Podcasts about fashion square mall

Wednesday 5-7-25 Show #1143: Tonight we talk about the sad state of the Fashion Square Mall, some of the worst stages we've played, security at clubs, fights breaking out at shows, and audience members walking out of shows.

The I Love CVille Show headlines: 2 Weeks To Vacate – All Fashion Square Mall Tenants Certified Letter Sent, Tenants Now Scrambling CVille's Lumin Acquired By Publicly Traded Biz Domino's Off High St, Moving To Pantops By Giant CVille's Roots Natural Kitchen Opens 14th Location CVille Radio Group Rebrands To CVille Media Group Verve Apartments: 729K+ SQF, 463 Apts, 1,332 Beds Mitch Korte, Executive VP Development, On 1/22 Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Toy Lift Taking Place Now At Fashion Square Mall UVA Guide Service Divorces From UVA Guide Service Will Give Unsanctioned Tours How Will Jim Ryan And UVA BOV Respond? Some Insight Into Duckpin Bowling At Dairy Market Things To Do This Weekend In CVille Area Multi-Million Anonymous Donation To UVA NIL Former UVA Coach Mendenhall Inked By Utah St Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

Mike Collantes started his culinary career inside Orlando's Fashion Square Mall, but he now counts himself among the exclusive ranks of Michelin-starred chefs. Collantes earned his Michelin Star in 2022 for his omakase restaurant Soseki in Winter Park. “After the Michelin Star, we're seeing international clientele and guests, as well as our local guests, but really put us on the map for what we've been doing here in Winter Park,” he said. The same year he won his Michelin Star, Collantes closed his first restaurant Taglish, a fast-casual Filipino concept that had three locations at its height. “As we got busier with the fine dining restaurants and other restaurants, our lease came up, and we decided to close that venture down, never to really open it again,” Collantes said. However, with the success of his fine dining restaurant, Collantes has had the ability to open several other restaurants around the greater Orlando area, including Sushi Saint, which was awarded a Bib Gourmand by Michelin. The award highlights high-quality food at reasonable prices. “Last year, November, we opened up our doors (to Sushi Saint),” he said. “There (was) no hand-rolled temaki bar in town. So it's a different way to eat sushi, utilizing still the same quality that we do at our fine dining and just making it a little bit more casual.” In addition to Soseki and Sushi Saint, Collantes is rapidly expanding his culinary empire. He recently opened a sake speakeasy, Bar Kada, next to Soseki. He is also planning to reopen Taglish inside the food hall that used to be The Hall on the Yard, which is now under new ownership. “Taglish is Tagalog in English — so good representation of not just traditional Filipino food. It's really the upbringing of everyone who's migrated to America and I would say it was my connecting point back to my culture, which, you know, I grew up here in the States,” Collantes said. Collantes also plans to open a French restaurant there as well, Chez Les Copain. The chef said it is something the area is lacking in. “We saw a big decline in French restaurants (in Orlando) in the past couple years. A lot of them have just closed up shop,” he said. In addition to all of his work in Orlando, Collantes is starting to work on some international ventures. “I've been doing consulting for the past year, year and a half, with other brands, and it brought me to this new concept called Kaimana, which will be opening this fall in Dubai,” he said. On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Collantes talks more about the opportunities he's gotten since earning a Michelin Star. He also talks about the struggles that many restaurants are dealing with now as costs rise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are now eight days until Leap Day, a 24-hour-period that only happens every four years and for which there do not appear to be any large celebrations. Will there be an edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement on that day? For now, it may be better to simply proceed with the February 21, 2024 edition of the program. I'm Sean Tubbs.On today's show:* A man is dead after being struck last evening by a moving vehicle on U.S. 29 between Stonefield and Seminole Square Shopping Center* Charlottesville's Planning Commission gets an update on UVA's three affordable housing projects as well as student housing at the Darden Business School* The Albemarle County Public Safety Operations Center at Fashion Square Mall is now operational * Albemarle County Executive Jeffrey Richardson recommends a budget for FY2025 with no anticipated tax rate increases, but one that's about $75 million larger than in FY24 due to increased borrowing for capital projects  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

BONUS EPISODE! Today's show features a LIVE recording of the I Needed That Podcast at the lululemon store in Scottsdale's Fashion Square Mall. We partnered with lululemon to promote and chat about the upcoming #lululemon10k - happening in Scottsdale on November 12th. We set up our recording studio at lululemon and it was so much fun!  Mathew and Chris interview Stephen J. Baines, Founder & CEO Fulfillment In Training (F.I.T.), Jason Harris, current lululemon ambassador and Rachel Paul (she comes back with an update on her transformation!) Chris and Mathew talk about training for a 10k!  Chris and Mathew play a round of: Name That Tune with their guests Go to https://betterhelp.com/ineededthat for 10% off your first month of therapy with BetterHelp and get matched with a therapist who will listen and help #sponsored Try Neurogum over at: https://tryneurogum.com/ineededthat #sponsored Thanks for checking out our podcast and please don't forget to follow along on Instagram at www.instagram.com/ineededthatpodcast  Connect with Chris Powell, get links to his new app (coming soon) as well as products & speaking info at www.ChrisPowell.com Connect with Mathew Blades, and bring him into speak at www.learnfrompeoplewholivedit.com Bring movement to your company or school with Move 1 Million www.m1m.org Run the lululemon10k with us this November 12th, in Scottsdale, Arizona. Register HERE!  

Infanta Maria. Arvid Horn. Athenagoras I of Constantinople. These are but a few of the people who were born on April 6 in decades and centuries gone by who perhaps none of us have heard about before. Yet, anyone could do a deep dive into any subject matter with just a little research. That's more or less what every installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement seeks to achieve, just on a more concentrated set of topics closer to the here and now. I'm Sean Tubbs, curious to know what we'll all learn about today. On today's program:* Home Depot has filed plans to build a new store at the site of the former Sears and the Fashion Square Mall property they own * A new drive-through franchise is coming to Pantops Shopping Center* The window is open for applicants to apply for housing choice vouchers offered by Albemarle County* The University of Virginia will move forward with a study of potential locations for second-year student housing as part of a $2.5 billion capital plan * Charlottesville City Council approves a new lease for Unity Field* But Council wants more staff analysis before approving a regional plan to prepare and respond to natural disasters 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

Thot Catalog is a very interesting woman from New York. In this episode she joins me by phone as I stroll the Fashion Square Mall in Scottsdale and she offers her perspective on malls, internet culture, nutrition, exercise, Long Island and more. Enjoy. Thot Catalog on Twitter: https://twitter.com/christ_in_dior Thot Catalog on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neckbeardpaypig/

Athena Emmans, General Manager of Fashion Square Mall, and Alex Urpí, CEO of Emergent Financial Services, LLC., joined me live on The I Love CVille Show! The I Love CVille Show airs live before a worldwide audience Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify and iLoveCVille.com.

Gina M. Garcia is the 1%. Ninety-nine percent of all children abducted by a stranger are murdered within the first 24 hours. At the tender age of eight, Gina saved herself by jumping out of a moving car half-naked, after being brutally raped, sodomized, and assaulted at knife point, at the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, Florida on October 12, 1981. Gina was taken by the same person that abducted and murdered Adam Walsh, (son of John Walsh, the host and creator of America's Most Wanted). After Gina's innocence was stolen, she experienced decades of self-destructive behavior including dropping out of high school and college.In 2006, Gina was once again victimized when her business was burglarized in an apparent hate crime, thus triggering suppressed memories of that horrific day twenty-five years earlier. She began to feel like she was losing her mind and sought out mental health treatment from the Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital, where she was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). There she learned the necessary tools to not only live with PTSD, but to excavate and heal much of childhood trauma. With Gina's deep understanding of the journey of healing, from the long-term effects of sexual trauma, she was inspired to write a script with hopes of helping other survivors. During an award ceremony for a film project she had helped produce, Gina bumped into award-winning writer/director Patty Jenkins, whom she admired for her work on ‘Monster.' She believed Ms. Jenkins was the only one who could direct her story and asked her, but was told “No Gina-- you have to tell your story.” Gina stated she wasn't a director, but Ms. Jenkins response was “you will be when you are done”. Never in her wildest dreams did Gina imagine that the director of ‘Monster' would teach her how to be her own ‘Wonder Woman!' With Patty Jenkins as mentor, Gina wrote, produced and directed her life story in her directorial debut “Untold: This is My Story” which she self-funded, adapted into a book called “Untold: I am the 1%” and launched a charity called the “The Untold Project” where survivors of sexual assault have a safe space to tell their own stories. Gina believes that when it comes to trauma, no story should go UNTOLD!

Chef Lewis Lin did not plan on being a restauranteur. “I moved here in 2006,” Lin said. “I was coming for my master's degree.” Lin came to Florida from Taiwan, pursuing a master's in finance. Unfortunately, he graduated in 2008, just as the recession hit the U.S. “I gotta find a job and I love food. I love food — always have. Old foods connect me to family and friends,” he said. So, Lin started working in restaurants. Eventually, he purchased his first restaurant, Jade Sushi & New Asian in College Park. Jade remains a fairly traditional sushi restaurant, but Lin was looking to bring something more unique to Orlando's dining scene. “Back then, all the restaurants in Orlando, especially Japanese restaurants, they only did sushi rolls, nothing else but sushi rolls,” Lin said. “I was thinking there is something better I can serve to friends or customers — bring some different culture, food to the city.” This led Lin to open Susuru, a Japanese-style izakaya restaurant decked in Showa-era pieces of pop culture. “It's more close to where I can always go when I go to Japan (or) when I go to Taiwan,” he said. Susuru sells Japanese-style street food such as yakitori, which is skewered chicken grilled over coals, and ramen. The name actually comes from the sound people make while slurping noodles. The Showa era refers to a period in Japanese culture following WWII that saw the creation of Japan's popular culture that persists to this day, such as Godzilla, Ultraman and Power Rangers. “I grew up in Taiwan. We've been influenced by Japan so much — the culture, the pop culture, the anime, those things — when I grew up, it was everything,” Lin said. “Showa was so different compared to the history of Japan.” Lin is keeping a similar aesthetic as he opens his third restaurant, Juju, which is now in its soft opening. “Soft opening will be August,” said Lin, the chef and owner of Juju. “After soft opening, when we are fully staffed, we will probably announce the grand opening.” Juju is opening up at 700 Maguire Blvd., a building that used to house a Pizza Hut, right across the street from the Fashion Square Mall. The construction saw the former Pizza Hut transformed to have the appearance of a Shōwa period-style Japanese house. “We separate the whole restaurant into three different areas,” Lin said. “First, we have a really more high-end Kappo bar, a chef's table — six seats, reservation only, serving 10 courses with a premium sake pairing option.” The other sections are a traditional izakaya setting, which will serve drinks and snacks for a more casual dining experience, and another section focused on serving a late-night crowd. Lin said he wanted to make Juju distinct from his other two restaurants. “The reason for doing that in the Milk District is because I want to bring different concepts and share different kinds of food themes with (the people there),” Lin said. On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Lin talks about the food he wants to share with customers. He also talks about the struggles of trying to open a new restaurant amid labor shortages and supply chain issues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the 214th day of the year, which means we are now 58.6 percent of the way through 2022. There’s still plenty of time to improve your averages, or lower them, depending on the rules of whatever game you may be playing in your head. On paper, today is August 2, and there’s five months left until Charlottesville Community Engagement will devote its attention to 2023, declared already by the United Nations as the International Year of the Millets. Are you ready? Sign up for a free or paid subscription to get articles about what’s happening in the area. See below for an offer from Ting that could help us both!On today’s program:Charlottesville is taking precautions in preparation of the five year anniversary of the Unite the Right rallyA federal judge has dismissed a second lawsuit seeking a House of Delegates race in 2022Area law enforcement agencies had a recent crackdown on speeding on U.S. 29 Charlottesville’s Fire Department is deploying more medical equipment The Albemarle Board of Supervisors authorizes a lease for the county to lease a portion of a former department store for public safety vehiclesFirst shout out: Soul of Cville to mark Fifth Anniversary of A12In today’s first shout-out: Three groups are preparing to hold the second annual Soul of Cville festival to celebrate Black excellence in Central Virginia. Chic & Classy Image Consulting, 101.3 JAMZ, and the Ix Art Park Foundation will host the event will be held on August 12, August 13, and August 14 and will feature: Live music and performancesA fashion showA Black artisan market featuring local vendors, Food from local Black-owned restaurantsA pop-up skate event with De La Roll, An art show called There Are Black People in the Future with The Bridge PAI. On Friday there will be a screening of the 1989 film Do the Right Thing, with an afterparty in the Looking Glass hosted by 9 Pillars Hip Hop. For details, visit www.ixartpark.org/soul-of-cville.City on alert for fifth anniversary of A12This week marks five years since the Unite the Right rally and violent conflicts in downtown Charlottesville. Yesterday the city sent out a press release stating that there is no “specific credible threat” but that precautions will be taken. “CPD is maintaining a status of heightened situational awareness and monitoring chatter from intelligence sources to be prepared to increase available coverage Downtown and in parks, which can be activated quickly in response to any pop-up emergencies that might occur,” reads that press release.The eastern vehicular crossing of the Downtown Mall at Heather Heyer Way will be closed from Thursday August 11 at 6 p.m. until Sunday morning August 14 at 6:30 a.m. There is a planned event at the Ting Pavilion for Fridays after Five on Friday. No House of Delegates race in 2022If you’re a candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates, it’s now pretty much certain you’ll be on the ballot in 462 days if you get the nomination or otherwise qualify. Judge David Novak of Virginia’s Eastern Federal District Court has dismissed a second lawsuit seeking an election this year. (read the ruling)“Like just about everything else in our society, the unprecedented COVID-19 global pandemic impacted the work of the United States Census Bureau, delaying the sending of the results of the 2020 Census to the states,” states the introduction to Novak’s order to dismiss the case. That delay meant Virginia did not have updated boundaries for the General Assembly or the House of Representatives until the end of 2021. At the time, Richmond attorney Paul Goldman had an active suit against the State Board of Elections arguing that the 2021 elections were unconstitutional because they were based on data from the 2010 Census. After several months of legal proceedings including an appearance before the Fourth Circuit of Appeals, Judge Novak and two other judges ruled that Goldman lacked legal standing to have brought the case. A few days later, Richmond author Jeffrey Thomas Jr. filed a second suit based on Goldman’s main arguments. Novak’s order recounts the long legal saga to this point, including the failure of the Virginia Redistricting Commission to reach consensus on new maps as well as the COVID-related delays.“Because Plaintiff’s attempts to lay blame on Defendants for the delays caused by the unprecedented pandemic fails, Plaintiffs are unable to trace their injuries to Defendants,” Novak writes. Judge Novak’s order is made without prejudice, which means a new suit could be brought, but there are 98 days until election day. Efforts made to crack down on distracted drivers on U.S. 29Vehicular crashes are up on Virginia roads this year and late last month area law enforcement agencies teamed up on to enforce speeding and distracted driving laws on U.S. 29. On July 21, Albemarle County Police, Charlottesville Police, and the University of Virginia police were out in force from the Greene County border to the Nelson County line. “We usually see at least 700,000 vehicles daily on that stretch of roadway,” said Albemarle Master Police Officer Kate Kane. “Consequently it adds up to a lot of crashes unfortunately.” During the one-day initiative on July 21, there were 197 traffic stops and 201 summons were given out. Just over half of those were for speeding. The chances of surviving are dramatically diminished the faster you go.“Logic would tell you that when speed goes up, survivability goes down,” Kane said. “We don’t realize how fragile we are. Even with the seat belts, even with the air bags, even with the best protection technology, we cannot avoid all crashes. If you’re traveling at 75 miles an hour or higher, your body just can’t take that kind of impact.”As of today, there have been 527 fatalities on Virginia roads in 2022 according to a dashboard on the Virginia Department of Transportation’s website. Charlottesville Fire Department to deploy more devices on medical callsSome vehicles used by the Charlottesville Fire Department on medical calls will soon carry additional devices intended to increase the chances of a patient surviving a cardiac arrest. The Department secured $64,000 from a Community Development Block Grant in the last fiscal year to purchase four chest compression devices to assist in the performance of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). They’ll be placed on two fire engines and two ambulances.“Based on Neighborhood Risk Assessment data, residents in all nineteen (19) neighborhoods are expected to benefit from deploying these devices, most notably Tenth and Page, where the data highlights the significant importance of timely interventions,” reads a press release sent out on Friday. The department will also begin to implement video laryngoscopes, which are devices that assist with the intubation of patients. “The [Airtraq] devices have been used in pre-hospital systems and in emergency departments to improve success in airway management,” the release continues. Yesterday was the first day that Scott Carpenter will serve as the Deputy Chief of Operations. According to a July 15 press release, Carpenter has been with the Charlottesville Fire Department for 22 years. Second shout-out: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign Since the very beginning of this newsletter, one long-time Patreon supporter has used his shout-out to draw your attention to the work of the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign. The campaign is a coalition of grassroots partners including motivated citizens and volunteers, partner organizations, and local governments who want to promote the use of native plants. Summer is in high gear and pollinators are active! Want to learn more? Visit plantvirginianatives.org to download Piedmont Native Plants: A Guide for Landscapes and Gardens. Albemarle Supervisors approves rent former J.C. Penney as public safety operations centerAlbemarle County will move forward with the lease of a former department store at Fashion Square Mall to serve as a new operations facility for fire and police. “It does have a central location, it’s got a very large warehouse, with a great loading dock,” said Lance Stewart, the county’s director of facilities and environmental services.  “All together it's about 33,000 square feet which is almost a third of the J.C. Penney site. On July 20, Supervisors authorized a lease and signaled a willingness to pay over $3 million in capital costs to get it ready for public safety work. “This has been a known and growing need for many years including capital requests that were submitted for new construction in the past but not funded,” said Lance Stewart is the director of the Facilities and Environmental Services Department in Albemarle County. David Puckett, the Deputy Chief of Operations at Albemarle Fire Rescue, reminded Supervisors that they have hired several personnel in recent years to expand capacity. “While the vast majority of those positions are out in the field directly providing service there are a number of administrative positions added to make sure we could successfully on-board, train, and support those personnel long-term.” Puckett said. Puckett said space is full at the county’s offices on Fifth Street Extended.  The Department also now has its own dedicated fleet manager as well as a mechanic to conduct in-house repairs. All that work also requires space, and the J.C. Penney used to have a tire shop. “The lack of a centralized facility has required us to store parts and equipment in fire station closets and storage rooms throughout the county,” Puckett said. “This has resulted in loss productivity. As an example, if a mechanic is out working on a truck only to determine that the part needed to complete the repair is halfway across the county, it requires more time and energy to go get the part before they complete it.”Puckett said stations themselves are not really set up for vehicle repair.Albemarle Police Chief Sean Reeves said more space has also been a capital need requested by law enforcement. “Some of the capital improvement projects from over ten years ago, from two chiefs of police ago, called for a site that we could use to expand stored evidence, store vehicles that are in evidence, and an evidence processing bay that we do not have,” Reeves said. Colonel Reeves said using the J.C. Penney site would cut down on the capital cost to build such a place. He also said the traffic unit would move to the new location, freeing up space at the County Office Building on Fifth Street Extended.“And that space that’s freed up at COB-Fifth, what that would do is go toward supporting the mental health unit, the officers that are going to be picked and selected as staff for the new mental health unit,” Reeves said.  The J.C. Penney site is owned separately from the rest of Fashion Square Mall by a subsidiary of Seminole Trail Properties. Stewart said this use would not preclude redevelopment of the site in the future. The project is also outside of the jurisdiction of the Albemarle Architectural Review Board. The lease would be for ten years with options to extend that as well as to expand to more of the J.C. Penney site in the future. The rent of $558,000 a year is based on $12.50 per square foot, and the rent would increase by 3.5 percent each year. “And I can tell you that having looked at a number of industrial and commercial properties that we thought might be suitable options, that is well below typical for the market,” Stewart said. Final details will be worked out as the lease is negotiated. Supervisor Ned Gallaway lauded staff for negotiating a good price and said this was a good location for this use. “This is an area where the Rio Road Small Area Plan is,” Gallaway said. “When we think of the county investing in this location, we can be a vibrant anchor tenant to an area that needs redevelopment and needs activity.Housekeeping notes for edition #414If you’ve been wondering if there is going to be a summer break for Charlottesville Community Engagement, we’re sort of in it. I am hoping this week to write up as much as I can before cutting back to almost no newsletters and podcasts for next week. I’ve got a rare opportunity to go on a vacation, and I’m tempted to try to not pay attention. But that’s the difficult thing - I don’t want to stop paying attention to the items happening in the area in and around Charlottesville. In fact, I’ve set up Town Crier Productions to harness my curiosity about what’s happening and a passion for documenting what’s going on. We’re now in the third year of this experiment, and I’m grateful for everyone who has helped with a financial contribution to keep it going. The best way to make a financial contribution is by purchasing a subscription through Substack. if you do so, 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. Finally, if you’ve missed anything or want to do a deep dive on a topic, take a look at the Information Charlottesville archive. Want to read articles on land use in Albemarle? Click here!What about information on Virginia elections? Click here!What about uncategorized articles? And what category should they be in? Please send this on to someone else so we can continue to grow the audience. Thanks for reading and listening! 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

