Good morning, RVA: VOTE!, coronavirus, and ADUs

Good morning, RVA! It’s 49 °F, and highs today are once again back up in the mid 60s. That’s too wonderfully tempting to keep me off my bike, but, given the small chance of rain throughout the day, I may show up damp to a couple of my meetings. That’s not the end of the world!

Water cooler

It’s Super Tuesday, which means in Virginia, we vote! Polls are open from 6:00 AM–7:00 PM, and you can find your polling place using this tool on the Department of Elections website. I will be voting for Elizabeth Warren!

In what may become a more regular section of this email, I’ve got some updates on the coronavirus. Dr. Avula, director of the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts, updated City Council on the virus, and you can flip through the slides from his presentation (PDF). While the situation is rapidly evolving, so far zero people in Virginia have had a confirmed case of coronavirus. Of course, that could change, and, if this is the sort of thing you want to get fixated on, I recommend bookmarking the Virginia Department of Health’s Coronavirus Disease 2019 page. That’ll get you the most up-to-date information—the same stuff you’ll read in media reports. Also, the City released a statement, and Mayor Stoney has the best advice for Richmonders: “As always, wash your hands frequently, cover your mouth and go to the doctor if you are experiencing flu-like symptoms.” That’s pretty much all you can do at this point. I guess if you’re in charge of hanging up things on your workplace bulletin board, you could print out this pretty well-designed flyer from the Virginia Department of Health, too. It sounds to me like we’re definitely still in the “use your common sense and don’t panic” phase of things.

Related, Superintendent Kamras’s email from yesterday was a real banger, and included a super-detailed account of what steps Richmond Public Schools will take to prevent and slow the spread of coronavirus should it ever find its way to the Commonwealth. What I continue to love about our not-so-new Superintendent is his level of personal involvement. For example: “I encourage students, families, or staff to email me directly at [email protected] if you identify any issues with the availability of [soap/hand sanitizer and paper towels] in your school.” Richmond is still working to rebuild trust in our public school leadership, and I think this level of attention to detail (while it must be exhausting) helps. Take as second to tap through and also read about some pretty great athletic achievements in the District, the budgeting process, school renaming, and the abundance of solar-powered schools in Richmond. That picture of Huguenot High School is wild—I had no idea!

The Department of Planning & Development Review has yet another survey for you to fill out! This one is all about Accessory Dwelling Units, which I feel like I never stop talking about. What’s an ADU? Well, it’s a small house that you build in the backyard of your regular house. This doubles the density on your property from one home to two homes! Amazing! “ADUs Everywhere” is good housing policy, in my opinion—and, conveniently, also the opinion of the Richmond 300 draft land use map. They aren’t a magic solution to solving the entirety of our housing crisis, but they are one easy tool that we should legalize immediately.

I ran out of time to get to this last week, but, whoa!, Tricycle Urban Ag (aka Tricycle Gardens) will shut down and transfer “its facilities and assets to fellow nonprofit Enrichmond Foundation.” Jack Jacobs at Richmond BizSense has the details. Tricycle has been a staple of urban green space and gardening for as long as I’ve been aware of that sort of thing—honestly, it’s probably because of them that I first learned you could grow food inside of a City. I don’t know anything specific about the organization, but I’m always bummed when nonprofits close up shop due to “funding delays that were unsustainable.” You can read the announcement from Tricycle here.

Graham Moomaw at the Virginia Mercury has updates on the General Assembly’s attempts at redistricting reform 💸. I’m kind of surprised by the news that the Constitutional Amendment that everyone agreed on last year is still alive and will move forward to get voted on by the full House.

From the RTD, “We’re moving the RTD newsroom, and found some weird old stuff.” Love the headline.

This morning’s longread

College-Educated Voters Are Ruining American Politics

I don’t love the title of this piece, but I do love the gist. There are six hundred and one ways to work for progressive policies locally. And the best part? Richmond is small enough where one single person (aka you) can have a huge impact on pushing those policies forward.

Liberal white hobbyists living in well-to-do white enclaves, especially in blue states, might look at politics today and think that the important stuff is happening elsewhere—in poorer areas of their own state, in swing states, in Republican states, in Washington, D.C.—anywhere but where they live. Ture and Hamilton saw this pattern back in the 1960s. “One of the most disturbing things about almost all white supporters,” they wrote, “has been that they are reluctant to go into their own communities—which is where the racism exists—and work to get rid of it.” Fast-forward to the present day—to a world of increasing inequality in resources, where rich neighborhoods will feature yard signs claiming that everyone is welcome but where zoning rules claim otherwise: If you don’t think there is any work to do in your own town in advancing the cause of racial equality, you are not looking very hard.

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