Podcasts about civilian review board

Tina Tryggestad, the new La Crosse County Board chair, stopped in the WIZM studio Thursday for La Crosse Talk PM to discuss her new role, planning for the board's five-year strategic plan and new Civilian Review Board. Began the show about how and if the board's work could change as the American Rescue Plan Act funding is basically allocated and there isn't this $22 million from the feds to use. We then got into her becoming the chair (5:30), before getting into the board's meeting Wednesday (7:50) on a five-year strategic plan and what that looks like. In the second half of the show, began (20:20) talking about the makeup of the board and harkening back to something Tryggestad said when she was elected president, about doing away with an 'us vs. them' attitude on the board. Then we got into where the county is at with creating a Civilian Review Board (23:20) to potentially look at police activity in the county. Ended the show (31:00) taking a couple calls, including one on the landfill and another on plastic pollution.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rep. Steve Doyle joins to announce he's running for reelection in the state Assembly and how attack ads backfired in the La Crosse County elections.  Doyle, just reelected to the La Crosse County Board, talks about the fliers that went out attacking him and others and how the results show those tactics just don't work in local elections. Doyle also discusses what both the Republican and Democratic county parties might do, as almost a truce, so as to not deter people from wanting to run for local office. We also discuss some, what seemed like simple legislation, that took Doyle six years to get passed — and with a Republican as the lead sponsor. Wrapped up the conversation talking a bit more about the Civilian Review Board that's being put together.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wisconsin state Assembly Rep. and La Crosse County board member Steve Doyle joins to discuss the details of a civilian review board of law enforcement, the state Legislature's leftover priorities as its off the rest of the year and new voting maps. Doyle represents the 94th Assembly District, which will change to some extent and we talked about those changes and how representatives can best get to know their new constituents. Before that, however, we complained about priorities the state could and should tackle if it were still in session, but the Assembly adjourned last week for the rest of the year, while the state Senate works one more day next month. In the second half of the show, Doyle breaks down what the Civilian Review Board is all about. It was passed recently by the La Crosse County Board and will be more of what Doyle calls a liaison between people and law enforcement. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Good morning, RVA! It's 59 °F, and today looks sunny and wonderful. Expect highs around 80 °F but with a lot less of yesterday's sticky humidity. Looking ahead at this week's exceedingly dry (but lovely!) forecast, and I don't know if yesterday's intermittent sprinkles cut the mustard for all of my outside plants. If I'm late for a meeting or a hangout, it's probably because I'm carrying buckets of water this way and that and lost track of time! Water cooler Cars ruin Carytown. That's just a fact! Cars make Carytown—one of Richmond's densest, most popular urban shopping districts—unsafe and way less fun. This is super apparent when events like the annual Watermelon Festival open Cary Street up to people and everyone loses their minds about how great it is (despite the inevitably sweltering heat). We could make Carytown a place for people, not cars, whenever we wanted—maybe we could even take a baby step (which is way safer on a street without cars) and start with just one Sunday a month. We choose not to do this for some frustrating reason. So if you want to publicly proclaim your frustration while supporting a good cause, you can pick up the 2023 version of the Cars Ruin Carytown T-shirt with proceeds benefiting Richmond City Safe Routes to Schools. As for who holds the levers of power to make this car-free vision an actual reality? I'd say the 1st, 2nd, and 5th District councilmembers, but only if the Carytown Merchants Association gets onboard first. If I had unlimited free time and energy to work on removing cars from Cary Street in any sort of regularly recurring way, I'd start by talking with members of the Merchants Association. While I wait for the City to update their legislative website with last night's Council votes, Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense reports that they easily passed the Casino 2.0 papers, with only 2nd District's Councilmember Jordan voting against. The General Assembly still needs to sort out their feelings on the matter, but, even with that bit still undecided, I think there's an above average chance Richmonders will see another casino referendum on the ballot this November. Spiers also reports that Council approved the operating agreement for the riverfront amphitheatre, too. From my inbox: the Richmond City Democratic Committee released the (semi-surprising) result of their House District 79 and Senate District 14 straw polls ahead of next week's Primary Election. In the 79th, members picked Rae Cousins over current Councilmember Lambert, and in the 14th they chose Katie Gooch over current State Senator Bagby. Fascinating! RCDC is quick to remind you that “the results of this Straw Poll are not a formal endorsement by the Richmond City Democratic Committee, however, it should be regarded as a sign of enthusiasm from RCDC members, democratic voters and activists throughout Richmond for their respective candidates.” You can show your own signs of enthusiasm by early voting at the registrars office until Saturday at 5:00 PM, and then you can vote at your assigned polling place a week from today. Several months ago, City Council posted the Civilian Review Board staff job, and, somehow, I totally missed it. This position is “responsible for coordinating and analyzing the administrative and operational performance of programs and projects related to the Richmond Civilian Review Board.” Honestly, this is probably a pretty critical role in making sure RIchmond's CRB is as effective as possible and would, I think, require a certain type of person to successfully coordinate between the public, the CRB, the police, and the City. If that's you and you want to take the jump into public service, submit an application this week! Tonight at 6:00 PM, you can join RVA Rapid Transit at Common House (303 W. Broad Street) for their State of Transit 2023 Reception. Stop by, learn about the vision for public transportation in our region, and figure out how you can get involved in pushing us towards that vision. If you really want a gold star, you can read through RVA Rapid Transit's 2023 State of Transit report before you show up. Check out page 18 for a quick commentary on building bus stops that should sound familiar if you read last week's longread on the La Sombrita. You might be shocked by how long it takes to install a bus stop shelter! Tonight's event is free, but you should register over on the Eventbrite. This morning's longread When life threatens to become smaller, this is what I do I love Tressie McMillan Cottom's New York Times email, and in this edition she writes some advice for herself. I feel like when a brilliant, incredible person is like “here's some good advice that I try to follow” it's probably worthwhile for the rest of us regular people to listen. Having an end goal for everything I do has had an unintended effect on my choices: It has started to narrow my vision of what's possible to things that I think I can win at doing. This is why I experiment with living life outside of optimization. My job description has a version of not being the best at a few things but finding joy in doing things I am not very good at doing at all. That's why I sing. I suck at it. I love it. Here is a secret. There is no singing authority. Those cops really are in your imagination and you can evict them at any time. If you'd like to suggest a longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol' Patreon. Picture of the Day Still delicious after all these years.

Say Their Names, a community outreach event hosted by Saratoga Black Lives Matter, was held at Congress Park on Friday, May 26th. Food, music, and coloring activities were available. Director of Operations Samira Sangare read a poem to the audience. Those who attended, including Mayor Kim and Kristen Dart, Chairperson of the Civilian Review Board, heard speeches from BLM members Tiemogo TJ Sangare, Chandler Hickenbottom, and Lexis Figuereo. The importance of voting in the upcoming local elections was the main focus at the end of a speech given by Chandler Hickenbottom. When stating "Although we are happy with the resolution that was passed, that's not a ban on no-knock warrants." her brother Lexis was referring to the Saratoga Springs Police Reform Task Force recommendation outlined in the Reinvention Plan: Toward Community Centered Justice Initiative, which requests that “…the Police Department be precluded from initiating no-knock warrants under any circumstance.” The current City Council has addressed the recommendation in the revised resolution adopted in April. No-knock warrants will not be issued under any circumstances to search residences for controlled substances. No-knock warrants can be requested in other cases with extreme circumstances. Detailed facts must be included in the warrant application explaining why an announced warrant would cause imminent danger to human life. To learn more see the links below. By Alisha Washington for the Hudson Mohawk Radio Network. Saratoga Springs City Council restricts no-knock warrants https://www.saratoga-springs.org/DocumentCenter/View/15879/City-Council-Votes-to-Restrict-No-Knock-Warrants?bidId= The Resolution, 2021 https://www.saratoga-springs.org/DocumentCenter/View/12712/Amended_Resolution_203_V3?bidId= To learn more about the Saratoga BLM group… https://linktr.ee/saratogablm?fbclid=IwAR0oQNtGV-P_RAa5dwQgPaAKHT-M3mI3O4jhOqVGYIbNTlJrNIHK3kzu89M Learn more about Darryl Mount and SSPD. https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/A-death-in-Saratoga-but-no-internal-probe-13174766.php

Good morning everyone! It is Wednesday and we have all the news you need plus coffee! Our guests today are Sandra Harrison and Bryan Danial Joseph here to talk about PigmentIntl.com and the upcoming Black Fine Art Month 2022 event taking place this Sunday. Get ready for a great discussion! Here is the news: - The Annual Shred Event will be this Saturday from 8 am until quitting time at 3770 McCoy Drive, Fire Station #8. This is a collaboration between Wards 8, 9 & 10 and their awesome respective alderpersons. If you're a ward resident, come take advantage of this great free service. - Wednesday, October 5th from 7 to 8 pm the Civilian Review Board will hold a meet & greet at Marywood Community Center. Located at 1805 Church road in Aurora, this event is free and open to the public. See the flyer for more details and get involved. - October 16th Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry is hosting their Fill The Bowls event at Gaslite Manor. This will be from 1 to 4 pm and will be a lot of fun! Raffles, a wine pull, live music and great company. For more information or to purchase tickets visit Marie Wilkinson's website here: https://mariewilkinsonfoodpantry.org/ Have a great, motivated and uplifting day! Stay tuned for more great Aurora news, events and culture. Subscribe to the show on YouTube with this link: https://www.youtube.com/c/GoodMorningAuroraPodcast The second largest city's first daily news podcast is here. Tune in everyday to our FB Live from 8 am to 9 am. Make sure to like and subscribe to stay updated on all things Aurora. Twitter: goodmorningaur1 Instagram: goodmorningaurorail Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6dVweK5Zc4uPVQQ0Fp1vEP... Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../good-morning.../id1513229463 Anchor: https://anchor.fm/goodmorningaurora #positivevibes #positiveenergy #downtownaurora #kanecountyil #bataviail #genevail #stcharlesil #saintcharlesil #elginil #northaurorail #auroraillinois #auroramedia #auroranews #goodmorning #goodmorningaurora #comedy #news #dailynews #subscribe #youtube #podcast #spotify #morningnews #morningshow #wednesday #pigmentinternational #BFAM #blackfineartmonth --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/goodmorningaurora/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/goodmorningaurora/support

ACM Eric Batista talks TIF Policy & Enforcement, Civilian Review Board, Denholm Building, ARPA, and more. (June 21st, 2022). Photo credit - City of Worcester

Big episode of Talking Saratoga with Robin, Dan and Adam today with lots of debate and discussion on... The Caroline Street nightlife debate / Gaffney's closure with special guest Robert Millis The appointment of our next Commissioner of Public Works yesterday The Civilian Review Board passed last night by the City Council Adam's return from Poland and Ukraine and his ongoing efforts with Letters of Hope for Ukraine and much more… --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thesaratogapodcast/support

Most parts of Central Virginia were advised to find shelter yesterday afternoon; Some Richmonders say the mayor's Civilian Review Board proposal threatens to weaken the board's power and its independence from police; Regulations have yet to take effect that are aimed at “fast-tracking” the review process for new Civil War signage in Virginia; and other local news stories.

In this episode, we'll be giving updates on our current legislative priorities including - cannabis legalization, Baltimore's Civilian Review Board, public safety, crime and policing.Also - we'll be discussing the Maryland Democratic Party leadership's lack of regard for working class Black people. Dayvon Love will be leading the conversation and be joined by Lawrence Grandpre - Director of Public Policy for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle.Support the show (http://www.lbsbaltimore.com/sustain)

We're halfway through the 2022 MD General Assembly. Dayvon Love will be giving an update on cannabis legalization, the Civilian Review Board, juvenile justice and more.He'll be joined by Andy Ellis from the Baltimore City Green Party.Support the show (http://www.lbsbaltimore.com/sustain)

We're extremely humbled and excited as we have now pierced 82 countries with our podcast.  Thank you to every person who has taken the time to be a part of our broadcasting family.Some interviews are work.  This interview was enjoyable.Taking the witness stand today we have the high privilege and distinct honor to speak with Mr. Art McKoy, a tough-as-nails Vietnam Army veteran who for more than 50 years has been the outspoken lightning rod leader of Black-on-Black Crime Incorporated.Black on Black Crime Incorporated's mission is to help draw attention to the issue of crime, poverty and violence in Greater Cleveland, Ohio. To help make our communities safer, to provide positive alternatives for young people and assist whoever asks for help to the best of its abilities, as well as reducing the incidence of Black-on-Black crime, of course.Art has been an outspoken critic of the Cleveland Police Department, a flag bearer and firebrand for truth, justice and peace in the inner-city of Cleveland, as well as a staunch community activist and civil rights leader for many decades.  He has long “spoken the truth” about the police, both the “over-policing” and “under policing” in communities of color impacting upon the city.  Art is a hope-dealer!  Just landing Art on Light ‘Em Up was a huge achievement. Art's schedule is extremely busy, (we got him for 50 minutes) but he was very gracious to speak with us the day after election day, when Cleveland made history once more by electing its youngest ever Black mayor, Justin Bibb.  Art said, “We needed to get rid of some of those old folks from City Hall - those that “go along to get along”.We drilled deep on:♦ How to move the City of Cleveland forward and the biggest problems that need to immediately be pursued with the new administration.♦ How he'd bring “social justice” closer to the people of Cleveland if he was the Mayor or Chief of Police.♦ What is the City of Cleveland doing about its young men of color being gunned down in its streets?♦ Why the City of Cleveland has a problem with women-of-color going missing.♦ Fixing the Community Relations Board.♦ The Voinovich Rule.♦ Building a coalition between the predominantly Black east side and predominantly White and/or Hispanic west side of Cleveland.♦ His thoughts 9 years after Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams were shot at 137 times and murdered by Cleveland Police.♦ Issue 24 (which established a Civilian Review Board to review Cleveland police actions taken in the line of duty).♦ The endless struggles that the police have in policing themselves.Art knows better than most that Cleveland and communities of color (in general) have been witness to and “are suffering from too much pain.” He is a survivor of a vicious attack in 2018 in the doorway of his own place of business, in East Cleveland (The Superfly Barber Shop) where he was “sucker-punched” by an enraged customer, over a “5-dollar line” (touch-up hair cut) that he was providing to a young patron. The punch shattered Art's lens to his eye, broke his nose and he was left for dead.  6 months later, by the grace of God, he recovered! Art is a survivor, a warrior, and a good man. He is known by the deeds of the people who he has helped.  Art is “pressing forward”.  He knows all too well that “justice comes to those who fight, not those who cry”.  Art has been and always will be to us “The Real McKoy”.  You can find Art on Facebook at The University of Common Sense and you can hear him every Sunday night on WERE 1490 AM from 5pm to 7pm where he hosts The University of Common Sense.  Art for 14 years hosted the #1 radio show “Black on Black Crime” on 1100 AM WTAM.  This is an interview you certainly do not want to miss. Executive ProducerPhil Rizzo

Last week we heard from the city council meeting in Saratoga Springs where a proposed ordinance to adopt a new chapter of the City Code, called the “Community Police Board,” was tabled by Public Safety Commissioner Robin Dalton. In this next segment, Hudson Mohawk Magazine producer Elizabeth Press spoke with Camille Daniels about the process to create a Civilian Review Board in Saratoga Springs.

Good morning awesome and motivated people! We hope you all had a great weekend. We have a blended white mocha this morning and it's very tasty. Let's get into the news, we have a lot to talk about today! - Now yes, this is an Aurora show, but we can give credit where credit is due! Our neighbors Oswego, Yorkville & Kendall county have experienced a lot of growth! Read this article to learn more about the growth and changes taking place in Kendall county. https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/ct-abn-aurora-kendall-county-census-numbers-st-0820-20210822-3zbw67wrprhqzhrjjof7ql3ide-story.html - The Civilian Review Board was created with the purpose of providing civilian review over police complaints, and advice over training. With a diverse team of inspired locals, the board seeks to create and foster constructive dialogue between law enforcement & residents. Read the article here: https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/ct-abn-aurora-board-st-0822-20210820-znj3j4jblfgotb3ufji3wbguay-story.html - Our friends Aurora Public Library, Illinois Foundation are seeking to upgrade our beloved Bookmobile. How will they do this you ask? With YOUR participation in their Lace Up For Literacy virtual 5K. This is taking place from August 30th to September 6th, online, and at your own pace. Many of our community partners have been contributors for many years; let's all come together for our youth and take part! Click this link to register: https://e.givesmart.com/events/mNd/ It's Monday and we're off to a strong start! We have a lot going on this week, tune in each day to learn about what's going on locally. We have a VERY cool event coming up in September so stay tuned for more details. We had a really cool question of the day: "what would you name an orange, if you couldn't call it an 'orange'?" Let us know your answer here in the comments or send it to us at goodmorningaurorail@gmail.com Have a fantastic day and a great week! See you tomorrow at 8 am!

Good morning, RVA! It's 72 °F, and, after this past weekend's blazing hot temperatures, we've got mostly more of the same today. Expect highs in the 90s—but with Feels Likes near 100 °F. Keep your water bottle nearby and prepare yourself for more of this over the next several days.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as: 193, 32, and 9, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 23.3 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 7.6; Henrico: 6.6, and Chesterfield: 9.1). Since this pandemic began, 1,329 people have died in the Richmond region. 44.2%, 55.2%, and 51.5% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. However, the slow work to vaccinate the remaining four million or so Virginians continues! Check out the graph of new folks vaccinated each day, and you can see that after whatever happened with the addition of federal doses (#datareportingissues), the graph has resumed a similarly-sloped slow decent. Still though, 67.8% of adults in the Commonwealth have received at least one does of the COVID-19 vaccine, and we're well on track to hit Biden's 70% by the 4th goal. You can see additional slow-but-steady progress in the graph of local vaccines administered by week. This next phase of the vaccine campaign is totally different! We should find ways to celebrate the progress we're making at this new, more methodical pace. Graphs like this don't help, he says to himself.Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times Dispatch reports that RRHA will give the public a chance to weigh in on the agency's annual and capital plans, which you can read in full over on RRHA's website. These documents are way over my head, but Robinson does a good job of explaining some of the policy shifts RRHA will consider. I'd like to understand the capital plan more, but my brain needs some time to marinate with these PDFs before it can make sense of them.City Council and their related committees have some fun and interesting papers in front of them today that I want to share with you. First, the Organizational Development Committee, which includes all nine members of Council, will meet and consider RES. 2021-R034, the official resolution to declare the 8th District casino proposal as the preferred operator and location. I think this will easily pass in the coming weeks, giving voters a chance to thumbs it up or down in November. Next up, Council will decide whether not to rezone the Southern States Silo from Riverfront District to Central Business District (ORD. 2021–115). Aside from dramatically changing Richmond's skyline, a thoughtful development at this location could do a lot to connect the two sides of the river. Finally, Planning Commission will also meet and hear a presentation on the small area plan for the City Center. They haven't uploaded the actual presentation yet, but I'm excited to see what the Planning folks recommend for the Coliseum wasteland now that Navy Hill is dead and gone. I'll try and remember to snag the PDF so we can all look at it together. Oh, also, Planning Commission will consider ORD. 2021–130, a Special Use Permit that would allow Stoplight Gelato in Jackson Ward to expand to include a brewery run by the Richmond Seltzer Co people. I think that a gelato and a seltzer sounds like a delightfully summery way to finish out a work day or start a weekend.D'Andre Henderson at WRIC reports that a couple dozen Henricoans took to the streets to protest the County's decision to scrap the plans to create a Civilian Review Board. Or, more accurately, they're protesting the lack of support on the Board of Supervisors to even explore creating a Civilian Review Board. I don't know how—if at all—the County would respond to continued pressure on creating a CRB, but I'm here for it!Alert and reminder! Virginia's Democratic primary takes place tomorrow! If you have not voted already, make sure you take some time today to educate yourself and get your ballot settled before heading off to the precinct tomorrow.Local bearded musician Matthew E. White has a new album, K Bay, that, following standard album release protocols, is trickling out new singles. I've had “Genuine Hesitation” on repeat for most of the last week, and you should check it out on Apple Music or Spotify.This morning's longreadOne Month Of Lockdown - Nothing ImprovesRobin Wong is a photographer living in Malaysia, and I've followed his blog for a bunch of years now. Read this most recent post to remind yourself that while the pandemic seems to be receding here in America, that's certainly not the case across the entire world.The only short term solution the government had was to impose lockdowns of various degree, one after another, in hopes to control the movement of the people and bring the number of cases down. We have just implemented full lockdown since 1 June, one week ago. With the number of daily cases not showing any signs of slowing down, and the rate of vaccination being so unbelievably slow, I don't know what else the government will do next. If the numbers don't go down at all, or not fast enough for the next few weeks, or a month, the lockdown is expected to be prolonged. This will be disastrous to everyone here. Many have lost their jobs, and quite frankly there are no happy stories going around lately to talk about. Say we can achieve about 50% of of the people being successfully vaccinated by the end of the year, which is quite an incredible feat by itself considering the efficiency of the current practice, and the numbers start to come down. Will there be anything else to go back to after that? Will the country still be even standing?If you'd like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol' Patreon.Picture of the DayMagnolias are so strange and beautiful.

