Good morning, RVA! It’s 34 °F, but despite the chilly start, highs today—the first day of December—will hit 60 °F. You can expect even warmer weather tomorrow and Friday, so start planning ways to get outside and enjoy it before the sun sets at 4:30 PM or whatever.
Water cooler
Michael Martz and Mel Leonor at the Richmond Times-Dispatch report that Richmond’s Marcus Alert program starts today. Richmond is one of five localities to pilot a Marcus Alert, while the rest of the commonwealth has until July 1st, 2026 to get their programs off the ground. News to me: “The system also will rely initially on existing emergency hotlines, including diverted 911 calls, until a new 988 call line is created next July for a wide range of behavioral health emergencies, including suicide prevention.” Having a separate, non-911 number for the general public to call seems like a huge, practical step in the right direction. However, the state legislation creating and requiring localities to set up a Marcus Alert is not without its shortcomings, and you should tap through to read Princess Blanding’s thoughts. However, Senator McClellan, ever the statesperson, has this to say, “I carried the legislation that would have implemented the system the way she envisioned it and I would have preferred that, but I think any progress is a good first step.” I also enjoyed this quote from Delegate Bourne, “We’ve got to see how this works in practice, and whether we struck the right balance. What we have is hours of talks and compromise.” That’s the reality of how the legislative process works, and I’m glad we we able to take any first step—especially since the next several years do not look especially bright for any progressive legislation like this.
If you can stomach it, the RTD’s Mark Bowes reports on the five pedestrians hit and killed by drivers in Chesterfield County this year. Police, of course, are quick to blame pedestrians for wearing dark clothing or crossing the street while drunk—even though “drivers were charged in two of this year’s crashes; one of them was allegedly driving while intoxicated.” Also of note, four of the five vehicles in these incidents were trucks, SUVs, or big crossovers: a Kia Sorento, Toyota Tundra, Ford Explorer, and a Chevy Tahoe. Unfortunately, our transportation system is currently designed so that there are almost always literal life-or-death consequences for making a mistake while trying to get around our region. This is so broken. If we wanted to, we could design our infrastructure, streets, and vehicles so that people who need to get around at night, or had too much to drink, or are using a wheelchair, don’t end up dead when things don’t go as planned. For whatever horrible reason we’ve accepted these deaths as inevitable. Instead of working to fix the issue—limiting vehicle speed and building safe, separated spaces for people not enclosed in tons of hurtling metal—we tell people to wear a reflective vest and move on.
