Podcasts about regional transit authority

CCE-850ALast week I asked listeners of the podcast to let me know if they were tuning in, and sure enough, several of you did reach out! So, perhaps this Friday edition of the newsletter going out as a podcast will continue. Today's edition doesn't have any new information but instead is an audio summary of some of what has been going on with voices from some of the decision-makers.I'm Sean Tubbs, and this one's a bit of a puzzle to put together. In the print edition below you'll see new versions of a couple of the stories as I had to develop a new script. I have not included the images, but these podcasts will now have normal shout-outs. No more house ads!Two stories in this edition, both about Charlottesville's budget for FY2026:* City Council makes last minute decisions at final work session before tonight's vote on $265M budget* Council adopts $265.2 million budget after another conversation about transit fundingFirst shout-out: Plant Virginia NativesSpring is here and there's still time to plan for upgrades to your outdoors. You can take some time to get ready for spring! Check out Plant Virginia Natives!Plant Virginia Natives is part of a partnership with ten regional campaigns for ten different ecosystems across Virginia, from the Northern Piedmont to the Eastern Shore. Take a look at the full map below for the campaign for native species where you are in the Commonwealth. For the Charlottesville area, download a free copy of the handbook: Piedmont Native Plants: A Guide for Landscapes and Gardens.Plant Northern Piedmont Natives is for anyone who works with native plants, whether you are a property owner, private consultant, landscape designer, nursery operator, conservation group, or local government.(image)A summary of the April 10, 2025 Charlottesville City Council budget work sessionOne of the challenges of doing a podcast version at the end of a week is that I may have to rearrange two previous stories in order for the audio edition to make sense. That's the case this week with Charlottesville City Council's adoption of a $265.2 million budget for fiscal year 2026. That happened on April 14 at a special meeting.But before we get to that, we have to go back to the work session held on April 10.In Charlottesville, the budget process never really stops. In fact, it keeps on going up to the last minute of adoption. New items were added at the work session that had not previously come up.At the beginning of the April 10 work session, they learned about additional spending that can happen because new funding has been found since the beginning of the budget process in March.“We do have supplemental revenue over and above the proposed budget of $774,263,” said Krisy Hammill, the city's budget director.The driver of that change was an additional $700,000 increase in Business and Professional Licenses that had not been factored in.There were many numbers thrown around during the final work session. Before Council signed off on how to spend that money, City Manager Sam Sanders went through how $915,620 in “Council Discretionary Funds” would be spent to leave a balance of $440,406 to spend.“Kind of thinking that with all the volatility that we have in DC, there could very easily be a series of moments that come up and that this would give you the flexibility to make some decisions and how we could support gaps in what could happen based on decisions and how it actually lands in the community,” Sanders said.Staff codified a list of what Council had already decided to spend over the course of four budget work sessions.* $250,000 to the Blue Ridge Coalition for the Homeless to cover the costs of a federal grant not obtained because there was an error related to a recent leadership transition.* $162,000 to the Piedmont Housing Alliance to pay for the cost of staff who work on eviction prevention.* $50,000 in cash to the Piedmont Housing Alliance related to eviction prevention.* An additional $43,150 to the Boys and Girls Club for a total of $116,000 in the FY26 budget.* An additional $28,800 to Lighthouse Studios to fund two programs for a total funding of $40,000 in the FY26 budget.* An additional $6,000 to Loaves and Fishes to bring their total funding to $50,000 for FY26.* An additional $1,200 to Piedmont CASA for a total of $10,000.* An additional $6,600 to Live Arts for a total of $16,000.* An additional $7,100 to Legal Aid Justice Center for a total of $40,000* An additional $1,500 to SARA for a total of $25,000.* A total of $104,261 in capital improvement program funds will be redirected to the Dogwood Vietnam Memorial. Read this story for more information.At the meeting, Hammill handed out a spreadsheet that provided more details about other programs that were added to the list such as an annual payment to the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. This was initially left out of the budget because the organization did not fill out an application through a portal called Zoom Grants.The payment to the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center was $228,993 in FY2024 and $246,993 in FY2025. The organization is considered fundamental which means it no longer has to compete for funding through the Vibrant Community Fund process . The payment for FY2026 will be $228,200.“By not submitting through Zoom Grants, they didn't appear on the list, but they didn't know that they had to still submit through Zoom Grants,” Sanders said. “So we have some course corrections that we need to do there and making sure that everyone understands what they have to do still, even though they're in a non competitive round.”Sanders said there was a similar error with the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. That government body is considered “fundamental” but also sought additional funding.“We have to have a conversation with them about their pursuits of funding going forward to your point they could be here and in the competitive rounds,” Sanders said. “I don't particularly care for that. I think that makes it double dipping.”Sanders said Deputy City Manager James Freas and the Office of Community Solutions are currently performing an audit of CRHA as a way of building a better working relationship.City Councilor Michael Payne, a member of the CRHA Board, called for a joint work session to plan for the likelihood of reduced federal funding for public housing units.At one point in the conversation, Council initially signaled a willingness to add an additional $16,000 to the United Way for their Prosper program. Deputy City Manager Ashley Marshall made a pitch for the program at the April 10 meeting. The program had previously been called the Financial Resiliency Task Force.Another last minute item is $30,000 for the Tonsler League headed by former City Councilor and current CRHA Chair Wes Bellamy. The organization had expected that the City of Charlottesville would have received an additional $250,000 from the state government for operations, but Governor Glenn Youngkin recently vetoed that from the budget.“He received a $250,000 grant for this current year that ends in June,” Sanders said. “I am planning to check with him to see if. If he will expend all of that and avoid the risk of having to send anything back.”Council supported giving the Tonsler League $30,000.At half an hour into the final budget work session held three days after the final public hearing, Sanders asked Council if there was any other item they might want to fund and gave them the current balance.“The question that we are really posing at this point is, is there anything else that you all have been pondering?” Sanders asked. “Because we try to remind you that this is the end of the road and we are truly down to $394,000 that today, right now at this moment, is your Council Strategic Initiatives Fund.”That prompted Councilor Lloyd Snook to express a concern.“So we haven't even gotten to the fiscal year and we've already cut it down?” Snook asked.“That's correct,” Sanders said.Snook said he felt the process was not appropriate.“I find myself trying to figure out what possible process we're advancing here,” Snook said. “And the answer is it's still back to whatever anybody throws up against the wall at Council at the last minute. I just think that's a terrible way to do business.”Sanders said he understood Snook's concern.“I understand and appreciate the last minute nature of it and I'm not a fan of always doing that and I think in these, this, these two moments specifically, we can identify a way to bring you critical information so that you can have that presented to you and then you can make that determination on if you believe the item is ready to go forward,” Sanders said, adding that both Marshall and Bellamy could appear before Council to formally make a pitch.There were at least three Councilors who supported funding for Tonsler, but not yet for the Prosper Program.There was also a long discussion about increasing the number of transit drivers to 82 in order to restore service to pre-pandemic levels. This comment from Sanders finishes off that discussion and sets up a conversation for the future.“I think what I heard was that you are not going to attempt to unpack the budget at this late stage and find a way to make 82 drivers a reality,” Sanders said. “But what you are indicating is that you support the desire for added drivers and that you're looking to have us revisit that with you at some point in the future later in 2025 for the possible consideration of the use of one time funds for the bridge that would be required to get us to the next budget where we will realize the true cost.”Sanders also said he still wants to hold on to the $22.4 million surplus from FY2024 in case federal programs are cut.“The conversations that are being had in regards to SNAP and Medicaid are real in that they're big,” Sanders said. “And if those cuts were to occur, we will see a number of our constituency impacted directly by that.”Sanders said that while the city is blessed to have a large surplus, it will go very quickly if the local government picks up what had been a federal program.Tonight's meeting to adopt is not the end of the process. Because of a second advertising error, Council still has to hold a public hearing on the tax rates and that will take place at the next regular meeting on April 21. By law, Council cannot adopt those tax rates at that meeting and must wait at least three days. A second special meeting will be held on April 24.I had hoped to tell you more about the next three items by going back to the audio, but I've got to get to the next set of stories:* Sanders had an update on a potential low-barrier shelter. The General Assembly's version of the budget had $1.5 million going to the City of Charlottesville for this purpose, and Youngkin cut this in half. The budget has not yet been finalized and Sanders said Senator Creigh Deeds is still trying to make the case to restore the funding.* Sanders said he believes the city would need to provide operating funds to any grocery that sets up at 501 Cherry Avenue.* There is still a possibility that the city might provide funding for UVA's affordable housing project at 10th and Wertland. They will be asked to submit a request as part of the next funding cycle this fall.Second shout-out: Piedmont Master Gardeners seek items for Green Elephant SaleIf you are cleaning out your garage or basement this winter and have garden implements or yard ornaments you no longer need, the Piedmont Master Gardeners will take them off your handsThe Piedmont Master Gardeners are seeking donations of new and used garden tools, hoses, decorative items, outdoor furniture, and virtually anything else that can be used to maintain or enjoy a home landscape. From February 1 through April 30, these "Green Elephant" donations may be dropped off at 402 Albemarle Square between 10 a.m. and noon on Wednesdays or Saturdays. The Master Gardeners are not able to accept plastic pots or opened chemicals.The Green Elephants will be offered for sale to the public during PMG's Spring Plant Sale, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 3, at Albemarle Square Shopping Center. Proceeds will support the many free and low-cost horticulture education programs the Piedmont Master Gardeners offer to the community.To arrange a pickup of large items or for more information, contact the Piedmont Master Gardeners at greenelephant@piedmontmastergardeners.org.(image)Council adopts $265.2 million budget after another conversation about transit fundingCharlottesville City Council adopted a $265.2 million budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1 at a special meeting on April 14 but not before another review and summary from City Manager Sam Sanders. He had introduced a $264,474,183 budget on March 4.“Things have changed a little bit, as it always does, from the proposed date to your adoption date,” Sander saidThere have been five budget work sessions and two public hearings on the document itself, but yet to come is a public hearing on the tax rates for 2025.“What I'll point out to you just in basic highlights, is that the revenue expenditure at this time has now risen to $265,248,446,” Sanders said.The tax rates have not changed for 2025, but another year of growth in assessments has resulted in more revenue. The assessor's office reported an average of a 7.74 percent increase in late January.One spending change in the budget is an additional $600,000 for Charlottesville Area Transit which partially came out of a push for local advocates.“We added a transit mechanic to help with operations,” Sanders said. “We are also maintaining fare free service across the system and absorbing the absence of the flexible federal funds because those funds are now not available to us as they have been.”Other highlights:* There's $5.4 million over the next five years for sidewalk repair and construction* There's $12.7 million in spending on affordable housing initiatives in FY26* The FY26 budget is the first to apply to a fourth collective bargaining unitCity Councilor Michael Payne asked about the status of a $22.4 million surplus from FY2024. Sanders made the decision to keep the amount in reserve and Council has so far agreed. The idea is to keep the money available while a new era for the federal government continues to settle in. He also said he has been meeting with nonprofit groups who have been making presentations on funding they have lost from the federal government.“So they are first trying to recoup what they've spent and hope that they might actually get some continuation,” Sanders said. “So that is beginning to build. We're beginning to see that finally the city organization itself has not incurred a loss. But we still continue to monitor just believing that it's just a matter of time. It's not a matter of if, it is actually a matter of when.”A generally-held practice in municipal budgeting is to not use one-time money such as surpluses to hire staffing.“Something like staffing is not ideal because we can't guarantee that funding to occur year to year,” said City Councilor Natalie Oschrin.The conversation went back to transit. The City of Charlottesville owns Charlottesville Area Transit and has full control of its operations. Albemarle County and Charlottesville have entered into an entity called the Charlottesville Albemarle Regional Transit Authority but so far that is entirely about planning for transit operations.Albemarle Supervisors vote to join Regional Transit Authority, December 15, 2024Charlottesville joins regional transit authority; Council holds first reading on federal transit allocations, December 28, 2024Charlottesville Area Transit has no independent board of directors which makes Council the sole authority over its operations. There had once been an advisory body made up of citizens but that was eliminated sometime during the pandemic.An advocacy group called IMPACT made up of various churches has been pressuring Albemarle and Charlottesville to increase the amount they spent on transit to hire additional drivers. Their specific number has been 82, a number believed to enable Charlottesville Area Transit to increase service.“The solution to long wait times is very straightforward: we need more bus drivers,” reads their website. “Right now, Charlottesville Area Transit (CAT) has budgeted 67 drivers. Getting to wait times of half an hour will require at least 80.”In Virginia, cities and counties are completely independent of each other. There are regional services such as that provided by the Rivanna Water and Service Authority, but localities have to adopt budgets independently.IMPACT's public event was held on April 8, over a month into the budget process for Charlottesville and about six weeks after Albemarle County Executive Jeffrey Richardson introduced that locality's budget.At their work session on April 10, City Council indicated they wanted to support IMPACT's request but the timing is not right for the existing budget. They agreed to hold conversations about how to get there shortly after the budget is adopted.Vice Mayor Brian Pinkston and Charlottesville City Council were the two members of Council who went to hear from IMPACT at what they call the Nehemiah Action.“The commitment that the two of us made was to try to get something for this coming the fiscal year that we're working on now, which means some sort of amendment or whatever,” said City Councilor Brian Pinkston.Several members of the group were in attendance at the meeting and Pinkston addressed them directly from the dais and encouraged them to get involved earlier in the budget process.“I want people to know that this is not the end,” Pinkston said. “We heard you last week, we're working on it. And what you're hearing now is the sort of public outworking of the conversations that need to happen.”For over four years of reporting on transit issues, take a look at this tab on Information Charlottesville.Council adopted the budget after a final explanation of last minute changes such as $30,000 for the Tonsler League to help keep it going after Governor Youngkin vetoed an anticipated $250,000 from Virginia's budget.Council will hold a public hearing on the tax rate for 2025 on April 21 and then will hold a special meeting on April 24.Postscript for #850AToday's edition was intended to have additional audio but I ran out of time. Also the podcast edition can be less than half an hour long. The version that airs on WTJU has to be at least 29 minutes long. There was no radio version last week so I'm going to put another story or two in that version from #846-A. Behind the scenes I have quite a bit of organization that allows me to seemingly produce more content than entities with budgets that are much larger than mine. One day there will be more of everything. 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

India L. Birdsong Terry serves as Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA). She joined RTA in September 2019 and brings over 15 years' experience working in positions of increasing responsibility in the public transit industry. Birdsong Terry began her career in 2006 when she joined the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), where she served in planning, instruction, control center, operations, and finally as Senior Manager of the central region for Bus Supervision and Instruction. In 2015, she was appointed Chief Operating Officer of WeGo Public Transit in Nashville, where she served until coming to Cleveland.   At RTA, Birdsong Terry oversees more than 2,000 employees at the largest transit system in Ohio, which provides more than 24 million annual rides to customers using the bus, rail, paratransit, trolley, and bus rapid transit system across the county's 457 square miles. Responsible for managing the Authority's $292 million operating budget, Birdsong is committed to transparent leadership, management accountability and sound financial oversight.

The Regional Transit Authority, which oversees CTA, Metra, and Pace, put out an alarming forecast of service cuts if the state fails to close a $770 million budget gap for next year. Host Jacoby Cochran and executive producer Simone Alicea go through this “doomsday” scenario. They're also discussing the latest on negotiations between Chicago Public Schools and the teachers union, including a delayed budget amendment vote. Plus, they're sharing some of their favorites from our list of 1,000 things we love about Chicago. Want some more City Cast Chicago news? Then make sure to sign up for our Hey Chicago newsletter.  Follow us @citycastchicago You can also text us or leave a voicemail at: 773 780-0246 Learn more about the sponsors of this March 25 episode: Bookshop.org — Get 15% off your next order with code CITYCAST Become a member of City Cast Chicago. Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE

Shari Small

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

Ted Maxwell and Sergio Mendes discuss the Regional Transit Authority.

On today's show we cover 4 stories to know around town then get into the Tigers and Lions with Fletcher Sharpe. Dining with Confidence Ordinance: The city of Detroit's new dining with confidence ordinance goes into effect today, aiming to improve food safety and transparency in restaurants.  Detroit Free Press and Detroit News Relocation: The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News will need to find a new home by the end of 2024 as their lease with Bedrock is not being extended. More: https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2024/10/01/detroit-free-press-leave-newsroom-federal-reserve-building/75466267007/ QLine Ridership Increase: Detroit's streetcar, the QLine, has seen a significant increase in ridership, with more than a million riders in 2023, up 25% year over year. Operations have transferred to the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan, opening up more public and sustainable funding. Read their report here: https://www.qlinedetroit.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/QLINE-AR-24_FINAL_VideoLink.pdf New Trail Project in Sterling Heights: The city of Sterling Heights in Macomb County is breaking ground on the new ITC Trail, a ten-foot-wide shared-use path connecting the Clinton River Trail to M-59. Sports Talk with Fletcher Sharpe: Jer is joined by Fletcher Sharpe to discuss the Detroit Tigers' playoff series against the Astros and the Detroit Lions' victory over the Seahawks.  Don't forget to follow Daily Detroit on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows. Your support on Patreon helps us bring you more local stories from around Metro Detroit. Visit patreon.com/dailydetroit to become a member.  

