Podcasts about blue ridge health district

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Best podcasts about blue ridge health district

Latest podcast episodes about blue ridge health district

Charlottesville Community Engagement
July 11, 2022: University Gardens to be demolished; Louisa Supervisors push back on flooding data in hazard mitigation plan

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 11, 2022 13:51


Hear ye, hear ye, oyez, oyez, and all that jazz! Welcome to the 192nd day of the year, which is also somehow International Town Criers Day so I am honored to be here to present to you another installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a publication that enters its third year with this this 406th installment. I’m your host Sean Tubbs, ready to bring you as much information as I can, updating what it means to be a town crier in these fragmented times. Sign up to get all of the installment delivered in your inbox! If you opt for a paid subscription, Ting will match your initial payment! On today’s program:An update on COVID in Virginia as the BA.5 Omicron variant wave continuesLouisa County’s Board of Supervisors gets a briefing on a Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan but want to know more about its purposeUVA will ask to demolish an apartment complex from the 1940’s with no specific plans for the future of the 4.1 acre propertyA long-time official with the Charlottesville Fire Department now works for AlbemarleAnd an audio piece funded by the Charlottesville Sister Cities’s Commission makes it debutFirst shout-out: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign Since the very beginning of this newsletter, one long-time Patreon supporter has used his shout-out to draw your attention to the work of the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign. The campaign is a coalition of grassroots partners including motivated citizens and volunteers, partner organizations, and local governments who want to promote the use of native plants. Summer is in high gear and pollinators are active! Want to learn more? Visit plantvirginianatives.org to download Piedmont Native Plants: A Guide for Landscapes and Gardens. COVID cases in Commonwealth continue to be prevalent with BA.5 wave The Virginia Department of Health reports another 2,132 new cases of COVID today as measured through the PCR tests conducted in health-care settings. The seven-day average of positive tests is now at 23 percent. “We are seeing quite a lot of community transmission of COVID-19,” said Dr. Patrick Jackson is an infectious disease expert at the University of Virginia Health System. “The numbers listed, the number of infections in the community, are going to be artificially low because so many people are doing hometesting and those don’t get into that pot.” Dr. Jackson said this is a similar pattern to what was seen during the early days of the Omicron wave last fall. He said what’s known as the BA.5 variant is not leading to as many hospitalizations or deaths. “It is encouraging that the numbers of bad outcomes don’t seem to be going up nearly as we’ve seen in previous waves,” Dr. Jackson said. “So this does look to be another period of time in which many people will become infected with COVID-19, become symptomatic with COVID-19, but probably would not expect to see another big wave of hospitalizations or deaths from this virus.” Dr. Jackson said it still makes sense for people to try to avoid the virus by getting boosted and by wearing masks while indoors, especially if you are immunocompromised. “If you’re going to be masking, I certainly would use a high-quality mask to try to get as much benefit out of that as possible,” Dr. Jackson said. “No face in making your face warm to no good end.” For more information on vaccinations and boosters, visit the Blue Ridge Health District’s website.University Gardens slated for demolitionAn apartment complex on U.S. 29 built in 1948 and owned by the University of Virginia since the early 1960’s will be torn down rather than renovated.“The University Gardens buildings have reached the end of their useful life and UVA Housing and Residence Life (HRL) has determined the best course of action is demolition since maintenance and operating expenses have escalated to a level where continued operation is no longer economically viable,” reads a fact-sheet for the development.Necessary repairs included upgrades to electric systems, roof replacements, and HVAC improvements. A plan to demolish the structures will be presented to the Board of Visitors in September. Demolition would take place early next year and the space will be converted to parking. “There are no immediate plans for redevelopment at this time,” the fact-sheet continues. The Board of Visitors’  next regular meeting is scheduled for September 15. Albemarle Fire Rescue hires Charlottesville veteran for new deputy chief There’s a new deputy chief of community risk and resilience at Albemarle County Fire Rescue. Emily Pelliccia was named to the position earlier this month after serving 28 years with the Charlottesville Fire Department. "Deputy Chief Pelliccia has a proven track record of success in establishing collaborative relationships with government officials, businesses, and community members that will be vital as our department grows to meet the needs and challenges of the developing community we serve,” said Albemarle County Fire Rescue Chief Dan Eggleston in a news release. Pelliccia began her career as a volunteer with the Charlottesville-Albemarle Rescue Squad. According to the release, she has served as “Firefighter, EMT, Captain, Battalion Chief, Deputy Chief, Emergency Manager, Hazmat Technician, SWAT Paramedic, and Health & Wellness Director.”In the new position, Pelliccia will oversee the Fire Marshals’ Office and Community Engagement. She’s been in the new role since June 21. Sister Cities Commission funded sound project debutsCharlottesville’s Sister Cities Commission exists to encourage cultural exchanges between our portion of the 38th parallel with four communities across the globe. Or five, if you count Pleven, Bulgaria.One of the communities is Poggio a Caiano in Italy, and yesterday a new audio piece funded by a grant from the Sister Cities Commission debuted. Charlottesville musicians Wes Swing and Kelley Libby traveled to Poggio this March to record sounds and local music. The result is a 32 minute piece called Storie Musicali, Italian for Musical Stories. The work also includes songs and sounds recorded in Charlottesville, and the two are blended together into one soundscape. Take a look on YouTube:Second shout-out: WTJU staging the Cville Puzzle Hunt on August 27In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out: By now, readers and listeners know WTJU’s position on algorithms. But do you know that the radio station celebrates puzzles? In fact, on Saturday, August 27, WTJU is organizing the Cville Puzzle Hunt, a huge, cerebral puzzle that will spool out across downtown Charlottesville. The Cville Puzzle Hunt will take you and a team of friends on a wild afternoon running around trying to untangle five diabolical, large-scale puzzles inserted into the urban landscape. The opening clue will be read at 1 p.m. at the Ix Art Park. Find out more about this WTJU-organized event at cvillepuzzlehunt.com. Louisa Supervisors briefed on Regional Hazardous Mitigation Plan, push back on incomplete dataThe Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission continues work on a document that’s intended to coordinate regional responses to natural disasters and other calamities. Ian Baxter of the TJPDC presented to the Louisa Board of Supervisors last week. (read the draft plan)“So the plan itself is essentially to prepare for natural disasters,” Baxter said. “We’re lookint to reduce loss of life, property damage, and disruption of commerce. I think I should reiterate before I get into the weeds, so we’re serving the six localities that comprise the Planning District.” Baxter initially said such plans were required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a condition of eligibility for some of its grant programs, but he would later clarify that information after the meeting. More on that below. Baxter said the plan is based on an analysis of the most likely disasters. The categories of Hurricanes/highwind/windstorms, flooding, and winter storms all rank as the highest probabilities for this region.Before Baxter’s presentation, several members of the public complained about a flooding problem in the town of Louisa. One Supervisors noted there were specific mitigations for each locality, but wondered how that might apply to an ongoing situation.“What does this document do for us?” asked Supervisor R.T. “Toni” Williams o“That’s a great question,” Baxter said. “The action items sort of serve as a base for what localities might engage in. These are aspirational. They’re not tied to implementing all of these mitigation action items. What it does for you is give you a good blueprint for what you can hope to accomplish over the next five years.” Baxter said having the plan in place would allow federal funding to flow after a disaster. Williams was skeptical of this approach. “It gives us access to funding after said disasters happen,” Williams said. “Because we have a mitigation plan. Just because we have one. We don’t have to do anything with it. It just sat on the shelf and because we spent money creating a plan, that gives us access to mitigation funds after a disaster happens. That just seems totally backwards to me.” Williams said he was not interested in what plans are for other communities in the area, but wanted to know what it could do for Louisa. Supervisor Bill Adams said he was concerned about data from the National Climate Data Center on page H-14 that summarizes the number of floods since 2010 and the amount of damages reported. Albemarle reported $50,000 whereas Greene reported $4.777 million. “And most other counties didn’t report anything,” Adams said. “We just heard people here talking about…. Mrs. Woolfork was talking about the $25,000 to their driveway, I’ve been to their house, I know their driveway, and I know the culverts they’re talking about replacing. It says here this data came from the National Climate Data Center. Obviously it’s not complete. Where do they get their data?”Baxter said he did not know where the data came from, but that the TJPDC relies on the data coming from the federal government. Williams said he wanted a work group to be convened of Louisa officials including town officials  to see if they can mitigate flooding on a specific portion of Beaver Creek. “In my mind that would be money well spent with the TJPDC,” Williams said. The working group will be formed and the draft plan will return to the Board. Baxter sent an email sent to Louisa Supervisors after the meeting to clarify something in his presentation. I misspoke when I described what the hazard mitigation plan provides eligibility for in terms of mitigation grants. In fact, a variety of pre­-disaster grants are open to localities that adopt a Hazard Mitigation Plan, and most post-disaster eligibility is not contingent on the adoption of a plan (so, the County would still be eligible for disaster relief even without an adopted plan). Please see the chart below:Thanks to Tammy Purcell of Engage Louisa for her help with a fact-check in this story.Support the program!This is episode 406 of this program and it contains stories you’re simply not going to see anywhere else. At least, a style you won’t find except here and Information Charlottesville. Town Crier Productions is not a nonprofit organization, but around a third of the audience has opted to contribute something financially. It’s similar to the old days when you would subscribe to a newspaper. I subscribe to several, myself!If you are benefiting from this newsletter and the information in it, please consider some form of support. I am not a nonprofit organization and most of my time is spent in putting the newsletter together, which includes producing the podcast.Supporting the program through a Substack contribution or through Patreon makes it very easy for me to get paid and every single dollar that I get makes me want to work that much harder to serve the community. In just under two years, I’ve produced hundreds of stories that seek to give you information about how decisions are made in our community and in the Commonwealth of Virginia.For more information on all of this, please visit the archive site Information Charlottesville to learn more, including how you too can get a shout-out! Thank you for reading, and please share with those you think might want to learn a few thing or two about what’s happening. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
July 1, 2022: Injuries from firearms on the rise in Virginia; New laws take effect today; Piedmont Housing gets $2M from federal government for Friendship Court, Southwood

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2022 17:16


For those who follow government budgets in Virginia, Happy 2023! Fiscal year 2023, that is. To my knowledge, there is no celebration but there likely will be a few hiccups here and there as new laws take effect and some cheering as municipal and state employees receive pay increases with the new budget. But for a massive celebration, you’ll have to head north to the border where it’s Canada Day. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I strive to make as many days as possible have a new installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement and so far I’m one for one for the fiscal year.On today’s program:A brief look at new laws that go into effect today The Virginia Department of Health announces a dashboard to track firearm injuries in the CommonwealthCharlottesville City Schools expect the bus driver shortage to worsen and are encouraging parents and guardians to think about alternative methods of transportCharlottesville Area Transit looks at several different kinds of new bus sheltersPiedmont Housing Alliance gets another $2 million from the federal government to help subsidize Friendship Court and Southwood Apartments RCA seeks volunteers for clean-up of invasive vines In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out, the Rivanna Conservation Alliance wants you to know about some upcoming opportunities to volunteer. For the mornings of both July 7 and July 9, RCA is seeking people to help clean up invasive vines in the Dunlora neighborhood near a recent buffer planting. Clearing out the vines will help protect newly planted trees and is part of  natural forest regeneration project conducted by the Virginia Department of Forestry. RCA will provide gloves and some cutting equipment, or you can bring your own but leave the chainsaws at home! Visit rivannariver.org to learn more! Fiscal Year 2023 begins: Some of what’s newIt’s the first day of the Fiscal Year 2023, and July 1 brings with it several changes in rules, regulations and rates. A whole host of new legislation has gone into effect, according to a status report put together by David Blount of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. (view his latest update) Another 37 miles of the middle portion of the James River are now considered scenic, as are another 23.2 miles of the Maury River. Also, an 8.8 mile section of the Shenandoah River. There is now a Forest Sustainability Fund to promote public education about outdoor recreation and forest conservation The Town of St. Charles in Lee County in no longer exists (updated!)It is now a Class 6 felony to steal a catalytic converterThere can now be seven judges in Virginia’s 31st Judicial Circuit, which covers the area around Manassas in northern Virginia Localities must report potential cybersecurity threats to the Virginia Fusion Intelligence Center Localities smaller than 40,000 people can now opt out the Marcus Alert System If you’re hunting with a dog, the dog needs to wear an identification tagFor more on new state laws, read this Associated Press article. The elimination of the 1.5 percent state sales tax on groceries does not go into effect until January 1. At the local level, Albemarle County’s food and beverage tax rate increases to six percent of the total bill and the transient occupancy rate increases to eight percent. Charlottesville’s meals tax rate increases a half-percentage point to six and a half percent. The one penny increase in the real estate property tax rate is already in effect, as that rate goes by the calendar year. State agency launches dashboard to track firearms injuries in Virginia The number of firearm injuries in Virginia that resulted in emergency room visits increased by nine percent from 2020 to 2021. That’s according to a new dashboard unveiled yesterday by the Virginia Department of Health that tracks the information by age, sex, race, and ethnicity. The data is tracked by counting up the number of times key phrases are used when a patient gives a reason for a visit. The terms include: gun with wound, gunshot, buckshot, revolver, rifle, shotgun, firearm, pistol, handgun, been shot, I was shot, I got shot, or graze with bullet. A press release points out that:Emergency room visits for firearms injuries have increased 72 percent from 2018 to 2021Since the data set begins in January 2016, 86 percent of visits for firearm injuries are males In 2021, 65 percent of patients were Black In 2021, 31 percent were between the ages of 18 and 24In the Blue Ridge Health District, there have been 294 visits to emergency rooms for firearm injuries since 2016. The work is covered by a grant to the VDH from the Centers for Disease Control to help improve public health surveillance of firearm injuries, according to a release. For acronym fans, the CDC program is known as Firearm Injury Surveillance Through Emergency Rooms, or FASTER. The dashboard does not yet extend to hospitalizations and deaths, but that’s expected later this year. Those who are going to take a look at the data are reminded to review a list of limitations with what’s known as syndromic surveillance. Pandemic update: Still on the plateauIt’s another holiday weekend during the era of COVID-19 and Virginia remains on a plateau of a high number of cases. The seven day percent positivity for testing is 20.5 percent, up from 17.4 percent on June 23. Today the Virginia Department of Health reports another 3,393 new cases. That’s based on PCR tests and does not include at-home tests. “There is still a fair amount of disease in the community,” said Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiologist at the University of Virginia Health System. “We’re certainly seeing that with our staff. In fact, there are a fair number of people that are out right now because they have COVID and its frustrating.”Dr. Sifri said many have already had COVID and are vaccinated, but COVID-19 continues to mutate with new strains. However, vaccination has led to less severe cases.“What we are not seeing is people getting critically ill like they were before so the fact that folks are vaccinated has made a huge difference in how the disease presents,” said Dr. Reid Adams, chief medical officer for UVA Health. According to the VDH, nearly 83 percent of the adult population is fully vaccinated. There is a seven-day average of 3,000 doses administered a day. Dr. Sifri said this is a good time to get a booster if you have not done so. He also said a panel of the Food and Drug Administration is encouraging to continue vaccine manufacturers to continue development of new versions that can combat the latest variant of the Omicron strain. Dr. Sifri said people should not wait. “I would advocate if you are eligible for a booster and its been a long time since your body has seen the spike protein, it’s a good time now to get it to prevent infection,” Dr. Sifri said. Visit vaccinate.virginia.gov to schedule an appointment. Piedmont Housing Alliance gets $2 million in additional federal funding The U.S. Treasury Department has awarded $2 million to the Piedmont Housing Alliance through its Community Development Financial Institutions fund. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine made the announcement in late June. The funding comes specifically from the Treasury Department’s Capital Magnet Fund. In a release, Piedmont Housing Alliance said the funding would provide gap funding for the second phase of Friendship Court as well as the 206 apartments the agency is building at Southwood to satisfy the terms of funding Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville received from the Albemarle County and the Albemarle Economic Development Authority. “High development and construction costs, high land and acquisition costs, and limited subsidy resources translate to significant funding gaps for affordable housing developments,” reads the release. “Without adequate subsidies, it is virtually impossible to build affordable housing.”In the fiscal year that begins today, the city of Charlottesville is providing an additional $2.5 million to Piedmont Housing Alliance for the second phase of Friendship Court. Another $10.25 million in city funding for Friendship Court in FY24 through FY27. The adopted capital improvement program for Charlottesville also shows nearly $5 million in city subsidies for two other affordable housing projects, both located on Park Street and rezoned by City Council earlier this year. Today’s second shout-out: Frances Brand and Cvillepedia 101In today’s house-fueled public service announcement, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society wants you to know about an upcoming exhibit at the Center at Belvedere featuring portraits of several historical figures active in the Charlottesville area in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Frances Brand was a folk artist who painted nearly 150 portraits of what she considered “firsts” including first Black Charlottesville Mayor Charles Barbour and Nancy O’Brien, the first woman to be Charlottesville Mayor. Brand’s work will be on display from July 5 to August 31 in the first public exhibit since 2004. And, if you’d like to help conduct community research into who some of the portraits are, cvillepedia is looking for volunteers! I will be leading four Cvillepedia 101 training sessions at the Center every Monday beginning July 11 at 2 p.m. Sign up at the Center’s website.Charlottesville schools preparing for “worse” situation for bus drivers this fallThere are 54 days until Charlottesville City Schools begin for the next academic year. The school system is seeking assistance and input on alternative methods of getting students to school as an ongoing transportation crisis continues. “As we look to fall 2022, our school bus challenges appear to be worse, not better,” reads a website set up to provide information in advance.The website states the city’s efforts to incentivize new drivers by increasing pay and offering bonuses are not working out. As such, the city wants to get parents ready for potential alternatives. Supporting walking in expanded walk zonesEncouraging use of public transportationCollaborating with community partners to support bikingAdding mini-school buses (hopefully electric)The first of several listening sessions will be held next Wednesday at Westhaven, with others scheduled later in the month at Friendship Court and Hearthwood Apartments. Charlottesville Area Transit designing new bus sheltersAs it seeks to find new drivers, Charlottesville Area Transit is also working to redesign its bus shelters. The agency has hired the firm Wendel Companies to come up with a customized template, and the Regional Transit Partnership got a briefing on the work last month.“We’re really looking at how to look at transit holistically, how to encourage people to take transit,” said Jeana Stright of Wendel Companies. “Part of what makes people want to take public transportation is having a place to wait for the bus, having amenities while you are there, or having a system for what reflects their needs.” Three concepts for the future shelters have been designed, one of which mimics the design of the Downtown Transit Station on Water Street. Stright recommends benches be present in all shelters, as well as space for wheelchairs. She also suggests one modular design with easy to replace parts due to the possibility of vandalism. “We are also looking at a way to incorporate local artists or local communities into the stops to be able to help yourself as you’re riding along on the bus as well, as you’re passing these different shelters, seeing different art, seeing different color schemes perhaps as part of that art panel, so that you can say ‘I’ve driven by that really cool fruit graphic,” Stright said. The partnership was asked to provide feedback. There was no specific information provided about how much each would cost, or how much of a budget CAT has to install the shelters. However, Stright said they have researched costs and all three options would be in the same basic price range. One member of the partnership said she was concerned about the practicality of some of the shelters. “I love all the designs but once again it’s a question of taxpayer’s dollars,” said Albemarle Supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley. “And the artwork I think is great if we can afford it. But I like simple.”Albemarle Supervisor Diantha McKeel said she has been working with CAT Director Garland Williams on the idea of incorporating artwork into some bus shelters. “That artwork would need to be funded privately by neighborhoods,” McKeel said. “We wouldn’t be using [tax] dollars. You know, the murals that got put up on Georgetown, and Barracks, and Hydraulic? Those were all privately funded so that’s what we’d be talking about.” McKeel said it was crucial that the shelters provide relief from the sun and rain. See also: Next steps outlined for Charlottesville Area Transit route changes at partnership meetings, June 24, 2022Watch the partnership meeting:Support the program!This is episode 403 of this program and it contains stories you’re simply not going to see anywhere else. At least, a style you won’t find except here and Information Charlottesville. Town Crier Productions is not a nonprofit organization, but around a third of the audience has opted to contribute something financially. It’s similar to the old days when you would subscribe to a newspaper. I subscribe to several, myself!If you are benefiting from this newsletter and the information in it, please consider some form of support. I am not a nonprofit organization and most of my time is spent in putting the newsletter together, which includes producing the podcast.Supporting the program through a Substack contribution or through Patreon makes it very easy for me to get paid and every single dollar that I get makes me want to work that much harder to serve the community. In just under two years, I’ve produced hundreds of stories that seek to give you information about how decisions are made in our community and in the Commonwealth of Virginia.For more information on all of this, please visit the archive site Information Charlottesville to learn more, including how you too can get a shout-out! Thank you for reading, and please share with those you think might want to learn a few thing or two about what’s happening. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
June 28, 2022: Library name change would require approval from elected officials in all five JMRL jurisdictions; Council briefed on Central Water Line in advance of RWSA vote

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 28, 2022 25:39


Today is the antepenultimate day of Fiscal Year 2022, and we’re counting down the hours to when the metaphorical ball will drop in Richmond marking the beginning of FY2023. Are you prepared? Feel free to review previous installments of Charlottesville Community Engagement to revisit the hundreds of stories written in the tinfopast 12 fiscal months. Or head on over to Information Charlottesville to see I’ve been able to cover at least. The “I” here is Sean Tubbs and thanks for reading. On today’s program: Charlottesville City Council gets details on a water infrastructure project in advance of a vote today by the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority Many people had an opinion about whether the name of the regional library system but it’s up to elected officials to decide on a change How much trash was processed in Virginia last year? The Department of Environmental Quality has a new report.And about two hundred people attended an open house on the forthcoming update of the city’s zoning codeToday’s first shout-out goes to WTJUIn today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out: Algorithms know how to put songs and artists together based on genre or beats per minute. But only people can make connections that engage your mind and warm your heart. The music on WTJU 91.1 FM is chosen by dozens and dozens of volunteer hosts -- music lovers like you who live right here in the Charlottesville area. Listener donations keep WTJU alive and thriving. In this era of algorithm-driven everything, go against the grain. Tune in and support freeform community radio on WTJU Consider a donation at wtju.net/donate.Around 200 people turn up at Pavilion to get details on the city’s zoning processWhen the Cville Plans Together Initiative began in early 2020, there were plans to engage people at a series of meetings while the work of crafting an affordable housing plan and the Comprehensive Plan update was conducted. However, the pandemic forced all of that public engagement work to go online. Council adopted the Affordable Housing Plan in March 2021 and the Comprehensive Plan last November. Both call for additional residential density across the city and an update of the zoning code is the next step. This time around, people can meet in large numbers, and an open house was held yesterday at the Ting Pavilion where attendees could get a look at the new Diagnostics and Approach Report for the zoning rewrite. People could go through the entire process to date and ask questions of consultants, city staff and each other. I dropped by briefly and spoke with James Freas, the city’s Director of Neighborhood Development Services since last September.  (read the Zoning Diagnostic and Approach report)“We’ve just released the report about two weeks ago and what we’re really looking for is where can we answer clarifying questions, where can we answer questions about what we’ve already shared and what’s in there, and what else should we be considering?” Freas said. Freas said even half an hour into the event, he could see how community engagement will be different for this phase of the Cville Plans Together initiative. “If you look around, people are having conversations,” Freas said. “You can’t do this on a Zoom environment. So it’s really exciting to be back in person talking to people face to face, introducing ourselves, having a conversation, and even if we don’t agree, because we’ve met and talked face to face, we’re able to walk away in a move civil environment.” Freas said the city will collect comments through August, and he will be visiting various neighborhood associations to explain the idea. Then the diagnostics report will be finalized in September for the Planning Commission and Council to review, followed by the actual rewrite. DEQ releases solid waste reportMore than 22.7 million tons of solid waste were sent to processing facilities in Virginia last year, with nearly 5.4 million coming from out of state. That’s according to the annual solid waste report for 2021, released yesterday by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. “The total amount of solid waste received increased by one percent or 225,524.95 tons compared to 2020,” reads the report.However, the amount that came from another jurisdiction dropped by 5.28 percent. About 44 percent of out-of-state came from Maryland, 18.7 percent came from New York State, and 14 percent came from Washington D.C. Around 11.8 percent of the waste was incinerated and 73 percent went into landfills. Another 8.24 percent was recycled. All but one of Virginia’s 204 permitted solid waste facilities submitted reports. Locally, the landfill operated by Louisa County buried 23.1 tons of solid waste and has 10.2 years left of capacity. Two transfer stations included in the reporting are the Ivy Materials Utilization Center in Albemarle County as well as the Nelson County transfer station. Speakers express multiple views on renaming of library system The Board of Trustees of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library met yesterday at the Northside Library on Rio Road for the usual things such as a five year plan and a budget. But the main item throughout the meeting was whether the system’s name should be changed. “I don’t expect that we will have a vote on the issue of the library’s name change today,” said Thomas Unsworth, the chair of the JMRL Board. “In fact the Board would be able to call a public hearing if need be to collect further feedback from commentary on that issue.”The public comment period came at the beginning of the meeting before comments on the topic from JMRL Director David Plunkett. The topic came up at the last trustee meeting in May when Myra Anderson asked for the change because Thomas Jefferson and James Madison owned people as enslaved workers. We’ll hear from Anderson again in a minute.  The first speaker identified himself as Nickolaus Cabrera and said he was a rising senior at the University of Virginia as well as president of the school’s chapter of Young Americans for Freedom. “We lose our future when we burn our past,” Cabrerra said. “What you all are considering today is a direct burning of our past. Why is this discussion happening? On what basis?” Cabrerra said the name change would do nothing more than promote a “woke agenda” and this would be an example of censorship. The next several speakers sided with this view. Others did not, including Gloria Beard of Charlottesville. “It’s time for a change for all people and I hope you all consider what we’re trying to bring across to you,”  Beard said. “It’s time to change so all people feel like this community is for everybody.” Others felt Jefferson and Madison’s legacy was too important not to honor. “Without Jefferson we would not have the freedoms we have so that is just so important for people to research, come to libraries that are full of books,” said Ann McLean of Richmond. “Yes, he loved books.” McLean said the Declaration of Independence was more important than the works of Shakespeare, the Magna Carta, and the writings of Cicero.“Without the principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence, we would have no rights and no liberties and be completely at the mercy of the government,” McLean continued. “Which we do not want to be!”Myra Anderson described herself as the president of the Reclaimed Roots Descendants Alliance and a descendant of enslaved laborers.“Six of my ancestors were sold on the auction block in 1829 at the second estate sale of Thomas Jefferson,” Anderson said. “At the time the Declaration of Independence was written and it was declared that all men are created equal, my sixth great grandfather and grandmother were enslaved at the time at Monticello.” Anderson said libraries should be inclusive spaces and the name should change to reflect the updated values of the system. She said to her, the name Jefferson does not just conjure up greatness. “It represents the trauma, the oppression, the pain, and the part of Jefferson that most white people want to gloss over when they talk about his greatness, but unfortunately that’s the part that put Black people on a trajectory of struggle,” Anderson said. Anderson said the precedent for such a change was set locally when the health district dropped his name last year. Director’s reportAfter the public comment period was over, Plunkett gave his report on how the name is currently codified and how it might be changed. He said state law for regional library boards deal with how trustees are appointed and the rules for spending money.  There’s no mention of who gets to name them. Plunkett said the current name has informally been in place since 1972 when the regional system was created to pool resources across a wider area. “The big reason though that Charlottesville, Albemarle, Greene, Louisa, and Nelson joined forces to create JMRL was because of state aid funding which was amplified in the 70’s,” Plunkett said. “Basically the state incentivized localities to get together and share their resources in order to provide library services.” The original agreement from 1972 did not yet include Greene County, and Plunkett said it was originally called the Thomas Jefferson Regional Library. “The library board heard a comment from a library board member who made a plea to them to change the name from the Thomas Jefferson Regional Library to the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library,” Plunkett said. Plunkett said that board member wanted to recognize the “special friendship” between Madison and Jefferson. He noted Madison did not live in the service area now operated by JMRL. Greene County joined in 1974 and the name was officially changed in an amended agreement. Plunkett said he’s sought legal advice about who gets to change the name. “The legal counsel that the library board has received is that the authority for changing the library name rests with member jurisdictions, with Charlottesville, Albemarle, Louisa, Greene, and Nelson,” Plunkett said. Plunkett said the agreement is overdue for its mandatory five-year review and a five-member committee with one appointed by each jurisdiction should begin that work and consider a new name as part of that process. “If there were changes made to the regional agreement at that point, they would need to take them back to their Boards of Supervisors or City Councils to vote on before that could come back as an amended regional agreement,” Plunkett said. Plunkett said the Blue Ridge Health District did not have to ask for permission to make a change and it was made administratively. He added Albemarle County Public Schools have a policy in place regarding school names (learn more). The University of Virginia has a Namings & Memorials committee. Board discussionDuring the Board discussion, Trustee Lisa Woolfork of Charlottesville noted the library was not named to honor the two former presidents, but their friendship. “It wasn’t about ‘Oh, look what they did for the Bill of Rights and the Declaration and et cetera,” Woolfork said. “It was, ‘these guys are friends!”’Woolfork noted that Charlottesville’s Unitarian church recently dropped Jefferson’s name from its official name. “I really do believe that we are in a moment where our democracy is being challenged in a variety of ways and I feel as though we have the opportunity to make some true progress to reflect some of the growth that Charlottesville has made,” Woolfork said. One of Albemarle’s trustees, Michael Powers, said at issue is that different people view as the primary legacy of Jefferson. “I think it’s clear to me that many people primarily associated Jefferson and Madison with their practice of slavery, but it’s also clear that whatever the origin of the name was at the time, over the last 50 years many people have come also to primarily associate these figures with powerful and fundamental American values, principles and ideals,” Powers said. Powers said the JMRL Board has to take both considerations into account and he spent some time defending how others have sought to defend Jefferson’s legacy. He cited the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as the main legal tool used in the Civil Rights movement. “So we hear in the 14th amendment, equal protection for life, liberty, they are very familiar echoes of Jefferson’s ‘All men are created equal’ and ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” Powers continued. JMRL Chair Thomas Unsworth said while the JMRL can’t directly change the name, they can make recommendations or suggestions to local officials as part of the agreement review. Woolfork was clear that she feels the name must change and she resisted framing the issue as one of two equal sides. “It seems to me that that true energy of what a library does and brings and provides should be robust enough and substantial enough that we can serve our services areas and provide the things we continue to provide and not being called Jefferson Madison will not impede our ability to do that,” Woolfork said. The trustee from Louisa County pointed out that two of the five localities have already voted on resolutions opposing a name change. Neither resolution in either Greene or Louisa specified any further action. (Louisa Supervisors unanimously oppose name change, June 9, 2022)The trustee from Nelson County said she was concerned about the resolutions.“They put that out before even hearing what the other people in the area,” said Aleta Childs. The Board had a long discussion of the matter and in the end opted to pick up the conversation at its next meeting in July. By then, Tony Townsend of Albemarle will be the chair. “My agenda here is to make sure that the area’s most inclusive, diverse, and free resource doesn’t get sidetracked or handicapped by this discussion,” Townsend said. “I think it’s a good discussion. I think it needs to happen. I think we can probably come up with a plan that will allow everyone to have at least input.” Townsend said the process is just beginning. Woolfork said she wanted to know if Louisa and Greene would leave the regional system as a result. “Are they that committed to their adulation of Jefferson and Madison that they will just say ‘we don’t want to have a library with you anymore, thanks, and nice knowing you,’” Woolfork asked. The JMRL Board of Trustees next meets on July 25 at 3 p.m. Second shout-out is for LEAP’s new Thermalize Virginia program In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out: Have you been thinking of converting your fossil-fuel appliances and furnaces into something that will help the community reduce its greenhouse gas emissions? Your local energy nonprofit, LEAP,  has launched a new program to guide you through the steps toward electrifying your home. Thermalize Virginia will help you understand electrification and connect you with vetted contractors to get the work done and help you find any rebates or discounts. Visit thermalizeva.org to learn more and to sign up!  RWSA to vote today on Central Water Line projectToday the Board of Directors for the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority will meet to select an alignment for a five mile pipeline that the organization says is necessary to help secure drinking water infrastructure. Last week, Charlottesville City Council got a briefing on the project. (view the presentation)“So we call it the Central Water Line project because it was recommended to be located in the central portion of the city to provide the greatest water benefit to our regional water supply system,” said Bill Mawyer, the executive director of the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority. Mawyer said planning dates back to a drought in 2002 that led to a long discussion about how to expand the community water supply plan. That involved expansion of the Ragged Mountain Reservoir by building a new earthen dam, as well as an upgrade of the Observatory Water Treatment plan. This Central Water Line is to transfer water to a location in Pantops. “We realized later, it was not part of the original Community Water Supply plan, that we needed to have a large pipe coming away from the Observatory Treatment Plant so that we can distribute that water to all parts of the city and the county, the urban water area as we call it,” Mawyer said.The current cost share is a 52 to 48 percent split with the Albemarle County Service Authority picking up the larger share. Various versions of this pipeline have been considered in the past to increase capacity, and a report released last year called the Urban Finished Water Master Plan recommended this central pipe through the city. “If we expand the water treatment plant and we replace the raw waterline to get it to the treatment plant, it has no benefit if we can't put that water out into the system,” Mawyer said. Mawyer said the work would be done in segments of several hundred feet at a time with most of the work underneath city streets. “We expect the schedule to be from 2024 through 2028,” Mawyer said. Mawyer said the RWSA has presented to six neighborhood associations along the route and mailed out information to every parcel on the way. He said that led to another visitation of the five alignments and other alternatives that had been examined. One of the alignments would have used the Route 250 bypass but that would have taken eight years. “Work on the bypass was going to be quite a challenge [and] that likely would have to be completed at night due to the impacts on traffic,” Mawyer said. Other alignments included Preston Avenue, West Main, and along Harris Street and Fifth Street Extended. Mawyer said the latter got further attention during the neighborhood meeting phase. “Now, when we had our neighborhood meetings, they said, well what about going down Harris Street all the way to Fifth Street and come up Fifth Street ,” Mawyer said. “So we took a careful look at that and found that there were two disadvantages. One,  it was going to be about $8 million more expensive because it’s a much longer route.”Mawyer also said Fifth Street carries heavy traffic including emergency vehicles. Another potential alternative was to go underneath Shamrock Road which would have been shorter and cheaper, but other problems were identified.  “But Shamrock is such a narrow street, with no shoulder on one side, with on street parking, very congested, [and] you have the railroad track and the vertical curve,” Mawyer said. The Cherry Avenue alignment was deemed to have the least amount of traffic and to take the least amount of time to complete. “We think this southern Cherry Avenue [alignment] when all things are considered provides the greatest benefit and opportunity for us,” Mawyer said. “We recognize that there will be impacts along the way.” The RWSA’s chief engineer said she ran models on all of the various ways to connect the water line.“The connectivity that we get from the… Central Water Line that ties in all of these mains and provides this main corridor that goes east-west through the city in a relatively straight line really did provide the greatest hydraulic benefits to the system under the most number of conditions,” said Jennifer Whitaker. Councilor Michael Payne acknowledged he is not an engineer but he said he had concerns about the preferred alternative along Cherry Avenue in part because he felt RWSA’s assessment of impact to neighborhoods had been subjective. “Is that really the best route in terms of objective criteria and how much that decision has been made via subjective criteria,” Payne said. Payne said the Northern route would be cheaper with a price tag of $28 million. That alternative would also require moving ahead with an $11 million upgrade of the Emmet Street water main that was not otherwise required until the 2030’s. “It raises my eyebrow that a project that at least on my understanding while adding some redundancy to the whole system is primarily benefiting the Pantops area is being routed through the southern part of the city, particularly public housing and low income communities,” Payne said. Councilor Brian Pinkston has been on the RWSA Board of Directors since January. He supported the Cherry route and said it would have benefits for the southern portion of the city. “One of the extra benefits of doing it this way is that you get larger transmission lines on the southern side of the city,” Pinkston said. “That’s not something that’s been brought up tonight but its an important reason why I think this is the most reasonable route.” Pinkston also noted that much of the opposition is based on an idea somehow this would all be done for the benefit of people in Albemarle’s growth area. “I don’t know why it’s a problem that we would to help people in the county, particularly when they’re paying 52 percent of it,” Pinkston said. Council did not take a vote on how to direct Pinkston and the city’s two other RWSA members. Charlottesville Community Engagement is free to receive, but supported by paid subscriptions. If you subscribe, Ting will match your initial contribution! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
June 23, 2022: Public can weigh in tonight on Regional Transit Vision; Fluvanna and Greene Supervisors were briefed last week

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 23, 2022 12:45


Do you have milk? Do you have the grain? Grab a pot and find a stove, and it’s time to celebrate National Porridge Day! Each and every day there are so many things to celebrate, such as today’s honoring of Women in Engineering Day. However, this 399th edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement is not being faithful to National Typewriter Day as it is composed on an abacus. On today’s program:The Thomas Jefferson Planning District takes the Regional Transit Vision to Fluvanna and Greene countiesAlbemarle County reports on an eviction diversion program And a brief update on the ongoing COVID-19 situation First shout-out is for LEAP’s new Thermalize Virginia program In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out: Have you been thinking of converting your fossil-fuel appliances and furnaces into something that will help the community reduce its greenhouse gas emissions? Your local energy nonprofit, LEAP,  has launched a new program to guide you through the steps toward electrifying your home. Thermalize Virginia will help you understand electrification and connect you with vetted contractors to get the work done and help you find any rebates or discounts. Visit thermalizeva.org to learn more and to sign up!  COVID-19 update Today the Virginia Department of Health reports another 3,085 cases of COVID-19 with a seven-day positive result percentage of 17.4. The trends for both metrics are heading down, but Dr. Costi Sifri of the University of Virginia Health System said that could change. “I actually think we’re sort of at a plateau where we’re seeing continued transmission in the community,” Dr. Sifri said. “My sense is that it’s not increasing but it is has been at a fairly consistent level now for the last several weeks or maybe even up to a month.” The big news in the past week has been federal approval of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for children under the age of five but older than six months. “The doses that are used for these young pediatric vaccines is dose-reduced so when Pfizer and Moderna trialed these vaccines they made sure to use a lower dose for the reasons of wanting to make sure it was safe,” Dr. Sifri said. New versions of the mRNA vaccines are being developed to address newer strains. “That is being looked at right now this month by the [Food and Drug Advisory Committee],” Dr. Sifri said. “So at the heart of the question is do we need a reformulation or a coformulation of the COVID vaccines to account for Omicron?” The Blue Ridge Health District will begin their administration of the vaccines to children at a clinic from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Charlottesville/Albemarle Health Department at 1138 Rose Hill Drive. They’ll also be on site at Tonsler Park on Cherry Avenue from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. check the Blue Ridge Health District’s website. Albemarle and LAJC have teamed up to prevent evictionsAlbemarle County and the Legal Aid Justice Center helped prevent 158 evictions in a pilot program that ran from December to this May. Albemarle County sent out a press release this morning announcing the results. "Many rent-relief programs are phasing out, yet there remain many Albemarle families still deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Supervisor Chair Donna Price is quoted in the release. “Low-income households have not recovered as quickly, and programs such as this provide additional stability for households continuing to face financial hardships, using federal relief dollars to fund legal services and to provide wrap-around support.”Albemarle committed $200,000 from its share of the American Rescue Act Plan to the project. The Legal Aid Justice Center is being paid for legal counsel for households that qualify.“The program requires consideration for the impacts of contesting evictions on landlords who own less than three units and prioritizes mitigation efforts to secure outstanding funds for landlords while keeping families housed,” the release continues. The program will continue through June 2023. Second shout-out goes to Camp AlbemarleToday’s second subscriber-supported public service announcement goes out to Camp Albemarle, which has for sixty years been a “wholesome rural, rustic and restful site for youth activities, church groups, civic events and occasional private programs.”Located on 14 acres on the banks of the Moorman’s River near Free Union, Camp Albemarle continues as a legacy of being a Civilian Conservation Corps project that sought to promote the importance of rural activities. Camp Albemarle seeks support for a plan to winterize the Hamner Lodge, a structure built in 1941 by the CCC and used by every 4th and 5th grade student in Charlottesville and Albemarle for the study of ecology for over 20 years. If this campaign is successful, Camp Albemarle could operate year-round. Consider your support by visiting campalbemarleva.org/donate. Public meeting tonight for Regional Transit Vision planThe final public meeting for the development of a Regional Transit Vision will be held tonight in an online format. The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is overseeing the study, which seeks to come up with an aspirational document for enhanced public transportation throughout the entire Charlottesville area including Buckingham County.The draft document has gone before the Charlottesville City Council and the Albemarle Board of Supervisors, as I’ve reported. But the Regional Transit Vision also has been to the outlying counties. Last week, Boards of Supervisors in both Fluvanna County and Greene County had a briefing. “It started in the summer of 2021 with assessing the situation,” said Lucinda Shannon, a planner with the TJPDC. The $350,000 study was conducted by the firms AECOM and Jarrett Walker + Associates.“So they looked at the existing systems, they looked at the land use planning, and the transit market potential for the entire region and kind of assessed where would be good places for transit to be,” Shannon said. “They also worked with the public and identified goals and visions for the region plan and priorities for what this community wants to see in a vision plan.”All of that engagement was done online, as the study got underway during the pandemic. Tonight’s meeting is also virtual. The work has resulted in a constrained plan that would be paid for through new tax powers granted to a Regional Transportation Authority, as well as an unconstrained plan that did not factor how the expanded transit service would be paid for. For a sense of scale, the constrained plan would have an annual cost estimate of $26 million whereas the unconstrained plan would be $70 million a year. The unconstrained plan would mean buses operating at full service, seven days a week, including fixed-route service between Ruckersville between Charlottesville. “All day fixed-route service from Ruckersville to Charlottesville would add services to three percent of residents and it would also reach 11 percent more jobs in the county,” Shannon said. One Supervisor asked if the plan includes one item he would like to see. “Does it include light rail? Does it include those kinds of things?” asked Steve Bowman of the Monroe District. “Because I’ve always thought that down U.S. 29 would be an ideal place to put a light rail all the way down.” The TJDPC previously studied light rail in a 2004 report that looked at the future of passenger rail service in Virginia. By the time a few years later when there was discussion of a Regional Transit Authority, that vision had been reduced to something called bus rapid transit. Shannon said the consultants in the new vision have included that in their recommendation.“I think that what they want to is propose things that the community will accept and can be funded so right now they are proposing a Bus Rapid Transit up and down Route 29 so there would be service up to the airport so from Charlottesville on U.S. 29 on up to the airport with 15 minute service,” Shannon said. Greene Supervisors did not have a long discussion of the matter.  The next day, Shannon made the trip to Palmyra to speak to the Fluvanna Board of Supervisors about the plan. “So this is a collaborative effort to evaluate and establish a clear long term vision  for transit in our region, and not just the city,” Shannon said. “And it’s kind of like all of the things we’d like to buy and then the next study that we’re hoping to do is a transit governance study that would start in July.” Shannon gave more details on what the “unconstrained” vision means.“The unconstrained vision we wanted to be ambitious and creative and come up with what we could do if there was no budget and there was no fund limit on funding for that concept,” Shannon said. As stated above, that would mean 60-minute fixed-route service to Charlottesville from surrounding population clusters. “These routes would go to Scottsville, Crozet, Lovingston, Palmyra, Louisa, and Ruckersville seven days a week,” Shannon said. One Supervisor said that would be an improvement for Fluvanna residents who currently use the public transit that’s available. “Right now people going to the city on Jaunt to the doctor’s office have to stay all day until Jaunt comes back to pick them up,” said Supervisor Mozelle Booker of the Fork Union District. Supervisor Tony O’Brien of the Rivanna District supported the concept of expanded transit.“I love the idea of expanding rural transportation,” O’Brien said. “So critical not just for the environment but also for those who are constrained by their finances and or ability to drive. So anything we can do to make it better for people to be able to access other areas of Central Virginia I think is wonderful.” Shannon said the details of how to implement the vision will come during the governance study. “We will be engaging you again once the governance study starts and our objective for the governance study is to really work with all the counties and be inclusive and come up with a plan for the funding of the services that works for all the counties, both urban and rural together,” Shannon said. Tonight is your chance to weigh in at a meeting that begins at 6:30 p.m. tonight.  Details of both visions and a link to the meeting are availaleYou can also take a survey on the topic. Have you done so yet? Let me know in the comments. (take the survey)Comments will be taken through July 15. Previous coverage:Regional transit vision may suggest resumption of Regional Transit Authority foundation, December 14, 2021Regional transit vision update, May 20, 2022Partnership briefed on potential vision for regional transit, June 1, 2022Albemarle and Charlottesville officials weigh in on regional transit, June 14, 2022Support the program!There’s a lot of information in this installment of this program, which is the 397th edition of the program. About a quarter of you are paying something to help keep Town Crier Productions in business. I have never been a very good salesperson, and won’t overly pitch.But, if you are benefiting from this newsletter and the information in it, please consider some form of support. I am not a nonprofit organization and most of my time is spent in putting the newsletter together, which includes producing the podcast.Supporting the program through a Substack contribution or through Patreon makes it very easy for me to get paid and every single dollar that I get makes me want to work that much harder to serve the community. In just under two years, I’ve produced hundreds of stories that seek to give you information about how decisions are made in our community and in the Commonwealth of Virginia.For more information on all of this, please visit the archive site Information Charlottesville to learn more, including how you too can get a shout-out! Thank you for reading, and please share with those you think might want to learn a few thing or two about what’s happening. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
June 4, 2022: Laufer to enter 55th District House race; UVA to build 440 housing units for Darden students

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 4, 2022 17:15


The first Saturday in June has arrived, just as it did 364 days ago. This particular day goes by the name June 4, 2022, but it may also answer to Day 155. This particular episode of Charlottesville Community Engagement may be referred to as number 391, a fact whose significance is suspect. If this show were a mystery, I, Sean Tubbs, would be the suspect for host. This newsletter and podcast is free, but Ting will match your initial payment to help keep this brand of community journalist in style! On today’s show:A third Democrat is seeking the nomination for the new 55th House of Delegates The General Assembly takes the next step towards adoption of a Virginia budget for the next two fiscal years The spring 2022 COVID surge continues The University of Virginia’s land use committee reviews the $2.8 billion capital plan, including a 1,000 space parking garage and 440 units of student housing at DardenFirst shout-out goes to a Livable Cville eventIn today’s first subscriber supported shout-out, Livable Cville wants you to know about an online presentation coming up on June 7. The Community Climate Collaborative and Livable Cville are presenting a talk on what they consider Climate-Smart Zoning. Executive Director Susan Kruse and Director of Climate Policy Caetano de Campos Lopes will be the presenters. This is happening on Tuesday, June 7, from 5:30 p.m to 6:30 p.m. Sign up for the free event on EventBrite. Laufer seeking Democratic nomination for 55th District A third Democrat has filed paperwork with the Virginia Department of Elections to be a candidate in the new 55th House District in the next election cycle, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Amy Laufer is the current chair of the Albemarle County Democratic Committee and was twice elected to the Charlottesville School Board in 2011 and 2015.In 2017, Laufer was one of two Democrats on the ballot for Charlottesville City Council and placed a close third behind Independent Nikuyah Walker and Democrat Heather Hill.  In 2019, she resigned from the School Board when she moved to Albemarle County. Soon after, she ran in the 17th Virginia Senate District against Republican Bryce Reeves. Reeves won with 51.6 percent of the vote with Laufer receiving 48.1 percent.Laufer joins Albemarle Supervisor Donna Price and emergency room nurse Kellen Squire in the nomination race, which could still take place this year pending a federal lawsuit. No new orders have been issued in the Goldman V. Brink case since May 5. The incumbent, Republican Rob Bell, has not announced whether he will seek a new term in the new district, which now includes most of Albemarle County and parts of Nelson and Louisa Counties. General Assembly moves forward with state budgetBoth Houses of the General Assembly have adopted the conference reports that represent compromises in the state budget. It’s now up to Governor Glenn Youngkin to determine whether to sign the bills as presented or make further amendments. He has up until the end of the month to take action. Delegate Barry Knight (R-81) served on the House Conference Committee for both HB29 and HB30, the bills that technically carried the budgets for the current biennium and for the next two years. “It’s been a long haul but I believe the result is a fiscally sound, bi-partisan budget we can all be proud of,” Knight said. Knight said a record growth in state revenue has enabled the General Assembly to invest in core government services.“At the same time, the extraordinary revenue situation has enabled us to protect for the future by using one-time revenues to address long-lingering, one-time investment needs, prepay upcoming commitments, fund capital projects with cash and not bond, and remove the account gimmicks we used to balance our budget during the Great Recession,” Knight said. Those investments include $400 million for public school system capital projects already constructed with each locality getting at least a million, as well as another $450 million for new school construction. Knight said that includes a $750 million payment into the Virginia Retirement Services as well as an additional $250 million if the state hits a certain revenue target. Additional funds will go into the “rainy day fund” to have that balance hit what Knight said was a record-setting $3.4 billion. There’s another $2.5 billion from surpluses that will go to previously committed projects. “In addition, the conference report reflects $4 billion in tax relief for Virginia’s families including an increase in the standard deduction including from $4,500 to $8,000 for individuals, double that for joint filers [and] the full elimination of the state’s sales tax on food,” Knight said. There’s also to be a $250 tax rebate for individuals and $500 for households. HB29 passed the House of Delegates on a 93 to 2 vote and the Senate on a 35 to 1 vote. There was no comment about HB29 in the House, but several Democrats had concerns about some of what was in HB30. Delegate Dawn Adams (D-68) had three reasons why she voted no, but one was a lack of transparency during the conference process. “I haven’t seen this lack of transparency in the process since I’ve been here and there’s a fair amount of policy being written through the budget that I think is really, really concerning and has not involved legislators which is so important in making good laws,” Adams said. Delegate Danica Roem (D-13) said she was concerned that revenue cuts to transportation will take away dozens of millions that she said are required to maintain Virginia’s crumbling system. Others were concerned about changes made to marijuana possession that were made in the budget. Others said there was not enough money being put toward affordable housing, with one Delegate citing a 2020 study by the Joint Legislative Audit Review Committee (JLARC). “We have got billions in surplus revenue,” said Delegate Alfonso Lopez. “Now is the time for Virginia to be forward thinking, to invest in housing. Housing trust dollars are the critical layers of debt and equity needed to develop quality affordable housing.” The vote on HB30 was 88 to 7, with dissenters coming from both parties. Republican Delegates Nick Freitas (R-30) and Phil Scott (R-88) joined Adams and four other Democrats in voting against. The Virginia Senate approved HB30 on a 32 to 4 vote. After the votes, Delegate Terry Kilgore explained the next steps. “The Speaker [of the House Todd Gilbert] and the Lieutenant Governor [Winsome Earle-Sears] have three days to sign and enroll the bill or get it to the Governor,” Kilgore said. “The Governor then has seven days to act on any amendments and then we would need to come back prior to July 1 to act on those amendments so what we can make sure we have a budget for Virginians.” Spring 2022 COVID surge continuesOn Friday, the Virginia Department of Health reported 4,057 new cases as detected through PCR tests, the highest one day total in several weeks but consistent with a growing trend. The seven day average is 2,841, though the actual number of cases is likely much higher due to the number of home tests. The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reports 87 patients in intensive care units with 30 COVID patients on ventilators. The proliferation of the second Omicron strain has led to many people contracting COVID for a second time. “We are seeing second infections occurring particularly in people that had infections in December and January and in early February and now we’re three months out from that and because of the strain differences and that time lag and difference, we are seeing breakthrough infections,” said Dr. Costi Sifri, director of hospital epidemiology for the University of Virginia Health System. Dr. Sifri said at least some patients do have lingering symptoms associated with long COVID such as fatigue and brain fog. This is still an active area of investigation. “There is still much to be understood about long COVID, what its pathophysiology is, what are the biologic mechanisms that lead to it,” Dr. Sifri said. “That’s still being an active area of investigation trying to understand that and perhaps at some point better be able to predict who may be more susceptible to it.” Dr. Sifri said it can be expected that additional variants will emerge, but that the outlook is not bleak.“What we’re also seeing is that as this occurs, the relative proportion of people that are needing medical care, that are coming into the hospital because of severe COVID, coming into our intensive care units, and importantly, the proportion of people that are dying of COVID, those are going down,” Dr. Sifri said.However, Dr. Sifri said the public should be mindful of the potential for a more deadly strain to emerge. On Thursday, the White House announced that authorization for vaccines for children under the age of five may come sometime this month. The Blue Ridge Health District said in their weekly newsletter they would be ready to distribute and administer the vaccines when the time comes. Today’s second shout-also goes to WTJUIn today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out:  This year, WTJU 91.1 FM turns 65 and to mark the occasion, there’s a new micro-museum exhibition this summer! Radio Relics traces WTJU’s storied history of broadcasting for our community. As part of our 65th anniversary celebrations, WTJU has curated photos, artifacts, and t-shirts – so many t-shirts! – spanning more than six decades.The exhibition is free and will be open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from June 3 through July 29. The museum space is a renovated, vintage camper parked behind WTJU’s studios at 2244 Ivy Road in Charlottesville. WTJU’s Radio Relics exhibition shows off some of the artifacts collected over the years, many contributed by former WTJU General Manager Chuck Taylor.  In fact, there’s even a new initiative to raise money through the Chuck Taylor Fund for WTJU History. Contact General Manager Nathan Moore to learn more. Or donate today!UVA committee briefed on new capital projects The Buildings and Grounds Committee of the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors met on Thursday and got an update on capital projects and the next master plan. Colette Sheehy is the executive vice president and chief operating officer at UVA. “So this is the time of year when we ask for approval of the newly revised Major Capital Plan,” Sheehy said. “You’ll recall that we reviewed it with you in March.” The last Major Capital Plan adopted last year was for $3.1 billion worth of projects and several of those have been completed since then such as the University Hospital Expansion, the orthopedic center on Ivy Road, and the student health and wellness center on Brandon Avenue. “We have a lot going on,” Sheehy said. “Thirty-one percent of the value of the entire capital program represents projects under construction and we are going to have a very busy 24 months coming up as many of these projects reach conclusion.” The landscaping and the infrastructure for the Emmet-Ivy Corridor should be completed by next spring. Renovations of Alderman Library and construction of the Contemplative Commons should be completed in the fall of 2023.“The School of Data Science will follow on the heels in December of 2023 and then the following spring, late spring, early summer, the Brandon Avenue undergraduate residence hall,” Sheehy said. Sheehy said the next plan will include several design studies as well as eight new projects, four of which were not on the list in March. One of them would be for student housing at the Darden School of Business. “They are proposing to build about 440 beds that would house two-thirds of their residential MBA students,” Sheehy said. “It is something that competitor business schools do.” There is no cost estimate for that project, which would offer a range of options for students and their families. (read a fact sheet) Sheehy said another project is to construct a 1,000 space parking garage, but she did not elaborate on its location. A fact sheet states the cost estimate is $54 million and would replace parking in the existing Emmet Ivy Parking Garage that will be dedicated to uses such as the future hotel, the Karsh Institute of Democracy, and the School of Data Science. “The current parking inventory displaced by the Ivy Corridor redevelopment must be met in a location that serves multiple constituencies and links effectively to transit,” reads the fact sheet. Other new projects are renovations to the physics building as well as Pinn Hall. After that presentation, UVA Architect Alice Raucher updated the committee on the creation of the 2030 Grounds Framework Plan, which updates a master plan adopted in 2008. The pandemic delayed the work slightly and the end of this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement will delay my reporting on it. I’ll cover that in a future edition. Sound permitting. Town Crier Productions has a sponsorship thing with Ting!For over a year one year now, Town Crier Productions has had a promotional offering through Ting!Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
May 21, 2022: Stribling Avenue resident sues city seeking overturning of recent rezoning; Albemarle growth management survey closes Sunday night

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later May 21, 2022 13:38


This 141st day of 2022 also has the distinction of being National Waitstaff Day, and in this time of college and university graduations, my thoughts are with those people who bring food and drink to celebrations all over the globe. For most of my career in journalism, I supplemented that work by being attentive, detail-oriented, and as accurate as possible as I served customers and clients. That experience really wasn’t that much different from any of the work that goes into every single installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, and I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. This is episode 383, and to help us all eventually get to episode 838, consider becoming a paying subscriber! On today’s program:Time is running out to tell Albemarle County your thoughts on the growth management policy that some would say has limited sprawl, and others would say has limited development Another land use lawsuit has been filed against the city of CharlottesvilleCharlottesville seeks a firm to help hire a new police chief And the spring COVID-19 surge continues with cases rising in Virginia and beyond Shout-out to Town Crier ProductionsIn today’s writer-and-publisher supported shout-out, Town Crier Productions, is the umbrella organization responsible for this Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter. I founded the company two years ago to support my interest in bringing the community as much information as possible about local government, land use, the environment, economic development, and so much more. The company is still just getting started, and if you’d like to help, consider a subscription through Substsck, or support Town Crier Productions through Patreon. There are also other sponsorship opportunities available as the number of offerings increases. To learn more, visit the Information Charlottesville archive and click on the Support the Info button. My sincere thank you to the hundreds of subscribers who have signed on so far! COVID-19 updateOn Friday, the Virginia Department of Health reported another 3,847 cases bringing the seven-day average of new cases to 3,157. The seven-day percent positivity increased to 15.6 percent, up from 9.1 percent three weeks ago. Nationwide, the trend is toward more cases and more hospitalizations according to the Centers for Disease Control’s COVID dashboard. That tool also shows a trend toward fewer deaths per day with 242 a day reported on Thursday night. That could change as death is a lagging indicator as explained by Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System. “As we see the summer surge start to move out of the northeast which is a highly vaccinated and COVID-experienced population to other parts of the country, we have concerns in the public health community that maybe what we’ve seen so far may not hold as true as the surge moves to the southeast,” Dr. Sifri said. This week, the Blue Ridge Health District discontinued its local dashboard for COVID data from within its boundaries. This follows the Virginia Department of Heath’s retirement of four dashboards. “The CDC dashboard is considered the standard when it comes to cases by vaccination status, as the definition of vaccination status is rapidly changing nationwide,” reads a newsletter from the Blue Ridge Health District. You can find local data on the VDH dashboard by selecting the appropriate geographic region on the cases tab. Children between the age of 5 and 11 are now eligible for boosters of the Pfizer vaccine. Appointments in the Blue Ridge Health District can be made online. Read the release on the Centers for Disease Control website for more information. There will be a community remembrance on Tuesday, May 24, at 7 p.m. at the outdoor ampitheater at Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital for those who died from COVID-19 hosted by area health care providers. (Facebook event page)Charlottesville opening up search for new police chiefNearly ten months since former Charlottesville police chief RaShall Brackney was fired by former City Manager Chip Boyles, the city is seeking a permanent replacement. On Friday, the city issued a request for proposals for a firm to conduct an executive search. “The City is seeking a consultant to assist the City Manager through the process of hiring a new Chief of Police who embodies the principles of 21st Century Policing and has an anti-racist focus,” reads the request for proposals. As part of the work, the selected firm will also seek community input on what the “desired characteristics and qualifications” for such a person would be. The solicitation states this will include a survey and in-person meetings. The firm will also be responsible for conducting background checks on all of the finalists. “The Chief of Police is hired by and reports to the City Manager, but upon hire will be officially confirmed by the City Council,” the request continues. The department is currently being led by Acting Police Chief Latroy Durette.The city is being run by interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers.  The closing date for the executive search firm is June 15. Lawsuit filed against City of Charlottesville for rezoning of 240 Stribling A person who lives on property on Stribling Avenue has filed suit against the Charlottesville City Council seeking declaratory judgment that the rezoning of 240 Stribling Avenue in April was illegal. (read the complaint)“During the Planning Commission and Council meetings, the large amount of tax revenue to be gained from increasing the density was discussed as the primary reason for backing this ordinance,” reads paragraph eight of the suit, which was filed on May 18 and served to the city a day later. Charlottesville City Council approved the rezoning on April 18, which will allow up to 170 units on about 12 acres in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood. (read a story)The plaintiff is Cabell Marshall, who is representing herself in the matter. The suit states that Marshall “occupies a house” across from 240 Stribling, but does not specify which one until the signature at the end of the document. Much of the complaint repeats testimony made by opponents of the project, such as increased exhaust fumes and additional traffic. The suit filed on May 18 also argues that an agreement between the city and Southern Development to pay for the upfront costs of upgrading Stribling Avenue is also invalid. “Many neighbors on Stribling Avenue felt overwhelmed by [Charlie Armstrong]’s seemingly unfair advantage in getting advance encouragement directly from the city,” reads paragraph 13. “Virginia Code Section 2.3-3103 prohibits a city employee or someone in an advisory agency from using for his own benefit or that another party confidential information that he has acquired by reason of his public position and which is not available to the public.” The complaint also argues that the public hearing was invalid because it was held while Council meetings were still remote. There’s also an argument the city has not done enough to upgrade city streets, such as the intersection of Stribling Avenue and Jefferson Park Avenue.One of the first legal questions will be whether Marshall has legal standing to bring the suit forward. The owner of the house where she lives is John C. Marshall, who is not named as a part in the suit. He owns two other properties on Stribling Avenue as well as three other throughout city limits. In today’s other two shout-outs Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects. The final comes from another Patreon supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, Charlottesville Inclusive Media, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today!Albemarle closing survey on growth management policy Like many localities across Virginia’s Fifth District including Nelson County and Danville, Albemarle County is currently reviewing its Comprehensive Plan. State law requires localities to prepare such plans and update them on a periodic basis. Albemarle is reviewing its plan in a four-phase process and the first phase will take a look at the county’s growth management policy. A survey for input closes on Sunday at midnight. “The current Comp Plan directs new residential, commercial, retail, office, and industrial development into the Development Areas,” reads the first part of a StoryMap that seeks to explain the history of the growth management policy. “The Rural Area is intended to be used for agriculture, natural resource protection, and some residential homes.”That’s roughly five percent of the county’s 726 square miles. Albemarle’s first Comprehensive Plan in 1971, and originally envisioned a much larger development area.  This was at a time when Charlottesville still had the ability to annex county land if it could prove to a judge that the city would be able to provide urban services more efficiently. However, subsequent plans reduced that area due to concerns such as siltation at the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir, which opened in 1967 and soon began to fill in. Another issue was the high cost to build water and sewer infrastructure to remote areas. Several villages have been removed since, such as the ones in Earlysville, Ivy, North Garden, and Stony Point. In the early 90’s, four areas were added including the Village of Rivanna, the North Fork Research Park, and what is now being developed as North Pointe. For the full history, read part two of the StoryMap. It’s well worth a read as the county considers changes. “With an evaluation of the County’s Growth Management Policy, perhaps one of the most important factors to consider is how the policy is impacting the well-being of County residents and whether the policy is leading to equitable outcomes across different geographies within the County, such as residents in the Rural Area compared to residents in Development Area, or across different demographic groups such as age and race,” reads another portion of part 2.The survey closes Sunday night. (fill out the survey)Help Ting help support Town Crier productions!For one year now, Town Crier Productions has had a promotional offering through Ting!Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
May 7, 2022: Greene County Commissioner of Revenue resigns after pleading guilty in witness tampering case; Squire launches campaign for 55th House District

