Podcast appearances and mentions of frank stoner

Herzlich willkommen Freunde, zu einer weiteren Aufklärungsmission in die tiefen Weiten des Kontroversums ! Heute sprechen wir mit NuoViso Moderator und Kenner von Geschichte, Mythologie und Gesellschaftsentwicklung – Frank Stoner. Gemeinsamen wollen wir uns das Thema Breakaway Civilization genauer anschauen. Ist es möglich, dass sich vor Jahrhunderten, oder noch längerer Zeit, eine Gruppe von Menschen, von der restlichen Menschheit abgespalten hat und über Technologien und Wissen verfügt, die der breiten Öffentlichkeit nicht zugänglich sind? Ein erweitertes, ganzheitliches Verständnis, von Physik und Bewusstsein, das für uns undenkbare, wie Magie wirkende Technologie ermöglicht. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neugierigkontakt/message

Frank Stoner TV https://www.youtube.com/@FrankStonerTV --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/neugierigkontakt/message

For Episode 26 of the Then And Now Blading Podcast, I chat with one of my oldest friends in skating, Frank Stoner. We both grew up in the Austin, Texas, blading scene in the mid-90s and were lucky enough to be part of such a fantastic scene. In this interview we discuss our history together, franks skating, school, his career, ramp building, living in Spain, moving to Denver, the Austin and Denver box sessions, and much more.Do you enjoy this podcast?Become a Patreon Member or Make a PayPal DonationYou can watch these podcasts as videos on the Then And Now Youtube channel. The YouTube version also features video and photo overlays relevant to the conversation to make it more documentary-style. The channel also includes The Vault, Jan's collection of raw skating footage spanning from 1995-2010. Find out more about the Podcast and YouTube channel at thenandnowblading.com.Support Then And Now through our Patreon page.LinksThen And Now on YouTubeThen And Now on PatreonThen And Now on FacebookThen And Now on InstagramThen and Now on TwitterJan Welch's Instagram

Welcome to January 4, which goes by many names. It’s National Trivia Day, according to nationaldaycalendar.com. It’s also National Spaghetti Day and National Missouri Day, two more pieces of information you might not necessarily need to know, but there you are. Another piece of information is that this is Charlottesville Community Engagement. Who is the host? Send me your best guess.Charlottesville Community Engagement is a service of Town Crier Productions that depends on contributions from readers and listeners. Sign up for free today and decide later if you’d like to support the show with a subscription.  On today’s show:A winter storm has caused various delays and power outages through the region with the effects still being felt this morningThe ARB seeks changes to a three-story self-storage building proposed at the intersection of U.S. 250 and Crozet Avenue The Blue Ridge Health District will hold a town hall on the pandemic tonight, and people between the age of 12 and 15 are now eligible for the Pfizer boosterGovernor Youngkin appoints more staff as well as key positions in veteran services Virginia sets up a mortgage relief fund Today’s first subscriber-supported public service announcement goes out to Camp Albemarle, which has for sixty years been a “wholesome rural, rustic and restful site for youth activities, church groups, civic events and occasional private programs.”Located on 14 acres on the banks of the Moorman’s River near Free Union, Camp Albemarle continues as a legacy of being a Civilian Conservation Corps project that sought to promote the importance of rural activities. Camp Albemarle seeks support for a plan to winterize the Hamner Lodge, a structure built in 1941 by the CCC and used by every 4th and 5th grade student in Charlottesville and Albemarle for the study ecology for over 20 years. If this campaign is successful, Camp Albemarle could operate year-round. Consider your support by visiting their website to make a donation. Storm aftermathThousands of homes throughout the region continue to be without power a day after a winter storm charged through the area one day after temperatures in the sixties. Downed tree branches due to heavy snow have knocked out power lines. As of 9 a.m. this morning, Dominion Energy reported 21,152 customers without power in Albemarle and 4,619 customers in Charlottesville. Nearly all customers in Louisa remained without power as the sun rose. Around two-thirds of Fluvanna customers were without power. Consult their outage map for updated information. The storm canceled the meetings of both the Louisa County Board of Supervisors and the Charlottesville City Council. Louisa will meet tonight beginning at 5 p.m. to select a chair and vice chair before going into closed session. The new City Council will meet tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. to go into closed session before an open session scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Trash service in the city of Charlottesville was delayed yesterday and has been canceled for today. That will mean a two-day delay for city residents beginning tomorrow when Monday’s service will resume. The service week will conclude on Sunday. Learn more in this release.Elsewhere in Virginia, I-95 south of D.C. remains close at publication with reports of thousands of stranded drivers. That includes Senator Tim Kaine. Pandemic