Good morning, RVA! It's 58 °F, and you can expect temperate highs in the 80s today followed by a chance for storms this evening. Same deal for the next couple of days, too. Maybe most of the rain will miss us?Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as: 262, 43, and 16.3, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 29.9 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 5.4; Henrico: 14.3, and Chesterfield: 10.1). Since this pandemic began, 1,328 people have died in the Richmond region. 43.5%, 54.3%, and 50.7% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Good-looking averages continue! I do want to raise a tiny yellow flag that these numbers may go up in the coming days as folks shake off the long weekend and get back to entering data into spreadsheets. Prepare yourself for that, and don't freak out too much if it happens.As things here shift out of the pandemic and into whatever the next phase of American life looks like, I think it's important to remember that a lot of places around the world are still fighting a horrible battle with COVID-19. Here's a short New York Times piece checking in with the places across the globe who are shutting down schools and re-entering a summer lockdown.Yesterday, I mentioned a forthcoming way to get involved in planning the next phase of RVA Bike Share, and then someone sent me the this survey you can fill out that includes a map of proposed locations for new stations. I asked and then received! I can't find an official link to the survey on the City's website, so maybe take with you a tiny grain of salt? Anyway, the included map divides the city into six pizza-pie slices instead of the typical north, south, east, and west quadrants, which is clever. I don't think I've seen anyone do that before, and it matches my mental model of “parts of the city” pretty well. It's great to finally see a handful of stations south of the river, a few on the Northside, and a decent-sized expansion into the East End (see, there I go with quadrants). The middle of the Fan is conspicuously absent of stations, just as it's conspicuously absent of useful public transit. And, if it were me, I'd move one of the Brookland Park Boulevard stations over to Brook Road. Honestly, other than a few quibbles, the map looks pretty good. We'll see how quickly the Department of Public Works can run this engagement process, finalize the station locations, and then get the stations on the ground.The Richmond Times-Dispatch's Michael Paul Williams writes about Richmond and Henrico's attempts to put together Civilian Review Boards. Williams does a good job in this piece of tying local and national events together to paint a bleak picture of our leaders' willingness to hold police accountable for their actions: “The electability of any politician is predicated on public safety — or more specifically, the perceived safety of white people. And America always has had a short attention span and limited endurance when it comes to sustaining the work of social justice.”Also in the RTD, Holly Prestidge has a nice piece about Front Porch Cafe's in-person reopening. Check this out: “On top of the cafe being a valuable resource for the community, none of the roughly eight Front Porch employees lost their jobs during that time last year…” I'm really interested in how restaurants that have started to reopen attract and retain employees. Will things go back to the way they were? Will they be any different? I guess this conversation, and a million other ones, are, in some ways, parallels to the police Civilian Review Board conversation above.Richmond's Department of Public Utilities has opened up their second phase of utility relief funding, which comes from CARES Act money. If you've fallen behind on your utility bills as a result of…all of this…tap the previous link and fill out the application right now. It's a first-come, first-served situation and the program launched yesterday, so if you're planning to apply you better get after it.Brent Baldwin at Style Weekly answers a question I've had for a couple of days now: What happens to all of these outdoor concerts that already sold tickets before the Governor lifted capacity caps? Sounds like most promoters and organizers will leave things be for this season, rather than switch things up after folks already bought tickets. I'm personally not ready for this, but as Baldwin says: “If vaccinated, why not dive back in fully? I can't think of a sweatier, booty bumpin' show more likely to get up close and personal than New Orleans' queen of bounce, Big Freedia, performing June 11 at Richmond Music Hall.”Via /r/rva this map of the shortest routes by road to Richmond from anywhere in Virginia. It definitely reminds me of blood vessels or trees—take your pick.This morning's longreadHome Truths: How HGTV, Magnolia, and Netflix Are Building a Massive Space in the StreamI don't know why, but I will always read something about home improvement TV shows and people—I don't even watch any of this stuff!And there are emerging competitors in the TV market, like the upcoming Magnolia Network—a television outlet under the lifestyle company started by former HGTV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines—and Netflix, which is swiftly erecting structures on the territory first settled by HGTV. If one wanted to, as I often have, one could spend whole weeks awash in nothing but discourse about marble countertops versus quartz ones, bearing happy witness to the ongoing wars between Shaker cabinets and the equally craved and dreaded open shelving. (Dreaded by me, anyway; I could never abide such a constant invitation to gaze at my own disorganization.) The domestic-design media boom has turned the idea of home into something terribly adaptable, full of possibility and never quite nice enough.If you'd like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol' Patreon.Picture of the DayCan you make tea from hops?

Good morning, RVA! It's 53 °F, and today looks lovely—in fact, NBC12's Andrew Freiden say today's your best day of the week weatherwise. Expect highs in the 80s, low humidity, and not a bit of rain. Looks like severe weather could be in the forecast later this week, though, so organize your out-of-doors calendar accordingly.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as: 347, 45, and 17.6, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 44.6 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 6.6; Henrico: 18, and Chesterfield: 20). Since this pandemic began, 1,329 people have died in the Richmond region. 43.5%, 54.3%, and 50.7% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.Over in vaccine world, we are so, so close to reaching President Biden's goal of 70% of adults with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by July 4th. Right now, according to the VDH dashboard, 67.0% of Virginians 18 and and older have had their first jab. I'd said to mark your calendars for June 12th, but we may cross the 70% threshold even sooner. As per always, data reporting issues continue to ruin my pretty little graphs and have made unclear, at least to me, the picture of how many new people are getting vaccinated each day in the Commonwealth. That number's not falling off a cliff though, so that's something. Locally—defined as Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield—I don't think we'll hit Biden's goal by the 4th, but we'll be close. Check out our creeping progress towards (mostly) that goal on this chart. I can't find daily, 18+ vaccination data for localities on VDH's dashboard, so this is what I've got!Over the weekend, Jessica Nocera at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on the now-faltered effort to create a Civilian Review Board in Henrico County. Disappointing stuff: “For now, [Supervisor] Nelson said if there is a different Board of Supervisors in a few years, maybe the civilian review board would come back for consideration.” Nelson had led the effort to create the County's CRB, but met a lack of support from the police and, more importantly, from the rest of the Board of Supervisors. Rather than push forward and end up with something with no actual power or authority to, you know, review the police, Nelson has decided to hang it up until he's joined by a few more progressive boardmembers. Local elections, y'all! So important.Also in the RTD, Chris Suarez reports that Richmond's bike share system may finally expand beyond its 17ish stations. I mean, sure, that sounds awesome. Although, it's sounded awesome for a bunch of years now, and somehow we have fewer stations than we did when the system launched. When it comes to Richmond's bike share system, I'm in definite believe-it-when-I-see-it mode . Suarez says we should have some opportunities to weigh in on the locations for the new stations soon and that the City will look in to providing RRHA residents with free memberships. Free bus fares plus free bike share memberships (and an expanded bike share network) would really open up some transportation options for folks with lower-incomes. I'm excited to see if we can make all of these pieces work together in a cohesive system.Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense asks a big question that I also have: “What's next for Bow Tie Cinemas site after failed pitch to become a casino?” While the owners don't have an answer yet, the property is zoned TOD-1 which allows for all sorts of fun things that would be more interesting than the expansive parking lot currently in place. I'm hopeful!I don't know quite what to make from this chart of endorsements Ned Oliver put together in the Virginia Mercury, but I just spent too long playing with it this morning. I think one of the interesting things to me is how there's no solidified McAuliffe ticket.Northsiders and park lovers! The Bryan Park Bike Races return tonight after a one-year COVID hiatus. This means that from 5:30–8:00 PM on Tuesdays throughout the summer you should expect to see portions of the park's paths closed off and people on bikes zipping around in a circle. If you've got a planned Tuesday evening stroll or roll, adjust accordingly! This is the 47th season of these races, which is incredible.This morning's longreadI'm Not Scared to Reenter Society. I'm Just Not Sure I Want To.I'm way into the title of this piece.You could admit that you'd accomplished nothing today, this week, all year. Having gotten through another day was a perfectly respectable achievement. I considered it a pass-fail year, and anything you had to do to get through it—indulging inappropriate crushes, strictly temporary addictions, really bad TV—was an acceptable cost of psychological survival. Being “unable to deal” was a legitimate excuse for failing to answer emails, missing deadlines, or declining invitations. Everyone recognized that the situation was simply too much to be borne without occasionally going to pieces. This has, in fact, always been the case; we were just finally allowed to admit it.If you'd like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol' Patreon.Picture of the Day

Good morning, RVA! It's 65 °F, and we've got a cold front moving through this afternoon. Expect a chance of rain, maybe some thunderstorms, and then chilly temperatures—like in the 50s—until Monday. You probably need to find socks again.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as: 360, 37, and 12.3, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 32.9 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 4.9; Henrico: 14.3, and Chesterfield: 15.7). Since this pandemic began, 1,315 people have died in the Richmond region. 42.8%, 53.3%, and 49.8% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Here's this week's stacked chart of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. After the steep slide down from this winter's horrible coronapeak, the last couple weeks of the statewide hospitalizations graph has to be one of the most hopeful charts I've seen in a while. Clearly fewer and fewer people are ending up in the hospital due to COVID-19, which is the whole point.Well, without much fanfare, all of the Governor's COVID-19 distancing and capacity restrictions lifted overnight. Here's a tweet from the Governor which says, “All remaining COVID-19 mitigation measures related to distancing and capacity are lifted.” Here's the newish Executive Order 79, which is mostly about masks, but does contain a line near the bottom about terminating Executive Order 72. If you were doing any of the the things in Executive Order 72—things like keeping tables six feet apart or limiting number of people at an indoor show—I guess you can just stop now? Seems like a big deal and like something folks will have lots of questions about moving forward. I…anticipate more from the Governor at some point. According to my inbox, at 10:00 AM today, the Governor will “join President Joe Biden to celebrate summer as Virginia lifts all COVID-19 distancing and capacity restrictions.”Hey! Important reminder: Today is the last day that you can request an absentee ballot to vote in the June 8th primaries! You can do that right here, and it takes just a minute.Whoa, whoa, whoa Richmond Together. First a helpful commonwealth's attorney questionnaire and now a sheriff questionnaire? What next?? If you would like to be a better-informed voter when your recently-requested absentee ballot shows up, you can read through incumbent Antoinette Irving's responses here and challenger William Burnett's responses here.Another important reminder while I'm reminding you of things: The Department of Public Works's new bike lane survey closes this coming Sunday. If you haven't yet filled it out, please do so! While a lot of the conceptual designs for the proposed new bike lanes are great (and more bike lanes is almost always more better), some of them could benefit from better physical protection and, in a few cases, narrower travel lanes. If you agree (or if you disagree!) get in there and leave your comments. The designs are just conceptual at this point, so there aren't a ton of wrong answers (one wrong answer being, of course, “fewer bike lanes, please”).Ali Rockett at the Richmond Times-Dispatch covers some of the back-and-forth between the Richmond Police Department and the task force putting together the Civilian Review Board. I have a few unconnected thoughts after reading that piece. First, if representatives from the police department wanted to be at these task force meetings they could have—I knew about the meetings, y'all knew about the meetings, it wouldn't have been hard for RPD to make it a priority to attend. Second, take two minutes and watch the video on the RTD's website to catch the Chief's tone and body language (or watch the entire meeting here). He looks defensive, he interrupts, it doesn't make me feel great. All of our local public servants leaders like this should log on to a School Board meeting and take notes on how Superintendent Kamras and his team receive critical feedback from the public and the Board. It's quiet, respectful, and you feel like they're actually listening. Third, Rockett reports that the task force lacks the funding and human-power to get some of the basics of their work done, which seems real bad: “In an unrelated discussion, more frustrations boiled over when the group learned its request for funding for a website and a research assistant was unlikely. The task force's discussions are frequently mired by procedural bureaucracy that its members, all of whom are volunteers, aren't sure how to navigate.”Chesterifeldians! VPM's Ian Stewart reports that the County will kick off a rewrite of their zoning ordinance in the coming weeks and months. As we all know, zoning is one of the most powerful tools to prevent affordable housing, density, climate-friendly development, and transit-accessible neighborhoods. Getting it right can really encourage thriving neighborhoods; getting it wrong can curse a place with decades of strip malls and six-lane stroads. While I don't think Chesterfield's out here trying to ban single-family zoning or anything, a group of organized individuals could probably push the zoning rewrite in a more progressive direction. Maybe those individuals already exist? If so, I'd like to subscribe to their newsletter.It's already sold out, so don't get your hopes up, but GWAR has teamed up with Catoctin Creek Distilling to make Ragnarök Rye whiskey. This paragraph from the Virginian-Pilot gets it right: “Ragnarök Rye is fire and it is whiskey. It is blood magic. It is overproof rye with the terrifying flavors of… delicate sugar maple? And cherrywood?”Logistical note! Monday is Memorial Day, and I'll be taking the day off from this morning email to sleep in a little and make a few tweaks to my morning email process! Never not thinking about the morning email! I hope you find time to rest, recalibrate, and celebrate Memorial Day in whatever way you choose.This morning's longreadCan Removing Highways Fix America's Cities?Not that I believe Democrats in Congress have the votes to pass any exciting and progressive legislation, but part of President Biden's infrastructure plan includes money for repairing some of the damage done to cities by urban highways. Capping I-95/64 on the north side of the city is even in our newly adopted master plan! Could be cool (but I will not get my hopes up).And the big fear of removing a highway — terrible traffic — hasn't materialized. Lovely Warren, who has served as Rochester's mayor since 2014, said the project is proof the city can undo some of its mistakes. In the past, “we created a way for people to get on a highway and go directly out of our community,” she said, adding that highways also created “barriers that were really detrimental to the communities left behind.” Now, Rochester is trying a different approach: Instead of moving people in and out of downtown as quickly as possible, the city is trying to make downtown a more livable place. The highway removal and other deconstruction projects are part of a long-term plan for a city still struggling to come back from years of economic and population decline.If you'd like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol' Patreon.Picture of the DayEnd of spring.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and today you can expect too-hot highs in the 90s for much of the day. Later this evening we could see some severe thunderstorms roll through, but it won’t do much to cool things off. Temperatures return to springlike this weekend, so, until then, accept the sweat and stay hydrated!Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as: 418, 39, and 13.6, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 44.6 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 6.6; Henrico: 18.0, and Chesterfield: 20.0). Since this pandemic began, 1,322 people have died in the Richmond region. 42.5%, 52.9%, and 49.4% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. I rewrote the top of this email! What do you think? I may keep tweaking it over the next couple of weeks—thrilling stuff!Yesterday, Moderna announced that it plans to submit some new data to the FDA and will seek Emergency Use Authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages 12 through 17 in early June. The Washington Post has more details. This would be big news, even though we have loads of Pfizer laying around for this age group; the Pfizer vaccine is just so challenging to work with. Expanded authorization of Moderna would make things easier for folks on the ground who are still out there planning vaccination events and jabbing arms.I didn’t expect this! The Roanoke Times reports that “students, faculty and staff at Virginia’s community colleges will not be required to be vaccinated to be on campus this fall.” Hmmm, I wonder that that means.Whoa, Ali Rockett and Chris Suarez in the Richmond Times-Dispatch have an entire piece today, titled “Mayor Levar Stoney wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times reflecting on last summer. Here’s what he left out:,” point-by-pointing fives specifics the Mayor included in his recent column. I think I agree with most of these fives things and, if it had been me after this past summer in Richmond, I definitely would not have written a national opinion piece with the same tone. That said, it was just that: an opinion piece. The Mayor doesn’t have to mention his current tussles with the Civilian Review Board or the ongoing investigation about the cost of tearing down the monuments. He can tell his story how he wants, which most certainly casts himself as this summer’s hero. You can disagree with his telling of events, but I do think the NYT piece probably accomplished the Mayor’s political goals and raised his profile—especially among Virginians outside of Richmond. I do appreciate the local journalists who put this together to provide a more complete picture for readers of what happened a year ago.Richmond Together has put out a thoughtful candidate questionnaire for the Commonwealth’s Attorney race, and you can read the responses from incumbent Colette McEachin and challenger Tom Barbour. Have I ever read a candidate questionnaire for Commonwealth’s Attorney before? I’m not sure. If you haven’t either, take the opportunity to do so today—especially if you’re not even sure what the Commonwealth’s Attorney does. This questionnaire and the responses will give you a good idea for some of the roles and responsibilities one of these two candidates will have once elected.VPM’s Roberto Roldan reports on the Valentine Museum’s struggle to come to terms with the racist history of its namesake, sculptor Edward Valentine. I like local scholar Ana Edwards’s quote in this piece, "They all started off as institutions born into, if not the Confederacy per se, certainly the white supremacist South…That’s where they come from, that’s where their money comes from, that’s where their sensibility comes from.”Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense reports on “the start of construction of a 36-home section at Armstrong Renaissance, the massive redevelopment of the 22-acre site along North 31st Street in Richmond’s East End.” Armstrong Renaissance is by far my favorite new development in the entire city—it’s beautiful, mixed-income, and has a lovely blend of density all set just a few feet from a decent bus line. I mean, check out these totals for the entire development: “130 income-based rental units, 90 apartments for seniors, and the 36 for-sale homes for both lower-income and market-rate buyers.” Sounds great, now do this everywhere.Today the City’s Governmental Operations committee will meet and take up a deeply nerdy ordinance that will officially change the logo of the City from the brassy skyline, James River, and bridge situation, to the more contemporary silhouette of the bateau boatman (ORD. 2021–128). This doesn’t really impact anything or any one, as the new logo is already in use, I just think it’s neat reading the in-ordinance text descriptions of the old and new logos.This morning’s longreadThe Dark Side of Congo’s Cobalt RushCobalt is in probably two or three things you’re touching right now or can see from where you’re sitting.The man stopped digging in his yard. Instead, he cut through the floor of his house, which he was renting, and dug to about thirty feet, carting out ore at night. Zanga Muteba, a baker who then lived in Kasulo, told me, “All of us, at that time, we knew nothing.” But one evening he and some neighbors heard telltale clanging noises coming from the man’s house. Rushing inside, they discovered that the man had carved out a series of underground galleries, following the vein of cobalt as it meandered under his neighbors’ houses. When the man’s landlord got wind of these modifications, they had an argument, and the man fled. “He had already made a lot of money,” Muteba told me. Judging from the amount of ore the man had dug out, he had probably made more than ten thousand dollars—in Congo, a small fortune. According to the World Bank, in 2018 three-quarters of the country’s population lived on less than two dollars a day.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.Picture of the DayAn adventure is afoot!

Good morning, RVA! It’s 71 °F already, and temperatures today should heat up just a little more. At some point, a cold(er) front will move through and maybe even bring some rain with it!Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 236 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 9 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 29 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 7, Henrico: 16, and Richmond: 6). Since this pandemic began, 1,320 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 406. The NYT reports that, countrywide, new COVID-19 cases have dropped to levels not seen since last summer.Over in vaccine world, first, check out the graph of new people in Virginia with at least one dose and see how a change in VDH’s reporting has made this graph…less satisfying to look at. A couple days back, VDH started including doses administered by the federal government into this dataset (specifically the Bureau of Prisons, Department of Defense, Indian Health Service, and Veterans Administration). This resulted in a massive, one-time spike and an unknown daily increase in folks with at least one dose. I’m bummed because now I can’t tell if the increase in folks getting their first dose is a result of this new reporting change or because a bunch of kids 12–15 decided to get vaccinated. Maybe that latter thing is better represented in this graph of total doses administered locally, in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield. We’ve seen a pretty sizable increase in total jabs, and, while I have no way of knowing, doesn’t seem like it’s 100% explainable by adding in federal doses. Finally, I updated this graph to reflect progress towards 70% of local folks vaccinated instead of 75% (I also made it a bit easier on the eyes).Mayor Stoney has a reflective column in the New York Times as part of their series on George Floyd and America. I think a lot of local folks are going to take issue with the Mayor’s retelling of events in this piece. There are a handful of pro-police hedges and qualification that will rub some people—myself included—the wrong way. The Virginia Mercury’s Graham Moomaw points out the worst of these on Twitter: framing the RPD’s use of tear gas as unintentional in the New York Times when, over the summer, we were all told something entirely different.Kind of related, Ali Rockett at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the task force setting up the Civilian Review Board, touted by Stoney in that NYT piece, is frustrated with the Richmond Police Department’s lack of input and involvement: “Only after applying public pressure in the form of a tweet has the task force heard any response from [Police Chief] Smith.” Apparently the taskforce has asked the chief to get involved for at least a month with no luck. This quote from a task force member is particularly damning: "At some point, the unwillingness to engage with this body does start to feel like arrogance. I don’t think we can overlook it…If you’re watching a task force creating a civilian review board that could potentially just co-opt your authority, and there’s nothing. It makes me feel like they don’t believe it or they’re just not going to deal with it. They think they can get out of it.” The task force meets again on Wednesday, so we’ll see if Chief Smith shows up.City Council will tackle a handful of interesting items today at both their informal and formal meetings. First, the Mayor’s team will give a presentation on the revised Equity Agenda. The presentation includes five general examples of the changes they’ll make, but I haven’t found an actual updated document yet. When it exists I’ll let you know. Then, at their formal meeting and as part of the more intense Regular Agenda, Council will consider RES. 2021-R026 (the embarrassing Richmond 300 “amendments”), RES. 2021-R027(getting rid of parking minimums), and RES. 2021-R028 (saying out loud that they’d like to put $7.1 million from the American Rescue Plan money into the Affordable Housing Trust Fund). I bet we will not see all three of these pass tonight—in fact, it looks like the Richmond 300 amendments have already been continued to the June 28th meeting.If you’re into beer, Paste Magazine has a review of (all?) 37 breweries in the greater Richmond area. I like how this piece opens, remembering that before the General Assembly relaxed the laws regulating breweries we had a grand total of one single brewery for the longest time. For what seems like forever, we all just drank a ton of Legend Brown—as if having a brown ale as your city’s flagship local beer is a normal thing.Via /r/rva this lovely golden-hour drone photo of the river, the skyline, some bridges, and something going on at Brown’s Island. It’s about to be summer, y’all!This morning’s longreadWhy Confederate Lies Live OnClint Smith writes about the persistent Lost Cause narrative and begins his story at Blandford Cemetery down in Petersburg.We left the church, and a breeze slid across my face. Many people go to places like Blandford to see a piece of history, but history is not what is reflected in that glass. A few years ago, I decided to travel around America visiting sites that are grappling—or refusing to grapple—with America’s history of slavery. I went to plantations, prisons, cemeteries, museums, memorials, houses, and historical landmarks. As I traveled, I was moved by the people who have committed their lives to telling the story of slavery in all its fullness and humanity. And I was struck by the many people I met who believe a version of history that rests on well-documented falsehoods.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.Picture of the Day

The gals speak with Dr. Eli Coston and Angela Fontaine, co-chairs of the Task Force to create a Civilian Review Board for the City of Richmond.