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2022 13:51


Welcome to Mother’s Day Eve, a holiday that may not exist, but is certainly a possibility in a world that seems to have an occasion for everything. While we wait for Mommoween to be invented, we’ll just have to settle for another installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that is most certainly not funded by Big Greeting Card. Find the info worthwhile? Send it on to others! On today’s program:Greene County’s Commissioner of Revenue resigns after pleading guilty to federal charges of witness tampering Kellen Squire officially launches his race to the Democratic nominee for the 55th House District Dr. Denise Bonds is stepping down as director of the Blue Ridge Health DistrictAnother surge of COVID appears to be in the making, but it’s too early to tell how severe it might be And the City of Charlottesville is taking donations to help cover unpaid utility bills Today’s first shout-out goes to WTJUAlgorithms know how to put songs and artists together based on genre or beats per minute. But only people can make connections that engage your mind and warm your heart. The music on WTJU 91.1 FM is chosen by dozens and dozens of volunteer hosts -- music lovers like you who live right here in the Charlottesville area. Listener donations keep WTJU alive and thriving. In this era of algorithm-driven everything, go against the grain. This week is the annual Rock Marathon, so tune in and support freeform community radio on WTJU Consider a donation at wtju.net/donate.Snow resigns as Greene County Commissioner of RevenueLarry Snow has resigned as the Commissioner of Revenue in Greene County after pleading guilty in federal court to tampering with a witness. Snow appeared in the Western District Court in Charlottesville Friday to answer to charges that stemmed from a federal investigation, along with his son who pleaded guilty to a charge of heroin distribution. The elder Snow was caught trying to harass and intimidate a confidential informant involved with the investigation.“Elected officials should hold themselves to a higher standard and serve their community responsibly,” said Stanley M. Meador, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Division in a release sent out by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia. “Mr. Snow violated the faith entrusted to him, and with his son criminally used personal information of community members for their own gain,” Snow was first elected to the position in 1987 and was reelected in 2019 while under indictment with three quarters of the vote. In November 2017, Bryant Snow was arrested on two state counts of distribution after selling methamphetamine and heroin to an informant. He plead guilty to the meth charge in April 2018 and was imprisoned at Central Virginia Regional Jail. While there, the father and son discussed ways to intimidate someone referred to as Person A. At one point, the elder Snow sent out over 12,000 pamphlets to Greene County residents describing how the Sheriff’s Department uses informants in an attempt to dissuade Person A. Larry Snow will be sentenced on July 25 and Bryant Snow will be sentenced on August 1 before Senior Judge Norman K. Moon. Bonds stepping down as director of the Blue Ridge Health DistrictA search will soon get underway for a new director of the Blue Ridge Health District now that Dr. Denise Bonds has announced she’ll step down from the position at the end of this month. She’s been the health director since 2015 and led the agency during the COVID-19 pandemic and during a name change. “Under Dr. Bonds’ leadership, BRHD expanded its HIV testing and prevention services, increased access to testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and broadened the size and reach of the Population Health Division, including launching a robust Community Health Worker program,” reads an announcement from the Blue Ridge Health District sent out yesterday afternoon. Dr. Bonds also served as interim director of the Rappahannock Area Health District from August 2020 to April 2021. The Blue Ridge Health District is also closing down its COVID-19 case investigation team. According to the release, they followed 47,274 cases since March 2020. After this weekend, the Mobile Health Unit created during the pandemic has held 200 events at which over 5,000 COVID vaccinations were administered. A memorial to those lost during the COVID-19 pandemic will be held on May 24, 2022 at the Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital Amphitheater.COVID-19 update A spring surge of COVID-19 continues to rise with the Virginia Department of Health reporting 2,677 new cases on Friday, with a seven-day average for positive tests at 11 percent. That’s about where things were in late February when the Omicron surge was waning. “And that’s up from around three percent, three and a half percent in March, so we have seen an increase in test positivity,” said Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System. “This is occurring in a background where we’re having less testing in general because of the growth of at-home testing and I would say the vast majority of the people who are testing positive at home through a rapid antigen test are not going on to get a PCR test somewhere else.” The dashboard for the Blue Ridge Health District hasn’t been updated since May 1, and the Virginia Department of Health no longer provides that information in an easily-consumable fashion. The dataset is available here.  The increasing number of cases are not leading to increased hospitalizations. Today the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reports 30 COVID-positive people in intensive care units and 11 on respirators. At the height of the Omicron surge in late January of this year, that number climbed over 400. Dr. Sifri said the numbers are expected to rise as more people forgo wearing masks indoors and as people move further away from their vaccinations or boosters. “There is some progressive loss of some immune response,” said Dr. Sifri. “And finally, in this background is new subvariants of Omicron.” Dr. Sifri points people to the weekly models produced by the University of Virginia's Biocomplexity Institute. The latest from April 29 predicts a further surge this summer, though with lower death rates due to treatments that are now available, more than two years after the pandemic began. “The open question is how much of an impact will that have on health systems?” Dr. Sifri asked. “Is that going to lead to more hospitalizations? Is that going to lead to more [intensive care unit] hospitalizations and deaths? That’s our concern.”Dr. Sifri said vaccinations may not prevent infection but do limit the severity. City taking donations to cover unpaid utility billsIt’s been nearly a month since the City of Charlottesville announced it would resume the practice of shutting down service for unpaid utility bills. There was a statewide moratorium on such disconnects that expired last September. In all, the city used $557,000 in various federal assistance programs to help some customers.However, they announced in April disconnects would resume. “To date, six accounts have been disconnected and remain out of service,” said Chris Cullinan, the city’s finance director, in an email to Charlottesville Community Engagement. However, the city is taking donations to help prevent further disconnects. Cullinan said that as of Thursday, the city had received $800 from concerned community members. He said checks marked with “Water/WW Assistance” in the memo can be sent to:City of Charlottesville Utility Billing OfficePO Box 911Attn: Water and Wastewater AssistanceCharlottesville, VA  22902Second shout-out goes to a Charlottesville Jazz Society event this weekendIn today’s second subscriber-supported shout-out, the Charlottesville Jazz Society and WTJU are pleased to bring bassist Joe Fonda back to town with his long-standing group the Nu Band. They’ll be appearing Tuesday May 10 at the Bridge at 209 Monticello Road. The Nu Band is a dynamic jazz ensemble from New York City, featuring some of the most unique, compelling and in-demand voices in creative music today. The band was formed in 1999, and since then has released 10 recordings, completed 9 European and several US tours, bringing forward-leaning, provocative and evocative music to the world. All tickets for The Nu Band at The Bridge, May 10th at 7 pm will be $10 at the door. For more information visit cvillejazz.org, Squire launches campaign with ad releaseThere’s still no firm resolution on whether Virginia will elect the next set of members of the next House of Delegates this November or the next, but there are two active candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for the newly drawn 55th District. On Friday, Kellen Squire released a video to launch a campaign for which he filed earlier this spring. He’s an emergency room nurse who ran in the 58th District in 2017 against incumbent Rob Bell. “Just as I believe there’s hope for me when I come home to my family,” Squire narrates in the two-minute video that depicts him driving home from a shift, concluding with him getting out of his vehicle. “I’m Kellen Squire and I’m running for the House of Delegates because as an emergency department nurse, I know that we all do better when we all do better,” Squire continues. “I’ll fight unapologetically for rural Virginia. I’ll put people before party. And I’ll make sure no Virginian gets left behind.” Squire joins Albemarle Supervisor Donna Price in the race for the Democratic nomination, a race in which the winner could take on Republican Rob Bell, who has represented the 58th District since 2002. He’s not yet made an announcement about the next election. The 55th District is geographically different and will consist of most of Albemarle County, western Louisa County, and northeast Nelson County. Price made her announcement on Facebook on Tuesday, a day after someone leaked a draft Supreme Court ruling purporting to overturn Roe v. Wade. (read the story)There is a chance that an election could be held this year due to a federal lawsuit filed by Richmond attorney Paul Goldman arguing that legislators elected in 2021 are in unconstitutional districts. Judge David Novak of the Eastern District of Virginia is expected to rule on whether Goldman has the legal standing to file the case.On Thursday, Novak admonished Goldman for filing a motion to ask the court to consider the draft ruling as evidence for why a House of Delegates race should be run this year. “The Court hereby STRIKES this Motion at patently inappropriate and completely irrelevant to this case,” Novak wrote in an order. “Neither draft opinions nor press reports have any impact on the decisions of this Court.” Novak told Goldman to stop filing additional motions. Help support Town Crier Productions with a paid subscription to this newsletter!For one year now, Town Crier Productions has a promo with Ting!Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
April 16, 2022: Good raised the most money in 5th District race in first quarter; Work continues to reopen Smith Aquatic Center

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 16, 2022 14:14


We are now halfway through the fourth month of the year, and when the clock strikes midnight later on, 29.77 percent of 2022 will have passed. Seven out of ten days of the year are still to come. Is this is a good place and time to take stock? That answer is up to you, but I can tell you that this is another installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Thanks for reading, and please send it on to someone else! On today’s program:Campaign finance reports are in for candidates in the Fifth District An update from the Charlottesville Parks and Recreation DepartmentAn area grocery chain is set to eliminate plastic bags A Jefferson Elm is planted on Grounds to mark UVA’s long term landscape architectFirst shout-out: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign It’s springtime, and the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign wants you to know they are grassroots initiative of motivated citizens, volunteers, partner organizations, and local government who want to promote the use of native plants. This spring the group is working with retailers across the region to encourage purchase of plants that belong here and are part of an ecosystem that depends on pollination. There are plenty of resources on the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page, so sign up to be notified of lectures, plant sales, and more! Good leads in fundraising totals for 5th District candidatesRepublican incumbent Bob Good has raised the most money among candidates seeking election to Virginia’s new 5th District for the U.S. House of Representatives. According to the Federal Election Commission, Good raised $152,092.13 in the first three months of 2022. His campaign spent $144,310.62 during the period and has spent total of $431,328.87 over the course of the campaign. Good has raised a total of $675,964.49 and had $376,792.76 on hand at the end of March. Republican Dan Moy raised $114,046 in the first quarter and spent $66,106.12, and has $47,939.88 to spend. He did not file a report for activity prior to this year. The Republican nominee will be selected in a convention at Hampden-Sydney College on May 21. On the Democratic side, Josh Throneburg raised $37,524.33 and spent $106,726.72 in the quarter and reported a $50,000 debt. He’s raised $307,678 over the course of the campaign, and had $149,037.30 in his account on March 31. This week the Democrats announced that Throneburg was the sole nominee who turned in enough qualified signatures to make the ballot for the June 21 primary. Andy Parker failed to make the ballot for the Democratic Primary, but raised $178,314.37 between January 1 and March 31. He spent $26,010.45 and had $152,303.92 in the bank.  Park told reporters this week he is considering a challenge of the results. A third Democratic candidate, Warren McClellan, raised $2,900 in the period and a total of $13,901.18 over the campaign. A fourth Democratic candidate, Lewis Combs, dropped out of the race raised $5,155 in the period. Combs raised a total of $227,018 during his campaign and has disbursed $184,832, leaving $42,186.01 in his account as of March 31. COVID-19 updateThe Virginia Department of Health reported another 1,538 COVID-19 cases yesterday and a seven-day percent positivity of 5.4 percent. The total death toll over two years has now risen to 20,022. The VDH no longer reports data by localities on their dashboard, and the Blue Ridge Health District’s dashboard last reports data from April 13. However, an email update sent out last night shows 22 new cases in Albemarle this week, and 16 in Charlottesville. While those figures may be lower than the actual number due to at-home testing, there does not appear to be a significant public health threat from COVID at this time. “What we’re not seeing is a significant spike or a significant increase in case counts at the hospital of people diagnosed with COVID,” said Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Medical Center. “Particularly with people diagnosed with severe COVID.  Second boosters are now recommended for those over the age of 50 or those who are immunocompromised. Those who got the Johnson and Johnson vaccine and booster may want to consider a switch.“In general, for most patients we’d recommend if they received a Johnson and Johnson vaccine initially, that we steer them towards a [messenger]RNA vaccine, the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines,” Dr. Sifri said. For more information on vaccinations, visit the Blue Ridge Health District website. Wegman’s to eliminate single-use plastic bagsAs Albemarle County and Charlottesville both consider levying a tax on plastic bags, a major grocery chain has announced they will phase out their use by the end of this calendar year. “With this decision, the company’s goal is to shift all customers to reusable bags, the best option to solve the environmental challenge of single-use grocery bags,” reads a press release on the company’s website.Wegmans will begin to charge five cents per paper bag, with proceeds going to local food banks or United Way chapters. The company has already eliminated plastic bags in New York, where they were banned ini 2019 by that state’s legislature. Wegmans has also experimented with eliminating them from some stores around Richmond. The release makes the claim that making the transition will eliminate over 345 million bags from going into circulation each year. Albemarle County will hold a public hearing Wednesday evening on imposing a five-cent tax per bag. (staff report)Charlottesville City Council will hold a work session on climate action at 4 p.m. on Monday. Second shout-out goes to Camp AlbemarleToday’s second subscriber-supported public service announcement goes out to Camp Albemarle, which has for sixty years been a “wholesome rural, rustic and restful site for youth activities, church groups, civic events and occasional private programs.”Located on 14 acres on the banks of the Moorman’s River near Free Union, Camp Albemarle continues as a legacy of being a Civilian Conservation Corps project that sought to promote the importance of rural activities. Camp Albemarle seeks support for a plan to winterize the Hamner Lodge, a structure built in 1941 by the CCC and used by every 4th and 5th grade student in Charlottesville and Albemarle for the study of ecology for over 20 years. If this campaign is successful, Camp Albemarle could operate year-round. Consider your support by visiting Donate to Camp Albemarle. Charlottesville Parks and Recreation still seeking lifeguards; no date yet for Smith reopeningThis week, Charlottesville’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board got an update on preparations underway to get the city’s pools and spraygrounds ready. “We are currently still developing our operational hours and what that’s going to look like at our outdoor facilities,” said Gator Batton is the interim manager of aquatics for the department. “The goal is to open Washington Park, Onesty, and Smith.” Of those three, only Washington Park opened last summer. Onesty Park didn’t open because of a shortage of lifeguards and Smith Aquatic Center has remained closed for the duration of the pandemic due to repairs to address air quality issues. Hours and operations will depend on having lifeguards in place, and Batton said there are currently 65 set up for the summer. “We have looked at some creative ways of recruiting and trying to bring in certified lifeguard staff as well encouraged current staff to stay with us throughout the summer,” Batton said. These include waiving fees for certification courses, $250 signing bonuses, and a second bonus at the end of the summer. The city is also looking to outsource operations of Onesty Pool and there’s a request for proposals on the street. Vic Garber, the deputy director of the department, said they need at least 25 more lifeguards for full operations this summer. Garber said testing has been completed at Smith Aquatic Center. “This included the filtration and chemical feed system,” Garber said. “We had National Pools do that. We basically passed that with flying colors.” Air qualities have been conducted by two different firms. “It should be totally sound from any type of chloramines or chlorine smell,” Garber said. Tests will continue to be conducted after the pool opens and people are using it. An opening date will be announced after the results of a third test. Garber also said the equipment in the fitness room is being replaced.“When people come in, they need to smile and stay as long as they want and be happy,” Garber said. Batton said the hope is to have the spraygrounds at Belmont, Greenbrier, Tonsler, and Forest Hills Parks operational in less than a month. “The goal is over the next two weeks to test out water features, balance water chemistry, and our project opening for those is May 14,” Batton said. Elm planted at UVA Lawn for Mary HughesThe University of Virginia celebrated its founding Wednesday with a tree-planting ceremony to mark the career of retired landscape architect Mary Hughes. Hughes stepped down in January after serving in the position for over a quarter of a century. UVA Today reports that President Jim Ryan spoke at the event. “While at UVA, she expanded awareness of the landscape beyond the Academical Village, both developed and wild lands,” Ryan said. “She secured funding for a multiyear research project on the history of land-use and landscape design of the University Grounds, which resulted in summer internship opportunities for UVA landscape architecture students and enriched the cultural landscape curriculum.”During her time as landscape architect, Hughes directed a study of local waterways and UVA stormwater system, which led to the creation of the Dell. Hughes also studied the history of enslaved workers and served on the President’s Commission on Slavery and the University, which resulted in the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers. A Jefferson Elm was planted outside of Pavilion III in Hughes’ honor. For a full list of memorial trees on Grounds, visit the Office of the Architect’s website. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
March 28, 2022: MPO selects East Market / Broadway alignment for Rivanna pedestrian bridge

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 28, 2022 14:19


Today begins the final week of the month as well as the last four days of 2022’s first quarter. There are so many ways to order time and to order our affairs as human beings as we move through a world that may or may not make sense, depending on how you count. I’m Sean Tubbs, I provide information on a regular basis in each installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement to describe a few of the things that have happened so far. Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.On today’s show:The area’s transportation decision-making body wants a future pedestrian bridge to connect Pantops with the Broadway Blueprint The University of Virginia’s School of Architecture hires its first Associate Dean for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and InclusionUVA no longer requires masks in classrooms, and an update on the COVID-19 pandemic Today’s first shout-out goes to WTJUAlgorithms know how to put songs and artists together based on genre or beats per minute. But only people can make connections that engage your mind and warm your heart. The music on WTJU 91.1 FM is chosen by dozens and dozens of volunteer hosts -- music lovers like you who live right here in the Charlottesville area. Listener donations keep WTJU alive and thriving. In this era of algorithm-driven everything, go against the grain. Support freeform community radio on WTJU and get ready for the station’s 65th anniversary this Friday, April 1! Consider a donation at wtju.net/donateCOVID-19 update: Masks now optional in UVA classroomsToday marks the end of the mask requirements in classrooms at the University of Virginia, but people are still asked to carry one in case they are asked to by someone else. “As we navigate the shift to most settings being mask-optional, we are encouraging everyone to treat each other with respect and common courtesy,” reads a March 25 email from Provost Ian Baucom and Chief Operating Officer J.J. Davis. The Centers for Disease Control now regard the COVID-19 Community Level to be low for Albemarle County and Charlottesville. This morning the Virginia Department of Health reports another 1,340 new cases and the seven-day average for percent positivity is now at 3.3 percent. There is a subvariant of the Omicron virus that is leading to new surges across the world including Hong Kong. That’s a place where Dr. Costi Sifri of the UVA Health System said has not yet experienced much community spread because of an early zero tolerance policy.“It is causing significant stress to their health system,” Sifri said. “There is this view that Omicron is less virulent than other COVID variants.”However, Dr. Sifri said that Hong Kong also has low vaccine rates providing a population base through which the Omicron subvariant can spread. “Here in the United States we’re seeing an increasing amount of B.A.2, the sister subvariant of the original Omicron strain,” Dr. Sifri said. “It’s growing in proportion nationwide. In our region it’s about 30 to 35 percent or so of all isolates.”Dr. Sifri said this subvariant is not as virulent, but does appear to be more transmissible and that it will become the dominant strain in a matter of weeks. Dr. Sifri said a local spike could happen as mask requirements are dropped and as more social gatherings.“I don’t think that’s guaranteed so I think there is also a possibility we could just reach a plateau at least for the near-term,”  Dr. Sifri said. “And of course, things may change if there is a new variant that emerges somewhere in the world that is able to essentially escape the protection that boosters and vaccinations have provided.”As of today, 72.7 percent of Virginians are fully vaccinated, but only 2.9 million booster doses have been administered. There’s still no word yet on whether an additional dose will be needed for the general population or just those who are at higher risk of developing a virulent infection.There are 76 new cases in the Blue Ridge Health District today. On March 16ths, Last week, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors voted to end the local COVID emergency, paving the way for in-person meetings beginning next week with the Albemarle Board of Supervisors.UVA School of Architecture hires Associate Dean for equity and inclusionThe School of Architecture at the University of Virginia has hired its first ever Associate Dean for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. C.L. Bohannon will take the position in late July as he also joins the faculty as an Associate Professor in the Landscape Architecture Department. Bohannon is currently the interim director of the School of Architecture and Design at Virginia Tech, as well as founder and director of the Community Engagement Lab. “I am enthusiastic to collaborate with faculty, students, staff, and communities across the Commonwealth as we contend with long-standing socio-environmental inequalities,” Bohannon said in a news release on the School of Architecture’s website. “I believe that as creative practitioners, we have the necessary critical and creative tools to redress harms that have come from design and planning and that we can work with congruent integrity and practice.”The Community Engagement Lab will come with Bohannon to UVA. Second shout-out goes to a March 29 event happening at MorvenIn today’s second subscriber supported shout-out, the Morven Summer Institute at Morven Farm wants you to know about a seminar coming up on March 29. How are UVA students, faculty, and community partners collaborating to tell the stories of Morven? Researcher Scot French has spent over ten years studying Morven’s history and will provide glimpses into a course he’ll be teaching this summer on Recovering the Stories of Morven’s Enslaved and Descendant Communities.  The March 29 event is a chance for the public to get a preview of the four week course. If you’re interested, visit morven.virginia.edu to fill out an interest form. MPO selects Broadway Avenue / East Market location for pedestrian bridgeIf a bridge to cross the Rivanna River between Albemarle County and the Woolen Mills is ever built, the western end will be connected to East Market Street rather than Riverview Park. “It seems to me that the connection at the East Market Street provides an additional value or return on the investment in that it is connecting two activity centers from Pantops over to what’s being planned in that Broadway corridor,” said Albemarle Supervisor Ned Gallaway, the chair of the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Policy Board.Transportation staff with the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission are working on an application for Smart Scale funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation for the project, which would have an eastern landing just to the west of the former State Farm regional headquarters. The MPO Policy Board voted 4-1 on March 24 to choose an alignment that would land at East Market Street. This alternative is more expensive with a preliminary cost estimate of $15.3 million compared to $11.3 million for the Chesapeake Street alignment. They also discussed whether the bridge should be “cable-stayed” or should be built on a “truss.” bridge. A cable-stayed bridge would require more maintenance, and there are questions about who would be responsible for the cost. “When we’re looking at new projects, we generally don’t try to promote or support projects that would provide an increased cost for maintenance when it’s not strictly necessary,” said Sean Nelson, the district engineer for VDOT’s Culpeper District. Nelson said if the cable-stayed bridge was selected, the localities would be asked to cover the additional maintenance. Albemarle Supervisor Ann Mallek wanted to know if that might affect the project’s Smart Scale score.“Getting something approved is my highest priority and I want to make sure that we are thinking about that rather than asking for the beautiful, blue crystal slipper,” Mallek said. “ Are we then not getting something at all then if we applied for the work boot?” The group opted to proceed with a truss bridge. No matter the type of bridge, the East Market / Broadway bridge would have two spans connected with a pier.City Councilor Brian Pinkston was the lone vote in favor of the Chesapeake Street option.“To me, if the least expensive, more likely to occur option is to have it at the park on the northern side,” Pinkston said. A majority of people on a stakeholder committee favored the Chesapeake Street option, as did the MPO-Technical Committee. More information needs to be gathered as part of a necessary environmental review and that will be gathered as the application is finalized. This includes impacts on historic sites well as the impact on the floodway. Nelson said one of the sites would provide more room for flexibility if the design needed to be amended to take into account potential impacts. “The Woolen Mills location there [are] more opportunities to mitigate at that location then at the other location,” Nelson said. Mallek said she supported the Woolen Mills option because of the county’s planning work. “There are things in the Broadway corridor which the county has been planning and working on for several years including more sidewalk connections and improvement of the connector road which would also benefit users of the bridge,” Mallek said. After Mayor Lloyd Snook offered his opinion, one member of the public who was on the call expressed their opinion.“I would vote for the southernmost route, the route that goes down to East Market,” Snook said. “Unbelievable,” said an unidentified voice in what may be one of the last awkward moments of the Zoom era of public meetings. Before the vote, nearby resident Jenny Milulski said she would have supported either option, but wanted the MPO to take Albemarle’s economic development planning efforts into account. “I just wanted to voice my enthusiasm for considering this project in tandem with the Broadway economic development plan,” Milukski said.The Albemarle Board of Supervisors recently received information about the Broadway Blueprint and the Economic Development Authority had a conversation about the document earlier this month (read the final study) Mikulski said the bridge would transform the way she thinks about where she lives.“For example it would only be a 1.5 mile walk from my house to the Kluge-Ruhe Museum,” Mikulski said. Currently that would be a three mile walk. Preliminary Smart Scale applications are due by the end of the month. A final application is due on August 1. The rankings will be released in late January. Support Town Crier Productions!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
March 11, 2022: Charlottesville acknowledges there is work to do to create climate action plan; City using RGGI money to prepare for greater amounts of flooding

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 11, 2022 19:00


March Eleven. 3/11? 3-1-1? In some places you can dial that number to get information, a valuable commodity in a complex world. On this 70th day of 2022 and in this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, you can find out a lot of odds and ends about what’s happening. How many of each? Stick around and find out. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. For all the odds and ends, please sign up for free and consider becoming a paid subscriber!On today’s program:Charlottesville City Council will get an update on efforts to create a long awaited climate action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions The city will use funding from a carbon cap and trade program to prepare for future flooding Charlottesville Area Transit wants your input on the next generation of bus sheltersCharlottesville is close to hiring a new communications director, and is seeking college students to apply for internshipsA brief update on the pandemic First shout-out if for CBIC’s C-E2 eventIn today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out, the Charlottesville Business Innovation Council wants you to know that after two years, they’re holding their Charlottesville Entrepreneurs and Espresso event in-person on the morning of Tuesday, March 15 at the CODE Building? What is Charlottesville Entrepreneurs and Espresso, or C-E2? It’s a casual, caffeine-fueled gathering of learning at all stages of venture creation. Get inspired, meet fellow entrepreneurs, share lessons learned, and become a part of Charlottesville’s vibrant and growing entrepreneurial ecosystem. Visit cvilleinnovation.org to learn more about this free event or sign up on Eventbrite. Pandemic turns 2 Tomorrow marks the two-year anniversary of the declaration of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic in Virginia. The seven-day percent average for new COVID tests is at 4.7 percent, around a level not seen since late last July when the Delta variant caused a surge that has not quite receded until now. Still, the Virginia Department of Health marks another 1,272 new cases today. The agency has also made changes to its COVID dashboard and no longer is listing case counts by locality. That data, as well as deaths reported by date, will continue to be available on Virginia’s open data portal.The Blue Ridge Health District does report local case data and there are 48 new cases today and the percent positivity is at 4.5 percent. The Centers for Disease Control now list Albemarle, Charlottesville and the other Blue Ridge Health District localities as medium. (review the map)“We were anticipating that we would be dropping to a medium level when we were looking at the numbers earlier this week so those were born out yesterday when the CDC updated their calculations,” said Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System.Dr. Sifri said he would recommend that those with underlying conditions or who are immunocompromised to remain masked indoors and to make sure their mask offers enough protection. Dr. Sifri said there is a lot of immunity in the community through both vaccination and infections, but he said there is still opportunity for another variant to happen in the future. When will be determined on a number of variables. “And I think clearly for a lot of people after two years of living through this pandemic, they are at a point where they’ve been vaccinated, they’ve taken precautions, but have now sort of have come to a point where its an understanding there will be some level of circulation likely going forward for the foreseeable future and we could anticipate this may become another seasonal virus,” Dr. Sifri said. As we hit the two-year mark, there have been 19,212 COVID deaths in Virginia, and 431 in the Blue Ridge Health District. It’s been two years since I launched a podcast to cover the response. Go back and listen if you’d like to revisit any of that recent past. (Charlottesville Quarantine Report)Charlottesville sets April 18 work session for work session on climate action Nearly all functions of government in most Virginia localities can be derived from their Comprehensive Plan, which lays out broad steps to turn a community’s vision into action. The new Comprehensive Plan adopted by Council in November calls upon the city to create a specific plan to demonstrate how Charlottesville will meet specific reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The nonprofit Community Climate Collaborative wants City Council to spend more money to get a plan in place as soon as possible. Executive Director Susan Kruse posted a blog entry on March 3 saying Charlottesville has fallen behind on efforts. She read from this post at Council’s meeting this past Monday. “This July will mark three years since Charlottesville set its sights on climate leadership,” Kruse wrote in the post. “Three years, and we have no Climate Action Plan, our GHG emissions inventory is four years out-of-date, and the window to reduce emissions to prevent catastrophic impacts is rapidly closing.” On Monday, Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders acknowledged that the city has not been able to move swiftly to create a plan. “I just want to be upfront with everyone and acknowledge we know there’s work to be done there,” Sanders said. Sanders said there will be a Council work session on April 18 and staff in the city’s sustainability division will present what they have been working on since Council adopted reduction targets on July 1, 2019. That stated the city would work towards a “community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 target from its 2011 inventory year” as well as to be carbon neutral by 2050. (read the minutes)At the time, then-city manager Tarron Richardson was less than two months on the job and two other people have held that position since. Sanders has only worked for the city since last July. “There have been significant impacts from the COVID pandemic and organizational staffing changes that have prevented them from moving as originally planned,” Sanders said. “Our goal would be to try to get back on track so this would be a moment to reboot that effort.”Sanders said groups such as the Community Climate Collaborative will be involved in the work. After Sanders gave Council an update, Kruse read from her prepared letter during the city’s Community Matters portion. She acknowledged the April 18 work session, but pushed for a deadline to complete a Climate Action Plan. .“If current resources are not enough to complete the plan, it’s time for Council to bring in some outside help,” Kruse said. Last November, City Council adopted an update of the Comprehensive Plan, a document for which state code requires periodic revision. Review of this plan took nearly five years and its completion required the city to pay a consultant over a million dollars.One of the guiding principles in the plan is under the heading Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability. (look for it on page 22)“The City government will reduce its carbon footprint and other environmental impacts,” reads that guiding principle. “The Charlottesville community will be empowered and encouraged to reduce their environmental footprint and benefit from energy-efficiency efforts.”The various chapters of the Comprehensive Plan are embedded with many directives, strategies, and goals. For instance, Strategy 3.4 of the land use chapter (page 38) is to “encourage sustainable, energy efficient building designs and low impact development as complementary goals to historic preservation, including through support for adaptation, reuse, and repurposing of the built environment.” Goal 4 of the housing chapter has four strategies with steps toward addressing energy efficiency in new and existing housing (page 50)The transportation chapter (page 55) seeks to expand alternatives to driving and encourages the “adoption and support of new and emerging transportation technologies will further expand travel options throughout the city and will contribute toward the City’s climate goals and improving public health by reducing vehicle-related emissions.” There is an entire chapter with the title Environment, Climate, and Food Equity (page 65) that repeats the July 1, 2019 greenhouse gas emissions goal of which the first goal is dedicated to reaching the reduction targets, with eight strategies. The first listed is to create a Climate Action Plan.The environmental chapter also includes directives to prevent further degradation of the tree canopy, continue work in the city’s Water Resources Protection Program, and to encourage use of sustainable materials. The Community Facilities and Services chapter (page 79) covers community infrastructure and strategy 2.4 calls for the city “to employ innovative technology and green building practices for all eligible capital construction and renovation projects” and strategy 4.10 to “participate in and complete Climate Hazard Risk Assessment activities, to follow finalization of the Climate Action Plan.” Goal 1 of the Community Engagement and Collaboration is to “empower community members by providing and actively sharing the information they need to participate in a meaningful way.” Albemarle County adopted a Climate Action Plan in October 2020 that has much more specific details about how to get there. That work session will be held on April 18. Make sure you’re reading the Week Ahead newsletter each Sunday to know what’s coming up and follow along with stories on climate action at the Information Charlottesville archive. Today’s second shout-out goes to a Livable Cville eventIn today’s first subscriber supported shout-out, Livable Cville wants you to know about an online presentation coming up on Wednesday, March 16. "Can Zoning Create a More Affordable Charlottesville?" That’s the question to be explored by Dr. Jenny Schuetz of the Brookings Institute. She’s the author of Fixer-Upper: How to Repair America’s Broken Housing Systems. The event is free but you’ll have to register at EventBrite. Charlottesville seeking firm to model Moores Creek watershedA changing climate has meant the likelihood of more flooding across the Commonwealth, and Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) has meant more funding to help with preparation. Charlottesville is currently seeking an engineering firm to update models from 2008 for how stormwater flows in the Moores Creek watershed.Back then, the city partnered with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to produce that model, as well as ones for the portions of the city in the Rivanna and Meadow Creek watersheds. Now Charlottesville will use $153,000 from the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Grant program to further study the Moores Creek watershed, which makes up a third of the city’s land along the southern border with Albemarle. “The stormwater management model will be a critical tool for planning and project implementation efforts administered under the umbrella of the City’s Water Resources Protection Program,” said Andrea Henry, the program’s administrator. “This is the first in what will hopefully be a series of models to support the development of stormwater management and flood resiliency plans for the City.”The more detailed information will help determine best locations for stormwater pipe upgrades, and to develop flood inundation maps for the various tributaries of Moores Creek including Lodge Creek, Rock Creek, Pollock’s Branch, and Quarry Creek. Goal 10 of the Community Facilities chapter of the Comprehensive Plan relates to stormwater conveyance infrastructure, with strategy 10.3 related to modernization efforts. Virginia joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in the summer of 2020, which means companies that generate electricity through fossil-fuel companies must pay to exceed caps on the amounts of carbon dioxide. In Virginia, more than half of the proceeds go to pay for flood preparedness programs. Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order soon after being inaugurated to withdraw Virginia from RGGI, but legislative approval is needed and so far efforts to withdraw have been blocked by the Senate, where Democrats have a 21 to 19 majority. So far, Virginia has received $227.6 million in proceeds from four auctions, including $85.6 million in December.Charlottesville Area Transit seeking input on future bus sheltersThe area’s primary fixed-route transit service is seeking your input into how their future bus shelters will look. “Charlottesville Area Transit (CAT) seeks to develop a bus shelter design that will serve as a unique and universal identifier of transit in the Greater Charlottesville Area,” reads an announcement for a public survey seeking input on three designs.All three come out of a charette held last August, and CAT’s architectural consultant wants more comments in order to come up with one single concept. Another round of presentations will be held when that’s ready for public review. City seeking applications for internships, close to hiring CAPE director Do you know someone younger who could use an opportunity to gain some real-world experience? The City of Charlottesville is accepting applications from college students to work as paid interns all across the municipal government. “This is developmental work designed to provide university students and recent graduates with meaningful entry-level professional work,” reads the press release for the opportunity. “The assignments require application of university-level knowledge typically gained in profession-specific curriculum typically found in local government.” The release goes on to state that interns will be closely supervised and will work on a specific project during their temporary employment. Departments seeking interns include the City Manager’s office, the Office of Communications, Neighborhood Development Services, and the Police Civilian Oversight Board. Applicants need to have completes sixty hours of coursework and to have a grade point average of 2.0. Anyone interested can apply here. Speaking of jobs, the city still has several top vacancies that are still being filled. Deputy City Manager Ashley Marshall have City Council an update on Monday, March 7. “The city is making some progress on some key hires,” Marshall said. “Interviews are underway for our director of communications and public engagement. And yes that title does sound a little different because we are going to emphasize public engagement within our communications’ professional team.”That matches the same job title as the equivalent job in Albemarle County. Marshall said the city is also reviewing resumes for the Director of Human Services and the Director of Informational Technology. The position of Human Resources Director is still being advertised. “We expect to move forward to interview phases on all three of those last director positions shortly,” Marshall said.  Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
March 8, 2022: Council directs staff to prepare plan for hybrid meetings; City leadership addresses business community at Chamber event

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 8, 2022 17:24


There are 298 days left in the year, but let’s pause for a moment to mark International Women’s Day and the spirit in which it was founded over a hundred years ago. This is Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast created two years ago in the spirit of bringing information to as many people as possible. I’m your host Sean Tubbs, approaching my fourth decade as a reporter filled with a spirit of public service. On today’s program:Charlottesville’s new leadership is introduced to local business leaders at the Chamber of Commerce’s State of the Community eventThe city hires the Timmons Group to implement software to improve the development review processCharlottesville City Council get an update on the pandemic, and directs staff to create a safety plan to guide the transition to in-person and hybrid meetingsToday’s first shout-out goes to a Livable Cville eventIn today’s first subscriber supported shout-out, Livable Cville wants you to know about an online presentation coming up on Wednesday, March 16. "Can Zoning Create a More Affordable Charlottesville?" That’s the question to be explored by Dr. Jenny Schuetz of the Brookings Institute. She’s the author of Fixer-Upper: How to Repair America’s Broken Housing Systems. The event is free but you’ll have to register at EventBrite. Blue Ridge Health District director briefs Council on pandemicThe director of the Blue Ridge Health District told Council last night that the region is experiencing a “strong downswing” in the number of COVID cases. “So, overall a downward trend but we are still seeing spikes occasionally,” said Dr. Denise Bonds.  (view her presentation)Today the seven-day average for new cases in Virginia is 1,177 and the percent positivity has declined to 5.9 percent. Since Dr. Bonds’ last appearance, the Centers for Disease Control have altered their guidance on the use of masks to slow the transmission of COVID. (CDC website)“The CDC has lowered it down to three levels, low, medium, and high, and you can see in Virginia right now, most of northern Virginia and the Tidewater / Eastern Shore area is actually moved into the low area, with most of the Southwest tail in the high area.”Charlottesville is also listed as high, so recommendations are to wear a mask indoors and stay updated on boosters, and to get tested if you have symptoms. “And I am really highly encouraging everyone If you have not gotten your booster to please do that,” Dr. Bonds said. “It’s really important to have that additional shot to have full immunity.” The community testing center at the Pantops Shopping Center will close on March 15, but Dr. Bonds said rapid tests can be picked up at the health department or at local pharmacies. The community vaccination center at Seminole Square Shopping Center will close on March 12. Visit the Blue Ridge Health District’s vaccine webpage to learn more about where you can get a shot or a booster. Council directs staff to plan for return to in-person and hybrid meetingsCouncil discussed a potential return to in-person meetings at the end of last night’s meeting. Dr. Bonds said she would like to see a hybrid-option for people to participate. (staff report)“Because it is still quite risky for some individuals who are immunocompromised, who can’t get vaccinated for whatever reason, or who have been vaccinated and are just not mounting a strong immune response, it’s really critical that those individuals still have they opportunity that they’ve had over the last two years with Zoom meetings to participate,” said Dr. Bonds. Dr. Bonds suggested that masks still be required for attendance, or to hold Council meetings in a larger space than the City Council Chambers. Council took about half an hour to discuss whether to extend a local ordinance to allow for the continuing operations of city government during the local declaration of emergency. That declaration expires on April 7 and Council will have to decide whether to renew. A continuity of government ordinance expires on March 18. “The reason it’s on your agenda tonight is because March 18 will happen before your second meeting in March,” said City Attorney Lisa Robertson. Robertson said staff wanted input on how to proceed with meetings. The continuity of government ordinance can still be in place even after the emergency declaration ends, allowing for electronic meetings to continue. One idea is for Council to convene and meet in person with people being able to view remotely. This would require creation of a safety plan and Robertson explained some of the questions that would need to be answered. “How that meeting would be managed in terms of COVID precautions, things like how many people would be in the room, would there be a mask requirement, how will compliance with the rules be monitored, what would the spacing be,” Robertson said. “All of those things that we haven’t really had the chance to nail down specifically.” Another issue is where boards and commissions would meet. Many of the meeting rooms in City Hall are too small to fit many people with spacing rules. That will also be factored into the safety plan. Interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers said staff is examining what it will take to make City Council Chambers work under the safety plan. “And there are some estimates that we are waiting to get back so I would say that probably in the next two weeks we should have the information that we need with respect to that,” Rogers said. Rogers said CitySpace is being considered as another place for meetings to occur as are school auditoriums. Another item under consideration is how Councilors could participate remotely. Council adopted the motion unanimously to extend the continuity of government with the addition of the need for a safety plan. “I would like to see us open as much as we reasonably can with reasonable safety, and this is going to sound utterly lawyerly, but with also reasonable safeguards available to people who have different medical needs.”See also: Albemarle Supervisors briefed on eventual end of the local COVID emergency, March 4, 2022Councilors address Russia’s war against Ukraine The invasion of Ukraine continues this week and City Councilors touched upon the crisis at their meeting last night. “I’ve had many constituents reach out to me to see what we could do, a statement or something,” said Vice Mayor Juandiego Wade. “I think what we can do is if you are the type to pray, please pray. I think we’re doing as a nation what we can at this point I know it’s an ongoing crisis.”More than two million people have fled Ukraine to escape Russian bombardment according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Mayor Lloyd Snook said it is likely some of that number will come to this community in the near future.“Charlottesville is a place where a lot of refugees come,” Snook said. “We’ve got the International Rescue Committee and a lot of other folks who know that Charlottesville is hospitable to refugees and immigrants and when the opportunity presents itself I know that Charlottesville and Charlottesvilians will be generous and welcoming.”Visit the IRC website at rescue.org to learn more about how you can contribute. I’ll have more from this City Council meeting in a future Charlottesville Community Engagement. Second shout-out goes to Mulch Madness! In today’s second subscriber-supported shout-out, are you ready for Mulch Madness? The Rivanna Solid Waste Authority has a free mulch giveaway beginning tomorrow through April 16. In between all the big games, the RSWA wants you to get your yard ready for spring. If you have a way to transport mulch, head on over to the Ivy Material Utilization Center between 7:30am and 4:00pm, Monday through Saturday, where you can pick up up to two tons free. Rivanna staff are available to help load, but ask that you bring a covering. Mulch is double ground and derived from vegetative materials brought to Ivy for disposal. That’s Mulch Madness at the Ivy Material Utilization Center. Visit rivanna.org to learn more!Chamber of Commerce explores the State of the Community: Charlottesville edition On February 18, the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce held its first ever State of the Community event with speakers from Albemarle County, Charlottesville, and the University of Virginia. Elizabeth Cromwell is the president and chief executive officer of the Chamber. “These institutional anchors are responsible economic development decisions that affect all of us in our businesses,” Cromwell said. Cromwell said the Chamber’s mission is to strengthen the business community, and the purpose of the event was to move forward on that pathway.“Our goal is to engage our business stakeholders with the institutions that have crucial oversight and the ability to leverage opportunities for regional economic prosperity,” Cromwell said. The event was also the first ever held in the auditorium at the new CODE building on the Downtown Mall. “It’s hard to believe that this space used to be an ice park just a few years ago,” said Chris Engel, the city’s director of economic development. “As an economic developer, I think about the built environment and changes to it and watching cities evolve and change all of the time. Going back a little further, this space was a parking lot in 1995. And then it served as a community ice park for more than 20 years. And then it has obviously transitioned again.”Engel said the city has changed a lot over the years as well, including a string of city managers in the past four years. Interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers represented city leadership at the event. “I have been in local government and the private sector over my career for more than 30 years,” Rogers said. “I have had the fortune of working for some very complex organization which means that I have been in the midst of dealing with some very complex and challenging problems in the public sector.” Rogers said he enjoys being part of the solutions of helping organizations in conflict through strategic planning as well analyzing the values to see if they are oriented toward success. “I look at things that are not doing well and try to figure out how we can do this better for the people that we’re supposed to do it for,” Rogers said. “And in the public sector, that’s the citizens of the community that you serve.” Rogers said there has been instability in the city’s bureaucracy because of the turnover at the top position, and one of his first goals is to help reverse the trend. He acknowledges that morale has been low.“The other priority is working with the staff to return to boring government,” Rogers said. “I think that no-drama government that’s focused on bottom-line problem solving is one that can deliver effective services to the citizens of this community.” There are currently two deputy city managers in Charlottesville, and Ashley Marshall has been the deputy for Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion since last May. She comes from a family whose members have served in local government. “Local government has the opportunity [and] it has the honor of making someone’s day better,” Marshall said. “We have the chance to dig in to our communities and to really focus on their needs, what we can help, what we can provide, who we can lift because all boats rise together.” Sam Sanders has been the Deputy City Manager for Operations since last July after working for a community revitalization nonprofit in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He called himself a disruptor. “I disrupt the status quo,” Sanders said. “It is not my friend and I have made it a mission to do my best to help people see that we don’t just have to do it that way if that way doesn’t get us to where we want to go.” Sanders said he believes it is possible to help Charlottesville overcome its problems and that can be done by making sure the basics of government are functioning. “We need to pick up the trash, we need to make sure the water flows, we need to make sure the buses are running, that we get snow off the ground, and that the basics of the community environment are adhered to and that the parks are clean, available, and accessible,” Sanders said. Sanders said the city also needs to ensure that it can respond when major projects are underway at the University of Virginia. That will take process reform in the Neighborhood Development Services Department. “And I want to make sure that we also are doing the same level of collaborative work for the everyday citizen that is trying to come in and make something happen,” Sanders said. I’ll have more from the State of the Community Event in a future installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Watch the event on the Chamber’s website at cvillechamber.org. Timmons Group hired to build software for city’s planning departmentThis segment was updated on March 16, 2022 with new information on the procurement contract The city of Charlottesville has hired a civil engineering firm to build a new software platform to help speed up the development process. The Timmons Group will be paid $902,337.50 over five years for the work, according to material obtained from the city’s procurement office. The city issued a request for proposals (RFP) in November 2020 seeking a firm to provide a GIS-Centric, cloud-based Enterprise Land Management software system. “The City realizes that part of the modernization effort of becoming a “Smart City” includes strategically aligning People, Process and Technology in order to manage work more efficiently and effectively,” reads the RFP. The software will be used by the Department of Neighborhood Development Services to replace programs from 2008 that track the permitting process. The RFP states that the older software lacks provisions for automated workflows, which creates “bottlenecks in the comprehensive Development Process” with a reliance on paper. “The lack of citizen self-service capabilities through the current system limits the local development community’s ability to engage remotely with the City by applying for permits electronically,” the RFP continues. “The City expects NDS to achieve substantial gains in productivity, accuracy, mobility, and capacity to make data-driven decisions through the implementation of the ELM software.” The hope is to have the software functional and live by May 2023. I know this might be “inside baseball” but I am very excited about the prospect of being able to view land use applications remotely, as we can already do with Albemarle County’s Community Development Department. So, I will be tracking this with great enthusiasm! Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
March 4, 2022: Major development proposed near junction of U.S. 29 and I-64 in Albemarle; Several projects in mix to alter 5th Street corridor

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 4, 2022 15:55


The name of today is also a command. March Forth! The world has changed a lot in the past several years, and it will change again as our future quickly becomes history. With so many potential choices and pathways, sometimes all you can do is march forth, and today is a good day to ponder what that all may mean. This is Charlottesville Community Engagement and I’m your host Sean Tubbs, fervently hoping that you will find your way. Sign up to get every edition in your inbox!On today’s program:Area transportation planners are submitting three projects to VDOT to improve the Fifth Street Corridor in both Albemarle County and CharlottesvilleRiverbend Development has filed plans for a mixed-use community near the intersection of U.S. 29 and Interstate 64Another update  on the waning of the omicron surgeAlbemarle County may soon return to in-person meetings Today’s first shout-out goes to Mulch MadnessIn today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out, are you ready for Mulch Madness? The Rivanna Solid Waste Authority has a free mulch giveaway beginning tomorrow through April 16. In between all the big games, the RSWA wants you to get your yard ready for spring. If you have a way to transport mulch, head on over to the Ivy Material Utilization Center between 7:30am and 4:00pm, Monday through Saturday, where you can pick up up to two tons free. Rivanna staff are available to help load, but ask that you bring a covering. Mulch is double ground and derived from vegetative materials brought to Ivy for disposal. That’s Mulch Madness at the Ivy Material Utilization Center. Visit rivanna.org to learn more.Pandemic update: Omicron continues slow declineThe Omicron surge of COVID-19 that began in mid-December continues to slowly recede. Today the Virginia Department of Health reports a seven-day percent positivity of 7.2 and the seven-average of new cases is 1,326. In the Blue Ridge Health District, there are 81 new cases reported today and the percent positivity is 7 percent. Dr. Costi Sifri is the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System and he said he expects the numbers to remain on a steady decline, but people should remain vigilant. “I think we can anticipate that in the spring and hopefully the summer, COVID is going to be much less of an issue for us on a day-to-day basis,” Dr. Sifri said. “But we should anticipate that it could come back.”Dr. Sifri said there are no new variants of concern on the horizon, but a substrain of omicron continues to spread. He said monitoring efforts must continue and also be strengthened. “The genome surveillance systems around the country and around the world have continued to improve,” Dr. Sifri said. “There needs to be continued investment in those to beef those up so that we can have better early warning signals for variants of concern.” This week a new law went into effect allowing parents and guardians let their children opt out of mask mandates in public schools. The Centers for Disease Control lists this region as having a high level of transmission. “It seems very prudent to me that students continue to mask indoors until those case counts come down to a low level,” Dr. Sifri said.Tonight, the UVA Medical Center’s South Tower will be illuminated in blue and yellow to support members of the community who are affected by the Putin administration’s invasion of Ukraine. That will continue on Saturday and Sunday night. Dr. Sifri called the invasion a humanitarian catastrophe that could be compounded by COVID. “I do think about the intersection between the pandemic and what is occurring with displaced peoples,” Dr. Sifri said. “Ukraine has a populace that is I think only 40 percent vaccinated and they are having to flee their country and their cities and their homes on buses and trains and we can anticipate will be living in challenging situations with multifamily settings and the opportunities in that setting for infectious disease like COVID are tremendous.”Dr. Sifri said the world’s response to COVID as well as other challenges speaks to the need to be prepared for crisis before it happens. Albemarle Supervisors briefed on eventual end of the local COVID emergencyAlbemarle County and Charlottesville remain underneath a local state of emergency, which has meant virtual meetings for the past two years. On Wednesday, the Board of Supervisors were briefed on the steps to move forward. “The local emergency has allowed the county a number of advantages in addressing timely issues related to mitigating the spread of the COVID virus during the emergency,” said Doug Walker, the deputy county executive. “We now believe that those advantages are no longer needed and we are in the progress of returning to a more normal operation.” The Board will be asked to vote on a resolution to end the emergency while also allowing the “continuity of government” ordinance to remain in place. That would allow for some meetings to remain virtual for a period of time. However, if they adopt the ordinance, the Board of Supervisors, Planning Commission, and the School Board would begin holding hybrid meetings beginning with the first week of April. Other groups such as the Economic Development Authority would begin hybrid meetings in June, and others would have up to the end of March 2023 to meet virtually. Lane Auditorium would be reconfigured to allow distanced seating on the left hand side of the room and normal seating on the right hand side. Total visitor capacity would be capped at 200. The ventilation system has been upgraded to refresh the air in the auditorium ten times an hour. The resolution will be voted on at the March 16 meeting. Rezoning sought for land near Virginia Eagle distribution facilityThe highway-like character of U.S. 29 in Albemarle County southwest of Charlottesville will further change in the near future now that a rezoning has been filed for around 63.5 acres around the Virginia Eagle distribution center. Riverbend Development is seeking a rezoning to the Neighborhood Model District to build several hundred apartment units. “This project will include a mix of residential and commercial units, as anticipated by the Comprehensive Plan for this location,” reads the narrative for the application. “Approximately 475 residential units are proposed, primarily multifamily.”Also proposed are a hotel, a congregate care facility, office buildings and retail. The Board of Supervisors adjusted the county’s growth area boundaries in September 2015 to add 51 acres as part of an incentive package to attract a brewery to locate on the site. That was a lower amount than had been requested, and only extended to land that already within the jurisdictional area for public water and sewer. (read the minutes from the September 23, 2015 meeting)“At 64.36 acres, the Sieg property is strategically positioned at the crossroads of Interstate 64 and Route 29 and within the growth area of Albemarle County,” the narrative continues. “This land is ideally situated for a new mixed-use community with a variety of housing options, office sites, aging in place and retail destinations.” The Comprehensive Plan designates the land as Regional Mixed-Use. Riverbend Development will pay to extend water and sewer to the properties. U.S. 29 is considered by the Virginia Department of Transportation to be a Corridor of Statewide Significance.A traffic light was installed in late 2020 on the southern side of the U.S. 29 and I-64 interchange as part of a Smart Scale funded effort to make the junction safer. That signal is about 1,400 feet away from Gold Eagle Drive, which would serve as one primary access point to the property with Shepards Hill Road serving as the second. The plans propose a “Green T” intersection which would halt southbound traffic on U.S. 29 at a second traffic light in the area. Second shout-out goes to a Livable Cville eventIn today’s second subscriber supported shout-out, Livable Cville wants you to know about an online presentation coming up on Wednesday, March 16. "Can Zoning Create a More Affordable Charlottesville?" That’s the question to be explored by Dr. Jenny Schuetz of the Brookings Institute. She’s the author of Fixer-Upper: How to Repair America’s Broken Housing Systems. The event is free but you’ll have to register at EventBrite. Review process continues for next round of Smart Scale candidate projects Efforts are underway to secure funding to transform the character of Fifth Street and Fifth Street Extended between Ridge Street and Ambrose Commons. There are at least three projects being considered for the next round of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Smart Scale process. “Smart Scale is the process that the state uses to prioritize and fund transportation projects,” said Sandy Shackelford, the director of planning and transportation for the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. The deadline for the fifth round is approaching later this spring. Each locality can submit up to four projects, and regional planning bodies also get four. “Projects are evaluated and given a benefit score based on how well the project meets needs in areas like safety, congestion relief, and economic development,” Shackleford said.Project pre-applications need to be submitted by March 31 with a final application is August 1. The results will be presented to the Commonwealth Transportation Board next January. Funding is limited. The TJPDC held a workshop on February 28 to present candidates to the public. (watch the workshop)Charlottesville will only submit one application this year. That will be for safety improvements on Fifth Street Extended that could be coordinated with a previous Smart Scale project. (read that application)“We do currently have a funded project at the intersection of Cherry [Avenue] and Elliott [Avenue] so we are looking to kind of connect to that already-funded project and continue south,” said Brennen Duncan, the city’s traffic engineer. How far south depends on how much funding would be available. Earlier this year, the City Council dropped the speed limit on 5th Street Extended to 40 miles per hour to try to slow down traffic after a series of fatalities in 2020. “We’re primarily focused on safety, congestion, pedestrian access, and bicycle access,” Duncan said. Duncan said public meetings will be held in April to shape this project and there is no current cost estimate. There are other previously awarded Smart Scale projects along the corridor. Further to the south, the Metropolitan Planning Organization will submit an application to make improvements for a four-tenths of a mile long stretch where Albemarle County is on one side of the road and Charlottesville is on the other. (read details)“The Fifth Street improvements include adding a left turn lane south into Fifth Street Station Parkway, median adjustments into the Willoughby Shopping Center across from the Willoughby residential neighborhood, construction of a left-turn midblock into Willoughby Shopping Center, [and] traveling north, restricting south turn lane into the Willoughby Shopping Center,” said Ryan Mickles, a regional planner with the Thomas Jefferson Planning District. A shared-use path is also suggested in this project as are other elements. There’s no cost estimate yet for this project. Another project would see bicycle and pedestrian improvements between Ambrose Commons to Stagecoach Road south of I-64. These would provide a way to get to Southwood on foot or bike while passing by the Albemarle Business Campus and Albemarle County’s southern office building. (read those details)“We’re going to basically install a shared-use path on the west side of the road offset by a six foot buffer strip,” said Chuck Proctor, a transportation planner with VDOT. In the fourth Smart Scale round, Albemarle County won $5.263 million in funding for a roundabout at the intersection of Old Lynchburg Road and Fifth Street. The Board of Supervisors committed a $2 million match to the project to help improve its ranking under Smart Scale. I will have more from this workshop in future installments of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
February 28, 2022: Nonprofit group wraps unfinished Dewberry skeleton; Council upholds BAR review of apartment building

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 28, 2022 16:39


It’s the final day of February, but 2022 still has a long way to go. In fact, after today there is 83.8 percent left before it’s time to change the yearly calendar once more. Tomorrow may be heralded by a lion, so be on the listen-out for a roar. But for now, it’s time for another Charlottesville Community Engagement, and I’m your host, Sean Tubbs.This newsletter and podcast is free to sign up for, but your paid subscription ensures this one-person operation will continue well into the future! On today’s program: A new group called Friends of Cville Downtown launches by wrapping the Dewberry structure with a muralCity Council upholds a decision made by the Board of Architectural Review One Charlottesville tax relief deadline is approaching, and the city is looking for more people to serve on advisory panelsA University of Virginia epidemiologist weighs in on what’s next with COVID First shout-out goes to a Livable Cville eventIn today’s first subscriber supported shout-out, Livable Cville wants you to know about an online presentation coming up on Wednesday, March 16 at 5:30 p.m. "Can Zoning Create a More Affordable Charlottesville?" That’s the question to be explored by Dr. Jenny Schuetz of the Brookings Institute. She’s the author of Fixer-Upper: How to Repair America’s Broken Housing Systems. The event is free but you’ll have to register at EventBrite. Pandemic update to begin the weekToday the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day percent positivity is now at 7.3 percent, another indicator the Omicron surge is continuing to wane. The seven-day average for new cases is now at 1,621 with 764 new cases reported today. However, the death count from the Omicron variant continues to grow with a cumulative total of 18,771. Ten days ago, that number stood at 18,016 but the VDH always stresses that it takes a while for COVID deaths to be officially recorded. The Blue Ridge Health District now has a total of 419 deaths from COVID, and that number was at 386 ten day ago. There are 26 new cases in the BRHD today. What’s next? Dr. Costi Sifri is director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System. He said a majority of people in the Charlottesville area are either fully vaccinated or have had COVID. “I think in the near term we can and are expecting that we will see a continued diminution of cases going forward and I think that’s likely to occur not only over the next couple of weeks but perhaps and hopefully the next couple of months,” Dr. Sifri said. However, Dr. Sifri said COVID can be unpredictable and there are many parts of the world have low vaccination rates, allowing further mutations to occur. He said the current question is how long immunity through vaccination or previous infections will last.“Will there be future differences with the virus?” Dr. Sifri asked. “Does it evolve or change to overcome some of these protective immune responses that we’ve developed? And how robust or how prolonged are those immune responses?”Tomorrow is also the day that a new law goes into effect allowing parents to opt out of school mask mandates. This morning the UVA Health System announced that the drop in case counts will result in additional visitation at the UVA Medical System. To see the details of what has changed, visit the UVA Health System.Tax relief deadline is tomorrow Tomorrow is the last day for elderly and disabled property owners in Charlottesville to apply for tax relief. “If you own and are living in your home in the city of Charlottesville, if you are over 65 years of age, or are permanently disabled, and if you have a yearly household income of $55,000 or less, and a net worth of $125,000 or less excluding the value of the home, you may qualify for tax relief under this program,” said City Councilor Sena Magill. Visit the Commissioner of Revenue’s website for more information and to find the application. Residential property is up 11.69 percent in 2022. In addition, Council has advertised an increase of ten cents on the property tax rate. City Council will be presented with the budget on March 7. Want to be on a Charlottesville board or commission?With spring here perhaps you’re looking for a fresh hobby. Why not consider being on a Charlottesville Board of Commission? There are several vacancies and Council is taking applications through March 12. Charlottesville Economic Development Authority - one openingCitizens Transportation Advisory Committee - two openingsCommunity Policy and Management Team - two openingsHistoric Resources Committee - four openingsHousing Advisory Committee - one vacancy (specifically for a member of a neighborhood association)Measurements and Solutions Group - eight openingsPersonnel Appeals Board - one opening (for a non-city employee) Region Ten Community Services Board - one openingSocial Services Advisory Board - two openingsTree Commission - four openingsVendor Appeals Board - one openingYouth Council You can apply here. Council will next make appointments on March 21. Council upholds BAR approval at 605 Preston Place The Board of Architectural Review approved what’s called a “certificate of appropriateness” to allow for an apartment complex to be built in the side yard of a 19th century structure. Council was asked to hear the appeal from neighbors who argue the city’s architectural design control (ADC) rules were not followed. At the beginning of the appeal, city historic preservation planner Jeff Werner described the project.“The project is a proposed three-story apartment building,” Werner said. “It’s located on a parcel at 605 Preston Place. The property is within the Rugby-Road-University Circle-Venable ADC district. Also on this property is Wyndhurst which is a home constructed in 1857 and it was formerly the manor house for a 102-acre farm.” The appellants sent in a 19-point letter to make their arguments. Point number two argued that the footprint and massing of the new building would not be not in harmony with the district. Werner disagreed.“To be clear, the design guidelines are intended to be flexible and flexible enough to both respect historic properties and to embrace future new design,” Werner said. Werner recommended the Council uphold the BAR’s determination. Larry Getty represented the appellants. “We actually feel the Board of Architectural Review did not really explain their decisions as to why the number of elements that Jeff Werner discussed actually do satisfy the guidelines,” Getty said. “It is totally out of place with the buildings that are on three sides of the site.” Breck Gastinger is the chair of the BAR and before he spoke he told Council a little about what the panel does. “We are made up of nine citizens of Charlottesville,” Gastinger said. “All of us are volunteers and we are appointed by City Council. We work on your behalf for the city. We’re made up of design professionals, business owners, residents of properties within historic districts.”Gastinger said BAR members must follow the guidelines as they make their determinations. He said the city’s architectural story is always changing. “Our guidelines for the BAR do not mandate particular styles of architecture or prevent new buildings from being added within historic districts,” Gastinger said. “As Charlottesville continues to grow and evolve as a city, we want to make sure it’s going to be done in a compatible way.”Gastinger said the BAR helped inform the project through multiple hearings and their approval was a unanimous 8-0 vote. Mayor Lloyd Snook said he sided with the BAR.“I was struck by the fact that some architects for whom I have a great deal respect were looking at it quite critically and praising what was being done and I would have to say that if those architects are saying good things about it, that’s a very strong recommendation for me,” Snook said. The vote to uphold the BAR was unanimous. Patreon-fueled shout-out to LEAPWhen you think of romance, you might not immediately think of energy efficiency - but the folks at LEAP think keeping your family comfortable at home is a great way to show you care during the month of love. Your local energy nonprofit wants to make sure you are getting the most out of your home all year round, and LEAP offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If someone in your household is age 60 or older, or you have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Friends of Cville Downtown launches with unveiling of mural on Dewberry building It was a warm morning for this last day of February and several dozen people gathered in Central Place outside the Dewberry Hotel, an unfinished structure for which construction stopped over 13 years ago when the previous owner ran out of money. A group called Friends of Cville Downtown has raised funds to wrap the skeleton of the unfinished hotel with artwork. The official reveal was a chance to also launch the organization. Board member Michael Caplin called a “placemaking partnership” to increase economic development downtown in an inclusive manner. “Friends of Cville Downtown is raising private money to fund the costs of a campaign for Main, an array of projects that can invigorate the downtown environment with lights, art, paintings, seating, events, banners, sanitation, safety add-ons, and a rich array of events with something for everybody,” Caplin said. “We will accomplish this by working together with one another and with city government in the spirit of goodwill and common purpose.”The first project is the Music Box on Main, which is the name for the temporary installation by the artist Eric Waugh which covers all nine stories of the unfinished Dewberry. “Eric’s paintings, Jazzmaker 1 and Jazzmaker 2, were enlarged and printed on a 13-foot-wide vinyl mesh banner wrap,” Caplin said. “Ten giant rolls of wrap were carried to the roof.”Crews rappelled from the top affixed the wrap to the building, and the goal is to cover up the skeleton for at least the next year. Caplin said the work has been done in conjunction with the Dewberry Group, who even donated $10,000 to the project. “I hope you will say to yourself, ‘what wonderful thing shall we do next, and how shall we get it done together?’” Caplin said. Mayor Lloyd Snook said he welcomed the effort. “We lost sight of the fact that so many of the businesses on the Downtown Mall are operating on very thin margins and the last few years have been very tough for them,” Snook said. “To have people who have the ability to step up to make significant contributions to be able to do the kinds of things the Friends of Cville Downtown are talking about doing is really exciting. It’s exciting for the city government to know that there are going to be people out there who are able to help and willing to help.”Ludwig Kuttner is the vice chair of the Friends of Cville Downtown board. He said he wanted to take action to cover up visual blight and to restore what he described as “positive energy” to the mall.“I think people have complained about it now for over 12 yeers, and it’s ugly and there have been complaints and we just decided let’s do something about it,” Kuttner said. Caplin came up with the idea for the wrap, which includes a wrap on 2nd Street SE. He saw the black façade of the old Boxer Learning building as being like the black keys of a piano.“So I envisioned the windows white and then a swirly jazz thing at the top and I had a friend of mine photoshop it for me to see what it would like when it was done and we sent that image to the Dewberrys and said ‘would you give us permission to do this to your building?’ and Jaimie Dewberry called up and said ‘this is genius, go right ahead!’” As for the future of the Dewberry, Caplin said he was not privy to any information but that they had full permission to apply the temporary measure. “It’s now a positive element of our skyline instead of a ‘what’s happening’ element of our skyline,” Caplin said. Stay tuned for more information as it develops. What do you think? Leave a note in the comments. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
February 22, 2022: Albemarle Supervisors consider affordable housing incentives; A round-up of forthcoming affordable projects in Charlottesville