update: FDA approved Pfizer booster for 12+The omicron surge continues in Virginia with the Virginia Department of Health reporting another 15,449 new cases and the percent positivity statewide has now increased to 29.9 percent. The percent positivity in the Blue Ridge Health District is at 22.8 percent and there are 326 new cases. District officials will hold a virtual town hall meeting tonight beginning at 7 p.m. and the main topic is local guidance on new CDC rules related to quarantine and isolation following a diagnosis. (meeting info)On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration expanded the use of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in three ways. Individuals between the age of 12 and 15 will soon be able to get a single booster dose. They’ve also allowed a shortening of the time between completing the first two doses and the booster to a minimum of five months. Thirdly, children between five and 11 with certain immunocompromised conditions will also be able for a third shot of the primary series. According to a press release, the FDA analyzed data from Israel where the booster has been authorized for those between 12 and 15. They argue the data shows the benefits of protection from new variants outweighs the potential risks. Virginia Mortgage Relief If you or someone you know is having trouble paying your mortgage, the Commonwealth of Virginia has a new relief program. Applications are now open for the program, which follows on the heels of the Virginia Rent Relief Program. “The Commonwealth has implemented rent and mortgage relief programs through designated state and federal resources,” reads a press release from outgoing Governor Ralph Northam. “Combined, these programs have provided more than $519.5 million in 106,621 rent relief payments for more than 76,500 households across Virginia.”The funding source for the new program comes from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Homeowner’s Assistance Fund. To be eligible, households need to demonstrate a reduction of income after January of 2020. For more information, visit virginiamortgagerelief.com.Youngkin names top staff, two key Veterans’ positionsGovernor-elect Glenn Youngkin will take office in less than two weeks, and he continues to flesh out his cabinet. Yesterday he names a chief of staff and other top positions. Richard Cullen will serve as Counselor, Jeff Goettman will serve as Chief of Staff, and Rebecca Glover will be Assistant Chief of Staff and Communications Director. Eric Moeller will be the Chief Transformation Officer. Cullen is a senior partner at the law firm McGuireWoods who served as Attorney General in 1997. Previous clients have included former Vice President Mike Pence and former FIFA president Sepp Blatter. Learn more about the appointments in a release on the transition website.This morning, Youngkin appointed Craig Crenshaw to serve as his Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs. Crenshaw is a former marine who is currently the president of Claxton Logistics Services. Dan Gade will be the Commissioner of the Department of Veterans Services. Gade is a veteran of the second Iraq War who lost his right leg in 2005. He is the co-founder of The Independence Project and was also the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in the 2020 race won by Senator Mark Warner. More 2022 General Assembly bills  Eight days to go until the 2022 General Assembly begins, and volume of pre–filed bills is still low enough to report. Once the session begins, action moves fast. Senator John Cosgrove (R-Chesapeake) filed a bill requiring the state Registrar to amend death certificates within 30 days if there is new evidence and information. (SB55)Senator Barbara Favola (D-Arlington) filed legislation to establish a Foster Care Prevention program intended to encourage children to be placed with relatives. (SB56)Senator Favola has another bill that would establish the School Health Services Committee to provide guidance on any proposals that might require local school boards to provide health services. (SB62)Senator Mamie Locke (D-Hampton) filed a bill to amend the State and Local Government Conflict of Interests Act to exempt gift tickets or admission fees if the responsible person is using them to perform official duties. (SB57)Delegate Ronnie Campbell (R-24) wants to add zoos to the list of entities from which animals can be seized if they are being treated cruelly. (HB53)Incoming Delegate Karen Greenhalgh (R-85) would require absentee ballots to sorted by precinct. (HB54)Greenhalgh also submitted a bill to require the State Registrar of Vital Records to transmit a list of recent deaths to the Department of Elections on a weekly basis for the purpose of taking the deceased off the voter rolls. Currently they must do so monthly. (HB55)Delegate Bill Wiley (R-29) filed a bill to provide enhanced retirement benefits for juvenile detention specialists. (HB56)Incoming Delegate Tim Anderson (R-83) would limit the power of a governor’s declaration of emergency to 45 days without General Assembly approval. (HB57)Delegate Glenn Davis (R-84) has a bill that would prevent localities from placing minimum wage and benefit requirements when procuring services from contractors. (HB58)Delegate John McGuire (R-56) would require school principals to notify law enforcement of any acts that could be construed as