City Manager Ed Augustus talks Polar Park Opening, Civilian Review Board, and Trash & Recycling (May 18th, 2021). Photo from Chris Christo / MediaNews Group / Boston Herald.

00:00 Show Open / Latoya Peterson, Associate State Director of Advocacy for Ohio AARP, discusses health and safety issues in the state's nursing homes. 13:00 Courtesy of our sister station, WBNS 10-TV, Tracy Townsend presents information about candidates running for Congress in Ohio; the Civilian Review Board in Columbus and what it can learn from a similar entity in Cincinnati; and the effort to reduce gun violence in Columbus. 41:00 Duane Casares, CEO of Directions for Youth & Families, discusses back-to-work issues while navigating the pandemic.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 41 °F, but today’s forecast looks incredible. Expect highs in the mid 70s from this morning straight through until this evening. Saturday looks equally incredibly, but we might see some rain move in on Sunday. Get your rides, runs, rolls, or walks in tomorrow!Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 579 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 27 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 62 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 30, Henrico: 17, and Richmond: 15). Since this pandemic began, 1,302 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 619. Alright, dang, we have a lot of coronanews to get through this morning—and none of it is directly related to vaccines! First, here are this week’s stacked graph of new reported cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, plus the combined graph of the regional seven-day average of new reported cases. Both graphs, in all ways, show big, good drops across the board. I’m sure these graphs, or ones just like them, are why the governor will loosen a bunch of restrictions on gatherings beginning tomorrow, May 15th. Did you want to hang out with 1,000 people in a 2,000-capacity room? Tomorrow you can!And maybe soon, depending on your vaccination status, you can even hang out with those 1,000 people in a room while not wearing a mask. Yesterday, the CDC announced a major change in their mask-wearing guidance for folks who have been fully vaccinated: “You can resume activities without wearing a mask or staying 6 feet apart, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.” There are a few caveats—like while traveling, riding transit, or in a healthcare setting—but, basically, if you’re fulling vaccinated CDC says you can go maskless wherever, whenever. If we’re getting pedantic about it, it does sound like the Governor’s current mask-related Executive Order supersedes this guidance, meaning you are still requried to mask-up while indoors in Virginia. But I’m sure the Gov’s legislative brains are quickly throwing together a new update to that EO given this tweet from him last night: “Virginia will continue to follow CDC guidelines as we have done throughout this pandemic. We are reviewing the new mask and distancing recommendations and will update our guidance accordingly.” I have a lot of questions! What does the lack of distance requirements mean for schools—or really any event with an indoor capacity cap? What about people who can’t get vaccinated—which until yesterday included every American under the age of 16? How will “fully vaccinated” be verified or enforced? Check out this ominous quote about the Governor of Oregon in the New York Times: “Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon emphasized that the state would not be operating on an honor system. She said that the health department would soon provide fresh guidance for businesses, employers and others ‘to allow the option of lifting mask and physical distancing requirements after verifying vaccination status.’” At it’s core, I think “the vaccines are so good that if you’re fully vaccinated you can live your life” is true, backed-by-science, and strong messaging. I still have lots of questions around the edges, though. If you’ve been waiting, now is as good of a time as any to visit vax.rchd.com or vaccines.gov and schedule an appointment to get vaccinated.Ali Rockett at the Richmond Times-Dispatch was on hand yesterday when the Mayor and City Council held a combined press conference—a real rarity these days!—to declare gun violence a public health crisis. It sounds like a resolution declaring exactly that will get introduced at an upcoming Council meeting. While resolutions like this are, of course, non-binding, they do give public health officials and organizations some firmer ground to stand on when asking for money, support, or better legislation.What’s the CRB Task Force been up to over the past couple of months as they work to put together Richmond’s first attempt at a Civilian Review Board? Well, if you’re the type of person who listens to public meetings for fun (high five!) you can now listen to recordings of all their meetings dating back to April 6th. Someone do this and then report back!The RTD’s Wayne Epps has a nice story about Angelo Washington, a local mountain biker who competes nationally at some of the highest amateur levels. I can definitely empathize with being suddenly sucked into biking—although not downhill mountain bike racing, way too intense for my old bones! You can find Washington at Riverrock this weekend, riding, teaching, and shredding trails.Eileen Mellon at Richmond Magazine reports that Africanne on Main will move from its 2nd Street location to the old Pit & The Peel spot at 1102 W. Main Street. First, the story behind Africanne on Main is fascinating. Second, her move deep into VCU sounds brilliant: “…one of the things I’ve been contemplating doing is taking the restaurant to 70% vegetarian and I know the VCU students have a huge community for vegans and vegetarians.” Third, if you haven’t been yet, you need to put it on your list! Finally, I’m inspired by Chef MaMusu, who knows what she wants to accomplish and can see how those things will play out—and even end—over the next couple of years.This morning’s longreadThe Gatekeepers Who Get to Decide What Food Is “Disgusting”This piece about “disgusting” food took me on a journey!The Museum of Failure was a resounding commercial success, attracting visitors from across the world and attention from the Times, the Washington Post, and National Geographic. By 2018, though, West was on to his next project, after reading an article about how reducing beef consumption could slow climate change. The piece explained that a dire problem could be eased by a simple solution—eating insects, a good source of protein—but that the First World had rejected this idea out of disgust. West realized that if the experience of failure had expedited human innovation, then the experience of disgust was potentially holding us back. Could that aversion be challenged or changed? “I just wanted to know, Why is it that even talking about eating certain things makes my skin crawl?” he told me, animatedly, over Zoom.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.Picture of the Day

00:00 Show Open / Dr. Parker Huston, a psychologist with Nationwide Children's Hospital, discusses the hospital's "On Our Sleeves" Program, for which he is the Clinical Director. 24:00 Courtesy of our sister station, WBNS-10TV, Tracy Townsend has information about efforts to reform police policies; the new Civilian Review Board in Columbus; and presents an interview with Northeast Ohio Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan, who is running for the U.S. Senate. 52:00 Matt MacLaren, Director of "Ohio. Find It Here" - the state's tourism division.

This week we speak with Hana, one of the foremost organizers in Columbus. She is one of the founders of Black Abolitionist Collective Ohio and co-director for Central Ohio Freedom Fund. Hana has been organizing since 2016 when 13-year-old Tyre King was murdered by Columbus police officer Bryan Mason. Current List of Community Demands: The termination, arrest and indictment of officers Jason Meade, Andrew Howe and Nicholas Reardon for the murders of Casey Goodson Jr., Miles Jackson and Ma'Khia Bryant. Revocation of the pensions of Jason Meade, Adam Coy, Andrew Howe and Nicholas Reardon. Full transparency and accountability in the investigations of the deaths of Casey Goodson Jr., Miles Jackson and Ma'Khia Bryant by the hands of law enforcement. Franklin County Sheriff and Columbus Division of Police cover the funeral expenses of Casey Goodson Jr., Miles Jackson and Ma'Khia Bryant. The immediate resignation of Franklin County Sheriff, Dallas Baldwin. The immediate termination of Deputy Chief Quinlan in relation to his continued negligence in holding his officers accountable for murdering, terrorizing, and brutalizing the Black community and those who support them. The immediate resignation of Mayor Andrew Ginther. Commitment from Franklin County Commissioners to divest from Franklin County Sheriff's office. Commitment from Columbus City Council to divest from Columbus Police Department. Commitment from the Civilian Review Board to investigate and hold CPD accountable for their continued crimes against the Black Community and those who support them. Follow + support Hana's work: *Black Abolitionist Collective Ohio @baco.614 *Central Ohio Freedom Fund @centralohfreedomfund *Hana @harmony.yz --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/columbus-cant-wait/message

Good morning, RVA! It’s 65 °F, and today’s weather looks a lot like yesterday’s. Expect highs in the 90s and a chance for thunderstorms later in the day. Stay cool, stay dry, and stay safe.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 611 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 16 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 90 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 35, Henrico: 29, and Richmond: 26). Since this pandemic began, 1,286 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 999. Whoa, what’s this? A barely three-digit seven-day average of new reported cases! The last time that happened was way back on October 20th. This, for some brains-are-weird reason, feels like real progress to me. The number of deaths is still pretty high, though. I know I’ve done the flu-comparison math before, but I think it’s helpful to revisit it. According to the CDC, Virginia had an “influenza/pneumonia” death rate of 11 per 100,000 people back in 2019. If you take today’s seven-day average of COVID-19 deaths (14.4), multiply it by 365 (5,256), and then divided it by 85.35 (the state’s population divided by 100,000), you get 61.58. According to this quick and shoddy math, that’s a coronadeath rate about 5.6 times higher than that of the 2019 flu. That year, 1,100 people died from “influenza/pneumonia”, which is about three people per day, if you want to look at it that way.Huge vaccine news in the New York Times: “The Food and Drug Administration is preparing to authorize use of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in adolescents 12 to 15 years old by early next week.” Dang that was fast! I have no idea how many 12–15 year olds exist in Virginia or in our region, but I’m sure it’s thousands and thousands—and I’m sure many of them are stoked to get vaccinated (including the one I live with). The NYT also says to expect a similar announcement from Moderna soon. Get excited for another, smaller flurry of vaccine news and for some interesting reporting on what adolescent vaccination means for this fall’s school year.I haven’t yet listened to (or posted to The Boring Show) yesterday’s two budget sessions, but will do so today. Also, looking at the City’s legislative calendar, I see they’ve added another budget session today at 3:00 PM. The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Chris Suarez did listen in yesterday and reports that Council agreed on raises for all city employees and did it in a way that has support from the Mayor’s administration. Given how employee salary conversations have gone over the past couple weeks with this group, a compromise acceptable by both sides seems like a big win. Other updates from yesterday: The Civilian Review Board will get funded at about $200,000 and the Affordable Housing Trust Find will have to wait until the American Rescue Plan money rolls in. One note about the CRB: I don’t know if that $200,000 is funding for half a year or a full year, but neither number is close to the “about 1% of the police budget” number we’d kicked around late last year. For context, RPD has a proposed FY22 budget of $95 million.RPS’s school board also met yesterday to discuss, among other things, their recent takeover of school building procurement and construction. This, from the RTD’s Kenya Hunter seems ominous: “Still, Kamras has moved forward to comply with the Board’s directive, proposing three positions to beef up the school system’s procurement department, including a director of school construction, a construction project manager, and a construction procurement manager. City Hall already approved the Board’s budget request prior to the move; it’s unclear from which pot the money to pay for those positions would come.” Emphasis mine and a thing I keep asking to the, like, four other people I know who follow School Board, City Council, and budget season.Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense reports on a couple of rezonings y’all might be interested in. I predict that 17th Street between Broad and Dock Street is headed for a dramatic transformation over the next couple of years—new development, street redesigns, and potential investment in a big-deal museum are all headed that way.I don’t know why, but I found this photo essay—by VPM’s Alex Scribner—from the Safe Space market up on Lakeside very soothing. It’s nice to see people out doing things together in a COVID-responsible way, I think! Also, I’m super into pickles, so now I need go find some Dayum this is my Jam dills.I love this deadpan headline from Kate Masters in the Virginia Mercury: “More Virginians are foraging for ramps. Many are poisoning themselves by picking the wrong plant..” To summarize, do not eat false hellebore, which, “in the most severe cases, it’s led to hospitalizations, with symptoms including vomiting, cardiac arrhythmias, dangerously low blood pressure and even seizures.” Also fascinating, from the Wikipedia, “The plant was used by some tribes to elect a new leader. All the candidates would eat the root, and the last to start vomiting would become the new leader.” So, yeah, maybe don’t put it in your pasta.Northside members of the RPS community, tonight at 6:00 PM you can join a Northside-specific version of the District’s Reopen With Love 2.0 conversations. Tap the previous link for call-in info!This morning’s longreadWhat the “Infrastructure” Fight Is Really AboutInfrastructure week comes and goes so fast and we never seem to get any infrastructure out of it. This piece in Politico explains that, kind of, but is also just a really interesting look at how infrastructure changed American history.Together, twin revolutions in transportation and information (inspired by the U.S. Post Office, which subsidized the delivery of newspapers and magazines, and after 1848, the telegraph) drew disparate communities into closer connection with one another and with an emerging market economy that relied on credit, surplus production and trade. America evolved quickly from an agrarian republic into a capitalist democracy. It was a world that many Americans welcomed—but which equally as many dreaded and resisted.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.Picture of the Day

Good morning, RVA! It’s 70 °F, already! Today you can expect highs near 90 °F, which means don’t even think about putting on socks.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,120 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 11 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 135 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 53, Henrico: 57, and Richmond: 25). Since this pandemic began, 1,273 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 1,078. While that seven-day average hasn’t (yet) dipped below 1,000, it’s pretty dang close. In fact, the seven-day average of new reported cases has decreased every day for the last 10 days. Also, check out the graph of new reported cases locally; we’re almost back to Summer 2020 levels.The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Holly Prestidge reports on Hanover County’s teen-focused vaccination event. In the teenest of teen things: “When asked for a reaction [to getting vaccinated], Robinson simply shrugged…His aunt, however, gushed.” Now that we’re clearly past the point of peak vaccination, I think targeted events like this are pretty smart. Lots of folks out there still want to get the COVID-19 vaccine and either don’t know that you can (mostly) just get an appointment at any old time or haven’t had a second to make that appointment. If you’re in that latter group, you can pull out your calendar, go to vax.rchd.com, and make an appointment that works for you. Or, if you love talking on the phone for some reason, you can call 804.205.3501 and get a vaccination appointment scheduled for you right then and there. So easy!In his email last night, RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras addresses the mass shooting that took place near George Wythe High School earlier this week. I’ll quote a bit of it, but you should tap the link and read the whole thing: “I’m angry that over 40 RPS students have been shot in the past year alone, and that dozens—yes, dozens—have died from gun violence since I became superintendent. I’m angry that we actually have a protocol for how to respond when students are shot. I’m angry that our principals, teachers, social workers, and counselors are re-traumatized every time something like this happens. I’m angry that we managed to turn the world upside down for COVID—as we should have—but haven’t done the same for the gun violence pandemic that’s been far deadlier to the children of Richmond.” Ali Rockett and Reed Williams at the RTD have more reactions from our local leaders.Cool artist opportunity: The City’s Public Art Commission would like to commission a permanent public art installation at the Southside Community Center Skate Park currently under construction. Submit your qualifications, and then the PAC will ask three to four folks to submit formal proposals (and offer a $2,000 honorarium to do so). I didn’t even know they were building a skatepark as part of the new Southside Community Center!Folks love scheduling events on Thursdays, and today is not an exception! First, at 5:00 PM, you can join the City’s Office of Sustainability for one of their RVAgreen Gab sessions for a talk about waste reduction and recovery. This is something I’m trying to be more mindful of in my life lately. How can I just generate less trash, waste less, and reuse more? I think about it a lot. Second, at 6:00 PM, you can flip on over to the City’s Department of Planning for a presentation about the fun, new proposed triangle park at W. Broad Street and Cutshaw Avenue. Third, you’ll have to cut the parkchat short, because the Civilian Review Board Taskforce will host their first town hall to hear community feedback at 6:30 PM. Important note about that last thing: The Civilian Review Board Taskforce is NOT the Civilian Review Board. If you come in hot with specific complaints about the police, you will be disappointed. Finally, at 8:00 PM, ChildSavers will teach those of us with tiny humans how to help them process big changes like, oh, I dunno, school re-opening, getting vaccinated, re-entering the world after living inside for a year, that kind of stuff. Honestly, sounds helpful for my life right now, too.This is a great post on /r/rva: “seeking ugly statue of man sitting in a boxy chair. possibly on VCU campus?” I’m not sure I even need to know the answer, just that someone asked.The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts will host a free COVID-19 community testing event today at the East Henrico Health Department (1400 N. Laburnum Avenue) from 2:00–4:00 PM. Case counts are headed downward! Let’s keep it that way.This morning’s patron longreadThe Humble Shrub That’s Predicting a Terrible Fire SeasonSubmitted by Patron Kathleen. I love a good “turns out” involving humble things that are harbingers for big-deal things.And nothing scares a fire weather scientist quite like a year with dehydrated chamise. If it’s dry, then that’s a good indicator that everything is dry. “Right now, these are the lowest April 1 fuel moistures we’ve ever had,” Clements says. This is supposed to be the time of year when moisture levels are at their highest, thanks to recent autumn and winter rains. But California is withering in a drought. “The shocking thing in 2021 is that we don’t have any new growth on chamise in our sample areas,” Clements says. “These plants are stunted by the drought.” The California landscape appears ready to burn epically this year. “If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.Picture of the Day

Good morning, RVA! It’s 55 °F, and NBC12’s Andrew Freiden says to be on the lookout for storms this afternoon. More importantly, at least for any baby plants in your care, temperatures could drop below freezing tonight. Take appropriate plant precautions!Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,236 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 30 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 159 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 76, Henrico: 61, and Richmond: 22). Since this pandemic began, 1,263 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 1,348. Related to things I think about in the morning, the New York Times will redesign their coronadata reporting pages, as we move into, in their words, a different stage of the pandemic. I’ve been wondering if I should do the same and shift focus away from number of new cases each day to the number of folks vaccinated and people in the hospital. Honestly, I’d love to hear from readers about what kind of daily coronadata they find interesting and useful.Speaking of, VDH reports over 25% of Virginians have now been fully vaccinated and over 40% have at least one dose of the vaccine. Those are big, real numbers!From the LA Times, “Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted Tuesday of murdering George Floyd in a landmark trial that centered on police brutality and spoke to a nation shaken over the last year by protests against racial injustice and demands to reform law enforcement.” Many, many people, both nationally and locally, released statements after the jury announced their verdict, and I’d like to quote from RPS Superintendent Kamras’s at length. “Like many of you, I sat with my family this afternoon anxiously awaiting the verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd. When the news finally broke – guilty on all three counts – we felt both relieved and uneasy. Relieved because justice had prevailed; but uneasy because the victory, though historic, will serve as a sign to some that the ‘system’ is fundamentally sound. It is not. It is still infected with biases, institutional and human, that make the murder of unarmed Black men and women at the hands of law enforcement all too common, and justice for their assailants all too rare…As we celebrate justice for George Floyd, let us remember the many, many others who have been killed under similar circumstances. Please see below for a (partial) list compiled by author Renée Ater of unarmed Black women and men who died at the hands of police since Michael Brown was shot and killed in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. If you can bear it, read their names tonight, one by one. We owe them the simple dignity of never forgetting them.”Quick reminder that City Council will meet today at 1:00 PM for their first budget amendment work session—the most exciting of budget work sessions. They’ve got a lot of proposed amendments to work through and a lot of compromises to make, so it should be a fascinating listen. Two things to keep an eye on apropos of the previous paragraph: Councilmembers submitted amendments to fund both the Civilian Review Board and to provide police officers higher pay. Those were already complex conversations and have only gotten more complex since last night. You can tune in live over on the City’s legislative website, or listen via The Boring Show later this week.Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has some more details on the “biennial real estate strategies” plan that City Council’s Land Use, Housing and Transportation committee looked at yesterday. I think most of the properties that the City proposes to get rid of should be fairly non controversial, but approval of the plan would mean that we should see some RFPs floating around soon for the larger, more interesting sites—places like Oak Grove Elementary School, the Coliseum, and Fulton Gasworks.This morning, you can live stream the assembly of a massive T. Rex skeleton in the Sauer’s Center. The skeleton is, apparently, the only full-sized T. Rex replica in Virginia and measures 40 feet long and 14 feet tall. It has it’s own twitter account! Sure!Tonight, at 7:30 PM, you can join the Richmond Crusade for Voters for a virtual Commonwealth’s Attorney forum featuring incumbent Colette McEachin and challenger Tom Barbour. I think this is the final time for you to see the candidates interact before in-person absentee voting in the Democratic primaries starts on Friday. Zoom info to follow—Meeting ID: 826 3423 6927; Call in: 301–715–8592; Passcode: 132889.This morning’s patron longreadWhat The Shortest Interstate In The U.S. Can Teach Us About Racism In InfrastructureSubmitted by Patron Brian. We, of course, have our fair share of racist-as-hell, garbage infrastructure in Richmond.Our garbage infrastructure is racist as hell and often built and designed with racism foremost in mind. The more you learn about it, the more you see it everywhere you look. Racism is obvious in the very bones of our country. Many folks on Twitter pointed to Robert Moses, the subject of The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro. Moses was the master planner of a series of parkways on Long Island who made sure to build bridges too low for buses to pass under, thereby keeping Black and poor people from enjoying the public beaches. But this isn’t a problem of the past — it’s one that has shaped and continues to shape our cities. This subject really gets under my skin because I am passionate about two things: infrastructure and my hometown of Detroit, a city decimated by racist infrastructure policies that continue to this day.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.Picture of the DayPollen producer!