✴️Episode #71✴️

In one sense of the phrase, Charlottesville Community Engagement has now come full circle as this is the 360th edition. That coincides with April 6, 2022 but there is not necessarily correlation, but the hope is this edition and every other edition causes you to know more than you did before. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs.On today’s program:Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders asks City Council for their feedback on how to meet Charlottesvillle’s goal of putting $10 million a year toward housing The U.S. House of Representatives votes to support NATO, and two area Congressman vote against the resolutionA quick profile of Fashion Square Mall Louisa County doubles the amount of a tax rebate for a developer to pay for a regional wastewater pump stationFirst 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 the Camp Albemarle website! U.S. House adopts resolution supporting NATO; Two Virginia Representatives voted againstThe U.S. House of Representatives voted 362 to 63 yesterday on a resolution to uphold the founding principles of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and to make clear that the organization stands for shared democratic values. House Resolution 831 was introduced by Virginia Congressman Gerald Connolly in December and made its way through the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.“NATO’s founding document, signed here in Washington D.C. on April 4, 1949, this very week,” said Congressman Connolly. “It’s clear. NATO is an alliance of democracies. The preamble to the treaty notes the determination of Allies to ‘safeguard the freedom, common heritage, and civilization of their peoples founded on the principles of democracy. “Nine of Virginia’s 11 members of the House of Representatives voted for the resolution, which also calls for the establishment of a Center for Democratic Resilience within NATO Headquarters. The resolution comes at a time when NATO forces are keeping a close eye on the Russia’s war against Ukraine. Ukraine is not a member of the organization. Both 5th District Representative Bob Good and 6th District Representative Ben Cline  voted against the bill. Louisa Supervisors amend performance agreement for Crossing PointeWhen a developer asks for a rezoning to build a larger number of units than otherwise would be allowed, sometimes there are agreements with the locality to provide infrastructure. When the Louisa Board of Supervisors approved the Crossing Pointe development at Zion Crossroads in December 2019, they entered into an agreement with the developer for a $250,000 real estate tax rebate in exchange for construction of a regional wastewater pump station on the site. “That pump station is a regional pump station in nature that serves multiple properties in that area, the Zion growth area, and not just the Crossing Pointe [Planned Unit Development],” said Louisa County Economic Development Director Andrew Wade. Wade said the developer has requested an increase to $500,000 due to the rising cost of construction.“The price of the regional pump station over the course of three months has gone up from $650,000 to approximately $1.3 million due to material pricing and construction inflation and things of that nature,” Wade said. Wade said the Louisa County Water Authority will own the pump station when it is completed. The rebates won’t begin until the pump station is operational. Supervisors agreed unanimously to proceed.  Construction on the Crossing Pointe development is soon to begin. There will be 321 dwelling units and 138,000 square feet of commercial property. The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is currently overseeing a small area study for the growth area which straddles both Louisa and Fluvanna County. The next public meeting for the Zion Crossroads Gateway Plan is April 19. Special thanks to Tammy Purcell of Engage Louisa for assistance with this story! The latest installment has the latest news on Zion Crossroads, including changes to Zion Town Center that would see fewer single-family detached homes and more townhomes. Chamber of Commerce profiles Fashion Square MallEvery now and then, the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce writes up a profile of a business in the area. This time around their staff asked the leasing and marketing manager of Fashion Square Mall a series of questions, including to mention recent success stories. “We have recently opened up three new stores and will be opening up many more in upcoming months,” said Athena Emmans in response. Fashion Square Mall opened in 1980 and has been through a string of owners. The property sold at foreclosure last year and was purchased by a firm called Charlottesville JP 2014-C21 LLC for $20.2 million and that deal closed on September 30. Now the property is managed by JLL and Emmans writes that they are actively seeking to become a unique destination. “We offer an indoor shopping experience with a community atmosphere for our tenants to get help with marketing, branding and foot traffic for their business,” Emmans wrote. “We provide small and large businesses with affordable commercial properties.”To learn more, read the rest of the profile on the Chamber’s website. Friends of JMRL Book Sale continues through SaturdayIn today's second Patreon-fueled shout-out! Lovers of used books rejoice! The Friends of the Jefferson Madison Regional Library is back again with their annual Spring Book Sale opening this Saturday through Sunday, April 10! The Friends of the Library sale will once again take place at Albemarle Square Shopping Center from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. There’s a special preview for members tomorrow from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and there’s still time to volunteer!Visit jmrlfriends.org to learn more! See you there!Deputy City Manager Sanders reviews recent audit of Charlottesville’s housing fundWhen Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders joined Charlottesville’s management team last July, he more or less filled a vacancy for a lower position that had been open for a year. “I became your housing coordinator right away, because we didn’t have one,” Sanders said at an April 4 work session on the city’s affordable housing policy. “I have been spending a lot of time observing, reviewing, questioning, complaining, evaluating, and testing all of what we do, how we do it, why we do it, and trying to figure out what else we can do to make it all run more smoothly and definitely be run better.”Around the same time Sanders was clocking into City Hall for the first time, Council had agreed to spend an additional $165,000 to pay the consultant HR&A Advisors to review how the city has spent its affordable housing funds since 2010. Council had a work session with that firm on March 21, but Sanders wanted to share his views. See also: Charlottesville City Council discusses reform for affordable housing fund, March 30, 2022HR&A found that the city has spent $46.7 million on affordable housing programs since 2010. “The question that you should be asking is if that is good,” Sanders said. “The answer is yes, but good is relative, especially because you will never spend enough on affordable housing. I think most communities have found that around this country. Because markets are always changing, there’s always a need to do a little bit more, a little bit more, a little bit more.”Sanders said the report found that 1,611 affordable units were constructed or preserved and that 640 additional households were served. “Can we do better and can we do more?” Sanders said. “The answer is of course you can. But how will that decision get made? How often will you commit more? How much more? And when? Everyone of these questions are critically important to managing a program and knowing the cap helps to manage the many expectations.”Watch the April 4, 2022 work session on affordable housingView the April 4, 2022 presentation Read the staff report for the March 21, 2022 work sessionSanders said there is a need to make sure that the funds are spread around and that many different organizations need to have access. There’s also a need to make sure that Council has accurate data about what has happened to inform future decisions. In March 2021, Council adopted the Affordable Housing Plan which calls upon the city to invest $10 million a year for this purpose. A previous goal had been $4 million a year, but a big push for investment in affordable housing was made after the events of the summer of 2017. “2020 was clearly a turning point and we see this as the shift to the $10 million being a good number,” Sanders said. “We know that there are a lot of organizations that have already made it clear that $10 million is not enough. Ideally for us internally we look at the face that you endorsed the Affordable Housing Plan at $10 million a year for ten years and it will be our priority to help you get there.” Other metrics in the analysis seek to measure the cost effectiveness of funding spent so far. Sanders said that for those organizations who are constructing new units, the cost per unit is higher. However, competitiveness between proposals would encourage those entities to seek out private funding to help leverage city investment. “But your priority would also be that they do go look in other places to bring additional dollars to the table so that that number doesn’t continue to grow,” Sanders said. There are also demographic measures that seek to determine how funding is meeting equity goals. “We only see Black and white as a comparison,” Sanders said. “One thing we have to remember in the equity space is that we make sure we are considering the other minority populations in our community that also deserve attention to be paid to their particular housing situations as well.” Sanders’ questions for City CouncilBut, funding is one thing. The question is whether the city is managing its programs effectively. Sanders identified several problems. “We don’t know how many affordable units still exist from those that we funded,” Sanders said. “That’s accurate. We don’t know even for how much longer they’re going to exist. But we got to do better and there’s work to be done there.”Sanders said there is not an internal mechanism for the city to keep track. That will take more information from partner organizations that receive the funding. The city needs better tools to ensure compliance. “We don’t have the best agreements in play,” Sanders said. “They’re not the comprehensive set of agreements that we would use that would ensure that we could capture the information, that we are denoting who is responsible for reporting said information and on what schedule. That way we can go back to them and get what we want.” Another question for Council is if they want to come up with an official definition for affordable housing for the city, meaning what level of household income should be served by city funding? “I think it is important for us to be able to define it for the community at large,” Sanders said. “It helps our partners understand what that means to you as the Council but it also helps staff understand how to do the work that they’ve been charged to do.” Sanders wanted to know what each Councilor thinks about that $10 million for affordable housing. Is it a commitment, or if it is an aspirational goal.  City Councilors Pinkston and Payne said they expect the city to spend that amount. Mayor Lloyd Snook thought it was more of a goal. “I’m willing to average, which makes it a goal, but it’s not a commitment to me,” Snook said. “Furthermore we don’t have the authority to bind future Councils as a commitment.”Sanders wanted to know if Council wanted to consider whether the land trust model should be a priority. “That’s an opportunity for you to add an item to your affordable housing toolbox,” Sanders said. “There are a lot of communities today that are wrestling with the idea of how we can make it more affordable because simply building it isn’t necessarily working it for everyone.”Sanders said this could take the form of the city setting up its own land trust, or working with the one that is now operated by the Piedmont Housing Alliance after being incubated at the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. Councilor Brian Pinkston said thought it could continue to be maintained outside of city government. “What I don’t want to do is invest in a bunch of rework if what PHA or whoever has is working as long as we’ve got solid guardrails to ensure that that is being done in a transparent way,” Pinkston said. Sanders also said there’s a need for better coordination between the groups that offer support services for homeless individuals. The status quo isn’t enough. “We locally with all of our housing providers can acknowledge we have gaps and there is no one in that gap,” Sanders said. “So if there’s no one in the gap, if you’re running a good affordable housing program, you stand in the gap. So what we need to be able to do is figure out how do we get in the gap in the right way with the right resources to successfully close that gap.”That could be expansion of an existing organization through city funding creating a new one. “But you don’t know any of it if you don’t do the assessment work, you don’t do the analysis work, and you don’t ask the questions,” Sanders said. Councilor Sena Magill said she would like to see more attention toward homeless individuals. “I am getting growingly concerned because regretfully it looks like we are back to numbers it looks like we were before the Crossings opened,” Magill said. The Crossings was one of the earliest beneficiaries of the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund and was constructed by Virginia Supportive Housing. That agency has partnered with Piedmont Housing Alliance and the Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless on a second facility to be built at Premier Circle on U.S. 29 in Albemarle County at the site of the former Red Carpet Inn. Obligations from the recent pastSanders also briefed Councilors on the reality that future city funds will be tied up to meet the obligations of previously approved projects that include tax rebates such as the one Piedmont Housing Alliance will get for Friendship Court. ‘Those are going to come for payment beginning with Friendship Court in FY24,” Sanders said. “We estimate it’s going to be roughly $200,000 a year for what that is going to cost the city itself to rebate for those improvements.” All of the redevelopment projects underway by the Charlottesville Redevelopment Housing Authority will employ the same mechanism, another cost to the city over years. “It’s the same synthetic [tax increment financing] scenario in that whatever tax obligation that would be due would not necessarily be paid and the city would be covering it,” Sander said. Public housing projects move forward after Council talks on CRHA financial sustainability, CCDC property tax liability, October 24, 2020Council approves agreement for Friendship Court funding, October 30, 2020But what about the definitions of affordable housing. Sanders has this perspective. “I always like to say it is not about affordable,” Sanders said. “We don’t need to be focused on the word affordable. Our focus is on the word attainable.” Council ran out of time at this work session. Later in the night they would meet again to approve a new Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund committee, new purposes for the existing Housing Advisory Council, and to allocate projects from the CAHF. More on those items, as well as a 4-1 vote to approve a rezoning on Grove Street Extended in future editions of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Support Town Crier Productions through Ting! Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Time for a new Patreon-fueled shout-out:Charlottesville 350 is the local chapter of a national organization that seeks to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Charlottesville 350 uses online campaigns, grassroots organizing, and mass public actions to oppose new coal, oil and gas projects, and build 100% clean energy solutions that work for all. To learn more about their most active campaigns, including a petition drive to the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, visit their Facebook page at facebook.com/cville350On today’s show:The Charlottesville City Council and the Planning Commission spend two hours asking questions about the Comprehensive Plan in advance of tonight’s public hearingAlbemarle’s Board of Supervisors gets an update on transportation projectsA new tenant signs on for a new office building in downtown CharlottesvilleThe summer and September COVID surge in Virginia continues to wane, but community spread continues. The seven-day percent positive rate has dropped to 7.8 percent and the seven-day average is 2,443. In the Blue Ridge Health District, there are 205 new cases reported and the percent positive rate is 5.8 percent. There have been eight more fatalities reported since October 4. The Blue Ridge Health District will have a town hall on October 13 and one of the topics will be vaccination in pregnant people. Register in advance. Today is the last day to register to vote in the November 2 election, which is three weeks from today. Local registrars will take in-person registrations through 5 p.m. Registrations submitted via mail must be postmarked with today’s date in order to be accepted. You can also register online up until 11:59 p.m. You will need an ID issued by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles in order to register in that fashion. (Department of Elections online portal)The last day to request a mail-in ballot is October 22. The last day to vote early in-person is October 30. Charlottesville’s Office of Voter Registration will have additional hours on October 23 and October 30. There are several makeshift memorials to people who died in crashes on 5th Street Extended in Charlottesville. Yesterday, a city-sanctioned memorial to Quintus Brooks was unveiled with a family ceremony. Brooks died on October 1, 2020 and yesterday would have been his birthday. “A new application process is being launched for roadside memorials at the site of deaths resulting from automobile, bicycle or pedestrian accidents that occur on public streets within the City of Charlottesville,” said city Communications Director Brian Wheeler in an email announcing the event. Charlottesville has hired a Nevada firm to provide pest control services in two prominent locations. In September, the city sent out a request for proposals for a firm to provide pest suppression for the 135,000 square feet of the Downtown Mall and the 30,000 square feet of the Corner. “The Contractor will be responsible to provide a program to control rodents such as, but not limited to, rats, mice, squirrels, snakes, all insects (roaches, flies, bees, ants – including fire ants, cockroaches, moths, crickets, silverfish, all spiders, termites),” reads the proposal.Pestmaster Services has been awarded the contract. These areas include outdoor dining spaces, including locations where tables are set up near tree wells. Another tenant has been announced for the new 3-Twenty-3 building in downtown Charlottesville. General Atomics Commonwealth Computer Research will lease just under 50,000 square feet in the building.“With projects ranging from optimizing the world’s largest container port to predicting future asymmetric warfare events, CCRi has no shortage of experience in diverse client expectations,” reads a description of the company on their website. The 3-Twenty-3 building is being developed by Insite Properties and marketed by Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer. A press release describes the building as a five-story office building on top of a four-story, 200 space parking garage. There’s about 27,000 square feet left to be leased in the 120,000 square foot structure, according to leasing agent John Pritzlaff.  McGuireWoods and Manchester Capital are already in their spaces, and Williams Mullen is starting building out now. Tonight, the seven-member Charlottesville Planning Commission and the five-member Charlottesville City Council will hold a public hearing on the Comprehensive Plan, the second task performed by Rhodeside & Harwell as part of the Cville Plans Together initiative. That includes a Future Land Use Map which increases residential density across most of the city. Yesterday, the elected body and the appointed body spent two hours asking questions about the plan. Councilor Lloyd Snook went first. “A common criticism which I personally believe to be based on ignorance… is that the Future Land Use Map and the suggestions of higher density have not taken into account either… the effect of the University of Virginia, the effect of the student population, and the distorting effect on the poverty data for the student population,” Snook said. Jennifer Koch with Rhodeside & Harwell said her team began their work based of a housing needs assessment conducted in 2018 by the Form-Based Code Institute and Partners for Economic Solutions. (download)“There was a fairly robust discussion in that document about how students may or may not play into various impacts on affordability in the city,” Koch said. “The other way we are looking to include considerations for students in this plan is in looking at potential intensity near UVA, for example Jefferson Park Avenue, Fontaine Avenue area. We’ve included additional intensity in those areas and we’ve included a discussion of potential intensity in those areas as we move through zoning.”The first step in the Cville Plans Together initiative was adoption of an affordable housing plan. The next step after adoption of the Comprehensive Plan will be a rewrite of the zoning code. The University of Virginia is working on an initiative to identify space on land it or its real estate foundation owns to build up to 1,500 below-market units. In September, a top official at UVA told the Central Virginia Regional Housing Partnership that the work is slightly behind schedule. (UVA housing initiative website)Other topics at the two-hour meeting included assumptions about population growth and the links between increased density and affordability requirements. Watch the whole thing in advance of tonight’s hearing, which begins at 6 p.m. (watch)And time for another Patreon-fueled shout-out:Fall is here, and with it, more moderate temperatures. While your HVAC takes a break, now is the perfect time to prepare for the cooler months. Your local energy nonprofit, LEAP, wants you and yours to keep comfortable all year round! LEAP offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents, so, 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!At their meeting Wednesday afternoon, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors will get an update on the Rio Corridor Study, an effort to reshape the public realm along Rio Road on stretches of the roadway in Albemarle’s Places29-Rio growth area. Opponents of recent rezoning applications in the area cited transportation concerns for why the Board of Supervisors should vote against more intense residential density. But last week, they got an update on other transportation projects from Kevin McDermott, a planning manager in Albemarle. Though the applications aren’t due until next summer, work is underway for the next round of Smart Scale projects. (Albemarle transportation report)Right now the top candidates that the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization might submit are: A roundabout at District Avenue and Hydraulic Road Avon Street Corridor Bicycle and Pedestrian Improvements between Druid Avenue and Avon Street park and ride5th Street Extended multimodal improvements between the future (and funded) 5th Street Trail Hub to Harris RoadRivanna River Bike and Pedestrian bridge from South Pantops Boulevard to the Woolen Mills area Right now the possible candidates Albemarle County might submit in the 5th Smart Scale round are: Avon Street Extended multimodal improvements from Mill Creek to Peregory Lane 5th Street Extended bicycle and pedestrian improvements between Albemarle Business Campus and the Southwood community U.S. 250 corridor improvements between Peter Jefferson Place and Hansen Road U.S. 250 / Route 22 / Milton Drive intersection improvements Belvedere Boulevard / Rio Road improvements Hillsdale Drive extension and realignment from Mall Drive to Rio Road U.S. 250 West interchange with U.S. 29 / 250 bypassU.S. 250 West and Crozet Avenue intersection improvements Albemarle has recently turned in an application for VDOT Revenue-Sharing Funds for Eastern Avenue South, a project that has been in Crozet Master Plan since it was adopted. “That goes from the Westhall area, across Lickinghole Creek, to Cory Farms, and connects to U.S. 250,” McDermott said. In most cases, it takes several years for transportation projects to go from project approval to construction. A project to upgrade the intersection of U.S. 250 and Virginia Route 20 at Pantops was funded in 2018. “They are currently in design for that and we will hopefully be seeing some construction out there in about two years or so,” McDermott said. Another VDOT revenue-sharing project is to extend Berkmar Drive to Lewis and Clark Drive, which would complete a north-south roadway parallel to U.S. 29 from Fashion Square Mall to the University of Virginia’ North Fork Research Park. “We’ve got a lot of economic development going on up there, a lot of new development also,” McDermott said. “This would also provide that parallel facility to U.S. 29 so it can take some of that traffic off of 29 and remove it from some of those intersections that are experiencing some delays like Airport Road and U.S. 250.”McDermott said construction of that project is expected for 2025. Supervisor Donna Price of the Scottsville District noted the length of the report as well as its detail.“I really appreciate the way you explain some of these so that it differentiates between a study and a proposal,” Price said. “We get a lot of communications from people in the community that are to the effect of ‘I can’t believe you’re even considering’ [a project],” Price said. “But when you’re looking at transportation, if you don’t look at the various options, then you’re really going in with a narrow-minded approach. We appreciate your wide approach of looking at all of the different possibilities before narrowing down what really appears to be the best course of action.”Special announcement! Today’s the first day of a new 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 Mall This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s subscriber-supported Public Service Announcement:The Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards continues to offer classes and events this fall and winter to increase your awareness of our wooden neighbors and to prepare for the future. On October 19, there’s a free class on the Selection, Planting, and Care of Trees from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (register) In early November, there is a three part class on Winter Invasive Plant Identification and Treatment. Information on all the classes and the group can be found at www.charlottesvilleareatreestewards.org. On today’s show:Updates on regional transportation studies and issues from the Regional Transit PartnershipA 250-unit apartment complex is in the works along Rio Road in Albemarle CountyMaterials are available for the October 12 Cville Plans Together hearingCharlottesville has been awarded $153,000 in RGGI money for flood mitigation along Moores CreekThe percent positivity for COVID-19 has further dropped to 8.3 percent, but the number of new cases reported increased by 3,919. Another 50 new deaths were reported over night for a cumulative total of 12,999 since the pandemic began. There are another 100 cases reported in the Blue Ridge Health District today. Plans have been submitted in Albemarle County for a 250-unit apartment complex on Rio Road. According to the application for a rezoning prepared by Collins Engineering, the Heritage on Rio would consist of seven buildings and a clubhouse on 8.23 acres of land. The properties are all zoned R-6 and the application is for a rezoning to Planned Residential Development (PRD). There are currently four single family homes that would be removed to make way for the development. “At just over half a mile from the Route 29/ Rio Road intersection, the proposed community would be within walking distance to many conveniences, including the numerous retail shops and offices in the Berkmar Crossing commercial area, several grocery stores, the Northside Library, and the large number of destinations surrounding the Rio/ 29 Intersection, including CVS Drugstore, Fashion Square Mall, Rio Hill Shopping Center, and Albemarle Square Shopping Center,” reads the application. The developer is G W Real Estate Partners.  The project will also have to go before the county’s Architectural Review Board because Rio Road is an entrance corridor. Materials are now available for the October 12 public hearing for the Charlottesville Comprehensive Plan, one of three tasks the firm Rhodeside & Harwell is conducting for the city as part of the Cville Plans Together initiative. The City Council and Planning Commission will hold a joint hearing on October 12, but now they’ll also hold a two hour discussion on the plan update the day before from noon to 2 p.m. The draft Comprehensive Plan and the Future Land Use Map are available for review now. The document is 118 pages long and this is the first time the entire draft has been put together with its eleven chapters and several appendices. Take a look at the materials here. The professionalization of fire and EMS calls in Albemarle County reached a new stage Monday when the Ivy and Pantops stations began 24-hour service and two other milestones were met.“An ambulance moved to the East Rivanna station to implement cross-staffing, and a daytime fire engine went into service at the Pantops station on Mondays,” wrote Abbey Stumpf, Albemarle’s public safety information officer, in a press release this morning. The Pantops fire engine will be the first to operate out of a station that was built on land donated to the county earlier this century. For the past 18 months, Albemarle has been implementing an initiative to hire more personnel funded in part through a $1.9 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency as well as investments approved by the Board of Supervisors. In all, Albemarle has hired 22 public safety workers in the past 18 months. Earlier this year, Virginia joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multi-state program that places caps on the amount of carbon emissions for many industries. If companies exceed their limits, they have to purchase credits. Revenues go to state governments for programs such as the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund, which is to receive 45 percent of the RGGI funds. So far, Virginia has received $142 million over three auctions. Charlottesville will receive $153,500 from the fund to pay for a plan to prepare the Moores Creek Watershed for the floodings. That’s part of $7.8 million in grants announced yesterday by Governor Ralph Northam. The funds are distributed by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, an agency that is also working on a master plan for coastal resilience in Virginia. Most of the funding is going to localities either on the coast or much closer. However, Charlottesville is not the westernmost recipient. The city of Winchester will receive $65,040 for a resilience plan and Buchanan County will receive $387,500 for “plans and capacity building” and that’s enough money for them to hire a consultant. Charlottesville will use the money to create a two-dimensional hydraulic model for the Moores Creek watershed within city limits. Andrea Henry, the city’s water resources protection administrator.  "2D modeling has the ability to identify drainage issues for our inlets, pipes, ditches, and streams across the entire City using the same methodology and analyses for a variety of storm scenarios," said Henry.  "We can use the results of this model to predict when our streets, sidewalks, homes, businesses, and critical infrastructure will be susceptible to flooding with the types of storms we see now and may see in the future due to our changing climate."Speaking of the draft Comprehensive Plan, water resources protection is covered in Goal 3 of Chapter 7, Environment, Climate, and Food Equity. “Charlottesville will be an environmental leader, with healthy air, water, and ecosystems, as well as ample, high-quality, and accessible open space and natural areas, and a preserved and enhanced tree canopy,” reads the community vision statement for the chapter. “The Rivanna River and other waterbodies will be celebrated and protected, and  environmentally-sound community access will be enhanced.”Read the rest of the recipients here. You’re listening to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In today’s second Substack-fueled shout-out, Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects. We are now six days into Try Transit Month, an effort to encourage people to consider using fixed-route or on-demand service to get around the community. It has now been 13 days since the Jefferson Area Regional Transit Partnership met on September 23 Since October 2017, the advisory body run by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District has served as a clearinghouse for different providers. Karen Davis is the interim director of Jaunt and she stated one of the biggest challenges facing all bus fleets. “The driver shortage continues,” Davis said. “Jaunt is going to move to match [University Transit Service] and [Charlottesville Area Transit’s] recruiting and retaining bonus programs to try to entice more people into the door.Jim Foley, the director of pupil transportation for Albemarle County, could not give an update at the meeting because he was driving a school bus. Becca White, the director of Parking and Transportation at UVA, said ridership is rebounding following the pandemic. “We are up to about 8,000 riders a day on our system,” White said. “Three thousand of those are employees and the rest are students.”That’s down from pre-COVID levels of around 12,000 to 15,000 a day while school was in session.“During the height of COVID it was 3,000 to 4,000 passengers a day.” White said. One of the steps UTS has taken to make efficient use of their drivers has been to eliminate bus trips on McCormick Road through the heart of Grounds during the day. White said that might be one reason numbers have not rebounded as high. “We need to concentrate our transit trips from the end points in given the limited resources that we have,” White said. The free trolley-style bus operated by Charlottesville Area Transit has returned to McCormick Road. CAT has been fare-free since the beginning of the pandemic. CAT Director Garland Williams said he is hoping to keep it that way by applying for a Transit Ridership Incentive Program grant. “We applied for the TRIPS grant program with the state to keep CAT zero-fare for an additional three years,” Williams said.Williams said the planned route changes will not take place until January due to the driver shortage. Under the new alignment, Route 11 will go to the Center at Belvedere and there have been requests to make that change sooner. Williams said that would present problems. “If we were to make the adjustment to the Center now prior to making all of the adjustments, we would run the risk of individuals who are using the 11 missing their connections because it does take longer to get to the Center and get back,” Williams said. Williams said the timing will be correct when the changes are made. On September 1, the Afton Express began operation from Staunton to Charlottesville with a month of fare-free ridership. The service is operated by Brite, the transit service in the Staunton-Augusta-Waynesboro They’re now charging $3 each way. For the first three weeks, the service only carried about a dozen to 18 passengers each day, according to RideShare manager Sara Pennington.“We’re still looking to creep those numbers up but is still nice and early,” Pennington said. Pennington also discussed what the regional services are doing for Try Transit month. One thing is the usage of the hash tag ion Twitter #Busorbust.Albemarle County and the TJPDC are continuing work on a transit expansion study. The latest milestone is publication of a market and service analysis FourSquare ITP and Michael Baker International. (market and service analysis)“Ripe for service expansion, the US-29 corridor is the second busiest transit corridor in the region,” reads an overview of the study areas. “The Albemarle County Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2015, outlines goals for increasing the supply of affordable housing for households with incomes between zero percent and 80 percent of area median income, through rezoning and incentives to developers.” The study also covers Pantops and Monticello. There will be a stakeholder meeting on October 22 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and a public meeting on October 21st from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. “Those will be going over the new alternatives or the draft alternatives that they are working on for each of the study areas,” said Lucinda Shannon, the TJPDC’s transportation manager. The TJPDC is also conducting a regional transit vision study.  There’s a stakeholder meeting for that tomorrow at 9 a.m. The meeting can be watched live on their YouTube page. (watch)“And that’s going to be asking people to identify community goals around Charlottesville and what the community values and what they want to see,” Shannon said. You can also offer your views as part of a survey that’s on the project website. Before we go, let’s look at the draft Comprehensive Plan one more time. Transit is embedded in many chapters of the plan, including the land use chapter. But take a look at Chapter 6 and goals 5 and goals 6. Williams’ attempts to help CAT become fare-free are specifically embedded in Strategy 13.2:“Ensure that transit is  financially accessible to all residents and those  who work in the city, including low-income populations, the elderly, and those with disabilities.” This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