a misdemeanor. (HB59)McGuire has another bill seeking permission for the Town of Louisa to appoint five to seven members to an economic development authority. Currently the code specifies seven. (HB60)McGuire has another bill that would allow individuals who work as both an employee and a volunteer for a public entity to be able to earn overtime for the employment portion of their service. (HB61)Senator Travis Hackworth (R-38) filed a bill to require the chief of police of a dissolved department to relinquish records to the sheriff of that locality. Seems specific. (SB59)Hackworth has another bill that would move the deadline for political subdivisions to provide information on emergency sheltering capacity to the State Coordinator of Emergency Management from May to August. (SB60)Hackworth also filed legislation to allow judges, law-enforcement officers, attorneys, and judges to carry concealed weapons in areas where they may otherwise be prohibited. (SB61)Distilleries would be allowed to sell products directly to consumers via the Internet if a bill from Senator Frank Ruff (R-15) becomes law. (SB65)Today’s second subscriber-supported public service announcement: The Charlottesville Jazz Society at cvillejazz.org is dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and perpetuation of all that  jazz, and there’s no time like now to find a time to get out and watch people love to play. The Charlottesville Jazz Society keeps a running list of what’s coming up at cvillejazz.org. This Thursday, the Charles Owens Trio will play Potter’s Craft Cider and on Saturday the Eric Franzen Trio plays at Early Mountain Vineyards. Sign up today to see the rest!Further delays for Smith Aquatic CenterJanuary 3 had been the expected reopening day for the Smith Aquatic and Fitness Center in Charlottesville, but further repair is needed for the facility which opened in 2010. However, a release that went out this morning now states that Smith will remain closed until a “spring 2022 reopening.”Smith has been plagued with ventilation issues since soon after it opened. According to a 2015 Daily Progress article, the facility closed for several weeks in 2015 for installation of new exhaust systems. The pool closed again in April 2019 for repairs and was slated to be closed in the spring of 2020 for a $1.8 million repair that has not yet been completed. Crow Indoor Pool is open. ARB seeks smaller scale for Crozet self-storage facilityThe winter storm yesterday ended up canceling all three of the government meetings scheduled including the Albemarle Architectural Review Board. That group last met on December 20 when they weighed in on a self-storage facility proposed for the intersection of U.S. 250 and Crozet Avenue. Margaret Maliszewski is a planning manager who works with the ARB. (watch the meeting)“The proposed building is three stories tall with a 30,000 square foot footprint,” Maliszewski said. “The building as shown on the plan measures 260 feet by 120 feet.”Staff is concerned about the size of the building in relation to what’s around it. Maliszewski said the developer submitted a design with architectural treatments intended to break down the design, but continued to have concerns with the preliminary design. The property is zoned for highway commercial, so the use is allowed but must comply with entrance corridor guidelines. Doug Bates, a member of the Downtown Crozet Initiative and the Crozet Community Advisory Committee. During public comment, he said the project is not consistent with a Crozet Master Plan that seeks to build larger structures closer to downtown and now on U.S. 250.“I can’t think of a more important corridor to deal with Crozet and I would urge this Architectural Review Board to consider your broader responsibilities to keep the community coherent,” Bates said. Another member of the public urged the county to deny the whole proposal. “I think we’re giving too much importance to by-right and not enough to what really needs to go there,” said Brenda Plantz. “It’s a Scenic Highway.” However, Virginia law is clear that property owners are entitled to uses laid out in the zoning code as explained by ARB Chair Dade Van Der Werf. “I think I can speak on behalf of the board to say we certainly appreciate and share the appreciation that this is a significant intersection on these entrance corridors and I think our charge on the ARB aligns with the desire for coherence in the order of the county,” van der Werf said. “We are not empowered to affect zoning or use. That’s kind of the responsibility of the Planning and other commissions.”However, ARB members did express concerns such as this one from Frank Stoner.“I took struggle with the scale of this building,” Stoner said. “It’s very close to the intersection. If there was a way to push it back on the site and make it sort of an ancillary use to something more appropriate that was on the corner, I think I could be supportive.” ARB member Fred Missel also wanted to look very closely to see how the entrance corridor guidelines could be applied at this location.