We are at the last day of August for 2024, and there are 335 days until the next time we call the current month after that particular Roman emperor. Fans of adulation toward long-gone dictators shouldn't fret, though. There are 304 days until July 1, a factual statement that should also please Canadians. This is the final audio podcast of Charlottesville Community Engagement for this month, the sixth in an effort to make sure there's a chance for people to hear the people quoted in the stories. I'm Sean Tubbs, grateful for the listeners! In this edition: * Albemarle Supervisors agree to a tax rebate arrangement with Home Depot worth three quarters of a million dollars (written version coming Monday)* Albemarle Supervisors have also approved a rezoning for Granger property in Albemarle's southwest urban ring (learn more)* Traffic fatalities in Virginia are up while total number of crashes has slightly decreased (learn more) * Speed-camera enforcement to begin in October for Hydraulic Road school zones (learn more) * Transit partnership votes to transition to Regional Transit Authority (learn more)First shout-out: Charlottesville E-bike Lending Library In today's first Patreon-fueled shout-out: The rolling topography of the Charlottesville area keeps some people away from choosing cycling as an option to get around. Perhaps an e-bike is in order? That's where Charlottesville's eBike Lending Library comes in!  E-bikes are a great way to get around the community but there are many brands and styles to choose from. Because many e-bikes are sold online, it can be a challenge to try an e-bike before buying one.The Charlottesville E-bike Lending Library is a free, not-for-profit service working to expand access to e-bikes in the area. They have a small collection of e-bikes that they lend out to community members for up to a week, for free. You can experience your daily commute, go grocery shopping, or even bike your kids to school, and decide whether e-bikes are right for you. Check out this service at https://www.ebikelibrarycville.org!Behind the scenes note to anyone readingThis is a podcast only edition which usually means there is nothing original. This time around, though, there is one story that will go out in written form in Monday's edition of the regular newsletter. So if you really want to know more about Albemarle County's $750,000 tax rebate deal with the Home Depot, you can listen to a six minute story I produced yesterday to fill time for today's radio program that went out on WTJU. My professional history in journalism began in 1995 with an internship at WVTF Public Radio. I love producing in sound  and even in a long period of time where I produced very few audio stories (roughly 2007 to 2020) I still produced all of my print stories by going through recordings. So now I get to present information in both ways, and my production calendar has matured to be able to help me sort out what stage every single story is in. Today that means an advance audio version of a print story, something I don't expect to happen often.But who knows? If it's not on the spreadsheet, I'm not sure when I'll be able to really wonder. There's a lot to do, and I'm grateful to paid subscribers and other contributors who help me keep this business going. Is this part spoken in the podcast? Are there secrets and easter eggs? Is there room in this community for odd audio collage? Will I be brave enough to try something new? You'll just have to listen and find out! Second-shout: Gazpacho in the Garden at MorvenIn today's second subscriber-supported shout-out: The Morven Sustainability Lab invites you to celebrate the new semester on Friday, September 6 for the annual Gazpacho in the Garden event at 5 p.m. There will be a summer meal harvested from a garden that's all run by students at the University of Virginia. There will be family-friendly music, lawn games, and tours of the garden where you can learn something. There will be limited seating so do come prepared with picnic blankets and chairs. For ticket information, visit the appropriate page on EventBrite. Behind the scenes notes for #CCE-724AMuch of the music in the podcast comes from Wraki and that's another reason to listen! The bits in between the segments are odd concoctions I make. The opening music is from P.J. Sykes, as I commissioned him more than seventeen years ago for a podcast product that didn't work out. Until now! Thanks for listening or for reading to this point. I'm glad to have been able to make a steady living after all this work trying to prove myself. Thank you to paid subscribers, and if you'd like to become one, please remember Ting will match your initial payment.  This is an incredibly generous sponsorship, and if you sign up for service and you are within Ting's service area, enter the promo code COMMUNITY you're going to get:* Free installation* A second month for free* A $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Yesterday my copy of Tuesday's Charlottesville Daily Progress arrived via mail and it was a thrill to smell the paper and to remember my early days as a journalist. Though I was never an employee, I had stories appear for nine years from 2009 to 2018 and I'm glad to have been part of the first rough draft of history. I am grateful there are many sources of information about what happens in this community and glad I've got enough paying subscribers myself to keep me practicing my brand of journalism here at Charlottesville Community Engagement. I'm Sean Tubbs, making sure you check out the ‘reading material' at the bottom of every edition. In today's installment:* Charlottesville Area Transit starts off the new year with new resources* A work group has created by-laws for a future Charlottesville Albemarle Regional Transit Authority * Charlottesville is seeking people to join boards and commissions and applications are due July 31 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

IL State Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-8th) joins Lisa Dent to explain why there’s a need to combine the CTA, Metra, Pace and the Regional Transit Authority into one conglomerate. Public hearings are set to begin today, with more scheduled are various locations. Follow The Lisa Dent Show on Twitter:Follow @LisaDentSpeaksFollow @SteveBertrand Follow @kpowell720 Follow @maryvandeveldeFollow […]

After COVID-19 relief money runs out, Chicago Public Schools and the Regional Transit Authority, which oversees CTA, Metra, and Pace, are two of the agencies with the biggest projected shortfalls. Reset sits down with education and transportation reporters to learn more. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

The Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan (RTA) launched a new bus route this week that will connect downtown Detroit to DTW. Plus, University of Michigan's School of Nursing is allocating grant money to a program aimed at diversifying the Midwife profession and maternity care. Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

For many years, the Comprehensive Plans of both Albemarle and Charlottesville have called for additional density to be located in walkable communities where public transit is a viable option for getting around without a car. But how well are the various systems working to meet that goal? A direct answer may not be available In today's edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, but this one does catch up on a variety of meetings held at a time when there's a lot of talk about creating a Regional Transit Authority. I'm Sean Tubbs, still watching the wheels go round and round.  On today's show:* The Regional Transit Partnership directs staff to prepare the by-laws for a potential transit authority * Charlottesville City Council agrees to a pilot project where Charlottesville Area Transit buys two battery-electric vehicles now and agrees to have staff research the potential purchase of two hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in 2027* The interim CEO of Jaunt responds to comments made by a representative of the transit union  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

Sometimes we're so afraid of making mistakes, that we don't push ourselves to take a chance on a new innovative idea. We've all been there, but in this conversation Adam Barth, CEO of the Stanislaus Regional Transit Authority--https://stanrta.org/--, reveals advice he got from a mentor at a critical time in his career.Paul Comfort sat down with Adam Barth, CEO of Stanislaus Regional Transit Authority to talk about his career journey from starting our as a tour bus driver in Fairbanks, Alaska, to leading the newly merged transit Stanislaus Regional Transit Authority in Modesto, California. Adam talks about the challenges he faced while merging the county and city transit systems, and the lessons learned from the experience. Adam also discusses the agency's plans for implementing bus rapid transit and their move towards zero-emission buses. Finally, Barth emphasizes the importance of transit leaders riding their systems to better understand their customers and their needs with a story about simply just taking the bus to work.Transit Unplugged team:Paul Comfort, host and producerJulie Gates, executive producerTris Hussey, editor and writerTatyana Mechkarova, social media00:04 Introduction and Background of Adam Barth02:42 Adam Barth's Career Journey in Transit Industry05:06 Learning from Mistakes: A Key to Success08:01 The Merger of City and County Transit Systems11:09 Challenges and Future Plans for Stanislaus Regional Transit Authority20:56 The Importance of Riding the System as a Transit Leader24:30 Don't miss the Executive Summit at ThinkTransit March 25th!26:04 Coming up next week on Transit Unplugged

The Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan is considering a proposal to take over control of Detroit's QLINE. Plus, 700,000 Michigan families will receive tax rebate checks early next year thanks to a boost to the state's Earned Income Tax Credit passed by the state legislature in March. Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

Jury Duty ScamBeware of a jury duty scam circulating in Summit County, as authorities issue a warning about fraudulent calls threatening fines and arrest for alleged failure to appear. Scammers may demand payments in Bitcoin, falsely claiming that judges accept cryptocurrencies. Summit County government offices do not accept such payments. The scammers may pose as deputies, using real names and ranks of law enforcement personnel, along with spoofed phone numbers to mimic authentic Summit County Sheriff's Office calls. Residents are urged to hang up immediately, verify the call's legitimacy by contacting dispatch at 330-643-2181, and be cautious as the Sheriff's Office does not make such calls regarding warrants or fines.Almost Shooting a BuchtelA 15-year-old was arrested by Akron police outside Buchtel CLC after a fight. Safety team members observed three male teens in a fight, and one, not a student at the school, was seen with what appeared to be a concealed firearm. The school resource officer and safety team struggled to restrain the armed teen, who reportedly tried reaching for the firearm during the scuffle. The recovered weapon was identified as an AR-style airsoft gun with a loaded magazine containing live .223 caliber ammunition. The 15-year-old, sustaining minor injuries, was taken to Akron Children's Hospital, and charges are pending based on the investigation. SourceHe Got Shot in the Face For Not Sharing His Potato ChipsThis story has been updated.Akron police arrested a man in a nonfatal shooting that left a 31-year-old man hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the face after he declined to share a bag of potato chips, according to an Akron Police Department news release.Soon after the Tuesday night shooting on the 40 block of Stanton Avenue, investigators identified a 42-year-old as a person of interest. The next day at about 6:30 p.m., officers spotted the man boarding a bus at the Metro Transit on South Broadway Street.With help from a Regional Transit Authority officer, police stopped the bus at South Broadway Street and East Thornton Street and took the man into custody. He was found in possession of a firearm, which may have been used in the shooting.Officers charged him with felonious assault and weapons under disability.Free Art Every ThursdayFeel free to break that early winter funk by visiting AAM to see some funky art! We are free every single Thursday. Keep in mind the parking may not be free.Hower House MuseumThe Hower House was completed in 1871 and was built by John Henry Hower, a leading Akron industrialist who was active in the milling, reaping, and cereal industries. Hower would become known as the “Father of Akron Industry.” The house has three floors with a ballroom and servants' areas on the third floor. Two and a half acres of lawn and stately trees provide a green island of tranquility for The University of Akron campus community. Today, Hower House remains one of the finest and best-preserved examples of its style in the country. It is supported by private donations, the Hower House Museum Guild, and The University of Akron. The house has become a lasting symbol of an era of elegance in America.Tours are Friday and Saturday 12-3 and Sundays 1-4. Tickets are $10 with discounts for students, seniors and kidsFor more information see https://www.uakron.edu/howerhousemuseum/the-house/Akron Schools Join Banning PhonesAkron schools have joined the national trend of...

Melanie Piana is finishing her final term as the mayor of Ferndale and transitioning as the latest Program Director for the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan. Melanie joined Nick Austin to discuss Ferndale's Woodward Moves project, which aims at improving pedestrian safety, and to discuss RTA's future transit plans.

If you're a regular Regional Transit Authority bus rider in New Orleans, there's a good chance you've recently had to deal with long delays. That's because RTA is functioning with fewer buses than it needs, and much of its fleet is old and needs updates and repairs. Reporter for Verite Bobbi-Jeanne Misick has been covering the bus shortage and joins us for more on how RTA representatives are responding to the crisis.  In the last week of September, a group of referees made history when they became the first all-female crew to call a Louisiana high school football game. The game between Glen Oaks and Parkview Baptist, in Baton Rouge, had eight female referees and was led by Marcia Cotton, who made history two years ago when she became the first woman in the state to serve as a lead referee at a high school football game.  Cotton joins us for more on her journey and paving the way for women in sports officiating careers.  A recent study out of Loyola University shows that as many as one in four inmates in Louisiana's jails and prisons who died an unnatural death behind bars had not yet been convicted of a crime. These deaths have been linked to drug overdoses, accidents and not receiving adequate and timely medical care. Andrea Armstrong is a professor at Loyola University's College of Law and the report's lead author. She was recently awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation so-called “genius grant” for her work, including the Incarceration Transparency Project, a database that tracks deaths in every prison, jail and youth detention facility in Louisiana since 2015. She spoke with WRKF's Adam Vos earlier this year. Today's episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Alana Schreiber. Our assistant producer is Aubry Procell and our engineer is Garrett Pittman. You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12 and 7 p.m. It's available on Spotify, Google Play and wherever you get your podcasts.  Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you're at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you'd like to listen to. Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Public transportation is an essential part of everyday life for many — and that's especially true locally, driving the need for innovation. On this week's Community Focus, I'm joined by Andy Cole of the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority.

