Podcasts about Stonefield

In this episode, Hailey is westbound for Wisconsin's Great River Road–designated as a National Scenic Byway, named an All-American Road, and known as the Happiness Highway. Winding for 250 miles through 33 picturesque communities, the Great River Road has many must-stops along the way. Today, we're highlighting 10 must-tour towns!The Bobber is brought to you by Something Special from Wisconsin: https://www.somethingspecialwi.com/Read the blog here: https://discoverwisconsin.com/10-towns-you-need-to-tour-on-wisconsins-great-river-road/Dahl Auto Museum: https://www.facebook.com/DahlAutoMuseum/; Freedom Park: https://www.freedomparkwi.org/; Maiden Rock Bluff: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/statenaturalareas/MaidenRockBluff; Stockholm Pie & General Store: https://www.stockholmpie.com/; Villa Bellezza: https://www.villabellezza.com/; Nelson Cheese Factory: https://www.facebook.com/NelsonCheese/; The Monarch Public House: https://www.monarchtavern.com/; Kinstone: https://www.kinstonecircle.com/; Elmaro Vineyard: https://elmarovineyard.com/; Sullivan's Supper Club: https://sullivanssupperclub.com/; Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/upper-mississippi-river; Captain Hooks Bait & Tackle: https://www.captainhookstackle.com/; Genoa National Fish Hatchery: https://www.fws.gov/fish-hatchery/genoa; Villa Louis: https://villalouis.wisconsinhistory.org/; Stonefield: https://stonefield.wisconsinhistory.org/; Potosi Brewing Company: https://www.potosibrewery.com/The Bobber: https://discoverwisconsin.com/the-bobber-blog/The Cabin Podcast: https://the-cabin.simplecast.com. Follow on social @thecabinpodShop Discover Wisconsin: shop.discoverwisconsin.com. Follow on social @shopdiscoverwisconsinDiscover Wisconsin: https://discoverwisconsin.com/. Follow on social @discoverwisconsinDiscover Mediaworks: https://discovermediaworks.com/. Follow on social @discovermediaworksWisconsin Great River Road: https://www.wigrr.com/. Follow on social @wigreatriver

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Tesla Lease Driving Stonefield Boycott w/ Far Left Joann Craft Store Closing (Rio Hill Shopping Center) Businesses With Big Square Feet And Rent Closing Flat Crêperie Founder Opening New F&B Business Commercial Kitchen For Rent In City ($5K/Month) Magnolia House Demolished Despite Attempt To Save AlbCo Attorney Jim Hingeley On I Love CVille (3/5) UVA Innovators Of The Year On I Love CVille (2/20) Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

Dr. Fiona Lovely is a longevity, health and wellness expert with specialties in menopause medicine, functional neurology and functional medicine.  She is speaking to the topics of women's health around perimenopause and menopause.   When Susie Stonefield emailed us and said "I make people cry with art supplies" we knew we had to follow up and ask questions!  Susie is a Creativity and Grief Coach, and teaches us how to art journal; using art supplies to help us express the feelings we cannot necessarily put words to.  Something she calls "the wordless heart".  Susie gives us permission to kindness, to compassion and to treat ourselves gently.   Grief is an obstruction, Susie teaches us.  And it prevents us from finding balance, and experiencing the lovely parts of life often.  We shared our own experiences in this conversation - grief, midlife, holding on tight to keep the wheels on the bus, like so many of you.  I know you will find yourself and sweet relief in this beautiful conversation, just like I did.   Susie created a gorgeous workbook for us, I loved playing with the exercises within.  

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Burger Bach Closes In The Shops At Stonefield Why Are Many Restaurants Closing In CVille Area? Dairy Market Parking Now Free + Other Updates AI-Powered Gaston's Market Opens At UVA Gaston's Features Checkout-Free Shopping AI F&B Store vs Cherry Ave Grocery Chamber Of Commerce Bldg For Sale, Best Use? UVA Stomps Spiders; At Wake Forest Saturday Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

The Government will officially announce this morning a plan “to flood the market” with land for development in a bid to end New Zealand's housing crisis. Chris Bishop will use a speech to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand later this morning, to announce a slew of changes to New Zealand's planning laws.  He wants to flood the market with affordable land to develop and to make it easier and cheaper to develop that land into housing as he told Mike Hosking this morning.    CB: We're going to let cities grow, Mike, it's really important. We've got a housing crisis. We need to allow our cities to grow. We need to get rid of the Auckland metropolitan urban limit. Let Auckland grow out at the fringe, but also do sensible density around transit corridors and around our train stations. More apartments by train stations, more mixed-use zoning, let our cities grow and get on top of this multi-generational problem of housing affordability.  MH: Is this mainly metropolitan? Rural New Zealand, provincial New Zealand doesn't really need to worry about any of this, cause it's not really a problem for them or not?  CB: Yeah, what we call tier one and two cities, so Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, Hamilton, Tauranga, we're not talking about provincial and, and regional rural councils, you know, they've got growth ambitions as well, but we're really talking about our big cities.      Excellent. We need more homes. The lack of affordable housing has left a generation feeling locked out of home ownership and the lack of social housing has led to a myriad of social problems.   But. But. But. There must be protections for future homeowners around the quality of the builds for the community, for all of us who call a city home. Just look around Auckland City if you've visited, if you live here, so many of the apartments chucked up in the 90s are aesthetically abhorrent. They are not fit for purpose. There was no thought put into building them, just chucking them up to basically factory farm people. There must be some rules around what developers can build and how they build. Green spaces, community spaces, homes, just as a basic, that don't leak or have bits drop off into the street. Parkwood Apartments, City Garden Apartments, Victopia, Harbour Oaks, The Pulse, Westmount, St Lukes Gardens, Stonefield villas, that is on the first 2 seconds of a Google search of Auckland apartments that need to be remediated. And the human misery that goes along with sinking your money into a spanking new apartment, only to have it fall around your ears a decade later cannot be overestimated.   So fine, do quality apartments with community spaces, green spaces, that allow for people to live in them. Not just shelter overnight but to live in them. And to live in them for as long as they want, not have to move out while dangerous buildings are repaired. There has got to be some comeback on the developers. So that is one concern.   The other is the idea of moving beyond the city limits. I mean, Auckland is a great sprawling metropolis anyway, it's just about at Hamilton already. Wellington, the geography sort of precludes you from sprawling, but you're certainly inching your way out there. Urban areas expanded by 15% from 1996 to 2018, with 83% of that land converted from farmland. The area of highly productive land lost to housing increased by 54% between 2002 and 2019. And market pressures (this is a story from 2021) will increase with more demand as the population grows here and overseas. Only about 15% of land is flat with good soil and climate, that makes it ideal for food production, which means it needs lesser irrigation and fertilizers. The Ministry for the Environment said if productive land was not available for agriculture, it forced less suitable areas to be used, requiring more fertilizer and more irrigation, which could then hurt the wider environment.   I am absolutely not against building more homes, building more apartments, building more houses, we have to, there's no two ways about it, but we have to do it properly. We have to recognise that if we don't do it well, all we're doing is taping up a problem in the short term, while creating a much, much bigger problem down the line. And I think future generations will have more than enough to deal with, without us giving them even more problems. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Some might call this day Cyber Monday, and I will note that this publication is a creation of the Internet but one that resists that particular title. I'd rather point out that today is also Pins and Needles Day, marking a musical revue from the late 1930's that I'd never heard of until writing this opening paragraph of the November 27 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, I'm Sean Tubbs, and I'm glad to require myself to learn something new every single day. In this edition:* The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has expanded the number of counties under a drought watch advisory* The owners of Stonefield have filed for a rezoning application that could clear the way for a Tesla sales office * Several ideas to address safety issues on Route 151 in Nelson County are ready for review * Albemarle County is preparing for next year's budget and the Board of Supervisors got a recent briefing on the five-year financial forecast  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

When Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield first met on the set of “The Amazing Spider-Man" in 2011, they were both in relationships. But only a few months into filming, the two broke it off with their significant others, and soon, it was obvious they were into each other. ‘Stonefield' quickly became the cutest couple in Hollywood, and both Emma and Andrew's careers skyrocketed as they took on more challenging acting roles. Everything seemed perfect to outsiders—so what happened to this adorable, silly couple?? And where do they stand today? Let us take you through Stonefield's entire timeline, featuring long declarations of love from Andrew, edibles at Disneyland, handmade signs for paparazzi, and a mysterious paper bag. *****  This is a teaser for a bonus episode. You can listen to it in full on Patreon!  Significant Lovers is a true-love podcast about historic and celebrity couples. You can contact us at significantlovers@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram and TikTok @significantlovers.  Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for ‘fair use' for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/significantlovers/support

Today we escape to one of our favorite small towns, Cassville! Hayden & I love to visit this charming Mississippi River town, and we find ourselves escaping there season after season. Check out this episode to hear us gush about this incredible town on the Great River Road. Cassville is home to great restaurants, a state historic site, a state park with stunning views, and some really fun events. I am so happy to be here on my Historic Road Trip and to be seeing Hayden for the first time in a whole week! We can't wait to explore Stonefield, a 1900s farm village! Wanna come to Cassville with us?! Get tickets to Harvest Moon Fest on Saturday, September 16th! We will be there enjoying the start of fall with live music, local vendors, and some Wisconsin beer and wine. It's the fall festival you won't want to miss!CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS TO HARVEST MOON FESTCLICK HERE FOR AN EPISODE RECAP & ALL THE LINKS!This episode is brought to you in part by Explore Cassville.

On this day in 1967, Jimi Hendrix played his last show as the opening act for the Monkees. At least, that's one obscure fact about this day that serves as an ice-breaker for the July 17, 2023 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. But how do we know for sure? Is there a recording? Were any of you there? In any case, I'm skeptical but this is sadly not the focus of this installment of the program. In this particular edition: * A brief look at tonight's meeting of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors* Charlottesville opens up grant program for festivals and events* The search continues for a new fire chief* Some city departments will move into the S&P Building* Charlottesville City Council and the Planning Commission further discuss changes to draft zoning mapI like to write about this community. I really love when people read it. Sign up for free and I promise not to beg you for money. But I do appreciate paid subscriptions.First shout-out: Plant Northern Piedmont NativesSince the beginning of this newsletter, one Patreon supporter has dedicated their shout-out to an organization that seeks to draw awareness of the importance of native species to the ecosystem. As we approach summer, Plant Northern Piedmont Natives wants you to know they've printed over 9,280 copies of their guide Piedmont Native Plants: A Guide for Landscapes and Gardens. In this guide, Piedmont native plants are defined as those that evolved before the influence of European settlements shaped and changed the landscape. Plants included in the guide were selected from the Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora and occur naturally within the region. You can download your copy today for free! Louisa County Supervisors do in fact meet tonightThere's a public hearing on a 5 megawatt solar facility We begin today with a correction. Or rather, an admission of an omission on this mission to inform and illuminate decisions. The Louisa County Board of Supervisors will meet this evening. I'd reported incorrectly that they took the day but that was my error. Rather than repeat all of that, head over to today's Fifth District Community Engagement for an explanation of what happened.Visit above for all of the details, but there are four public hearings worth placing here before we get on with getting through the week ahead.  * There is no staff report for a resolution that would change Louisa County code to allow for the Board of Supervisors to issue a five percent real property tax rebate to citizens. (resolution)* There's a public hearing on a siting agreement for a 5 megawatt solar facility known as OCHS solar or Louisa Solar. This would bring $50,000 to the county if the project is approved. (resolution) (siting agreement)* There's a related public hearing for a conditional use permit for the above project. Go back and look at the meeting overview for a link to more information. * There's a request for a conditional use permit for an equipment sales and rental business in a General Commercial District. The Planning Commission recommended approval with eight conditions. (resolution)A glimpse at the latest report from the City Manager RogersCharlottesville City Council meets tonight and one item I did not include in yesterday's Week Ahead is the report from interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers. Rogers will soon hand over the position to Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders, and Council will vote on Sanders' contract tonight.One of the aspects Rogers' brought to the job when he began in early 2022 was the creation of a written report about what's happening inside of city government. Here are some stories from the latest report.City awarding $560,000 in grants for arts, culture, and festivalsLast August, City Council set aside $580,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act to help spur community events in the wake of the pandemic. The window is open for groups who want to try something new or sustain something existing.“The program is intended to promote citywide special events that will activate public spaces, enrich the lives of residents, encourage partnerships between organizations, foster a vibrant and diverse community, and stimulate economic activity,” reads the report. Applications will be taken in four separate windows and up to $10,000 will be awarded for each event. Take a look at the city's website for information about how to apply.  Search continues for a new fire chief for CharlottesvilleCharlottesville is a city that has had much turnover and many high profile vacancies. That includes the position of fire chief. Michael Thomas has been serving on an interim basis since Hezedean Smith left to take a position in Florida. There were 30 applications to become the new chief. “The in-house review committee, which included representatives of the Fire Fighters union, narrowed the field to eight who were invited to do online interviews. And after that review, four candidates are invited for in-person interviews,” reads the interim city manager's report. An appointment is expected in the next several weeks. City departments moving into S&P BuildingThe City of Charlottesville owns the S&P Building at 700 East Jefferson Street and the Charlottesville Economic Development Authority leases it to S&P. City Council was briefed on the terms of this arrangement last June.Just over a year later, a few city departments will be moving into the building on the 1st and 2nd floors. These include the Office of Community Solutions and Public Works' Engineering Division. A regional group will also move into the space. “The Emergency Communications Center will occupy most of the first floor as training and space for back-office operations to lighten the current pressure at the main office on Ivy Road,” the report continues. Other items:* A new proposed pay scale for city employees will be presented to City Council on August 7 followed by a first reading on August 21. * Melinda Crawford is retiring from her position as the Chief Executive Officer of the Charlottesville Regional Airport. Internal candidates for her replacement will be interviewed by the Charlottesville Albemarle Airport Authority in August. * There were a total of five complaints made to the Police Civilian Oversight Board between October 2022 and April 2023. Three were forwarded to the Police Department's Office of Professional Standards. One was referred to the traffic engineering division as it was about a crosswalk. One more complaint is still pending. The one complaint received in May will be closed because it involved a UVA police officer. No complaints were received in June. * An update on the decarbonization study for municipal gas will be given to Council in October with a final report to be ready in February. Council was briefed on the launch of the study in March. Second shout-out: eBike Lending Library In today's second subscriber supported shout-out, one Patreon supporter wants you to know that Charlottesville now has an eBike Lending Library!  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 we 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.orgCharlottesville City Council and the Planning Commission further discuss changes to draft zoning mapSpoiler alert. I'm still quite behind on writing about the latest on the draft zoning code in Charlottesville. I also really want to write up the discussion on the Comprehensive Plan in last week. Later this week I'll write up the three hour discussion from July 13, 2023 between the City Council and the Planning Commission. Near the beginning of the Charlottesville Planning Commission meeting held on Tuesday, July 11,  there was this bit of information from Missy Creasy, the deputy director of the city's department of Neighborhood Development Services. “Because we're going to be talking about the zoning ordinance at length on Thursday, we won't have any additional zoning ordinance discussions for this evening,” Creasy said.The Planning Commission has held two joint work sessions with the City Council on the work session. The first was held on July 5 and was intended to be a continuation of a May 23 work session on potential changes to the zoning map. That one lasted four hours, and I have a summary of that discussion. You can either listen to it here on Charlottesville Community Engagement or read the text-only version on Information Charlottesville. The July 13 edition focused on residential neighborhoods and I plan to write that up in detail. But the July 5 noontime meeting began with an exchange captured between Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook and Charlottesville Planning Commissioner Lyle Solla-Yates.“R-A, R-B, and R-C,” Solla-Yates can be heard before the meeting began. “I talked with staff about it just now, and that will be the next one that will be addressed at a work session…. Do you understand the issue?” “Well, I understand the issue, but I don't understand the resolution,” Snook said. “We will get there,” Solla-Yates said.“Okay,” Snook. “Which is a terrible answer, but that's my answer today,” Solla-Yates said. “Okay,” Snook. “Your concern is noted,” Solla-Yates said. What concern? What resolution? Maybe we'll find out. The July 5 meeting took two hours. The group went one by one through a series of specific requests recommended by members of the public. The following is some of what they discussed. Cedar Hills Road at District AvenueA two-block section of Hydraulic Road across from Stonefield in Albemarle County is currently listed as Corridor Mixed-Use 5 in the draft zoning code. One member of the public noted that currently some of those blocks are duplexes and other affordable places to live. Commissioner Philip d'Oronzio suggested switching those not fronting Hydraulic Road to Residential-A or Residential-B in order to preserve them. Councilor Brian Pinkston pointed out that the Commonwealth Transportation Board recently approved a roundabout at District Avenue at Hydraulic. That means some of those structures may be demolished to make way for that project. Snook, a member of the MPO Policy Board, said at least two buildings would have to go. (read that story)“Part of my concern is that I would hate to get to a situation where we are so determined to maximize housing that we don't allow for commercial uses in places where commercial uses make sense,” Snook said. d'Oronzio described the existing character of the land not fronting Hydraulic.“Once you get two steps back from Hydraulic you are in a quiet suburban neighborhood,” d'Oronzio said. The group reached consensus to make many of the changes to some of the properties. As this is a written and audio visual, I can't see precisely what was changed. Rugby / Grady and accommodating the student population Another request to the Future Land Use Map was for an area around Rugby Avenue and Grady Avenue designated for High-Intensity Residential. This is an area that's used for off-Grounds housing for students at the University of Virginia. “The current designation shows High-Intensity Residential for 3 owner-occupied homes, which seems to me like an encroachment of that student area into non-student land that won't be necessary if we densify within its current boundaries,” reads the request.  When the draft zoning map was drawn, these parcels were designated as Residential Mixed Use, or RX-3.At the work session, Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg suggested going in the other direction and increasing them by one grade to RX-5.“And the general philosophy of fitting as many students into existing student areas as we can so that they stop spreading out, Stolzenberg said. “That would leave a little more room to fit them in. I think 5 is also fairly consistent with some new development on Virginia Avenue that's four stories over there that is obviously higher than three.” However, Stolzenberg suggested some of the owner-occupied houses could be reduced to address the community member's concern. This topic comes up at a time when the University of Virginia is conducting a planning study for an initiative to house all second-year students on Grounds. Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook expressed skepticism. “That's just me trying to read tea leaves and it's not any inside knowledge,” Snook said. “And if it happens it's going to happen probably at least five years from now anyway and maybe more like ten. Who knows? By that time we'll have a different Board of Visitors and we may have a different president. We don't know.” Planning Commissioner Carl Schwarz pointed out that after 14th Street was up-zoned in 2003, many houses came down to make way for the large apartment buildings that have been built ever since. Schwarz served two terms on the Board of Architectural Review (BAR) before being appointed to the Planning Commission last year and has seen many applications in this specific area. “This area has been kind of a battle ground for the BAR,” Schwarz said. “It is a bit of a struggle because there are a lot of single family houses that are no longer single family houses. And it's a little frustrating because there's an elementary school and the library and you've got parks. It's set up as a neighborhood but it's almost exclusively lived in by students.” Councilor Brian Pinkston raised a concern that the city may not have the ability to handle the additional density. The properties adjoining a nearby intersection are either Residential-C or RX-3. “We're assuming a lot of things about vehicles, we're assuming a lot of things about the road network, and so where Rugby (Road) comes into Preston (Avenue) just north of there essentially in an area that for better or worse has been residential for many years, that's going to be essentially like a hub as we're looking at it and I have some questions about whether that's really feasible.” Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg said that was not the area he was considering for upzoning. He meant closer to the University on properties that are currently zoned either in the UMD or UHD category. “That is zoned for 50 feet, five stories,” Stolzenberg said. “So really what we're proposing in this map is really a downzoning from what we allow there now. RX-5 would be what's allowed now.”Snook asked if anyone had ever quantified the number of UVA students who live in areas designated in student housing. Bill Palmer works in the office of the UVA Architect and said they've studied the issue.“Generally what we've found for undergraduates especially is that they want to be as close to UVA as possible,” Palmer said. “I will say that this area and [Jefferson Park Avenue] are both serve by our [University Transit Service] and very walkable.” However, Palmer said many students do bring their cars and if there are no parking minimums in the future, there would have to be some management. Upzoning church propertiesThere has been a trend in Charlottesville for church properties to go through rezonings to add residential density. This has happened at Hinton Avenue Baptist Church in Belmont, Park Street Christian Church, and Mount View Baptist Church in Locust Grove.In the comments on the Future Land Use Map made so far there were two further requests for church properties to be designated for future residential growth. These are at the Greek Orthodox Church on McIntire Road and Mount Zion Baptist Church. The Greek Orthodox Church property has a draft zoning designation of Residential-C. The Mount Zion Baptist Church property is Residential-A and is in the Sensitive Communities overlay. Commissioner Karim Habbab suggested it could be increased.“The South First Street development across the street is RX-3,” Habbab said. “Would it make sense to make [Mount Zion Baptist Church] RX-3? It's right on Elliot Avenue.” Freas said doing so as part of this process would require an alteration to the Future Land Use Map, which may slow down the rezoning process. Upzoning north of the BypassCharlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook responded to community members suggestions that the area north of the U.S. 250 Bypass might not be suitable for medium-intensity residential. I'll point out that as I write this, I don't have access to the spreadsheet to which Planning Commissioners and Councilors made reference. For instance, the current draft zoning map designates properties along Meadowbrook Heights Road, Grove Road and Kenwood Lane as Residential-B matching the Medium-Intensity designation called for in the Future Land Use Map.  “One of the primary reasons why I really don't want to increase density right there unless we are going to solve the traffic problem,” Snook said. “That gets back to the question that I've been asking for a year now which is what responsibility do we have if we create a greater degree of intensity of use there?” Snook said the city has limited resources to put into infrastructure and the city might have to use eminent domain to buy right of way for more sidewalks. More on this topic in future editions of the program. Reading material:* Albemarle County plans study to address overcrowding, undercrowding in schools, Faith Redd, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), July 15, 2023* Around $20K collected in Charlottesville from plastic bag tax, NBC29, Jacob Phillips, July 16, 2023Here's what's at the end of #557:I write this edition in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. I'll be here a lot more. How much more? Doesn't really matter, but what does matter is that torrential rain hit here the other day and a family of seven died when their vehicle washed away in a flash flood. Pennsylvania is contemplating joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative while Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin is doing what he can to pull out. What should happen? I don't know. But the point of this newsletter is to make you pay attention to what's happening and I am disappointed I've not been able to cover this specific issue. Why do any of us do any of the things we do? What is this life? Is it mere trivia that Jimi Hendrix did in fact open for the Monkees? Who gets to decide what is interesting and what's worth knowing? What's really worth paying attention to? All of us. I thank you for choosing to read what I put together. Advertising returns next time. Please pay attention and learn everything you can about this very complex world that needs constant vigilance to survive. Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! This week is the 5th installment of our series celebrating the gender with the most attitude and pure ferocity. Piss off a man; you can fight it out and then go have a pint at the pub. Piss off a woman, and you will pay for it 10-fold… In this episode, we focus on women that truly rock! Ladies that play loud and heavy with attitude, grit, and that rasp. What's this InObscuria thing? We're a podcast that exhumes obscure Rock n' Punk n' Metal and puts them in one of 3 categories: the Lost, the Forgotten, or the Should Have Beens. These ladies bring it, and you owe to yourself to check them out! We hope we turn you on to something new!Songs this week include:The Gems – “Like A Phoenix” from Like A Phoenix - single (2023)Blues Pills – “Proud Woman” from Holy Moly! (2020)ONE FALL – “Rats Abandon Ship” from ONE FALL (2022)Stonefield – “Shutdown” from BENT (2019)Larkin Poe – “Strike Gold” from Blood Harmony (2022)The Downhauls – “Spit The Poison Out” from Spit Into The Void - EP (2023)Thunderpussy – “Thunderpussy” from Thunderpussy (2018)Visit us: https://inobscuria.com/https://www.facebook.com/InObscuriahttps://twitter.com/inobscuriahttps://www.instagram.com/inobscuria/Buy cool stuff with our logo on it!: https://www.redbubble.com/people/InObscuria?asc=uCheck out Robert's amazing fire sculptures and metal workings here: http://flamewerx.com/If you'd like to check out Kevin's band THE SWEAR, take a listen on all streaming services or pick up a digital copy of their latest release here: https://theswear.bandcamp.com/If you want to hear Robert and Kevin's band from the late 90s – early 00s BIG JACK PNEUMATIC, check it out here: https://bigjackpnuematic.bandcamp.com/

