Good morning, RVA: 856 • 25; all sorts of coronanews; and a poet laureate

Good morning, RVA! It’s 47 °F, and I am wearing a hoodie at this very moment. Today, you can expect highs in the mid 60s and sunshine. I will probably have to take this hoodie off later this morning, but it feels pretty cozy right now!

Water cooler

Richmond Police are reporting that last Wednesday night Marquis B. Bushnell, a man in his 30s, was fatally shot on the 1900 bock of Redd Street. The RPD are asking anyone with information about this shooting to call Crime Stoppers (804.780.1000).

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 856↘️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 25↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 106↘️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 34, Henrico: 45 and Richmond: 27). Since this pandemic began, 356 people have died in the Richmond region.

In personal coronanews, I finally put some time into moving my coronacounts spreadsheet over to Google Sheets, and you can check it out here. The chartsandgraphs aren’t exactly how I want them, but it’s a start. With any luck, next time my numbers start to look strange, folks can go poke around the data themselves and let me know what I’ve screwed up.

In local coronanews, St. Christopher’s and St. Catherine’s schools closed this past Friday after two students tested positive following a party involving more than 60 students “absent of social distancing or mask-wearing.” As of this weekend it was still up in the air whether or not students would return to in-person instruction this week.

In regional coronanews, JMU has decided to try reopening to in-person instruction again. On October 5th, students will return to campus, but the University will tweak its plans to include a mandatory surveillance testing program, more isolation and quarantine spaces, and smaller class sizes. Also of note, this bit about how JMU reports positive cases: “Many schools are only reporting cases that are identified in their own university health center. We have been as transparent as possible in reporting both self-reported cases as well as cases identified at the UHC. We are in the minority in doing that, which is important to remember when comparing case counts across schools’ dashboards.” Since I know, like me, you’re immediately thinking that this might be one of the reason’s VCU’s case count is so low, lemme stop you right there by quoting from their dashboard: “Students and employees who test positive for COVID-19 or experience symptoms related to COVID-19 must report it to Student Health Services or Employee Health.”

And, finally, in national coronanews, the WaPo points out a fairly serious change to the CDC’s guidance on how the coronavirus spreads: They’ve now added aerosols into the mix. Unlike droplets which shoot out of your face when you cough or sneeze and then fall to the ground, aerosols are produced when you sing, talk, or…breath(?!)…and can “remain suspended in the air and be breathed in by others, and travel distances beyond 6 feet.” We’ll see if or how this updated guidance changes how we should behave, but keeping indoor environments well ventilated moving into the fall and winter seems like a challenge.

Alright, the saga of the poorly-accessible Registrar’s office continues with this very sternly worded public letter from Mayor Stoney to the General Registrar. First, it’s good to see a transportation issue getting so much attention—and serious attention at that—from the Mayor’s office. But, honestly, I feel insane when I read this letter? To quote a bit, “From your last briefing to my administration and Richmond City Council, we were under the impression that all pains would be taken to ensure the accessibility of this new, spacious location by public transit.” There is almost nothing that the Registrar can do to make this poorly-chosen location easy and convenient to access by public transportation. It’s far from anything, not on the way to anywhere, and at the end of a cul-de-sac next to a highway. This, to paraphrase Jarrett Walker, is a self-inflicted geometry problem. All of the most painful of pains can be taken, but it’s just a hard spot to get to. Sounds like what we’re going to end up with is dedicated shuttle service from City Hall to the new location. This is…a solution…but still adds friction and time to most everyone’s trip to the Registrar and, while maybe quicker than trying to catch the #91, will still discourage folks from voting. Additionally, this bit is maddening: “I also strongly suggest you reach out to GRTC to explore increasing frequency of service near your main office.” OK, sure. The #91 is a Henrico-based route and would cost $2,300,000 (annually) to up its frequency from once an hour to twice an hour (PDF, p. 4–95). It might seem like Strong Leadership to make this casual suggestion, but the Registrar has exactly zero authority to force Henrico to drop an additional $2.3 million on public transit. To suggest that they might is bananas.

The Rev. Ben Campbell has a piece in Style about the history of enslaved Africans in Richmond and the South and the potential of a National Slavery Museum centered in Shockoe. Campbell points out the deep impact slavery had on Richmond and the incomprehensible (but predictable?) lack of focus on it throughout much of our post-Civil War history: “The [Shockoe] slave market accounted for half the economy of the city of Richmond – perhaps as much as $200 million a year in current value – for the 20 years leading up to the Civil War. Yet it is hardly mentioned in Virginia or Richmond history even today.”

The RTD dropped their 4th District candidate questionnaires over the weekend. You can read (unopposed) Councilmember Larson’s answers here, and 4th District School Board candidate answers here. I’ve also added links to all of the other questionnaires to each candidate’s card on the Big List of Richmond’s 2020 Candidates Trello board. If you know of other public questionnaires, send them my why and I’ll get them added in the right spot!

It was only a matter of time before some local Coffee Queen or King, looking to extend their empire, snatched up the old Lamplighter on Morris. Jack Jacobs at Richmond BizSense says that Blanchard’s Coffee has picked up the spot and will announce an opening date soon. I’ll miss getting Wrong Lamplightered, but am excited to show up at the wrong Blanchard’s for a meeting (whenever meetings return to my life).

Hey, look at this charming thing! Richmond’s wants to find an official poet laureate. I know there’s a lot going on at the moment, but, in my opinion, it’s all the more reason to get someone out there expressing our feelings for us. Applications are due November 5th, tell your poet friends!

This morning’s longread

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Champion Of Gender Equality, Dies At 87

NPR’s Nina Totenberg has the obituary of RBG that you probably have already read and need to if you have not.

But Ruth Bader Ginsburg was nonetheless a historic figure. She changed the way the world is for American women. For more than a decade, until her first judicial appointment in 1980, she led the fight in the courts for gender equality. When she began her legal crusade, women were treated, by law, differently from men. Hundreds of state and federal laws restricted what women could do, barring them from jobs, rights and even from jury service. By the time she donned judicial robes, however, Ginsburg had worked a revolution.

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