New Orleans is one of the few major American cities without some form of rapid transit. Now, the Regional Transit Authority is trying to change that with plans for a new, faster bus line that would connect New Orleans East and the west bank to downtown. WWNO's Metro Reporter Carly Berlin tells us more about these plans and why the city council is already pushing back. In the last few years, White populations have grown dramatically in historically Black, Hispanic, and Asian communities all across the country. And New Orleans' Treme neighborhood, one of the oldest Black communities in the country, was no exception.  The Washington Post's Marissa Lang was part of a team of reporters looking into these patterns of gentrification. She joins us now for more on what she discovered in New Orleans, and how that compares to the rest of the country. Ask any Mardi Gras reveler a favorite memory from Carnival's past, and it might include catching a treasured throw from a parade float. Behind each prized throw is hours of work, bottles of glitter and dozens of float riders crafting together. Reporter Kezia Setyawan went behind the scenes with three krewes as they created their signature throws. Today's episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Karl Lengel. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber and our digital editor is Katelyn Umholtz. Our engineers are Garrett Pittman and Aubry Procell. You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12:00 and 7:30 pm. It's available on Spotify, Google Play, and wherever you get your podcasts.  Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you're at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you'd like to listen to. Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do the wheels of the bus go round? How is the community squaring a desire for a more robust public transit system with the existing logistics? There are no direct answers to those questions in this or any other edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, but this particular episode will inform you of some current thoughts by movers and those who tell the movers what to do. I'm your host, Sean Tubbs, somehow remembering a Ratt song… what comes around goes around. But will it get you there on time?  On today's program:* A brief summary of who's who and what's what in area transit providers * The Afton Express reports on ridership in its first 16 months of operations and looks ahead to the future* The CEO of Jaunt provides a glimpse into how it is recovering from recent funding errors caused by potential mismanagement * Albemarle School transportation is raising the bar on driver pay* The University Transit Services talks about their current night pilot and need for drivers* Charlottesville Area Transit briefs the Albemarle Board of Supervisors on its contract to provide microtransit service later this yearFirst shout-out goes to Camp AlbemarleToday's first subscriber-supported public service announcement goes out to Camp Albemarle, which has for sixty years been a “wholesome rural, rustic and restful site for youth activities, church groups, civic events and occasional private programs.”Located on 14 acres on the banks of the Moorman's River near Free Union, Camp Albemarle continues as a legacy of being a Civilian Conservation Corps project that sought to promote the importance of rural activities. Camp Albemarle seeks support for a plan to winterize the Hamner Lodge, a structure built in 1941 by the CCC and used by every 4th and 5th grade student in Charlottesville and Albemarle for the study of ecology for over 20 years. If this campaign is successful, Camp Albemarle could operate year-round. Consider your support by visiting campalbemarleva.org/donate.An introduction to this installmentToday's edition is a little different. I've written about transit planning in this community for many years and was present at a February 2008 meeting of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors and the City of Charlottesville where they heard from consultants who suggested the creation of a Regional Transit Authority. For various reasons, the idea was shelved but came back in the form of a Regional Transit Partnership. That group has met since the fall of 2017 to talk transit. Here are some highlights of where we are right now:* Charlottesville Area Transit continues to be a six-day a week service due to staffing shortages caused by the pandemic that remain challenging despite a raise for starting drivers and mechanics to $21 an hour. Route changes for the city-owned service went through a public process in 2021, but implementation remains delayed.* Jaunt continues to rebound from allegations of fraud and misuse of public funds by its former CEO. Those allegations forced Jaunt to receive less funding for a time but new CEO Ted Rieck recently made the rounds of local governments to speak of the agency's plans.* The University Transit Service continues to be a separate entity that exists to serve students, faculty and staff in a highly concentrated area. UTS receives no federal funding and its schedule depends on whether the University of Virginia in session. * There is an ongoing study to recommend a governance structure for an expanded regional transit system. More on that as we go through this newsletter. Now, to some individual stories. Afton Express to expand service in 2023 One of the topics discussed over the years at the Regional Transit Partnership has been planning for new service in the Staunton area and the Charlottesville area. The Afton Express launched on September 1, 2021 and the Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission recently issued an annual report for the first 16 months of service. “Despite launching the service in the midst of a global pandemic when many commuters were working from home, a small group of dedicated riders showed up and have continued riding ever since,” reads the executive summary of the report. “This group of passengers grows each month.” In all, 12,261 people used the service from September 2021 to the end of last year. On the western side of the mountain. the most popular pick-up spots are the Waynesboro Park and Ride Lot and the Staunton Mall. On the eastern side, Central Grounds Garage and the UVA West Hospital Complex. Fares are $3 one way, or $25 for ten rides. The report also explains how service times were adjusted to reflect an increase in traffic as the pandemic continued to recede last spring. The report also looks ahead to the future with an expansion of service as well as a conversion from start-up funds for a demonstration to recurring funding through the section 5311 formula. Afton Express is part of the BRITE service and the idea is this would become another of their regular routes. “The expansion will add a third bus into the rotation to increase frequency of service. With additional stop times in Charlottesville and adding a fifth trip in the evening, Afton Express will be able to serve more commuters with schedules outside of the traditional 9:00 am to 5:00 pm work hours.” Interested in checking out the service? They started a new schedule on Monday. Take a look and let me and others know what you think. Jaunt provides update at Regional Transit Partnership Yesterday I got an email that the Regional Transit Partnership for February has been canceled. So, let's quickly go through some of the highlights of the January 26 meeting. Charlottesville Area Transit Director Garland Williams was not present, nor was one of Albemarle's Deputy County Executives. We'll hear from them later.Every single meeting of the RTP begins with a chance for people to speak out about transit-related issues. At the January meeting, the town manager of Scottsville put in a word for Jaunt, the only transit service to serve his community and Buckingham County. “I just want to represent the Scottsville neighbors who rely on this service,” said Matt Lawless. “Elders going to appointments and the few younger commuters who are really happy to use Jaunt regularly in their commuter service.” That cued up an update from Jaunt to begin the year. Jaunt is a public service corporation with stock held by five area localities.  (view the presentation)“Our organizational structure is the same as [Greater Richmond Transit Company] in Richmond,” said Ted Rieck, the CEO of Jaunt. “We think we're a good investment. Other studies have shown that every dollar spent on transit turns over seven times in the community.” Rieck does not shy away from acknowledging a rocky few years for Jaunt. “Jaunt has been set with challenge over the last couple of years,” Rieck said. “That's no news. A couple of years ago the agency became embroiled in controversy with staff members that made some bad decisions.” One of those was to mix federal funds for rural service with federal funds for urban service. The Federal Transit Administration penalizes such actions. This will have a strain on the ability to purchase new rolling stock that serves the rural area. Rieck said a future Regional Transportation Authority will have to contend with many of these same issues. Jaunt is planning for the future by being ready to provide microtransit service, planning for the use of alternative fuels, and recovering ridership that is still rebounding post-pandemic. They have applied for a grant to begin implementing the recommendation of a committee that suggests going electric is the answer for fixed-route service. Albemarle Schools continues to seek ways to address drive shortagesOne of the main issues facing any transit agency is the shortage of drivers. That's certainly the case for pupil transportation at Albemarle County Public Schools. Charmane White is the director of transportation and she said her team is preparing a strategic plan to address the issue. “Part of that recruitment and retention, as you know, is that we went up to $21.50 an hour,” White said. White said the system has also implemented a step scale for experienced drivers and one plan is to let people know of the potential. “Meaning we have drivers now making $32, $35, $38, $40 an hour because of their years of experience,” White said. Another component will be outsourcing of pupil transportation to private companies. White said employees have some trepidation. “This doesn't mean we're eliminating jobs,” White said. “Absolutely not. What we're trying to do is give some relief for our employees. Right now they're doing a lot of double-back runs and I'm trying to figure out a way how I can help.”One request for quotations that's currently out there is for buses that can transportation grade 3 elementary students to a field trip to Amazement Square in Lynchburg this March. (view the RFQ)White said the fleet now has two electric buses which are soon going to be put on the road. They have also added more 14-passenger buses which do not require a commercial's driver license. UTS continues night-service pilot, should receive four electric buses this yearThe University Transit Service offers 15-minute headways while school is in session. Last year, the service began to offer some late-night service. Kendall Howell is the assistant director of UTS.“We run one route that kind of goes through most popular areas like the library, the Corner, the dorms,” Howell said. “And then we run what used to be known as Safe Ride but it has been rebranded as UTS On-Demand.” Howell said that more data on the service will be brought before the Partnership in the future. He added that UTS has four battery-electric buses on order and they will be available this summer. “But we'll have a ribbon-cutting probably in September or October and we hope those buses join our service before the end of the year,” Howell said. Howell said UTS also suffers from driver shortages and needed 12 additional drivers as of the January meeting of the RTP.  He said UTS recognizes the important role that drivers play. “The main thing I think for me is this concept of elevating the bus driver in the public consciousness from sort of an entry level position to a trade, a trade that you choose along the level of an electrician or a plumber,” Howell said. A brief CAT update The update from Charlottesville Area Transit was given by Juwhan Lee, the agency's assistant director. He said ongoing studies include an alternative fuels study, a transit strategic plan, as well as planning for microtransit. We'll hear more about microtransit in a moment. But the biggest issue is the lack of drivers and Lee said the city will pattern a similar program to Albemarle's step scale program. Lee also said the city would like to hire third-party vendors to help with its driver shortage for the school system as well. Governance study updateWork continues on a study for what it would take to bring all of the various transit agencies under one umbrella, even if just for the purposes of securing more funding. The firm AECOM is receiving $150,000 for the work. There will be a more full update at the March meeting of the Regional Transit Partnership, but if you want to know more background, I've got you covered:* Regional Transit Vision update, May 20, 2022* Partnership briefed on potential vision for regional transit, June 1, 2022* Albemarle and Charlottesville officials weigh in on Regional Transit Vision, June 14, 2022* Council considers spending $30K toward governance study; Jaunt hopes to play a role, September 23, 2022* Charlottesville Area Transit to operate on-demand demonstration project in Albemarle, August 24, 2022* Governance study: A primer on regional transit systems, December 15, 2022Stories could be written about the cumulative price of all of this planning. Will any of it ever come to pass, or is it make-work? It's not my job to answer that last question, but I do remind you I was in the room on February 11, 2008 when I was so much younger then, but I'm older than that now. Second shout-out: Rivanna Conservation AllianceIn today's second Patreon-fueled shout-out, interested in helping a local organization keep our local river clean and protected? The Rivanna Conservation Alliance is holding an open house on Wednesday, February 15 at their offices on River Road in Charlottesville. Come by anytime between 4 and 7 p.m. to learn about their programs and the many ways you can get involved. Staff will be on hand to share information about monitoring, restoration, education, and stewardship activities. New and current volunteers are welcome! Light refreshments will be provided. Visit rivannariver.org to learn more. Planning continues for CAT to run microtransit in Albemarle County Charlottesville Area Transit has a contract to work with Albemarle County to provide microtransit service in the area along U.S. 29 in the urban ring as well as in the Pantops area. “Microtransit is an on-demand transportation solution really being implemented across the nation and here in Virginia,” said Jessica Choi, a transit planner with the firm Kimley Horn. “Folks can make real time trip requests and those trips are dynamically routed and programmed through the application and the vehicle is dynamically routed to serve those trips.” Microtransit is seen as a way of providing an alternative to driving for people who live in Albemarle's growth areas. In January, the Board of Supervisors got an update on how preparations are going for service to begin later this year. Last year, the Board of Supervisors agreed to apply for a grant from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation to find a one-year pilot of the service.. That's similar to the pilot for the Afton Express. The idea was to provide service in Pantops and U.S. 29. “We funded our portion of the grant and Charlottesville Area Transit made application for this pilot program and it was awarded last summer,” said Deputy County Executive Trevor Henry at the January 18, 2023 meeting of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors.The total amount of the grant to Charlottesville Area Transit is for $1.94 million, including a match from Albemarle of $388,000. The service is owned solely entirely by the city of Charlottesville. CAT hired the firm Kimley Horn to provide logistical support to get the project up and running. “Kimley Horn was brought in to augment CAT staff, to evaluate the program, best practices, options as far terms of implementation with a focus on execution and customer experience  in these two areas,” Henry said. This service would operate as a CAT-branded service according to Choi. “One of the things that we did want to make clear to you all and about this service is that this microtransit service and the operator will be operating under the CAT umbrella of services and not be its own standalone entity,” Choi said. The service on U.S. 29 would operate from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and would feature three vehicles which are much smaller than the large buses used on fixed-route services. “The projected riders per weekday is 75 with the potential to grow to 360 daily riders and an average wait time for riders of less than 15 minutes,” Choi said. There would be only one bus for Pantops which would operate on the same schedule. The projected number of riders is 25 a day with a growth potential to 240. Charlottesville Area Transit will issue a request for proposals for a third-party to provide the microtransit service. “And then the [request for proposals] will come back as part of our finals and hopefully come back to the Board hopefully in April or May timeframe to kind of give you a detailed analysis of where we are,” said Garland Williams, the manager of Charlottesville Area Transit. Williams said a date for when the service will launch depends upon the results of the RFP. There are many different components. “So the software implementation, that could take anywhere from four to six months for implementation so whoever we procure as an operational partner, the implementation from installation to testing and training could take four to six months to make sure we work out all of the bugs,” Williams said. Then there's an open question of what the fare would be if one is charged. CAT is currently operating fare-free through a grant from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.  He said because CAT doesn't charge now, adding a fare for microtransit could trigger a need for federal review of compliance with the Civil Rights Act in a process known at Title VI. The budget for the grant also includes $135,000 for marketing and advertising to make sure people know about the service. Supervisor commentsSupervisor Diantha McKeel has been a member of the Regional Transit Partnership since it was formed in 2017. She said it is critical that CAT and Albemarle pull this off. “Whether or not our community chooses to use this pilot will determine the interest in transit ridership in our community, so it's critical,” McKeel said.McKeel added that she felt the hours were too limited and might not work for people who work at Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital. Henry responded that the hours were those that were specified in the grant application. “As we experience the project, we certainly could look to expand it if it is successful,” Henry said. Williams said the RFP could be set up with a foundation of the stated hours but an add-on could be listed for additional housing. McKeel said she was concerned about having the service branded as Charlottesville Area Transit. “Based on what has happened with the pandemic and the decrease in ridership and the struggle around bus drivers in our community, many folks have an impression that CAT… they struggle with CAT,” McKeel said. “Let's talk about it. Let's face it. And I have a lot of folks who say CAT is not reliable in my urban ring. How are you going to address that if the microtransit service is labeled CAT?” Williams said that marketing will help with that service, and that the third-party service would be responsible for staffing and providing the vehicles. “From the community standpoint, when they call that number, that will be a dedicated group of drivers that are dedicated strictly to microtransit and it won't be pulling from the existing numbers of drivers,” Williams said. Williams added that microtransit drivers do not need a commercial driver's license, so that will open up the potential pool of applicants. Supervisor Jim Andrews said he was concerned that if the ridership doesn't materialize, the cost could be expensive. “A quick calculation based on the 75 plus 25 is 100 riders per day, and if that's six days over 50 or 52 weeks, that's about 30,000 trips a year,” Andrews said. “When you consider the amount of money being put into it at about $75 per trip if it is not scalable.” Williams said that is a valid concern but he believes there is pent-up demand on the U.S. 29 and Pantops corridors that will lead to higher ridership than the conservative estimates included in the original study that led to the DRPT project. “I think those numbers are kind of the floor but I don't think those are the ceiling,” Williams said. Supervisor Ann Mallek said she wanted whatever firm is hired to have a track record for delivering this service already and not learning how to do it at Albemarle's expense. She said she's also concerned about lack of service on Sunday service. “It is a real burden for people who get off shift and its dark and it is raining and they're walking down U.S. 250 to get home, and that's really hard on a Sunday,” Mallek said. “And we've certainly heard about that circumstance both to the hotels and hospitality locations as well.” Currently CAT is not offering any Sunday service and has not done so since the pandemic due to driver shortages. Supervisor Ned Gallaway said he's supportive of the pilot because he doesn't think fixed-route transit will work on U.S. 29. For instance, how would that ever help someone get from Woodbrook to the Rio Hill Shopping Center without a car? “When [Fashion Square Mall] was a vibrant location and you could get people from downtown to the Mall and vice versa, that was an effective fixed-route,” Gallaway said. Gallaway was fine with going fare-free but riders should be asked what they would be willing to pay. He said he just wants it up and running.“This speaks to our climate action policy, this speaks to helping eliminate traffic congestion,” Gallaway said. “This helps with economic development because more people could be out and moving around in the local economy spending their dollars where they are going.” How will it all turn out? How will you know? Charlottesville Community Engagement will strive to tell you the story. Reading material for when you're on transit: * FRA To Expand Passenger Rail Grant Amount, AASHTO Journal, February 2, 2023Housekeeping for #497This is perhaps the longest stretch between two podcasts in a long while. Part of this is due to a trip I took last week in which I did not take everything I needed. Part of this is due to a quick illness I seem to have contracted on Sunday. And part of it is because I wanted to do a transit edition. I also disclaim I briefly worked as an advocate, and part of that time I spent trying to get people to use the bus.Since the pandemic, I stopped being a regular rider as I work from home, but I'm still interested in how the various policies come together, or don't come together. Transit is often seen as the solution to congestion that comes with more people living in the community, but who is going to make sure that all of the visions come to pass? This newsletter is the only information outlet that seeks to cover transit as a beat, and it's just me doing the work. Do the things that get announced at meetings come to pass? There's so much to write about and that's what I intend to keep doing. But I need your help. Not just in the form of new paid subscriptions to this newsletter via Substack, but I need your perspective. What do you think? What are the barriers that keep you from getting on a bus? That's an ongoing conversation and one day I'll figure out how to include more of your voices in this podcast.For now, it's on to the next one. So this one ends with a notification that Ting will match your initial Substack subscription. That's a big deal because it allows me to keep paying my bills. I am not a non-profit and and I will not seek grant funds. Doing so allows me to be independent. It's only me who decides what I write about, and this time, I felt it was important to write about transit.What about Ting? Well, if you're looking for high speed Internet, consider signing up. If you sign up at this link and enter the promo code COMMUNITY, you'll get:* Free installation* A second month for free* A $75 gift card to the Downtown MallThanks for Wraki for music and the Fundamental Grang for whatever it is that that entity does.   This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

The Regional Transit Authority, which coordinates financing for CTA, Metra, and Pace, is predicting a $730 million budget gap beginning in 2026. The agency is looking for solutions, especially as ridership remains low. Host Jacoby Cochran, Block Club's Jamie Nesbitt Golden, and WCIU's Brandon Pope talk about the problems facing public transit, as well as big moves from the Bears, a proposed high school on the Near South Side, and the mayor's race. Plus, we've got good news about lion cubs and Taylor Swift parties and attractions. Vote City Cast Chicago as Best Podcast and Best Newsletter in the Reader's Best of Chicago 2022, under the City Life category. Follow us on Twitter: @CityCastChicago Sign up for our newsletter: chicago.citycast.fm Call or Text Us: (773) 780-0246 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ted Maxwell, President & CEO of Southern Arizona Leadership Council. salc.org Ted Maxwell joins Chris for a discussion of RTA and its renewal. Also discussed is the battle between road safety vs dark skies.

The Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan has received a new grant to help make a direct, non-stop bus line from Detroit Metro Airport to downtown Detroit a reality. We get into the details on that, an ongoing service running from Detroit to Ann Arbor and more with their COO, Harmony Lloyd. Then I send you out the door with four things to check out around Metro Detroit. Feedback: https://forms.gle/MnwUf8uJEtpyG9m2A or dailydetroit -at- gmail -dot- com

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, or more? A snippet from an old song would be played at this point of the podcast version of Charlottesville Community Engagement but that would cost resources that would be better spent bringing you information to help you engage with the communities around Charlottesville. It is October 20, or, 10/20 on one side of the Atlantic, or 20/10 on the other. Either way, the date gets rounded out by 2022.  I'm Sean Tubbs, pointer outer of the obvious. On today's installment: * There's a new chief of public transportation for all of Virginia* Charlottesville City Council takes several actions including changes to the transient occupancy ordinance and a clarification on whether freelance writers provide a taxable service * Council holds first reading on $700K to replace underground storage tank* Council adopts guidelines for an alternative procurement process * Council also considers paying seven months worth of rent for a local nonprofit Every installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement is different, which is why you might benefit from reading them all. Sign up to make that easier. First shout-out: Charlottesville Jazz Society has a concert coming up In today's first subscriber-supported shout-out, the Charlottesville Jazz Society wants you to know about their last show of the year coming up on October 28. The Society will present French modern jazz group OZMA as they celebrate their 20th anniversary with the first ever tour of the United States. Borrowing largely from rock grammars, traditional music, and electronic landscapes, OZMA's music has been praised for its willingness to imagine John Coltrane jamming with Radiohead, or explosive drummer Billy Cobham playing with the best New Orleans brass bands.The show is Friday, October 28 at Unity of Charlottesville on Hydraulic Road. For tickets and more information visit cvillejazz.org. DRPT names new public transportation chiefA key ingredient in plans to both reduce traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions is public transportation. In Virginia, there's a brand new person heading up efforts to improve bus and train routes throughout the Commonwealth. The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation has named Zach Trogdon to be the new Chief of Public Transportation. “Trogdon will lead the evaluation, assistance, and execution of a $4.7 billion portfolio of public transportation, commuter assistance, and congestion management programs throughout the Commonwealth,” reads a press release from the DRPT. Trogdon has been the executive director of the Williamsburg Area Transit Authority and has worked in government for over 20 years. According to the release, he helped the Williamsburg Area Transit Authority establish a capital fund to buy, repair, and maintain the fleet. Trogdon's hiring comes at a time when a governance study is underway to prepare the potential creation of a regional transit authority for this area. Both Albemarle and Charlottesville have contributed funds to the $150,000 study which is being coordinated by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. A steering committee has been identified but the kick-off. A Regional Transit Partnership has been in place since 2017 to pick up the pieces after an earlier effort to form a Regional Transit Authority failed in the late 2000's. The Partnership next meets on October 27 and will see the final report of the Regional Transit Vision Plan. Council approves changes to lodging tax collection rules, defers vote on tax relief changesMonday's regular meeting of the Charlottesville City Council featured several smaller items and a few big ones that add up to a lot of business. The rest of this installment of newsletter goes through them one by one. Did I get to it all? Read on. First, Council took a vote to approve the relocation of a sewer line for the redevelopment of 209 Maury Avenue. That's a property right on the border with the University of Virginia. In May, Council approved a special use permit allowing for additional density and a parking reduction for a total of 64 units. “As part of the development process, the current developer is going to be constructing a new sewer line in a different location than the one that was established previously,” said City Attorney Lisa Robertson. That required a vote from Council to change the easement and to make a boundary line adjustment.  They'll later have to come back and accept the new public right of way for the sewer. “By going ahead with the vacation, you'll allow the developer to proceed with various financing applications and to proceed with the development,” Robertson said. This was a public hearing, but the agenda for the meeting did not indicate that. No one spoke during the public hearing, either in person or virtually. Business license rules changes to list “writer” as taxable profession Next, Council changed the rules classifying whether freelance writers and authors are subject to the city's business license ordinance. The Virginia Supreme Court in City of Charlottesville v Regulus Books ruled earlier this year that Charlottesville's ordinance did not sufficiently specify that work from the profession was not a “service” that triggered tax collections.  (read the ruling)“In my opinion, [the ruling] curiously found a deficiency in our business license ordinance and this so measure attempts to… it will address it,” said Todd Divers, the Commissioner of the Revenue. Divers said the new ordinance creates a specific category for writers under subclassification H. Those are businesses that must pay $0.36 for every $100 of gross receipts.  The city has had to refund several thousand dollars in taxes to several people who had previously been taxed incorrectly. There was no discussion on Council and the motion passed 5 to 0. Council approves changes to transient lodging tax ordinanceCommissioner of Revenue Todd Divers was also on hand to brief Council on a requested change to the city's transient lodging tax ordinance.“The General Assembly for the last two years has made some significant changes to provision of sales tax and local transient occupancy tax to try to address various issues raised by online travel agencies and online travel platforms like AirBnB and others,” Divers said. Divers said Council made some changes last year, but the 2022 legislation forces the city to make new ones related to how the taxes are collected and reported. The new law allows the taxation on the total charge for a stay, such as cleaning fees. Divers said the ordinance needed to be adopted immediately because the new online intermediaries will begin collecting local lodging taxes this month.  He added that he expects more legislative changes in three months in the next General Assembly. Several Councilors asked if there was anything in the update that would make it easier to police short-term rentals that are in violation of zoning. Divers said that was a separate issue related to staffing. “Right now, you've got one guy policing this, [Zoning Administrator Read Brodhead],” Divers said. “It's very difficult for one person to do it. He operates on complaints. There aren't many complaints for as many people who do complain about it.”The update also prepares for a new hotel within Charlottesville's borders. “In anticipation of the University of Virginia opening up a hotel in town, there was a curious little exemption in the local code that exempted stays in educational institutions,” Divers said. “Our position is the lodging tax, transient occupancy tax, will be applicable to stays in that hotel when it is built.”The new code specifies that dormitories are exempt. Ground was broken for a new 214-room hotel earlier this month with completion expected in the spring of 2025. A second reading of this ordinance was waived and the updates passed 5 to 0. Council also voted to note that collection of the city's cigarette taxes is now handled by the Blue Ridge Cigarette Tax Board operated by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. That passed 5 to 0 with little discussion. Second reading was also waived. Tax relief changes deferred until November 7There was also another vote to amend the city code related to tax relief for elderly and disabled persons. Divers said his intention had been to merge that program with the Charlottesville Housing Affordability Program (CHAP). “We obviously cannot merge those programs but this kind of closes the loop on this and brings the real estate tax relief program in close to inline with CHAP as we can,” Divers said. Changes include dropping the eligibility threshold for net worth for the non-CHAP tax relief program. There was a long discussion about the numbers being used in the various calculations and a lot of wordsmithing until Councilor Brian Pinkston raised a procedural question. “I'm wondering, do we feel like this whole ordinance might profit with two more weeks of conversation or do we feel like we're close to a resolution?” Pinkston asked. Robertson agreed it would be good to resolve the dispute, which related to the method to be used to calculate income and eligibility. This item will come back to Council at their next meeting on November 7. But we first have to get through items from the rest of the October 17 meeting first. Second shout-out: Charlottesville Community Bikes In this second subscriber supported shout-out, Charlottesville Community Bikes believes that bicycles can be a means to social change, addressing issues of equity, access, and inclusion. They provide free bikes to adults who need one, and have a special program that provides free bikes to children. Their mobile bike repair clinics continue October 24 with a stop at Blue Ridge Commons on Prospect Avenue. Want to learn more or support their work? Charlottesville Community Bikes currently is seeking matching funds for a grant from the Outride Fund. Visit charlottesvillecommunitybikes.org to learn more. Council considers funding for Avon fuel tank replacementFor the rest of the meeting, the Charlottesville City Council took action on items with financial impacts. The first was a request to spend an additional $700,000 from the Capital Improvement Program budget's contingency fund for cost overruns on a project to replace the underground fuel storage tanks at the city's fuel station on Avon Street. “That fuel station has been in place for quite a while and the below-ground fuel tank is at the end of its usable life and is becoming uninsurable at this point,” said Michael Goddard is a Senior Project Manager in the city's Public Works Department. Goddard said a recent crash involving a bus has damaged the fuel station and the city is currently using a fuel card system to purchase. He said the next storage tank will be above ground. “There are a lot of benefits of that sort of a tank, not the least of which is that it is easy to decommission should the time come that we don't need a fueling station anymore,” Goddard said. Goddard said the project needs an additional $700,000 to meet the lowest bid. Charlottesville City Councilor Brian Pinkston suggested finding another solution altogether, including maybe partnering with Albemarle County.“Is this like an essential thing that we have to have to function as a city, or is there another way to do it?” Pinkston asked. Interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers said the city has many vehicles that need to be fueled and it is more cost-effective to have an in-house fuel depot. “What we are doing now, though we are supporting the local economy, is costing us more money and over time as the price of gas keep going up its going to cost us more,”  Rogers said.Council's discussion was a first reading and the item will be on the consent agenda on November 7. Council extends loan to Woodard Properties for Dogwood Housing propertiesCharlottesville has many tools in the effort to ensure some residential units in the city that are below-market. Two of them date back to 2007. One is the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund, which has disbursed $46.7 million in funds since 2010 according to a report Council was briefed on this past April. (Deputy City Manager Sanders reviews recent audit of Charlottesville's housing fund, April 6, 2022)The other is a 2007 loan to the Piedmont Housing Alliance to assist Woodard Properties in acquiring Dogwood Housing. “In 2007, Council at that time extended a loan in the amount of $850,000 for the acquisition of 57 residential units to be maintained as rental properties,” said Sam Sanders, the Deputy City Manager. Sanders said Woodard Properties have come back to Council before to extend the loan and the latest period of forgiveness ends at the end of the month. They are requesting another five-year period. Council granted the extension with no discussion except to substitute some of the language in the resolution. Council agrees to adopt guidelines for procurement In the near future, Charlottesville could very well finalize plans to renovate Buford Middle School to accommodate sixth grade students, a first step toward a long-planned and long-awaited reconfiguration of the city's schools. The School Board got an update on construction estimates in September, and the final number will factor heavily into the city's budget discussions for the next fiscal year. (VMDO working against inflation as design for Buford expansion continues and estimates increase, September 2, 2022)On Monday, Council approved guidelines for the use of funds that could be raised through something called the Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act, which goes by the acronym PPEA. “Under the act, the General Assembly conferred upon local entities such as the city of Charlottesville a process by which major construction projects and improvements to real estate could be conducted through a competitive process that is more flexible and less prescriptive,” said City Attorney Lisa Robertson. A key reason to do this is to potentially bring down the cost through efficiencies and through a more flexible schedule. Robertson gave examples in the staff report. * The City of Harrisonburg has constructed school buildings and at least one public park.* The City of Fredericksburg is currently using the PPEA process for the design and construction of improvements to upgrade and expand a wastewater treatment plant. * The Town of Christiansburg used PPEA procedures for a stream restoration and culvert replacement project. * Spotsylvania used PPEA procedures for construction of a new circuit court building.Robertson didn't specify the Buford project could be constructed through a PPEA nor did the staff report list any specific examples. Charlottesville City Councilor Brian Pinkston could think of a few.“One of the things we could do with this is work with local nonprofit partners on what I'll call hybrid projects where we're trying to accomplish something together and there would be private funds coming in through the nonprofit and we may be providing project management support or something like that on the city side,” Pinkston said. “This would give us flexibility in terms of how those procurements work.” Council approved the guidelines with one change making sure that the application fee for such a project would be $1,500. Council considers rent payment for Jefferson SchoolThe Jefferson School Center for African American Heritage has asked the city to help it cover the cost of the rent it pays to the Jefferson School Foundation. That's the entity that owns the former elementary school. The Center leases just over 11,000 square feet at a cost of $15,134.76 per month. Staff has recommended Council donate seven months of rent to cover the Center from December 1 through the end of next June for a total of $107,203.32. “The reason for taking this action at this moment is to provide Council the space that it needs to conduct its strategic planning sessions to determine how it will engage in investments for moments like this to invest in arrangements with non-profit organizations,” said Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders. Sanders said that conversation will also include a further discussion of how the city treats nonprofits to which it rents property. (City seeking to know more about what property it rents, May 20, 2022)At the same time, the city is seeking requests from firms to facilitate a new strategic plan. The funding will come from Council's Strategic Intiatives fund. Sanders said a previous $950,000 for this purpose went to an escrow account whereas this one will go directly to the Center. City Councilor Michael Payne said he would want to make a long-term commitment to the Center.“I would definitely want to prioritize finding a way for the Heritage Center to stay there longer-term,” Payne said. “I know there's a bigger discussion about non-profit leases and rentals but I think it would be very short-sighted for us to lose some of these community spaces for just another restaurant or whatever else.” Council held first reading of the item and agreed to hold the second as part of the consent agenda for the November 7, 2022 meeting. We're not done yet with the Council meeting from October 17, 2022. Future installments will go back through a budget work session as well as a vote on use of American Rescue Plan Act funds. This newsletter is already pushing 3,000 words so… time to publish! Housekeeping for show #446A constant refrain I have is that there's so much to get to, and I do hope to get to more in the next installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Thanks to the new paid subscribers who have signed up in the last few days, and thanks to the new Patreon contributor! All of this goes to Town Crier Productions, a company that so far only employs me. It's my hope that will change as more people fund this particular style of journalism.You may note that a lot of the links in this newsletter go to Information Charlottesville and you may wonder what that is. It's an archive site created by me to archive the various segments you see here. This newsletter and infocville.com are both intended to help keep a record of what happens at the local level, which to me never seems obscure or mundane. Thank you for being here for the journey.Ting will match the initial payment made by paid Substack subscribers, which certainly goes a long way to help planning for the future. Paid subscribers get to take a first look at content such as the September 2022 property transactions that went out Wednesday. Everyone else can see that on Monday on Information Charlottesville. If you do sign up, Ting will match your initial subscription. And even if you don't sign up for a paid subscription to this newsletter, Ting wants your custom too, and if you sign up through a link in the newsletter you will get free installation, a $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall, and a second month for free. Just enter the promo code COMMUNITY. What else today? What's missing? Drop me a line in the comments or respond to the email and let me know.  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

