Podcasts about charlottesville tomorrow

If you read yesterday's edition of the Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter and really liked it, why not take a listen to today's? For some reason, Fridays are for audio production for both a podcast version and a version that will air on WTJU tomorrow at 6 a.m. I'm Sean Tubbs and what you're about to hear are several stories that all come from the April 2 meeting of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors. This is another experiment in providing you with the tools to better know your community.In today's installment:* There are three budget town halls left in Albemarle County before public hearings begin later this month (learn more)* A nonprofit that raises funds for the Shenandoah National Park is sharing information about how federal cuts are affecting operations (learn more)* There's a relatively new art gallery in Scottsville (learn more)* Albemarle Supervisors recognize Dark Sky Week coming up April 21 through April 28 (learn more)* April is Financial Literacy Month (learn more)* Albemarle Supervisors continue to discuss growth as part of the long and winding road that is the county's Comprehensive Plan review (learn more)* The show wraps up with an update from the Virginia Department of Transportation (this is not the story but it is close enough)Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.First shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!There are a lot of stories each week that go out through this newsletter, but no one information outlet can put together the entire picture. That's why each regular edition ends with a section called Reading Material.Charlottesville is fortunate to have a media landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.Now more than ever, journalism is needed. To be a citizen of a democracy, you must seek information from multiple sources. Consume only one and you are at risk of becoming a zombie!Second shout-out: Advertise on Information CharlottesvilleLong-time readers may know that most of the stories posted through this newsletter are also posted to Information Charlottesville. Sometimes the stories go there first! Both this newsletter and that website are part of the same information gathering operation, an operation I hope to continue to grow!There are multiple ways to contribute to Town Crier Productions.One new one is to place an advertisement on Information Charlottesville. I'm in the early days of experimenting with visual ways for organizations to get their message across to a growing audience. I've not yet put together a media kit, but I'm ready to offer a special for March. What's the special? More details in the audio version of the podcasts.Advertising on Information Charlottesville could be a great way to keep my business going while also growing yours. I think there are new ways to do advertising, but I don't know what they are until I'm allowed to continue testing. 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

In the early days of Charlottesville Community Engagement, each edition was a newsletter as well as a podcast. In early 2024, this tradition was severed so I could make sure I could get a radio version on WTJU for Saturday morning 6 a.m. That's the case with this March 28, 2025 edition which is being produced in an odd week with slightly less productivity due to seasonal allergies. I'm Sean Tubbs and next week may see further experimentation.* Albemarle Supervisors briefed on climate funding, pay increases, and future direction for FY2027 (learn more)* EPA climate resilience grant for community nonprofits rescinded (learn more)* Supervisors also learn about the county's plans to add $4.2 million to a housing fund as well as a potential pause in federal housing vouchers (written story out tomorrow)* Charlottesville City Council holds first reading of allocations for affordable housing projects (learn more)* City Council enters into new agreement with CRHA for Sixth Street redevelopment (learn more)* Solar panels atop Ivy Landfill move closer to reality (Read this story on C-Ville Weekly)* Local projects left out of recent Continuing Resolution for federal budget (learn more)First shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!There are a lot of stories each week that go out through this newsletter, but no one information outlet can put together the entire picture. That's why each regular edition ends with a section called Reading Material.Charlottesville is fortunate to have a media landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.Now more than ever, journalism is needed. To be a citizen of a democracy, you must seek information from multiple sources. Consume only one and you are at risk of becoming a zombie!Second shout-out: Advertise on Information CharlottesvilleLong-time readers may know that most of the stories posted through this newsletter are also posted to Information Charlottesville. Sometimes the stories go there first! Both this newsletter and that website are part of the same information gathering operation, an operation I hope to continue to grow!There are multiple ways to contribute to Town Crier Productions.One new one is to place an advertisement on Information Charlottesville. I'm in the early days of experimenting with visual ways for organizations to get their message across to a growing audience. I've not yet put together a media kit, but I'm ready to offer a special for March. What's the special? More details in the audio version of the podcasts.Advertising on Information Charlottesville could be a great way to keep my business going while also growing yours. I think there are new ways to do advertising, but I don't know what they are until I'm allowed to continue testing. 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

A main purpose of this newsletter is to write about what's happening with local government. Everyone in the United States of America lives within some sort of locality, either a city or a county. This newsletter is sometimes a podcast as is this case with this edition which provides potential listeners with stories about the budget formation in Albemarle County and Charlottesville.Your budget. You are part of your local budget. And if you are a resident of either jurisdiction aforementioned, you can take a listen now to the early part of a development process that is still going on. I'm Sean Tubbs, and I encourage you to go ahead and hit play for this bit of the historical record.A very nice plug on Reddit last night has resulted in hundreds of new subscribers. Welcome! Everything in today's audio edition has already been posted in the newsletter. On Friday I put together the audio version for this podcast and for a radio version that airs on WTJU 91.1 FM at 6 a.m. on Saturdays. My first professional gig was an intern for WVTF Public Radio in Roanoke back in 1995. This is a throwback to that and provides me a chance to reset for the next set of stories.In this edition:* Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders presents City Council with FY26 budget based on no new taxes (learn more)* Many people weigh in on Albemarle's recommended budget at first public hearing (learn more)* An account of Albemarle County's first work session on the FY2026 budget (learn more)* Albemarle budget staff provide broad overview of where $480.5 million in spending will go in FY26 (learn more)* Albemarle's police chief and fire chief explain why they need additional funds (learn more)First shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!There are a lot of stories each week that go out through this newsletter, but no one information outlet can put together the entire picture. That's why each regular edition ends with a section called Reading Material.Charlottesville is fortunate to have a media landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.Now more than ever, journalism is needed. To be a citizen of a democracy, you must seek information from multiple sources. Consume only one and you are at risk of becoming a zombie!Second shout-out: Advertise on Information CharlottesvilleLong-time readers may know that most of the stories posted through this newsletter are also posted to Information Charlottesville. Sometimes the stories go there first! Both this newsletter and that website are part of the same information gathering operation, an operation I hope to continue to grow!There are multiple ways to contribute to Town Crier Productions.One new one is to place an advertisement on Information Charlottesville. I'm in the early days of experimenting with visual ways for organizations to get their message across to a growing audience. I've not yet put together a media kit, but I'm ready to offer a special for March. What's the special? More details in the audio version of the podcasts.Advertising on Information Charlottesville could be a great way to keep my business going while also growing yours. I think there are new ways to do advertising, but I don't know what they are until I'm allowed to continue testing. 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

Perhaps there is something irrational about one person attempting to write as many stories as possible about a meeting of a public institution's governing body. But that is the basic frame of this Pi Day edition of the Charlottesville Community Engagement podcast. I'm Sean Tubbs, and this week I've put a premium on going through several hours of the University of Virginia's Board of Visitors meeting to hear one specific incident. I didn't get there yet, but what follows is the perhaps most thorough town coverage of gown goings-on.In this edition:* UVA continues to meet fundraising goals (learn more)* Ellis continues to vote against any capital spending at UVA (learn more)* University of Virginia planning to phase out coal plant (learn more)* The chair of the Buildings and Grounds Committee continues to express concern about scope of proposed Center for the Arts (learn more)* UVA projects increase in graduate student enrollment through 2031 while undergraduate population will remain flat (learn more)* UVA Finance Committee endorses transfer of Virginia Guesthouse, expansion of mail pharmacy (learn more)* UVA Finance Committee briefed on need for data center (learn more)* Funding to construct UVA Center for the Arts included in General Assembly's version of the budget (learn more)First shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!There are a lot of stories each week that go out through this newsletter, but no one information outlet can put together the entire picture. That's why each regular edition ends with a section called Reading Material.Charlottesville is fortunate to have a media landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.Now more than ever, journalism is needed. To be a citizen of a democracy, you must seek information from multiple sources. Consume only one and you are at risk of becoming a zombie!Second shout-out: Advertise on Information CharlottesvilleLong-time readers may know that most of the stories posted through this newsletter are also posted to Information Charlottesville. Sometimes the stories go there first! Both this newsletter and that website are part of the same information gathering operation, an operation I hope to continue to grow!There are multiple ways to contribute to Town Crier Productions.One new one is to place an advertisement on Information Charlottesville. I'm in the early days of experimenting with visual ways for organizations to get their message across to a growing audience. I've not yet put together a media kit, but I'm ready to offer a special for March. What's the special? More details in the audio version of the podcasts.Advertising on Information Charlottesville could be a great way to keep my business going while also growing yours. I think there are new ways to do advertising, but I don't know what they are until I'm allowed to continue testing. 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

The river of time is not always predictable and neither is the frequency of podcast versions of Charlottesville Community Engagement. The last one was on a Friday. Before that they were on Saturdays. For a brief time, Mondays. This is Thursday, a day of lament for Arthur Dent, but one in which Sean Tubbs feels it is important to get this out while some of the information is still fresh. Who is that? Well, I suppose it's me.In this edition:* Local federal transportation funding may be under review but has not been paused (learn more)* New technology to improve safety to be piloted at four Albemarle County intersections (learn more)* Councilors push back on proposal to replace trash stickers with monthly trash fee charge more for trash collection (learn more)* Congressman McGuire explains support for Trump and Elon Musk in telephone town hall (learn more)Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.First shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!There are a lot of stories each week that go out through this newsletter, but no one information outlet can put together the entire picture. That's why each regular edition ends with a section called Reading Material.Charlottesville is fortunate to have a media landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.Now more than ever, journalism is needed. To be a citizen of a democracy, you must seek information from multiple sources. Consume only one and you are at risk of becoming a zombie!Second shout-out: Advertise on Information CharlottesvilleLong-time readers may know that most of the stories posted through this newsletter are also posted to Information Charlottesville. Sometimes the stories go there first! Both this newsletter and that website are part of the same information gathering operation, an operation I hope to continue to grow!There are multiple ways to contribute to Town Crier Productions.One new one is to place an advertisement on Information Charlottesville. I'm in the early days of experimenting with visual ways for organizations to get their message across to a growing audience. I've not yet put together a media kit, but I'm ready to offer a special for March. What's the special? More details in the audio version of the podcasts.Advertising on Information Charlottesville could be a great way to keep my business going while also growing yours. I think there are new ways to do advertising, but I don't know what they are until I'm allowed to continue testing. The below is one of the banners! You could have one of these for a low, low price. What's the price? Listen to this segment of the podcast! 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

Why not end the month with an audio collection of recent stories that have so far appeared in written form in the digital pages of Charlottesville Community Engagement? At least, that's what you'll do if you decide to hit the play button! And when you do, you can find out for certain if the words uttered by the narrator match the one in this written introduction! I am Sean Tubbs, and I am that narrator, and no grant obligations were satisfied with today's production.In this edition:* A summary of a recent meeting of an emergency House of Delegates committee examining the effect of massive cuts to the federal government (story #1) (story #2)* Albemarle Executive Jeffrey Richardson proposes a four cent real estate tax increase for the county's FY26 budget (learn more)* Fluvanna Administrator Dahl recommends Fluvanna budget for FY26 based on real property tax rate decrease (learn more)* Solar panels in place at First United Methodist Church in Charlottesville (learn more)Once a week there is a podcast! What will tomorrow bring? Sign up to find out. First shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!There are a lot of stories each week that go out through this newsletter, but no one information outlet can put together the entire picture. That's why each regular edition ends with a section called Reading Material.Charlottesville is fortunate to have a media that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.Second shout-out: Advertise on Information CharlottesvilleLong-time readers may know that most of the stories posted through this newsletter are also posted to Information Charlottesville. Sometimes the stories go there first! Both this newsletter and that website are part of the same information gathering operation, an operation I hope to continue to grow!There are multiple ways to contribute to Town Crier Productions.One new one is to place an advertisement on Information Charlottesville. I'm in the early days of experimenting with visual ways for organizations to get their message across to a growing audience. I've not yet put together a media kit, but I'm ready to offer a special for March. What's the special? More details in the audio version of the podcasts.Advertising on Information Charlottesville could be a great way for you to help keep my business going while also growing yours. I think there are new ways to do advertising, but I don't know what they are until I'm allowed to continue testing. Below is one such test, and I fully acknowledge it is ridiculous. Listen to the podcast to find out the deal! 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

When written in numbers, today's full date has four twos, a zero, and a five. Put them all together in the right way and it's February 22, 2025, and I will not play a similar puzzle with the name of the show which begins with two C-words and an E. I'm Sean Tubbs, the producer of Charlottesville Community Engagement which is made up of the audio versions of stories about local and regional government in the Central Virginia listening area. Let's get to it.Today's audio versions of stories already published in written form:* A round-up of the landscape of local elections as the spring comes closer* Charlottesville School Superintendent Gurley presents budget request to City Council (learn more)* A look at the City of Charlottesville's finances before the next budget comes out (learn more)* Two members of City Council pay tribute to the late Charlottesville Mayor Satyendra Huja (learn more)* The Buildings and Grounds Committee of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors endorses the design for new student residences planned for the intersection of Ivy Road and Copeley Road (learn more)* The University of Virginia's Board of Visitors has the first of two emergency meetings to discuss the future of gender-affirming care at the UVA Health System (learn more)Every so often there's a podcast version which may also have something worth reading in the text. It's up to you to decide. First shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!In today's first shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.Show notes for 817A: Why this one and not another one?In this particular edition of the newsletter that carries the podcast, a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how things get made. For the past year now, audio production has shifted as I began doing a radio version for WTJU. The show airs at 6 a.m. so the audience may be low, but I'm grateful to have a regular place in the airwaves.This week was another where I didn't have a lot of audio because most of the stories this week were ones that didn't originate from a meeting. Take a look at the table below the second shout-out to see what I've been up for the past two weeks. By the time I get to Saturday morning, I'm ready to get to the new set of stories.I spent Friday putting together the audio versions, a process that takes a lot longer than it used to because the audio can't be terrible. It could be terrible when this was just a podcast. On Friday morning I wasn't sure how I was going to pull off putting together a 29 minute piece, but somehow it happened.One of the ideas was to take two of the Election 2025 stories and put them together as the show's opener. I almost never read new copy for WTJU but this time it made sense to eat up time in the show by giving listeners a little more information.I also added about a minute to the piece on members of City Council paying tribute to the late Satyendra Huja by including a clip from his 2007 interview with Charlottesville Tomorrow. I was able to grab that from his cvillepedia entry and imagine my surprise when I heard my voice as the interviewer! I forgot I had done that.In any case, that's this set of stories. I'm going to leave the text for the script for the election round-up.Election round-up: Information on Jack Jouett District race in Albemarle and Charlottesville School BoardThere are 254 days until the general election on November 4. Virginians will go to the polls to elect a new Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General. They'll also select a member of the House of Delegates as all 100 seats are up.There are also local elections across the area.For the first time in six years, there will be a contested race for the Democratic nomination for a seat on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors.In January, Supervisor Diantha McKeel announced she would not seek re-election to another term for the seat she has held since 2015. Two candidates have expressed interest in replacing her as the Democrat on the ballot for the Jack Jouett District.Sally Duncan of Earlysville, a history teacher, has filed paperwork with the Virginia Department of Elections to run as a Democrat for the seat.Earlier this month, historian David Shreve told members of the Albemarle Democratic Party that he would also be seeking the nomination.The two as well any other candidates who emerge will be on the ballot of the June 17, 2025 Democratic Primary unless the local party decides to pick another nomination process.Duncan received an undergraduate degree in American Studies from the University of Virginia in 2020 and earned a graduate degree in Religious Studies in 2023. She's currently a high school history teacher and has a total of five children.Duncan will formally announce her candidacy at the County Office Building on February 25 at 11 a.m.Shreve has served as a member of the Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee as well as the Albemarle County Economic Development Authority. He has also served as co-chair of the Jack Jouett District Albemarle Democratic Party Committee. Shreve has also been involved with several non-profit groups including a board member at the group Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population.In his professional capacity, Shreve has worked for the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia and spent one year working for the National Governors Association. He recently started a job as a senior economist for the Center for the Advancement of a Steady State Economy.This year in Albemarle, both Rio District Supervisor Ned Gallaway and Samuel Miller District Supervisor Jim Andrews are up for election. Neither has yet revealed their plans.There will also be a contested race for the Charlottesville City School Board. Last time around there were four seats open, and four candidates emerged. This time the seats held by Emily Dooley, Lisa Torres, and Dom Morse are all up for election.Both Dooley and Torres have stated they will seek reelection. So far, I've not heard from Morse but both Dashad Cooper and Zyahna Bryant have filed their paperwork to run for the seats.More in the future.Learn more:* Two Democrats have announced for Jack Jouett seat on Albemarle Board of Supervisors* Zyahna Bryant enters the race for Charlottesville School BoardSecond shout-out: Town Crier ProductionsI created Town Crier Productions in the summer of 2020 as a way of getting back to the business of journalism. Whether you are listening or reading this newsletter, it's part of a venture based on a pretty simple idea: I will continue to spend my time researching and reporting and will provide ways for people who want to pay for the material to be produced!In 2025 I'm seeking ways to solidify the business, and here are some ways you can support the work.* Sign up for a paid subscription through Substack. There is not much premium content because my primary aim is to get information out to as many people as possible. I'm long overdue on December 2024 transactions, for instance, and that's what I'll do as soon as this is posted!* Contribute through Patreon. A major goal this year is to replace this with a way to make a tax-deductible donation, but that's not set up yet. If I had more time, I'd make more audio programs through Patreon. Maybe today I'll do something weird.* Send in a check made out to Town Crier Productions at PO Box 1754, Charlottesville, Virginia, 22902. This will be used as a replacement for Substack.* Ask me about advertising opportunities! I am testing out advertising on Information Charlottesville and I'm enjoying the experiment. Reach out if you'd like to get in on an introductory deal!* Volunteer for cvillepedia, a great way to become a fact checker and to bolster your research skills! 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

With the writing of this sentence, I advance my desire to be more familiar with Democracy in America. In the fourth decade of the 19th century, a French national named Alexis de Tocqueville wrote two volumes of an examination of the system of government in the relatively new United States of America. I have vague memories of reading it over thirty years ago in a political science class at Virginia Tech and I've been meaning to take a look back in order to get a fresh perspective of where we are on February 8, 2025.This is the audio edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement for that particular today and the I in this sentence is me, Sean Tubbs. I've made my career writing about municipal government, giving me a unique perspective into American government for the first three decades of the 21st century. If you decide to take a listen, you're about to hear the audio versions of recent stories.The following links go to Information Charlottesville, the companion website for this newsletter.* Charlottesville City Council briefed on Project Safe Neighborhoods (learn more)* Charlottesville Police Chief Kochis gives an update on FLOCK license plate readers (learn more)* Albemarle County Supervisors and the Charlottesville City Council both acknowledge Black History Month (learn more)* Albemarle County appoints a new director of Facilities and Environmental Services (learn more)* Supervisor Pruitt sounds alarm on economic threat of federal cuts, executive orders (learn more)* Coalition wants Albemarle County to pay $10 million a year toward housing costs (learn more)Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.First shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!In today's first shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.Second shout-out:What you are reading or listening to at Charlottesville Community Engagement is part of a business-venture that's based on a pretty simple idea. I will spend my time researching and reporting and will provide ways for people who want to pay for the material to be produced!bI've been a journalist for a long while now, and this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Charlottesville Podcasting Network. While that website doesn't have new content, it's part of how I demonstrate my dedication to this community. In 2025 I'm seeking ways to solidify the business, and here are some ways you can support the work.* Sign up for a paid subscription through Substack. There is not much premium content because my primary aim is to get information out to as many people as possible.* Contribute through Patreon. A major goal this year is to replace this with a way to make a tax-deductible donation, but that's not set up yet. If I had more time, I'd make more audio programs through Patreon.* Send in a check made out to Town Crier Productions at PO Box 1754, Charlottesville, Virginia, 22902. This will be used as a replacement for Substack.* Buy an ad on InfoCville.com! I do not have a rate sheet yet, but if you respond to this email with the promo code #experimental-ad I can do a really very low price until the end of February! How low? Send me the email! * Tell friends about the work and use the stories to start conversations. Post articles on social media, for instance. * Volunteer to design some logos because I'm very bad at graphics! Someone did the one for me a few years ago and I probably should give her credit. I'll reach out! 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

We have all arrived at February 1, 2025 and this is the time to conduct whatever rituals you have to welcome the new month. Perhaps that includes listening to this edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, an audio version of a newsletter about local and regional government. I'm Sean Tubbs and the next 30 minutes will feature some recent stories:In this edition:* Charlottesville City Council is briefed on $22.4 million surplus for FY24 (learn more)* The new director of Neighborhood Development Services tells Council about her department's work plan (learn more)* The five elected officials are also introduced to the city's “Safer Streets Strategy” projects (learn more)* An infectious disease expert from the UVA Health System explains what's happening with bird flu (learn more)* The Charlottesville City Schools hold a work session on revenue assumptions for the next fiscal year, including an expectation sales tax revenues will decline (learn more)* Herrick appointed as Albemarle County Attorney (learn more )* Albemarle EDA briefed on Broadway Blueprint (learn more)First shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!In today's first shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.Second shout-out: Help me keep this going!What you are reading or listening to at Charlottesville Community Engagement is part of a business-venture that's based on a pretty simple idea. I will spend my time researching and reporting and will provide ways for people who want to pay for the material to be produced!I've been a journalist for a long while now, and this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Charlottesville Podcasting Network. While that website doesn't have new content, it's part of how I demonstrate my dedication to this community. In 2025 I'm seeking ways to solidify the business, and here are some ways you can support the work.* Sign up for a paid subscription through Substack. There is not much premium content because my primary aim is to get information out to as many people as possible.* Contribute through Patreon. A major goal this year is to replace this with a way to make a tax-deductible donation, but that's not set up yet. If I had more time, I'd make more audio programs through Patreon.* Send in a check made out to Town Crier Productions at PO Box 1754, Charlottesville, Virginia, 22902. This will be used as a replacement for Substack.* Ask me about advertising opportunities! Advertising is live now on Information Charlottesville and introductory prices are low! * Tell friends about the work!* Volunteer to design some logos because I'm very bad at graphics!* Keep paying attention to as much as you can! 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