The first of two Patreon-fueled shout-outs!WTJU 91.1 FM is a different sort of radio station. It's dedicated to sharing the transcendent experience of music while raising funds from listeners across the world. From October 4th through 10th, WTJU airs its annual Jazz Marathon. Tune in for a deep dive into everything from bebop to blues. WTJU's Volunteer DJs will play the spectrum jazz – from Billie Holiday to Canonball Adderly to Pharoah Sanders. Plus live, local jazz performances throughout the week.  Visit wtju.org to learn more. On today’s show:Charlottesville City Council discusses the costs of reconfiguring Buford Middle School and make a decision on West Main StreetEarly voting in Virginia begins tomorrow, and a look at voting as it stands in Albemarle and Charlottesville in 2021 Rio Hill Shopping Center has asked Charlottesville Area Transit to stop stopping thereAnd a new job for Charlottesville most recent planning director Another day, another large number of new COVID cases. That number is 4,181 and the percent positivity is 10.6. There are another 145 new cases in the Blue Ridge Health District and one more fatality reported. That person lived in Greene County. The COVID-19 model created by the University of Virginia Biocomplexity Institute currently projects that the Charlottesville area will reach a peak of 2,245 new cases a week in mid-October. “Models can help us understand the potential course of COVID-19, but they are not crystal balls,” reads a statement on the website for the model. “Most models struggle to project policy changes, changes in human behavior, or new and rare events.”With the pandemic raging, many indoor venues are now requiring proof of vaccination before admittance. To make showing that proof more convenient, the Virginia Department of Health announced today they are offering QR codes.“As more and more employers and businesses respond to calls by President Biden and Governor Northam to require that employees and customers be vaccinated,” reads a press release. “QR codes will help improve the consistency and security of vaccination information while protecting individual privacy.”Visit vaccinate.virginia.gov to obtain a QR code. Virginia is the fifth state to adopt protocols developed for SMART Health Cards. *Early voting in Virginia begins tomorrow as acting Charlottesville Registrar Taylor Yowell explains.“Under Virginia election law, voters can vote up to 45 days early in-person or absentee,” Yowell said.  “So with that 45 days in advance of an election, that is 33 actual days that you can come into our office and vote.”Yowell made her comments this past week at a Sunday seminar held by the League of Women Voters of the Charlottesville Area.  Yowell said mail-in ballots will be distributed beginning this week. (listen to the whole event)“In order to receive a mail ballot, you must fill out a mail ballot application and that can be submitted online, in-person to our office, mailed in to us,” Yowell said. “We do have a lot of voters and say ‘hey, I don’t have availability to get online and fill one out’ so we will send them the application with a return envelope so they can be added to the list.” Once registrars across Virginia receive ballots, there is a process known as curing that validates the vote. According to the instructions on voting absentee in Virginia, there’s an A envelope, and a B envelope.   “Whether this is by mail, whether you drop to our dropbox, whether you drop into our office, we take it inside and it will be automatically opened up and we check to make sure every component on your B envelope… this is where your name, your address, your signature, your witness signature, the day you filled out the ballot… this is where we make sure everything is correct. And we have three days after we receive a ballot to notify you if there’s something that needs to be cured, so that way your ballot can be accepted and processed in our office,” Yowell said. In 2020, the state of emergency related to the pandemic temporarily waived the requirement for a witness signature. That will be required again this year. Yowell said voting early in-person is just like voting on Election Day. “No results are pulled until 7 p.m. on Election Day, just like at the precincts, because no one will know and no one can prior to 7 p.m.,” Yowell said.Now, what if someone requested a ballot via mail, and then shows up in person anyway? Yowell said in that case, the person is asked to sign an oath.“It’s just a gold piece of paper saying ‘I have lost or not received my ballot’ and it’s pretty much an affirmation signing that you will not attempt to vote twice,” Yowell said. “If you do, it will be turned over to the Commonwealth’s Attorney.” The last day for in-person voting before Election Day will be October 30. Charlottesville Area Transit Route 5 will no longer serve the Rio Hill Shopping center, according to a release from the bus agency. The release states the property owner has requested the change, and that means two stops within the shopping center will become dormant. The 31 acre property is owned by SCT Rio Hill LLC, a firm associated with the retirement system for employees of the state of Connecticut. The manager of the Rio Hill Shopping Center said in June 7 letter to the city that planned renovation implements a vision that does not involve public transit.“Not only are the buses a safety hazard for the customers crossing the main drive lanes to get to the stores, but the weight of the buses is also causing significant damage to the asphalt resulting in wear and cracking,” wrote Jim Paulus, the center’s manager. The planned route changes that have not yet been fully approved had already taken the request into account. In addition, Route 5 will no longer terminate at the Wal-Mart but instead will stop at Fashion Square Mall. Route 7 will instead travel to Wal-Mart and the plans show the alignment as missing Rio Hill Shopping Center. There is no date for when the transit changes will be made. H   The Regional Transit Partnership meets next Thursday. Previous coverage:February 6, 2021: Catching up with Albemarle's Comprehensive Plan, Entrance Corridors, Rio Hill Shopping Center renovationJuly 4, 2021: Preparing for Charlottesville area's transit future; Water authority gets update on cybersecurity, capital projectsNow that Charlottesville has a new director of Neighborhood Development Services, the person who last held the position now has a city post in a newly created city department. Alex Ikefuna is the interim director of the Office of Community Solutions. “The Office of Community Solutions will reside in CitySpace and the team will concentrate on our housing priorities, commercial redevelopment interests, federal entitlements/investments coordination and management, and neighborhood constituent services,” said city communications director Brian Wheeler in an email. Ikefuna will oversee the Office of Housing, which will report to Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders. “The vision for this office is to expand and deepen the City’s approach to a variety of community-based efforts, especially related to addressing our affordable housing crisis,” Wheeler continued. In today’s second Substack-supported public service announcement: The Charlottesville Jazz Society at cvillejazz.org is dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and perpetuation of all that  jazz, and there’s no time like now to find a time to get out and watch people love to play. The Charlottesville Jazz Society keeps a running list of what’s coming up at cvillejazz.org. Last night, the Charlottesville City Council got the latest details on the plans for reconfiguration of the city’s middle schools. Go back and read/listen to the September 14, 2021 edition of the show for the details. Since that was posted, a Community Design Team that has been shepherding the work of architectural firm VMDO has made their final recommendation. Here’s Wyck Knox of VMDO with the latest information. (presentation from September 14, 2021 CDT meeting)“The unanimous choice by the CDT was Option 3 that builds in the bowl and gives a new look to the school and the most square footage and the most variety of outdoor spaces to the new building,” Knox said. This is also the most expensive option at an estimate of $73 million. The five-year capital improvement program budget has a $50 million placeholder for reconfiguration. If Council agrees to proceed with the project, they’ll need to approve a budget with actual numbers in order to calculate how many millions of dollars in bonds need to be sold to pay for the capital costs. (FY22 adopted CIP)For the Council meeting, the city’s budget office presented funding scenarios all of which include an increase in the property tax rate to cover the cost of the additional debt service to pay the bond proceeds back. These hinge on whether the city proceeds with a long-planned and multi-phased project to upgrade West Main Street that grew out of a $350,000 planning study requested in 2012 by the PLACE Design Task Force. While the currently adopted CIP does not include any additional funding for the $49 million project, Council has previously allocated $20.54 million in local money to match state funding for the first two phases.  That’s according to a slide presented to Council back in February. Council could opt to transfer that to the school project. The tax increases were initially to have been phased in gradually at two cents a year to cover the five-year plan as adopted by Council in April. For the purposes of these scenarios, the tax increases are shown happening next year all at once, and include an additional five cents to cover the additional cost to finance the reconfigured schools.“If you want to start construction in FY23, which is next year, then we have to have the money to sign a contract, so that means all the money all at once,” said Krissy Hamill, the city’s budget performance analyst. Option 1 would cover just the cost of that $50 million placeholder and would include the West Main project. This would result in a 15 cent tax increase next  year to a rate of $1.10 per $100 of assessed value. “Option 2 would decrease the amount of tax increase that would be required if West Main Street were removed,” said City Manager Chip Boyles.That would be a 13 cent tax rate to $1.08 per $100 of assessed value. The next two options raise the reconfiguration cost to $75 million. Option 3 keeps West Main Street with a 18 cent tax rate increase. Option 4 drops West Main and is also a 15 cent tax increase. Those actual rates could be different depending on the results of the 2022 assessment. That’s why you see the phrase “tax rate equivalent” in the options. There will be no room for any additional capital projects for at least two years under these scenarios. “There are a lot of variables in this,” said Boyles. “This is making the assumption that there is no sales referendum and no sales tax increase.” Boyles estimates the one percent increase in the tax would bring in an additional $12 million a year. The current sales tax is 5.3 percent, but Charlottesville only gets one percent of that amount. The budget for the current fiscal year anticipates the city will collect $12 million a year. In Fiscal Year 2020, the city collected $11.4 million according to data compiled by the Auditor of Public Accounts for the Commonwealth of Virginia. That’s up from $9.3 million in 2010. The capital budget for FY22 includes $1 million for a parking structure at Market Street and East High. Earlier this year, Council opted to wait a year on that project and wait until next year to spend the remaining $7 million. So far, the options presented to Council did not factor in what happens if the project is dropped but that project cannot get totally zeroed out. (FY22 adopted CIP)“What we have been looking at is reserving at least a couple of million if we had to create surface parking on the properties that we own,” Boyles said. “I would say definitely $5 million could be transferred if needed.”However, Hammill said that would not affect the projected tax rates because the capital budget already assumes bonds will be sold to cover the cost of paying projects. The housing plan adopted by City Council calls for $10 million a year to be dedicated to affordable projects. The current five-year capital improvement program anticipates $13.5 million on public housing, $925,000 a year on the city’s affordable housing plan, $900,000 a year for housing vouchers, and $11.4 million in city funds for the redevelopment of Friendship Court.  (FY22 adopted CIP)There was no specific decision point on the agenda last night but Knox said he wanted to know what Council is thinking. There will be an information item presented to Council on October 4. A decision on West Main?Mayor Nikuyah Walker wanted to know where Councilors stood on the West Main Street project. The results were pretty clear. “The only way I can see West Main Street surviving is if we get this one [percent] sales tax for the school reconfiguration,” said vice mayor Sena Magill. “That’s it.”“I would definitely fully support reallocating the West Main project to schools,” said Councilor Michael Payne. “I can see West Main continuing as just as Hail Mary of if Congress passes the stimulus bill and there’s no local city money required.”“I would prioritize this ahead of West Main,” said City Councilor Heather Hill. “Projects like West Main had a lot of revenue come in from other sources and I’ve said before that it’s a hard one to swallow but I think we’re at a point where there’s not another option.”“As probably maybe the last defender of the West Main project, I also agree that whatever option we end up taking is going to have to be an option that does not include the West Main project,” said City Councilor Lloyd Snook. Much of the Virginia Department of Transportation funding for West Main Street comes in the form of Smart Scale, which requires projects to be completed within six years. In the current round, the city was awarded $10.4 million for the third phase. None of that funding requires a local match. The University of Virginia committed $5 million to the West Main project as well. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

