Good morning, RVA: 836↘️ • 2↘️; back to school grace; and the qualified immunity bill lives (again)

Good morning, RVA! It’s 74 °F, and you should expect a good chance of rain until…later. Maybe later this week? Maybe later next week? There’s a lot of dang rain in the seven-day forecast.

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 836↘️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 2↘️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 153↘️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 43, Henrico: 87, and Richmond: 23). Since this pandemic began, 326 people have died in the Richmond region. VCU’s total number of active cases has dropped to 53 and now only 36 people are in isolation or quarantine. I will admit, I didn’t think we’d see the coronanumbers at VCU headed down after three weeks of in-person instruction. What makes VCU so different from other campuses across the state and country? I have no idea, but it’s fascinating.

The first day back to school around the region was not without its issues. Chesterfield County Public Schools in particular hit a technology snag that prevented students from logging in to their remote learning platform for a couple hours. That’s frustrating, but, as Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras has said for the past forever, we all need to treat each other with an extra helping of grace over the next couple of weeks. It’s a big, new challenge to move entire school districts to remote learning, and we should expect some issues—even with a couple months to prepare. That said, my personal experience as a parent of a fully-remote RPS middle schooler—which is not representative of anything other than that—was pretty OK! The team at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has put together a collection of stories about first days around the region, how staff are handling studentless facilities, and some details on the technology issues that impacted Chesterfield. Now, on to day two!

Remember Del. Bourne’s qualified immunity bill (HB 5013)? Remember how it died in committee, resurrected, and emerged onto the House floor only to die again in a vote that saw five Democrats join Republicans in voting it down? Well, HB 5013 has pulled the ol’ Double Lazarus, and is back again! The House of Delegates reconsidered the bill and it passed 49-Y, 45-N, and 2-A. Ned Oliver at the Virginia Mercury has the details, including the reality that Virginia’s Senate has already rejected a similar bill. I’d say don’t hold your breath, but, considering the bill’s history at this point…who knows!

Yesterday, City Council unanimously passed the Mayor’s bill to ban guns at or adjacent to protests. This is great news, and I’m so happy to see Council move a bill from start to finish over the course of just a month. Now that’s legislating! Also, in a wonderful article at Richmond BizSense, Jonathan Spiers says that the rezoning around the Science Museum, Alison Street, and VCU & VUU Pulse stations (ORD. 2020–103) passed Planning Commission. I’m still waiting for the City’s website to update, but I believe the reduction in parking requirements on Franklin Street (ORD. 2020–174) passed as well. Next step for both of these papers is, of course, City Council. I think the latter will probably end up on the Consent Agenda, while the former…we’ll see what Council wants to do with it. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to email your councilmember in support of ORD. 2020–103 and of building a denser city around our best public transit.

On small correction: Yesterday I said that Bike Walk RVA’s new academy for the fallwas bike-focused, and that was a terrible lie. This new academy will, instead, focus on “funding, plans, and policies for significant development of sidewalks in our region, especially in south Richmond where those who rely on walking the most often have the least access to to safe walking infrastructure.” Bike lanes are rad, but how rad are sidewalks?? If you’d like to make our region a better place to move around, you’ve got until September 14th to fill out the Bike Walk RVA academy application!

Cool volunteer opportunity alert! The Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities (that’s Parks & Rec if you’re nasty) needs a handful of folks to help install a permeable pathway in a new park right on the Pulse corridor at Cutshaw Avenue. If hauling gravel and placing pavers seems like a great way to spend your Saturday (this Saturday, September 12th from 9:00 AM–1:00 PM), go sign up on the Hands On RVA website.

Pssssst, it’s paw paw season.

This morning’s longread

The Broken Algorithm That Poisoned American Transportation

It’s not surprising that the planning process for huge roads is geared to favor huge roads. Wait a second, did a huge road design this process?

The project is now finished, and everyone in Louisville can see for themselves which prediction was the better one. In 2018, a post-construction traffic study showed that cross-river trips decreased by 2 percent from 2013 to 2018. As a result, the project has been called by Vox, among others, a “boondoggle” of epic proportions. The Louisville highway project is hardly the first time travel demand models have missed the mark. Despite them being a legally required portion of any transportation infrastructure project that gets federal dollars, it is one of urban planning’s worst kept secrets that these models are error-prone at best and fundamentally flawed at worst.

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