“In my opinion, this project is precisely an example of what the guidelines are designed to help us guard against,” Missel said. “I think we have to not only take our guidelines seriously but also ask the applicant to spend some significant amount of time looking through our guidelines, really understanding them, reflecting on them, and addressing them both visually and also narratively  the next time we speak if its in a work session which I think is probably smart.” Missel said the ARB cannot comment on the use but said the scale is incompatible with the county’s guidelines. The ARB voted 4-0 on a resolution stating their lack of support with one member recusing himself. Recommendations including trying to make the building seem more like a two-story building and looking at other buildings along the corridor to find compatibility. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. 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In 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. On today’s show:The Crozet Community Advisory Committee weighs in on the master plan update The Downtown Crozet Initiative unveils its vision for a public plazaThe Community Climate Collaborative unveils the winners of its Better Business ChallengeToday’s show focuses on Crozet in western Albemarle County. Crozet is not a town, but it is a designated growth area under the county’s growth management policy. But it is a place with traditions. Here’s an announcement made at the June 9, 2021 meeting of the Crozet Community Advisory Committee about an event coming up on Saturday, July 3. “I’m Tim Tolson, president of the Crozet Community Association, and along with other civic groups in Crozet we’re hosting the annual Crozet Independence Day celebration parade at 5:00 p.m. as part of the Crozet Volunteer Fire Department that ends at the Crozet Park where the celebration will take part, take place. We’ll have fireworks around 9:30 or quarter to 10 when it gets dark.” The Crozet Community Association is seeking donations to cover the cost of the fireworks. Visit their website to learn more. The Albemarle Planning Commission will take up the Crozet Master Plan at a work session on Tuesday, June 22. At the June 9 CAC meeting, committee members and participating residents got a presentation on the implementation of projects intended to bolster Crozet’s urban character. They also had the chance to comment on the plan update to date.  But first, the implementation projects. The master plan is a large overview of the entire area, and further studies are suggested. The draft implementation chapter shows a list of ten potential topics ranging from a Downtown Neighborhood Architectural and Cultural Study to a stream health study for Parrot Branch, a local waterway. Initial feedback has already been submitted and planner Tori Kanellopoulos gave the rundown for how planning projects scored.“The top ranked projects were the Crozet Avenue Shared-Use Path feasibility study, the Three Notch’d Trail feasibility study, and the Route 250 West design guidelines,” Kanellopoulos said. “And then the policy projects were also ranked and the top priority was updating residential zoning designations to allow for more preservation of natural resources.”Potential capital projects were also ranked. Kanellopoulos said the highest ranking projects are the completion of Eastern Avenue, downtown Crozet intersection improvements, and sidewalk connections. Let’s hear more about that Three Notch’d Trail.“Lately there’s been a lot more focus and attention on the potential Three Notch’d Trail which would ideally connect from the Blue Ridge Tunnel along Crozet and over to Charlottesville,” Kanellopoulos said. “A feasibility study would look at this alignment and there are opportunities to partner with [the Virginia Department of Transportation] and the Planning District Commission and trails groups to look at the feasibility study for the alignment.” Supervisor Ann Mallek said later in the meeting that VDOT planning may not have staff to conduct that feasibility study this year, but community work can be done now to prepare for that work possibly in 2022. “And the other blessing that goes along with that is 2022 is when [Virginia] is going to take over the rail access right of way from CSX and therefore that increases greatly the possibility that we will be able to have a trail beside the rail,” Mallek said. Another “catalyst” project now in the implementation chapter is Western Park, which has long been called for in the plan and for which the county received 36 acres in 2010 as part of the Old Trail rezoning. A master plan for that project was created in 2018 that identified three phases. The first is recommended for funding, a decision which would be made by the entire Board of Supervisors during the budget process.“This phase one would include the access road with parking, a playground, and additional support of infrastructure and utilities,” Kanellopoulos said.Committee member Sandy Hausman noted the rankings were based on responses from fewer than a hundred people. “I wonder if anybody feels like this there needs to be a bit more outreach, like a mass mailing to everyone who lives in Crozet,” Hausman said. “It just feels to me that this is a relatively small group of people who tend to be paying attention to this stuff and everybody else will be unpleasantly surprised in a year or two when things start happening.”Committee member Joe Fore said he wanted to see all three phases of Western Park listed as catalyst projects, meaning they would be prioritized first.