On this episode, dive in to a journey of Personal & Spiritual Transformation- through "living the life", choosing, entering & maintaining sobriety, and a change of mindset beyond simply what life can offer to what can I offer life & others. And I love how yoga was a big part of this transformation - and continues to be! Meet Jim McGuire, founder of Vikara Events - a local Phoenix company that offers Yoga, Fitness & Wellness Events as well as multi-day retreats. Jim started a career in mortgage banking, built & grew his own company which he eventually sold, spent a few years enjoying life & found yoga during the beginning stages of his sobriety. He developed a passion for yoga, health & fitness - which turned into building a new career - combining business with his love of wellness.Many great tidbits in this episode - and it really does speak to the truth that we each have the capacity and ability to create our own reality. It is all in the choosing, how we show up & what we do with our gifts, our time, our capabilities & our choices. If you are a local of Phoenix and haven't been to a Vikara Event as of yet - I can tell you it is definitely something you won't regret attending -each event is Empowering, Fun & has so much to offer participants. Fall Line up of Wellness Wednesdays at Fashion Square Mall start October 6th & be sure to check out their Fall Yoga Wellness Retreat at the Wigwam Resort. More info & to book directly found here --> www.VikaraEvents.com.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/house-of-minds/support

In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out is for 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. Native plants provide habitat, food sources for wildlife, ecosystem resiliency in the face of climate change, and clean water.  Start at the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page and tell them Lonnie Murray sent you! On today’s show: Charlottesville Area Transit makes some route adjustments and some examples of the “partnership” in the Jefferson Area Regional Transit Partnership An epidemiologist at the University of Virginiaexplains key differences between the current pandemic surge and the winter surge The Free Enterprise Forum releases its annual report on local government spending trendsThe number of new COVID cases in Virginia has exceeded 3,000 for each of the past four days, with 3,518 reported by the Virginia Department of Health. The percent positivity is 10, which means one out of every ten tests is coming back as a confirmed case. There have been 254 reported COVID deaths since July 27. The VDH updated a dashboard today that tracks cases by vaccination status. Due to a variety of factors, this is a difficult one to update every day. Here are two conclusions listed on the site:“Between January 17, 2021 and August 21, 2021, unvaccinated people developed COVID-19 at a rate 13.3 times higher than fully vaccinated people and 2.6 times higher than fully vaccinated people,” reads the section below “rates by vaccination status.” “As of August 21, 2021, 4,767,990 Virginians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19,” reads one under “vaccine breakthrough cases.” “ Of these people, 0.2 percent have developed COVID-19, 0.009 percent have been hospitalized, and 0.0017 percent have died.” Dr. Costi Sifri is the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia. He told members of the press today that the term “breakthrough case” is a bit misleading in a time when the delta variant is so prevalent. “Some of us are concerned by the word breakthrough suggesting that it is a vaccine failure and most of these infections that have occured are not failures,” Dr. Sifri said. “Most of these infections that occurred after vaccinations really are not failures. People have received the vaccine and the vaccine has done its job. It’s kept people out of the hospital. It’s kept them from serious consequences of COVID.” The seven-day average for new cases now is where it was in early December as the winter surge hit. Let’s hear one interchange between UVA Health public information officer Eric Swensen and Dr. Sifri. Eric Swensen:“The number of new cases is now in the 3000’s which is roughly about where they were sort of shortly after Thanksgiving of last year. So the question is really, what’s different if anything between now and then and should we be concerned that case count has risen back to where it was?”Dr. Costi Sifri:“There is one huge difference and that is that we now have an effective vaccine and we did not have one in November that was being used and distributed. Our vaccination started December 15 and nationwide it started that week. So what we’re seeing right now is almost entirely preventable. That is the big difference and the frustration.” Eric Swensen:“Should people be avoiding crowds at this time until those third doses are more widely available for people. For some context, Liberty University is on a campus-wide quarantine through  September 10. What are your thoughts on people being out and being out in crowds?” (LU page on their temporary mitigation period)Dr. Costi Sifri:“This gets into sort of the gray areas and challenges I think with COVID that are often individually based. Part of the calculation is whether you are vaccinated or not vaccinated. What is the nature of the event? Is the crowd 40 people out on a mountaintop or 500 people in an indoor arena? And what is your level of risk tolerance? The risk tolerance may not only be you but it may be the people that you live with. The kids that are home, loved ones, family members. I think that is a very specific answer. I think again if we’re vaccinated, that’s very effective. If you’re in a situation with crowds, wearing a mask is easy to do. You should be doing it if you’re indoors in the state right now where we have substantial or high levels of COVID transmission in nearly every county of the state.”More on the pandemic as we move forward. A regional pro-business group that takes a close look at local governments in the region has released its annual report on spending habits. The Free Enterprise Forum’s Choices and Decisions report is a Local Government Spending Index that compares municipal expenditures in Charlottesville as well the counties of Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, and Nelson. “The analysis seeks to develop and track over time an objective metric to capture the spending trend in each locality and determine if this trend can be correlated to other trends occurring within the locality,” reads the report. One metric generated is per-capita operational spending, and Charlottesville ranks highest with a 2020 figure of $4,975.75 per resident. Albemarle is next at $3,398.44, followed by Nelson at $3,090.44, Louisa County at $3,026.44, Greene at $2,804.17, and Fluvanna at $2,559.43. The index is modeled after the Consumer Price Index, a metric used by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics to measure the cost of goods and services over time. The Free Enterprise Forum uses data from the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Auditor of Public Accounts. Review the whole report on their website. There’s also a spreadsheet with all of the data. *If you’re interested in becoming directly involved in Charlottesville government, the city is looking for applicants to many boards and commissions, ranging from the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail Authority to the Youth Council. If you’re interested in transportation, there are vacancies on bodies like the Jaunt Board of Directors and the Citizen’s Transportation Advisory Committee. For housing, there’s the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority or the Community Development Block Grant Task Force. Either way, if you’re interested in experience, even applying for these positions is a good way to get involved. Visit charlottesville.gov to learn more. (release)You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement. In today’s second Substack-fueled shout-out, Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit the Code for Charlottesville website to learn more, including details on projects that are under way. Before we get to a quick review of the Regional Transit Authority, two small pieces of Charlottesville Area Transit news. First, the free trolley-style bus that runs between downtown and the University of Virginia will return to traveling down McCormick Road through the heart of UVA Grounds. Second, additional service will be added to Route 9 during peak hours. That route currently travels between the University of Virginia Hospital, the Piedmont Family YMCA, Charlottesville High School, and downtown Charlottesville. CAT Director Garland Williams said the move is being made in the short-term to help with the start of the school year. “Because we know there was going to be potentially some high schoolers that were going to use our service, we added additional service during the peak periods of time on Route 9,” Williams told the Regional Transit Partnership on Thursday. According to the last seven years of ridership data, Route 9 is one of the least traveled of all of the current CAT routes whereas the trolley-style bus route has consistently had the highest ridership. The current Route 9 will change its configuration if Council agrees to the route alterations that have been under public review this year. Under its new alignment, Route 9 will travel between downtown and Fashion Square Mall via the Piedmont Family YMCA in McIntire Park. Other routes will serve the UVA Hospital. Review all of the changes here. One of the people who will take a final vote on the proposed transit changes is City Councilor Lloyd Snook. He became vice chair of the Jefferson Area Regional Transit Partnership on Thursday and explained why he was interested in serving on that advisory body.“My main interest in transit has been that I am convinced that Charlottesville is needing a transition from being a suburban-thinking town to being a city-thinking city and transit is an important part of that,” Snook said. “It’s also an important part of an affordable housing strategy and a city planning strategy.”Another member of the Regional Transit Authority is the interim executive director of Jaunt, Karen Davis.“I’m pleased to let you know that ridership is coming right back and this is trending up and our services are back to full service in all areas,” Davis said. “Despite the driver shortage that we’re seeing.”Davis said that includes the Crozet Connect service, which had been running on a limited schedule due to the pandemic. Another of the partners is the University of Virginia Transit Service, who joined as a voting member of the advisory body. Davis said the two transit providers recently got together for discussions. “They got picked up in a Jaunt bus, brought to our home base, and we had three hours of meeting where we were brainstorming, where we made connections, and from here we have committed to meeting regularly and setting some priorities,” Davis said. One example of a current conflict that might be resolved is that Jaunt vehicles cannot directly pick up or drop off passengers who are headed to the Emily Couric Cancer Center. One place Jaunt buses can go is the Center at Belvedere, where Davis recently met with Director Peter Thompson. The Center is a non-voting member of the Regional Transit Partnership will also be served by Charlottesville Area Transit’s Route 11 when the service changes are made. Now back to that driver shortage. There are several area transit agencies and each of them need more people to work behind the wheel.“I was just taking steps to put a recruitment bonus in place only to realize that both CAT and UTS have totally offered much bigger bonuses so I have to address that program line,” Davis said.Davis said she is retaining her existing drivers, and only one that she knows of has gone to work for CAT. CAT is paying a $2,400 bonus for new drivers who work for at least nine months as well as existing drivers. New and existing UTS drivers will get a $2,500 bonus.“It’s going to be a $1,000 payout right away for our standing staff and $1,000 for new staff, and then after two full semesters of driving, the rest of the bonus,” said Becca White is the director of UVA’s Parking and Transportation. White said she has been tracking closely the number of faculty and staff who have opted to pay for spaces as the pandemic continues. “As we know, transit and parking are tied together very closely so we’ve been watching that uptake of parking permits because that’s oftentimes an indication of how many people are back in the office and what potential riders we have for CAT or Jaunt or Afton Express,” White said. “On August 1, about 55 percent to 60 percent of the academic employees had purchased their permits as compared to pre-COVID. Just in the last three weeks that number has now increased to 85 percent.”White said ridership on health employee shuttle routes have increased as the semester approaches. The academic routes that serve Central Grounds have increased to 10,000 passengers a day. Before COVID, that number was around 15,000.“And all of that service is in the last mile,” White said. “Every bit of it.” U-Heights is an apartment complex on Ivy Road in Albemarle County that is no longer served by University Transit Service. However, there is a large immigrant and refugee population. White has worked with management at U-Heights to provide mobility for residents who are no longer served by fixed-route transit. The theme of collaboration continued. The Regional Transit Partnership is staffed by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. Garland Williams is the director of CAT. “On the third of September, TDJPC staff will be over for a visit,” Williams said. “I want to kind of introduce them to my team and get them the lay of the land.”That will include a look at capital projects that CAT will pursue. A major purchase in recent years has been automatic passenger counters that will help provide more accurate ridership counts. Williams said these have been installed on all buses and the data is being validated. But what about those route changes?“We are in the final processes of getting the approvals,” Williams said. “The last piece that we have to do which we will hopefully be able to kick off next Friday is to get a consultant on board to finish up the required Title VI review from the changes based on the feedback we got from the community. Once that is done it has to go to Council and we’ll also share that information with Albemarle County Board of Supervisors.” Title VI refers to the Civil Rights Act, which requires a public process before making changes on routes paid for with federal funds. That means there is no set date for when the forthcoming changes will be made. That will require installation of new bus stops at places that currently do not have them, as well as removal of the stops that will be discontinued. A reason for the delay has been to address the driver shortage. CAT is down 22 drivers and pupil transportation for city school is down 20. More from the Regional Transit Partnership in an upcoming newsletter. Thank you for reading! Next up is the Week Ahead newsletter on Sunday, followed by another attempt to get one of these CCE newsletters done each weekday. Each week I get a little more efficient, which means I can bring you more information. And it’s all thanks to those of you who have contributed financially. I have taken my previous experience as a freelance journalist and created a one-person newsroom. Rather than give a set of links today, I just wish you a happy 239! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Hello and welcome to Charlottesville Community Engagement. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs, and before we get started, I wanted to remind some of you and tell some of your for the first time that this program is an offshoot of a podcast I created in March 2020 to get information out about COVID-19. Doing the Charlottesville Quarantine Report made me want to get back to journalism, and here I am a year and a half later with the 228th installment of this show and what is the 57th installment of the Charlottesville Quarantine Report. Let’s get right to it. On today’s program:Amid rising COVID cases, Governor Northam requires vaccines or weekly COVID tests for state employeesAn infectious disease expert at the University of Virginia is concerned about this flu seasonThe Blue Ridge Health District takes questions on where we are at the moment in the pandemicIn today’s Patreon-fueled shout-out: Help support black-owned business in the Charlottesville area. Check out the Charlottesville Black Business Directory at cvilleblackbiz.com and choose between a variety of goods and services, ranging from beauty supplies, professional services, and e-commerce. Visit cvilleblackbiz.com as soon as you can to get started!You know there’s something serious going on with the public health response to the surge in COVID cases when there are press conferences at the local, University of Virginia, and state level all held on the same day. We’ll get through all of those in this episode of the program dedicated solely to COVID. Let’s start with the numbers today.There are another 1,760 new cases of COVID-19 reported today by the Virginia Department of Health and the seven-day rate for positive test results is 6.8 percent. That’s up from 4.8 percent a week ago. In the Blue Ridge Health District there are another 30 cases today and the percent positivity is at 4.7 percent. Dr. Denise Bonds is the director of the Blue Ridge Health District.“We had a lovely couple of months where as vaccinations increased, our case counts went down, and unfortunately in this country we have had now had an increase of what’s called the Delta variant,” Dr. Bonds said. Dr. Bonds said the Delta variant is changing guidance from national health officials on wearing masks indoors. Locally, restrictions are beginning to go back in place. For instance, Albemarle County will require all visitors to administration buildings to wear a mask, regardless of vaccination status, beginning on Monday. Part of the reason is that even people who are fully vaccinated could potentially still carry the Delta variant as the virus load is believed to be higher. So official guidance has changed. “If you are vaccinated and know you have an exposure to someone who had a diagnosed case of COVID, the recommendations are that you get tested three to five days after that exposure and that you wear a mask when you are out in public for 14 days or until you have that negative test,” Dr. Bonds said. “That’s because we know with the Delta variant that you can become infected, have very mild or no symptoms if you’re vaccinated, but still be capable of shedding that virus to other individuals.”Dr. Bonds said she has resumed wearing a mask when she goes to the grocery store and when she goes to a weekly exercise class. The total for fully-vaccinated Virginians, including children, is 54.3 percent, up from 53.8 percent a week ago. The seven-day daily rate for vaccinations has increased to 13,031 a day, up from 11,840 a week ago. Dr. Bonds comments came at a town hall this afternoon by the Blue Ridge Health District to provide information about how to get a vaccine, how to get tested, and the latest status on vaccinations. Jason Elliott is a communications officer with the Blue Ridge Health District. (watch the Town Hall)“The math on this works out to about 61.8 percent of the Blue Ridge Health District having at least one dose and we’re sitting now at 56.5 percent of our Blue Ridge Health District being fully vaccinated,” Elliott said. The Blue Ridge Health District is offering vaccinations four days a week at a smaller location at Fashion Square Mall in daytime and evening hours. They’re also offering shots at their headquarters one day a week. Their mobile vaccination clinic is also in use from time to time for something they’re calling Shot on the Spot.“Coming up you’ll see us at Westhaven Health Day this weekend,” Elliott said. “We’ll also be at Lake Anna this weekend.”The “Mobi” van will be on the Downtown Mall this Monday. There is still an active homebound campaign underway between the health district, UVA Health, and the Charlottesville Fire Department to provide vaccinations to people who cannot leave their home.  “The added bonus to this is that we take care of everything for your first and second dose, and you get that smoke detector set up or that battery replaced if you need that as well,” Elliott said. We’ll hear more from the Blue Ridge Health District later in the program. Just before the town hall, the University of Virginia Health System held their weekly press briefing. In the near future, booster shots for COVID may be on the horizon but are not currently recommended. Will that become an annual event? Dr. Patrick Jackson, an infectious disease expert, said it is too early to tell. “With a lot of humility, we’re only known about this virus for about 19 months,” Dr. Jackson said. “There’s a lot of things still to know. HIV was discovered the year before I was born and my day job is to work on HIV virology so there’s just a ton we don’t know yet.”Dr. Jackson said it is likely that COVID will likely remain present as a respiratory pathogen that continues to circulate similar to influenza.“I think vaccination will continue to be a major emphasis for COVID-19,” Dr. Jackson said. “In terms of how often that vaccination will need to be updated, I think that’s unknown right now. There are reasons to believe that COVID-19 will mutate more slowly than influenza does so it might not be a yearly vaccine but there might be periodic updates that are recommended.”Dr. Jackson said last year there was virtually no transmission of influenza because of social distancing and this may present a problem. “Every year when the flu season comes around, you kind of rely on people having been exposed the previous year and recovered to kind of tamp down on the amount of transmission that flu can run through in a population,” Dr. Jackson said. “So I do think that in this upcoming flu season that vaccination is going to be incredibly important and we’re going to have to ramp up our efforts to vaccinate people because I think having kind of missed the last flu season is that we are kind of set up for a worst season this time around.”Dr. Jackson was asked at the press conference what he wanted Governor Northam to do to take steps for public health. “We already have a lottery in Virginia,” Jackson said. “We might as well have a vaccination lottery. I think that there’s at least some data that that helps get some people off the fence. Things the Governor can do to encourage vaccination particularly among state and local governments would be very helpful, up to and including expanding some vaccination mandates for people who are in a public facing role I think would be positive.”Dr. Jackson said it is also important that people who are sick get time off from work. “Paid time off for staff who are not feeling well to go home, recover, get tested, is super important, and supporting students who are not feeling well to continue their education, whether that is remotely,” Jackson said. “In an ideal world, and this is outside of the hands school system probably is allowing parents to take time off from work to care for their kids when they are sick rather than sending them in.”You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement and it’s time now for another reader-supported announcement. The nonprofit group Resilient Virginia works to inform decision makers and officials about how to prepare for a changing world. They’re holding their annual event virtually this year, and registration prices go up at the end of this week. The Resilient Recovery Conference will take place the mornings of August 25, August 26, and August 27. Take a look at the details of the event as well as pricing at resilientvirginia.org. It has been a few months since Governor Northam held a press briefing specifically to address COVID-19. The pediatrician took to the dais today, wearing a mask, in order to give updates.“When we last spoke in early May, things were looking very good,” Northam said. “And they still are overall. This summer our case counts have dropped to the lowest we have seen since October of 2020. And we have been seeing drops in hospitalizations, deaths, and in our percent positivity.” However, the number of cases and the percent positivity have begun to increase as the number of vaccinations began to stall. That’s given the Delta variant room to spread. “The arrival of the Delta variant combined with the number of people who are not vaccinated is driving our case counts back up,” Northam said. “A large majority of the people getting infected now are unvaccinated. They haven’t gotten their shot.”Northam stressed that Virginia is still reporting lower numbers each day than at the height of the winter surge. “And I am confident we will not go back to that point,” Northam said. Northam said since January, 99 percent of COVID cases have been in people not fully vaccinated.“Even though Delta is more contagious, vaccinated people are still strongly protected against getting so sick that they have to go into the hospital,” Northam said. “Nearly every single person who has died from COVID has been unvaccinated.”Northam announced mandatory vaccinations for the 120,000 people who work for the Commonwealth of Virginia by September 1. “Anyone who chooses not to be vaccinated will have to get a COVID test every week and show proof of a negative result,” Northam said. “And I really encourage local governments and private companies to do the same thing.”Northam urged those who are hesitant to get the shot now. “The time for waiting is over,” Northam said. “Millions of people around the world have been vaccinated and we are fine. Three hundred and fifty million doses have been distributed in the United States including nearly ten million right here in Virginia.” Children under the age of 12 are still not eligible to get a vaccine, though Northam said he is hopeful approval from the Food and Drug Administration will come within the next month. Under Virginia law adopted by the General Assembly this past winter, schools are required to offer in-person instruction five days a week and they are to follow guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control. (read the bill)“The CDC guidance is that people in schools need to be wearing masks,” Northam said. Several districts have already taken votes stating mask-wearing will be optional. Northam urged these localities to consult with their legal counsel and to reconsider.“It’s the law of the land and we expect our school districts throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia to follow the law,” Northam said. Northam stopped well short of issuing a mandate for indoor masks. The state of emergency declared on March 12, 2020 has now expired. On August 5, 2021, Northam invoked some of the messaging used back in the early days of the pandemic. “One of the things I said when all this started is that we as Americans are fighting a biological war and our enemy is the COVID-19 virus and when I served in the United States Army, one of the things that was so reassuring to me as an American was that Americans were on board with our mission. They were behind everything that we were trying to do to win this war. I would just hope that Virginians and Americans would look at this as a war and want to win that war.”So for now, just like I was doing in March 2020, I’m remaining vigilant, watching the numbers, and changing my behavior again. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