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 22, 2022 19:30


Two is the only even prime number, an odd fact to point out on this February 22, 2022. We are twenty days past the predictions of large rodents and less than a month away from the spring equinox. Time does move fast, but we’re still only 14.5 percent of the way through the year. Oh, the things you’ll learn in every installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement! I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. On today’s program:Albemarle County Supervisors discuss incentives for developers to build housing units below market rateMidway Manor may have a new future in which part of the downtown Charlottesville property will remain age and income restrictedA round-up of planning for other affordable housing projects in Charlottesville Albemarle County wants state regulators to require CenturyLink’s successor to maintain old copper telephone linesAnd Charlottesville wants the public to get a zoning 101Patreon-fueled shout-out to LEAPWhen you think of romance, you might not immediately think of energy efficiency - but the folks at LEAP think keeping your family comfortable at home is a great way to show you care during the month of love. Your local energy nonprofit wants to make sure you are getting the most out of your home all year round, and LEAP offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If someone in your household is age 60 or older, or you have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Pandemic update: Percent positivity below ten percentThe waning of the omicron surge of COVID-19 continues as the Virginia Department of Health reports a seven-day average of positive PCR tests of 9.6 percent, below ten percent for the first time since December 21. Case loads are still high, with a seven-day average of 2,423 new cases a day. Today the Blue Ridge Health District reports another 168 new cases. Deaths associated with the omicron surge continue to be recorded. As of today there have been 401 total COVID deaths in the Blue Ridge Health District and 18,230 statewide over the past 23 months. Albemarle County offers comments on transfer of CenturyLink assets to LumenThis week, the State Corporation Commission is holding two meetings on a petition from Lumen Technologies to take over control of CenturyLink. Among the public comments submitted so far is the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors who sent a letter on February 10 summarizing concerns they made to Lumen officials at a January 12 meeting. As part of the deal, the new company would acquire copper-based assets and the county wants to make sure that service continues. (hearing webpage)“Many of our vulnerable communities live in the rural areas of our county, where topography and distance often preclude cellular coverage,” the letter reads. “For these residents, this copper-plant is a vital lifeline for accessing 911 service, particularly during and after severe weather events.” The letter also includes dozens of complaints about CenturyLink service for “terrible and ineffective customer service” and for a lack of maintenance of older equipment. (letter and complaints) (second set of complaints)For anyone interested in learning more, there is a whole repository of documents available for public review, including Lumen’s petition to the SCC. Midway Manor subject of new affordable housing developmentThe Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority will hold a public hearing next Monday on the issuance of up to $23 million in bonds that would be used by a California-based company to redevelop Midway Manor. In January, the property sold for $16.5 million, more than double its 2022 assessment of $7.5 million. According to a legal notice published in the Daily Progress, the new company has requested the CRHA issue up the exempt facility bonds “to assist the Applicant in financing or refinancing a portion of the costs of acquiring, constructing, renovating, rehabilitating and equipping an age restricted affordable housing development to be known as Midway Manor Apartments, to consist of 94 one-bedroom units and 4 two-bedroom units.”The notice states in capital letters that taxpayer funds will not be sought to pay back any of the debt that Standard Midway Manor Venture LP will incur. To learn more about exempt facility bonds, visit the Legal Information Institute at the Cornell Law School. Since February 1, Midway Manor is now under management by the Franklin Johnston Group. Financing of the houses is provided by the U.S. Department of Housing through the Section 8 program, which bases rents on the income of tenants. In an email this morning, CRHA Executive Director John Sales said the agency’s only role will be to issue the bonds. Low-Income Housing Tax Credit applications underwayWe are in the season when providers of affordable housing are preparing applications for Low Income Housing Tax Credits in advance of a March deadline. Summaries have been sent to the agency formerly known as the Virginia Housing Development Authority and that’s required notifications to localities. (read all of the summaries)Piedmont Housing Alliance is seeking credits for 30 rental units at the Monticello Area Community Action Agency property on Park Street. These will be four one bedroom units, 22 two bedroom units, and four three bedroom units. The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority seeks credits from the housing authority pool for 60 units for Phase 1A of the Sixth Street redevelopment with half of them being one bedroom and the other half being two bedroom units. This is separate from Phase 1 of the Sixth Street redevelopment, for which CRHA is seeking credits from the housing authority pool for 44 units with eight of them one bedroom, 20 two bedroom units, and 16 three bedroom units. CRHA is also seeking credits for 113 units in the second phase of redevelopment of South First Street. These would replace existing units and would consist of 19 one bedroom units, 38 two bedroom units, 26 three bedroom units, 15 four bedroom units, and 15 with more than four bedrooms. Last week, the company that is constructing the development of Friendship Court issued a press release announcing the groundbreaking from January. The firm Harkins is based in Columbia, Maryland. “Friendship Court’s redevelopment will be the largest construction of low-income housing for the area in over 20 years,” reads the release. “A multi-phased project, Phase 1 will consist of 106 units with buildings 1 and 2 totaling 35 stacked townhome-style units, while building 3 will include a one-level structured parking garage and three levels as a wood-framed, center corridor apartment building.” The project is being built to Passive House standards and will be Harkins’ third such project. Charlottesville releases Zoning 101 presentationThe next new information in Charlottesville’s rewrite of the zoning code won’t be available until mid-April when staff and Rhodeside & Harwell will publish a document with an inventory of the existing housing stock versus what could be built under the new future Land Use Map. This will take the form of a Diagnosis report and an Approach report. In the meantime, the city and the Cville Plans Together team has published a new page to provide an education on what the zoning process is all about. “Today’s zoning also has a number of flaws and barriers to development previously identified by City planning staff, elected and appointed officials, and others,” reads the Cville Plans Together website. “This process is an opportunity to cure these flaws and remove the barriers to the kind of development that is described in the updated Comprehensive Plan.” In January, a group of anonymous Charlottesville property owners filed suit in Charlottesville Circuit Court seeking to overturn the validity of the Comprehensive Plan. Read more in my January 12, 2022 story on that lawsuit. Shout-out to the Charlottesville Jazz Society In today’s second subscriber-supported public service announcement: The Charlottesville Jazz Society at cvillejazz.org is dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and perpetuation of all that  jazz, and this Sunday the Society is sponsoring the return of Jane Bunnett and her all-female band from Cuba, Maqueque. A concert will be held at 7 p.m. at Unity of Charlottesville where Maqueque will play music from their latest release On Firm Ground/Tierra Firme. Get tickets online with discounts for students or members of the Charlottesville Jazz Society.Albemarle Supervisors discuss incentive package for housing Last July, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors adopted a housing plan that seeks to increase the number of units guaranteed to be rented or sold below the market rate. Housing Albemarle was adopted without a system of incentives to developers to keep those prices lower than they otherwise would be. That came back to the Board on February 16. Albemarle Housing Coordinator Stacy Pethia has suggested creation of an overlay district in the zoning code that would allow for reduced fees and other waivers in exchange for creating lower-priced units. “We did engage with developers and we had four meetings with developers between June and October of last year,” Pethia said. “During the first two meetings, staff listened to developer concerns and discussed housing policy goals. Based on that feedback collected during those meetings and research into incentive programs implemented in localities within Virginia and across the country, staff developed a list of potential incentives that could be in a package.”The overlay would be restricted to Albemarle’s development areas and would be optional, meaning developers would not have to participate. If they did, there would be the possibility of many ways their bottom line could be assisted. “They would offer a bonus density, reduction in building permit fees, and flexibility in design and parking standards,” Pethia said. The overlay would also allow developers to bypass the zoning process in some places if they build to the maximum density allowed in the Comprehensive Plan. At a minimum, twenty percent of units would need to be kept below market rate at levels identified in Housing Albemarle. “And the number of affordable units to be required would be calculated prior to applying the density bonus,” Pethia said. “This would provide developers with additional market rate units to help offset the cost of making the affordable units available. The incentive plan will also address a gap in Albemarle’s current policy by creating a waiting list of people who will qualify for below-market opportunities based on their income. “It’s really difficult to market the affordable units to income-qualified households and that’s really an important issue,” Pethia said. “It has meant that many of our for-sale units in particular have turned market-rate without being purchased by income-qualified households.” In public comments before the discussion, Neil Williamson of the Free Enterprise Forum wanted waivers for affordable housing projects to be mandatory rather than at the discretion of staff. “The reality is that Albemarle’s fast diminishing development areas where the easiest parcels to develop have been developed,” Williamson said. “That means parcels left to develop will likely require a special use permit. While the policy anticipates this reality, the opportunity for staff denial is too great.” Williamson also said he wanted more robust incentives such as expansion of the development area as well as the county paying the hook-up fees to the Albemarle County Service Authority for water and sewer. “Considering the importance of affordable housing to the community, certainly providing $20,000 per affordable unit is not too much to ask,” Williamson said. That would be expensive to the county. Pethia said the recent approval of Premier Circle, Rio Point, and RST Residences created 414 below-market units. If the developers were to be 100 percent reimbursed, that would cost the county $5.6 million. Supervisors were asked if they supported the idea of an overlay. Supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley said she did, but not want to expand past a certain area.“I for one do not want to see development go into the rural areas and to keep development in the development area,” LaPisto-Kirtley said. Supervisor Chair Donna Price (Scottsville District) said there will come a point in time when that boundary will be adjusted, but not yet.“We’re already at the point where we have to fill in more, build up higher, or we have to expand the development areas so it’s important for community members to understand we have to look at ways to try and achieve all of our objectives which includes as long as possible limiting the amount of the development area,” Price said. Price was also skeptical of reducing parking standards at this time. “We do not have a comprehensive transportation system that can get everyone throughout the community wherever they need to do,” Price said. Supervisors approved the Rio Point on 27 acres in late December which will see a total of 328 units in an apartment complex on land that is currently undeveloped. That’s in the Rio District which is represented by Supervisor Ned Gallaway. He had looked at the draft calculation for bonus density. “So Rio Point, if I’m understanding the answer, would have allowed 1,300 units the way the math was done?” Gallaway asked Pethia.“That is correct,” Pethia said. That would be based on provisions in other programs that grant a 45 percent increase in density based on the gross density. The actual calculations will change as the incentive package is further tweaked.Gallaway suggested having the overlay apply only in certain parts of the county, such as those already identified in small area plans such as the Rio Road plan.  However, he added he is not opposed to any ideas at this point in the development of the incentives. Supervisor Jim Andrews (Samuel Miller District) said he wanted staff to take a deeper look into the results that have happened in other communities that have created developer incentives. “I would be really interested in hearing more about looking not only at what they’re doing but how successful they are at what they’re doing,” Andrews said. “Loudoun County’s proposals for example, their program I guess has been in place long enough to have a little bit of history. It looks to me like it’s having some success. Those are the ones we want to emulate if we can, if they work for our circumstances.”Supervisor Ann Mallek (White Hall) said she needed more information and for detail. “I am very concerned about an overlay that applies to every piece of direct because there is a great difference between the capability of one lot versus another to actually accomplish something and have a product where people would want to live,” Mallek said. Staff will return to the board with more information at a later date but Supervisor Gallaway pointed out that the package’s adoption will take until after the one year anniversary of the adopting of Housing Albemarle. General Assembly updateWith just over three weeks to go, action is moving fast in the General Assembly, with bills that passed in one house with a close partisan vote now meeting their fate in committee meetings. These include:The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee  killed a bill yesterday to cap the minimum wage at $11 an hour. The vote was 11 to 4. (HB296)That committee also defeated a bill to not move forward with subsequent increases mandated by a previous General Assembly. That vote was 12 to 3. (HB320)A bill to allow employers to pay less than the minimum wage if they have fewer than ten employees was also defeated 12 to 3. (HB1040)Bills to restrict collective bargaining by public employees were also defeated. (HB336) (HB337) (HB341) (HB883)The Senate Committee on Education and Health ended consideration of a bill that would made it easier for School Boards to dismiss new teachers by extending probationary periods. (HB9)The Senate Judiciary Committee defeated a bill that would have reduced penalties for violating the state’s concealed weapon laws on a 10 to 5 vote. (HB11)On a 8 to 7 vote, the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee ended consideration of a bill that would have required the parole board to review the transcript of the trial for each incarcerated person up for parole. (HB435)Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
February 19, 2022: Governor Youngkin wants to pay back Virginians $4.5 billion in "over taxation"

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 19, 2022 17:23


We have already been through seven Saturdays in 2022, and this is the eighth. There are 45 left until 2023, but so much more has to happen before we get there. For now, it’s perhaps best to take a breath, take a look at the horizon, and figure out ways to make whatever time we have count. Charlottesville Community Engagement appears to be obsessed with counting, and determined to make sense of as many of the variables as possible. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. On today’s program:Governor Youngkin wants to return $4.5 billion to Virginia taxpayersThe omicron chapter of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wane as temperatures warm and the days get longerIf you want to report some crimes to Charlottesville police, you’ll have to do it onlineNelson County’s administrator is set to retire after 24 years in the position A quick look at the General Assembly First shout-out goes to Camp AlbemarleToday’s first subscriber-supported public service announcement goes out to Camp Albemarle, which has for sixty years been a “wholesome rural, rustic and restful site for youth activities, church groups, civic events and occasional private programs.”Located on 14 acres on the banks of the Moorman’s River near Free Union, Camp Albemarle continues as a legacy of being a Civilian Conservation Corps project that sought to promote the importance of rural activities. Camp Albemarle seeks support for a plan to winterize the Hamner Lodge, a structure built in 1941 by the CCC and used by every 4th and 5th grade student in Charlottesville and Albemarle for the study of ecology for over 20 years. If this campaign is successful, Camp Albemarle could operate year-round. Consider your support by visiting http://campalbemarleva.org/donate.Pandemic update: Omicron cases continues to recedeA new approach to the public health response to the pandemic is now with us in Virginia, as a new administration continues to undo the previous one had taken to take public steps to try to stop the spread of COVID-19.  On Friday, the waning of the omicron surge is reflected in the latest snapshot of numbers. The seven-day average was 2,846 a day on Friday, down from a high of 26,175 on January 8. As of today, Virginia hospitals report 1,334, down from a high of 3,948 on January 18.  Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia, said omicron is the dominant strain at the moment. “The majority of people have some level of immunity to it,” Dr. Sifri said. “We can anticipate that we should continue to see this downward trend of cases. The open questions after this are: How long is that immunity? How robust is it? Is there a difference in it if you’ve been infected with omicron or if you maybe have had omicron infection and have been vaccinated? And finally, what other variants may read their heads?”Another question is if there will need to be a booster for omicron. A lot of it depends on how long immunity will last. “And that’s going to be not clear and there may be some differences depending on different populations,” Dr. Sifri said. “If the at-risk factor is for severe infections, maybe that is going to be different if you don’t have those risk factors.” On March 1, new legislation goes into effect that will allow parents of public school students to opt out of mask mandates. Dr. Sifri said as omicron continues to wane, there are multiple mitigation measures such as vaccination. “I think it really is important to remember that the virus has humbled us along the way but we also understand that two years into this pandemic there is probably a right-sizing that needs to occur as we combat the challenges of this virus,” Dr. Sifri said. Dr. Sifri acknowledged that vaccination is still not available for people under the age of 5 and the immunocompromised are also more at risk. On Wednesday, the Virginia Safety and Health Codes Board voted 7 to 3 to rescind workplace safety rules adopted in July 2020 to protect employees. That according to a report from Bloomberg Law. Governor Youngkin issued an executive order on January 15 directing the board to study the rules with an eye toward removing them. Read through the agenda to get a deeper sense of what was discussed. (meeting page)The death toll from that surge has been slowly increasing. Fatalities from COVID often take some time to be fully recorded. On Friday, the Virginia Department of Health reports there have been 18,016 deaths in Virginia over the past 23 months. On January 18, that number was at 15,822. In the Blue Ridge Health District, the death toll stands at 386 for its six localities. When the second anniversary of the pandemic arrives, I’ll still be counting out the numbers. Youngkin wants to return tax money to VirginiansGovernor Glenn Youngkin has sent a letter to the chairs of the General Assembly’s money committees that signals another different approach to government. “The bottom line is taxes paid to the government are soaring and the revised revenue forecasts estimates the Commonwealth will collect $1.25 billion more in the current fiscal year,” Youngkin wrote to Delegate Barry Knight and Senator Janet Howell. Knight chairs the House Appropriations Committee and Howell chairs the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee. Youngkin said that is on top of the $3.3 billion that was added to the state’s revenue forecast in December under former Governor Ralph Northam. An agreement on the budget is needed by March 12, and Youngkin wants the General Assembly to “return” $4.5 billion to taxpayers. “The stunning amount of money being collected from taxpayers is the direct result of over taxation,” Youngkin wrote.  In all, the economic forecast states that there is around $13.4 billion in unanticipated revenue, and Youngkin said that would still allow $9 billion to “invest in schools, teachers, law enforcement, behavioral health” and other priorities. Youngkin’s letter also casts doubt on the actual health of the economy and states that these revenue increases should not be seen in a positive light. He made several claims to back this point including:Virginia has seen a net out-migration of 100,000 over the past eight years, citing the U.S. Census Bureau’s State to State Migration FlowsVirginia has lost 74,000 jobs over the past five years, citing data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis but no specific source. “Virginia is 42nd in the country when it comes to the recovery” but the claim does not link to a specific source. “We have a labor shortage due to lack of population growth and too many people sitting on the sideline while there are 300,000 job openings, nearly 100,000 more than when we entered the pandemic,” citing the November 2021 Virginia Job Openings and Labor Turnover report produced by the Virginia Employment Commission. “Virginia is 30th in cost of living overall,” according to the 2021 Missouri Economic Research and Information Center’s Cost of Living Data SeriesThere are a lot of statistics that can be used to describe the economy and the people who live and work in a civilization. Virginia had a 2.9 percent increase in gross domestic product (GDP) between the second and third quarter of 2021, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The nationwide average was 2.3 percent and Virginia outperformed North Carolina, Kentucky, and South Carolina. Nelson County administrator stepping down Nelson County is now looking for people to run two of its top positions. The county is already looking for a new School Superintendent, but there’s vacancy at the top of the general government. County Administrator Stephen Carter will retire on July 31 after 24 years in the position. During that time, two elementary schools and a middle school were built, and the high school on U.S. 29 was renovated. According to a press release, other achievements include construction of the Piney River Water and Sewer project, construction of the Blue Ridge Railway Trail, and establishment of the universal broadband commitment and accompanying involvement in the Regional Internet Service Expansion (RISE) project. In addition, since 1998 the county has begun paying for some emergency rescue personnel to supplement volunteers, a business park was established in Colleen, and Nelson became the first rural tourism program in the Commonwealth to be accredited by the Virginia Tourism Corporation. Charlottesville Police Department to adjust service callsStaffing shortages in the Charlottesville Police Department have led to a decision to change responses to some service calls. According to a release sent out yesterday, people will need to fill out an online form for several non-emergency requests including annoying phone calls, littering, lost property, suspicious activity, and vandalism. Some forms of larceny and fraud will also need to be reported online rather than through a phone call. “Officers will continue to respond to emergency calls and crimes in progress,” reads the release. “As it relates specifically to past larcenies, officers will still respond in person to larcenies of firearms and vehicles.” The release states the department is down 24 percent in personnel. “Shift supervisors are making every effort to manage the resources available and prioritize calls for service based on the severity of the incident and impact on the community,” the release continues. Meanwhile, officers in the department do continue to make arrests. A review of open data in the past week shows arrests for violation of an emergency protective order, a domestic assault, credit card larceny, burglary, contempt of court, and a fourth incident of a specific individual driving while intoxicated. Shout-out to the National Sporting Library and MuseumIn today’s subscriber-fueled shout-out, if you’re interested in learning more about the birds around us, the National Sporting Library and Museum has a virtual event for you coming up on February 24. Jennifer Ackerman, the author of the Genius of Birds, will explore the brilliance of birds and delve into the mysteries of the avian brain. Ackerman as she shares her global adventures into the genius of birds. Learn how birds make and use tools, teach each other skills, count, navigate, create art, perform astonishing feats of memory, communicate, and even pass along cultural traditions.  The author will be joined by two top officials from the Wildlife Center of Virginia, an organization that has helped nearly 90,000 wild animals from every corner of Virginia. Center President Ed Clark and Senior Vice President Amanda Nicholson will bring along Ambassador Animals. The program is free and available via Zoom or Facebook like. Drop a line to info@nationalsporting.org for a link, or visit the National Sporting Library and Museum on Facebook. General Assembly check-inThere is less than a month to go before the close of the 2022 General Assembly. Since my last quick check-in, several more bills that passed the House of Delegates have passed the Senate, and Governor Youngkin has signed one additional piece of legislation. Bills that will go to Youngkin’s desk include:HB165 would allow issuance of over $100 million in bonds for “revenue-producing capital projects” at Virginia Tech and James Madison University. Localities would be able to convey real estate with outstanding debts and liens to a land bank under HB298. Currently that land must go to a public auction. HB971 would bring Virginia’s taxation system into conformity with the Internal Revenue Service. Governor Youngkin has signed a bill (HB828) that expands eligibility for a program that helps subsidize producers of dairy products. Several bills have passed the House of Delegates and await action in the Senate.A bill preventing public school teachers from teaching “divisive concepts” (HB787) passed the house on a 50 to 49 vote. It will now go before the Senate Committee on Education and Health. A bill that would prohibit drop-off boxes for absentee ballots passed the House on a 52 to 47 vote and will now go before the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee. (HB34)A bill to reduce the window for voting absentee in person passed the House on a 52 to 48 vote and is also before that Senate committee. (HB39)A bill to get a patient’s written consent before an abortion passed the House 52 to 48 and is before Senate Committee on Education and Health. (HB212)A bill to allow religious exemptions to vaccination mandates passed 52 to 45. (HB306)A bill to exempt religious institutions from state declarations of emergency passed 51 to 46 and will go before the Senate General Laws and Technology committee. (HB775)A bill to alter the rules for collective bargaining for public employees passed 53 to 47. (HB336)A bill to allow public colleges and universities to create lab schools passed 52 to 48. (HB346)A bill to exempt businesses under ten employees from Virginia’s minimum wage requirements passed 54 to 46 and will go to the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee. (HB1040)A bill that would prohibit public schools from denying participation in extracurricular activities due to nonpayment of school meals passed 75 to 25. (HB583)A bill to exempt food for human consumption and personal hygiene from sales tax passed the House on 80 to 20 vote. That now goes to the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee. (HB90)A bill that would create a program to educate hotel operators and staff on anti-human trafficking measures passed unanimously. (HB258)Bills from the Senate in the next edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
February 14, 2022: A General Assembly update on the last day before Crossover; Council uses CDBG funds for fire-prevention measures

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2022 19:30


There is no holiday today, at least not officially. For the most part, there’s nothing special about today at all, unless you have a lot of love… for local and regional government! If so, this and every other installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement will take aim at your heart, mind, or wherever in your metaphorical sense of self where new information is supposed to go. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs, trying to look whatever the opposite of cherubic is. On today’s program:Governor Glenn Youngkin issues a PSA asking people to get vaccinated but stops well short of a mandateCharlottesville City Council transfers some federal money for a sidewalk to fire prevention measuresA General Assembly wrap-up before Crossover DayA survey is now available seeking input on two options for a pedestrian bridge across the Rivanna River A very brief update on Charlottesville’s zoning updateShout-out to Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards In today’s subscriber-supported Public Service Announcement, the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards continues to offer classes winter and spring to increase your awareness of our wooden neighbors and to prepare for the future. The next event is February 22 at 7 p.m. when tree steward Emily Ferguson will help you look beyond the monotonous winter forest by focusing on the finer details that will help you differentiate between species of trees. Learn more at charlottesvilleareatreestewards.org. (register for the February 22 session) Governor Youngkin asks Virginians to get vaccinatedThis morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports an average of 3,783 new COVID cases and the seven-day percent positivity has dropped to 11.1 percent. That’s down from 19.7 percent a week ago. In the Blue Ridge Health District today there were 46 new cases and the percent positivity is at 14.6 percent. The Virginia Healthcare and Hospital Association reports 1,676 patients in hospital with a positive COVID test.  That’s down from 3,845 a month ago. As of today, 70.9 percent of Virginia’s total population is considered fully vaccinated, but a smaller portion of that number has received a booster or third dose. That figure is 2,754,159. Today Governor Glenn Youngkin launched a public service announcement encouraging people to get a vaccine, but that he will do nothing to require that anyone get one. “In Virginia, there’s a better day right around the corner,” Youngkin said. “I won’t mandate it but the vaccine is the best way to protect our loved ones, our lives, and our livelihoods.” Youngkin said he and his family decided to get the vaccine.“While the vaccine won’t completely prevent you from contracting COVID-19, it makes it far less likely that you will be hospitalized or die from the virus,” Youngkin said. Last week, the CDC released a study indicating that those who have only have had two doses likely have their immunity fade after four months, but more study is needed to determine the efficacy of the booster or third dose. This morning the University of Virginia Health System announced that additional visitation will be once again allowed at various facilities. A press releases this is due to decreasing COVID cases. Visitors must wear a mask at all times and and cannot have any symptoms or contagious diseases. Public spaces including cafeterias and lobbies remain closed. Visit the UVA Health website for more details.Route 151 / U.S. 250 roundabout constructionConstruction of a roundabout at the intersection of U.S. 250 and Route 151 in Albemarle County is moving ahead. This week, a section of  Route 151 in northwest Nelson County will be closed overnight to allow installation of pipes for three waterways to be temporarily diverted during the project’s construction. According to a release, traffic will be detoured using Goodloe Lane and Old Turnpike Road from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. each night.The project is one of several funded in the second round of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Smart Scale process. Smart Scale is a system that funds projects based on a series of criteria including decreasing congestion and improving public safety. The application lists the reasoning for the project. “US 250 is not able to handle overflow when incidents occur on I-64 resulting in significant delays,” reads the application. Other Smart Scale projects funded that year include changes to I-64’s exit 118, conversion of exit 124 to a diverging diamond, and a roundabout at the intersection of Proffit Road and Route 20. Applications for Round 5 are currently being prepared. For more information on what the candidate projects are, visit the Smart Scale site on the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. Rivanna pedestrian bridge survey openOne of those 5th round candidates is a pedestrian bridge across the Rivanna River to connect Woolen Mills and Pantops. Two choices are being reviewed by a stakeholder committee who will make a recommendation to the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization. A survey is now open through March 4 to gauge public feedback. Visit the TJPDC’s website for more information. See also: Rivanna bridge options narrowed to two, January 12, 2022Decision point looming for Rivanna bike and pedestrian bridge, February 2, 2022Charlottesville zoning updateCharlottesville has begun the process of updating the city’s zoning code to reflect both an affordable housing plan and a Comprehensive Plan that seeks to increase the number of places to live within city limits. An internal review by city staff took place on Thursday, according to Neighborhood Development Services Director Jim Freas. ‘We’re slowly building up,” Freas said. “The first product is a diagnostic and approach report. Things will really ramp up once that’s released. We are targeting a mid-April date for the release of that report.” Mark your calendar. Meanwhile, Albemarle County’s Comprehensive Plan review kicks off this week with three pop-up events and a virtual meeting on Thursday. Read the Week Ahead newsletter for more information. See also: Charlottesville zoning rewrite to begin this year, January 12, 2022A portion of Franklin Street sidewalk funding going to pay for fire prevention kitsLater this week, a task force appointed by City Council to make recommendations for how federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds are spent will meet. Earlier this month, Council agreed to reallocate money a previous task force had opted to spend on a sidewalk on Franklin Street in Belmont, but less than staff had suggested. (staff report)Erin Atak is the city’s grants coordinator. “On January 14, 2021, Charlottesville was found to be noncompliant for the second consecutive year with CDBG requirements,” Atak said. “The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] noted that Charlottesville’s lack of spending performance was an issue.” Atak said the city receives about $400,000 a year in CDBG funding from HUD and they want it to be be spent within a certain time. Based on the recommendation of a task force, Council selected the sidewalk project and its scope was much bigger than originally anticipated.  The goal right now is to address the timeliness issue. “By May, the city is required to spend approximately $227,973,” Atak said. Atak said the money can be used to address the COVID-19 pandemic. When she sent around an internal request to city departments to see if they had any projects that would fit the bill, the Charlottesville Fire Department had a project to spend $217,200. “The Fire Department listed several housing maintenance activities which included smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, stove top fire-stop installation and CPR-assist devices, all of which are HUD-eligible, could meet City Council priorities to provide homeowner rehab, and entitlement funding in the Ridge Street and Belmont priority neighborhoods,” Atak said. Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook asked if the balance could be given to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville for their projects on Nassau Street. Atak said that projects that receive federal funding are subject to much more scrutiny, and the money would not be spent in time. Snook pushed. “I mean, is that something where it’s ‘come on, if someone just pushed the pedal to the metal we can make this happen’, or is it  ‘come on, this is the federal government you’re talking about.’ In other words, how serious is the risk this doesn’t get done if we suggest the money should go to that cause?”Two members of city staff responded in unison. “It’s very serious,” Atak sad “It’s very serious,” said Alexander Ikefuna, the city’ interim director of the Office of Community Solutions.” Councilor Sena Magill said she supported this use of funding, especially for carbon monoxide detectors which she said the Fire Department often can’t provide.“It’s one of those things that keeps getting kicked off down the road and whenever the Fire Department has a little extra somewhere, they try to put it into this,” Magill said. “And keeping houses from burning down is a way to keep them affordable, too.” Councilor Michael Payne expressed concern about how this information was presented to the elected body. “I don’t think the process was adequate enough to feel like I was presented with options to choose from,” Payne said. “I feel a little boxed in in terms of being presented only one option and given this point in this process. That boxing in to make one decision. I do feel like this was a wasted opportunity to at least evaluate and look as a policy option for Council at possible expenditures on vitally needed affordable housing needs.”To that end, Council opted to spend less money than staff had suggested with $140,585.49 to the Fire Department rather than a higher amount recommended. Councilor Payne still voted no. Shout out to the League of Women Voters Natural Resources CommitteeIn today’s second subscriber supported public service announcement, the Natural Resources Committee of the League of Women Voters of the Charlottesville Area wants you to know a webinar coming up on Tuesday, February 15, at noon. They’ll talk about Renewable Sources of Electrical Power: Challenges and Promises. How can we develop renewable sources without endangering our ecological systems? The seminar will feature Dan Holmes from the Piedmont Environmental Council and Jeff Hammond with Apex Clean Energy. They’ll address some of the complexities in switching utility scale electric power from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Register for the Zoom and get ready to learn!General Assembly updateWe are one day from Crossover Day in the General Assembly, so let’s check the statistics before the action begins today! This was up to date as of 7 a.m. this morning.  A total of 2,501 bills and resolutions have been introduced, and 351 of them have been killed through various actions. Another 143 will come back in 2023. The Senate’s passed 592 pieces of legislation and the House of Delegates has passed 572. The Senate has passed four bills from the House of Delegates that have already crossed over, but the House of Delegates has yet to do the same. Those bills include a non-controversial bill that would require the State Registrar of Vital Records to update the Board of Elections once a week of people who have died so they can be removed from the voter rolls. (HB55)Other bills that have passed the Senate and require House passage include:A bill to require absentee ballots to be sorted in the precinct where the voter lives as opposed to a central district passed the Senate unanimously, (SB3)Localities would be required to provide data to the state once a year on emergency sheltering capabilities if SB60 passes. The Senate passed it unanimously. Martinsville voters will decide whether to revert to town status in a bill that passed the Senate 32 to 8. (SB85) A similar bill (HB173) passed the House on a 82 to 18 vote and is before the Senate Local Government Committee. The Town of St. Charles in Lee County would be terminated under SB589 which passed unanimously. (SB589)Sports betting establishments and casinos won’t be able to use the phrase “Virginia is for Bettors” under SB96, which passed the Senate unanimously. A bill to create the Virginia Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Historic Preservation fund passed the Senate on a 30 to 10 vote. (SB158)A bill to require those who display a Farm Use tag on their vehicle to get it from the Department of Motor Vehicles passed the Senate unanimously. (SB186) Similar legislation has passed the House of Delegates. (HB179)Currently several localities in the James River watershed have combined sewer and stormwater systems which results in effluent to be released into waterways. The Senate passed a bill on a 36 to 4 to speed up the deadline to change that from 2035 to 2030. (SB354)In 2020, the General Assembly passed legislation requiring the creation of a Marcus Alert system that would alert public safety responders of a person’s mental state so that a non-violent response could be made by trained mental health specialists. The Senate passed a blll unanimously to clarify that participation by localities would be optional. (SB361)Hazing that leads to someone’s death would be a class 5 felony under SB440, which passed the Senate on a 30 to 10 vote. The Department of Corrections would need to convene a work group to review fees charges to inmates for various services such as telephone use, meals, and medical records if this bill also passes the House. The Senate approved it on a 31 to 9 vote. (SB441)Under SB491, the Virginia African Diaspora Advisory Board would be established to advise the Governor on ways to increase trade and cultural exchange between Virginia and African nations. The passed the Senate unanimously. A bill to allow for recall elections for certain officers passed the Senate on a 21 to 18 vote. (SB495)A bill to create a grant program to help localities develop wildlife corridor plans and implement them passed on a 29 to 10 vote. (SB707)Now let’s go to the House of Delegates.Virginia law currently states that elementary and secondary students cannot be considered to be engaged in disorderly conduct if they’re on school property. HB89 would change that to refer to kindergarten through 8th grade, paving the way for high school students to be potentially be arrested for “public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof.” That passed the House of Delegates on a 52 to 48 vote. Virginia has a shortage of mental health beds. HB105 would study the transformation of Catawba Hospital into a facility for substance abuse treatment and recovery services. This passed the House on a 99 to 0 vote. Currently, invasive plant species can be sold in Virginia. Under HB314, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services would need to develop signage to be given to retailers to point out the benefits of native plants and the hazrds of invasive ones. This passed the House 99 to 0. A bill to allow parks authorities the ability to install electric vehicle chargers passed the House on a 94 to 6 vote. (HB443)A bill to allow home-schooled children the ability to play in public school sports passed the House 50 to 49. (HB551)Stealing catalytic converters would be a Class 6 felony under HB740 which passed the House on a 69 to 30 vote.A bill to require voters to present a photo ID before casting a ballot passed 52 to 48. (HB1090)A bill to require School Boards to hold a public hearing before adopting cultural competency requirements passed 51 to 48. (HB1093)Seventh and eighth graders in public school would have to undergo at least one hour of personal safety training in physical education class if HB1215 makes it through. The House adopted it 99 to 0. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
February 12, 2022: Council approves Nassau Street rezoning in floodplain; Albemarle Supervisors briefed on spotted lanternfly

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 12, 2022 17:43


With each passing day, there’s a little more light at the beginning and end of the period in which the sun illuminates our portion of the world. There are 36 days until the time when light and dark is more or less equal. What will happen between now and then? Charlottesville Community Engagement aims to tell you as much as possible. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. It’s free to sign up and get all of the content! On today’s program:Legislation to make mask mandates meaningless in schools is poised to pass the Virginia General AssemblyAlbemarle County is briefed on the potential threat of the Spotted LanternflyCharlottesville City Council is briefed on how floodplains are classified, and then votes to approve a rezoning on Nassau Street to allow more residential density And Charlottesville Economic Development continues tracking retail vacancies across the city Shout-out to Camp AlbemarleToday’s first subscriber-supported public service announcement goes out to Camp Albemarle, which has for sixty years been a “wholesome rural, rustic and restful site for youth activities, church groups, civic events and occasional private programs.”Located on 14 acres on the banks of the Moorman’s River near Free Union, Camp Albemarle continues as a legacy of being a Civilian Conservation Corps project that sought to promote the importance of rural activities. Camp Albemarle seeks support for a plan to winterize the Hamner Lodge, a structure built in 1941 by the CCC and used by every 4th and 5th grade student in Charlottesville and Albemarle for the study of ecology for over 20 years. If this campaign is successful, Camp Albemarle could operate year-round. Consider your support by visiting http://campalbemarleva.org/donate.Pandemic update As the weekend begins, the waning continues. Yesterday the Virginia Department of Health reported a percent positivity of 13.7 percent, down from 23.2 percent eight days earlier. On January 11, that figure was 36 percent. “We are now in a period of time where we are seeing the highest cases of COVID beginning to come down,” said Dr. Kyle Enfield of the University of Virginia Health System. “And these are the highest cases we’ve ever seen, including among our children. And unfortunately some of these children have had long term outcomes that have been related to COVID as well as deaths.” In Virginia, there have been eight deaths in people under the age of 10, and 10 deaths of people under the age of 20. There have been 131,327 reported COVID cases in people under the age of 10, and 204,234 under the age of 20. “And we do know that masking and vaccines have been our best defense at preventing more spread of COVID during all of the pandemic,” Dr. Enfield said. This week, the Virginia Senate passed a bill on a 21-17 vote that would prohibit localities from requiring students to wear a mask in school. The same bill (SB739) was reported out of the House Education Committee on Friday on a 12 to 10 vote. Here’s what it says:“The parent of any child enrolled in a public elementary or secondary school, or in any school-based early childhood care and education program, may elect for such child to not wear a mask while on school property,” reads the bill.Dr. Enfield said that may be premature from a public health perspective. “While I’m very hopeful for a future where we can stop wearing masks as part of our daily lives, I don’t think the time is there yet,” Dr. Enfield said.People who are not vaccinated contract COVID at a rate 4.6 percent more than those who have had their shots, according to the latest data from the Virginia Department of Health. Partially vaccinated people contract at a rate two times higher. Those trends show up close to home, too. “The most salient thing I think people should take away is that the people that we see in the [intensive care unit] right now, which is about a third of our cases, only one of them was vaccinated and boosted and that person is immunocompromised,” Dr. Enfield said. “I think that speaks to the importance of vaccinations ongoing in preventing serious illness.”Visit the Blue Ridge Health District’s website for information about getting vaccinated.Charlottesville  vacancy studyThe city of Charlottesville has completed its latest analysis of commercial property and has found a vacancy rate of 5.23 percent. That’s up slightly from July when the last report from the Charlottesville Office of Economic Development was compiled. “The retail property in the City of Charlottesville is showing slight signs of rebounding from the negative impacts felt since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, “ reads the report. Barracks Road Shopping Center has a vacancy rate of 9.3 percent and the Downtown Mall has increased to 3.7 percent since July. The Corner is at 3.28 percent, Seminole Square is at 12.96 percent. Both Preston Plaza and McIntire Place are both full. The peak vacancy of 9 percent on the Downtown Mall was recorded in July 2009 and January 2010 at the height of the last recession. Notable vacancies include the spaces that formerly housed Bashir’s Taverna and Fellini’s. Since the last study last summer, new stores on the way include a new location for Bebedero in the former Downtown Grille space. A restaurant called Botanical Fare will occupy the former Java Java space. Read the report for more details. Nassau Street rezoning yields four additional unitsCharlottesville City Council has taken action on a rezoning on the eastern edge of Belmont, six weeks after asking for more information. The previous Council had held a public hearing for a request to increase the zoning from R2 to R3 on property that some claimed was unsafe for development. They wanted more information about the property’s relationship with the floodplain. (See also: Council seeks floodplain info before Nassau Street rezoning, December 22, 2021)On February 7, City Engineer Jack Dawson prepared a briefing for the five elected officials, including two members who just joined. “There was a fair bit of community members who expressed concern over the flood risk associated with the rezoning including some varying information about floodplain mapping and some other resources about water surface elevation for the one percent annual exceedance event,” Dawson said. One percent annual exceedance is another way of saying 100-year flood, a term that can be somewhat misleading because such heavy volumes do in fact happen more frequently.  Properties that are prone to flooding can still receive insurance through a program monitored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] “The city agreed to partner with FEMA as floodplain managers when we signed on to the National Flood Insurance Program,” Dawson said. “City property owners get access to insurance through the NFIP exchange and in return we agreed to create a floodplain development ordinance with a series of minimum standards.” The property on Nassau Street is within the one percent exceedance zone, colored light blue on the city’s GIS viewer. That’s different from the floodway which is marked with red and blue stripes. FEMA officials determine where those boundaries lie and make periodic reviews, but property owners can appeal based on evidence. This is a process known as the Letter of Map Revision, or LOMR. “The city is the gatekeeper for determining LOMR validity,” Dawson said. “A LOMR should improve or correct the existing model or improved methods. It’s our job in engineering as the floodplain administrators to make sure it is technically sound.” An application for this property was made to FEMA in October 2014 and sent it on for the city for their comments. However, Dawson said in this case, the technical comments from engineering were not captured in the revision. “The 2017 LOMR. whether or not engineering agreed with it at the time, is the model that informs the flood plain,” Dawson said. He also said that engineering doesn’t usually get involved during a rezoning. “But when a site plan is submitted, we look to make sure it meets all codes and they can be in the flood plain as long as they’re built one foot above the flood elevation,” Dawson said. Dawson said there is a risk in building in the floodplain, and many have done so. There are 266 lots that have structures are in the floodplain. “It’s a high risk area,” Dawson said. “Living there, there’s some implicit risk with that and more people living in the flood plain means there’s more risk taken on as a city.” Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook said he had had concerns about the process after they were brought up. But, he said he arrived at a conclusion after many conversations. “The decision that we are being asked by some folks to make here is not a proper decision for us to make at the rezoning phase,” Snook said. “That does not mean that that if we grant the rezoning that it’s necessarily going to pass the site plan review.” Developer Nicole Scro said that by-right, they would build three duplexes on the property. The rezoning would allow more units to be built, which would bring down the cost of each to the people who will live there. “The composition of the units is smaller units and we’re doing that to save on construction costs so we can hit lower rents,” Scro said. “That’s the purpose of this rezoning.” Scro said she understood the concerns, but said she felt confident about the flood risk. The structures will be built at 327 feet above sea level. “And then we’re going to have three feet of crawl-space and another foot of subflooring so the finished floor elevation will be at 331 approximately,” Scro said. Council voted 5-0 to agree to the rezoning.This isn’t the end of the story with flood modeling. Charlottesville is beginning to develop a new flood model for the Moores Creek watershed to better understand hydrological processes. This is being paid for by the state government with proceeds from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. See also: Charlottesville awarded $153K for flood study from RGGI funds, October 6, 2021Shout-out for an upcoming talk on birdsIn today’s subscriber-fueled shout-out, if you’re interested in learning more about the birds around us, the National Sporting Library and Museum has a virtual event for you coming up on February 24. Jennifer Ackerman, the author of the Genius of Birds, will explore the brilliance of birds and delve into the mysteries of the avian brain. Ackerman as she shares her global adventures into the genius of birds. Learn how birds make and use tools, teach each other skills, count, navigate, create art, perform astonishing feats of memory, communicate, and even pass along cultural traditions.  The author will be joined by two top officials from the Wildlife Center of Virginia, an organization that has helped nearly 90,000 wild animals from every corner of Virginia. Center President Ed Clark and Senior Vice President Amanda Nicholson will bring along Ambassador Animals. The program is free and available via Zoom or Facebook like. Drop a line to info@nationalsporting.org for a link, or visit the National Sporting Library and Museum on Facebook. Albemarle briefed on spotted lanternfly As program manager for Plant Industry Services at the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, David Gianino leads the state’s efforts to fight threats to native plants that could harm whole industries if left unchecked. “And we have many different pest programs where we work with invasive species to mitigate either their spread or their impact here in Virginia, and in 2021 unfortunately Spotted Lanternfly has made its way to Albemarle County,” Gianino said. That was in July 2021 when a plant inspector found multiple life-stages along the Rivanna River near a railroad. Gianino told the Albemarle Board of Supervisors on February 2 that the Spotted Lanternfly can severely damage apples and grapes. “It is a piercing, sucking, mouth-part insect and it sucks phloem and sap from the stems of these trees which can negatively impact yield and can impact the quality of a fruit that relies on lots of sugar content,” Gianino said. “They swarm and feed very intensely in the fall and that can also impact how nice the grapes are, how good a wine it makes.” The spread of Spotted Lanternfly is due to it being a hitchhiking bug that jumps onto modes of transportation. Originally from China, the bug arrived in Pennsylvania in 2014. “It doesn’t traditionally fly but it will glide and it jumps on to cars, trucks, gravel, buses, anything that moves it will jump onto and that’s the primary way it gets around,’ Gianino said. Gianino said the swarms can also affect other property owners because it is unpleasant to be around. He said if not addressed, this can affect agribusiness and especially agritourism. “The sheer number of insects that pest can create in an environment is astounding,” Gianino said. The spread of the spotted lanternfly is compounded by another invasive species known either as alanthus or Tree of Heaven. So far, populations in Albemarle County are not as high as they are in the Winchester area, where a quarantine was established in 2019 and expanded to Clark and Warren counties last summer.“The quarantine requires business owners to obtain a permit and inspect all materials that are stored outside as well as trucks, trailers and vehicles that travel outside of the quarantine area,” reads a site set up to provide information for Winchester area residents. “I believe we have opportunities here to prevent this from happening [in Albemarle] because we do now have better tools,” Gianino said. Gianino said the site in Albemarle was treated with pesticides. Trees were injected with substances to prevent further infestation. “We’ve placed traps, we’ve scraped egg masses, and we plan to do a thorough survey there next year and continue treatment to try and mitigate this population,” Gianino said. There are no natural predators here and Gianino said they do not taste very good to other species. Gianino said early detection is key to addressing any invasive species and people who make a sighting are asked to report it to local extension offices so the extent of the spread is known across the Commonwealth. They also want people to seek out resources:Best Management Practices for Spotted Lanternfly in Yards and Landscapes Homeowner Tips and Inspection Checksheet More on the Plant Industry Services page for more resourcesAlso, kill it. “We tell people to stomp, scrape, squish the spotted lanternfly and then report it,” Gianino said. More on this as we move toward spring. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
February 10, 2022: Albemarle Supervisors speed up redistricting process, skeptical of adding another elected official; Charlottesville Council approves Rivanna plan

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2022 17:25


2022 turns 41 days old on this Thursday, which according to a few biased sources is also Plimsoll Day, World Pulses Day, Cream Cheese Brownie Day, and All The News That’s Fit to Print Day. This being a journalistic enterprise, I can’t easily find a second source for the latter. But this is Charlottesville Community Engagement which tries to get as much information into every installment, though I’m no longer sure if this is print, digital, audio, or something else. Regardless, I’m Sean Tubbs, the producer of this program. On today’s program:Albemarle County is seeking input on potential new maps for new magisterial boundaries, and won’t consider adding a seventh supervisor at this timeCharlottesville City Council adopts Rivanna River plan and is willing to lower speed limits on 5th Street ExtendedA look at legislation that has not passed the Virginia General Assembly this year including Governor Youngkin’s nomination for Secretary of Natural and Historic ResourcesAnd inflation was up again in January Shout out to the League of Women Voters Natural Resources CommitteeIn the first subscriber supported public service announcement, the Natural Resources Committee of the League of Women Voters of the Charlottesville Area wants you to know a webinar coming up on Tuesday, February 15, at noon. They’ll talk about Renewable Sources of Electrical Power: Challenges and Promises. How can we develop renewable sources without endangering our ecological systems? The seminar will feature Dan Holmes from the Piedmont Environmental Council and Jeff Hammond with Apex Clean Energy. They’ll address some of the complexities in switching utility scale electric power from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Register for the Zoom and get ready to learn!Pandemic updateWhat went up continues to come down. Today the Virginia Department of Health reports a percent positivity of 14.3 percent. Last Thursday that figure was at 23.2 percent. The seven-day average for new cases is at 4,697, down from 7,237 a week ago. The number of COVID patients in hospital today is 1,990, down from 2,578 a week ago according to the Virginia Healthcare and Hospital Association. In the Blue Ridge Health District, there are another 321 new cases and the percent positivity is at 17.6 percent. Do note that’s higher than the statewide rate.Inflation reportThe cost of goods and services continues to rise in the United States as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Consumer Price Index increased 0.6 percent from December to January, and 7.5 percent between January 2021 and last month. That latter figure is the highest 12-month increase since February 1982. The cost of food, shelter, and energy all rose. In the past year, the cost of food has increased 7.5 percent. The energy index increased 27 percent since January 2021 with gas prices 40 percent higher, natural gas 23.9 percent up, and electricity 10.7 percent up. Shelter was up 4.4 percent. Two categories that did decrease this month were lodging, which was down 3.9 percent  and wireless telephone service, which was down 0.1 percent. Read the full press release for details. Council adds Urban Rivanna River Plan to Comp PlanThe Charlottesville City Council has officially adopted a plan to guide environmental protections along the urbanized portion of the Rivanna River. The Urban Rivanna Corridor Plan is now a referenced part of the city’s 2021 Comprehensive Plan. “It’s past time but I’m glad we’re getting to it now finally to begin to recognize the fact that the Rivanna River is an asset to Charlottesville and is not merely a barrier,” said Charottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook.The Albemarle Board of Supervisors reviewed the plan earlier this month. The plan has been created by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. In addition to a series of recommendations, the plan also suggests ways the community can highlight the role the river can play with examples from Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Lynchburg. Council poised to reduce speed limit Fifth Street ExtendedCouncil also took action on a step to try to reduce fatal crashes on 5th Street Extended. A petition was submitted to the city in late 2020 asking for something to be done to slow down traffic on the roadway, which has the character of a divided highway. “We have been working on this and the first stage,” said traffic engineer Brennen Duncan. “Having looked at this for more than a year now, reviewing the data and looking at all the crash history and stuff we are proposing that we reduce the speed limit from 45 miles per hour to 40 miles per hour.” The item passed on first reading and will now be on the consent agenda for Council’s next meeting. The long-term strategy is to change the character of the roadway to make it less easy to speed. See also: Council briefed on Fifth Street Extended safety efforts, January 10, 2022Albemarle adopts expedited redistricting processAlbemarle County is seeking input on how the lines for the county’s magisterial districts should be redrawn following the U.S. Census.  Jake Washburne is Albemarle’s registar. “The state completed the redistricting of the state and Congressional districts on [December 28],” Washburne said. Washburne, the Electoral Board, and the county’s GIS office have produced three potential maps and a public comment period is underway through March 4 with a questionnaire on the county’s website.Supervisors adopted an expedited schedule on February 2.“The sooner we could get the process going and complete, the better, because we may have a June primary election and if we do we’ll have to start voting early for that on May 6,” Washburne said. Voters will need to know by then where they will be voting! The Board will have a public hearing on March 2 with an adoption slated for March 23, 2022 until to meet the deadline to have the new maps established in time. The next time a House of Delegates race is run, Albemarle will only have two districts in its boundaries, as opposed to having four districts currently. There’s a federal lawsuit at the U.S. Fourth Circuit of Appeals seeking to force an election this year and oral arguments will be heard on March 8. One quirk in Virginia’s new Congressional maps is that not all of Albemarle is within the 5th District. “Ninety-nine percent of Albemarle County is in the 5th U.S. Congressional District but for some reason they decided a tiny sliver up in the northwest part of the county which has a total of about 110 residents and probably between 50 and 60 voters is in the 7th Congressional District,” Washburne said. Washburne said there is likely no way to remedy that situation and the county will need a waiver to allow for a magisterial district to be in two Congressional precincts. All three of the maps continue the practice of Albemarle having six magisterial districts. Here’s County Attorney Greg Kamptner. “Albemarle County operates under the county executive form of government and it is authorized to have a board between three and nine supervisors,” Kamptner said. “Increasing the size of the Board was previously raised by the League of Women Voters in 1991, and by a Supervisor who was the former president of the League of Women Voters in 2001. In neither 1991, 2001, or 2011 did the Board express a desire to increase its membership.” Kamptner said if the Board wanted to increase its membership they could add a seventh magisterial district or an at-large supervisors who would also be the chair. Voters would have to approve the latter change in a referendum, but the Supervisors could proceed with a seventh during redistricting. Staff recommended against that at this time due to the need to complete the process in time for the election. “State law allows the number of districts to be changed at any time, not only as part of the redistricting process,” Kamptner said. Supervisor Ned Gallaway said he is aware that many political groups are interested in the idea, but he has not heard a groundswell of support.“But from a constituent standpoint, this is not been one that has been raised a lot in my conversations with folks,” Gallaway said. Supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley did not appear to have much interest in a seventh seat because she agreed community members in Albemarle did not seem to be interested in the topic. “Frankly that’s come from mainly from developers because the rationale was its easier to get four votes out of seven than four votes out of six,” LaPisto-Kirtley said. Supervisor Ann Mallek, first elected in 2007, said she supports the continuation of six elected officials. “Over the years I have found the 3 to 3 to be a good thing especially when I was in a minority position because if a project was good enough to get a fourth vote, even when there was a split board, that was a good threshold to have,” Mallek said. To have your say, visit Albemarle County’s redistricting page. Shout out to the Sisters Project Peru:In today’s second subscriber-supported public service announcement, this Friday an art auction will be held at the Fry’s Spring Beach Club to help raise funds for a sustainable medical clinic in rural Peru. The Sisters Project Peru was created to increase access to healthcare in order to improve quality of life and empower women in Huacahuasi, a rural village in the Sacred Valley of Peru. The art auction will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with light refreshment and live music. Covid protocol is in effect and masks are required. Learn more at SistersProjectPeru.com. Registration in advance is required.General Assembly snapshot: Lots of failed bills, including Wheeler nomination With so many bills, it’s hard to keep a handle on all of the General Assembly, but it’s worth a shot. As of this morning, there were 2,486 total bills introduced and 301 have definitely failed. Here are some pieces that did not make it out of the House of Delegates. A bill that would have classified farmer’s markets and roadside farm markets as agribusiness was tabled yesterday in the House Agricultural, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources. (HB262)A bill that would have required an inventory of all stormwater systems in Virginia was stricken from the docket yesterday in that same committee. (HB577)A bill to create a Commission on Social Media to evaluate the impacts arms was tabled in the House Rules committee on February 3 on 13 to 5 vote. (HB1195)A bill to require all School Boards in Virginia to be elected was stricken from the House Education Committee docket on February 7. (HB1284)A bill to exempt food charities from any liability related to distributing items beyond their best-by date was stricken from the House Agriculture committee yesterday. (HB1293)Here are some pieces that didn’t make it out of the Senate: A bill to remove a requirement that all School Boards adopt policies for the treatment of transgendered students in public school failed to make it out of the Senate Education and Health Committee on an 8 to 5 vote. (SB20)A bill to develop a statewide housing choice voucher program was stricken in the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee. (SB312)A bill to allow localities to adopt energy-efficiency standards for new buildings failed to make it out of the Senate Local Government on a 8 to 6 vote. (SB452)A bill to prohibit public schools from teaching “inherently divisive concepts” failed to clear the Senate Education and Health on February 3 on a 9 to 4 vote. (SB570)The Senate adopted Governor Glenn Youngkin’s list of Cabinet appointments yesterday, but one name was held off of the list. On Tuesday, the full Senate agreed to an amendment from the Privileges and Elections campaign that stripped Wheeler from the official resolution confirming the cabinet.“Senate Joint Resolution 84 - confirming appointments by the Governor of certain persons,” the Senate Clerk read. “The question is, shall the committee amendment be adopted?” said Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, the President of the Senate.Several Republican members objected and urged defeat of the amendment such as Senator Richard Stuart (R-28) who spoke of Wheeler’s interview before the Senate Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee. “And I’ve never seen a grilling with more difficult questions for any candidate for any position in this General Assembly,” Stuart said. “And after I spoke with folks who were on that committee and listened to that interview and asked those questions, every member that I spoke said with he absolutely knocked the ball out of the park.”Stuart defended Wheeler’s time as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “I understand that some of these environmental groups don’t like him because who he works for and that’s just a shame,” Stuart said. But Senator Chap Petersen (D-24) presided over Wheeler’s interview and said he was impressed with the nominee’s credentials but he read from Article 11 of the Virginia Constitution. “it shall be the policy of the Commonwealth to conserve, develop, and utilize its natural resources, its public lands, and its historical sites and buildings,” Petersen said. “That is the role of the Secretary of Natural Resources. It’s not Commerce. It’s not thinking of ways to get around environmental rules. It’s actually protecting our lands and waters.”Petersen said a majority on the Privileges and Committees felt Petersen would not fit the bill. Senator Adam Ebbin (D-30) cited a letter from previous administrators who expressed concern about Wheeler’s tenure at the EPA. “If we’re to confirm Mr. Wheeler, I’m confident he will use the intelligence and subject matter expertise to do exactly what he did at the federal level,” Ebbin said. “Systematically deconstruct regulations that protect our environment.”The amendment was agreed to on a 21 to 19 vote and the SJ84 passed the Senate yesterday on a 38 to 0 vote. According to the Virginia Mercury , Wheeler can serve in the position on an interim basis until the end of the General Assembly session. More General Assembly tomorrow. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
February 8, 2022: Council directs staff to advertise a ten-cent increase on the Charlottesville property tax rate

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2022 19:33


As the third decade of the 21st century approaches, we all find ourselves living in a world we didn’t create and we do not understand. There are too many current challenges to list here, but I suspect many readers and listeners feel a lot of tension about the future. The goal of Charlottesville Community Engagement is to provide a bit of relief in the form of information and context, all with an aim of helping as many people as possible at least try to understand. I’m Sean Tubbs, and that hope is what’s fueled my entire career. Don’t miss an installment or podcast! Sign up! On today’s program:Charlottesville’s Fire Chief gives an update on his efforts to move the Fire Department into the 21st century by playing a major EMS role Dr. Denise Bonds of the Blue Ridge Health District updates City Council on COVID and vaccinations And City Council tells staff to advertise a tax rate increase of ten cents as they build the budget year for fiscal year 2023The first shout-out goes to LEAPWhen you think of romance, you might not immediately think of energy efficiency - but the folks at LEAP think keeping your family comfortable at home is a great way to show you care during the month of love. Your local energy nonprofit wants to make sure you are getting the most out of your home all year round, and LEAP offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If someone in your household is age 60 or older, or you have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Charlottesville Pandemic updateAll of today’s program focuses on Council and let’s start with the second thing first, followed by the last thing second, and the first thing last. The director of the Blue Ridge Health District appeared before Charlottesville City Council last night for another update on the pandemic. Dr. Denise Bonds reminded Council there’s been a surge of COVID cases since December that is only just now beginning to recede.“This of course represents omicron, the highly contagious variant that causes thousands and thousands of cases across the United States and really the world,” Dr. Bonds said. Today the Virginia Department of Health reports another 4,689 new cases and the percent positivity has further declined to 19.1 percent. Dr. Bonds said there is still a high transmission risk in the community that’s much higher than at most parts of the pandemic. She recommends people continue to be vigilant. “Even though generally omicron is much milder and we have a large percentage of our population that are vaccinated and thus either weren’t infected or didn’t suffer illness that was as serious, there’s a high number of unvaccinated individuals in our community who are still driving very high hospital numbers,” Dr. Bonds said. Dr. Bonds said this surge also saw increases in cases with children under the age of 11, particularly with vaccines still not being authorized for those under 5 but that may happen in the near future. “However the numbers are really still being driven by adults at this point in time,” Dr. Bonds said. So far, Dr. Bonds said the Omicron subvariant has yet to be found in Virginia. She urges people to continue to get vaccinated.“There have continued to be individuals that get their first vaccination and we’re up by almost a thousand individuals since the last time I spoke with you about a month ago so that’s great!” Dr. Bonds said. Dr. Bonds also said it is crucial that people who have not had their booster dose yet to get it as soon as possible. She also encourages people to upgrade their mask from cloth to at least a surgical or medical mask. Yesterday, the Virginia Supreme Court declined to hear a lawsuit filed by parents in Chesterfield County against Governor Glenn Youngkin’s revocation of a mask mandate in public schools. Councilor Sena Magill asked Dr. Bonds her opinion.“The CDC definitely recommends that mask use is an important mitigation strategy for both adults and children in school,” Dr. Bonds said. “I no longer have school age children but if I did have school age children I would have them wear masks in school.” Dr. Bonds said the long-term ramifications of a COVID infection are not yet known because even after nearly two years of a pandemic, the virus is still novel. For a list of places where you can get a vaccine, visit the Blue Ridge Health District website. Council directs staff on tax rate So far this year, Council has had two discussions of the budget for the next fiscal year but they gave their first significant direction Monday night. At their work session last Thursday, Council were told they needed to decide whether they wanted to advertise an increase in the tax rate above 95 cents per $100 of assessed value. For all of that discussion, go back to Saturday’s installment of this newsletter. Senior Budget Analyst Krisy Hammill said that a five-cent increase in the tax rate would not be enough to cover the additional debt service for a capital improvement plan that includes $75 million for renovations to Buford Middle School. Council also wants to honor the goal of putting $10 million toward affordable housing initiative for at least ten years. “In actuality, the five-cent tax increase does not afford the $75 million addition,” Hammill said. Hammill showed a variety of different scenarios, but said five-cents are all that is needed to be dedicated to capital. “Ten cents we don’t need,” Hammill said. “Seven isn’t quite there but seven and a half is a little more than we need so I think we’re somewhere seven and eight cents to comfortably cover $75 million.” The update to Council was not on the agenda for the meeting but was delivered during the report from the Interim City Manager. (February 7 presentation)Deputy City Manager Ashley Marshall said comparing tax rates doesn’t tell the whole picture. For instance, Roanoke has a tax rate of $1.22 per assessed value, but there’s a reason. “The average median house cost is $225,000 so when you think of that and a $1.22 tax rate, it’s going to hit a little different than in Loudoun County, where the average median home value is $625,000,” Marshall said. This year, residential assessments went up 11.7 percent and 67 households lost the ability to apply for tax relief because they now exceed the $375,000 cap. The city would have to ask the General Assembly for a charter amendment to increase that amount. Hammill showed a slide that depicted how much of a tax increase would occur. For instance, a hypothetical property assessed at $300,000 paid $3,487 in 2021. That would increase to $3,895 in 2022 without a tax increase. That would increase to $4,305 in 2022 with a ten cent tax increase. Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders said a ten cent tax increase would also allow more funding for the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund to meet the affordable housing fund, a local match to extend a federal grant for firefighters (see below) and more. That had the support of Vice Mayor Juandiego Wade.“I think that at least even though we may not do the whole ten cents to give the staff direction tonight at least to go with that so we know we can’t go higher but we can certainly go lower,” Wade said. Councilor Michael Payne said he would support that rate. “We’re not even having a serious conversation until you begin with a ten cent real estate tax increase because otherwise it is not affordable,” Payne said. “I’m comfortable with advertising that at the rate to start out conversation but I still don’t think that gets us to a point where we are having a realistic conversation about the state of our budget.”Mayor Lloyd Snook said he was concerned about raising the property tax rate this year because of the assessment increase, but called Charlottesville undertaxed. He said he wanted to increase a half-percent raise in the meals tax. That would yield just over $1.25 million according to staff projections. “At meals tax, we are at the moment I believe just a little on the low side and that may give us a little more than a million plus a year,” Snook said. Councilor Brian Pinkston said he supported the advertisement of ten cents.“I’m not personally convinced yet that we need to raise it by a dime,” Pinkston said. “Maybe we do. Maybe it’s seven and a half cents. I’m not sure. Maybe it’s just a nickel but for me it is just for the purposes of this conversation tonight is the advertisement piece.” Councilor Sena Magill took ownership.“I support advertising it,” Magill said. “It was my idea.” With that, the recommendation was officially made and check the classified section of the Daily Progress this weekend. The unscheduled conversation took an hour. At this point in mind, do remember that advertising a tax rate is not the same as adopting one. There are a lot more variables that may come into play between now and April. Some other budget items that were brought up include the potential of using $3 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to pay back the general fund for the use of FY21 surplus money to pay COVID-related bonuses to employees. The school system is also hoping to use up to $8 million in ARPA funding toward school infrastructure above and beyond school reconfiguration. “That’s still a number which is not in any of the scenarios that I presented to you,” Hammill said. Hammill said the budget staff is anticipating a surplus in FY22 as well as in previous years. “A lot of our big revenues, they are performing better than we had originally projected as we continue to recover from COVID,” Hammill said. Shout out to the Sisters Project Peru:In today’s second subscriber-supported public service announcement, this Friday an art auction will be held at the Fry’s Spring Beach Club to help raise funds for a sustainable medical clinic in rural Peru. The Sisters Project Peru was created to increase access to to healthcare in order to improve quality of life and empower women in Huacahuasi, a rural village in the Sacred Valley of Peru. The art auction will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with light refreshment and live music. Covid protocol is in effect and masks are required. Learn more at SistersProjectPeru.com. Registration in advance is required. Fire Chief Smith presents 21st century vision for the Charlottesville Fire DepartmentIn the early part of the City Council meeting, Fire Chief Hezedean Smith has a long conversation with the five-elected officials. Smith has been in the position since December 2020 and he wanted to reflect on the time so far. “There’s been a lot of tragedy within our community and fortunately our firefighters, they remain committed in terms of serving the community to their fullest, in spite of COVID and in spite of all the other challenges that they face,” Smith said. Last year, a structure fire on Cherry Avenue killed two people, the first fatalities from a fire since 2010. Smith said another challenge was the fire on January 13 at the Charlottesville Towers apartment complex in North Downtown. No one was killed, but many residents were displaced and returned to smoke-damaged units. “We’re committed and we’re embracing the forces that are impacting the 21st century fire and emergency services in our community, certainly in alignment with what’s going on across the United States, “ Smith said. “Charlottesville is no stranger to multiple all-hazards type of incidents that we have to be prepared to respond to.” During his time, the Fire Department has adopted a strategic plan which is “employee-driven.” Chief Smith said the goal is to become a “21st century fire service” as defined by a white paper issued by the Center for Public Safety Excellence. (read the white paper) (EMS Agenda 2050)“And alongside that, there’s an EMS agenda for the future which kind of looks at how you should prepare yourselves now as we move forward into the future and what are the elements related to an EMS system?”  Smith asked. “Fortunately for us we are a fire-based EMS system service model which is a little bit different than it was years ago when we were just focused only on fire. We are an all-hazards department.”Before Smith arrived, the Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded Charlottesville a nearly $3.5 million grant under the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response program. That allowed the fire department to hire 15 additional personnel. Last year the dispatch system was changed in order to speed up response times. “About eight minutes, ideally,” Smith said. “That’s the framework that we have established and ultimately we have demonstrated through a GIS analysis to confirm that we should be able to arrive at an incident within that period of time.” That dispatch system also matches the system used by Albemarle County in order to help regional cooperation and mutual aid. “And we are just basically trying to align our protocols and our response model to meet the needs of our community so at any one time we know where all of our units are located in the city,” Smith said. Smith said that later this month the Fire Department will release an app called PulsePoint to alert people to others who are having cardiac arrests nearby in the hopes of getting cardio-pulmonary resuscitation happening as early as possible. “We provide CPR training, we identify neighborhoods that are at risk, and education them on proper living and things of that sort,” Smith said. “It’s not just about running with lights and sirens to medical calls and car accidents and things of that nature. It’s actually becoming more engaged in our community and educating our community and hopefully they can recognize early signs and symptoms of strokes, heart attacks, and things of that sort.”Smith said data shows that the 10th and Page neighborhood in particular is first in cardiac arrests and third in diabetic emergencies.  Last year, representatives from the Charlottesville-Albemarle Rescue Squad (CARS) complained to Council that the new dispatch system shuts them out of service calls. Smith said he has since met with their chief and other top officials and said they will play a role in the future. “One of their goals, goal 3, looks at mobile integrated health, exploring roles of the providers with mental health,” Smith said. “CARS’ community involvement, CPR training, stop-the-bleed training, all of those things are of essence for us,” Smith said. Smith’s appearance before Council came at the same time the budget for FY23 is being put together, including the five-year capital plan. The draft budget shows an additional spending of $1.2 million for a replacement for the bypass fire station, for a total of $4.2 million in authorization for bonds that have not yet been issued. Smith hopes Council will continue to support this expenditure and consider others in the future. “It’s dilapidated, it’s sad,” Chief Smith said. “I don’t know if you’ve been in there but it’s unfortunate that our firefighters have to live there. Ultimately the Ridge Street fire station also has to be on the roadmap as well because that is just as old if not older with cracks in the wall that we’ve been monitoring for a number of years.”The Ridge Street station was built in 1959. The bypass station was built in 1950, according to the city’s property records. Senior Budget Analyst Krisy Hammill said that additional money should fully fund the project. Chief Smith also said firefighters also have to be paid more and said they are not making as much as those in Albemarle. “I am pleading with you to support our firefighters because it ties in with retention, it ties in with recruitment, it ties in with their families,” Smith said. “I can probably count on one hand how many of them live in the city of Charlottesville. They travel for hours sometime to come and serve this community.” Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
February 7, 2022: Albemarle seeking applicants for paid position on Comprehensive Plan working group; Supervisors briefed on Urban Rivanna plan

