Good morning, RVA: 552⬇️ • 4⬇️; community-driven urban planning; police violence

Good morning, RVA! It’s 69 °F, and you can expect highs in near 90 °F but with plenty of humidity layered right on top of that. Keep an eye out for a possible afternoon/evening storm.

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 552⬇️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 4⬇️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 71⬇️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 16, Henrico: 30, and Richmond: 25). Since this pandemic began, 213 people have died in the Richmond region. This morning I’ve added emoji arrows next to the new reported positive cases across the state, new deaths reported across the state, and new reported positives cases in the Richmond region (defined as Chesterfield, Henrico, and Richmond). The arrows point the direction the seven-day average is moving compared to yesterday for each set of data. I know I’m wading into double and triple derivative territory here, but I continue to struggle with how to provide context to these numbers. What I really need is tiny little sparklines, but I don’t know how to easily do that in an email yet. Hopefully this addition helps, and, as always, I’m open to feedback.

Last night, the Richmond Police Department and the Virginia State Police again used pepper spray on a crowd of protesters—this time, not in front of the police headquarters on Grace Street, but on the 1600 block of Monument Avenue.

First, before last night, the previous couple of days on Monument Avenue have been spectacular. I think what’s happening there, in a hostile space once dedicated to venerating a white supremacist, is incredible and nationally significant. Urban planners take note! Here are just a few examples of how people have reimagined that public space in just a few weeks, all on their own: the community unofficially-but-appropriately renamed the circle from Lee Circle to Marcus-David Peters Circle and installed new, welcoming signage; they’ve added accessibility improvements to help folks with mobility challenges; the street surrounding one of the monuments was closed to through traffic with physical diverters (other cars!) allowing people on foot, bikes, skateboards, and roller skates full use of the streets; at some point a basketball hoop popped up giving people a place to be active within the space; food vendors and street musicians are welcome; the visual elements of the space have been entirely transformed—check out this incredible 3D rendering of the monument with its newly added context, and, finally, the space has become a staging area for community events like this Urban Cycling Group of Richmond ride (hosted by TreySongz). Naming, signage, physical access, street connections, site usage, and visual palette are all exactly the things asked about on each one of those Planning Department surveys I’m constantly linking y’all to. On the one hand, I’m glad those surveys actually get after the stuff people obviously care about, but, on the other hand, this community-led reimagining took less than ten days and zero public dollars. It’s absolutely fascinating, and if I were in the City’s Planning department right now, I’d be out on Monument Avenue every single day taking notes on how people use this space and thinking hard about how to make these changes permanent.

Then, after the sun went down, protestors attempted to remove the J.E.B. Stuart monument, police arrived, and police again used pepper spray and rubber bullets to move/disperse the crowd. For at least the second time, police pepper sprayed a member of the media and pushed them to the ground. Here’s the thread from the Commonwealth Times’s Andrew Ringle—warning: there are a couple pictures of his injuries which include some blood and irritated/burned skin. Here’s the full recap from the Commonwealth Times. For me, this image of dozens of police officers in riot gear protecting a Confederate monument with a traffic cone on its headdoes a good job illustrating the frustration folks are feeling toward the police at this moment.

Councilmember Jones was on on hand and, at some point during the night, ended up trying to negotiate and de-escalate with the police officers on the scene. That we have a sitting councilmember negotiating with cops about how the latter can stop hurting people is just…what the heck is even going on? This situation is untenable, and Councilmember Lynch says she and Councilmember Jones are calling for the immediate removal of the Confederate monuments for public safety reasons. I totally agree, and agreed weeks ago, yet, still, here we—and they—are. I realize that the situation with taking down the Confederate monuments is legally complex—even for the monuments owned by the City. While the State has given us their paternalistic removal process, and that’s probably what the City must abide by, I’d still like to hear the City Attorney give his opinion on taking down the Confederate monuments (even just temporarily) for public safety reasons.

As for larger public safety reform, Mayor Stoney sent this letter to Council asking them to reschedule the Public Safety Committee meeting so he could present a “Local Roadmap for Reimagining Public Safety.” Council President Newbille sent back this letter telling him to come present his roadmap to Council today at 3:00 PM. I think this is just the most fascinating series of communication-by-tweeting-letters. Not only did Council President shift up the Mayor’s timeline, but she also sidestepped the Public Safety Committee which, for some unknowable reason, has decided not to meet during a public safety crisis. You can, of course, email Chair Trammell and Vice Chair Gray about that, if you’ve got thoughts. I have no idea what the Mayor’s roadmap will look like, but I’d like to see chemical weapons taken away from the police immediately.

Remember: Even given all of the above, City Council will (theoretically) discuss regular business at tonight’s meeting. You still have time to submit your comments in support of renaming the Lee Bridge (RES. 2020-R043) and establishing a Short Term Rental aka Airbnb Program (ORD. 2019–343). Check out the full agenda here (PDF) and you can find your Councilmember’s contact information here.

Oh, also, someone(s) tore down the First Regiment of Virginia statue at Park & Granby on Friday.

This morning’s longread

Scamming Pizza Hut Was My Family Tradition

Remember BOOK IT!? I feel like this piece will resonate for a very narrow, very specific age range of people.

For a picky kid who was accustomed to being scolded at the dinner table for refusing to eat or teased in the school lunchroom for bringing the same peanut butter (no jelly) sandwich every day, those glistening, cheesy, buttery discs were my first taste of culinary freedom. Before then, I hadn’t known that you could ask to have your food made a little differently, or to have something extra added. The kind, accommodating servers at Pizza Hut—who eventually grew to recognize us and greet us by name—opened my eyes to a world in which food could be a joy instead of a chore.

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