For the 233rd episode, Brendan and Jon were invited to hang out at The New Standard ahead of their upcoming Grateful Dead tribute week, Daze Between, which is part of a nationwide series of concerts supported by Jerry Garcia's family and family foundation. This week's episode was sponsored by The New Standard, Moe DeWitt Law Firm, Orange County Library System, and Enzian Theater. The topics include a new home or Parliament House in downtown Orlando, an update on Orlando's Fashion Square Mall, new art museums, and the closing of a downtown Irish pub icon. Tune in to Bungalower and the Bus every week on 104.1 Real Radio or our podcast to learn all about the top headlines, new restaurants, and best-bet events to attend this week.

In today’s Substack-fueled shout-out, Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit the Code for Charlottesville website to learn more, including details on projects that are underway.In this installment: The TJPDC will try again to get grant to plan for future of Charlottesville Union Station, and other regional updatesElection updates for outlying Greene, Nelson and Louisa The comment period is over for the Cville Plans Together initiativeAlbemarle County’s diversity chief is heading to the UVA School of Data Science Fashion Square Mall owner files for Chapter 11 The public comment period has now closed for the latest round of the Cville Plans Together initiative, two weeks after the initial deadline for people to submit feedback on the Future Land Use Map. Staff with Rhodeside & Harwell will now comb through the responses and will present that information to the Charlottesville Planning Commission on June 29. On Wednesday, the Housing Advisory Committee will discuss at noon changes being suggested by the executive directors of Habitat for Humanity and the Piedmont Housing Alliance. (meeting info)“They shared their early general concept/proposal with us,” said project manager Jennifer Koch. “However, the Cville Plans Together team is currently focused on summarizing the feedback we have received over the last six weeks and we are not yet proposing any [Future Land Use Map] revisions.” More on the future land use use plan in a future installment of the newsletter. *While there are no contested races for Albemarle’s legislative body, that’s not the case in surrounding counties. In Louisa County, two of the magisterial districts have contested races and another two have candidates who are running opposed. In the Green Springs district, incumbent Robert Babyok Jr. faces challenger Rachel Jones. In the Patrick Henry district, incumbent Fitzgerald Barnes faces William Woody Jr. Duane Adams is unopposed in the Mineral District and Tommy J. Barlow is unopposed in the Mountain Road District. In Greene County, Bill Martin will not seek another term representing the Stanardsville District. Abbey Heflin and Tina Deane are running to replace him. Marie Durrer is unopposed in the Midway District. Let’s move on to Nelson County. In the North District, incumbent Tommy Harvey will face Democrat Mary Cunningham. Harvey is an independent. In the Central District, incumbent Ernie Reed will face Republican Pamela Brice. Reed is a Democrat. Republican Jesse Rutherford faces no opposition in the East District. The top official for diversity and equity in Albemarle County is moving on, but not going far. Siri Russell is the new Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the School of Data Science at the University of Virginia. Russell has been the Director of Equity and Inclusion for Albemarle since 2018 and helped oversee removal of a Confederate statue in front of the court house last summer.  She’s already a member of President Jim Ryan’s Council on UVA-Community Partnerships. In a press release on the School of Data Science’s website, Russell said she is excited about working to put theory into practice.“I’m interested in exploring how data science can empower communities, individuals, and policy-makers to improve outcomes and maximize societal benefits,” Russell said.Siri RussellThe company that owns Fashion Square Mall has filed for bankruptcy to protect its assets and attempt to stay in business. Many media outlets are reporting that Washington Prime Group filed for Chapter 11 on Sunday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of Texas. You’re listening to Charlottesville Community Engagement. What are some of the factors that support, or inhibit, efforts to increase equity in our communities and housing developments? That’s the topic of an upcoming panel discussion held by the Central Virginia Regional Housing Partnership. Guests include Kathryn Howell of the RVA Eviction Lab, Hamilton Lombard of the Weldon Cooper Center, Andrew Mondschein at the UVA School of Architecture, and Stacy Pethia, Albemarle’s housing manager. The event begins at 12 p.m. on June 17, 2021. Register today! Today’s newsletter ends with a recap of the June 3 meeting of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. The group will try again to get a federal grant for a planning study for the future of the Amtrak station on West Main Street. The agency applied last year when the grant program was known as a BUILD. Now it’s known as RAISE, for Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity. Jessica Hersh-Ballering is a transportation planner for the TJPDC. “We applied for BUILD the last time it was available,” Hersh-Ballering said. “We requested $711,000 to create a Charlottesville regional multimodal transportation station master plan to meet the capacity, accessibility, and safety demands of Charlottesville’s union station.”The application was not successful, but there’s still a need to expand the station in order to prepare for a future with more passenger service through the region. A second daily train between Roanoke and points north is expected in the near future. “The station doesn’t have the infrastructure of the amenities to adequately serve the existing ridership, let alone the increased ridership projected for 2045,” Hersh-Ballering said. It’s not just trains, though. The Virginia Breeze bus service between Danville and D.C. is expanding, and MegaBus also expects more service. Both currently stop at Arlington Boulevard at Barracks Road Shopping Center. Hersh-Ballering said the goal is to come up with a shared community vision for the station site, which is privately owned. The station is currently not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. “The station [is] missing a lot of important things, such as lighting, canopies to protect people from the weather, appropriate and useful signage, among other things,” Hersh-Ballering said. “There was also a lot of pooling of water on the platforms.”The money being sought now is for planning, and other funds will have to be found to pay for the upgrades. Charlottesville’s Union Station in 2009. What have your experiences been here?Hersh-Ballering made her comments at the June 3 edition of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. The TJPDC agreed to a resolution to move forward with the grant application. Charlottesville’s representatives on the Commission were not present at the meeting. At that meeting, new officers were elected. Nelson County Supervisor Jesse Rutherford is the new chair. Greene County Supervisor Dale Herring is the new vice chair and Keith Smith of Fluvanna County is the treasurer. Nelson County will use the services of the TJPDC to apply for a pair of several transportation grants. Interim executive director Christine Jacobs explains. “One of them is for sidewalk infrastructure in downtown Lovingston and the other is for a potential application for the Gladstone Train Depot relocation of the old building,” Jacobs said. Work also continues to implement a regional tax on cigarettes.“At this time, we’ve had seven counties in our broader region endorsing resolutions and expressing interest in participating in the regional cigarette tax administration,” Jacobs said. After a closed session, the Commissioner opted to extend Jacobs service as interim executive director until the end of the calendar year. A search for a permanent executive director to replace Chip Boyles will begin on July 1. At a roundtable on happenings in each jurisdiction, Dylan Bishop of Nelson County had more information about the Gladstone project. “The Friends of Gladstone Depot is a non-profit agency that purchased this property from the railway, from CSX,” Bishop said. “They’re going to be moving that train station, converting it to a community center and transportation museum for the community there.” The Nelson County Board of Supervisors approved a rezoning for the project at its meeting last week. On Wednesday, the Fluvanna Board of Supervisors will have a public hearing on rezoning of land adjacent to the Bremo Power Station from agricultural to industrial to allow for a lined landfill to store coal ash. Here’s Supervisor Tony O’Brien.“They will retain their coal ash ponds tapped and sealed and covered in Fluvanna and they are proffering close to $50 million for that so that’s a big bonus for Fluvanna in terms of being able to ensure that the water quality in the Fork Union area remains stable and is not affected by any of their efforts,” O’Brien said.  The proffered funding includes $47.1 million for water supply improvements, $2 million for transportation improvements, and half a million for Green Infrastructure to mitigate the impacts of the landfill. (meeting info)Greene Supervisor Dale Herring provided an update on the ongoing efforts of the county to leave the Rapidan Service Authority in order to build a reservoir that the entity has opted not to build. “Madison and Orange County did vote to allow us to leave the authority so we should be out of the Rapidan Service Authority in the near future and what that means for us is that we can actually begin to build the reservoir that we’ve already spent between $11 million to $13 million on,” The TJPDC will next meet on August 5 and will be in-person. Before you go, if you’d like to help continued research into government in the community, please consider a donation through Patreon. Your monthly support through Patreon allows me to budget for the basics required to be self-sufficient. Go take a look and let me and know if you have any questions! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s Patreon-fueled shout-out: As we head into summer and the weather heats up, your local energy nonprofit, LEAP, wants you and yours to keep cool. LEAP 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 $75,100, 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!On today’s show: Charlottesville City Council votes to remove Confederate statues in city parks, and this time it’s a vote that doesn’t have to be cleared by the Virginia Supreme CourtA joint PTO group releases a final report on a special fund created to help improve virtual learning One Albemarle County highway gets is shut down for a few hours, while another one remains closed indefinitely. In a minute, we’ll get to a wrap-up of last night’s City Council meeting. But first, a couple other items. Albemarle County Police shut down the U.S. 29 and Interstate 64 interchange yesterday for four hours as a response to “a call for a person in crisis at Teel Lane and Monacan Trail.” According to a news release, no additional information about the incident will be released. Teel Lane is several hundred feet southwest of the interchange. Not related, but U.S. 250 remains closed at Afton Mountain due to a rockslide. According to to Virginia Department of Transportation spokesman Lou Hatter, work continues six days a week by two contractors. “One is removing the unstable material, the other is coming behind to stabilize the areas,” Hatter said. “We still anticipate it will be mid-July to complete the work.”Stay tuned. Last year, all of the Parent-Teacher Organizations in Charlottesville came together to raise money to help students in households that did not have the resources to fully participate in virtual learning. Now the final report of the Ready to Teach, Ready to Learn CCS Reopening Fund is out, and the effort raised $165,097 from 201 donors. In addition to providing funds for teaching materials, funds were also spent to help the return to in-person learning including covering the cost of van transportation at a time when school buses were limited. “Funding was divided and allocated quickly to PTOs at all seven elementary schools, Buford Middle, Charlottesville High, and Lugo McGinness Academy using distribution percentages based on each school’s population of students receiving free and reduced lunch,” reads the report. “The use of the funds was then determined by individual school level committees comprised of a PTO representative, teacher, administrator, and an equity committee representative.”The Charlottesville Area Community Foundation partnered to administer the fund. The report lists several conclusions, including a sense that there is an untapped potential for public schools to raise money from private sources.  (read the report) The report breaks down how the funding was distributedCharlottesville City Council held a public hearing last night on whether to remove two Confederate statues in two city parks. I’ll have details on that in a moment, but first, some other highlights from the meeting. It has now been about ten days since COVID restrictions in Virginia were fully lifted, but public health officials are still monitoring the situation. Dr. Denise Bonds of the Blue Ridge Health District gave a briefing. Daily case counts in the district have been dwindling since mid-April. “We are frequently in single digits, often only one or two cases reported,” Dr. Bonds said. Today that number is 3 new cases. There’s been a total of 15,937 cases and 224 fatalities since last March. Community engagement efforts are ongoing.“Our hotline is still going strong,” Dr. Bonds said. “Since January we’ve had over 25,000 calls to our hotline.”That’s 434-972-6261 if you need it for some reason. Dr. Bonds said the district is continuing to get people vaccinated in order to meet the goal of having 70 percent of Americans vaccinated by July 4. As of today, 48.8 percent of the health district is fully vaccinated. Statewide, that number is at 46 percent. Children under the age of 12 are not yet eligible to be vaccinated but Dr. Bonds said approval of at least one vaccine may be approved by this fall.The vaccination clinic at J.C. Penney will close this month, but will reopen in a smaller store inside Fashion Square Mall. The district is also working to vaccinate people who cannot travel at their homes. Vaccination events will also continue be held at other community events. Here’s City Manager Chip Boyles. “It was a very good weekend with Sunday at Tonsler Park, we had the splash pad open, a basketball tournament, and vaccinations occurring taking advantage of the crowds that were there,” Boyles said. A demographic breakdown of cases, hospitalizations, and fatalities in the Blue Ridge Health DistrictCity Hall remains closed to the public,  but planning is underway to transition back to reopening. Boyles also said Charlottesville has received its first payment from the American Recovery Plan. The amount is $9.8 million and another payment of the same amount is expected in the next calendar year. “The first funding will go towards revenue replacement for the city, and then additional COVID improvements and then we will very shortly be rolling out for our nonprofit stakeholders in the community a program where they can apply,” Boyles said.You're reading Charlottesville Community Engagement. Time now for another subscriber supported public service announcement. This June, the Jefferson Madison Regional Library is hosting two virtual programs to commemorate Juneteenth. On June 17th, JMRL is hosting a panel discussion on the lives of the enslaved populations on the Monticello, Montpelier, and Highland plantations. (info) On June 22, JMRL will hold a program about the recently discovered unmarked graves outside the enclosures of the cemetery at Pen Park. (info)Now, on to the statues. Council waived its usual procedure of having people wait until the designated public hearing to allow people to use the Community Matters to speak out on the matter. One of these was Zyahna Bryant, who began a petition in 2016 to remove the statues when she was a student at Charlottesville High School. She pointed out Council’s original vote to remove the statues in 2017 was 3-2. “The choice here is clear,” Bryant said. “What needs to happen is clear. It’s up to you make the right decision and there’s no opportunity left to straddle the fence. What side of history do you want to be on?” Scott Warner grew up in Charlottesville but now lives in Albemarle County. He said the report from the Council-appointed Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces offered up two alternatives for the Robert E. Lee statue.“Move the sculpture to McIntire Park and confront its history there and number two, confront the sculpture in place and redesign and transfer Lee Park,” Warner said. Bruce Williamson, an attorney who works downtown, said Council ultimately voted to reject the Blue Ribbon Commission’s recommendations. “The preservation of history is not even an issue here,” Williamson said. “These statues preserve other things and many other people will speak eloquently about what those statues were meant for, what they preserve, and why they need to go.” After these comments, City Manager Boyles gave an overview of the last five years and explained what the steps are  ahead for the statues as laid out by the Virginia State Supreme Court and the General Assembly. “Council now has before you tonight for consideration a resolution to remove, contextualize, relocate, or cover these statues after a 30 day period has expired that allows consideration of relocation to a museum, a historical society, government, of military battlefield,”  Boyles said. Then the official public hearing began. In the second session, several speakers asked that the city remove the statues but not let anyone else take them on. “These statues must come down and not be put up anywhere else after this,” said Cali Gaston. “They are symbols of hate, of white supremacy, and as such must be removed and repurposed.” In all, 55 people addressed Council during the public hearing, with all but a handful requesting removal. City Councilor Heather Hill spoke first.