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 7, 2022 14:17


Another week begins, and it’s the first Monday of February and the sixth of 2022 so far. There are two more minutes of daylight in the Charlottesville area today according to the almanac, and another two minutes per day for every single remaining day in this month. Time has its advantages. So does every installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that always has a protractor handy. I’m Sean Tubbs, trying to plot out all the angles. On today’s program:Details on how Albemarle’s Comprehensive Planning update will be conductedAlbemarle supervisors are briefed on the Urban Rivanna Corridor Plan a few days before City Council considers adding it to their comp plan Another status update on bills in the 2022 Virginia General AssemblyShout-out for WTJU’s Folk MarathonIn today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out, WTJU 91.1 FM invites you to tune in all this week for the annual Folk Marathon. It’s a round-the-clock celebration of folk music, specially programmed for your listening pleasure. Whether your favorites are Woody Guthrie, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Eva Cassidy, or Neil Young… When you connect with WTJU’s Folk Marathon, you’ll find authentic music playing for you. And WTJU amplifies local artists, and this year’s Folk Marathon will air live music every day for you. We’re excited that the line-up includes Barling & Collins, BRIMS, Mama Tried, and more! Plus special guest hosts Terri Allard, Charlie Pastorfield, Jamie Dyer, Devon Sproule, Waverly Milor, and many others. Visit wtju.net to learn more and to make a contribution. Pandemic updateAs we begin the week, the Omicron surge continues a gradual decline. The Virginia Department of Health reports a seven-day percent positivity of 19.7 percent, down from 25.5 percent a week ago. There are 2,250 patients with COVID in Virginia hospitals according to the Virginia Healthcare and Hospital Association. That’s down from a high of 3,948 in mid-January. Dr. Costi Sifri is the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System and he said there is a noted decline, but people should remain vigilant. “While we’re declining we still have very high case rates,” said Dr. Sifri. “There’s been a lot of discussion and anticipation that we’ll see a rapid decline and we are certainly hoping for that in terms of cases. There’s some concern that maybe we’ll see a bit of a plateau or a shoulder perhaps due to the emergence of the omicron subvariant B.A.2.” Today in the Blue Ridge Health District there are another 102 cases reported today. If you’re told by someone you’ve come into contact with that they’re COVID positive, you should get a test. “If you’ve been exposed to somebody who has COVID then it’s really very important so we can break these chains of transmission,” Dr. Sifri said. If you still are looking for a vaccine in the area, visit the Blue Ridge Health District’s website to learn more about you or someone you know might get one. Here’s the link for vaccines. Here’s the link for testing. Albemarle Supervisors briefed on Urban Rivanna Corridor PlanA plan to guide future development on both sides of the Rivanna River has been reviewed by one of the two localities and will go before the other tonight. Albemarle Supervisors learned the details of the plan at their meeting on February 2.  Sandy Shackelford is the director of planning and transportation for the Thomas Jefferson Planning District and she provided a geographic reference. (read the draft)“It’s the portion of the Rivanna River corridor that is 4.3 miles long,” Shackleford said. “It spans from Pen Park as the northern terminus to I-64 as the southern terminus.”Shackelford said the most important priority that came out of the public engagement process was a focus on environmental protection and stewardship of the river. “The determination was that among the guiding principles, environmental protection had to be pulled out as the most important to first consider and only once environmental protection stewardship was addressed could the other guiding principles be considered to be equally important to each other,” Shackelford said. Environmental recommendations include identifying sensitive areas, retaining existing natural habitats, and continued improvements on stormwater management in the urban areas of both communities. City Council will take up the matter at their meeting tonight in the form of an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan. General Assembly update: Good news for dairy providersThere’s a week until Crossover Day in the Virginia General Assembly. February 15 is when bills from one House must have passed in order to make it to the other one for the potential of passing. Control of the legislature is divided up by each political party and differences in political philosophy will continue to be revealed.But, here’s a snapshot as the week begins. A total of 2,466 bills have been introduced and only one has passed both the House of Delegates and the Senate. That bill (HB828) would expand eligibility for a program to help farmers and others who make dairy products. The Republican-controlled House has passed 150 of its own bills, and the Senate has passed 203 of its own. Another 221 bills or resolutions have officially failed, 46 have been carried on to next year, and another 2,035 are pending. Let’s look at some of those that have passed the House of Delegates and now await their fate in the Senate. A bill that would require school principals to report potential misdemeanors to law enforcement passed on a 59 to 40 vote. (HB4)A bill that would make it easier for School Boards to dismiss teachers passed on a 52 to 47 vote. (HB9)A bill that would prohibit localities from requiring contractors to provide benefits passed on a 52 to 48 vote. (HB58)A bill to require political candidates to file campaign finance reports electronically passed 99 to 1. (HB86)A bill altering the requirements for advertisements of public hearings in a newspaper passed 77 to 23. (HB167)A bill allowing City of Martinsville to hold a referendum on whether become a town in Henry County passed 82 to 18. (HB173)Localities could increase the amount of funding they can apply for through the Local Food and Farming Infrastructure Grant Program to $50,000, up from $25,000. That bill passed the House 99 to 0. (HB323)A bill to add “all-virtual public meetings” to a list of permitted government passed meetings 98 to 0. (HB444)Now, a few from the Senate:Augusta County would be authorized to hold another referendum on removing the county seat away from the city of Staunton, under certain conditions in SB283. The bill passed 39 to 1 with the lone vote against coming from Senator Creigh Deeds (D-25). A bill to require a study of public notice requirements with an eye toward streamlining them passed 40 to zero. (SB417)A bill that would prohibit the use of traps to hunt or kill game animals passed 23 to 16. (SB492)Shout-out: Pen Park cemetery discussion on WednesdayIn today’s subscriber-fueled shout-out, work continues to identify people whose remains are buried just outside a cemetery in Charlottesville’s Pen Park. The Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society and the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library will give an update in a webinar on Wednesday, February 9 on the Forgotten History of Pen Park: Unmarked Graves of Enslaved Persons. The panel will discuss the research thus far to identify the unmarked graves of enslaved individuals outside the Gilmer, Craven, and Hotopp family cemeteries and the connections that are being made to living descendants. Speakers include Charlottesville’s historic preservation planner, researchers and descendants. Visit the library’s website at jmrl.org to register. Also go watch the first installment from past June on the Historical Society’s YouTube page.  Albemarle County Comprehensive Plan review underway On Thursday morning, staff in Albemarle County’s Communications and Public Engagement office will hold the first in a series of pop-ups on the county’s review of the Comprehensive Plan. The county’s Planning Commission learned about how the update will be conducted, including details of a working group that will be appointed to work on the project. But what is a Comprehensive Plan? (pop-up info)“It’s a guiding document for growth, development, and investment in the county, and its used to guide decisions on public infrastructure and funding, also policies and programs, and then review of some development applications that come through the county,” said Rachel Falkenstein, the county’s planning manager. Comprehensive Plans have a 20 year horizon and the last update in Albemarle County was approved in the summer of 2015. Since then, Falkenstein said there’s been a lot of change. “An example of that is that we’ve had 4,000 new dwelling units since that 2015 plan was completed and the community’s median household income and home values have continued to rise since that time,” Falkenstein said. There’s also been adoption of a new housing plan, a new economic development plan, and a climate action plan.  The review of the Comprehensive Plan is known as AC44 and will be done in four phases with the first currently underway. (project website)“Phase one is called ‘Planning for Growth’ and in this phase we will review, evaluate, and update the current growth management policy through the lenses of equity and climate action and identify options for updating the policy based on best practices and on capacity projections for residential and business growth in the county,” said senior planner Tori Kanellopoulos. Since 1980, the key feature of that growth management policy has been directing growth into approximately five percent of the county’s 726 square miles. To help inform all four phases, the county seeks applicants for a working group and will spend money to ensure participants come from different backgrounds. “We want to conduct outreach and collaborate with community members whose perspectives haven’t historically been represented in our processes,” Falkenstein said. “We want to think about that equity profile and members of our community who have different lived experiences and maybe the quality of life outcomes have not been as well as others in the community so we want to think about different demographics.” Falkenstein said the expected time commitment is about ten hours a month. People who want to apply have until February 28 to do so. (apply)“Working group members will be compensated for their time and expertise at a rate equivalent to the county’s minimum wage which is approximately $15 an hour,” Falkenstein said. Virginia code assigns each locality’s Planning Commission the responsibility of preparing and recommending the Comprehensive Plan. Commission Chair Karen Firehock said the roles and responsibilities of the working group need to be clear to avoid disappointment in the future. “I think it will be really important to make sure the working group understands their role because I know sometimes in the county there’s been various committees where there has been some confusion on who is making what recommendations, who is in charge,” Firehock said. “We’ve established quite a few committees and we don’t always do a perfect job of having people understand. This is a brand new group and there’s no precedent so I think just being really clear with them what their role is.”Planning Commissioner Luis Carrazana suggested the Commission be as involved as possible. “If we can be involved earlier and having some dialogue either with staff or perhaps with the working group at key moments, I think that would be much more productive,” Carrazana said. Falkenstein said each phase of the review would include two work sessions with the Planning Commission. “One towards the beginning and one towards the end,” Falkenstein said. “Hopefully that would solve for that dynamic where the Planning Commission is not saying yes or no to something that the committee or the public had spent a long time wrestling with.”One of the first deliverables will be an analysis of the county’s capacity to absorb residential and commercial growth with the existing boundaries. Stay tuned in the weeks and months ahead, and do consider that pop-up this Thursday if you’re really keen to learn more about the county’s vision for the future. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
February 3, 2022: Third "new" hotel coming to Pantops; Places29-Rio group briefed on future of Rio Road corridor

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2022 19:18


Quick! Grab a glass and fill it to the fifty percent point with any liquid. How would you describe it? Perhaps for today only you might say it is half full, given that February 3 is Optimist Day, and it may be time to try out that attitude just for one day. That’s not a requirement, however, to interact with this or any installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a podcast and newsletter that wants you to listen and read no matter how you’re feeling today. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I will always hope that you are well.On today’s show:The Pantops Community Advisory Committee gets a briefing on a third hotel on U.S. 250The Places29-Rio Community Advisory Committee gets an update on the Rio Road Corridor PlanAlbemarle’s hope to use photo-speed cameras for traffic enforcement in rural areas is dead in 2022A quick look at the candidates seeking to be the next Congressional Representative for Virginia’s new 5th District The first shout-out goes to LEAPWhen you think of romance, you might not immediately think of energy efficiency - but the folks at LEAP think keeping your family comfortable at home is a great way to show you care during the month of love. Your local energy nonprofit wants to make sure you are getting the most out of your home all year round, and LEAP offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If someone in your household is age 60 or older, or you have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Pandemic update: Surge continues to wane Let’s begin today with a quick look at COVID numbers. Most numbers continue to trend toward, with an average daily count of new cases at 7,237 and the percent positivity is down to 23.2 percent. Still high for most of the pandemic, but short of the high points of last month’s surge. The Virginia Healthcare and Hospital Association reports 2,578 people in hospital with COVID. Today the Blue Ridge Health District reports another 297 new cases and the percent positivity is at 21.7 percent, continuing a gradual decline. There have been at least eight deaths reported since January 26, though COVID fatalities are often reported several days or weeks after the individual passed on. As of today, 16,548 Virginians have died from COVID. The University of Virginia Health System has received $2.14 million in federal grants for a program to help prevent burnout in medical professionals. The Wisdom and Wellbeing program works with partners at the Region 10 Community Mental Health and Wellness Coalition to provide training for healthcare workers across the region. “The program gives care providers, community health workers and healthcare students effective tools to identify and treat ‘stress injuries’ caused by trauma, loss and the many challenges healthcare workers face,” reads a press release.The program will be expanded through the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation, an organization created after a UVA doctor took her own life in April 2020. Congressional fundraising continues for 2022 race as legal case for Delegates’ elections continues We’re still waiting for a final decision on whether there will be a House of Delegates race this year. Last year, Richmond attorney Paul Goldman filed a suit against the Board of Elections arguing that the certification of Delegates for two-year terms last November was unconstitutional due to the legislative boundaries being outdated because they are still based on the 2010 U.S. Census.Last week, attorneys affiliated with new Attorney General Jason Miyares took up the case and have asked judges with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to deny a request by Goldman to submit additional information in the appeal. Among other things, they argue that data Goldman used to claim imbalance in legislative districts cannot be verified. (read that brief)On Monday, the court deferred consideration of Goldman’s motion earlier. (read that order)Request for 2022 General Assembly election still alive in federal court, January 19, 2022Goldman lawsuit prompting Albemarle to consider expedited redistricting schedule, January 25, 2022 But there will definitely be a Congressional race this year under the new districts approved by the Virginia Supreme Court in late December. In the 5th District, Republican Incumbent Bob Good will defend his seat in seeking a second term. He currently has one member of his party challenging him and that’s Dan Moy, the chair of the Republican Party in Charlottesville. According to campaign finance data processed by the Virginia Public Access Project, Good raised $518,278 cash in 2021. Moy did not file a report in that filing period. Three Democrats are in the race. Josh Throneburg raised $270,154 in 2021. He’s an ordained minister and small business owner. Warren McClellan is a farmer who grew up in Southside and he raised $11,001.Andy Parker is running because his daughter was killed while she was doing a television report at Smith Mountain Lake several years ago. He had not filed a report by the end of 2021.  A fourth Democrat, Lewis Combs Jr., suspended his campaign last week due to the new shape of the 5th District. “As a result of our analysis, I have decided that there is not a viable path to victory for our progressive campaign in the 5th Congressional District,” Combs said in a statement “We are confident that our campaign could raise the funds and field the organization needed to run an effective campaign. However, I could not truthfully assure our potential donors that there is a pathway to victory in the general election.” General Assembly snapshot There’s so much going on at the General Assembly and a lot of bits of information may fall through the cracks. As of this morning, 184 of 2,446 bills and resolutions filed have officially failed. The House of Delegates has passed 250 bills and the Senate has passed 309 bills. A total of 139 bills have passed both Houses, with most of these being commendations or celebrations. Thirty-nine bills have been carried on to 2023. Albemarle County asked local legislators to introduce a bill that would allow localities to use photo-speed cameras to enforce speed limits on sections of rural roads. Delegate Rob Bell (R-58) carried HB747, but on January 27 a subcommittee of the House Public Safety Committee recommended “laying on the table” which is one way of saying it died. A similar bill (SB334) in the Senate also died when it failed to report out of the Transportation Committee on January 20. Crossover Day is on February 15. That’s the day when bills must have passed one House to be considered by the others. Third hotel planned for Pantops A lot happens in Albemarle County, and sometimes it takes me a bit to get to all I want to write about. Stories are coming in the near future on redistricting and Albemarle’s Comprehensive Plan process. If you can’t wait, do check out Allison Wrabel’s stories on those items in the Daily Progress. Albemarle launches website, seeks work group members for Comp Plan updateAlbemarle bumps up redistricting timeline, will hold public hearing March 2But, sticking with Albemarle County for a bit, let’s get some updates on various development projects coming up. At the January 24 meeting of the Pantops Community Advisory Committee, members learned about a site plan for a new project at the intersection of Town and Country Lane and Olympia Drive. Rachel Falkenstein is a planning manager with Albemarle. (watch the meeting)“The proposal there is for a five-story 119-room hotel and parking,” Falkenstein said. That use is consistent with the zoning, but the final design will need to get a certificate of appropriateness of the Albemarle Architectural Review board. “It’s right behind Guadalajara and Marco’s Pizza,” said Supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley. “You’ll see some of it from U.S. 250.” The developer is HMP Properties LLC. They own several properties in the Williamsburg area and other parts of eastern Virginia.  This is not to be confused with another hotel under development right across the street. That’s got the working title of Overlook Hotel. The Planning Commission recommended approval of a technical rezoning for that project in January. The Board of Supervisors will make a final decision at some point, but the meeting has not yet been scheduled yet. There’s also a new Holiday Inn Express that’s opened on Pantops Corner Way.One member of the Pantops CAC asked a question that’s on many people’s minds. “Is there really a need for another hotel?” asked Stephanie Lowenhaupt. “Has there been documentation or some type of data that would show why we need a third hotel in that very close area?”Supervisor LaPisto-Kirtley said that’s not a decision that’s up to the local government, but the county does try to promote other uses where it can. “On properties we know that are vacant we try to elicit let’s say high-tech, light manufacturing, high-paying jobs,” LaPisto-Kirtley said. “On other sites like this, whoever owns it, they can do what they want. Presumably they’ve done their homework.” Two more shout-outs: Good cheer and community journalismYou’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement and it’s time for two more Patreon-fueled shout-outs. The first comes a long-time supporter who wants you to know:"Today is a great day to spread good cheer: reach out to an old friend, compliment a stranger, or pause for a moment of gratitude to savor a delight."The second comes from a more recent supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today!Places29-Rio group reviews corridor plan One of the purposes of a Comprehensive Plan is to direct government resources into specific areas in order to maximize investment in infrastructure. For over forty years, Albemarle County has envisioned an urban area that gets the vast majority of capital dollars. Pantops is one of the designated growth areas, as is the area around the intersection of Rio Road and U.S. 29. (Rio Corridor Public Input page)For the past year, Albemarle has been working on a plan to address traffic congestion and a lack of walkability on Rio Road East in and around the intersection with the John Warner Parkway. They hired the firm Line and Grade to do the work which is being done in two phases. The first extends from the Rio Road / U.S. 29 intersection to the John Warner Parkway and a written draft is nearing completion. The second phase travels down Rio Road East to the border with Charlottesville. The Places29-Rio Community Advisory Committee got an update on January 27 from Dan Hyer of Line and Grade. Specifically he focused on the area of East Rio Road between the Parkway and Pen Park Road. Let’s hear some traffic counts. (watch the meeting) “And what we see is that this portion of Rio Road is at least as of the year 2019 carrying about 9,300 vehicles a day,” Hyer said. “We’re seeing that Pen Park Road carries about 4,400, Pen Park Lane which goes to Lochlyn Hills carries about a thousand. The John Warner Parkway carrying around 19,800. Dunlora Drive carries about 2,400 vehicles per day.” Hyer said those figures are likely out of date with more development in the area. “Lochlyn Hills has continued to develop and bring more vehicles and more neighbors and more residents in the area,” Hyer said. “The Lofts apartment has come online with it, again, more neighbors, more residents, high density, multifamily there.Dunlora Park has come online.” Hyer also the 43-unit Rio Commons project will be developed by-right on land already zoned R-4 just north of the Waldorf School. That will add another 300 vehicles a day. There’s also another by-right development of a farm nearby that could see many more units. Before Hyer was able to get into the details of what phase 2 might look like, members of the CAC questioned his traffic data. One wanted to know what the limits are to development.“At what point would traffic lead to so much that further development would be prohibited?” asked Audrey Kocher, who is serving in her third term on the Places29-Rio CAC. Hyer said development is based on land use decisions made by the locality so if land is already zoned for houses, the developer as a property right to build. “It has nothing to do with how much traffic is or is not on on the road already,” Hyer said.“Whoa!” Kocher exclaimed. “So we can just have a really crowded, dangerous situation.” The point of the plan is to address those public safety concerns in advance of future development. So far, crash data from the Virginia Department of Transportation does not indicate any fatalities. In the future, though, there will be a lot more activity on a 2,000 linear feet stretch of Rio Road East with the 328-unit Rio Point development approved by Board of Supervisors in December. The study is intended to bring it all together for the future. “The roadway is going from this to this and so its getting increasingly dense and increasingly complex and our recommendations need to consider this and account for this,” Hyer said. Hyer said the Rio Point project provides an opportunity to increase non vehicular access via the greenway that runs along the John Warner Parkway. “You can see that if that connection is successfully put in, it would be really helpful for someone who lives in Dunlora Forest and wants to get to the greenway, it might make it a little easier than going through the John Warner Parkway or going down to Pen Park,” Hyer said. There’s also a roundabout funded and planned for the intersection of the parkway and East Rio Road. The work of Line and Grade is intended to inform how the rest of the corridor might look in the future. Phase two is still in the idea phase. “If we want to bring unity to this stretch of road, which is happening, how do we do it?” Hyer asked. “What are the opportunities? And what is the desire?” CAC member Nancy Hunt liked what she saw in Hyer’s presentation because she sees further growth as inevitable. “We’re going to have more traffic,” Hunt said. “This is an urbanizing area and we have to treat all property owners equally. And if we give dense zoning to one, we need to look at the possibility of giving dense zoning to another.”Hunt said she wants speed limits on East Rio Road to be reduced to make it safer for other road users.Fellow CAC Member Judy Schlussel took issue with one image that showed a median on East Rio Road.“I find that as a red flag,” Schlussel said. “We all know now median strips are not maintained and it worries me that if you’re going to put this lovely greenery in, one, who is going to ultimately be responsible for the maintenance.” You can also get a sense of where things are in a January 26 newsletter. Support the showToday I will keep this simple. Visit Information Charlottesville to learn how you can support the show. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
February 1, 2022: Transportation group briefed on University of Virginia's master plan for land use; CAAR releases 4th quarter real estate report

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 1, 2022 16:40


This is not the day that repeats and to my knowledge there are no important prognostications or forecasts that I am aware of. But this is the first day of the second month of the current year, and there may be sayings that I am not saying, except to say hello and welcome to the February 1 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that does repeat in the sense that it comes out as often as possible. I’m Sean Tubbs, here are the things I have to say: On today’s program:The University of Virginia is in the early stages of creating a new master plan for the future of its land use A bill to extend oyster season is one of several bills that has passed the Virginia Senate, and I have a small rundownThe housing market in the Charlottesville area shows signs of cooling downCamp Albemarle shout-out!Today’s first subscriber-supported public service announcement goes out to Camp Albemarle, which has for sixty years been a “wholesome rural, rustic and restful site for youth activities, church groups, civic events and occasional private programs.”Located on 14 acres on the banks of the Moorman’s River near Free Union, Camp Albemarle continues as a legacy of being a Civilian Conservation Corps project that sought to promote the importance of rural activities. Camp Albemarle seeks support for a plan to winterize the Hamner Lodge, a structure built in 1941 by the CCC and used by every 4th and 5th grade student in Charlottesville and Albemarle for the study of ecology for over 20 years. If this campaign is successful, Camp Albemarle could operate year-round. Consider your support by visiting http://campalbemarleva.org/donate. Pandemic updateCOVID’s omicron surge continues to recede, though numbers are still higher than at most points of the pandemic. Today the Virginia Department of Health reports another 6,055 new cases and the seven-day percent positivity dropped to 24.5 percent. The Blue Ridge Health District reports another 130 new cases today and the percent positivity in the district is at 22.4 percent. Yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration fully approved the Moderna version of the COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine has been authorized for emergency use since December 18, 2020 and will now be marketed as Spikevax. (release)Black History Month begins todayFebruary 1 marks the beginning of Black History Month, and Governor Glenn Youngkin has issued a proclamation to mark the occasion that cites leadership provided by Black Virginians including former Governor Doug Wilder as well as Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, the first woman of color to be elected to statewide office. The proclamation also recognizes the roles played by Dr. Robert Russa Moton, Maggie Lena Walker, and Dorothy Height. Each of those links goes to Encyclopedia Virginia, where you can learn more. (read the proclamation)CAAR: Residential sales in region beginning to cool The housing market in the Charlottesville area continued to increase in price with constrained inventory, though there are signs of cooling. Sales were down five percent but sales prices were up six percent according to an analysis published this morning by the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors. “There were 436 active listings across the CAAR footprint at the end of the fourth quarter, which is 33 percent fewer listings than this time last year,” reads the report. The report suggests more homes are on the way. Housing construction was up 34 percent in the first eleven months of 2021 compared to the previous year. “Between 2020 and 2021, the number of permits for new single-family homes increased by 15 percent, while the number of permits for multifamily units more than doubled,” the report continues. The report also breaks matters down by jurisdiction. Sales were up 14 percent in Charlottesville in the fourth quarter of 2021 and up 15 percent in Greene County. However, sales were down 14 percent in Fluvanna and 38 percent in Nelson County. The median price in Charlottesville was down was one percent, but was 26 percent higher in Nelson. Check out the report for more information on consumer confidence, mortgage interest rates, employment, and many other economic indicators.General Assembly update: Split Senate votes on law enforcement notification, funding for kidney disease Let’s continue with another quick update on the status of some legislation in the Virginia General Assembly beginning with a bill that has passed the House of Delegates.The House passed a bill 99 to 0 to require companies that charge for services on a continuing basis to notify the consumer at the end of a seven-day trial period. (HB78)The Senate passed a bill 40 to 0 to direct the Department of Education to develop policies to inform coaches, parents, and guardians about the risks of heat-related illness. (SB161)The Senate also passed a bill to direct the State Registrar of Vital Records to update the Department of Elections once a week with names of people who have died. The vote was 32-8. (SB211)The two parties split 21 to 19 on a bill to create the Renal Disease Council and a fund to support people with kidney disease. (SB241)Another party line vote was held on a bill that would require law enforcement officers to tell a motorist why they have been pulled over before identification must be presented. (SB246)A bill that would clarify the definition of composting also passed the Senate on a unanimous vote. (SB248)Food manufacturers that operate in historic buildings would be exempt from certain laws and regulations if SB305 also passed the House of Delegates. The Senate passed this bill from Senator Creigh Deeds (D-25)The Senate passed a bill 39 to 1 to create the Historic Triangle Recreational Facilities Authority to be made up of Williamsburg and the counties of James City and York. (SB438)A bill to extend oyster season to March 31 passed the Senate on a 39 to 0 vote. (SB629)Second shout-out goes to Code for CharlottesvilleCode for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects such as an expungement project with the Legal Aid Justice Center, a map of Charlottesville streetlights, and the Charlottesville Housing Hub. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects.MPO Policy Board briefed on the UVA Master PlanReaders and listeners should know by now that planning is a constant theme of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Tonight the Albemarle Planning Commission will get an update on the county’s Comprehensive Plan process. Visit the new engage.albemarle.org to learn more about AC44 (which is also a regular Air Canada flight between Vancouver and New Dehli). Staff and consultants are at work on the third phase of Charlottesville’s Cville Plans Together initiative, which will see the rewriting of the city’s zoning code.But how does the University of Virginia plan for its future? Something called the Grounds Framework Plan. Julia Monteith is the Associate University Planner and she briefed the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization on January 26. “The last one of these that we did was completed in 2008 and we roughly due them on a ten-year cycle,” Monteith said. (read the 2008 plan)Creation of the next plan was to have begun in 2020, but as with many things, the pandemic got in the way. “The world had other plans for us so the project went on hold,” Monteith said. Last spring, UVA hired a consultant called Urban Strategies to do some of the background work. The Toronto-based firm recently completed a master plan for Princeton University.“This plan will take about a year and they’re planning to wrap it up in fall of next year and so to date what they’ve been doing is really coming up to speed, doing a background review, data assembly, interviews, and quite a bit of analysis and understanding of who we are and what we’ve done to date,” Monteith said. Monteith said the plan will help to physically implement the Great and Good University Plan, which was adopted in August 2019 as UVA’s strategic plan. One of the strategic goals in that document is to “be a strong partner with and good neighbor to the Charlottesville region.” A key initiative is the “Good Neighbor Program.” The next Grounds Framework will update the 2008 plan which Monteith said called for compact growth and redevelopment of existing sites where possible. “We’ll be considering the Grounds and for those who may not be familiar, we delineate the Grounds into three precincts—Central Grounds, West Ground, and North Grounds with the Academical Village at the center of Central Grounds,” Monteith said.All of those properties are owned by the state of Virginia through the Rector of the Board of Visitors. The University of Virginia Foundation also owns property throughout the community and some of that will also be addressed in the plan update. “We’re also going to be considering the context of some of the Foundation properties,” Monteith said. “Westover, Boar’s Head, Birdwood, Foxhaven and the [Blue Ridge Sanitorium].”In the context of the plan, these properties are not intended for new facilities any time soon but instead are intended to be “spheres of influence” for development into the future. Monteith said there is a lot of capacity for redevelopment within the Central Grounds area. Urban Strategies will also take into account a Strategic Framework for Academic Space from 2018 and a Landscape Framework Plan from 2019. There’s also a key transportation study as well. “In 2019, we completed our third parking and transportation plan,” Montieth said. “This plan really takes a hybrid approach towards transportation that really looks at transportation demand management balanced with more traditional transportation planning.” Among other things, this plan seeks to limit the number of parking spaces that UVA will need to build by offering alternatives to driving alone in a single occupancy vehicle. In all there are eighteen strategies, ranging from “reorganize commuter and student parking to reduce event impact and enhance commuter service” to “evaluate need to build new parking facilities in the long term.” Back to the idea of redevelopment. Monteith said a master plan is completed for each one before construction begins. That includes Brandon Avenue, Emmet-Ivy, Ivy Mountain, Fontaine, and more. There’s also Ivy Gardens, which is owned currently by the UVA Foundation. The Grounds Plan update is intended to bring it all together. (See also: UVA making plan for Ivy Garden redevelopment, June 9, 2021)“A framework plan of this type is going to be looking at place and character, land use and facilities, and transportation, but equally important to us are equity and inclusivity, community well-being, and sustainability,” Monteith said. One theme is to continue to move more medical programs and outpatient services from the West Complex to the Fontaine Research Park.UVA has set a goal to be carbon neutral by 2030 and fossil-free by 2050 and the Grounds Plan will take this into account, and how UVA will work with Albemarle and Charlottesville to achieve those mutual goals, as well as others. “Of course I think you are all aware that UVA is committed to facilitating the development of 1,000 to 1,500 affordable housing units, so that’s part of our discussion also,” Monteith said. Those are at the UVA North Fork Discovery Park, the Piedmont site on Fontaine Avenue, and Wertland Street. Monteith said the plan also will provide opportunities to think how the University Transit Service can work better with Charlottesville Area Transit and Jaunt to improve the regional transportation system. Supervisor Ann Mallek said she wants the University to make an investment to connect Old Ivy Road to points south. At the eastern end, there’s currently a narrow railroad tunnel with no sidewalk or other concessions for pedestrians and Mallek said that needs to change. “I do hope that the University will take on its responsibility for dealing with that trestle either with a walk over the top or something for pedestrians because it really is dangerous every day for the people who live there now,” Mallek said. Monteith said Old Ivy Road is the responsibility of the Virginia Department of Transportation, and she said the University is working with VDOT on potential solutions for both ends of the roadway. In addition to the Ivy Residences, Greystar Development is seeking to build over 400 units at the western end of the roadway. “We’re waiting to hear back from what the thinking is to approach that and long-term it has been discussed that it’s a priority for [Albemarle] County should funding appear but it’s quite a challenge to figure out how to realign the road to better move through that railroad trestle,” Monteith said. More information on the development of this plan, and all of the other plans, will come in future installments of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
January 25, 2022: Charlottesville sales tax referendum passes Senate; Albemarle may speed up redistricting process due to federal lawsuit against Virginia Board of Elections

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 25, 2022 16:25


We’re now over a month past the solstice and I can assure you that there’s more light in our day and there will be an end to winter. For now, there certainly is a lot of cold and it’s a shame there’s no way to conduct a harvest. I’m Sean Tubbs and I spend my time indoors with the curtains drawn pouring through meetings and agendas to bring you Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that wants you to keep track of the sky. On today’s show:Legislation to allow Charlottesville to hold a referendum on a one percent sales tax  increase for education has passed the SenateCharlottesville needs more time to respond to a lawsuit from a former city managerAlbemarle County begins the redistricting process and may accelerate it due to a pending federal lawsuit that could force House of Delegates races this NovemberCharlottesville’s public housing body is briefed on back rent owed by a third of tenants, and the city wants proposals for three quarters of a million dollars in affordable housing moneyFirst Patreon-fueled shout-out:With winter weather here, now is the time to think about keeping your family warm through the cold Virginia months. Make sure you are getting the most out of your home with help from your local energy nonprofit, LEAP. LEAP wants you and yours to keep comfortable all year round, and offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If you’re age 60 or older, or have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Pandemic updateAs Virginia policy on COVID mitigation strategies continues to change with a new Governor, the numbers continue to come in. Today the Virginia Department of Health reports another 10,699 new cases and the seven day-percent positivity is at 29.5 percent. While the trend this week is downward, these numbers are still higher than at most points during the pandemic. In the Blue Ridge Health District, there are another 350 new cases reported today and the seven-day average for new positive tests is at 25.1 percent. There have been four new fatalities reported since Friday in the district. Augusta Health and the University of Virginia Health System are pleading with members of the public to get a COVID vaccination and a booster to reduce strain on the medical infrastructure. “After two years and four surges, COVID-19 has tragically claimed the lives and health of too many in our communities,” reads a joint press release from both entities. “Our care teams are exhausted, both physically and mentally.”The release points out that the vast majority of hospitalized patients are unvaccinated and urges people to get the booster. It also asks people to continue wearing a mask in public but to upgrade to one that is medical grade as opposed to a cloth mask.Richardson lawsuit updateThe city of Charlottesville has asked for more time to respond to a federal lawsuit from former City Manager Tarron Richardson. Richardson filed a civil rights suit in November in the Western District of Virginia against Council and four individuals claiming he was discriminated against after members of Council broke a non-disparagement clause. He was also barred from publishing an op-ed in the Daily Progress. Charlottesville asked for an extension to respond to the argument, and Judge Norman K. Moon has given them until February 16.  See also: Former City Manager Sues Charlottesville, November 24, 2021Chamber of Commerce welcomes new membersThree new people have been added to the Board of Directors for the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce.Eric Mayberry is the president of the Daily Progress as well as director of sales and local marketing. Jonathan Chasen is a private wealth financial advisor with Wells Fargo Advisors. Rebecca Ivins is a client solutions manager for Hourigan, a construction company that has worked on several projects in Charlottesville including the Dairy Central building, the CODE building, and the Apex building. Charlottesville sales tax bill clears Virginia SenateHere’s a snapshot of where the General Assembly was at the close of business yesterday. The Senate has passed 37 bills, and the House of Delegates of Delegates has passed three, all three of which deal with insurance. So let’s focus today on the 40-member Chamber, where Senator Chap Petersen’s bill to permit hunting on Sunday passed the full Senate on a 29 to 11 vote (SB8). Both Charlottesville and Isle of Wight County are one step closer to being able to hold a referendum for a one percent sales tax increase to support education. SB37 for Isle of Wight County passed on a 27 to 12 vote. SB298 for Charlottesville passed on a 28 to 12 vote. Another bill would allow all localities in Virginia to hold such a referendum also passed on a 28 to 12 vote (SB472). Other bills that have passed the Senate:Legislation to allow employers to offer rewards to people who get the COVID-19 vaccine through their health insurance wellness program has passed on a 19 to 17 vote (SB42)A bill to direct the Department of Health to create a prescription drug awareness program in conjunction with the Board of Pharmacy passed unanimously. (SB14)A locality’s planning commission would have up to 100 days to make a recommendation on a Comprehensive Plan amendment under a bill that passed the Senate on a 26 to 14 vote. (SB35)Candidates for constitutional officers for localities would be required to identify their party registration if the House agrees to (SB39) and Governor Youngkin signs it. The Senate voted 25 to 15.  The Senate unanimously approved a bill to float $101 million in bonds for projects at Virginia Tech and James Madison University (SB93).Juvenile and Domestic Courts could waive the requirement for the ceremonial occasion when a minor gets a driver’s license if SB139 if the House agrees. The Senate passed it unanimously. (SB139)Candidates for public office would have to file campaign finance reports electronically under SB222, which passed the Senate unanimously. Another bill to expand required disclosures for who pays for campaign advertisements also passed the Senate on a 23 to 15 vote (SB318). Finally for the Senate, a bill to allow Arlington County to appoint an independent police auditor passed on a 21 to 19 vote (SB388). Second Patreon-fueled shout out goes to WTJUAlgorithms know how to put songs and artists together based on genre or beats per minute. But only people can make connections that engage your mind and warm your heart. The music on WTJU 91.1 FM is chosen by dozens and dozens of volunteer hosts -- music lovers like you who live right here in the Charlottesville area. Listener donations keep WTJU alive and thriving. In this era of algorithm-driven everything, go against the grain. Support freeform community radio on WTJU and get ready for the Folk Marathon, beginning on February 7. Consider a donation at wtju.net/donate.Public housing agency owed $100K in unpaid rent At last night’s meeting of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority, one Commission noted that there is a great deal of unpaid rent on the agency’s books.“We have roughly a third of our public housing residents not paying their rent,” said John Sales, the CRHA’s executive director. In all, the CRHA is owed about $100,000 in back rent but Sales said that’s not the only financial hit public housing takes as a result because a federal match cannot be made. “And CRHA is not receiving the rental subsidy on it which negatively impacts the overall financial standing of the housing authority,” Sales said. The CRHA has been redirecting other funds towards covering the shortfall with grant funding covering April, May and half of June from last year. Sales said continuing lack of rent payment continues to trouble the federal government.“[The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] is calling it out at every meeting and asks where we are doing to address it,” Sales said. The CRHA’s fiscal year ends on March 31. Sales said the agency is hiring an eviction prevention coordinator and housing stabilization position soon to work with families.“There is a policy now where the housing authority has to work with the families before moving forward with any eviction proceeding to at least get them to attempt to get the rent relief program,” Sales said. Sales said eviction is a last resort. The average rental payment is $247 a month and the monthly operating expense to run CRHA is currently $265,927. HUD considered CRHA to be a “troubled” agency and there will be an audit on March 16. At the meeting, former Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker was officially appointed to serve on the CRHA’s redevelopment committee in an at-large capacity.City seeking affordable housing proposals Since 2007, Charlottesville has had an affordable housing fund to help create and preserve affordable housing units. Today they’ve begun the process of soliciting proposals for how to use $750,000 from the current fiscal year’s capital budget. The notice for funding availability (NOFA) refers to the affordable housing plan adopted by Council last March. “This Plan recommends that the City make a strong and recurring financial commitment to address housing needs in Charlottesville in order to increase the number of subsidized affordable homes by 1,100 homes, preserve existing 600 existing subdidized affordable homes, and stabilize 1,800 to 2,000 owner and renter households facing housing instability,” reads the application.The application comes at a time when the firm HR&A continues to work on an audit of how the housing fund has been used. They gave a preliminary report to Council on December 20 that states the city has not tracked how the $38 million in local funds have been used to date. The current capital improvement program budget for this year includes $1.5 million for CHRA redevelopment, $900,000 for the supplemental rental assistance program, and over $3 million for the redevelopment of Friendship Court. The budget actually shows a line item of $925,000 for the housing fund this year. Questions are out but the answers will come in a future edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. See also: Council briefed on affordable housing funds, December 31, 2021Goldman lawsuit prompting Albemarle to consider expedited redistricting scheduleThe redistricting process in Albemarle County got underway last night with an information session on how it will work out. Guidelines require magisterial districts to be contained with Virginia’s legislative and Congressional lines. Under the new maps approved in late December by the Virginia Supreme Court, Albemarle falls entirely within the new 11th Senate District.“Albemarle County falls into two different Virginia House of Delegates districts, the 54th which is basically the urban ring around the city of Charlottesville and then the 55th which is the majority of the county,” said Anthony Bessette, the Senior Assistant County Attorney.There’s a slight glitch when it comes to the new House of Representatives maps.“Almost all of Albemarle County is in the 5th District but there is a tiny sliver up [north] that is in the 7th District,” Bessette said. There’s even a Twitter account for the sliver. Since 2010, Albemarle’s population grew by 13,385 people according to the Census but the growth isn’t even.“Rio and White Hall grew a great deal whereas on the other hand Scottsville did not grow at the same pace,” Bessette said. That means the Rio District and White Hall districts will need to be reduced in size and others will need to be expanded. In December, Supervisors approved preliminary guidelines that would keep their number at six. “The determination of whether to have six supervisors, five, four, seven, eight, etc, is a local decision that the Board of Supervisors gets to make,” Bessette said. Because of a federal lawsuit that may force an election for the House of Delegates this year, staff is now recommending an accelerated schedule in order to prepare for potential primaries in June. “Long story short on that is that timeline would see the process compressed further to begin on February 2 and end on March 23,” Bessette said. Attorney Paul Goldman has filed suit against the state Board of Elections arguing that the current districts for the House of Delegates are unconstitutional because they are out of date. Goldman filed a brief on January 18 in the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and attorneys for the Board of Elections have until January 28 to file additional materials. Public comment on redistricting will be taken at their February 2 meeting. The maps that have been developed so far were not shown to the public at the information session. Registrar Jake Washburne said three maps are being proposed. “We are planning to send those to the Board of Supervisors so they can be placed on the Board of Supervisors’ agenda for February 2,” Washburne said.  If you want to submit written comments:Richard J. WashburneGeneral Registrar Albemarle County Department of Voter Registration and Elections 1600 5th Street Charlottesville VA 22902 rwashburne@albemarle.orgThanks for reading!For ways to support this newsletter visit Information Charlottesville. Please send this on to someone else so we can grow the audience. Please let me know if you have questions! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
January 21, 2022: Legislation to allow one-cent sales tax increase for education nearing passage in the Virginia Senate; Blue Ridge Health District sets one-day record for COVID cases

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 21, 2022 17:08


2022 ends its third week today, and this edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement is intended to capture where we are as of January 21. Listeners and readers do not need to know that this is Squirrel Appreciation Day, National Cheesy Socks Day, National Hugging Day, and One-Liners Day. But, now you do, and that is information you may find useful. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs, and now here’s something I hope you’ll really like.In the 318th edition:The Blue Ridge Health District hits another one day record for COVID-19 with 800 casesA quick snapshot of where the General Assembly was as of this morning And the Central Virginia Regional Housing Partnership takes a look at “missing middle” housingFirst subscriber-supported public service announcement - #MLKCVILLEThe commemoration in Charlottesville of the life, times, and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. continues on Sunday with the 37th Community Celebration put on by the Mount Zion First African Baptist Church. Beginning at 4 p.m., a panel discussion will be held virtually on the topic of “The Urgency of Creating the Beloved Community.” Nancy O’Brien will moderate the event which will features speakers Bitsy Waters, Sarad Davenport, and Cameron Webb. Community members will be recognized and the winners of the local MLK essay contest will be announced. Visit and bookmark the YouTube mlkcville page to review last year’s celebration while you wait for Sunday at 4 p.m. New one-day record of new COVID cases in the Blue Ridge Health DistrictThe Virginia Department of Health reports another 800 new cases of COVID-19 in the Blue Ridge Health District. That’s the highest one day total so far. Those cases are among 17,027 reported across the Commonwealth today. The seven-day average for percent positivity statewide continues to decrease and is at 30.9 percent today. Kathryn Goodman of the Health District confirmed the numbers.“It is important that people follow multiple mitigation strategies to help prevent spreading COVID-19, which include staying home when sick, getting COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, wearing masks in public settings,” Goodman said. The highest plateau of hospitalization numbers so far continues with 3,836 new cases according to the Virginia Healthcare and Hospitalization Association. There are 632 patients in intensive care units and 387 are on ventilators. Today the UVA Health System has the most number of COVID patients then at any time of the pandemic to date. Wendy Horton is the Chief Executive Officer for UVA Health and said there are 114 in-patients today.“And of those 114 COVID patients, 36 are in our ICU’s and six of them are pediatric patients,” Horton said. Some of those COVID patients are asymptomatic and had gone to the hospital for other reasons. We’re now in the third year of the worldwide pandemic, and the Associated Press reports some countries across the world are opting to shift their public health strategy towards accepting COVID-19 as a continuing condition. More of an endemic rather than a pandemic. Dr. Costi Sifri is the director of hospital epidemiology at UVA Health he cautions against making that conclusion.“Many people have predicted the ending of the pandemic at various interactions through this and we think that we’re all a little bit concerned about doing that prematurely,” Dr. Sifri said. “We don’t know what things may look like after Omicron and if there are other variants that we’ll have to deal with. We may see some of the old variants come back and cause problems.”So far, Dr. Sifri said the omicron variant does not cause as many fatalities per infection. “There are reasons for that that seem to be bearing out based on studies,” Dr. Sifri said. “Things like the fact that it causes upper respiratory tract infections compared to pneumonia and lower respiratory tract infections.” Governor Youngkin’s Executive Order Two declared that mask usage in public schools was optional. One stated reason is that the omicron variant “results in less severe illness.” Dr. Sifri said it’s still a serious issue.“Omicron still really can cause very, very serious illness and we’re still seeing patient deaths and we’re seeing them almost on a daily basis,” Dr. Sifri said. Vaccination continues to be a protection against serious disease. The seven-day average for doses administered per day is at 20,915 today and 68.6 percent of the total Virginia population is fully vaccinated and around 2.3 million have received a third dose or a booster. Horton said it is a misnomer to state that omicron is not a threat. “It does cause quite a bit of disease especially in immunocompromised individuals so far our health systems a lot of strain on the intensive care units and caring for those individuals,” Horton said. Later in the week, Youngkin issued another executive order to declare a limited state of emergency to provide hospitals and health care with “flexibility” in the work against COVID-19. (Executive Order 11)“For a health system it really is an acknowledgment of where we’re at and really garners additional resources,” Horton said. “I was really so pleased to see an emphasis on making sure that people have access to vaccination. So that is really very, very important.” Horton said this allows hospitals the ability to increase bed capacity and increase staffing. “We are very fortunate here at UVA that we haven’t had to activate those special accommodations, but it is really great that we know that we have them if we ever need to activate or use any special resources available,” Horton said. Regional group briefed on “missing middle” housingChanges to land use rules are being made across the region to allow for additional density to create what planners and developers refer to as “missing middle” housing. The term was coined by Dan Parolek in 2010. “His focus is on small units and making them feasible to build in neighborhoods where only large single-family houses currently exist,” said Emily Hamilton is a senior research fellow and director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.Hamilton was one of the speakers at the latest discussion run by the Central Virginia Regional Housing Partnership on Thursday. She said additional flexibility to allow more housing can lead to units becoming more affordable. (watch the video)“In some of the cases where we see lots of small in-fill construction happening there is that increased flexibility where for example large duplex units or townhouses can be built in places where exclusively detached single family houses would have been permitted previously,” Hamilton said.The recent adoption of the Crozet Master Plan as well as the Future Land Use Map in the Charlottesville Comprehensive Plan are both intended to encourage the production of these units and developers have responded. Many community members have pushed back, as seen this week in Scottsville when community opposition may have led to a deferral of two special use permits.However, Hamilton said this is how houses in communities used to be built.“Historically in an era before zoning we saw that what we would now call missing middle was often times the bread and butter housing of working and middle income Americans because it has lower per-foot construction costs compared to a large multi-family building,” Hamilton said. The topic comes up a lot in the community. Here are two examples I’ve not yet had the chance to review completely: The Places29-North Community Advisory Committee was introduced to the new Middle Density Residential category at its meeting on January 13. (watch the video)The Crozet Community Advisory Committee discussed a planned residential community within that designated growth area on January 12. (watch the video)Second subscriber-supporter public service announcement goes to Shift/EnterDo you or someone you know want to find a job in the tech community? On this upcoming Saturday, there will be another Shift/Enter workshop in which participants can go through directed sessions with knowledgeable volunteers on resume feedback, interview advice, and perspectives on the tech landscape. For an $8 ticket, you'll have three different interview sessions with people to have a career conversation, to review your resume, or to have a mock interview. To learn more and to sign up, visit shiftenter.org. General Assembly update: Charlottesville sales tax referendum moves close to passage in the SenateToday is Day Nine of the Virginia General Assembly, and we’re at the point where the first pieces of legislation have made their way out of Committee and await a vote in either the House of Delegates or the Senate. There’s a lot of these, but here are some of note. For starters, a bill from Senator Creigh Deeds that would allow Charlottesville to levy a one-cent sales tax increase for capital education costs has been reported out of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee on a 14-2 vote. Senators Steve Newman and Emmet Hanger voted against the measure. (SB298) Today, the bill was read for the second time by the full Senate. Delegate Sally Hudson has similar legislation in the House of Delegates. It is currently within a subcommittee of the House Finance Committee (HB545)If signed into law, voters would have to approve the measure in a referendum. The funding would be earmarked for the school reconfiguration project. Here’s the status on more legislation. A bill (HB28) from Delegate Ronnie Campbell (R-2) to increase the length of the Maury River’s Scenic River status by 23.2 miles was approved by the Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee on a 19-2 vote. One of the two to vote against it was Delegate Chris Runion (R-25). The full House had first reading today. A bill (HB828) from Delegate Tony Wilt (R-26) to expand eligibility in the Dairy Producer Margin Coverage Premium Assistance Program was reported out of the same committee on a unanimous vote. Learn more about the program here. The full House had first reading today. Delegate John McGuire (R-56) has a bill (HB358) would direct the Virginia Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs and the Secretary of Commerce and Trade to examine the feasibility of waiving fees for small businesses owned by veterans. The House Commerce and Energy Committee unanimously recommended adoption. A bill (HB8) from Delegate Tim Anderson (R-83) would allow veterans hired by school boards to be school security officers to perform any other duty they are requested to do so. The House Education committee reported that out unanimously. The full House had first reading today. Another bill (HB9) carried by Delegate Lee Ware (R-65) would allow school boards to extend probationary period for teachers and would appear to make it easier for school boards to dismiss teachers by reducing the period of notice of a dismissal hearing from ten days to five days. That was also reported out of the House Education Committee unanimously. The full House had first reading today. A tax credit program for “major business facilities” is currently slated to sunset this July 1, but a bill from Delegate Kathy Byron (R-22) would extend that to July 1, 2025 (HB269). The House Finance Committee reported that out on a 20-1 vote. Delegate Nick Frietas was the lone vote against this action.  The full House had first reading today. The Attorney General would be required to report every year the number of fraudulent Medicaid claims on a public website if HB232 from Delegate Bobby Orrock (R-54) becomes law. The House Health, Welfare, and Institutions unanimously reported this out unanimously. The full House had first reading today. Over in the Senate, a bill (SB8) from Senator Chap Petersen (D-34) to permit hunting on Sunday reported out of the Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources on a 9 to 4 vote, with two abstentions. Second Here are some other bills of note:A bill from Senator Barbara Favola (D-31) that would allow roof replacement projects at for public buildings to enter into a energy performance-based contract (SB13). The Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources committee reported this out and it has been rereferred to the General Laws and Technology Committee. Another bill from Senator John Edwards (D-21) would remove the ability of the Department of Wildlife Resources to charge a fee for boat ramps that the agency manages but doesn’t own. (SB141) The same committee reported this out, and rereferred it to the Finance and Appropriations Committee. Currently localities with combined stormwater and sewer systems have until 2036 to have replacement systems in place. Under a bill from Richard Stuart (R-28), that would be moved up to 2030. This reported out of the same committee by an 11 to 4 vote, and the bill will go to the Finance and Appropriations Committee. (SB534)A bill has passed the full Senate that would add the City of Chesapeake to a list of localities that require an analysis of drinking water. Albemarle County already has this ability. (SB53)Localities would be allowed to require broadband be installed as part of a residential development if a bill from Senator Jennifer Boysko (D-33) is approved. The Senate Commerce and Labor reported that out and it now goes before the Local Government committee. (SB446)Boysko has another bill to be known as Adam’s Law to require private and public higher education facilities to develop anti-hazing policies (SB439). This was reported unanimously from the Education and Health Committee but with one abstention. Legislation is also pending to require the Department of Education to develop guidelines on policies to inform student athletes and their coaches about the dangers of heat-related illness. SB161 was reported out of the Senate Education Committee and is now before the Finance and Appropriations Committee. The Virginia Arts Foundation would be eliminated and its powers transferred to the Virginia Commission of the Arts under one bill (SB597) from Senator Todd Pillion (R-40). The Education and Health Committee unanimously reported this out. A bill from Siobhan Dunnavant (R-12) would allow certain pharmacists to dispense cannabis products until such time as retail sale licenses are available. (SB621) The Education and Health Committee reported this bill out, and it’s now been assigned to the Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee. A bill from Senator Richard Stuart would require cyclists riding two abreast to not impede vehicular traffic passed out of the Transportation Committee on an 11-4 vote. (SB362)Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
January 20, 2022: Scottsville Council defers on density requests while Charlottesville Council approves two Piedmont Housing rezonings on Park Street

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 20, 2022 17:12


It has been one year since the last time it was January 20, and this time around many things are different. Does anything ever stay exactly the same? That is not a question directly before us on this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a constantly changing compendium of challenges, choices, and charged chatter. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.In this edition:Charlottesville City Council approves two housing projects intended for those with lower incomesScottsville Town Council defers a vote on two clustered developments within town limitsGovernor Youngkin issues two more executive orders, including a removal word “equity” from his Cabinet diversity chiefA new brief is filed in a lawsuit seeking a House of Delegates election in 2022 And an update from the General Assembly update. Two shouts-outs to start the programYou’re listening to Charlottesville. Community Engagement. Let’s begin today with two more Patreon-fueled shout-outs. The first comes a long-time supporter who wants you to know:"Today is a great day to spread good cheer: reach out to an old friend, compliment a stranger, or pause for a moment of gratitude to savor a delight."And this is where I wish my mother a Happy Birthday! The second comes from a more recent supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today!Pandemic updateToday the number of new COVID-19 cases increased over yesterday, but the seven-day percent positivity has declined once again. There are 14,803 new cases and the percent positivity is at 31.6 percent. The number of hospitalizations is currently at 3,868 patients with 635 of them in intensive care units and 388 are on ventilators. The Blue Ridge Health District reports another 512 new cases today and the percent positivity is at 26 percent. Just before publication, Governor Glenn Youngkin has announced a limited state of emergency in Executive Order 11 that is related to the pandemic. This is similar to one enacted earlier this month by former Governor Ralph Northam which provides flexibility to health care providers related to staffing. This will expire on February 21. Read the order for more details on the 18 provisions within. Request for 2022 General Assembly election still alive in federal courtA new motion was filed this week in the federal lawsuit seeking the Virginia Board of Elections to hold a new election this November for all 100 seats in the House of Delegates. Attorney Paul Goldman filed the suit in the Eastern District of Virginia last year arguing that the current boundaries are invalid because they are based on 2010 Census data. Goldman also sought a temporary injunction to stop the Board in November from certifying the 2021 election results in the House of Delegates for a period of two years. That motion was denied. Goldman appealed and this week filed a brief in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that applies the same legal arguments that led the Eastern District Court in 1981 to order House of Delegates elections that year for a one year term with a new election in 1982. (learn more on Wikipedia)“The failure of the federal government to timely provide 2020 U.S. Census Data created delays in the Virginia reapportionment process,” reads the summary of the argument. “But this federal failure doesn’t provide a constitutional ‘free pass’ for state officials to arbitrarily decide to violate Appellee’s constitutionally protected voting rights.” Goldman argues the districts in place last November violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because some districts had many more voters than others because the reapportionment had not happened yet. He’s asking the three judge panel to take up the case. In late December, The Supreme Court of Virginia approved maps drawn by two special masters. More 2022 General Assembly legislation ends in committeeMeanwhile, the work of the General Assembly continues with 1.4 percent of the 2,078 bills filed so far listed as failing. At least, as of 8 a.m. this morning. All but one of them are in the Senate. One such bill from Senator Bill Stanley (R-20) would have required a mandatory minimum of life imprisonment for a Class 1 felony. It was “passed by indefinitely” in the Judiciary Committee on a party line vote of 8 to 7. (SB79)A bill from Senator Ghazala F. Hashmi (D-10) would have allowed “credentialed newspersons” to cross police lines, perimeters, and barricades. Hashmi asked for it to be stricken. (SB240)Senator Amanda Chase (R-11) has a bill (SB548) that would have prohibited any discrimination of people based on vaccination status. That one “failed to report” from the General Laws and Technology committee on a party-line vote. A second bill (SB582) from Chase would have prevented any discrimination against people who don’t want to wear a mask. That one was “passed by indefinitely” by an 8 to 6 vote, with Senator Siobhan Dunnavant (R-12) not casting a vote.A bill from Senator Jeremy McPike (D-29) (SB606) would have required smoke detectors in all new residential units, equipped with a battery that can last ten years. The request was stricken at the request of the patron. A bill from Senator Jill Vogel (R-27) would have added a sixth member to the Board of Elections and extend their terms to six years. SB610 would also have required photo identification to vote and require registrars to audit the voter rolls more frequently. The bill was stricken at Vogel’s request in the Privileges and Elections committee.One piece of legislation has already been continued to 2023. SB59 from Senator Travis Hackworth (R-38) would require the police chief in a dissolved city to relinquish records over to the sheriff of the county that would take over authority of the jurisdiction.  But it’s not all failure. Forty House Joint Resolutions have passed the House of Delegates, as well as four House Resolutions. Most of these are organizational or commendations for various individuals and organizations across Virginia. View the full list of passed bills here on the Legislative Information System. Youngkin drops “equity” from title of new diversity chiefGovernor Youngkin has selected a top official of the Heritage Foundation to serve as his director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Angela Sailor is the vice president of the Feulner Institute, a wing of Heritage. Youngkin also signed Executive Order #10 which elevates Sailor to his cabinet as the Chief Diversity, Opportunity, and Inclusion officer.  “We acknowledge that too many of our citizens have not received the equal opportunity they deserve, and we recognize that diversity when genuinely embraced strengthens our Commonwealth,” reads the order, which also establishes that Sailor will be “responsive to the rights of parents in educational and curricular decision-making.” Third shout-outThis past Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society heard from their newest board member at a meeting beginning at 7 p.m. Now you can catch up with the event on YouTube. (watch here)Gayle Jessup White is the first Public Relations and Community Engagement Officer for Monticello and the first descendant of Thomas Jefferson and the enslaved community to work for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Gayle Jessup White will talk about her book Reclamation: Sally Hemmings, Thomas Jefferson, and a Descendant’s Search for her Family’s Lasting Legacy. The recording is available on YouTube and you can learn more about the historical society as albemarlehistory.org. Council approves MACAA rezoning for Piedmont Housing Alliance and Habitat for HumanityCharlottesville City Council has given final approval to two separate rezoning requests for new housing projects on Park Street in Charlottesville, just north of the U.S. 250 bypass. At Council’s first meeting of the year, they reached consensus to place rezoning of land at the Park Street Christian Church was approved on the consent agenda for the January 18 meeting, but the rezoning at the Monticello Area Community Action Alliance property was further discussed. Dannon O’Connell is a city planner. “The proposed [Planned Unit Development] development calls for preservation of two existing single-family homes, 28 new townhome or duplex units, 65 multifamily units in two buildings, and a maximum of 7,500 square feet of commercial child care space,” O’Connell said. The land use designations for both properties were changed in the 2021 Future Land use Map to allow more density. (review the Future Land Use Map on the Cville Plans Together) Nearby resident John Hossack argued that data supplied by the developer was faulty and a new sample should be taken. “The traffic analysis was based on data collected in June 2021, in the middle of COVID, middle of summer, and outside of school and University term time,” Hossack said. “This is really significant because this potentially could sink the project or at least justify a reduction in scale which is really what the community is looking for.” Traffic engineer Brennan Duncan acknowledged the traffic study may have been affected by COVID but defended its use. “The applicant was on a pretty strict timeline to get their stuff submitted so I did say that if they were going to do it and wanted to move forward, they would have to do the correcting factor,” Duncan said.Duncan said the applicant was asked to compare their traffic study with a previous one conducted for a previous rezoning for the MACAA property and to traffic counts from the Virginia Department of Transportation. “Both of the traffic studies that have been done do fall in line with the VDOT estimate for Park Street so I am confident in both the VDOT estimate and the numbers that came through,” Duncan said. Duncan acknowledged traffic would increase in the area above the average of 10,000 vehicles that use it today. That’s down from the more than 20,000 vehicles a day that used to use the roadway before the John Warner Parkway opened. (read the 2020 estimated traffic counts for Charlottesville)“The theoretical maximum is around 18,000 vehicles per day and that’s at the point where you start seeing pretty severe traffic backups during peak hours,” Duncan said. “The 1,200 vehicles per day between both this project, the MACAA site and the Park Street Church is not insignificant. I also do not believe it will severely hurt or have severe detrimental effects on the network.”Duncan also acknowledges that there are site distance issues with the existing entrance, but that the development will meet the minimum requirement with a new intersection that will align Maaca Drive with Davis Avenue. “I have worked with the applicant to achieve what I believe to be the safest intersection that we can hope for given the topography of the area,” Duncan said. Duncan said he would be requesting a left hand turn lane onto Macca Drive from northbound Park when the project goes to site plan approval. Mayor Lloyd Snook said he has had a concern about the existing MACAA site for years and that the existing conditions with site distance are not good. “And it just seems to me that the changes that will be coming to eliminate a lot of those obstacles are going to make life a lot easier,” Snook said. “Whether that has anything to do with the accident rate, I don’t know.”Snook said a Charlottesville with more residential density will mean development on what he called more problematic parcels. “One of the things we’ve got to do as Councilors, Planning Commissioners, and city planners, and so on is to attempt to recognize when the problem is something that is manageable versus when it is not manageable,” Snook said.Snook said in this case, the problems are manageable. He added Council will be called on to manage those problems. Councilor Michael Payne said he walked through the sight and acknowledges the problems. He gave some insight into how he made his decision.“A heuristic I use is just if a development is appropriate and safe, is would I feel comfortable explaining to everyone who could have lived there the reasons I voted no, and likewise, would I feel comfortable explaining to every individual who lives in the neighborhood why I voted yes,” Payne said. “In this case the tradeoffs to me seem clear for the benefit of at least 76 families who will have access to affordable rentals and homeownerships is worth it.” The vote was unanimous. Scottsville Town Council defers on density requestsMeanwhile in Scottsville, the Town Council on Tuesday night took up two special use permits to allow for additional residential density for projects on Bird Street and Blenheim Road. The Blenheim Heights projects would see 24 houses on 9 acres and the Bird Street project would be 48 houses on 12 acres. Both take advantage of provisions in an updated zoning code that allows for clustered development. Before the meeting, the town put on three informational meetings at which the details were given. The public hearing opened without a presentation from the applicant. Several speakers asked for Council to deny the request. One of them was Kim Schmitt, who moved to Scottsville in 1995. “We moved from Florida and one of the reasons was to get away from development,” Schmitt said.Schmitt said she wanted to see what the by-right development would look like.  Another speaker mentioned a petition calling for “responsible” development and she asked this be entered into the record.“There are a total of 299 signatures from the paper and online petition,” the woman said. “This petition shows that there are many people who want development and that’s what the petition says. We want development but we want responsible growth commensurate with the size of our town.” Others were supportive. Thomas Unsworth who lives on Bird Street. He supported a project that would give him new neighbors.  “And I cannot stress how excited I am to see it happen,” Unsworth said. “The historic downtown area is already a dense settlement that encourages people to get out and walk to enjoy local amenities like the library, parks, and the farmers’ market and the many businesses that we have. Building new housing in this part of town is the perfect way to allow Scottsville to grow without putting an undue stress on the parking and traffic situations downtown.”However, he said he did not support the Blenheim Heights project because it is a cul-de-sac, more common in suburban development. The majority of speakers asked for a denial or more time to come up with conditions. When the matter came before the Town Council, Scottsville Mayor Ron Smith suggested taking time for a vote later. “Technically we could vote on this right now but with all that information that came out of this weekend’s meeting I feel like Town Council needs to have a special session to discuss all that information before they take a vote,” Smith said. The items will return to the Town Council for a vote on February 22, with a special session to be scheduled between now and then. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
January 18, 2022: Youngkin asks General Assembly for tax cuts, charter schools; MPO Tech committee briefed on transit governance study

