Good morning, RVA: 509↘️ • 12↘️; a pedestrian bridge in the sky; and police reform in the GA

Good morning, RVA! It’s 59 °F, and we’ve got yet another gorgeous day ahead of us. You know the deal: Expect highs in the 70s and lots of sunshine. Looking forward, I think we’ll get to tack one more day on to our streak of excellent weather before clouds start rolling in over the weekend.

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 509↘️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 12↘️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 26↘️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 15, Henrico: 9, and Richmond: 2). Since this pandemic began, 379 people have died in the Richmond region. I finally put together a chart of the seven-day average of localpositive reported cases over on my public coronacounts Google Spreadsheet. You can see that the number of reported cases has trended down over the past month, and—despite blips here and there—Chesterfield, Henrico, and Richmond are all experiencing the same general numbers and trends. You can also see that, for whatever reason, Google decided to appropriately label the x-axis of this particular graph unlike literally every other chart I’ve ever tried to make with it.

In his daily email, Superintendent Kamras announced that the new Richmond Public Schools daily schedules approved by the School Board earlier this week will take effect Tuesday, October 20th. If you’d like to learn more than what you can glean from the aforelinked Google Doc, head over to RPS’s Facebook page tonight at 5:30 PM to hear some folks from the Curriculum and Instruction Department discuss the updated schedule.

Today the Urban Design Committee will take a look at the VCU Health System’s plan to build a pedestrian bridge stretching across the intersection of N. 11th & E. Marshall Streets (UDC 2020–16). Back in February, staff had lots of thoughts on the proposal (PDF, p. 4), and I always enjoy reading through their PDFs when they get thoughtful—especially about issues that impact pedestrians in one of our most pedestrian-dense parts of town. While I don’t love taking up a bunch of right-of-way with concrete pillars to support a bridge that most folks will never use, if I’m reading the drawings (PDF) correctly (and I’m terrible at engineering drawings), both 11th and Marshall will get curb bump outs to narrow the street, slow traffic, and make pedestrian crossings easier and safer. At the moment, staff recommends that UDC approve the project with the understanding that VCU Health System will “further study pedestrian flow and safety in the public right-of-way.”

Ned Oliver at the Virginia Mercury reports on one of the police-reform bills working its way through the General Assembly. Oliver says the GA “sent a bill establishing rules for how police officers use chokeholds to Gov. Ralph Northam’s desk Wednesday after the Senate rejected a blanket ban on the maneuver and felony penalties proposed by lawmakers in the House of Delegates.” As with most things police-reform, the House wanted something more progressive than the Senate. One of my pals who understands the GA a lot better than I do frequently points out that the two chambers often have totally different vibes. Here’s said vibe difference on display!

Richmond BizSense’s Mike Platania has a small update on the planned 12-story apartment building going in on the northwest corner of Broad & Lombardy Streets. What I really want to point out, though, is the final paragraph of Platania’s piece: “The Dollar Tree at 1510 W. Broad St. closed in recent months and is now listed as available for lease.” This is an excellent opportunity for the new occupant to work with the owner and close the western-most “garage” and open it up as a pass-through for people trying to walk, roll, or ride north on Lombardy. For whatever absolutely bananas reason, that building sits directly on the street and there’s no room for a sidewalk!

Today at 12:00 PM on WRIR—that’s 97.3 FM on the radio—you can catch Sheri Shannon talking with four women in politics: Sen. Jennifer McClellan, 8th District City Council Candidate Amy Wentz, Mayoral Candidate Alexsis Rodgers, and 3rd District School Board Candidate Sabrina Gross. If you’re interested, WRIR has a whole Women & Politics show that airs every Thursday from 12:00–12:30 PM. I love the pitch for this week’s show: “Exhausted with men talking over women?”

The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts will host another community testing event today at the Robinson Theatre (2903 Q Street) from 9:00–11:00 AM. By now you should know the drill! Spread the word, not the virus! Etc!

Last night, during the Vice Presidential debate, a fly landed on Mike Pence’s head and sat there for two full minutes. I don’t know why, but it was like the collective coil of tension we’re all carrying around inside of us relaxed for those two minutes. Scrolling through Twitter and a few group texts, I laughed until I cried. Over a fly! I’m thankful for that fly.

This morning’s longread

The All-or-Nothing Approach to Social Distancing Isn’t Working

I’m probably guilty of the all-or-nothing approach to social distancing—although, with school starting, my family has begun unclench. Don’t get me wrong, we still keep our six feet of distance, but you might could find us in a park with friends or on a bike ride with pals.

This apparent coronavirus fatigue is spurring some public health experts to call for more nuanced guidelines to help people avoid contagion. Their recommendations draw on a pragmatic model called harm reduction, which seeks to reduce the negative consequences of potentially risky activities, particularly drug use. Harm reduction emerged in the early 1990s during the AIDS crisis, and one of its key lessons “was that people had to think in terms of safer, not in terms of absolute safety, figuring out how to do activities that were essential to life,” says Daniel Wolfe, of the Open Society Foundations’ public health program.

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