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Welcome to another episode of Decode Your Burnout Podcast! In this episode, we have a special guest, Daniella Stonefield, a businesswoman, author, and speaker who shares her insights on how to know your worth and be worth what you charge.       Daniella starts by sharing a childhood memory where she witnessed her friend's mother creating stunning holiday decorations but undervaluing her work by charging low prices. Daniella took it upon herself to secretly double or triple the prices, leading to a pleasantly surprised and confused mother at the end of her craft show. This experience inspired Daniella to help others recognize the value of their work and charge what they're worth.     Throughout the episode, Daniella debunks myths about self-worth and gives tips on how to boost it in yourself and your children. She emphasizes the difference between value and price and highlights the problem with fixed self-worth. She encourages listeners to get to know themselves and push through resistance and discomfort to reach their full potential.     Daniella also addresses limiting beliefs and how to deal with them, offering practical advice on how to reframe negative self-talk and shift your mindset.     Tune in to this episode to learn how to recognize your worth and charge what you're worth with confidence. Don't miss this inspiring conversation with Daniella Stonefield!     About Daniella: Daniella is a multifaceted professional with experience as a businesswoman, author, and speaker. Alongside her husband, Ric, she manages a bespoke boutique real estate group that specializes in representing exquisite homes and their passionate owners across the stunning Lowcountry of South Carolina. They both reside on the serene Hilton Head Island, where they share their home with their beloved German Shorthaired Pointer and company mascot, Daisy.     Resources:     1) daniellastonefield@gmail.com    2) @daniellastonefield   3) Sign up for a free Breakthrough Session with Dr. Sharon: http://www.bookachatwithsharon.com   4) Take the first step to decode your burnout: http://decodeyourburnout.com    

Riley Peterson from the Stonefield Ranch YouTube channel joins the podcast to discuss horsemanship, content creation, and the voluntary hardship of being a cowboy. He offers great insight into fatherhood, faith, and the world of Quarter horses. Enjoy! Links: Stonefield Ranch on YouTube TCP with Ryan Richardson Zane Davis on The Gauge Podcast 4 Tips for Buying Horses on Stonefield Ranch   Topics: (2:02) - Riley's background and upbringing (5:39) - Being a member of LDS (8:51) - What inspired you to start your YT channel? (12:35) - What does it mean to be naturally gifted with a horse? (17:51) - How do you come up with content? (21:23) - Do your kids enjoy cowboying? (24:36) - global influences on cowboy culture & fatherhood (29:25) - Cowboying is voluntary hardship (32:40) - Would you say you're an extrovert or an introvert? (34:56) - What makes someone go from average to great? (37:42) - Quarter Horses (46:22) - How do you set up your technology for high quality content? (51:34) - Podcasting vs. YouTube (53:42) - Riley's leg in the tech world

What a way to finish this season! Two of Australia's best garden designers share their insights on garden design and what inspires them. The amazing Paul Bangay joins Charlie Albone to discuss how his garden designs have evolved over the years, the passion and inspiration for his incredible designs, and Paul's amazing gardens at his Stonefield property in Victoria. Their shared passion for gardening and garden design is infectious and will inspire you to think about your own garden.  On today's episode:Where Paul's passion for gardening beganHow travel inspires Paul's designsThe changing trends of what Australians want from their gardenHow Stonefields has evolved over the yearsThe rewards you can expect from working in your vegetable patchThe importance of maintenance for your gardenAnd the role Harold the peacock plays in Paul's garden Today's Guest: Paul Bangay OAM is one of Australia's most well-renowned landscape designers, with an extensive list of public and private commissions in Australia and beyond. Paul has been creating gardens that boast timeless charm and classic simplicity for over 25 years. In 2001, he was awarded the Centenary Medal for his contribution to public design projects. Paul has appeared on a number of gardening and lifestyle programs and published many widely-anticipated books, the most recent being ‘Small Garden Design' (2019).  We'd love to hear from you, please email any questions you have about your garden to: charlie@stihl.com.au Look after your plants in the summer months, with advice from the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Check out the STIHL blog for all your gardening questions.https://blog.stihl.com.au/how-to-keep-plants-safe-during-the-summer-months/ Website: stihl.com.au/Instagram - @stihl_au or @charlie_albone This podcast was hosted by Charlie Albone and created by STIHL AustraliaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fifty-three years today, human beings landed on Earth’s moon. As far as I know, they didn’t stay very long but I’ve not had the chance to check out the scene myself. But with enough subscriptions to Charlottesville Community Engagement, I will consider purchasing a rocket just to make sure. For now, it’s the July 20, 2022 edition of the program and I’m your lunatic host, Sean Tubbs. On today’s program:The city of Charlottesville opens up cooling centers as temperatures continue to climbInterim Charlottesville City Manager Michael C. Rogers and his staff provide updates on the Crescent Halls bus stop as well as efforts to make walking school routes saferChamber’s Minority Business Alliance seeking applications for 2022 Vanguard AwardA local brewery unveils the official lager of the University of Virginia Charlottesville wants more people to apply to various boards and commissionToday’s first shout-out: Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards to lead more walksIn today’s first subscriber supported public supported public service announcement: Want to know more about our majestic wooden neighbors that help purify the air and provide shade on these hot summer days? The Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards have two upcoming walks where you can learn more about trees in the area: This Saturday at 9 a.m., a group will be led through Darden Towe Park beginning at the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center to see Ancient tOsage Orange trees, a historic Monticello Tulip Tree, elm tree devastation due to the emerald ash borer, and common deciduous and conifer trees. (register)On July 29 at 9 a.m, three stewards will lead a walk through Belmont with about twenty stops to explore urban (register)Become a member, and you’ll get access to even more Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards events!Charlottesville opens up cooling centersWith temperatures this week in the 90’s and possibly above, the city of Charlottesville has officially launched several places where people can go to stay out of the heat.  Key Recreation Center, Tonsler Recreation Center, and the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library have been designated as cooling centers during the day until further notice. Key Recreation Center is located at 800 E. Market Street.  The hours of operation are 5:30pm– 9pm Monday through Friday; 1pm– 6pm on Saturday and Sunday.  Tonsler Recreation Center is located at 501 Cherry Avenue.  The hours of operation are Noon – 9pm Monday through Friday; 1pm-6pm Saturday and closed on Sunday.Jefferson – Madison Regional Library (Central Branch) is located at 201 E. Market Street.  The hours of operation are 9am-9pm Monday through Thursdays; 9am-5pm Friday and Saturday; closed Sunday.Planning for heat for near-term, long-termThe Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is working on an update of the Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan, which is intended to help coordinate public response to natural disasters. There’s a section on extreme heat that may be useful to know at a time when heat records are being surpassed across Europe. “Extreme heat can be defined as temperatures that hover 10°F or more above the average high temperature for the region, last for prolonged periods of time, and are often accompanied by high humidity,” reads page H-25 of the plan. “Under normal conditions, the human body’s internal thermostat produces perspiration that evaporates and cools the body. However, in extreme heat and high humidity, evaporation is slowed, and the body must work much harder to maintain a normal temperature.”As with COVID-19, extreme heat effects take a toll more strongly on the elderly, people with respiratory difficulties, and those with other health vulnerabilities. The City of Charlottesville recently produced a summary of hazards associated with climate change. (read the report)“The climate models show that by 2050, Charlottesville may experience more than twice as many extreme heat events annually as there were in 2020,” reads page 3 of that report. “By 2100, there may be almost seven times as many.” One way to cool off is at an outdoor pool. Both Albemarle County and the city of Charlottesville have struggled to fill positions this summer. Charlottesville has offered signing bonuses for lifeguards and pool managers, but Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Vic Garber told City Council on Monday that the decision to only open one outdoor pool a day is still in effect.“We are probably 70 percent there so we’re still rotating Washington Park and Onesty but we’re working very hard,” Garber said. The issue also came up at today’s meeting of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors.“In the next ten days, we’re looking at temperatures each day going over 90 up to 100,” said Supervisor Chair Donna Price. “The last seven years have been the hottest in recorded history. Climate change is real and I would ask everyone to be careful, to do what you can to reduce the heat footprint that you are creating.”Price said that includes reducing driving, drawing shades, and raising the thermostat for air conditioning. What do you do when it gets hot out? Say something in the comments. City Manager Rogers provides updates on Crescent Hall bus stop, other mattersOnce a month, interim Charlottesville City Manager Michael C. Rogers publishes a written report that summarizes recent activities. In my fifteen years of covering and monitoring Charlottesville government, this is one of the most thorough and useful documents produced by the city. (read the report)On Monday, Rogers offered some verbal updates taken from the report. Earlier this year, Charlottesville Area Transit had proposed moving a bus stop at Crescent Halls, a temporarily vacant apartment complex owned and operated by the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. In April, the Public Housing Association of Residents pushed for CAT to reconsider and Rogers said the city has listened.“A decision has been made and the bus stop will not be moved,” Rogers said. “The bus stop will not be moved. It will stay right there so we are very pleased to make that announcement.”The stop is currently served by Route 6, which currently travels between the University of Virginia Health System, Downtown Mall, and Willoughby Shopping center. There are plans to change the route to eliminate the UVA connection, but implementation of those changes are delayed due to a lack of drivers. (Next steps for Charlottesville Area Transit route changes outlined at partnership meeting, June 24, 2022)Rogers said work continues on development of a collective bargaining ordinance and Council will have a work session at 4 p.m. on August 15. The company Venable LLP has been hired to assist with the work. A firm has also been hired to assist with a search for a new police chief.“We selected a company called Polihire out of Washington, D.C.,” Rogers said. “They will work with us on developing an aggressive community outreach program. We look forward to hearing from the community with respect to what kind of chief do they want.”The city has also hired Steve Hawkes as the director of information technology and Caroline Rice as the new Public Engagement Coordinator. Kyle Ervin will be the Public Information Officer for public safety. He was formerly the marketing coordinator for CAT. Sanders provides updates on school walk zonesDeputy City Manager Sam Sanders said the local government continues to work to address driver shortages for the school system. There are 35 days to the first day of school and there will not be as many bus routes. “We are working in collaboration with Charlottesville City Schools to solve the various issues that may result from having an additional 750 kids having to walk to school this year,” Sanders said. Last week, the Charlottesville Planning Commission told Council they wanted to see solutions in place before school begins. (read that story)Sanders said talks have been held with Albemarle County Public Schools about collaborating with one possibility being for special needs students to make sure they can get to school. Another collaboration could be with Jaunt to see if there is a possibility to share drivers.“We won’t be able to use their equipment because of the federal nature of the funds that they receive but when drivers are working for Jaunt they may be able to drive for us so we’re looking to see if we can figure out a way to make that possible,” Sanders said. Sanders said the planning affects multiple localities across the region and regional approaches are required. He said the city is also looking to find ways to work with groups who want to solve the identified problem. “We’re looking to capture proposals from neighborhood led groups hoping that we’ll be able to deploy those groups in doing some of the work as well since they have offered to do so,” Sanders said. That includes suggestions from Livable Cville and the city’s Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. In a future edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, we’ll hear more about the possible addition of $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding to cover the costs of some of the work. “Our goal will be to quickly get some of these things out and basically available to make this process a little bit easier,” Sanders said. If you have a student or students in Charlottesville Public Schools, what do you plan to do? Second shout-out: WTJU staging the Cville Puzzle Hunt on August 27In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out: By now, readers and listeners know WTJU’s position on algorithms. But do you know that the radio station celebrates puzzles? In fact, on Saturday, August 27, WTJU is organizing the Cville Puzzle Hunt, a huge, cerebral puzzle that will spool out across downtown Charlottesville. The Cville Puzzle Hunt will take you and a team of friends on a wild afternoon running around trying to untangle five diabolical, large-scale puzzles inserted into the urban landscape. The opening clue will be read at 1 p.m. at the Ix Art Park. Find out more about this WTJU-organized event at cvillepuzzlehunt.com. Chamber’s Minority Business Alliance seeking applications for 2022 Vanguard AwardDo you know someone who should be recognized for their efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion? Or a small business or group that seeks the same goals? The Minority Business Alliance of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce is taking applications through August 5 for the John F. Bell Sr. Vanguard Award. “The MBA Vanguard Award is named in honor of John F. Bell Sr., a strong, determined and respected business leader and citizen who established successful businesses during a time when the larger society wasn’t welcoming to or supportive of the Black business community,” reads a press release for the award.This will be the tenth annual award. Previous recipients include Community Investment Collaborative, William Jones III, Hollie Lee, Eugene and Lorraine Williams, Forward Adelante Business Alliance, and Kaye Monroe.Nominations can be submitted here. Champion to make official lager for University of VirginiaThe Champion Brewing Company began operations ten years ago with a small brewery in downtown Charlottesville. Now they’ve expanded to multiple places across Virginia and are part of the larger Champion Hospitality Group with restaurants in Stonefield, Gordonsville, and across Charlottesville.In 45 days, the first University of Virginia home football game will be held at Scott Stadium. Yesterday, Champion announced that its Cavalier Lager will become the officially licensed beer for UVA sporting events.“As life-long UVA sports fans, it’s been a dream of the team to have a Cavalier beer offered at UVA games,” said Champion CEO Hunter Smith in a release. “It’s a hometown lager brewed with our college athletes and their fans top of mind.”The beer will also be available in area stores. This is the first year that the University of Virginia has licensed an official beer. Vacancies still remain on various board and commissions in CharlottesvilleThe next edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement will provide details of who got appointed to the Charlottesville Planning Commission. Council made those appointments at the end of the July 18 meeting, and I’m going through that one chronologically. Earlier in this meeting, Charlottesville Mayor Snook LLoyd pleaded with the public to consider getting involved.“We need more people applying for Boards and Commissions,” Snook said. “We’ve got a couple of Boards and Commission that are down a couple of people. The Region 10 Community Services Board is one. The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority is another. Historic Resources Committee. The Jefferson Area Community Criminal Justice Board. Jaunt. [Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau] needs a representative from the tourism industry.” If you’d like to apply, visit the city’s website. Here’s a list of all the boards.Housekeeping items for the end of #410Thanks for reading today. Charlottesville Community Engagement is a service of Town Crier Productions, a limited liability company set up to produce information about the public policy and the built environment in Charlottesville and beyond. We are now in the third year of this publication, and this is installment 410. Please consider a paid subscription to ensure I make it to the fourth year. There’s a lot at stake as we continue to live our complex lives in a democratic civilization that always needs its community members to pay attention and to look at the documents up close. The podcast version contains music created by the entity currently known as Wraki and made available with permission. To support that band, consider buying the album regret everything, available on Bandcamp on a ‘pay as you can’ basis. Support for Charlottesville Community Engagement also comes from Patreon supporters of Town Crier Productions, who also help fund other projects such as Fifth District Community Engagement and the Information Charlottesville archives.If you sign up for a paid subscription through Substack, the company Ting will also match your initial payment. Their support for Charlottesville Community Engagement is a crucial element required for the sustained production of all of my work. I’m grateful, and hope to continue answering the calling I hear to help inform you of things that are happening. Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