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

Flag Day. National Bourbon Day. World Blood Donor Day. Monkey Around Day? These are some of the potential ways to mark June 14, the 165th day of 2022. What you choose today is up to you, but I do hope you’ll take a look or a listen at this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a program that also wants you to make sure you know that some consider this is also National Pop Goes The Weasel Day. Now, where can I find some tupenny rice and some treacle?Know people interested in transit issues? Send them this particular edition of the newsletter so they can find out about the Regional Transit Vision plansOn today’s program:Details on the next steps for a second lawsuit to force a House of Delegates election this yearAlbemarle and Charlottesville’s elected bodies each take a look at the Regional Transit Vision plansGovernor Youngkin announces a series of grants to help increase capacity fo small agricultural producers, such as a water-powered mill in Nelson CountyAnd Albemarle County releases a report on climate vulnerability and risksToday’s first shout-out: ACHS to provide update on Race and Sports projectIn today’s first subscriber supported public service announcement, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society continues work gathering stories for their project Race and Sports: Athletics and Desegregation in Central Virginia. Tonight at 7 p.m. they will provide an update on Facebook Live and Zoom with two people who lived through the era. Garwin DeBerry graduated from Burley High School in 1965 and Steve Runkle graduated from Lane High School in 1960. They will be sharing how the families, neighborhoods, and communities in which they grew up shaped their experiences and of school desegregation. Tune in to the ACHS event on Race and Sports tonight at 7 p.m. (Zoom registration)Status hearing held for new lawsuit seeking House of Delegates election this NovemberThe state of Virginia has until June 24 to file a motion to dismiss a new lawsuit that seeks the Commonwealth to hold an election for the House of Delegates this year. Richmond resident Jeffrey Thomas Jr. filed a federal suit in the Eastern District of Virginia last week that picks up similar arguments made by Richmond attorney Paul Goldman for why some think the House districts currently in place are unconstitutional. Goldman’s suit was dismissed for lack of standing nearly a year after he filed. Thomas and representatives from the Virginia Attorney General’s office were in court yesterday for a status update in the case. Judge David Novak issued an order requiring both parties to file a joint stipulation of facts by June 17. Thomas will have eight days to respond to whatever the state of Virginia files. The state will have five days to respond. No date has been set for another hearing. For more information, read coverage in the Virginia Mercury. Albemarle County releases climate vulnerability assessmentOne item on tomorrow’s agenda for the Albemarle Board of Supervisors is a 176-page document that identifies how the county and its residents will be affected by shifting weather patterns. The Climate Vulnerability and Risk Assessment looks ahead to how extreme heat, drought, wildfires, and flooding may affect the area. There’s also the threat a changing climate will bring new pests that will affect crops. (read the document)The assessment is a step toward developing a climate resilience plan.“Some of the changes are unavoidable and even while we try to mitigate and reduce the severity of climate change, we also need to prepare for some of those impacts,” said Gabe Dayley, Albemarle’s climate protection coordinator. Dayley said the climate action plan is intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet regional goals to be carbon neutral and fossil free by 2050. He made his comments on the Let’s Talk podcast produced by Albemarle’s communications and public engagement department. “Our vulnerability and risk assessment looks at the kinds of specific local weather changes that we can expect,” Dayley said. “Things like increasingly intense and long heat waves or sudden and more severe rainstorms that lead to flash flooding.” Visit the county’s website to hear more. The report was put together with support and work from the Piedmont Environmental Council. In disclosure, that group is a sponsor of the Week Ahead newsletter. Water-powered grain mill in Nelson gets support from AFID grantThis is Ag Week in Virginia, and Governor Glenn Youngkin has announced the latest recipients of the state Agriculture and Forestry Industry Development grant program. The program provides matching grants to small agricultural producers such as Potter’s Craft Cider which used a $50,000 grant as part of a package to move operations into Neve Hall off of U.S. 29 in 2019. This time around the grants focus on infrastructure. Nelson County requested financial assistance for Deep Roots Milling to upgrade a water-powered grain mill built in the late 18th century. According to the press release, the $22,500 in state funds will help pay for a new sifting room and new bagging equipment. Other recipients include $25,000 for Piedmont Processing of Gordonsville in Orange County to add more cooling space for its slaughterhouse, $25,000 for barge to serve a collective of oyster farms in Northampton County, and $9,000 for a commercial kitchen expansion in Bedford County. Read the press release for more information.  Today’s second goes to WTJU and the Radio Relics project In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out:  This year, WTJU 91.1 FM turns 65 and to mark the occasion, there’s a new micro-museum exhibition this summer! Radio Relics traces WTJU’s storied history of broadcasting for our community. As part of our 65th anniversary celebrations, WTJU has curated photos, artifacts, and t-shirts – so many t-shirts! – spanning more than six decades.The exhibition is free and will be open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from June 3 through July 29. The museum space is a renovated, vintage camper parked behind WTJU’s studios at 2244 Ivy Road in Charlottesville. WTJU’s Radio Relics exhibition shows off some of the artifacts collected over the years, many contributed by former WTJU General Manager Chuck Taylor.  In fact, there’s even a new initiative to raise money through the Chuck Taylor Fund for WTJU History. Contact General Manager Nathan Moore to learn more. Or donate today!Albemarle and Charlottesville officials weigh in on Regional Transit Vision Consultants hired by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission are moving into the second phase of a community engagement effort for a $350,000 plan to create a regional transit vision to make public transportation a more attractive option. They have developed both a constrained plan that would anticipate around $26 million funds that might be generated through becoming a regional transportation authority with taxation power, as well as one that assumed funding would be found to increase the frequency of service. That has an estimated $70 million price tag. The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors had their review on June 1. “These concepts are here to help you imagine and understand what kind of outcomes are available at two different levels of investment,” said Scudder Wagg of Jarret Walker + Associates. This work will be completed before a second study will begin on how transit operations should be governed in the future.“So this transit vision study really is identifying the potential improvements to the regional transit system and establishing that long term goal and plan vision and the governance study is really what are the steps to get to that vision that we’ve defined,” said Tim Brulle of AECOM. He’s the project manager for the vision plan. The idea in both visions is to increase how often buses move through the community. “Frequency means freedom effectively,” Wagg said. “The more frequent service is, the much shorter the wait is, the much likelier you are to get somewhere soon.”Wagg said at the moment, around 60 percent of residents of urban Albemarle and Charlottesville are close to some transit service, but only about 15 percent are close to frequent service. Both visions expand the number of areas covered by on-demand service where people can call for service on the same day. Currently, a ride on Jaunt has to be booked a day in advance. But in general, the plan without identified funding would increase service. The unconstrained vision would seek to increase fixed-route service to seven days a week from morning into the evening. “One of the key things that is likely to significantly improve access to opportunity, particularly for people who work in retail, service, and hospital jobs where many people have to work evenings and many people have to work Sundays,” Wagg said. “Those types of jobs where if you aren’t there for them on Sunday, they have to have a car and therefore have to incur the high costs of owning a car.” Supervisor Ann Mallek is the sole elected official left from an effort in the late 2000’s to create a regional transit authority. She wanted to make clear the community tried once before for a sales tax to fund increased transit, but a referendum did not make it out of the General Assembly. “Money doesn’t just appear when we don’t have the authority to raise it,” Mallek said. Supervisor Ned Gallaway said service along urban corridors in his district needs to be frequent to accommodate the new units that have been approved during his tenure, such as the Rio Point project that got the okay last December. He pointed out proponents argued transit could help mitigate traffic congestion.“Over a thousand units, 1,300, 1,400 units that are going to build out there, and if they’re sitting on a sixty-minute transit line, that’s not going to work,” Gallaway said. Gallaway said the on-demand transit pilot that Albemarle will begin next year will go a long way to helping determine what the county needs.Supervisors Bea LaPisto-Kirtley and Diantha McKeel had already seen the presentation because the Jefferson Area Regional Transit Partnership got a briefing in late May. McKeel wanted clarification on the role the University of Virginia Transit System would play in the vision. “We tend to think about UVA as doing their own thing,” McKeel said. “That’s what they’ve done for years with their students and faculty and staff. Having said that, I know they are working really hard with us at the regional transit partnership about coming together on transit in this community.” Wagg said that the unconstrained vision anticipates more involvement by UVA. “There is an obvious and enormous transit demand within and around a university and the Grounds at UVA needs really a high frequency service within a pretty limited space so it is understandable they run their own service,” Wagg said. Wagg said an idea in the unconstrained vision is to trade resources with UVA. For instance, a  Bus Rapid Transit system similar to the Pulse in Richmond could travel down U.S. 29 and terminate somewhere on Emmet Street. “And then the University could run a more community service that serves the Grounds as a primary focus but also serves the community at large,” Wagg said. Charlottesville City Council had their review on June 6. The presentation was much the same as what Albemarle and the Regional Transit Partnership saw, but Wagg repeated why having to wait on a bus that comes once an hour is an obstacle.“Relying on service every 60 minutes is extremely hard,” Wagg said. “You can think about relying on a 60 minute route is a little bit like if there was a gate at the end of your driveway that only opened once an hour. You had best be in your car with your coffee ready to go at 7 a.m. if you need to get out at 7 a.m. to get to work. And if you miss it, then you are not leaving until 8 a.m.” Wagg reminded Council that many of the current CAT routes do not operate on Sunday. City Councilor Brian Pinkston said the unconstrained vision is compelling and certainly appeared to be more attractive. But he expressed some skepticism. “This would be a great system to enact but how do we change behavior such that people would use it?” PInkston said. Wagg said if people have choices about how to get around, they’ll take transit. “A major reason people don’t take transit today is because it’s very unlikely to be useful to the trip they want to make,” Wagg said. For instance, Wagg said a trip from Pantops to the Piedmont Virginia Community College would take a very long time with multiple transfers. “Changing that dynamic of ‘will someone choose to ride’ is making it far more likely that the trip that they look up will be reasonably competitive to take transit,” Wagg said. Vice Mayor Juandiego Wade said he was concerned that outreach efforts have not been robust.“I’m just afraid that you may get input from the same people and we kind of know what it is,” Wade said. “We’ve got to do a better job of getting input. I can tell you if this is all you’re going to do, I can assure you of what we’re going to get.” Extra service will mean extra drivers, and Councilor Michael Payne said their needs must be taken into consideration up front. “We can drop any plans or changes we want but if we don’t have sufficient drivers to run those routes, it won’t work,” Payne said. “I know we’re already seeing significant problems in being able to maintain frequency of our current routes because of a shortage of bus drivers.” Payne is another member of the Regional Transit Partnership. He said the unconstrained vision should be a goal, but a realistic approach needs to be taken. “How do we, once this is finalized, bring it back down to earth and figure out what are the level of investments we need to specifically plan for here in the city and what are the specific steps needed to start to get Jaunt, [Charlottesville Area Transit], and the University Transit Service working together to move to that Regional Transit Authority?” Payne said. And that’s where the governance study would come in. If there was to be a regional authority, that could also include surrounding counties. The Greene County Board of Supervisors gets their review of the plan tonight, and its the Fluvanna Board’s turn on Wednesday. The next step is a virtual meeting on June 23 in which the consultants will present both the constrained and unconstrained visions. There’s also a community survey that seeks to gather input on the unconstrained and constrained visions. What do you think? No use telling me. Fill out that survey!Support the show by checking out Ting!For over a year one year now, Town Crier Productions has had a promotional offering through Ting!Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. Your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCPThe 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

