Good morning, RVA: 520↗️ • 16↗️; a legislative agenda; and the list of local candidates

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and highs today look like they’ll stay in the 80s—but beware the humidity! Also keep an eye out for a possible thunderstorm this afternoon. Typical Richmond summer-type stuff.

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 520↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 16↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 114↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 59, Henrico: 15, and Richmond: 40). Since this pandemic began, 218 people have died in the Richmond region. Yesterday, the COVID Tracking Project announced that the U.S. set a record for new cases reported in a day at 38,672, topping the previous record set way back on April 25th. This chart of the seven-day average of positive cases per million population by region does a great job at illustrating how the Northeast is coming out of a pandemic while the South and West are rushing headlong into one. Looks like things in the South turned a bad, bad corner around Memorial Day, which is probably around the time when people got tired of staying inside and let their desires for cheap beer and grilled meats overwhelm their better judgement. Meanwhile, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut will impose a 14-day quarantine on travelers from states that meet a certain threshold of infections per 100,000 residents—that’s currently Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah, and Texas. North Carolina and South Carolina! They’re right next to us. I wonder if we’ll see something similar from our Governor at his next coronavirus briefing. Stay tuned, stay inside, stay masked up, and stay remembering that there is a deadly pandemic sweeping through the South.

That’s two nights in a row neither the Virginia State Police or the Richmond Police Department used chemical weapons on protestors. I feel like I need to get an OSHA safety sign. Last night, folks again gathered at the Lee Circle until nightfall, spent time grillin' and chillin', and cops in riot gear again showed up to eventually force folks from the circle. You can scroll through Zach Joachim from the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s feed or read this thread from the Commonwealth Tiimes’s Eduardo Acevedo. I saw a couple of report of rubber bulletsfired at the crowd, but other than that (and the fact that a phalanx of cops in riot gear is super freaking intimidating), it looks like interactions between the protestors and the police were minimal—at least considering the last several weeks. Then, after vacating the Circle, protestors formed an ad-hoc march and spent the next several hours loudly marching all over the Fan and the Museum District. I wonder two things: 1) Would the march have even happened without the police involvement earlier in the night? 2) What kind of coordination happens between VSP and RPD? Are the local police prepared for whatever happens as a result of state police action? This is a really complicated situation, and I don’t think it’s just going to suddenly resolve itself without thoughtful action from elected and community leaders.

So! What does that action look like? First, I think regularly talking and listening to protestors would go a long way. I dunno, maybe hold office hours at Lee Circle each evening and share a meal with folks? The food out there lately has looked incredible. Second, taking down the remaining Confederate Monuments would help—but, obviously, would not address the systemic and racist problems with the structure of our public safety system. On the monuments tip, at today’s Governmental Operations committee meeting, the Interim City Attorney will give a presentation on the City’s monument removal options. I hope he’s learned more since Monday and has found some legal ground for the City to stand on while levering the statues into the bin. That meeting takes place at 12:00 PM, and you can tune in over on Legistar. To address the systemic and racist problems with the structure of our public safety system, the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus has a big list of priorities for an upcoming special session of the General Assembly. I love the intro sentence: “The Commonwealth is past the point for studies on policing and law enforcement—immediate action must be taken to eliminate law enforcement abuse, prevent and punish racist behaviors, weed out institutional discrimination, and increase accountability at all levels of law enforcement.” There’s a lot in their platform, but some highlights include: creating a civilian review board with subpoena power, implementing a Marcus Alert, restricting the use of “tear gas and militarization tactics and weapons against civilians,” ending no-knock warrants, and legalizing marijuana. I don’t know if some of these laws would only apply to state-level law enforcement or if they’d trickle down, Dillon Rule-style, to local police departments. Either way, I’m stoked to learn more and to see our governments begin addressing issues rather than just Party Patroling folks in the Lee Circle night after night.

The deadline for collecting signatures and filing paperwork to get on the ballot for School Board, City Council, and Mayor has officially passed! That means we, theoretically, know who’s running for what, and I’ve started to put together this public Trello board of candidates for each race in each district. It’s not complete yet—especially the School Board races—but it’s a good starting point. I hope to add contact info in the immediate future and then start listing out and linking to positions folks end up taking. The goal is to create something really useful by the time we get to November. If you’d like to help out and are a GMRVA patron, give me a holler and I’ll add you to the board.

Speaking of elections, this piece in Style Weekly by Rich Griset gives you a pretty good look at the tenor of the mayoral race at this exact moment in time. I don’t think you can possibly predict what the political landscape will look like next week let alone in November, so we may look back on pieces like this and laugh. I mean, remember when Navy Hill was the single issue that would dominate the 2020 elections? Ha!

This is it! The final Richmond 300 virtual summit, focused on High-Quality Places, takes place tonight at 6:00 PM. Register over on the Eventbrite and read the related section of the draft plan ahead of time.

This morning’s longread

Mapping Our Social Change Roles in Times of Crisis

I don’t know how this piece ended up in my queue, but I really like the idea that folks have specific skills and roles to play during a crisis. What you’re good at might not be the same was what other folks are good at—and that’s OK!

But lately, I’ve been stuck in a fog, cycling through periods of motivation and stillness, outrage and exhaustion, determination and grief. Even though I’m connected to various networks, mentors, and organizations, I couldn’t figure out where I fit in, what my lane was, or how to begin. What is slowly awakening and centering me is my broader ecosystem. As I listen to and understand what others are doing and how they are (re)imagining what is possible in this moment, I have been reflecting and asking myself: what are my values, how can I be aligned and in right relationship with them, what are the needs of the communities who anchor me, and what can I offer with my full energy? Identifying the right actions in times of crisis requires reflection, and it’s in that spirit that I’m offering a new version of a mapping exercise that helps us identify our roles in a social change ecosystem

If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.