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It’s the final Friday of June, unless something can be done to add another day to the month. I am unaware of any campaign to do so, but perhaps there need to be changes. So, welcome to this 24th day of the fifth interval of what we’ve come to call the two thousand and twenty-second year. This is Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast about the built environment that celebrates 400 editions with this installment that arrives 711 days later. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. Sign up for a free subscription, but if you opt to pay, Ting will match your initial payment! On today’s edition of the program:Charlottesville’s budget surplus is increasing with revenues higher than originally budgetedCharlottesville City Council will make appointments to the Planning Commission in July You can count on one hand the number of Albemarle residents who voted in the Republican Primary for the 7th Congressional District Changes to Charlottesville Area Transit routes could soon occur as soon as more drivers can be hired First shout-out: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign Since the very beginning of this newsletter, one long-time Patreon supporter has used his shout-out to draw your attention to the work of the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign but today let’s talk about National Pollinator Week, which runs through June 26! There will be many events designed to draw your attention to the crucial role that bees and other creatures play in making sure plants reproduce. On Saturday at 10 a.m., Scottsville’s Center for the Arts and Natural Environment will host Allison Wickham from Siller Pollinator Company will lead an introduction to bees and beekeeping. If you're thinking about starting a backyard beehive or are just curious about what's involved with keeping bees, then this is a great introductory class for you. There will even be a honey competition judged by Allison Wickham! For the tuition rate and to register, visit svilleartsandnature.org for a list of all of the upcoming classes. Charlottesville’s FY22 surplus likely to increaseThere’s less than a week until the fiscal new year for Virginia and its local governments. On Tuesday, Charlottesville City Council got an update from interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers on what can be expected in terms of “one-time money” in the form of a financial report. (read the report)“And we see that there’s a projected $14 million surplus for revenue,” Rogers said. That’s higher than the $13 million projected in April. However, Rogers said that number could change as the city’s expenditures have also been down due to various reasons including COVID. “We have a lot of vacancies in our budget, the market has had an impact on our ability to hire as rapidly as we need to,” Rogers said. “While 92 percent of the budget year has passed, we’ve only spent about 85 percent of our budget expenditures. That’s going to release in a surplus.”However, Rogers said the actual surplus will not be known until later in the year after the city’s books are closed and reconciled. One of the reasons why there will be a surplus is due to tax rates increases and assessment rises for personal property and real estate. Earlier this year, Council voted to increase the real estate tax rate to $0.96 per $100 of assessed value. That penny increase applied to the entire calendar year of 2022. Council also opted to keep the personal property rate at $4.20 per $100 of assessed value, also contributing to the surplus. That was over the recommendation of Commissioner of Revenue Todd Divers who suggested reducing it due to a sharp increase in the value of used vehicles. The city also will not bring in as much revenue from Parks and Recreation as originally believed. “During the budget process we budgeted for the idea that we thought we would be fully operational but as you know we’re not and so therefore we are not going to make those marks,” said Krisy Hammill, the city’s senior budget performance analyst. The city has also closed on its latest sale of municipal bonds which are used to finance capital projects. The cost of doing so will increase as interest rates go up. “We closed with about $28 million at a rate at about 3.07 percent, which is about double of what we got last year but it is indicative of the market and still a very good rate,” Hammill said. Council makes appointments, but not yet to Planning CommissionOn Tuesday, City Council appointed Laura Knott and Sally Duncan to the city’s Historic Resources Committee and Dashad Cooper to the Police Civilian Oversight Board. Other appointments included members of the Sister Cities Commission, the Region 10 Board, and the Retirement Commission. However, they did not fill all the open positions.“Appointments to the Planning Commission have been postponed until the July 18 Council meeting,” said Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook. “There were a few people we needed to interview and didn’t have time to do it today and at least one person was not available.”Council will not meet the first week of July. The window to apply for the Planning Commission has closed. There were at least 28 applications for the five seats, including those of sitting Commissioners Karim Habbab, Hosea Mitchell, and Rory Stolzenberg. There will be at least two newcomers because Commissioners Taneia Dowell and Jody Lahendro are not eligible for another term.  There are three at-large vacancies on the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Applications for those positions are due on August 5, 2022. That entity’s next public meeting is June 27, 2022 and there’s no information yet available on their website. In fact, there’s not been a meeting listed on the CRHA website since January 2021. (apply here)City still seeking to fill key vacancies crucial to approval of new buildings Earlier this month, interim Charlottesville City Manager Michael C. Rogers told Council of a shortage of building inspectors. On Tuesday, he said positions are being readvertised and other solutions are being explored. “I have executed an agreement with the University of Virginia’s building official to provide staff capacity to assist us in the permitting and inspections process and they began last week,” Rogers said.Rogers said the agreement will carry into the fall. Albemarle Republicans choose Anderson in 7th Congressional District Voters in Albemarle’s “Small Sliver” within Virginia’s new 7th Congressional District went to the polls Tuesday in the Republican primary. Eight people in all voted in the six way race and half selected Derrick Anderson, the candidate who came in second-place overall. There were two votes for State Senator Bryce Reeves who came in third and two votes for the winner. Yesli Vega received 10,878 votes and will face incumbent Democrat Abigail Spanberger in November. Albemarle County is otherwise entirely within the new Fifth District. I’ve begun reporting on the Fifth District with a new newsletter if you want to join my journey in learning more about the localities within. In today’s two other shout-outs: Code for Charlottesville and local media!You’re listening to Charlottesville. Community Engagement and it’s time for two quick shout-outs. Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects. The final comes from another Patreon supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, the Crozet Gazette, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today!Next steps for Charlottesville Area Transit route changes outlined at partnership meeting Before the pandemic, Charlottesville Area Transit hired the firm Nelson Nygaard to take a look at its routes to suggest changes to optimize service. The study was done but nothing has been implemented so far. The Jefferson Area Regional Transit Partnership got an update at their meeting yesterday.“CAT planned on implementing that system optimization plan last year but they’ve been dealing with driver shortages like every other transit agency in the country so that’s been postponed,” said Jim Baker of Nelson Nygaard. CAT director Garland Williams directed Nelson Nygaard to revisit the route changes to identify how it might be phased into service over time rather than be done all at once. This would include restoring service to pre-COVID levels, expanding service areas in both Charlottesville and Albemarle, and expanding Saturday and Sunday service. Since the pandemic, CAT has run no service on Sundays. “We felt like that’s a pressing need to get some level of Sunday service back on the streets,” Baker said. “So we’re proposing to get the trolley back online, the Route 12 which ran pre-pandemic up the U.S. 29 corridor, and to get service down into Avon Street past the CAT garage for Sunday service. Baker said three routes would see changes as part of the first phase.The Center at Belvedere would finally be served by the northbound journey of Route 11. To make up for the time, there will no longer be service on a loop that runs through the Locust Grove neighborhood.  Route 2 would be split into two services with 2A serving Fifth Street Station and the Willoughby Shopping Center and 2B serving Mill Creek in Albemarle County for the first time on its way to Piedmont Virginia Community College. This would also serve Monticello High School. 2A would run for some of Sunday A second bus would be added to the current Route 6 to improve frequency to 30 minutesThe second phase would make changes to services along the U.S. 29 corridor.Route 7 would be expanded to the Wal-Mart and would travel bi-directionally along Hillsdale Drive and through Seminole Square Shopping Center. Baker said the goal here is to link downtown Charlottesville with Wal-Mart, which is a major shopping destination. Route 5 would no longer travel to the Wal-Mart but would instead have a northern terminus at Fashion Square Mall. Its new southern terminus would be the UVA Hospital. The Sunday-only Route 12 would be eliminated in favor of Route 7 going seven days a week The third phase will implement the rest of the changes. Here are some of them:Saturday service would be introduced to Route 1 Route 3 would be broken into two routes with one traveling solely between downtown and Willoughby Shopping Center A new route, tentatively known as Route 3E, would travel around Belmont and downtownRoute 6 would no longer serve the University of Virginia Hospital via Prospect Avenue. It would also be routed along South First Street as it travels between downtown and the Willoughby Shopping Center. This would add additional service to Crescent Hall.Route 8 serves Stonefield and would be altered to travel south to the University of Virginia Hospital and down to Willoughby Shopping Center via Prospect Avenue. This service would no longer travel downtown. Route 9 would also no longer serve the UVA Hospital and would instead travel to Fashion Square Mall Route 10 would be altered to no longer travel on Stony Point Road and instead would travel bidirectionally through the Pantops Shopping Center on its way between Downtown Charlottesville and Sentara Martha JeffersonWhen will the phases be implemented? According to the presentation, that’s all going to depend on drivers. Six more drivers are needed for phase one, a total of 12 are needed for phase two, and a total of 27 are needed for phase 3. There’s an additional “phase three plus” that’s perhaps not worth detailing because it would need a total of 46 additional drivers. That’s a much higher number than six. “Assuming we can get the pay scale to be comparable to Jaunt and [University Transit System], and we can get six more drivers, that should not be [beyond the reach] and then we can begin phase 1,” Williams said. “The jump, though, is getting authorization from the city and the county to fund us to make the additional resources.” The Regional Transit Partnership meeting was held a couple of hours before a public meeting on the Regional Transit Vision Plan. which is $350,000 in the making. The following illustrates confusion that can come from having planning processes not tied to actual logistics. City Councilor Brian Pinkston asked what the proposed CAT changes had to do with that study.“Is this sort of like a first step towards that larger vision?”Williams said these changes have nothing to do with the Regional Transit Vision Plan. “They didn’t even copy these routes,” Williams said. “They took a whole new approach and said the slate was clean.” I’ll have more from the Regional Transit Partnership and more on the Regional Transit Vision plan in future installments of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Support the program!There’s a lot of information in this installment of this program, which is the 397th edition of the program. About a quarter of you are paying something to help keep Town Crier Productions in business. I have never been a very good salesperson, and won’t overly pitch.But, if you are benefiting from this newsletter and the information in it, please consider some form of support. I am not a nonprofit organization and most of my time is spent in putting the newsletter together, which includes producing the podcast.Supporting the program through a Substack contribution or through Patreon makes it very easy for me to get paid and every single dollar that I get makes me want to work that much harder to serve the community. In just under two years, I’ve produced hundreds of stories that seek to give you information about how decisions are made in our community and in the Commonwealth of Virginia.For more information on all of this, please visit the archive site Information Charlottesville to learn more, including how you too can get a shout-out! Thank you for reading, and please share with those you think might want to learn a few thing or two about what’s happening. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Following up from yesterday, did you find your lost socks? Do you have an interest in tying up loose ends? For that’s mostly what this May 10, 2022 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement shall be, with bits and bobs from previous weeks knitted together in this 377th edition of this newsletter and or podcast. I’m your host, Sean and or Tubbs.  Send this on to someone new so we can grow the audience!On today’s program:Transit officials from Burlington, Vermont chat with Charlottesville-area transit officials about efforts to carry more public school students on public transportation The latest campaign finance reports are in for the race for the Republican nomination in the 5th Congressional DistrictStonefield will be the next place in the area that people can relax in public with an alcoholic beverage And both Albemarle and Charlottesville are still recruiting lifeguards to open up the swim season First shout-out: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign It’s springtime, and one Patreon subscriber wants you to know that 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!Good raises $71K in April; Moy did not file FEC report by deadline There are ten days remaining in the race for the Republican nomination for the Fifth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Incumbent Bob Good faces a challenge from Attorney Dan Moy of Charlottesville. Yesterday was the deadline for candidates to file a report for campaign activity between April 1 and May 1, a report that only applies to candidates who are seeking a party nomination through a convention. (details on FEC website)Good raised $71,058 in the period and spent $74,225, leaving a balance of $370,131.54. (read the report)Updated after publication:Moy filed a day late and reported $7,870 in contribution in April and the campaign spent $38,127.13. The challenger had $17,682.75 on hand at the end of the period. (read the report)The winner of the Republican convention on May 21 will face Democrat Joshua Throneburg in the general election. Throneburg was the only candidate to qualify for the primary ballot. (read all of campaign finance reports for the 5th District filed with the Federal Election Commission)Supervisors support Stonefield as a Designated Outdoor Refreshment AreaA live music program at one of Albemarle County’s mixed-use communities got a boost earlier this month when the Albemarle Board of Supervisors agreed to a letter of support for an Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority license known as a DORA. “A DORA is a designated geographic area licensed by the ABC annually that allows the consumption of alcoholic beverages, (wine, beer, mixed beverages) in a public space and a private space which include things like streets and lawns, and within any business without an ABC license as long as the business agrees,” said Roger Johnson, Albemarle’s economic development director. These designated outdoor refreshment area licenses have been used in Scottsville and last month, one was used in Charlottesville for the Tom Tom Festival.“I will mention to you that I spoke with the director of economic development from Charlottesville and there were no complications with this particular event,” Johnson said. Johnson said beverages purchased at individual restaurants at Stonefield could not be transferred between those businesses. In this case, a nonprofit organization will be the entity that technically applies for the license. “And what we’re asking you to do is provide a letter of support that verifies that Stonefield consulted with a local municipality and they will submit that with their ABC application,” Johnson said. An ordinance would be required if an entity wanted to hold more than 16 events a year or for more than three days. Until then, all that’s required is a map of the DORA, a public safety plan, and designated cups.“Also required at the events are specific containers that are no larger than 16 ounces with the name or the logo of the retailer from which it was purchased,” Johnson said. In the case of Stonefield, they’ll produce the Music on the Lawn events and the Center for Nonprofit Excellence will be the nonprofit partner. But the whole point is to drive business.“Stonefield informed us that onsite traffic increased by 25 percent when they held Music on the Lawn,” Johnson said. “The point being, we will be helping existing businesses with the foot traffic.” Supervisor Diantha McKeel asked that there be outreach to the people who live in the apartments and condominiums at Stonefield. She was also concerned with the potential waste from the plastic cups. “Is there a way to brainstorm or think about what other options we could provide that are not just, I mean, we’ve switched to paper here and I don’t think these cups are going to work,” McKeel said. “I am saying that it’s something to think about.”Johnson said that could be made as a condition of the letter of support. A vote to authorize that letter passed unanimously. The first event will be held on May 27 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Lifeguards still sought for summer seasonMemorial Day Weekend is less than three weeks away, marking the beginning of the summer outdoor swimming season. Both Albemarle and Charlottesville are preparing to open lakes and pools and need more lifeguards to ensure services can be offered to the public. The Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Department will hold a job fair at Carver Recreation Center on Wednesday May 18 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. that will cover more than just lifeguards.“A sample of positions that are currently open include: camp counselors and directors, lifeguards (includes signing bonus), aquatic fitness and program instructors, instructor-American Red Cross, athletic officials, landscapers, custodial maintenance, aquatic maintenance, adaptive camp staff, customer service attendants, and more,” reads the website announcing the job fair. In mid-April, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board were told by staff that new lifeguards in Charlottesville are signing bonuses, and all of them are eligible for end-of-season bonuses. (story)Albemarle County is also seeking lifeguards and needed 19 new employees as of last Wednesday in order to open on a full schedule. Until then, there is a contingency plan. “We’re going to be moving forward with plans to open two of the three swim parks, Mint Springs and Chris Greene Lake,” said Trevor Henry, Albemarle’s assistant county executive. “We’re having issues getting enough [people] to staff Walnut Creek and so in order to safely open up the parks, the plan will be to start with those two.”In the hopes of opening up Walnut Creek, Albemarle County is also recruiting for lifeguards and will pay $15 an hour, plus reimbursement for any certification costs. Apply online. Charlottesville will open up the city’s four spray grounds this weekend, according to a news release that went out this morning. Learn more on the city’s website. Today’s second shout-out goes to LEAPWe’re now well into spring, and many of us may have already turned on our air conditioning units for the first in months. To see what you can do to get the most out of your home, contact LEAP, your local energy nonprofit, to schedule a home energy assessment this month - just $45 for City and County residents. LEAP also offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If someone in your household is age 60 or older, or you have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Regional Transit Partnership briefed on efforts to use public transit fleets in Vermont to carry students to school In the nearly five years the Jefferson Area Regional Transit Partnership has been in existence, there have been many conversations about how various systems might be made more efficient. One idea that has been discussed is the combination of transportation for school pupils with regular transit. “For Burlington, the school district has a handful of school buses for special needs kids but the majority of the school population rides Green Mountain Transit buses to school,” said Peggy O’Neill Vivanco, the Vermont Clean Cities Coordinator. At their meeting on April 28, 2022, the members of the Regional Transit Partnership learned about efforts in Burlington, Vermont to do just that. Those efforts stemmed from a commonly asked question in the Green Mountain State. “Why do we have two public transit systems?” asked Jennifer Wallace-Brodeur of the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation. “One for students, one for the public. That’s really inefficient. Wouldn’t it be great if we could get the public on school buses because school buses go everywhere and they go places that are hard to reach by transit.”Wallace-Brodeur said a group came together to study the issue with funding from the Vermont Agency of Transportation as well as the Energy Action Network.“We started out by looking at where our public transit system is currently providing services that students can access,” Wallace-Brodeur said. “There had been some research done for one of our regional planning commissions on the topic where they really dug into some of the legal issues and some of the other challenges that could come with this.” Wallace-Brodeur said the best path forward was to adjust public transit to provide more service to middle school and high school students. “Anybody can ride the bus,” Wallace-Brodeur said. “There’s really no barrier to that. Anyone can ride the bus including little kids, older adults, anybody. The general public can get on the bus. Not so for school buses.”Some of that work extended to the exurbs of Burlington, Vermont’s largest city. Wallace-Brodeur said the group worked with school systems that were open to the idea. Two goals are to build lifelong transit riders and to fill service gaps.“One of the things we hear a lot about is that students can’t access some after school activities if there isn’t a late bus or something that can get kids home after extracurriculars so if students don’t have personal transportation, they miss out on really important opportunities which then becomes an equity issue,” Wallace-Brodeur said. How does it work? Jamie Smith is the director of marketing and planning for Green Mountain Transit.“We operate during the school year ten additional routes,” Smith said. “The [Federal Transit Administration] doesn’t really allow traditional school transportation to be operated by a public transit agency but they do allow for us to increase our capacity during the academic school year,” Smith said.  Wallace-Brodeur said there had been an attempt to reroute some rural transit routes in eastern Vermont to serve a pair of high schools, but that ran into some obstacles due to COVID. Mike Reiderer is with Tri-Valley Transit which serves Addison, Orange, and northern Windsor counties with commuter routes. He pointed out that many school children are transit-dependent until they have a driver’s license and a car. “We were looking at an addition to one of these routes that would be able to transfer students basically from one high school to another to take more advantage of those after school opportunities,” Reiderer said. “Worked great, great partnership, really great information sharing that really culminating in our ability to provide that service. I think it was one of those instances where COVID came to bite us once again.”Reiderer said he hopes that partnership can be resumed by the next school year. Speaking of schools, the Burlington area is home to several institutions of higher education, such as the University of Vermont. Smith explains that an entity called the Chittenden Area Transport Management Association runs a transportation demand management program that seeks to get more people on buses, including university and college students.“And we have an agreement with them, an unlimited access agreement where students are able to use their IDs to ride for free in our system,” Smith said. The University of Vermont also has its own system of shuttle buses that run the inner loop of their campus in Burlington which has a student population of about 13,300. Champlain College also has a bus that runs throughout their campus. I’ll have more from the April 28, 2022 meeting of the Jefferson Area Regional Transit Partnership in a future edition of the program. If you can’t wait, take a look at the meeting on YouTube now. So far, there are 3 views. Why not give it the Charlottesville Community Engagement bump?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