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin joins us to talk about the formation of the Civilian Review Board in Birmingham to help deal with some of the crime issues in the community.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 48 °F, and this morning looks rainy. Keep an eye on the sky until about 2:00 PM when things should start to clear up.Water coolerAli Rockett and Reed Williams in the Richmond Times-Dispatch report on the eight people killed in Richmond last week—including two teenagers and three young adults. I’m thankful for Rockett and Williams’s coverage, because, over the years, it’s gotten harder and harder to understand who in our City is getting killed. I’m often confused by the press releases I get from the Richmond Police department when someone has been killed. Some deaths are labeled as homicides, some are labeled as death investigations, and I haven’t put together a good system to track those death investigations to see if they end up classified as homicides. I’ll often get a release announcing arrests of suspects for homicides that I hadn’t previously heard about. So, with all of that in mind, I’m going stop covering Richmond’s murders in the top section of this email. I don’t believe that what I’m doing now paints an accurate picture of murders (or violence) in the city. You can always find the RPD’s list of homicide victims here. For what it’s worth, what I think would be really useful would be regular data analysis on all gun violence in Richmond.As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,305 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 17 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 156 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 46, Henrico: 81, and Richmond: 29). Since this pandemic began, 1,259 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 1,512. We’ve had a seven-day average of new cases over 1,500 for the last seven days. Is the seven-day average of seven-day averages a thing (1,536)?Despite the disruptions in the supply of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Virginia—and our region—continues to vaccinate more and more folks each week. Here’s the graph of weekly doses administered in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield, and you can see we’ve blown past the governor’s second goal of around 37,000 doses per week—almost doubling it. And here’s the graph of our region’s steady march toward the mostly-made-up goal of having 75% of the population vaccinated. We’re still early on in the vaccine campaign, but what will be really interesting/telling is to watch the hospitalization and death numbers if we areheaded into another peak of cases. If the vaccines can keep vulnerable folks out of the hospital while case counts increase, then I think we could quietly pump our fists in the air a bit. Over two million Virginians (24.6%) are full vaccinated and almost 40% have received at least one dose. We’re getting there!Tonight, the RPS School Board meets at 6:00 PM and you may want to tune in. Check out these Capital Plan Recommendations that Superintendent Kamras will present tonight, specifically pages six and seven. Remember last week when the School Board voted to take over school building procurement and construction from the City? Well, after a bit of research, Kamras’s administration found that Chesterfield County Public Schools, Henrico County Public Schools, and Norfolk Public Schools do not handle their own procurement of new buildings. Chesterfield and Norfolk don’t do construction either. The admin estimates RPS will need to hire 15 new folks at a cost of $3 million. Gasp! Additionally, as a result of the Board’s resolution, the City has stopped working on the RFP for a new building to replace George Wythe—but RPS doesn’t have staff yet to pick up that work. So the project sits in limbo. Not great. With the budget out of the Mayor’s hands, I think Council would need to submit a budget amendment to fund these new spots—or RPS would have to go through some process unknown to me to cut funding from elsewhere in their own budget. I hate this whole situation, and don’t see a great way out of it given all of the egos and personalities involved. Tune in tonight, I guess.Speaking of budget amendments, City Council will have their fifth budget work session today, and they’ll focus on an analysis of the CIP. Perhaps more exciting, their budget amendments, which they’ll discuss on Wednesday, have dropped! This document lays out each proposed amendment (both increases and decreases) by councilmember. While it’ll give you an idea for what’s out there, it doesn’t do a great job at telling the broader story of which amendments have larger support among Council. Basically, don’t take a given member’s lack of amendment as a lack of support for a program or department—they’ll often collaborate on these things. A couple takeaways: Funding for the Civilian Review Board looks like it will happen, but it’s unclear how much (it won’t be the more than $1 million requested, that’s for sure); some folks want police and fire to get a raise, and it’s unclear to me whether that’s inline or out of line with the existing compensation stuff that the mayor’s budget made a priority; increasing the Affordable Housing Trust Fund contribution has a lot of support; and the public defenders office might could see an increase. Over on the cuts side, you’ve got suggested cuts to police, tax relief for seniors, fleet funding, and the non-departmental budget (aka when the City funds non-profits and other organizations). Also of note, Councilmember Jones proposed cutting every line item in the budget that received an increase by 34% of that increase. I’m not a fan of across the board cuts like this because I don’t think they’re equitable. We’ll learn more about how all of these things fit together and what has councilwide support on Wednesday. Exciting!I’ve got two more Council/legislative updates (but they’re quick!). First, the Ms. Bee’s parklet did need to go to the Planning Commission for approval. It’s on their Consent Agenda today, so, fingers crossed, that shouldn’t be a big deal. Second, Planning Commission will also consider these changes to the City’s parklet programwhich, I assume, will make it easier and cheaper for businesses to install parklets.You’re going to want to budget some time this week to work your way through all of the RTD’s The JXN Project: Contextualizing the origins of Jackson Ward. The JXN Project celebrates the 150th anniversary of Jackson Ward (this past weekend!), and the folks behind that work—Enjoli Moon and Sesha Joi Pritchett-Moon—partnered with the RTD to put together a handful of really nice stories about the painful and resilient history of the neighborhood.Richmond BizSense’s Michael Schwartz reports that Dominion will not build a second office tower downtown. I forget how the second Dominion tower was wrapped up into the eventual success of Navy Hill, but I’m glad it’s not something we were counting on in the immediate future.This morning’s patron longreadHow Lil Nas X Flipped Conservatives’ Culture-War PlaybookI love Lil Nas X.That doesn’t mean that Lil Nas X is a sorry pop star — he’s quite an outstanding one by the genre’s own standards, displaying the same easy charm, sharp aesthetic eye and knowledge of the cultural moment that fueled icons from Jimi Hendrix to Madonna to Beyoncé. The rap world has not been historically friendly to LGBTQ people, to say the very least, making it even more impressive that he managed to somehow leap in a single bound the barriers of acceptance both there and in the world of country music. Pop needs figures like him as catalysts, if for nothing else than to keep its world from becoming stale, self-reflexive, decadent.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.Picture of the DayDoes a more charming Little Free Library exist?

Good morning, RVA! It’s 54 °F, and it rained some last night. Today looks a bit cooler, a bit cloudier, and, with any luck, a bit less polleny. Expect highs in the mid 60s and fewer yellow footprints.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,301 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 4 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 158 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 57, Henrico: 59, and Richmond: 42). Since this pandemic began, 1,249 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 1,579. Also, for what it’s worth, I’ve switched the first number in the subject line to the statewide, seven-day average.An update on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause: The NYT reports that ACIP, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices which advises the CDC on immunization practices (duh), “determined on Wednesday that they needed more time to assess a possible link to a rare but serious blood-clotting disorder.” Sounds like the J&J pause will continue for at least a week, which, other than limiting vaccine supply here in the United States, has big consequences elsewhere in the world. From the same article: “South Africa, devastated by a worrisome variant of the virus that emerged there, also suspended use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Australia announced it would not purchase any doses. And the European Union indicated that it would consider new deals only with companies that were not using the technology employed by the Johnson & Johnson or AstraZeneca vaccines.” Stressful.The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Kenya Hunter reports on the Richmond School Board’s recent vote to “take back its authority to build new schools, a process that since 2018 has been led by a team of city and school officials.” Superintendent Kamras opposed the resolution and “the city is researching whether the resolution is binding”—never a good sign. School construction is one of the handful of issues that involve all three elected parts of our government, and, honestly, I thought the current status quo worked pretty OK. To get our three, recently-built new school buildings—Henry L. Marsh Elementary, River City Middle, and Cardinal Elementary—required the Mayor to raise the meals tax in his budget, Council to approve that budget, and then the City and the School Board to work together on construction through the Joint Construction Team, which meets weekly. School Board does not control the City’s Capital Improvement Program nor does it have the authority to raise its own money for school construction. They don’t have the staff to get this done at the moment and would need to hire “four new positions that would provide the school system with the capacity to oversee school construction, something Kamras said the division doesn’t have.” Seems like a lot to take on in this current pandemic-recovery moment, especially with the RFP for a new high school to replace George Wythe about to head out the door.The audio from City Council’s fourth budget work session now exists on The Boring Show. I haven’t listened yet but the last couple minutes of comments from Council seem juicy, and I’m excited to put it on while I casually ride my bike around the city. We’ve got just one more work session left before the first of the amendment sessions, which is when we’ll see if Council wants to tinker with the Mayor’s proposed budget or not. For example, Councilmember Jones has already promised to submit an amendment funding the Civilian Review Board. Of course, I’m interested in how much and where the money comes from. Note: There are about seven minutes of silence at the top of this episode for some reason.The RTD’s Chris Suarez helps me understand why the City sent out a press release stating that “the Stoney Administration has informed the three remaining respondents to the city’s Resort Casino RFQ/P that the city will not consider alternative sites to the primary site identified in their proposals.” Suarez unlocks it for me, reporting that “after facing backlash from Stratford Hills area residents, a development company is asking Richmond officials to consider an alternate location for its proposed casino resort.” So that’s fascinating and speaks to the seriousness with which at least the developers are taking the recent (negative) feedback from the nearby communities.Roberto Roldan at VPM reports that the Richmond Electoral Board has hired Keith Balmer as their new General Registrar. Balmer replaces Kirk Showalter, who headed up the office during a time when all sorts of situations landed the Registrar on the front page of the paper. Balmer has some ideas for how the Registrar can work with the public moving forward, but, if it were me, my primary goal would be that I not end up on the front page of the paper for a minute.I’ve got two interesting ways for you to learn more and get involved today. First, at 5:00 PM the City’s Office of Sustainability will host RVAgree Gab: Buildings and Energy, a virtual event focused on how to “accelerate the equitable transition to healthy, resilient, climate neutral buildings and energy sources.” Second, at 6:30 PM RVA Engage, which is an initiative out of the Community Foundation, will host a panel discussion on discovering and evaluating civic-related information. This panel features some librarians and a civic leader (the 8th District’s Amy Wentz!). Obviously I believe knowing how to find information about your city or county is extremely important and a lot of fun—but maybe that last part is just me (and probably those librarians)./r/rva has gone the extra mile, and user AndrewTheGovtDrone watched 16 hours of footage of the Brookland Park Boulevard Stop for People sign and reported the results. Over the course of 16 hours spread across three days, the sign was hit by 22 drivers! At some point, someone tied balloons to the sign and: “As silly as the balloons were, they had a significant positive impact on driver behavior. Prior to the balloons, the sign was hit six (6) times on Monday. Following the balloon placement, the sign was hit only one (1) time.”The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts will host a free COVID-19 testing event today at Hotchkiss Field Community Center (701 E. Brookland Park Boulevard) from 1:00–3:00 PM. With the rise in cases, you need to go get COVID-tested should you start experiencing COVID symptoms. By the way, this location is just down the street from that poor Stop for People sign that folks keep crushing with their cars.This morning’s longreadThe Unlikely Rise of the French TacosFrench tacos sound amazing. Honestly, anything folded inside of anything else and toasted on a grill is totally my scene.French tacos are tacos like chicken fingers are fingers. Which is to say, they are not tacos at all. First of all, through some mistranslation or misapprehension of its Mexican namesake, the French tacos is always plural, even when there’s only one, pronounced with a voiced “S.” Technically, the French tacos is a sandwich: a flour tortilla, slathered with condiments, piled with meat (usually halal) and other things (usually French fries), doused in cheese sauce, folded into a rectangular packet, and then toasted on a grill. “In short, a rather successful marriage between panini, kebab, and burrito,” according to the municipal newsletter of Vaulx-en-Velin, a suburb of Lyon in which the French tacos may or may not have been born.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.Picture of the DayDo you think this guy is stoked on all the pollen?

Good morning, RVA! It’s 56 °F, and today you can expect dry skies with highs in the mid 70s. Looking at the three day forecast, and rain might miss us until at least Saturday. However, the oak tress on my block look like they’re getting ready to drop tons of pollen onto my neighborhood, so expect that fine yellow dust to start accumulating on everything everywhere soon.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,550 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 14 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 146 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 54, Henrico: 57, and Richmond: 35). Since this pandemic began, 1,239 people have died in the Richmond region.CNN reports that the UK variant of the coronavirus, B.1.1.7, is “now the most common lineage circulating in the United States.” The CDC has this neat graph of the proportions of the different variants floating around the United States that’s worth checking out. So, what does this mean and should we be terrified? Well, the CDC has a simple page on their website dedicate to trying to answer exactly that question. We know that this variant seems to spread more quickly, which may lead to more cases, which may lead to more hospitalizations and deaths. That’s scary, but we do think the vaccines we’ve got today still protect us against these variants. We don’t know enough about the disease caused by this variant, though. Is it worse? Is it more mild? Studies are ongoing to science out the answer to those questions. That, for me, is enough to keep me in my mask and distanced from other folks when possible.They did it! Yesterday, the general assembly legalized marijuana beginning on July 1st—just 84 days from now. Ned Oliver at the Virginia Mercury has a great breakdown of what will and won’t be allowed when the current prohibitions go up in smoke this summer. The gist: Adults aged 21 and older can have possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, you can gift up to one ounce to someone but not sell it to them, you cannot consume the drug in public (here’s a good quote from Sen. Scott Surovell, “This is not going to generate some ganja fest at Jiffy Lube pavilion out in the parking lot.”), you probably shouldn’t drive around with weed in your car as the open-container definitions are loosey-goosey, and you can grow up to four marijuana plants in your home. The only way to obtain marijuana legally is to have someone gift it to you or to grow it yourself through seeds or clippings also gifted to you. How those people got their plants? Don’t think to hard about it, I guess. Finally, another great quote from Sen. Janet Howell, “One of the reasons I support making it come into effect soon is if we don’t, and we have to wait another three years, I’ll be in my 80s before I can do legally what I was doing illegally in my 20s.”I listened to City Council’s third budget work session yesterday while riding my bike around the Northside, and, I have to say, the budget summary delivered by Council’s budget analyst, Bill Echelberger, is the best one I’ve ever heard. This dude loves knowing stuff about the budget! The explanation of City employee compensation, raises, step increases, and salary decompression (which I now finally understand!) is so fascinating. For example, check out slide 15. Over the past five years teachers and cops have seen regular salary increase, while general City employees got pay bumps just two of those years. See? Fascinating. The City had a compensation study done a while back (The Gallagher Compensation & Classification Study) to make sure its employees had competitive salaries inline with the market to help with recruitment and retention of talented folks. This year’s budget proposes to implement Phase 2 of that study and would drop about $5.8 million into pay raises across almost every department (p. 23). Deep nerd stuff, but it’s important!Ali Rockett at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports on the quickly-working task force putting together budget and policy recommendations for Richmond’s Civilian Review Board. I love this sentence: “The proposed figure—which would amount to $1.2 million annually—would make it one of the most expensive civilian review boards in the country, but also one of the most effective.” Yeah! You get what you pay for! The task force wants a commitment of half that amount in this year’s budget, which is something they’ll have to get a member of Council to propose and to fund since it’s not in the Mayor’s budget. I think back when we were talking about CRBs this past summer, funding equivalent to 1% of the police department’s budget got floated around as a goal. The proposed RPD budget, at the moment, is $95.8 million, so this proposed CRB funding is about 1.25% of that. Seems good to me. Rockett says Councilmember Jones and Lynch are likely candidates to propose the budget amendment since they patroned the paper that created the task force. Amendment sessions start on April 21st—get excited.A quick, cool-thing update: The rad-looking bee parklet proposed for Brookland Park Boulevard goes before the Urban Design Committee today. I think once UDC approves, the parklet folks can get started putting this thing together.Tonight and tomorrow afternoon the City will host virtual meetings about the proposed resort casino. Tonight’s meeting will kick off at 6:00 PM and you can join via Microsoft Teams. A press release sent out by the City says the meetings will “report on the public comments received since March 2021 on resort casinos and proposed resort casino projects and locations.” That…should be interesting!Via /r/rva, that Stop for Pedestrians sign on Brookland Park Boulevard has been replaced and is now a recurring character on that subreddit, which I think is wonderful.The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts will host a free community COVID-19 testing event today at Regency Square (1420 N. Parham Road) from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM. If you’ve been exposed or have COVID-like symptoms, please go get tested.This morning’s longreadRepetitive StressI continue to be fascinated by people who run on purpose.But the pain is the result of a long time spent doing something with one part of your body — whether it has to do with your stride length, your shoes, or your footstrike — in such a way that another part of your body has to compensate for the action. Repeat this enough, and you have a tight glute, a weakened bone, a foot that aches in the morning. What is interesting about running is that you engage with pain so frequently that the early warning signs of a serious injury often seem like regular pain, the usual, the old ordinary aches of a morning spent logging miles around a park. Most of my serious running injuries have been the result of ignoring the ways in which my body was signaling stress until some fateful morning when I woke up and realized it was too late to ignore the pain, that I’d have to honor it, and sit out for a week, a month, or more.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.Picture of the DayTransportation junction.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 60 °F, and it might get a little warmer and a little wetter today. Temperatures drop this evening as some possibly-severe weather rolls through. Boots weather tomorrow, I think!Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,432 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 23 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 183 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 69, Henrico: 73, and Richmond: 41). Since this pandemic began, 1,208 people have died in the Richmond region. Not much new to report in COVID-19 world today—which, I think, itself is a sign of the phase of the pandemic we’re in. I do want to encourage folks, if they have not already, to head over to vaccinate.virginia.gov and either pre-register for a vaccine or update their information as necessary. With Phase 1c and Phase 2 right around the corner, you’ll want to make sure you’re in the system with the all the correct details. Near to my heart: Mediafolk fall under Phase 1c! If you’re a reporter or work in media, make sure you’ve checked that box!5th District Councilmember Lynch announced on her Facebook yesterday that she has COVID-19. I hope she’s hanging in there, and I appreciate that her announcement reminds folks to continue mitigation measures as the weather warms up and the pull of hangouts grows irresistible.Remember parklets? After a bunch of years, the city will finally see its first parklets installed—thanks to the work of Venture Richmond. I’ve already written about that rad, bee-looking parklet headed to Brookland Park Boulevard at some point in the future, but these are pre-fabbed parklets getting installed as we speak. From the City’s press release: “This week, construction will begin on five prefabricated parklets at locations adjacent to businesses who participated in the Picnic in a Parklet program. The first two pilot locations include N 29th Street in Church Hill, adjacent to the Nile Ethiopian Café, and N Shields Avenue in the Fan, adjacent to Joe’s Inn. Three additional locations are currently in the works with interested business owners.” Also, I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve ever read a local press release that had a link to NACTO in it.I’ve got two quick casino updates for you this morning. First, tonight at 6:00 PM, you can tune in to a virtual meeting about the 8th District casino site. Second, Amy Wentz got a similar push poll text to the one I got the other day, but this one focused on the 8th District site. Notably it didn’t mention increased crime like the 2nd District text that popped up on my phone. Intentional? I have no idea. The Mayor, in his weekly press briefing, condemned some of the garbage, racist language that’s been floating around about the casino lately, and I really like this quote: “The past few days have been so very disappointing. I’ve seen derogatory, disrespectful, and even blatantly racist rhetoric used by some, not all, in our affluent communities to distance themselves from our fellow Richmonders, who—because of their skin color or social economic status—they consider less important, less consequential, and less worthy of respect.”The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Ali Rockett reports on the task force charged with creating the City’s Civilian Review Board. The group is already behind schedule due to City Council’s delays in approving their membership, and, as you all are intimately aware, we are in the midst of budget season. Should we want to fund a CRB for next year, we’ll have to get that figured out in the coming weeks. I did a quick command+F in the Mayor’s proposed budget and don’t see a line item for a CRB (which doesn’t mean it’s not in there), but I think this may be on Council to fund. Keep an eye on it when we get to the amendment portion of budget season!Whittney Evans at VPM reports that the Governor has amended several parts of the marijuana legalization bill, including pushing the date of legalizing possession to July 1st. Those amendments will go back to the General Assembly for consideration on April 7th. I will not predict the fate of these amendments, because bills die in frequent and interesting ways!The press release about the Governor’s big train announcement is, I think, the longest press release I’ve seen—23 paragraphs, each linked together like a train bringing good news for the Commonwealth’s rail enthusiasts. Scroll to the bulleted list in the middle of the press-release train to get the gist: doubling Amtrak service to provide nearly hourly service, increasing VRE service by 60%, “laying the foundation” for a Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor, and “create the potential to expand rail to all parts of the Commonwealth.” The Long Bridge is in there, too! Basically, everyone involved—the federal government, state government, Amtrak, and CSX—will spend a bunch of money on train stuff over the next couple of decades. The WaPo has some more details.Related: It’s infrastructure week! I guess! The New York Times has a preview of Biden’s infrastructure plan, dubbed the American Jobs Plan, which he’ll discuss at an event in Pittsburgh later today. I excitedly await federal transportation nerds to sift through the details and tell me what’s what. I do see lots of money for public transportation and lots of money for electric vehicle infrastructure—two things we’ll need as we work to keep from incinerating our planet.This morning’s longreadWhat Killed These Bald Eagles? After 25 Years, We Finally Know.We’re doing wild things to the world around us, and it’s hard/impossible to know how all of nature’s complex systems will react to our shenanigans.What’s more, this molecule had a formula never seen before, and, unusually, it contained five atoms of the element bromine. So the team tried adding bromine to its growing cyanobacteria. Lo and behold, the same strange molecule appeared, and this new batch of cyanobacteria caused the brain lesions in chickens. Another group of collaborators confirmed the team’s work further, by finding the cyanobacteria genes likely responsible for synthesizing the toxin. The team ultimately named this toxin aetokthonotoxin, “poison that kills the eagle.” Twenty-five years later, it finally had a name.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.Picture of the DaySelf portrait in an Easter egg.

00:00 Show Open / John Barker, President of the Ohio Restaurant Association 23:30 Courtesy of our sister station WBNS 10-TV, Tracy Townsend presents segments about Columbus restaurants dealing with the pandemic, the creation of the Civilian Review Board in Columbus, and the use of body cameras by Whitehall police officers. 33:30 Ohio's Republican U.S. Senator, Rob Portman, speaking on the Senate floor about the COVID relief package. 39:30 Ohio's Democratic U.S. Senator, Sherrod Brown, discusses various topics. 45:30 Michael Schoedinger, President of Schoedinger Funeral and Cremation Service.