In an alternate universe, the print edition and the podcast edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement would not have been separated. It is also possible that this is the alternative universe and we'll all just have to get used to it.Either way, the next print edition is listed as being the 800th installment whereas this latest compilation of audio stories is classified in the Town Crier Productions taxonomy as CCE-799A. Both are expected to be published on January 26, 2025 but this is the one that features audio trickery in the hopes of providing entertainment value.In this edition:* Public hearing held for Charlottesville's draft Capital Improvement Program (learn more)* Charlottesville City Council gets progress report on school construction (learn more)* Finishing touches underway on Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Master Plan (learn more)* Council waives rules to expedite vote on Human Rights Ordinance (learn more)* Andrew Herrick is appointed as Albemarle County Attorney (learn more) (need to produce)* Three Constitutional amendments pass Virginia Senate including the right to reproductive freedom (learn more)First shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!In today's first shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.Second shout-out:What you are reading or listening to at Charlottesville Community Engagement is part of a business-venture that's based on a pretty simple idea. I will spend my time researching and reporting and will provide ways for people who want to pay for the material to be produced!bI've been a journalist for a long while now, and this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Charlottesville Podcasting Network. While that website doesn't have new content, it's part of how I demonstrate my dedication to this community. In 2025 I'm seeking ways to solidify the business, and here are some ways you can support the work.* Sign up for a paid subscription through Substack. There is not much premium content because my primary aim is to get information out to as many people as possible.* Contribute through Patreon. A major goal this year is to replace this with a way to make a tax-deductible donation, but that's not set up yet. If I had more time, I'd make more audio programs through Patreon.* Send in a check made out to Town Crier Productions at PO Box 1754, Charlottesville, Virginia, 22902. This will be used as a replacement for Substack.* Ask me about advertising opportunities! Later this month, advertising will begin to appear on Information Charlottesville and I'm hoping it can have the same style as the shout-outs. Introductory pricing will be low!* Tell friends about the work!* Volunteer to design some logos because I'm very bad at graphics! 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

More than 30 years have now passed since I began work as an intern for WVTF Public Radio, beginning a professional career that has at times included the production of audio stories. When Town Crier Productions first began putting out the Charlottesville Quarantine Report in March 2020, I finally returned back to having a sonic element as part of my work routine.The first 650 editions of this newsletter were all podcasts as well, but I made a change last February that has meant there's only one of these a week. That's because I produce a version for WTJU that airs Saturdays at 6 a.m. The idea is to produce a podcast version too, but the holidays were particularly grueling.Today's edition is produced as a reminder that audio is an aspiration, and perhaps the first time many new subscribers realize this occasional benefit. Everything you hear has already been in print and you can find the written articles over on Information Charlottesville.In this edition: * Democrats retain control of the Virginia General Assembly after three special elections on January 7 (learn more)* The General Assembly convened briefly on January 8 and recessed until Monday due to Richmond water crisis (learn more)* Governor Glenn Youngkin delivered the State of the Commonwealth address when they got back to work (learn more)* Albemarle Supervisors retain leadership for what is described as a challenging year (learn more)* A look at School Board races in Charlottesville so far (learn more)* Reids Super Save Market to close as Twice as Nice thrift store to purchase building (learn more)* Albemarle Planning Commissioners request different designations of for different kinds of rural land (learn more)* BAR members suggest changes to planned affordable housing building on Wertland Street (learn more)Sometimes there are podcast editions and this is one of them. Sign up to get them all! First shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!In today's first shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.Second shout-out:What you are reading or listening to at Charlottesville Community Engagement is part of a business-venture that's based on a pretty simple idea. I will spend my time researching and reporting and will provide ways for people who want to pay for the material to be produced!bI've been a journalist for a long while now, and this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Charlottesville Podcasting Network. While that website doesn't have new content, it's part of how I demonstrate my dedication to this community. In 2025 I'm seeking ways to solidify the business, and here are some ways you can support the work.* Sign up for a paid subscription through Substack. There is not much premium content because my primary aim is to get information out to as many people as possible.* Contribute through Patreon. A major goal this year is to replace this with a way to make a tax-deductible donation, but that's not set up yet. If I had more time, I'd make more audio programs through Patreon.* Send in a check made out to Town Crier Productions at PO Box 1754, Charlottesville, Virginia, 22902. This will be used as a replacement for Substack.* Ask me about advertising opportunities! Later this month, advertising will begin to appear on Information Charlottesville and I'm hoping it can have the same style as the shout-outs. Introductory pricing will be low!* Tell friends about the work!* Volunteer to design some logos because I'm very bad at graphics! 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

It's beginning to look a lot like a holiday break with Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and festive fixtures in the Barclays Premiership. Until then, there's still some business to attend to such as a sonic recap of stories from last week in this podcast edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. I'm Sean Tubbs, always interested in finding new ways to get the information out.On this penultimate edition for 2024:* Governor Glenn Youngkin recommends $1.1 billion fund to cover car tax credit as part of his suggested amendments to Virginia's budget (learn more)* Charlottesville City Council is briefed on increasing costs for public safety and transit (learn more)* Charlottesville Planning Commission seeks more funding for affordable housing, planning for schools (learn more* The City of Charlottesville has completed a section of sidewalk on Monticello Avenue (learn more)* Sanders addresses low-barrier shelter before Council approves $3 million for other Salvation Army project (learn more)* UVA's non-voting member of the city Planning Commission gives an update on capital projects for Charlottesville Planning Commission (learn more)* UVA Health Children's and Sentara Martha Jefferson have opened a new clinic for children behavioral and mental health (learn more)While most items in this newsletter feed are text-only, every so often there's an audio version. Sign up to get both! Consume what you can! First shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!In today's second shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.Second shout-out: Cvillepedia!Cvillepedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this second shout-out today is to provide a little bit about what I know. I helped create the website back in the late 2000's as a way of keeping track of all of the stories being written for the nonprofit news organization I worked for at the time.Now Cvillepedia is hosted by the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library under the stewardship of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. There are over 6,500 articles and we need volunteers to help keep it up to date and to capture more of this community's history, present, and future.If you want to learn how to do research, learn how to explore historical documents, and want some experience writing, consider becoming a volunteer. As a little teaser, here's some of what's listed for December 23 throughout the years:Events* 1914 – Fire breaks out at Albemarle Hardware Company on East Main Street and takes seven hours to extinguish [1]* 2062 – A time capsule buried in 2012 will be unearthed to celebrate Charlottesville's 300th Anniversary.[2]Births* 1895 – Alfred Washington is born to Gus and Martha Washington in Charlottesville. A resident of Chestnut Grove and a farmhand, he was called up for service in World War I and had his portrait photograph included within the Holsinger Studio Collection.References* ↑ Web. Business Block Nearly Consumed, Staff Reports, Daily Progress Digitized Microfilm, Lindsay family, December 24, 1914, retrieved December 25, 2016 from University of Virginia Library. Print. December 24, 1914 page 1.* ↑ Web. Time capsule causes disappointment in Charlottesville in 2012, News Article, Daily Progress, May 27, 2017, retrieved May 24, 2024. 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

Welcome to a new era of the podcast edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement with an experiment in sending these out on a Monday morning as opposed to a Saturday afternoon. I'm Sean Tubbs, the host and producer and employee-of-the-month at Town Crier Productions.The reality is that most people who experience this information do so by scanning words arranged into paragraphs which works out well because that means I can get more editions out faster.But many of the stories are produced by piecing together snippets of sound from meetings of local and regional government. Thirty years ago when I gained my first professional experience, this would be done by slicing bits of tape and assembling them together and recorded to a cartridge. The technology has morphed so many times since then, each of the audio versions you here harken back to days gone by.Enough of this introduction. Let's move on to the actual show going out on December 16, 2024.In this installment:* Charlottesville City Council briefed on upcoming spending on housing and infrastructure (learn more)* The UVA Finance Committee signs off on North Grounds Parking Garage, Ivy Road student housing (learn more)* Albemarle Supervisors vote to join Regional Transit Authority (learn more)* Council briefed on status of negotiations with VEO for scooter/e-bike permit (learn more)* Rumble strips at Nelson County intersection subject of concern (learn more)* New NDS director previews departmental website for Charlottesville PC (learn more)Every so often there is a podcast edition that goes out in the main feed. This is that version. Sign up if you want all of it. First shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!In today's first shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.Checking in on the spreadsheet that runs the information!Second shout-out: Cvillepedia!Cvillepedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this second shout-out today is to provide a little bit about what I know. I helped create the website back in the late 2000's as a way of keeping track of all of the stories being written for the nonprofit news organization I worked for at the time.Now Cvillepedia is hosted by the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library under the stewardship of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. There are over 6,500 articles and we need volunteers to help keep it up to date and to capture more of this community's history, present, and future.If you want to learn how to do research, learn how to explore historical documents, and want some experience writing, consider becoming a volunteer.As a little teaser, here's some of what's listed for December 16 throughout the years.Events: * 1937 – After repair and re-installation, the "Great Clock", termed “a masterpiece of backwoods ingenuity,” designed by Thomas Jefferson and built by Philadelphia clockmaker Peter Spruck in 1792, once again beat out the hours on the big bell in the dome at Monticello.* 1975 – Blenheim, a 19th century structure in Albemarle County, is listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register.* 2004 – The historic Paramount Theater reopens after a $14 million restoration.* 2008 – Albemarle County Board of Supervisors hold a retreat at which they get a lesson on the development of the county's Comprehensive Plan. David Benish, the County's Chief Planner at the time, traced the evolution of the Comprehensive Plan. Benish said the County's growth management policy stems from the adoption of the first plan in 1971.[1] 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

And now we find ourselves on December 7, 2024 or at least that's where I find myself when I'm putting together the latest sonic edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. I'm Sean Tubbs, the only person currently working for Town Crier Productions unless you count two feline partners who occasionally make an appearance in the narrations but so far have not appeared in a recording. Is today the day? Listen for yourself!On this edition:* Quantitative Foundation gives another $20M to UVa for second building for School of Data Science (learn more)* Charlottesville Planning Commission gives more direction on capital improvement program (learn more)* The Charlottesville Redevelopment Housing Authority has a conversation on preventing evictions (learn more)* Commonwealth Transportation Board supports cancellation of two Charlottesville projects, formally cancels Emmet Street Phase Two (learn more)* Louisa's Board of Supervisors support that county's continued funding of Household Hazardous Waste Day (learn more)* More details on UVA's new urban area from the Buildings and Grounds Committee (learn more)Saturdays are for podcasts! The next edition will be the Week Ahead! Sign up to get all of the content! First shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!In today's second shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.Second shout-out: Cvillepedia!Cvillepedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this second shout-out today is to provide a little bit about what I know. I helped create the website back in the late 2000's as a way of keeping track of all of the stories being written for the nonprofit news organization I worked for at the time.Now Cvillepedia is hosted by the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library under the stewardship of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. There are over 6,500 articles and we need volunteers to help keep it up to date and to capture more of this community's history, present, and future.If you want to learn how to do research, learn how to explore historical documents, and want some experience writing, consider becoming a volunteer. To give you a sense of one potential project, Frances Brand painted dozens and dozens of portraits of people in the Charlottesville area. Who were they? What can we learn about where we are now by documenting the stories of everyone from Ruth Klüger Angress to Jay Worrall?As a little teaser, here's some of what's listed for December 7 throughout the years.Events* 2020 – Charlottesville City Council approves the idea of exploring a Sister City Connection with Huehuetenango, Guatemala. [1]Births* 1754 – Jack Jouett is born.Deaths* 1932 – George R Ferguson Sr. dies in Charlottesville and is buried in the Sammons Family Cemetery. A physician and the father of George R Ferguson, his portrait photograph was prominently featured in the “Visions of Progress: Portraits of Dignity, Style and Racial Uplift” exhibit of Rufus W. Holsinger's photographs that was on display at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library from 2022 to 2023.* 1941 – Harry H. Gaver becomes the first alumnus of the University of Virginia to die in World War II, meeting his end during the surprise Japanese military strike on Pearl Harbor. 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

Exactly twenty percent of the days in this November are a Saturday, and this is the one in the middle. This marks the third consecutive week in which the audio version of Charlottesville Community Engagement goes out on the first full day of the American weekend. Could it be that a routine is in place? I'm Sean Tubbs, and you'll just have to wait. On the program today: * Charlottesville continues to move forward with several long-delayed transportation projects (learn more)* Charlottesville waives a procedural step to expedite funds transfer for Pollocks Branch bridge (learn more)* Albemarle Supervisors approve a permit for mixed-use building and want school division to accept pathway to Agnor Elementary (learn more) * The School Division explains why they did not accept the pathway but are willing to entertain an alternative connection * Albemarle Supervisors agree to allow Defense Intelligence Agency to use county-owned land for field training (learn more)* Preliminary work is beginning on new regional hazard mitigation plan (learn more)* The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is preparing for a regional housing summit and an update of housing needs assessment (learn more)First shout-out:  Cvillepedia! Cvillepedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this second shout-out today is to provide a little bit about what I know. I helped create the website back in the late 2000's as a way of keeping track of all of the stories being written for the nonprofit news organization I worked for at the time. Now Cvillepedia is hosted by the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library under the stewardship of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. There are over 6,500 articles and we need volunteers to help keep it up to date and to capture more of this community's history, present, and future.  If you want to learn how to do research, learn how to explore historical documents, and want some experience writing, consider becoming a volunteer. To give you a sense of one potential project, Frances Brand painted dozens and dozens of portraits of people in the Charlottesville area. Who were they? What can we learn about where we are now by documenting the stories of everyone from Ruth Klüger Angress to Jay Worrall?Questions? Drop me a line! Second shout-out:  Celebrating the community's other information organizations!In today's second shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.End notes for #762AThis is the 14th day in a row that something has gone out in the newsletter feed. Admittedly, there's no real new content in this. I have other stories I thought about putting in the podcast, but I ran out of energy and I'm ready to take some of today off. Not much, though. On to the Week Ahead! 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

Some time has passed since the last audio edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement and now it is finally time. This one goes out on the first Saturday of November 2024 and if you don't like this one, there are four others you can try out when the time comes. I'm Sean Tubbs, and there is no new content in here unless you count my entry in a local contest! This edition also doubles as a run-down of the top stories from this week. Or at least the ones that have already been posted to Information Charlottesville. That's the archive version of this newsletter that serves as an important component in the mechanism that is Town Crier Productions. On today's show:* Albemarle Planning Commission briefed on land use chapter of new Comprehensive Plan (learn more)* Written opinion issued in legal ruling that halted Arlington's missing middle zoning (learn more)* Plans filed for 12 units near intersection of U.S. 250 / McIntire Road / John Warner Parkway (learn more)* Federally-mandated transportation body endorses changes to road classifications (learn more)* Charlottesville City Manager Sanders briefs Council on other community interventions such as purchase of portable restrooms (learn more)* Charlottesville seeking firms to cull deer and other procurement updates (learn more)* Charlottesville also is looking for performers for the Grand Illumination on December 6 and you can listen to my entry in the podcast (learn more) Sign up for more! Next up is the Week Ahead which will preview next week's government meetings. The regular newsletter will be back Monday. The next podcast? Still trying to figure out the cycle. First-shout: ACHS taking orders for book profiling local artist Frances BrandFrances Brand lived from 1901 to 1990 and in her later life she undertook a series of portraits of individuals from Charlottesville and Albemarle County that would become her Gallery of Firsts.Brand was a U.S. Army major, a civil rights activist, a world traveler, a devoted churchgoer, and an accomplished artist, among other things. Some remember her as a colorful eccentric who loved to dress in purple, while others knew her as a committed and lifelong social activist.Behind each of Brand's portraits of these 20th-century pioneers is a special story. To collect some of them, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society has created a book that features 51 portraits from the full collection of currently known Firsts portraits and share some of the compelling stories about those depicted.ACHS is taking pre-sale orders now for shipping in November. To place your order, visit the ACHS store. Second shout-out:  Celebrating the community's other information organizations!In today's second shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.Dashboard for Town Crier Productions as one week becomes the next 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

Different human beings have different ways of receiving and processing information. Charlottesville Community Engagement is able to provide narratives of civic happenings using text as well as audio. This particular edition for October 23, 2024 is a podcast version with several recent stories. Why do two versions? In the words Bill Siemering wrote to breathe life into National Public Radio, my aim every single day is to “encourage a sense of active constructive participation, rather than apathetic helplessness.” In this audio edition:* Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders announces several upcoming “community interventions” (learn more)* Charlottesville now pays the private Charlottesville Parking Center $1.8 million a year to rent the Water Street Parking Garage (learn more)* Albemarle Supervisors discuss growth management policy at AC44 work session (learn more)* Albemarle Supervisors also lay out their legislative priorities for 2025 General Assembly (learn more)* Beloved UVA men's basketball Coach Tony Bennett explains his sudden retirement (learn more)This is an audio version but the next one will be a text version. There are no video versions planned as the camera keeps breaking.First-shout: WTJU's Offbeat Roadhouse features Jeff Massanari Trio this week Every Friday night at 8 p.m, Offbeat Roadhouse on WTJU invites a different musical group into your home for an hour long concert live from WTJU's performance space.  Each week there will be Blues, Folk, Jazz, and Roots acts from around the globe. This Friday, the Jeff Massanari Trio will pull into the Offbeat Roadhouse for a concert which will also be broadcast on WTJU. The Jazz guitar master will be joined by Tom Harbeck on bass, and drummer David Drubin.This is a free event, open to all. You can also listen to Offbeat Roadhouse on the radio (91.1 FM) or on-line, and even video stream it at WTJU's Facebook page or YouTube channel.  But concerts always sound better with you as part of the studio audience.  WTJU is located at 2244 Ivy Rd in Charlottesville, right next door to Vivace. Want to see the live event and plan to see more? Check out more on WTJU's Events Calendar!Second shout-out:  Celebrating the community's other information organizations!In today's second shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.You are listening to Charlottesville Community Engagement for October 23, 2024, a super-sized edition. That's one story from Albemarle. Let's hear another, take a break, and then hear a final story from the athletic world. Third shout-out:  Podcasts are cool Perhaps the podcast versions are a bit of an indulgence, but there are at least 200 people who listen each time. Maybe that number is small, and maybe it is not commercially defensible. Yet, audio production is intricately woven into how I do my research. My first ever professional work was an internship at WVTF Public Radio nearly 30 years ago, and this is an extension of that work. But this podcast is not the only way to hear the stories! There's also a Soundcloud page and each of those is appended to the bottom of stories on Information Charlottesville. As long as I keep publishing Charlottesville Community Engagement, there will be an audio component. Any ideas? Want to get involved? Drop me a line!  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

There are written versions of Charlottesville Community Engagement and then are the ones where there are voices that can be heard. This is the latter kind, a collection of recent stories that have gone out in print form. The prophecy foretells of a time when the two strains will weave together once again, but for now it's October 17, 2024 and here's what you will hear if you hit play above:In this sonic edition:* Albemarle PC begins review of new AC44 language on growth management (learn more)* Ground broken for Long Bridge project to expand passenger rail capacity in Virginia (learn more)* Charlottesville Area Transit will make service adjustments on November 9 including increasing service on two routes that serve central Charlottesville (learn more)* City Council discusses pedestrian safety in wake of pedestrian death on Elliott Avenue (learn more)* Changes may be coming to how VDOT classifies area roads (learn more)* Albemarle Supervisors briefed on Ivy Road pipeline projects (learn more)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.First shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!In today's first  shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.Second shout-out:  Like bowties, podcasts are cool!Perhaps the podcast versions are a bit of an indulgence, but there are at least 200 people who listen each time. Maybe that number is small, and maybe it is not commercially defensible. Yet, audio production is intricately woven into how I do my research. My first ever professional work was an internship at WVTF Public Radio nearly 30 years ago, and this is an extension of that work. But this podcast is not the only way to hear the stories! There's also a Soundcloud page and each of those is appended to the bottom of stories on Information Charlottesville. As long as I keep publishing Charlottesville Community Engagement, there will be an audio component. Thank you to Wraki for the incidental music in the podcast. Go take a listen to the songs in the clear on Bandcamp.  Reading material will be back in the next regular newsletter which I hope to produce on Friday. And if you don't know by now, Ting will match your initial payment through Substack. That's part of a generous sponsorship that's been in place now since April 2021. If you sign up for service and you are within Ting's service area, enter the promo code COMMUNITY you're going to get:* Free installation* A second month for free* A $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall 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