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After today, there are only two more days in April. After today, there are 247 days left in 2022. But for now, it is still April 28 and this is the appropriate Charlottesville Community Engagement. After this installment, is it my hope that you will know slightly more than you did before. I cannot quantify precisely. I am Sean Tubbs, the host and producer.Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts in your email, become a free subscriber. To keep them coming, become a paid one! On today’s program:The Jefferson Madison Regional Library is celebrating National Poetry Month today with a series of scrolls The General Assembly takes action on Governor Youngkin’s vetoes and recommendations More documents filed in the Goldman v. Brink case to force a 2022 House of Delegates electionThe Virginia Film Festival is taking submissions and Virginians get a breakCharlottesville City Council approves a rezoning for 170 units in the Fry’s Spring areaAn update on the elevators at Midway ManorFirst-shout is for the Saturday premiere of Raised/RazedIn today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out, Preservation Piedmont wants you to know about this Saturday’s premiere of Raised/Razed, a film by filmmaker Lorenzo Dickerson and Jordy Yager about the life and destruction of Vinegar Hill, one of the oldest African American neighborhoods in Charlottesville. The Maupintown Media production charts the lives of residents over nearly a century as they built prosperity in the face of racially discriminatory policies at every level. The film will be willl be shown outdoors at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center at 8 p.m. Tickets are available on the center’s website with donations to be divided between seven Black-led organizations. Visit https://jeffschoolheritagecenter.org/ to learn more. General Assembly convenes for veto session Virginia legislators returned to Richmond yesterday to continue the 2022 regular session of the General Assembly by responding to vetoes and recommendations from Governor Glenn Youngkin. Before both the House of Delegates and Senate convened at noon, the House Democratic Caucus met and ousted minority leader Eileen Filler-Corn. Brandon Jarvis of the Virginia Political Newsletter reports a secret ballot motion to remove Filler-Corn passed with 25 votes. That’s the minimum required by caucus by-laws. There are 48 Democrats in the 100-member House of Delegates. Jarvis reports a motion to remove Delegate Charniele Herring failed. There was no vote for a new leader. In total, Youngkin had vetoed 26 bills and made recommended changes to 117 others. David Blount, legislative liaison for the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission, reports in his update to area officials that none of the vetoes were overridden. Blount reports that no action was taken on the state budget, but the chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee had an update. “We’re working to resolve our differences while also maintaining the Senate position as it relates to the importance of funding core services, especially in the areas of education and health and human services,” said Senator Janet Howell. For a full recap of the action on the vetoes and recommendations, check out the Virginia Mercury’s coverage.We’ll hear more from Howell in tomorrow’s installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Attorney General’s office files briefs in 2022 House race caseThe final round of briefs in a federal case to force a House of Delegates race this November may have been filed this week. Richmond Attorney Paul Goldman filed suit against the Board of Elections last year claiming the certification of winning candidates in the 2021 race was not valid because the districts are outdated because they are based on the 2010 Census.In March. the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to the Eastern District of Virginia to answer the question of whether Goldman has the right to have filed the suit. In a new brief filed on Monday, Solicitor General Andrew Ferguson argues Goldman does not have standing. “Goldman’s brief is long on rhetoric but falls short on standing—the only question the Fourth Circuit authorized this Court to answer,” reads the motion. “He offers no explanation of how he has suffered the sort of particularized injury-in-fact that Article III requires for any plaintiff who wants to invoke federal jurisdiction.”The brief goes on to argue that the action by the Virginia Supreme Court to adopt new legislative boundaries in late December did nothing to invalidate the elections of 2021. “The Supreme Court merely drew the maps for the next election,” the motion continues. “The Commonwealth of Virginia’s conduct of the 2021 election did not violate the United States Constitution.”The brief also argues that a federal judicial order to hold a state election this year would be intrusive and would lead to “judicially created confusion.”  The state also argues that oral argument on this question is not necessary.In response, Goldman filed a surrebuttal arguing that the state’s latest motion introduced new matters that he deserves to have the right to respond to. On Tuesday, Judge David Novak issued an order supporting Goldman’s request to consider a case called Avery v. Midland County as he reviews how to proceed with the case. JMRL celebrating Poem in Your Pocket DayIf you happen to be on the Charlottesville Downtown Mall today, you may have someone approach you with a small scroll. If so, take it, and rejoice that you have been handed an item of poetry. The Jefferson Madison Regional Library is once again celebrating Poem in Your Pocket Day at several locations throughout the area.“On this annual international day honoring the power of poetry to inspire and delight, children, teens and adults are invited to stop by any JMRL library branch to pick out a poem scroll tied with a bow,” reads the information release for the day. “Unwrap it, and possibilities unfold: read it to yourself, share it with someone close (or even a stranger), or just tuck it in your pocket for a rainy day.” The library system has teamed up with local businesses and other organizations for this occasion. Partners include: 2nd Act Books, Botanical Fare, Chaps, Mudhouse (Downtown), Splendora’s Gelato (Shops at Stonefield), UVA Medical Center, and Virginia Discovery Museum.There’s also a virtual program at 2 p.m. with “An Afternoon with Laura Shovan.”  The poet and children’s author will discuss her work with Supervising Children’s Librarian Tasha Birckhead. Shovan is the author of The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary. Tonight at 7 p.m. there will a Poetry in the Park at Market Street Park next to the library. Everyone is to read their favorite poem at an open mic event. That goes through 8:30 p.m. Virginia Film Festival waiving fees for Virginia filmmakersThe Virginia Film Festival is six months away but time is running shorter to enter your submission. If you live within the Commonwealth or attend a school here, you can send in your work without having to pay a fee. “The VAFF showcases celebrated new narrative and documentary features, independent and international projects, fresh perspectives on timeless classics, and local filmmakers from throughout Virginia,” reads the submission webpage.For those outside Virginia, the Early Bird Deadline is June 6, 2022 and you can submit a feature for $30 or a short for $10. For reference, features are anything over 31 minutes. The regular deadline is June 27, 2022 and those fees go up to $50 and $25 respectively. Students from all over the world can submit their work, regardless of length, for $10. The 2022 Virginia Film Festival begins November 2 and runs through November 6. Second shout-out is for the Rivanna River Fest and an E-Bike demoIn today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out, did you know we are now in the middle of the Rivanna River Fest? A host of partners including the Rivanna Conservation Alliance and the Nature Conservancy are holding a series of events this week to celebrate that waterway that helps define urban Albemarle and Charlottesville. This all culminates in the main event this Sunday, May 1, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Rivanna River Company on the banks of the Rivanna. This includes the Rivanna River Paddle Race, the virtual Fix a Leak Family 5K, There will also be Water Quality Monitoring Demonstrations, City Nature Challenge, Pop-up Environmental Education Activities, and a Guided Bird Walk at Riverview Park. Learn more at rivannariver.org!In the same area on the same day, there will be an ebike demo day at Meade Park this Sunday, May 1, from 2:00-4:00. A pair of interested ebike owners in town will be bringing their bikes, and anybody who's interested can stop by, ask questions, and take test rides. They will have some ebikes with seats for children. If you’re going, drop them a line in this form. Council considering amendment of Friendship Court agreementThe current Charlottesville City Council had the chance this month to check in with the redevelopment of Friendship Court. The Piedmont Housing Alliance came before Council on April 18 with a request to amend an agreement that governs a $6 million forgivable loan granted in November 2020 for the first phase. The amendment is a technical one because the full amount had not been allocated by Council in a subsequent budget cycle. Brenda Kelley is the redevelopment manager for the city of Charlottesville, a position currently housed in the Office of Community Solutions. “This request is not asking for additional funding,” Kelley said. “This funding is already approved in this current budget.” Council had no issue with the amendment. “This was kind of staggered mostly because of COVID,” said City Councilor Sena Magill. “Friendship Court was really trying to help ease some of the potential future unknown burden that we might be facing with COVID.” The item will require a second reading and it will be on the consent agenda for the May 2 meeting. Construction of the first phase of Friendship Court is now underway. See also: Council approves agreement for Friendship Court funding, October 30, 2020 Council approves rezoning for 240 Stribling, new agreement to pay for sidewalksCharlottesville City Council has voted to rezone nearly 12 acres of land in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood in order for Southern Development to build 170 units. They also voted for the first time on a proposal that would tie a specific infrastructure project to increased revenues that will be generated by higher property taxes. “This is going to allow us to get infrastructure that we need in that part of the city that we would not have otherwise done,” said Councilor Brian Pinkston. Approval came at the April 18, 2022 meeting. Last year, the City Planning Commission recommended approval of the rezoning but only if Stribling Avenue would be upgraded as part of the development.Southern Development agreed to loan the city $2.9 million to pay for sidewalks and drainage on Stribling Avenue. Interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers recommended against the agreement as it was written at Council’s first reading on March 21. “We did have discussions with the developer, [Charlie] Armstrong, and we did come to agreement, a funding agreement,” Rogers said The amended agreement would keep the loan at $2.9 million. The idea has always been that Southern Development would be paid back through the tax revenue generated by higher assessments based on the new development. The initial agreement would have given Southern Development 100 percent of the new tax revenue, but that would have been against the city’s policy to allocate a percentage of new real estate tax funds towards education. “We negotiated that it would be 60 / 40 and 60 percent would go to repay the loan,” Rogers said. “And we agreed for that arrangement, it would be a longer financing agreement.” The city will also allocate $1.3 million funding in the Capital Improvement Program for the project as well to cover the costs and possible overruns. “And from discussions with the engineer, that should be enough to cover the project,” Rogers said. Armstrong said the $2.9 million will be available to the city shortly.“The agreement stipulates that we would have those funds available and drawable by the city before we can pull a land disturbing permit,” Armstrong said. City engineer Jack Dawson said he did not have a timeline when the roadway would be upgraded, but said planning work on Stribling would commence on July 1 if not before. “Which means finding a consultant, doing the planning, community outreach, all of the things that go into development of a project of this size,” Dawson said. Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook was persuaded to proceed. “If the neighbors’ concern is that somehow the developer is going to withhold the construction of the community assets until everything else is done, that’s not going to be happening,” Snook said. Armstrong said he is hoping to be under construction within 12 to 18 months. The project will be constructed in 20 phases. Snook said the intersection of Stribling and Jefferson Park Avenue Extended also needs to be improved. “That’s the kind of thing it strikes me as a manageable problem and one that we can continue to work toward for solutions,” Snook said. “It doesn’t seem to me to be an insurmountable problem.” Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders said Council would get an update in the future on how Stribling would be maintained at a time when construction of both 240 Stribling and the upgrade to the street are underway.“We will bring back to you more details on how we will manage this project unlike maybe how we’ve done other projects in the past because this one is such a significantly complicated and somewhat controversial project,” Sanders said. Councilor Michael Payne said the city should be able to better analyze how much economic value a developer gets for lots that are rezoned. “So that we can understand our position vis-a-vis the developer in a situation like this when we are in a way going to be informally negotiating,” Payne said. “I will say I don’t think that we were perhaps were careful in our analysis in setting ourselves up for this.” Payne voted in favor of the rezoning and the agreement, which passed unanimously. Midway Manor Elevator updateFinally today, in Tuesday’s program, there was a section on Council’s approval of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s approval of $23 million in tax-exempt bonds to cover the costs of purchasing and renovating Midway Manor. Councilor Michael Payne had expressed concern about a faulty elevator. I checked in with Standard Communities and received this statement yesterday.“We continue to plan for a comprehensive renovation and upgrade of Midway Manor, which is expected to begin later this year in conjunction with the implementation of extended affordability protections for the property. Recognizing that the elevators were in need of more immediate attention, we have accelerated the modernization of both elevators at the property, with on-site work currently underway. In efforts to minimize disruption to residents, one elevator car is being worked on at a time, with the entire project expected to be complete within the next 8 weeks.” - Steven Kahn, Director, Standard CommunitiesTing will match your initial paid subscription to this newsletter!For one year now, Town Crier Productions has a promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

There is much more light in the northern hemisphere today than there was yesterday. This will be the case for 90 more days until the pendulum shifts back the other way, but perhaps now isn’t the time to bring that up. It is time to tell you that this is another edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement and I’m the same version of Sean Tubbs. Spring into new information with a paid or free subscription to the newsletter and podcast!On today’s show:Several stories out of last week’s Albemarle Economic Development Authority meeting, including the pursuit of a designated outdoor recreation area for somewhere in urban AlbemarleThe Crozet Community Advisory Committee learns about transportation CouncilMembers of the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center talked loan forgiveness with the Albemarle EDA in closed sessionAnd an update on the Broadway Blueprint in Albemarle County First shout-out goes to the Rivanna Conservation AllianceIn today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out, the Rivanna Conservation Alliance wants wildlife and nature photographers to enter their first-ever photography contest! They want high-resolution photos related to the Rivanna watershed and the winning entries will be displayed at the 2022 Riverfest Celebration on May 1. The two categories are 16 and under, and those over the age of 17. You can send in two entries, and the work may be used to supplement Rivanna Conservation Alliance publications. For more information, visit rivannariver.org.Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center officials met in closed session with EDA to talk loan forgivenessThe Albemarle Economic Development Authority met with leaders of the Lewis and Clark Exploratory Center in closed session last week to share information about the nonprofit’s ability to pay back a loan that dates back to 2013. “The pandemic of course dealt us a hefty blow as I think it did most nonprofits,” said Malou Stark, the president of the center’s Board of Directors. “We were not able to open during most of the pandemic. We began very small last fall with very private small group tours of two or three people at a time.”That’s important as the Center owes just over $125,000 to the EDA for the loan, which was taken out to cover higher-than-expected construction costs to build the Center in Darden Towe Park. The Charlottesville Economic Development Authority also contributed $130,000 for that purpose, and has said it will forgive the loan if the Albemarle EDA follows suit. However, they have consistently indicated they expect repayment. Stark and fellow board member Sarah Gran met with economic development staff before the meeting to speak privately about the issue. “We took away the thoughts and ideas that were addressed a week ago and really wanted to hear what the EDA was saying about repayment about this loan and that we take it seriously,” Gran said. The EDA told the center board members that they want a plan for repayment. Stark said the Center sees an ability to bring in more revenue now that it can open. “We’ve continued renting out our building and we have been very successful during the pandemic in getting grants that we have gone after,” Stark said Stark said the Center will resume holding its summer camp this year and that will be one source of revenue. However, schools are not yet booking the property for field trips. The EDA met with Stark and Gran to discuss the matter in closed session. At the closed session, they also discussed an economic development project with the codename Khaki. There was no action on the matter after the closed session. There will be more from the Albemarle Economic Development Authority later on in this newsletter. Watch the whole thing on the county’s YouTube page. Crozet CAC briefed on transportation infrastructure projectsThis month all of Albemarle’s seven advisory committees have been briefed on transportation projects from the county’s planning staff. In recent years, Albemarle has been successful at securing money for projects, such as the conversion of the Route 151 and U.S. 250 intersection to a roundabout. On March 8, 2022, the Crozet Community Advisory Committee had their turn. Planning Manager Kevin McDermott explained how the process works in Albemarle. “We regularly update a list of transportation priorities and this list basically is every project that’s been identified,” McDermott said. (read the list)Those projects are identified in master plans, small area plans, corridor plans, and so on.“And then we evaluate all of those projects based on a set of metrics which we think kind of capture, really, the needs of a transportation system,” McDermott said. “Those include measuring for safety, congestion, economic development, accessibility, land use, and environmental impact.” That ranking system is similar to the one used by the Virginia Department of Transportation in their Smart Scale process. That’s one of many sources of revenue for transportation projects and McDermott said the priority list is used to help position projects for applications. For the past few years, Albemarle has used a capital fund called “transportation leveraging” that is used to come up with local matches for major projects. Other sources include a revenue sharing program with VDOT and a Transportation Alternatives program for projects for non-motorized users of the public realm. “These projects are things that would cost definitely under a million and it requires a twenty percent local match,” McDermott said. Major projects in the Crozet area include the southern extension of Eastern Avenue (#8). That’s been a plan on paper for many years, but when it came time to apply for funding the cost estimates were out of date. “And so we decided to move forward with an engineering study using local funding and so that engineering study also looked at the potential locations of Eastern Avenue,” McDermott said. The county will find out in April if VDOT will award funds to the Eastern Avenue project, which could have a cost around $25 million. Other projects in the area include conversion of U.S. 250 and Virginia Route 240 to a roundabout and a Smart Scale application for a roundabout at Old Trail Drive and U.S. 250 at Western Albemarle High School. The priorities will be reexamined as part of Albemarle’s ongoing review of the Comprehensive Plan, including new projects suggested in the recent update of the Crozet Master Plan. For more from the meeting, take a look on YouTube:Albemarle EDA releases Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville from Southwood deed The Albemarle Economic Development Authority has adopted a resolution releasing Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville of its obligations related to a ground lease for the Southwood Mobile Home Park. According to Albemarle’s property records, Habitat purchased the land and trailers at Southwood on March 1, 2007. Senior Assistant County Attorney Richard DeLoria said the Albemarle EDA took on the note for some of the debt in 2010. “Long story short is that the EDA assumed a $6 million obligation that was secured by a deed that was presented to the EDA,” DeLoria said. DeLoria said Habitat paid back the funding in the form of rent to the EDA but now Habitat is seeking to refinance. That means they needed to clear up the obligation to the EDA. “Habitat would like a deed of release from the EDA and also a termination agreement for the lease,” DeLoria said. The vote to adopt the resolution was unanimous. As of the March 15, 2022 EDA meeting, Habitat had not completed the refinancing packet. Today’s second shout-out goes to LEAPYou don’t need the “luck of the Irish” to be safe and comfortable in your own home. To see what you can do to get the most out of your home, contact LEAP, your local energy nonprofit, to schedule a home energy assessment this month - just $45 for City and County residents. LEAP also offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If someone in your household is age 60 or older, or you have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Albemarle making major investment in economic development funding with surplus fundsThe proposed budget for Albemarle County for fiscal year 2023 contains a recommendation from County Executive Jeffrey Richardson that will give the Albemarle Economic Development Authority a large pot of money to use to help close deals. “Our Board has heard the recommendation from Mr. Richardson to put $5 million back into the economic development investment pool,” said Roger Johnson, the county’s economic development director. “That would sort of reestablish our investment pool that we have spending over the last four years or so. It is getting lowered as every project comes along.” The source of the $5 million is funding left over from FY21. These funds are often used to cover the county’s match for grants such as the Virginia Jobs Investment Program (VJIP)  and the Agricultural and Forestry Industries Development fund (AFID). The latter was used to help Potters Craft Cider renovate Neve Hall to become its tasting room and production facility and the EDA contributed $50,000. This week, Governor Glenn Youngkin awarded the first AFID grant of his administration to Hidden Pines Meat Processing in Madison County. “The company, which has been operating for more than twenty years, is expanding to year-round operations and adding USDA inspection services to meet surging consumer demand for locally produced meats,” reads the press release. Johnson said having a dedicated pool allows his team to work without getting an appropriation for each development project. Albemarle County seeking to explore DORA Albemarle County is considering taking advantage of new state laws that allow the use of Designated Outdoor Refreshment Areas to help boost tourism and economic development. “It’s a geographic area licensed by the ABC annually that allows the consumption of alcoholic beverages—wine, beer, mixed beverages—within public spaces or inside a business without an ABC license as long as the business owner agrees,” Johnson said.The Town of Scottsville has used its DORA license on two occasions so far. The city of Charlottesville has discussed the idea but has not pursued it since a majority of the last Council did not appear to support it. Under the DORA, a nonprofit group would hold the ABC license. A business improvement district could also hold the license, but there are none in Albemarle County. “What’s allowed is up to 16 events per year,” Johnson said. “Each event can be no longer than three days. You need a letter of support from the locality, and in this case that’s Albemarle County. You have to submit an ABC application and there is a fee associated with that.”Beverages must be in designated containers. Johnson said he’s met with the Police Department to get their feedback on the events. EDA Director Stuart Munson praised the DORA set up for Scottsville for two events so far. “We saw a significant increase in traffic both on the street and in businesses and we had no problems whatsoever,” Munson said. Other potential uses for a DORA in Albemarle are in Crozet and at Stonefield. EDA briefed on Broadway Blueprint studyThe Albemarle Economic Development Office has officially completed a planning study for a portion of the county around the Woolen Mills Factory on the western banks of the Rivanna River. (read the report)“The general idea was to take the 46 and a half acres on the Broadway Corridor and turn that into a place that people, businesses, and activities all occur at the same time and everyone would like to be there,” Johnson said. Recommendations in the plan include creation of an arts and cultural district, creation of a business association for the corridor, increased bike and pedestrian facilities, design of a multimodal streetscape, and enhanced public transit. The report was delayed by COVID and during that time, Albemarle has adopted a new value of “community” which means equity and inclusion. That’s meant a new round of recommendations after the study was looked at through an equity lens. “The new recommendations include connectivity to all outside communities including the city,” Johnson said. “We were talking about this being a county-only type project but there are some surrounding neighborhoods that we believe it makes sense to connect to as well. It also includes targeting programming and the use of public space to serve the broader neighborhoods.” The item was on the consent agenda for the March 16, 2022 meeting of the Board of Supervisors. On Thursday, the MPO Policy Board will select an alignment for a pedestrian and bike bridge to connect the Woolen Mills with Pantops. One would connect to Charlottesville at Chesapeake Street at a cost of $11.3 million. The other would connect at East Market Street and would have a cost of $15.4 million. (alternatives report) (comparison matrix)Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Hello dear listener,We're donating a percentage of Guitar Nerds funds to help people on the ground in Ukraine as they face the awful reality of war with Russia.Global Citizen have written an excellent article on ways you can help. Please check it out and help support the people of Ukraine.How to help:https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/ways-to-help-ukraine-conflictWelcome back to another episode of Guitar Nerds. This week we're talking a lot about JD's Fenton Weill amplifier, Stonefield basses, and some cool plugins for home recording!Don't forget, you get 30% off ALL Neural DSP plugins with discount code: GUITARNERDS - just visit nerualdsp.com to check out their wonderful range of amps and effects.AND you get 10% off ALL Izotope suites and plugins with discount code: NERDS10 - visit izotope.com to check out their massive range of mixing, mastering, instruments and effects plugins. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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

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

We had the pleasure of interviewing Station over Zoom video!  New York City's STATION –hailed by Guitar World as one of the 15 current bands who are “the New Wave of Classic Rock” (alongside peers such as The Struts, Stonefield, Dirty Honey, and Rival Sons)—just released the second single and video from their forthcoming new album. “I Can't Find My Way” is streaming now on all digital outlets, and the video can be seen on the band's official YouTube page. On October 8, STATION--Patrick Kearney (lead vocals), Chris Lane (guitars/keyboards/backing vocals), Emi Asta (bass/backing vocals), Tony Baptist (drums)—will showcase their brand of Rock on their self-produced fourth album, PERSPECTIVE, on Station Music LLC via AWAL. Pre-orders and pre-saves worldwide for the album are available now, which includes a free download of the first single, “Believe.” A video for “Believe” can also be seen now on their YouTube page. Like on all previous STATION albums, the songs on PERSPECTIVE show remarkable diversity and impressive musicianship. Lyrically, they cover a wide spectrum of different types of topics, ranging from purely happy, fun songs about love to touching on more introspective and serious emotions. STATION attracted a dedicated audience right from the start, even though the band always stood out from the esoteric indie rock acts that have tended to dominate the New York City scene in recent times. Bucking that trend, Kearney and Lane founded STATION so they could create more complex hard rock infused with a fun attitude, with bassist Emi Asta and drummer Tony Baptist joining later. Naming themselves STATION after a pivotal character in the Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure film series, they soon won over a large and loyal fanbase in New York (and well beyond), proving that there are, unquestionably, many listeners who appreciate this type of high-spirited (and highly skilled) hard rock. This musical distinctiveness was evident right from the start with STATION's debut single, “Everything,” in 2012. The next year, they put out an EP, WIRED, which was produced, mixed, and mastered by famed hard rock producer Michael Wagener (Alice Cooper, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne). Gaining confidence in what their sound should be, Station self-produced their subsequent full-length studio albums: STATION (2015), MORE THAN THE MOON (2018), STAINED GLASS (2019), and now PERSPECTIVE (2021). We want to hear from you! Please email Tera@BringinitBackwards.com. www.BringinitBackwards.com #podcast #interview #bringinbackpod #Station #zoom Listen & Subscribe to BiB Follow our podcast on Instagram and Twitter! 