On this episode, Judge Terri Jamison and the host discuss the roles of Civilian Review Board and the powers the Board should have, who should make up the Board and how to hold officers accountable for enforcement malpractice.

00:00 Show Open / Kelly O'Reilly, President & CEO of the Ohio Association of Health Plans, discusses legislation awaiting Governor Mike DeWine's signature that addresses "surprise" medical bills. 17:00 Governor Mike DeWine, from a recent Coronavirus update, explains who will get the vaccine in the next phase, following healthcare workers and nursing home residents and staff. 25:30 Courtesy of our sister station, WBNS 10-TV, Tracy Townsend has information about the vaccine, the electoral college and the Civilian Review Board being formed in the city of Columbus. 48:30 Governor Mike DeWine, from a recent press conference, responding to a question regarding why state prison inmates, along with prison staff, are not in the next phase of Coronavirus vaccinations to be administered. 52:30 Dr. Anand Parekh, Chief Medical Advisor for the Bipartisan Policy Center, discusses federal funding that Ohio receives to combat the opioid epidemic and how it could be best used.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 32 °F, and it’ll get a little warmer today, but not much. Expect highs in the low 40, and probably no rain for the foreseeable future—that’s something! However, early this morning, keep an eye out for icey, slippery sidewalks if you’re out and about.Water coolerThe Richmond Police Department are reporting a double murder on the 4300 block of Chamberlayne Avenue yesterday afternoon. Officers found Sandra Powell-Wyche and Curtis Wyche in a residence shot to death. Police have made two arrests related to this murder.As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 3,931↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 38↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 292↘️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 135, Henrico: 91, and Richmond: 66). Since this pandemic began, 508 people have died in the Richmond region. Hmm…so those statewide new case numbers jumped right back up to around 4,000. I don’t know what that means, and it’s so hard to see trends when you’re sitting smack in the middle of one. However, looking across the Commonwealth, the seven-day average of percent positivity has crept all the way up to 11.3%, and we’re seeing that reflected locally, as well (Richmond: 6.01%; Henrico: 8.46%; and Chesterfield: 10.20%). I’ve been keeping an eye on the color-coded map of the 14-day case incidence rate—which is new cases per 100,000 people—and the entire state is deep red except for two localities (Cumberland and Sussex). Similarly, watching the color-coded map for percent positivity has been like watching a terrifying red tide wash across the state from west to east. Anyway, depressing numbers today. Not depressing: Audrey Roberson received VCU Health’s first dose of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday. Her reaction in that photo is perfect and emotional.City Council’s Finance and Economic Development committee meets today and you can find their full agenda here (PDF). They will consider a bunch of housing-related papers that remind me I still have a ton to learn about “housing,” even after several years of trying to do exactly. For example, I probably need to learn more about the plans behind RES. 2020-R069and RES. 2020-R070, which approve RRHA to issue a total of $24.5 million in bonds for projects on the Southside. Also, are dedicated revenue streams a good idea or a bad idea? ORD. 2020–214 would implement the Mayor’s plan to take all new real estate tax generated by properties rolling out of tax exemption and put those revenues into the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Staff estimates that this would create an annual $2 million revenue stream for the fund. I did get a good laugh at RES. 2020-R068, which plainly reminds us that resolutions are, ultimately, non-binding: “To reiterate the request made in Res. No. 2020-R053, adopted Sept. 28, 2020, that the Mayor propose, for the Fiscal Year 2021–2022 and for every fiscal year thereafter, a budget that includes funding in the amount of at least $10,000,000.00 for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.” This makes you laugh, too, right? A resolution to reiterate a previous resolution?? Classic. Anyway, I joke, but you should read the staff notes on this one as they point out some issues with the aforelinked ORD. 2020–214.Roberto Roldan at VPM reports that City Council’s Governmental Operations committee approved a new, police-free slate of candidates for the task force working to put together a Civilian Review Board. This new list, which you can find at the bottom of the story, will still need to get full Council’s approval. Also, make sure you read Roberto’s final line: “One task force position set aside for a resident of Richmond’s public housing communities did not receive any applicants and has not been filled.” I wonder, to paraphrase Del. Price from yesterday, has the City done the necessary outreach to fill this position? Or nah?Mayor Stoney sent this open letter about legalizing marijuana to the Governor yesterday. The Mayor says any resulting tax revenues should be used for, first, “complete and total expungements for those currently incarcerated for or living with the consequences of a possession conviction,” and, second, to take “intentional steps to avoid regulatory biases that could perpetuate the very injustice that legalization advocates seek to end.” The Governor responded with “I am committed to putting equity first as we work to legalize marijuana. Today, I announced $25 million for expungement reforms, and made clear that half of revenues should go towards Pre-K for all at risk three- and four-year-olds.” I’m still having a little bit of a hard time believing how fast all of this is moving!Critical snow day update from Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras: “Finally, with a major storm hitting the Northeast tonight, I’ve received a lot of questions about snow days – namely, will we have them? Well, we might. Here’s the rule we’ll follow this year: as a matter of equity, if it snows so much that our buses can’t deliver meals in the morning, I’ll call a snow day. No child should be required to hop onscreen for several hours of virtual classes with an empty stomach.” Empathetic as always, and good news for RPS students wishing for snow.COVID-19 testing events hosted by the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts continue as we head into the winter holidays. Today, you can head over to Second Baptist Church (3300 Broad Rock Boulevard) from 2:00–4:00 PM for a free community testing event.This morning’s longreadHidden in Plain Sight: The Ghosts of SegregationWow, these contemporary photos of reclaimed and forgotten “Colored” entrances and white-only space are amazing. How many doorways have I walked past in Richmond, not knowing the role they played in our segregated past? More photos over on the photographer’s website.The photographs are also a testament to the endurance of the racial inequalities that have plagued American society, projected backward and forward in time. The deaths this year of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, among many other Black Americans, prompted a long-overdue national reckoning, spurring one of the largest movements in U.S. history. And these pictures prove that if you look carefully enough, you’ll find that the evidence of the structures of segregation — and the marks of white supremacy — still surrounds us, embedded in the landscape of our day-to-day lives.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 48 °F, and I think we’ve said goodbye to the rain for a good, long while. Expect cooler temperatures today, with highs in the mid 50s. I hope you enjoy the sunny, dry fall weekend and don’t spend it crushed into a tiny ball by anxiety over the approaching election.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,429↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 20↘️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 116↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 51, Henrico: 52, and Richmond: 13). Since this pandemic began, 434 people have died in the Richmond region. This is the highest number of new cases reported in Virginia in a single day since the weird reporting backlog on October 8th, and, after that, you’ve got to go back to August 7th to find a single day with over 1,400 reported cases. Here’s the stacked graph of daily reported cases, hospitalizations, and deaths to give you some context on today’s numbers. While the seven-day average of new reported cases is almost as high as its ever been, check out the number of daily hospitalizations. It’s far less than back in the spring (however, those numbers have crept upward over the past two weeks). We’re seeing a similar trend locally with new reported cases also approaching highs from earlier this summer and spring. The pandemic isn’t over! Look at these graphs and adjust your personal coronabehavior accordingly!Yesterday, I wondered aloud about what the heck was going on with Richmond’s task force to design and launch our Civilian Review Board. I have impeccable timing, because VPM’s Roberto Roldan says just this week City Council’s Public Safety Committee nominated six people to serve on the task force—two of which are former law enforcement. I’ll tell you what, I am not super stoked that the Public Safety Commission, made up of some of our most pro-cop councilmembers (committee members: Trammell, Gray, and Hilbert), get to shape the task force putting together the CRB. While I do get the need to have some form of law enforcement knowledge and expertise available to the committee as they do their work, I remain unconvinced that cops and ex-cops need to be members of the body. Councilmember Jones will suggest alternatives at the next full Council meeting saying, "If we are setting up a body that is going to do oversight of the police, I don’t know that we should have members of law enforcement, past or present, a part of that task force…That gives individuals who are not trusting of the police for their own reasons a moment of pause.”Whoa: The Mayor announced a quasi universal basic income pilot called the Richmond Resilience Initiative. From the release, “18 working families who no longer qualify for benefits assistance but still do not make a living wage will receive $500 a month for 24 months.” The cash for this program comes from both the Robins Foundation and CARES Act money, and participants will be pulled from folks already working with the City’s Office of Community Wealth Building. The cliff effect is real, y’all! It is an entirely real thing that people can make enough money to lose access to social programs but not make enough money to, you know, live. UBI and UBI-like programs address this, and probably cost Society™ less in the long run (he says confidently without bothering to do a Google). Chris Suarez at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has a few more detailssince I can’t find the press release on the City’s new website.Due to the pandemic (seriously!), Richmond’s Green City Commission will give away 12,000 Eastern Redbud seedlings. The goal with this initiative is to increase the urban tree canopy and decrease temperatures—especially in parts of town that experience hotter-than-average temperatures due to a history of redlining and racist urban planning policies. You can get involved in a couple of ways. First, volunteer to help staff pickup sites over the next couple of weekends. Second, 12,000 is a lot of trees, so if you know of or are part of an organization that can grab a ton of tress and put them to good use, let the Green City Commission know. Third, go pick up a tree or three for your own yard. However! Before those of you (like myself) who live in a part of town with no history of redlining and plenty of tree canopy go snatching up all of these trees, consider volunteering to help distribute trees to parts of town that could really use some more dang shade. My own Redbud is pictured above, and, as a friend of mine says—heart-shaped leaves, beautiful flowers in the spring, what’s not to love?Alright, we’ve entered into the Stressful Voting Window. If you haven’t yet voted, the last day for you to vote early in-person is Saturday. If you have requested a mail-in absentee, I would think extremely hard before dropping that thing in the mail and instead drop it off at the registrar’s office (which, as we all know is a pain to access without a car) on Election Day. If you plan on voting in-person on Tuesday, please mask up, respect folks' distance, and give your poll workers an extra helping of grace on what is sure to be a stressful day.This morning’s longreadThe Island That Humans Can’t ConquerI’m starting to realize I really enjoy certain genres of articles—genres like “person goes to a really inaccessible place and tells you all about how inaccessible it is.”St. Matthew Island is said to be the most remote place in Alaska. Marooned in the Bering Sea halfway to Siberia, it is well over 300 kilometers and a 24-hour ship ride from the nearest human settlements. It looks fittingly forbidding, the way it emerges from its drape of fog like the dark spread of a wing. Curved, treeless mountains crowd its sliver of land, plunging in sudden cliffs where they meet the surf. To St. Matthew’s north lies the smaller, more precipitous island of Hall. A castle of stone called Pinnacle stands guard off St. Matthew’s southern flank. To set foot on this scatter of land surrounded by endless ocean is to feel yourself swallowed by the nowhere at the center of a drowned compass rose.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.This morning’s Instagram…doesn’t exist! Instagram currently displays this text when I go look at #rvanews (which is where I pull the daily Instagram from): “Recent posts from all hashtags are temporarily hidden to help prevent the spread of possible false information and harmful content related to the election.” Whoa!