What's brown and sounds like a bell? Certainly not rhubarb, which can be deep burgundy, light pink, crimson red, or light green. Rhubarb and doesn't really have a sound unless it's had a few drinks. In any case, perhaps it's not appropriate to utilize non-sequiturs to frame podcast versions of this newsletter, but a lot of things aren't appropriate and this one is hopefully fairly innocuous. This is an audio version of Charlottesville Community Engagement. I'm Sean Tubbs, and the pay-off is in the sonic edition easily playable by hitting the arrow in this post. In this edition:* Afton Scientific to invest $200 million in expansion of Avon Court  (learn more) * The Charlottesville Planning Commission gives broad direction on what should be in the next capital improvement program (learn more)* Charlottesville Planning Commission reviews the new zoning code at seven months in (learn more)* There may soon be changes to the way that the Virginia Department of Transportation classifies some area roads including ones in Fifeville and the Woolen Mills (a podcast preview!)* UVA continues to plan to build up to 2,000 new beds to so a requirement for second-year students to live on Grounds can proceed (a podcast preview)  The only shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!In today's first  shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. 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

For the last seven years, the Commonwealth of Virginia has recognized the fourth Saturday of September as Public Lands Day. That's as good as any to consider taking a trip to one of Virginia's 43 State Parks. That's six more than in 2017 when the General Assembly passed legislation marking September 28 as a day to celebrate places that are owned by everyone. At one point, the future Biscuit Run Park in Albemarle was to have been a state park but that did not happen. Learn some of the story on cvillepedia. I'm Sean Tubbs, and it's as good a time as any to have a podcast version of Charlottesville Community Engagement. In this installment:* Albemarle County is keeping track of their strategic plan with SPEAR (learn more)* Charlottesville seeks an Advanced Traffic Management System and other procurement updates (learn more)* Charlottesville also seeks review of solid waste services in advance of FY26 budget (learn more)* Charlottesville Parks and Recreation wins environmental award for invasives removal (learn more)* CRHA takes action on several real estate resolutions including purchase of three properties (learn more)* A quick look at four recent land use applications in Charlottesville  * Living Earth School* Carter Machinery* Arden Place II* Beaver Hill Mobile Home Community* Albemarle EDA endorses CvilleBioHub's grant application for workforce study (learn more)* Albemarle's new economic development director has a few updates including one on Rivanna Futures (learn more)This is the audio version that collects some of the stories from the past week. They're on the same feed. Sign up to get all of it!Today's first shout-out:  Town Crier ProductionsI am in the process of rethinking the shout-outs, and this being a podcast version and a Saturday, I'm taking a bit of time to talk about Town Crier Productions. That's the name of the entity I created in 2020 that now operates Charlottesville Community Engagement as well as Information Charlottesville. The goal is to let people know about what's happening at meetings of local government with an intent to get more people acquainted with the nuts and bolts. Even four years in, all of this work remains an experiment as I try to figure out how to grow. If you have questions about any of it, please drop me a line. And if you'd like to get your information in front of about 3,000 people each edition, perhaps we can work something out. Second shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!In today's second shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times. 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

Before I can write the new set of stories, I must first process all of the ones written in the past week or so. That means producing the audio for the WTJU radio version of Charlottesville Community Engagement which airs every Saturday at 6 a.m. as well as posting as many as possible to the Information Charlottesville website. These are habits that have emerged from the last four years of being an independent journalist seeking to build audience as I can. I'm Sean Tubbs and I am the host of Charlottesville Community Engagement and these are the audio versions of six pieces of information that have previously gone out in the written newsletter.And no, Jerry, you don't have to pay attention to this one. There's no material except for whatever commentary and other sonic mayhem may appear in the audio version.But if you want to check out the stories: * Charlottesville budget staff brief Council on development of FY26 budget (learn more)* Albemarle County's Places29-North group gets updates on the High School Center II and new elementary school (learn more)* Albemarle staff continues work on Comprehensive Plan update (learn more)* UVA fundraising continues to set new records and the School of Data Science gets a $10 million gift for scholarships (learn more)* A new director hired in Charlottesville to oversee planning and zoning while a legal challenge to the new zoning code remains pending (learn more)* UVA Office of Sustainability briefs Board of Visitors' panel (learn more)It looks like Fridays may be the days in which the podcast comes out. Sign up to see if that's what happens in seven days. First shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!In today's first shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.Today's second shout-out:  Town Crier ProductionsIn today's second shout-out, once again I'm taking the owner's prerogative to state a little about the business that operates Charlottesville Community Engagement as well as Information Charlottesville. I am cutting and pasting this because I'm really ready to be done with the work week. But, also maybe you're new and you're seeing this for the first time. Town Crier Productions was created in 2020 after I felt a calling to return to local journalism. I've been able to cobble together a living for over 1,500 days in this manner, and I'm still learning how to create this entity.I am in the process of re-evaluating some of the previous ways things have worked and I'm starting with these shout-outs. The system you see is one that is wholly improvised and one that can be improved over time. In the weeks to come I will be asking readers and businesses questions about shout-outs, sponsorships, advertising, underwriting, and other ways to put information out in front of an audience that receives about 3,000 views per newsletter. Town Crier Productions is not a non-profit and so far lacks a dedicated operations team. But, there is at least one dedicated reporter determined to build an organization that will support the community's information needs for time to come. Questions? Send them my way, and stay tuned as we all find out how some of these stories turn out!  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

There are many advantages to producing audio versions of the stories that go out in the Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter. The most important is that about a tenth of the audience chooses to receive the information that way. Another reason is the ability to hear the voices of decision-makers and those hired to implement the work of government. I'm Sean Tubbs, and my job is to write as much of it down as possible. In this sonic edition:* The Albemarle Planning Commission recommends denial of request to convert house to commercial property (learn more)* The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority Board of Directors gets an update on planning issues and learns Crozet may need more water. Joint planning with Fluvanna, Louisa, and Greene may also be happening in the future (learn more) * SPCA seeking new contract to provide services for Albemarle and Charlottesville (learn more)* Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders provides an update on Charlottesville's efforts to assist the unhoused (learn more)* Charlottesville will need to look for another city attorney, again (learn more)At one point, every newsletter was a podcast, and every podcast was a newsletter. Then that got complicated. Now it's also complicated, but in a different way. Today's shout-out:  Town Crier ProductionsIn today's first shout-out, I'm taking the owner's prerogative to state a little about the business that operates Charlottesville Community Engagement as well as Information Charlottesville. Town Crier Productions was created in 2020 after I felt a calling to return to local journalism. I've been able to cobble together a living for over 1,500 days in this manner, and I'm still learning how to create this entity.In the months to come, I will be re-evaluating some of the previous ways things have worked and I'm starting with these shout-outs. The system you see is one that is wholly improvised and one that can be improved over time. In the weeks to come I will be asking readers and businesses questions about shout-outs, sponsorships, advertising, underwriting, and other ways to put information out in front of an audience that receives about 3,000 views per newsletter. Town Crier Productions is not a non-profit and so far lacks a dedicated operations team. But, there is at least one dedicated reporter determined to build an organization that will support the community's information needs for time to come. Questions? Send them my way, and stay tuned as we all find out how some of these stories turn out! Second shout-out: Celebrating the community's other information organizations!In today's second shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.There's also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you'll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.And if you're interested in learning more about what Town Crier Productions puts out, there's a free post on the Patreon account that lists what you can learn.  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

The opening sentences of every single edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement are intended to be a script that opens up a podcast that contains several stories about items happening in order to engage the community of Charlottesville. In recent months, the podcast and the written newsletter are out of production sync but efforts are being made to restore this functionality. I'm Sean Tubbs, and hoping that those who read this and have not yet listened will hit play today. In this edition: * The primary results are in and the 5th District Republican nomination is too close to call, while Gloria Tinsley Witt wins handily over two fellow Democrats (read the story)* Albemarle Supervisors commemorated Juneteenth earlier this month with a proclamation (read the story)* The UVA Buildings and Grounds panel approves the Major Capital Plan, including planning studies for Fifeville properties and another look at a study to get off of coal (read the story)* The Albemarle Fire Department recommends switching out mulch landscaping for rocks to prevent fire risk (read the story)* Albemarle Supervisors think the Broadway area should remain available for industrial use (read the story)* That elected body also endorses eight Smart Scale applications (read the story)Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.First shout-out: Charlottesville Community Bikes' Tour de Gluten on June 23On Sunday, June 23, Charlottesville Community Bikes invites you to come along at noon with dozens of riders for the Tour de Gluten, a no-drop, social bike ride featuring stops at our talented bakery neighbors in Rose Hill/Preston/Downtown!They have two ticket options:* Ticket with Baked Goods: Covers highlighted items (baker's choice!) from each participating bakery. Registration closes one week before the ride so we can place pre-orders for the whole group, which we will pick up when we bike to each bakery.* Ride-Only Registration: For those who want to join the bike ride but don't plan to purchase baked goods.Bakery stops include:* Althea Bread* Baker No Bakery (at Grit Coffee downtown)* Cumbre Coffee & Bakery* Cou Cou Rachou* Marie Bette Cafe & Bakery (on Rose Hill Dr.)Second shout-out: Charlottesville Jazz SocietyIn today's second subscriber supported public service announcement, the Charlottesville Jazz Society wants you to know that once a month they hold the Local Jazz Spotlight Series at Miller's on the Downtown Mall. Coming up on Sunday, June 30, the spotlight will shine on the Jamal Milner Trio featuring Daniel Richardson. This takes place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and the event is free. Maybe I'll see you there as I've been wanting to go see one of these for months! If you can't wait until then but need to go see some live music, the Charles Owens Quarter will play their 2022 album Golden Moments at the Vault on Thursday, June 20. The event is co-sponsored by the Charlottesville Jazz Society. Tickets But that's just one of many great events coming up that you can learn about on the event calendar at cvillejazz.com. Notes for #692AI wanted to be a public radio journalist and worked hard at a station for many years but there was never a job for me. Over those years, there was also less room in the schedule for me to sell stories as a freelancer. I created the Charlottesville Podcasting Network in 2005 out of frustration that local public radio at the time refused to put content out online. The experience of going independent back then was exhilarating, but I did not have the reporting chops to do much. When I went to work at Charlottesville Tomorrow, management had no interest in audio except as a way to bring long meetings to people. Yet, every story I produced in my eleven years was written as if it was a public radio story as my primary reporting technique is to harvest audio. I'm not sure if I'll get back to every single edition being a podcast, as there are many items that simply don't sound good. For a while, I would run my voice through a sound filter to read sound-bites, but I've stopped doing that as much since stories now also run on WTJU at 6 a.m. on Saturdays.I'd like to grow the audience for the audio version, and I'll continue to explore this. All I know is that I want to keep going with this work for a very long time, constantly refining the way I do things and never resting on my laurels. I'm allergic to them, anyway. As I already did a pitch for paid subscriptions today, as well as the Ting advertisement, I'll just leave it there with a thank you. And an image of the current snapshot of the spreadsheet that does all the real work of organization. I'm setting up to do this for a very long as there are subscribers willing to pay me to do the work. 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

Welcome to Charlottesville Community Engagement for May 4, 2024, a program that unfortunately has nothing to do with the fictional Star Wars universe and is less about a long time ago far far away and more about what's going on right now in the area in and around Charlottesville, Virginia. I'm Sean Tubbs, a local journalist who operates a fledgling information outlet called Town Crier Productions. What you're about to hear are some of the stories from just a little while ago. In today's edition:* Greene County Supervisors approve a two-cent decrease in the real estate tax rate and a three percent increase in the lodging tax rate (learn more)* Before adopting a budget, Louisa County Supervisors pull funding for Piedmont Virginia Community College due to the screening of a film on Palestinian independence (learn more)* A rezoning and special use permit that Albemarle County is seeking for its own property will go before the Planning Commission on May 14, less than two months after the application was filed (learn more)* Half of Charlottesville's Board of Architectural Review weigh in on a proposal for a hotel at 218 West Market Street in Downtown (learn more)* The University of Virginia wants to improve child care for its employees and seek a single firm to manage its four facilities plus a fifth that opens later this year (learn more)Early voting in the June 18 Virginia primary has begun (learn more)A word about the podcastThis newsletter got its start as a podcast. My career began at WVTF Public Radio back in 1995 as an intern. Back then, the news department produced a 15-minute local newscast with stories from municipalities across the listening area, combined with national stories read by the local announcer. That's gone now and has been for years. But back then, I learned how a news department put together enough resources to pull off a regular series of bulletins to inform the audience. I would go on to freelance for WVTF Public Radio and I created the Charlottesville Podcasting Network in 2005 to experiment with long-form audio. I stopped producing audio pieces around the time I went to work for Charlottesville Tomorrow in April 2007. I instead was directed to write articles about government issues. I still continued to work like a radio reporter, editing my stories in Audition but not actually producing them. I left Charlottesville Tomorrow in June 2018 when management changed, and I had an opportunity to try something different. I thought I would be able to continue to write at my new job, that didn't really turn out to the case. In January 2019, I experimented for a few weeks trying to see if I could pull together a daily newscast. I really wanted to get back to journalism as an independent reporter, but I needed a product. I didn't want to rely on freelance work, but wanted to create a way to get information out to people. These are all archived on Information Charlottesville, which had a different name when I initially experimenting. Go back and listen to the first one from January 1, 2019. There's no soundbites, and it's not the most interesting. Also notice there's no text, but I just found the script which ends with this quote:“I became a journalist to help bring people information about what they need to make their own decisions. That's a core value, and one that's helped me build trust with people throughout my career. I hope as you listen to this, you'll learn a lot more about the world around you. Thanks for listening. “ The podcast has been on hiatus due to a series of factors, the most important of which is that I'm focused on making sure I can get a version to WTJU 91.1 FM for Saturday morning. I also lost confidence in my recording set-up and am still trying to figure out how to engineer that back into the work flow. I view all of this as an experiment, an experiment funded by those who want to keep it going. I am a one-person information outlet capable of covering a great deal of things. Thanks to Patreon supporters and over 600 paid Substack subscribers, I'm able to constantly move forward in the hopes of creating more journalism. For now, the podcast will still be a separate product from the newsletter. Yet, I'm going to try to get two podcasts out a week. To make that more likely, perhaps I can find a sponsor? To make that more likely, perhaps I can find more volunteers who would like to learn audio production and journalism? Drop me a line if you have interest in either. Thanks for reading this bit that isn't in the podcast today. Also, tell people about it!To keep the experiment going, the audience needs to grow. Help that happen by telling people about it today! 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

Since I first began this newsletter in July 2020, I've published almost all of the regular newsletters concurrently with the podcast version. The Charlottesville Quarantine Report was something I started on March 15, 2020 as an experiment on a day when I wasn't a journalist as the world was about to change. In 1995, my first professional work was as an intern at WVTF Public Radio.I've always worked like a radio reporter. I love to work with sound, and even in the days I was at Charlottesville Tomorrow, I used audio software to do my work. I had always wanted to experiment with sonic versions of stories, but I was not in charge.Now, I'm the sole proprietor of a company I set up to do this work. At the base of it, I want to write up as much as I can about what's happening so more people might have an understanding and an account of decision-making processes. Since the beginning, the podcast and the newsletter have been published together.Since beginning to do a radio version that airs Saturday morning at 6 a.m. on WTJU 91.1 FM, I've realized that I'm taking the podcast version for granted. I've been using a lot of filters to do the hard work of editing for me, and as a result the sound quality suffered. Working with my colleague at WTJU, I've realized I have to begin producing the sonic version with more aural scrutiny. At the same time, I've been having a weird audio glitch on my primary narration recording computer, one that cost me valuable time. Most people read the newsletter rather than listen to the audio. But, yet, I know there are many of you who listen to the podcast. I would like more people who just read to listen, because I think what I do rivals anyone else doing local radio. I say that as a friendly competitor, because I really just want people to know things. In any case, it's time now to post this and get ready for the new set of stories. This podcast covers what I classify internally as CCE-649 and CCE-650 and carries the working title “Brain Breaking Necessary Decision” because a person who works by themselves depends on in-jokes to keep morale up.In this edition:* Albemarle County Board of Supervisors interrupt a meeting on the Comprehensive Plan to declare a state of emergency related to over a dozen wildfires, and evacuation orders have been issued for some parts of Albemarle and Louisa* Charlottesville City Schools appoint a new principal for Charlottesville High School* Charlottesville City Council goes through changes in revenues and spending in City Manager Sam Sanders' FY25 budget* The city's finance director briefs Council on the use of American Rescue Plan Act funds with an eye toward shifting unspent funds to other projects * Charlottesville City Council gets some follow-up answers to some budget questions I am looking for feedback. This and every other Town Crier Productions production is an experiment and I depend on those who have come to appreciate the work to tell me what they think. Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. 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