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 18, 2022 16:53


More than half of the first month of 2022 is now in the past, and it’s hard to monitor for certain if time is moving faster or slower than usual. In the absence of precise machinery, the purpose of Charlottesville Community Engagement is to document as much of it as possible in the hopes of better understanding all of the forces at work. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. This is a free newsletter and podcast so sign up so you can get nearly all of the information! On today’s program:Albemarle Supervisors are briefed on potential transportation projects, including a funding request for a microtransit demonstration projectGovernor Youngkin addresses the General Assembly and lays out his request for charter schools, tax cuts, and more changes to state policy COVID hospitalizations remain at record levels, but there are signs the omicron surge may be slowing  A very brief legislative update First Patreon-fueled shout-out:With winter weather here, now is the time to think about keeping your family warm through the cold Virginia months. Make sure you are getting the most out of your home with help from your local energy nonprofit, LEAP. LEAP wants you and yours to keep comfortable all year round, and offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If you’re age 60 or older, or have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Pandemic updateThere are signs the omicron surge is beginning to recede in Virginia, though the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations remains high. The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reports 3,948 people in hospital across the state with 676 in intensive care units and 377 on ventilators. However, the seven-day percent positivity has declined to 32.7 percent, down from 36 percent a week ago. The seven-day average for new cases has declined to 15,998. In the Blue Ridge Health District, there are 114 new cases reported today and the percent positivity is at 27.5 percent. No new fatalities have been reported within the last week. Youngkin lays out plan to General Assembly In an address to the General Assembly yesterday afternoon, Governor Glenn Youngkin covered a wide range of his priorities in his speech. The 74th Governor won election with 50.58 percent of the vote. “After years of fractured politics, a deadly pandemic, lives and livelihoods lost, soaring mental health incidents and drug overdoses, rising crime rates, ever-increasing costs for housing, food and fuel, Virginians have sent us here to turn the page,” Youngkin said. Youngkin gave a lot of specifics. For instance, he said he wants to invest $150 million in state funds to create 20 charter schools. “Whether they’re called charter schools, lab schools, or schools of innovation – it doesn’t really matter,” Youngkin said. “I don’t care what we call it. I just care that we do it.” Youngkin suggested these schools could partner with the state’s higher education institutions. He also reminded the General Assembly of his 11 executive actions, including one to ban the use of “inherently divisive concepts” in public education. “Virginia parents want our history – all of our history, the good and the bad to be taught. And they want their children to be told how to think, not what to think,” Youngkin said. “We should not use inherently divisive concepts like Critical Race Theory in Virginia. And why we should not be teaching our children to see everything through the lens of race.”Youngkin also explained why he’s ending the mask mandate for public schools, something many school systems including Albemarle have said they will continue to enforce. He also said he will fight federal vaccine mandates, and in his written comments, he said would not use the power of the executive branch in Virginia to call for any more shutdowns. “The science since the beginning of the pandemic has not been static. We now have therapeutics better testing protocols and fortunately a less severe variant,” Youngkin said. “And of course we have vaccines. It means, educating our friends and neighbors and encouraging them to get the vaccine and the booster.”Youngkin also wants the General Assembly to suspend the gas tax increase that went into effect last year, and to raise the standard deduction for Virginia’s income tax. He also wants to reduce the tax burden for public safety workers and the military. “Anyone who wears the uniform risks their life each day on the job. And this includes police officers, firefighters, EMTs, every first responder that keeps us safe.”Youngkin wants to use $100 million from the American Rescue Plan Act for a new training and equipment grant program for law enforcement. “Furthermore, I’m asking you to dedicate $26 million in state funding for police departments.  But only in localities that are increasing funding for their police departments.”Youngkin also announced he wants to create a Coastal Virginia Resiliency Authority. To watch the whole speech, visit this recording by 13News Now or this one from WAVY TV 10. Albemarle Supervisors name new police chiefLast week, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors has promoted Sean Reeves to be the next police chief in the county. Reeves began his career in Albemarle County as a patrol officer in 2001 and currently holds the rank of Major. He will succeed Ron Lantz who retires at the end of February. “Major Reeves has played a pivotal role in several ACPD priority projects, including creating the cybercrimes unit, developing a community coalition around mental health crisis response, advancing the body-worn camera program, and serving as the lead ACPD personnel in the County’s incident management teams for COVID-19, the At Ready Statue Removal, and the events of August 12,” reads the press release. Legislative update The perfect record of the 2022 Virginia General Assembly is now broken, as the first few pieces of legislation have begun to fail. As of this reporting, eight bills are listed as having failed. For instance:A bill from Senator David Suetterlein (R-19) related to municipal elections was defeated in the Local Government committee. That means all localities will need to move their elections to November. (SB147)A bill from Senator Mark Peake (R-22) to halt the gradual increase of the state’s minimum wage was “passed by indefinitely” in the Commerce and Labor committee.  (SB173)Another bill from Peake that would have allowed localities to hold non-binding referenda was also defeated in the Local Government committee. Other bills have been consolidated into other pieces of legislation, including one from Senator John Edwards (D-21) that would order a review of previous sentences made under mandatory minimum rules. (SB252)Second subscriber-supported shout-outWhat does the phrase “missing middle” mean to you? What does the “missing middle” have to do with the affordability of places to live? On Thursday at noon, the Central Virginia Regional Housing Partnership will hold a webinar with two experts. Suzanne Moomaw is the chair of the University of Virginia School of Architecture and Emily Hamilton is the director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. The pair will discuss challenges and obstacles to more density as part of the Regional Housing Partnership’s continuing education series. Sign up at tjpdc.org. Albemarle Supervisors briefed on future transportation projectsThere’s a deadline this year for localities and regional bodies to submit projects to the Virginia Department of Transportation for potential funding. Four rounds of the Smart Scale process have taken place so far, and planners across the Commonwealth are preparing applications for a preliminary deadline this spring. Jessica Hersh-Ballering is a transportation planner with Albemarle County and she briefed the Board of Supervisors on January 12. (read staff report)“The top three projects are Avon Street Bicycle and Pedestrian improvements, Fifth Street Extended Bicycle and Pedestrian improvements, and Belvedere-Rio intersection improvements are all projects that we’re considering for smart scale submission as county applications,” Hersh-Ballering said. Hersh-Ballering said the applications will draw from corridor studies recently conducted in all three of those areas. Further study is underway for future projects such as at the U.S. 250 West and U.S. 29 interchange as well as Crozet Avenue and U.S. 250 West. “We need these studies to wrap up and make their final recommendations so know exactly what infrastructure we would be requesting in each of these applications,” Hersh-Ballering said. Some of these projects may be submitted by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission, which can submit four applications as the TJPDC and four applications as the Charlottesville Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). Transportation staff will return to the Board of Supervisors later in the spring to get final thoughts from the elected officials.As Albemarle County reviews its Comprehensive Plan, transportation staff will be working on a multimodal transportation plan that will become one of its chapters. That work is being overseen by planning manager Rachel Falkenstein“We’re working closely with Rachel Falkenstein’s team to determine our next steps,” Hersh-Ballering said. Tomorrow the Board of Supervisors will have a long discussion on transit’s future in Albemarle. Hersh-Ballering previewed the discussion of the Regional Transit Vision. (vision website)“The vision plan was intended to create a community driven vision for the future of transit in our region,” Hersh-Ballering said. “There’s a need for additional funding and collaboration to meet the community’s expectations for transit.” Supervisors will be presented with a request for funding to begin a microtransit pilot project on Pantops and U.S. 29 north. “We’ll have someone from the consulting team here with us next week,” Hersh-Ballering said. “He is going to walk us through all of the details of what microtransit is and why they’re recommending it for these two locations.” Charlottesville City Council will be briefed on transit today. This morning a technical committee of the MPO Policy Board was told about a governance study that the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is coordinating and are applying to the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation for funding. “The study is to establish a formal arrangement to support regional coordination and planning around transit operations,” said Lucinda Shannon, transportation planner with the TJPDC.Shannon said the Regional Transit Vision is recommending a formal authority with an authority that could bring in additional revenue. If the DRPT awards the funds, the 18-month study wouldn’t begin until the new fiscal year. The consultants are AECOM, JWA and EPR.“They’re looking at the model that Richmond is taking on with their new transit authority so they are suggesting creating some type of a regional authority that would levy a small percentage of sales tax and there is the wholesale gas tax,” Shannon said. In 2009, the General Assembly passed legislation allowing creation of an authority but the Republican-controlled legislature did not pass legislation to allow a referendum on a local sales tax increase. The MPO Tech Committee adopted a resolution to proceed with the governance study. Charlottesville and Albemarle will be asked to make a local match. “We want to make sure you were aware of the study,” said transportation director Sandy Shackleford. One reason to plan for transit is to deal with the increasing number of residential units in the area. At the end of the Supervisor’s presentation, planning manager Kevin McDermott listed several developments that are under review. Old Ivy Residences with 490 units off of Old Ivy Road Heritage on Rio on Rio Road West with 250 unitsSouthwood Phase 2 North Fork Discovery Park zoning amendment to add up to 1,400 units Old Dominion Village on Route 240 in Crozet Willow Glenn in Hollymead seeking to increase residential development This was the first time new Supervisor Jim Andrews was briefed on transportation issues. He had this note.“It would be nice to see some maps once in a while where we look at development projects in the context of these reports on the presentations and different road projects,” Andrews said. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
January 14, 2022: Northam touts achievements in final days as Virginia's Governor; U.S. Supreme Court rules against OSHA vaccine mandate

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 14, 2022 14:35


It’s the end of the second week of 2022, and over 324 hours have happened so far. Not everyone has experienced the exact same situations so far, but it’s perhaps quite certain that the year to date has not been quite what people expected. What do people expect? I have no specific knowledge, but listeners and readers of Charlottesville Community Engagement have come to expect a lot of information stitched together in a reasonable manner. On today’s program: The U.S. Supreme Court says a plan to require American businesses require a vaccine mandate is not ConstitutionalGovernor Northam makes a lot of announcements in his final hours in officeGeneral Assembly committees continue to interview Governor Glenn Youngkin’s top appointmentsFirst shout-outIn today’s first subscriber-supported public service announcement: The Charlottesville Jazz Society at cvillejazz.org is dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and perpetuation of all that  jazz, and while this might not be the time to go out and listen people who love to play it’s a great time to learn about musicians in our area. The Charlottesville Jazz Society web site is dedicated to enriching your experience of jazz within the Charlottesville community and beyond. Go visit cvillejazz.org. And if you’d like to get a mention in this space, consider a $25 a month Patreon contribution. U.S. Supreme Court denies federal vaccine mandateThe U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a bid by the Biden administration to require most businesses to mandate vaccines by using the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The 6-3 ruling states that OSHA does not have enforcement authority. (read the ruling and dissent)“Although Congress has enacted significant legislation addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, it has declined to enact any measures to what OSHA has promulgated here,” reads the ruling in National Federation of Independent Business v. Osha.The ruling called the mandate “a significant encroachment” and that OSHA only has the power to set workplace safety standards but not to issue “broad public health measures.” To the majority of Justices, COVID-19 is not an occupational hazard but instead can spread wherever people gather.“That kind of universal risk is no different from the day-to-day dangers that all face from crime, air pollution, or any number of communicable diseases,” the ruling continues. The case was consolidated with another in which 27 states sought a stay. There are currently 27 Republican governors. The six Justices on the majority were all appointed by Republican presidents. The three dissenting Justices were appointed by Democratic presidents who argue in their dissent that the majority “seriously misapplies the applicable legal standards.”However, in another case, the Supreme Court ruled on a 5-4 vote that the Secretary of Health and Human Services does have the authority to require that health care and assisted living facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid can impose a COVID vaccine mandate. (read that ruling)Today’s pandemic numbersToday, the Virginia Department of Health reports another 17,219 cases and the percent positivity remains at 35.8 percent, among the highest levels of the pandemic. There are 3,845 people in Virginia hospitals with COVID, 656 of whom are in intensive care units and 360 are on ventilators. Dr. Costi Sifri is director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System, where there continue to be COVID patients. “We are seeing that about 75 percent of those individuals are not vaccinated,” said Dr. Sifri. “The remaining 25 percent typically are immunosuppressed or have preexisting conditions that put them at high risk for COVID, things like heart failure, heart disease, advanced diabetes, and other medical problems like that. And often while those people have been vaccinated, they’re often not boosted.” In the Blue Ridge Health District there are another 470 new cases today and the percent positivity is at 29 percent. These are among the highest numbers of the pandemic so far, and the sustained effort can be a struggle for health care workers. Wendy Horton is the chief executive officer of UVA Health.“We are two years in and people are exhausted and I think from time to time we saw glimmers of hope that we may be seeing the end of the tunnel and it’s more intense at least for those of us in Charlottesville than it has ever been,” Horton said. “People are tired. They’re really trying the best to serve our patients and our community and at the same time personally impacted this time around.” This morning, the Bodo’s trio of bagel shops announced they will now offer food on a take-out only basis. Northam touts final achievements, including awards to local housing nonprofitsAs the hours of his government tick away, Governor Ralph Northam continues to make announcements including the award of $8.2 million dollars in projects to reduce homelessness. Northam directed the funding to come from the Virginia Housing Trust Fund to go toward about 100 projects across the Commonwealth. They include $220,387 to the Valley Community Services Board for a project called Rapid Re-Housing Youth and $150,000 for Miriam’s House Community First program in the Bedford area. Read the rest in the full press release.In all, Northam has issued over a dozen announcements of activities in his final week including a wind energy partnership with Denmark, land acquisition for the Chickahominy Tribe,  $267 million investment in a paperboard recycling plant in Chesapeake, and $60 million in affordable and special needs housing loans.On that latter matter, Piedmont Housing Alliance will receive $3.4 million for 70 units at Southwood Apartments. Virginia Supportive Housing received $2.5 million for 80 units at the Premier Circle project and $2.4 million for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority for the second phase of the South Street redevelopment. Over in Waynesboro, the South River Development Corporation got $2 million for the redevelopment of the Brandon Hotel for senior units. (read the release)Northam also announced that the Commonwealth of Virginia has signed an agreement with Norfolk Southern to expand passenger service to Christiansburg as part of the Western Rail Initiative. Earlier this week the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority approved the deal which will see the state purchasing 28 miles of right of way between Salem and Christiansburg. The announcement also states that a second train will be added to the Northeast Regional service between Roanoke and Boston sometime later this year. No specific date is mentioned. Second shout-outToday’s second subscriber-supported public service announcement goes out to Camp Albemarle, which has for sixty years been a “wholesome rural, rustic and restful site for youth activities, church groups, civic events and occasional private programs.”Located on 14 acres on the banks of the Moorman’s River near Free Union, Camp Albemarle continues as a legacy of being a Civilian Conservation Corps project that sought to promote the importance of rural activities. Camp Albemarle seeks support for a plan to winterize the Hamner Lodge, a structure built in 1941 by the CCC and used by every 4th and 5th grade student in Charlottesville and Albemarle for the study of ecology for over 20 years. If this campaign is successful, Camp Albemarle could operate year-round. Consider your support by visiting http://campalbemarleva.org/donate. Legislative update: Kay Coles James asked about rights’ restoration We’re on Day 3 of the General Assembly, and as the morning began, not one of the 1,919 bills has been rejected. That’s mostly because committees are just meeting, organizing, and interviewing members of the Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin’s cabinet. That included Fauquier County Sheriff Bob Mosier, who was interviewed by the House Public Safety Committee this morning. That included this question from Delegate Angelia Williams Graves (D-90)Graves:“What is your position with regards to bias training? Is it something that you support or is it something that you don’t feel is necessary?”Mosier:“Oh no, we have it. It’s part of our program. Remember I talked about accreditation a few moments ago? That’s part of it. These are all things that are doable if we can pull the resources together to properly train people, right, for accreditation, and salaries, and all of different things things, then we can get a better law enforcement officer across the board. That’s absolutely part of the program.” You can watch the full meeting at this link.Later in the morning, the House Privileges and Elections Committee interviewed Kay Cole James, Youngkin’s nominee for Secretary of the Commonwealth. That person has many tasks including finding people to be appointed to the hundreds and hundreds of slots for Boards, Commissions, and Councils. The position also oversees clemency petitions and the restoration of civil rights. “When I look at that office, the first thing I think about is that the Secretary of the Commonwealth with its constituent services is the portal for many Virginians to bring before the Governor their concerns, their complaints, their anxieties, or something they want to just have an audience or to hear,” James said. James has served as the director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in the first term of President George W. Bush, an experience she cited in her testimony to the House Privileges and Elections Committee.  James said she looked forward to other duties that come with the office.“Very often what gets overlooked and is an important part of this particular job as well is looking at restoration of rights and pardons and I want you to know that both on a very personal level and a professional level that is very important to me,” James said.Many of the questions from Delegates followed up on that point. In response to one, James said the key is to find employers who are willing to hire those reentering society. Delegate Schuyler VanValkenburg (D-72) asked James how the new administration would change the past eight years of policy. “We’ve had two Governors in a row who have really kind of accelerated rights restoration and done more than previous Governors and I wonder if the plan of this administration is to continue on that path?” VanValkenburg asked. “I want to make it clear its not about numbers, it’s about people,” James said. “And every single request that comes into that office will be given great consideration.”VanValkenburg asked James for her position on bills calling for a Constitutional Amendment to allow restoration of rights to be automatic. In the House of Delegares, there are both HJ9 and HJ28, each filed by a member of a different party. “I don’t want to opine on the legislation,” James said. “I have not seen it. I don’t know what it is. I will operate well within the confines of the law of whatever it is that you in the General Assembly along with the Governor decide,” James said. And at the end of this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, there are 1,925 bills pending and none of them have yet failed. Bound to happen, very soon. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
January 13, 2022: Albemarle not planning on ending local emergency due to Omicron wave; 2022 General Assembly begins

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 13, 2022 15:00


Will today be an unlucky day? After all, the calendar for today does contain a 13. Would it were we could design our time without so many potential pitfalls! Still, unlike a building, Charlottesville Community Engagement cannot skip ahead to 14 because otherwise we’d fall far behind. I’m the host, Sean Tubbs, and let’s wish fortune has a wide enough brush to cover us all. On today’s program:Governor Northam says goodbye, while incoming Speaker of the House Gilbert says helloAlbemarle County is not planning on in-person meetings for now with the omicron COVID wave still ragingAnother winter storm approaches, and Charlottesville is still adjusting to missed solid waste pick-ups from the last oneAttorney General Herring said the incoming governor can’t pull Virginia out of an interstate carbon cap-and-trade marketTwo Patreon-fueled shout-outsLet’s begin today with two more Patreon-fueled shout-outs. The first comes a long-time supporter who wants you to know:"Today is a great day to spread good cheer: reach out to an old friend, compliment a stranger, or pause for a moment of gratitude to savor a delight."The second comes from a more recent supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today!Winter storm approaching?Another winter storm is in the forecast with a lot of speculation. According to Weather Underground, Charlottesville could get as much as eight inches on Sunday, though we’ll have more information as that time approaches. On Wednesday, Albemarle Supervisor Ann Mallek had this advice.“Nobody knows what the winter storm Sunday is going to be but I encourage everyone to take a couple of days of sunshine to pre-clean your sidewalks and get your supplies in so we can be ready for whatever comes our way,” Mallek said.The aftermath of the January 3 storm is still being worked through. This morning, the City of Charlottesville announced that normal trash pickup has resumed, but recycling service that was missed due to the storm won’t be made up with an additional run. Trash is collected weekly in Charlottesville but recycling is every other week. “Due to resource capacity issues, our service contractor for Trash/Recycling will be unable to provide make-up recycling collection for those impacted by the suspension in service that occurred the week of January 3rd,” reads a release. “Impacted residents will receive recycling collection on their next scheduled service date.” Residents are encouraged to take their recyclable materials to the McIntire Recycling Center, on McIntire Road, which is operated by the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority. In addition, the city will pick-up debris from the January 3 storm the week of January 24. “Any adjustments to this schedule that may result from volume or operational delays will be provided to the public in as timely a manner as possible,” reads the city’s website on solid waste management. “We also encourage City residents to take advantage of the free storm debris disposal waiver being operated until January 24th at the Ivy Material Utilization Center, located at 4576 Dick Woods Road.”The Ivy MUC is also operated by the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority. Albemarle and Charlottesville are covering the fees to drop off that debris. Pandemic records continue to be brokenThe highest COVID surge in pandemic continues in Virginia with an average of 18,782 new cases a day. The seven-day percent positivity is at 35.6 percent today statewide. Today’s snapshot from the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, there are 3,894 people hospitalized with COVID, with 646 of them in intensive care units. There are 349 people on ventilators. Those last two numbers are new records. On Wednesday, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors had a work session on what county staff are calling the “Reconstitution” of Albemarle government, which is a way of saying a return to in-person public hearings. Trevor Henry is the assistant county executive. “When we first set this agenda it was prior to the Omicron variant, prior to that wave hitting the region the way it has,” Henry said. This week has seen the highest numbers to date in the Blue Ridge Health District, which includes Albemarle, Charlottesville, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, and Nelson counties. Today there are 480 cases reported. There have been five deaths reported since the beginning of the year, though that figure often lags behind as death certificates are tallied. “At this point, we will not be recommending a date certain on returning to in-person public meetings,” Henry said.Henry and other staff sought direction about how to proceed with a future where those meetings are open. The county has made investments in some rooms in order to allow remote participation by members of the public in a hybrid manner. Both Albemarle County and Charlottesville remain under a local declaration of emergency which allows for remote meetings. County Attorney Greg Kamptner explained how that would end. “The state code and the state emergency law provides when the Board [of Supervisors] in its discretion determines  that there are no further emergency services to be provided,” Kamptner said. Kamptner said the county has come close to that at certain points during the pandemic, but various surges have complicated the matter. Herring: Youngkin alone can’t remove Virginia from carbon cap-and-trade marketUntil Saturday, Mark Herring is Virginia’s chief counsel. On Tuesday, the outgoing Attorney General issued an opinion stating that Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin cannot through executive order or other executive action remove the Commonwealth of Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Virginia joined the mid-Atlantic interstate compact following an act of the General Assembly in 2020. “The [Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparation] Act directs the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to amend its regulations that established a carbon dioxide cap and trade program,” Herring wrote in the opinion. “The Constitution of Virginia does not grant the Governor the power to suspend laws.”The opinion did not come out of the blue. Herring’s advice was sought by Delegate Charniele Herring (D-46) and Delegate Rip Sullivan (D-48).On Friday, the State Corporation Commission issued a ruling granting approval of a plan from Dominion Energy to upgrade their portion of the electric grid. Dominion’s Phase II seeks to integrate more “distributed energy resources” into the power network. Their plan cites the Clean Economy act as a justification for moving to more solar, wind, and other renewable sources. “There is no doubt that significant volumes of [distributed energy resources] are coming to Virginia,” reads the plan. “The distribution grid must be ready.” The State Corporation Commission had public hearings on the plan last October, which calls for $193.8 million to install net metering infrastructure, $203.9 million on a customer information platform, and other areas to upgrade the grid. The SCC approval notes the importance of educating the public on what’s going to happen. “Customer education will ensure that the full benefits of other [grid transformation] projects are realized by educating customers on the opportunities that such projects provide,” reads page 13 the ruling. Today’s third subscriber supported shout-outMonday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society invites you to hear from their newest board member at a meeting beginning at 7 p.m. Gayle Jessup White is the first Public Relations and Community Engagement Officer for Monticello and the first descendant of Thomas Jefferson and the enslaved community to work for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Gayle Jessup White will talk about her book Reclamation: Sally Hemmings, Thomas Jefferson, and a Descendant’s Search for her Family’s Lasting Legacy. That’s 7 p.m. on Monday and you can register for the Zoom call or watch on Facebook Live. Sign up now at albemarlehistory.org. Legislative update On the first day of the General Assembly, the 2022 session in the House of Delegates is coming into shape. Delegate Rob Bell (R-58) will chair the Courts of Justice committee and will serve on the Health, Welfare and Institutions committee and the Rules Committee. Delegate Sally Hudson (D-57) will serve on the Finance Committee and Health, Welfare, and Institutions. Delegate Chris Runion (R-25) will also serve on the Finance Committee, the Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources Committee, the General Laws Committee, and the Transportation Committee.Several House committees met this morning but there are not yet bills on their agendas. Instead, members of Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin’s cabinet were interviewed by various committees. Over in the Senate, the Committee on Education and Health met. Remember, the Senate is still controlled by the Democratic Party with a two-seat majority, meaning Democrats hold the gavel on committees. Outgoing Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax presides over the Senate until incoming Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears is sworn in. The Senate Education and Health committee did take up legislation and began winnowing out some of the bills, or at least hitting pause on some of them. For instance, the Education and Health heard a bill from Senator Mark Peake to require the Virginia Department of Health to create a program to mitigate algae blooms. Peake said he would edit the bill to make change that requirement to go to the Department of Environmental Quality instead.  (SB171)When I published the January 12 edition of this newsletter, I had initially stated there were around 850 bills submitted. As I write these words, there are 1,634 bills. Four measures passed the House on the first day, including a commendation for former Speaker of the House Kirk Cox. Oh. Now we’re up to 1,677. The trickle is now a flood. Virginia finances up in December The Commonwealth of Virginia has reported that state revenues were up 19.2 percent in December over the previous year. According to a press release from Governor Ralph Northam’s office, that’s the fifth straight month of double-digit increases. Northam leaves office on Saturday when Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin is sworn in. “We have governed with fiscal responsibility and compassion for all Virginians—and with five straight months of double-digit revenue growth, record job creation and historic investments in Virginia families, the results speak for themselves,” Northam said.In his farewell address to the General Assembly last night, the outgoing Governor thanked his cabinet for their service and and honored Supreme Court Justices Donald Lemons and William Mims on their retirement.  He also saluted the tradition of gubernatorial addresses at the General Assembly. “This is a time when elected leaders from different branches of government, different political parties, and different parts of the state come together to talk about the Commonwealth that we all share,” Northam said. Governor-elect Youngkin will address the General Assembly on Monday night. “By then he will be your Governor and I wish him the best and I am confident that he will be lead this Commonwealth well,” Northam said. Northam reviewed his four years in office and said he has tried to govern in order to help people across Virginia. “Virginians choose leaders who will make our Commonwealth better for them and their families, no matter who they are or where they live,” Northam said. “I can confidently say that we have done that. We are leaving this Commonwealth better than it was when we came into office. We have built a state that does a better job of treating people right. It’s more welcoming. It’s more open. It is more fair. And it is more equitable.”After the speech, Speaker of the House Todd Gilbert sent out a tweet that did not share the same spirit of bipartisanship. However, seven hours earlier, Gilbert did sound bipartisan after the House of Delegates unanimously elected him as speaker. That’s a tradition in Virginia politics. “Thank you for the trust that all of you have placed in me willingly,” Gilbert said. “Some unwillingly, admittedly, but thank you nonetheless. I do not take this responsibility lightly and I pledge to you that I will give the utmost to be a Speaker for all of Virginia.”And as we end this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, none of the 1,693 bills filed so far have failed. Give it time. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
January 11, 2022: New COVID records continue to be set in Virginia with 3,845 hospitalizations today; Blue Ridge Health District holds town hall

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 11, 2022 16:40


Welcome to January 11, and on this day in history, a lot of things have happened. What are they? That’s not the subject of this podcast and newsletter, which is called Charlottesville Community Engagement. What is the subject of this podcast and newsletter? The Magic 8-ball says “ask again later.” Until then, I’m your host, Sean Tubbs, with another documentation of a few things that have happened and a look ahead to others. Charlottesville Community Engagement is free to receive! Sign up today and decide later if you want to pay to keep this service in service!On today’s show:The Blue Ridge Health District holds a town hall on the pandemic surge amid record hospitalizations in Virginia Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin names his medical advisory team The Sheriff of Fauquier County is Governor-elect Youngkin’s choice to serve as Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland SecurityMore bills are pre-filed before tomorrow’s start of the General Assembly including a halt to Virginia’s minimum wage increase And the Albemarle Planning Commission will take up a rezoning for a hotel on Pantops First Patreon-fueled shout-out! The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign  is an initiative that wants you to grow native plants in yards, farms, public spaces and gardens in the northern Piedmont. Winter is here, but spring isn’t too far away. This is a great time to begin planning for the spring. Native plants provide habitat, food sources for wildlife, ecosystem resiliency in the face of climate change, and clean water.  Start at the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page or the Piedmont Natives Plant Database! Think spring! Pandemic surge expected to continue as omicron spread continues The January 2022 COVID-19 surge continues with another 16,681 new cases reported this morning by the Virginia Department of Health and the seven-day average for new cases is 17,037. Virginia set another new one-day record on Saturday with 26,175 new cases. The seven-day percent positivity has increased to 36 percent. Today, the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reports another new record of COVID hospitalizations today with 3,845 with 589 of those patients in intensive care units and 328 on ventilators. That’s a record for ICU patients, but today’s ventilator count matches exactly one year ago today. Today in the Blue Ridge Health District, there are 352 new cases and the percent positivity has increased to 29.1 percent. Ryan McKay is the director of policy, planning, and operations for the BRHD and he and others spoke at a Town Hall last night. (view the slides)“We are currently experiencing the highest transmission of COVID since the pandemic started and it’s a pretty drastic increase in what we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks,” McKay said. “And really what we anticipate is that it will continue to increase.” McKay also said these numbers are likely all an undercount as some testing is happening at home and those numbers are not reported to the Virginia Department of Health. Last week’s winter weather also delayed testing events. “These numbers seem a little bit cold but there’s a very human element to all of this in terms of individuals getting sick,” McKay said. “There’s the risk of long COVID which has been proven over the last two years of the pandemic. And then there are broader societal, economic, and infrastructure related impacts that we’re beginning to see.” McKay said the key is getting people vaccinated and boosted. Dr. Michael Williams is the director of the Center for Health Policy at the University of Virginia. He said the surge is causing a strain on staff and resources. As of yesterday, there were 89 COVID patients at UVA Health.“The ripple effects work outward from the units in which we take care of these patients which has become more than just out specialized units,” Williams said. “The ripple effects work their way back into the operating room where I spend a lot of my time as a surgeon where patients are having a difficult time to start there are elective and we’ve had to prioritize patients who have cases like cancer and heart disease that are unstable to make sure those that delayed.”Williams said this extends to emergency rooms and urgent care facilities, which are also feeling the strain during this surge. People are asked not to go to the hospital to get a COVID test. “Honestly if you come to our [emergency department] at UVA Health for a COVID test and that’s the only reason you’re there, you will wait and and you will wait and you will wait because there are people who are sick with any number of things.” Williams said people who need a PCR test should visit their primary care physician or visit a testing center.Dr. Taison Bell spends a lot of time in the intensive care units at UVA and never expected that he would be seeing a record number of COVID patients.“When a patient does have COVID we do have to manage them differently regardless of what their underlying problem is,” Bell said. “We have to put them in isolation so they don’t transmit to other people. Sometimes when they need to be discharged, the rehab facility may not clear them for transfer until they have a negative COVID test so patients stay in the hospital longer. They demand more resources. That makes it overall harder to take care of these patients and it puts a strain on the system.” Dr. Bell said the omicron variant has led to infections in people who are vaccinated and boosted and he explained why. “The vaccines were specifically designed to prevent serious illness and they continue to do that consistently,” Bell said. “We were spoiled early on because they were so effective when it came to preventing infection but omicron has proved to be a very challenging variant. It has shown an ability to try to get over those initial hurdles but that backstop of preventing you from getting seriously ill is still holding firm.” Dr. Bell said most of his patients are still unvaccinated, and he encourages everyone to get their shots, get their booster, and continue to wear masks. “We can expect more people to get infected but if we’re vaccinated and boosted, we can keep people out of the hospital and keep the strain off of the health care system,” Dr. Bell said. Just as this post was about to be published, Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin named the members of an advisory team related to the pandemic. “I recognize the severity of the virus and the significant loss that it has caused. Virginians should rest assured that we are monitoring this variant and doing everything we can to be smart about this. I will enter office ready to reopen Virginia, support our healthcare heroes, and protect the lives and livelihoods of Virginians,” Youngkin said in a release. They are: Chair: Dr. Marty Makary, M.D., M.P.H., Johns Hopkins MedicineNancy Howell Agee, President and CEO, Carilion ClinicKathy Gorman, M.S.N., R.N., F.A.A.N, Executive Vice President and COO, Children’s NationalAlan Levine, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ballad HealthBogdan Neughebauer, M.D., PhD, MBA, CPE, FACP, FIDSA, Sentara HealthcareAnand Shah, M.D., M.P.H., former Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs at FDAEx-Officio:Secretary of Health and Human Resources John LittelSenator Siobhan DunnavantSenator Todd PillionAlbemarle Planning Commission to hold public hearings on Pantops hotelThe first meeting of the Albemarle Planning Commission begins tonight at 6 p.m. and two of the items on the agenda are public hearings to clear the way for a hotel on Pantops on U.S. 250 just to the west of the Rivanna Ridge Shopping Center. The matter went before the Pantops Community Advisory Committee for an update at their meeting in November. Andy Reitelbach is a senior planner with Albemarle County. “The applicant has submitted this application to request to amend the application and proffers associated with two previous rezonings,” Reitelbach said. The amendments are needed to allow the use of a hotel, which was not anticipated in the rezoning that created the Rivanna Ridge Shopping Center. “The project is in the Rivanna Magisterial District and the parcel is a little over 2.6 acres in size,” Reitelbach said. The plan had not changed since it was before the CAC at a community meeting in January. One aspect of the plan is that left turns onto U.S. 250 will not be permitted. Justin Shimp is the civil engineer for the project. “As some of you are all aware VDOT is getting ready to put up a median up Route 250 all the way from the Wawa up to the top of the mountain and that will restrict our ability to make a full l left turn out of our site,” Shimp said. The Albemarle County Planning Commission meets virtually at 6 p.m. and has two new voting members in Fred Missel and Luis Carrazana. Missel is director of design and development at the University of Virginia Foundation and Carrazana is the associate architect of the University of Virginia. (meeting info)For more information, read Pantops CAC gets a look at the Overlook Hotel from last January on Information Charlottesville. Council meeting in closed session todayAt publication time, City Council is in closed session to interview prospective candidates for the interim city manager position. Late last year the city hired the Robert Bobb Group to provide internal staff to perform the duties of city manager. During the closed session, they are meeting with Bobb directly. Stay tuned until tomorrow’s edition for any potential news. Listen to the podcast to hear the closed session motion, the first such event by this new City Council. Today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out:With winter weather here, now is the time to think about keeping your family warm through the cold Virginia months. Make sure you are getting the most out of your home with help from your local energy nonprofit, LEAP. LEAP wants you and yours to keep comfortable all year round, and offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If you’re age 60 or older, or have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Fauquier County’s Sheriff to head public safety in VirginiaGovernor-elect Glenn Youngkin has selected the Sheriff of Fauquier County to serve as the next Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security. That person oversees the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority, the Virginia Department of Corrections, the Department of Criminal Justice Services, the Department of Emergency Management, and the Department of Fire Programs. Robert Mosier was elected in November 2015 to serve Fauquier County and according to the press release he embraced “new technologies for the enforcement of criminal, illegal drug and gang activities, modern traffic safety concepts, enhancement of school safety and better partnerships with the community.” Mosier has been in law enforcement since he was 19 and Youngkin said he will lead efforts to increase pay and to fully fund police departments across Virginia. “Together, we will protect qualified immunity, and on Day One fire the Parole Board,” Youngkin is quoted in the release. Learn more about Mosier on the Fauquier County website. Inauguration Day is in four days. General Assembly bills continue to be filed, including one to stop the minimum wage increaseThe General Assembly session begins tomorrow and the trickle of pre-filed bills and turned into more of a torrent. Here are some highlights from recent days. Delegate Marie March (R-7) has a bill requiring localities to post copies of their elected body’s minutes on a website seven days after they are officially approved. (HB150)March also wants the state to create one single central database for all public records. (HB154)March has filed another bill limiting a governor’s emergency declaration to a 45-day period and limiting their power. (HB151) This is a common desire by Republican legislators, as Delegate Kathy Byron (R-22) has a similar bill (HB157) and another that would require the General Assembly to take any action on any emergency rule after a 45-day period. (HB158) Delegate Daniel Marshall (R-14) submitted (HB183)March also wants people injured on the job to be required to take a drug test. (HB153)Delegate Candy Mundon King (D-2) wants to amend the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act to require fingerprinting of all employees of companies that have more than four rental units. (HB160)The last General Assembly adopted a law requiring all municipal elections to be held in November, but a bill from Delegate David Suetterlein (R-19) would apply that only to municipalities over 200,000 people. (SB147)Delegate Chris Runion (R-25) has a bill to replace the charter for the Town of Grottoes in Rockingham County. (HB161)Delegate Margaret Ransone (R-99) has legislation that would take the ability of the town council of Colonial Beach to fire the police chief and give it to the town manager. (HB164)Ransone has another bill that would repeal provisions that are set to seal criminal records in some instances. (HB181)Delegate Barry Knight (R-81) has a bill that would authorize the issuance of $101 million in bonds to fund projects at James Madison University and Virginia Tech. (HB165)Delegate Daniel Marshall (R-14) would repeal the state’s minimum wage increase to $11 an hour. (HB171)Marshall has another bill that would allow localities to require screening of solar facilities from secondary roads. (HB172)Delegate Robert Bloxom (R-100) has a bill that would place limits on campaign contributions. (HB174)Another common thread this year is Republican desire to place restrictions on absentee ballots, and Bloxom is advancing several in HB175, HB177, and HB178. Delegate Ranson has a bill to repeal a provision that would allow voter registration up to election day. (HB185)Bloxom would also create the Forest Sustainability Fund. (HB180)Finally today, Delegate Jeffrey Campbell (R-6) has a bill that would create the Nitrile Glove Manufacturing Training Grant Program which would “support the recruitment and training needs of nitrile glove manufacturing companies located in the Mount Rogers Planning District.” (HB186)Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
January 10, 2022: Council appears in favor of two rezonings on Park Street; Northam declares limited state of emergency

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 10, 2022 21:35


If a year was something that buffered, we’d now be approaching 2.8 percent. It will take some time to see how this particular calendar will resolve, but the past week certainly provides some evidence of turbulence. Still, there’s a long way to go and Charlottesville Community Engagement seeks to provide one channel of information to steady your way. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. In this installment:Deputy City Manager Sanders briefs City Council on efforts to make 5th Street Extended safer and Council holds first reading on two affordable housing projects on Park Street Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin fills out his cabinet with picks for Labor, Health and Human Resources, and Transportation More legislation is filed in the Virginia General Assembly that shows the signs of a Republican majority in one of the houses A third round of RGGI-funded grant money for flood mitigation has opened Today’s first subscriber-supported public service announcement For sixty years Camp Albemarle, which has been a “wholesome rural, rustic and restful site for youth activities, church groups, civic events and occasional private programs.”Located on 14 acres on the banks of the Moorman’s River near Free Union, Camp Albemarle continues as a legacy of being a Civilian Conservation Corps project that sought to promote the importance of rural activities. Camp Albemarle seeks support for a plan to winterize the Hamner Lodge, a structure built in 1941 by the CCC and used by every 4th and 5th grade student in Charlottesville and Albemarle for the study ecology for over 20 years. If this campaign is successful, Camp Albemarle could operate year-round. Consider your support by visiting http://campalbemarleva.org/donate. The pandemic continuesVirginia continues to be in a plateau of a high number of COVID cases and hospitalizations. Today the Virginia Department of Health reports a seven-day percent positivity of 35.6 percent with another 15,643 cases. The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reports a new record of COVID hospitalizations today with 3,681. Of those, 567 are in intensive care units and 314 are on ventilators. To address the issue, outgoing Governor Ralph Northam has issued a 30-day order to increase the number of hospital beds. “This increase in people hospitalized due to COVID-19—the overwhelmingmajority of whom are unvaccinated—is placing stress on Virginia’s general hospitals and nursing facilities and creating a sudden yet temporary need to increase bed capacity in these facilities,” reads the order’s introduction.Among other things, Executive Order 84 authorizes some state officials to move more quickly with procurement efforts, and allows the State Health Commissioner to temporarily increase the number of hospital bed authorized to operate in the Commonwealth. The Blue Ridge Health District reports another 202 new cases today and the percent positivity has increased to 28.3 percent. District officials will hold a town hall meeting tonight beginning at 7 p.m. The item was rescheduled from last week due to the winter storm. (meeting info)Albemarle and Charlottesville to sponsor vegetation drop-off at Ivy MUCIf you’ve got a lot of damaged tree limbs and other vegetation and have a way to get it to the Ivy Materials Utilization Center, there will be no fees to drop it off through January 17. Albemarle and Charlottesville  have both agreed to pay the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority to waive the fees. The Ivy center is located at 4576 Dick Woods Road and the material can be dropped off during regular hours.“Vegetative debris collected will be ground into mulch and available for purchase at Ivy MUC,” reads a release on the RSWA website. “Residents must show proof of residency and state that the debris is storm-related.”  Last week, Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders told Council the city cannot yet offer curbside pick-up due to staffing shortages that have been worsened due to the pandemic. On Facebook today, the Department of Public Works stated they are “in the process of preparing for a special City-wide debris pickup service, to assist with clean-up efforts from the recent weather event. Timing and scheduling information are still being finalized, and those details will follow soon.”Youngkin fills Transportation, Labor, Health and Human Services postsIn five days, Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin will be sworn in, and he’s now filled a good portion of his cabinet.This morning, Youngkin announced that his Secretary of Health and Human Resources will be John Littel, who has recently been the president of Magellan Health. Magellan was just purchased by another company last week for $2.2 billion. Littel has previously served as the Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Resources in Virginia and as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy. Youngkin said Littel would “be an asset as we fix our broken mental and behavioral health system, ensure Virginians have access to affordable, free-market healthcare options, and reform our healthcare safety net to save taxpayer dollars and improve healthcare outcomes.” No word yet on a replacement for Norm Oliver as Virginia’s Commissioner of Health. Kay Cole James has been selected as the Secretary of the Commonwealth. James has most recently served as the President of the Heritage Foundation and has a long history of working in Republican administration in both Richmond and Washington, D.C. According to the release, James served as Virginia’s Secretary of Health under Governor George Allen and “developed Virginia’s landmark welfare reform.” James has served as co-chair of Youngkin’s transition team. A long-term member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board will serve as Youngkin’s Transportation Secretary. W. Sheppard Miller served on the board from 2011 to 2014 and joined it again in 2018 when appointed by Governor Ralph Northam. Speaking of the CTB, it next meets tomorrow and Wednesday. Youngkin has selected George “Bryan” Slater as Secretary of Labor. Slater has previously served in Republican administrations in Richmond and D.C. including Secretary of Administration under Governor Jim Gilmore. He served as Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management at the U.S. Department of Labor in the Trump administration.  Margaret “Lyn” McDermid will serve as the next Secretary of Administration, which includes the Departments of General Service, Human Resource Management, and Elections, as well as the Virginia Information Technologies Agency and the Compensation Board, McDermid worked as Chief Information Officer for the Federal Reserve Information Technology from 2013 to 2020. Congressman Donald McEachin has sent a letter to Virginia Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw urging the General Assembly to block the nomination of Andrew Wheeler as Secretary of Natural Resources. McEachin cited several times state legislators have blocked judicial appointments and board nominations. In 2006, the Republican-led Senate rejected Governor Kaine’s choice for Secretary of the Commonwealth. (read the letter)Two days left until the General Assembly The opening of the 2022 Virginia General Assembly is in two days and there aren’t too many days I’ll be able to write out interesting bills, but I will be switching over to reporting on what happens with some of them. Hundreds of bills will be filed, and many will be dismissed in committee. The pace has seriously picked up, so this is a much shorter list. Republicans continue to file bills to undo changes the Democratic majority made to various bills, particularly in the area of criminal justice. For instance, Delegate John Mcguire (R-56) filed a bill to lower the threshold for felony larceny back to $500, down from the increase to $1,000 made within the year. (HB107)McGuire also has a bill that would prevent localities from creating a Police Civilian Review Board. (HB110)Delegate Marie March (R-7) has a bill requiring school buses to have decals that say “In God We Trust” and “One Nation Under God.” (HB113)March has another bill that would prevent governments from doing any activity that a private business could provide. (HB119)Delegate Nick Frietas (R-30) has a bill that would remove powers of the State Air Pollution Control Board and the State Corporation Commission to regulate carbon emissions in order to meet previously stated greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals. (HB118)Delegate Scott Wyatt (R-97) would limit absentee voting to 10 days before an election, would require an absentee ballot to have the last four numbers of a voter’s social security number, and would add other restrictions. (HB121)Delegate Chris Runion (R-25) has a similar bill to Wyatt’s that would require witnesses to absentee ballot certification to also provide a signature, name, address, date of birth, and the last four digits of their social security number. (HB149)Wyatt has a bill similar to others that would repeal provisions that prevent law enforcement from pulling motorists over for certain infractions, ending another Democratic initiative. (HB122)Delegate Glenn Davis (R-84) has a bill that would allow ranked choice voting in party primaries, including the Presidential election. (HB129)Delegate Mike Cherry (R-66) has a bill to repeal the prohibition of having firearms on school property. (HB133)Third round opens for RGGI funded flood programGovernor-elect Glenn Youngkin has pledged to withdraw Virginia from an interstate cap-and-trade program known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) through an executive order. Whether or not he’s successful, Virginia so far has received $227.6 million from the program, and just under half of it is intended to help localities pay for projects to mitigate the threat of additional flooding. The third round for applications has opened for the Community Flood Preparedness Fund.“During the next 90 days, communities across Virginia will be able to apply for $40 million in grants to address the effects of recurrent flooding, sea level rise and extreme weather,” reads a press release for the application. This will be the first round since completion of the Virginia Coastal Resilience Master Plan in December. Charlottesville has had two projects funded so far, and Scottsville has had one. Visit the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s website to learn more. Second subscriber-supported shout-outCode for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects such as an expungement project with the Legal Aid Justice Center, a map of Charlottesville streetlights, and the Charlottesville Housing Hub. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects.Fifth Street Extended safety discussion The first meeting of the Charlottesville City Council is in the books. At the top of the meeting, Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders explained what the city is going to address safety concerns on Fifth Street Extended. According to crash data from the Virginia Department of Transportation, there were three fatalities in 2020 on the divided highway. Police have confirmed there was another on the night of New Years Day. “We very much remain concerned about the serious safety concern along that corridor,” Sanders said. “Our traffic engineer has been working to effect improvements with a few updates. We are pursuing a speed limit reduction. We have been working on that and you will have that matter before you at your next meeting.” Sanders said flashing “signal ahead” signs are on back order and have been delayed due to supply chain issues. He said some intersection warning signs had been installed. “We feel as though they weren’t big enough so we are in the process of expediting their swap-out,” Sanders said. Sanders said the long-term strategy will be to break down the roadway’s current character. “An example of that would be the installation of a roundabout midway on the corridor but that too is going to be very difficult for us to figure out but we’re committed to doing that and we want you to know we’re not moving away from this as a high-priority,” Sanders said. Charlottesville has been awarded several projects through the Virginia Department of Transportation’s SmartScale program in the immediate area. They are:$6.1 million for improvements on 5th Street SW to “reduce congestion, improve safety, and accommodate bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit at the intersection of Ridge Street, Cherry Avenue, Elliot Aveune (sic).” (details)$8.78 million for improvements to Ridge Street to “design and construct multi-modal improvements along the Ridge Street Corridor. Sidewalk and Curb Ramp upgrades; signal improvements at Monticello; Curb extensions on Ridge St. at Dice St. and Oak St..including bicycle lanes.” (details)There’s also West Main Street Phase 1 and Phase 2, two related projects that Council has indicated they will no longer support with local taxpayer dollars. Council holds first reading on Piedmont Housing projects on Park StreetIn their first land use items of the year, and the first rezonings since the Comprehensive Plan was updated in November, Council appeared to approve two projects on Park Street submitted by the Piedmont Housing Alliance. Let’s hear City Planner Dannan O’Connell describe the one at Park Street Christian Church.“The proposed PUD development plan calls for 50 multifamily units and about 54 parking spaces to be constructed at the rear of the existing church site,” O’Connell said. And here is with the project at the Monticello Area Community Action Agency, two blocks to the south. Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville is also participating in that project. “The proposed PUD development plan calls for preservation of the two existing single-family homes, 28 new townhome or duplex units, 65 multifamily units in two buildings, and a maximum of 7,500 square feet of commercial child care space.” Because the public hearings for the items were held in mid-December, anyone who wanted to speak to the matter had to do so at the beginning of the meeting. Brian Day represented the congregation at Park Street Christian Church. “The project for affordable senior housing has had tremendous support from IMPACT Charlottesville and the enthusiastic and unanimous support approval from the Planning Commission as well,” Day said. “To be a vibrant city we need affordable housing and we are ready to help you make this possible. Kimber Hawkey, a Belmont resident, asked Council to delay a vote on the MACAA project. “I’m just asking that the Council take a step back and wait to do any kind of approval on this until there’s more study on traffic impact as well as the affordability,” Hawkey said. “It looks like a promising project but given the traffic and public safety indication, it seems inappropriate in size for the location.”Traffic improvements at the Park Street Christian Church project include improvements granting an easement to the city to allow for brush to be cleared to increase sight distance at the intersection of Park Street and Cutler Lane, as well as a crosswalk across Park Street at Cutler Lane. The affordability level at Park Street Christian Church will depend on a number of factors, including how successful Piedmont Housing Alliance will be in getting low income housing tax credits in the next cycle.“We don’t have specificity in there around the exact depth of affordability in part because you can only finalize that when you have finalized all of the costs and all of the subsidies so you know how deeply affordable you can go,” said Sunshine Mathon, the executive director of Piedmont Housing Alliance.Mathon said the target will be that five units will be households less than 30 percent of the area median income, and the majority will ideally be less than 50 percent of the AMI. All units will accept federal housing vouchers. The city has not yet contributed any funding to this project. According to a preliminary audit of the city’s affordable housing funds by the firm HR&A, Piedmont Housing Alliance has received around $10 million from Charlottesville, including about $6 million for the Friendship Court redevelopment. (read the update from HR&A)Mathon said this project will also require city funding to close a financing gap. Piedmont Housing Alliance has submitted a request for $1.5 million in city funding. “I would rather rely on state or federal sources to cover that gap but inevitably city sources have to be part of that capital stack in the current day and age,” Mathon said. For the Park Street Christian Church, Piedmont Housing Alliance will not submit an application for low-income housing tax credits until the 2023 cycle. The Park Street Christian Church item will go before Council at their next meeting on a consent agenda. There was more discussion about the MACAA project. Transportation improvements include a realignment of MACAA Drive to be directly across from Davis Avenue to make a safer intersection, as well as a crosswalk. The intersection would remain unsignalized. An existing driveway from one of the single-family houses will be eliminated. Councilor Brian Pinkston said there was a lot to like about the project but he was skeptical the traffic improvements would mitigate congestion. “But there’s still this fact that at that intersection particularly where 250 and Park are right now is a difficult place to get through,” Pinkston said. Councilor Michael Payne had concerns about loss of tree cover. An engineer with the Timmons Group said the development would exceed the city’s requirement for replacement. Vice Mayor Juandiego Wade said he felt good about the project, but asked several questions about its impact on traffic. “If we don’t address some of those, I think they’re being addressed, then it won’t be a pleasant living environment for the new residents as well as the current residents of the neighborhood,” Wade said. Mayor Snook said he did not think the additional traffic would result in conditions as hazardous as on Fifth Street Extended.  “It’s just simply not going to happen,” Snook said. “You don’t have a four-lane highway. You don’t have it divided. You don’t have it 45 miles an hour. You may well see some incremental increase in rear-enders, minor low-impact kinds of collisions. I don’t mean to downplay them and to say that’s irrelevant but I think it’s kind of distorting to throw that argument in there.”The MACAA issue will not come back on the consent agenda but will instead come back for a discussion and to allow the applicant to further address concerns raised at the meeting. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
January 8, 2022: Youngkin to join challenge against Biden administration's vaccine mandate; Virginia sets one-day hospitalization record today

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 8, 2022 18:12


It’s the first day of the second week of 2022. Has anything significant happened yet? How have you fared in these initial days of a year that has 357 of them left after today? Are you hopeful for a reset after a tricky start to the year? All very good questions but not necessarily the topic of this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a program that seeks to celebrate National Trivia Day on all of them while ensuring you’re more informed than you were before. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber to Charlottesville Community Engagement.On today’s program:Governor-elect Youngkin will join other states led by Republican Governors in opposing President Biden’s vaccine mandate for federal employees The Omicron surge continues with one-day records set in Albemarle and Charlottesville With the General Assembly meeting in four days, more legislation is filed Clean-up continues after the winter storm of January 3First Patreon-fueled shout-out:With winter weather here, now is the time to think about keeping your family warm through the cold Virginia months. Make sure you are getting the most out of your home with help from your local energy nonprofit, LEAP. LEAP wants you and yours to keep comfortable all year round, and offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If you’re age 60 or older, or have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Approaching the pandemic’s third yearThe pandemic continues but the next administration in Richmond will likely take a different approach to the current one. Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin on Friday announced that he and Attorney General Elect Jason Miyares plan to challenge the Biden administration’s imposition of mandates on federal employees. “After the January 15th inauguration, the Commonwealth of Virginia will quickly move to protect Virginians’ freedoms and challenge President Biden’s unlawful CMS, OSHA, and Head Start vaccine mandates,” reads the press release. “While we believe that the vaccine is a critical tool in the fight against COVID-19, we strongly believe that the Federal government cannot impose its will and restrict the freedoms of Americans.”Biden and his Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becarra, want to implement the mandate to increase the percentage of Americans who are fully vaccinated. The action has not gone into effect yet pending existing legal challenges. The form Youngkin’s legal challenge won’t be known for at least eight days, but the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday spent over three hours yesterday in argument on the same topic in two consolidated cases. See below for links. In the meantime, on January 7, the heaviest surge of COVID cases so far continues to test the health care system with trends towards hospitalization levels not seen since this time last year Dr. Reid Adams is the chief medical officer at the University of Virginia. “It is true we are feeling the same thing everywhere else in the state is feeling which is record number of COVID admissions,” Adams said. “We have been able to open additional COVID units to accommodate those patients.”Adams said so far, UVA has not had to implement any emergency procedures but operational teams are meeting every day. “We have had occasions where we’ve had to alter our elective surgical schedule,” Adams said. “Fortunately that’s been fairly modest and we’ve not had to close elective procedures to date.” As of yesterday, the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reported 3,103 patients in hospital with COVID, The record had been 3,201 on January 13, 2021 but today the VHHA set a new record with 3,478 patients currently hospitalized. Of those current hospitalizations, 558 were in intensive care units and 302 people were on ventilators.On Friday, the Virginia Department of Health updated their dashboard on COVID cases by vaccination status. Through December 25, “unvaccinated people developed COVID-19 at a rate 3.8 times that of fully vaccinated people, and 2.2 times that of partially vaccinated people.” At UVA Health, Adams estimates the number of unvaccinated patients who are hospitalized is between 75 to 80 percent. “Because we care for immunosuppressed patients, we are seeing those patients,” Adams said. “Organ transplants is a good example that are having COVID-related disease and requiring hospitalization but the vast, vast majority are still unvaccinated.” Dr. Bill Petri is an infectious disease expert at the University of Virginia. He said while there are more cases of people getting COVID who are vaccinated and boosted, the vaccine is still offering protection. “Protection from hospitalization is much better with the vaccines with or without the boosters, really,” Petri said. “What we’ve seen is that is being vaccinated in itself reduces your risk from being hospitalized or dying from COVID about ten-fold.”Both Dr. Adams and Dr. Petri gave examples of how the omicron variant seems to be less deadly and destructive as the delta variant. Here’s one of them from Dr. Petri. “One of the good pieces of news is that the omicron variant is less likely to infect the lungs and so we’re seeing less pneumonia than we were with the delta, so that’s one good piece of news,” Dr. Petri said. There won’t be any new data on the number of COVID-cases until Monday, as the Virginia Department of Health stopped reporting it seven days a week when the state of emergency ended. On Friday, VDH recorded 18,309 cases and the percent positivity increased further to 34.6 percent. The Blue Ridge Health District made up 410 of those cases. Albemarle County set its one day record on Thursday with 156 cases followed by 131 cases on Friday. Charlottesville set its record Friday with 140 cases. Other localities have also recently set one-day records. These numbers are likely undercounts as at-home kits are not reported to the Virginia Department of Health, and because of the effects of this week’s winter storm. This week, Governor Ralph Northam announced $5 million will be spent to create nine testing centers throughout Virginia, with the first opening at the Richmond International Raceway today in Caroline County. According to the release, one of these will be in Charlottesville at the existing facilities used by the Blue Ridge Health District. Governor-elect Youngkin will also appoint a new Commissioner of Health, choosing not to retain Dr. Norm Oliver in the position as the pandemic approaches its third year. Wendy Horton, UVA Health’s Chief Executive Officer, said she hopes for consistency. “I think it’s really important to really remain aligned as a Commonwealth and to really have public health and us all just really working together is my recommendation,” Horton said. “I think we do that well but I think it’s increasingly a team sport right now and I think all of us really have to be working together to really care for everyone across the state.” Youngkin will become the next Governor of Virginia a week from today. Resources:  Transcript of National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (audio)Transcript of Biden v. Missouri (audio)Storm clean-up continuesFriday’s winter storm didn’t pose much of a threat, at least as measured by whether the city trash trucks operated. They did. But many continue to be without power throughout the area with temperatures below freezing. Dominion Energy’s outage map now tracks individual projects versus wide swaths of land. The Central Virginia Electric Cooperative reports 3,339 customers without power from a total number of 38,307 customers. Albemarle County continues to offer warming centers today and tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The locations are Baker-Butler Elementary, Monticello High School, Greenwood Community Center, and Scottsville Community Center. Water, electricity, and wifi are available at all four, but showers are only available at the schools. Drinking water is also available at the fire departments in both Earlysville. Call 434-297-8415 or visit communityemergency.org for more information. If you’re reading this and you live in Charlottesville, you better have shoveled your public sidewalk by now. The official end of this week’s snowstorm has passed and city ordinance requires pathways in the public right of way to be clear as of 8 a.m. this morning.Two more Patreon-fueled shout-outsLet’s continue today with two more Patreon-fueled shout-outs. The first comes a long-time supporter who wants you to know:"Today is a great day to spread good cheer: reach out to an old friend, compliment a stranger, or pause for a moment of gratitude to savor a delight."The second comes from a more recent supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today! More General Assembly billsAs the General Assembly session looms, it will become much harder to list all of the pieces of legislation that are introduced. Until then, I hope to continue to bring you some of the highlights as I figure out what my strategy will be for covering the session while also keeping you up to date on local matters. Until then:Senator David Marsden (D-37) introduced a bill to terminate the Major Employment and Investment Project Site Planning Grant program in favor of the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program fund. (SB28)Marsden has another bill encouraging wellness programs to encourage customers get a COVID-19 vaccine. (SB42)Senator Barbara Favola (D-31) filed a bill extending the amount of time a locality’s Planning Commission has to make a recommendation on a Comprehensive Plan Amendment from 60 days to 100 days. (SB35)Favola has another bill that would allow localities to take action to enforce provisions of the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant act (SB43)In a related bill, landlords would not be able to ban tenants from using their space to provide child-care. (SB69)The definition of “critically missing adult” would no longer have a requirement that abduction is involved under other legislation from Favola. (SB49)Senator Chap Petersen (D-34) would prohibit people from spending more than $20,000 on one candidate in a statewide or legislative race. (SB44)Senator Joe Morrissey has a similar bill that would increase that limit to $25,000. (SB111)Petersen has another bill that would prevent public utilities from donating to candidates or their political action committees. (SB45)People in quarantine would be able to petition for delays in legal proceedings related to that status, if another bill from Petersen makes it through. (SB46)Senator Mamie Locke (D-2) filed a bill to increase the limit on the amount of housing opportunity tax credits from $15 million to $150 million, and would end a projected 2026 sunset date for their use. (SB47)Senator Amanda Chase (R-11) filed a bill to require health care providers to dispense hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, two treatments for COVID that have not been proven to have any effect. (SB73)Chase has another bill that would prevent localities from regulating firearms in public places. (SB74)Chase would also repeal the ban on firearms and explosive devices in Capitol Square or within the Capitol of Virginia. (SB75)Senator Thomas Norment (R-3) has a bill that would prohibit the Virginia governor from appointing members of their family to a Secretarial position or chief of staff. (SB95)Norment has another bill related to the state marijuana tax that would redirect funds that are intended now to go to the Cannabis Equity Reinvestment Fund. (SB107)Delegate Lee Ware (R-65) has filed a bill to create the Virginia Pandemic Response and Preparedness Council (HB87)Delegate Wendell Walker (R-23) filed a bill removing a clause that elementary and secondary school students can not be charged with disorderly conduct. (HB89)Delegate Joseph McNamara (R-8) filed legislation to exempt food and personal hygiene products from sales tax (HB90)He has another bill to require the Secretary of Commerce and Trade to study the effects of Daylight Savings Times. (HJ6)Delegate Christopher Head (R-17) filed a bill to create a central registry for complaints about elder abuse and neglect in the Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services. (HB98)Head has another bill that would allow a $2,000 tax credit for individuals or married persons for a stillborn child. (HB100)Incoming Delegate Karen Greenhalgh has another bill that would allow for health care providers to make prescriptions for “off-label” uses. (HB102)Greenhalgh has another bill that would allow educators to have a $500 tax credit, a provision that would also apply to parents or guardians who home-school. (HB103)Senator Emmett Hanger (R-24) has a bill that replace the charter for the Town of Grottoes. (SB99)Senator Joseph Morrissey (D-16) filed a bill eliminating mandatory minimum sentences. (SB104)In SB105, Morrissey has another bill that would make retroactive provisions adopted in the summer of 2020 that prevent police officers from pulling over motorists for certain offenses. In SB108, Morrissey would end the use of isolated confinement in Virginia’s correctional facilities. SB109 would allow parole for people imprisoned for crimes committed before they were 21, and have served least twenty years of their sentence.  SB110 is similar as is SB111.SB115 in update of the six-year capital plan for Virginia which includes new figures for projects at colleges and universities, including a Center for the Arts at the University of Virginia. More bills in Monday’s installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
January 6, 2022: Snook selected to serve as Charlottesville Mayor; Price to chair Albemarle Board of Supervisors