Good morning, RVA! It’s 58 °F, and we now, apparently, live in Fogtown, USA. After the fog burns off, expect highs in the 60s and a generally pleasant day. We’ve got at least another one of these on deck before hurricane remnants move in and give us a pretty good chance of rain on Thursday.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 904↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 2↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 93↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 49, Henrico: 20, and Richmond: 24). Since this pandemic began, 410 people have died in the Richmond region. Locally, the seven-day average of new reported cases sits at 113. I don’t think we’ve had a combined Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield seven-day average over a hundred since back in August. Mostly Chesterfield and Henrico have driven that increase, an increase which started around the second week of October when the local combined seven-day average was just 57. VDH’s pandemic dashboard (which updates on Mondays) reflects the local increases in case counts we’re seeing and puts the Central Region at “substantial community transmission,” the highest level, for the week ending October 24th. Keep in mind 1) the Central Region is massive compared to Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield, and 2) we’re just, just, just over the thresholds for substantial community transmission and the trend is fluctuating. I don’t love when I statdump like this without giving any guidance about how this new information impacts your life. So…keep wearing your masks?Here’s a weird article by Reed Williams at the Richmond Times-Dispatch about a new “External Advisory Committee” established by Richmond Police Chief Gerald Smith. The committee will focus on “community involvement, officer recruitment, and transparency.” However, Chief Smith “declined to name all but one of the new committee’s 15 members and balked when asked if a reporter could cover one of the meetings.” This is…not super transparent? The Chief say he has concerns about members of the committee getting doxxed and harassed for working with the police, which, I dunno. I’m sure the FOIAs are already flying. If the police want to create an external advisory committee—to help them with community involvement and transparency—maybe the first step is being transparent about who from the community is involved? We’ll see how this committee is used in future discussions about police procedures, but in no way should it replace or prevent the work to establish a Civilian Review Board.Wyatt Gordon at the Virginia Mercury writes about the increase in pedestrian deaths on Virginia’s streets over the last couple of years. Just last week a 16-year-old girl was killed by a driver on Richmond’s Southside. Maybe this happens—I have no idea—but every time someone dies or is seriously injured on our streets, the Department of Public Works should do an immediate investigation, figure out what happened, and deploy rapid-response infrastructure to address the problem. Cones, barrels, and signal timing can do a lot to narrow roadways, decrease speeds, and prevent a “6,000 pound Nissan Titan spiraling up and onto the sidewalk.”City Council meets today at 2:00 PM for a special meeting to decide what to do with the surplus funds from last year—and it’s a lot of surplus, something like $14 million. ORD. 2017–215 (PDF) takes a lot of the fun out of those decisions by boringly and automatically earmarking where any general fund surpluses end up: 50% goes into the Rain Day Fund, 40% to the Capital Maintenance Reserve, and 10% to special projects. It’s that 10% Council has been trying to figure out over the last couple weeks, while the Mayor’s administration has been trying to figure out exactly how much surplus exists. RES. 2020-R059 (PDF) sets out Council’s priorities: $780,000 for post-employment benefits, $110,000 for an equity study (described in RES. 2020-R013as costing $221,770), and $500,000 for COVID-19 contingencies. I think I said a million weeks ago that if it we’re me, I’d sock away the vast majority of any surplus to prepare for the upcoming and probably terrible budget season. Looks like that the City already has laws on the books to make that happen automatically!I don’t have much to say about the inevitable, under-the-cover-of-darkness swearing in of Justice Amy Coney Barrett. I am, however, looking for your smartest longreads on SCOTUS reform or expansion.This morning’s longreadBail Out ParentsI almost sent this article in the Atlantic about government issued per-child stipends (which were passed in the House as part of the HEROES Act yet never even given a vote in the Senate) to local early-childhood policy expert Elliot Haspel. But, turns out, he is the author of this very piece!Parents, taken collectively, are an underrecognized yet vital economic interest. According to the Brookings Institution, 41.2 million workers, a third of the entire workforce, have a child under age 18. Nearly 34 million have a child under age 14 who is likely to require some kind of supervision during virtual schooling, a task that disproportionately falls on mothers’ shoulders. COVID-19, unsurprisingly and infuriatingly, is already driving women out of the workforce. According to a recent Census Bureau report, “Around one in five (18.2%) of working-age adults said the reason they were not working was because COVID-19 disrupted their childcare arrangements,” with women three times as likely as men to report this barrier.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 58 °F, and, whoa, today looks lovely. Expect sunshine, highs in the low 70s, and every reason to spend some time on the porch or in a park.Water coolerRichmond Police are reporting that Shaheem King, a man in his 20s, was found shot to death on the 1200 block of Admiral Gravely Boulevard. According to the RPD’s website, this is the fifth murder in 10 days.As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 923↘️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 15↘️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 64↘️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 36, Henrico: 26, and Richmond: 2). Since this pandemic began, 368 people have died in the Richmond region. VDH’s pandemic dashboard overcame whatever technical issues it faced yesterday and has now returned to the internet. You can see that the Central Region, where we all live, currently is experiencing “Moderate Community Transmission” with “moderate burden” and a “fluctuating trend.” Remember, community transmission is a combination of a bunch of metrics and trends and exists so we’ll have a single phrase to say to describe the overall coronapicture in our region. Notably, community transmission in the Central Region dropped to “moderate” after spending six weeks at “substantial.” Also, remember to check out the CDC School Metrics tab, where you can filter some of this data by locality. For Richmond City, the number of new cases per 100,000 people within the last 14 days is orange or “higher risk” (135.9), and the percentage of PCR tests that are positive during the last 14 days is light green or “lower risk” (3.4%). How schools—and individuals—interpret this data remains to be seen!The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Jessica Nocera reports that, in Chesterfield, “prekindergarten through third-graders will return to classrooms in two weeks”—that’s October 12th. As Chesterfield attempts a hybrid return to in-person instruction model, the rest of the region, including myself, looks on with interest! Epidemiologically speaking, I feel like this plan could work. Pedagogically speaking, I have no idea!Yesterday, City Council’s Public Safety Committee took up RES. 2020-R048, the last of Council’s summertime police reform legislation. This paper asks the Richmond Police Department to “revise its policies to ban the use of certain non-lethal weapons to control unlawful assemblies” aka asks the police to stop using chemical weapons on protestors. I didn’t bring up this paper yesterday because I assumed the Committee would just continue it, and I was pretty bummed about the continuation of the Pulse Corridor rezoning (which, by the way, is continued until after the election—fascinating!). Public Safety did not continue RES. 2020-R048, and, in fact, recommended to full Council that it be stricken. If I recall my Council procedure correctly, I think this means that a majority of Council must now vote to put this item back on the agenda—otherwise that’s that. Bummer. Looking forward, theoretically, in the future, a properly empowered and progressively staffed Civilian Review Board could take up the RPD’s chemical weapons policy and get it changed. But that’s a lot of Ifs. Also, remember that RES. 2020-R048 is just that, a non-binding resolution. The Mayor could, at any moment, just demand that the police department change their policies. I guess we’ll wait on that. So what are police doing to limit the use of chemical weapons against protestors right now? Roberto Roldan at VPM has this audio clip of Chief Gerald Smith talking through the Department’s updated policy which is not nothing. However, I remain unconvinced that RPD needs these weapons at all or that they understand why folks want them banned from our city. Whatever the case, I would like to hear more empathy from our leaders on this topic.Speaking of, CNU’s Judy Ford Wason Center released two statewide polls in the past couple of weeks, and yesterday’s asked a couple of questions about police reform. 98% of Virginia voters support de-escalation training for cops, 95% support requiring body cameras, 70% support establishing civilian oversight boards. Unsurprisingly, folks are split along party lines about more progressive police reform measures. For example, 68% of Democrats support prohibiting police from buying military-grade weapons, while only 26% of Republicans do.Sometimes I wonder how we’re going to do all of these surveys after the pandemic ends and we all aren’t sitting around with tons of survey time on our hands. Maybe we’ll meet in bars and restaurants just to pal around and fill out some surveys—I can think of worse ways to spend an evening. Anyway, you should take some time today to fill out this COVID-19 Needs Assessment Survey coordinated by the Peter Paul Community Action Network in partnership with the VCU Department of Family Medicine and Population Health. I do hope a lot of folks fill this one out. It’s fascinating to learn from these broad surveys what the most important issue people are facing during coronatimes. In the last six months have you stockpiled food? Isolated from other people? Taken a COVID-19 test? I want to see the results of this survey so bad.Richmond Magazine’s Piet Jones somehow convinced a couple area chefs to disclose how much their restaurants spend on ingredients and labor for a handful of dishes. What would you guess is the second most expensive component of Brenner Pass’s Fondue Burger? The bun? The lettuce-y stuff? The fries?The Henrico and Richmond City Health Districts will host another community testing event today, this one at St. Paul’s Baptist Church North (4247 Creighton Road) from 10:00 AM–12:00 PM. This event is drive-thru only! If you don’t have a car and need to find a test, call the coronavirus hotline at 804.205.3501.Well, the presidential debate happened, and, as foretold, it was a spectacle. I do want to be clear, though: There’s no both-sides-did-it to what happened last night. Donald Trump abused the rules, Joe Biden, the moderator, and the audience. I don’t know what we expect Biden—or any human—to do when put in a situation like that, but, whatever it is, it’s unfair to frame it as “fiery squabbling” or “trading barbs.” It’s just not an honest or accurate way to describe what happened. Also: Trump refused to condemn white supremacists and told the Proud Boys, an actual white supremacist group, to “stand back and stand by.” I kind of can’t even believe there’s more of these on the schedule.This morning’s longreadThe Cheating Scandal That Ripped the Poker World ApartI will read about anything that rips a world that I have no familiarity with apart. Someone point me to the scandal the ripped the professional LEGO builders world apart.Most seasoned players would call or raise in his situation: The statistical likelihood that his hand would yield a favorable monetary outcome was high enough to make proceeding to the river an easy choice. But Postle had an unorthodox style of play, and he often made decisions that his rivals deemed either wildly aggressive or inexplicably meek. Those instincts had served him well in recent months: He was in the midst of an epic winning streak—a “heater”—that had turned him into a local folk hero. He’d become such a force on Stones' livestream, in fact, that casino regulars had taken to calling him the Messiah and even God. Postle spent half a minute in quiet contemplation, almost motionless in his black leather chair. Then, pursing his lips in resignation, he chucked his cards forward to fold.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill has filed charges against a Salt Lake City police officer after he ordered a K9 to bite a kneeling black man in an incident in April. Lee will review the findings of the Civilian Review Board. He will also speak with Gil himself.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 75 °F, and our respite from blazing hot temperatures is over. Today, you can expect highs near 90 °F and plenty of humidity to go along with the heat.Water coolerRichmond Police are reporting two murders from last week.On August 20th, Damon L. Teach, a man in his 40s, was found dead on the 5400 block of Blue Ridge Avenue. The Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death.On August 19th, police responded to the 1100 block of St. Paul Street and found a juvenile, and RPS student, shot to death. In his email last Thursday, Superintendent Kamras said, “I’m devastated to share that we have once again lost a student to gun violence. Last night, an 11th grader who had attended both TJ and Marshall was fatally shot. I’ve now written some version of this sentence dozens of times as Superintendent. I beg of you, regardless of which political party you call home, please support candidates this November who will enact common sense gun control legislation. Our students' lives literally depend on it.”As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 894↘️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 24↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 146↘️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 38, Henrico: 68, and Richmond: 40). Since this pandemic began, 308 people have died in the Richmond region. Additionally, VCU updated their data dashboard and now report 58 total student cases of the coronavirus (33 new cases) and 12 employee cases (one new case). A total of 96 people are either in isolation or quarantine. I wish, like the UNC dashboard, that VCU would report other data like percent positivity and number of clusters in residence halls. Now, though, we wait and see if those case numbers continue to increase at the current rate, and, if so, what that’ll mean for the University’s in-person instruction plans.Remember this past Thursday when police showed up at GWARBar in response to a dubious flyer and a handful of folks standing around on the bar’s private property (possibly protestors, possibly neighbors, possibly people hanging out at GWARBar)? VPM’s Roberto Roldan has owner Michael Derks’s statement which is worth reading. Derks says he gave his permission for people to be on his property, told the cops as much, and was ignored by officers on the scene: “I asked to speak to the officer in charge, as owner of the property I wanted to be told what [the officers'] reasoning was for coming on the property and arresting people. I was told that they were obstructing justice but the Captain on the scene did not ever come speak with me even after I requested several times.” I said this last week, and it continues to be true, but each public interaction like this just further radicalizes everyday people against the police. It still won’t be easy, but the path towards meaningful police reform in Richmond gets less and less complicated with more and more public support.Here’s an example of how elected officials can quickly lose that public support as they attempt to navigate the politics of police reform: Alex Guzmán has resigned from the Mayor’s Task Force to Reimagine Public Safety following the police actions at GWARBar described above. Alex joined the Task Force after criticizing the Mayor for not including a single Latinx voice, and his open letter to the Mayor, Council, and the rest of us about why he left the Task Force is worth your time this morning. Here’s an excerpt: “At the end of the day, processes matter. I do not believe the task force was ever intended to provide real solutions. It included individuals who would knowingly make it difficult to “reimagine” public safety in any meaningfulway. It relied on a limited framework that still saw police at the forefront of the public safety continuum. It has a 90-day timeline to produce actionable recommendations, which is a mighty task for a group of volunteers. It feels like pageantry. I don’t do pageantry.” You can watch the first meeting of the Task Force over on the City’s YouTube, but, don’t expect too much in the way of policy as it’s mostly a context-setting agenda.One more police-related story: According to the RTD’s Katy Burnell Evans, today Henrico County will host a “media briefing regarding the hiring of a new chief of police.” The current chief, Humberto Cardounel Jr. announced back in June that he’d retire September 1st, so this isn’t a huge surprise. There has been some work toward police reform in the county, mostly led by Supervisor Nelson, and I’m interested in how reform-minded the new chief will be. Speaking of, RVAHub has all the information you need to tune into the Henrico Board of Supervisors work session tonight at 5:15 PM where they will discuss a Civilian Review Board of their own.Holly Prestidge at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has an interesting piece about a local balloon company (I did not know we had a local balloon company) creating a “pod” for high-school aged kids of its employees. Balloon School, which is charmingly capitalized as such throughout the article, involves a bunch of socially distanced teens, sitting at their own desks, doing their own virtual learning while a hired facilitator keeps everyone on track. It’s a clever way to try and solve childcare issues for older kids while still allowing parents to do in-person work that can’t be done from home—like, I would guess, making balloons. Creating a school enviornment inside of a workplace does compound the coronarisks, and I hope the balloon people are taking the time to familiarize themselves with all of the proper CDC guidances—both for balloons and for high school students.Looking for a volunteer opportunity? Consider helping Richmond Public Schools pack and distribute academic kits—all the supplies and subject-specific materials students will need to start off the virtual school year. HandOn has lots and lots of school-specific time slots for volunteers to sign up for, so, if you want, you can volunteer right at your neighborhood school.This morning’s patron longreadYour ‘Surge Capacity’ Is Depleted — It’s Why You Feel AwfulSubmitted by Patron Val. We’re living in a truly weird time, and it’s OK to acknowledge that we’re all operating at something other than peak performance.She says people are having to live their lives without the support of so many systems that have partly or fully broken down, whether it’s schools, hospitals, churches, family support, or other systems that we relied on. We need to recognize that we’re grieving multiple losses while managing the ongoing impact of trauma and uncertainty. The malaise so many of us feel, a sort of disinterested boredom, is common in research on burnout, Masten says. But other emotions accompany it: disappointment, anger, grief, sadness, exhaustion, stress, fear, anxiety — and no one can function at full capacity with all that going on.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 74 °F, and, listen, I don’t know what you want me to tell you, but we are stuck in the dead center of the summer doldrums. You can expect temperatures near 90 °F but a Feels Like closer to 100 °F. You can expect to sweat. You can expect me to nag you about drinking more water.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 897↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 4↘️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 118↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 12, Henrico: 73, and Richmond: 33). Since this pandemic began, 306 people have died in the Richmond region. As per always, the COVID Tracking Project has a good thread analyzing last night’s national coronavirus data. Important context that applies locally, too: “We’ve seen for months that the Saturday-Monday numbers tend to be lower than Tuesday-Friday.” Also: “The 7-day average for cases seems likely to rise. There were storm-related drops in testing and cases, which showed up in the numbers from the 3rd-6th.” It’s hard, at least for me, to remember that all of this data ultimately comes from folks out in the world running tests and filing reports. Those folks are definitely impacted by things like “the weekend” and “tropical storms.”Hey, this seems like a big and important update from last week: On Friday, the Governor announced that the Virginia Supreme Court granted a temporary, statewide eviction moratorium beginning today and ending Monday, September 7th.City Council will meet today for what I think is both a special meeting and their final meeting until September. They’ll consider a bunch of time-sensitive papers related to polling places for the November election—including ORD. 2020–163 which will establish City Hall as a satellite in-person absentee polling location. Remember! This is an important and necessary ordinance since the City’s decision to relegate the Registrar’s office to the far end of Laburnum Avenue—under and adjacent to a couple of highways—makes it very hard to access by anything other than a car. Moving forward, I wonder what sorts of in-person services the Registrar’s office provides and if we could just establish a permanent outpost at City Hall for those sorts of things? Council will also consider amending RES. 2020-R046, which is part of the police reform package, and asks the CAO to make ongoing reports on a handful of asset forfeiture special funds. 9th District Councilmember Jones says that they’re amending the paper at the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s request, which, to me, seems like it means the resolution will pass. Assuming that’s true, out of the five pieces of police reform legislation submitted last month three have/will pass: Establishing a task force to create a Civilian Review Board, Establishing a work group to create a Marcus Alert, and requesting a recurring asset forfeiture report. Tune in today at 4:00 PM to listen live.Also, Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense says Council could approve a "$500,000 grant program tailored to helping businesses and property owners that sustained financial losses from recent civil unrest." I can’t find it on Council’s agenda, but if you own a business with shattered windows or property damage that’s not covered by some sort of insurance, this may be worth your attention. Spiers said the Mayor’s office will roll out more information, including details on how to apply, later this morning.Check out this from the Archives piece in the Richmond Times-Dispatch about the Nickel Bridge. The bridge opened on New Year’s Day in 1925 and included a nickel toll for bikes and pedestrians, 10 cents for cars, 25 cents for one-horse or two-horse vehicles, and 50 cents for four-horse vehicles. Pedestrian tolls! Get outta here with that! While pedestrians can now (thankfully) cross for free, the view from the bridge, as described by a 1924 advertisement, remains “unspeakably beautiful.”Via /r/rva this wonderful old map of Richmond. I’m sure folks smarter than I can nail down the exact date of this map, but since Manchester is listed separately from Richmond, I’d put it at pre-1910.I promised I wouldn’t link to every single candidate event for the next three months, but I can’t not talk about 8th District Candidate Amy Wentz’s Virtual Town Hall on Transportation. Talking about transportation is one of my favorite things and these are some of my favorite people. Join Candidate Wentz; Kendra Norrell, RVA Rapid Transit’s Board President (and my former boss); and Louise Lockett Gordon, Director of Bike Walk RVA at 7:00 PM for a conversation about transportation. If you’ve got questions about how buses, bike/shared-use lanes, and sidewalks can better and more safely connect the 8th District, you couldn’t ask for a better group of folks. P.S. Here’s my growing list of candidate events—if you know of any that need to be added to the list please send them my way (no canvassing or fundraisers, please)!I’ve already made peace with the fact that college football will not exist in 2020. The Powers That Be haven’t gotten there yet, but I’m pretty sure it’s only a matter of time since over the weekend ESPN reported that “Big Ten presidents, following a meeting on Saturday, are ready to pull the plug on its fall sports season.” The Middle Atlantic Conference cancelled their season on Saturday, which was the first real dominion to fall, and now it looks like the rest of the college football dominos are about to quickly tumble down.This morning’s patron longreadWhen the Mind’s Eye Is BlindSubmitted by Patron Cait. I’m kind of shocked at how many folks have aphantasia, which means they cannot picture things in their mind.An extensive literature search on the inability to form visual imagery offered little help in understanding MX. The first mention of this phenomenon was apparently Francis Galton’s “breakfast” study from 1880. The British naturalist asked 100 adult men to talk about the table at which they ate breakfast each morning. He requested information on the lighting, sharpness and color of the images in their head. Much to his astonishment, 12 of his subjects were unable to tell him much: they had assumed up to then that the phrase “mental imagery” was not meant literally.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 75 °F, and today looks slightly cooler than the last several punishing days. I hope y’all got some rain last night.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 911↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 16↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 117↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 48, Henrico: 43, and Richmond: 26). Since this pandemic began, 287 people have died in the Richmond region. Here’s my stacked graph of statewide new cases, new deaths, and new hospitalizations since the end of March. I’m not sure you can compare new cases now to new cases back in May since we’ve really ratcheted up our testing game: The Commonwealth now regularly reports over 15,000 tests each day. You can compare the ebb and flow of hospitalizations and deaths though, which is (morbidly) interesting. The latter lags behind the former by a couple of weeks. Also, the most recent COVID Tracking Project post says that, looking at the national data, “it took 27 days after cases began to rise in early June for deaths to start rising as well.” Virginia’s cases started to really rise around the first week of July, so keep that in mind as we get closer to that 27-day threshold here in the Commonwealth.I’ve got two ways for you to get involved in Richmond City civics this morning—perfect homework for the weekend. First, the application for the Task Force on the Establishment of a Civilian Review Board is up and open! If you want to help the City figure out how its Civilian Review Board should work, this is the task force for you. They need nine members, include one person 18-years-old or younger, one person with a disability, and one person living in public housing. It’s unclear to me what kind of commitment they’re asking for—although building a CRB from scratch by March seems like a lot of work for a group of volunteers. Also, if you know a youth who’d be a good fit and they need some help with their application, please let me know! I’d love to help or find someone to help. Second, the City will hold the official public hearing on removing Confederate monuments at their meeting this coming Monday, August 3rd at 5:00 PM. A reader reminded me that, because the State says so, this public hearing must be conducted in person (PDF). That means if you really, really want to go sit inside with a bunch of other people for what could be several hours to give a public comment on monuments that have already been removed, you are totally welcome to do so. Alternatively, you can and should email the Clerk’s office (CityClerksOffice@richmondgov.com) with your comment in support of this paper before 10:00 AM on Monday, August 3rd.Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense reports that the City’s Office of the General Registrar will move from City Hall to 2143 Laburnum Avenue sometime before Labor Day. Unlike City Hall, which is eminently accessible by foot, bike, or bus, this new location at the far west end of Laburnum, crammed up against the highway, is just plain hard to get to unless you’re driving a car. In fact, this BizSense article mentions parking four times and “ample parking” twice. However, not mentioned is that the new location’s only bus access is a 12-minute walk to the hourly #91 bus (it’d take you at least 45 minutes to get there from Downtown and over an hour from Southside Plaza), biking on the wide and speedy Laburnum is terrifying, and to get there on foot you must cross over a highway on-ramp and under two overpasses. Not only that, but in early August, VDOT plans to tear up the street directly in front of the Registrar’s new office to build a roundabout—adding navigating construction to an already significant stack of accessibility challenges. But why is the accessibility of the Registrar’s office important? This is where folks can register to vote, get an absentee ballot in person, and drop off an absentee ballot in person. I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but there’s a pandemic on and the number of folks who will want to vote absentee in November is gonna be enormous, and the City just made it that much harder for people to safely cast their ballot. Remember yesterday when I said that we desperately need “transportation staff who live, breath, lead on this stuff and deeply integrate it into every nook and cranny of civic decision-making”? This is exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about. Luckily, all is not lost, and City Council will consider ORD. 2020–163 on August 10th which will create a satellite in-person absentee polling place at City Hall for two weeks before the November election. If it were me, I’d have the satellite locations operating for the entire time in-person absentee ballot drop off is allowed, but it’s probably too late to make that happen as there are some state-enforced timelines involved when adjusting polling locations. Anyway, ORD. 2020–163 is a very important ordinance, deserves your support, and you should email the City Clerk (CityClerksOffice@richmondgov.com) about it over the weekend (your third piece of homework!).This seems like good news: The Governor has asked the Virginia Supreme Court to ban evictions until September 7th, Justin Mattingly at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. Mattingly also says that Mayor Stoney and Council President Newbille have asked the local Richmond-Civil General District Court for a 60-day ban on evictions.It’s Friday, so I’ve updated my unemployment insurance claims chart with the new numbers from the week ending on July 25th. While totals claims have dropped continuously over the last month, new claims have steadily increased. I think I said this a while back and just haven’t had time to look into it, but I’d love to read some analysis on what kind of jobs are folks losing and has that changed over the past couple of months. You can read the Virginia Employment Commission’s post about this week’s numbers over on their website.I don’t really know how to talk about this piece about bike lanes in the RTD by Sabrina Moreno. I’ve got a lot of issues with it, starting with the headline (which is usually not written by the reporter). But, I don’t know that anyone needs to hear anymore opinions about bike lanes from a 3rd District white man who rides his bike everywhere. I’ll just say that I deeply agree with 9th District Councilmember Jones that, compared to sidewalks, bike lanes and shared-use lanes are cheap and quick to install. I think we should put them in on as many roads as possible to help folks safely walk, roll, and ride through their neighborhoods to access food, shopping, and public transportation. As Jones says, “I should feel comfortable that I can walk without worrying about a white person calling the police or a police car slowing down and that’s our reality.”My god, did you now that the parking requirements for multifamily buildings in Chesterfield is two parking spaces per unit? Even if they are one-bedroom units?? This blows my mind! Jack Jacobs at Richmond BizSense says the County will consider shrinking those requirements down to a still-too-chubby 1.5 spaces per one-bedroom unit.This morning’s longreadTogether, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our NationJohn Lewis wrote this essay before he died and asked that the New York Times publish it on the day of his funeral.While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life you inspired me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society. Millions of people motivated simply by human compassion laid down the burdens of division. Around the country and the world you set aside race, class, age, language and nationality to demand respect for human dignity.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 75 °F, and you can expect “cooler” temperatures today. We’ll still see the hot and humid 90s, just the low 90s instead of the high 90s.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 922↘️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 13↘️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 127↘️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 30, Henrico: 65, and Richmond: 32). Since this pandemic began, 281 people have died in the Richmond region. A couple things to note this morning! First, the outage or backlog or whatever at VDH did seem to cause a one-time increase in new coronavirus case counts, and today’s new COVID-19 case numbers are back under 1,000. Second, faced with a worsening situation in the 757, the Governor tweaked Phase Three (as predicted) for just a handful of localities in the Eastern Region of the state: Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Suffolk, Portsmouth, Hampton, Williamsburg, Newport News, Poquoson, James City County, and York County. In those localities, on-site alcohol sales will end at 10:00 PM, all dining establishments must close by 12:00 AM, indoor dining will be limited to 50% of capacity, and gatherings over 50 people will be prohibited. The new restrictions will remain in place for at least a couple of weeks, an entire COVID-19 incubation period. Third, a GMRVA Patron reminded me of this VDH form to report violations of the Governor’s executive order requiring folks to wear masks inside of buildings. Wearing a mask is not a joke, and, in fact, it is required by the dang Governor while inside.RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras says teachers will not be virtually teaching from their classrooms this coming school year. While this is exactly what Chesterfield Public Schools have required—that teachers show up for work each and every day with students staying home—I didn’t know that it was something teachers in Richmond wanted. Kamras says opening the buildings to teachers would open the buildings to additional staff, additional cleaning costs, and, most importantly, the coronavirus itself—which is exactly the point of keeping all learning virtual for the foreseeable future.City Council’s Public Safety Committee met yesterday and voted to continue RES. 2020-R048 until September. That’s the paper that asks the Richmond Police Department to stop using certain less lethal weapons to control unlawful assemblies. Considering the membership of the committee—Councilmembers Trammell, Gray, and Hilbert—this is unsurprising, as those same councilmembers were some of the most outspoken in support of the current policing status quo at this past Monday’s full Council meeting. Only one of three is running for reelection (Trammell in the 8th District), so make sure you ask candidates what they would have done in this situation with this resolution (you can find the list of candidates and their contact information here). Anyway, while I didn’t think RES. 2020-R048 had much of a chance passing full Council, I didn’t expect it to get hung up in committee—especially given the current (and growing) state of protests in Richmond. I’m not sure what the process is for full Council to vote on something that’s been continued by a committee, but I doubt there would be the votes for whatever that is either.Speaking of police reform, C. Suarez Rojas has an update on Henrico County’s efforts to create a independent Civilian Review Board for their police department—an effort led by Supervisor Tyrone Nelson. There’s a lot of work to do in Henrico, especially when you’ve got Supervisor O’Bannon who “isn’t sure if there is a policing problem the county needs to solve” and wonders if “[a review board] could be a new program in the division of police.” If you’re a Henrico resident, consider emailing the Board of Supervisors in support of an independentCivilian Review Board. I still think this PDF from the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement is the best primer on CRBs, so maybe send that link along when you reach out to your elected representative!I only learned about this George Floyd hologram thing after yesterday’s email went out, and I’m bummed I didn’t get a chance to tell y’all about it. The pics are wild! Johanna Alonso at the Richmond Times Dispatch has a recap of the event, which took place in front of hundreds at Marcus David Peters Circle and included some words from George Floyd’s family.Budget nerds and normal people! Councilmember Addison has a column in the RTD about participatory budgeting and how this moment of defunding the police (those are my words, he says “as we look to reimagine public safety”) is the perfect time to implement a PB pilot. I say “normal people” because the participatory budgeting process is exactly built for normal people to get involved and have a say in how their public money gets spent in their neighborhoods. See: “The city administration must recognize the immense knowledge that resides on every street and honor resident experiences by giving them some decision-making power. Participatory budgeting uniquely is structured to bridge the knowledge and experience gap between government and people. There is no better time than right now to bridge that gap in Richmond.” Read this column, and then stay tuned for how Councilmember Addison plans to lead the charge on bringing participatory budgeting to Richmond.Mayor Stoney announced that he’ll put somewhere between $25–50 million in the City’s five-year Capital Improvement Program for “the commemoration and memorialization of Richmond’s complete history”—that includes investments in “the Shockoe Area, various African American burial grounds and the Slave Trail. The effort will begin with a $3.5 million investment in the Shockoe Area Memorial Park.” Sounds like a win for the Shockoe Alliance folks who’ve been working towards doing some sort of memorial in the area for a while now. The current CIP (PDF) does have page for the “Heritage Center / Lumpkin’s Jail (Devil’s Half Acre)” (p. 177) which says we’ve got about $8M socked away for that purpose. I also seem to remember the State earmarking a bunch of money for a museum about Virginia’s role in the trade of enslaved people. I don’t know how any of those things relate or don’t relate to this new announcement!Via /r/rva, check out this incredible 3D render of a 1957 map of Virginia. Make sure you tap in and zoom around the full, hi-res image. Whoa. Makes me feel like I’m watching the sunset from the Blue Ride Mountains.This morning’s patron longreadHow Taiwan’s Unlikely Digital Minister Hacked the PandemicSubmitted by Patron Casey. Lots of interesting takeaways in this piece about Taiwan’s use of technology in their democracy. I’m particularly interested in how we could use pol.is locally for community engagement. Bowling Green has an interesting case study if you want to dig in a little further.It’s safe to say that most governments are not staffed by officials who share much in common with Tang, a trans woman, open-source software hacker, startup entrepreneur, and the youngest (at 35, in 2016) person ever to be appointed a cabinet member in Taiwan. But when the topic is the successful integration of civil society, technological progress, and democratic governance, it’s also safe to say that most countries don’t share all that much in common with Taiwan, either. At least not yet.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Tom's Newsmaker guest today is the former Solicitor of Baltimore City, Andre Davis. In 2017, Judge Davis left his seat on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and answered then-Mayor Catherine Pugh's call for him to serve as his hometown’s top lawyer. He was front and center in efforts to recruit Michael Harrison as the city’s police commissioner after Daryl De Sousa resigned amid scandal. When Mayor Pugh was forced to resign by her own corruption scandal, Davis was a stabilizing force in a city hall rocked by crisis. Andre Davis worked to reform the Baltimore Police Department, and he took controversial positions about the role of the Civilian Review Board, gag orders for victims of police misconduct, and the city’s liability arising from the scandal of the Gun Trace Task Force. Today on Midday, Andre Davis reflects on his tenure in city government, politics and public service, and he takes your questions and comments.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 70 °F, and today looks slightly less steamy-hot than the last couple of days. Get out there and enjoy it (while staying hydrated)!Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 972↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 2↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 75↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 27, Henrico: 31, and Richmond: 17). Since this pandemic began, 270 people have died in the Richmond region. The last time the Commonwealth reported more than 972 cases was back on June 7th, one of just a handful of days ever with over 1,000 reported positive coronavirus cases. We’ll see what today’s numbers bring, but if Virginia starts reporting 1,000 cases per day on the regular I have to think the Governor will implement some changes. Maybe changes to Phase Three? Maybe regional changes? If you’ve got a second, tap through the Number of Cases by Date of Symptom Onset graphs filtered by region. Almost every region (except Central Virginia) has seen an increase in cases, but Eastern Virginia is really driving a lot of the change we’re seeing in the statewide numbers. I’d love to know what’s different in each of these regions and what we can learn from each other over the next couple of months.The Commonwealth Times’s Hannah Eason spent some time at last night’s peaceful protest Downtown, and she’s put together some pictures and videos from the event. This is the second night of peaceful protests that start at MLK Middle School and make their way to City Hall to hang out, demonstrate, and listen to speakers. Unlike a couple weeks back, police did not show up—Richmond Police or Virginia State Police—and gas everyone to get them to go home. Related and totally worth your tap: NPR talked to Regina Boone, a Richmond Free Press photographer, about her work capturing images from the last month and a half of protests.Yesterday, I put together a bonus piece explaining the five pieces of police reform legislation currently sitting on various City Council agendas. I think that legislation, along with the Mayor’s Task Force to Reimagine Public Safety, make up the first steps towards the actual police policy reform only made possible through the work of longtime advocates and, more recently, protestors. If you’re too lazy to tap, on the docket we’ve got: Creating a civilian review board task force, creating a Marcus Alert work group, asking the Richmond Police Department to stop using chemical and other less-than lethal weapons, reporting on the RPD’s use of funding for mental health services, and reporting on the status and use of various asset forfeiture special funds in the City’s budget. The headlining item out of this small stack of papers is definitely ORD. 2020–155 which creates the CRB task force (and is the only true ordinance of the bunch). Councilmember Addison, chair of the Government Operations committee, says that committee will discuss ORD. 2020–155 on July 23rd, and you can submit public comment to the City Clerk at any point before July 21st at 10:00 AM (cityclerksoffice@richmondgov.com). Also, in a public engagement move that makes my heart sing with gladness, Addison has put together a Google Doc of the ordinance that you can mark up however you like. I realize that the set of people who want to leave a public comment on an ordinance about civilian review boards and choose to do so by reading and marking up legal text through Google Docs is probably pretty small. BUT STILL, this is a great way to collect smart and specific feedback—but, of course, in no way should be the only means of feedback. Anyway, I think the text of this ordinance is a little too prescriptive in defining the goals and purview of Richmond’s potential CRB, but it’s a place to start.I mentioned it in the legislation explainer piece, but the Richmond Accountability and Transparency Project has demanded that Mayor Stoney disband his Reimagining Public Safety Task Force before it even gets started. RTAP’s press release calls the Mayor’s task force “a distraction from the formation of a real independent civilian review board” and they “demand that Mayor Stoney disband his task force and defer to the one proposed in…ORD. 2020–155”. First, RTAP are and have been thefolks leading the conversation on creating a Civilian Review Board in Richmond. Without their work and expertise over the last several years, we wouldn’t even be talking about CRBs today. Second, the makeup of the Mayor’s task force has already been criticized for lacking Latinx voices, and, while I don’t personally agree, I do think you can make an argument for not including any law enforcement at all on this particular task force. Third, unless I misunderstood entirely, the Mayor’s task force is not intended to duplicate the work that will be done by the Task Force on the Establishment of a Civilian Review Board set up by ORD. 2020–155. The Mayor’s task force has a broader charge of “reviewing the police department’s use of force policies, exploring an approach to public safety that uses a human services lens and prioritizing community healing and engagement.” So the way I understood it—and I’m often extremely dense, so grain of salt—was that the Mayor’s task force would deliver very high-level public safety recommendations within the next 45 days, one of which probably would be to “support the existing legislative process of creating a CRB as defined by ORD. 2020–155.” Fourth, and finally, these are complex, emotional, and important conversations, and like most complex, emotional, and important conversations, folks can have legitimate reasons for standing on either side—or right in the dang middle!—of the issue. Is gathering 20+ smart folks, many of whom are dedicated to serving communities impacted by over-policing, in a room for a month and a half the best way to reimagine public safety? Would we have been better off to slow the process down and involve the folks actually impacted by over-policing? These are a good questions that I do not know the answer to.Ali Rockett and Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch sat down with the new RPD Chief Gerald Smith and have a bunch of interesting quotes that you should go read. Chief Smith says “Can the department be effective with less funding? No, it cannot. … The question is not defund the police; it’s fund the change.” I mean I get it, no department head is ever going to ask for less money in their budget. But, that said, if we change what we expect of the police in our communities, it may require less funding for them to be effective at it. Also, and maybe it’s time to start endlessly repeating this again ahead of elections, but: Raising the real estate tax is the only way to meaningfully fund change in Richmond.Tonight at 6:00 PM, the Richmond School Board will meet again and potentially vote on a school reopening plan. Your homework: Read Superintendent Kamras’s email before the meeting. It’s got descriptions of the five plans up for consideration, as well as some feedback he’s gotten from families and teachers/staff both for and against reopening schools. It’s nice to read through four sides of the same issue. To quote Kamras: “I share these quotes not to persuade anyone one way or the other. I share them only to demonstrate that there are very legitimate and very passionate feelings on all sides of the reopening debate.”Don’t forget! The Henrico/Richmond City Health District hosts free COVID-19 testing events on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You’ll find them today at the Broad Rock Community Center (4615 Ferguson Lane) and on Thursday at Tuckahoe Middle School (9000 Three Chopt Road). Make sure you give the hotline a ring before you head out (804.205.3501).This morning’s longreadWhy Bus-Loving Rep. Ayanna Pressley Wants Transit to Be FreeA huge federal win for transit would be to just stop funding massive road-building projects. We’ve got enough roads. We’re good.The caucus’ first major win is a massive surface-transportation bill that passed the House yesterday. The Moving Forward Act is a $1.5 trillion infrastructure package aimed at shifting the country’s spending paradigm away from what Pressley calls “antiquated” policies that favor car dependence and highways and toward streets and cities that prioritize the safety of people biking, walking, and riding buses. “Investing in sustainable transportation options, like bikes and mass transit, is not only imperative to the health of our planet but to the equity of our communities,” says Representative Earl Blumenauer, Pressley’s Congressional Bike Caucus co-chair. “With this legislation, Congress has the opportunity to meaningfully invest in initiatives that serve people who have been consistently overlooked.”If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 74 °F, and today we’ve got more of the same. Expect highs in the mid 90s, sunshine, and humidity—all the things that make Richmond summers great. Stay cool, stay hydrated, and stay masked up.Water coolerSome personal news: At the end of this month, I will resign my position as Executive Director of RVA Rapid Transit (that’s my day job). I’ve had the absolute best time over the last four years working for an organization whose vision—a region packed with frequent and far-reaching public transportation—aligns so closely with my own. However, trite as it sounds, the last three months of pandemic and protests have helped bring into focus what’s important to me and what I do best.First, it’s clear to me that the advocacy for better public transportation in our region must be led by the people most impacted by our region’s past—and ongoing—racist planning decisions. That’s obviously not my lived experience, and it’s appropriate and necessary for me to step aside and make space for someone else.Second, it’s also clear to me that Good Morning, RVA is the best use of my time, talents, voice, and platform. Over the last three coronamonths (or is it four at this point??) I’ve done some of the best writing of my life and have felt incredibly fulfilled keeping Richmonders informed about what’s going on in their city during a time of crisis. But it’s not just the recent crisis-writing. I’ve absolutely loved the last couple years of helping folks work through the (failed) property tax increase, NoBro, a bunch of zoning-and-rezonings, and, of course, the non-stop work for better and safer streets. It’s deeply affirming to regularly hear from readers that what I write about each day has helped them become better citizens of the city.So, after four years, I want to dedicate more than just my (very) early mornings to GMRVA. Moving forward, I’ll now have the capacity to put more time and energy into Good Morning, RVA, and, eventually, I hope to grow it into a sustainable way to support me and my family. How will that impact you, the reader? Starting with the very next sentence you can expect me to regularly ask for your financial support. If you value my work, sign up for the GMRVA patreon and kick five or ten bucks my way each month. Your support, now very literally, helps make Good Morning, RVA possible. Other than that, I hope to invest more time in longer-form projects like the HB 1541 and the two-stage budget review explainers. I plan on crushing 2020 election coverage (now that we have a mostly-final list of candidates) and am noodling on ways to help folks get more meaningfully involved in our City’s legislative process. This project has changed a lot over the last five years (ack! look at this, the very first Good Morning, RVA email, sent way back on March 3rd, 2014), and I’m sure it will continue to evolve, but now with the attention I know it deserves.I’m incredibly excited to do this thing that I love in a more meaningful, more intentional way, and I hope you’re excited about that, too.Alright, on with the news!P.S. And, because I know I’ll get emails about it, I’m not looking for any sort of advertising or sponsorship. I’ve learned my lesson about ad-supported news and news-adjacent projects, and I’m not interested. Good Morning, RVA will be reader supported for the next foreseeable forever. You should, like, go become a supporter. Just go ahead and do it.As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 639↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 4↘️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 75↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 43, Henrico: 18, and Richmond: 14). Since this pandemic began, 240 people have died in the Richmond region. The New York Times has some upsetting dataviz around the disparate impact COVID-19 has on people of color. From the article: “Latino and African-American residents of the United States have been three times as likely to become infected as their white neighbors, according to the new data…and Black and Latino people have been nearly twice as likely to die from the virus as white people, the data shows.” The new data are only available after the NYT sued the CDC for it.Whoa: The Virginia Mercury’s Sarah Vogelsong says, “In a sharp pivot away from natural gas, Dominion Energy announced Sunday that it is canceling the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline and selling ‘substantially all’ of its natural gas transmission and storage assets to a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate.” That’s an enormous win for environmental advocates and regular folk who didn’t want an massive natural gas pipeline running through their town. Robert Zullo, also at the Mercury, steps through some of the project’s history and how much he’s learned reporting on it over the last four years.City Council’s Organizational Development committee meets today at 5:00 PM and will talk through some interesting topics. New RPD Chief Gerald Smith will formally introduce himself to Council, and the Interim City Attorney will give a monument update—fascinated by the latter since the Mayor just went and did it despite the Interim City Attorney’s advice. They’ll also discuss how Council and the Mayor’s administration can move forward on the Civilian Review Board, Marcus Alert, the Mayor’s Reimagining Public Safety Task Force, and the community engagement strategy around all of those things. Should be a good one, and you can tune in here(just look for the “In Progress” link once the meeting begins). The Planning Commission will also meet today, and I’ve got my eye on the “Omnibus Zoning Ordinance Amendment Update and Residential Zoning District Amendments” presentation. The side deck’s not yet on legistar, but you can catch that meeting at 1:30 PM if you’d like.It seems bananas when you say it out loud, but an actual part of the Richmond 300 draft is decking over the part of I-95 between Gilpin Court and Jackson Ward and building stuff right on top of the dang highway—the same dang highway, you’ll remember, that cut through Jackson Ward in the 50s and destroyed parts of a vibrant, thriving Black neighborhood. Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense has some details on what that would look like, how it would reconnect the neighborhoods, and what kind of redevelopment it could spur in and around the area.Richmond Public Libraries reopen today, which I am ambivalent about. On the one hand, the library serves an absolutely critical role in folks' lives, but on the washed-for-20-seconds other hand, anything reopening stresses me out. You can read the new procedures and health-related guidelines over on their website. Also, they are now accepting book returns either inside or in the drop boxes, which is great news for me. We’ve got a stack of books that we checked out on, like, Pandemic Day 0, and they’ve filled me with an increasing amount of guilt as the weeks have worn on. This is part of the City’s official move into Phase Three, and you can read about how that changes City services here.Free Blockbuster Richmond is Little Free Library but for videos. You’ve probably seen the blue and yellow boxes on Instagram, and they’re exactly what you think they are: Free lending libraries focused on TV and movies (and candy!). I’m not sure what folks do with a VHS of Stargate, but, still, a cool idea. Rodrigo Arriaza at Richmond Magazine has some more details including a couple quotes from the founder who, ominously, wished to remain anonymous!This morning’s longreadYou Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate MonumentThis is a powerful, hard-to-read piece by Caroline Randall Williams. Content warning: rape and sexual assault.According to the rule of hypodescent (the social and legal practice of assigning a genetically mixed-race person to the race with less social power) I am the daughter of two black people, the granddaughter of four black people, the great-granddaughter of eight black people. Go back one more generation and it gets less straightforward, and more sinister. As far as family history has always told, and as modern DNA testing has allowed me to confirm, I am the descendant of black women who were domestic servants and white men who raped their help. It is an extraordinary truth of my life that I am biologically more than half white, and yet I have no white people in my genealogy in living memory. No. Voluntary. Whiteness. I am more than half white, and none of it was consensual. White Southern men — my ancestors — took what they wanted from women they did not love, over whom they had extraordinary power, and then failed to claim their children.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and today does look a little bit cooler than the last couple of days. You probably don’t need to worry about sporadic downpours, either. Honestly, sounds like bike-riding weather to me.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 416↘️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 23↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 33↘️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 17, Henrico: 12, and Richmond: 4). Since this pandemic began, 228 people have died in the Richmond region.Wow! What a historic day in Richmond: Yesterday, the Mayor ordered the immediate removal of Confederate monuments, beginning with the Stonewall Jackson monument at the intersection of Arthur Ashe Boulevard and Monument Avenue. Honestly, honestly, honestly, I never thought I would see the day, but, here we are, and it looks like crews will continue to take down racist monuments until either they’re all gone or a court stops them.Everything started at City Council’s special meeting (video here) when the Mayor introduced RES. 2020-R049 authorizing him to “immediately remove, temporarily, certain statues, including numerous Confederate statues, to protect the health and safety of persons and property in the City of Richmond and to store them pending the result of a hearing.” The resolution relies on the fact that 1) Richmond is still under a State of Emergency, which the Governor just extended Monday at the Mayor’s request, 2) that during a State of Emergency, the Mayor is the Director of Emergency Management and can use that authority in atypical ways, and 3) as of July 1st the City now has authority over its monuments. The plan was to have Council approve the resolution and then get moving removing monuments to White supremacy.I haven’t listened to the meeting audio yet, but, for various procedural and City Attorney reasons, Council would not or could not vote on the resolution or even signal their consent to it with a series of winks and nods. Mark Robinson from the Richmond Times-Dispatch has a play-by-play on Twitter that’s worth reading, including this fascinating quote from the City Attorney, “Honestly, our office hasn’t had anything to do with this.” Keeping that quote in mind, one detail that’s either very, very interesting or a total clerical mistake: RES. 2020-R049 does not say “Approved as to form and legality by the City Attorney” at the top of the resolution. I have lots of conspiratorial thoughts about that whole situation, but those will have to wait!Faced with procedural hurdles they were unable to overcome, Council planned on holding another meeting today to vote on the Mayor’s resolution, and, obviously, that meeting is no longer necessary. So, without approval from Council and against the advice of the City Attorney, the Mayor just went and did it anyway. Here’s his video explaining the reasoning behind his decision, the framework that makes it possible, and a bit of his vision for what comes next. And he really meant immediately, too. Like, at that very moment, cranes pulled up to the Stonewall Jackson monument and over the course of the next several hours, through a torrential downpour, took down that monument. Again, something I’d never thought I’d see. David Streever at VPM has a recap of the moment; Roberto Roldan, also from VPM, has a great video of the actual, actual moment; a member of First Baptist Church of Richmond, that sits at that intersection, tells the story behind the church’s bellwhich they rang during the removal; and the Valentine posted this before-and-after picture of the monument spanning 99 years.So what’s next? I imagine crews will move down Monument Avenue and handle Stuart or clean up what’s left of Davis. Of course, Maury remains further west and A.P. Hill’s remains lie literally buried under the Northside. There’s a lot of work to be done to rid our City’s neighborhoods of all the stones and statues venerating white supremacy—about $1.8 million of work says the Mayor. City Council has done their part and introduced ORD. 2020–154 which kicks off the dumb and required state process for getting rid of the monuments, a process that still must be followed. And, I imagine, some white folks are frantically calling their lawyers to get a judge to stop the cranes from following the Mayor’s orders. It’s not going to matter though. Maybe a judge agrees and stops the removal of any more Confederate monuments. Maybe a judge even requires the City to put back up the Jackson monument. It doesn’t matter, we’ll work through the dumb and required process, win any law suits, and the 100-year-old symbols of white supremacy will come down. It’s only a matter of time now!There’s a lot of work left to do, even in taking down the symbols of racism and inequity, but especially in dismantling the systems that perpetuate racism and inequity. Yesterday, City Council took some legislative steps toward those goals and introduced several bills along those lines: RES. 2020-R048 which “bans the use of certain non-leathal weapons to control unlawful assemblies”, RES. 2020-R047which asks for more details on the police department’s budget, RES. 2020-R046which asks for regular reports on any civil asset forfeitures, RES. 2020-R045 which looks to set up a work group focused on creating a Marcus Alert, and ORD. 2020–155 which establishes “a task force on the Establishment of a Civilian Review Board.”Meanwhile, down at the John Marshall Courthouse some folks gathered to protest courts moving forward with evictions during a pandemic. At some point, for some reason, sheriff’s deputies sprayed protestors with pepper spray, a few folks were arrested, and protestors broke some of the Courthouse’s windows. You can read more and watch some videos from the RTD’s C. Suarez Rojas. I definitely do not know enough about how eviction works to talk intelligently about what happened yesterday. But here are a bunch of things that I do know: Folks should not be evicted from their homes during a pandemic, protestors should not be pepper sprayed, the Sherrif’s Department is not the same as the Virginia State Police or the Richmond Police Department, the body language of the Sherrif’s Deputies as they tried to keep protestors out of the courthouse was so very different from the LIGHT ‘EM UP! vibe I get from the riot cops we’ve seen in our neighborhoods lately, the Courts have the power to halt evictions and the Supreme Court of Virginia has let the moratorium on evictions lapse, I have not seen either the Governor or the Mayor ask Richmond’s courts to extend that moratorium locally, both the City and the State have set up rent relief programs totaling $56 million, and Richmond has a shameful nation-leading eviction problem. That’s a lot of different thoughts pulling me in a lot of different ways.Another huge bummer to Past Ross: Minor League baseball has cancelled their 2020 season, which means no Flying Squirrels baseball in Richmond. Present-day Ross, though, is like, yeah, duh, I’m not trying to share the air with hundreds of randos, no way. The Squirrels say they “will continue to be part of the community, while having funn & making memories in new, creative ways.” I believe them.P.S. Chill vibes at Marcus-David Peters Circle, née the Lee Circle, continue. Hanna Eason from the Commonwealth Times has some pictures and videos from last nightand VPM’s Ben Paviour has pictures of even more guerrilla signage going up in the area.This morning’s patron longreadThe Power of Empty PedestalsSubmitted by Patron Casey. Now we actually have a massive, empty pedestal to consider.Empty pedestals are powerful symbols. In Prague during the Cold War, an empty pedestal that once supported a statue to Czechoslavak president Tomas Masaryk reminded people living under Soviet rule that they would one day emerge from the oppressiveness of an authoritarian regime. Empty pedestals can serve a similar function in Richmond, and around the country. History won’t be erased after Lee’s statue joins the recently toppled statues of former Confederate president Jefferson Davis and the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus. For centuries, these structures supported white supremacy and obscured historical truths. Empty pedestals represent opportunities for us to grapple with history’s light and darkness. They are invitations to empathize with the perspectives of people previously marginalized from the interpretation of the past. As Edward Ayers, the Tucker-Boatwright Professor of Humanities at the University of Richmond told me, “What matters now is what we all do with what remains. We don’t have a blank slate or a clean sheet of paper on which to draw our plans, but history never does.”If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

