Good morning, RVA: Vaccine appointments exist, more casino analysis, and burritos

This evening I get boosted—wish me luck!

Good morning, RVA! It's 42 °F, and today you can expect chilly temperatures in the 50s—my weather app is even alerting me to a frost advisory through 9:00 AM tomorrow. Fall has certainly arrived!

Water cooler

Appointments for families trying to get their 5–11 year olds the COVID-19 vaccine officially exist! It looks like chain pharmacies will open up appointments this weekend, and, as of right now, there are still a few appointments remaining at the Raceway for this weekend, too. Next week, though, is flush with plenty of options and opportunities to go get your kid jabbed—even as late into the day as 7:45 PM. You'll most likely have no problems finding a date and time that works for you.

Meg Schiffres at VPM has a council-district breakdown of the Casino vote, which is fascinating. Heavily against: 1st, 2nd, and 4th Districts; Split decision: 3rd, 5th, and 7th Districts; Heavily in favor: 6th, 8th, and 9th districts. If this would have been a mayoral election, where the Casino needed to win five council districts, it would have passed, winning the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, with the 3rd barely providing the swing vote (by just 45 votes according to VPAP's admittedly incomplete vote tallies!). As foretold, Chris Suarez and Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch have a piece focusing on the racial breakdown of the referendum vote, reporting that "every precinct with a majority white population received more votes against the casino than for it." They've also got the Mayor's statement: "While I believe this was a $565 million opportunity lost to create well-paying jobs, expand opportunity, keep taxes low and increase revenue to meet the needs of our growing city, I am proud of the transparent and public process we went through to listen to our residents and put this opportunity before our voters." However, I think the best quote I've read this morning belongs to former Richmond BizSense reporter, J. Elias O'Neal, who told VPM, "The key to crucial economic development endeavors is investing in neighborhoods by maintaining and providing key services and public investment, something the city has neglected to do in the Southside for decades.”

Ali Rockett at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that a driver struck and killed a pedestrian on Broad Street in Henrico County out near Innsbrook. Rockett says this is "the county's third pedestrian fatality in as many weeks," which is just awful. All three of these fatal incidents happened after dark, which will tempt folks into saying people should wear lights or bright-colored clothing or just not walk around at night. Instead, the County should build safe infrastructure so residents who need to walk somewhere can do so without risking their lives. This is not an impossible task, it's just about priorities.

Jack Jacobs at Richmond BizSense reports that you'll soon find Sous Casa's frozen burritos at a couple physical locations around town. I frequently take advantage of Sous Casa's home delivery set up, which puts frozen burritos that have no right being as good as they are directly on my doorstep. I guess other people do leave their homes more frequently than I do, so having some retail options probably makes sense.

Also food related, Richmond Magazine's Eileen Mellon speaks to a couple restaurant owners about how business has changed during the pandemic and what it looks like as we slowly emerge (🤞). I love these sorts of things—like yesterday's longread—where folks reevaluate what was normal before and what makes sense moving forward. Maybe things don't have to be exactly like they were in 2019?

Logistical note! I am getting boosted this evening (Pfizer, in case you were interested), and I have blocked out most of tomorrow on my calendar as "shivering in bed." This week has been weird (for many reasons), but I'll be back in your inbox come Monday. Have an excellent weekend, and why don't you join me in making some vaccination appointments for you and yours, too?

This morning's longread
old friends and the parties they throw

Here's an essay about death and memories, which sounds sad but is actually pretty cozy and a perfect longread for a fall Thursday.

Here is the most important story as I know it: My dad is young, in his twenties, and has moved into a building downtown. He meets his neighbor in the stairwell. His neighbor is trying to fix something with a drill, but has the drill set backward. He gently attempts to correct her, and she yells at him, and then they are best friends for the next fifty years. Lee is already a downtown legend; my dad is young and lost and nobody. His life grows out of knowing Lee and her wife Essie, whose love story is also already a small legend below fourteenth street. I don’t remember when I first heard this story. I only remember knowing it.

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