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 6, 2022 23:49


A year ago, a crowd of people stormed the U.S. Capitol in a bid to seek a change in the 2020 presidential election. They were unsuccessful. Two months ago, there was a change in political control of Virginia’s government in another election. There are many statements that democracy is under siege and under threat, and that may be true. But this and every episode of Charlottesville Community Engagement seeks to document the arguments had and decisions made in a complex human civilization that each of us exists within. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs, eager to get on with an update about democracy at the community level around where I live.Sign up for free to learn something new every day about what’s happening: On today’s show:There’s new leadership on both the Charlottesville City Council and the Albemarle Board of SupervisorsGovernor-elect Youngkin nominated one of former President Trump’s EPA administrators to lead natural resources and environmental policy in VirginiaAnother state of emergency is declared in advance of second winter storm to start the new yearNew legislation continues to be filed in the General Assembly, including guarantee life imprisonment for class 1 felonies and campaign finance capsToday’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out:With winter weather here, now is the time to think about keeping your family warm through the cold Virginia months. Make sure you are getting the most out of your home with help from your local energy nonprofit, LEAP. LEAP wants you and yours to keep comfortable all year round, and offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If you’re age 60 or older, or have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Clean-up continues while another weather storm approachesAlbemarle County and other localities are setting up emergency warming centers as thousands in the area remain without electricity three days after a winter storm that caught many by surprise and overwhelmed tree limbs that hadn’t yet experienced wet, heavy snow. Many now never will. “Albemarle County was one of the most severely hit areas across the Commonwealth,” said county executive Jeffrey Richardson. “The storm has been very challenging to recover from for several reasons. One is the rate of snowfall from Monday morning around 6 a.m. to around noon. We measured up to nine or nine and a half inches of snow across Albemarle County so it was a very wide-ranging storm.”Richardson said Dominion Energy activated its mutual aid plan and crews from eight states have been on the scene. He said resources would continue to be rerouted here. “Some of the mutual aid crews that were requested arrived here later than expected and that was due to Interstate blockages,” Richardson said. As of this morning at 10:15 a.m. there were just under a thousand homes in Charlottesville without power. In Albemarle, there are still 17,296 customers who have not yet had service restored. Half of Dominion’s 4,466 customers in Louisa remain unconnected and about a third of Fluvanna County’s 3,556 customers are without power. Continue to consult Dominion Energy’s outage map for the latest information.If you need a center, visit the website communityemergency.org. This is a service of the Regional Office of Emergency Management and has a list of resources, including the centers. Two mobile units will be set up from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today for people to get water and to charge mobile devices. These are at the Food Lion in the Town of Louisa and the Giant on Pantops. In Albemarle, the centers will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. today:Baker-Butler Elementary School at 2740 Proffit Road with showers, WiFi, and electricity available.Greenwood Community Center at 865 Greenwood Rd in Crozet from 9 am to 6 pm. WiFi and electricity available. Scottsville Community Center at 250 Page Street in Scottsville from 9 am to 6 pm. WiFi and electricity available. In Charlottesville, trash pickup and curbside recycling resumed today with the regular Thursday service, but the city warns service may be suspended on Friday if the storm is severe enough to shut down roads. Normal residential service will resume on Monday. Governor Ralph Northam has issued a state of emergency in advance of a second storm storm which is forecast for this evening. The declaration frees up more resources for public safety officials to implement parts of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Emergency Operations Plan. It also prevents price gouging and allows department heads to waive certain procurement requirements. (read the declaration)Pandemic updateThere’s no longer a state of emergency in place for COVID-19 in Virginia, but the highest surge to date is still underway with another 15,840 cases reported today by the Virginia Department of Health. The percent positivity continues to creep up and is now at 33.6 percent statewide. The percent positivity in the Blue Ridge Health District has also increased to 25.2 percent. There are another 366 cases reported in the district today, and the town hall scheduled for tonight has been rescheduled to January 10. Youngkin selects former EPA administrator for Natural Resources SecretaryGovernor-elect Glenn Youngkin has named a former Trump administration official to oversee the portion of the state’s executive branch that implements policy related to the environment. Andrew Wheeler has been selected as the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources. Wheeler was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2019 and began his career in the first Bush administration in EPA’s Pollution Prevention and Toxics office. Youngkin selected Michael Rolband to serve as the director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. He’s the founder of a firm called Wetland Studies and Solutions Inc that helps developers in the environmental review process. “He founded WSSI to assist economic developers in navigating the Clean Water Act, Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, and local environmental regulations,” reads the press release. In a release, Youngkin stated that the pair “share my vision in finding new ways to innovate and use our natural resources to provide Virginia with a stable, dependable, and growing power supply that will meet Virginia’s power demands without passing the costs on to the consumer.” The nominations will have to go through the General Assembly. To learn more about these nominations, here are some additional resources:Youngkin confirms his pick for Secretary of Natural Resources and Democrats respond, January 5, 2022Trump EPA head, coal lobbyist tapped as Virginia’s environmental chief, January 5, 2022Andrew Wheeler, Former EPA Boss, Charts a New Course, Bloomberg Law, May 6, 2021More General Assembly billsWe’re now six days away from the 2022 General Assembly and there are more pieces of legislation to review. The closer we come, the more narrow this list will be. For the full list, visit the General Assembly’s Legislative Information System. (view by the day)A bill from Delegate Terry Kilgore (R-1) would terminate the Town of St. Charles and incorporate its assets and debts into Lee County. (HB83)Kilgore also has a bill that would allow out-of-state audiologists to practice in underserved parts of the Commonwealth if doing so as part of a nonprofit organization’s service efforts. (HB84)Incoming Delegate Tim Anderson (R-83) would implement campaign finance limits (see image below) (HB85)Anderson also has a bill requiring the Department of Elections to create a searchable campaign database. The current database is here and there’s also the Virginia Public Access Project. (HB86)Senator Thomas Norment (R-3) filed a bill that would allow localities to apply for funds to maintain historic African American cemeteries. There is similar legislation in the House of Delegates. (SB76)Norment has another bill that would require people in all localities in Virginia to go through an additional 90 minutes of driver education to be spent with parents or guardians. (SB78)Senator Bill Stanley (R-20) filed a bill requiring anyone convicted of a Class 1 felony to be sentenced to life in prison. (SB79)Stanley has another bill that would prohibit elections officials from receiving gifts and funding for voter education programs and other outreach programs. (SB80)Stanley has another bill that would limit the power of the Air Pollution Control Board to consider facts and circumstances when considering reasonability to approving variances, not making regulations. (SB81)If a city reverts to a town, police officers will have the right to buy their motorcycles (SB82)Stanley also has a bill that would require Martinsville voters to approve reversion to becoming a town in Henry County, and they’d have to do so by July 1, 2026. (SB85)The mandatory age for judges to retire would be increased from 73 to 75 under another bill from Senator Stanley. (SB83)Another bill from Stanley would allow the New College Initiative to provide workforce training, a service that must currently be provided by the community college system. (SB84)Primitive campgrounds would be exempted from sanitary requirements under another bill from Stanley, though the Virginia Department of Health could require one toilet for every 75 campers. (SB86)Stanley has three other bills related to animal breeders. SB88 would require entities that breed dogs or cats to document each animal for two years after a sale or transfer. SB89 would prohibit the sale of unneutered or unspayed animals. SB90 would require breeders to offer animals for adoption before euthanization, a requirement that currently only applies to animal testing facilities. Second Patreon-fueled shout-out! The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign  an initiative that wants you to grow native plants in yards, farms, public spaces and gardens in the northern Piedmont. Winter is here, but spring isn’t too far away. This is a great time to begin planning for the spring. Native plants provide habitat, food sources for wildlife, ecosystem resiliency in the face of climate change, and clean water.  Start at the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page and tell them Lonnie Murray sent you!A divided council selects Snook as Mayor, but unanimously elects Wade as Vice MayorIn their first vote of 2022, Charlottesville City Council chose Lloyd Snook to serve as mayor for the next two years. The first meeting with newcomers Brian Pinkston and Juandiego Wade was opened by Deputy City Manager Ashley Marshall. “The person elected to serve as Mayor will preside over City Council meetings and may call special meetings, make some appointments to advisory boards, and serves as the head of government for ceremonial purposes and official functions,” Marshall said. “The vice mayor substitutes whenever the mayor is not available.” Wade nominated Snook for the position of Mayor. “I think that he has the knowledge of governance to handle this position,” Wade said. “I think he understands the great importance of the position, and that the eyes of not only the city but a much broader audience will be looking upon him and I think that he understands the importance and knows what it takes to hear everyone’s voice.”Snook said the city needs a vision as well as a management team to implement that vision. “Our Comprehensive Plan sets out a compelling vision for the city that I think all five of us endorse,” Snook said. “A city of equity and opportunity where all people can thrive, a city with a rich and diverse culture where all people are welcomed and valued and respected, a well-planned city of neighborhoods with a variety of affordable housing choices, a city that demonstrates environmental and climate leadership, a government where all of our employees are respected and decisions are made with an eye on equity.”Snook said as mayor he wants to lead the recruitment efforts for a new city manager who will serve a long term. In the meantime he said the Comprehensive Plan has 308 different strategies but there’s no clear sense of how to turn that into an action plan for the government. He said he wants to set up new advisory committees that can provide a jumpstart on the rebuilding process. “In addition to the criminal justice and Marcus Alert task forces, and the Housing Advisory Committee, a climate change advisory committee, a group to work on transit and transportation policy, a group to develop a plan for historic Charlottesville,” Snook said. Councilor Sena Magill had a different nominee in mind. “I would like to nominate Michael Payne for Mayor,” Magill said. “Councilor Payne is very good at bringing people together across many different places. I have seen him put into words clearly thoughts and ideas that are often complex and make them reachable and is someone I know would do a very good job as well.” Payne accepted the nomination.“We are a divided community and divided along race, class, ideology, education level, and this has been a time of unprecedented crisis in a lot of ways,” Payne said.Payne the pandemic has frayed the social fabric but said there has been a demonstrated ability to advance public policy on Council.“Specific issues like implementing our affordable housing strategy, creating a land bank, creating our climate strategy and implementing it, as well as small things we see every day like recent calls from the community to take actions about Fifth Street,” Payne said.Payne said the city needs a well-functioning government, and added that the city has been implementing some of its vision, such as adopting the Future Land Use Map and investing in the redevelopment of the city’s public housing units. He said his leadership would continue that work. Snook got the nod on a 3 to 2 vote. There was only one candidate for vice mayor when Councilor Pinkston nominated Wade.“Juandiego Wade has been a fixture in this community for decades,” Pinkston said. “He served at all levels. He has so much to contribute. He has a courageousness but also a humility that is instructive for me. I’m grateful for his leadership in the city and I think he will make a fantastic vice mayor and I hope others will vote the same.”They did. Wade said he would accept the challenge. “I have kind of fancied myself as the type of person who works behind the scenes to help get things done and look at the fruition of the efforts of myself and others,” Wade said, That vote was unanimous. More on the City Council meeting in future editions of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Price to chair Albemarle Board of SupervisorsThe six-member Albemarle Board of Supervisors has selected Donna Price to serve as the chair for the next year. Price is in the third year of her first term and she was the only nominee. There was no discussion and the vote went quickly. “What sets Albemarle County apart from other local municipalities has been the steady, stable, and long-term leadership of the Office of County Executive and the County Attorney,” Price said. “The foresight of our County Executive, Jeff Richardson, the astuteneess of our county attorney Greg Kamptner and the dedication of innumerable citizens and public servants in an era of anger and while a deadly pandemic that has killed over 825,000 Americans… Albemarle County has not only survived. We have thrived.” Rivanna District Supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley will be the vice chair. The public also heard from new Supervisor Jim Andrews, the new representative from the Samuel Miller District. He said he wants to hear from the public. “I don’t think I have all of the information and the Board doesn’t have all the information or ideas and the public can help,” Andrews said. “Right now I’m wishing for a wealth of great ideas from people.” Supervisors also made appointments to Boards and Commissions. Former Supervisor Liz Palmer has been reappointed to the Albemarle County Service Authority, where she served before being elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2013. Charles Tolbert and Nathan Moore were reappointed. Two UVA officials join Albemarle Planning CommissionThe new at-large member of the Planning Commission is Luis Carrazana, who is employed by the University of Virginia Office of the Architect as the Associate University Architect. Fred Missel, development director at the University of Virginia Foundation, will represent the Scottsville District, replacing Rick Randolph who retired. Julian Bivins, Daniel Bailey, and Karen Firehock were reappointed to their terms representing Jack Jouett, Rio, and Samuel Miller Districts. Charlottesville, Albemarle, and the University of Virginia entered into a Three Party Agreement in 1986 that allowed for UVA officials to serve as non-voting members of the city and county Planning Commissions. Later this year, the Planning Commission will take up a rezoning request at the North Fork Research Park for a rezoning of land to the Neighborhood Model Development district. UVA has selected this as one of three sites where they will work with a developer to built up to 1,500 affordable housing units. The rezoning application submitted in December would see up to 1,400 units at the site as well as a maximum of 3.7 million square feet of non-residential use. The development would span between Airport Road Drive and Lewis and Clark Drive, and would utilize a completed extension of that roadway that the UVA Foundation funded. The Discovery Park is owned by the foundation. Supervisors also delegated some of their members to Boards and Commissions. Jim Andrews will serve on the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority Andrews and Supervisor Price will serve on the Solid Waste Alternatives Advisory CommitteeAnn Mallek will serve on the Rivanna Water and Sewer AuthorityAndrews will serve on the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission and Gallaway will continueNed Gallaway will serve on the Central Virginia Regional Housing Partnership with Diantha McKeel as an alternative Gallaway and Price will serve on the Capital Improvement Program Advisory CommitteeBea LaPisto-Kirtley will replace Mallek on the Historic Preservation CommitteeMcKeel will remain on the Economic Development AuthorityLaPisto-Kirtley and McKeel will remain on the Regional Transit Partnership And this morning, Clerk of Council Kyna Thomas sent over this list of what Councilors are serving on what regional boards. Sena Magill will serve on the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail Authority Board Juandiego Wade will serve on the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau Lloyd Snook and Brian Pinkston will serve on the Darden Towe Park Board, along with Albemarle Supervisors LaPisto Kirtley and Gallaway. Pinkston and Snook will serve on the Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board. Both will also serve on the Regional Transportation Partnership providing consistent representation on both bodies. Pinkston will serve on the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority and the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority (PINKSTON)Payne will continue on the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission What do you think? This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
January 5, 2022: Storm clean-up continues with power outages slowly being restored; Albemarle BOS ended 2021 by approving a major rezoning

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 5, 2022 20:39


The Charlottesville region continues to dig out after an early winter storm sets the tone for 2022, a year that has a lot to do to compete with its cousins 2020 and 2021. Only five days in, and it’s possible we’re going to be in for a bumpy ride. Charlottesville Community Engagement is prepared, and asks that you keep your arms and hands inside the vehicle at all times, lest you be thrown to the wolves. I’m Sean Tubbs. On today’s program:As the Albemarle Board of Supervisors begins a new year, the last year ended with rezoning on Rio Road East for a maximum of 328 units Governor-elect Youngkin appoints his top agricultural officialsThe community continues to recover from a devastating winter storm Subscriber-supported shout-out Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects such as an expungement project with the Legal Aid Justice Center, a map of Charlottesville streetlights, and the Charlottesville Housing Hub. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects.Storm recoveryThere are still many thousands of people without power across central Virginia, two days after a winter storm hit that surprised many after the New Year began with temperature in the sixties. As the sun rose this morning, Dominion’s outage map shows about a third of its customers in Albemarle remain without power. That number began to drop throughout this morning. The situation in Charlottesville is markedly improved with just over a tenth of the city’s 24,744 customers without power at su“As of 11:00 p.m. Tuesday, crews have already restored power to 310,000 customers impacted by this damaging storm,” reads an email the company sent out late last night. They urge anyone affected who hasn’t reported their outage to update that info at dominionenergy.com or phone 1-866-366-4357. Louisa County customers on Dominion Energy are still out, and about two-thirds remain out in Fluvanna. Several areas of the community are served by Central Virginia Electric Cooperative, who report about a third of their customers without power this morning. View their map here. Charlottesville has sent out a notice to property owners reminding them that public sidewalks must be shoveled 24 hours after a snowfall. “With widespread power outages and the severity of this particular snowstorm, the City recognizes the need for additional time,” reads the release. “As a result, the Deputy City Managers have declared 8:00 am on Thursday, January 6, 2022 to be the official end of snowfall.”That gives property owners until Friday at 8 a.m. to clear pathways, but the notice acknowledges the potential of another storm on Thursday and points out that the time will reset if a second storm hits this week. Charlottesville will delay trash and recycling pick-up one more day until Thursday and residents who get service Monday through Wednesday won’t get service this week. “With the potential for an additional snow system arriving at the end of the week this current revised schedule is subject to change,” reads a release. Interstate 95 was opened in both direction last night shortly after 8 p.m. after being closed for most of yesterday due to traffic jams caused by hazardous and impassable conditions. A release sent out by the Virginia Department of Transportation last night warned drivers that parts of the roadway in Stafford, Spotsylvania, and Caroline counties remained hazardous with below freezing temperatures. Albemarle public safety responds to shooting, structure fireIn addition to contending with the aftermath of the snow storm, Albemarle public safety had two other incidents yesterday. In one, police responded at 11:15 a.m. to a shots fired incident on Dick Woods Road and arrested an Afton man on charges of brandishing and reckless discharge of a firearm. Marc McCann, 62, is currently being held at Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail without bond.Later in the day at around 3 p.m., Albemarle County Fire Rescue responded to a structure fire on Route 53 near Milton Road that injured one and displaced three. While the cause of the fire is under investigation, the news release contains this warning. “Albemarle County Fire Rescue would like to remind everyone to keep anything that can burn at least three feet from heating equipment and to always use the right kind of fuel, specified by the manufacturer, for fuel-burning heaters,” reads the release. Youngkin makes agricultural picksIncoming Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin has named two people who will oversee policy and programs related to agriculture in Virginia. Matt Lohr will be the Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry and Joseph Guthrie will be the Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. According to a release sent out yesterday afternoon, Lohr is a fifth-generation farmer from the Shenandoah Valley who has been chief of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. He served in the House of Delegates from 2006 to 2010 before becoming the Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.That position will now be filled by Guthrie, who grew up on a family farm in Pulaski County. Guthrie is currently a senior instructor at Virginia Tech where he was named as Man of the Year in 1989 as a graduating senior. He and his family continue to own a beef farm in the New River Valley. There are several reports that Youngkin will nominate his Secretary of Natural Resources later today. I’ll have that information tomorrow. Prince Edward County seeks local sales tax for education; other billsThe General Assembly session convenes in seven days and about two new dozen bills were pre-filed yesterday including more proposed rollbacks of legislation that passed the General Assembly under Democratic control in both houses. Delegate James Edmunds (R-60) filed a bill that would add Prince Edward County to the list of localities authorized to levy a one percent sales tax to fund education projects, if approved by a referendum. (HB63)Edmunds also filed a bill allowing hunting on Sundays but only in wildlife management areas operated by the Department of Wildlife Resources. (HB64)In another piece of legislation, Edmunds has a bill that would allow employees of the Department of Wildlife Resources “to sell, possess, sell, offer for sale, or liberate in the Commonwealth any live fur-bearing animal commonly referred to as nutria.” (HB65)Edmunds has a fourth bill that would allow people with valid driver’s licenses to operate certain utility vehicles on secondary roads in counties with fewer than 100,000 people. (HB66)Incoming Delegate Tim Anderson (R-83) has a bill clarifying that active military with homes in Virginia are registered to vote if they are on active duty. (HB68)Delegate Glenn Davis (R-84) filed a bill altering the section of code dealing with custody to change the word “visitation” to “parenting time” and to encourage maximization of time spent with each parent. (HB69)Davis also filed a bill that would guarantee minimum rights for police officers and removing exceptions for those rights if a locality has a police civilian review board. (HB70)Delegate Lee Ware (R-65) filed a bill prohibiting campaign finance donations from utility companies or their subsidiaries. (HB71)Ware also filed legislation prohibiting the sale of marijuana seeds or plants if the Assembly passed other legislation to allow retail sale of the end-product. (HB72)Ware also has a bill that would remove several sections of language in the state code that pertains to the Air Pollution Control Board. (HB73)There’s other legislation from Ware that would tweak the Virginia Clean Economy Act by adding a definition for “energy-intensive trade-exposed industries.” (HB74)Last year, Albemarle County Supervisors suggested they would like to look into increasing the transient occupancy tax to more than four percent. Ware has another bill that would require a referendum for counties that want to do that or increase the meals tax. (HB75)Ware has another bill that would require the state government to reimburse localities for the cost of counting absentee ballots. (HB76)Delegate Glenn Davis (R-84) also has a bill specifying that skills games are gambling devices (HB77)Annoyed by free online trials that don’t seem to have a cancellation option? Davis has a bill that would make that illegal. (HB78)Delegate Ronnie Campbell (R-24) has a bill that would restore police ability to stop motorists and pedestrians for a variety of infractions including detecting the presence of marijuana. (HB79)Delegate Davis has another bill that would create the Virginia Healthcare Regulatory Sandbox Program for innovative and pilot health care products. (HB80)Today’s Patreon-fueled shout-out:Algorithms know how to put songs and artists together based on genre or beats per minute. But only people can make connections that engage your mind and warm your heart. The music on WTJU 91.1 FM is chosen by dozens and dozens of volunteer hosts -- music lovers like you who live right here in the Charlottesville area. Listener donations keep WTJU alive and thriving. In this era of algorithm-driven everything, go against the grain. Support freeform community radio on WTJU. Consider a donation at wtju.net/donate.Pandemic update: Another 10K+ dayThis morning the Virginia Department of Health reports another 10,728 new COVID cases and the percent positivity has increased to 32 percent, meaning that one in every three PCR is positive. Positivity in the Blue Ridge Health District is at 24.7, or one in four tests. There are 207 new cases in the district reported today. A town hall scheduled for last night was postponed and will be held on Thursday at 7 p.m. (meeting info)Starting January 1, VDH has updated its case definition for COVID-19 related deaths which will mean delays in the reporting of deaths. The agency recommends monitoring that information by date of death rather than date reported. Learn more here. Supervisors approved Rio Point project in late December In one of their last actions of 2021, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors voted to approve a rezoning in the Rio District that will bring over 300 rental units to the county’s urban ring. The project had originally been developed by a Virginia Beach firm who opted to not continue with the review process after Supervisors appeared ready to deny the project on a tie-vote on June 3, 2020. Local company Stony Point Design Build took over and have since purchased the 27-acre property. The company also built Dairy Central in Charlottesville. Stony Point Design Build renamed the project Rio Point but more or less kept the development, though they made a few changes. Cameron Langille is a planner with Albemarle County. “To the northeast is the Dunlora subdivision, to the southeast is the Dunlora Forest neighborhood,” Langille said. “The property is bounded by the north by the John Warner Parkway and across John Warner Parkway is the CATEC site and to the east is actually land that’s within the city of Charlottesville’s municipal boundaries.” Many of those neighbors have expressed concern about building more homes in that area, making the argument that the roads are already overburdened. The land has been zoned R-4 for many decades. “Under that zoning they could be developed for residential purposes up to 109 units or if they did a bonus level cluster development they could get 163 units,” Langille said.Doing so would likely mean all would be sold at market rate. That’s how Southern Development developed Dunlora Forest. The county’s Comprehensive Plan for many years has encouraged developers to seek rezoning to increase residential density in order to satisfy the county’s growth management policy.“The developer is proposing 328 units maximum,” Langille said. “There is some open space areas that are also proposed. Overall it is about 13 total acres and 1.1 acres of that open space is located closest to the intersection of the John Warner Parkway and Rio Road East. This applicant is proposing to dedicate that to public use to establish a county park that will be connected to the existing greenway system.” The new developer submitted a new traffic impact study that informed changes made to the vehicular entrances to the project and have dedicated other property along Rio Road to allow for tapered turn lanes. But Langille said the biggest change is the approval and funding of a roundabout at the intersection of John Warner Parkway and Rio Road. “It would get rid of the signalized intersection that’s currently at John Warner Parkway and Rio Road East and it would be a roundabout that would allow the traffic flow to move in any of the direction that it currently does,” Langille said. Stony Point Design Build would contribute $750,000 to the roundabout. Survey work is underway and Langille said its design will begin later this year. He added that Agnor-Hurt Elementary and Burley Middle School can both absorb students that would be generated by the development, but acknowledged that the project may contribute to existing overcrowding at Albemarle High School. All but two of the ten speakers at the public hearing asked the Board to deny the application. “In my opinion, doubling the allowable density for a development of this type which is built on a two-lane road which will always be a two-lane road and is surrounded by two lane roads in all directions is a little misguided,” said Lisa Drummond, a nearby resident. “The by-right with bonus still gets you within what’s in range of the master plan.” However, Supervisors appeared to be in favor of the project to help achieve the county’s goal to create more housing units as identified in the Housing Albemarle plan.  “Without a doubt, the market is demanding rental and we need more rental which is what this provides,” said Supervisor Diantha McKeel. Chris Henry, the president of Stony Point Development Group, said that his firm conducts market analysis before proceeding with its projects. “Today the vacancy rate for apartments in Albemarle County is like one percent,” Henry said. “What’s considered a healthy vacancy rate in any market is something like five percent and I don’t think Charlottesville  has had north of a five percent vacancy rate for a decade at least.” Henry also claimed that 30,000 commuters travel into Charlottesville every day and providing more homes within the urban ring would reduce the overall vehicle miles traveled. He said a comparable project is Arden Place for rents. The affordable rents will be over $1,000 for a one bedroom unit versus about $1,400 for a market rate unit. Supervisor Ned Gallaway noted that the proposal was submitted under Albemarle’s previous housing policies, which required 15 percent of housing units created under a rezoning to be affordable. Housing Albemarle moved that to 20 percent, though Supervisors have yet to approve an incentives package designed to help developers make that goal. “Going it under the old policy allows an easy, quick efficiency to happen,” Gallaway said. “To aspire to the new Housing Albemarle plan would require something different. Was that considered?”Henry said the project might have been able to make that 20 percent goal with additional density. The previous developer had originally requested more than 400 units, but that was reduced due to community engagement. “There’s always the trade-off between more density and more affordability because obvious the project is supported by the revenue that’s being generated from those units,” Henry said. “If the revenue is lowered, we have to have more units to get to the same result. And so, from our perspective we considered it. If we had to meet the county’s new requirement that was enacted after this application was completed, we would have wanted to have significantly more units to offset.” Supervisor Donna Price had been opposed to the rezoning went it was before the Board of Supervisors in June 2020 due to transportation concerns.“I feel like we have a better application in front of us today than we did then and I appreciate the changes you have made,” Price said. Gallaway, however, could not support the project because he said it was not quite ready because the second phase of a corridor study for Rio Road is not yet complete and because it does not meet the Housing Albemarle goals. “I’m frustrated that this application has made it before us before that corridor study is done and I’m equally frustrated that some comments have been made that we’ve learned enough from the corridor study to be able to make some of those decisions,” Gallaway said. The vote was 5-1 in favor of the rezoning. To learn more about the Rio Road Corridor Study, visit this website. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
January 4, 2022: Winter storm knocks power out for thousands, strands motorists on I-95; Pfizer booster approved for those aged 12 to 15

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 4, 2022 18:09


Welcome to January 4, which goes by many names. It’s National Trivia Day, according to nationaldaycalendar.com. It’s also National Spaghetti Day and National Missouri Day, two more pieces of information you might not necessarily need to know, but there you are. Another piece of information is that this is Charlottesville Community Engagement. Who is the host? Send me your best guess.Charlottesville Community Engagement is a service of Town Crier Productions that depends on contributions from readers and listeners. Sign up for free today and decide later if you’d like to support the show with a subscription.  On today’s show:A winter storm has caused various delays and power outages through the region with the effects still being felt this morningThe ARB seeks changes to a three-story self-storage building proposed at the intersection of U.S. 250 and Crozet Avenue The Blue Ridge Health District will hold a town hall on the pandemic tonight, and people between the age of 12 and 15 are now eligible for the Pfizer boosterGovernor Youngkin appoints more staff as well as key positions in veteran services Virginia sets up a mortgage relief fund Today’s first subscriber-supported public service announcement goes out to Camp Albemarle, which has for sixty years been a “wholesome rural, rustic and restful site for youth activities, church groups, civic events and occasional private programs.”Located on 14 acres on the banks of the Moorman’s River near Free Union, Camp Albemarle continues as a legacy of being a Civilian Conservation Corps project that sought to promote the importance of rural activities. Camp Albemarle seeks support for a plan to winterize the Hamner Lodge, a structure built in 1941 by the CCC and used by every 4th and 5th grade student in Charlottesville and Albemarle for the study ecology for over 20 years. If this campaign is successful, Camp Albemarle could operate year-round. Consider your support by visiting their website to make a donation. Storm aftermathThousands of homes throughout the region continue to be without power a day after a winter storm charged through the area one day after temperatures in the sixties. Downed tree branches due to heavy snow have knocked out power lines. As of 9 a.m. this morning, Dominion Energy reported 21,152 customers without power in Albemarle and 4,619 customers in Charlottesville. Nearly all customers in Louisa remained without power as the sun rose. Around two-thirds of Fluvanna customers were without power. Consult their outage map for updated information. The storm canceled the meetings of both the Louisa County Board of Supervisors and the Charlottesville City Council. Louisa will meet tonight beginning at 5 p.m. to select a chair and vice chair before going into closed session. The new City Council will meet tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. to go into closed session before an open session scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Trash service in the city of Charlottesville was delayed yesterday and has been canceled for today. That will mean a two-day delay for city residents beginning tomorrow when Monday’s service will resume. The service week will conclude on Sunday. Learn more in this release.Elsewhere in Virginia, I-95 south of D.C. remains close at publication with reports of thousands of stranded drivers. That includes Senator Tim Kaine. Pandemic update: FDA approved Pfizer booster for 12+The omicron surge continues in Virginia with the Virginia Department of Health reporting another 15,449 new cases and the percent positivity statewide has now increased to 29.9 percent. The percent positivity in the Blue Ridge Health District is at 22.8 percent and there are 326 new cases. District officials will hold a virtual town hall meeting tonight beginning at 7 p.m. and the main topic is local guidance on new CDC rules related to quarantine and isolation following a diagnosis. (meeting info)On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration expanded the use of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in three ways. Individuals between the age of 12 and 15 will soon be able to get a single booster dose. They’ve also allowed a shortening of the time between completing the first two doses and the booster to a minimum of five months. Thirdly, children between five and 11 with certain immunocompromised conditions will also be able for a third shot of the primary series. According to a press release, the FDA analyzed data from Israel where the booster has been authorized for those between 12 and 15. They argue the data shows the benefits of protection from new variants outweighs the potential risks. Virginia Mortgage Relief If you or someone you know is having trouble paying your mortgage, the Commonwealth of Virginia has a new relief program. Applications are now open for the program, which follows on the heels of the Virginia Rent Relief Program. “The Commonwealth has implemented rent and mortgage relief programs through designated state and federal resources,” reads a press release from outgoing Governor Ralph Northam. “Combined, these programs have provided more than $519.5 million in 106,621 rent relief payments for more than 76,500 households across Virginia.”The funding source for the new program comes from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Homeowner’s Assistance Fund. To be eligible, households need to demonstrate a reduction of income after January of 2020. For more information, visit virginiamortgagerelief.com.Youngkin names top staff, two key Veterans’ positionsGovernor-elect Glenn Youngkin will take office in less than two weeks, and he continues to flesh out his cabinet. Yesterday he names a chief of staff and other top positions. Richard Cullen will serve as Counselor, Jeff Goettman will serve as Chief of Staff, and Rebecca Glover will be Assistant Chief of Staff and Communications Director. Eric Moeller will be the Chief Transformation Officer. Cullen is a senior partner at the law firm McGuireWoods who served as Attorney General in 1997. Previous clients have included former Vice President Mike Pence and former FIFA president Sepp Blatter. Learn more about the appointments in a release on the transition website.This morning, Youngkin appointed Craig Crenshaw to serve as his Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs. Crenshaw is a former marine who is currently the president of Claxton Logistics Services. Dan Gade will be the Commissioner of the Department of Veterans Services. Gade is a veteran of the second Iraq War who lost his right leg in 2005. He is the co-founder of The Independence Project and was also the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in the 2020 race won by Senator Mark Warner. More 2022 General Assembly bills  Eight days to go until the 2022 General Assembly begins, and volume of pre–filed bills is still low enough to report. Once the session begins, action moves fast. Senator John Cosgrove (R-Chesapeake) filed a bill requiring the state Registrar to amend death certificates within 30 days if there is new evidence and information. (SB55)Senator Barbara Favola (D-Arlington) filed legislation to establish a Foster Care Prevention program intended to encourage children to be placed with relatives. (SB56)Senator Favola has another bill that would establish the School Health Services Committee to provide guidance on any proposals that might require local school boards to provide health services. (SB62)Senator Mamie Locke (D-Hampton) filed a bill to amend the State and Local Government Conflict of Interests Act to exempt gift tickets or admission fees if the responsible person is using them to perform official duties. (SB57)Delegate Ronnie Campbell (R-24) wants to add zoos to the list of entities from which animals can be seized if they are being treated cruelly. (HB53)Incoming Delegate Karen Greenhalgh (R-85) would require absentee ballots to sorted by precinct. (HB54)Greenhalgh also submitted a bill to require the State Registrar of Vital Records to transmit a list of recent deaths to the Department of Elections on a weekly basis for the purpose of taking the deceased off the voter rolls. Currently they must do so monthly. (HB55)Delegate Bill Wiley (R-29) filed a bill to provide enhanced retirement benefits for juvenile detention specialists. (HB56)Incoming Delegate Tim Anderson (R-83) would limit the power of a governor’s declaration of emergency to 45 days without General Assembly approval. (HB57)Delegate Glenn Davis (R-84) has a bill that would prevent localities from placing minimum wage and benefit requirements when procuring services from contractors. (HB58)Delegate John McGuire (R-56) would require school principals to notify law enforcement of any acts that could be construed as a misdemeanor. (HB59)McGuire has another bill seeking permission for the Town of Louisa to appoint five to seven members to an economic development authority. Currently the code specifies seven. (HB60)McGuire has another bill that would allow individuals who work as both an employee and a volunteer for a public entity to be able to earn overtime for the employment portion of their service. (HB61)Senator Travis Hackworth (R-38) filed a bill to require the chief of police of a dissolved department to relinquish records to the sheriff of that locality. Seems specific. (SB59)Hackworth has another bill that would move the deadline for political subdivisions to provide information on emergency sheltering capacity to the State Coordinator of Emergency Management from May to August. (SB60)Hackworth also filed legislation to allow judges, law-enforcement officers, attorneys, and judges to carry concealed weapons in areas where they may otherwise be prohibited. (SB61)Distilleries would be allowed to sell products directly to consumers via the Internet if a bill from Senator Frank Ruff (R-15) becomes law. (SB65)Today’s second subscriber-supported public service announcement: The Charlottesville Jazz Society at cvillejazz.org is dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and perpetuation of all that  jazz, and there’s no time like now to find a time to get out and watch people love to play. The Charlottesville Jazz Society keeps a running list of what’s coming up at cvillejazz.org. This Thursday, the Charles Owens Trio will play Potter’s Craft Cider and on Saturday the Eric Franzen Trio plays at Early Mountain Vineyards. Sign up today to see the rest!Further delays for Smith Aquatic CenterJanuary 3 had been the expected reopening day for the Smith Aquatic and Fitness Center in Charlottesville, but further repair is needed for the facility which opened in 2010. However, a release that went out this morning now states that Smith will remain closed until a “spring 2022 reopening.”Smith has been plagued with ventilation issues since soon after it opened. According to a 2015 Daily Progress article, the facility closed for several weeks in 2015 for installation of new exhaust systems. The pool closed again in April 2019 for repairs and was slated to be closed in the spring of 2020 for a $1.8 million repair that has not yet been completed. Crow Indoor Pool is open. ARB seeks smaller scale for Crozet self-storage facilityThe winter storm yesterday ended up canceling all three of the government meetings scheduled including the Albemarle Architectural Review Board. That group last met on December 20 when they weighed in on a self-storage facility proposed for the intersection of U.S. 250 and Crozet Avenue. Margaret Maliszewski is a planning manager who works with the ARB. (watch the meeting)“The proposed building is three stories tall with a 30,000 square foot footprint,” Maliszewski said. “The building as shown on the plan measures 260 feet by 120 feet.”Staff is concerned about the size of the building in relation to what’s around it. Maliszewski said the developer submitted a design with architectural treatments intended to break down the design, but continued to have concerns with the preliminary design. The property is zoned for highway commercial, so the use is allowed but must comply with entrance corridor guidelines. Doug Bates, a member of the Downtown Crozet Initiative and the Crozet Community Advisory Committee. During public comment, he said the project is not consistent with a Crozet Master Plan that seeks to build larger structures closer to downtown and now on U.S. 250.“I can’t think of a more important corridor to deal with Crozet and I would urge this Architectural Review Board to consider your broader responsibilities to keep the community coherent,” Bates said. Another member of the public urged the county to deny the whole proposal. “I think we’re giving too much importance to by-right and not enough to what really needs to go there,” said Brenda Plantz. “It’s a Scenic Highway.” However, Virginia law is clear that property owners are entitled to uses laid out in the zoning code as explained by ARB Chair Dade Van Der Werf. “I think I can speak on behalf of the board to say we certainly appreciate and share the appreciation that this is a significant intersection on these entrance corridors and I think our charge on the ARB aligns with the desire for coherence in the order of the county,” van der Werf said. “We are not empowered to affect zoning or use. That’s kind of the responsibility of the Planning and other commissions.”However, ARB members did express concerns such as this one from Frank Stoner.“I took struggle with the scale of this building,” Stoner said. “It’s very close to the intersection. If there was a way to push it back on the site and make it sort of an ancillary use to something more appropriate that was on the corner, I think I could be supportive.” ARB member Fred Missel also wanted to look very closely to see how the entrance corridor guidelines could be applied at this location.“In my opinion, this project is precisely an example of what the guidelines are designed to help us guard against,” Missel said. “I think we have to not only take our guidelines seriously but also ask the applicant to spend some significant amount of time looking through our guidelines, really understanding them, reflecting on them, and addressing them both visually and also narratively  the next time we speak if its in a work session which I think is probably smart.” Missel said the ARB cannot comment on the use but said the scale is incompatible with the county’s guidelines. The ARB voted 4-0 on a resolution stating their lack of support with one member recusing himself. Recommendations including trying to make the building seem more like a two-story building and looking at other buildings along the corridor to find compatibility. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
January 3, 2021: Livable Cville want solutions for Fifth Street Extended; Bills filed in the General Assembly to limit voting, require school resource officers

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 3, 2022 8:17


We are now close to perihelion, the point at which the earth is closest to the sun. There are 169 days until the summer solstice, when the northern hemisphere experiences its longest exposure to that same sun. This cosmic background may not be relevant for what you’re about to read, but these are relevant facts to your existence. Every episode of Charlottesville Community Engagement intends to deliver many more. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs.Charlottesville Community Engagement enters 2022 with a desire and hope for more subscribers. Sign up for free and decide later if you’d like to chip in!On today’s show:A check-in with Virginia’s COVID surgeIn the wake of a fatal crash on Fifth Street Extended, the advocacy group Livable Cville wants solutions A review of new bills filed for the 2022 General Assembly, including more restrictions on voting Let’s begin today with two more Patreon-fueled shout-outs. The first comes a long-time supporter who wants you to know:"Today is a great day to spread good cheer: reach out to an old friend, compliment a stranger, or pause for a moment of gratitude to savor a delight."The second comes from a more recent supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today!COVID updateVirginia set another record for the number of new COVID cases reported on Sunday with 19,506. This morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports another 7,967 new cases and a seven-day percent positivity of 27.9 percent, or more than one in four tests. The number of deaths reported has not increased as steeply. The Blue Ridge Health District reports another 139 cases and the percent positivity is 20.7 percent today. On Friday, the company Novavax filed data with the Food and Drug Administration in a bid for emergency authorization for their COVID vaccine. The European Union and the World Health Organization have both granted the emergency authorization for a vaccine that uses “recombinant nanoparticle protein-based COVID-19 vaccine with Matrix-M adjuvant.” Learn more in their press release.Today’s snow has closed the Blue Ridge Health Department as well as the Community Vaccination Center. Charlottesville City Hall remains open, as does the Albemarle county office building. However, people are urged to phone first before traveling there. The Albemarle County Fire and Rescue Department and Police Department are urging people to stay home. (Edit: City Hall announced its closure shortly after publication)As of this recording, Dominion Energy reports about a third of its customers in Charlottesville are without power and about half of customers in Albemarle are also without power. Stay up to date with their outage map.Fatal crash on Fifth Street extendedA crash in the 900 block of Fifth Street Extended late Saturday night has killed a Richmond woman, according to a report from CBS19 News. That’s prompted the group Livable Cville to call on Charlottesville City Hall to move forward with planned solutions. A series of fatalities in 2020 led to a petition drive that led to a conversation on City Council that November of that year at which traffic engineer Brennan Duncan offered several recommendations including lowering the speed limit. Livable Cities wants to know why none of them have been implemented. A useful resource is a map provided by the Virginia Department of Transportation that provides information on all crashes in the Commonwealth. Here are some of the fatalities in the data: (access the map)One person was killed and another was injured on November 22, 2016 at the intersection of Harris Road and Fifth Street Extended in an angle collision involving three vehicles. Alcohol and speed were involved in the daytime crash. Another crash at that intersection on July 18, 2020 killed another person and injured a second in an angle collision between two vehicles that took place in the daytime. Alcohol and speed were involved in the crash. A sideswipe collision at night involving three vehicles on August 30 north of Bailey Road on the southbound lanes killed the driver of a motorcycle. Speed and distracted drivers were a factor.A single-vehicle crash on October 10 at night in the northbound lane just south of the Cherry Avenue intersection killed one and injured another when the vehicle struck a tree. For other coverage:NBC 29Petition seeks changes to 5th Street to prevent further crashes, November 11, 2020Council briefed on ways to slow down Fifth Street Extended, November 17, 2020New billsThe General Assembly meets for its 2022 session in nine days with Republicans taking over control of the House of Delegates and the Democrat retaining a majority in the Senate.Incoming Delegate Tim Anderson (R-Virginia Beach) filed legislation requiring all localities to have a school resource officer hired by a local law-enforcement agency. (HB37)Delegate Kelly K. Convirs-Fowler (D-Virginia Beach) filed a bill requiring deputies appointed by constitutional officers to be subject to the same restrictions on holding other offices. (HB38)Incoming Delegate Phillip Scott (R-Spottsylvania) filed a bill to limit absentee voting to two weeks before an election. (HB39)Scott also filed a bill to ensure that no child be required to participate in the Virginia Kindergarten Readiness program. (HB41)Delegate Anderson also filed a bill creating a new category of “improper driving” in state code. (HB42)Delegate Lee Ware (R-Powhatan) would require localities that seek to allow retail sale of marijuana to hold a referendum first. (HB43)Delegate Ware also filed a bill limiting voting rights by requiring photo-ID and ending the permanent list for absentee ballots. (HB46)Delegate Matt Fariss (R-Rustburg) filed a bill allowing localities to hold non-binding advisory referenda once a year without seeking a charter amendment or permission from the General Assembly. (HB48)Fariss also filed a bill extending Scenic River status to an additional 44 miles of the James River running through Nelson, Appomattox, and Cumberland counties. (HB49)Stealing catalytic converters would be a class six felony if another bill from Delegate Fariss were to pass and be signed into law. (HB51)More to come in the weeks ahead. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
December 31, 2021: Third straight day of COVID records in Virginia with over 17K new cases today; Council briefed on affordable housing funds, cancels Franklin sidewalk

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 31, 2021 16:26


This is Day 365, the final 24 hour period of 2021, and the eve of another Day 1. Today takes on many themes for many people, with some choosing reflection, some looking forward, and others simply existing. For me it’s another opportunity to write another installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a program and newsletter that seeks to bring you as much information as often as possible. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs, ready to get to it.Charlottesville Community Engagement is free to sign-up and you can decide later if you want to pay whatever you can to keep it going! On today’s program:The pandemic surge continues with three days in a row of record new cases, and Virginia’s emergency physicians want a new state of emergencyAttorney General Mark Herring has sued a small town outside Suffolk for a pattern of racial discrimination in traffic stopsCharlottesville City Council briefed on how the city’s affordable housing fund is used and agrees to cancel a sidewalk funded paid for through federal housing fundsMore new bills are filed, including a prohibition on COVID vaccine mandatesIn today’s first subscriber-supported public service announcement, Stitch Please if the official podcast of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. Stitch Please centers Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. Weekly discussions, interviews, tips, and techniques celebrate and contextualize Black creativity. To support the program, creator Lisa Woolfolk has created a 2022 Black Women Stitch wall calendar with four fusable applique patterns based on original art by Black women artists. Visit Black Women Stitch now to purchase it today! Pandemic updateFor the third day in a row, the Virginia Department of Health has reported a record number of new COVID cases with 17,618. The percent positivity has increased to 21.5 percent. These are numbers that have not been seen at any point during the pandemic. In the Blue Ridge Health District there are 365 new cases reported, which is not a record but it’s close. The seven-day average for new positive tests is 15.2 percent. Yesterday the Virginia College of Emergency Physicians called on Governor Ralph Northam to declare a state of emergency in order to assist emergency rooms across the Commonwealth. Northam’s previous emergency expired on June 30. “Emergency departments are considered a safety net for those patients in need of care, regardless of insurance status, and are federally mandated and morally obligated to provide care to all those who seek it,” reads their press release. “However, Virginia’s emergency medicine system is under threat of collapse due to excessive patient volume.”A declaration would allow access to federal funding, allow hospitals and ER’s to enact triage protocols, and more flexibility in allocating resources. The group also wants the Virginia Department of Health to provide more testing sites. The release notes that hospitalization numbers are below the levels of the winter peak earlier this year and that the majority of patients are unvaccinated.  You can confirm that fact on the Virginia Department of Health’s website. The high number of cases are causing some to alter their plans. The IX Art Park has canceled their Studio 51 New Year’s Eve party due to staffing and safety concerns. Outgoing Attorney General sues town of WindsorWith only two weeks remaining in his second term, outgoing Attorney General Mark Herring has filed a lawsuit against the Town of Windsor for violations of the Virginia Human Rights Act and the Virginia Public Integrity and Law Enforcement Misconduct Act. The latter passed the General Assembly in 2020 and allows the attorney general to sue when evidence is gathered that a law enforcement agency is “engaging in a pattern or practice that deprives persons of rights, privileges, or immunities.”The suit filed in Isle of Wight Circuit Court argues that the town’s police department disproportionately pulls over Black drivers.“From July 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021, the Department conducted 810 traffic stops of Black drivers—representing approximately 42 percent of the stops conducted by the Department,” reads the pleading. “Consequently, the Town stopped Black drivers between 200 percent and 500 percent more often than would be expected based on the number of Black residents in the Town or Isle of Wight County.” The suit goes on to argue that Black drivers were searched more often than white drivers. It also cites an incident of December 2020 in which an officer claimed he was making a “felony stop” when he pulled over an off-duty police officer. “The Department does not have a policy on what constitutes a felony stop,” the argument continues. The suit also accuses the Town of inconsistent reporting and demands the Town adopt policies  to address the violations. Resources:Read the filing Read the Virginia Public Integrity and Law Enforcement Misconduct Act Read the Virginia Human Rights ActRead Herring’s press releaseBills filed to limit voting, prevent COVID vaccine mandates The General Assembly session begins in less than two weeks, and bills continue to be pre-filed. Incoming Delegate Tim Anderson (R-Virginia Beach) has filed a bill prohibiting COVID vaccines from being mandated and prohibiting people from being dismissed by employers for refusing to be vaccinated. (HB27)Delegate Ronnie Campbell (R-Raphine) filed a bill to add 23.2 more miles of the Maury River to be added to the state’s list of Scenic Rivers. (HB28)Another bill from Campbell would rename and reroute a position of U.S. 60 in Lexington and create a new U.S. 850 for a section of the current route. (HB31)Campbell also filed legislation to allow Bath County to be added to the list of localities that can charge a fee for disposal of solid waste. (HB32)Campbell filed another bill to require vehicles that claim to be for Farm Use to obtain a placard from the Department of Motor Vehicles, at no charge. (HB33)Campbell would also prohibit Virginia from allowing absentee ballots to be dropped off at additional locations outside of registrars’ offices. (HB34)Campbell would also end no-excuse absentee voting. (HB35)Campbell would also abolish the right to be added to a permanent list for voting absentee. (HB36)Campbell also wants to call for a Constitutional Convention to put limit the power of the federal government. (HJ3)Harambe calendarA local educator has released the latest version of a calendar to help people find out about African American cultural events in the community. Alex Zan has been producing the Harambe Family Events calendar for many years. City Councilor Sena Magill made an announcement at last week’s City Council meeting. (download the calendar)“Harambe, Swahili for ‘all pull together,’ cultural events objectives are to inspire and unify area citizens to communicate more effectively and create and maintain a positive environment for change and civility,” Magill said. The calendar can be downloaded as a .PDF and can help map out 2022. “The calendar also strives to strengthen family relationships and nurture cultural awareness, particularly among African Americans who have experienced a lack of inclusion in many area events,” Magill said.Magill said physical copies of the calendar will be distributed throughout the community. *You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement!In today’s shout-out, a shout-out to the shouters-of out! I want to thank all of the individuals and entities that have supported this newsletter and podcast through a $25 a month Patreon contribution or through some other combination of support. Thanks to:The Charlottesville Jazz SocietyCode for CharlottesvilleLEAPThe Rivanna Conservation AllianceLonnie Murray and his penchant for native plantWTJU, The Albemarle-Charlottesville Historical Society, Jefferson Madison Regional LibraryCharlottesville Area Tree Stewards, Cville 350Piedmont Master GardenersThe Valley Research Center (may not actually exist)  *Council briefed on affordable housing fundsA firm hired to conduct an audit of the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund presented preliminary results to City Council at their final meeting of the year in the early morning of December 21. HR&A had already completed an affordable housing plan as part of the Cville Plans Together initiative but Council paid an additional $165,000 to the firm for that audit, as well as creation of a program to ensure that the upcoming rewrite of the zoning code is inclusionary. The adopted plan called for the city to spend $10 million on housing for at least ten years. The Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund was created in 2007 as one tool for the city to increase the number of subsidized housing units. No audit has ever been conducted, and the city has struggled to hold on to housing coordinators, a position which has been vacant since the summer of 2020. “We went back to records going back to 2010 and we’re talking about just shy of $47 million here, the vast majority of $38 million being local and city housing trust fund money,” said Phillip Kash of HR&A. Kash said there are three major areas funded by the CAHF. They are development of new units and rehabilitation of existing ones, programs and operations of housing nonprofits, or city administration. The main beneficiary of city funding has been Piedmont Housing Alliance, followed by the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. “That’s really tied to the Friendship Courts project in particular, and this really moves their position on this pretty significantly,” Kash said. The analysis also broke down how much return the city got on its investment. Rehabilitation and construction of single family homes are the most expensive per unit. New construction has been subsidized at a range between $20,000 and $45,000, with rehabilitation between $3,000 and $25,000 a unit. Kash said there are some initial lessons that can be learned. “Funding that was authorized by the city was not spent or followed up on,” Kash said. “While it was awarded, what it was awarded for was not necessarily ending up happening or wasn’t actually used. There are a couple of examples of projects being delayed or projects not being built yet. There were projects actually located outside the city. There’s a clear pattern of needing better reporting or monitoring.” A final report will be developed early next year. Recommendations will inform the next capital improvement program. Outgoing Mayor Nikuyah Walker said she wants funding to go be producing housing and not to support nonprofits.“Keeping an organization afloat should not be our goal if they’re not delivering,” Walker said. “I think what ultimately once this report is finished, the community will see that we haven’t been mindful at all regarding the funds that we are allocating and we need to be more mindful.” Council cancels CDBG-funded sidewalk on Franklin StreetIn their final item of the year, Council agreed to cancel a project to build a sidewalk on Franklin Street using federal funds that come through the Community Development Block Grant process. The project had been selected by a task force but was defunded earlier this year because it could not be completed by a federal deadline. Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders recommended Council consider moving away from the task force model. “Routinely, a task force model doesn’t necessarily help to meet the regulatory conditions because typically what you’re doing is simply allowing community members to pick projects and they don’t necessarily always know the details that go into executing,” Sanders said. In 2017, the city selected the Belmont neighborhood to be the recipient of CDBG funds and a task force recommended $204,263 funding go toward the Franklin Street sidewalk. This spring, staff said they would seek to reallocate funds back to the project, but Sanders had concerns it would once again not be completed in time to meet a May 2022 deadline. “Engineering complications exist today in order for us to be able to move forward,” Sanders said. “The reality is it should not have been selected.” Sanders, who has only been with the city since August, said the process is flawed. In addition, Sanders said this project did little to address low-income residents. Council agreed to cancel the project. Sanders will return with an update to the city’s ordinance to eliminate the task force’s role in favor of a staff advisory body that would seek input from the Planning Commission and Council. Resources:Minutes of the Belmont CDBG Task Force, November 7, 2018Minutes of the Belmont CDBG Task Force, February 12, 2019CDBG-funded Franklin Street sidewalk to be delayed, February 22, 2021An update on Franklin Street sidewalk, April 19, 2021Year in Review relegated to TwitterThis has been a very busy year for Town Crier Productions with 163 newsletter, 51 Weeks Ahead, and a whole lot of reporting and research. I had intended to create a Year In Review, but 2022 is going to begin with a bang so my concentration is going there.However, I am continuing to do a Year in Review on the cvilletowncrier account on Twitter. If you want to review the year, take a look there. After about 16 hours of work reviewing previous installments of this newsletter, I’ve only gotten as far as March. So, take a look there, and please retweet and like and share. Thanks for all of your support this year, and let’s see what 2022 brings us. Stay safe! Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
December 29, 2021: Albemarle might use $13.2M surplus for capital improvement, housing fund, and economic development; Virginia sets new COVID record

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 29, 2021 15:26


There are only two more days left in 2021, but there’s still so much to review and look back on. We’re in the strange time between the past and the future when the present seems like it is time to relax. But there’s no relaxing on Charlottesville Community Engagement, a program that seeks to bring you as much information as I can about what’s happening in local government with a pinch of whatever else seems to fit. I’m your host Sean Tubbs.Charlottesville Community Engagement seeks new readers and listeners. Sign up today for free, and decide later if you’d like to support the work financially!On today’s program:Virginia sets a one-day record for new COVID casesA lawsuit filed by former City Manager Tarron Richardson moves forwardThe Virginia Supreme Court approves new legislative and Congressional maps for the CommonwealthRepublicans continue to file bills that seek to undo measures passed under a Democratic General AssemblyAlbemarle Supervisors learn about the biggest increase in property assessments in county historyIn today’s first two Patreon fueled shout-outs:You’re listening to Charlottesville. Community Engagement. A long-time supporter wants you to know: "Today is a great day to spread good cheer: reach out to an old friend, compliment a stranger, or pause for a moment of gratitude to savor a delight."The second comes from a more recent supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today!Omicron surge continuesVirginia has set a one-day record for new COVID-19 cases with 12,112 reported today by the Department of Health. The previous number was 9,914 reported in mid-January. The percent positivity has increased to 17.4 percent. The Blue Ridge Health District reported 371 new cases, which is also a one-day record. Richardson suit against the city proceedsCharlottesville City Council and other parties have been served with a lawsuit by former City Manager Tarron Richardson. Richardson filed suit in the Western District of Virginia in mid-November alleging breach of contract and violation of his First Amendment rights. A summons was issued to City Council on Tuesday, as well as city attorney Lisa Robertson and former city attorney John Blair. The parties have 21 days to respond. (Former City Manager Sues Charlottesville, November 24, 2021)New legislative districts now in effectVirginia’s new Congressional and legislative districts are now in place for the next nine years, effective immediately. The state Supreme Court has approved new districts for the House of Delegates, state Senate, and the eleven members of the House of Representatives in Congress. These were drawn by two Special Masters after a bipartisan commission failed to reach consensus in October. Those maps were amended following public comments earlier this month. “Redistricting is a complex task, one that requires the balancing of multiple competing factors,” wrote Sean Trende and Bernard Groffman. “Unfortunately, it simply was not possible to incorporate every single request while remaining within the bounds of Virginia and federal law.”Albemarle and Charlottesville will remain in the 5th Congressional District, though Albemarle’s border with Greene and Orange counties will now be its northern edge. The 5th will continue to cover points south to North Carolina including the cities of Lynchburg and Danville, as well as the town of Farmville in Prince Edward County. Fluvanna, Louisa, and Nelson are also within the 5th. An earlier map drawn by the Special Masters had split Albemarle into two. “The existing congressional map splits 14 counties 16 times,” the masters continued. “The existing Senate of Virginia map splits 46 counties 78 times. The existing House of Delegates map splits 60 counties 138 times. By comparison, the submitted congressional map splits 10 counties a total of 11 times.”A small section of northwest Albemarle is within the 7th District. There’s even a Twitter account. The 5th District formerly extended up into northern Virginia, but the new districts tend not to split counties. Greene and Orange counties entirely within a redrawn 7th District along with Culpeper, Madison, Spotsylvania, and Stafford counties, as well as the city of Fredericksburg. Fauquier, Loudoun and Rappahannock counties are now in the 10th District as well as portions of Prince William County. In the Virginia Senate, Albemarle and Charlottesville are now within the new 11th District, as well as Amherst and Nelson counties, as well as a portion of western Louisa County. Fluvanna County and the rest of Louisa are in the 10th. Greene County is in the new 28th district along with Madison, Culpeper, and Orange counties. In the Virginia House of Representatives, the city of Charlottesville is now in the 54th House District as well as some of the urban ring of Albemarle. The rest of Albemarle is now within the 55th House District as well as portions of eastern Nelson County. The rest of Nelson is in the 53rd as well as all of Amherst County and the northern half of Bedford County.  Under the former system, Albemarle was split by four districts. Resources:Final Congressional Map dated December 27, 2021Final Senate Map dated December 27, 2021Final House of Delegates Map dated December 27, 2021Memo from the Special Masters detailing changes from the mapBill filed to revoke localities’ ability to ban firearms on public propertyThe General Assembly begins in less than two weeks and the slow trickle of prefiled legislation is picking up into more of a steady stream. Here are some highlights:Delegate Buddy Fowler (R-Glenn Allen) has submitted a bill to increase the age an infant can be surrendered to a hospital or emergency medical services agency from 14 days to 30 days. (HB16)Fowler has another bill that would exempt members of the military from being prosecuted for paramilitary activities unless there is malicious intent. (HB17)Another bill from Fowler would allow localities flexibility in paying school board members. Currently the law defines the salary for each locality. (HB18)Fowler also submitted a bill allowing public auctions to satisfy liens to be advertised online, whereas currently these must be printed in a newspaper of record. (HB21)Delegate Wendell Walker (R-Lynchburg) filed a bill allowing adults to become free from any medical mandate. (HB22)Walker has also filed a bill repealing a prohibition on firearms in places of worship (HB23)Walker submitted legislation requiring photo identification in order to vote (HB24)Incoming Delegate Tim Anderson (R-Virginia Beach) filed a bill that would exempt the first offense for possession of child pornography from a new program that allows for reduced sentences through credits. (HB25)Anderson also filed a bill that would revoke the ability for localities to adopt ordinances to ban firearms from public property. (HB26)In today’s second subscriber-supported shout-out:Algorithms know how to put songs and artists together based on genre or beats per minute. But only people can make connections that engage your mind and warm your heart. The music on WTJU 91.1 FM is chosen by dozens and dozens of volunteer hosts -- music lovers like you who live right here in the Charlottesville area. Listener donations keep WTJU alive and thriving. In this era of algorithm-driven everything, go against the grain. Support freeform community radio on WTJU. Consider a donation at wtju.net/donate.Albemarle Supervisor brief on reassessment, five-year financial plan, and surplusAs the calendar year concludes, localities in Virginia are just about to enter the third quarter of their fiscal year. Earlier this month, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors got an update on how the county’s finances look as the start of budget season approaches. First, they got an update on the county’s assessments for 2022, which were made available a month earlier than usual. Peter Lynch is Albemare’s assessor. “Because of the mail issues that we’ve had, I wanted to mail the ordinances earlier so we have a target date of January 14 to mail the notices this year,” Lynch said.Lynch said an unreliable mail system resulted in the land use revalidation process being difficult this year. There are 4,052 parcels that receive a lower tax rate due to some agricultural or open space use. Sales made after Lynch’s December 15 presentation are still factor into the official assessment which by law is made on January 1.“Any information up to that date that happens in the market can be used to contest the assessment,” Lynch said. Lynch said this year has seen the highest number of sales in Albemarle so far, with 2,311 sales recorded as of the date of his presentation. He said there would be at least another hundred before the end of the year. As of December 15, Albemarle is on track to have the highest average increase in property assessments at 8.32 percent. Within the county, the Scottsville Magisterial District saw the largest increase with 11.14 percent, and the lowest is in the Rivanna district with 7.17 percent. The assessment of properties with apartments increased by 11.8 percent, whereas commercial properties are flat. Hotel properties declined 22.9 percent in 2021, but recovered by just under a percentage point this year. “Shopping centers also went down a lot and they recovered some of what they lost,” Lynch said. Offices declined for a second year in a row with a 4.15 percent average decrease in worth. “People stopped going to their offices but they kept paying their rent,” Lynch said. “At this point those leases are turning over for lower amounts, lower rents, and we’re starting to see more effect on those offices.” Assessments are directly tied to next year’s budget and the amount of revenue that will be generated through the property tax. After Lynch’s presentation, supervisors had a work session on the five-year financial plan. Albemarle had $13.2 million in leftover funds from fiscal year 2021.Here’s how staff is recommending using that money:$4.1 million transfer to the Capital Improvements Plan$5 million to Albemarle’s Economic Development Fund to help attract new businesses through the Project Enable plan$3.1 million for the Albemarle Housing Fund, bringing the balance to $5 million$1 million for workforce stabilization Supervisor Diantha McKeel said she wanted some of the capital funding to go toward building more urban parks. Supervisor Donna Price agreed, and said she would like to see county investment in the Rivanna Trail. “I’d really love to see the trail around Charlottesville and Albemarle, the Rivanna river trail, because that provides relatively easy access to almost everyone in our urban ring and that really would improve the quality of life,” Price said. Based on the surplus and the assessments, staff is not anticipating any increase in the real estate property tax rate for the year. Staff asked Supervisors if they had any interest in increasing transient occupancy or the meals taxes and if they wanted to explore tax relief programs. Part of that is due to a trend towards property taxes making up a larger percentage of the budget. “It’s going from sixty percent back in FY07 coming closer to seventy percent in FY22 and FY23,” Birch said. “We need to try and diversity as best we can away from real estate taxes.” Planning staff will incorporate a plastic bag tax into the FY23 budget. Albemarle can increase the meals tax rate to six percent and can increase the transient occupancy tax if it chooses. One supervisor wants the county’s rates to be the same as the city’s. “I think anything that we do to match Charlottesville is appropriate,” said Supervisor Diantha McKeel. “If the sales tax in Charlottesville is something, it should be the same in Albemarle.” Supervisors took no formal actions and the budget will come back before the Board in the February. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
December 24, 2021: VDH reports second-highest one-day COVID case count so far; Danville approves sales-tax increase for education