On this episode, State's Attorney Tony Covington explains the purpose and functionality of a Civilian Review Board to review citizen claims of excessive force by police in Charles County and nationwide.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and today looks a lot like yesterday. Expect heat, humidity, and a (smaller) chance of rain this evening. It’s vampire time in Richmond: Get your physical activity in before or after the sun comes up / goes down.Water coolerRichmond Police report that Willie L. Johnston, 81, was shot to death on the 1400 block of Stoney Run Road early yesterday morning. According to RPD data, 21 people have been murdered in 2020.As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 471↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 9↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 56➡️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 20, Henrico: 13, and Richmond: 23). Since this pandemic began, 213 people have died in the Richmond region. I’m still noodling on including sparklines in this email, because all of today’s emoji trend arrows (remember: they represent the change in seven-day average as compared to yesterday) have flipped directions but the actual changes in seven-day averages are pretty small. For example, in this graph you can see the number of new reported cases has remained basically flat over the last bunch of days.Police once again filled our city’s streets with tear gas last night.The Governor’s decision to close the Lee Circle overnight provides the context for last night’s protests and the police’s now-routine decision to use chemical weapons on Richmonders. First, the Governor’s decision is fairly far-reaching, prohibiting climbing on the statue, limiting occupancy in the circle to 500 people, and preventing folks from adding additional context to the statue—whether that be signs, flags, posters, or more paint. The circle will close at sunset and open at sunrise. I mostly understand the need—or at least the desire—to close the park at night and prohibit benign-but-illegal behavior. But preventing folks from continuing to evolve that space as they grieve, celebrate, heal, and memorialize? Really bad call by the Governor, who himself understand the symbolic power of the circle and held a rally there just a couple weeks ago. Yesterday, I wrote a bunch of words about how the community-driven placemaking at Lee Circle is a model we should learn from and follow. The State should buzz off and mind their own business.So, with Lee Circle off the table as a rallying ground for protests, some folks ended up behind City Hall on Marshall Street—the same spot where the Mayor apologized in front of a crowd of hundreds for the Richmond Police Department’s decisions to gas peaceful protestors at the Lee Monument. It looks like this group of protestors blocked the streets, set up a couple tents, and hunkered down for the night. I don’t know what kicked it off, but at 12:42 AM RPD declared the crowd “an unlawful assembly due to conditions of activity such as sit-ins, sit-downs, blocking traffic, blocking entrances or exits of buildings that impact public safety or infrastructure.” That’s real rich coming from the the folks who still have huge concrete barriers setup on Grace Street blocking traffic and the entrance to the literal headquarters of public safety, but, whatever.At some point, for some reason, the police decided folks needed to go and just absolutely inundated the area with tear gas. This video of cops treating the place I go to watch public meetings like a war zone is exhausting. Watching cops shoot a tear gas canister at a person just feet from a bus stop I use all the time is exhausting. Listen, I’m not out in the streets each night and am tucked safely in bed while people scream and run and cough just a couple of miles from my house, but each morning I wake up thoroughly exhausted and confused. It’s like my brain can’t or won’t associate these videos that look like a found-footage disaster movie with the places I frequent all the time. That’s City Hall! I’m literally there all of the time! That’s the GRTC Temporary Transfer Plaza! I just rode through 9th Street with my son the other day! What the heck is going on?Yesterday, at City Council’s informal meeting (which I ended up live tweeting) Councilmember Jones asked Mayor Stoney if he would ban the use of chemical weapons by the Richmond Police Department. The Mayor equivocated a bit and repeated what he’s said before, something along the lines of he sees the use of tear gas as an absolute last resort. I just cannot reconcile what the Mayor said in that meeting yesterday to the behavior of the police last night. I absolutely refuse to believe that there was no other options to disperse last night’s crowd—they’d set up a movie screen and camp chairs for Pete’s sake! Who was in charge last night, the Mayor and the RPD or the Governor and the Virginia State Police? If the former, I want to know how he can possibly think last night’s response was justified. If the latter, I would love to hear someone ask a bunch of questions about police use of chemical weapons (and the closing of the Lee Circle) at today’s regularly-scheduled coronavirus briefing.As the police give us nightly examples of the desperate need for public safety reform, City Council and the Mayor’s administration have started to take steps toward policy change. Yesterday, the Mayor presented his Local Roadmap for Public Safety Reform (PDF) at Council’s informal meeting. It’s mostly stuff we’ve heard him commit to before: updating the RPD’s existing policies on chokeholds and Duty to Intervene, creating a Civilian Review Board, the Marcus Alert, and creating the Richmond Task Force on Reimagining Public Safety. One new piece of information: The City Attorney said that a CRB created by Council could in fact have subpoena power. This is counter to what I’d heard previously, and, if true, would make setting up a CRB with actual teeth a lot easier. Later on, at Council’s formal meeting, a representative from the Richmond Transparency and Accountability Project underscored the importance of doing real, legit community engagement before creating a review board. Keep this in mind as the various councils, tasksforces, and groups start meeting to put together public safety reform policies.Actually, the City Attorney featured pretty heavily in City Council’s discussion, which I wish would happen more. About Confederate monuments, he basically said that taking down any of the statues before July 1st and without following the State’s procedures would result in either the City, the Mayor, or City employees being exposed to possibly civil or criminal lawsuits. The Mayor said he’d take one for the team, but was unwilling to put employees in that position. Also, keep in mind that the monuments can’t just come down immediately on July 1st. The State’s legislation, HB 1537, requires localities to hold a public hearing before removing, relocating, contextualizing, or covering any monument, and they’ve got to publish notice of that hearing 30 days in advance. Plus, after Council votes to get rid of our monuments they must “first, for a period of 30 days, offer the monument or memorial for relocation and placement to any museum, historical society, government, or military battlefield.” So if the City were to put a public hearing date on the calendar today and get notice published in the paper tomorrow, we’re looking at August 23rd as the soonest possible takedown date. That’s almost nine weeks from now. I’m not saying that the nightly protests are about the Confederate monuments—they’re not, they’re about police violence. But, because Richmond, the Confederate monuments have become and will continue to be a focal point and symbol for folks' anger. I…don’t think we can handle nine more weeks with the monuments up, and someone needs to find a big brain attorney or talk to the Attorney General or the Governor or something. The situation in Richmond is real tenuous and only growing more so each night.Whew, OK. As part of their regular, non-pandemic, non-protest work, City Council adopted ORD. 2019–343, the Short Term Rental aka Airbnb ordinance with no amendments. This means you’ve got to live in any property you want to put on Airbnb for most of the year. I think that was the right call, and it’s great to see City Council actually writing and passing laws! Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch says Council also surplused the Public Safety Building and will begin the process of renaming the Lee Bridge.The last couple of Richmond 300 virtual summits take place this week. Tonight, tune in for the Diverse Economy summit at 6:00 PM. Make sure you read the related portion of the draft plan (PDF) and sign up over on the Eventbrite.This morning’s longreadSAH Statement on The Removal of Monuments to the Confederacy from Public SpacesThe Society of Architectural Historians seems like a very staid group, and yet, apparently, has “never before advocated for the direct removal of any historic resource, let alone listed monuments.”In contrast, Confederate monuments do not serve as catalysts for a cleansing public conversation, but rather express white supremacy and dominance, causing discomfort and distress to African-American citizens who utilize the public spaces these monuments occupy. Our inaction gives these monuments power. By leaving them in place, we allow the dead hand of the past to direct some Americans away from that which belongs to all of us. History has proven that progress is possible, but also that the persistent racial schism in our society will not be conquered without radical, sustained action. The removal of Confederate monuments is a necessary and important step in this process, and one that cannot wait any longer.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 72 °F again, but, today, highs should stay out of upper 90s. Expect at growing chance of rain throughout the afternoon and into the evening. Saturday looks hot, but Sunday looks pretty A+.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 951 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 17 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 106 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 60, Henrico: 13, and Richmond: 33). Since this pandemic began, 195 people have died in the Richmond region. Remember that today most of the region moves into Phase Two of the Governor’s plan for recovery. This means a lot of things, but, mostly, that 50 folks can gather together with the proper social distancing and masks and sanitization and so on. After the Governor announced the move into Phase Two (which still, at this moment in time, has not made it to the State’s recovery website), I was pretty confused about what business were supposed to do who could now open to 50% of their capacity but that 50% capacity was more than 50 people. Turns out, I’m not the only with questions! Lane Kizziah at the Richmond Times-Dispatch says the Dominion Raceway in Spotsylvania was also confused and had planned to hold a race on Saturday with upwards of 1,200 folks. Turns out, they’re only allowed 50 spectators not 50% of potential spectators. I don’t blame them for misunderstanding the guidance. It’s a 41-page PDF, and, despite what you read in this email, people generally don’t love looking through massive PDFs. I think this quote from the racetrack’s sales manager also speaks to the lack of lead time businesses were given before the upshift into Phase Two: "We had a plan on Monday, and it changed on Tuesday…The governor’s information came out on Wednesday, and we changed again. Now it’s Thursday, and it appears we’re changing again.”Yesterday, the Governor gave a speech about why he’s now ordered the removal of the Robert E. Lee monument, which you can read as prepared here. Listen, I don’t think it’s always super helpful to criticize folks on how the end up doing the right thing, but this speech from the Governor didn’t do it for me. Northam continued veneration of Robert E. Lee, calling him “wise,” quoting him in a positive light, and perpetuating the myth of the kindly General Lee. Here, for context and so we remember, is a quote from Lee on slavery: “I think it however a greater evil to the white man than to the black race, & while my feelings are strongly enlisted in behalf of the latter, my sympathies are more strong for the former. The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, socially & physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing, is necessary for their instruction as a race, & I hope will prepare & lead them to better things.” Whitewashing Lee, even just a little, does not help destroy the Lost Cause narrative and gives space, even just a little, for White supremacy to work. The rest of the Governor’s speech was fine, although this bit makes me wonder what changed for him over the last seven days: “What do you say when a six-year-old African American little girl looks you in the eye, and says: What does this big statue mean? Why is it here?” Take a minute to read Michael Paul Williams’s column which is both more and less cynical. I enjoy this quote from one of John Mitchell Jr.’s descendants about what Mitchell Jr. would say today: “I think he would say ‘I told you so.’” Anyway, the Department of General Services has been asked to come up with a plan to get rid of the thing as soon as possible—which, if I were to make an uneducated guess, would be measured in weeks, not days.Locally, it looks like we’ve got the necessary votes on City Council to approve Mayor Stoney and Councilmember Jones’s ordinance to take down the rest of the Confederate monuments on Monument Avenue. 1st District Councilmember Addison’s announcement that he’d join as a co-patron to the paper made the YESes a majority, and Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch says that 3rd District Councilmember Hilbert will also join the supporters. That leaves Councilmember Larson (4th District, undecided), Councilmember Gray (2nd District, supports a “thoughtful and deliberative process that is inclusive and unifies people” aka undecided), and Councilmember Trammell (8th District, did not return Robinson’s calls).Pandemic, Confederate monuments, and yet each night still people take to the streets to protest and demand police and criminal justice reform. It’s been seven consecutive nights! The RTD’s Sabrina Moreno has a good thread of last night’s protest at RPD’s Fourth Precinct on Chamberlayne Avenue and, also with the RTD, Chris Suarez has a few shots from Carytown. At any other time, hundreds of people sitting in front of the police precinct—heck, hundreds of people on Chamberlayne Avenue for any reason at all—would have made for headline news. As we work through the civic process to make these protestors' demands into laws and policies, do not forget that they are still out there each and every night.Last night, I hopped on a wonderfully helpful call set up by the Richmond Transparency and Accountability Projectabout two of the reforms sought by protestors that you’ve probably heard about: the Marcus Alert and a Community Review Board (or, Civilian Review Board, but, like, aren’t cops civilians, too?). I’m still trying to wrap my head around CRBs, but you can read about how RTAP—the local experts on this—views the issue over on their website. Two things I heard loud and clear on the call: 1) the Richmond community, especially those who suffer the impacts of over and inequitable policing, should decide for itself the details of any future CRB, and 2) if the CRB needs subpoena power (a massive difference between Oakland’s and Charlottesville’s), the General Assembly will have to change some state laws. Both of those two things will take time, and I’m interested in how to balance that reality with the demand for immediate action from the Mayor. Your homework for the weekend: Learn more by reading through the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement website.Richmond Animal Care & Control, which found a cow on the Northside a couple days ago, found an actual bear downtown yesterday? /r/rva has a video of it chilling on the Northbank trail before it found its way down to 5th Street. NATURE IS RETURNING ETC.This morning’s longreadThe Antiracism Starter KitI found this Antiracism Starter Kit helpful, especially the four stages of becoming antiracist: 1) Awareness, 2) Education, 3) Self Interrogation, and 4) Community Action. Here’s an excerpt from the Self Interrogation stage and a bit about why it’s important to do this internal work first before rushing out to get involved.In this stage, you start to ask yourself the hard questions that start the process of you identifying, unpacking, and dismantling the ways in which your past and present behaviors are perpetuating white supremacy in the same ways that relate to what you’ve seen manifested during the education stage of becoming antiracist. You do the work laid out in this stage because there is no way for you to stop engaging in these behaviors without identifying them within your personal patterns of behavior in the first place. And there is no way for you to actually enter into the community action stage without potentially causing great harm to Black, Indigenous, and People Color with your continued perpetuation of white supremacy due to your unchanged behaviors.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