“Really appreciate the engagement tonight and I think it was definitely a clear message to this Council,” Hill said. Vice Mayor Sena Magill thanked those who spoke. “And also to thank the people who started this work in all sorts of forms over a very long time,” Magill said. City Councilor Michael Payne said he didn’t have much to add to what the speakers had said. “Thoughts I have that come to mind as someone who was there on August 12 and turning on to 4th Street and as a survivor of August 12 like others is that I will be very  proud to take a vote to remove these statues and to reimagine our public spaces in these areas and I hope it can be a small part of collective transformation here locally,” Payne said. City Councilor Lloyd Snook also referenced August 2017 and the Unite the Right Rally that was held here because of Council’s original vote to remove the Robert E. Lee statue. “Whatever anybody might have thought before August 12, since August 12 I think the answer has become crystal clear,” Snook said. “It’s crystal clear to me that the statues need to come down in some fashion. I have not yet solidified in my own mind what ought to happen thereafter.” The statue requires the city to put out an offer for groups to take the statue and to give 30 days for a response.  Snook said if the city were to deviate from that process, there could be further legal complications. “So we’re going to do it carefully, we’re going to do it thoroughly, we’re going to do it absolutely by the law,” Snook said.Mayor Nikuyah Walker said she was thinking about how Black children in the future will no longer have to see the statues. “I immediately start thinking about how many 10-year-olds have had to live and be subjected to symbols throughout history that uphold whiteness over everything else,” Walker said. Walker also said that people who are opposed to the proposed changes to the Future Land Use Map should also consider their views, and that supporters of removing the statues should enter that conversation. “And I’m hoping that those individuals are having the same conversation with the same intensity with their neighbors who are forgetting redlining and racial covenants and wanting to maintain status quo but not able to associate that with the same power structure that put those statues up,” Walker said. Councilor Payne made a motion, seconded by Snook. Council Clerk Kyna Thomas called the vote. Within minutes, the city issued a Request for Statements of Interest (RFI) for entities who might want to take ownership of the statues. (read the RFI)“On or after July 8, 2021, if the statutes, or either of them, has not been transferred to such an entity for relocation and placement, City Council may make other disposition(s),” reads the RFI’s description. A section of the Request for Statement of Interest*Before we go today, I wanted to follow up on the brief blurb in the June 5 newsletter about pollution reduction targets for the Chesapeake Bay. Sarah Vogelsong has a great story in the Virginia Mercury about the challenges to getting reductions in the agricultural sector, with a focus on efforts to fence cattle out of streams. It’s worth a read if you want to pay more attention to what’s known as the TMDL. That stands for Total Maximum Daily Load, and this is a story to follow in the next four years with a 2025 deadline looming. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Today's Patreon-fueled shout-out is for 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. Native plants provide habitat, food sources for wildlife, ecosystem resiliency in the face of climate change, and clean water.  Start at the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page and tell them Lonnie Murray sent you! In this installment:A look at the link between housing and transportation costsCharlottesville City Council reviews possible changes to bus routes owned and operated by the Charlottesville municipal governmentNew campaign finance reports are in local races including Albemarle County and CharlottesvilleThe latest campaign finance reports have been filed with the Virginia Department of Elections, as reported by the Virginia Public Access Project.  Let’s start with Albemarle County.Incumbent Jack Jouett District Supervisor Diantha McKeel raised an additional $6,522 during the period and spent $9, leaving her campaign with a balance of $32,056 as of May 27. McKeel is a Democrat who currently faces no opposition on the November 2 ballot for a third term.Incumbent Rio District Supervisor Ned Gallaway raised $10,150 in the period, with $10,000 of that coming from a single corporate donor known as Seminole Trail Management LLC. Gallaway spent $5 in the period and has a cash balance of $15,809. Gallaway is a Democrat who currently has no opposition on the November 2 ballot for a second term.Newcomer Jim Andrews raised $10,139 during the period, including a $5,000 contribution from John Grisham. He spent $4,180 during the period with the majority of that going to pay for his campaign manager, Patty Haling.  Andrews has a balance of $30,507 as of May 27. Andrews is running as a Democrat and currently faces no opposition on the November 2 ballot. The winner of the race will succeed two-term incumbent Liz Palmer.Andrews announced his campaign on May 13. That’s covered in the May 14 edition of this program. In Charlottesville, Brian Pinkston reported $29,098 in contributions, including $7,325 in in-kind contributions. That means someone or some business offered services or a product for campaign purposes. In-kind donations include $3,500 from Lifeview Marketing LLC and $2,750 from Local Jurisdiction Consulting LLC. Pinkston also loaned himself $8,348 and raised $13,425 in cash. The candidate spent $29,763 during the period and had an ending balance of $24,074. Juandiego Wade raised $13,126 during the period, all in cash. The top donor is the Realtors Political Action Committee of Virginia. He spent $22,151 and had an ending balance of $32,626. Carl Brown raised significantly less money with $1,675. He spent $979 and had a balance of $720 as of May 27, 2021. Independent Yas Washington reported no money raised or spent with no cash balance. VPAP did not have any report for Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker, an independent who announced in late May that she would seek an additional term. For the first time, members of the public can register to receive emergency notifications via text from the University of Virginia. Text “UVA” to 226787 to enroll in the program. “The types of emergencies for which an alert would be issued include, but are not limited to, tornadoes, building fires, hazardous materials releases and violent incidents. Alerts are sent for emergencies in both the academic division and UVA Health,” reads a press release about the information. Previously, the service was only available for people directly associated with UVA. At some point this year, we’ll know exactly how many people are believed to live in our communities when the U.S. Census is released. But, projections from the Weldon Cooper Center at the University of Virginia as well as their yearly estimates depict a growing region. As the cost of housing in Charlottesville and Albemarle’s urban ring continues to increase, many will choose or have already chosen to live in communities half an hour away or more. Data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey shows the vast majority of people commute to work in a single occupant vehicle? But does that have to be the case? Data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey for commuting data, five-year average (look at the tables yourself!) In May, the Central Virginia Regional Housing Partnership held a panel discussion on the topic. For background, housing is to be considered affordable if rent or a mortgage payment makes up thirty percent or less of household expenditures. Households that pay more than that are considered stressed. Todd Litman is a founder and the executive director of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute. He said transportation costs also have to be factored in.“It works out that a cheap house is not truly affordable if it has particularly high transportation costs [and] if it’s located in an area where people have to spend a lot of time and money traveling,” Litman said. “A lot of experts now recommend that instead of defining affordability as 30 percent of household budgets to housing, it’s defined as 45 percent of household budgets dedicated to housing and transportation combined.” Litman said transportation costs are more volatile for low-income households because of the unpredictability of fuel prices and maintenance costs. Stephen Johnson, a planning manager with Jaunt, said the cost of time must also be factored in.“If I can only afford to take public transit, but that means my commute to work is going to take five to ten times longer, then that’s time that I’m losing to spend on other things,” Johnson said.Johnson said people also can lose jobs if a transit connection doesn’t work out. He said this community has public transit options, but they are not compelling for many.“When we put ourselves in the shoes of somebody’s who is deciding to take transit or drive, there are four factors that one would consider,” Johnson said. “The first would be the financial cost. The second would be the time cost. The third would be reliability. Can I rely on getting there on time? The fourth I think would be flexibility. Will my transportation allow me to make a last-minute change to my schedule? To travel with a friend, or to bring home a bunch of shopping.”Johnson said public transit is cheaper to use than driving, but the other three factors are more difficult. He said transit in the area could be reformed by greater investments and better planning.“An Albemarle planner might come to me and say ‘we’ve got this community, it’s got a lot of cul-de-sacs, a lot of houses, and we’re really struggling with congestion. Can you put a public transit band-aid on this and fix it?’” Johnson said. “In that case, the game board is already set and there’s only so much we can do as a player but I think if we can expand our idea of what transit planning is, when we think about things like density, how can we take those A’s and B’s and cluster them together so that when we put a bus out there we can cover a lot of trips?”Litman said a goal is to not necessarily encourage people to go car-free, but to work to create areas where more trips can be taken in a walk, a bike-ride, or by getting on the bus. This was more common before the middle of the 20th century.“So if you go back to the older neighborhoods, they’re all very walkable,” Litman said. “They have sidewalks on all the streets. You have local schools, and park, and stores that were designed. The neighborhood was organized around the idea that at least some people will rely on walking. We lost that for a while and now there’s a number of planning movements and approaches that are trying to establish that.”Litman said developers and local governments should be working together to encourage more than just single-family housing. “If you’re building new neighborhoods, those that allow what we call ‘the missing middle’, compact housing types like townhouses and low-rise apartments are going to be far more affordable and therefore far more inclusive,” Litman said. Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy InstituteBut back to transit. Jaunt mostly provides on-demand service, but does have some fixed-route service. Johnson explained what works best in what situation. “Fixed route options are much more appropriate public transit option for dense urban cores and we see that in downtown Charlottesville and urban Albemarle County,” Johnson said. “Demand response is a much more appropriate technology for more rural areas and that’s the majority of Jaunt’s service area are the counties around Charlottesville and Albemarle.” However, Johnson said transit in urban areas could be transformed if systems adopt on-demand tech. Jaunt has been working on a pilot project to provide service to Loaves and Fishes on Lambs Road, a site not accessible via Charlottesville Area Transit. In this community, there are three transit systems. They are the Charlottesville Area Transit (CAT), the University of Virginia Transit Service (UTS)  and Jaunt. In September, BRITE will begin the Afton Express service between Staunton and Charlottesville. How do all of these many pieces come together? Here’s Stephen Johnson again.“Charlottesville and Albemarle are working together through the Regional Transit Partnership to try to help build a cohesive vision there of how Jaunt and Charlottesville Area Transit and UTS can all work together to provide a cohesive transit system for the residents of Charlottesville and Albemarle,” Johnson said.You can view the entire video on the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission’s YouTube page. Up next, Charlottesville Area Transit updates City Council on upcoming service changes and the future. Now it’s time for another Substack-fueled public service announcement. The Central Library in downtown Charlottesville will host a summer reading kick-off from 10 a.m. to 12 noon this Saturday, the 5th of June.  Readers of all ages can come by and learn about the Jefferson Madison Regional Library Summer Reading Program.  While here you can also enjoy music from the Charlottesville Municipal Band's Clarinet and Saxophone Ensembles and the JMRL Friends of the Library will be hosting a $5 per bag Pop-Up book sale under the tent at the Central Library. All events are outside, so if it rains, the event will be canceled. Finally today, the city of Charlottesville is the sole owner and operator of Charlottesville Area Transit, and Albemarle County pays the city for service each year. Ridership on CAT has declined significantly in recent years. In 2013, ridership was at 2.4 million. By 2018, that dropped to 2.05 million. (view presentation)Garland Williams has been director since August 2019 and previously served as director of Planning and Scheduling for the Greater Richmond Transit Company. Near the beginning of the pandemic, the city hired Kimley Horn to review the system to recommend changes to make it more efficient on the other side.“This is not designed to be a total revamp of our system,” Williams said. “This was kind of stop-gap measure because as you know, over the last six year CAT’s ridership has been declining precipitously so what we’re trying to do right now is stop that, build a nice foundation, and then build from there.”Williams said work on the CAT is happening at the same time that the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is working on a planning effort for the long term. As part of the more immediate work, the Connetics Transportation Group was directed to bring service to South First Street, bring service to the Center at Belvedere, and to restore Sunday service post pandemic. Jim Baker with Connetics Transportation explains a couple more directives.“And getting more 30 minute or better service along some of the key corridors in the city,” Baker said. “Also there were a few routes pre-COVID that were running at worse than 60 minute frequencies so we didn’t want to have anything less than 60 minute frequencies. And then to get the trolley, which is such a key part of the CAT system, back to a 15 minute frequency. That was a route where service frequencies were reduced because of COVID.”Routes will need to be changed in the short-term to avoid the Downtown Transit Center due to the eventual replacement of the Belmont Bridge. Under the proposal, Albemarle would for about 35 percent of service.Route 2 would be split into two services, restoring service to Piedmont Virginia Community College and extending service to Mill Creek Drive and Monticello High School. One of the routes will also travel down Avon Street Extended in both directions. “That change will make it easy to access the park and ride lot that’s sitting right beside CAT headquarters,” Williams said. “So it’s another opportunity potentially to use the route for our employees, city employees, to get to and from downtown.” Route 3 would also be split into two, with one half traveling from Southwood to downtown and the other serving downtown and Belmont. This second route would come within walking distance of the Broadway Street corridor in Albemarle County. “We really wanted to get 30 minute all-day service on 5th Street all the way down to Albemarle County’s office building,” Baker said. Route 5 would be modified to travel between the UVA Hospital to Fashion Square Mall. Currently the northern terminus is Wal-Mart. Route 7 would be extended to the Rio Hill Shopping Center and the Wal-Mart but will no longer serve Stonefield. Service on Prospect Avenue would be moved from Route 6 to a new Route 8, which would now travel between Stonefield and the Willoughby Shopping Center via the UVA Hospital. “We thought this would be an opportunity to create a new crosstown route from south Charlottesville for residents on the south part of town to get up to the U.S. 29 corridor without having to go through downtown and without having to make a transfer,” Baker said. Route 9 would be revamped to be another north-south service traveling between Fashion Square Mall and downtown via the YMCA in McIntire Park. Service to UVA Hospital would be dropped as would service near Charlottesville High School. Route 10 would no longer serve Stony Point Road to save time. Route 11 would serve the Center at Belvedere. “That extension to the Center is an obligation that the city has to the Center so this answers that part of the agreement to provide public transportation,” Williams said. The route changes will have to be reviewed to see if there are any violations of what’s known as Title VI, and there will need to be a public comment period. Williams said CAT is also working on securing spaces at 5th Street Station for park and ride, as well as using Route 9 to access empty spaces at Fashion Square Mall for that purpose. Earlier in the work session, Council was briefed on a potential parking garage downtown. “But we’re also working with Kimley Horn at a longer term study where we’re looking at the potential for some park and ride locations throughout the region, especially up on U.S. 29,” Williams said. No decisions were made at the meeting. And coming up in a future episode of the program, more on transit from the May 27 meeting of the Regional Transit Partnership. Stay tuned!Thanks for listening! Please share with someone you think would benefit from this program. The content is free, but subscriptions through Substack will keep it going. And Ting will match your payment! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

On Sunday, August 5th, 1984 at 0700 In Sandford Florida. The sun is just coming up when a driver is making a left turn onto Old SR 46 when something catches his attention. He seems to have spotted something in an empty lot at the address off 2819 Old SR 46 in the high grass. The driver got out of their car and walked up to the empty lot of a vacant house and noticed, a K-Mart Bag and a Bag from the Fashion Square Mall, a white belt, black shoes, and then something catches their attention. They walk closer and gasp for air. The driver stumbles backwards toward their vehicle, gets into their vehicle, and drive to the nearest pay phone. The driver spots a pay phone at a convient store and calls 911 and says I want to report I found a dead body.