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 24, 2021 11:51


‘Tis the day before Christmas, and all through the town, there may or may not be stirring. I don’t know. I’m not there and away for a family holiday. But there’s too much information to not put out an installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, no matter where I am. The “I” in that last sentence is Sean Tubbs, who conveniently happens to be me. He and I are the co-hosts in this and every installment of the program. Thanks for listening. On today’s program: It’s unfortunately beginning to look a lot like an omicron Christmas, with this season’s COVID surge on track to surpass last year’sDanville City Council adopts a one-cent sales tax increase to pay for school renovationsMore new bills are filed for the next General Assembly including…In today’s shout-out, a shout-out to the shouters-of out! I want to thank all of the individuals and entities that have supported this newsletter and podcast through a $25 a month Patreon contribution or through some other combination of support. Thanks to the Charlottesville Jazz Society, Code for Charlottesville, LEAP, the Rivanna Conservation Alliance, Lonnie Murray and his penchant for native plants, WTJU, the Albemarle-Charlottesville Historical Society, the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards, Cville 350, Piedmont Master Gardeners, and of course, the Valley Research Center. More in 2022Pandemic updateOn the day before Christmas, the Virginia Department of Health reports its second highest total of new COVID cases since the pandemic began with 8,756 cases. The percent positivity rate has increased to 11.3 percent. In the Blue Ridge Health District, there are 170 new cases and another four deaths have been reported since Wednesday. Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System, is not surprised by the surge.“Importantly what we’re also seeing in certain parts of the state like Alexandria and Arlington, they’re seeing their highest ever one-day totals,”For Alexandria, that meant 316 cases reported on Thursday and 310 cases reported today. Arlington set a one-day total today with 592, surpassing yesterday’s previous one-day record at 359. Richmond also set a one day of 346 today. Rural communities across Virginia are not yet seeing the same spike. “We’re seeing a rapid ascent in terms of total number of cases,” said Dr. Sifri. “This is being seen around the country in a lot of different locations and I think that we should anticipate that we’re going to continue to see this rapid rise, this sort of steep wall of COVID and it appears to be driven by Omicron across most of the state.” Dr. Sifri said researchers are learning more about the variant every day but it appears that cases are not translating into increased hospitalizations, but only time will tell if the size of the wave will still overpower Virginia’s hospitals. He added the UVA Health System had already been recovering from a slight surge from the Delta variant. “I think one of the biggest questions that sort of remains is how well does vaccination and then booster vaccination protect against Omicron,” Dr. Sifri said. “We are learning in the early reports that the two-dose mRNA vaccine does not provide as much protection as we’d like to see. Probably only around 40 percent based on some U.K. early estimates. And then a booster does improve that to around 70 or 75 percent depending on the type of vaccine that you received. Again, those are early data from the United Kingdom. It would be nice and important to see what does that mean here in the United States.”Dr. Sifri strongly recommends everyone get a booster given the unknowns. As of Thursday, 67.2 percent of the total Virginia population is fully vaccinated, but only 1.8 million have received a booster or a third dose. According to the Virginia Department of Health, unvaccinated individuals develop COVID at a rate of 4.1 times of fully vaccinated people, based on data through December 18. “In terms of what we see with people that are hospitalized it is still by and large still to this date people who have not been vaccinated,” Dr. Sifri said. “That is the largest portion of people that are hospitalized with COVID. When we’re taking care of a patient, when they’re in front us we really don’t know if it’s due to Delta or Omicron. We only can collect that information as its reported through our public health agencies.”Dr. Sifri said the situation with Omicron is still fast-moving and more information is needed to tell a complete picture. He said anyone who had COVID before vaccines became available is still potentially vulnerable. “Omicron is different enough that we are concerned that protection is incomplete and we certainly know from other variants and prior studies that the level of protection after so-called natural infection is not as robust as that that is afforded by a vaccination,” Dr. Sifri said.To get a booster or a vaccine, visit vaccinate.virginia.gov. Danville adopts sales-tax increaseIn the upcoming session of the Virginia General Assembly, the city of Charlottesville will seek permission to hold a referendum on a one-cent sales tax increase. That’s the path Danville took in 2020 when they and several other Southside communities petitioned the 2020 General Assembly to the list of “qualifying localities” that could have such a ballot initiative. In November, Danville citizens voted 7,515 to 4,921 in favor of levying the tax.On Tuesday, the seven-member Danville City Council voted unanimously to levy the tax, which will expire at the end of May of 2041. Vice Mayor Gary Miller had this observation before the vote. G.W. is George Washington High School. “Today I had a patient in and her daughter was a proud member of the 1965 GW Women’s Championship basketball team, the last time they won the state championship,” Miller said. “She said she was dismayed. She’d been to GW, that’s where she graduated, and she said how dismal the schools was and she didn’t think it was conducive to learning. And I was just happy to assure her that with the passage of this referendum and the sales tax, that school’s going to look like a different school in just few years and you wouldn’t be able to recognize it.”So far, there’s no pre-filed legislation for Charlottesville to be added to the list of qualifying localities. New 2022 General Assembly billsSeveral new bills were filed on Wednesday. Senator Travis Hackworth (R-Richlands) has introduced a bill eliminating a requirement that local school boards adopt policies regarding the treatment of transgendered students. (SB20)Senator Mamie Locke (D-Hampton) has filed a bill calling for a Constitutional amendment granting the right for people convicted of felons to be able to vote upon release. (SB21)Locke also filed legislation to increase the membership of the American Revolution 250 Commission add four legislators to total of 26 people. (SB22)Another bill from Locke would allow cities with African American cemeteries to be added to the list of entities that can receive state funds to care for them (SB23)Locke’s fourth bill submitted on 12/22 would extend the expiration date of the Eviction Diversion Program one year to July 1, 2024. (SB24)Senator Frank Ruff (R-Clarksville) introduced a bill relating to the cigarette tax that counties can now levy. Businesses that have existing inventory purchased before imposition of the tax could pay the tax without having it stamped or metered. (SB25)Ruff’s second bill would remove a sunset date for a sales tax exemption for the sale of gold, silver, and platinum bullion, as well as legal tender coins. (SB26)Ruff’s third bill would expand the availability of the Neighborhood Assistance Program and the Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credit program (SB27)Chickahominy PipelineThe state agency that regulates the power generation and the transmission of fuel has ruled that an entity that wants to build an 83-mile natural gas pipeline across several Central Virginia is a public utility. That means the Chickahominy Pipeline must be approved by the State Corporation Commission. The company that wants to build it argued they were merely transporting the gas and not selling it. “The Commission agreed that the pipeline company will own and operate a facility through which natural gas will be sold and used for the purpose of heat, light or power,” reads a press release. “Thus, a certificate of public convenience and necessity is required before constructing facilities for use in public utility service.”According to the release, Chickahominy Pipeline intends to connect with an existing natural gas pipeline. Read the full order here.This is Charlottesville Community Engagement and I want to continue the mixed-up holiday by giving thanks to the Piedmont Environmental Council for their support of the Week Ahead newsletter. For 71 weeks now, PEC has sponsored the creation of each Sunday’s look at what’s coming up in local government. I also want to give thanks to Ting for their matching of Substack payments. Creating a community newsletter that seeks to cover as much ground as this one takes a lot of work, and I’m grateful to everyone’s support. Now, let’s get back to the show! Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
December 22, 2021: Council seeks floodplain info before Nassau Street rezoning vote; Today is highest one-day COVID count since late January

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 22, 2021 19:37


There are days in the past and days in the future, but there’s only one day at a time. This edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement is specifically tied to December 22, 2021, a particular 24-hour period filled with equal parts anticipation, dread, potential, and other pensive emotions as the holiday of Christmas approaches. Stay safe! Charlottesville Community Engagement is free to read or listen to and it’s my hope that you’ll sign-up. In today’s edition:Governor-elect Youngkin appoints a veteran banker to serve as his finance secretaryA trade publication names Virginia as having the best business climate in the nationA bridge in western Albemarle is shut down before repairs begin A study is underway on where to locate a train station in the New River ValleyCharlottesville City Council holds first reading on the use of a $5.5 million surplus, defers action on Lewis, Clark and Sacagewea statue and a rezoning on Nassau Street Today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out: Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects. COVID updateThe Virginia Department of Health reports another 5,972 new cases of COVID-19 today, and the percent positivity for PCR has risen to ten percent. Today’s case number is the highest it’s been since the last week of January. The highest one day total of the pandemic to date is 9,914 recorded on January 17. On this day a year ago, there were 3,591 cases reported. A hundred and nine of today’s cases are in the Blue Ridge Health District. Virginia reports another 50 COVID deaths today, with one of those in the Blue Ridge Health District. The University of Virginia will require students, faculty, and staff to receive booster shots in order to be on Grounds next semester. According to a page on the Human Resources website, faculty and staff must get the shot by February 1 if they are eligible. If not, they must demonstrate proof of a shot 30 days after eligibility. Students must upload their proof by February 1. Visit that website for more information. Bridge closureA small bridge in western Albemarle County that carries about 560 vehicles a day has been closed due to significant deterioration. Engineers with the Virginia Department of Transportation have been inspecting the bridge on Burch’s Creek Road across Stockton Creek due to known concerns and have decided to close the road until repairs are made. “VDOT bridge inspectors determined today that its condition was not safe for continued use,” reads the statement. “During the closure, traffic should detour around the bridge from U.S. 250 to Route 824 (Patterson Mill Lane) to Route 688 (Midway Road) and back to Route 689.” Repairs will take place between now and January 7 when the bridge is expected to reopen. Virginia business awardA trade publication that writes about economic development and site selection has named Virginia one of its states of the year. Business Facilities named Virginia, Tennessee, and Massachusetts in their annual contest. Specifically, Virginia was named the Overall Business Climate. Massachusetts was honored with Best Workforce / Educational System. Tennessee was given the Best Dealmaking award. A press release in advance of their next publication states that Virginia was selected “because of the steps many economic development councils in the commonwealth, both local and statewide, are taking to make the area more attractive.” The release cites the state’s low unemployment rate, successful workforce development programs such as the Virginia Talent Acquisition Program and Fast Forward Virginia. According to an article on Virginia Business, Virginia last won this award in 2018. New Finance SecretaryFor the third day in a row, Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin has named a member of his cabinet. Stephen Emery Cummings will be the next Secretary of Finance. Cummings is a veteran of several financial institutions, including a tenure as global head of corporate and investment banking at Wachovia. According to a release, he has recently served as the President and CEO of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. “Steve shares my vision of respecting Virginians’ hard-earned tax dollars and ensuring the Commonwealth’s budget is managed effectively and efficiently, and he has the skill set and leadership qualities that our team needs to make Virginia the best place to live, work, and raise a family,” said Youngkin said in a statement. Yesterday Youngkin announced Caren Merrick will serve as Secretary of Commerce and Trade. Several outlets report that Youngkin founded the nonprofit Virginia Ready Initiative that Merrick  has run since it was formed last summer during the pandemic. On Monday, data consultant Aimee Rogstad Guidera was named Education Secretary. Inauguration Day is January 15.NRV Train StationThe Virginia Passenger Rail Authority has launched a website for a feasibility study for where to locate a train station to serve the New River Valley. Earlier this year, outgoing Governor Ralph Northam announced an agreement with Norfolk Southern to extend passenger service from Roanoke to the valley for the first time since 1979. The state of Virginia will purchase 28.5 miles of track from Norfolk Southern. The feasibility study is examining four locations. A community meeting will be held sometime this winter and an initial survey is available. Go back and listen to the May 6, 2021 installment of this newsletter and podcast to hear a segment from when Northam signed legislation authorizing an authority to raise funds for the future station. (May 6, 2021: Green Business Alliance forms to advance emissions reductions; Northam signs legislation for New River Valley train station)There’s also another study underway to determine if Amtrak service should stop in Bedford. That town is between Roanoke and Lynchburg and on the route of the Northeast Regional service that will eventually be expanded to the New River Valley. You can go back and listen to that, too. (October 30, 2021: DRPT report states Bedford train stop won’t delay freight; a briefing on the hotel industry in Albemarle/Charlottesville)In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign  an initiative that wants you to grow native plants in yards, farms, public spaces and gardens in the northern Piedmont. Winter is here, but spring isn’t too far away. This is a great time to begin planning for the spring. Native plants provide habitat, food sources for wildlife, ecosystem resiliency in the face of climate change, and clean water.  Start at the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page and tell them Lonnie Murray sent you!Public hearing held for FY21 surplus, transfers Council has held the first of two readings and a public hearing on a mandated review of the city’s budget for fiscal year for 2021, which ended on June 30 of this year. There’s a $5.5 million surplus as well as a $6.7 million reserve fund of cash set aside for COVID. The latter was not tapped. Christopher Cullinan is the city’s Finance Director. “The audit has been completed and to close out the city’s financial records for fiscal year 2021, several year-end adjustments require City Council action,” Cullinan said. “These adjustments are to carry over unspent funds from the last fiscal year to the current fiscal year.” Cullinan said one the two main recommendations are to put the COVID reserve into the city’s Capital Improvement Program contingency fund. The other is to put the $5.5 million toward employee compensation. That includes both a bonus and an across-the-board salary increase of six percent for all employees with benefits. “This is a market adjustment that recognizes the need for the city to retain and recruit qualified employees,” Cullinan said. This would happen before the results of a study on compensation is completed. Ashley Marshall is one of two deputy city managers currently running the city. “But what we do know is that the six percent is inadequate to raise us up to where we should be for equitable and appropriate pay,” Marshall said. “So we know that we’re not going to find out later on nine months from now that six percent was too much. That’s not going to be the answer.” Five people spoke at the public hearing.“I just want to say that I would like to see a lot of this money, a good portion of it, be used toward the affordable housing fund to shore that up and get that going toward the goal you indicated previously that you’d like to have ten million dollars [a year],” said Mark Kavit. Both Kimber Hawkey, Martha Smytha and Tanesha Hudson agreed with that position, and said the city should spend money for housing on more than just Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. “I think that there’s things the city could also do with purchasing land space and building things themselves as well,” Hudson said. “That’s something that they need to work towards.” Hudson said the cost of living adjustment should also extend to hourly employees as well. Rosia Parker, a newly appointed member of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority, said more of the funding should go to affordable housing, especially for programs to address homeless. “There are a lot of homeless people that are out here,” Parker said. “You see them when you sit in front of City Hall. You see them as you walk up and down the mall. You see them as you drive up and down the different corridors of Charlottesville. Homelessness is a very threatening danger to people’s lives. Mentally, physically and emotionally.” Capital discussionAfter the hearing was closed, outgoing Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker said she wanted the $6.7 million to be used for a different purpose than putting it in the CIP contingency fund. The next Council will decide how that funding would be used, but Walker will not get a vote. “If we just simply transfer it to the CIP and then we have those asks that are just presented to Council randomly based on whatever’s on the funded or what makes it from the unfunded to the funded list, I don’t think that serves us,” Walker said. Vice Mayor Sena Magill supported the transfer to the CIP due to a long list of capital needs. “Because if we don’t work on some of the basic infrastructure needs of our city as well,” Magill said “That’s where we pay for a lot of the affordable grants is through the CIP and we’re looking at $75 million for just one school.” Cullinan said the idea of a contingency fund is to be ready for unforeseen events or cost over-runs.“I think the the critical thing is that it gives you choices and its cash which is easily accessible and you can make fairly quick decisions as opposed to a bond issue which takes time and effort,” Cullinan said. Council would have to approve any use funds from the CIP contingency. The second reading will be held at the next City Council meeting on January 3. Nassau Street rezoningA proposal to rezone land on the eastern half of Nassau Street in the Belmont neighborhood did not move forward on Monday. Developer Nicole Scro and engineer Justin Shimp are seeking a rezoning from R-2 to R-3 on about a half acre of land. Several members of the public asked Council to deny the request due to the property being located within a floodplain as governed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Magill said she wanted more information from staff about the issue. “I am concerned about the floodplain issue and I am concerned about the design that is being submitted in a flood plain,” Magill said Several other buildings have been constructed on that side of the street in recent years including structures built by the Piedmont Community Land Trust. That project received $240,000 in funding from the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund. City Councilor Lloyd Snook also said he wanted more information about the floodplain. “We’re not required to act on this tonight,” Snook said. “I would like to defer it and ask the staff to give us real feedback on what the flood danger is. The one thing I don’t want to do is end up saying we’re going to put in affordable housing but we’re going to put it in the floodplain.”In recent years, Shimp successfully petitioned FEMA to lower the elevations shown in the floodplain map by four feet. Tony Edwards is a development services manager in the city’s public works department. The foundation must be above the where FEMA establishes the 100-year floodplain. “This is the basis that we need to use because we follow the same methodology that FEMA provides and this is what’s been approved through FEMA,” Edwards said. James Freas, the city’s director of neighborhood development services, also weighed in.“We know the flood plain legally has been defined where it is now based on the amended flood maps in the process that Mr. Edwards described,” Freas said. “So that’s legally the location of the floodplain and defines the elevation at which the building has to be built. In terms of what can happen in an actual flood? We can be less clear about that. That’s less predictable.” Freas said the question before Council was the appropriate density at the location. By-right structures could be built. One in the 900 block constructed in 2018 is built on stilts to raise it out of the floodplain. Snook wanted more information.“I’d like to have more expertise than I can bring to bear and take a look at it and tell me whether I’m all wet,” Snook said. “Pardon the expression.” Shimp said any further review would prove his assertion that building in the location would be safe. The item will be deferred until the second council meeting in January. Outgoing Mayor Nikuyah Walker said she would have voted against the request. Lewis, Clark, and Sacagawea statue decision deferredCouncil spent nearly an hour and a half discussing the terms on how a statue removed from West Main Street will be treated in the future. Several parties agree that the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center should receive the statue for its continued display at their location in Darden Towe Park. However, details about how the story of Sacagawea’s involvement were not resolved during the conversation. Center officials and descendants of Sacagawea will continue negotiations. “We are definitely willing to do that,” said Alexandria Searls, the center’s director. “We are invested and no matter what, even without the statue, we want relationships with them. The relationships are more important than the statue. We’re willing to walk from the statue if we have to.” The hiring of the Robert Bobb Group to run the cityAs mentioned at the top of yesterday’s newsletter, Council has hired the Robert Bobb Group to perform the functions of the city manager. Council spent their closed session negotiating with the two firms that responded. Lisa Robertson is the city attorney. “The fact that using an outside firm on a contract basis to provide these types of services, while it’s not the normal manner in which the services are delivered, it’s not unheard of,” Robertson said. “This type of contract has been used on occasion in other places including other places in Virginia.” The contract still has to be finalized after being written up. There was no little discussion of the merits of either proposal. In the resolution, Councilor Hill said “the firm made the best proposal and offer” with regards to price and quality. Walker abstained based on a sense that Council should not vote to award the contract until it is written. Update!According to City Council Clerk Kyna Thomas, Council will not need to vote on the contract as it can be signed by the Mayor. However, Council will interview specific individuals that will be suggested by the firm. There is no public knowledge yet about how much the Robert Bobb Group will be paid. Here are some other news articles about other work the firm has done:Robert Bobb back in business with new venture, Washington Business Journal, December 9, 2011Robert Bobb Group outlines goals for Petersburg, WRIC, October 26, 2016Cash-strapped Petersburg spent about $1 million on turnaround services from Bobb Group, forensic audit, Richmond Times-Dispatch, October 4, 2017 Durham leader calls criticism of consultant a lynching, a charge with political history, Raleigh News and Observer, North Carolina, March 10, 2021Black community questions motives behind some Durham commissioners rejection of minority-owned firm proposal, ABC 11, March 25, 2021Firm being paid $16K a month to provide city with financial services, Rocky Mount Telegram, North Carolina, August 13, 2021Charlottesville hires firm to perform interim city manager duties, Walker and Hill bid farewell, Daily Progress, December 21, 2021Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
December 21, 2021: Walker, Hill bid farewell from Council; One speaker at public housing plan hearing

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 21, 2021 16:22


Today is the longest day of the year, but we are now past the astronomical point of the year known in the northern hemisphere as the Winter Solstice. There are now 182 days of increasing amounts of light until the summer when the yo-yo parabolas back to where we are today. Between now and then, Charlottesville Community Engagement will be here to document some of what happens along the way. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. This is the 298th edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. To receive #299 and many more, sign-up for free and decide later whether to help cover the costs! On today’s show:City Councilor Heather Hill and Mayor Nikuyah Walker say goodbye to public officeGovernor-elect Youngkin appoints an entrepreneur as Commerce SecretaryCharlottesville’s public housing body has a public hearing on the annual planBills to reduce some restrictions on firearms are filed in the General Assembly Some portions of Virginia are now on drought watchIn today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out:Algorithms know how to put songs and artists together based on genre or beats per minute. But only people can make connections that engage your mind and warm your heart. The music on WTJU 91.1 FM is chosen by dozens and dozens of volunteer hosts -- music lovers like you who live right here in the Charlottesville area. Listener donations keep WTJU alive and thriving. In this era of algorithm-driven everything, go against the grain. Support freeform community radio on WTJU. Consider a donation at wtju.net/donate.Pandemic updateThe Virginia Department of Health reports the largest one-day total of new COVID-19 cases since early February, when the 2020 holiday surge was beginning to recede. That’s 4,437 cases reported, bringing the seven-day average to 3,575. The seven-day percent positivity is 9.6 percent today, continuing an upwards trend. These numbers are also consistent with where Virginia was in the middle of September. Seventy-eight of those new cases are in the Blue Ridge Health District where the percent positivity is 6.9 percent today. Every Friday, the VDH reports case rates by vaccination status. The latest report with data through December 11 shows that “unvaccinated people developed COVID-19 at a rate 4.2 times that of fully vaccinated people and 2.2 times that of partially vaccinated people.” Put another way: As of December 11, 5.65 million Virginians were fully vaccinated, and 1.3 percent of that number have developed COVID-19 and 0.0163 percent died. As of this past Friday, 1.8 million Virginians have received a booster or third dose.Council hires the Robert Bobb Group to run the cityNear the end of last night’s City Council meeting, Council voted 4-0 to hire the Robert Bobb Group of Washington D.C. to fulfill a contract to provide emergency management services. More details on that in a future newsletter. Mayor Nikuyah Walker abstained from the vote. Two firms applied and the city attorney is still working on the contract for ratification, according to City Council Clerk Kyna Thomas. Youngkin appoints Commerce SecretaryGovernor-elect Glenn Youngkin has appointed an entrepreneur to serve as his Secretary of Commerce and Trade. Caren Merrick is is the chief executive officer of the Virginia Ready Initiative, an workforce development firm formed in the spring of 2020 that seeks to “rapidly reskill Virginians for in-demand jobs.” In a statement, Youngkin said he intends to preside over an administration that adds 400,000 jobs and launch 10,000 start-ups. “Virginia’s jobs machine has stalled out, and Caren is going to play a pivotal role on the team that will jumpstart our economy and reinvigorate job growth here in the Commonwealth,” Youngkin said.According to the statement, Merrick has over 25 years of experience in business. The Virginia Ready Initiative sought to train people using “accelerated credential courses for in-demand skills in technology, healthcare, manufacturing and skilled trades.” Over 3,500 people have been through the process and a third have jobs, according to the release. Read through their annual report to find out more.More pre-filed General Assembly billsThe Virginia General Assembly meets in less than three weeks, and a steady stream of bills are being pre-filed. Here’s the latest:Incoming Delegate Tim Anderson (R-Virginia Beach) filed a bill that would allow school security officers to perform other duties if so assigned (HB8)Delegate Lee Ware (R-Powhatan) filed a bill giving school boards the option of extending probationary periods for new teachers (HB9)Anderson filed another bill prohibiting localities from charging registration fees for concealed handgun permits (HB10)Anderson’s third bill pre-filed on December 17 would reduce penalties for breaking concealed gun laws (HB11)Anderson’s fourth bill would limit the number of public entrances to public schools (HB12)Anderson’s first bill filed on December 20 would remove a prohibition under state law limiting citizens from purchasing more than one handgun a month (HB14)Ware also filed a bill on December 20 that would allow electoral boards more leeway in responding to Freedom of Information requests in certain situations (HB15)Public hearing for CRHA annual plan The city’s public housing agency held a public hearing last night on a federally-mandated document. “It’s for our policies, programs, operations, and strategies,” said Kathleen Glenn-Matthews, the deputy director of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. “They’re all put together in one place.” (See also: CRHA preparing annual plan review, November 18, 2021 Glenn-Matthews said the annual plan is a prerequisite for receiving capital funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “We talk about what residents’ concerns are,” Glenn-Matthews said. “It’s an opportunity for residents to get involved. We ask what individuals like and don’t like about their communities and it is a chance for us all to try to change and improve the rules. Most of all it’s an opportunity to set goals for the future.” Glenn-Matthews said the report explains how the CRHA is studying the possibility of issuing its own bonds to fund further redevelopment, as well as establishing a division in the agency that can manage various redevelopment and modernization projects. They can do so in part because of an infusion in direct investment from Charlottesville taxpayers. “The city will be providing about $15 million to CRHA for redevelopment and rental assistance in the next five years which will help to leverage funds, federal and non-federal, to maximize outcomes for redevelopment activities,” Glenn-Matthews said. CHRA must submit the plan to HUD by January 15. The Board of Commissioners will hold a work session on January 13, a meeting which will include a new representative from City Council. The CRHA fiscal year runs from April 1 to March 31. The only speaker at the public hearing was Shelby Marie Edwards, the executive director of the Public Housing Association of Residents. This year, a decision was made to end security patrols of public housing sites. “We know that CRHA has adopted a camera policy and that they are being installed at some of the sites,” Edwards said. “However our hope is that we can have future conversations about reestablishing an in-person security service included but not limited to a door person over at Crescent Hall once the building is open.”  Glenn-Matthews said she received no written comments about the plan. Drought Watch in some parts of VirginiaThe Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has issued a drought watch advisory for portions of southern Virginia and the Eastern Shore. This is the first step in the process that could result in water restrictions being imposed by localities.“DEQ is notifying local governments, public water works and individual water users in the affected areas to minimize nonessential water use, review or develop local water conservation and drought contingency plans, and take actions consistent with those plans,” reads a release sent out this morning. This advisory does not apply to the Charlottesville area. The determination was made by the Virginia Drought Monitoring Task Force on December 17. “Significant portions of the Roanoke, Chowan, Middle James, Southeast Virginia and Eastern Shore drought evaluation regions have received less than fifty percent of normal precipitation over the last 60 days,” reads a portion of the 36-page report. The Task Force next meets on January 6. Time for a second Patreon-fueled shout-out:Winter is here, and now is the time to think about keeping your family warm through the cold Virginia months. Make sure you are getting the most out of your home with help from your local energy nonprofit, LEAP. LEAP wants you and yours to keep comfortable all year round, and offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If you’re age 60 or older, or have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Last Council meeting for Hill, Walker Another era of Charlottesville City Council has concluded with a long meeting last night with lots of votes and decisions. It may take a few newsletters to get through it all. Council met for nearly three hours in closed session before beginning the public session. They began by getting the public acknowledgment of the end of two terms. Vice Mayor Sena Magill introduced a resolution to honor outgoing Councilor Heather Hill and Mayor Nikuyah Walker. “Mayor Walker, you ran on a platform of unmasking the illusion, [and] being there for those who have not had a voice in many spaces,” Magill said. “I would like to thank you for being that voice for many others.” Magill lauded Walker for creating the Home to Hope program to assist people returning from incarceration. Magill also thanked Hill. “Thank you for the time that you have spent in these past four years connecting people in our community, for answering almost every email that has come through, and for often keeping many of us on track when we start going sideways down sporadic paths and trying to figure out exactly where we’re supposed to be or what we’re supposed to be doing exactly in that time.” Hill said she had mixed emotions about coming to the end of her term. She announced early in the year she would not seek a second. “The last four years have been uniquely challenging for Charlottesville,” Hill said. “This small city has carried a lot on its shoulders and I believe that these challenges have impacted the work that Council and staff have been able to accomplish. I acknowledge that there have been missteps and I’ve been part of some of those and take ownership of that. This will all weigh heavily on me. There was much more I was hoping that we could have made strides on before the end of this Council’s term that I would have had the opportunity to be part of.” Hill lamented a lack of collaboration between leaders and the community, but noted that this Council increased funding for affordable housing projects. For her introductory remarks, Walker quoted from the late bell hooks. “She says in this chapter that ‘progressive visionary leaders have always known that any action which liberates and renews oppressed exploited and Black people strengthens the nation as a whole,’” Walker said. “‘Not only do these actions provide a model for ending racism. They provide strategies for the overall healing of America.”Walker continued quoting from hooks including a passage about how personal attacks on visionary leaders take away from the wisdom those individuals offer. “Visionary leaders abound in our society,’” Walker continued quoting. “‘Many of them are women. Patriarchal thinking blocks recognition of the power of female wisdom and our words.” In other comments, Walker recalled being asked to run for office by former Councilor Holly Edwards, who was elected to one term in November 2007. She died in January 2017 and Walker decided to run after months of contemplation. “It was a commitment to her work and her vision for this community,” Walker said. “Holly used to say, and it wasn’t a joke, she was very serious. She used to say that we would get t-shirts made with our percentage of the population on it because of her concern that we would no longer exist here.” Walker said she almost quit last December, and decided not to run earlier this year after Police Chief Rashall Brackney was fired. (September 8, 2021 CCE)“I make no apologies for fighting for us to understand that there are people who suffer every day,” Walker said. Walker said she will continue to fight to dismantle what she calls systems of oppression. Three newcomers elected to the Charlottesville BARAfter the goodbyes were said, Council still had another five and a half hours of business. First up, they reappointed Cheri Lewis to the Board of Architectural Review and appointed Hunter Smith, Clayton Strange, and David Timmerman. Smith served briefly on the city Planning Commission in 2018 before resigning. More from City Council in a future newsletter. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
December 20, 2021: UVA Foundation purchases Ivy Square Shopping Center for $20 million; Friendship Court to break ground in mid-January

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 20, 2021 14:42


The 2021 farewell tour continues with the final Monday installment of the year for the newsletter and podcast you’re about to read or listen to. This is likely also the last one that will be posted before the winter solstice. Will you be able to feel the shift, or are maneuvers of solar systems mechanics something that only shows up as a trick of the light? That’s not the concern of this edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, but it certainly is something to note.On today’s program: The Ivy Square Shopping Center is purchased by an entity associated with the University of Virginia FoundationPiedmont Housing Alliance sets a date for the groundbreaking for the redevelopment of Friendship Court Charlottesville is considering a historic district to honor the architectural legacy of prominent builder C.H. Brown Transportation updates from the Metropolitan Planning Organization Governor-elect Youngkin names a data policy specialist to serve as Secretary of EducationIn today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign  an initiative that wants you to grow native plants in yards, farms, public spaces and gardens in the northern Piedmont. Winter is here, but spring isn’t too far away. This is a great time to begin planning for the spring. Native plants provide habitat, food sources for wildlife, ecosystem resiliency in the face of climate change, and clean water.  Start at the Plant Northern Piedm+ont Natives Facebook page and tell them Lonnie Murray sent you!Covid updateAs the week begins, the Virginia Department of Health reports another 2,991 new cases of COVID-19, and the seven-day average for positivity PCR tests has increased to 9.3 percent. The seven-day average for new cases has risen to 3,286 a day. The Blue Ridge Health District reports another 67 new cases today and the percent positivity is at 6.7 percent.UVA Foundation purchases Ivy Square Shopping CenterA company associated with the University of Virginia Foundation has paid $20 million for the 2.77 acre shopping center where Food of All Nations is located. Ivy Square of Charlottesville LLC paid nearly 126 percent over the assessment for the two properties and three buildings. A second shopping center to the west is broken up among several owners. The UVA Foundation has been steadily purchasing properties along Ivy Road for many years. The UVA Office of the Architect began planning a master plan for the area east of Copeley Road in the fall of 2016. Work is underway for a precinct that will include the School of Data Science, the Karsh Institute for Democracy, a hotel and convention center, as well as other uses that have yet to be announced. This summer, the Office of the Architect presented a plan for the redevelopment of Ivy Gardens off of Old Ivy Road to the UVA Buildings and Grounds Committee. The Foundation purchased that property in Albemarle back in the summer of 2016 according to Albemarle County property records. (UVA making plans for Ivy Garden redevelopment, June 9, 2021)Date announced for Friendship Court groundbreakingThe Piedmont Housing Alliance has set a date for the groundbreaking for the first phase of redevelopment of Friendship Court. The nonprofit has spent several years planning to upgrade the 150-unit complex and a ceremony will be held on January 15 to mark the beginning of construction. “The last five years of dedication and hard work by the residents of the Friendship Court Advisory Committee are finally about to blossom,” said PHA executive director Sunshine Mathon in an email to Charlottesville Community Engagement this morning. “The beginning of Phase 1 of redevelopment marks the beginning of a transformed neighborhood as envisioned by the residents themselves.  I am deeply honored by the opportunity to bring their vision to creation.”According to the PHA website, the existing buildings were constructed in 1978 on what had been a neighborhood that was razed in the name of urban renewal. Piedmont Housing Alliance and the National Housing Trust acquired the property in 2002 and PHA began managing it in 2019. “We are committed to zero displacement,” reads the website. “The first phase of housing will be built on existing open land.”The city of Charlottesville has committed to a multimillion dollar investment across four phases of development. The adopted capital budget for the current fiscal year sets aside $2 million in cash for infrastructure improvements, nearly $400,000 for the first phase, and $750,000 for the second phase. Future years carry on that investment. (Council approves agreement for Friendship Court funding, October 30, 2020) New historic district?The city of Charlottesville will study whether to create a new historic district to commemorate a man who built many structures for Black families and businesses in the mid 20th century. Planning Commissioner Jody Lahendro is also a member of the Board of Architectural Review and he briefed his PC colleagues last week (staff report)“This is actually a tremendous story that I wish more of us knew about,” Lahendro said. “This designation would honor and recognize the importance of the Reverend Charles H. Brown. From his experience in the building trades in the early 30’s and 40’,s Reverend Brown personally managed, financed, and participated in the construction of about 70 houses from the 1940’s to the 1980’s.”Lahendro said Brown built in Black neighborhoods and used materials that allowed for houses to be affordable. “He often provided the co-sign and promissory notes and provided financing to get people into these houses,” Lahendro said. Lahendro said the district will cover the Holy Temple of God In Christ as well as five other homes in the Venable neighborhood built by Brown. The matter will go through the usual rezoning process including public hearings with the Planning Commission and the City Council. You’re reading to Charlottesville. Community Engagement. Let’s continue today with two more Patreon-fueled shout-outs. The first comes a long-time supporter who wants you to know:"Today is a great day to spread good cheer: reach out to an old friend, compliment a stranger, or pause for a moment of gratitude to savor a delight."The second comes from a more recent supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today!Youngkin chooses Education SecretaryGovernor-Elect Glenn Youngkin has selected the founder of a national education nonprofit to serve as his Secretary of Education. Aimee Rogstad Guidera formerly created the Data Quality Campaign in 2005 to advocate for the usage of metrics to guide education policy. In a statement released this morning, Youngkin said Guidera will help him implement his vision for public education. “Aimee is deeply respected for her distinguished career advocating for innovation and choice, data-driven reform, and high standards, and will apply these principles in order to implement the Day One Game Plan,” he wrote. “Most importantly, she understands that parents matter, and the best interests of students must come first.” Guidera stepped down from the Data Quality Campaign in 2017 and now runs her own consulting firm called Guidera Strategy. Her time at the campaign provides some insight into her philosophy on education. Here are a few examples. Time to Ditch the Data Boogeyman, June 6, 2016Data Quality Campaign Releases Statement on Trump’s Education Priorities, November 14, 2016Statement on the Recommendations from the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, September 7, 2017Transportation updatesTo conclude today, let’s go back to the December 7, 2021 meeting of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Policy Board to get some updates. The Virginia Department of Transportation is working on a new way of planning for the state’s future connectivity needs. Project Pipeline builds off of the Smart Scale funding process which seeks to pay for projects that will accomplish specific goals. Several preliminary corridor studies are underway across Virginia, including two in Albemarle. Chuck Proctor is a transportation planner in VDOT’s Culpeper District.“One of them is for Pantops and it goes from Hansen Road to the interchange at I-64, and the other is the Shadwell intersection at Route 22 and Route 250 and also North Milton Road and 250,” Proctor said. Community engagement for both studies is expected to take place around this time with a public meeting sometime in January. Both are areas identified to have a Potential for Safety Improvement. The website for the Pantop study notes a lack of pedestrian connectivity in the area, and the website for the Shadwell study notes a prevalence for rear end collisions due to long back-ups. Those studies would yield projects for a future beyond the current looming deadline for the fifth round of Smart Scale funding. Albemarle and Charlottesville will have the chance to submit four projects. The MPO Policy Board will select four, and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission will select another four. One potential application for the MPO is a pedestrian and cyclist bridge over the Rivanna River to connect Charlottesville and the Pantops section of Albemarle County. A stakeholder group has met twice in the past month to discuss that application. Sandy Shackleford is the director of transportation and planning at the TJPDC. “We’ll plan to again in the spring or maybe February or March plan to do a full meeting where we go through all of the projects for the MPO area as well as the PDC,” Shackleford said. The other three applications for the MPO under consideration are bike and pedestrian improvements on Avon Street Extended, multimodal improvements 5th Street, and a roundabout at the intersection of District Avenue and Hydraulic Road at Stonefield. Supervisor Ann Mallek said there may be support for the latter project.“I just learned this week that UVA has moved a lot of their IT department out to Hydraulic Road and they were very interested in safe crossings to Stonefield at lunch,” Mallek said. Staunton-Cville bus ridershipThe Afton Express commuter route between Staunton and Charlottesville is now in its third month of operations, according to Sara Pennington, the TJPDC program manager for Rideshare. “In those three months there have been more than 1,500 passenger trips taken and that is across the four morning and the four evening runs and the service does run Monday through Friday,” Pennington said, adding that ridership has grown steadily since launching with November outperforming September despite the Thanksgiving holiday. That’s still about 40 rides a day, and the goal from the planning study is to get to 80 riders a day. Speaking of Smart Scale, a new park-and-ride lot in Waynesboro funded through the process has just been completed.  (VDOT information)“But they also put in a shelter for the Afton Express so those kinds of things went hand in hand,” Pennington said. Pennington said Afton Express will soon launch a new text-alert system for its service that would let riders know about potential delays and other service changes. Charlottesville Area Transit is working on a pilot project to improve bus stops. Garland Williams is the agency’s director. “We’re going to use Belmont Park as kind of that test,” Williams said. “There is a shelter there but it isn’t [Americans with Disabilities Act] compliant.  It basically sits on the street. We’re going to remove that and put in a shelter so that everyone can see when we’re starting to do capital projects along transit, what it looks like and what we have to do to make it compliant.” Sean Nelson, the district engineer for VDOT’s Culpeper District, updated the MPO on the status of a project awarded Smart Scale funds in Round 4. “The only thing I can give an update on is the U.S. 29 and Hydraulic design-build package that we’re putting together,” Nelson said. “That is slated for a public hearing in March or April of 2022 with a [request for proposal] to be released at the end July 2022, anticipated award in December 2022, with a project completion in the winter of 2024.” This project will include a pedestrian bridge over U.S. 29 as well as a roundabout at the intersection of Hydraulic Road and Hillsdale Drive Extended. Learn more in the Smart Scale application. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
December 18, 2021: CDC recommends using Moderna, Pfizer over J&J for booster doses; ACHS working on Race & Sports initiative

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2021 17:35


This is not the final Saturday of 2021, but this is the final Saturday edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement for this two thousandth and twenty-first year of the common era. There’s been nothing common about this year, or any other, for that matter. This newsletter and podcast seeks to point out items of note, though it’s up to you to decide if there’s a tune. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs.This newsletter and podcast is supported by readers and listeners. Sign up for a regular update on what’s happening in the community, and decide later whether to pay! On today’s show:An update on the pandemic including a recommendation related to the Johnson and Johnson vaccineAn Albemarle Supervisor has concerns about the MPO hiring a consultant to craft a strategic plan Albemarle is considering three software platformsThe Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society explains its Race and Sports initiative and how it advances the study of the era of school desegregation In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out:Algorithms know how to put songs and artists together based on genre or beats per minute. But only people can make connections that engage your mind and warm your heart. The music on WTJU 91.1 FM is chosen by dozens and dozens of volunteer hosts -- music lovers like you who live right here in the Charlottesville area. Listener donations keep WTJU alive and thriving. In this era of algorithm-driven everything, go against the grain. Support freeform community radio on WTJU. Consider a donation at wtju.net/donate.Pandemic updateOn Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control endorsed a recommendation that individuals should receive the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine over the Johnson and Johnson shot. Both Moderna and Pfizer use messenger RNA. Still, the CDC recommends any vaccine in the face of another surge of cases nationally and internationally. (CDC release)“In general, the mRNA vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna should be used in preference over Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine,” said Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System.”Dr. Sifri said the new preference is due to new information that shows the possibility of higher rates of blood clotting than was previously known. “Still, it is a rare event but they are higher and it led to the change in stance,” Dr. Sifri said. The Blue Ridge Health District announced Friday that the Johnson and Johnson shot will only be offered a first dose but boosters will no longer be provided at community-based vaccination events or in mobile vaccination clinics. They will still be available at the community vaccination center at Seminole Square while supplies last. Dr. Sifri said those who have had the booster of the Johnson and Johnson should monitor for any symptoms of blood clots such as shortage of breath. He said UVA Health is recommending those who have not had the J&J booster select either the Moderna or Pfizer when they go in for a booster. Two-thirds of Virginians have now received enough doses to be considered fully vaccinated, or 5.7 million people. So far, only 1.7 million of Virginians have had a booster or third dose. “This is the time now to get your booster,” Dr. Sifri said. “The time for getting boosters to prepare yourself for the holiday season is starting to run out. It takes a little bit of time for that booster to take effect and to boost your immune system to encounter what it may encounter along the way.” As of yesterday, the seven-day average for vaccines administered is at 42,631 shots a day. The seven-day average for new cases was 2,760 a day and the percent positivity is 8.6 percent. The next set of numbers in Virginia will come out on Monday. Dr. Sifri said he expects the surge to continue.“We are anticipating that we’re going to see more cases and I think the likelihood that’s going to translate into more hospitalizations and deaths,” Dr. Sifri said. “We’re starting to see modeling information from the CDC that is warning of that possibility so we are concerned about that. That’s similar to what we saw last year as well.”The difference this year is a supply of vaccines. To inquire about vaccination opportunities at the UVA Health System, call 434-297-4829. You can also visit the Virginia Department of Health site at vaccinate.virginia.gov. Albemarle County softwareAlbemarle County’s procurement office has identified that the firm Granicus will be awarded a sole-source contract for a community engagement platform unless other vendors come forward. In a notice dated December 17, procurement officials state that Granicus “is the only source practically available” and the platform Bang the Table is mentioned. Their website lists it as “a platform to listen, inform, measure, and build community” and also has a helpful online assistant known as Eddie the Engager. Other vendors have until December 28 or the contract will be awarded. In similar procurement notices, Yardi Systems has a sole source award for the Breeze Premier platform for property management and that closing date is December 27. Lexis Nexis Systems has a sole source award that closes on Monday for the Accurint Virtual Crime Center which is touted as a way for law enforcement to obtain “a comprehensive view of people’s identities.”New transportation personnelTwo new faces joined the virtual table at the December 7 meeting of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Policy Board. The federally-mandated body consists of two Albemarle Supervisors, two Charlottesville City Councilors, and the head of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Culpeper District. That’s now Sean Nelson, who became District Engineer in mid-October replacing John Lynch. “I’m glad to be a part of this team here,” Nelson said. “I look forward to continuing to keep things going the way John Lynch did and just hold the steering wheel and carry us in to the future. I appreciate being here and plan to be an active participant.” Ted Rieck is the new director of Jaunt after a period running a similar agency in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “Really happy to be here in Charlottesville,” Rieck said. “As you all know, this is great community and a great part of the country. I look forward to hopefully being a contributor and a partner to all of you as we development transportation and transit in the area.”MPO Strategic Plan?Staffing shortages at the Thomas Jefferson Planning District have meant some delays in work that transportation staff had expected to work on. Director of Planning and Transportation Sandy Shackleford said planners are focused on what has to be done. “We are preparing for things like our long-range transportation plan and that we’re going to be able to do a good job with that,” Shackleford said. “It does mean that there are some projects that we just haven’t been able to pursue for right now like focusing on how we can better integrate climate action initiatives into our long-range transportation plan process.”Shackleford said another item that will be delayed will be the creation of a strategic plan for the MPO. She suggested additional funding could be placed in an existing item would outsource that work rto a consultant. That idea drew the concern of Albemarle Supervisor Ann Mallek. “This makes me very nervous that we’re going to turn over something as particular and local as our strategic planning to some consultant who probably has no familiarity with us at all,” Mallek said. TJPDC Director Christine Jacobs said the plan already had been to spend $25,000 on a consultant to do the plan, but no firms responded at that price. The new idea is to increase that amount by using funds that have not gone to pay a TJPDC staff member. Shackleford said no other MPO in Virginia has a strategic plan. Mallek suggested waiting until the local elected bodies are sat and select new MPO members. The MPO Policy Board will next discuss the matter in January. Julia Montieth, a land use planner at the University of Virginia’s Office of the Architect, said the pandemic has delayed creation on a master plan called the Grounds Plan. “We ended up putting the project on hold until post-COVID or post-better understanding of COVID,” Monteith said. “But one of the things that we did during that year was we did some enabling projects in-house that we felt we were capable of doing to inform the plan. That lowered our fees once we got to hiring the consultants.” Take a look at the 2008 Grounds Plan here You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement. Time for a second Patreon-fueled shout-out:Winter is here, and now is the time to think about keeping your family warm through the cold Virginia months. Make sure you are getting the most out of your home with help from your local energy nonprofit, LEAP. LEAP wants you and yours to keep comfortable all year round, and offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If you’re age 60 or older, or have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society’s Race and Sports projectThe Brown vs. Board of Education ruling in 1954 led to the eventual desegregation of public schools. For many schools created for Black students, that ended an era for beloved institutions. That’s the case with Charlottesville and Jackson P. Burley High School. Dr. Shelley Murphy is the chair of the board of the Albemarle-Charlottesville Historical Society, which has been working on collecting more oral histories as part of a project called Race & Sports: The Desegregation of Central Virginia Public High School Athletics.“Our goal is to collect 50 to 60 interviews from those in our local communities who were young students at that time, many of whom were in the athletics who desegregated the first teams at Lane and Albemarle high schools and some of whom went on to the University of Virginia to play teams there.”Murphy and others presented their work on November 28 to as part of the Sunday Sit-In series put on by AARP Virginia. You can watch the event on their YouTube page. Former City Councilor and historian George Gilliam is one of the participants in the project. He provided some historical context. “So in 1954 in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, the United States Supreme Court ruled that racially segregated schools were unconstitutional,” Gilliam said. “That put Virginians into a box because Virginians had adopted a state constitution in 1902 that provided ‘white and colored children shall not be taught in the same school.’” Virginia resisted the directive even after a reaffirmation in 1955 that ordered desegregation happen with “all deliberate speed.” “And after two years, some Charlottesville residents got frustrated and finally brought suit against the Charlottesville School Board seeking admittance of Black children to all-white schools,” Gilliam said. “The Virginia General Assembly then sprung into action enacting a package of laws providing that among other things that any school that desegregates, whether voluntarily or pursuant to court order, is to be seized by the Governor and closed.”Gilliam said this era is known as Massive Resistance because the state government refused to comply with the law. He said in the fall of 1958, the state closed Lane High School when it appeared some Black students would be admitted. The Massive Resistance laws were determined to be unconstitutional.“In 1959 the parties reached a compromise,” Gilliam said. “The schools agreed to ease Black students into the previously all-white student bodies achieving full desegregation but not until the fall of 1967.”For this period, Jackson P. Burley High School remained open for several years while the transition took place. This is where athletics come in. “Charlottesville’s Lane High for white students and Burley High for Black students both had championship football teams,” Gilliam said. “The high school for white students had a 53-game streak during which they were undefeated. And Burley, the high school for Black students had an entire season where they were not only undefeated and untied, they were not even scored upon!”Gilliam said the legacy of the Burley Bears was threatened with the order to desegregate. UVA historian Phyllis Leffler said telling that story is crucial to understanding many of the dynamics of the time in a way that transcends the legal framework. “The Race and Sports inserts the voices of those who lived through a critical time in our local and national history,” Leffler said. “Those voices of Black and white athletes and what they went through are in danger of being lost. So many of the people we would have liked to speak with are no longer with us so it is imperative to document this period now with those who have stories to tell.”Leffler said a common assumption is that sports was seen as a way to bring the community together, but some of the stories paint a different picture. “We are still living the consequences of racial inequities that go back 400 years,” Leffler said. “This project will hopefully help bring our divided communities together by honestly looking at the costs and benefits of desegregation.”Late last year, Jackson P. Burley High School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
December 16, 2021: Charlottesville PC recommends more funding for affordable housing, new sidewalks; Pinkston, Wade take oath of office for Council

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 16, 2021 24:24


We’re now less than a week away from the solstice, which takes place at precisely 10:59 a.m. on December 21 on the eastern coast of the United States. Until then we’ve got a few more days of lengthening night before the pendulum shifts back to light and the march to 2022 continues with new energy. Between now and then there will be a few installments of Charlottesville Community Engagement and this is the one for December 16, 2021. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs.Charlottesville Community Engagement is a great way to find out about what’s happening and how you can get involved It’s free to sign-up, but there are many opportunities to support the work!On today’s show:Brian Pinkston and Juandiego Wade are officially sworn in as City Councilors, as well as members of the Charlottesville School BoardVirginia Tech and a Richmond consortium have both been awarded half-million grants for economic development A pair of transit updates, including the fact that Charlottesville Area Transit will remain fare-free for four years The Charlottesville Planning Commission provides direction on Charlottesville’s next capital budget In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out, Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects. COVID UpdateThe number of new COVID cases in Virginia continues to climb, but the percent positivity has dipped slightly. This morning the Virginia Department of Health reported another 3,688 new cases and 102 of those are in the Blue Ridge Health District. Statewide the seven-day percent positivity is 8.5 percent and in the BRHD it’s at 7.2 percent. New elected officials sworn-inThere are still 15 days left in 2021, and City Councilors Heather Hill and Nikuyah Walker have one more meeting on Monday. The near future became a little closer on Wednesday as two incoming City Councilors and three members of the Charlottesville School Board took the oath of office on the steps of Charlottesville Circuit Court. The School Board went first with newcomers Emily Dooley and Dom Morse sworn in individually with family members at their side. Second-termer Lisa Larson-Torres went next. Then it was time for City Councilor-elect Brian Pinkston followed by Juandiego Wade. I asked both if they are ready to take on the task. “You know, I think I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” Pinkston said. “I joke that it’s a little like getting married or having a kid. You think what you’re getting into but it’s not what you expected. There’s good part and bad parts to that and so the short answer is yes. I’m ready. I’m excited about it. I’m going to roll up my sleeves and try to make a difference.” “I’m ready, I am prepared,” Wade said. “I feel like I’ve been preparing for this for the last years being connected and involved in the community. I feel like now is an opportunity for me to take my service and my commitment to the city to a different level.” In a separate ceremony that also took place yesterday morning, the members of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors were also sworn in, including newcomer Jim Andrews, who will represent the Samuel Miller District. Andrews joined third-term Supervisor Diantha McKeel (Jack Jouett) and two-term Supervisor Ned Gallaway (Rio). Transit updatesIn yesterday’s newsletter, there’s a lot of information about planning for a Regional Transit Vision that may include formation of an authority that could raise funds for expanded service. There’s also a second study underway to determine the feasibility of additional routes to serve urbanized portions of Albemarle County as well as Monticello. The results are in from a survey conducted on two potential scenarios according to Lucinda Shannon, a transportation planner with the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. (project website)“They found that most of the services that people selected in that public outreach was scenario 2 for all three of the areas which is a lot of microtransit connecting with some fixed routes,” Shannon said. The study also found that 98 percent of people who travel to Monticello do so in a car that they either own or rent. That’s based on 51 respondents. The U.S. 29 North survey got 104 responses and the Pantops survey got 54 respondents. The consultants hired for this project are Michael Baker International and Foursquare ITP. The next step is a Board of Supervisors meeting on January 19, according to Shannon. Charlottesville Area Transit will remain fare-free for the next four years. The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation awarded a $1.07 million grant through the Transit Ridership Incentive Program. CAT had already put some of the American Rescue Plan Act funding for this purpose, and the new grant covers fares for an additional year. CAT Director Garland Williams said he anticipates planned route changes will soon be implemented. The adjustments have been through the public process. Williams briefed the Regional Transit Partnership at their meeting on December 2. “We’re still moving forward and hoping to be able to implement in January unless something changes,” Williams said. Learn more about those route changes on the Charlottesville Area Transit website at catchthecat.org. In other news, Jaunt’s new chief executive officer has named Karen Davis the transit agency’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer. Davis served as interim CEO for exactly a year after the Board asked former CEO Brad Sheffield to resign. Ted Rieck started work as CEO earlier this month after heading a similar transit agency in Tulsa, Oklahoma. *Infrastructure grantsTwo entities in Virginia have been awarded $500,000 planning grants from the federal government to increase infrastructure necessary to increase commerce and trade. The U.S. Economic Development Authority awarded Build Back Better Regional Challenge awards to Virginia Tech and the Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority for initiatives that seek to create “regional industry clusters.” Virginia Tech’s application is called The Future of Transportation Logistics and covers a wide section of southwest and southern Virginia. The idea is to accelerate the adoption of electric and automated vehicles. “Projections by the World Economic Forum expect freight demand to triple by 2050,” reads their application. “This growing demand poses challenges from environmental degradation to a strained transportation workforce.”The New River Valley region includes three truck manufacturers, including the national headquarters for Volvo. The work will involve building a coalition to share information as well as demonstration projects such as upgrading a section of Interstate 81 between Salem to Dublin to accommodate automated vehicles. The Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority covers the Richmond and Petersburg area and is intended to create an Advanced Pharmaceutical and Research and Development cluster. “A staggering 73% of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-registered active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) manufacturing facilities are located outside the United States,” reads that application. ”Overseas pharmaceutical manufacturing not only poses a security risk but also takes essential jobs away from the U.S.”Both entities will now be eligible to apply for additional funding from the U.S. Economic Development Authority to implement the projects. Thanks to Route 50 for the information on this grant program. (read their article)In today’s second subscriber-supported public service announcement: The Charlottesville Jazz Society at cvillejazz.org is dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and perpetuation of all that  jazz, and there’s no time like now to find a time to get out and watch people love to play. The Charlottesville Jazz Society keeps a running list of what’s coming up at cvillejazz.org. Sign up for their newsletter today. Tree canopy declineAt their meeting on Tuesday, the Charlottesville Planning Commission held three public hearings on three big topics. But first, they got updates from various committees. Commissioner Jody Lahendro and he relayed news from the Tree Commission about the forthcoming tree canopy study. A preliminary report states that the percentage of the city covered by trees has shrunk by at least four percent since 2015. “Because of COVID, the flyover for this tree canopy study was done in 2018 so it’s dated now,” Lahendro said. “The news is not great as you might imagine.” Lahendro said the city had a tree canopy of 50 percent in 2004 and that declined to 47 percent in 2009. “In 2014 it went down to 45 percent and in 2018, this latest, it’s to 40 percent,” Lahendro said. When you break the city down by neighborhood, nine out of 19 recognized areas are below 40 percent. Lahendro said that is the point where both health and economic development is affected.“And then two of our districts — Starr Hill and 10th and Page — are below twenty percent,” Lahendro said. “Those are where significant detrimental effects are happening.” Lahendro said the city is projected to lose 360 ash trees to emerald ash borers over the next five years. The city can only afford to treat 30 trees. Charlottesville’s FY23-27 CIP discussionThe Charlottesville City Planning Commission has made its recommendations for how to amend the draft capital budget for the next five years. That came at the end of a public hearing Tuesday that featured a discussion with City Council. Elected officials will make the final decision next spring as they adopt a budget that will be prepared under the supervision of a yet-to-be-named interim city manager. (draft FY23-FY27 CIP presentation to Planning Commission) (adopted FY22 budget)The Commission got a look at the information at a work session on November 23, and heard it a second time from Senior Budget Analyst Krissy Hammill in advance of the public hearing. To recap, the capital budget is close to capacity due to the increase of spending in recent years, including a $75 million placeholder for the reconfiguration of middle schools. Council has also authorized a reorientation of priorities to find more money for the schools project. (previous story)“There were some large projects that were previously authorized to use bonds for that we unfunded essentially to be able to move them to get us to a place where we could increase the $25 million for the school project,” Hammill said. “That was the West Main Street project which was originally in the CIP at $18.25 million and the 7th Street Parking Garage which we unfunded about $5 million of that project.”Hammill said to pay for the projects, the city will need additional revenue and will not be able to add any more capital projects for many years unless they are paid for in cash. The city has had a AAA bond rating from Standards and Poor since 1964 and from Moody’s since 1973. “Essentially the AAA bond rating gives the city the opportunity to borrow money at the lowest cost available so that means that more dollars are going to the projects and less dollars are going towards interest,” Hammill said. Hammill said the city is in good financial shape, but funding future investments will be a struggle. At the work session, Hammill invited ideas for further reallocations from other projects. She also said that the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will likely not be a salvation for the city. “Many of us in finance have sort of been waiting in the wings to find out what would be available and it’s actually not a one size fits all and it doesn’t deliver on a lot of what we already have in our CIP,” Hammill said. “So it not going to help us address our financing problems largely.”Another issue is that many of the funding sources will require local matches. She pointed out one opportunity for Charlottesville Area Transit to raise up to $37 million, but the city would have to provide a $2 million match.“That’s not in our curent CIP,” Hammill said. Revisising the Strategic Investment AreaThe two bodies discussed many aspects of the capital budget, including whether or not several general interest line items should be given additional funds in the next year’s budget. Councilor Lloyd Snook questioned one of them related to a 2013 small area plan known as the Strategic Investment Area. “One example would be that we’re suggesting another $200,000 for this coming year and three years beyond that for the [Strategic Investment Area] immediate area implementation,” Snook said. “And that balance in that account is over a million and has been as far as I can tell over a million dollars for quite a while.”Alex Ikefuna, the interim director of the Office of Community Solutions and former director of Neighborhood Development Services, said that balance has been used to pay for a $228,000 study of a form-based code for the area. Nolan Stout reported in the February 4, 2020 Daily Progress on the current Council’s decision to put that plan on hold indefinitely. Ikefuna pointed to one example of how the funding in the account will be used.“We have a Pollocks Branch pedestrian bridge which is currently being finalized for construction,” Ikefuna said. “There are several other project within the SIA that consume that balance.”One of them is a project to upgrade the streetscape on Elliot Avenue in an area where dozens of new homes have been built in the Burnet Commons area. The public housing site at South First Street is also expanding in residential density. Ikefuna also said the SIA fund could also be used for additional costs that may be incurred at Piedmont Housing Alliance’s redevelopment of Friendship Court. “Part of the Friendship Court project includes infrastructure improvement because they have to break up that neighborhood and then integrate that into the city’s grid,” Ikefuna said. “And they may have a cost overrun.”Council approved $5.5 million for the project in October 2020. (read my story)The current year’s capital budget allocated $2 million in cash for the line item of “Friendship Court Infrastructure Improvements” as well as $394,841 for Phase 1 and $750,000 for Phase 2. The draft five-year capital plan anticipates spending $2.5 million on Phase 2 in FY23, and a total of $3.25 million for phase 3 and $4.5 million for Phase 4. Ikefuna also said there’s a project called the Elliott Avenue Streetscape for which a design is almost complete. Snook said Council is not given information about what any of these plans are. “I assume somebody has a plan but it’s not been revealed to us,” Snook said. “I look at the next item. Small area plans. We’re putting in another $100,000 in and the balance of the project is $496,000.” Outgoing City Councilor Heather Hill had one suggestion for where that funding could go. In July 2020, Council chose to proceed with a Smart Scale project over the opposition of some nearby residents and businesses. (July 22, 2020 story on Information Charlottesville)“The Grady / Preston / 10th intersection area related to one of the VDOT projects for Smart Scale funding was identified at that time as something we would want to have more planning around because there was a lot of resistance that there wasn’t a lot of community engagement when that proposed plan was coming to fruition,” Hill said. According to the application for that project, the preliminary engineering phase will not begin until December 2025. There is no design for the Smart Scale project, which was funded on a set of parameters. “Preston Avenue will be realigned to create a consolidated intersection at Preston Avenue / Grady Avenue / 10th Street,” reads the application. “New sidewalks will be constructed throughout the project limits.”Hoping for a sales tax referendumSeveral commissioners expressed concern about the enormity of the school reconfiguration project. The draft plan shows $2.5 million in FY23 and $72.5 million in FY24. Hammill has previously said the money needs to be in place when a contractor is hired for new construction and renovation of Buford Middle School. The school project has not yet come directly before the Planning Commission. “The amount of that project is the entirety of the five-year [capital] FY2017 budget,” Stolzenberg said. “It’s this elephant in the room but it does seem like Council and the School Board have approved the project.” The idea of a dedicated one-cent sales tax increase has been floated to be dedicated funding for the project, but the General Assembly will have to approve a bill allowing Charlottesville voters decide on whether to impose it.“I really, really hope that if we go through with it that the sales tax comes through and frees us from this burden,” Stolzenberg said. Later in the meeting, Commissioners discussed several potential recommendations. One was whether to recommend increasing the amount for affordable housing. Here’s what’s in the proposed CIP. $3 million for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority in FY23, and $9 million in the out yearsA base of $925,000 a year into the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund $900,000 a year to the CRHA to administer additional housing vouchers $2.5 million for the second phase of Friendship Court In March, Council adopted an affordable housing plan that set an ambitious spending target for each year, as noted by Stolzenberg. “It’s recommendations are pretty clear,” Stolzenberg said. “Ten million a year. $2 million are tax relief. A million to administration. So it’s really $7 million in direct subsidy and that’s all on page 49 of the plan for reference.” Here’s what the PC’s recommendations are:Reduce funding for the 7th Street parking structure funding to the minimum amount necessary to satisfy Charlottesville’s commitment to provide parking for Albemarle County per a 2018 agreement related to the joint General District Court that will be under construction.Find more more funds for the line items of tree planting, new sidewalks, and bicycle infrastructure, and hazardous tree removal. Reduce funds going to the line item for economic development strategic initiatives, small area plans, and Strategic Investment Area implementationFully fund the Stribling Avenue sidewalk project that Southern Development has agreed to pay upfront for as part of a rezoning that Council will consider in early 2022.Explore ways to add enhancements to the Drewary Brown Bridge to honor the Bridge Builders, potentially using a portion of funds for the West Main Streetscape. Increase budget for Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund and find ways to fund housing requests that were requested but not included in the draft budget, possibly directing any budget surpluses for this purpose. On Monday, City Council will hold first of two readings on a proposal to reallocate the $5.5 million surplus from FY21 to employee compensation and bonuses. They’ll also consider the transfer of $6.7 million in cash from a COVID reserve fund into the Capital Improvement Plan Contingency Fund. (staff report) This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
December 13, 2021: UVA committee briefed on progress of Emmet-Ivy Corridor, another learns about Karsh Institute of Democracy

