll through alongside a cold front, washing away these 80 °F afternoons. Highs tomorrow will be about 20 degrees cooler than today!
 

Water cooler

It’s Tuesday and your COVID-19 Community Level in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield is low. 7-day case rates per 100,000 people for each locality as of Sunday are 120, 101, and 112 respectively. Those case rates continue to bounce around, so I’d consider them fluctuating at this point—Richmond’s hit 180 just a couple weeks ago but has dropped, flattened out, and bumped up a bit again. Keep an eye on things, stay vigilant, and be willing to adjust your behavior to match the current coronacontext!
 

RPS’s School Board met last night, and, as usual, I can’t tell what happened and it doesn’t sound great. You can find their agenda here, which includes the River City Middle School Rezoning proposal. River City, which is a brand new building, has already hit its capacity, and the district has worked with parents and stakeholders on a plan for a small rezoning to bring the number of students there down to a safe level. That process has been going on for a while now—at least months according to a quick search of my inbox. However, last night School Board decided not to vote for the rezoning, and I’m not really clear what impact that decision will have on the 1,600 students who attend River City Middle School. I didn’t watch live, but the @KidsFirstRPS feed (which is a large portion of our education reporting at the moment in Richmond) is full of ominous signs: The Superintendent got emotional over the Board’s lack of action, and then offered to work around the clock to get them whatever they might need to move the ball forward. Not great. Note that the Board’s discussion on this didn’t even start until 9:30 PM, which is officially after my bed time and well after any reasonable time a public body should be making important decisions. I’ll try to learn more, and hopefully read some more reporting, in the coming days.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 56 °F, and you should expect another round of hot temperatures—with highs maybe even back up around 90 °F. If you’re spending time outside, remember to wear sunscreen and stay hydrated. Enjoy it while you can, because a cold front rolls through tomorrow and will drop temperatures about 25 degrees.
 

Water cooler

I’ve got a whole bunch of City government stuff to get through this morning, so hold on to your butts!
 

First, City Council will host their second budget amendment session today. I’ll make sure to get that up on the Boring Show in the next couple of days.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 52 °F, and today looks simply stunning. Get excited for highs in the upper 70s—maybe even 80s!—and more of the same both Saturday and Sunday. In fact, depending on how intensely you decide to move your body around, you might even consider Sunday “hot.” Exciting!
 

Water cooler

VPM’s Ian M. Stewart has an interesting report on the state of litter in Virginia that even has some chartsandgraphs for you to dig into. Litter is bad, and I’m always aghast when I see folks just throw trash right on the ground. However, I am pretty convinced that a large portion of urban litter doesn’t end up on the ground because of The Kids These Days and their scofflaw lifestyle, but because we lack sufficient trash cans—and, importantly, we lack the capacity to empty those trash cans when they get full.
 

Meg Schiffres and Sara McCloskey, also at VPM, report that the Commonwealth will shut down its rent relief program on May 15th. I didn’t know this part: “As of March 2022, it has distributed more than $713 million to nearly 105,000 households in Virginia.” That is a ton of money and a ton of impact. That the program will, unfortunately, shut down due to a “surge in applications” really highlights that folks can’t afford their housing—regardless of the pandemic.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 52 °F, and today looks simply stunning. Get excited for highs in the upper 70s—maybe even 80s!—and more of the same both Saturday and Sunday. In fact, depending on how intensely you decide to move your body around, you might even consider Sunday “hot.” Exciting!
 

Water cooler

VPM’s Ian M. Stewart has an interesting report on the state of litter in Virginia that even has some chartsandgraphs for you to dig into. Litter is bad, and I’m always aghast when I see folks just throw trash right on the ground. However, I am pretty convinced that a large portion of urban litter doesn’t end up on the ground because of The Kids These Days and their scofflaw lifestyle, but because we lack sufficient trash cans—and, importantly, we lack the capacity to empty those trash cans when they get full.
 

Meg Schiffres and Sara McCloskey, also at VPM, report that the Commonwealth will shut down its rent relief program on May 15th. I didn’t know this part: “As of March 2022, it has distributed more than $713 million to nearly 105,000 households in Virginia.” That is a ton of money and a ton of impact. That the program will, unfortunately, shut down due to a “surge in applications” really highlights that folks can’t afford their housing—regardless of the pandemic.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 44 °F, and today looks awesome. Expect dry skies and highs in the 70s. This kind of weather continues for the next several days, so get out there and enjoy it as much as you can!
 

Water cooler

I forgot to check yesterday, so here’s your quick update about masks on GRTC buses after a federal judge struck down the CDC’s mandate: From the website, “Masks are no longer required on GRTC buses or in GRTC facilities. GRTC encourages you to wear your mask.” …For now, because, not so fast, the New York Times reports that “The Biden administration announced on Tuesday that it intends to appeal a Florida judge’s ruling that struck down a federal mask requirement on airplanes, trains, buses and other public transportation — but only if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decides that extending the measure is necessary.” After reading the aforelinked article, it really feels like any decisions by the CDC or the Department of Justice would be motivated more by setting legal precedents than public health. That’s interesting stuff, but doesn’t at all help me think though what I should do to keep myself safe and healthy. Anyway, I agree with GRTC and will keep wearing my mask on the bus, probably forever and always. I mean, why not? It’s literally the easiest thing and keeps me from swapping germs with folks—especially during cold and flu season.
 

While I scrolled through the New York Times looking for news about DOJ appealing the mask ruling, I came across this front-page piece on Richmond’s American Rescue Plan investments. The article frames all the incredible, generational spending as a Biden failure because “the program has become a case study in how easily voters can overlook even a lavishly funded government initiative delivering benefits close to home.” Meh, idk, NYT. I’m sure that readers of this particular newsletter did not need to read this article to know that Mayor Stoney has invested a huge amount of ARPA money into build new community centers across the City. We’re all pretty stoked on that, I think. Also, P.S., this is a good example of horse-race journalism, which I’ve written about before, where reporters write about why a candidate will or won’t win an election, and not about the issues voters care about.