It's the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month of the Twenty-Third Year of the Twenty-First Century. That's 105 years since the Armistice that ended World War One. That's a good reason to put out a special edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement to honor Veterans Day and to mention a few other things. This is also the 600th edition of the newsletter and podcast, and it's good to day to reach a milestone. I'm Sean Tubbs. On today's program:* The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors honors Veterans Day * A delegation from Guatemala is coming to visit Charlottesville* There will soon be another round of maintenance of trees on Charlottesville's Downtown Mall First shout-out: Virginia Veterans Services FoundationIn today's holiday-focused public service announcement, there are 700,000 veterans living in Virginia after serving in the armed forces in conflicts ranging from World War Two to the present day. Many need assistance from time to time, and the Virginia Veterans Services Foundation exists to provide that help. They seek contributions to support:* Virginia Veteran and Family Support* Veterans Care Centers* Virginia Values Veterans Program* Virginia Veterans Cemeteries* Veterans Benefits ProgramVisit the Virginia Veterans Services Foundation website to learn more.Albemarle County Supervisors marks Veterans Day Today is the 85th anniversary of Veterans Day and earlier this month, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors marked the occasion. “Throughout our nation's history, the United States of America has called on its citizens in uniform to serve and to protect our national security,” said Donna Price, the chair of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors and herself a veteran and is a retired U.S. Navy Captain in the Judge Advocate Generals. Price read from a proclamation recognizing the continued celebration of the national holiday.“On this day and every day, we remember the millions of patriots who have served and sacrificed for the betterment of our nation,” Price said. There are many veterans serving in Albemarle County government and in Albemarle County Public Schools and the proclamation is intended to salute their contributions now and in the past. “We, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, do hereby recognize November 11, 2023 as Veterans Day and celebrate all who have served our country around the world,” Price said. Deputy County Executive Trevor Henry is also a retired Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy. “In local government and in schools we believe we have well over 200 employees that in a prior life raised their right hand to support and defend our Constitution,” Henry said. “And when there period of service ended via either retirement or an obligation, they also found their way to our organization.”Three of those employees appeared before the Board to tell a bit of their stories and what they do now. Sergeant Dale Shoop served in the U.S. Army from 1983 to 1986 with some of that time in the demilitarized zone in Korea. He now works in Community Development as an inspector.“Heartfelt acknowledgment to my great grandfather, my grandfather, and my uncle for serving in the Royal Air Force, the Royal Army, and Royal Navy in Great Brain and England,” Shoop said. “Thank you to my father who served in the United States Army and my son who served in the United States Army and continues to serve in the intelligence sector.” Sergeant Roger Snodgrass served in the U.S. Coast Guard from 2002 to 2007 before joining the U.S. Army where he served under active duty through 2014. “Sergeant Snodgrass joined Albemarle County as a police officer in 2014 and currently holds the rank of sergeant on evening shift patrol,” Henry said. Snodgrass thanked the county for being an organization that's friendly to veterans. “As an individual who has multiple friends and family members in other local government, I do have the opportunity to say that this is a high performance organization,” Snodgrass said. “With our Board of Supervisors, our county executive's office, and our command staff with Albemarle County police department, they allow us to be able to provide outstanding customer services, day in, day out.”Reynaldo Avali served in the U.S. Army Reserve as a bridge crew member with the 299th Engineering Division beginning in 1995 with multiple deployments to Iraq. “During the first deployment to Iraq, they placed two bridges over the Euphrates River for combat operations,” Henry said. “The second time his unit was responsible for maintaining the bridges, training Iraqi engineers, and responsible for removing six bridges for retrograde operations.” During that time, Avali has also worked in building services for Albemarle County Public Schools where he continues to serve. Supervisor Bea LaPisto Kirtley thanked all of the veterans assembled in Lane Auditorium for their service. “It is something that you all do for us to keep our democracy safe, to keep all of us safe,” LaPisto Kirley said. “It is a solemn oath that you take to protect all of us and please be aware that all of us appreciate it. I think all of America really appreciates your service.”Supervisor Ned Gallaway expressed his appreciation as well and said he recently went back to his hometown to clear out his parents' home.“And we found my dad's formal dress uniform which  I had never seen in my life,” Gallaway said. “My brother-in-law who also served was navigating me around the different patches and such telling me, informing me what those were. And then we also found in a trunk a bunch of letters that my grandfather sent my grandmother during the war, but we found the official communication that he was [missing in action]. He was a prisoner of war and he thankfully was able to return at the end of World War II and he became a police officer.” Supervisor Diantha McKeel took the opportunity to share some resources that are available through Region 10 to veterans. Take a look here if you would like more information. “Region 10 currently has a partnership with Virginia Lock and Talk with resources available for all individuals including veterans to receive medical lock boxes and bags as well as trigger locks for firearms to assist individuals and families in locking up lethal means,” McKeel said. “Virginia Veterans Service Foundation also has a homeless veterans' fund and has been able to provide one-time assistance to homeless veterans to support rent, utility, and rental deposits.”   McKeel said Region 10 has also recently hired a peer support specialist to specifically assist veterans. Supervisor Ann Mallek used her time to mention the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2044 in Earlysville and American Legion Post 74 in Shadwell.“These organizations take care of their own,” Mallek said. “They raised funds most recently to buy a new medical transport van to help their fellows get to remote medical services.”Those services are currently a one-way 90-mile drive to south of Richmond. Mallek called for a veterans clinic to be located closer to home, particularly with the potential for expansion at Rivanna Station. Mallek also put in a plug for an organization called Living Free Together which also provides support to veterans and military families.  Price thanked Mallek for bringing up the role that families play and said that she was grateful for support from hers during her career. “Military service is frequently a family affair,” Price said. “From the Civil War through World War One, World War Two, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, to today…My father, a 97-year-old World War II Navy Combat vet. My son, a major in the Marine Corps. Myself with my own service. You'll find that people who work with or serve the county often have other family members who similarly provide public service.” Albemarle County also held a ceremony at 11 a.m. to mark Veterans Day.   Guatemalan Sister City delegation visiting next week Technically, Huehuetenango is not one of Charlottesville's Sister Cities. Instead, the western Guatemalan community is a Friendship City which is one step away. Either way, a delegation from that community will be visiting next week. “The goal of the delegation's visit is to forge initial ties between the government and citizens of Charlottesville and Huehuetenango,” reads a press release announcing the trip that will take place Monday through Wednesday. This is the first time more than one person from Huehuetenango has visited the area since the relationship was formalized in 2021.  There are two public events happening:* Coffee Open House, Tuesday, November 14, 9:00 – 11:00, Omni Hotel (212 Ridge McIntire Rd, Charlottesville, VA): This is a chance to learn more about Charlottesville's Sister and Friendship Cities and an opportunity to meet the delegation and drink free Guatemalan coffee brought from Huehuetenango. * Public Reception and Program, Wednesday, November 15, 6:00 PM – 7:30 pm, City Space (100 Fifth St NE, Charlottesville, VA): Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook and Huehuetenango Mayor Gustavo Cano will signing of the Friendship declaration between the two communities. “The event will feature Marimba Music, a short program featuring words of friendship and welcome between the two cities and a choral arrangement from CHS ensemble.” The way toward this relationship dates back to the work of The Ixtatán Foundation, a group formed in 2001 to help build a high school in a small town in the greater Huehuetenango province. Charlottesville prepping for more work on Downtown Mall treesA dozen and a half people gathered on a recent Monday evening on the Downtown Mall outside the Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Department's offices to learn more about impending tree work to address safety. Urban Forester Steve Gaines held a laser pointer and directed it towards a dead branch he said presents a hazard. “If you think about like mid summer or in the weeks that we have the holidays coming up,” Gaines said. “How many people are going to be walking on the Mall? Thousands a day.” Gaines said his job as an arborist is to protect people and the trees themselves by trying to understand how they may react. “What is the probability of that branch failing? And if it does fail, does it land on another branch on its way down? Is it going to hit a building? Is it going to hit a person? What's the probability? When might it happen? Would it take a major wind event? A major snow event, something like that?” The bosques of Willow Oaks planted in the mid-70's are a very important component of the historic Lawrence Halprin design for the pedestrian mall. Many are also approaching their 60th year and their health has not always been closely watched. In December 2015, a report was published that called for a management plan. (read the report)“Despite the good initial outward appearances of the tree planting, the stand of oak trees is in a fragile, declining state,” reads the executive summary of that report. “The overly tight spacing of the trees and the insistence on paving right up to the base of the trunks of the trees has set in motion a series of biological factors that is beginning to push many of the trees to the point of failure.”  In the summer of 2017, there was momentum toward putting a management plan in place with another tree walk similar to the one from late October. (Could Downtown Mall trees be on the chopping block?, Kayli Wren, Charlottesville Tomorrow, July 26, 2017)Downtown Mall tree management faded as a priority as other events took place in the summer of 2017. Earlier this year, the city moved forward with a plan to remove several damaged or dead trees. Urban forester Steve Gaines held another walk on October 30 to prepare for another round of maintenance. “The purpose here was mostly to inform folks about tree work that is very likely coming this winter once the trees go completely dormant,” said Steve Gaines, the urban forester for the City of Charlottesville. “We will be going through to do some pruning. We call it crown cleaning as in we are removing some of the obvious hazards. Two inch deadwood and above.” Gaines said the event also had provided an opportunity to explain more about a forthcoming plan to manage the trees on the Downtown Mall going forward. The firm Wolf Josey Landscape Architects won the contract from the City of Charlottesville for the management plan.The work that Gaines talked about on October 30 was more pressing and continued work done in January of this year.“Every year I do an assessment and I take pictures and hit trees with the mallet and figure out what we're doing with decay,” Gaines said. Gaines held the event and will do more like it in the future because he understands how important the trees are to Charlottesville. “This is the Downtown Mall's tree, so it's a very sensitive, very historic topic and people feel very strongly about these trees and we just want to make sure that everybody is well-informed about what is going on with the trees and make people realize that they are going through an inflection point right now and to some degree there is some hazard,” Gaines said.“Most of those bigger limbs are very dead,” he said to the group while looking at one cluster of trees in front of the parking garage. During the tour, Gaines also explained more about how the trees interact with fungus, with bugs, other chemicals, and how they're affected by a changing climate. Stay tuned for more information about trees on the Downtown Mall and across the entire area. Reading material:* Charlottesville moves forward with apartment-quashing land buy, Hawes Spencer, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall) November 8, 2023* Charlottesville High School principal resigns, Jason Armesto, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall) November 9, 2023* Bigger at last: Text for historic marker recognizing Charlottesville slave trade revealed, Hawes Spencer, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall) November 10, 2023Concluding notes for #600Saturday editions feel good to produce, especially after taking a couple of days off in which I tried to not even think about this work. This week's time change took its toll on me, which I always hope won't happen but does all the same. Rest is not my ideal state of being, but it's good to be ready for the rest of the year. There's still so much to get through, and I'm grateful you're here to read or listen. As there is no regular schedule as of yet, you can find out if I'm publishing on a given day by looking at my page on Substack Notes. I also talk a little from time to time about the fact that is a business and there's plenty of room to grow. If you'd like to support this work and help it grow, do consider a Substack subscription or become a Patreon supporter. As with Election Day, today is not the day for the hard sell. I just want you to read or listen and to help me grow the audience! Ting supports a lot of great work and great spaces here, and if you're in the market for high-speed Internet, give them a try! Maybe you're in the market for a new high speed internet provider? If so, check out Ting! If you sign up for Ting at this link and enter the promo code COMMUNITY, you'll get:* Free installation* A second month for free* A $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall 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

On this episode, we're joined by Erin O'Hare, the neighborhoods reporter for Charlottesville Tomorrow, a hyperlocal non-profit news website serving Charlottesville, Virginia (cvilletomorrow.org).Erin explained what a neighborhood reporter does in a city of about 45,000 people, everything from reporting on the changing demographics of neighborhoods to making zoning ordinances understandable, to alerting people to the opening of a bathroom at a mall (the quotes in this one are great!), to writing impactful pieces that help residents living in shelters. Often, she focuses on people whose voices aren't typically heard in mainstream media.She also explained what it was like to cover the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, how that deeply affected her as both a journalist and a person, and how she wants to show that the city should be known for much more than that. And she shared her other writing interest – telling stories about culture, art, and music.Erin's salutes: Vinegar Hill Magazine and In My Humble Opinion, both parts of Charlottesville Inclusive MediaThank you as always for listening. Please send us feedback at journalismsalute@gmail.com, visit our website at thejournalismsalute.org and Mark's website (MarkSimonmedia.com) or tweet us at @journalismpod.

One two, two two, two zero, two two. This particular way of reciting the date sounds almost birdlike so let's fly right into this pre-holiday edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that seeks to provide as much information as possible. But if you are avian in nature, apologies in advance for the lack of translation into dialects for all of our feathered friends. I'm Sean Tubbs, resisting the urge to make a witty comment about Twitter. On today's program:* The Regional Housing Partnership hears from Delegate Sally Hudson about her housing priorities for the 2023 General Assembly and have a discussion on bottlenecks in the development review process* A quick look at what else may be coming up in the 2023 General Assembly * And the Chris Long Foundation makes another round of book donations in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Central VirginiaFirst 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 campalbemarleva.org/donate.Delegate Sally Hudson meets with Regional Housing Partnership For the next couple of weeks, the format of this newsletter and podcast shall change a bit. I record many more meetings then I am able to process during the busier weeks. I try to write and produce as many as these possible, and it takes me a while to get back.A major issue facing our community is the ability of people to find housing they can afford. In the past two years, both Albemarle and Charlottesville have adopted affordable housing plans that seek to encourage, incentivize, and require below-market units. Both localities are also part of the Regional Housing Partnership coordinated by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. The Partnership invited Delegate Sally Hudson to their December 5, 2022 meeting so she would be able to hear directly from its members about issues facing the development community and local government. This took the form of a roundtable discussion with questions asked by the Regional Housing Partnership. Albemarle Supervisor Ned Gallaway was the moderator. “The first question I will throw out is what legislative priorities if any do you have to impact affordable housing?” Gallaway said. Hudson said she is glad to help build a bridge between localities and the legislature on the topic. “I think we all know that affordable housing is priority one, two, and three from the constituents that we collectively serve and it's going to take a lot of collaboration between state and local government in particular because the General Assembly is often handcuffing you all from doing the kind of things that you need and denying you both the resources and the flexibility to try to tackle the problem with a full suite of tools that you deserve,” Hudson said. Watch the whole meeting on YouTube:Hudson said she has carried bills to allow Charlottesville flexibility. In 2020, HB1105 easily passed both Houses of the General Assembly and added the city to the list of localities authorized to adopt inclusionary rezoning rules to require units to be built at below-market levels. In 2021, Hudson introduced another bill (HB1900) to give more protection to tenants against evictions passed on a 55-44 vote in the House of Delegates and 20-19 in the Senate. Later that year, the Republicans took back the House of Delegates, a body they currently hold a 51 to 47 majority with two vacancies. Special elections for two vacant House seats will be held on January 10. The General Assembly convenes the next day. “Going into the next session, I am planning to introduce three bills, two of which were direct requests from local folks,” Hudson said. “One became a priority from the [Albemarle] Board of Supervisors which is allowing short-term rentals to expire if the property changes hands because I think we're getting increasingly concerned about companies gobbling up lots of different properties that perhaps were originally intended for owner-occupied housing to have maybe another stream of income on their property.” Hudson said another bill was requested by individual members of the Charlottesville Planning Commission to study the possibility of allowing properties and residential units to be taxed at different rates. “Potentially allowing for some more flexibility when we know we've got some underutilized opportunities for urban infill in the city,” Hudson said. The third bill would be to set up minimum standards for accessory dwelling units statewide.  Delegate Hudson also reminded the Regional Housing Partnership that Governor Glenn Youngkin has made the production of new housing a priority in the next session as part of his Make Virginia Home initiative. She said there needs to be additional funding. “The current administration is sort of trying to pit demand-side subsidies and supply-side constraints against each other where really it's a ‘yes and' answer,” Hudson said. “There are some units that will need to be permanently subsidized for tenants or owners that we know will not be able to maintain the income stream they need to stay in place.” Hudson said she is concerned about proposals to fast-track construction of affordable housing by trying to expedite the permit process and easing zoning rules. “I am concerned that the administration also means cutting corners on labor and environmental regulations and allowing projects to go up faster because they are short-changing either workers or the environment,” Hudson said. One big topic in the conversation regarded what many developers say is a big hold-up for the provision of all kinds of housing. “I hear and I'm sure that you do as well in conversations with developers about bottlenecks at the local level in the permitting and approval process,” Hudson said. “I don't feel like I have gotten a clear answer as to where in the pipes of government are the slow-downs and what can be done to speed them up?” Supervisor Ned Gallaway said it was a complex issue.  “How I would answer that is that you have a systems issue,” Gallaway said. “We have antiquated systems in use. We've got a personnel drain… in terms trying to retain the people.”In the last couple of months, Albemarle has lost its director of planning and a senior planning manager to the private sector. But Gallaway also said that different people may bring different levels of scrutiny to whatever application may be in front of them. He said he's interested in a three-pronged approach. “Is the system, the mechanism they use to process the permits or whatever it is, as efficient as it can be?” Gallaway said. “Do you have the people in place to be able to do it? And then, do you have the right mentality being done on the work that's actually being done?” Albemarle has invested in new software, and that's a topic I'll cover in an upcoming edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Want to make sure you get that story? Sign up for a subscription!Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook said he believed there were personality conflicts that contribute to the bottlenecks. “We've got a problem in the City of Charlottesville right now without getting into a lot of detail where you have folks on the private side who are just pissed off at the folks on the city side and vice-versa and they can't see eye to eye on what an acceptable application looks like and the city manager is trying to mediate this dispute between them but we've got delays of up to a year or more on things like engineering details that ought to be resolvable and it's so frustrating for those of us who get harped at from both sides and basically what we need is for these two groups of people to start acting like adults,” Snook said. Snook said he was concerned about state mandates from Richmond for specific clocks for action. “That assumes that, first of all, that the engineering people who are submitting the applications have actually done a good-faith effort to get the whole stupid thing finished instead of putting in 20 percent and then figuring it out as we go along,” Snook said. “And that's the kind of thing we've had problems with.” The Regional Housing Partnership includes members from the private sector including one developer who said he has experienced delays in both Albemarle and Charlottesville. He said he wanted to find solutions to getting building permits processed faster. “I sit at this table because I'm passionate about it,” said Christoper Brement of Bramante Homes. “I volunteer for the Blue Ridge Home Builders Association because I'm passionate about it. And we've been very grateful to the Community Development Director in Albemarle County for holding several roundtables engaging the Blue Ridge Home Builders Association.”Toward the end of the meeting, Supervisor Ned Gallaway asked about one of the bills Hudson carried in the 2022 General Assembly. HB1286 reduced the amount of time public housing authorities have to inform the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development about properties they may want to “demolish, liquidate, or otherwise dispose” of property. “Last year I carried a bill which… was geared towards facilitating faster redevelopment of public housing projects,” Hudson said. “In order to let residents know that their units were about to be renovated there were two separate stages which could have proceeded in parallel and residents to still get the same level of timely notification that they were going to need to relocate temporarily while allowing the construction efforts to get moving.”Hudson that bill was a collaboration with housing authorities across Virginia. Delegate Hudson is also challenging Senator Creigh Deeds for the Democratic nomination for Senate District 11, which creates an open seat in House District 54 next year. So far, only one candidate has filed and that's Albemarle School Board Member Katrina Callsen. Second shout-out: UVA Health holiday gift card driveWith just a few days before the holidays, there's still time to help ensure someone who could really use a gift to get one this Christmas. The Student National Medical Association (SNMA) is partnering with the UVA Health Office of Diversity and Community Engagement to collect and distribute gift cards.  Every year UVA's SNMA chapter works with Charlottesville's City of Promise to sponsor a toy drive for the Westhaven community. Children create holiday wish lists, and your purchase of a $20 gift card from area stores or a donation through Venmo will help more community members have the opportunity to purchase the things they want for themselves and their children.  This year the SNMA has extended their reach in support of children and parents associated with Abundant Life Ministries and WellAWARE. Learn more in the flier below or call Jacklene Martin at 434-409-4313.Legislative round-up: Easing burden for trail easement givers? Once the General Assembly begins, it can often be difficult to track the progress of individual bills but each year I get a little more efficient. But until the first gavel drops, it's fairly easily to tell you about new pieces of legislation have been filed. Here's another round-up of what's in the hopper. * Senator Amanda Chase has filed a bill that would revoke the ability of localities to decide for themselves if they want to ban possession of firearms on public property and would prevent localities from suing firearms manufacturers. Also, any weapons purchased through buy-back programs would have to be sold at public auction rather than be destroyed. (SB805)* Delegate Bill Wiley has a bill to allow anyone to carry a concealed handgun without a permit. (HB1420)* Senator Bill Stanley filed a bill to create the Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics + Computing Competition Team Grant Program to encourage extracurricular clubs in public schools. (SB806)* Senator Barbara Favola has a bill that would allow localities or a park authority to create a system of walking trails including private easements. If passed, the property owners who grant such easements would be released from civil liabilities related to their use. (SB807)* Favola has another bill that would clarify the temporary detention law related to mental and physical conditions if the person involved is intoxicated. (SB808)* Another piece of legislation from Favola would place restrictions on how wine and beer can be displayed to ensure they are not placed next to nonalcoholic beverages. (SB809)* Delegate Lee Ware filed a bill to modify the way cigars are taxed in Virginia. (HB1417)* Delegate Tim Anderson seeks a Constitutional amendment that would not allow personal property taxes to be collected on automobiles, pickup trucks, or motorcycles if they are used for personal use. (HJ 462)Chris Long Foundation delivers books to Boys and Girls ClubA philanthropic organization associated with a successful player in the National Football League has made its latest contribution to the Charlottesville community. The Chris Long Foundation dropped by the Boys and Girls Club yesterday to hand out over 1,00 books to club members from across the region. “This is our third book distribution in Charlottesville. It means so much to be in a position to continue giving back to kids in our community,” says Chris Long, founder of the Chris Long Foundation. “All kids should be given the opportunity to excel. That starts with igniting their passion for learning through books that spark their interest and enthusiasm for reading.”  This is part of the foundation's EdZone initiative which is described on the website as where “elite athletes, coaches, and fans team up to help kids have access to the materials needed for educational equity and success.”  Reading material for December 22, 2022* Deputies in Louisa County fatally shoot warrant recipient, Hawes Spencer, Charlottesville Daily Progress, December 20, 2022* Plastic bag tax starts Jan 1. in Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Dryden Quigley, NBC29, December 20, 2022* A developer's plan to build new apartments in Scottsville shows just how unprecedented big projects are for the small town, Erin O'Hare, Charlottesville Tomorrow, December 20, 2022Housekeeping for edition #475:We are in the holidays now with me producing this afar from the usual studio. You may not notice this if you just read the newsletter, but the audio version may sound a bit different. Same microphone, but the words will be read out loud in different places. The podcast listener may know. If you're not one, give it a shot! All of the quotes you see in this newsletter? Usually you can hear the person who said it in their own voice! Episode 475 is 47.5 percent of the way to Episode 1,000. After that I'll decide if it's worth it to continue to producing Charlottesville Community Engagement. Until them, this work should still be regarded as an experiment. And I am grateful for those funding the research! That's over a quarter of the 1,800+ people who have signed up for these fairly frequent updates on the the nuts and bolts of our civilization. That mostly comes by paying for a subscription through Substack at whatever level you feel comfortable with. The company Ting will match that initial payment, for which I am endlessly grateful. This helps me really begin to see what the road to 1,000 editions and beyond looks like.Why not give yourself the gift of faster broadband? Ting can help! If you sign up at this link and enter the promo code COMMUNITY, you'll get:* Free installation* A second month for free* A $75 gift card to the Downtown MallSafe travels to those traveling and safe staying for those staying. Possibly vice versa, but I've not quite thought out the ramifications of such a statement.  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

Episode Notes Here at Bold Dominion, we pubish a new episode every two weeks. We have seventy something episodes under our belt, and still so much more to talk about. Keeping up with politics is a year-round job. But for Virginia legislators, it's not actually year-round. In odd numbered years, lawmakers are in Richmond for 60 days, and in even years, just a month. That's often extended by a few more weeks. But in most years, Virginia legislators start in mid-January and are packed up and ready to head home by March. Why so short? And what does that mean for Virginia politics? To unpack this, we'll be talking with Randolph-Macon politics professor Richard Meagher, as well as Richmond Times Dispatch reporter Charlotte Rene Wood (we'll discuss reporting she did with Charlottesville Tomorrow). We'll also get to hear from Virginia Delegate Kelly Fowler, representing the Virginia Beach area in District 21. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.

You can tell a lot about a person by what they think about the noise that emanates from the bagpipe, a woodwind instrument perhaps best associated with Scotland but with origins that might date back to the Hittite people from three thousand years ago. Even if are not a fan of the combination of melody and drone, July 27 is the day to appreciate this unique musical instrument. Perhaps this is the day you buy one for the enjoyment of your friends, family, and co-workers? I’m Sean Tubbs, and not a cent or shilling is being paid to Charlottesville Community Engagement by Big Bagpipe. Sign up to make sure each email finds its way to your inbox. Payment isn’t necessary but does tend to help keep the electrons flowing to make the work possible. On this version of the show:Charlottesville continues to prepare for a school year in which more students will not be able to catch a yellow school busTwo new members will soon join the Charlottesville Planning CommissionA former member of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has diedCharlottesville City Council hears from the interim City Manager on how $14.8 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding could be spent 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!  Preparations continue in Charlottesville for more to walk to school Classes begin for Charlottesville City Schools in four weeks and work continues to prepare for a year in which more students will not be eligible to get a ride on a school bus. A driver shortage has led the school system to expand walk zones that are still being finalized. “We are hoping to let families know this week about their current bus eligibility and whether they have a bus request on files,” reads an email update sent to parents interested parties on Monday. “This status update will tell families if their child is in a walk zone or eligible for the bus.”The notice also states that priority will be given to families living further away from schools. The actual bus assignments will be released in August. Last week, the city administration told City Council that staff is recommending using $500,000 from the city’s share of the American Rescue Plan Act to help pay for safety improvements. “We’ve added $500,000,” said interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers. “Higher amounts were suggested. In talking with staff we believe that we have other funds in the budget that can actually exceed the amount that has been suggested in the past by some of the communications from people but this is a high priority area and we are offering that up for your consideration.” More on ARPA later in the newsletter. In their update, city schools say they are in conversations with the city, parents, and community members about sidewalks and intersections that need to be improved. Last week, Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders said the city government will follow the school system’s lead.“What we’re doing is working directly with schools and trying our best to make sure that their priorities are what we prioritize and what we do to help them through this process because we’re seeing this as everyone’s issue,” Sanders said. Sanders said the work to address safety concerns will continue past the first day of school. “And then to go beyond that and basically reboot our Safe Routes to School program,” Sanders said. “That’s what this is really synergized at this time by allowing all this focus on what we’ve been doing and what we’ve been talking about doing.” Sanders said there are also conversations with Albemarle about how to collaborate on pupil transportation for special needs students. The school system is also encouraging people to report problem locations using the MyCville app or by phoning 434-970-3333, option #2. Two other ways people can become involved are: Take a walk along a school route and make your observations known in a Google Doc created by the school systemApply to be a regular or substitute crossing guard or walking school bus leader - paid positionsThe school system will hold a final “walk and talk” this Friday at Mount Zion First African Baptist Church from noon to 2 p.m. There will also be an online Q&A session on August 10 at 5 p.m. (register)Council make two new appointments to Planning CommissionWhen the Charlottesville Planning Commission meets on September 13, two veterans of other advisory bodies will take their place at the makeshift dais in CitySpace. Carl Schwarz served two terms on the Board of Architectural Review from 2014 to the end of last year. He’s an architect in private practice who lives in the 10th and Page neighborhood. Phil d’Oronzio has been the chair of the Housing Advisory Council Committee since August 2014. He’s the CEO of Pilot Mortgage who lives in the Belmont neighborhood. The pair join three Planning Commissioner who were reappointed by Council at their meeting on July 18.“By some accident of history we wound up with five different Planning Commissioners whose terms expire on August 31, 2022,” said Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook. By Virginia law, the seats have to be staggered so that terms don’t expire all at once. To make that work, they had to technically reconstitute the body and reappoint everyone, even those who terms were not yet.Commissioner Hosea Mitchell was appointed to Seat One for a term expiring on August 31, 2023. Mitchell served a partial term in the late 2000’s before rejoining the Commission in June 2018 to fill an unexpired term. He is retired from a career in the medical business. Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg was appointed to Seat Two also for a term expiring on August 31, 2023. Stolzenberg first joined the Commission in October 2018.  He’s a software engineer with Lumin. Seat Three will continue the appointment of Lyle Solla-Yates whose term expires at the end of August 2024. Solla-Yates has been on the Commission since March 2018 and is the current chair. He works for the University of Virginia School of Architecture. Commissioner Liz Russell will continue in Seat 4 with a term that also expires at the end of 2024. Russell has been on the Commission since September 2020. She’s the director of planning, sustainability, and project management at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Seat 5 will continue to be occupied by Commissioner Karim Habbab until August 31, 2025. Habbab was appointed in June 2021 and is an architect with BRW Architects. The terms of Schwarz (Seat 6) and d’Oronzio  (Seat 7) and Schwarz will expire on August 31, 2026. The reconstitution of the Planning Commission comes at a time when the city is rewriting the Charlottesville zoning code to increase density. That’s a major objective of both of the Affordable Housing Plan adopted in March 2021 and the Comprehensive Plan updated in November 2021. Former Albemarle Supervisor Cooke dies at 90 A woman who served two terms on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has died. Patricia Cooke was elected in 1981 to what used to be called the Charlottesville District and was re-elected in 1985. According to her obituary in the Daily Progress, Cooke graduated from Lane High School in 1950 and opened a laundry business with her husband in 1956. She also had a bridal and formal wear company. A funeral service will be held on Friday.The Charlottesville District became the Rio District at some point during the tenure of Cooke’s successor, David Bowerman. Bowerman served four terms until retiring the Board at the end of 2004. He passed away in March 2020 while he was a sitting member of the Albemarle County Board of Zoning Appeals. 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, 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!Council briefed on potential usage of ARPA funds Charlottesville has now received all of the $19.6 million in funding it will receive from the federal government as part of the American Rescue Plan Act fund. Interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers gave Council an update at their meeting on July 18.“It’s been a big help for local government in terms of recovery from the impact of the pandemic,” Rogers said. Council has already appropriated $4.81 million of the funding and has an unallocated balance of $14.8 million. Money spent so far went to four different categories recognized by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Of that $14.8 million, $2.28 million was already designated for various uses during the development of the budget for the fiscal year that began on July 1. For the balance, Rogers suggested the following uses:For economic development:$750,000 to the Charlottesville-Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau to make up for revenue loss from decline in meals tax revenue. Albemarle County is also being asked to make the same contribution. $300,000 for improvements to the Downtown Mall coordinated with Friends of Downtown Cville. The Mall turns 50 in 2026 and Rogers said a task force may be formed to help mark that occasion and prepare for the next fifty years$100,000 for updates to wayfinding One million for a strategic investment fund for economic development$500,000 for the Meadow Creek Trail to close a gap for a VDOT-funded projectInternal uses:$829,000 for equipment replacement$200,000 for facilities repair$270,000 to augment the Human Resources including hiring a deputy director and a recruiter$200,000 to fund Council’s development of a new strategic planPublic safety: $1.4 million for additional COVID spending should future surges have a greater community health impact$1.1 million to help Charlottesville Fire Department with its accreditation, including hiring three more battalion chiefs for two years$450,000 to help retain personnel in the Charlottesville Fire Department$50,000 to help retain personnel for the Sheriff’s Office$500,000 for the “Safe Routes to School Fund” Human service support:$700,000 for the Emergency Assistance - Pathways program which would include additional rental assistance$1.63 million for affordable housing and homeless services$500,000 for the Community Health Initiative $1 million for the Agency Investment Fund $580,000 for Community Arts Investment$176,000 for the Office of Human Rights to hire an investigator to look into claims under the Fair Housing Act $40,000 for an emergency generator for a city shelter that would be used in major catastrophes The combined $2.63 million for affordable housing and the agency investment fund would be disbursed through a competitive process separate from the “Vibrant Community” process the city has used since 2019 to allocate funding for nonprofits. The Community Health Initiative would support public health projects.“Think of this funding as being available for a previously floated idea of the Community Care Team or something of that nature in order to do a really needed and wonderful pilot to see what would be the best support for our community,” said Deputy City Manager Ashley Marshall.Council was to have discussed a proposal for a Community Care Team at its meeting on February 7 but the item was pulled. The topic did come up as part of a Council work session on May 2. Councilor Brian Pinkston noted that additional on-going positions were being proposed to be created with the one-time ARPA money.“Hiring people with one-off type of funding is something we’re trying to be careful of,” Pinkston said. Rogers said those positions would be proposed to continue into the future and the city would have to find other funds to cover them. Councilor Michael Payne questioned the use of $750,000 to go to the CACVB. The city’s economic development director said the money would help the destination marketing organization with a current cash flow situation caused by the way it is funded. “There’s a two year lag in the funding cycles so the money wasn’t needed two years ago,” said Chris Engel. “It’s needed now because that cycle is playing through.”Council got a briefing on the CACVB in June and learned that the agency received $680,000 from ARPA that flowed through the Virginia Tourism Council. (read the story)“Given that state support I’m a little skeptical about how much is really needed for the CACVB as well as whatever specific measurable deliverables we will get for that investment,” Payne said.  Council will be asked to take action on the appropriations at its August 1 meeting. There’s also an additional $2.52 million for which Rogers has not made any suggestions for how it should be spent. “We look forward to our dialogue on this,” Rogers said. “This is meant to be a first start to set us on a direction to address some things we really need to address in the coming months and thought that these funds would be a good way to do it.” Thoughts? Leave a comment below. Housekeeping items for episode #412That’s another program in the archives, and in a few days you’ll be able to read these stories on the Information Charlottesville website I created to help me keep track of what I’m reporting. Want to read articles on land use in Charlottesville? Click here!What about infrastructure updates? Click here!How about climate action? Elections in Virginia? The archive grows each week!All of this is supported by readers and listeners under the Town Crier Productions company I formed two years ago and am still learning how to operate. I’m breaking even, but I’d very much like to find a way to grow. There are ways to do that!For one, if you sign up for a paid subscription through Substack, Ting will match your initial payment! And, if you sign up for their services through this link you’ll get a free standard install, your 2nd month free, and a $75 downtown mall gift card! Enter the promo code COMMUNITY for full effect. Music on the podcast version of the show comes from the D.C. sensation Wraki, and you can support their work by paying whatever you want for the album regret everything on BandCamp.My sincere hope today, though, is that someone will go and buy a bagpipe. If you do, please let me know. If you have one already, record yourself and send me the audio! Or any exotic instrument, really. 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

Saturday’s all right for writing! That is, writing information about land use, transportation, economic development, elections, and more! This is Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast intended to let you know about a few things you didn’t know before, and intended to keep an eye on a great deal of things. I’m your host Sean Tubbs, exploring and exploiting my curiosity hopefully for your benefit. But please: No fighting! In today’s newsletter:The first campaign finance report is in for the race of the 55th House District, even if it’s still unclear when the election will be held Charlottesville Planning Commissioners seek action on safer streets in advance of the school A former Charlottesville school superintendent becomes Governor Youngkin’s permanent chief diversity officerThere’s one day left to fill out the latest questionnaire on Albemarle County’s growth management policy The head of the area’s aging services agency is elected to lead a statewide group First shout-out: Join me for a Cvillepedia training session - Brand styleIn 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 three more Cvillepedia 101 training sessions at the Center July 18 at 2 p.m. Sign up at the Center’s website.Laufer outraises fellow Democrats in 55th District There is still a possibility that Virginia will have an election this year for the 100 seat House of Delegates. A second federal lawsuit arguing that legislators elected last November are in unconstitutional seats still awaits a final ruling and November 8 is 115 days away from today. That makes yesterday’s deadline for active candidates for the House of Delegates that much more compelling. There are currently three people seeking the Democratic nomination in the new 55th District, which includes most of Albemarle’s geography, as well as northeast Nelson County and western Louisa County. The Virginia Public Access Project has pulled together all of the filings, and former Charlottesville School Board member Amy Laufer outraised her opponents with a total of $61,731 raised in June. Fifty-seven donors contributed more than $100, requiring their identification. That includes a transfer of $7,327 from Laufer’s previous campaign for the Virginia Senate in 2019. There is one $10,000 gift from Hunter Bourne, and a pair of $5,000 gifts from Clean VA and the Morrill Family Investment. There were 68 contributions below the $100 limit. Emergency room nurse Kellen Squire raised $41,531 from March 8 to June 30. Thirty-four contributions were in excess of $100 with 406 below that threshold. There is one $20,000 contribution from Kay Ferguson.Albemarle County Supervisor Donna Price raised $11,798 with ten contributions above the $100 threshold and thirty below. Republican Rob Bell is the presumptive incumbent, currently representing the former 58th District. Bell began the year with a balance of $76,253 and has raised $5,250 so far this year. More on the status of the lawsuit in the next installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement. One days left to fill out Albemarle’s growth management surveyAs mentioned in the last program, a survey is about to close for Albemarle County’s growth management survey. The county is in the midst of updating their Comprehensive Plan, and this is the second questionnaire. Here’s more from a video produced by the office of Communications and Public Engagement (CAPE). “New development proposals that require a change in zoning or a rezoning are evaluated by recommendations in the Comprehensive Plan, including the growth management policy,” states the narrator. “As part of growth management, the Albemarle County Service Authority establishes a jurisdictional area where public water and sewer will be provided. This jurisdictional area mainly corresponds with the development area.” If  you’re interested in hearing more, the Albemarle CAPE has posted the latest episode of their Let’s Talk Albemarle podcast. The guest is Rachel Falkenstein, a manager in the Community Development department who oversees long-range planning.“Usually we look out 20 years and that number comes from the state of Virginia,” Falkenstein said. “They require localities to have a Comprehensive Plan that plans for 20 years out into the future so we use that for most of our planning documents.” As of Friday afternoon, 270 people had taken the survey, according to CAPE director Emily Kilroy. The Albemarle Planning Commission will have a work session on the Comprehensive Plan on July 26. To catch up on previous stories on land use issues in Albemarle, check out Information Charlottesville through this link. And if you’re in the mood to fill in another survey, the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission wants your input on the Regional Transit Vision Plan.. To catch up on all kinds of transit related stories, check out Information Charlottesville through this link. Youngkin appoints Atkins as chief diversity officerGovernor Glenn Youngkin has appointed former Charlottesville Superintendent Rosa Atkins to serve as Virginia’s Chief Diversity, Opportunity, and Inclusion Officer. Atkins has been serving in the position on an interim basis following the departure of his first appointee, Angela Sailor. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Sailor left in April for a family matter. Atkins served as Charlottesville’s superintendent for 15 years before retiring. Earlier this year, former Governor Ralph Northam appointed her to serve as the acting superintendent of public instruction for the Virginia Department of Education. In the Northam administration, Atkins’ position was known as the Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, but Youngkin changed the name in Executive Order #10 when he appointed Sailor. “We must strengthen and focus the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ODEI) by including in its mission the promotion of entrepreneurship and economic opportunity for all Virginians — including Virginians with disabilities — as well as the promotion of free speech and civil discourse,” reads that order.Sailor’s name is still on the website for the office. In other appointments of note, a University of Virginia official has been named to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. Pace Lochte is the assistant vice president for economic development. Youngkin also appointed Rob Rutherford of Nelson County to the Virginia Manufactured Housing Board. Rutherford is a manager with Pro Tech Builder, a maker of modular homes.JABA leader elected to Virginia aging services associationThe chief executive officer of the area’s aging services association has been elected as president of the state entity that represents all 24 such agencies across the Commonwealth. Marta Keane of JABA will begin a two-year term as president of the Virginia Association of Area Agencies on Aging (V4A).Keane has been CEO of JABA since 2013. According to a release, during that time she helped form the Charlottesville Area Alliance as an umbrella organization for various entities that work with senior services in the community. “With this comes challenges to meet their increasing and changing needs, and opportunities to identify and maximize the strengths that seniors bring to our communities,” Keane is quoted in the release. “During the next two years, I hope to continue our efforts with demographic services to better identify areas that have unmet needs, work with networks to identify new ways to meet the needs, and identify new funding sources to allow us to grow and sustain critical services."JABA was formed in 1975 as the Jefferson Area Board for Aging. In today’s other two shout-outs: Local media and Code for CvilleCode 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, 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!Charlottesville Planning Commissioners seek Council action on safer streets on school routesAs of today, there are 39 days left until the first day of school in the City of Charlottesville. Yesterday, the school system held a Transportation Talk and Walk Session to discuss a recent alert from Superintendent Royal Gurley that the bus driver shortage has worsened and walk zones will be expanded. This past Tuesday, the city Planning Commission was briefed on a request from one of its members that city government take steps to make routes to school. They got an update from Missy Creasy, Charlottesville’s assistant director of the Neighborhood Development Services office (NDS). “The city has a pretty robust program that they’re putting together to address how they are addressing the shortage at this point in time and some pretty innovative things on there,” Creasy said. These include encouraging older students to take Charlottesville Area Transit routes, hiring more crossing guards or finding more volunteers, and buying smaller buses that don’t require drivers to have commercial licenses. NDS director James Freas said the shortage provides an opportunity to apply goals of the recently adopted Comprehensive Plan to a real life problem. “Wrapped up in this challenge is an opportunity to explore those options,” Freas said. “The flip side of that is that it’s a little early for us right now in that we are in the process of building out a transportation planning program.” In May, Council was briefed by Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders on a series of problems with how the city has run its transportation planning program. For instance, transportation planners have had too high of a workload, and the city has been unable to move some projects forward. There’s also a vacancy in the position of bike pedestrian coordinator after the last person left the job at the end of 2021 to work for a consultant. “We expect that position to post very soon and see that position as really being able to take a lead role in doing exactly this type of work and that is coming up with innovative, innovative, and low-cost ways of improving pedestrians, particularly children’s safety, in the neighborhoods around our schools,” Freas said. Creasy said that the traffic engineer and the Safe Routes to School coordinator no longer work in NDS. Instead they work for the Public Works department, a decision made by former City Manager Tarron Richardson. Creasy said NDS does coordinate with public works, but more people are needed to implement what’s in the Comprehensive Plan. “We do have really good support for continuing to move forward in this direction,” Creasy said. “We have tools in place but we just need to fill them with humans so that we can keep the work going.” Creasy said she is aware of grassroots efforts to make things better, but coordination with the city is needed. Freas said that one remedy would be to paint bump-outs at curbs to provide more space for people. “It’s a significant safety improvement and you can do that with paint and potentially flex-posts, but even to do just that, you do have to do some engineering design, you do need to coordinate with public works street folks,” Freas said. Freas said that there’s a possibility of maybe having something done within six weeks, but he cautioned that it will be hard to do in that time frame. “I think, A, the school department’s plans are really good, I think they have some good solutions in place, and B, I think we can build towards that and start contributing the safety improvements we need to make as we go forward,” Freas said. Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg said he supported the idea of an official letter to City Council, but also said funding needed to be in place to implement the solutions.  “Is it safe to assume there is not within the currently allocated budget enough money to really address the things that staff would potentially want to address?” Stolzenberg asked. “Or potentially to hire outside traffic engineers to take some of the load of our in-house resources?” Freas said he would need to have a scope of work before answering that question. “We don’t have an identified line item for that right now so we would be cobbling together money from other sources,” Freas said. Stolzenberg said he would like the Planning Commission to recommend identifying money in the current fiscal year so incremental improvements can be made throughout the school year. He pointed out that Council voted in late June to purchase property for parking.“Council just spent $1.65 million on a parking lot with 40 spaces,” Stolzenberg said. “It seems to me that we can find money within the currently allocated [Capital Improvement Program] that could be reallocated to make sure that kids don’t get run over by cars on their way to school.” Stolzenberg also asked if the city has explored the ability to install cameras in school zones to capture people who speed. Freas and Creasy said they did not know if the city has done that research. The Commission agreed to send a letter to Council seeking support for the work. Stolzenberg said he would draft that document. The discussion took place just before the Commission’s joint public hearing with City Council. Vice Mayor Juandiego Wade said he heard the message.“It doesn’t have to be a war and peace type of document,” Wade said. “We understand the issues and we’re hearing a lot of from the citizens now.” Two more Talk and Walk sessions are scheduled this month. Do you have a specific concern? Drop me a line and I’d like to hear about it. Housekeeping notes for the conclusion of today’s newsletter:Thanks for reading! Today’s show is a rare Saturday show. Coming up next is the Week Ahead for July 18, as well as the Government Glance at the Fifth Congressional District. That’s a separate Substack. Music in the podcast version is composed by an entity currently going by the name Wraki. You can purchase the latest tracks on Bandcamp in an album called regret everything.  I certainly hope you will check it out! Finally, I can’t say enough positive things about Ting’s generous sponsorship. If you sign-up for Ting service, 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!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

Episode Notes The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v Wade. You've probably seen maps about what this means on a state-by-state basis. We know that abortion will be legal in places like New England and the West Coast. We know that women in the Deep South will need to travel long distances to receive adequate reproductive health care. And we also know that forced birth advocates in places like Texas are trying to criminalize that kind of travel. But what about Virginia? Today on Bold Dominion, we're updating an episode we recorded this spring with Charlotte Woods, reporter at Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Tannis Fuller, Executive Director of the Blue Ridge Abortion Fund.

Numerological hijinks ensue today on 7/7/22. This is the 188th day of this particular orbital period, and there are 177 left until the next one. What does it all mean? What you make of it! If you’re one who misses celebrating an independent nation, July 7 also marks when the Solomon Islands observes Independence Day. No fireworks, please! I’m your host, Sean Tubbs, puzzling over what all of it might mean. You will need to click through to the website to see the whole thing. Also, please let me know if you have any trouble with links. There appears to be an issue. On today’s program:The Virginia State Police releases crime data for 2021, and violent crimes increased statewide The Regional Housing Partnership endorses a coalition led by the Piedmont Housing Alliance to build affordable housing at two sites to be donated by the University of Virginia Foundation through a ground leaseThe Albemarle County Electoral Board names a new registrar tIt’s been two months since the Board of Equalization affirmed nine out of eleven requests to lower real estate property tax assessments Charlottesville will purchase land on East Jefferson Street for additional municipal parking spaceFirst shout-out: WTJU staging the Cville Puzzle Hunt on August 27In today’s first 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. Regional Housing Partnership endorses Piedmont Housing Alliance’s application to build affordable housing at two UVA sitesThe Central Virginia Regional Housing Partnership is a function of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission and consists of elected officials, representatives from nonprofits, and developers. Last year they developed the Planning for Affordability report intended to suggest strategies for each of the six localities to create more below-market housing opportunities. (read that plan)On Wednesday, the group convened for one purpose. For background, the University of Virginia and its real estate foundation are offering land through a ground lease at three sites in the community for a partner to construct affordable housing. They issued a request for qualifications in June to develop sites on Fontaine Avenue and Wertland Street. (agenda packet)There was a pre-proposal presentation on June 22 led by Fred Missel, the director of development for the UVA Foundation. In a separate capacity, Missel is also a member of the Albemarle Planning Commission. Wednesday’s partnership meeting was to vote on an endorsement of the Piedmont Housing Alliance’s desire to lead a large group of partners to develop the two sites.“We have pulled together a largely local team of nonprofits and one for profit organization to come together to ideally provide a holistic housing ladder with a holistic set of viewpoints to make sure we are being responsive to the needs not just within those two sites,” said Sunshine Mathon, the executive director of the Piedmont Housing Alliance. That for profit developer would be Riverbend Development, which has assisted the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority with its recent redevelopment efforts. Another partner would be the Virginia Community Development Corporation and another would be 7 and M Development. A letter in the RHP agenda packet includes more details. “The development team is partnering to design, build, and operate affordable housing on both sites, with a focus on a broad array of housing opportunities, focused on rental housing for people earning 30 to 60 percent of area median income, but also including more deeply affordable rental housing, affordable homeownership opportunities, market rate housing, community amenities, and commercial space,” reads the letter.However, many of the partnership members had to recuse themselves from the vote out of conflicts of interest. That included:Dan Rosensweig of the Habitat for Humanity of Greater CharlottesvilleSunshine Mathon of the Piedmont Housing AllianceKeith Smith of the Piedmont Community Land Trust (now part of Piedmont Housing Alliance)Shelby Edwards of the Public Housing Association of Residents Anthony Haro of the Thomas Jefferson Coalition for the HomelessColette Sheehy is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the University of Virginia. She also abstained from the vote but is not part of the development. “That was an impressive list of local organizations involved in this space and I was just curious if you anticipate anybody else out there locally that might propose anything?” Sheehy asked. Mathon said he thought there may be another group.“I think there are probably still one or two organizations which may find their way into a different team but I’m not 100 percent sure,” Mathon said. Those who were able to vote to support the letter were Antwon Brinson of the Piedmont Workforce Network, Greg Powe of Powe Studio Architects, Ned Gallaway of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors, Peter Holman of the University of Virginia Credit Union, Rachel Jones of the Louisa Board of Supervisors, Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook, and Kim Hyland of the Fluvanna-Louisa Housing Foundation.“Seven yes, zero noes, and six abstentions,” said Ian Baxter, a planner with the TJPDC. One of those abstentions was Keith Smith, a realtor and chair of the Piedmont Community Land Trust.“This is what this body was designed to do and this is great stuff,” Smith said. The application is due on August 2. Will there be any other applications? Albemarle hires new registrar from within The Albemarle County Electoral Board has promoted the deputy registrar to serve as the new Director of Elections. Lauren Eddy has worked for the Voter Registration and Elections Office for 17 years, and will succeed Richard “Jake” Washburne, who will be retiring at the end of the month.“I can’t think of anyone more qualified than Lauren to take on this role,” Washburne is quoted in a release.Eddy has been deputy registrar for the past 15 years. She’s a native of Albemarle and is a Virginia Registered Election Official as well as a National Certified Elections/Registration Administrator.Charlottesville Board of Equalization declined all but one assessment appealsIt has now been seven weeks and two day since the Charlottesville Board of Equalization met on May 17 to hear appeals from property owners of their 2022 real estate tax assessments. Eleven were scheduled but one withdrew. The Board affirmed the property assessments in all ten of the cases that were heard. (read the minutes)The owner of an apartment in the Belmont Lofts wanted the BOE to lower the assessment to $265,000 down from the $400,900 for 2022. The Board agreed to lower the amount to $365,000. GIS for this property currently says $364,000. The owner of 409 Park Street in North Downtown sought reduction to $750,000, but the BOE affirmed the $914,800 assessment. The owner of 1010 Peartree Lane in the Locust Grove wanted to have the assessment dropped to $265,650 but the Board affirmed the $323,700 as the fair market value. The owner bought the 0.21 acre property in 1976 for $34,000. HPTMI Corporation owns the Residence Inn on Millmont Street. They argued the fair market value should be $11,547,400 rather than the $14,762,600 for 2022. The BOE disagreed and affirmed the assessment. When the motel was built in 1997, it was assessed at $3,845,500 and steadily increased each year until this year, when the assessment dropped around $1.5 million. The owners of the Omni Hotel withdrew their appeal of the property’s $35.8 million 2022 assessment. Like the Residence Inn, the assessment has been dropped since 2020 due to the pandemic. There’s still an active lawsuit regarding the 2021 assessment. Last year, the Omni sued Charlottesville over what they perceived as an overpayment of taxes. Read an April 2021 story by Tyler Hammel in the Charlottesville Daily Progress. Ludwig Kuttner sought an unspecified reduction for an industrial building at 1155 5th Street NW next to the Willoughby Shopping Center and claimed “appraiser failed to take into consideration the tremendous impact that ‘Covid’ had on all businesses and property owners.” The Board affirmed the assessment of $2,888,500 and said Kuttner presented no new evidence.Kuttner also sought an assessment reduction for the 10,75 acres of the Ix property, a request he has made in the past. This time, he cited the same reason. The property was assessed at nearly $14.4 million and it will stay that way. Read about the 2017 appeal on Charlottesville Tomorrow. The section of the Ix property that is operated as the Ix Park and is rented to Three Notch’d Brewery was assessed at $5.62 million. The BOE affirmed. Kuttner also sought relief for the Terraces at 100-106 West Main Street. The city assessors valued it at $12,690,400 and the Board of Equalization affirmed that amount.The same story can be said about 201 E. Main Street, otherwise known as Central Place. Kuttner made the same argument but the BOE affirmed the $2.83 million assessment for 2022. Kuttner also represented the owners of 301 E. High Street and made the same basic argument about COVID. The Board also affirmed this property.  Virginia State Police release 2021 crime report for the Commonwealth The rate of violent crime in Virginia increased in 2021 according to new data from the Virginia State Police. Last week, the agency’s Criminal Justice Information Service’s Data Analysis and Reporting Team (DART) published a report for last year showed an overall increase in murders, forcible sex offenses including rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. “There were 16,823 violent crime offenses reported in 2021 compared to 15,713 violent crime offenses reported in 2020, representing a 7.1 percent increase,” reads a press release on the report. Some of what’s in the report: There were 562 homicides in Virginia in 2021, a 6.4 percent increase. Of that amount, 38.6 percent were men between the ages of 18 and 34. Over $131 million worth of vehicles were stolen in 2021, a 3.8 percent increase. Firearms were used in 82.1 percent of homicides and 48.6 percent of robberies. There were 123 hate crime offenses involving 106 victims in 2021. That’s down 35.3 percent from 2020. These involve either aggravated assault, vandalism, or destruction of property. Fraud offenses were up 8.4 percent in 2021.Not all of the numbers are increasing. The number of burglaries continued to decline with an 8.3 percent drop in 2020. That’s part of a long-time trend. “In 2021, there were 10,464 burglaries and attempted burglaries whereas in 2011 there were 27,872, representing a decreased burglary rate in the last decade from 344.24 to 120.89 per 100,000 population,” reads the summary. Drug arrests were down 46.7 percent, with one major driver being the decriminalization of possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. The DART report also breaks down offenses by locality. The Albemarle County Police Department reported 4,191 total offenses and 1,527 arrests. There were no murders or negligent manslaughter, but there were 12 kidnapping incidents, 76 aggravated assaults, 99 burglaries, and 107 stolen vehicles.(page 92 of the .PDF)Charlottesville also reported no murders, but there there were 3,052 offenses tracked. There were 11 kidnappings, 162 aggravated assaults, 127 burglaries, and 155 stolen vehicles.  (page 130)There were no murders reported in any of the other localities in the Thomas Jefferson Planning District. The Fluvanna Sheriff’s Office reported four kidnappings, 29 aggravated assaults, 13 burglaries, and 12 stolen vehicles. (page 170)In Greene, there were five kidnappings, 21 aggravated assaults, 12 burglaries and 15 stolen vehicles. (page 186)There were nine kidnappings reported by the Louisa County Sheriff's Office in 2021. There were 21 aggravated assaults, 11 burglaries, and 32 stolen vehicles. (page 223)The Nelson County Sheriff’s Office reported five abductions, 26 aggravated assaults, 49 burglaries, and 18 stolen vehicles (page 241). Today’s second-shout: LEAP’s 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!  City to purchase downtown land for surface parking Sometimes it takes a while to get everything I’d like to write about in the show. For instance, so far, I’ve written several segments from the June 21, 2022 meeting of the Charlottesville City Council. Charlottesville’s FY22 surplus likely to increase, June 24, 2022Council makes appointments, but not yet to Planning Commission, June 24, 2022RWSA to vote today on Central Water Line project, June 28, 2022Charlottesville briefed on city-owned property, June 30, 2022Is there room for one more to memorialize, and is it worth it, two and a half weeks later? Yes. Charlottesville City Council has authorized the city’s economic development director to purchase 921 E. Jefferson Street for $1.6 million. Here’s Chris Engel. (read the staff report)“This parcel is four tenths of an acre and is currently used as a 39-space surface parking lot,” Engel said. “Staff recommends purchase as it puts the city in control of an asset that will help with current and future parking capacity issues.” Engel said one reason is to help satisfy the terms of an agreement between Albemarle and Charlottesville related to parking for the joint General District Court that will be built downtown. “Most of that agreement spoke to the creation of a new parking structure that the city was to undertake as part of its agreement with the county,” Engel said. “That project was ultimately canceled as you know last year about this time.” Engel said the agreement allows the city options to provide spaces at either the existing 7th Street surface lot or at Market Street Parking Garage, both owned by city government. He said either would displace existing parkers and this lot would be a replacement.Engel said volume in the Market Street Parking Garage is not at pre-pandemic levels but the city is currently on a waiting list for new monthly pass holders at that structure. If the county chooses 100 spaces at the Market Street garage, Engel said that would crowd out the ability of people to park there on a transient basis. “So you’d in some way be jeopardizing the health of the surrounding business community that relies on those spaces for activity,” Engel said. Engel said this purchase would also make up for the loss of 50 spaces that used to be underneath the Belmont Bridge but won’t be coming back when that project is complete. He said the city will also eventually lose a parking lot with 61 spaces for employees at a site on Levy Avenue owned by the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. “If we were to add 39 spots we would still have a net loss of parking spaces in and around the downtown area,” Engel said. The current owner of the property is Gewinn Investors III, a firm that bought the land in 1985 for $175,000. The land is currently assessed at $953,000 and the sales price would be over 73 percent above the assessment. In January 2017, the city paid $2.85 million to purchase the corner lot at Market Street and 9th Street for a new parking garage. That transaction was 40.55 percent above assessment at the time. Councilor Michael Payne said the city was wrong to have entered into the agreement with the county, but he said they should be given the 100 spaces in Market Street Garage. “Quite frankly depending on how that’s implemented I don’t think that’s the end of the world but my understanding is that a majority of Council does not agree with that sentiment,” Payne said. However, he said he could support the purchase of this space if it meant keeping the two structures the city owns at the corner lot. “If purchasing this resolves the courts agreement in place of building a 10-million plus and tearing down Lucky 7 and Guadalajara to build a surface lot, it potentially makes sense to me,” Payne said. Engel said he could make no guarantees, but purchasing this lot would delay that outcome. Councilor Brian Pinkston said during his time in office to date, parking has proven to be controversial. “If you talk with folks at the Downtown Mall, they’re like ‘we absolutely need more parking’ and if you talk with other constituencies, they’re like ‘no, you’ve got plenty of parking,’” Pinkston said. Pinkston said he relies on staff to provide recommendations about occupancy and utilization rates. “Grabbing these 39 spaces for lack of a better term and taking advantage of this opportunity to acquire these 39 spaces basically is insurance against future possibilities,” Pinkston said. . Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook said the property would be ready to go for the city’s parking needs for now. That would allow more time to watch trends and collect data on actual usage of the new courts. “Five years from now we decide we don’t in fact need those parking places, I think we will probably have profited from the wait,” Snook said. The vote was 4-1 with Payne  against.There is no overall parking plan for the City of Charlottesville, or for Albemarle County. The University of Virginia has a Parking and Transportation Master Plan from 2019 which seeks to manage parking demand. In June, the University of Virginia’s Building and Grounds Committee approved a plan to move forward with a 1,000 space parking garage with a $54 million budget but with no location determined. (UVA committee briefed on new capital projects, June 4, 2022)The current rewrite of the zoning code also provides another opportunity related to parking. The Zoning Diagnostics and Approach Report calls for the reduction of parking requirements in addition to allowing greater residential density throughout the city. Visit the Cville Plans Together website to learn more. See also:Toward a TDM plan for Charlottesville, June 9, 2021A quick plug for Michael ClemFinally today, local singer songwriter Michael Clem is looking for subscribers to his YouTube channel. Take a look at his trailer! 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

It’s the final Friday of June, unless something can be done to add another day to the month. I am unaware of any campaign to do so, but perhaps there need to be changes. So, welcome to this 24th day of the fifth interval of what we’ve come to call the two thousand and twenty-second year. This is Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast about the built environment that celebrates 400 editions with this installment that arrives 711 days later. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. Sign up for a free subscription, but if you opt to pay, Ting will match your initial payment! On today’s edition of the program:Charlottesville’s budget surplus is increasing with revenues higher than originally budgetedCharlottesville City Council will make appointments to the Planning Commission in July You can count on one hand the number of Albemarle residents who voted in the Republican Primary for the 7th Congressional District Changes to Charlottesville Area Transit routes could soon occur as soon as more drivers can be hired First 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 but today let’s talk about National Pollinator Week, which runs through June 26! There will be many events designed to draw your attention to the crucial role that bees and other creatures play in making sure plants reproduce. On Saturday at 10 a.m., Scottsville’s Center for the Arts and Natural Environment will host Allison Wickham from Siller Pollinator Company will lead an introduction to bees and beekeeping. If you're thinking about starting a backyard beehive or are just curious about what's involved with keeping bees, then this is a great introductory class for you. There will even be a honey competition judged by Allison Wickham! For the tuition rate and to register, visit svilleartsandnature.org for a list of all of the upcoming classes. Charlottesville’s FY22 surplus likely to increaseThere’s less than a week until the fiscal new year for Virginia and its local governments. On Tuesday, Charlottesville City Council got an update from interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers on what can be expected in terms of “one-time money” in the form of a financial report. (read the report)“And we see that there’s a projected $14 million surplus for revenue,” Rogers said. That’s higher than the $13 million projected in April. However, Rogers said that number could change as the city’s expenditures have also been down due to various reasons including COVID. “We have a lot of vacancies in our budget, the market has had an impact on our ability to hire as rapidly as we need to,” Rogers said. “While 92 percent of the budget year has passed, we’ve only spent about 85 percent of our budget expenditures. That’s going to release in a surplus.”However, Rogers said the actual surplus will not be known until later in the year after the city’s books are closed and reconciled. One of the reasons why there will be a surplus is due to tax rates increases and assessment rises for personal property and real estate. Earlier this year, Council voted to increase the real estate tax rate to $0.96 per $100 of assessed value. That penny increase applied to the entire calendar year of 2022. Council also opted to keep the personal property rate at $4.20 per $100 of assessed value, also contributing to the surplus. That was over the recommendation of Commissioner of Revenue Todd Divers who suggested reducing it due to a sharp increase in the value of used vehicles. The city also will not bring in as much revenue from Parks and Recreation as originally believed. “During the budget process we budgeted for the idea that we thought we would be fully operational but as you know we’re not and so therefore we are not going to make those marks,” said Krisy Hammill, the city’s senior budget performance analyst. The city has also closed on its latest sale of municipal bonds which are used to finance capital projects. The cost of doing so will increase as interest rates go up. “We closed with about $28 million at a rate at about 3.07 percent, which is about double of what we got last year but it is indicative of the market and still a very good rate,” Hammill said. Council makes appointments, but not yet to Planning CommissionOn Tuesday, City Council appointed Laura Knott and Sally Duncan to the city’s Historic Resources Committee and Dashad Cooper to the Police Civilian Oversight Board. Other appointments included members of the Sister Cities Commission, the Region 10 Board, and the Retirement Commission. However, they did not fill all the open positions.“Appointments to the Planning Commission have been postponed until the July 18 Council meeting,” said Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook. “There were a few people we needed to interview and didn’t have time to do it today and at least one person was not available.”Council will not meet the first week of July. The window to apply for the Planning Commission has closed. There were at least 28 applications for the five seats, including those of sitting Commissioners Karim Habbab, Hosea Mitchell, and Rory Stolzenberg. There will be at least two newcomers because Commissioners Taneia Dowell and Jody Lahendro are not eligible for another term.  There are three at-large vacancies on the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Applications for those positions are due on August 5, 2022. That entity’s next public meeting is June 27, 2022 and there’s no information yet available on their website. In fact, there’s not been a meeting listed on the CRHA website since January 2021. (apply here)City still seeking to fill key vacancies crucial to approval of new buildings Earlier this month, interim Charlottesville City Manager Michael C. Rogers told Council of a shortage of building inspectors. On Tuesday, he said positions are being readvertised and other solutions are being explored. “I have executed an agreement with the University of Virginia’s building official to provide staff capacity to assist us in the permitting and inspections process and they began last week,” Rogers said.Rogers said the agreement will carry into the fall. Albemarle Republicans choose Anderson in 7th Congressional District Voters in Albemarle’s “Small Sliver” within Virginia’s new 7th Congressional District went to the polls Tuesday in the Republican primary. Eight people in all voted in the six way race and half selected Derrick Anderson, the candidate who came in second-place overall. There were two votes for State Senator Bryce Reeves who came in third and two votes for the winner. Yesli Vega received 10,878 votes and will face incumbent Democrat Abigail Spanberger in November. Albemarle County is otherwise entirely within the new Fifth District. I’ve begun reporting on the Fifth District with a new newsletter if you want to join my journey in learning more about the localities within. In today’s two other shout-outs: Code for Charlottesville and local media!You’re listening to Charlottesville. Community Engagement and it’s time for two quick 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, the Crozet Gazette, 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!Next steps for Charlottesville Area Transit route changes outlined at partnership meeting Before the pandemic, Charlottesville Area Transit hired the firm Nelson Nygaard to take a look at its routes to suggest changes to optimize service. The study was done but nothing has been implemented so far. The Jefferson Area Regional Transit Partnership got an update at their meeting yesterday.“CAT planned on implementing that system optimization plan last year but they’ve been dealing with driver shortages like every other transit agency in the country so that’s been postponed,” said Jim Baker of Nelson Nygaard. CAT director Garland Williams directed Nelson Nygaard to revisit the route changes to identify how it might be phased into service over time rather than be done all at once. This would include restoring service to pre-COVID levels, expanding service areas in both Charlottesville and Albemarle, and expanding Saturday and Sunday service. Since the pandemic, CAT has run no service on Sundays. “We felt like that’s a pressing need to get some level of Sunday service back on the streets,” Baker said. “So we’re proposing to get the trolley back online, the Route 12 which ran pre-pandemic up the U.S. 29 corridor, and to get service down into Avon Street past the CAT garage for Sunday service. Baker said three routes would see changes as part of the first phase.The Center at Belvedere would finally be served by the northbound journey of Route 11. To make up for the time, there will no longer be service on a loop that runs through the Locust Grove neighborhood.  Route 2 would be split into two services with 2A serving Fifth Street Station and the Willoughby Shopping Center and 2B serving Mill Creek in Albemarle County for the first time on its way to Piedmont Virginia Community College. This would also serve Monticello High School. 2A would run for some of Sunday A second bus would be added to the current Route 6 to improve frequency to 30 minutesThe second phase would make changes to services along the U.S. 29 corridor.Route 7 would be expanded to the Wal-Mart and would travel bi-directionally along Hillsdale Drive and through Seminole Square Shopping Center. Baker said the goal here is to link downtown Charlottesville with Wal-Mart, which is a major shopping destination. Route 5 would no longer travel to the Wal-Mart but would instead have a northern terminus at Fashion Square Mall. Its new southern terminus would be the UVA Hospital. The Sunday-only Route 12 would be eliminated in favor of Route 7 going seven days a week The third phase will implement the rest of the changes. Here are some of them:Saturday service would be introduced to Route 1 Route 3 would be broken into two routes with one traveling solely between downtown and Willoughby Shopping Center A new route, tentatively known as Route 3E, would travel around Belmont and downtownRoute 6 would no longer serve the University of Virginia Hospital via Prospect Avenue. It would also be routed along South First Street as it travels between downtown and the Willoughby Shopping Center. This would add additional service to Crescent Hall.Route 8 serves Stonefield and would be altered to travel south to the University of Virginia Hospital and down to Willoughby Shopping Center via Prospect Avenue. This service would no longer travel downtown. Route 9 would also no longer serve the UVA Hospital and would instead travel to Fashion Square Mall Route 10 would be altered to no longer travel on Stony Point Road and instead would travel bidirectionally through the Pantops Shopping Center on its way between Downtown Charlottesville and Sentara Martha JeffersonWhen will the phases be implemented? According to the presentation, that’s all going to depend on drivers. Six more drivers are needed for phase one, a total of 12 are needed for phase two, and a total of 27 are needed for phase 3. There’s an additional “phase three plus” that’s perhaps not worth detailing because it would need a total of 46 additional drivers. That’s a much higher number than six. “Assuming we can get the pay scale to be comparable to Jaunt and [University Transit System], and we can get six more drivers, that should not be [beyond the reach] and then we can begin phase 1,” Williams said. “The jump, though, is getting authorization from the city and the county to fund us to make the additional resources.” The Regional Transit Partnership meeting was held a couple of hours before a public meeting on the Regional Transit Vision Plan. which is $350,000 in the making. The following illustrates confusion that can come from having planning processes not tied to actual logistics. City Councilor Brian Pinkston asked what the proposed CAT changes had to do with that study.“Is this sort of like a first step towards that larger vision?”Williams said these changes have nothing to do with the Regional Transit Vision Plan. “They didn’t even copy these routes,” Williams said. “They took a whole new approach and said the slate was clean.” I’ll have more from the Regional Transit Partnership and more on the Regional Transit Vision plan in future installments of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Support 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

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

Welcome to the only Friday the 13th of all of 2022! Many consider the day to be unlucky, a tradition that goes back many centuries. Rather than go through all of that, I’m more curious to know what you think of this day. Do you take precautions? Did you even notice? Do other days in a Friday the 13th’d month also have powers? In any case, those questions aren’t the purpose of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a podcast and newsletter whose host still wonders why. Charlottesville Community Engagement is mostly free but your financial support will help it growing! On today’s program:Governor Youngkin orders flags at half-mast to commemorate one million Americans who have died from COVIDThere are five vacancies on the Charlottesville Planning Commission, and the city is seeking applicantsAn update on the city’s zoning process as well as an update a lawsuit claiming the Comprehensive Plan is invalid under state lawAnd a quick preview of a conversation between the Reverend Alex Joyner and the author of a book on Virginia’s eugenics movement Shout-out to Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards In today’s subscriber-supported Public Service Announcement, the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards continues to offer classes this spring and summer to increase your awareness of our wooden neighbors and to prepare for the future. Coming up on June 7 is a tree identification course taught on Zoom by tree steward Elizabeth Ferguson followed by a separate hike on June 11 at the Department of Forestry’s headquarters near the Fontaine Research Park. That’s followed by a tree identification walk at the University of Virginia on June 12 for the public. On June 14, Rachel Keen will give a lecture on Zoom on the Social Life of Trees. Do trees really communicate with one another? What is a 'mother tree'? Can a tree do anything to repel a pest? Learn more at charlottesvilleareatreestewards.org.One million Americans have died of COVID since pandemic beganGovernor Glenn Youngkin has followed the direction of President Joe Biden and has ordered that the United States and Virginia flags be flown at half-mast until Monday to commemorate the milestone of a million Americans who have now died of COVID in the past 26 months. I’ll have more on the pandemic tomorrow.On Thursday, the Virginia Department of Health reported another 3,144 new cases, and the seven-day average for new cases is 2,441. The seven-day percentage for PCR tests is 13.7 percent, up from 11 percent on May 6 and 9.1 percent on April 29. None of those numbers include tests taken at home. This morning the Virginia Healthcare and Hospital Association reports 325 people in hospitals are currently COVID positive, but many of those patients may have been admitted for other reasons. Forty-five COVID patients are currently hospitalized in intensive care units and 20 of those are on ventilators. Nationwide, the trend is toward more cases with 84,778 new cases reported through PCR tests according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control. Hospitalizations are also trending upward across the country with a seven-day average of 2,603 new admissions a day. It’s important to remember that the number of COVID fatalities continues to trend downward with a current seven-day average of 272 deaths. The highest seven-day average during the pandemic was 3,420 in mid January of 2021 and 2,709 in early February of this year. Charlottesville hires two department headsThe City of Charlottesville has promoted two employees to take over their departments, and has also filled the position of Human Resources Director. Mary Ann Hardie will move to Charlottesville from Washington state to take the human resources position, which has been vacant since November 2020 when Michelle Vineyard left after just over a year of service. Hardie has served for the past three years as human resources director in Lacey, Washington. That’s a suburb of state capital Olympia that grew from 42,393 people to 53,526 from 2010 to 2020 according to the U.S. Census.Hardie starts work on May 16.Misty Graves has been with the city of Charlottesville’s Human Services Department for 16 years and has been the interim director since Kaki Dimock left the city to work for Albemarle County. “I am humbled by the opportunity to build on the existing work of the Department," is quoted in a press release. "Our Department is comprised of dedicated staff that are committed to creating a more equitable and just community so all of our residents may thrive, and it’s my honor to work alongside them.”David Dillehunt has been the interim deputy director of the Office of Communications and Public Engagement since soon after former director Brian Wheeler stepped down late last year. Deputy Director Joe Rice left soon afterwards. Dillehunt began working for Charlottesville in 2005 as a consultant has won two Regional Emmy Awards for work he’s produced for the city. In 2004, Dillehunt also produced a documentary on the children’s program You Can’t Do That On Television. (play the trailer) The city is still looking to fill the director’s position for the Office of Communications and Public Engagement. The position closes May 18 if you want to throw your hat in the ring. (see the vacancy)Vacancies opening up on Charlottesville Planning CommissionIf you have an interest in advising Charlottesville City Council on land use decisions, and have time to devote to the effort, you may get your chance. “There are spots on the Planning Commission that are coming open this summer,” said Missy Creasy, the Deputy Director of the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development Services. “And right now we are in the window for applications.” There are five terms ending this summer, and at least two current members cannot reapply. They are Jody Lahendro and Taneia Dowell. Commissioner Karim Habbab is filling an unexpired term which runs out on August 31. The terms of Hosea Mitchell and Rory Stolzenberg are both running out on that day. Stolzenberg is also filling out the unexpired term vacated when Hunter Smith resigned in 2018 after a handful of months in the position. Apply for the position here.Charlottesville zoning info slightly delayed Work on the next phase of the rewriting of Charlottesville’s zoning ordinance continues, but it’s slightly delayed. Neighborhood Development Services Director James Freas told the Planning Commission Tuesday that a “diagnostic and approach” report was not ready in time for their May meeting, but he hopes it will be out by the end of this month. (previous coverage)“As this point we are anticipating that the joint meeting between the Council and the Planning Commission to eventually make a decision on moving forward with that report, we’re projecting that happening in September at this point in time,” Freas said. Freas is now referring to this report as a conceptual plan for the new zoning ordinance. “It’s going to lay out what the approach is towards bringing our zoning into consistency with our Comprehensive Plan and its meant to include within it both modeling of potential building outcomes, so what type of buildings might be buildable under the policies articulated in the Comprehensive Plan, and how the market might respond to this new zoning,” Freas said. Freas said a public meeting will be held two weeks after the report with other community engagement events happening over the summer. The new Comprehensive Plan was adopted in November 2021. Consult Information Charlottesville for a series of property transactions in city limits since then. That joint City Council and Planning Commission meeting in September will be after a pair of judicial proceedings related to a lawsuit filed by anonymous Charlottesville property owners challenging the validity of the Comprehensive Plan. A hearing on the initial motion will be held in Charlottesville Circuit Court on July 15 with Judge Richard E. Moore presiding. A hearing on a city-filed demurrer to require the plaintiffs to identify themselves will be held on August 26. Alderman Library construction reaches milestoneThe tallest portions of the new Alderman Library have been installed, and the University of Virginia marked the occasion with a “topping out” ceremony. UVA Today reports that over a hundred workers were on hand to witness the placement of two steel beams that had been signed by UVA officials and more. “The two beams are part of the steel-framed clerestory roof structure, an architectural feature that will allow natural light to reach the study and reading rooms inside the library,” writes Matt Kelly in an article posted yesterday. The library itself is only two thirds of the way to being completed. When it’s done, there will be a new entrance that faces University Avenue. Bill Palmer is with the UVA Office of the Architect and he gave an update to the Charlottesville Planning Commission on Tuesday. “That’s a big milestone of a transformative project over there that will really open up the library towards University Avenue as you’re going up and down that thoroughfare,” Palmer said. The original library opened in 1937, but was closed off to University Avenue in 1967 when the “stacks” were built. I’ll have more from the Planning Commission in a future edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. In today’s other three shout-outsCode 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. In the middle, I’d like to take the opportunity to wish my brother, Steve Tubbs, a happy birthday for tomorrow. 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, 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!Eugenics and the Making of Modern VirginiaThe newsletter and podcast you’re experiencing stems from a website I created in 2005 to bring lectures, interviews, and audio segments to the public as an experiment. The Charlottesville Podcasting Network has been in the hands of my friend Dan Gould for several years, but he recently retired and passed the baton back to me. From time to time, I’ll end this newsletter with a small taste of what you might hear there. The Reverend Alex Joyner is the pastor of Charlottesville First United Methodist Church, and he wants to ask questions about what it takes to make a place more whole. One thread in his questioning is the future of Market Street Park in downtown Charlottesville. In February, he interviewed Elizabeth Catte, the author of Pure America: Eugenics and the Making of Modern Virginia. Catte said she wrote the book after learning about some of the history of Western State Hospital. After the original structure closed in 2005, the site was turned over to the Staunton Industrial Authority for redevelopment as apartments. At one point, the facility was known bluntly as the Western State Lunatic Asylum. “Its history became part of its branding identity and that was a really interesting transformation to me,” Catte said.“Yeah, that’s a long stretch to pull those two things together,” Joyner said. “So 200 years of history had to get condensed into something that could be about two paragraphs on a website and could also be anchored to branding material for tourism, for community development, so it developed this really cozy kind of positive story about early physicians who committed themselves to the humane treatment of mental illnesses,” Catte said. “That was certainly one of the chapters of that sites’ history but the larger chapter that I knew as a historian was the history of the institution during the eugenics era.”Eugenics was the legal practice of sterilizing those thought to be inferior so they would not reproduce. The 1927 United States Supreme Court ruling of Buck v. Bell cleared the way for the practice, with Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes delivering the line “three generations of imbeciles is enough.” The practice was legal until the 1970’s.“At least 1,700 people were sterilized against their will at Western State Hospital,” Catte said. “The longest serving superintendent was a vocal leader of the Virginia eugenics movement and it has a very harrowing history.”To hear more from Alex Joyner’s interview with Elizabeth Catte, visit the Charlottesville Podcasting Network.Or view the interview on YouTube. 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

It’s been three months since February 2, prompting the question: Has anyone checked to see how the groundhog is doing? Still, May 2 is the 122nd day of 2022, and we are now mathematically one third of the way through. Perhaps nothing is still. In any case, this is Charlottesville Community Engagement and I remain Sean Tubbs, here for another week and another months of newsletters and podcasts that are hopefully informative. On today’s program:Charlottesville crews are taking down dead Ash and Oak trees this yeCOVID cases are up sharply across Virginia this morningCharlottesville has a new Fire MarshalA Buckingham County resident has died following a fatal crash this morning in Albemarle County City Council will take up two land use items tonight, one of which would double the already approved residential density on a property near the University of VirginiaFirst shout-out goes to the Piedmont Master Gardeners for their annual plant saleIn today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out, the Piedmont Master Gardeners are pleased to announce the return of their annual plant sale! That’s happening on Saturday, May 7, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Albemarle Square Shopping Center. The sale will offer thousands of annuals, perennials, shrubs, vegetables, herbs and houseplants, including a large selection of native plants.In addition, shoppers can purchase garden implements, yard ornaments and other “Green Elephants”; have their tools sharpened by an expert; and drop off their surplus plastic nursery pots for recycling. The sale will also feature a Help Desk for gardening questions and information tables on native plants, soil and composting, invasive plants, conservation landscaping and much more.For more information, visit piedmontmastegardeners.org. COVID-19 update: Numbers trending upward again? As the week and month begin, it’s worth checking in with the COVID-19 pandemic statistics in Virginia. Brace yourselves for this number. The Virginia Department of Health reports another 4,192 new cases today, and the seven day average for positive PCR tests is at 9.8 percent. The seven day average for new tests is at 1,870 new cases a day. However, these cases have not yet resulted in a higher number of people in the hospital for COVID. According to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, there are 166 COVID patients currently in hospital care across Virginia and 28 are in intensive care units. Eleven are on ventilators. Those numbers are drastically lower than three months ago when the Omicron surge was at its peak. On Friday, the VDH reported 1,705 new cases. That’s the same day the UVA Health System held its weekly briefing, which included Chief Executive Officer Wendy Horton. She encouraged vigilance. “Among our employees and our workforce, we are seeing an uptick in community exposure in COVID so it isn’t going away in our community and I think a lot of friends and family are experiencing that this week,” Horton said. Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia, said the actual case counts are likely higher due to the number of home testing and due to the spread of a variant in Omicron. “They are increasingly more transmissible and because of that it’s very reasonable to take precautions,” Dr. Sifri said. “Masking works. It’s always worked. It will continue to work.” Dr. Sifri also encouraged people to investigate whether it is a good time for them to take an additional booster if eligible. “I think the first and foremost thing is to make sure that you are fully vaccinated and that you have completed what we consider the three dose vaccine series,” Dr. Sifri said.With allergy season in play, Dr. Sifri recommends self-testing to protect those you spend a lot of time around. “Your sniffles or scratchy throat that you may wish to attribute to hay fever may not be that but it could be a sign of COVID and to test yourself,” Dr. Sifri said. The Friday briefing also covered another emerging medical issue across the globe. So far there are no cases at the University of Virginia of severe unexplained cases of hepatitis in children, but doctors are keeping an eye out. Dr. Debbie-Ann Shirley is a pediatric infectious disease specialist who says more study is needed after an alert went out in late April.“Both the Centers for Disease Control and the Virginia Department of Health put out health advisories to notify health care providers about an increase in clusters of cases of severe liver diseases in children which we call hepatitis,” Dr. Shirley said in a briefing last Friday. One potential commonality is an adenovirus which can cause a variety of different ailments. The United Kingdom has seen a relatively high number of cases, some of which have required liver transplants. “It’s really the severity of these cases in young children that is causing concern and alarm and the reason that we want to investigate urgently to find out more information,” Dr. Shirley said. Local physicians are encouraged to reach out to UVA Health officials if they see pediatric patients with elevated levels of liver enzymes that are otherwise unexplained. “For parents who are trying to understand what to do when they hear this message, if they see signs and symptoms of hepatitis then to talk to their health care provider,” Dr. Shirley said. That includes yellowing of the eyes and skin, belly pain, and fatigue. I’ll have more on both issues as time moves on. Fatal crash at Hillsdale and Rio intersection this morningA 20-year-old from Dilwyn has died following a fatal crash this morning at the intersection of Rio Road and Hillsdale Drive. According to the Albemarle County Fire Rescue department, Mr. Kyjuan-Shallah Anthony Maurice Bell died at the scene after a collision with another vehicle. “The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Albemarle County Police Department’s Fatal Crash Reconstruction Team,” reads the press release. “This is the third traffic fatality investigated by ACPD in 2022.”City to remove dead treesThe biological war between the Emerald Ash Borer and ash trees is still being waged, but it’s very much in the favor of the invasive species. That’s been confirmed by the city’s new urban forester, Steve Gaines.“The beetle larvae tunnel under the bark, and damage nutrient and water flow throughout the tree – basically girdling the tree,” Gaines said in email Friday afternoon. “Once infested, the trees usually die within 2-5 years after initial infection.”This morning, Charlottesville’s Parks and Recreation Department began removing six dead ash trees at the intersection of McIntire Road and West Main Street. That will take place Monday through Wednesday between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. and motorists can expect delays. Gaines said it is hard to tell how many more ash trees across the city will die but there will be a focus on removing ones that can cause harm. “It is safe to say that the city will be removing Ash hazard trees for quite a while,” Gaines said. “Standing dead Ash trees are particularly dangerous because the dead limbs are brittle and can easily break and fall during wind/weather events.”Gaines said the city is seeking to treat some ash trees with injections, but this often requires a landowner or organization to help cover the cost of treatment. Later in the week, crews will remove three dead Oak trees from Belmont Park. Gaines said there are many possibilities for why they have died. The Charlottesville Tree Commission meets virtually Tuesday at 5 p.m. (meeting info)Fire Captain Phillips elevated to Fire MarshalA veteran with 23 years of experience on the Charlottesville Fire Department has been named as the city’s new fire marshal. Joe Phillips will replace Deputy Chief Joe Powers, who had been in charge of Community Risk Reduction. According to a release, Phillips joined the department in January 1999 as a firefighter and medic. He has served as a battalion chief and has been in the Fire Marshal’s office since 2017. That’s where the fire department’s Office of Community Risk Reduction is located. A national search is underway for a new Deputy Chief for risk reduction. In today’s other three 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. In the middle, I’d like to take the opportunity to wish my nephew, Ryan Craig, a happy 29th birthday. Where did the time go? 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, 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!Council to review two land use items this eveningLast month, the Charlottesville Planning Commission recommended approval of one land use item and recommended the denial of another at a joint public hearing with City Council. Tonight, City Council will hold final votes on both of them.The first is on the consent agenda. Southern Development seeks an increase of residential density at 209 Maury Avenue near the University of Virginia. Here’s city planner Matt Alfele.“The subject properties were rezoned from R-2U (residential two-family University) to R-3 with proffers in December 2019,” Alfele said. “The original plan called for residential development with 33 units. The new proposal calls for the same configuration but removes the parking underneath building 2 to accommodate additional units.”The new maximum count would be 64 units. As part of the proffers, six affordable units would be built by Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville at the Flint Hill development in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood. Flint Hill is also being developed by Southern Development and that required eight affordable units. Habitat will be building those, as well. Charlie Armstrong is vice president at Southern Development. “Yes, it would create more units if we have more density on this site,” Armstrong said. “It does create more affordable units. Those will need to be off-site and we like the idea of doing them with Habitat at Flint Hill. We need to get Flint Hill through the approval process and built.”Armstrong said University of Virginia students do not drive as much, but the company has agreed to develop a parking plan for the site. They’ll also build a seven-foot sidewalk along Maury Avenue.  An existing structure on the property will be kept as part of the project. The Commission voted unanimously to recommend the increase. Council has opted to put it on their consent agenda rather than discuss it in open session tonight.Planning Commission recommends denial of conversion of apartments to hotel useIn the other matter, developer Bill Chapman sought permission to convert an apartment complex on 14th Street into a hotel. Here’s city planner Dannan O’Connell. “The subject property is currently developed with a 21-unit multifamily condominium use and the applicant wishes to renovate the existing building to accommodate a 19-unit hotel with one residential apartment,” O’Connell said. The structure was originally built as a hotel in 1964 but converted to apartment use some time later. Tonight’s consideration by Council comes just over a year after the city adopted an Affordable Housing Plan that seeks to increase the number of units and nearly six months after a new Comprehensive Plan was adopted.“The proposed redevelopment does meet some of the 2021 Comprehensive Plan’s goals regarding sustainable reuse of existing buildings, protecting the existing identity of city neighborhoods, and retaining successful businesses and jobs,” O’Connell said. “The proposed change of use would also result in a reduction of available rental housing within the city and this area. However, the existing apartment use is non-conforming in nature and located in an area of dense residential apartments geared towards short-term student housing.”Much of the discussion at the Planning Commission was whether the residential units should be removed from circulation. Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg noted that the units rented at what would appear to be what’s known as “naturally occurring affordable housing.” “The studio rents for $770 a month and that includes utilities,” Stolzenberg said. “And then I go look at what that is in terms of [Area Median Income] and it’s right at the 45 percent AMI range for a one-person household.” O’Connell said the application made clear that none of those units were participating in a subsidized program requiring the rents to be that low. “The reason these units are affordable is because they are older and so people can afford to live in them,” said Planning Commissioner Liz Russell. Developer Bill Chapman said the conversion would be similar to what he and his business partners did at the Oakhurst Circle and Inn project at the corner of Jefferson Park Avenue and Jefferson Park Avenue. “My partners and I own nine buildings over here on the south side of UVA in the Oakhurst Gildersleeve Historic District and some of them are apartments and some are private homes and some are hotel rooms,” Chapman said.Chapman said he thought the end result of the renovations of those buildings has made some of those streets better than they been. He said he wants to do the same at 207 14th Street.“The block just down the hill from this property on 14th Street is one of the dirtiest blocks in the whole city in terms of trash and we’re going to transform that a little bit because being in the hospitality business it needs to look good,” Chapman said. Chapman said the apartments are run down and cheap because they are old hotel rooms. He is a contract purchaser, and does not currently own them. He said financing their renovation as an apartment would result in much higher rents. “This property was built as a motel and I think it’s best operated as a hotel especially since it needs this new life brought to it,” Chapman said. “Now, could it go for a few more years as an apartment building? Yeah. Could it go for 20 more years as an apartment building. No.”Russell said she did not think the people living in the apartment were necessarily students. “We have to remember that not just students live in the area around the University but it seems like a pretty great proximity to the UVA Health System,” Russell said. “So many people can’t live in this community let alone proximate to UVA. Russell said she would vote to recommend denial because she housing is more important than hotel rooms. Commissioner Karim Habbab also could not support it.“This is currently exactly the missing middle housing that we are trying to develop in the city and given our affordable housing issue, I cannot see how this would help with that,” Habbab said. The Commission voted 4-2 to recommend denial. Now it’s up to Council to make a decision. 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

The final Monday of the fourth month of 2022 is here, as April apparently prepares to transition into the middle of summer. Things are always heating up in local and regional government and this begins another week of coverage from Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that seeks to take the temperature as frequently as possible. I’m your unofficial proctor, 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.On today’s program:The Virginia General Assembly meets this Wednesday and some members of the House Democratic Caucus seek new leaders Finalists are announced for the Charlottesville Business Innovation Council’s awards gala in MayThe entire Village of Rivanna Community Advisory Committee has resigned in protestA committee will get to work to determine if an Albemarle elementary school should continue to be named for educator Mary Carr Greer And Albemarle County Supervisors approved another $2.5 million to move Crozet plaza project forward First shout-out is for the Rivanna River FestIn today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out, did you know we are now in the middle of the Rivanna River Fest? A host of partners including the Rivanna Conservation Alliance, the Nature Conservancy are holding a series of events this week to celebrate that waterway that helps define urban Albemarle and Charlottesville. This all culminates in the main event this Sunday, May 1, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Rivanna River Company on the banks of the Rivanna. This includes the Rivanna River Paddle Race, the virtual Fix a Leak Family 5K, There will also be Water Quality Monitoring Demonstrations, City Nature Challenge, Pop-up Environmental Education Activities, and a Guided Bird Walk at Riverview Park. Learn more at rivannariver.org!General Assembly to meet this week as some Virginia House Democrats seek new leadershipThe General Assembly is set to return to Richmond this Wednesday for a session to respond to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s recommendations and vetoes. Brandon Jarvis writes for the Virginia Political Newsletter that one Democratic member of the House is seeking a new leadership vote before that work gets underway, with him at the top. (read the story for more details)Delegate Don Scott (D-80) sent a letter yesterday to members of the House Democratic Caucus offering his resignation as its Vice-Chair for Outreach. He also claimed caucus by-laws require an election for his replacement before Wednesday’s veto session begins. He also invoked the by-laws to call for a leadership vote. “I therefore call for a vote for the Leader, Caucus Chair, and if a replacement is appointed, Vice-Chair for Outreach,” Scott wrote.The current minority leader is Delegate Eileen Filler-Corn (D-41), who had served as speaker when the Democrats had a ten seat majority from 2020 to 2021. The current caucus chair is Delegate Charniele Herring (D-46). Republicans now have 52 seats to the Democrats’ 48 and Scott nominated himself as the new Leader with Delegate Sally Hudson (D-57) as Caucus Chair. Brandon Jarvis reports that the vote will be a secret ballot, and 25 votes are needed for a slate to be elected. Process underway to reevaluate name of Greer Elementary SchoolAlbemarle County Public Schools continues their review of existing schools this week to see if their current namesakes are appropriate for the third decade of the 21st Century. On Tuesday, a committee to review the name of Mary Carr Greer Elementary School will begin their work at a 3 p.m. organizational meeting, but the public is not allowed. Twelve people have been selected to see if the name is consistent with the county’s naming policy. This includes Principal Steve Saunders as well as guidance counselor Susie Lee. As with other schools that have gone through this process, the committee will develop a community survey to solicit suggestions for a school name. Two public meetings will be held as well. “Members of the community and the committee can recommend either a new name be chosen for the school or the retention of its current name,” reads a notice on the county’s website. “If the advisory committee selects the current school name as one of its three finalists, the policy requires the committee to examine if Mary Carr Greer, for whom the school is named, made contributions to the community of state, national or world-wide significance.” According to the Ivy Creek Foundation, Mary Carr Greer lived from 1884 to 1973 and was the eldest daughter of Hugh Carr. She attended Union Ridge Graded School, a school for Black students established after Emancipation. Greer would become a teacher and joined the faculty at the Albemarle Training School before becoming its principal in 1931. She retired from education in 1950. The elementary school that carries her name opened in 1979 off of Lambs Lane. So far, the names of Broadus Wood Elementary and Virginia L. Murray Elementary School have been retained. Paul Cale Elementary was renamed Mountain View, Mortimer Sutherland Elemawas renamed Lakeside Elementary, and Murray High School is now the Community Lab School. Jack Jouett Middle School will become Journey Middle School on July 1. Village of Rivanna CAC members resign en masseAll but two members of one of Albemarle’s growth area advisory committees have resigned. The county’s website shows eight vacancies on the Village of Rivanna Community Advisory Committee (VORCAC). That group is charged with making recommendations and providing guidance to the Board of Supervisors on land use items within the scope of the Village of Rivanna Master Plan. However, in an April 19 post on their Substack newsletter, members cited staff interference in their efforts to provide education efforts about the master plan. “Supervisor [Donna] Price is concerned that our review of the Master Plan update is taking too much staff time,” they wrote. “It is our opinion that more time is needed to create a working plan that can be used as intended.”The group last met in March, but an April 11 meeting was canceled. The post concludes with an email Price sent to former VORCAC Chair Dennis Odinov explaining that the ongoing review of the Comprehensive Plan takes precedence over other planning activities which are requiring staff time. Price is the Board of Supervisors’ liaison to VORCAC. “There are no active development applications ready for discussion at the VORCAC, and consistent with Staff recommendation from [Planning Director] Charles Rapp on March 1st, there is no necessity for holding a VORCAC meeting this month,” Price wrote on April 5. Many of the VORCAC members have insisted loudly for many years that the plan allows for no more than one housing unit per acre. Last October, they successfully held the Board of Supervisors to that interpretation of the vision with Southern Development’s Breezy Hill development. The company had sought to build many more units than the maximum of 80 approved by Supervisors. Joe Fore is a member of the Crozet Community Advisory Committee who addressed the Board of Supervisors last week about the issue. He spoke as a community member and not in an official capacity as the Crozet group’s new chair. “To the extent that this portends the Board’s treatment of all CAC’s, it is troubling,” Fore said. “The notion that CAC’s would be prevented from meeting or even setting their own agendas even in months where there are no pressing issues from county staff is a dramatic departure of how these committees have operated.” Fore said county staff have used the pandemic to assert more control over the groups. Questions sent this morning the Office of Communications and Public Engagement were not returned in time for this newsletter, but I will continue to follow-up. There is a precedent for Supervisors putting limitations on CACs and making other changes. In December 2014, Supervisors voted to suspend the Places29 CAC and split it into three different groups at the request of former Supervisor Brad Sheffield. Three more shout-outs for our middle break!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. Another supporter of the Town Crier Productions’ Patreon account 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 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, 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 Supervisors approve $2.5 million in infrastructure funding for Barnes Lumber projectThe Albemarle Board of Supervisors has agreed to spend an additional $2.5 million in public money on a public-private partnership to redevelop the Barnes Lumber yard in Crozet to provide the infrastructure for a more urban character. Supervisors had previously agreed to the partnership in 2019. The original agreement required the county to pay $1.6 million toward the plaza and to provide the equivalement amount in tax rebates through a synthetic tax increment financing scheme. Doug Bates is on the board of the Downtown Crozet Initiative, a nonprofit group also working toward the effort. "For the last five years, we have engaged in an aspirational dream out in Crozet, hoping for a plaza," Bates said. "A couple years back that dream began to get some real teeth to it when you as a Board acted to develop an agreement between New Town Associates, DCI, and yourself, the county itself."Bates said the addendum to the agreement is necessary to help jumpstart the economic development efforts to complete the project."It's going to be your western outpost," Bates said. "A moment of real inspiration to watch the mountains and see children play. However, additional funding is required to help with cost overruns caused by inflation. The cost estimate for the first phase is now $7.88 million, higher than the $5.4 million originally anticipated. “The roads in particular which are of most significance with respect with what we’re asking the Board to consider in its investment as a part of this package today,” said Doug Walker, the deputy county executive.  (review Walker’s presentation)Walker said the project would not happen without the public-private partnership. “It provides public contribution to provide for public benefit including the developer’s contribution of his money in order to match [Virginia Department of Transportation] revenue-sharing money,” Walker said. Walker said the closest equivalent to what the plaza hopes to be is the Charlottesville Downtown Mall. “In fact, that is a plaza owned by and managed by the city Parks and Recreation [Department],” Walker said. “You can see the essential connectivity it provides to that business corridor and the life that it brings into that area.” Walker said this project builds off of previous Albemarle investment into the Crozet Library which build a road connection to a future Library Avenue. It’s also interconnected with efforts to also transform what’s known as The Square. “The Square is that piece of road that runs from Crozet Avenue in front of Mudhouse, Fardowners, Parkway Pharmacy, and then ties into what would be Phase One of this project,” Walker said. “That also is a VDOT transportation revenue sharing project.” Staff suggested using $1 million from the American Rescue Plan Act and $1.5 million from the Economic Development Investment Pool. “This is an old industrial site being repurposed,” Walker said. “This is putting it back into constructive public and private use.” As part of the amended agreement, the developer will build public restrooms in the first phase. Another $50,000 will go to the Downtown Crozet Initiative for seed money for an executive director to program the new space. Supervisor Ned Gallaway wanted to know more about how that $50,000 would be used “How will the relationship between the county and that entity and then the responsibilities for each to manage the space and that position be formalized?” Gallaway asked. Lance Stewart, the county’s director of Facilities and Environmental Services, said a management agreement would be worked out. “I would expect a couple of work sessions with the Board in the future to make sure we are comfortable with the role that they would hold and the management responsibilities that they have,” Stewart said.Gallaway said he just wants to avoid a county employee being required to run the plaza. CBIC announces finalists for tech awardsAn organization that seeks to promote business and technology in the greater Charlottesville area has announced the finalists for its annual awards gala. The Central Business Innovation Council will hold their first in-person ceremony since 2019 on May 26 at Castle Hill Cider. “These awards serve as annual touchstones others can look to for inspiration and encouragement during their professional journeys,” said Tracey Greene. “These past two years have been challenging for many and we are delighted to recognize the perseverance, resilience, growth and creativity of these outstanding leaders, innovators, and organizations.”CBIC has been handing out these awards since 1998, but took last year off due to the pandemic.  The 2020 event was held in September and was held virtually, as reported in the September 11, 2020 edition of this newsletter.Business of the YearAdial PharmaceuticalsPerrone RoboticsRivanna MedicalEducator of the YearEmily Anderson of Lakeside Middle School, Albemarle County Public SchoolsRobbie Munsey of St. Anne’s BelfieldHeather Schmidt of Career and Tech Ed, Albemarle County Public SchoolsEmployer of the YearArcheMedXCosaicCoconstructEntrepreneur of the YearAaron Reedy of Data ClassroomSandy Reisky of Apex Clean EnergyDan Schleifer of CosaicInnovator of the YearLytos TechnologiesLumacyteTwin ThreadPartnershipBetterWorldCenter for Nonprofit Excellence + United Way of Greater CharlottesvilleCode for CharlottesvilleStartup of the YearMolecular BiologicalsSceneThinkSpringbok AnalyticsSocial Good AwardSarnyaSteam Discovery AcademySteam KitzVisitAbleStudent Entrepreneur of the YearAlec Brewer, TransfoamElizabeth Blankenship, CotonElliot Crotteau, Elliot’s Vision 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

This episode deals with rezoning, housing density and peaceful mediation. Sound contradictory? Stay tuned to learn about rezoning and how to relax. We talk with reporter Erin O'Hare from Charlottesville Tomorrow in the first half and chat with Janet Evergreen of RiverBluff Sanctuary in the second. For sharing input on housing in Charlottesville: Email engage@cvilleplanstogether.com Visit Cvilleplanstogether.com Reach out directly to Neighborhood Development Services Director James Freas at freasj@charlottesville.gov Call James Freas directly at (434) 970-3182 For Community Meditations: https://janetevergreen.com/meditation-retreats/

Curling is Cool Day. Inconvenience Yourself Day. National Rationalization Day. These are some of the themes supposedly associated with February 23, 2022, another day with a little more light than the one day before. I suppose it is inconvenient that it’s way too warm and there’s no local ice rink to go curling. Instead, dig in for another installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a podcast and newsletter that seeks everyday to emulate the principles of World Understanding and Peace Day. On today’s program:Albemarle County Executive Jeffrey Richardson presents a fiscal year budget for FY23 that’s 20 percent higher than the current yearAmazon will build a 1 million square foot fulfillment center in Fishersville Governor Youngkin signs four more bills into lawCharlottesville’s Parking Advisory Panel further discusses civilian enforcement of parking First two shout-outs go to good cheer and local mediaLet’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, the Crozet Gazette, 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!Amazon to open fulfillment center in FishersvilleGovernor Glenn Youngkin has announced that the internet distribution company Amazon plans to open a 1 million square fulfillment center in Fishersville, creating 500 jobs where workers will specialize in packing and shipping bulky and large-sized items. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) and the Shenandoah Valley Partnership have been working to secure the project. “It has been a great pleasure to work with the Amazon team and Augusta County to secure this major expansion by one of the world’s largest corporations,” said Shenandoah Valley Partnership Executive Director Jay A. Langston, Ph.D. “We are excited about the expanded logistics infrastructure that will exist as a result of Amazon’s location.”Youngkin said the economy is a top priority for his administration. “Amazon’s new fulfillment center in Virginia is a testament to the Commonwealth’s exceptional infrastructure, competitive business costs, and long-term commitment that I’ve made to make sure we are developing talent and training workers to make Virginia the best state for business,” Youngkin said.  Amazon has over 30,000 full-time and part-time employees in the Commonwealth of Virginia already and recently launched delivery stations in Louisa County and Waynesboro. They opened a robotic fulfillment center at Richmond Raceway in Henrico County and both a delivery center and a “cross-dock fulfillment center” in Stafford County last year. The announcement is a sign that economic development is bipartisan. Last year, the Shenandoah Valley Partnership worked with the Northam administration and the VEDP to locate: An Italian cured meats producer to Rockingham CountyThe expansion of Virginia Industrial Plastics in RockinghamA distribution center for the restaurant chain CAVA in the Mill Place Commerce Park in AugustaA factory in Rockbridge County for Modine Manufacturing Company, a company that makes cooling systems for data centersExpansion of textile-based engineering firm Ryzing TechnologiesLearn more about the announcement on Virginia Business.Youngkin signs four billsThis morning, Governor Youngkin signed four more bills that have passed both houses of the General Assembly. HB55 will require the State Registrar of Vital Records to provide a weekly update of recently deceased people to the Department of Elections “to promptly cancel the registration of a person on the list.” HB195 would allow a locality’s registrar to waive requirements for location of polling places if a suitable building cannot be found within legal parameters.HB386 adds the Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge to a list of those where D.C. and Maryland have jurisdiction to clear disable vehicles. HB971 would grant additional tax relief to Virginia businesses “Through this bill, Virginia expanded and made retroactive tax benefits related to Paycheck Protection Program loans and Rebuild Virginia grants to ensure COVID-19 aid granted to businesses would not be treated as taxable income,” reads a press release. “Altogether, this bill will save Virginia individual and business taxpayers $201 million in taxes.”Charlottesville Parking Advisory Panel discusses civilian enforcement of parkingCharlottesville in November 2020 was in a different place, with interim City Manager John Blair at the helm. At that time, the city’s Parking Advisory Panel endorsed a proposal to ask the City Council to transition enforcement of on-street parking limits from the police department to a civilian contractor. (Parking panel supports non-police enforcement, November 18, 2020)Since then, Blair left the city. Chip Boyles was hired and resigned within nine months, shortly after he terminated former Police Chief RaShall Brackney. Charlottesville’s Parking Director Rick Siebert told the panel earlier this month that neither the policy or parking enforcement appears to be a priority at this time. “I’m aware the police have a lot of challenges right now but parking seems to have fallen pretty far down the list,” Siebert said. Now the interim City Manager is Michael C. Jones, and his primary focus is getting together Charlottesville’s budget for next fiscal year. “He has not been briefed on this issue at all,” said Chris Engel, the city’s economic development director.The panel discussed whether they should bring the matter up during the city’s budget development process. Siebert said there would be be no additional revenue, but panel chair Joan Fenton said switching to a civilian firm could free up resources in a department that is understaffed. “And it would free up the [Community Service Officer] or somebody else to do other duties which they are short-handed for so perhaps it does make sense to present it as part of the budgeting,” Fenton said.Engel said it was more of a policy issue than a budget one and suggested this was not the right time to approach Jones or Council. “It might be the type of thing that a citizen could submit as an idea though rather than coming officially from one of you all,” said panel member Kirby Hutto. The panel then suggested resending its previous letter. Siebert urged them to be realistic until after the city’s FY23 budget is adopted later this spring.“We only have an acting chief of police and this kind of policy issue is just not on anyone’s radar right now compared to trying to hash out what the city is going to do about its budget,” Siebert said. Siebert suggested trying again in May. The panel agreed to wait. Third 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. Richardson presents $565M “Transform Albemarle” to SupervisorsA strong projection of revenues in Albemarle has led County Executive Jeffrey Richardon to present the Board of Supervisors with a budget for fiscal year 2023 that is twenty percent higher than the existing year. (download the budget)“This fiscal year’s recommended budget is built to transform Albemarle,” Richardson said. The property tax rate will remain at 85.4 cents per $100 assessed value. Property assessments in Albemarle are up an average of 8.4 percent in 2022. Sales tax, food and beverage tax, and transient occupancy taxes are up 17.1 percent from FY21.However, Richardson said not all signs are positive. “We are mindful that those indicators don’t highlight some of the challenges in the local economy,” Richardson said. “The prices that consumers are paying have risen, they’ve risen by 7.5 percent when comparing January 2022 to January 2021. Gas prices are up nearly 40 percent from where they were a year ago. Participants in the SNAP Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program remain higher than in pre pandemic 2019.” Richardson said he has had direction from Supervisors to reduce the amount of the county’s budget that is based on the property tax. In fiscal year 2007, sixty percent of Albemarle’s revenue came from that source, but that has increased to 68.5 percent in the current year’s budget.The budget is built on an increase in the food and beverage tax from two percent to six percent, and an increase in the transient lodging tax from three percent to eight percent. That would match the same rates in Charlottesville. “Thousands of people visit our community for vacations, sporting events, weddings, and to visit our natural and historic resources,” Richardson said. “We are also a regional hub for commercial activity. Increasing our taxes in these two areas means we can begin to shift revenues away from the people who live here and spread it out more broadly to those who are visiting our community.”The budget also anticipates lowering the personal property tax rate by 86 cents due to a sharp increase in the valuation of used vehicles.“We’ve been given the authority for a local cigarette tax which went into effect in January,” Richardson said. “A plastic bag tax which we will be exploring in the coming months. Richardson highlighted several areas of new spending in the budget. A Community Response Team will be created to respond to “individuals in crisis with a cross-functional team” consisting of social workers, police, and firefighters. The funding source is the cigarette tax authorized by the General Assembly in recent years. “Depending on the details of the call, this team will adapt their response to best meet the critical needs of the person, ensuring the safety of all parties involved,” Richardson said. “This program responds to a troubling growth in mental health call services that have unique needs.” The capital budget for fiscal year 2023 anticipates spending the highest one-year amount in county history. In fiscal year 2006, the figure was $23 million and the Albemarle population was around 91,400. Now the population is estimated at 114,424 and the recommended capital budget for next year represents a need to catch up.“For fiscal year ‘23 the recommended capital budget is approximately $93 million and I would like to note that in 2010 and in 2011 these years were impacted by the Great Recession and in 2021 by the pause in the capital program due to the pandemic,” Richardson said.A fire engine at Pantops Station 16 will be operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “Seven days a week to further support the strength of the fire rescue system and to reduce reliance on Charlottesville Fire for calls east of the City,” Richardson said The capital budget also has funding to increase space to address increasing enrollments in Albemarle public schools.“The budget recommendations will over the next five years advance three new public school projects to address capacity needs within our school system,” Richardson said. “Two elementary schools. One in the northern feeder pattern and one from the south, and a second high school center.”Biscuit Run Park will be opened with five miles of trails and athletic fields.“This is a 1,200 acre natural park within the county’s development area and it will provide a park experience unlike any of our other parks, combining the natural features of our rural parks with athletic amenities that you’d expect in an urban park,” Richardson said. In recent years, Albemarle has been putting money into a line item to match other sources of funding. “This budget recommends continued investments in our transportation leveraging program which provides local funding to draw down state funding for road and bike and pedestrian improvements,” Richardson said. Some of the American Rescue Plan Act funding will be used to pay for the cost of some urban Albemarle properties to be connected to the sewer system.“There is a connection cost that can be out of reach for many homeowners,” Richardson said. “The proposed program will provide fiscal support to low-income households in making that shift as the age of these homes and the infrastructure attached to them is reaching a tipping point where the failure of a septic system in the urban area presents a real environmental health hazard.” Other aspects of the budget: There’s a four percent market adjustment for staffThe county will pick up funding of the Yancey Community Center once a grant from the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation expires. The county will fund a microtransit project on Pantops and the Places-29 areaWork to implement the Housing Albemarle plan will be paid for through a combination of the budget surplusThe public hearing on Richardson’s recommended budget will be held virtually on March 2. Work sessions will be held throughout that month before a public hearing on the tax rate on April 27 and the version of the budget marked up by Supervisors. Approval is set for May 9. Supervisors had a few comments in advance of the public hearing next week. Several expressed concern that action in this year’s General Assembly may affect the budget. It will be the first budget for new Supervisor Jim Andrews (Samuel Miller). “A lot of times I’ve always been advised that when you try to figure out what’s a priority in any organization it’s not to ask what they’re doing but what they’re not doing,” Andrews said. Supervisor Ann Mallek (White Hall) has been through over a dozen budget cycles so far, including during the Great Recession when the capital budget was slashed. “That reduction of $100 million in new projects three and four years in a row is why we have the backlog that we have,” Mallek said. “We are making a valiant effort at catch-up with available one-time money that is a once-in-a-lifetime generational thing to have at hand.”Supervisor Donna Price (Scottsville) praised staff for reducing the personal property tax.“We talk about using equity and inclusion in our decisions and your proposal here to reduce the personal property tax provides an across the county truly equitable calculation of relief for our community members,” Price said. “We do have so many people who are in tenancies and almost everyone has to rely on their vehicle for transportation because of the nature of our county being so rural in so many areas.” More to come in the very near 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

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

As the new Republican Governor steps into office there are many questions about how he will proceed with mask mandates. Charlottesville Tomorrow journalists discuss this and other topics such as the new redistricting lines drawn in the Commonwealth.

On paper, Angilee Shah is an unlikely choice to be the first Editor-in-Chief for a local online news organization such as Charlottesville Tomorrow. As a journalist covering international news and as founding editor of PRI's Global Nation she has covered conflicts across the map. But dig deeper and you find someone completely devoted to the local news cause. In this episode of IMHO, hear her story and hear her plans to include more of Charlottesville's diverse community in the editorial process of Charlottesville Tomorrow.

This episode details winter weather and all the complications it can sometimes bring. Snow days are special, but they tend to come with real power and heat related issues that often affect the Charlottesville community. Today, we're talking with Erin O'Hare of Charlottesville Tomorrow about how we can better prepare for weather emergencies, as well as what resources are already in place for residents of Albemarle County.

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

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

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

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. 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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

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