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 13, 2021 15:23


The word penultimate means “the one before the last.” But what about the one before that one? For this is the third to last Monday of 2021, and it feels there should be a better way of saying that. In any case, this is the first edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement for the third to last week of the year. That’s twice we’ve needed that word in this newsletter so far. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs, here again to bring you information about the area even if not every word is precise.Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.On today’s show:An update on the Emmet-Ivy corridor and sustainability efforts from the University of VirginiaThe new Dean of the School of Architecture and the director of the Karsh Institute of Democracy introduce themselves to a Board of Visitors panel More on the search for a corporate-appointed City Manager for CharlottesvilleA COVID update and a few more bills are before the General AssemblyIn today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out: Colder temperatures are creeping in, and now is the perfect time to think about keeping your family warm through the holidays. Make sure you are getting the most out of your home with help from your local energy nonprofit, LEAP. LEAP wants you and yours to keep comfortable all year round, and offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If you’re age 60 or older, or have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!COVID updateThere have now been over a million reported cases of COVID-19 in Virginia since the beginning of the pandemic, and a total of 14,957 deaths. The seven-day average for positive cases is now at 8.7 percent. That number is a little higher in the Blue Ridge Health District at 8.9 percent. For most of the pandemic, the Charlottesville area has lagged behind the statewide number. There are 58 new cases reported in the Blue Ridge Health District today, but no new fatalities. The seven-day average for new cases in the state is 2,520 a day. RFP closingThe window closes tomorrow at 4 p.m. for firms who are interested in assisting the city of Charlottesville with interim management services until a new top official is appointed. The RFP issued on December 3 requires a firm to provide someone with at least ten years of municipal management experience to run the city on an interim basis. Two addendums to the proposal were made Friday. (read the proposal)This process is not without precedent in Virginia. The Town of Amherst hired the Berkley Group in 2017 to hire a former Pulaski County administrator to serve as interim manager. Peter Huber served for five months as part of the Berkley Group’s Executive Transition Assistance program.  Huber is now serving in a similar position in Alleghany County according to his LinkedIn profile. According to Berkley’s website, they’ve provided this service in dozens of Virginia localities, from the town of Abingdon to the town of Windsor. General Assembly 2022There is less than a month until the Virginia General Assembly convenes for the 2022 session. Several bills have already been filed, and the number coming in right now is low enough to report some of what’s currently in the legislative information system.Senator Mamie J. Locke (D-Hampton) has filed a bill calling for a Constitutional amendment granting the right for people convicted of felons to be able to vote upon release. (SJ1)Delegate James Morefield (R-North Tazewell) has filed a bill establishing a Flood Relief Fund using a portion of the state’s proceeds from Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative auctions. (HB5) Senator Travis Hackworth (R-Richlands) filed a bill that would terminate power of attorney for anyone convicted of acting against their client. (SB10)Senator David Suetterlein (R-Roanoke) filed a bill increasing the standard deductions for Virginia income tax for both single and married people. (SB11)Senator David Suetterlein (R-Roanoke) has another that would allow localities to issue refunds on excess personal property taxes. (SB12)Delegate Lee Ware (R-Powhatan) has filed legislation that would compel “accomodations providers” to provide more information to localities upon request in the collection of transient lodging taxes. (HB7)Sustainability and Emmet-Ivy updatesLast week, the University of Virginia Board of Visitors met, and the December 10 edition of this show featured some information. On Friday, Bryan McKenzie reported in the Daily Progress that the Board voted to increase tuition by 4.7 percent in the 2022-23 school year and 3.7 percent for the following year. Read his story for more details. On Thursday, the Buildings and Grounds Committee meeting was a shorter one than usual, but members were briefed on several items of note. One related to UVA’s sustainability efforts. Colette Sheehy is the Senior Vice President for Operations and State Government at UVA.“You’ll recall that the big audacious goal for sustainability is to be carbon neutral by 2030 and fossil-fuel free by 2050,” Sheehy said. “Overall our emissions are down by 44 percent over the last decade which is equivalent to about 160,000 tons of carbon.” However, that doesn’t include the carbon footprint of new buildings built at UVA during the period, though they are built to LEED certification according to Green Building Standards. Sheehy said UVA has to do more to meet its goals.“In order to reach our carbon neutrality goal by 2030, we need to reduce our current emissions by another 160,000 tons and probably another 36,000 related to new construction,” Sheehy said. Sheehy also briefed the Buildings and Grounds Committee on efforts to reduce single-use plastics in order to comply with an executive order from Governor Ralph Northam. She said it’s a University-wide effort. “The biggest challenge is actual single-use plastic water bottles which is why you now see aluminum water bottles used to the extent that we can get them,” Sheehy said. “One of the issues is supply-chain and quantity, particularly if you are at a football and tens of thousands of water bottles that are sold.” Sheehy concluded her presentation with an update on construction of the new Emmet-Ivy precinct, which will house the School of Data Science, the Karsh Democracy Institute, and a hotel and convention center. Utility work has been underway on the site of the former Cavalier Inn, which was demolished to make way for the future. “We expect to be complete with all the utility and road work that sits outside the construction fencing by the end of the first quarter of 2022,” Sheehy said. The south side of Ivy Road will also be altered with new retaining walls and a monumental staircase leading up to the International Residential College. “The foundation work for Data Science should start in early January with completion of that building in the fall of 2023,” Sheehy said. “The plan is the hotel should begin construction in the spring with completion in the fall of 2024.” Design work has begun for the Karsh Institute of Democracy. Höweler+Yoon is the architect. Emmett Streetscape newsThere was also news about the Emmet Street Streetscape, one of the first projects funded through the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Smart Scale process. A design public hearing of the $12 million project was held in December 2019 and is being overseen by the City of Charlottesville. Alice Raucher is the UVa Architect. “They submitted their complete documents to VDOT which is one of the required steps in order to begin the negotiations for the right of way,” Raucher said. Appraisals are underway for the easements or property acquisitions needed for the project. Raucher had no timetable for when that might happen. The Emmet Streetscape runs from Ivy Road to Arlington Boulevard and includes a 10-foot wide multiuse path on the western side of the road. (read the brochure)In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign  an initiative that wants you to grow native plants in yards, farms, public spaces and gardens in the northern Piedmont. Winter is here, but spring isn’t too far away. This is a great time to begin planning for the spring. Native plants provide habitat, food sources for wildlife, ecosystem resiliency in the face of climate change, and clean water.  Start at the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page and tell them Lonnie Murray sent you!*Architecture and Democracy at UVAAfter the Buildings and Grounds Committee concluded on Thursday, the Academic and Student Life Committee met and heard from the new dean of the School of Architecture and the director of the Karsh Institute for Democracy.  First up: Malo Hutson took over as Dean of the School of Architecture at the beginning of the academic year. He previously was at Columbia University where he directed the Urban Communities and Health Equity Lab. Hutson said the study of architecture is focused on the public realm. “We’re focused on addressing some of the biggest issues of the world, ranging from climate change all the way to the importance of cultural landscape and heritage, to thinking about do you build with healthy materials and so forth and transportation,” Hutson said. Hutson said the School of Architecture has several priorities and values shared with the rest of the UVA Community. He said the four departments in the school are all focused on climate resilience and climate justice, as well as equity and inclusion. Hutson said faculty and staff have an eye on Virginia’s needs as they craft the Climate Justice Initiative. “We know that we are susceptible to storms and flooding all kinds of things that are going on and so how do we engage in a way from whether we’re talking about Northern Virginia to Hampton Roads to all the way in Southwest Virginia?”The Karsh Institute of Democracy exists to reflect on the same basic question. Melody Barnes is the first executive director of the new entity which was founded in 2018. She said democracy is in trouble in the United States and around the world, citing a CBS News poll from January.“Seventy-one percent of Americans believe that democracy in the United States is threatened,” Barnes said. “A more recent poll from just about a month ago, the Pew Research Center indicates that there are about 19 percent of Americans who believe that American democracy is still a role model for democracy in the world.”Barnes said the University of Virginia is well-positioned to take up the cause and the Democracy Initiative has built on the work. “We also believe that this is a moment that we have to do more and that we are well-situated to do more,” Barnes said. Barnes said the Institute will be public-facing and will seek to engage with the community around UVA. “We want to use this moment, we want to leverage the assets and resources that we have to develop solutions, best practices, and new ideas to address the very challenges I just mentioned,” Barnes said. This Institute’s mission is to “generate new ideas and share them with policymakers and citizens” but Barnes said the work doesn’t stop there.“But then we translate them and use diverse communications channels to push them into the public bloodstream,” Barnes said. “To engage policymakers, journalists, the private sector, the public and beyond so people can take those ideas up, they can be debated. They can become policy. They can become practice. They can start to shape the way that we think, talk about, and do democracy. Hopefully the best ideas get taken to scale.” Barnes said one idea may be to offer a prize related to a specific solution. For instance, the Aspen Institute offers $1 million for community college excellence. “We are thinking that a X Prize for Democracy in partnership with others and leveraging the assets of the University and all the knowledge that’s here could be a wonderful way to bringing greater attention to some specific challenges that are facing democracy,” Barnes said. Barnes said a democratic society will always face existential challenges. She said the Institute will be set up to take a long-term view towards curating conversations.“This will be the journey and an issue for the country I think for the life of the country,” Barnes said. “We will always be engaged in these battles and these debates.”  Stay tuned. Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
December 10, 2021: Woolley takes job in Pennsylvania; Caution urged as Delta continues surge with Omicron spreading

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 10, 2021 13:41


There are two weeks until the next eve, but aren’t we always on the eve of something? Time never stands still, and neither does information. Data, facts, and anecdotes all swarm around at blistering speed, but it is possible to stand on the shore of the raging river and take stock, build a camp, and plan for the future. That’s kind of the point of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that is also always on the move. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. On today’s edition:The consumer price index rises with the increasing cost of energy leading the wayThe corporate owner of the Daily Progress outright rejects a takeover bid from a hedge fundThe UVA Buildings and Grounds Committee contemplates a new building name The city-manager-who-wasn’t takes a job in PennsyvlaniaUVA health officials provide information on the variant Omicron and urge continued vigilance and mask-wearingIn today’s shout-out, a shout-out for shout-outs! If you’re interested in getting information out in this spot, consider supporting Town Crier Productions by making a $25 contribution through Patreon! That gets you or your nonprofit organization four shout-outs a month! These can be for a non-profit, an event, or just a message you want to get out to the word! There are a few guidelines, but this is a great way to support this newsletter and podcast, and to get some eyes and ears on something you want to shout out. Contact me for more information, or just sign up at Patreon.com to learn more! Omicron updateIn another sign Virginia is experiencing another surge in COVID cases, the seven-day average for positive test results is 8.1 percent today, up from 7.2 percent a week ago. Today the Virginia Department of Health reports another 2,848 cases today for a total of 994,069 confirmed cases. The total number of COVID cases in Virginia will likely cross one million total cases over the weekend. “It’s nothing sort of tragic to think about those numbers particularly when you think about the number of hospitalizations and deaths, and the families that have been impacted by the life lost due to that when we have a tool box of tools that can be used and employed to prevent that,” said Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System. Today the Blue Ridge Health District reports 61 news cases and an additional fatality. The percent positivity in the district has increased to 8.6 percent. That figure was 6 percent a week ago. Yesterday, the Virginia Department of Health identified the first case of the Omicron variant somewhere in their Northwest region. The strain was first announced globally on Thanksgiving Day.“We know that it’s spread across and around much of the globe,” Dr. Sifri said. “All continents have cases of COVID except for Antartica and that it’s in nearly 60 countries last I saw.” Dr. Sifri said it’s still too early for sure, but for now it appears that Omicron may not be as cause severe cases of the disease despite news it may spread more easily. “I think that’s still very early data and something we need to take with a grain of salt,” Dr. Sifri said. Dr. Sifri said that early reports are that vaccines appear to have a level of protection against the Omicron strain, but it is diminished and not as robust. “The open questions are does that laboratory data really bear out in the real world, so that’s information that we need,” Dr. Sifri said. “The other question that’s too soon to answer is exactly how long that protection lasts.” Scientists are also studying the possibility that Omicron is more transmissible but that’s another open question until more data comes in. Dr. Sifri called the current wave in Virginia a resurgence of the Delta virus and is likely caused by more indoor gatherings. “So get vaccinated and importantly now, get boosted,” Dr. Sifri said. “We just talked about how the booster is for Omicron but really the booster is also very important for Delta. Remember that your antibody response and your ability to stave off infection after being vaccinated against Delta wears off.” Dr. Sifri said mask-wearing remains an essential tool in public settings to slow the spread. He also recommend people who feel ill should get tested as should people who are going to be heading to a family gathering for Christmas. As 2022 approaches, a new governor will take over in Virginia who may have a different position on masks and vaccines. There continue to be some people who called the entire thing a hoax. “I don’t hear from many of those people except when I’m taking care of them in the hospital and it’s usually in the past tense,” Dr. Sifri said. “‘I did not believe COVID was a big deal. I did not think COVID was a risk for me.’ And those are the people I see in the intensive care unit that are are struggling to survive COVID infection.”The next COVID numbers from the Virginia Department of Health will be out on Monday morning. Inflation upThe Consumer Price Index increased 0.8 percent in November, continuing a yearly trend towards higher costs across the country. Overall, inflation is up 6.8 percent over November 2020 before seasonal adjustments. Energy costs were up 3.5 percent with gasoline rising 6.1 percent. Food costs were up but at a much lower rate of 0.7 percent for food. According to a release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, November’s annual increase of 6.8 percent matches October’s increase, and that had been the largest 12-month rise since June 1982. The energy index increased 33.3 percent over the past 12 months and the gasoline index increased 58.1 percent over the last year. That’s the largest increase since April 1980. The average price for natural gas has increased 25.1 percent over November 2020 and electricity has risen 6.5 percent over the same period.At the same time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported that the average hourly earnings for all employees decreased 0.4 percent from October to November. That figure is down 1.9 percent year to year. According to a report released yesterday on the Work Experience of the Population, 26.4 million Americans experienced unemployment in 2020, up sharply from 12.9 million in 2019. Woolley hired (in PA)Never-to-be interim Charlottesville City Manager Marc Woolley has taken a job as the deputy executive director of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. That’s according to an article on Bloomberg Law. Woolley cited an unwillingness to face the city’s problems under an interim title. He told the publication that he would constantly be looking for another position in the face of pressure. Last Friday, Charlottesville’s procurement department issued a request for proposals to hire a firm to conduct administrative services on an interim basis. “The services… shall be provided by an individual who is either employed by or under contract with the Successful Offeror and who is approved by City Council,” reads the request for proposals. That bid process closes on December 14. The city issued an addendum to the RFP this morning in response to questions. Woolley would have made an annual salary of $209,102.40 and would have had a $500 a month allowance for a vehicle. We know now that there is one deputy city manager position vacant and several other departments are currently led by an existing employee in an “acting” capacity such as the city’s communications director and the head of information technology. The police chief position will not be filled until the firm is hired to provide interim city manager services. We’re also waiting to see what briefs will be filed in response to former City Manager Tarron Richardson’s federal civil rights lawsuit against Charlottesville City Council and others. (read the story)In today’s second subscriber-supported public service announcement: The Charlottesville Jazz Society at cvillejazz.org is dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and perpetuation of all that  jazz, and there’s no time like now to find a time to get out and watch people love to play. The Charlottesville Jazz Society keeps a running list of what’s coming up at cvillejazz.org. Sign up for their newsletter today. Lee says no to AldenThe owner of the Charlottesville Daily Progress and many of Virginia’s other newspapers is rejecting a takeover bid by a hedge fund. Alden Global Capital announced in mid-November that it would purchase shares of Lee Enterprises at $24. Lee Enterprises responded initially responded by invoking shareholder protections. Yesterday they issued a press release stating the price was too low. “After careful consideration with its financial and legal advisors, Lee’s Board determined that Alden’s proposal grossly undervalues Lee and is not in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders,” reads a news release.In a second release yesterday, Lee Enterprise reported revenue growth in their fiscal fourth quarter.  Contemplative Sciences Center namedThe governing body of the University of Virginia met this week, as did its various subcommittees. The Buildings and Grounds Committee had a light agenda that included recommendation to approve the name of a new building. Colette Sheehy is the Senior Vice President for Operations and State Government at UVA. “We’re recommending Contemplative Commons as the name for the building that will house the Contemplative Sciences Center,” Sheehy said. The building will be built on Emmet Street between the pond at the Dell and the buildings that house the Curry School of Education. The Contemplative Sciences Center’s mission is to “advance the study of human flourishing at all levels of education” according to its website. “This building is designed as a hub for academic, co-curricular and extracurricular activities, interdisciplinary collaboration and research, and engagement between UVA and the Charlottesville community,” Sheehy said. The Centers’ construction is funded in part by a $40 million gift in 2016 from Paul Tudor Jones and Sonia Klein Jones. The couple was also instrumental in the center’s founding in 2012. The committee also approved site guidelines and the concept for the expansion of the UVA Encompass Rehabilitation Hospital at Fontaine Research Park. The project will add 16,400 square feet and renovate 50,000 square feet of the existing hospital. I’ll have more from the Buildings and Grounds Committee meeting in an upcoming installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
December 9, 2021: Draft Congressional map shows Albemarle split between two House districts; Charlottesville continues to lose tree canopy

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 9, 2021 17:50


In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign  an initiative that wants you to grow native plants in yards, farms, public spaces and gardens in the northern Piedmont. Winter is here, but spring isn’t too far away. This is a great time to begin planning for the spring. Native plants provide habitat, food sources for wildlife, ecosystem resiliency in the face of climate change, and clean water.  Start at the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page and tell them Lonnie Murray sent you!On today’s show:Governor-elect Youngkin pledges to remove Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Two mapmakers hired by the Virginia Supreme Court have laid out their boundaries in advance of public hearings Albemarle County Supervisors agree to dedicate more resources to monitoring blighted properties and enforcing rulesThe Charlottesville Tree Commission gets a first look at data showing a continue decline in tree cover in the cityThe Carter G. Woodson Institute celebrates forty years of research into the African diasporaCovid updateA quick look at COVID-19 numbers, which continue to an upward trend. Today the percent positivity increased to 7.9 percent and the Virginia Department of Health reports another 3074 new cases. That number includes another 100 cases in the Blue Ridge Health District. There are another three new fatalities reported in the Blue Ridge Health District today. RedistrictingAlbemarle County may be represented by two people in the U.S. House of Representatives if a map drawn under the direction of the Virginia Supreme Court is adopted. This fall, the first Virginia Redistricting Commission failed to reach consensus on new legislative maps for the U.S. House and the two houses of the General Assembly. That left the task to two special masters appointed by the Virginia Supreme Court. “These maps reflect a true joint effort on our part,” reads a memo written by Sean P. Trende and Bernard F. Grofman. “We agreed on almost all issues initially, and the few issues on which we initially disagreed were resolved by amicable discussion.” Interactive House of Representatives mapInteractive House of Delegates mapInteractive Senate mapIn their memo, the pair of Special Masters noted they ignored incumbents when drawing the map. In doing so, 7th District Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger would no longer be in the same district. They also noted that the district numbers might change. Under the Congressional map, northern Albemarle County would be in a district that stretches north to Loudoun County and the Maryland border. Charlottesville and southern Charlottesville would be in a district that stretches to the North Carolina and contains much of the Southside. Crozet would be split between the two districts.Under the House of Delegates map, Charlottesville and much of Albemarle’s urban ring would be in the 54th District and most of Albemarle would be in the 55th. This district would include the western portion of Louisa County and an eastern sliver of Nelson County. Greene would be in a district with half of Orange County, half of Culpeper County, and all of Madison County. Fluvanna would be in a district with Buckingham, Cumberland, and Appomattox counties, as well as the western half of Goochland. Under the Senate map, Albemarle and Charlottesville would be within the 11th District along with Amherst and Nelson counties, as well as the western portion of Louisa County. The rest of Louisa would be in the 10th, as well as all of Fluvanna County. Greene County would be in the 28th with all of Madison, Orange, and Culpeper counties. The two public hearings will be held virtually on December 15 and December 17. People who wish to comment should email to redistricting@vacourts.gov to notify the Court a day in advance of that desire. “The Court recognizes that the establishment of voting districts for the Virginia General Assembly and Virginia’s congressional representatives will have significant and lasting impact on every Virginian,” reads the notice for the public hearing. Written comments will be taken through December 20 at 1 p.m. RGGI withdrawal?According to multiple accounts, Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin told the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce that he will remove Virginia from an interstate compact that seeks to reduce carbon emissions through a cap-and-trade system. Youngkin called it a carbon tax and said he will issue an executive order to withdraw Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in order to reduce energy costs for consumers. Since joining in July 2020, Virginia has received $227.6 million in proceeds from auctions with the funds designated for climate change mitigation efforts. Read Sarah Vogelsong’s story in the Virginia Mercury to learn more. (Youngkin pledges to pull Virginia from carbon market by executive order). According to a press release from the Hampton Roads Chamber, Youngkin said he will seek to eliminate the grocery tax, suspend the gas tax for a year, and lower taxes for veterans. Also yesterday, a recount in the 91st House District confirmed that Republican A.C. Cordoza defeated Democratic incumbent Martha Mugler in the November 2 election, though the margin of victory shrank from 94 votes to 64 votes. That gives the Republicans a 52-48 majority in the House of Delegates next year. Preservation awardsA community group that seeks to raise awareness of historic structures and preserve them has issued their annual awards and grants. Preservation Piedmont offered three small grants to the following groups. All copy below comes from them: ● The Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society, for their project to restore and keep active the Hatton Ferry, a small historic ferry across the James River. ● Burley Varsity Club, for the publication of Unforgettable Jackson P. Burley High School, a book about the history of Jackson P Burley High School, built by Charlottesville and Albemarle to provide a modern high school for its African American communities and known for its superlative athletic teams and academic accomplishments. ● Friends of Gladstone Depot (with assistance from the Nelson County Historical Society), for their efforts to move the Gladstone depot to a new site and repurpose the facility as a community center. There were seven community awards. Here are six of them. ● A Special Recognition Award to the University of Virginia, for thoughtful community engagement in the development of the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers.  ● An Adaptive Reuse Award to Armand and Bernice Thieblot, owners of the Quarry Gardens at Schuyler, for their dedication to adaptive reuse of the Quarry Gardens, and for making it available to the public. ● An adaptive Reuse Award to The Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel Foundation and Allen Hale, for their efforts to preserve and make publicly available one of the great engineering feats of the world, the Blue Ridge Railroad Tunnel. ● A Preservation Award to owners Tim Mullins and Tara Crosson, and builder Craig Jacobs, for thoughtful rehabilitation of an important Albemarle County structure, Findowrie (2015 C-Ville Weekly article). ● A Design Award to Charlottesville Quirk, LLC, for the Quirk Hotel's sensitive infill development on Charlottesville's West Main Street. ●The Martha Gleason Award goes to a member of the community who has exhibited sustained dedication to advocating for our community. This year the award went to Jean Hiatt for her role as a founding member of Preservation Piedmont, service on the Board of Architectural Review,  and for contributions to oral histories and to the book Bridge Builders, and her active involvement with neighborhood associations and preservation advocacy. ”Finally, something called Charlottesville Community Engagement was honored for some reason. I can report the award is a framed certificate and a tote bag. Institute celebratedBefore the break, the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and Africa at the University of Virginia celebrates its 40th anniversary today. The Institute is named after a 20th century historian who established the first Black History Week. Learn more about the Institute and the work accomplished over the past four decades in a piece by Anne Bromley in UVA Today. In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out, Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects. I’m told that a native plants database may be in the works? Tree canopy declining A contractor working on the calculation of the Charlottesville’s tree canopy has turned in the first set of data. Chris Gensic is with the city’s Parks and Recreation Department and he spoke to the Tree Commission on Tuesday. (watch the meeting)“We have lost some canopy,” Gensic said. “I think their average right now is in the 40 percent plus a little bit of change, not quite to 41 percent. I think the first one we did, we were in the 47 realm maybe in ‘08.” That number dropped further to 45 percent in 2015. (Urban Canopy Reports)Gensic said he is going through the data neighborhood by neighborhood to see how it compares to previous tree canopy reports.“Is it that the aerial photo is of a different quality?” Gensic asked. “We’re trying to keep these five-year increments pretty consistent in terms of how data is gathered and how its analyzed so we can say consistently that the loss or gain in trees is actual trees but not an anomaly in the data.”Gensic said a final report will be ready by sometime in January but could be available by the end of the month. He asked Tree Commissioners to take a look at the preliminary data to see what their interpretations are. The data collection was delayed by the pandemic. Fighting blightA year ago, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors asked the Department of Community Development to look into ways the county might be able to compel property owners to maintain their property to keep it out of blighted status. Jodie Filardo, the county’s director of community development, addresses supervisors on December 1, 2021. “We’re here today to seek Board input on whether to take measures to establish a new program under the Virginia Maintenance Code to continue with focused tools and measures using spot blight abatement,” Filardo said. Priority number six of the county’s strategic plan is to “revitalize aging urban neighborhoods.”Filardo returned to the Board on December 2 with options about how to proceed. But first, a definition. “Blighted property is defined as a structure or improvement that is dilapidated or deteriorated because it violates minimum health and safety standards,” Filardo said. Filardo said in the past year, the county has received six complaints about individual properties, and five of these have approved maintenance plans in place. One of these properties will be demolished. “If any of the properties with approved maintenance plans do not meet satisfactory progress toward compliance before you, they will be brought before you with the spot blight ordinance,” Filardo said. Amelia McCulley is the outgoing deputy director of community development. She briefed the board about options to expand the enforcement in the county under the Virginia Maintenance Code to items beyond health and safety, such as peeling paint, crumbling siding, and broken gutters. Staff is recommending a phased approach. “An option for the Board is to not go entirely responsive but to prioritize our aging urban neighborhoods by being proactive in one to two neighborhoods each year,” McCulley said. “Second point would be that we recommend a focused enforcement that prioritizes public health and safety and that we adopt a portion of the maintenance code and that would be Section 3 which focuses on the exterior of the structures.”McCulley said hiring new staff to fully enforce the VMC would not be cheap. The first year would cost half a million with an ongoing cost of $390,000 a year. Adoption of the full code would cost more.“Adoption of the full maintenance code with proactive enforcement countywide is estimated to have a first year cost of $888,001 and an ongoing cost of $679,382,” McCulley said. Supervisor Donna Price said she was not satisfied that the status quo was not sufficient. She had brought up three properties at the December 2020 work session and has suggested others since then.“And it’s clear that what we currently have been doing has not been able to fully address the blighted unsafe property situation,” Price said. “I think of the three I first brought up, pretty much the only thing that was achieved of significance would be that an abandoned minivan was removed from the property and some openings were boarded up. But other than that, the properties are still out there and just as blighted as they would otherwise appear.”Price said she did not favor adopting the full maintenance code in part due to the potential for unintended consequences and costs. Having heard that the Office of Equity and Inclusion has potential concerns, Price said some distinctions need to be made.“To me, one of the things that has to be taken into account and this ties into the Office of Equity and Inclusion’s participation in this process, is the distinction between those who cannot take care of their property primarily due to financial resources versus those who simply will not or refuse to do so,” Price said. “One of the things I am not interested in is providing a financial benefit to those who refuse to take care of their property.” Price leaned towards some form of adoption of the Virginia Maintenance Code. Supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley suggested revisiting the topic in another year. She said thought the spot blight abatement might suffice for now. Supervisor Diantha McKeel also supported using the existing program and agreed with staff’s recommendation to hire a dedicated staffer for this purpose. That decision will come during the development of the FY23 budget and whether to spend $110,000 for this project. “I think the Virginia Maintenance Code sounds not like its not going to get us to where we really need to be, and it’s prohibitively expensive, it would appear,” McKeel said. McKeel said she wants a focus on rental properties in the urban areas that are owned by people out of the community. Supervisor Ned Gallaway said he would support eventually adopting the Virginia Maintenance Code. “We have to be doing something proactive no matter what phase we do to help people that are burdened to be able to get their houses back into a healthy and safe environment for themselves,” Gallaway said. “Maybe that’s the tack I take here. A proactive approach would identify that more quickly in my opinion.” Aside from the budget discussion on hiring the new staffer, the topic will return to the Board of Supervisors in a year.Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
December 8, 2021: Albemarle group briefed on climate action; redevelopment continues for Charlottesvile public housing sites

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 8, 2021 14:34


Welcome to day 342 of the year 2021. There are 23 days until the final day of the year. How many more years are left? Results will vary. How many more installments of Charlottesville Community Engagement will there be? The virtual magic eight-ball reports: Better Not Tell You Now. In either case, this is the installment for December 8, 2021, which is the 290th edition of the show so far. Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts, sign-up below for free updates. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber! On today’s show:An update on finances and redevelopment at Charlottesville’s public housing authorityThere’s a few new bills pre-filed for the 2022 General Assembly Governor Northam releases a master plan to prepare for increased flooding along Virginia’s coast Albemarle’s Natural Heritage Committee is briefed on climate action efforts Let’s begin today with a subscriber-supported shout-out for another community event. Filmmaker Lorenzo Dickerson has traced the 100 year history of the libraries in the Charlottesville area, including a time when Black patrons were restricted from full privileges. The film Free and Open to the Public explores the history of library service from the Jim Crow-era until now. If you missed the premiere in November, there’s an online screening followed by a Q&A with Dickerson this Thursday at 7 p.m. Register at the Jefferson Madison Regional Library site to participate in this free event that’s being run with coordination from the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. Visit jmrl.org now to sign up! COVID updateBefore the rest of the show, a quick update on COVID numbers, which continue to rise slightly as we move through the holiday season. The Virginia Department of Health reports another 2,850 new cases today, bringing the seven-day average for new cases to 2,374. The seven-day average for new positive test results is at 7.7 percent, up from 7.2 percent on Friday. There are 79 new cases in the Blue Ridge Health District, which has a percent positivity of 7.5 percent. Speaking of the Jefferson Madison Regional Library, a pilot project with the Virginia Department of Health has now distributed 1,086 home COVID-19 tests. These are rapid antigen at-home tests where people can use their smartphone to get results within 15 minutes. Visit the VDH’s website to learn more about the Supporting Testing Access through Community Collaboration program. Coastal resilienceThe Commonwealth now has a plan in place to address sea rise and other hydrological issues caused by a changing global climate. Yesterday outgoing Governor Ralph Northam was on hand in Hampton for the release of the Virginia Coastal Resilience Master Plan. “Climate change, rising sea levels, sinking land, and storms that are more frequent and more extreme are really causing increased problems in coastal communities,” Northam said. “What we call nuisance flooding is now a regular occurrence.”The master plan looks ahead as far as the year 2080 and concludes that the number of homes and roadways that will be exposed to extreme coastal flooding will drastically increase between now and then. The plan offers suggestions for what infrastructure is needed to withstand flooding as the geology of the coast changes in the presence of more water. The plan will be updated with additional data. “This plan has some seriously alarming data,” Northam said. “According to the science, over the next 60 years there will be places in Virginia that will no longer be habitable or accessible. They’ll be flooded temporarily or permanently. And while there are things we can do to protect our communities the plan also shows us that in some places we’re going to have to focus on moving people and structures out of harm’s way.” Rear Admiral Ann Phillips coordinated the plan in her capacity as the special assistant to Governor Ralph Northam for coastal adaptation. She was one of the speakers at this year’s Resilient Virginia conference and hers is one of several voices in a September 10, 2021 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Take a look or a listen!The website devoted to the plan contains a database that allows people to look at threats as well as mitigation projects. (Virginia Coastal Resilience Web Explorer) Albemarle Climate ActionLast week, the Albemarle Natural Heritage Committee got an update on the county’s efforts to address climate change. The Natural Heritage Committee developed the county’s Biodiversity Action Plan, which became part of the Comprehensive Plan in July 2019. The Board of Supervisors adopted a Climate Action Plan in October 2020. (watch the meeting)Gabe Dayley, Albemarle’s climate protection program manager, said there are a lot of areas of overlap between the two plans. “We have actions in the Climate Action Plan around promoting conservation easements, around outreach and education, as well as incentives to the general public as well as incentives to the general public as well as to landowners,” Dayley said. Other overlapping goals are to minimize fragmentation of land to preserve areas for wildlife that also can serve as carbon sinks. “You know a lot of the overlap here is between strategies for mitigation,” Dayley said. “In other words, reducing our impact or our contribution to global climate change but the county is also beginning a process to do climate resilience planning. That’s more preparing our community to hopefully be resilient and stay strong in the face of some of the climate changes that we know are coming no matter how swiftly the world acts at this point.”Dayley specifically pointed out goal 9 of the plan which is “develop strategies for biodiversity conservation during climate change.” He also briefed the NHC on the county’s 2018 Greenhouse Gas Inventory. Take a look at a story from September 10 for more information. Dayley told the Natural Heritage Committee that development of the inventory included a new tool that analyzed forest cover in Albemarle. “We found that somewhat to our surprise that there’s actually a lot of carbon sequestration in trees and forests across the county,” Dayley said. “So there’s an important takeaway there which is the critical importance of maintaining forest and tree cover that we have in the county which I think is something that’s expressed as being important in multiple ways in the Biodiversity Action Plan.” To watch the rest of the conversation, take a look at the full meeting of the group. I’ll have information about Charlottesville’s tree canopy in the next installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement. More pre-filed billsBefore the break, a few more bills have been filed in advance of the next General Assembly session. Delegate Scott Wyatt (R-Mechanicsvile) has filed a bill requiring school principals to report potential criminal acts by student to law enforcement. (HB4)Senator Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax) has filed a bill to make Virginia’s standard deduction for income taxes equal to the federal deduction. (SB7)Senator Petersen also filed a bill to permit hunting on Sundays (SB8)Senator Peterson also filed a bill related to eminent domain (SB9)Delegate James Morefield (R-North Tazewell) filed a bill to alter the portion of proceeds from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative that go to the Community Flood Preparedness Fund (HB5)The General Assembly convenes on January 12, 2022. That’s the 12th day of next year. You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement. Let’s continue today with two Patreon-fueled shout-outs. The first comes a long-time supporter who wants you to know:"Today is a great day to spread good cheer: reach out to an old friend, compliment a stranger, or pause for a moment of gratitude to savor a delight."The second comes from a more recent supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today!Public housing updateThe Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners will have a work session Thursday night. They last met at a regular meeting on November 22 and got a series of updates. One was on the CRHA budget from Mary Lou Hoffman, the agency’s finance director. CRHA’s fiscal year runs from April to March 30. (financial statements through October 31, 2021) (watch the meeting)“We’re $517,000 ahead of budgeted at this point but that includes $644,000 worth of for all intent and purposes non-recurring money,” Hoffman said. That includes shortfall funding the CRHA was awarded in each of the past two fiscal years. Hoffman said one piece of good news is that the CRHA’s Paycheck Protection Program loan received near the beginning of the pandemic has been forgiven and won’t need to be paid back. The number of public housing units has been temporarily reduced from 376 to 324 units due to the renovation of Crescent Halls, which is also affecting the way the financial statements look. “It basically is shifting some of the costs that we had budgeted for Crescent Halls to the other properties and between now and the end of the year we will see an effect from that,” Hoffman said. A piece of bad news is an unexpected $17,567 payment in October to the Internal Revenue Service related to unpaid bills that were not known to CRHA staff until recently.“That was an IRS tax penalty that I was previously and totally unaware of,” Hoffman said. “It was assessed against CRHA for failing to timely file 1099s for the tax year of 2017.” Hoffman said these 1099s were related to the payment of vouchers to landlords and other vendors, and they were eventually paid.“I believe the minimum penalty was assessed which is $50 per 1099, so it’s around 340 or 350 1099’s,” Hoffman said. “It’s not only for our vendors but most of our landlords have to get a rent 1099.” Hoffman said part of the confusion stemmed from the CRHA having multiple mailing addresses including a one-time stay in City Hall. Headquarters have moved around a lot in recent years. After Hoffman’s presentation, executive director John Sales put the current year’s budget in a different light. Soon after the fiscal year began, there was a massive water leak at Crescent Halls that has affected the near-term. “Crescent Halls threw a curveball,” Sales said. “The changing of Crescent Halls, the redevelopment plan, drastically changed revenues for the housing authority. The plan included keeping Crescent Halls at least partially filled with adding voucher units which added an additional revenue for the housing authority.”But the damage at Crescent Halls has meant moving all of the residents out while the renovation continues. Those shortfall funds have helped make up the difference for now. As of November 22, Sales said tenants owed $92,000 in unpaid rent. That’s attracted the notice of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.“They ask us about it every other week,” Sales said. “We are currently working through the rent relief program to get funding and asking other sources as well to assist families that are delinquent.” Brandon Collins is the new redevelopment coordinator for CRHA and gave an update on planning for the second phase of redevelopment at South First Street. According to the CRHA website, the plan is to redevelop 58 existing public housing units into 113 new townhouse units and apartments. Collins said the CHRA has filed an application to change the financing structure.“The demo-disposition application and mixed-finance application have gone in,” Collins said. “It took a lot of doing to figure out the mixed-finance application but what we’ve landed on is phase two will have 20 public housing units, 38 project-based vouchers and 55 non-subsidized units.” Collins said CRHA is looking to see how they can get the rent for those 55 units to be as low as possible. “It appears we can get those units down pretty low,” Collins said.  A site plan has been submitted for the first phase of redevelopment at Sixth Street.“Building A is going to be there along Monticello and wrapping around the corner onto Monticello onto Sixth Street,” Collins said. “It will be four stories with 50 homes. It will have an elevator and parking underneath.” A master plan for the full site is being developed. Collins said some of the units will be set aside for homeownership. The Westhaven site will be the next future location of redevelopment with the intent to apply for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits in March of 2024. Resident planning initiatives will begin in earnest soon. As all of these developments continue, Collins said CRHA has to strike a balance to ensure it follows federal rules to limit the number of public housing units on site. “For those who don’t know there was a law passed that you can’t have any more public housing than you already had since October 1, 1999,” Collins said. The future of all CRHA properties will include a balance of multiple types of funding sources to keep rents low. Sales explained further about regulations of the U.S. Department of Urban Housing. “HUD will allow us to add more subsidized units to the site if we’re removing them from our housing-choice voucher portfolio,” Sales said. There’s a lot of complexity. If you’re interested, I recommend watching the meeting for a fuller explanation. The CRHA will take up their annual plan at their meeting on December 20. I wrote about the process in the November 18, 2021 edition of the show. You can read it on the archive site. Thursday’s work session begins at 5 p.m. Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
December 3, 2021: Sequencing underway for Omicron variant in Virginia; 112-unit apartment building planned for Stonefield

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 3, 2021 18:04


Friday’s come and go, but this one hasn’t yet. There’s still time to write out a few things about what’s been happening in and around Charlottesville in recent days. But we’d be better quick because the world we live upon will not stop turning.  Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported newsletter and podcast. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.On today’s show:Charlottesville hires two department heads and one from Albemarle gets a promotionAlbemarle’s Supervisors are briefed on the county’s stream health initiativeA campaign finance update for City Council and the Board of SupervisorsAn update on COVID-19 in VirginiaSome development news, a familiar new owner for Wintergreen, and USDA grantIn today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out, WTJU 91.1 FM invites you to tune in next week for the annual Classical Marathon. It’s a round-the-clock celebration of classical music, specially programmed for your listening pleasure. Throughout the week there will be special guests, including Oratorio Society director Michael Slon; UVA professor I-Jen Fang; Charlottesville Symphony conductor Ben Rous; early music scholar David McCormick; and more. Visit wtju.net to learn more and to make a contribution. COVID updateA small surge of COVID-19 is under way in Virginia, with a seven-day positive test rating of 7.2 percent. That’s up from 5.9 percent on November 24. The Virginia Department of Health reports another 2,598 cases today, with the seven-day average increasing to 1,836 new cases a day. Sixty-five point four percent of the adult population is fully vaccinated and there is a seven-day average of 28,534 shots administered. Over 1.3 million Virginians have had a booster or third dose.In the Blue Ridge Health District, there are 67 new cases reported today, and the percent positivity is 6.7 percent. There are now confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in the United States. Dr. Amy Mathers is an associate professor of medicine and pathology in the University of Virginia Health system. She’s part of statewide efforts to sequence the various variants. “We’re contributing about 250 to 300 sequences a week,” Dr. Mathers said. “But we can only sequence what tests positive by PCR.” That means the rapid antigen tests do not collect the same biological information required for gene sequencing, which could limit efforts to identify the spread of the new variant. In the meantime, Dr. Costi Sifri urges calm while research is conducted. “There’s more that we don’t know about the Omicron variant than we do know about the Omicron variant,” said Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at UVA Health. “What we do know is that its a variant that carries a lot of mutations. More than 30 in the spike protein as well as 20 or more additional mutations spread across the genome.” Dr. Sifri said some of these mutations relate to greater transmissibility and infection rates, but the emergence of Omicron is not unexpected. He said time will tell the impact on public health. “It’s not surprising that we’re seeing it around the world at this point, in more than two dozen countries,” Dr. Sifri said. “What is the efficacy of vaccines against the omicron variant? We really don’t know right now. We have heard of breakthrough infections but of course we’ve heard about breakthrough infections with Delta as well.” Dr. Sifri said it appears vaccinations will continue to provide benefits and more information and time will help test that assumption. He said in the meantime the best thing to do is get vaccinated and to continue to practice mitigation strategies. “We are seeing an increase in cases and it’s important since we were just talking about Omicron to understand that right now, 99.9 percent of cases are due to the Delta variant,” Dr. Sifri said. “What we have been seeing this fall and now heading into the holiday is Dela.”The major difference between this holiday season and last year is the widespread availability of vaccines. Dr. Mathers urged anyone who is ill to take precautions. “If you’re symptomatic, get tested,” Dr. Mathers said. “The only way we’re going to see emergence of new virus is to get tested. So following up exposure or symptoms with testing is an additional way to help limit the spread of this virus.Dr. Sifri said people who do get tested should limit contact with others until the result comes back. “Don’t go to work, don’t go to school, don’t go to holiday parties,” Dr. Sifri said. “If you’ve gotten tested, wait for your test result before you go out into the community.” New Charlottesville personnel Charlottesville has hired two people to serve as department heads. Arthur Dana Kasler will serve as the new director of Parks and Recreation and Stacey Smalls will be the new director of Public Works. Both positions have been open since September and were filled despite the transition at the city manager position when Chip Boyles resigned in October. Kasler comes to Charlottesville after serving as the director of Parks and Recreation in Louisville where he oversaw over 14,000 acres of parks, natural areas, and other services. According to a profile on Linkedin, he’s held that position since April 2019. Prior to starting work in Louisville, he was parks and recreation director in Parkland, Florida. According to the Lane Report, he’s also worked in Pittsburgh, Ponte Verde Beach in Florida, Kingsland, Georgia, and Athens, Ohio. Kasler takes over a position in Charlottesville in which he may oversee creation of a  new master plan for recreational programs in the city. Stacey Smalls recently worked as director of the Wastewater Collection Division in the public works department in Fairfax County. Smalls has been in that position since February 2016. Prior to that, she served in similar capacities for the U.S. Air Force, including serving as deputy public works officer for the Joint Base at Pearl Harbor. She’ll oversee a public works in Charlottesville that took on responsibility for transportation design from the Department of Neighborhood Development Services during the administration of former City Manager Tarron Richardson. Both Kasler and Smalls will start work on December 20. They join Deputy City Managers Ashley Marshall and Sam Sanders, as well as NDS director Jim Freas, as relative newcomers to municipal government in Charlottesville. Albemarle personnel, development infoIn other personnel news, this week Albemarle County announced that planning director Charles Rapp will be promoted to Deputy Director of Community Development, succeeding Amelia McCulley who is retiring from the county after more than 38 years of service. Rapp began work in Albemarle in March 2020 after serving as director of planning and community development for the Town of Culpeper. A search for a new planning director is underway. Rapp’s immediate boss is Jodie Filardo, the director of Community Development Department. She’s been in that position since September 2019. This week, the Community Development Department sent out a notice for two site plans of note. One is to construct a 1,300 square foot addition at the North Garden Fire Department. Earlier this year, Supervisors approved a budget that includes five full-time staff at the station to be there during the daytime to improve response times in the southern portion of Albemarle County. In the second, the owners of Stonefield have put forth a site plan for a seven-story 112-unit apartment building in what’s known as Block C2-1. You may also know this as the intersection of Bond Street and District Avenue, two of the public streets created as part of the initial development of Stonefield. Republican House Majority confirmedThe Associated Press is reporting that a recount in Virginia’s 85th House District has reaffirmed a narrow victory by Republican Karen Greenhalgh over Democrat Alex Askew. The certified election results recorded a 127-vote majority for Greenhalgh. A panel of three judges oversaw the recount and found this morning that the certified results stand. A recount is still underway in the 91st district. That gives Republicans at least 51 seats in the next General Assembly. In the 91st District, Republican A.C. Cordoza has a 94-vote lead over Democrat Martha Mugler, though there is an independent candidate in that race. Incoming speaker of the House Todd Gilbert (R-15) issued a statement welcoming Greenhalgh to the Republican caucus. Campaign finance The final campaign finance reports are in this year’s elections, covering a period from October 22 to November 25. City Councilor-elect Brian Pinkston raised an additional $3,325 during that time, and spent $8,938.04, leaving a balance of $1,227.76. He’s also repaid himself $7,231.24 in loans. In all, Pinkston raised $115,095.77 in the campaign. (report)Fellow City Councilor-elect Juandiego Wade raised $5,265 during the final period and spent $2,702.86, resulting in a balance of unspent funds of $17,728. In all, Wade raised $101,806.45 during the campaign. (report)In Albemarle County, Samuel Miller District Supervisor-elect Jim Andrews raised an additional $250, spent $2,015.74, and ended the campaign with a balance of $17,515.74. In all, Andrews raised $38,366.77 during the campaign. (report)Jack Jouett District Supervisor Diantha McKeel raised $250, spent $1,783.07, and her end-of-year bank balance is $20,652.76. McKeel began the year with $14,971 on hand and raised $19,127.99 during the 2021 campaign. (report)Rio District Supervisor Ned Gallaway has not yet filed a report for this cycle and missed the deadline. In the first three weeks of October raised an additional $3 and spent nothing. He began 2021 with a balance of $7,293.28, raised $10,150, and had a balance of $14,806.40. All three Supervisors ran in uncontested races. In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out: The Rivanna Conservation Alliance is looking for a few good volunteers for a couple of upcoming events. On Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the RCA will team up with the James River Association to plant trees along the Rivanna River and Town Branch in the Dunlora neighborhood to serve as a riparian buffer. In all, they’re hoping to put in 9 acres of trees. On Sunday, the Rivanna Greenbelt Marathon takes place, and the Rivanna Conservation Alliance is the beneficiary! They’re looking for people to help put on the race. Learn more about both events and the organization at rivannariver.org. Wintergreen ownerThe resort company that has been running Wintergreen now owns the Nelson County property. Pacific Group Resorts of Utah had been leasing Wintergreen since 2015 but finalized acquisition from EPR Properties in October. “PGRI now owns the real estate, lifts, and snowmaking systems at the [resort] in addition to the operating equipment which it previously owned through its operating subsidiaries,” reads the release. Pacific Group Resorts also owns several other ski areas, including the Ragged Mountain resort in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Albemarle stream healthVirginia and many of its localities are responsible for taking steps to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay. That includes Albemarle County, which is in the midst of an initiative to create policies to encourage, incentivize, or mandate the installation of vegetated buffers on the many tributaries of the James River. The Board of Supervisors was updated on the Stream Health Initiative on December 1. (materials)Kim Biassioli is the Natural Resources Manager in Albemarle County. She said the initiative is intended to advance the goals of the Climate Action Plan, the Biodiversity Action Plan, and the Comprehensive Plan itself. “Of course the focus of our work here today is on water quality and stream-health, but in protecting stream health and water quality, we’re likely to be providing so many other benefits for climate, for scenic value, for wildlife, for public health, and so on,” Biassioli said. This past summer, Supervisors asked staff to come up with more information about what it would take to fully adopt the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, which gives localities more options to enforce and require stream buffers. Albemarle is not within the Tidewater region as defined by the Act. “We found that full adoption is an extremely resource and time intensive option relative to the anticipated benefits that we feel might be received,” Biassioli said. The first proposal under consideration would reintroduce a requirement that property owners retain buffers by creating a stream overlay district. “And I say reintroduce because this language which was originally modeled after the original language in the Bay Act was in our water protection ordinance prior to 2013 but currently retention of stream buffers is required during a land disturbing activity,” Biassioli said. Biassiloi said this would not require property owners to expand existing buffers if they are not to the requirement established. The zoning overlay would establish a list of existing uses allowed in the buffer areas. Other ideas under consideration include a program to fund riparian buffers, more oversight of septic fields, and greater incentives for installing Best Management Practices for mitigating the effect of agriculture on the watershed. USDA climate change grantsFinally today, Virginia will receive $778,000 in grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture from the Rural Energy for America program. According to the USDA website, this initiative “provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and rural small businesses for renewable energy systems or to make energy efficiency improvements.”Recipients are:Waverly RB SPE LLC  - $500,000 (4th House District)Zion Crossroads Recycling Park LLC - $139,671 (5th House District)Twin Oaks North LLC - $52,225 (6th House District)Railside Industries LLC - $21,424 (6th House District)Mill Quarter Plantation Inc - $64,680 (7th House District)Thanks to Resilient Virginia for pointing this out!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
December 1, 2021: Virginia's recycling rate increased in 2020; few details on next steps in city manager search

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 1, 2021 15:49


What’s another month in a year that’s already had eleven of them? Another turn of the earth, and each of us is another day closer to the solstice, the holidays, 2022, President’s Day, and so many more milestones that are worth noting somewhere. Perhaps not on this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, which is intended to capture a few things that happened around the time of December 1, 2021. Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To ensure new posts come out as frequently as possible, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber!On today’s show:More details on what happens next in the top executive position in CharlottesvilleThe Albemarle Board of Supervisors seeks patrons for bills on photo-speed camera expansion and more Virginia’s recycling rate increased in calendar year 2020 In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out: The Rivanna Conservation Alliance is looking for a few good volunteers for a couple of upcoming events. On Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the RCA will team up with the James River Association to plant trees along the Rivanna River and Town Branch in the Dunlora neighborhood to serve as a riparian buffer. In all, they’re hoping to put in 9 acres of trees. On Sunday, the Rivanna Greenbelt Marathon takes place, and the Rivanna Conservation Alliance is the beneficiary! They’re looking for people to help put on the race. Learn more about both events and the organization at rivannariver.org. COVID updateThe Virginia Department of Health reports that the seven day average for new COVID cases has increased to 1,548 cases a day, and the seven-day percent positivity has increased to 6.7 percent. A month ago on November 1, the percent positivity was 5.5 percent. There were 746 more reported deaths in Virginia in the past month. The Blue Ridge Health District reports an additional 58 new cases today and the seven-day percent positivity is 6.1 percent. There were 26 reported COVID deaths in the health district in November. The Jefferson Madison Regional Library has distributed 631 rapid COVID tests in the past week as part of a pilot program with the Virginia Department of Health. Learn more at jmrl.org. Executive vacancyMarc Woolley will not start today as Charlottesville’s City Manager. Or any other day, for that matter. The former business administrator of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania has opted to not take the position of running the city’s executive functions. The City Council met in closed session for over three hours yesterday to discuss the withdrawal. Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker addressed the public afterward to say she had known since before Thanksgiving. “On November 21, Mr. Marc Woolley reached out to me,” Walker said. “We had a planned meeting scheduled for early in the week that had been postponed to that day and he informed me that he for personal reasons would not be taking the job in the city of Charlottesville.”Walker said Council tried to get the notice of Woolley’s withdrawal out before the Thanksgiving holiday.“And we were unable to do that and we apologize to the community for that confusion but we did want to give more time than the notification that happened today,” Walker said. “So we have known for a little over a week and this was the first opportunity for us to get together to explore other options and kind of just brainstorm where we are and where we’re headed.” Councilor Heather Hill had a few more glimpses into what happens next.“Council is considering going into a contract with a firm for interim services,” Hill said. “We’re going to be working through with staff on what the best and most efficient process would be for that. We have made no decisions in that matter.”In the meanwhile, Deputy City Managers Ashley Marshall and Sam Sanders will continue to serve with extended duties. Hill said more information about a search firm will be released in two weeks. City Councilor-Elect Juandiego Wade will be sworn into office at on December 15 at 9:30 a.m. on the City Courthouse steps. He’ll be sworn along at the same time as three members of the School Board. City Councilor-Elect Brian Pinkston will be sworn in on December 23 at 10 a.m. on the Courthouse. However, their terms do not officially begin until January 1. Solid waste planningThe recycling rate in Virginia increased in the year 2020, as reported by 71 planning units across the Commonwealth. Of the 11 million tons of municipal solid waste processed, 5.3 million were reported as recycled. “However, some planning units faced recycling challenges due to the COVID 19 pandemic, lack of recycling markets in their regions and difficulty in obtaining recycling information from private businesses,” reads the executive summary of a report generated by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. Of that 5.3 million tons, 3.9 million were classified as principal recyclable materials and 1.4 million were in the form of credits. Recyclable materials include: Paper, metal, plastic, glass, commingled materials, yard waste, waste wood, textiles, waste tires, used oil, used oil filters, used antifreeze, inoperative automobiles, batteries, electronics and other.Credits refers to: Recycling residues, solid waste reused, non-MSW recycled (includes construction and demolition material, ash and debris) and source reduction initiatives. Under Virginia code, localities or the regions they are within must develop a solid waste management plan. In this area, the Thomas Jefferson Planning District does that work on behalf of Albemarle, Charlottesville, Greene, and Fluvanna. The towns of Scottsville and Standardsville are also covered by the TJPDC which reports a recycling rate of 41.9 percent. Louisa County runs its own sanitary landfill and is its own solid waste planning unit. They report a recycling rate of 29.5 percent. The Lunenberg County solid waste planning unit reported a 78.8 percent recycling rate, the highest in the state. Lee County in Southwest Virginia reported the lowest at 10.4 percent. Virginia code requires localities to be above 15 percent. The report singles out Arlington County for improving the recycling rate by prohibiting glass from the single-stream recycling system. Instead, Arlington set-up five drop-off locations to ensure glass would not be contaminated by other materials. Over 1,429 tons of clean glass was collected. “The removal of glass from the residential curbside recycling program had the added benefit of boosting the overall value of a ton of the single-stream recycling significantly,” reads the report. To learn more about Arlington’s program, visit their website.On Thursday, the operations subcommittee of Albemarle’s Solid Waste Alternatives Advisory Committee meets.  On the agenda is an update on efforts to increase the market for glass recycling to attract interest from a processing company. I wrote about this topic back in January and will be interested in getting an update. (meeting info)See also:  Group seeks information from beverage producers on glass recycling, January 26, 2021You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement, supported in part by subscriber supported shout-outs like this one: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign, an initiative that wants you to grow native plants in yards, farms, public spaces and gardens in the northern Piedmont. The leaves have started to fall as autumn set in, and as they do, this is a good time to begin planning for the spring. Native plants provide habitat, food sources for wildlife, ecosystem resiliency in the face of climate change, and clean water.  Start at the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page and tell them Lonnie Murray sent you!Legislative prioritiesThe General Assembly convenes six weeks from today. Across Virginia, local officials are seeking ways to get Delegates and Senators to carry specific bills. The Albemarle Board of Supervisors held a meeting on Monday to explain their three legislative priorities. County Attorney Greg Kamptner said the first is a request to allow localities to treat some violations of local ordinance with civil penalties as opposed to being criminally punished. Albemarle wants to be able to establish a schedule of fines that exceed what can be charged now. “The initiative would authorize a schedule of civil penalties of up to $500 for the initial summons, with increasing amounts of up to a total of $5,000 in aggregate under the same operative facts,” Kamptner said. Kamptner said the current penalty of $200 for the first violation and $500 for additional ones is too low.“Those amounts are unchanged since 2007 and the county has found that some zoning violators see those payments as the cost of doing business which prolongs the enforcement process for those localities that have opted to pursue civil penalties,” Kamptner said. Both Delegate Sally Hudson (D-57) and Delegate Rob Bell (R-58) and expressed interested in being a sponsor for that legislation.Albemarle’s second legislative request is to expand the use of photo-speed cameras to enforce violations of the speed limit. The General Assembly passed legislation in 2020 that allow the cameras to be used in highway in highway work zones and school crossing zones. (HB1442) (current state code)“A photo-speed monitoring device is equipment that uses RADAR or LIDAR in speed detection and produces one or more photographs, microphotographs, video tapes, or other recorded images of vehicles,” Kamptner said. “The enabling authority is self-executing. No ordinance is required and local law-enforcement offices can have the devices installed in those zones.”Kamptner said Albemarle would like to be able to use the cameras on rural roads where speeding has been identified as an issue. “The roads would be selected by the governing body based on speeding, crash, and fatality data,” Kamptner said. Delegate Bell said he would want to talk to someone at the Albemarle Police Department before deciding whether to carry the bill. “I’m reading what is drafted and it’s not exactly what is being described by some of the speakers for what they are looking for,” Bell said. Both Delegate Hudson and Delegate Chris Runion (R-25) both said they would also like to hear from law enforcement. Hudson had concerns. “Historically sometimes automated enforcement devices have been disparately positioned throughout communities and might appreciate some language or guardrails in the bill that would require some kind of public analysis about where they’re going to go,” Hudson said. Albemarle’s third legislative request would be to require agricultural buildings at which the public will be invited to conform to the state’s building code. Currently there is no inspection process or minimum standards for barns and other structures where large events might be held. “The use that would be subject to requirements as such having an automatic fire alarm system, emergency lights and exits, panic hardware at all required exit doors, portable fire extinguishers, and a maximum occupancy of 200 persons,” Kamptner said. Albemarle County cannot currently regulate construction of such buildings due to state law, but a 2018 review of building codes for agritourism and businesses suggested such minimum standards would be beneficial to public safety in an era when many of these buildings are used for breweries, wineries, and other destinations. (read the review)“Many people who go to these properties have no idea that these buildings are not expected and that they don’t meet the building code,” said Supervisor Ann Mallek. Delegate Hudson said she would be willing to request the Division of Legislative Services prepare a draft based on this request. Delegate Chris Runion (R-25) had some concerns about unintended consequences of the requirements and suggested there may be another way to address the issue. “The other area I think is probably a new area of conversation is the limit for 200 people,” Runion said. “I thought there was a limit at 300 previously Also at Monday’s meeting: The Thomas Jefferson Planning District puts together a regional legislative program. TJPDC Deputy Director David Blount serves as legislative liaison and says this year’s regional wishlist is very similar to last year’s.  ‘We’ve added some language to support the expansion of allowing the uses of electronic meetings outside of emergency declarations,” Blount said. “I think we’ll see some legislation on that in 2022.”Charlottesville City Council will be presented with the TJPDC legislative program and their own program at their next meeting on December 6. End notes:Thanks to Grace Liz Cerami, Lisa Edge, Lloyd Goad, and Grace Reynolds for their narration assistance in the podcast. Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Charlottesville Community Engagement
November 29, 2021: Charlottesville PC briefed on next capital budget

Charlottesville Community Engagement

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 29, 2021 14:00


As of the typing of these words, there are 22 days until the solstice when our portion of the world will slowly begin illuminating a little more each day. This is the 333rd day of this year. What significance might there be in the number 4,444? Stick around for enough editions of Charlottesville Community Engagement, and that figure may one day show up. I’m your host Sean Tubbs, tracking the trivial and monitoring the memorable. On today’s show:Charlottesville’s Planning Commission gets a look at the preliminary capital budget for fiscal year 23University Transit Service buses return to full capacity More news about the transition team of Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin Let’s begin today with two Patreon-fueled shout-outs. The first comes a long-time supporter who wants you to know:"Today is a great day to spread good cheer: reach out to an old friend, compliment a stranger, or pause for a moment of gratitude to savor a delight."The second comes from a more recent supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today!As the week begins, the Virginia Department of Health reports a seven-day average of 1,377 new cases and the seven-day percent positivity is at 6.1 percent. On Friday, the VDH reported the first fatality of a child from Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome. In the Blue Ridge Health District, there are another 55 new cases today and a seven-day percent positivity of 5.8 percent. There have been two more fatalities reported since Wednesday. Last week, the Jefferson Madison Regional Library entered into a partnership with the Virginia Department of Health to distribute at-home COVID-19 testing kits. The pilot program offers rapid antigen tests that are guided by a virtual assistant. “The test kits must be used away from the library, via an internet-connected device with a camera (including smart phones) with digital test results available within 15 minutes,” reads a press release. “Library staff cannot assist with administering tests, and tests cannot be taken inside any JMRL location.”Today marks the first day in a year and a half that passengers on University Transit Service buses will board from the front door. UTS has ended rules that required riders to board from the middle door. Capacity restrictions have also been dropped, meaning buses will be able to fill to standing. However, masks and facial coverings are still mandatory. The University Transit Service will also restore service to stops at Garrett Hall and Monroe Hall whenever UTS is serving McCormick Road. Those stops had been dropped to help UTS manage the capacity restrictions. Visit the UTS website to learn more about specific details.To learn more about transit, consider attending the Regional Transit Partnership’s meeting on Thursday at 4 p.m. On the agenda is a look at the Regional Transit Vision plan that is in development by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District. (agenda)Jaunt buses returned to 100 percent capacity earlier this year. There are a few local names on what Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin is calling his transition landing teams. The “landing teams that will coordinate with the cabinet secretaries from the current administration and conduct due diligence across all agencies so that the Youngkin administration will hit the ground running and begin delivering on its promises on Day One,” reads a press release from Wednesday.Senator Emmet Hanger (R-24) will serve on the Agriculture and Forestry team and Delegate Rob Bell (R-58) is on the Education team. Bell will also serve on the Public Safety and Homeland Security team. Senator Bryce Reeves (R-17) will be on the Veterans and Defense Affairs team. For the full list, take a look at the full press release. In today’s second subscriber-supported public service announcement: The Charlottesville Jazz Society at cvillejazz.org is dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and perpetuation of all that  jazz, and there’s no time like now to find a time to get out and watch people love to play. The Charlottesville Jazz Society keeps a running list of what’s coming up at cvillejazz.org. Sign up for their newsletter today. The Charlottesville Planning Commission got a look last week at a preliminary budget for the capital improvement program for the fiscal years 2023 through 2027. Council will vote next spring to approve the first year of spending, but decisions for future years would be for future versions of Council. (November 23 presentation) (watch the meeting)But first, what is a capital improvement program? Krissy Hammill is a Senior Budget and Management Analyst for the City of Charlottesville. “It’s basically a five-year financing plan that contains infrastructure type projects that usually cost more than $50,000,” Hammill said. “They’re generally non-recurring and non-operational and they generally have a useful life of five years or more.” Major items are usually funded by debt the city takes on in the form of bond sales. Investors front the money in exchange for a steady and guaranteed return. Like Albemarle County, Charlottesville has a AAA bond rating that is both attractive to investors and has a low interest rate. The latter results in a lower debt-service payment for the city. “We are actually part of a very small group of localities that have that rating,” Hammill said. “It is the premiere marker of a locality’s financial stability in strength.” In recent years, Council has increased the amount of spending on affordable housing initiatives, directly funding redevelopment of public housing and Friendship Court. In the past budget cycle, Council expressed a willingness to fund the configuration of City Schools. “We had a placeholder for that project at $50 million and based on Council’s direction from a meeting in October, that has now been increased from $50 million to $75 million,” Hammill said. “The funding has been moved up from FY25 to FY24. We also know that in doing this there will need to be additional revenue enhancements to pay for the additional debt service that will be required.”Revenue enhancements can be translated as “tax increase” and Hammill has previously told Council and the public that the equivalent of a 15 cent increase on the property tax rate may be required to cover the cost. There’s the possibility of the next General Assembly allowing Charlottesville voters to decide on a sales-tax increase with proceeds going toward schools. Even with that possibility, the city may not be able to make any new investments for some time. “We know that our debt capacity will be exhausted for some period of time,” Hammill said. In the current fiscal year, debt service is just under five percent of the $192.2 million General Fund Budget. That amount does not include the amount of general fund cash used for capital projects. That number will increase. “The plan put before you has debt service basically doubling from just over ten million to just over $20 million within a very short period of time, about four years,” Hammill said. A draft of the next Capital Improvement Program won’t be officially presented to Council until late February or early March. Hammill documented several other revisions to the preliminary budget. At Council’s direction, $18.25 million in city funds for the West Main Streetscape were transferred to the school reconfiguration project as well as $5 million from a parking garage on 7th and Market Street. In December 2018, a previous City Council  signed an agreement with Albemarle County to provide parking as part of a multimillion project to locate a joint General District Court downtown. Subsequent Councils have opted to not build a new parking garage to honor the terms of that agreement. (read the agreement)“We don’t have any specifics right now,” said Chris Engel, the city’s economic development director. “We’re in the midst of conversation with the county about the fact that we’re not going to build a structure and what the agreement leaves them with regard to their options and trying to figure out what’s best for both parties.” Pre-construction of the courts facility is underway. Another adjustment in the city’s preliminary capital improvement program is additional funding for a comprehensive plan for the Parks and Recreation Department. “This would be to look at Parks and Rec programs,” Hammill said. “This is not the normal master plan for the parks per se master planning process, but more of a programmatic master plan.” There are also programs for drainage issues at Oakwood Cemetery and McIntire Park as well as funding to assist the removal of dead Ash trees in the city. Council has also approved a housing plan that asks for $10 million a year on affordable housing initiatives. Hammill said not all of the funding for that initiative would come from the capital improvement program budget. City Council will review the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund at its meeting on December 6. Another item not in the capital budget is private funding for a sidewalk on Stribling Avenue. Southern Development has offered to loan the city $2.9 million to cover the cost of the project as part of a rezoning in Fry’s Spring area. The Charlottesville Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the preliminary CIP on December 14. Finally today, the second shout-out for today specifically asked you to check out a local news story. Here’s one to begin with. Last week, Carly Haynes of CBS19 reported on the intersection of Preston Avenue and Grady Avenue in Charlottesville. Charlottesville was awarded $7.743 million in a Smart Scale project to alter the intersection. Learn more in this report from November 23rd.Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here!. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe