Good morning, RVA: Masks + buses, NYT + RVA, and marijuana + amendments

The NYT has a not-so-secret love affair with Richmond.

Good morning, RVA! It's 44 °F, and today looks awesome. Expect dry skies and highs in the 70s. This kind of weather continues for the next several days, so get out there and enjoy it as much as you can!

I forgot to check yesterday, so here's your quick update about masks on GRTC buses after a federal judge struck down the CDC's mandate: From the website, "Masks are no longer required on GRTC buses or in GRTC facilities. GRTC encourages you to wear your mask." ...For now, because, not so fast, the New York Times reports that "The Biden administration announced on Tuesday that it intends to appeal a Florida judge’s ruling that struck down a federal mask requirement on airplanes, trains, buses and other public transportation — but only if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decides that extending the measure is necessary." After reading the aforelinked article, it really feels like any decisions by the CDC or the Department of Justice would be motivated more by setting legal precedents than public health. That's interesting stuff, but doesn't at all help me think though what I should do to keep myself safe and healthy. Anyway, I agree with GRTC and will keep wearing my mask on the bus, probably forever and always. I mean, why not? It's literally the easiest thing and keeps me from swapping germs with folks—especially during cold and flu season.

While I scrolled through the New York Times looking for news about DOJ appealing the mask ruling, I came across this front-page piece on Richmond's American Rescue Plan investments. The article frames all the incredible, generational spending as a Biden failure because "the program has become a case study in how easily voters can overlook even a lavishly funded government initiative delivering benefits close to home." Meh, idk, NYT. I'm sure that readers of this particular newsletter did not need to read this article to know that Mayor Stoney has invested a huge amount of ARPA money into build new community centers across the City. We're all pretty stoked on that, I think. Also, P.S., this is a good example of horse-race journalism, which I've written about before, where reporters write about why a candidate will or won't win an election, and not about the issues voters care about.

Because my email address eventually gets added to every email list ever, this morning I found in my inbox a really fascinating email about marijuana from State Senator Jennifer Boysko (who represents the 33rd District up in Loudoun and Fairfax). I couldn't find the online version, so here's a copy/paste of the text. Sen. Boysko says that in addition to increasing criminal penalties for possession of larger amounts of cannabis, the Governor's proposed changes include bizarre shifts in labeling and standardization for legal marijuana products. Here's the relevant bit: "Of significant safety concern for any user of these products, Governor Youngkin's substitute amendment to SB 591 drastically changes the levels of THC allowed to be sold and the way it is measured that is far outside of industry-recognized standards leaving consumers without an assurance of a safe and reliable product that was envisioned under the original legislation...I can only surmise that Governor Youngkin does not understand that his amendment undoes this and would allow the sale of a potentially unsafe product. But that is what his substitute amendment would do if accepted." I haven't seen any reporting on this yet, but seems like a big deal! Definitely tap through and read the Senator's full email.

Danny Plaugher, Executive Director of Virginians for High Speed Rail, has a nice column in the Richmond Times-Dispatch about the how gas tax holidays, one of Governor Youngkin's big ideas, have worked elsewhere in the country. Maryland instituted one, and here's what happened: "There was not one day that Maryland drivers realized the full benefit of the state’s gas tax suspension. At the end of this experiment, the average Maryland driver barely saved $0.45 a day, while oil companies reaped more than $21 million in extra unearned profits." Unlike Maryland, though, Virginia's gas tax holiday would suck cash out of the state's transportation funds with no plans to replace it. Dumb!

Nothing surprising in this piece for readers of this newsletter, but I'm inspired by the concept of bundling together several smaller strategies to help reduce the amount of driving folks do by a realistic percentage. Improve a couple bus routes, make some parking reforms, and work with large employers on employee incentives, and maybe you cut the amount of weekday commuters by 15%! It's not nothing, and seems doable.

To meet the planet’s health and climate goals, city governments need to make the necessary transitions for sustainable mobility by, first, avoiding the need for mobility (see Paris’s 15-minute city); second, shifting remaining mobility needs from cars to active and public transport wherever possible; and finally, improving the cars that remain to be zero-emission. This transition must be fast and fair: city leaders and civil society need to engage citizens to build political legitimacy and momentum for these changes.

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