Give us about ten minutes a day and we will give you all the local news, local sports, local weather, and local events you can handle.   SPONSOR: Many thanks to Solar Energy Services for sponsoring this podcast. If you think solar is in your future, please give Rick Peters and his team a call at 410-923-6090.  Today...After discussions with his team, County Executive Pittman is going along with Governor Hogan to bring Anne Arundel County into Stage 2. He also is finding money to fund body worn cameras for the police department. The Anne Arundel County Police are expecting some sort of violence at a weekend protest. The City of Annapolis announced plans to move forward to establish a Civilian Review Board for the Annapolis Police Department. Mitchelle Stephenson the spokesperson for the City talks about Wednesday's dine and shop event. And the AACPS leadership is trying to figure out what to do this fall. And of course, George  from DMV Weather  is here with your local weather forecast! Please download their APP so you can keep on top of the local weather scene! The Eye On Annapolis Daily News Brief is produced every Monday through Friday and available wherever you get your podcasts and also on our  YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter feeds, and of course at Eye On Annapolis.

This afternoon, Annapolis City Mayor Buckley and Police Chief Edward Jackson announced the formation of a Civilian Review Board for the Police Department.  The initial phase of the process will be to gather the best practices to form the actual Board and then begin the legislative process to formally establish it.  The press conference is followed by a Q&A session with the media.

Good morning, RVA! It’s 72 °F, and today looks hot and humid. Expect highs in the 90s until the sun goes down. If you spend some time outside, expect to sweat.Water coolerAs of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 841 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 15 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 157 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 59, Henrico: 61, and Richmond: 37). Since this pandemic began, 196 people have died in the Richmond region. Pandemic Tuesday did not bring its expected numbers bump, and VDH has reported 20 or fewer people dying from the coronavirus each of the last five days—an encouraging sign.Yesterday, the Governor announced that, except for Richmond and Northern Virginia, evvvvveryone else moves into Phase Two of recovery this coming Friday. Folks get a whole three days notice! You can read the 40 pages of guidelines here (PDF). Notable changes:Gatherings of up to 50 people, with proper social distancing, are now permitted. I think this only applies to random, unspecified gatherings like LARPing with your pals in Monroe Park (although see the section on recreational sports below, and be sure to keep it to just jousting). Lots of places can open to 50% of their internal capacity, which, for places like the VMFA is way more than 50 folks.Restaurants and “beverage service” (aka breweries, I think) can open up to 50% of their internal capacity with social distancing, disposable menus (quick! call the printer ASAP!), PPE for restaurant workers, and increased cleaning procedures.Gyms can open up to 30% of their internal capacity with 10-feet of social distancing—that’s up from the standard six feet found elsewhere in the document.Pools are back, but only for “lap swimming, diving, exercise, and instruction.” Kids are bummed.You can play recreational sports if “ten feet of physical distance can be maintained by all instructors, participants, and spectators with the exception of incidental contact or contact between members of the same household.” Basketball = No. Doubles badminton = yes, but only if you play on the same side as your housemate.Museums can open up to 50% of their internal capacity.Social distancing, teleworking, and masks are all still part of this “Safer at Home” plan.So there you have it, Phase Two. We never really learned what the goals and metrics were for getting here, but the Governor says “key statewide health metrics continue to show positive signs,” which I guess is good enough for him. You can probably expect Richmond and NOVA to enter Phase Two in the next couple of weeks, although, I imagine the desire to sync up the entire state will eventually be too strong to resist. In the Governor’s original Forward Virginia Blueprint document (PDF), he said Phase II could last 2–4 weeks, and, since we’ve stopped using data to guide these decisions and started using the calendar, I’d circle July 19th for Phase Three.Last night, hundreds, maybe thousands, of protestors took to the streets for the fourth? fifth? straight night in Downtown Richmond. Much like yesterday—minus the violent escalation by the police—the crowd’s vibe was angry, peaceful, and hopeful. @echadwilliams grabbed these excellent drone photos around the Lee Monument right as curfew started (which was promptly ignore by both protestors and cops) and will give you an idea of the scale of things. The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Sabrina Moreno was on the scene throughout the night and her thread on Twitter is worth scrolling through. I have to point out this particular video of hundreds of bikes rolling down Franklin Street and this one of what it looks like when people, bikes, and cars all get equal priority on a street (and also what it looks like when drivers drive the wrong way down Broad Street??). The night ended peaceful, again, at the Lee Monument with folks celebrating the day.Earlier yesterday, though, at the Mayor’s public apology, the mood couldn’t have been more different. For about an hour, legitimately angry citizens took the Mayor to task for all kinds of things, shouted him down when he tried to address the crowd, and demanded he take a handful of actions—including the Marcus Alert, a Civilian Review Board, violence de-escalation techniques, and, very loudly, the firing of the Police Chief and the officers involved in yesterday’s unprovoked gassing of peaceful protestors. The Mayor and the Chief said the officers would be disciplined, which, as you can imagine, didn’t sit well with the crowd. The rally ended, folks we still mad, and the City’s leadership hadn’t set a vision for moving forward other than the Mayor agreeing to join protestors on a march from the Capitol to the Lee Monument. Via /r/rva here are a ton of pictures that do a great job capturing the frustration of everyone involved.But at that march later in the evening, walking-and-talking to a smaller crowd, maybe we got the first steps forward on police reform. Sabrina Moreno and Frank Green at the RTD say “The mayor vowed to expedite policies that would remove choke holds, establish a civilian review board to hold police accountable and investigate de-escalation techniques — demands activists have called for in Richmond since the killing of Marcus-David Peters during a mental health crisis in 2018 by Richmond police department.” Mayor Stoney also retweeted reporter Brad Kutner saying “@LevarStoney agrees to: Civilian review board, Marcus Alert…[, and] no choke holds.” I’d love to see immediate action on each of these, but, honestly, I don’t for sure know the process or timeline for getting any of these things implemented. The police policies sound like something the Mayor could just lean on the Chief to get implemented ASAP, while the Marcus Alert and the Civilian Review Board will almost certainly require City Council (and possible the General Assembly for the latter).I’m most interested in how Richmond puts together a meaningful Civilian Review Board, and have been reading through some PDFs to get me up to speed. I’ve got a ton more to learn, and am looking for suggestions! So please, if you’ve got a favorite CRB or a clear vision for what Richmond’s should look like, let me know. Until then, your homework for tomorrow is to read through Oakland’s Measure LL(which is intense!) and Charlottesville’s Civilian Review Board ordinance (which is way, way less intense but something we could definitely implement in Richmond if we wanted to).This morning’s longreadBecoming a Parent in the Age of Black Lives MatterHere’s Clint Smith, who I’ve linked to before, about becoming a parent over the last handful of years.In 2015, before I had children, I wrote a letter to the son I might one day have. In it I wrote, “I hope to teach you so much of what my father taught me, but I pray that you live in a radically different world from the one that he and I have inherited.” Now I do have a son, and all the fears, anxieties, and joys I wrote about five years ago are no longer an abstraction. They exist in his curly hair, his soft face, and his voice full of songs and questions. I am not sure how different the world I entered is from the one he has, but the past several weeks—to say nothing of the past several years—have made clear how fragile the project of progress truly is.If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.

In a controversial 5-4 vote, the Phoenix City Council voted to establish a Civilian Review Board to investigate cases of potential police misconduct. The issue is polarizing. One side says the police are out of control and need to be reigned in by civilian oversight. The other side says the police cannot be fairly judged by civilians. And neither side seems ready to compromise. Our guests take on this challenging topic. Samuel Stone is Chief of Staff to Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio and a longtime political consultant. Julie Erfle is a former journalist and a columnist for the Arizona Mirror. Julie also speaks with unique moral authority on police topics; her husband was a Phoenix police officer killed in the line of duty.

A city task force is proposing an overhaul in how Baltimore handles citizen complaints of misconduct by police officers. The consent decree between Baltimore and the US Department of Justice tasked the group with studying civilian oversight of police. In its 74-page report, the task force urges disbanding the current Civilian Review Board and creating a two new oversight panels. We hear from task force member Catalina Bryd and chair Ray Kelly.

Regular Midday listeners know that every couple of Mondays, we check in with The Afro-American Newspaper, the venerable news operation just down the road from WYPR. Today, The Afro’s managing editor, Kamau High, joins guest host Rob Sivak to spotlight some of the stories the paper is covering this week. They include the second of a two-part series by Morgan State U. professor and Pulitzer Prize winning columnist E.R. Shipp, looking at The Black Press and the Baltimore '68 Riots. Another retrospective on those troubled times -- and something good that came out of it, is J. K. Schmid's exclusive feature for The Afro on the city's legendary ----Goon Squad,---- an organization of a dozen-plus ministers, professors, and even a judge, that campaigned for Baltimore causes for decades. They launched a food bank during the riots that eventually morphed into the Maryland Food Bank, and some of the Goon Squad members were involved in the creation of Baltimorians United for Leadership Development, or BUILD, still one of the city's most important centers of community activism. Other stories this week look at the Civilian Review Board's conclusion that Kevin Davis, Jr. was wrongfully arrested on a murder charge by Baltimore police back in 2015. The Board is urging disciplinary action against the arresting officers.Others stories spotlighted from the current issue of The Afro : the road ahead for the newly elected chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, Darryl Barnes; and how the Maryland General Assembly's busy final days led to new opportunities for minority licenses to grow and market medical marijuana.

Ingrained in her since she was a child, justice and equality matter most to Jill P. Carter. Jill is the daughter of prominent civil rights activist Walter P. Carter, and she now serves as director of the Office of Civil Rights and Wage Enforcement. Before joining Mayor Catherine Pugh’s administration and taking over the office in January, Jill served as a state delegate for 14 years. She takes over the civil rights office at a pivotal time; Jill now oversees the Civilian Review Board, which investigates complaints against police, though police don’t have to heed the board’s recommendations. Additionally, the creation of the Civilian Oversight Task Force was one of many police reform measures mandated under the consent decree reached between the city and the U.S. Department of Justice, and part of that task force’s job will be to assess the Civilian Review Board. If that all sounds a little jargon-y, don’t worry; Jill talked about feeling marginalized in the Maryland House of Delegates, taking over an underutilized office and some of the early experiences that shaped her.