In today’s Substack-fueled shout-out, Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit the Code for Charlottesville website to learn more, including details on three projects that are underway.On today’s show, a lot of catching up on older items in Albemarle: The Village of Rivanna Community Advisory Committee considers a neighborhood proposal much less dense than it had beenThe Places-29 North Community Advisory Committee does the same thing City Manager Chip Boyles continues to fill key positionsThree months after becoming city manager, much of Chip Boyles’s leadership team is in place. This week, Boyles announced the hiring of Sam Sanders as Deputy City Manager of Operations. For the past 15 years, Sanders has been the executive director of the Mid City Redevelopment Alliance near Baton Rouge.“He’ll be bringing some extensive knowledge in the areas of affordable housing, community development, as well as small business development,” Boyles said. Sanders begins work on July 12. Among other things, he’ll oversee the Departments of Neighborhood Development Services, Parks and Recreation, and Public Works. Sam Sanders becomes Deputy City Manager for Operations on July 12, 2021Ashley Marshall began work as the Deputy City Manager of Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion on May 10. Among other things, the position oversees the Office of Human Rights and the Police Civilian Review Board, as well as the Human Services Department. Ashley Marshall became Deputy City Manager for Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion on May 10, 2021Earlier this month, Lisa Robertson was named as City Attorney, removing the acting in front of the position. Robertson served as deputy city attorney from 1994 to 2006 when she became administrator of Madison County. She returned to Charlottesville in 2013 to once again be deputy. How she’s the first woman to hold the position. City Councilor Lloyd Snook offered some words shortly before her appointment was confirmed by Council on May 3. “Anybody who has seen Lisa in action over the last couple of years in particular on all of the statue litigation cannot help but be impressed and cannot help but recognize that we have someone already here and already known to us who is an excellent city attorney and will be an excellent city attorney,” Snook said. Lisa Robertson was confirmed as Charlottesville City Attorney on May 3, 2021The Fitch Ratings agency has downgraded the creditworthiness of the company that owns Fashion Square Mall in Albemarle County. The Washington Prime Group is now listed as RD, for “restricted default” from C which brings it one step above default. Washington Prime missed an interest payment in February, triggering speculation the company will enter bankruptcy. “Fitch believes that the only resolution of the company's capital structure is through a near-term restructuring event or a potential bankruptcy filing,” reads a news release. The former J.C. Penney has been the site of a mass vaccination center operated by the Blue Ridge Health District, but that use will stop by the end of June according to the Daily Progress. At the May 10, 2021 meeting of the Village of Rivanna Community Advisory Committee, Southern Development held a community meeting for a reduced version of their Breezy Hill development in eastern Albemarle along U.S. 250. The property is within a growth area and had been since December 1989. At the time, the expected density was 1.3 units per acres but that increased to three to six units in the 1996 Comprehensive Plan. Since then, many nearby residents have spoken out against any rezonings at that higher level. (watch the meeting on YouTube)Last summer, Breezy Hill was a proposal for 160 units on about 84 acres. The Planning Commission recommended denial of that proposal last July, followed by another denial in November when the project was reduced further to 130. Charlie Armstrong described the proposal to committee members on May 10.“We are proposing R-1 zoning for this property,” Armstrong said. “It’s the lowest conventional district that Albemarle has in its zoning ordinance.”Armstrong said they will add a maximum residential density of 80 lots before the plan goes to the Albemarle Planning Commission. Members of the committee wanted Armstrong to remove a proposed road that leads to Running Deer Road or to depict it as emergency access only. VDOT required a second entrance to planned subdivisions that have more than fifty units. “Running Deer is not really a road within the development area,” said Dennis Odinov. “Half of it is and half of it isn’t. And so we’re saying there should be an exception there.” Armstong said he would consider making a request for an exemption from VDOT, but that county staff favor the road and it is called for in the Village of Rivanna Master Plan. The next step for the reduced proposal is for the Albemarle Planning Commission at some point in the near future.  A page from the Village of Rivanna Master Plan. The area in yellow here is the site of the future Breezy Hill neighborhoodLater that week, the Places29-North Community Advisory Committee got a first look at a second submittal of the RST Residences, an apartment and townhome complex proposed at the site of a recently closed mobile home adjacent to the Forest Lakes neighborhood. On March 2, the Forest Lakes Community Association dominated the project’s public hearing before the Albemarle Planning Commission, which resulted in a deferral. (read or hear that story)Andy Reitelbach is an Albemarle County planner who reminded the Places-29 North that the RST project is intended to be on about 19 acres of land.“The applicant is requesting that the property be rezoned from its current zoning of R-1 Residential which allows one dwelling unit per acre to Planned Residential Development which allows for up to 34 dwelling units per acre,” Reitelbach said. “And in the Places29 Master Plan, this property is designated as Urban Density Residential and privately owned open space. Most is Urban Density Residential and then there is a narrow strip along 29 that is the open space.”Valerie Long is an attorney with Williams Mullen who said the project has the same basic alignment of the original plan but there are changes. “The number of total dwelling units has been reduced from 370 to 340 units,” Long said. One building closed to the Ashwood subdivision has had a story removed in order to fit in closer with their scale.“We also have enhanced buffers and screening on the site,” Long said. “It was always the attention to retain the berm along Ashwood Boulevard but we recognized after the Planning Commission meeting that we could have highlighted that [more].” Long said the plans now clearly state that the affordability goals will exceed the county’s current requirements for some units to be made available at below-market rates. That currently means that 15 percent of units must be rented or sold to households with annual incomes of 80 percent the area median income.“Seventy-five percent of the apartment units within the project will be affordable for a 30 year period,” Long said. “The average level of affordability would be to those making 60 percent of the area median income.” Members of the CAC had the opportunity to ask questions about the project. You can watch all of that on the Albemarle County YouTube page. The next public hearing for the Planning Commission is scheduled for June 15. The RST Residences development is now proposed to be 340 units, down from 370 units. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s anonymous support comes from something we’ll call the Valley Research Center and thanks to a generous contribution that provides much of the bumper music you’re hearing on the program. This came in the form of a donation through the Zelle platform, and I am grateful for the support. On today’s show:Blue Ridge Health District opens up Phase1C  The latest from UVA Health System on the pandemicVirginia’s vaccine coordinator provides an update on Johnson and Johnson supply, which may be affected by a mixing error On Thursday, the Blue Ridge Health District held another press briefing to explain how things would work as another phase of the vaccination schedule opens up. But first, policy and operations director Ryan McKay gave some context on recent history,“It’s been really just over three months, maybe three and a half months, since the vaccination campaign began first with our health care systems in the health district and then in January when we began as a health district really vaccinating in earnest members of the community in Phase 1A,” McKay said. As of March 31, BRHD had administered 135,000 doses in the six localities under its jurisdiction, with nearly 50,000 fully vaccinated. “We do know that there is approximately 200,000 to 205,000 individuals 16 and above who technically will be eligible at some point to get vaccinated so we still have a ways to go,” McKay said. Source: Blue Ridge Health DistrictMcKay said that a “significant increase” in doses was due to hit the district in April. A slide in the presentation listed about 14,620 first doses of both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines would be available the week of April 5. “I think our increase is a little bit more than we had anticipated,” McKay said. McKay said 4,000 doses of the one-shot Johnson and Johnson would be administered on Friday and Monday at the former J.C. Penney location.“So we’re beginning to see that significant increase that we need in order to move more quickly in the vaccination campaign,” McKay said. On Thursday, the Blue Ridge Health District opened up to Phase1C. Kathryn Goodman is the communication manager for BRHD. “We are opening up to Phase1C,” Goodman said. “We want to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to schedule appointments and so the VAMS system has many appointments available over the next two months. There are plenty of appointments that we we want people to get in there and schedule.” Governor Ralph Northam said vaccinations will be open to everyone beginning on April 18, but for now, it’s the turn for Phase1C.“The Blue Ridge Health District has officially launched today into Phase1C of our vaccine distribution,” Goodman said. “This includes everyone you can see here, everyone from restaurant workers to finance workers and other public figures, public works individuals who are really important to keep our community operating.” Indulge me for a moment as I peel pack the fourth wall a little. About half an hour before the briefing began, I got an email from the Centers for Disease Control saying it was my time to schedule an appointment. I pre-registered with the Virginia Department of Health a few weeks ago. I asked probably one of the most personal questions I’ve ever asked as a reporter.“Sean Tubbs, you are on with the Blue Ridge Health district,” said Lachen Parks, Charlottesville’s marketing and social media coordinator.“Something strange just happened,” I said. “I just got a notification from VAMS at 1:30 p.m. I am not in a priority category. I now have an appointment for tomorrow at Fashion Square Mall. How did that happen?”“So, all of the appointments that we’re pulling right now are based off of prioritization on either Phase1A, 1B, or 1C, so it is likely that somehow in the information you shared you fell into one of those categories. Media do fall into phase 1C so if you indicated that as an option that would be why. But we haven’t sent it out to everybody just yet that’s preregistered.” Goodman said the Health District would be sending out notifications over the next week. “We are working weekends at this point so we will certainly send invitation out tomorrow and over the weekend so if individuals in 1C don’t hear from us by mid to late next week, they should email us or give us a call and we will help them schedule an appointment,” Goodman said. If you have not registered yet and you want a vaccine through the Health District, register now.  Phase 2 opens up on April 18. “That’s going to be way we know that individuals want to get vaccinated and how we would send you the invitation to create the account in VAMS and then to schedule the appointment,” McKay said.  (watch the BRHD briefing) The following day, the University of Virginia Health System held its weekly briefing for the press. Depending on supply, the Seminole Square Shopping Center is also ready to get shots in arms. Dr. Costi Sifri is the director of hospital epidemiology. “At full operation, we can vaccinate on the order of 14,000 to 15,000 people per week just at our Seminole Square location,” Dr. Sifri said. He added the influx of new Johnson and Johnson doses will allow that number to be realized. “We are hearing about and are anticipating increase allocations from federal sources so we are looking at expanding our days of operation at Seminole Square,” Dr. Sifri said. One of the issues with moving rapidly to mass vaccination has been uncertainties in the supply lines for vaccines. Dr. Sifri said it has so far been difficult to schedule appointments several weeks into the future not quite knowing what the supply will be. “It’s very difficult to do that two or three weeks from today because we don’t exactly know how much vaccine we’ll have on hand,” Dr. Sifri said. “However, I think we’re pretty confident at this point. We’re not 100 percent confident. But we’re pretty confident we’re going to be able to open up appointments that are going to occur later, several weeks, three or four weeks in the future compared to what we’ve been doing in the past. There were some weeks that we had no new first dose vaccines. The supply to us was zero for a week. I think we’re past that point and we can become a little more liberal and I think that will help everybody. It will help us with our planning and it will certainly help people to be able to get their vaccines scheduled.” Yesterday, the number of doses administered in the Commonwealth crossed the 4 million mark as reported by the Virginia Department of Health. The seven-day average is now 73,218 doses administered per day. “We’re reaching a point where 35 to 50 percent of individuals have at least some level if not a high level of immunity to COVID-19, so we’re making some progress,” said Dr. Sifri. “However that does mean we still have something on the order of half the population that remains susceptible to COVID infection and its serious consequences.” Source: Virginia Department of HealthOne of the big questions is whether enough people will get vaccinated quick enough to avoid another surge. The number of new cases reported each day is still quite high, with a seven-day average of 1,415 a day. Today the seven-day percent positivity continued its gradual climb and is at 6.4 percent. That metric was 5.7 percent a week ago.  Dr. Sifri said now is not the time to stop wearing masks and following all of the other mitigation steps. “I am concerned about a fourth wave,” Dr. Sifti. “There are places in the U.S. in Michigan around Detroit and the New York City area where we are seeing increased case counts and those have been trending up for the last three or four weeks so that is a concern. The second issue is that we’re seeing in Europe some significant increases in cases in different countries of Europe. I don’t think we should anticipate that spring is going to be a respite from this. It certainly wasn’t a respite last year where we saw a significant wave of infection that occurred in April and May of last year. There’s no reason to think that couldn’t occur now.”On Friday, UVA President Jim Ryan announced that Final Exercises will be held in a modified manner on May 20. “All graduating students will have the opportunity to walk the Lawn and process to Scott Stadium for their ceremony,” Ryan wrote in a posting on the Major Events website. “Each graduate will be permitted two guests in Scott Stadium.” Ryan said students who graduated from the Class of 2020 will also have an opportunity to walk the Lawn in a special ceremony on May 16. A year ago, none of these events were happening. Dr. Sifri said as long as mitigation measures are taken, he is okay with Final Exercises proceeding. “Which are going to be things like social distancing and wearing masks and limiting gathering sizes that we should be able to provide graduation and it should be a great experience,” Dr. Sifri said. “If the weather will allow,  graduations occur outside. They occur with close families that are together. If you limit the size of groups and have social distancing and can do things outdoors, which allow things like the virus to disperse. And finally, as much as possible, have people vaccinated.” I’m one of those people who is now vaccinated. Knowing I would be getting my dose a few hours after the UVA briefing, I asked what side effects might happen with the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. “They’re actually not too bad,” Dr. Sifri said. “It’s going to be for the most part local pain and discomfort at the injection site and some fatigue and perhaps some low-grade fever for up tp several days afterward.”As I record this, it’s been just over 24 hours. I woke up in the middle of night with chills, a few digestion issues, and fatigue. I’ve slept on and off today, but for the most part, I feel okay. Still reeling from the new information and wondering what this all means for our future. However, it’s important to not get too far ahead of ourselves. At the time I was getting my shot, Virginia vaccine coordinator Dr. Danny Avula was giving his own briefing, and there may be an issue with further Johnson and Johnson supply making its way into the logistics chain. (Baltimore Sun article)“We are waiting to hear the impact of the news from the Johnson and Johnson production plant up in Baltimore on Wednesday,” Dr. Avula said. “Fifteen million doses were sequestered as a result of poor mixing and so I think those doses will be completely taken offline which means that the future delivery schedule is a bit up in the air. It does appear that our doses that are coming next week will still be coming which is good news because that’s over 200,000 doses that we were expecting and that we had ordered and will be coming in next week. I don’t yet know what that will mean for future weeks but we are eagerly anticipating updates from the federal government about Johnson and Johnson’s production schedule.”Dr. Avula said the goal is for Virginia to have 125,000 Johnson and Johnson doses per week. Beginning tomorrow, April 4, health districts across Virginia have permission to move into Phase 2.  That doesn’t necessarily mean people will get appointments right away.“That means open eligibility, it does not mean open pods,” Dr. Avula said. “People won’t be showing up for walk-in pods but it does mean that people will be open to openly self-schedule into appointments regardless of any eligibility criteria.”To be clear, Phase 2 will be open to everyone over the age of 16. Testing is still underway for vaccines in children. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

For the 215th episode, Brendan and Jon were invited to Jinya Ramen Bar to check out some new dishes like the Tonkotsu Curry Tsukemen dipping noodles with pork curry broth. Delicious! This week's topics include an "Farewell" from news giant Carl Hiaasen, new bar openings downtown, theater popping-up in Fashion Square Mall, and a Cool Job Alert to be a TikTok chef! Tune in to Bungalower and the Bus every week on 104.1 Real Radio or our podcast to learn all about the top headlines, new restaurants, and best-bet events to attend this week.

In today’s Patreon-fueled shout-out...your local energy nonprofit, LEAP, 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 $75,100, 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!On today’s show:The Blue Ridge Health District will move its vaccination clinic to Fashion Square Mall Albemarle and Charlottesville both get updates on budgetsCharlottesville Fire Department seeks to reduce risks through neighborhood assessmentsInitial site plan filed for parking lot for future Biscuit Run parkExit 124’s conversion to a “diverging-diamond” is underwayAn update on displacement at the Red Carpet InnThe pandemic has a knack for breathing new life into commercial spaces that have gone dormant if only for a temporary basis. Beginning next week, the Blue Ridge Health District will provide shots at the former J.C. Penney space in Fashion Square Mall. They have been doing so in the parking lot of the former K-Mart. The UVA Health System is providing shots at the former Big Lots.The Health District continues to go through health care workers eligible under Phase1A. Dr. Denise Bonds is the director. “There’s a few individuals we still haven’t reached yet, and then of course there are new individuals that have just taken jobs within that area and we will continue to prioritize those individuals,” Bonds said. “We are still working through our 1B essential workers and as I said we’re moving into manufacturing and farm and agriculture. We are vaccinating individuals who are 65 and older and those who are 16 to 64 with high-risk medical conditions.”Bonds said the district and UVA have administered nearly 100,000 doses. Next week they are expecting 11,650 doses, with 5,800 of those first shots and 2,000 the one-shot Johnson and Johnson version. The move to the J.C. Penney will allow the district to have up to 30 people administering vaccines at a time. Ryan McKay is the policy director for the Blue Ridge Health District, which has outgrown the tent. “While that tent has been serving a tremendous purpose and service to the community, it does present some challenges for us we operate,” McKay said. “When we have larger volumes of people, it puts people outside as opposed to inside. It sort of limits the amount of vaccinators we can have and the number of chairs we can provide for observation areas.” The J.C. Penney space offers 100,000 square feet of room and will begin operations on March 23 starting four days a week. “Provided that the vaccine allocation increased, we could administer up to 2,000 doses per day out of that location,” McKay said. Source: Blue Ridge Health DistrictEveryone who wants a vaccine is now being asked to go ahead and register with the Commonwealth at vaccinate.virginia.gov. Kathryn Goodman is the communications manager for the Blue Ridge Health District.  ‘We want everybody to pre-register right now,” Goodman said. “It doesn’t matter what phase you are in or when you will qualify. We want everyone registered in the state system.”Today, Governor Ralph Northam announced that schools and universities will be able to hold in-person graduation events later this spring. Events held outdoors will be capped at 30 percent of capacity or 5,000 people, whichever is less. Events held indoors may have up to 500 people or 30 percent capacity, whichever is less. According to a press release sent out today, Virginia school systems will receive $1.9 billion in direct funds from the American Rescue Plan adopted by Congress earlier this month. Source: Blue Ridge Health DistrictCharlottesville City Council met for more than six hours Monday and covered a lot of ground that I won’t fully get to in this newsletter. Council first got an update on the city’s financial forecast. Staff continue to monitor a potential $9 million shortfall in the current fiscal year with decreased meals and lodging taxes. Ryan Davidson is one of Charlottesville’s two senior budget analysts. He said one solution may be to use funding from the American Rescue Plan, but staff have not yet gone through all of the fine print. “We’re still going through what that means for us and restrictions and where it can be used but we do anticipate using some of this but we still need to figure out how we’re going to get, but we do anticipate using some of this to manage the shortfall,” Davidson said.  Next month’s report will include an updated forecast based on having three quarters of fiscal year 2021 in the books.  Download the full presentation on the city’s websiteThe Albemarle County also held a budget work session on Monday. At the beginning, Chief Financial Officer Nelsie Birch suggested dedicating a future work session to how Albemarle’s portion of the ARP funding would be used. That will give her and her staff to get more information. “I still at this point don’t actually know the amount of money we’re going to be receiving,” Birch said. “It’s somewhere around $21 million.”More from Albemarle in a moment. Council also got a report from the fire department on their new approach toward Community Risk Reduction, which is intended to lower service calls through various preventative measures. Joe Powers was hired from Henrico County to be the first deputy chief for community risk reduction. “We’re one of the few fire departments across the United States that has invested in community risk reduction at an executive level,” Powers said. “From a traditional standpoint, we’ve always heard of fire prevention as a part of the fire department. We’re changing that mindset and taking it from a section of the fire department and making it an organizational process.”Part of the work involves reviewing neighborhoods, looking for specific threats, and then tailoring targeted messages. “The entire city doesn’t need a program on cooking fires or pedestrians crossing the street,” Powers said. “Maybe it’s certain intersections or certain neighborhoods.”A lot of the work has to do with gathering data that can help the department move away from one-size-fits-all approach to community education efforts. Another name for it is neighborhood risk assessment. “We also need to understand where our structure fires, but more so we need to know where asthma is occurring, allergic reactions, hazardous material calls, and cardiac arrests because all of those risks in areas of the city can be mitigated with our partners and in the fire department,” Powers said. I’ll have more from the City Council meeting in a future installment. The department has conducted risk assessments of individual neighborhoods such as this one for 10th and Page (full presentation)Albemarle Supervisors went through the county school system’s request as well as capital projects at their work session Monday.  Graham Paige is the chair of the Albemarle School Board.“We are projecting the current revenues of $205.8 million which is an increase of $12 million over the current fiscal year,” Paige said. “The majority of that increase, that $6.9 million, is a general fund transfer from local government which as you know is increasing in response to higher real estate assessments and other local tax revenues that so far have been impacted by COVID-19 less than anticipated.” Paige said the school board’s request is balanced, but if revenues come in higher than expected, the hope is that income can go to pay for a salary increase. The request includes an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. One factor in the size of the school budget is the number of pupils. Katrina Callsen is the vice chair of the Albemarle School Board.“Next school year we are projecting an increase of more than 800 students over current enrollment,” Callsen said. “So moving from the 13,208 to 14,046.” Albemarle school staff will continue to adjust its budget as more information about state revenues comes in. They’ll adopt their budget in May, after Supervisors have adopted the county’s overall budget.Supervisor Bea LaPisto Kirtley took the opportunity to ask about summer school. There is a plan to hold a morning session and afternoon session for learning recovery. Superintendent Matt Haas also said the school system is reaching out to community partners to help provide some of the lessons and assistance with logistics.“We are putting out a request for proposals from our community partners that work with our students and often they have been great partners with the school system for field trips,” Haas said. That request for proposals carries the title “Summer Programming for Students and closes on April 2. Source: Albemarle CountySupervisors were also briefed on the $56.9 million capital budget for FY22. Several projects were paused in the current budget due to projected decline in revenues related to the pandemic as well as concerns about the uncertainty of the bond market. Albemarle’s chief of budget, Andy Bowman, said the bond market has stabilized, even if the rest of the economy has not yet done so. Interest rates are also lower than they were when the pandemic began, which will save the county money on debt service.“Working with our financial adviser, we were able to reduce our projected interest rates and that results in a savings of about $400,000,” Bowman said.Four new requests are proposed to be funded in the FY22 capital budget.“They are additional funding for economic development public/private partnerships,” Bowman said. “We also have $3 million in additional funding for the transportation leveraging program, another $6.3 million for Mountain View Elementary School expansion and site improvements, and the final project was a trailhead for the Moores Creek trail that will then make a connection to a greater trail network in the future.” Supervisor Ned Gallaway of the Rio District noted that opposition to development projects often draws upon concerns of overcrowded schools. “There is going to be a coming concern for elementary school seats up 29 north that has to be on discussion at some point,” Gallaway said. Today, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors appropriated one-time money from reserve funds for two projects. One is for a $1.1 million solid waste “convenience center” to serve southern Albemarle and the other was to have been $3 million to expand broadband projects.  However, the Board reduced that to $350,000 for now to see if funding from the ARP can be used for this purpose. (this paragraph was updated after publication)There’s another $3 million being set aside in a reserve known as the Business Process Optimization intended to build new systems for the Community Development Department. Kristy Shifflet is the county’s project management director.“In FY21 we’ve begun building a roadmap, really how might we replace a new community development system as well as an enterprise resource planning, or ERP, effort in order to update our business systems for the modern workplace,” Shifflet said. “We understand this is a large undertaking but our technology in these areas are aging and limited.”The new system could help speed up review of land use applications. (review Albemarle’s recommended FY22 budget) Albemarle will hold another budget work session on March 18 and will set the tax rate for the current calendar. The current property tax rate is $0.854 per $100 of assessed value, and staff has not recommended an increase. You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement. In this subscriber-supported public service announcement, the days of live music at clubs are in our future, but if you feel safe and want to check out people playing together in a safe environment, the Charlottesville Jazz Society has a running list of events coming up on their website. The Charlottesville Jazz Society is dedicated to the promotion, preservation and perpetuation of all jazz. Check them out in the link in the newsletter.  The eventual opening of a county park at the state-owned Biscuit Run property is one step closer to reality. The initial site plan for the first phase of Biscuit Run park has been filed with the Albemarle Community Development Department. The improvements are for a parking area with 75 spaces as well as an entrance from Route 20. The project has a capital budget of $2 million and is the first of many phases to add amenities to the 1,200 acre park, according to the Winter 2021 report from the Department of Facilities and Environmental Services.  Future phases have not yet been programmed in the capital budget. Source: Albemarle CountyAnother planned infrastructure project is moving forward into a more intensive construction phase. The conversion of Interstate 64’s Exit 124 to a “diverging diamond” increases the amount of vehicles that can travel through the signalized interchange. “The diverging diamond interchange briefly shifts vehicles to the opposite side of the road, eliminating traditional left turns that must cross over oncoming traffic,” reads a press release. “The new interchange will improve safety by reducing the number of spots where vehicles could collide and can handle more than 600 left-turn movements per hour, twice the capacity of a conventional interchange.”The speed-limit on U.S. 250 in the area has been reduced to 25 miles per hour. The project is expected to be completed by the fall of 2022 and is one of six projects being constructed by Curtis Contracting. Funding came from the second round of the Smart Scale process from the Virginia Department of Transportation. Curtis Contracting has already completed work at I-64’s Fontaine Avenue interchange and a connector road between Berkmar Drive and Rio Mills Road is nearly finished.Curtis Contracting will also build roundabouts at both the intersection of U.S. 250 and Route 151 and Profitt Road and Route 20.Source: Virginia Department of TransportationAnd finally today, Albemarle’s communications and public engagement director appeared at today’s Supervisors’ meeting to address concerns related to a recent rezoning applied for by the Piedmont Housing Alliance, Virginia Supportive Housing and the Thomas Jefferson Coalition for the Homeless. On February 17, Supervisors approved a change for the land where the Red Carpet Inn operates on U.S. 29 for a project that will eventually see between 80 to 140 housing units for people with low incomes. However, news reports have recently surfaced that existing residents of the Red Carpet Inn will be displaced. Emily Kilroy explained that there was a communication error. “The Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless has shared that as media reports came out about the family that had been living at the Red Carpet Inn on more of  a long-term basis, that when they became aware of the communication issue, they reached out to get a list of all the long-term tenants that have been living there,” Kilroy said. “There were ten households that were impacted with the closure of the Red Carpet Inn and they have made contact with all ten of those households. Seven of them have reached back out for support and they are working on an individual basis to find the best solution for their needs to get those individuals rehoused elsewhere in the community.” This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