Fans of longer days in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States of America have three weeks to go until the world begins turning back to the other way. The solstice will mark the official start of summer, but many would argue it is already here. I’m not here to argue, and neither is Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that seeks to document as much as it can. The I mentioned above is me, Sean Tubbs. Sign up for free to make sure you get every installment. But if you do pay to support the work, Ting will match your initial payment! On today’s program:Details on what’s in the compromise budget that the General Assembly will vote on todayAlbemarle Supervisors have a full meeting including a vote for a new Planning CommissionerTwo plans for a future Regional Transit Authority are presented to area leaders and both have hefty price tags First shout-out is for LEAP’s new Thermalize Virginia program In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out: Have you been thinking of converting your fossil-fuel appliances and furnaces into something that will help the community reduce its greenhouse gas emissions? Your local energy nonprofit, LEAP,  has launched a new program to guide you through the steps toward electrifying your home. Thermalize Virginia will help you understand electrification and connect you with vetted contractors to get the work done and help you find any rebates or discounts. Visit thermalizeva.org to learn more and to sign up!  General Assembly returns today to consider conference reportBoth chambers of the Virginia General Assembly will convene at 10 a.m. to finish work on several bills left over the regular session. The major item left waiting to be finalized is the state budget and conference reports were made public over the weekend. There are 370 pages in the conference report for HB30, the technical name for the bill that carries the two year state budget that begins on July 1. A team of six Delegates and eight Senators were appointed to come up with compromises. One running theme is the reduction of funding that is now required because of elimination of the sales tax on foods for human consumption and personal hygiene products. The standard deduction for Virginia income taxes has also been increased from $4,500 to $8,000 for single filers and $9,000 to $16,000 for married couples. There’s a lot in it, and here are some highlights. Let’s start with education. A $400 million competitive fund will be set up for local school boards to apply for funding for “construction, expansion, or modernization, of public school buildings.” The grants would cover up to 30 percent of the project cost. There is a separate $400 million for the School Construction Grant program “for debt service payments on school projects that have been completed or initiated during the last ten years.” School systems across Virginia will get $104.1 million in FY23 and $257.2 million in FY24 in “hold harmless” payments to represent the loss of revenue from the suspension of the grocery A hundred million dollars will go into a College Partnership Laboratory Schools Fund which would be for the creation of “public, nonsectarian, nonreligious schools in the Commonwealth established by a baccalaureate public institution of higher education.”The Secretary of Education is directed to study the practice of collecting student debts for public institutions of higher education. The RISE Foundation of Waynesboro is allocated $250,000 for preventive services for at-risk youth. Around $9.5 million over two years will go to support the implementation of the Virginia Literacy ActChesterfield County Public Schools would get $1.364 million over two years to help establish a recovery high school for students in “early stages of recovery from substance use disorder or dependency.”Here are some economic development and tourism items:There’s $66.7 million in funding over two years to support biotechnology in Virginia, including up to $18 million for the University of Virginia Institute of Biotechnology “to accelerate biotechnology commercialization, genomics and gene therapies, drug delivery technologies and biomanufacturing facilities in the Commonwealth over the next five fiscal years through incentives designed to attract 150 research scientists.”The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will be allocated $125,000 to the Virginia Wine Board to breeding vinifera-style wine groups “with a specified focus on combining vinifera fruit quality with downy mildew resistance, with an objective of commercializing the resulting variety within 10 to 15 years.”There’s $700,000 to hire seven inspectors for regulating hemp products and investigating possible violations. This is related to changes in the already adopted rules for hemp and marijuana.Nine million would be spent over the next two years for the Governor’s Motion Picture Opportunity Fund.The Frederick County Economic Development Authority will get $5 million to help develop sites that can “support the growth of small aerospace, avionics, and unmanned systems companies in Planning District 7.”  Matching funds would need to be provided within a year. Virginia Tech would receive $2.5 million to “create a unique, world-class future truck research and development center in Southwest Virginia.”Nelson County would get $250,000 to support the planning of a Vietnam War and Foreign Conflicts Museum. The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library in Staunton would get a $250,000 grant for renovations. Thirty million in funding for a new Solar Loan and Rebate program has been eliminated. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority would get $2.5 million in FY24 for a grant program to spur development in the offshore wind industry. There’s $200,000 for a feasibility study whether a new inland port should be built in either southwest Virginia or the Lynchburg area. There’s $2 million for an international sailing event called OpSail250. Environmental items:There’s $575,000 in new funding for an invasive species detection program.The Department of Conservation and Recreation would get $350,000 for creation of an environmental literacy plan. The Dam Safety, Flood Prevention and Protection Assistance Fund would get an additional $10 million, matching a $10 million appropriation from the state’s share of the American Rescue Plan Act. DCR would also get $1 million to study of harmful algae blooms on Lake Anna. The phased ban on polystyrene containers would be delayed five years until July 1, 2028Another $320,000 would go to monitor groundwater for the presence of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).The Department of Wildlife Resources gets $400,000 over two years for a program to restore freshwater mussels across Virginia.Here are some land use items:The Department of Housing and Community Development is directed to develop a model lease for manufactured home parks in collaboration with a wide variety of stakeholders, and to conduct a feasibility study of these parks as a “source of affordable housing for Virginians.” Just over $11 million for planning for a Center for the Arts at the University of Virginia has been deferred. For more on how we got to here, some other articles: After months of wrangling, Virginia has a budget deal. What’s in it?, Virginia MercuryLawmakers to vote on budget, won’t take up stadium bill, Associated PressVirginia budget proposal includes new marijuana crime, WUSA 9Supervisors to appoint Planning Commissioner for White Hall DistrictThree candidates are awaiting to see if they will be the one selected to represent the White Hall District on the Albemarle Planning Commission. Jennie More resigned in April before the end of her second term.Supervisors will meet today at 1 p.m. and will make their appointments at 6 p.m. after a closed session. They will also select a new non-voting member to represent the University of Virginia. The previous holder of that position, Luis Carazana, was elevated to be the at-large commissioner. Unlike the Board of the Supervisors, there are seven members of the Planning Commission. The applicants for the White Hall seat are Marc McKenney, Lonnie Murray, and Elizabeth Wachtneister. Murray is an elected member of the Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation Board.Second shout-out: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign It’s getting close to the end of springtime, and one Patreon subscriber wants you to know the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign is a grassroots initiative of motivated citizens, volunteers, partner organizations, and local governments who want to promote the use of native plants. Did you know that National Pollinator Week is June 20th-26th this year? There are many ways to celebrate and learn more about our native pollinators, and here's a great one to start with: Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is hosting an in-person/virtual Pollinator Power Symposium on June 23rd, and there is an excellent line up of speakers scheduled for the day! There are plenty of resources on the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page, so sign up to be notified of lectures, plant sales, and more! Partnership briefed on potential vision for regional transitWork is nearing completion on a conceptual study for how public transport  might work better across the entirety of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District. Today the Board of Supervisors will get an up close look at the $350,000 Regional Transit Vision.Last week, an appointed body consisting of elected officials and transit officials got an update on the Regional Transit Vision. “The project is a collaborative effort to evaluate and establish a clear long term vision for transit service in the region, and not just the urbanized area but also the rural areas surrounding Charlottesville and Albemarle County,”  said Tim Brulle of AECOM is the project manager for the vision plan. If you’re unfamiliar with planning, you should know that any plan needs a vision statement to provide an overarching purpose. “To develop, design, and provide transit in the Charlottesville area in a manner that reflects a collaborative, inclusive, and equitable process representing needs in both rural and urban areas,” Brulle said. The purpose is to reduce reliance on personal vehicles for multiple reasons and outcomes, and to provide a way to get around for people without access to one. But how to make that work? Scudder Wagg with Jarrett Walker + Associates presented one vision concept that assumed the region had access to new revenues from a transportation authority similar to one in the Richmond area. This is known the “constrained “ vision. “So basically if you applied a similar funding structure there to your region, how many dollars and if you put most of those dollars to transit, what could it produce?” Wagg asked. “It’s about $26 million a year.”Such an authority would take enabling authority from the General Assembly and would build off of existing services. Wagg also presented a vision that assumed no limits on transit funding. For instance, that would allow for expansion of demand responsive service to seven days a week, as well as fixed-route transit to places that currently don’t have it such as Scottsville, Ruckersville, Lovingston, and Palmyra. This “unconstrained” vision would come with a hefty price tag. “So there’s no defined limit when we were designing a network that we collectively with staff and others at the table felt would help you achieve those goals and the total annual estimate of that network is about $70 million a year to give you some sense of scale,” Wagg said. Most of that cost is in personnel with drivers and mechanics, as well as a additional vehicles. It takes people to run a transit system, and another way to measure one is through service hours. Wag said Charlottesville Area Transit has about 94,000 service hours a year, Jaunt operates 37,000 for a total of 131,000 service hours for the general public. The unconstrained vision includes potential collaboration with the University of Virginia whereas the constrained vision does not their role into account. The partnership isn’t in charge of the purse strings, so today’s conversation before the Board of Supervisors will yield more of a sense of whether there’s an appetite to pursue additional funding and if so, where to direct it. Jarrett Walker + Associates helped redraw the bus system in the Greater Richmond area, and CAT Director Garland Williams was there at the time.“The majority of the emphasis was actually put on frequency and our ridership jumped 22 percent,” Williams said. “Then the second piece was to look at once the frequent service is in, how can you readjust networks to adjust travel times.” Williams said that the same model could be applied here. A microtransit pilot in Albemarle is a year away from happening and depends on award of funding from the Commonwealth Transportation Board.“It will be awarded and the starting of it will be acquisition, development of the program, software acquisition, things that have to happen before the actual buses are on the ground,” said Trevor Henry, the assistant county executive. The regional transit study is separate from a $150,000 governance study about that will suggest how to actually move forward with setting up new structures to actually run the enhanced service, be they constrained or unconstrained visions.Watch the Regional Transit Vision presentation 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

There are 32 days left until the summer solstice which will mark the longest time this year that the rays of our star will soak our area of the planet with light and other forms of radiation. However, this is the first day of the year when temperature gauges on the Fahrenheit scale will come very close to triple digits. What will Charlottesville Community Engagement say about the matter in this May 20, 2022 edition of the program? Very little, but the host, Sean Tubbs, is sincere in wishing everyone well in the heat to come. On today’s program:A historical marker is unveiled at the Central Library in downtown Charlottesville to honor the legal battle to admit a Black man to the University of Virginia Law School Charlottesville City Council is briefed on efforts to get a handle on what property the city leases out and whether all of the tenants are paying their fair shareFifth District Republicans will meet tomorrow to select a nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives And work on a Regional Transit Vision will culminate next week in a long presentation to regional officials about what could happen if the area found a new mechanism for more funding for expanded transit Shout-out for an ACHS program on the Fields of Honor This year, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society has been working with a group called the Fields of Honor to identify soldiers who were killed in action in the Second World War. Since February, ACHS researchers have helped locate several photographs of the fallen, including that of Private Clarence Edward McCauley who was tracked down through high school records. There are 18 remaining photographs to be found, and on Thursday, May 26 at 7 p.m. the ACHS will host Debbie Holloman and Sebastian Vonk of the Fields of Honor Foundation to talk about how you can take part in their volunteer efforts honoring the service and sacrifice of US WWII service members buried or memorialized at US war cemeteries in Europe. That’s Thursday, May 26, at 7 p.m. via Zoom or Facebook Live.Historical Marker unveiled at Central Library for crucial desegregation caseA crowd assembled yesterday afternoon at the intersection of East Market Street and 3rd Street NW in downtown Charlottesville to watch the unveiling of a historic marker to commemorate an important moment in the desegregation of education in Virginia. In 1950, Gregory Swanson applied to attend the University of Virginia School of Law, but he was denied a space because he was Black. He sued in federal court citing 14th Amendment rights to equal protection, and a three-panel judge heard arguments on September 5 that year. David Plunkett is the director of the Jefferson Madison Regional Library, and he noted the historic nature of the building that is the library system’s headquarters.“This building is formerly a federal building and home to the courtroom where Gregory Swanson won his legal petition for entry into the University of Virginia law school,” Plunkett said.     Plunkett said Swanson’s case was part of the NAACP’s legal strategy to challenge the system of desegregation. “While the law school had admitted Mr. Swanson on his merit, with the support of staff including Mortimer Caplin, the Board of University Board of Visitors subsequently denied his admittance based on his skin color,” Plunkett said. “The case tried here overturned that ruling and helped lead to the desegregation of higher education in the South.”Risa Goluboff is the current Dean of the UVA Law School, and she said the marker celebrates Swanson’s bravery and persistence. “He did all this for a belief, for a legal and constitutional principle, for his own growth as a lawyer and a person, for his race, and for the nation as a whole,” Goluboff said. Swanson was represented by the law firm of Hill, Martin, & Robinson, with future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall serving as his legal counsel. Goluboff said the denial back in 1950 must be remembered, as well as the University’s condoning of slavery and the continuance of Jim Crow era laws. She said Swanson’s case should be celebrated.“And when he succeeded, he became the first Black student not only at the University of Virginia Law School, not only at the University of Virginia writ large, but at any state in the former Confederacy,” Goluboff said. “Telling his story both forces and enables us to remember those aspects of our history of exclusion and segregation that we must know in order to repudiate them.” Also on hand at the ceremony was M. Rick Turner, a former president of the Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP. He said Black students at UVA have always challenged the status quo of an institution founded to perpetuate racial and class inequalities. “It is worth remembering that the [admittance] of Black students at UVA years ago was not a benevolent gesture on the part of the UVA administrators and state officials, but rather the presence of Gregory Swanson paved the way,” Turner said. To hear the event in full, visit the Charlottesville Podcasting Network where the full audio is posted and is available.Fifth District Republican convention tomorrowRepublicans across Virginia’s new Fifth Congressional District will gather tomorrow at Hampden-Sydney College in Prince Edward County to select a candidate for the November 8 election. Over 2,000 attendees are pre-filed for the event, according to the draft program. Incumbent Bob Good of Campbell County faces challenger Dan Moy in the race, and the program states that each will give a speech before the votes are taken. There will also be remarks from outgoing Chair William Pace and incoming Chair Rick Buchannan. The program contains multiple endorsements for Good from Republican leaders across the United States, as well as several Delegates and Senators of the General Assembly. Moy’s sole endorsement is from the group Chasing Freedom Virginia.There are a total of 24 Republican committees in the fifth District. The convention will be called to order at 10 a.m. and will use a weighted voting system. The winner will face Democrat Joshua Throneburg in the November election. Regional Transit Vision updateConsultants hired by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission to craft a vision for how public transportation might work better in the Charlottesville area will present more details next Thursday. The firm AECOM is the lead consultant with Jarrett Walker and Associates serving as a subcontractor. The study may recommend the eventualtransition to a unified regional transit authority. (meeting info)“There will be a 90 minute presentation from the consultants to go over what we’ve done so far, survey the results of the first round of public engagement, and then also what they found for the vision for the community,” said Lucinda Shannon, a transportation planner for the TJPDC. Shannon told a technical committee of the Metropolitan Planning Organization that a three-day workshop was held with the transit providers to imagine new bus routes under a new scenario where there is $30 million in annual funding from a new transportation authority. The consultants modeled that scenario after a new authority in the Richmond area that was created in 2020. “We looked at the Central Virginia [Transportation] Authority’s model of how they collect revenue to kind of calculate how much we could collect if we formed an authority to pay for the vision,” Shannon said.Shannon said that for now, the JWA’s work is more about what the vision will be.  A second round of public engagement will take place soon after next week’s partnership meeting. Shannon said the firm AECOM may also be hired to conduct a governance study to recommend how to actually come up with that hypothetical $30 million. That work is contingent on approval by the Commonwealth Transportation Board at their meeting in June. Shannon said this study will be more about the funding than changing the structure of area transit. “So it’s not going to be looking at how [Charlottesville Area Transit] or any of the service providers are governed or run or anything like that,” Shannon said. “It’s just bringing in money and putting it out for transit.” Funding for these studies come from Albemarle County, Charlottesville, and the Department of Rail and Public Transportation. The budget for the vision plan is $350,000 and the budget for the governance plan is $150,000. See also: Regional Transit Partnership briefed on Regional Transit Vision, looming Charlottesville Area Transit route changes, April 1, 2021Regional Transit Vision may suggest resumption of Regional Transit Authority foundation, December 14, 2021Shout-out to Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards In today’s subscriber-supported Public Service Announcement, the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards continues to offer classes this spring and summer to increase your awareness of our wooden neighbors and to prepare for the future. Coming up on June 7 is a tree identification course taught on Zoom by tree steward Elizabeth Ferguson followed by a separate hike on June 11 at the Department of Forestry’s headquarters near the Fontaine Research Park. That’s followed by a tree identification walk at the University of Virginia on June 12 for the public. On June 14, Rachel Keen will give a lecture on Zoom on the Social Life of Trees. Do trees really communicate with one another? What is a 'mother tree'? Can a tree do anything to repel a pest? Learn more at charlottesvilleareatreestewards.org.City seeking to know more about what property it rents The City of Charlottesville could be pulling in more revenue from tenants who may be leasing city property at rates well below the market rate. That’s one of the takeaways from a report given to Council at their meeting on May 16. As the City of Charlottesville government seeks to rebuild after a recent era of frequent leadership transitions, the current management is looking at aspects of the city administration that have gone unnoticed or unchecked. Until now, there has not been one central source in city government that controls all of the various leases the city has for its properties as well as service agreements. That makes it hard to track who is responsible or where the public can get information.“So what we’re trying to do at this moment is compile that but one of the first things we had to do was identify an individual who would have that as their job,” said Sam Sanders, the Deputy City Manager for operations. That person will be Brenda Kelley, who has been the redevelopment manager for the city for the past several years. Her position has been elevated to the Office of Community Solutions, and she’ll be presenting a full report to Council this summer. In the meantime, she prepared a briefing for Council for their May 16 meeting which began with a basic definition of what she’ll cover. “Leases or agreement-type leases where either the city is a party,” Kelley said. “This is where the city owns the property or the city is a tenant of a property owned by someone else.” The city has about 155,000 square feet of building spaces that bring in about $580,000 a year in revenue for the city. That doesn’t include about 50 acres under ground lease. The oldest lease dates back to 1922 and allows the city’s utilities office to use space at a pump station at the University of Virginia. One of the biggest amounts of space the city leases is at the Water Street Parking Garage. “The city doesn’t own the Water Street Parking Garage but we lease parking spaces,” Kelley said. The city does own the Market Street Parking Garage, as well as the buildings on East Market Street that are currently occupied by the Lucky 7 and a Guadalajara restaurant. The City Council of January 2017 paid $2.85 million for an eventual parking garage at the location, but the City Council of March 2021 opted to go in a different direction. For now, the city gets rent from those businesses. “The Lucky 7 and the Guadalajara and all of the Market Street Parking Garage retail spaces, those rent funds go into the Parking Enterprise Fund,” Kelley said. Revenues from the Charlottesville Pavilion and the building where S&P Global operates go into the Charlottesville Economic Development Authority fund. Kelley said further research needs to be done into intergovernmental leases with the courts, libraries, and other entities. She said that systems need to be in place to track the leases and make sure that any rent increases due to the city are at least known about for Council’s consideration. Councilor Sena Magill said she appreciated being able to see a more complete picture of the city’s property portfolio, and the potential to get more out of its investment. “When we look at a lot of these rents on a lot of these buildings, they are at about half of market rate,” Magill said. Magill said if the city is charging below market, it should be as a way of helping small businesses who are just getting started. She wanted to see a presentation from the Charlottesville Economic Development Authority on the leases they currently manage. Mayor Lloyd Snook said he wanted any lessees to know that the preliminary report is not intended to raise rates, but just to provide information. “Until this report and this information is gathered, we on Council had no idea who we were subsidizing and we have no idea why we’re subsidizing them in some cases and we may want to make some conscious decisions to continue to subsidize in the form of the rent or we may not but at least we will be doing so from the basis of actual knowledge,” Snook said. More to come as the summer heats up. Help Ting help support Town Crier productions!For one year now, Town Crier Productions has had a promotional offering through Ting!Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