It doesn’t seem at this moment like a holiday week, with so many items happening at public meetings before Thanksgiving. But, I’m grateful you are listening to this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, and I’m hopeful that you’ll share it with others. Most people read the newsletter, but the secret is that each one is produced for audio, as my professional career in journalism began in radio. More than a quarter-century later, I’m glad to be bringing you information as often as I can and this is what I have for November 22, 2021. Let’s begin today with a Patreon-fueled shout-out! WTJU is hosting Classical Listening Parties, a series of four free, casual events on Tuesdays in November. These four events are led by Chelsea Holt, pianist, teacher, and one of WTJU’s newest and youngest classical announcers. She’ll guide you through all the eras of classical music and tomorrow night at 7 p.m.: the Romantic period. For a list of the others, visit wtju.net to learn more and sign up! On today’s show:Albemarle’s Planning Commission gets an update on the county’s capital improvement budget for the next fiscal yearA hedge fund sets its sights on the Daily Progress and its parent company The EPA seeks to reestablish jurisdiction in the Waters of the United StatesAnd the University of Virginia seeks a tuition increase for undergraduatesPandemic updateAs the week begins, the seven-day average for new COVID cases is at 1,644 new cases a day and the percent positivity is at 5.9 percent. The Blue Ridge Health District reports another 29 new cases today and a percent positivity of 5.5 percent. Three more fatalities have been reported since Friday for a total of 311 since the pandemic began. Fatal fireA fire in an apartment in the 1200 block of Carlton Avenue in the Belmont neighborhood on Sunday has killed one person, according to a release from the Charlottesville Fire Department. Crews began fighting the fire soon after arriving and then looked for anyone trapped. One adult was rescued but died soon after being taken to an unidentified hospital. Fire marshals are investigating the cause. This is the third fatality from a fire this year. Newspaper consolidation continuesThe Charlottesville Daily Progress and most other daily newspapers in Virginia might soon have a new owner. Alden Global Capital has announced in a letter that it will pay $24 a share for Lee Enterprises, thirty percent over the Friday’s closing stock price. “We believe that as a private company and part of our successful nationwide platforms, Lee would be in a stronger position to maximize its resources and realize strategic value that enhances its operations and supports its employees in their important work serving local communities,” reads the letter. Alden Global Capital is a New York based hedge fund that owns the Tribune Publishing Company and Media NewsGroup. Among their newspapers are the Chicago Tribune, the Denver Post, the Mercury News, and the New York Daily News. The company already owns six percent of Lee Enterprises. “Scale is critical for newspapers to ensure necessary staffing and in order to thrive in this challenging environment where print advertising continues to decline and back office operations and legacy public company functions remain bloated, thus depriving newsrooms of resources that are best used serving readers with relevant, trustworthy, and engaging content,” the letter continues. Lee Enterprises completed the purchase of the Daily Progress from BHMedia in March 2020. BHMedia is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, which purchased the Progress from Media General in May 2012. Media General purchased the paper from Thomas Worrell Jr. in 1995 as part of a $230 million deal. The Progress was first published on September 14, 1892. Other Virginia papers owned by Lee Enterprises include the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Lynchburg News Advance, and the Roanoke Times. Learn more about the potential takeover from Rick Edmonds on Poytner.org or at Virginia Business. The real question is - who gets the Daily Progress March? In April 2005, the Charlottesville Municipal Band unveiled a tune written by Nellysford composer Paul T. Richards. Check out my news story from that time!Crozet school redistrictingAn Albemarle committee appointed to study scenarios to alleviate overpopulation of elementary schools in the western part of the county has unveiled their recommendation. After meeting four times and holding two public comment sessions, the Crozet-Brownsville Redistricting Committee has suggested a total of 219 students be moved from Brownsville to Crozet Elementary at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year. By then, Albemarle should have completed a $21.25 million addition to that school which includes 16 new classrooms. (committee website)Water quality rulesTwo federal agencies that regulate land use as it relates to water quality have announced plans to reinstate a more robust definition of what constitutes the “waters of the United States.” Both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers use that phrase as a basis for enforcement of the Clean Water Act of 1972 which among other things regulates industrial discharges into “navigable waters.” A rule change made in the previous presidential administration reduced the geographic scope of the definition, potentially limiting the jurisdiction  of the EPA and the Army Corp’s reach. The Southern Environmental Law Center and other conservation groups sued to overturn the rule. “The prior administration stripped protections under the Clean Water Act from countless streams, lakes and wetlands, leaving thousands of stream miles, many public recreational lakes, and millions of acres of wetlands without protections that have been in place for decades through every other administration and putting our communities and water supplies at risk,” reads a statement issued last week.The SELC argues that preserving wetlands can help preserve the ability of communities to reduce flooding and deal with extreme weather events. To learn more, visit the EPA’s Waters of the United States website. UVA tuitionThe Cavalier Daily reports that tuition at the University of Virginia could increase between 3.5 percent and 4.9 percent in the each of the next two academic years. That’s according to two representatives from the UVA Finance office who spoke to Student Council last week. Public comment will be taken at a forum on December 2 followed by a vote by the Board of Visitors at their meeting a week later. Tuition was frozen for the current academic year. For a sense of scale, the current tuition for most undergraduate student in the College of Arts and Sciences is $14,188 for a Virginia resident and $48,036 for an out-of-state resident. Third-year students pay slightly higher. First-year engineering students from Virginia pay $22,566 for a year’s tuition, with non-Virginians paying $56,730. These figures don’t include fees. Take a look at the UVA website to learn more about how much students are charged for their education. To learn more about the proposed increase, read Eileen Powell’s article in the Cavalier Daily. You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement. Let’s have 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!Albemarle Planning Commission’s capital budget briefingTomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m., an advisory committee appointed to help Albemarle County shape its capital improvement program budget for the next fiscal year will hold its first meeting. Last week, the seven-member Planning Commission got an overview including a reminder that last year was very different. (watch the meeting)“Last year when we were putting together the FY22 budget, there was no [capital improvement program],” said Andy Bowman, the chief of budget in the Finance and Budget office. “The county was in the middle of the pandemic and there was a tremendous amount of uncertainty and really at that time it was decided instead of focusing on a long-range picture, to focus on the impacts of the pandemic and what might be able to be unpaused from a number of projects that were paused at the start of the pandemic.”Bowman said the economy has rebounded much better than initially anticipated with outlooks becoming more favorable with each passing month. As the FY23 budget approaches, Bowman said the county is not immune to inflationary pressure, with bids for some capital projects coming in higher than budgeted. The process starts with a review of what’s currently in the works.“We have a capital program currently underway, before we even start anything from 2023 to 2027, of around $147 million for about 65 projects,” Bowman said. “Of that $147 million, $91 million has been appropriated in the last eleven months now, from what was unpaused in January which included the expansion at Crozet Elementary.” Bowman noted that over the course of the next five years, the county will adopt a new Comprehensive Plan and the Board of Supervisors will update their strategic plan. Both documents as well as the School Board’s strategic plan will guide future decisions on capital spending. Bowman said the focus this cycle will be on the immediate year to give flexibility on future needs. The CIP advisory committee consists of Supervisors Bea LaPisto-Kirtley and Donna Price, School Board members Kate Acuff and Jonno Alcaro, and former Planning Commissioners Bruce Dotson.and Cal Morris. “They’re charged to do a few things,” Bowman said. “First they will review and evaluate a proposal that is recommended by staff as a starting point and then the CIP committee will sort of make a recommendation and modify that starting point.” Bowman said there will be additional revenue from the cigarette tax and potential revenue from a tax on plastic bags. The county also refinanced its debt earlier this year.“Given the current market we were able to issue a large amount of [borrowed proceeds] at low interest rates and that will create some capacity that didn’t exist in the prior plan prior to the pandemic,” Bowman said Bowman said staff is also reviewing through the details of the American Rescue Plan Act to see how that funds can be used to leverage local dollars capital spending. In August, Supervisors used $4.5 million in federal COVID-relief funds for broadband expansion. One of the biggest items in the capital improvement program is the need for school maintenance and expansion. Rosalyn Schmitt is the chief operating officer of Albemarle County Public Schools. She briefed the Planning Commission on the school’s strategic plan.“Getting the right resources to educators and students for their teaching and learning is key to our success,” Schmitt said The school system has a Long-Range Planning Advisory Committee and their most recent recommendations were published on September 9, 2021. The eleven projects have a cumulative cost estimate of $196 million, with most of the projects containing either word “renovations” or “capacity.”“Adequate capacity continues to be a need for the school division,” Schmitt said. “This is supported by the ten-year enrollment projections and reinforced by both the recently completed development and student yield analysis, and a thirty-year population forecast.”  One item is $40 million for another elementary school in the northern feeder pattern and another would be to purchase land for the western feeder pattern. “As these schools all reach a saturation point where expansion is no longer practical, we recommend a strategy for land acquisition and the construction of new facilities,” Schmitt said. “I think for the first time in a long time you’ll see several new schools on this list.” There’s also a recommendation to improve air quality within schools. There is a possibility that federal ARPA funding could be used for that purpose. “That is a comprehensive program around mechanical improvements that there is some opportunity to have some matching funds from ARPA funding that we are pursuing,” Schmitt said. Luis Carrazana is the associate architect of the University of Virginia and a non-voting member of the Albemarle Planning Commission. He noted that the recent adoption of the Crozet Master Plan update called for capital infrastructure, as did the relatively recent update of the Pantops Master Plan and adoption of the Rio Small Area Plan. “And so I’m wondering how we’re looking at those approved master plans with the CIP and putting the same rigor as we seem to be doing with the School Board,” Carrazana said. Planning Director Charles Rapp said implementation of many projects in the master plans are dependent on lining up ideas with funding opportunities.“A lot of those infrastructure related improvements, we identify them in these master plans or small area plans or corridor studies and that’s often the first phase of identifying a project,” Rapp said. The next day, Bowman gave a similar presentation to the Board of Supervisors. This one has more specifics about the developing budget. (watch the presentation)Supervisors were reminded that there is a significant “positive variance” from the FY21 budget of more than $13 million that can be used for one-time money.“We are proposing, not really for discussion today but this will come back on December 15, to invest some of the one-time fiscal year 21 funding into the economic development fund,” Bowman said. At their December 15 meeting, the Board will also be asked for direction on whether to explore tax relief programs. They’ll also be given a review of what additional revenue sources could be pursued in Richmond.The Board of Supervisors will have a work session on December 1 related to the way the FY23 budget will be developed. Another change this year is the December release of Albemarle’s property assessments for 2022. That will be presented to the Board of Supervisors on December 15, a month earlier than usual. See also: Albemarle may close FY21 with $13.2M in one-time money, November 9, 2021Unsolicited fact of the dayFinally today, sometimes there are pieces of information I come across during my reporting, or facts that people tell me that don’t quite make their way into a news story. These facts are not entirely random, but they may seem that way.First up, the commercial portions of the Stonefield development have paid a total of $841,955 in connection fees to the Albemarle County Service Authority for water and sewer between 2012 and 2020. That’s according to information provided to me by Gary O’Connell, the director of the ACSA. That figure does not include residential connections. Before anyone can connect to water and sewer in Albemarle, they have to pay a hefty connection fee. For instance, for one commercial unit on Bond Street to connect in 2021, they had to pay $14,280 for water and $13,505 for sewer. Both of these fees include a portion paid to the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority to cover the cost of capital projects to expand capacity. Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Having kidnapped Burns, the party escapes Stonefield and travels back to Panacea, ready to deliver their captive to Dire. Deadlands: The weird west is based on Savage Worlds: Adventure edition, both of which you can find here: https://www.peginc.com/ Intro and Outro Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDPMAuv-3nk&ab_channel=RossBugden Program: Fantasy Grounds Unity Follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/7throll Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/7thRoll/

The posse returns to Stonefield to see if they can take Jason Burns to Panacea. If not by talking... Deadlands: The weird west is based on Savage Worlds: Adventure edition, both of which you can find here: https://www.peginc.com/ Intro and Outro Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDPMAuv-3nk&ab_channel=RossBugden Program: Fantasy Grounds Unity Follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/7throll Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/7thRoll/

On the way back to Stonefield, the party once again runs into Bliss' past. Deadlands: The weird west is based on Savage Worlds: Adventure edition, both of which you can find here: https://www.peginc.com/ Intro and Outro Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDPMAuv-3nk&ab_channel=RossBugden Program: Fantasy Grounds Unity Follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/7throll Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/7thRoll/

As the posse moves out of Stonefield, they run into more dangers of the Wild West Deadlands: The weird west is based on Savage Worlds: Adventure edition, both of which you can find here: https://www.peginc.com/ Intro and Outro Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDPMAuv-3nk&ab_channel=RossBugden Program: Fantasy Grounds Unity Follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/7throll Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/7thRoll/

In today’s Substack-fueled shout-out, Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit the Code for Charlottesville website to learn more, including details on projects that are underway.On today’s show: A demographer at the Weldon Cooper Center at the University of Virginia is concerned about the accuracy of the 2020 CensusUpdates from the Places29-Hydraulic Community Advisory CommitteeDr. Danny Avula gives a press briefing on planning for booster shots this fall Charlottesville Police Chief blasts police group’s concerns about her leadershipIn July, the Virginia Department of Health stopped releasing COVID data on the weekends, so today we’ll begin with the seven-day average yesterday of 2,322 and the percent positivity increased to 9.1 percent. There have been 156 deaths from COVID in Virginia since July 21. As of yesterday, two-thirds of adult Virginians are fully vaccinated and the seven-day average of shots per day is 14,581. That’s around the same number as last week. The VDH usually updates its dashboard measuring the percentage of new COVID cases by vaccination status on Fridays, but that did not occur yesterday. On August 19, there were over 141,000 new cases nationwide, around the same rate as in mid November. The winter surge peaked at around 250,000 cases a day the week of early January. There is growing concern about the ability of the delta variant to infect the vaccinated, but also concern that vaccinated individuals who got either the Pfizer or the Moderna mRNA shot may need a booster. Dr. Danny Avula is overseeing the Virginia Department of Health’s vaccine programs. (read transcript of 8/19 briefing) (listen to full briefing)“Overtime, vaccine efficacy starts to decrease, [but] vaccine efficacy is still very strong against hospitalizations and deaths, and we are starting to see decreased effectiveness against the Delta variant,” Dr. Avula said.This week, the first third shots have been given to immunocompromised individuals. September 20 is the target date set by federal officials for the roll-out of booster shots for the general population. That depends on approval from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and the overall Centers for Disease Control. But, the general parameters of how it would work are becoming known. “You will be eligible for a booster shot eight months after your second dose of your mRNA vaccine,” Dr. Avula said.The details for those who got the Johnson and Johnson are not yet known because research is still inconclusive, but Dr. Avula said the CDC hopes a solution will be worked out by September 20. Dr. Avula also said he’s been told by federal officials that there will be enough supply. “There is enough vaccine for a third dose for every American and we just need to remember that this means this will be a very different scenario from what we working with from December to March,” Dr. Avula said.Meanwhile, Ting Pavilion has joined a growing list of venues that will now require proof of vaccination for admittance. Many restaurants and businesses have begun to require them as well. The summer pandemic surge has put a pause on the preparations for the possibility of in-person public meetings in Albemarle. Emily Kilroy is the county’s director of communications and public engagement. “We’ve done all in-person for many years,” Kilroy said. “We pivoted very quickly to all virtual, but what does it look as we return to normal? There has been a lot of work leading up to that next phase of public meetings, and that work has put on hold just given the CDC’s substantial transmission rate that they have labeled Albemarle County as having.”Kilroy said there are many in the community who would not feel safe sitting in a closed room with other people. She made her comments at the virtual meeting of the Places29-Hydraulic Community Advisory Committee, which we’ll hear more about in the future. A dispute in Charlottesville’s Police Department became more public Friday afternoon when the city of Charlottesville released a statement responding to a letter from the Central Virginia chapter of the Virginia Police Benevolent Association. The August 10 letter from chapter president Michael Wells stated that Charlottesville police officers have lost confidence in Police Chief RaShall Brackney due to recent rule changes and policy changes regarding internal investigations and states that have not been fully explained. The letter states a PBA survey of officers captures this spirit and asks for a meeting with Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker and others to remedy the situation. The city’s response is in an unsigned 14-paragraph statement, the first paragraph of which announces that members of the city's SWAT team have been terminated for alleged behaviors that are described in detail in the 9th and 10th paragraphs. The statement describes steps Brackney has taken since becoming chief in June 2018. “Chief Brackney was tasked with updating and reforming how police services are provided within the City of Charlottesville, as well as working to bridge a divide between the city’s citizens, especially African American residents, and law enforcement,” the statement continues. The statement describes how Brackney is seeking to change a “warrior mentality” in the police department. The statement cites a video sent to Brackney by a member of the public which allegedly shows a police corporal making comments captured by a city-owned phone. "The video contained profanity and language indicative of the very subculture of aggression that Chief Brackney is committed to eradicating from Charlottesville policing," the statement continued. The statement goes on to give Chief Brackney's account of the disciplinary action that followed, and concludes with accusations against the PBA for interfering in the process. For more on the story: Read the story in the Daily Progress from reporters Katherine Knott and Allison Wrabel Read the statementWatch the August 12 Police Civilian Review Board meetingThe county’s seven community advisory committees are intended to be monthly forums to help Albemarle staff and elected officials implement the seven areas designated for growth. They’re also places where one can learn information about developments that are underway. County planner Michaela Accardi provided an update at this past week’s meeting. (download the presentation)“The first project I’ll talk about is the Hydraulic and Georgetown office building,” Accardi said. The Albemarle Board of Supervisors granted a rezoning for the project back in 2008 to clear the way for offices. The project was dormant for many years, but a site plan was approved last October and construction on the one-acre site is underway. “The applicant is in the process of undergoing utility improvements on the site so you might see some work over there,” Accardi said. A new 60,000 square foot Boys and Girls Club on school property at the Lambs Lane campus is in the planning phases and requires a special use permit to allow for a Community Center. Accardi said a vote on that permit is currently in deferral, even though the final site plan is under review. “This is a little bit of an untraditional, nontraditional approach where the site plan is under review because this building can exist on this site as a school use,” Accardi said. Groundbreaking is slated for August 28, according to Jack Jouett District Supervisor Diantha McKeel. Another project that has been deferred is a residential one called Arbor Oaks Townes in which an applicant is seeking a rezoning for one acre of land on Hydraulic Road from R-4 to R-15. A community meeting was held in October, but the 14-unit project is on hold indefinitely. One project that is moving forward is the Premier Circle project which will see up to 140 units dedicated to households and individuals with very low and extremely low incomes. Piedmont Housing Alliance, Virginia Supportive Housing, and the Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless are the entities behind the project. “The rezoning was approved by the Board of Supervisors and we haven’t had any further plans submitted at this time,” Accardi said. There was also an update from Samantha Strong, the manager of Stonefield. The former Pier One Space is being subdivided into three spaces, one of which will be the first Virginia location of the Torchy’s Tacos chains. “The middle space is under negotiations and I’m actually expecting that before the month is out we’ll have that lease signed,” Strong said. “The third space is also in the early stages of negotiation.”Elsewhere in Stonefield, there’s a lease signed for another chain eatery called Organic Krush.“We’re really excited because it’s going to bring cold-pressed juices, whole fruit smoothies, it’s very all-natural, very healthy, bold, different things like that,” Strong said. Strong said the pandemic has not affected vacancy rates on the retail side of Stonefield. “We are very close to being at 100 percent occupancy which has not happened at Stonefield before,” Strong said. Strong said the space formerly occupied by an Italian restaurant may become an event space, citing a need for such places in the community. You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement and it’s time now for another reader-supported announcement. The nonprofit group Resilient Virginia works to inform decision makers and officials about how to prepare for a changing world. They’re holding their annual event virtually this year, and registration prices go up at the end of this week. The Resilient Recovery Conference will take place the mornings of August 25, August 26, and August 27. Take a look at the details of the event as well as pricing at resilientvirginia.org. Earlier this month, t he U.S. Census Data released more of the results of the 2020 count, with numbers on population, housing units, and demographics. The official Charlottesville population is 46,553, or a 7.1 percent increase over the 2010 count. Albemarle’s official population increased 13.6 percent to 112,395. The count began on April 1, 2020, after most higher education facilities shut down at the beginning of the pandemic.  Each year, the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia produces population estimates for use by the state government to help allocate funds for various programs and government services. Their 2020 estimate for Charlottesville was 49,447, nearly three thousand more than the official count. (2020 Weldon Cooper estimates)Hamilton Lombard is a research specialist who combs through building permits and other sources to come up with the estimates. I spoke with him this week to ask about the discrepancy between the official count and the higher numbers from Weldon Cooper. “When you look at the Charlottesville region as a whole, we’ve had remarkably steady growth decade after decade,” Lombard said. “This decade wasn’t really very different. Where the growth happened shifted a little bit. First half of the decade we had fairly strong growth in the city. It seemed to slow down maybe even slightly reverse in the second half of the decade just because there was a lot of less development going on in the city.” Lombard said he thinks the county in Charlottesville is inaccurate based on a review of individual tracts. “I think most college students on campuses were counted correctly, but ones off campus were not typically,” Lombard said. “If you look at the Census block over near the Corner that has the GrandMarc apartment complex, in 2010 the Census count is 796 residents. In 2020, the count is 348. There are probably multiple cases like that.”In 2006, Charlottesville successfully challenged the Census Bureau’s 2005 estimates, which slowed a decline of around 4,000. I’ve got questions out to the city to see if they plan a dispute this time around. (Listen to a 2006 radio story I produced on this topic) For the rest of this interview, you’ll have to listen to the podcast for the details. Thanks for reading! Did you know that if you sign up for a paid subscription, Ting will match the amount! So, for $5 a month, $50 a year, or $200 a year, Ting will make a contribution to support this independent production and keep me in the business of tracking as many pieces of the puzzle as I can. And, please share with people you think would like to know more about what’s happening in the community. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

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

Stephanie Guevara, Owner of C'ville Picnic, and Samantha Strong, Manager of The Shops at Stonefield, joined Alex Urpí & Xavier Urpí On “Today y Mañana!” “Today y Mañana” airs every Thursday at 10:15 am on The I Love CVille Network! “Today y Mañana” is presented by Forward Adelante, Emergent Financial Services, LLC and Cristel Noel State Farm Agency.

