Good morning, RVA: 663↗️ • 1↘️; prohibiting firearms adjacent to protests; and a different Monument 10k

Good morning, RVA! It’s 72 °F, and the day ahead of us looks hot and sunny. Make sure you water your outside plants! We could see some rain later this week, but also it could zoom right by us entirely.

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 663↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 1↘️ new death as a result of the virus. VDH reports 107↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 8, Henrico: 74, and Richmond: 25). Since this pandemic began, 306 people have died in the Richmond region. About a month and a half ago, Virginia’s percent positivity hit a low-point (which is good!) at 5.8%. Since then, PP as they call it (I’ve never heard anyone call it that) has crept steadily upward and now sits at 7.4%. The Governor’s threshold for this metric is 10%, but that should not be our goal. New York’s PP is 1%, Michigan’s is 2.5%, and even California—which reported 7,751 new cases yesterday—has a PP of 5.7%. According to Johns Hopkins, and they cite the World Health Organization, “before reopening, rates of positivity in testing…should remain at 5% or lower for at least 14 days.” As of today, the list of states that meet that threshold: Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, Alaska, New Jersey, New Hampshire, D.C., New Mexico, and Massachusetts. To localize it further, Chesterfield’s PP sits at 8.0%, Henrico’s at 7.2%, and Richmond’s at 7.1%.

Yesterday, Mayor Stoney introduced an “ordinance to prohibit firearms adjacent to events requiring a permit.” Further: “The newly introduced ordinance would also prohibit the possession, carrying or transportation of any firearms in any public street, road, alley, sidewalk, public right-of-way or any open public space when it is being used by, or is adjacent to, an event that requires a city permit…This ordinance does not broadly ban firearms in these public spaces. Rather, it bans firearms when a permitted event, or an event that should be permitted, is taking place.” This sounds great. When folks show up at protests with huge guns slung across their chests they want look intimidating, act intimidating, and intimidate other people who may disagree with them. I know there are gunpeople on both sides of the political spectrum—although clearly the right is home to most of the Rob Liefeld Longarm Pouch Patrol. Unequivocally, I feel intimidated by anyone with a massive rifle walking through a neighborhood, whatever they believe. So yes, I support this ordinance (which I will link to as soon as it shows up on legistar).

The business recovery grants ordinance which I couldn’t find yesterday (ORD. 2020–156) was just sitting right at the top of the agenda—literally agenda item #1. City Council passed that ordinance last night and you can read a little more about the details of the grant program for “businesses damaged during recent demonstrations” over on the City’s website. Expect the full details and application to show up online tomorrow. Also and kind of related: Virginia LISC has partnered with Henrico County to offer $3,000–$10,000 grants to owners of “microenterprises” who make less than 80% of the Area Median Income.

I haven’t watched it yet, but the video from first meeting of the Mayor’s Task Force to Reimagine Public Safety is now on YouTube. Before I tuck into a two-hour public meeting video, does anyone want to summarize for me?

The Monument 10k has shifted to something completely different, or as Tim Pearrell in the Richmond Times-Dispatch puts it: “Sports Backers will hold the popular Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10k in September—just not on the same day, not on Monument Avenue, and not with everyone together.” Folk who want to participate can run one of four 10k courses in Byrd Park, Deep Run Park, Dorey Park, and Henricus Historical Park at any point from September 25th–27th. I imagine the Monument 10k is a significant portion of Sports Backer’s budget, and I bet this last five months of canceling events or making them fully virtual has not been financially kind. So, if you have even the slightest inclination of participating, you should go sign up!

The Henrico and Richmond City Health Districts will hold a free community COVID-19 testing event today at the Broad Rock Community Center (4615 Ferguson Lane) from 9:00–11:00 AM. They’ll hold another one this coming Thursday at Tuckahoe Middle School (9000 Three Chopt Road). As always, if you’ve got coronaquestions, give the COVID-19 hotline a call at 804.205.3501.

Via /r/rva, 71-year-old graffiti found on a roof downtown! I don’t know why I think this is neat, but I do.

Behold! It’s a new episode of the Sam and Ross Like Things podcast. Not to be melodramatic about it, but it took me four months to feel like liking things again. On this episode, my pal Sam likes that his kid will now mow the lawn, and I like my new rice cooker (which was an early and excellent quarantine purchase).

This morning’s patron longread

Architects Elsie Owusu and Shawn Adams: ‘Above the glass ceiling is a concrete ceiling’

Submitted by Patron Michael. I’d never though about the racism embedded in western architecture, which, I guess, is that very racism at work.

It feels like the racism isn’t so overt now, but it is still embedded in the way we are taught about architecture – only studying the Le Corbusiers and Frank Lloyd Wrights, never the black architects, such as Paul R Williams [the trailblazing African-American architect who designed 3,000 buildings in his 50-year career]. The indigenous vernacular architecture of black and ethnic minorities has always been seen as primitive and undeveloped, but now we’re realising that it can be much more sustainable than the way we use materials in the western world. But when you try to have a high-level intellectual conversation about African or Caribbean architecture, it’s still dismissed by most tutors.

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