“I think just given the fact that it’s been in the works for so long, that the phases of at least getting started, the land is already there,” Fore said. “I understand it's expensive but it’s not an Eastern Avenue or Lickinghole Creek bridge expensive.” Fore also said he would support the creation of a special taxation district to help pay for new infrastructure. The Albemarle Board of Supervisors has previously been briefed on how service districts or a “business improvement district” could be levied in certain areas to fund amenities. “I looked through currently, and this may be a comment for the full draft, there’s only one mention of service districts in the entire draft and that’s in reference to funding ongoing activities and services at the plaza and downtown,” Fore  said. “But I would like to see maybe a little bit more and maybe a full suggestion saying maybe this is something we should explore in Crozet to fund some of these capital projects so we’re not constantly having these be projects are ten years out.” The Board of Supervisors last had a formal presentation on service districts at their meeting on December 7, 2016. (presentation) (story)Fore has looked up the section of Virginia code that allows for the creation of such districts.“It’s a pretty broad statute as I read it,” Fore said. “Things like sidewalks, roads, programming, cultural events, economic development, beautification and landscaping. It’s a very broad statute. It seems to me you could raise money for most of the kinds of projects that we’re looking at.  When we look at the list of priorities and say, yikes! Where are we going to get all the money for this? Well, rather than say let’s raise taxes on everybody in the county, you might be able to say let’s raise funds specifically from Crozet that would stay in Crozet for some of these projects we want to see in Crozet.”CAC member David Mitchell is skeptical of the idea and said it would lead to Crozet receiving fewer direct funds from the county.“Over time we will start to be looked at by the other Supervisors as ‘they have their own money, they can do their own thing’ and you’re going to slowly over time lose your share of the general fund,” Mitchell said. Supervisor Mallek agreed.“I would really discourage our citizenry from burdening themselves because I think David is right,” Mallek said. “We need to go to toe to toe, to say, this is a need that’s been on the books.”Mallek singled out the Eastern Avenue connector road that will provide north-south travel. A major obstacle is the cost of a bridge required to cross Lickinghole Creek. “We have made all of these zoning changes prior to 2007 that were counting on that bridge and we absolutely have a moral obligation to build it,” Mallek said. Eastern Avenue is ranked #8 on the county’s transportation priority list and there was an update in May. There’s not yet a full cost estimate on what it will cost, but engineering work is underway. “This project is currently being evaluated through an alignment study and conceptual design which is funded through the Transportation Leveraging Fund in the [Capital Improvement Program],” reads the update. “The alignment report was presented to the Board in January and the preferred alignment was selected. This project is being considered for a Revenue Sharing Grant application.”Allie Pesch, the chair of the CAC, said she wanted Eastern Avenue to be the top implementation priority.“I like seeing Eastern Avenue at the top of that list,” Pesch said. “That is a priority for everyone in our area and just so overdue.”After this discussion of implementation, county planner Rachel Falkenstein turned the conversation to the working draft of the master plan. The draft that will be reviewed by the Planning Commission at their work session on Tuesday incorporates feedback from the June 9 CAC meeting. (download the draft) “We still have a couple of steps to go before we get to our public hearings and we’ll continue to accept feedback and make revisions to the chapters and to the content,” Falkenstein said. A work session with the Board of Supervisors will take place in August. (Watch the CAC meeting on YouTube)You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement. On June 22 at 7 p.m., the Jefferson Madison Regional Library and the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society gives a glimpse into the cemeteries at Pen Park in Charlottesville. Tucked behind the Meadowcreek clubhouse are three, enclosed, family cemeteries, with the oldest dating back to the Colonial era. Outside the enclosures of the family plots, the city has confirmed the presence of 40 or more unmarked graves, all likely those of people enslaved at Pen Park. Join us as a panel of three professionals discuss what led to the examination of this site, the process of the investigation, and the efforts to identify and commemorate those buried there. Register on the JMRL website.  