The heat is on, on the street, and this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement is ready to get inside your head, on every beat. With apologies to Glenn Frey, this is not an 80’s music nostalgia newsletter and podcast, but the idea is to look back at some of what’s happened recently while anticipating the changes that will come this summer. It’s May 19, 2022, and I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. Sign up today to not miss a beat! On today’s show:The annual median income in the Charlottesville area has increased 19 percent over last yearAlbemarle Supervisors further discusses ways to incentivize developers to build housing for those with lower than that median incomeThe new CEO of Jaunt explains that a new page is turning toward cooperation with Charlottesville Area TransitA Pittsylvania County group seeks a second referendum on sales tax increase for education Shout-out: RCA seeks input on the restoration of Riverview ParkThe first Patreon-fueled shout-out today is for the Rivanna Conservation Alliance and their work with the City of Charlottesville on the restoration of Riverview Park. The RCA aims to restore a 600-foot section of the Rivanna riverbank in an area that’s designated for public access to the waterway as well as a 200-foot section of a dangerously eroding stormwater channel nearby. Another community meeting will be held in the near future to get your feedback on the work should be prioritized. Visit rivannariver.org to learn more about the project, which seeks to help Riverview Park continue to be a welcoming place to exercise, cool off, paddle, fish, play, explore, observe nature, and escape from the day-to-day stresses of life. Spring COVID-19 surge continuesTo begin today, a quick look at the latest COVID numbers from the Virginia Department of Health. Today the VDH reports another 3,836 positive COVID tests done through the PCR method, and a number that does not count at-home tests. The seven-day positivity rate for tests has increased to 15.2 percent. The seven-day average for new cases is now at 3,078. This surge of cases has so far not resulted in fatalities anywhere near what was seen in previous ones before vaccines were easily available. The seven-day average for new daily deaths is at three per day. According to the Virginia Healthcare and Hospital Association, there are 60 COVID patients in intensive care in Virginia, with 23 of them on ventilators. Pittsylvania County group wants to try again on sales tax referendum Last November, voters in Pittsylvania County on the south side of Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District had on their ballot a referendum on whether or not to approve a one percent sales tax increase to fund school improvement projects. The measure failed on a 23-vote margin according to election night results from the State Board of Elections. This Tuesday, the seven-member Board of Supervisors got an update on a campaign to try hold the referendum again this year, based on enabling authority that passed the General Assembly in 2020. Martha Walker is the chair of Pittsylvanians for a Brighter Future, an advocacy group that seeks passage this time around.“One cent, one penny, will generate $3.8 million each year for the 19 years that we will be allowed to have that one cent sales tax added,” Walker said. Under the same enabling authority, Danville voters voted in favor of the referendum and the sales tax increase has gone into effect. Speaking directly to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Walker said her organization will be seeking to educate the public on what improvements would be funded. “You know that ten elementary schools will be focused on safety and getting rid of those trailers by building those new classrooms,” Walker said. Charlottesville asked the General Assembly to be allowed to hold a referendum for its school system. Legislation passed the Democrat-controlled Senate, but failed to get out of a committee in the Republican-controlled House of Delegates. There is still no state budget, an issue of increasing concern to school systems throughout the Commonwealth. Jaunt CEO talks transit with Charlottesville City CouncilThe relatively new CEO of the transit agency Jaunt introduced himself to the Charlottesville City Council Monday and also had the chance to re-introduce a public service organization plagued by recent controversy. Ted Rieck started with fundamentals. “Our basic goal is to enable people to live their lives independently and with dignity and we’ve been doing this for about 42 years,” Rieck said. (view his presentation)Jaunt serves the six localities of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission as well as Buckingham County. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires equivalent service to fixed route transit for disabled individuals, and Rieck said Jaunt performs this role for CAT for those who live within three-fourths of a mile of a bus stop. “We also provide in some of the outlying counties circulator or intra-county service,” Rieck said. “We also provide links from the counties to Charlottesville and then we also provide commuter services into Charlottesville and [the University of Virginia].”Rieck was hired last October by Jaunt. The agency’s Board of Directors asked the previous CEO to resign after irregular transactions were reported. That continues to have an impact on Jaunt’s budget. “We had our CEO make some judgment errors in terms of spending money,” Rieck said. “That triggered an audit and that discovered some issues that Jaunt wasn’t doing very well.” Rieck said Jaunt was making progress in correcting the errors pointed out in the audit, including misapplication of funds intended for rural use for urban purposes. There were also questions about administrative costs. “We overstated some of our statistics which allowed us to get more state funding and federal funding that we were entitled to,” Rieck said. “This was an error that the prior CEO basically hoarded the data and did not share that with anybody.”Rieck said Jaunt had to pay Virginia back a over a million dollars and that has happened. Record-keeping has now been improved. The previous CEO was Brad Sheffield, who also served one term on the Albemarle Board of Supervisors. During that time, he was hired on as Jaunt’s director. Rieck said other anomalies have been discovered and Jaunt is cooperating with the ongoing investigation. He said Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation officials will visit Jaunt’s headquarters next week for further discussions. Better cooperation?Rieck said as the legacy of the Sheffield era continues to play out, he wants to build a partnership with Charlottesville Area Transit, and he’s in close contact with CAT Director Garland Williams.“We are working together,” Rieck said. “I don’t believe Jaunt and CAT have played very well together in the past. We are turning a new page on that I believe.” That includes more frequent meetings to discuss common issues, such as driver shortages. Another issue is how to transition to a fleet that doesn’t run on fossil fuels to meet the community’s expectations on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Jaunt is also seeking members to join an Alternative Fuel Advisory Committee to oversee a study for which Kimley Horn has been hired to run. Applications are due May 27, and the process will build off of a study that Charlottesville Area Transit is also running for their fleet. (apply)They are also building off of conversations that have been taking place at the Jefferson Area Regional Transit Partnership. In April, that group heard from transit officials in Burlington, Vermont about how fixed-route transit can carry students to public schools. Those conversations are now occurring here, according to Rieck. “Today we discussed opportunities where we could see CAT bus routes overlapping areas where Albemarle County students live,” Rieck said. “Many of these people could conceivably take a bus to the high school, other schools as well. If that works out, we could save five or six bus operators for the school district. Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s really huge.”Other avenues of regional exploration include the creation of a Regional Transit Authority and development of an app to help people navigate public transportation. Rieck said Jaunt could also play a role in addressing the need for service to Crescent Halls, a Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority property whose residents have demanded door-to-door service be restored when the building reopens. He said the current service by Route 6 sees a large bus trying to navigate a small access road for which it was not designed. “And my understanding is that’s an awkward movement for a larger vehicle to do so the thought would be to have Jaunt provide that service instead of the main route,” Rieck said. Details to come in the future as Rieck said detailed conversations had not yet occurred. Council pressed Rieck on whether Jaunt’s troubles with the Virginia Department and Rail and Public Transportation were over. “First of all, are there any more shoes about to drop, and second, do you have a sense of when you will be past the shoe-dropping phase?” asked Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook. Rieck said the long-standing issue is a pattern of mixing rural and urban funds that dates further back into Jaunt’s recent history. He said he’s being transparent with city, county, and state officials, as well as his board of directors. “So I don’t think that there’s any more shoes to drop and if there is, that’s the one,” Rieck said. Second shout-out: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign It’s springtime, and one Patreon subscriber wants you to know the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign is a grassroots initiative of motivated citizens, volunteers, partner organizations, and local governments who want to promote the use of native plants. This spring the group is working with retailers across the region to encourage purchase of plants that belong here and are part of an ecosystem that depends on pollination. There are plenty of resources on the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page, so sign up to be notified of lectures, plant sales, and more!Albemarle Supervisors discuss incentives for housing planThe Albemarle County Board of Supervisors continued a conversation earlier this month about how to incentivize developers to build units to be sold below market value. The six-member Board last discussed the matter in February and pushed back on the idea of creating an overlay district in the county’s zoning ordinance. (previous coverage)“The main question today that we would like some feedback on after listening to the information that’s provided is [whether] an affordable dwelling unit program something the Board would be interested in and staff reviewing?” asked Stacy Pethia, the county’s Housing Policy Manager. (view her presentation)The General Assembly has already granted Albemarle enabling authority to pursue such a program, which would allow the county to require a certain percentage of units be rented or sold at affordable prices to households at 80 percent or lower than the median income. This requirement would be triggered by a rezoning or a special use permit. Supervisors adopted the Housing Albemarle plan last July but delayed much of the implementation until these details could be worked out. Before they got too deep into the conversation, Pethia said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has now released updated calculations for area median income for 2022. “That is now $111,200 annually and to put that into perspective, that is a 19 percent increase over last year’s area median income increase,” Pethia said. The median income for the Washington metropolitan area is $142,300 and the median income for the Lynchburg metro is $78,900.  We’ll come back to this in future stories about housing. (find the calculations for your favorite metro area)Pethia said after the work session in February, staff opted to come forward with the affordable dwelling unit program that is authorized under state code. “And the enabling legislation really doesn’t place many restrictions on what the county can do and what that program looks like,” Pethia said. “It does require we provide density bonuses but beyond that we are pretty open in the percentage of the affordable unit set-asides that we may require, the depth of that unit affordability, the length of the affordability for those units, and we also have the opportunity to include additional incentives within that ordinance above and beyond the density increases.”Pethia said there are about 500 such programs across the United States. Commonalities between them include: An identification of how many units the locality needs to be affordable standardized amount per unit for developers to pay into a fund rather than build units The right for the locality or its designee to purchase or rent affordable units that are actually constructed. Several localities in Virginia have such a program, such as Loudoun County. “They adopted their ordinance in 1999 and do require 6.25 to 12.5 percent of the units in projects to be affordable housing,” Pethis said. “Those units need to be affordable for 15 to 20 years depending on whether they are for sale or rent.” Pethia said around 2,500 units have been created under this policy in Loudoun. Fairfax County has a similar ordinance and has created nearly 3,000 units. For Albemarle, Pethia said county staff are recommending density bonuses, requiring 20 percent of total new units to be affordable as per Housing Albemarle, allowing non-profits to purchase “affordable” units for which the developer can’t find a qualified buyer, and a cash-in-lieu fee is a developer doesn’t want to build the units. Such a program is not yet ready and Pethia wanted feedback on whether they should proceed. Supervisor Ann Mallek had this question. “Is there a way that we can put a hold on new applications until we get this process adopted?” Mallek said. “I’m very concerned that another 5,000 units will come in in application that we will somehow be forced to accept the applications and then we will lose the opportunity to get a much better result.” Supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley said she supported the idea of the creation of a waiting list of people and families who are eligible to rent or purchase affordable units due to their income level. “The waiting list would be extremely important to have a waiting list otherwise I can see this whole project failing if we don’t have a waiting list of qualified income buyers,” LaPisto-Kirtley said. Supervisor Ned Gallaway said that he did not want to see a list of stiffly-written incentives that might preclude flexibility. “I hope we don’t get caught in the trap of saying that even if we put an example of incentives our, or encouraged incentives, or whatever the wording is, that we’re saying that that’s it, and that we have a process in place that allows for consideration of other incentives,” Gallaway said. “Each project will be different. Each spreadsheet is different.” Gallaway also supported the cash-in-lieu program in order to be able to pay more funds into the county’s affordable housing trust rather than rely on surpluses. A more detailed plan will come before the Board of Supervisors for a work session in August followed by a public hearing in September. Help Ting help support Town Crier productions!For one year now, Town Crier Productions has had a promotional offering through Ting!Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Today marks 21 years since the death of Douglas Adams, a writer whose importance to my formation is not necessarily worth noting, but the commemoration of his passage is being noted all the same. Each of us is mortal and for the most part do not know when we will breathe our last. Until mine, I feel it is important for me to document as much as possible, and that is the mission of each and every installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a program that most definitely would not have existed if not for the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The jury is still out on the Celestial Homecare Omnibus. Share and enjoy! On today’s program:Workers at one of Bodo’s Bagels three locations want to unionizeThe latest version of Consumer Price Index is out, and inflation is up but not quite as much as last month Area businesses involved in the Community Climate Collaborative’s Green Business Alliance report Greenhouse Gas Emissions reductionsAnd more study on future planning for transit takes place at a time when existing systems are struggling to find enough drivers Shout-out: RCA seeks input on the restoration of Riverview ParkThe first Patreon-fueled shout-out today is for the Rivanna Conservation Alliance and their work to help the City of Charlottesville with the restoration of Riverview Park. The RCA wants your input to inform a project that aims to restore a 600-foot section of the Rivanna riverbank in an area that’s designated for public access to the waterway as well as a 200-foot section of a dangerously eroding stormwater channel nearby. How should the work be prioritized? That’s where you come in with your input. Visit rivannariver.org to learn more about the project, which seeks to help Riverview Park continue to be a welcoming place to exercise, cool off, paddle, fish, play, explore, observe nature, and escape from the day-to-day stresses of life.Workers at Bodo’s franchise seek to unionizeTwo members of Charlottesville City Council will be on hand this afternoon as employees of the Bodo’s Bagels’ location on the Corner announce their desire to unionize. “Employees with the union organizing committee cite several concerns leading up to the effort, including understaffing, a lack of pay transparency, inadequate paid sick leave, and wages that aren’t keeping up with the rising cost of living in Charlottesville,” reads the press release from the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400.That group already represents grocery workers at Kroger and Giant Food. The release states that “approximately” 14 employees are involved and that they presented signed union authorization cards to Bodo’s management on Tuesday and seek voluntary recognition. “The employees also filed for an election with the National Labor Relations Board in the event that management refuses to voluntarily recognize the union, at which point an election will be conducted by the federal labor department,” the release continues. However, representatives from Bodo’s management said the cards were not presented. In a statement, they also said the company has always sought to set a high standard. “Bodo’s has been doing the best we can in every way we can for the Charlottesville community for over thirty years, and we've always been keenly aware that that's a moving target,” wrote Scott Smith and John Kokola to Charlottesville Community Engagement. “We support the right of our employees to choose whether or not they want to bring in a third-party representative, though we have always worked hardest to be that advocate by offering substantially above market wages, and hands on, proactive, compassionate management,” their comments continued.Both Payne and Magill are advocates for a collective bargaining agreement that would allow city employees to unionize. Municipal employees in Virginia could not do so until legislation passed the Virginia General Assembly in 2020. Last August, Council directed former City Manager Chip Boyles to pursue study of a collective bargaining ordinance. Boyles was out of office two months later. In March, the city issued a request for proposals for a firm to help establish a collective bargaining program, but so far a contract has not been awarded. (city bid page) “There will be an award forthcoming, but the process of evaluating the submissions is ongoing so there is no date that can be provided of when the contract will be awarded,” said David Dillehunt, the interim deputy director of communications. See also: Charlottesville to study collective bargaining options, August 19, 2021Bureau of Labor Statistics: Inflation continues to growThe federal agency that keeps the official metric on the cost of goods has released the numbers for April, and the Consumer Price Index rose 0.3 percent, a slower increase than reported in March. “Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 8.3 percent before seasonal adjustment,” reads the release that was published this morning. That’s a lower number than when the numbers were reported in April, when the increase was 8.5 percent. The prices of shelter, food, airline fares, and new vehicles were the categories that increased the most. Food increased 0.9 percent over March, but the energy index actually declined in April. Gasoline dropped 6.1 percent, but natural gas and electricity increased. There are two sub categories for food. The price of “food cooked at home” increased 0.9 percent and “food away from home” increased 1 percent. Nonprofit group claims success in effort to reduce GHG emissions in business cohortLast May, the Community Climate Collaborative formed the Green Business Alliance to encourage sixteen companies to take steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The goal is to reduce their collective emissions by 45 percent by 2025, five years ahead of when both Albemarle County and Charlottesville pledged to meet the same objective. This morning the nonprofit entity reports the group has a collective 28 percent reduction in the first year since a baseline was established. “Comparing 2021 emissions to the baseline year, which varies by member, the [Green Business Alliance] Boffset a total of 4,800 metric tons of CO2-equivalent,” reads their press release. Some of the ways those reductions have been made are by relocations to new buildings. For instance, Apex Clean Energy moved to a new building that consolidated all employees in one place. “The mass-timber Apex Plaza, which features green building materials, solar power generation, and on-site battery storage, is on the cutting edge of sustainable design—mirroring Apex’s work at the forefront of the new energy economy,” reads a description of the new building on the company’s website. While the Apex Plaza building is not LEED-certified, it is one of the largest timber-built structures in the nation, and timber-built structures have a lower carbon footprint than those built of concrete or steel. Additionally, the Quantitative Investment Management moved to the CODE Building, which is LEED-certified. Other participants have moved to LEED-certified building since their baselines, including the Center and the CFA Institute. In addition, eight of the 16 companies installed over 1,600 solar panels on their properties, offsetting another 550 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. For more information, read the Community Climate Collaborative’s blog post on the topic. Watch a video with highlights of Apex Plaza: Second shout-out to JMRL’s How To FestivalIn today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out, the Jefferson Madison Regional Library will once again provide the place for you to learn about a whole manner of things! The How To Festival returns once more to the Central Library in downtown Charlottesville on Saturday, May 14 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. There is something for everyone in this fast-paced, interactive and free event!There will be 15-minute presentations and demonstrations on a diverse set of topics. Want to know how to do a home DNA test? Tune a guitar? What about using essential oils to repel mosquitoes? Visit the library website at jmrl.org to learn more. Schedule is coming soon! That’s the How To Festival, May 14, 2022. Regional Transit Partnership updated on studies and drive shortagesThe audience for Charlottesville Community Engagement may have successfully doubled the number of views for the April 28, 2022 meeting of the Jefferson Area Regional Transit Partnership. At the tail end of the program, I called upon you all to take a look at the meeting and I can successfully report there have now been 11 views. But, of course, the reason you read a newsletter like this is so you don’t have to view them. So, as promised, here are some highlights from the rest of the meeting. The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission continues to oversee the creation of a Regional Transit Plan, and the Regional Transit Partnership will have a full review at their meeting scheduled for May 26. But, the members of the partnership had the materials in the packet for the April 28 meeting. You have access to those materials here via cvillepedia.“The project started in the fall of 2021 and the team developed a land use assessment and a transit assessment,” said Lucinda Shannon, a transportation planner for the TJPDC. “They identified community goals and solicited community input for the vision for the future of transit in the region.”The consultants are currently writing up network and corridor improvements. “And in June the team will gather public input on the proposed improvements and then will make adjustments and then the project should finish by August,” Shannon said. The vision plan will be presented to City Council and the Board of Supervisors this summer. This is not to be confused with a governance study that is in the planning stages to inform what a potential Regional Transit Authority might look like. “The governance study is more on how we’re going to pay for the vision and the projects,” Shannon said. This is also not to be confused with the draft route changes proposed by Charlottesville Area Transit that have not yet been implemented due to driver shortages. “We’re extremely limited on our driver numbers and are actually really short,” said Garland Williams, CAT’s director. “We’ve got to figure out how to get more drivers in the hopper to do the level of service that the community wants.” As of April 28, Williams said CAT needed 20 additional drivers. He said he’s lost several drivers to the private sector which have higher-paying jobs. As of today, that number is down to 17. “We currently have 3 new drivers in training,” said Kyle Ervin, the marketing coordinator for CAT. The topic of driver shortages topic came up during a recent non-RTP roundtable of transit providers. Karen Davis, the deputy director at Jaunt, said her agency has been meeting with CAT and University Transit Service to work out solutions. “Jaunt has identified some potential overlap of CAT routes with [Albemarle County Public Schools] routes which warrants discussion,” Davis said. Davis said the City of Charlottesville has also approached Jaunt to assist with better transit service to Crescent Halls when it reopens later this year. The next meeting of the Regional Transit Partnership is May 26. Until then, let’s see if we can get the number of views on the April 28 meeting up to 20! And let’s get likes up to 2! 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

Chris Jadick, Director of communications for Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority, joins AM Tampa Bay as the Florida Legislature has put $1 million in the next Florida budget for TBARTA to resume TD Tampa Bay! What is TD Tampa Bay and why is it important?

