Good morning, RVA: 185 • 29 • 8.4; vaccination required for returning rams; and a draft plan for the City Center

Good morning, RVA! It’s 72 °F, and today you can expect more of the same: Sticky, hot highs in the 90s. There’s a chance for some thunderstorms this afternoon, but it’s not a certainty. Cooler temperatures should show up on Thursday!

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as: 185, 29, and 8.4, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 21.4 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 6.9; Henrico: 5.9, and Chesterfield: 8.7). Since this pandemic began, 1,330 people have died in the Richmond region. 44.3%, 55.4%, and 51.8% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The recent trend of exceedingly low numbers across the board continues. Yesterday, which was a Monday and keep in mind that Mondays typically have the fewest reported everythings of the week, saw just 90 new reported cases of COVID-19 across the entire state. Incredible. While I think it’s probably a combination of things, having more than half of folks vaccinated certainly helps (55.9% of the state!). I know this is obvious, but that means every other person you meet is either already vaccinated or well on their way, which I think is really neat. There are, of course, some geographic considerations to that last sentence. Check out the map of percent of the population with at least one dose and see how vaccination rates basically track with…the interstates? Before you suggest it, that map is not just a reflection of the population map, either. Nor is it exactly a map of race. I dunno! Honestly, it’s a pretty interesting map, and I’d love to hear thoughts on why some of these localities are leading Virginia’s vaccine rollout.

Today’s Biden Goal check: 68.1% of adult Virginians have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

This felt like only a matter of time: VCU has updated their fall COVID-19 policies to require vaccination for students. If I’m reading it right, for the fall semester, students must report their vaccination to the University by July 15th. That means if you plan on heading back to campus and have not yet been vaccinated, you better get on that—there’s not a whole lot of time left between now and then to achieve fully vaccinated status. For the moment, UR has not issued a similar requirement, but says they’ll send an update “on or before June 15th.”

Something happened at the RPS School Board meeting last night, but I’m not sure what. Here’s what I could scrape together this morning. Superintendent Kamras presented the initial estimated timeline for construction of a new facility to replace George Wythe High School—with construction wrapping up in 2027. The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Kenya Hunter has some of the Board’s initial reactions but notes on her Twitter that “Much of the discussion tonight regarding school construction won’t be in tomorrow’s paper because the Board did not get to the discussion by press time.” That conversation sounds like it may have been…interesting…because Councilmember Jones put this quote from Kamras up on his Twitter: “You are asking me to execute on something that I told you I can not execute on. As an employee that’s unfair. —Jason Kamaras, Superintendent RPS #buildwythenow”. First, I full recognize that staying abreast of important local decisions through the Twitter timelines of elected officials and reporters is suboptimal. Second, I have a real and growing concern that the Board’s recent behavior is going to push Kamras to another school district where the working environment is less toxic. The conspiracy-loving part of my brain wonders if that’s maybe the intent?

The City’s Department of Planning and Development Review will host a public meeting tonight from 6:00–7:30 PM to discuss the second attempt at rezoning the area around the Science Museum, Allison, and VCU & VUU Pulse stations. This proposed rezoning will make for a simpler, more cohesive, denser zoning map and will allow for the type of development we need on Broad Street and the surrounding areas by right. Even though it’s a softer upzoning than the first attempt, I’m sure folks will be out drumming up new reasons for why we shouldn’t make it easier to build more homes for more folks in an area adjacent to our best public transit. Consider attending and adding a supportive voice to the conversation!

As promised, here’s the draft City Center small area plan I mentioned yesterday. A few things stuck out to me while flipping through the plan. First, the percentage of folks living Downtown who are 18–34 has skyrocketed over the last 20 years, from 50.8% to 73.2% (p. 8). Second, the only parcels owned by the City (or by RRHA) in the study area that are in Good or Fair condition are the parking lots (p. 10). Third, I love how most of the plans coming out of the City nowadays just include a bunch of bike lanes and transit consideration by default (p. 27). Fourth, look at page 17 for a vision of how beautiful that part of town could look without a Coliseum! A real, live neighborhood! I love it. I need to listen to the audio from yesterday’s meeting for more details, but most of the exciting and cool parts of this plan seem to hinge on getting rid of the Coliseum. I don’t know that there’s a plan or funding to do that yet, but it’s something we need to figure out so we can get on with building out an important part of our City’s downtown.

Reminder! Today is the Democratic primary, and polls are open until 7:00 PM. You can find your polling location here.

This morning’s longread

America Has a Drinking Problem

I can’t stop thinking about how liquor as we know it—which hasn’t even been around all that long—completely changed the way humans drink alcohol. Set aside some time to read this longread and maybe check out a few of the books referenced!

Southern Europe’s healthy drinking culture is hardly news, but its attributes are striking enough to bear revisiting: Despite widespread consumption of alcohol, Italy has some of the lowest rates of alcoholism in the world. Its residents drink mostly wine and beer, and almost exclusively over meals with other people. When liquor is consumed, it’s usually in small quantities, either right before or after a meal. Alcohol is seen as a food, not a drug. Drinking to get drunk is discouraged, as is drinking alone. The way Italians drink today may not be quite the way premodern people drank, but it likewise accentuates alcohol’s benefits and helps limit its harms. It is also, Slingerland told me, about as far as you can get from the way many people drink in the United States.

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Picture of the Day