A few days after the CAC meeting, the Downtown Crozet Initiative held a public meeting to talk about a 30,000 square foot plaza intended to be located at the former Barnes Lumberyard. The plaza would anchor a mixed-use building and a hotel through a public-private partnership. The idea involves construction of a connector road using revenue-sharing funds from VDOT. That process requires a local match. Frank Stoner is a principal at Milestone Partners which seeks to redevelop the space. They’re putting up $2 million to serve as that match. “This project started in 2014,” Stoner said. “We developed this road plan in 2016, 2017. Most of the design elements of the road have been resolved. We felt strongly and I think the community felt strongly and the county felt strongly that the streets had to be appropriate for the small town that is Crozet and not be a highway through the middle of downtown which is kind of where VDOT wanted to go with it.” Albemarle County has contributed $1.6 million in cash to the project, and will provide another $1.6 million in rebates through a process known as tax increment financing. (read the June 2019 performance agreement)Stoner said the idea is to build an urban plaza, not a park. “And most importantly we wanted this plaza to be the heart not just of the neighborhood but the Crozet community,” Stoner said. Credit: Downtown Crozet InitiativeVDOT is contributing $2.5 million and the Downtown Crozet Initiative is seeking to raise over a million in private funds. “Which will be used to fund essentially the furniture, fixtures and equipment, sculpture, artwork, seating, all of that kind of stuff that goes in the plaza,” Stoner said. The designs aren’t close to final yet, but Stoner wanted to get feedback from the community. There are also no identified tenants for any of the spaces yet. “We haven’t really been in the position to take commitments because there have been so many unknowns because of the VDOT plans and then we had some stormwater issues we had to work through and so it has just been one obstacle after another,” Stoner said. Stoner said if all goes according to plan, construction could get underway next year. To Stoner, success means making sure it’s a place to expand what already makes Crozet Crozet.“If we can’t create a place that’s affordable for local businesses, then we’re not going to succeed,” Stoner said. In April 2020, the firm Downtown Strategies unveiled their report on a Downtown Strategic Vision for Crozet. Stoner suggested interested parties might take a look. (take a look)Nearby there is a separate VDOT project to rebuild the existing Square to add sidewalks and address ongoing stormwater issues. (watch the June 14 presentation)Finally today, last week the Community Climate Collaborative handed out the latest awards in its Better Business Challenge. Around 75 local businesses took part in an effort to reduce energy and water use. Two groups were Momentum Medalists for their work to investigate energy-use and to make changes to lighting. The Legal Aid Justice Center came up with a plan to replace their heating, ventilation and air conditioning system at their headquarters and a plan to replace internal lighting. Loaves and Fishes, a food pantry on Lambs Road, looked at increasing energy efficiency and began plans to install solar in the future. Jane Colony Mills accepted the award. “We also kind of did this last year because we were adding two additional walk-in refrigerators, and we knew that they were going to add to our energy burn, so we wanted to reduce what we were burning in the warehouse,” Colony Mills said. The Iron Pillar award was granted “for perseverance through uncertain times” and went to the upscale resale boutique Twice as Nice. Sara Guerre is the assistant manager. “The pandemic caused a lot of disruption but we took that opportunity to use the time to focus on as doing as many actions as we could no matter how small,” Guerre said. “And all of those little actions add up.” The Changemaker Award went to an entity for “the strategic pursuit of an action with long-term impact.” Steve Haske teaches Studio Art at the Renaissance School, and also handles Facilities and Information Technology. The student Earth Club wanted changes. “We put all new windows in this very old building here in downtown Charlottesville,” Haske said. “At the pushing of a lot of the students about being cleaner and more efficient, especially in winter time, getting the windows updated so they could open and close and actually seal.”The Schools Champion award went to the Blue Ridge School, a boarding school in Greene County. Cory Woods is the Director of Natural Resources and assistant director of outdoor education. “The Challenge provided us the opportunity to showcase some projects that were already underway like new LED lights and energy efficient windows in our dormitories and motivated us to explore some new opportunities,” Woods said. One of those ideas was a composting program to reduce material that ends up in a landfill. Six entities wound up as the Better Business Champions for scoring the most points in efforts to increase efficiency. In one of two Small Business awards, the Center at Belvedere was one of the winners. Scott Hilles is the director of finance and operations at the Center. “The Center at Belvedere has created a brand new building and it has allowed us to provide a beautiful setting that promotes healthy living in its programs,” Hilles said. For the new building, the Center entered into a purchase agreement with Sun Tribe Solar and have over 400 panels at the new location. “That agreement has allowed us to provide 50 percent of our energy needs through the panels,” Hilles said. “It also allows us to mitigate risk by planning our costs pertaining to energy.”For the other Small Business champion, Scivera transitioned entirely to a home-office based workplace during the pandemic, a move that will continue in 2021. “We normally set up our office in Vault Virginia on the Downtown Mall but because of the pandemic we all had to like so many people scatter to our own home offices and get things going and it ended up working really well,” said Joseph Rinkevich. Rinkevich said only a third of the company’s employees are based in Charlottesville, and going forward there could be less travel for regular internal meetings. One of the medium-sized business awards went to ReadyKids for their work to install low-flow toilets and to begin the process of planning for a solar installation. Ashley Branch is an administrative specialist.“We are very proud and have seen a tremendous saving from our action of doing work on the toilets and now we’re not wasting water, and it has shown profoundly in our water bill each month after we have made those changes,” Branch said. SunTribe Solar was the other medium-sized business champion created an internal sustainability team and had its employees participate with C3’s Home Energy Challenge. Here’s their marketing manager, Summer Rain Ursomarso. “First, we’re trying to help our team be empowered to be more sustainable so that means putting tools in place and providing enough resources to be more sustainable in their day to day actions,” Ursomarso said. “But it also means educating them to take that sustainability and those initiatives home so they can help their friends and family and community be more sustainable.”On to the large entity champion. One of these awards goes to the City of Charlottesville. Kirk Vizzier is the energy management coordinator in the Public Works Department. “Sustainability is something that the city has been very interested in coordinating what we do,” Vizzier said. “We have obviously a lot of municipal operations and services that we want and there are a lot of opportunities to improve those and embed sustainability in the way we do business.” The city created an engagement program for employees called WE to reduce water and energy use. They’re also working on setting up an energy saving performance contract to help speed up the implementation of energy-efficiency measures in city buildings. Finally, Sigora Solar received the other large business award for their plan to convert their fleet of vehicles to either electric or hybrid. Sarah Nerette is the company’s Director of Energy Efficiency and Sustainability. “We’re actually going to be transitioning some of the sedans in our fleet to hybrid and electric vehicles,” Nerette said. “This is going to help make our fleet overall more efficient and more green in general.”For more on the initiative, look up all the award winners at C3’s website.At the DCI meeting, no members of the CAC were on the call because it was not an official meeting. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

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:Governor Northam announces the easing of some COVID restrictions  The Albemarle Architectural Review takes a look at the I-64 corridor west of CharlottesvilleGreene County takes a look at their Comprehensive Plan Vaccinations are up in Virginia, and new COVD cases are down. Yesterday, Governor Ralph Northam announced the easing of some restrictions in a YouTube video on posted yesterday.“Starting May 15, social gatherings can have a few more people,” Northam said. “More people can go to theaters and entertainment venues, and more people at sporting events. But we all need to keep spreading out.” Last night, the owners of many Virginia restaurants posted pictures showing they immediately jumped on the ability to return customers to one kind of area that has been banned.“Restaurants can go back to seating patrons in their bar areas, but we all need to spread out there, too,” Northam said. But back to the amendments that go into effect on May 15. Private bookings at restaurants and event venues can increase to 100 people in doors, and 250 people outdoors. Gyms and fitness centers can open to 75 percent of capacity, though people must stay ten feet apart. Pools can also increase to three-quarter’s capacity. Capacity at entertainment venues will be at 50 percent. Northam said if the numbers continue along these trends, more restrictions will be eased in June. “We’re aiming to significantly ramp up vaccinations even further and aim to reduce mitigation measures in June, hopefully all the way,” Northam said. Northam said vaccinations may be able to children over the age of 12 this summer. Until then, Northam said everyone needs to keep wearing masks and keeping distance.No word yet on whether karaoke will happen ever again. Northam concluded his video by saying he was ready to smile again. Greene County is slowly reviewing their Comprehensive Plan, which was last updated in 2016. This past week, the Greene Planning Commission discussed the Natural Resources Chapter as well as the Agriculture and Forestry Chapter. During a conversation about riparian buffers, Deputy Planning Director Stephanie Golon suggested one area for the commissioners to think about. “In the world we’re in today, a climate action plan might be something that we’d want to include as one of the goals,” Golon said. Learn more about the Greene County Comprehensive Plan here The Agriculture chapter from 2016 acknowledges that farming in Greene faces challenges as the community grows. “Greene County is facing the prospect of gradually losing farmland and forests,” reads the plan. “Each year a portion of land in the county is converted from growing food or harvesting timber to other uses, such as residential or commercial development. At the same time, some individual farmers are finding it more difficult to sustain a viable business or recruit the next generation to carry on their role of providing food.”Commissioner Jay Willer suggested that Greene should measure the level of farming in the county through acreage and not the number of farms. “We’ve talked later in this document we talk about encouraging small farming, niche farming, etc,” Willer said. “We could hang on to the same number of farms and increase the number of farms but lose acreage, or lose production, if our only marker is the number of farms.” Willer said the document should also be more specific about the kind of agriculture practiced in Greene County. “The other part of it is a question of what’s a farm,” Willer said. “We don’t have a lot of acreage in Greene County dedicated to row crops or wheat and beans just because we don’t have the soil and terrain to do that. Most of our agricultural land is cattle or forestry.”To learn more about the Greene County Comprehensive Plan process, there’s a five minute video on YouTube that’s worth a look. (watch )*You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement. This patron-supported public service announcement is from an anonymous supporter. Do you want to support your public library by picking up a mystery bag of books? The Friends of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library are resuming their Pop-up Book Sale this Sunday at the Gordon Avenue library. For $5, you can pick up a sealed, pre-selected bag, choosing from mystery, popular fiction, literary fiction, classic literature, biographies, sci-fi / fantasy. The JMRL Pop-Up sale begins this Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Gordon Avenue Library. (learn more on their website)The link in this caption should take you directly to the relevant presentationThe agendas of the Albemarle Architectural Review Board include proposals for all kinds of developments whose detailed site plans might not otherwise go before the Planning Commission or the Board of Supervisors. On April 5, 2021, the group took a look at the I-64 corridor heading west from the 5th Street interchange to the county line with Nelson. ARB member Frank Stoner led the presentation.“It’s about a 20 mile stretch, most of which is rural,” Stoner said. “Most of the commercial development, really most of all the development along the corridor is pretty effectively screened and I know that’s generally been a priority for us in evaluating anything along that corridor.”One prominent landmark is the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail.“Probably one of the more dominant architectural features of the corridor, slightly east of where we’re starting, but I thought I’d share it anyway,” Stone said. In the past few years, new residential complexes have been constructed and are highly visible from I-64. “Buildings in the urban area are generally oriented away from the corridor,” Stoner said. “In the case of these two multifamily projects that got built on the south side, they do in fact sort of front not directly but they do front the corridor in that they are forward facing or have a significant architectural presence on the corridor.” A principle of development all across America has been the location of easily visible commercial destinations from highways and highway interchanges. That’s not the case for so much of I-64 in Virginia, including Exit 118 at U.S. 29.“When you’re at this interchange, you actually can’t see any of the surrounding development, and that pattern persists as you head west,” Stoner said. If you’re driving west, you can briefly see the reservoir to the north, but don’t blink. There’s very little development along the route, and even the Yancey Mills lumberyard can’t been seen from I-64. When you get to the top of Afton Mountain, though, that changes.“When you get to the Afton interchange, which is a little beyond the scope of what we’re technically responsible for, but it’s close enough and I figured I would include it,” Stoner said. “You have some commercial development on 250 kind of at the interchange with the Blue Ridge Parkway. You’ve got the abandoned motel up there and a couple of other smaller commercial buildings that are generally not in good condition.” In a future update, we’ll hear information about the U.S. 29 / U.S. 250 area covered by the ARB. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode I chat with Frank Stoner, long-time skater and blader intellectual, about some theories he is developing about why 'talent as currency' is not a sufficient explanation for influence in the modern blading community. A long and convoluted discussion that you will either find fascinating or infuriating, or both.

In this episode I talk to Frank Stoner about being a cool uncle of rollerblading podcasting, about street skating and creativity, why Australians shorten everything, Joe Atkinson’s competition skating, and the sometimes awkward world male friendship.

We talk trick terms with our special guest Frank Stoner. From the AO Unity/Savannah to the Topside/Farside, we get nerdy on the history of grinds and hardware.

Frank Stoner Inteview: Atheistic Blading, Overthinking & Placing Backslide Grooves— Episode 109 by Mikey Lynch