Welcome to the antepenultimate Tuesday of 2021, also doing business as the 348th day of the year. This is the 294th installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement. There are many more to come in the future due to the certainty that where will be items to write about far into the future. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs.Charlottesville Community Engagement needs fuel in the form of new subscriptions, paid or unpaid. Sign up today to keep this going! On today’s show:The Regional Transit Partnership ponders a potential future as a regional transit authorityThe University of Virginia picks two sites in Albemarle and one site in Charlottesville on which to build affordable housing The Rivanna Conservation Alliance publishes its 2021 water quality reportRegional broadband expansion projects nets $79M in state fundingIn today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out:Winter is here, and now is the time to think about keeping your family warm through the cold Virginia months. Make sure you are getting the most out of your home with help from your local energy nonprofit, LEAP. LEAP wants you and yours to keep comfortable all year round, and offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If you’re age 60 or older, or have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!UVA Housing initiativeThe University of Virginia has announced three sites upon which it will work with a developer to build affordable housing units, two of which are in Albemarle County. They are:The low-density Piedmont housing site on Fontaine AvenueThe corner of Wertland and 10th StreetProperties at the North Fork Research Park President Jim Ryan made the announcement this morning in a written statement.“Economic growth over many decades has had a profound effect on housing in the Charlottesville-Albemarle community, and we are committed to working with community partners to create more housing intended for local workforce and community members who have been priced out of the local housing market,” Ryan said. “We believe these sites may be suitable for affordable housing, to potentially include mixed-use development.”J.J. Wagner, UVA’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, said these sites were selected in part because they were not in any other strategic plan. There’s a website where people can submit feedback. (website) According to a press release on UVA Today, Piedmont would likely be completely redeveloped except for an existing structure. The Piedmont property is on the north side of Fontaine Avenue and is within Albemarle County. UVA owns this site outright. The University of Virginia Foundation purchased 1010 Wertland Street from developer Keith Woodard in February 2017 for $4 million, which was well over the $1.85 million assessment for that year.  That 0.4 acre property is currently occupied by an apartment complex.  The foundation also owns two other properties at this corner, one of which is currently vacant. The North Fork Research Park currently does not have any residential units. This past March, the foundation issued a request for proposals for a firm to help rezone portions of the property to Neighborhood Model District zoning. “Coordination with the UVA Affordable Housing Task Force will be required,” reads the RFP. Existing leases at both Piedmont and 1010 Wertland Street will be honored for their duration. UVA or its foundation will donate the land though a ground lease and will not contribute any funding to the projects. The next step is for the UVA Foundation to issue a request for qualifications for potential builders. Initial work for the project was conducted by the firm Northern Urban Real Estate Ventures. That company is now working with the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority on a master plan for sustainability. These three sites are the only ones under consideration at this time. UVA spokesman Brian Coy said they will work with the selected firm to meet the goal of building between 1,000 and 1,500 units. Broadband expansion The Thomas Jefferson Planning District has been awarded a $79 million grant from the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative for a project to expand broadband to nearly every home across a 13-county area. Governor Ralph Northam made that announcement yesterday as part of a $722 million funding package for similar Internet expansion meetings across the Commonwealth. The TJPDC was the lead applicant for the RISE project, which stands for Regional Internet Service Expansion. Several localities including Albemarle are contributing a total of $33.5 million as a match for the public-private partnership involving Firefly Fiber Broadband, the Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, and Dominion Energy. Over the next three years, more than 5,000 miles of fiber will be installed across an area that spans from portions of Campbell County to the south to Goochland County to the east to Greene County to the north. In all, an additional 36,283 homes will be connected. They will then ne able then purchase Internet from Firefly Fiber. TJPDC’s award is the third largest in the state. (read the grant application) (Governor’s press release) Avon Street DevelopmentTonight, the Albemarle Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on a rezoning for a planned residential district in the 1800 block of Avon Street Extended. Andy Reitelbach is a senior planner with the county.“It involves a request to rezone two parcels of land on Avon Street right south of Avinity,” Reitelbach said. “The two parcels together total about 3.6 acres and the applicant is requesting a maximum of 85 two-family and multifamily resident units.” Reitelbach made his comments at the 5th and Avon Community Advisory Committee from November 18. So did Kelsey Schlein with Shimp Engineering, the firm taking the project through the review process. “It’s designated urban density residential in the Comprehensive Plan so at 24 dwelling unit per acre with a maximum density on the property, we’re within the recommended density range for urban density residential,” Schlein said. Schlein said there will be a mix of housing types with triplexes, quadplexes, townhomes, and multifamily units. None of the buildings will exceed three stories. She noted that the county has adopted a corridor study to make the area more hospitable to people on bikes or on foot. (read the study)“Since there is an existing sidewalk in front of Avinity that kind of extends in front of the elementary school, we’re proposing to continue that network,” Schlein said. “However, we’ve provided enough right of way for a multi use path improvement so if there’s ever a comprehensive reimagining of the pedestrian network on the [east] side of Avon Street, this application will have provided the right of way for that.” Some members of the 5th and Avon CAC expressed concerns about traffic, the lack of a playground, and the possibility the application did not include open space. The Planning Commission meets virtually at 6 p.m. tonight. (meeting info)New look for tourism websiteThe quasi-government entity charged with marketing the region to tourists has updated their website. The Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau launched an refreshed version last week of visitcharlottesville.org. The designer is a firm called Tempest as we learn in a press release.“In addition to better serving visitors and industry partners, the new website will also reduce costs for the CACVB, in anticipation of a significant budget decrease projected for Fiscal Year 2023,” reads the release. “The reduction in budget for the upcoming fiscal year is a direct result of decreased transient occupancy tax collection from local lodging properties, due to the impacts of COVID-19.” The Bureau is governed by a Board of Directors that currently includes two members of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors and two City Councilors. In October, the CACVB Board discussed reducing that to one elected official from each locality in favor of more representatives from the hospitality industry. For more, read Allison Wrabel’s October 25 story in the Daily Progress. For more on the hospitality industry, read a story from me from October 30 on the archive site Information Charlottesville.  The CACVB Board next meets on December 20. *General Assembly 2022With Republicans in control of the House of Delegates next year, that means Delegate Rob Bell (R-Albemarle) will chair a major committee. Yesterday, incoming House Speaker Todd Gilbert (R-Woodstock) assigned Bell to chair the Courts of Justice Committee and made five other appointments. (release)Delegate Lee Ware (R-Powhatan) will chair Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural ResourcesDelegate Jay Leftwich (R-Chesapeake) will head General LawsDelegate Bobby Orrock (R-Caroline) will chair Health, Welfare, and InstitutionsDelegate Kathy Byron (R-Bedford) will head Labor and CommerceDelegate Terry Austin (R-Botetourt) will chair Transportation. RCA reportThe Rivanna Conservation Alliance has issued its annual stream health report based on water quality monitoring from 2018 through 2021. Based on their data, the number of impaired streams increased. (read the report)“The percentage of our sampled streams that failed to meet water quality standards for aquatic life grew from 68 percent in last year’s report to 82 percent in this one,” reads the report. However, the document acknowledges difficulty in collecting data in 2018 and 2019 due to heavy rain events that scoured stream beds and banks, as well as difficulty collecting data during the pandemic. “Most notably, seven of the nine sites that moved from an assessment of very good or good down to fair were affected by unusually large hatches of black fly larvae that reduced biodiversity in our samples,” the report continues. Another item of note in 2020 is the completion of a 15-year study on the long-term effects of large-scale water quality improvements such as stream restoration, planting of buffers along streams, or upgrades to wastewater treatments plants. That’s based on looking at all 50 monitoring sites and finding that those that improved were close to some form of improvement. More shout-outsYou’re listening to Charlottesville. Community Engagement. Let’s continue today with two more Patreon-fueled shout-outs. The first comes a long-time supporter who wants you to know:"Today is a great day to spread good cheer: reach out to an old friend, compliment a stranger, or pause for a moment of gratitude to savor a delight."The second comes from a more recent supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today!Regional transit authority?It has been some time since I’ve had an update on transit issues and now is the time to do so. Earlier this month, the members of the Regional Transit Partnership got an informal recommendation from a consultant that it may be time to move from an advisory body into a decision-making body that can raise its own funds. Before we get into all of that, though, there is still time to take two surveys to get your input on the Regional Transit Vision for the Charlottesville Area. That’s a project being led by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District to “evaluate transit service” in the region in order to “establish a clear long-term vision for efficient, equitable, and effective transit service.” One survey is on transition visioning and the other is an interactive map that asks the question: “What are the long-term transit needs for the Charlottesville region?” “You’re able to kind of sort of pinpoint on a map some issues or wants or desires regarding transit,” said Tim Brulle, a project manager for the vision who works for the firm AECOM. “We are using the public survey as part of our main avenue for that public feedback right now.” The project is being funded by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation with additional funds from the city of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. Albemarle County is conducting its own separate study, and Charlottesville Area Transit has pending route changes that have not yet been implemented. On December 2, 2021, the Jefferson Area Regional Transit Partnership got a status update on the studies, beginning with the Regional Transit Vision. As of that date, only about a hundred and thirty people had responded. (watch this meeting)Also as part of the meeting, Scudder Wagg of the firm JWA briefed the partnership members on the fact that many other transit systems in Virginia are regional. In this community, there are three major transit systems in Jaunt, Charlottesville Area Transit and the University Transit Service. Wagg suggested a reorganization across multiple communities that could yield more funding for expansion. “If you are to think about a regional funding source and a regional funding agency, then you would start to need to think about this on more of a regional scale,” Wagg said. “That’s where we want to help you consider how you might address that.”Wagg said the combined operating budgets of CAT and Jaunt are around $16 million, with about half of that funding coming from local sources. He suggested the total amount could increase if the community took steps to create an authority which can issue bonds. Wagg said three other regions in Virginia have managed to create authorities to expand transit and fund other transportation improvements. “Northern Virginia is using a combination of a sales tax, a grantor’s tax, and bond proceeds,” Wagg said. Legislation passed the General Assembly in 2009 to allow creation of a Regional Transit Authority, but a bill to allow a local referendum on a one-cent tax increase did not pass that year. According to the legislation, the authority could expand to include Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa and Nelson counties. (take a look)In the next General Assembly, Charlottesville is seeking a referendum for a one-cent sales tax for the purposes of funding the reconfiguration of the city’s schools. The director of Charlottesville Area Transit would encourage elected officials to pursue additional sources for funding through an authority. “This is an avenue we do need to explore and consider seriously to make sure that this  happens  eventually in the next three to five years,” Williams said. Albemarle Supervisor Diantha McKeel said the point of the Regional Transit Partnership was to prepare for an eventual next step.“When this Regional Transit Partnership, the intent was for it to be the first step in working towards an authority,” McKeel said.Becca White, director of Parking and Transportation at UVA, said the University Transit Service serves a very small footprint as a “last mile” service to relieve congestion and to shuttle people from parking lots. However, she said there are some portions of the city covered, including Fontaine Avenue and Ivy Road. The members of the Partnership informally directed Wagg to base the next set of potential scenarios for expanded service based on a theoretical $30 million budget.“We’ll have two scenarios,” Wagg said. “We’ll have maps showing where would routes go, how frequently, all of that sort of stuff. And then what would the outcomes of some of those things be in terms of how many more jobs could people in Greene County reach in an hour by transit or how many more people would have access to different kinds of transit services in different places?”A second round of public engagement for the Regional Transit Vision will begin early next year and the study is to be completed by the summer of 2022. Want to help influence it? Fill out those surveys! Resources for Regional Transit Vision Plan: A stakeholder meeting was held on October 7 and around 30 people attended (watch the video)A public meeting was held on November 18 and 20 members of the public participated (watch the video) (view the presentation)A land use assessment was produced by the consultantsA transit propensity technical memo was also produced by the consultantsSpecial thanks to Jenn Finazzo for recording some of the voice work today. Very much appreciated! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

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

Paul Hillegonds | Chief Executive Officer A graduate of the University of Michigan and the Thomas M. Cooley Law School, Paul Hillegonds was chief of staff to Upper Peninsula U.S. Congressman Phillip Ruppe in the 1970s. From 1979 to 1996, he represented a West Michigan district in the Michigan House of Representatives, where he also served as Republican Leader, Co-Speaker, and Speaker of the House. In 1997, he became CEO of Detroit Renaissance, a policy and economic development organization of Southeast Michigan corporate CEOs. From 2005 until his retirement in 2014, he was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs at DTE Energy. In March 2015, Hillegonds was appointed president of the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, which focuses on health and wellness grantmaking to nonprofit organizations serving children and senior citizens. He serves on the boards of the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan, the Kresge Foundation, the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan, New Detroit, the Center for Michigan, and Michigan Future. Hillegonds and his wife Nancy are the parents of two children, Sarah and Michael, and reside in Plymouth. #culture #podcast #Detroit #michigan #congressman #ceo #president #leadership #nonprofit #mentorship #UniversityofMicigan #lawschool Learn more about Paul... Paul Hillegonds LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-hillegonds-763296ab Michigan Health Endowment Fund website: https://mihealthfund.org/ Learn more about Phoenix Performance Partners... Phoenix Performance Partners Website: https://www.phoenixperform.com/ Culture Eats Everything Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/culture-eats-everything/id1526731051 Culture Eats Everything Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1utf9dZh2PRQKxe6qg5I5M Tom Willis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasawillis Checkout our book: https://www.phoenixperform.com/book #CultureEatsEverything ______________________ Download & Share!