"I'm a fucking pacifist. He wants smoke, he can come get smoke, but he's gonna have to come get it." In this episode of RADICALIZING REDNECKS WITH BIG TIM MURPHY and Shaan and Brittany, the trio talk about tiktok roasting, gamergate, running errands for neighbors, making excuses for racist behaviors, Christian values versus anti immigration stances, attempts to invalidate the 1619 project, mass genocide causing climate change, the Fashion Square Mall, and more!

It's a bonus episode for this week! You may have seen the video of the literal fight that broke out at the Bath and Body Works inside Fashion Square Mall in Scottsdale on Saturday. The creator of the video is Genevieve, who you can follow at Twitter HERE. Read more about what happened and see the video HERE. Genevieve joins me to properly analyze this video and we break it down like it's the Zapruder Film. Seriously, we don't miss a frame.

Bashir Khelafa, Owner of Bashir's Taverna, and Barbara Lundgren, Owner of Barb Wired, joined me live on The I Love CVille Show! The I Love CVille Show headlines (Wednesday, Sept 16) 1. Charlottesville/Albemarle Tourism ditches its brick-and-mortar locations for mobile tourism vehicles. https://dailyprogress.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/tourism-bureau-to-move-to-mobile-visitor-centers-in-2021/article_1dbd57a2-52e0-5667-a05d-b1ac3b6c93d1.html?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_The_Daily_Progress&fbclid=IwAR1IXqSefjp0IsSLHRrT8RISGxYulQU7VWPoRk-JQAWZhvEWGcftl_EcEwU 2. Slot machine updates from the Roanoke Times https://roanoke.com/news/local/electronic-gaming-machines-proliferated-in-virginia-ahead-of-july-placement-deadline/article_38650f68-473d-5cf9-b1f3-e73825db7079.html#tracking-source=home-top-story 3. Slot machine updates from the Daily Progress pertaining to Charlottesville and The Downtown Mall. https://dailyprogress.com/news/local/skill-machines-get-stay-of-execution-to-raise-funds-for-covid-19-relief/article_036b6da0-181e-5b1a-aa84-72403c54613c.html 4. The Daily Press is closing its Newport News, Virginia newsroom. Parent company also closed The Virginian Pilot newsroom. How will this influence/impact traditional media newsrooms in Charlottesville, Virginia? https://www.dailypress.com/business/dp-nw-daily-press-newsroom-closing-20200915-3ssgwfkobbawpbas4aqu6amrtu-story.html 5. Waynesboro City Council approved a rezoning request on a 4-1 vote Monday evening for nearly 70 acres of land behind the Lucy Lane Walmart that could allow for up to 600 housing units in that area. https://newsvirginian.com/news/local/waynesboro-city-council-approves-rezoning-to-allow-apartments-houses-behind-walmart/article_d19b2c8f-d03d-5712-9a11-349bec77173f.html?fbclid=IwAR0Sh8wM9M8QKCSlZ5l3mfP_Ho69gsJJvSgoH2Ruu-ak-ozLdRgeajNlHUc 6. Virginia Lottery approves sports betting regulations. Sports betting permit applications will be accepted Oct. 15 through midnight Oct. 31. Permit seekers can also begin to apply for licenses for their principals, vendors, suppliers and employees on Oct. 15. Virginia Lottery hopes by January operators will be up and running. State legislation calls for at least four and up to 12 sports betting permit holders. Is a sports betting/gambling parlor coming to The Charlottesville Downtown Mall? https://richmond.com/sports/professional/virginia-lottery-approves-sports-betting-regulations-permit-license-applications-to-begin-in-october/article_5c9be5f9-ee87-5fbf-a476-1c1ef2639347.html 7. The former GoCo gas station on Cherry Avenue has reopened. This spot has some of the best fried chicken in CVille. 8. There is a new fitness center coming to 4th Street in Downtown Charlottesville, Virginia. Show pictures on screen. 9. There is a new tattoo & massage parlor coming to 4th Street in Downtown Charlottesville, Virginia. Show pictures on screen. 10. Where are the Best Tacos in Charlottesville, Virginia. I answer this question. 11. Will & Erica Taylor are moving from Charlottesville and the Chick-fil-A in Fashion Square Mall to Portsmouth, Virginia where they will manage/own a Chick-fil-A. Show pictures on screen. 12. Big 10 Football will resume play the weekend of October 24. Each team will attempt to play eight games in eight weeks, leaving no wiggle room during the coronavirus pandemic before the Big Ten championship game on Dec. 19. That date will also feature an extra cross-division game for each school, with seeded teams in each division squaring off. The Big Ten would complete its season before the Dec. 20 Selection Day for the College Football Playoff. Fans are not expected at Big Ten games, which will be held on campus throughout the season. https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29897305/sources-big-ten-announce-october-return The I Love CVille Show airs live before a worldwide audience Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network.

In this inaugural episode of Scottsdale Frame of Mind, brought to you by Scottsdale Leadership, hosts Andrew Volkmer and Jenna Kohl talk with Andy Greenwood, VP of Development at Macerich Companies, one of the country's leading owners, operators and developers of major retail real estate, including Scottsdale’s Fashion Square Mall. Andy shares the challenges faced by Fashion Square during the pandemic and when non-peaceful protesters and looters descended upon the mall in spring 2020. Andy gives us an inside view of new additions to the mall including the debut of Francine, a unique French offering. Andy shares his compelling personal story, his leadership legacy, and his connection with local nonprofit Transplant Community Alliance. Be prepared to be inspired.Learn how to support the work of Transplant Community Alliance: https://newlifesociety.org/ Get the story behind Scottsdale Leadership: https://scottsdaleleadership.org/ And share your thoughts about our show by contacting dana@scottsdaleleadership.org

Jerry Miller was live on The I Love CVille Show! You can save $288 on Ting Fiber Internet (free installation + first month free) through this link for a limited time: iLoveCVille.Ting.com Listen to the full show as an iTunes Podcast here: The I Love CVille Show (Friday, August 21) 1. JC Penny is now closed in Fashion Square Mall https://www.cbs19news.com/story/42524900/jcpenney-at-fashion-square-to-close 2. Is Simon Property Group reimagining the future of retail? https://www.forbes.com/sites/sanfordstein/2020/08/20/sparc-group-the-simon-property-groupabg-creation-may-well-reimagine-the-future-brandscape/#50e940b66057 3. Will an Amazon Distribution hub take the place of JC Penny in Fashion Square Mall? https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-and-giant-mall-operator-look-at-turning-sears-j-c-penney-stores-into-fulfillment-centers-11596992863 4. A list of bankrupt retailers in the United States https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/21/coronavirus-struggling-retailers-rush-to-file-for-bankruptcy-as-fear-of-a-second-wave-lingers.html 5. Montpelier Hunt Races canceled due to covid. This is the second time in 86 years that the race was cancelled. The race was also canceled in 1943 during World War II. https://www.cbs19news.com/story/42524891/montpelier-announces-cancellation-of-annual-hunt-races 6. 7 Virginia Tech students were suspended yesterday for having parties. https://roanoke.com/news/local/education/7-virginia-tech-students-suspended-after-off-campus-gatherings/article_88f99b38-99bb-5d7e-86c6-71a80d30a872.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1 7. This Richmond business created a learning pod at work to help employees and their children navigate virtual learning easier. https://richmond.com/news/local/we-cannot-lose-25-of-our-workforce-how-richmond-area-employers-are-helping-working-parents/article_35e5d902-9fdf-552b-9dfe-70415334962c.html#tracking-source=home-breaking 8. July home sales spike to new records https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/21/july-home-sales-spike-a-record-24point7percent-as-prices-set-a-new-high.html 9. Will UVA Football fill its vacant Week 1 slot on its schedule? https://www.cbs19news.com/story/42527748/mendenhall-anticipates-changes-to-football-schedule-attendance 10. Bronco Mendenhall on ESPN. https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29710732/virginia-bronco-mendenahll-conflicted-students-return-campus The I Love CVille Show airs live before a worldwide audience Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. The I Love CVille Show is powered by four generation strong Intrastate Inc., trusted limo company Camryn Limousine, the talented Dr. Scott Wagner of Scott Wagner Chiropractic and Sports Medicine, custom home builder John Kerber of Dominion Custom Homes and entrepreneur Patricia Boden Zeller's Animal Connection – All Natural Store for Healthy Pets.

The Daily Digest On The I Love CVille Network - Friday, August 21 2020 Presented By Ting You can save $288 on Ting Charlottesville Fiber Internet (free installation + first month free) through this link for a limited time: https://iLoveCVille.Ting.com The I Love CVille Show headlines (Friday, August 21) 1. JC Penny is now closed in Fashion Square Mall https://www.cbs19news.com/story/42524900/jcpenney-at-fashion-square-to-close 2. Is Simon Property Group reimagining the future of retail? https://www.forbes.com/sites/sanfordstein/2020/08/20/sparc-group-the-simon-property-groupabg-creation-may-well-reimagine-the-future-brandscape/#50e940b66057 3. Will an Amazon Distribution hub take the place of JC Penny in Fashion Square Mall? https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-and-giant-mall-operator-look-at-turning-sears-j-c-penney-stores-into-fulfillment-centers-11596992863 4. A list of bankrupt retailers in the United States https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/21/coronavirus-struggling-retailers-rush-to-file-for-bankruptcy-as-fear-of-a-second-wave-lingers.html 5. Montpelier Hunt Races canceled due to covid. This is the second time in 86 years that the race was cancelled. The race was also canceled in 1943 during World War II. https://www.cbs19news.com/story/42524891/montpelier-announces-cancellation-of-annual-hunt-races 6. 7 Virginia Tech students were suspended yesterday for having parties. https://roanoke.com/news/local/education/7-virginia-tech-students-suspended-after-off-campus-gatherings/article_88f99b38-99bb-5d7e-86c6-71a80d30a872.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1 7. This Richmond business created a learning pod at work to help employees and their children navigate virtual learning easier. https://richmond.com/news/local/we-cannot-lose-25-of-our-workforce-how-richmond-area-employers-are-helping-working-parents/article_35e5d902-9fdf-552b-9dfe-70415334962c.html#tracking-source=home-breaking 8. July home sales spike to new records https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/21/july-home-sales-spike-a-record-24point7percent-as-prices-set-a-new-high.html 9. Will UVA Football fill its vacant Week 1 slot on its schedule? https://www.cbs19news.com/story/42527748/mendenhall-anticipates-changes-to-football-schedule-attendance 10. Bronco Mendenhall on ESPN. https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29710732/virginia-bronco-mendenahll-conflicted-students-return-campus The I Love CVille Show airs live before a worldwide audience Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. The I Love CVille Show is powered by four generation strong Intrastate Inc., trusted limo company Camryn Limousine, the talented Dr. Scott Wagner of Scott Wagner Medicine, custom home builder John Kerber of Dominion Custom Homes and entrepreneur Patricia Zeller's Animal Connection - All Natural Store for Healthy Pets. I Love CVille Real Estate, LLC​ + I Love CVille Food + I Love CVille Shopping + I Love CVille Photo Video​ + VMV Brands​ + Scoutology​ + Scoutology Charlottesville, Va + Scoutology Wine + Scoutology Beer + Scoutology Richmond, Va

You don't have to live a life disconnected from your community. Orlando is full of creatvitiy and events waiting for you. Here's what's happening "This Week In Art".- This Saturday, enjoy an evening of jazz, R&B, rock, and more all along Edgewater Drive at College Park JazzFest 2019.- Experience "The Greatest Show (& Tell) On Earth" this weekend at Maker Faire Orlando 2019. There will be more than 300 exhibits highlighting technology, sceince, robots, & all things creativity.- Playing Friday through Sunday, Mister Rogers: The Musician shares the musical side of our childhood friend and Rollins College alumni with special guest musicians and a capella group Voctave.- Friday at Fierce Entertainment Studios in Fashion Square Mall, OIFW Style Night Out - Sip, Mix, Mingle, Party is a night of makeup, fashion, hair and more!Get out and do something new.

Have you ever noticed a clear wire, strung between poles in different parts of the Valley? You can see it at the intersection of Scottsdale and Camelback roads, crossing diagonally along the canal, near Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall. That's an Eruv. A boundary for observant, usually Orthodox, members of Judaism. The wire, which surrounds parts of Phoenix, Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, allows the community to carry certain items outside of their homes on Shabbat, otherwise known as Shabbos or the Sabbath. But why does this Eruv allow them to carry things? And why do the rules exist in the first place? Learn all about the Valley Eruv in this week's episode of Valley 101. Read the transcript of the episode by clicking here. Follow Taylor Seely on Twitter: @taylorseely95 Follow Valley 101 on Twitter: @valley101pod 

CEO of Fierce Entertainment Management and Co-Founder of Orlando International Fashion Week, Ron Henlon, drops by the show to chat with Tiberius about a new event they are holding at the Fashion Square Mall and all things art. Tiberius reviews a new book and talks about bowling and math. Don't miss this one.

This week’s episode was recorded at Junior's Diner in the lovely Audubon Park Garden District; a staple greasy spoon in the City Beautiful. This week's topics include Don Price retiring as Sextant of Greenwood Cemetery and his new collab beer with Ten 10 Brewing, Pizza Bruno opening up two new locations, and we hear that Fashion Square Mall could get torn down. Tune in to Bungalower and the Bus every week on 104.1 Real Radio or our podcast to learn all about the top headlines, new restaurants, and best-bet events to attend this week.

This week's episode was recorded at Foundation, a used record shop in College Park. On the show, Bungalower's Brendan O'Connor and Jon Busdeker talk about the Big Time Street Food opening in Thornton Park, the demise of Fashion Square Mall, a new bahn mi shop on Colonial Drive and Meza Grill opening in Baldwin Park. Tune in to Bungalower and the Bus every week on 104.1 Real Radio or our podcast to learn all about the top headlines, new restaurants, and best-bet events to attend this week

The end of the Crossroads at Hotel Plaza Boulevard and State Road 535 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida is nigh! This nostalgic reflection of a shopping plaza references 'Junk Food Lane', angry mini golf excursions, Jungle Jim's, ketchup AND mustard on cheeseburgers, Gooding's vs. Publix, the Zero to Hero Victory Parade, the Fashion Square Mall, at least two nods to MuppetVision 3(4?)D, the Mister Rogers exhibit, and the worst tip ever given. LIKE Dillo's Diz on Facebook! FOLLOW @DillosDiz on Twitter & Instagram. DillosDiz.com for Blogs & Throwbacks! Theme composed by Matt Harvey. Additional Themes produced for [By The Mummers] performances composed by Jason Purdy. LIKE The Improviser's Guide on Facebook. FOLLOW @FrankMCardillo on Instagram & Twitter. TheImproviser'sGuide.com for more info.

Learn all about the top headlines, new restaurants, and best-bet events to attend this weekend with Bungalower and the Bus. Hosted each week by Jon Busdeker and Brendan O’Connor. This week’s episode was recorded at Cavanaugh's Fine Wines in College Park. They gave us a bottle of wine too ... so excuse our slurs and passionate discourse. The topics discussed include "peak taco" and if there is such a thing as too many burritos, the sale of Fashion Square Mall, and a food fight in the Milk District.

Clinton Kelly makes over 15 women and puts on a fashion show at Macy’s in Scottsdale, Arizona at the Fashion Square Mall!