In today’s Patreon-fueled shout-out: With the summer heat in full swing, 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 $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!On today’s show:A new nonprofit launches to promote regional entrepreneurial activitiesA quick review of a recent stakeholder meeting on increasing transit in urban AlbemarleSeveral area destinations receive state funding for tourism marketingAlbemarle County seeking a consultant to help lead upcoming rewrite of the zoning ordinanceThe Virginia Department of Health today reports 2,117 new COVID cases, the highest one-day count in four months. The percent positivity is now at 7.5 percent. The seven day average for new cases is now at 1,733. The Blue Ridge Health District reports another 52 cases today. The percentage of Virginians fully vaccinated is now at 54.8 percent, a number that includes children. The number of adult Virginians fully vaccinated is now 65.8 percent. The seven-day average of shots per day is now 14,124. Source: Virginia Department of HealthNext week, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles will open a window in the Scottsville Town offices. The DMV Select will open on August 16 in the second floor of Victory Hall at 401 Valley Street. DMV Select offices allow for limited transactions such as picking up registration decals, but do not issue driver’s licenses. For a full list of services, visit the DMV website. You’ll need to schedule an appointment and masks are required. (schedule an appointment)Speaking of Scottsville, repairs have been made to the library following heavy storm damage in late July. The library reopened yesterday at 1 p.m. A new nonprofit is launching in the Charlottesville area to support regional entrepreneurship. Venture Central is to be a partnership between the city of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, the University of Virginia, and the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce. The group has announced the first members of the Board of Directors and will begin a search for an executive director. According to a release, Sarah Rumbaugh of the firm Relish will serve as the chair. Other board members include the economic development directors of both Albemarle and Charlottesville. Governor Ralph Northam has announced the award of $861,080 in matching grants through the Virginia Tourism Corporation’s Recovery Marketing Leverage Program. The initiative exists to help expand the Virginia is for Lovers brand and to encourage new tourism marketing partnerships. (see a full list of recipients)The Charlottesville Convention and Visitors Bureau will get $10,000 for Birthplace of Virginia Wine programDairy Market will get $20,000 for Charlottesville’s Bite-Sized Adventures: A Foodie Bucket ListFront Porch Cville will receive $19,980 for Rivanna Roots: A Riverfront Concert Series 2022Blackburn Inn and Conference Center in Staunton will receive $20,000 for Sip, Stay, and Explore: Hiking Trails and Virginia WinesThe Heifetz International Music Institute at Mary Baldwin University will get $2,182.50 for a marketing programWaynesboro Economic Development and Tourism will receive $10,000 for EXPERIENCE WaynesboroWayne Theater Alliance will get $10,000 for an outdoor production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor DreamcoatPicking back up from the August 4, 2021 meeting of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors, that body agreed to apply for $314,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding for a food security program. Stacy Pethia is the county’s housing policy manager.“The proposed project would serve a total of 470 individuals and households through three distinct programs,” Pethia said. These are $110,000 for a grocery card gift program to serve up to 220 households, and $144,000 for the Local Food Hub’s Fresh Farmacy program to provide fresh produce for 18 months to 100 households. The funding would come specifically from a COVID relief program. Supervisors also agreed to amend a special use permit that allows the Monticello United Soccer Club to operate on land off of Polo Ground Road. Scott Clark is a planner with Albemarle County. “The proposal would increase the number of total number of fields to seven although only four would be used for play at any one time,” Clark said. “This is to enable them to move feels around, rest fields, prepare fields.”The land is within Albemarle’s rural area, and there are no permanent facilities on the property. There is no increase in the number of parking spaces. “This property could easily return to agricultural use in the future with a very low impact on the site,” Clark said. The Mon-U soccer field is on Polo Grounds Road, which is just to the north of where the furthest Charlottesville Area Transit route currently stops. That won’t change when the city-owned and operated agency alters its routes later this year, but CAT is conducting a review of how to expand service to the north. So is Albemarle County and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement and time for another subscriber-supported public service announcement. The Charlottesville Jazz Society at cvillejazz.org is dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and preservation of 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 week, find out that the Michael Elswick Gathering plays at the Pub at Lake Monticello on Friday and the Eric Franzen Trio plays at Early Mountain Vineyards on Saturday. Take a look at cvillejazz.org. At the same time, Albemarle County and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission are doing the exact same work as part of a study partially funded by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation. Boris Palchik is a transit planning project manager with Foursquare Integrated Transportation Planning, a firm hired to help conduct the work. The other consultant is Michael Baker International. Palchik ran a meeting on July 26 that sought to get initial feedback for the study.“It’s really a feasibility study and implementation plan for expanding transit service in both population and employment centers in Albemarle County,” Palchik said. The July 26 meeting was for northern Albemarle County along U.S. 29, and one on July 28 was held for Pantops. We’ll focus on July 26 first. (watch the video)Palchik said the study may not result in several new fixed routes, but may include a combination of on-demand routes and other new transit options. The work consists of a market analysis, a service analysis, and stakeholder outreach. “The market analysis is looking at the underlying environment in which transit operates or needs to operate in the study area,” Palchik said. “The service analysis is looking at what’s happening today on the ground in terms of ridership and productivity.”Stakeholder outreach includes the July meetings and other ways to get a sense of what people might want and need in expanded transit. In addition, to Charlottesville Area Transit, Jaunt provides service in the area through on-demand, one fixed-route service, and through its partnership with Greene County Transit. “There’s really many different ways to provide transit service and each of those ways has its own ideal operating environment,” Palchick said. “When we’re looking at the market analysis, we’re trying to understand the environment that exists so we can make recommendations that are appropriate.”That means taking a look at population density, the built environment, employment opportunities, and other factors to measure the potential for public transit to work. “Transit service is most effective and most efficient in areas that have higher density,” Palchick said. “The kind of tipping point for where fixed route transit service really begins to make sense is once you have more than five people or jobs per acre.”Research conducted so far indicates moderate-to-high transit potential south of the South Fork of the Rivanna River. The highest population density in the area is along Commonwealth Drive, which is currently served by CAT’s Route 5. Service gaps are north of Rio Road and in the Hollymead / Forest Lakes area. A slide from the July 26 presentation (download)This work also comes at a time when Albemarle continues to become more dense, with more properties coming online such as North Pointe, Brookhill, and numerous other developments that will be more dense than single family homes. Palchick said the stakeholder analysis specifically sought out information that may not have come through their initial review. During the service analysis, stakeholders were shown older information on CAT routes, several of which are changing in the coming months. There will be alterations to Route 5, Route 7, Route 8, and Route 11, all of which serve Albemarle’s northern urban area.  Learn more about the CAT changes here. Scott Elliff is a member of the Forest Lakes Community Association’s Board of Directors. The FLCA has used a portion of its homeowner association fees to fight development of a mixed-use development on Ashwood Boulevard known as RST Residences. Elliff took the opportunity to speak at a discussion on expanding transit to point out that the existing character of his neighborhood is suburban. “The challenge that’s happening up here is that we’re starting to get developments that are going to be by necessity pretty dense,” Elliff said. “There’s one that’s being planned which we’re opposing and hasn’t come before the Supervisors yet. It would be a huge high story development on the corner of Ashwood and 29.”Currently there is fixed-route transit service in the Forest Lakes area provide by Jaunt through their Route 29 Express.According to Valerie Long of the law firm Williams Mullen, 75 percent of the apartments in the RST development will be rented to people who can demonstrate household incomes between 30 percent and 80 percent of the Area Median Income. Elliff is concerned that if all of those people drive, it will exacerbate traffic congestion out of a neighborhood that only has two direct connections onto U.S. 29. “The only solution from a transportation standpoint that I can think of is to have a dedicated service that picks people up at those affordable housing apartment buildings and takes them non-stop down to Barracks Road, downtown mall, and UVA where the jobs are,” Elliff said. Elliff claimed there were no jobs in his area. In fact, let’s hear more of what he had to say. “We’re up here in a beautiful area,” Elliff said. “There are no jobs. There are retail jobs… in the shopping centers north and south. If it’s going to be heavily affordable housing, these are people who are going to be working retail and they’re going to be working as administrative assistants or something in small companies but not around here. This is completely residential.”Elliff’s claim made me look up the latest information from the Virginia Employment Commission on the top employers in Albemarle County.  Several of them are within close proximity to the Forest Lakes neighborhood and all rough measurements below are taken from the pool at Forest Lakes South using main roads and Google Earth. (VEC profile)#4 is the Department of Defense and the various military installations at Rivanna Station (4.77 miles away) #6 is the Crutchfield Corporation which operates by the Charlottesville Regional Airport (3.5 miles away)#7 is the Northrup Grumman Corporation located in between both sides of Stonefield on U.S. 29 (4.4 miles away)#9 is Wal-Mart located just south of the South Fork of the Rivanna River on US. 29 (2.2 miles away)#18 is Emerson (listed as G.E. Fanuc) on U.S. 29 north of North Pointe (5.2 miles) #29 is Costco in Stonefield on U.S. 29 (4.5 miles away)#32 is Target in Hollymead Town Center (2 miles away)#36 is MicroAire Surgical Instruments in the former U.S. Postal Service building off of Airport Road (2.75 miles away)#38 is Rosewood Village Associates with facilities in Hollymead Town Center (2.4 miles away) The RST rezoning goes to the Board of Supervisors on September 15. From the Albemarle County profile from the Virginia Employment Commission (download)Now, on to the July 28 meeting, which covered the Pantops area. Fewer people attended that virtual call. Pantops is currently served by Charlottesville Area Transit Route 10, which will also be changing as a result of the upcoming route changes. Here’s Boris Palchik with Foursquare once again reviewing a market analysis. “In the Pantops area north of U.S. 250, there are a number of key kind of activity generators like multifamily housing, the Social Security administration building, but it’s still showing fairly low density,” Palchik said. Dick Hiss, the chair of the Pantops Community Advisory Committee, asked if the various analyses conducted take a look at future land use changes. “Have you considered the changes that we see coming in the Pantops area such as the motor vehicle department going somewhere?” Hiss said. “That building has had a sign on it for years saying it is moving.”Hiss said he is also wondering if State Farm employees will return to that building. State Farm is the fifth largest employer in Albemarle according to the VEC. Sentara Martha Jefferson is the third. Gina Morss-Fischer, a public affairs specialist with State Farm, confirmed in an email to me today that employees assigned to the Charlottesville-Albemarle office will continue to work from home. Palchick said the stakeholder meetings are intended to take note of comments such as this. For a time, Albemarle County had been updating development dashboards which depicted what projects were coming up in the near future. These have not been updated since February 2020 in part because of the pandemic and in part because a staff member moved on. Charles Rapp is the planning director in Albemarle County. “The staff member that was previously managing the dashboards is no longer with the county so we have used this as an opportunity to collaborate with our GDS department and create an updated version of the development dashboard,” Rapp said in an email to me this morning. “This new approach will have automated updates regularly and should provide a more streamlined approach toward conveying information.  We are working through the final details now and hope to have it ready for the public soon.”(review the current Development Dashboards on the Albemarle website)But back to transit. Palchick said on-demand microtransit could be an option for parts of Albemarle in the future.“The main difference between microtransit and Uber and Lyft is that Uber and Lyft operate with a fleet of vehicles that are not infinite, but you never quite know what kind of vehicle you are going to get when you request a service,” Palchick said. “Whereas with microtransit you have a set fleet of vehicles and a set group of drivers that are operating the service so it is more predictable and can be more closely branded with the local public transportation service and be more closely affiliated with it.”Currently, Pantops is also served by Jaunt’s Buckingham Connect East service. “So this service operates between Buckingham County and destinations in Charlottesville and Albemarle County,” Palchick said. “Those destinations include downtown Charlottesville, the University hospital, Martha Jefferson Hospital and the Westminster Canterbury retirement community.” Westminster Canterbury is the 14th largest employer in Albemarle County. A slide from the July 28 presentation on Pantops (download)In addition to the meetings on July 26 and July 28, the consultants are holding individual meetings. The goal is to complete the study by next January in order to apply for funding from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation to pay for a pilot project.Will any of this result in a better transit system? That means to be seen. Another thing I encourage people to see is the staff report of a February 11, 2008 joint meeting of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors and Charlottesville City Council to discuss a study for a Regional Transit Authority that would be one unified system. That never happened, but eight years later, a Regional Transit Partnership was formed to encourage collaboration between area systems. That body next meets on August 26. (RTA staff report) This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Birdsong oversees more than 2,300 employees at the largest transit system in Ohio, which provides more than 35 million annual rides to customers. She is providing strategic leadership to advance RTA's initiatives at a critical time for the organization.

Frances Smith-Dean is the Executive Director of the Zan Wesley Holmes Jr Community Outreach Center. Frances is responsible for the creation of over 5000 jobs for low-income individuals during this pandemic. She is an adjunct professor of Mathematics at Richland College and owner of Financial Educator, LLC.Frances and I discuss risk management planning for a Biden-Harris administration, resurgence, protest, and economic pain, cryptocurrency, and 2021 predictions. In 2012, Frances was instrumental in establishing a foreign exchange trade business trip between the US-China Business Council, Southern University A & M of Baton Rouge, and The City of Baker Louisiana. Through her work, The City of Baker signed a Friendship City Agreement with China and the Southern University Agricultural Center signed a partnership agreement with Dr. Walter Chen, one of the most influential Chinese American Economist for the top 100 businesses in China.Frances is a former registered investment advisor for Nationwide insurance where she managed over 1000 employees with the city of New Orleans, Regional Transit Authority, and seven other municipalities within the New Orleans River Region’s PublicEmployee Deferred Compensation plans.Mentions:Coinmarketcap.comOriginally recorded on January 22, 2021Host, Earlina Green Hamilton 

Sun-Times City Hall reporter Fran Spielman is joined by RTA Chairman Kirk Dillard to discuss the effect the pandemic has had on transit, the safety of riding CTA, Pace and Metra and what customers can expect when ridership returns to pre-pandemic levels.

“Transit was very critical to me being able to live the American dream.”  Joining the Transit Unplugged podcast for this episode is Alex Wiggins, CEO of New Orleans Regional Transit Authority. Alex has had a long and storied career in the transit industry, and he shares how his past experiences have shaped how he leads today.  Alex also provides an in-depth look at how New Orleans RTA responded to COVID-19 and discusses his commitment to equity and transit for all.   If you want to know more about New Orleans RTA, check out their website.  

Frances Smith-Dean is the Executive Director of the Zan Wesley Holmes Jr Community Outreach Center. Frances is responsible for the creation of over 5000 jobs for low-income individuals during this pandemic. She is an adjunct professor of Mathematics at Richland College and owner of Financial Educator, LLC.Frances and I discuss upskilling, the fourth industrial revolution, and our individual roles to safeguard our finances and provide stability for our families in a changing world.In 2012, Frances was instrumental in establishing a foreign exchange trade business trip between the US-China Business Council, Southern University A & M of Baton Rouge, and The City of Baker Louisiana. Through her work, The City of Baker signed a Friendship City Agreement with China and the Southern University Agricultural Center signed a partnership agreement with Dr. Walter Chen, one of the most influential Chinese American Economist for the top 100 businesses in China.Frances is a former registered investment advisor for Nationwide insurance where she managed over 1000 employees with the city of New Orleans, Regional Transit Authority, and seven other municipalities within the New Orleans River Region’s PublicEmployee Deferred Compensation plans.Mentions:The Great Reset The Big Short Seven Stages of Empire Originally recorded on August 13, 2020Host, Earlina Green Hamilton

 "With any project, you've got to plan it out."  India Birdsong started her career in Community Development before entering the Public Transit Industry with CTA (Chicago Transit Authority). During her ten years at CTA, India held multiple roles within the Planning and Operations departments. After CTA, India joined WeGo Public Transit (formerly Nashville MTA) as their Chief Operating Officer. Now the General Manager and CEO of GCRTA (Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority), India, joins Transit Unplugged to discuss how GCRTA is currently managing through COVID-19 and what projects are in the agency's future, including replacing rail cars, and a bus redesign.  If you want to know more about GCRTA, check out their website.  Remember to check out transitunplugged.com to learn from top transit professionals and stay up date on all the latest industry trends.

Hometown Radio 04/21/20 4:30p: Mark Shaffer from Ride On and Geoff Straw from Regional Transit Authority discuss local mass transit services

Greetings, comrades! I’m back from my week-long visit to Minsk, Belarus, halfway around the globe and a world away, as a guest of the good people at Press Club Belarus and the U.S. Embassy Minsk. It’s good to be back and rolling with the podcast. We’re planning to release an entire episode devoted exclusively to my visit to the former Soviet republic and what I learned about one of Detroit’s seven sister cities, sometime in the coming weeks. But on today’s show, we discuss my visit to Minsk and what it was like there. We also spend some time diving into a few big stories that broke here while I was in the same time zone as Moscow, eight hours ahead: The renewed push for a new Regional Transit Authority plan that would cover the city of Detroit and Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne Counties, but not Macomb. It’s an approach we’ve long advocated. Tesla’s polarizing new Cybertruck, unveiled last week in Los Angeles. Will this electrified geometry-on-wheels find anything beyond a niche market of tech enthusiasts? And we discuss General Motors’ bombshell racketeering lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler, alleging that its rival was complicit in rampant UAW corruption that hurt GM financially by saddling it with higher labor costs. The suit comes while FCA is simultaneously negotiating with the union for a new four-year labor contract and trying to finalize a massive merge with PSA Group of France. Thanks for listening to Daily Detroit. If you like what you’re hearing, tell a friend about us, leave us a review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or support us by becoming a Patreon member.

Episode Notes So many states seem to get by just fine without front license plates on cars, but in Ohio the debate about them rages, with law enforcement saying the plates are vital for crime solving and auto lovers saying they’re ugly and unnecessary. License plates are where we begin the latest episode of This Week in the CLE, the podcast discussion of the news by the best-informed news team in Ohio, the reporters and editors of cleveland.com. Politics Editor Jane Kahoun takes the lead on the license plates and also explains the goal for The Flyover, a newsletter we launched this week to talk about politics in the heartland, where voters will decide the next presidential race. Cuyahoga County beat reporter Courtney Astolfi outlines the statements of Cuyahoga County Sheriff Cliff Pinkney when he finally answered questions about the embattled jail. He said he was excluded from many of the decisions that should have been his to make, which raises a question of whether he was a victim of manipulation by administrators or someone who was duped into not doing the job prescribed in state law. Criminal Justice editor Kris Wernowsky explains how the investigation that Pinkney promised in December - of the jail warden’s withholding of food from inmates and other actions – never happened and likely will not. Kris also explains why a Cuyahoga County judge threatened to hold jail administrators in contempt of court because inmates were not showing up for court. Public impact editor Mark Vosburgh lays out the Editorial Board’s thinking in taking the extremely rare step of opposing a proposed tax increase. Kris talks about why bicyclists in Northeast Ohio and elsewhere are increasingly frightened of sharing the road with cars, and he discusses the week’s most-talked-about story, about the sentencing of a 79-year-old woman to 10 days in jail because she fed stray cats. Federal courts reporter Eric Heisig explains why Parma Police and the Cuyahoga County prosecutor tried to criminalize social media satire and how the satirist could win compensation for the legal overreach. Courtney takes us into Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, where a top official of the Regional Transit Authority was charged with stealing benefits. She also describes how RTA might add buses to its most popular routes. Headlines this summer described an across-the-board income tax decrease that Ohio legislators say they gave to Ohioans, but Jane explains how the Legislature’s action since January actually has increased taxes for people on the lower end of the economic scale. Cleveland City Hall reporter Bob Higgs lays out the case of a landowner who claims Cleveland built a park near Progressive Field that effectively stole the land and wants millions of dollars in compensation. Jane takes a look at a recent poll showing Ohioans oppose the heartbeat bill the Legislature passed this year to restrict abortion in the state. The poll also shows strong support in the state for universal background checks for gun buyers. The traffic camera debate never seems to end in Ohio, and Jane provides detaisl on the latest battleground. Wine expert Marc Bona wraps up the podcast with a look at 25 years of Vintage Ohio and how Ohio winemakers have steadily improved. He predicts that Ohio wines will compete with the best in the not-distant future and offers advice on how best to sample wines that the Vintage Ohio wine event in Lake County. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today we’re talking about Michigan’s emerging recreational marijuana economy with Roberta King. She’s the founder and owner of Canna Communication, a communications firm focused on the cannabis sector. Plus, we bring you up to speed on: The start of UAW negotiations The Regional Transit Authority (2045 priorities map is here) The city of Detroit has partnered with 3 universities to get its own economic data And upcoming Detroit City FC playoff matches.

Happy Monday, and welcome to a new week of your Daily Detroit. Today, Jer talks about an eventful past week spent at the Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac Island, filling us in on some of the things he came away with beyond just the headlines about no-fault auto insurance reform. Specifically, it’s becoming clear that Detroit’s comeback needs a lot more juice (read: money — and residents) just to come up to par with the competition. He also does the math on the so-called 7.2, the informal name for Detroit’s downtown and adjacent district that have seen most investment lately, and the costs to fix Michigan’s decrepit roads. Also, an interesting post pushes the idea that the cost $10 a month per Michigan driver on average to raise $1 billion for the roads. Elswhere, we cover: Could the Regional Transit Authority be revived in a scaled-back version? Its board chairman dropped a hint recently. [Michigan Matters] Mortgages hit a decade high in Detroit in April, but they’re still well below what they should be. The Detroit City Council is considering giving city residents a 50% break on parking violations if paid within five days. [Detroit News] The company behind the megahit online multiplayer video game Fortnite is opening an office in Detroit. No, not to develop new Fortnite dance moves. [Crain’s] The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is resuming nighttime closures starting June 23. Thanks for listening to Daily Detroit. If you like what you’re hearing, tell a friend about us, leave us a review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or support us by becoming a Patreon member.

This is your Daily Detroit News Byte for June 27, 2018. - Some say Detroit's comeback isn't making it into the neighborhoods. So we went to the Fitzgerald neighborhood in Detroit today to check on a new development happening that not only has historic houses, but urban gardens and community involvement. - A funding proposal that aimed to be on the 2018 ballot for the Regional Transit Authority is officially dead. - The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a big blow to public-sector labor unions on Wednesday. - A couple of weeks ago we featured an interview on the News Byte about the Rethink Royal Oak project, which will in part result in the construction of a new city hall and police headquarters. Now there’s news about the two-acre public park that will rise from the project. - Two updates from the Detroit Institute of Arts, including a focus on Flint and a call for submissions for Dia de Muertos. Like the show? Don't forget to subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever fine shows are found.

This is your News Byte Podcast for May 29th, 2018/ Here are your stories for today. - Mark Hackel says that the Regional Transit Authority proposal should be dead "forever." - Belle Isle gets shut down on Memorial Day Weekend - Developments on the east side of Detroit - TATA North America moves from Novi to Detroit - And we talk this week in Detroit City FC with Fletcher Sharpe.

The CTA hasn't raised its base fare since 2009. Regional Transit Authority bosses say it's the only way to fill the CTA's budget deficit. Plus the rest of the day's news, sports and weather forecast.

Episode 156 saw us down a guest, but we recovered nicely with Jer from Daily Detroit to talk about the Regional Transit Authority after our chat with our friends from Comcast about their coverage of the Olympic Games in Brazil on the Xfinity platform... Comcast can be found at: www.Comcast.net Daily Detroit can be found at: www.DailyDetroit.com [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/276751433" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /] IT in the D On the web: http://www.ITinTheD.com On Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/ On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/IT-in-D-91763 On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ITintheD On Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ITintheD Podcast Detroit is at: On the web: http://www.podcastdetroit.com/ On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PodcastDetroit On Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastDetroit On Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/podcastdetroit

The initial meeting of the Dane County Regional Transit Authority, who is charged with exploring options for regional transportation systems, including expanded bus transit and rail.

Cesar Burgos is Chairman of the Board for New Orleans' Regional Transit Authority (RTA). Cesar reflects on the damages Hurricane Katrina caused to RTA and its fleet. Despite the losses RTA sustained, Cesar believes the RTA can become stronger and more effective than it was before the storm. Recent improvements include state of the art security and a new RTA management company. Cesar says, "I think the city is moving in the right direction and the days of milk and honey are just around the corner."