In today’s Substack-fueled shout-out, Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit the Code for Charlottesville website to learn more, including details on projects that are underway.In today’s show: Virginians for High Speed Rail hold a “town hall” on the future of passenger service in  the CommonwealthCharlottesville Area Transit holds the first of two input sessions on upcoming route changesStudents at Jack Jouett Middle School may soon take a JourneyA committee reviewing the name of Jack Jouett Middle School has recommended that the facility be renamed Journey Middle School. The group was chaired by teacher Hannah Peters. “Inclusiveness was the value repeated most often by our students, community members, and staff,” Peters said in a news release on the school site. “Journey is a concept that applies to all. Middle school is a place that prepares students for the academic rigors of high school and beyond.”Other choices included “Hope, Peace, and Justice,” “Monacan”, and keeping the existing name. The latter was the preference of a community survey. Superintendent Matt Haas will make his recommendation to the School Board at their meeting on August 12. The Board would take a vote as soon as August 26, but the name change would not take effect until July 1, 2022. According to the release, Jouett is reported to have held over two dozen people in enslaved servitude. Prior to this effort, the county has renamed three other schools and retained the name of Virginia Murray Elementary School. Cale Elementary has been Mountain View since July 1, 2020 and Sutherland Middle School is now Lakeside as of the most recent July 1. The Murray High School is now the Community Lab School. Virginia’s Planning District Commissions will be granted $40 million to use to create new housing across the Commonwealth. Funding will pass through the regional organization, such as the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. Opportunities include renovating blighted properties, creation of regional housing trust funds, and building housing in business districts. The funding comes through the Virginia Housing Development Authority, which is now known as simply Virginia Housing. Specifically, the funding is part of their REACH program. We can expect more details perhaps at the August 5 meeting of the TJPDC. Virginia will be able to participate in a regional program designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from a business group last week. The Circuit Court of Richmond ruled that Virginia Department of Environmental Quality did not violate state rules when it revised regulations to enter a cap and trade system known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The Virginia Manufacturers Association had argued the move created an “illegal carbon tax on ratepayers”“The Court recognized that DEQ scrupulously followed the General Assembly’s directives and did not violate Virginia’s Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act when it amended its carbon trading program regulations to allow for the direct auction of carbon dioxide allowances,” said DEQ Air and Renewable Energy Director Mike Dowd in a release today. For more on the ruling and the RGGI system, read this article in the Virginia Mercury. A project to relocate a gas line from one side of Emmet Street to the other met with damage this weekend, resulting in a detour of southbound traffic heading toward the University of Virginia. Rain damaged a utility trench and in order to make repairs, all southbound traffic on Emmet Street will be detoured through Massie Road and Copeley Road. The gas line is being relocated as part of UVA’s Emmet / Ivy Corridor project. UVA Architect Alice Raucher will discuss that larger project at the Albemarle County Planning Commission on July 20 beginning at 6 p.m. (learn more about the detour ) (Albemarle PC meeting info)In the past year and a half, the state of Virginia has invested heavily in the future of rail, spending billions to buy hundreds of miles of right of way for that purpose from CSX. The investment has been made as a way of relieving congestion on Interstate 95 and other roads without widening. Shannon Valentine is the Virginia Secretary of Transportation and she created an Office of Innovation at the Virginia Department of Transportation to study major corridors. “The congestion along I-95 particularly from Fredericksburg to D.C. is some of the worst in the country,” Valentine said. “We were going through a number of options and the natural solution was let’s look at building more roads and we learned through the study that just building one lane, 52 miles from Fredericksburg to 495 in each direction would cost $12.5 billion.”Details on what the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority has been up to from their June 28, 2021 meeting (Executive Director’s report)Valentine said the study also forecast the expansion would be obsolete within ten years of completion. She said the investment in rail will be a third of the cost and focus on moving freight and passengers through the corridor. Part of the improvements will be to build a new bridge across the Potomac dedicated to passenger and commuter service. Valentine made her comments at a July 15 “Town Hall” held by the group Virginians for High Speed Rail.  The other speaker was Stephen Gardner, the president of Amtrak. That federal agency is investing in new trains for additional service in the northeast corridor. “First and foremost, we view our mandate as trying to create as many alternative trips to driving and as we can across America to create that alternative to connect communities with reliable, efficient, and time-competitive service,” Gardner said. Amtrak was created as a federal agency in 1971 to consolidate 20 passenger rail services across the United States into one. In Virginia, the seventies coincided with a period of disinvestment in passenger rail. Today’s efforts didn’t come out of nowhere. “This program, this effort to expand has been a many, many decades long effort,” Gardner said. “It’s just been a long and continuous effort to try to develop an expanded service that could really support the tremendous growth and opportunity in the Commonwealth and it’s taken a while to turn vision into fruition.” Gardner credited Virginia for having a plan when the time came for expansion. There has been daily service from Lynchburg to D.C. since October 2009 and a second daily train will be along in the near future. “We are adding a second train in the FY22 from Roanoke and Lynchburg north, and we’ll be expanding and extending that train, both trains actually, over to the New River Valley into Christianburg, Blacksburg, Virginia Tech,” Gardner said. Watch the entire Town Hall on the Virginians for High Speed Rail’s YouTube channel. The group was formed in the 1990’s to build support for restored and renewed passenger service in Virginia. If you're curious and want to dig deeper, there's another podcast you might want to try. Especially you ask why, and not just what. And if you belive that politics should be about making communities better.If so, check out Bold Dominion, a biweekly podcast from WTJU 91.1 FM. Bold Dominion is a state politics explainer for a changing Virginia. Their latest episode asks: Where does Virginia’s trash come from and who does it get dumped on? Check it out at BoldDominion.org.Charlottesville Area Transit has held the first of two public input sessions about changes to bus routes intended to boost ridership. The agency has experienced a sharp ridership decline over the past several years, and relatively new director Garland Williams has overseen some potential changes. “It is our intention to make sure that we get feedback and make adjustments to the CAT system that [are] fruitful to everyone and make sure the system is as productive as it possibly can be,” Williams said. During the pandemic, CAT hired Kimley-Horn and the Connetics Transportation Group to study the system to recommend changes. “We’ve had declining ridership for the last seven years,” Williams said. “We needed to figure out how to mitigate that, turn it around, put a stop on it, and put our best foot forward to make sure that the adjustments that we’re going to put in place will allow us to be productive.”The adjustments are the first in a series of proposed changes, as Albemarle County and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission are working on a study to expand transit regionally. The first opportunities for public input in that study are next week. A slide from the public presentation. Download the whole thing here. It is a fact that ridership is declining. Jim Baker of the Connetics Transportation Group knows another fact.“Generally about 62,500 people in the Charlottesville area are within a quarter mile of a stop, a transit service,” Baker said.Specific directives were to add service to South First Street in Charlottesville and the Center at Belvedere in Albemarle County. Capital funding from the city of Charlottesville for the Center was contingent on the new site being accessible to transit. “But also just to get 30 minute or better service to more people in the Charlottesville area and also to make sure that no route operating worse than a 60 minute service frequency,” Baker said.  Service will be extended to Mill Creek. Route 7 will travel all the way to Wal-Mart. And there will be more options for people to move around without having to go to the Downtown Transit Station. “We’re proposing a new crosstown service from the south Charlottesville up to the U.S. 29 corridor, so from Willoughby going through the UVA hospital complex and then up to the shops at Stonefield,” Baker said.  Five people made a public comment at the first session, which was held at noon on Friday. You can watch the whole thing on the city’s streaming meeting website. One person said he was glad service will be extended to the Center, but also had a concern that the bus only stops there once on the route. “Apparently there’s no return so if I get the 11 bus and ride to the Center and get off and spend my afternoon there, how do I get home?” asked Todd Cone.Williams said the intersection of Rio Road and Belvedere Boulevard is currently unsignalized, which means making a left-hand turn very difficult. “You do get home,” Williams said. “It’s just that there’s no, you have to ride around unfortunately because it is unsafe for us to go across an unsignalized intersection. A CAT vehicle is not a car so it’s a 35 foot bus trying to make it across six lanes of traffic. It’s not a safe way for us to go southbound towards downtown. You are able. You just have to get on the Center and ride around.”Carmelita Wood, president of the Fifeville Neighborhood Association, said many of the bus stops in the area offer no protection from the elements. “Some of the Routes, 4 and 6 on Cherry, and I think it’s Bailey Road and Fifth Street, there’s no coverage from the weather and the heat,” Wood said. “They recently put in seating in some areas, but in most of the areas there’s no coverage from the rain and the snow and the heat.”Juwhan Lee, assistant director at CAT, said a full review of city bus stops is underway. “What we’re trying to do is go out there and see where are stops are and what conditions they are in and what amenities they have,” Lee said. “We want to look at everything, look at the condition of the infrastructure of the location, and see what we can do improve it. Does the stop need to be here? If so, how can we make it better?” Lee said such a study has not been conducted for over ten years. Anthony Woodard is the manager of the McIntire Plaza off of McIntire Road just south of the interchange of the John Warner Parkway and the U.S. 250 Bypass. He noted no bus service serves the area, which will soon house more people. “There’s a lot of employment opportunities there,” Woodard said. “A lot of nonprofits in the area. Habitat Store, Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. And soon to be over 200 residents living back there as well as other neighborhoods nearby. The closest next stop is over half a mile away.”Williams said the area is on his radar for future coverage as those housing units come online, and as CAT looks ahead to the next set of upgrades. “It’s not off of the table but in the existing model, if we have additional funding it would be looked at it and when the additional residents get there, then we probably would look at as a recommendation to add additional service there,” Williams said. For details of the specific changes, visit the Charlottesville Area Transit website to review the presentation. And participate at the next event at 6 p.m. (meeting info) This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s Patreon-fueled shout-out: As we head into summer and the weather heats up, your local energy nonprofit, LEAP, wants you and yours to keep cool. LEAP offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If you’re age 60 or older, or have an annual household income of less than $75,100, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!On today’s show: Updates on capital projects and cybersecurity from the Rivanna Water and Sewer AuthorityA look at how the pandemic affected transportation behaviourAnd the Jefferson Area Regional Transit Partnership discusses ways to get a better system by connecting various moving parts Over three quarters of a million Virginians on Medicaid now have access to mental health and dental benefits. Governor Ralph Northam marked the occasion on July 1 while launching a new medical and dental center in Richmond. The change came in the form of an increased line item in the budget, which went into effect on yesterday. Medicaid members are now eligible for three cleanings a year as well as preventive care. The benefits are administered by DentaQuest, who can be reached at 1-888-912-3456 or visiting dentaquest.com. (press release)The Board of Directors of the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority (RWSA) met virtually on June 22. The RWSA builds and maintains the infrastructure that treats drinking water and processes wastewater in the various urban locations. That takes a lot of money, and there are a total of 54 projects in the agency’s capital improvement program over the next five years, at a cost of $170.1 million. But planning is also underway for projects that will be built after that time.  (CIP highlights)“The theme in our infrastructure and master planning you may note is pipelines,”  said Bill Mawyer, the executive director of the RWSA. “We’re working on a central waterline that is going to largely go through the center area of the City of Charlottesville.”A route has been identified for this project, and a cost-share allocation between Albemarle and Charlottesville has been discussed. The current capital program does include about $43 million for a new waterline between the Ragged Mountain Reservoir and the Observatory Hill Water Treatment Plant. That amount includes an upgrade of the water treatment plant that will increase its capacity to 10 million gallons a day. The RWSA is still working to secure easements for a nine-mile pipeline to connect the Ragged Mountain and South Fork reservoirs. The project has a cost estimate of $80 million and has a current estimated completion date of 2033. Another project that needs an agreement between Albemarle and Charlottesville is the replacement of the Schenk’s Branch interceptor. That’s an aging sewer line for which the first phase has been completed. The hold-up is the project’s alignment, which can either go on city property underneath McIntire Road south of Preston Avenue, or it can go on land owned by Albemarle County at its main office building. The RWSA’s monthly update on project has more information about the nearly $4 million project. “Following pipe alignment determinations, the design plans will be updated, and the construction approach will be coordinated with a City project planned for the same general area,” reads the update.The Board also got an update on security issues from the RWSA’s information systems administrator.“Cyber-attack is the number one threat right now to our water infrastructure,” said Steven Miller.  It’s been nearly two months since a ransomware attack led to the shut-down of the Colonial Pipeline, leading to temporary fuel shortages in Virginia and other southern states. In February,  a water treatment plan in Oldsmar, Florida was attacked by a hacker who sought to increase the levels of sodium hydroxide in order to poison people. That attack was stopped by monitoring by an employee. (Industrial Defender article)Miller described the vulnerability that was exploited.“Somebody left a remote access program on a machine and just left it sitting there and the operator’s password was acquired somehow and they were able to break in,” Miller said. Mitigating tips include requiring multifactor authentication and backing up critical systems so they can be replaced if access is shut down through a ransomware attack. Miller said there are several layers of protection.“So our first layer basically is physical,” Miller said. “We lock our water plants. We don’t just let people walk up to computers and use them.”Other layers include camouflaging the RWSA networks through the next generation of firewalls.“That software will also allow us to do something called geo-fencing which allows us to block all traffic from a specific area,” Miller said. “There’s really no reason we should have any traffic going to or from China.”Details on the Oldsmar incident are part of Miller’s presentation Next, the RWSA got an update on the federal and state permits required to draw water from the natural environment for urban water supply. The permits issued by the Virginia Department of Environment Quality and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expire in 2023 and will need to be reviewed. Jennifer Whitaker is the RWSA’s chief engineer.“We luckily submitted our permit for the urban system in May of 2021 and are working our way through the process,” Whitaker said.Since the last permits were issued, there’s a new dam at Ragged Mountain and the upgrade of two water treatments are underway. Future elements in the water supply plan include the construction of the South Fork to Rivanna waterline, the eventual raising of the water level at Ragged Mountain, and the decommissioning of the North Rivanna water treatment plant. There are separate urban water systems for Crozet and Scottsville, as well as Glenmore. The RWSA Board will next meet virtually on July 27 shortly after the meeting of the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority. The pandemic affected how Americans traveled, with fewer vehicle miles traveled at a time when people were asked to stay at home as much as possible. The Commonwealth Transportation Board had a briefing on the numbers at their meeting on June 22 from Laura Schewel, the chief executive officer of StreetLight Data. (view the presentation slides)“Everything that moves these days has some sort of technology on board to help measure it,” Schewel said. “It can be the geolocations in your phone, connected car data, data from car fleet management systems.”StreetLight takes that data and analyzes it to describe how people are using roads across the whole country. Nationwide, vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in urban communities was at 60 percent of normal levels in April 2020 at the height of the lockdowns. The decrease was not as high in rural counties.“Urban areas saw far more VMT decline and still haven’t recovered to the same level as the more rural and suburban counties,” Schewel said. Schewel said while VMT is back up, there is evidence congestion is down in part to more people driving outside the traditional peak hours.“We’re using our existing assets more evenly and that means we’re using our existing assets better,” Schewel said. “And that may mean that in some areas,  we have reduced the need for road expansion or new roads because we’re doing a better job of using the roads we have.”Schewel said better data may help transportation planners make better decisions about what might be needed in the future and that more time and data collection is needed. “I think for the future, or really right now what we need to is to measure, we need to predict, but I don’t think we should make a prediction,” Schewel said. “We need to predict in ranges because we know there is uncertainty and we know things can change. We need to predict a range of outcomes.” A comparison between April 2019 and April 2021 indicates that vehicle miles traveled (VMT) continues to be lower in urban areas versus rural areas (Credit: SearchLight Data) The Virginia Department of Transportation’s traffic division uses 512 counting stations to measure traffic volumes mostly on major highways. Engineer Mena Lockwood said Virginia saw a sharp decline in VMT in the early days of the pandemic but there has been a rebound. “Since then we’ve been relatively steady and over the last couple of months we’ve actually had our traffic at above typical conditions and the all vehicle traffic has just been below typical conditions.” Lockwood showed data that indicate that congestion in Virginia’s metropolitan areas is beginning to return to pre-pandemic levels. Several members of the CTB noted that this is the time for employers to consider incentive programs for teleworking and other programs to reduce vehicle miles traveled. Another factor in the fall could be the full return to in-person school. Mary Hynes represents the Northern Virginia District on the CTB and she said localities need to be prepared.“I’m a little worried about that, particularly in the really urban places, that we’re just going to have traffic jams beyond believe in September all about taking kids to school,” Hynes said. Credit: Virginia Department of Transportation (read more)You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement and it’s time for another reader-supported public service announcement.The future of passenger rail in Virginia got a lot more brighter this year as the Commonwealth of Virginia signed agreements with CSX to purchase hundreds of miles of railway corridors for three billion dollars. Virginians for High-Speed Rail are holding a transportation town hall on July 15 at 1 p.m. on the “True Story of the Virginia-CSX Deal: Lessons Learned and the Future of Passenger Rail.” Virginia Transportation Secretary Shannon Valentine and Amtrak President Stephen Gardner are the speakers. (register here)If you’re interested in driving less, and you want to know what’s happening to improve transit, a good place to start is the Jefferson Area Regional Transit Partnership. The group consists of representatives from Charlottesville Area Transit, Jaunt, and the University of Virginia Transit Service, as well as elected and appointed officials. It’s also a place where people can comment on transit issues. One speaker at the June 24 meeting was Ethan Heil, who decided last year to get more involved.“Last September I was excited to hear my appointment to the CAT Advisory Board,” Heil said. “Unfortunately since then I haven’t received any follow-up communication.” Heil said he understood the body might not have been a priority during the pandemic, but that the advisory board should play a role going forward. “I’m hopeful and respectfully request that we could find an opportunity to reengage the CAT advisory board,” Heil said. Council discussed whether to keep the CAT Advisory Board as an entity last October when they reviewed the status of various appointed bodies. The Board has not met since the pandemic began. At the end of the meeting, City Councilor Lloyd Snook said Council considered the fate of the CAT Advisory Board last October. “We basically decided at that point that there really wasn’t a lot of reason why the CAT Advisory Board should be sort of a Council-level appointment,” Snook said. “It ought to be something that worked directly with Garland [Williams] and the transportation piece more directly rather than have us involved.” Garland is Garland Williams, the manager of CAT. He said the advisory board is important, its its function needs to be studied. “I think it needed to be looked at and I asked for your authorization to hire a consultant to look at what the CAT advisory board does and then bring back a recommendation to Council sometime this year or early next and you authorized me to do so,” Williams said. One item on the partnership’s agenda was new guidance on getting assistance from VDOT staff for Smart Scale projects that seek to move more people onto to transit and other multimodal solutions. Chuck Proctor is an engineer in the Culpeper District.“We can help you develop sketches for infrastructure improvements, if you wanted to put out a bus pull out or if you’re going to be doing bus stops,” Proctor said. “Even bike-pedestrian facilities to and from a transit stop.”This year, the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission succeeded in securing $3.38 million in Smart Scale funding for a park and ride lot in Exit 107. That would be on the route of the Afton Express service between Staunton and Charlottesville that is slated to start in September.  The next deadline for the next Smart Scale cycle is not until the summer of 2022. Transit agencies can make their own applications. Proctor said there are efforts to find a location for a park and ride lot on Pantops. There had been one at the Pantops Shopping Center. Supervisor Diantha McKeel said she wanted to know more information about how people use park and ride lots, given the rising cost of land in the community. “We don’t want to go out and take good valuable land or space and end up with, I mean we just need to know what we’re doing before we go ahead,” McKeel said.Becca White, the director of parking and transportation at the University of Virginia, said park-and-ride has to be part of a coordinate strategy in order for it to work. “It’s not park and ride for park and ride’s sake,” White said. “It has to be the right amenities. It has to be lighted properly. It has to have waiting areas. It has to be linked to either transit or car pool trips. It can be very successful but it’s not a park and ride for park and ride’s sake.”CAT is studying possible locations for a park and ride lot on U.S. 29 in Albemarle County’s northern growth area. CAT Director Garland Williams said such a facility would be ideal for people driving to the University of Virginia. “It would also add a hub for transit where you would have dedicated restrooms for our facilities moving forward,” Williams said. The TJPDC is also studying expanded service in Albemarle’s northern growth area. The first round of public engagement efforts should begin in July. Scorecard for the Exit 107 Park and Ride lot (read the full list)One change that will happen in the short-term is that CAT buses will no longer travel through the Rio Hill Shopping Center. Williams told the partnership that the property owners asked for the stop to be removed. “Their reasoning was the shopping center will be undergoing a renovation of the storefronts and  the current bus route will not work with the vision of the shopping center,” Williams said. The shopping center would still be served, but the buses will not travel on the Rio Hill Shopping Center property. (learn more about the renovation in the February 6 CCE)Toward the end of the meeting, Jaunt’s planning manager Steven Johnson posed an interesting question. Could bus stops used by multiple transit agencies be given names that could be shared?“So that in our literature everybody is referring to the same stop by the same name,” Johnson said. “I think that would be a good thing for users of our systems.” In June, City Council approved an appropriation of federal funding for Charlottesville Area Transit to purchase eleven buses, all of which will be powered by fossil fuels. CAT is conducting a study on how to proceed. (read more in June 24 CCE)But some area transit fleets have bought a few electric vehicles. Jim Foley, the director of pupil transportation for Albemarle County Public Schools, said his system applied to Dominion’s electric school bus program. “I’m not sure we’ll get them, but we gave it a try,” Foley said. “We did go visit Louisa County who did get two of the electric buses and they love them, plus Dominion came out with a program to reimburse schools for fast-chargers which would save hundreds of thousands of dollars.”Foley said he drove one of the vehicles and found it to be smooth and powerful. Christine Jacobs, the interim director of the TJPDC, said she would convene a workshop of various stakeholders outside of a partnership meeting in order to discuss the issue.“Just sit everybody at the table so we can all share all of the information that we have,” Jacobs said. “Results from studies that are being done, data on the different types of buses. I think it’s something that there’s a real momentum and a craving for us all to share information and make sure that we’re all on the same page. Williams expressed caution about having community members decide what kind of buses to purchase.“The community doesn’t get involved when you’re talking about the selection of fire trucks, or police vehicles, or any of the other vehicles associated so it’s a little interesting there’s a lot of concern about selection with individuals who have not run a transit system and do not have any information about running it and what it takes to make sure that I am going to be reliable.” Williams said a study will soon get underway to determine the best pathway forward and to develop a plan to transition the fleet. In the meantime, he does not want his hands tied. “I’m not going to be subject to a command telling me to buy an electric bus when I have no confidence that it’s going to work,” Williams said. Finally today, as reported here before, route changes are pending for Charlottesville Area Transit. The information has been presented to the Regional Transit Partnership and the City Council, but this summer the public will get the chance to ask questions in two virtual meetings. (Council Briefed on Proposed Transit Changes, June 2, 2021)Both the Connetics Transportation Group and the firm Kimley-Horn have as been working with Williams on the changes. Here’s Williams at a June 29 press briefing.“When we went into the pandemic, there was concern like most transit agencies about how when we get out of the pandemic, what do we do the make the system better for all who use it?” Williams asked. Williams said the route changes are intended to reverse a period of ridership declines that was happening before the pandemic. In 2013, CAT carried over 2.4 million riders a year, but that dropped to just over $2 million in 2018. Williams also acknowledged there are a lot of moving parts in transit at the moment. “This is not the end-all to-be-all,” Williams said. “The region is doing a visioning study so this was designed as a temporary measure over the next couple of years while that study is done to prevent us from having continued rapid decline in ridership.”In the current system, all but one of the CAT’s 13 routes goes to the Downtown Transit Station. In the changes, at least one route will be oriented north-south to travel between Stonefield and the Willoughby Shopping Center. Jim Baker is with the Connectics Transportation Group.“We’ve proposed introducing some new crosstown service from south Charlottesville to U.S. 29 so no longer will you need to travel to downtown, transfer to a bus to continue up to U.S 29,” Baker said. “You can do all of that on the same bus.” Another change is that CAT service would be extended to Mill Creek in Albemarle County. Service would also go through the South First Street public housing complex. Other routes would have Sunday service for the first time. The two public meetings will be on Friday, July 16 at noon and Wednesday, July 21 at 6 p.m. Before you go:Thanks so much to everyone for their financial support. No pitch today. I just want to thank you for reading. As I said in the podcast, the fact that you’re reading this shows that you care about the future of our community. I do as well, and have dedicated my life to reestablishing my pathway as a journalist. As you celebrate with friends and family, please tell others about the work. I’m about to begin Year Two and would like to expand the audience! This work is free and the work is paid for by the quarter of the audience that’s decided to contribute. I’m grateful to everyone who thinks this work is worthwhile enough to keep going. Thanks again, Sean Tubbs, Town Crier Productions This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s Patreon-fueled shout-out: As we head into summer and the weather heats up, your local energy nonprofit, LEAP, wants you and yours to keep cool. LEAP offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If you’re age 60 or older, or have an annual household income of less than $75,100, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!On today’s show:Land use updates from the Charlottesville Planning CommissionCouncil appoints an architect to fill a vacancy on the Planning CommissionUpdates on transit and StonefieldWe begin today’s show with a piece of news from this afternoon before we begin into a time machine for some sonic travel throughout the month. Charlottesville City Council has made an appointment to fill a vacancy on the Charlottesville Planning Commission. The seven-member body is the lead advisory panel on items of land use and planning in the city. Here’s City Councilor Heather Hill making the motion.“I move that City Council appoint Karim Habbab to the Planning Commission,” Hill said. Habbab is an associate architect with BRW Architects, according to a bio on the firm’s website. He is a native of Jordan and the son of two architects. He moved to Charlottesville in 2011 to attend the University of Virginia. Now, let’s go back to the most recent meeting of the Charlottesville Planning Commission from June 9. At the beginning of each meeting, Commissioners give updates from the various committees they are on. William Palmer is a planner with the Office of the Architect at the University of Virginia. He sits on the Planning Commission in a non-voting capacity under the terms of a 1986 agreement. He noted that earlier this month, the Board of Visitors were told of a $50 million gift from Martha and Bruce Karsh to create the Karsh Institute of Democracy. (read the UVA Today story)“That’ll lead probably to another building at the Emmet Ivy corridor to kind of complement what’s already under planning there, the Data Science institute and the hotel and conference center,” Palmer said. According to UVA Today, the building for the Karsh Institute of Democracy will be ready in 2026. The University will match the $50 million gift. Next, Commissioner Jody Lahendro reported from the Tree Commission, which earlier this month signed off on the United States Department of Agriculture’s plan to introduce wasps at the Ragged Mountain Natural Area to fight off infestations of the Emerald Ash Borer. “It’s going to be a five-year study and will be completely funded by the USDA,” Lahendro said. “This is a study that’s actually been ongoing since 2007 and has now been started in over 29 states.”The Planning Commission is next scheduled to meet again on June 29 for a work session on the next steps for the Cville Plans Together initiative. Habbab joins the Planning Commission as one phase of the Comprehensive Plan ends and another moves forward. The comment period on the Future Land Use Map ended June 13.The consultants report that there were at least 1,137 emails, 37 voicemails from 26 individuals, and several signatures to various petition campaigns. Over 220 people left over 700 comments on an interactive version of the Future Land Use Map. Those are now all visible. The June 29 work session will see a timeline for how the rest of the process will play out. Here’s Alexander Ikefuna, the director of Neighborhood Development Services (NDS)“We have enabled staff and the consultant to prepare an informed timeline on how the final draft document makes its way to the Planning Commission and the City Council for joint public hearing and subsequently for the Council for final consideration,” Ikefuna said. A rewrite of the zoning code would begin in full earnest after the Comprehensive Plan is adopted. Planning Commission Chair Hosea Mitchell was clear that the process will take time. “This is a vision document, the Future Land Use Map is a vision document,” Mitchell said. “We are a ways away from rezoning. We are ways away from things like R-1 going away. Based on this vision document, R-1 is not going away.”This review of the Comprehensive Plan began in January 2017 and since then, there has been much turnover and only Commissioners Lahendro and Taneia Dowell are still on the body. Missy Creasy, the deputy director of NDS, offered some perspective on how the process has been intended to be proactive.“The commission really came at this from, ‘something is going to happen to our community, we know that we’re seeing growth and we want to consciously make decisions about how that happens and now allow something to happen to us,’” Creasy said. Stay tuned for June 29. (June 29 meeting info) There’s another meeting happening on June 29 about a topic that is perhaps just as important as a discussion of the Future Land Use Map. It’s definitely related. Charlottesville Area Transit has been working with the Connetics Transportation Group and Kimley-Horn on an update of the system. I’ve reported on the potential changes, as has Allison Wrabel in the Daily Progress in a story from March 1.  This event is being held as a general overview of the changes, and two public engagement sessions will be held before Council makes a decision to approve the changes. (meeting info)One of the changes would see Route 8 transferred into a line that would run between the Willoughby Shopping Center on 5th Street extended in Charlottesville to Stonefield. More on transit later on in in this installment. For now, we have to keep moving.In the June 23 installment of this program, we heard a little from the Places29-Hydraulic Community Advisory Committee. I did not include an update from Stonefield mostly because I ran out of time. But before we move on with today’s show, and with the idea of a more direct transit route connecting Stonefield with Charlottesville, let’s hear from Stonefield’s manager Samantha Strong on some recent updates. “We were very excited just in the past few weeks,” Strong said. “We had Sunglass Hut open up their location with us. Splendora from the Downtown Mall has now opened up her location. So get excited. Come get some gelato.”The building that had been occupied by Pier 1 imports will be split into spaces for more than one business.“The first one that will be coming in is Torchy’s Tacos, so get excited for some tacos and margaritas out of Austin, Texas,” Strong said.  “And just upcoming we have Ronnie Megginson with Kulture Vibez. We have Team Hair Studios that’s going to be opening up within the next month. And we also have Akira Ramen and Sushi. Those are all going to be opening on the north side.”Strong said the Regal movie theater is open again. She said merchants and business owners are seeing new vibrancy.“May of 2021 for some of them was actually the best month of sales they have had ever since they opened,” Strong said. The Friends of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library are having a Warehouse Sale at Albemarle Square Shopping Center (300 Albemarle Square) Friday, July 9 through Sunday, July 11 from 10 to 6 each day. There will be Fiction, Mysteries, SciFi and Fantasy, Cookbooks, Military, Biographies and YA and Children’s Books There will be a capacity limit of 80 shoppers. Proceeds benefit our regional public library system, JMRL, serving Charlottesville, Albemarle, Greene, Louisa and Nelson.Now on to more from the Charlottesville City Council meeting from Monday, June 21, 2021. City Manager Chip Boyles said notices has been given to nearby battlefields and museums notifying them of the city’s interest in getting rid of two Confederate statues that are currently in city parks. Three responses of interest had been received by Monday. “Two are in state, and one from out of state,” Boyles said. Boyles said City Hall is expecting to return to normal operations in September. “At which time, all public meetings, boards and commissions will begin to meet in person,” Boyles said. In the past fifteen months, government meetings have moved online. Vice Mayor Sena Magill wondered if staff could be allowed to appear at meetings remotely rather than be present in Council Chambers.“I want to take whatever positives we can from this pandemic and provide as much flexibility as technology allows,” Magill said. Boyles said that he thought that would be possible.“Our understanding right now is that in the case of City Council the elected officials will have to be physically present but staff could do either,” Boyles said.Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker said she wanted to limit the number of people in Chambers out of continued health concerns.“We’re talking about that time of year,” Walker said. “It’s going to be flu season picking up, regular colds in that fall and winter season so hopefully by then there will be some changes to how they are looking at this from a federal and state level.”Interviews for the Director of Neighborhood Development Services position began today. Later in the meeting, there was a public hearing on appropriations of $5.3 million in supplemental funds for Charlottesville Area Transit. Garland Williams is the director of CAT. “What we have is a combination of capital and operating dollars,” Williams said. “The capital is $4.32 million which will allow us to buy rolling stock which means buses, support vehicles.” About $630,000 transfers through to Jaunt for their services. Councilor Michael Payne asked if the eleven buses planned for purchase were to build capacity or replace an aging fleet. Four of them are new vehicles and the rest are replacements. They will all be diesel engines, but Williams said future purchases could use alternative fuels.“We are actually undertaking a study that will allow us to see whether we should be looking at doing whether it is [Compressed Natural Gas] or electric vehicles of a combination of the two,” Williams said. “The electric vehicle component for transit is coming and its coming quickly but its relatively new.”Williams estimated there would be enough testing and experience with electric transit fleets for the technology to become more widespread.  One issue in this community is the topography and the need for a drivetrain that power up hills. No one spoke at the public hearing. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Today's Patreon-fueled shout-out is for the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign, an initiative that wants you to grow native plants in yards, farms, public spaces and gardens in the northern Piedmont. Native plants provide habitat, food sources for wildlife, ecosystem resiliency in the face of climate change, and clean water.  Start at the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page and tell them Lonnie Murray sent you! On today’s show:Charlottesville City Council gets an update on city finances and economic recoveryAlbemarle’s Places-29 Hydraulic panel gets an update on crime, climate, and StonefieldA new round of transportation projects will move forward across the regionWe begin today with Charlottesville City Council. As of today, there are only eight days left until the beginning of Fiscal Year 22. On Monday, June 21, the five elected officials got a glimpse of where things stand through the first eleven months of Fiscal Year 21. A shortfall related to the economic shutdown that began in Fiscal Year 20 is not as bad as initially reported. “Based upon the current conditions of what we’re seeing in terms of revenues, things are continuing to trend in a positive direction,” said Ryan Davidson, a senior budget management analyst for the city. In April, budget staff estimated there would be a $8.35 million gap, but revenues picked up and the current forecast is for a $7.42 million deficit for fiscal year 21. (staff report)“We’re continuing to see some volatility month to month in some of our larger economic driven revenues,” Davidson said. “Sales, meals, lodging. But we’ve been seeing more of a positive trend in these areas.”After the fiscal year, the accounts for FY21 will be audited which will take several months. The city will likely use a mixture of sources to make up the shortfall, including the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA). Other options include the $7.3 million reserve set aside in previous federal funds and use of surpluses from previous years that have not been appropriated. “Should we need to use the ARPA funds to cover any of the remaining budget variance that’s not covered by other means, we’ll know those figures after the close of the fiscal year and have those final audited amounts in the November or December timeframe,” Davidson said. This table is available in the staff report for the discussion Let’s take a closer look at where the shortfalls are coming from. The adopted budget for FY21 estimated the city would bring in $14.3 million in meals taxes, $6.3 million from lodging taxes, and $1.34 million in income from parks and recreation. The current projections show the potential actual amounts as missing those targets by $3.5 million for meals, $2.6 million under for lodging, and $910,824 short for parks and recreation.To get those numbers up for the soon-to-be-current fiscal year, the Economic Development Office is implementing a Recovery Roadmap and Economic Development Director Chris Engel provided an update on how it is going. (staff report)“This process emanated out of a discussion the Council had at the beginning of the budget season late last year, November and December, where you indicated that helping businesses recover was one of your priorities,” Engel said. Engel said there are 15 specific initiatives in the roadmap clustered in four categories. They are financial assistance, training and resource access, infrastructure needs, and marketing and advertising. As of July 1, Virginia law pertaining to carrying alcohol outside of a licensed establishments will become more flexible to allow people to explore Designated Outdoor Refreshment Areas (DORA).  Jason Ness is the Deputy Director of the Economic Development office.“The designated outdoor refreshment area concept has been on the books with [Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority] for quite some time and really the fundamental change that takes effect on July 1 is that it is now localities have more control over these types of events,” Ness said. “In the past it was a permitted system both at the state and the locality. The new legislation will allow for cities to create ordinances to control these.”Take a look at HB2266 if you want to see how what the legislation looks like and what it does. Ness said there would still be restrictions.“You couldn’t take a cup from one ABC license holder to another, so you could not go from restaurant to restaurant but you could go into retailers if they would allow that,” Ness said. Ness said the city is in talks with the Ix Park for a community block party for this fall. One idea would be to get the local DORA ordinance in place to allow that to be extended to the Downtown Mall. Mayor Nikuyah Walker expressed concern that inviting alcohol consumption across a wider geographic area could lead to behavioral issues as well as unequal treatment. “We’ve had a lot of concerns about drinking in public, drunk in public, those types of conversations,” Walker said. “I am hoping that we resolve those and that we’re not allowing some people just because they’ve purchased it in a restaurant when we know that other people are already drinking and there is different treatment.”Councilor Michael Payne said he was open to the idea and shared Walker’s concerns.“I couldn’t say that I’m 100 percent behind it at this point,” Payne said.There was enough support from Council to give Engel the go ahead to work on pursuing an ordinance. Ness said he heard the concerns of Payne and Walker.“Those are the important questions that we need to consider and flesh out all the answers on how things like that are going to be handled before we actually put that into place,” Ness said. Vice Mayor Sena Magill said if the city seeks to explore a DORA then it needs to be about more than just one place.“If we’re developing something like this, I don’t want it to be Mall-focused,” Magill said. “I want to make sure that if we’re developing it, that it can be developed for all areas of Charlottesville.” Under the legislation, localities could set up three DORAS to explore. Other ideas in the Recovery Roadmap include a twice-yearly clean-up day to address maintenance issues identified by businesses as well as a buy local effort. Engel said his office is making a request for $1 million in American Rescue Plan funding to help boost the tourism sector. Part of that money would be used to replace revenue losses that have led to a decrease in available funds for the Charlottesville-Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau “The Visitors’ Bureau revenue due to the transient occupancy tax in the city and [Albemarle] has been reduced by about $1.5 million and since the city and the county both fund that entity, the request that we’re both making through the ARP process if for half of that,” Engel said. Walker asked whether this use of the ARP funding was the highest priority.“If we do give those dollars, the $750,000, what are they used for and how do weigh the direct  aid to businesses against the money to CACVB for their loss?” Walker asked.Engel said the budget for the Visitors Bureau is based on previous years, so they won’t feel the effects until the new fiscal year begins.“The funds are intended to replace the drop for next year and the year after,” Engel said. Councilor Payne also questioned whether the city should use its share of the ARP funding to make up the losses. He suggested the General Assembly could vote later this summer to appropriate state money for the purpose of tourism marketing. “If that money doesn’t come, or doesn’t cover the gap, I’m very curious to know what data and research exists about what is the actual return on investment to the tourism board and what return on investment do we actually expect and anticipate, recognizing that the ARP money is limited and its all about trade-offs and ensuring that we’re making an investment that’s having the most positive impact on our community,” Payne said. Engel said if the General Assembly did allocate funding to tourism, it would most likely be in the form of grant funding and not a direct replacement of lost funds. He said he would return to Council with information along the lines that Payne requested.I’ll have more from the rest of the Council meeting in a future newsletter. The Charlottesville-Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau next meets on June 28. The Commonwealth Transportation Board meets today and tomorrow virtually and in Richmond. The appointed body today coted to approve the Six-Year Improvement program for fiscal year 2022 through 2027, and that includes transportation projects in our area that come through the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Smart Scale process. In all, 21 projects submitted in the VDOT’s Culpeper District have been recommended for funding, including a pedestrian bridge across U.S. 29 that would connect Stonefield with the Seminole Square Shopping Center. That project included funding left over from the Route 29 Solutions suite of projects and the CTB will vote to allocate an additional $5.7 million to allow it to move forward to the design phase. Other projects include $5.3 million for a roundabout at Old Lynchburg Road and 5th Street Extended, $8.74 million to add safety improvements on Ridge Street, and $10.1 million for a roundabout at the John Warner Parkway and Rio Road East. Smart Scale applications from across the Commonwealth are ranked according to a series of metrics including addressing safety, relieving traffic congestion, and providing economic development. The initial scores were released in January as I reported back then. Table by Flourish teamYou’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement, and it’s time for another subscriber-supported public service announcement. The Rivanna Conservation Alliance is looking for a few good volunteers to help out on Clean Stream Tuesdays, a mile and a half paddle and clean-up to remove trash and debris from popular stretches of the Rivanna River. Trash bags, trash pickers, gloves, and hand sanitizer/wipes will be provided, though volunteers will need to transport themselves to and from the end points. Kayaks for the purpose can be rented from the Rivanna River Company. Visit the Rivanna Conservation Alliance's volunteer page to learn more about upcoming dates.The Places29-Hydraulic Community Advisory Committee met on June 21 for a wide-ranging meeting that began with an update on crime statistics from a new county employee. “My name is Andrew Friedman and I am the new crime analyst here with the Albemarle County Police Department,” Friedman said. “I am new to the county as well and I actually live within the area that we’re going over today.” Friedman’s report was intended to cover the area within the jurisdiction of the CAC, but he gave some overall trends.“We see that property crime has been trending upwards since 2018 in the county at least whereas violent crime has been trending downwards,” Friedman said. “This matches the trend that we do see nationally.”In an area that is slightly bigger than the Places29-Hydraulic area, there have been 134 property crimes through June 14.“We’re talking about stuff like burglaries, we’re talking stuff like motor vehicle thefts, and largely led by larcenies,” Friedman said. Of those property crimes, 21 were thefts of catalytic converters. “Catalytic converter thefts are trending upwards,” Friedman said. “They’ve been increasing drastically in recent years throughout the nation and that’s because the material they’re made out of go for a lot on the black market. They would be pawned for a lot of money.”Friedman said police departments across the region are working together against this specific kind of larceny. Of the 14 violent crimes reported this year in the area, four were rapes and in all four cases the victims knew the offender. The 10 other crimes were aggravated assaults, and four of them were classified as domestic violence. There were 30 calls for service in the area for shots fired this year. Friedman said most of these calls are unsubstantiated, meaning no shell casings are found. In one of the substantiated cases, one individual was struck by a bullet. Friedman said patrols have been stepped up in these areas. (watch the Places29-Hydraulic video) (view the full report)Read the rest of the report hereThe next topic at the Places29-CAC meeting dealt with two topics on the minds of many, though not necessarily at the same time. Climate change and growth management. Cynthia Neff is the chair of the CAC.“Every now and then we need to refresh ourselves with what the growth management policy is,” Neff said. “The growth area is different [from] the rural area. The growth area is where the development is and the necessary housing is.”There’s an entire chapter - Chapter 3 - of the county’s Comprehensive Plan dedicated to growth management, a policy that dates back to a Comprehensive Plan update in the late 70’s. Last October, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors adopted the first phase of a Climate Action Plan. Michaela Accardi is a planner with the county. (current Comprehensive Plan)“The first objective in the county’s Comprehensive Plan is to consistently use the growth management policy as the basis on which to guide decisions on land-use, capital expenditures, and service provision,” Accardi said. Around 95 percent of the county’s 726 square miles are designated as rural, and the rest is for development. Chapter 7 of the plan offers strategies for conserving land in the rural area and chapter 8 offers strategies for maximizing the use of land in the growth area. Objective four of the later chapter is to “Use Development Area land efficiently to prevent premature expansion of the Development Areas.” In her presentation, Accardi also brought up some statistics included in Housing Albemarle, an update of the county’s housing policy that had a public hearing before the Board of Supervisors earlier this month. “The median rent for rental units in 2019 was $1,278 a month and the income that a household will need to afford that rent is $50,640 a year,” Accardi said. “Approximately 31 percent of households in Albemarle have incomes less than $50,000.”The Places29-Hydraulic CAC next heard from Gabe Dayley, the county’s new climate protection manager.  In that role, he is the point person for Albemarle’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “Emissions from vehicles traveling around burning gasoline is our highest slice of the pie in terms of greenhouse gas emissions in the community,” Dayley said. If it’s expensive for people who work in Albemarle or Charlottesville to live there, meeting the goal of reducing carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2020 will be harder to accomplish. “When housing is sometimes less affordable in a community but folks are working in that community, they may have to live in further outlying areas,” Dayley said. “That’s something that can increase traffic which has a variety of effects. One of those is larger greenhouse gas emissions.”The Climate Action Plan has several chapters with strategies that seek to address specific areas of where emissions come from. One of these is on Transportation and Land Use which has the overarching goals of reducing vehicle miles traveled, shifting vehicles to those with lower or no emissions, reducing use of single-occupancy vehicles, and increasing transit, walking, and biking alternatives. “Greater density can support fewer transportation emissions and better energy efficiency but that really requires a holistic approach to land use,” Dayley said. “Density, as well as mixed-use, where there’s maybe some businesses on the first floor serving local communities. Complete streets is a term that folks might have come across that has to do with the idea of a street that not just is functional for pedestrians and cyclists and cars and buses but is also pleasant and attractive for everyone to make use of.” CAC member Vito Cetta said he was a supporter of the growth management policy.“We have 1,200 to 1,500 people who move here a year and the Comprehensive Plan is really taking control of how we develop our county,” Cetta said. However, Tom Olivier of the group Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population said the county should limit the number of people who move to the community. Olivier lives outside of the Places29 area but made his comment at the end of the conversation. “The primary drivers of greenhouse gas emissions are growth in both people numbers and gross domestic product and whether we add people to the development areas or to the rural areas, we add greenhouse gases and we also do that when we sort of expand economic activity,” Olivier said. “This is a very difficult issue, and basically I just wanted to say really I think there’s little chance of Albemarle County becoming carbon neutral if it doesn’t contain growth and I think that’s something the comp plan will have to address as we go forward.”The Albemarle Board of Supervisors last updated the Comprehensive Plan in the summer of 2015 and a review and update is expected to begin in the not too distant future. Some of the strategies in the climate action plan’s Transportation and Land Use chapter This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

With the posse realising they need to both find a way to beat the Hangin' Judge and find out what is going on in Stonefield, they set their sights on a bounty. Deadlands: The weird west is based on Savage Worlds: Adventure edition, both of which you can find here: https://www.peginc.com/ Intro and Outro Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDPMAuv-3nk&ab_channel=RossBugden Program: Fantasy Grounds Unity Follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/7throll Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/7thRoll/

The battle for Stonefield comes to an end, but that doesn't mean our posse is completely safe yet, especially after Annie almost goes down... Deadlands: The weird west is based on Savage Worlds: Adventure edition, both of which you can find here: https://www.peginc.com/ Intro and Outro Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDPMAuv-3nk&ab_channel=RossBugden Program: Fantasy Grounds Unity Follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/7throll Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/7thRoll/

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

The inn might have been saved, but the town itself is still under attack, so time to get out there and save what we can! Deadlands: The weird west is based on Savage Worlds: Adventure edition, both of which you can find here: https://www.peginc.com/ Intro and Outro Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDPMAuv-3nk&ab_channel=RossBugden Program: Fantasy Grounds Unity Follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/7throll Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/7thRoll/

Our heroes return to Stonefield to get their money and figure out their next steps. Deadlands: The weird west is based on Savage Worlds: Adventure edition, both of which you can find here: https://www.peginc.com/ Intro and Outro Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDPMAuv-3nk&ab_channel=RossBugden Program: Fantasy Grounds Unity Follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/7throll Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/7thRoll/

Today’s Patreon-fueled shout-out wants you to consider a new adventure this Sunday. The Rivanna Conservation Alliance resumes the tradition of the Rivanna River Race! Contestants will travel 6.8 miles downriver via kayak or canoe from the Rio Mills Bridge to the Rivanna River Company. Registration costs $40 a person or $50 for tandem, and proceeds go to the Rivanna Conservation Alliance. Don’t have a boat? Rent one from the Rivanna River Company! Visit the sign-up page in the newsletter to learn more and register. It’s all part of the Rivanna Riverfest which runs from May 1 to May 9. In this installment:Tourism industry officials want reform of the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors’ BureauUpdates on transit planningThere are no qualifying bids yet for the reconstruction of the Belmont BridgeVirginia DEQ creates an environmental justice officeVDOT wants you to drive slow in work zones - this and every other week!The long-awaited construction of the Belmont Bridge in Charlottesville will not begin this spring, and City Council might be briefed on Monday about how to move the long-planned project forward. Several firms submitted bids in time for the March 16, 2021 but the city has not released any further information at this time. “The submitted bid proposals for the Belmont Bridge replacement are being evaluated by the City staff and its consultant in accordance with the planned project scope,” reads an email from Brian Wheeler, the city’s director of communications. “This evaluation also includes consideration of the project’s planned budget.”The current bridge was built in 1962, and city staff recommended in April 2009 that it should be replaced rather than repaired. The firm MMM Design was hired to conduct the design process for what was then a project with a $9 million cost estimate. But there was a fierce public debate about whether the bridge should even be replaced, or if a tunnel underneath the railroad tracks should proceed. MMM Design went out of business soon after Council selected to go with a bridge in July 2014. Soon after that, the firm Kimley Horn was selected and began a new review in April 2017. Last August, Council voted to authorize $15.26 million in federal and state funding for the project, which by then had a $31 million cost estimate. At least $7.5 million of that amount are city capital improvement funds. The project was advertised for construction bids earlier this year, but the process is now stalled pending new direction from Council. “A recommendation for moving forward is being developed, as are possible options,” Wheeler wrote. Check tomorrow to see if the item is on the City Council’s agenda for the May 3 meeting. This is the way the finances for the project pencil out in Virginia’s Draft Six-Year Improvement Program for FY22. Take a look!Want to show support for those people who work on road and transportation projects in Virginia? Tomorrow, April 28, is the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Go Orange Day, where people are asked to wear orange to mark National Work Zone Awareness Week. If you do, take a selfie and send it to VDOT in one of two ways:Email to William.Merritt@vdot.virginia.gov and Lou.Hatter@vdot.virginia.gov Please include names, where the photo was taken and the company's name.Text 540-717-8376 (be sure to include your name)Take a look at their gallery to see examples. A road crew poses to ask for you to slow down in work zones (Credit: Virginia Department of Transportation)Preparations continue for a study of how transit could work better in Albemarle County. Some fixed-route service is provided by Charlottesville Area Transit, which is owned by the City of Charlottesville. Jaunt provides fixed-route service between Crozet and Charlottesville as well as paratransit service throughout the region. The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is shepherding a Regional Transit Vision as well as a study of additional service to serve Albemarle’s urban areas. A kick-off meeting for the study will take place in early June. Jessica Hersh-Ballering is a planner with the TJPDC. She spoke at the April 22 meeting of the Regional Transit Partnership. “This is a project to determine the best way to expand transit service to three priority locations in Albemarle, and those priority locations are Pantops, north 29, and Monticello,” Hersh-Ballering said. “The goal is to apply for funding to implement that service in fiscal year 2023.” To do that, the study will need to be completed, including public review, in order to apply for a demonstration grant by next February. Albemarle Supervisor Diantha McKeel is the chair of the Regional Transit Partnership.“I just have a comment, Jessica,” McKeel said. “I looked at that February date in February and thought, wow, that is a tight timeline but I’m sure you all have figured it out.” The University Transit System is a member of the Regional Transit Partnership and they updated community officials on the results of a recent passenger survey. The pandemic skewed ridership last year, with almost 90 percent of people taking shuttle routes to the Health Complex, a figure that was 57.25 percent in 2019. Academic routes usually make up just over forty percent ridership, but that dropped to ten percent last year. An image from the recent UTS ridership survey (download)The University Transit System is completely separate from Charlottesville Area Transit, but does offer some service on some streets in the City of Charlottesville. “We are the public provider on 14th Street, Grady, Rugby, Arlington, Massey,” said Becca White, the director of Parking and Transportation at UVA. “People who have been around long enough know that CAT used to serve some of those corridors and were able to concentrate elsewhere while UTS agreed to be the public provider on those corridors.”However, Charlottesville Area Transit said they are in talks with UTS about whether that will continue. CAT Senior Project Steve MacNally told the Regional Transit Partnership about upcoming capital projects, including the potential for a transit hub and park and ride lot on U.S. 29.  They’re looking for a suitable two acre lot. “I’ve been busy looking at some vacant or unoccupied properties, looking at right of way issues, the access to those, and a number of other criteria,” MacNally said. CAT is about to begin work on two studies of its own. One will look at the need for future facilities and a more dedicated look at the park and ride possibility with the firm Kimley Horn. In response to a question from White, CAT director Garland Williams said he has not been in touch with anyone from the University of Virginia Foundation, which owns many properties in the 29 North corridor, including the North Fork Research Park.“This is our kickoff to bring all those elements together, so the study is really going to look at whether the corridor itself is ripe for transit,” Williams said. “We do believe that it is.”   Williams added this could help CAT increase ridership which would in turn bring in more funding. “Initially we have looked at potentially the airport to [the University of Virginia] as the initial corridor of looking at, kind of the route, but that’s up for discussion as we’re working with our consultant,” Williams said. The work by Kimley Horn is separate from the work being done by the TJPDC on behalf of Albemarle County. Williams said the work is complementary and will function together. A third transit-related land use study in the same geographical area is a potential relocation of Albemarle school bus fleet to land somewhere in the U.S. 29 corridor.Christine Jacobs, the interim director of the TJPDC, said the conversation was a sign of the role the Regional Transit Partnership can play. “I think this is really exciting because there’s a lot of synergy and coordination that is occurring between some of these corridors and I just want to make sure I remind you that the PDC we will also be doing through the MPO in their North 29 study corridor from Airport Road all the way up into Greene,” Jacobs said. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has opened a new Office of Environmental Justice. Renee Hoyos will serve as the first director of the office, which will oversee the implementation of an environmental justice program at DEQ. The office stems from an executive order from Governor Ralph Northam from 2018. A report from Skeo Solutions and the Metropolitan Group completed in the fall of 2020 further outlined how the office might work. Hoyos most recently served as the executive director of the Tennessee Clean Water Network. Hoyos will work with Jerome Brooks as the Environmental Justice Coordinator. Brooks has been at DEQ for a decade and a half as the manager of the office of water compliance and director of the office of air compliance coordination. Even before the creation of the office, Brooks has been serving as DEQ's environmental justice coordinator for the past 13 years. You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement and time for another subscriber-supported public service announcement. It’s becoming more and more safe to go out and check out live music. If you’re interested in going out and hearing people who have been waiting to get out and play, check out the Charlottesville Jazz Society and their running list of events! The Charlottesville Jazz Society is dedicated to the promotion, preservation and perpetuation of all jazz, and that the best thing you can do now is to go check out some music.Check them out in the link in the newsletter.  To close out the show today, a long look at the April 26, 2021 meeting of the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau, a public body that since 2018 made up of appointed and elected officials from Albemarle and Charlottesville. The CACVB was originally formed in 1979 and exists today to serve as a clearinghouse for information on tourism, as well as to discuss strategies for how to market the area. Different entities in the community want to bring in more visitors for different reasons. At the beginning of the April 26 meeting, Susan Krischel is with the Ix Art Park, a centrally-located and flexible destination space. The organization has put together a new campaign called Charlottesville Excursions with $20,000 in funding from the Virginia Tourism Office to attract people in neighboring states to come to the area to experience the many arts in the community. “We are such a strong and vital arts destination that we wanted to position Charlottesville as a city to come and really immerse yourself in arts,” Krischel said. “We thought that that not only could help spur economic activity here in Charlottesville. It could also encourage tourists to come back to Charlottesville.” The Ix Art Park partnered with the CACVB, the Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville, the Bridge Performing Arts Initiative and the Quirk Hotel Charlottesville on the project. The latter would offer a discount during the duration of the campaign. “This campaign is going to run every weekend in September and October of this year and this would be an example of what we might suggest to someone who comes in for a four-day weekend,” Krischel said. For most of its history, elected officials did not serve on the CACVB’s governing body. Until 2004, there was a Tourism Council that advised the tourism agency’s executive director but that was abandoned at the time in favor of a larger Board of Directors. In 2017, city and county officials both to add more oversight and altered the make-up of the Board to allow two elected officials from both Albemarle and Charlottesville. Albemarle Supervisor Diantha McKeel said the program is exciting, but noted that much of the presentation was centered on Charlottesville. “I understand the city-centric nature of the proposal,” McKeel said. “What was your outreach to Woolen Mills or Stonefield, some of the areas that are really close by but not in the city?”  Krischel responded that the Ix Art Park is small, and personnel limitations forced them to focus on their immediate environment. “Some of it quite frankly came down to what we were just physically able to manage,” Krichel said. “We’re a small organization so we really felt we needed to keep it as close to the downtown center as possible just because we thought that was what we were able to manage.”  Krischel said the program could grow if it is successful. She said arts organizations have not been showcased to potential tourists.“So this is sort of stepping our toe in the water to a more comprehensive arts campaign but I truly hope this will be a first step toward something that will be more permanent and long-term,” Krischel said.Supervisor Ann Mallek said she wanted the Ix Art Park’s program to highlight fall festivals and to put a spotlight on excursions into Albemarle.  “And certainly everyone of those wineries and breweries that people mention, many of them have art galleries and have resident studio people there,” Mallek said.Krischel said she would be happy to consider adding that information, but they’ve used up all of the $20,000 in funding so far.“If you think that there are arts organizations that would  like to be involved in this and would like to be willing to do a little bit of the footwork to get them involved and to help us tie them in, we’d be more than happy to speak to them,” Krischel said. “I think it’s just a lack of knowledge as to who everyone is and what’s going on.” In February, the CACVB Board talked about the exploring ways to change the working dynamics of the Board to reflect best practices used by similar entities across the country which seek to market themselves as destinations. An informal work group has looked at the issue since, including City Council Heather Hill. They looked at four other groups in Virginia and concluded the make-up of the CACVB skews heavily to government representation. Of the 15 members of the Board, eight are elected or appointed officials from Albemarle and Charlottesville. “”We see ourselves as pretty unique in this position of being quasi-governmental with board oversight,” Hill said. The work group on the working of the CACVB Board presented this slide as part of the discussion The working group met with industry representatives to find out what people thought about the CACVB and its ability to promote tourism.“There’s just a sense that there’s not enough dialogue among the sectors and just being able to have more of those seats at the table so they can kind of be a conduit for that sector dialog that can happen across the region,” Hill said.Hill said some representatives said there were power dynamics on the Board that intimidated people from approaching the agency for help and assistance. Chris Eure, executive director of the Paramount, is another member of the working group. She said she wanted the Board to operate in a way that would lead to more connections, and referenced the presentation from the Ix Art Park.“I would love to know how the arts could help better,” Eure said. “What nights do they need to be filled? What weeks, what months? And then have all these different sectors perhaps come up with plans for what activities to stage!” Eure suggested adjusting the agendas for the meeting to invite more organizations to the table to get feedback from Board members. The working group also suggested changing the composition of the Board itself. “Overarching, I think a lot of the themes that we were hearing was just that there feels like a disconnect between the work of the Board and representatives in the industry,” Hill said.Eure said the current make-up of the CACVB came at a time when there was suspicion from government officials about how their tax money was being spent. “That’s by and large while we are here because there wasn’t the confidence from the elected officials that their funds that were their tax revenues were being used according to how they thought it should strategically be done,” Eure said. McKeel said that was part of the discussion, but not the whole reason why she supported the board realignment in 2018. She said she wanted to expand the kinds of work the CACVB did and it wasn’t just about the money. “Every time we asked about vineyards, every time we asked about the work that we are doing in this community around African-American history and some of the trails, every time we asked about something besides one group which was at that time was ‘heads and beds.’ We were told ‘we don’t do that, we can’t do that, we’re not interested in all of that other stuff,’” McKeel said. There appeared to be support for reform of the board, but there was a warning about how much the members could do to reform itself. Roger Johnson is the chair of the CACVB Board and Albemarle Economic Development Director. “I don’t think we can entertain any Board changes whatsoever,” Johnson said. “That’s part of the operating agreement and outside the scope of what this Board has the authority to do.”However, Johnson will meet with his counterpart in Charlottesville as well as CACVB Executive director Courtney Cacatian to discuss next steps. The meeting then moved on a presentation on Virginia’s tourism industry. The final speaker was Travis Wilburn of Stay Charlottesville. Wilburn went back to the discussion of the Board’s make-up. He said he has spoken with many people who feel the presence of elected officials on the CACVB Board was intimidating. “As I speak representing these folks, I personally and honestly fear political retribution for the businesses that I’m involved in, which is exactly how many of your board members feel and fear on a regular basis,” Wilburn said. “We’ve created a toxic environment and we call on you to try and right this ship.” Wilburn said data from the Virginia Tourism Office showed that tourism had a $683 million economic impact on the Charlottesville community in 2019.“That was roughly 6,100 jobs and those are jobs we’d desperately like to bring back,” Wilburn said. “We very much need the help of this bureau.” Wilburn cited a letter that Senator Creigh Deeds wrote to Susan Payne last Friday in which he appears to critique the make-up of the CACVB Board. Payne is the president of the Blue Ridge Group and chair of the Virginia Tourism Corporation. Let’s hear Wilburn read Deeds’ words. “Several years ago I supported legislation to allow an elected official from both the county and the city to serve on the CACVB,” Deeds wrote to Payne. “I did so to encourage cooperation and work between the public and private sectors.  I understand that membership has grown beyond what was intended, and it seems to me that you have to have more industry representation, so that the people who know the work can guide its growth.” In response, Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker said her priority as an elected official is addressing race and labor issues. “No matter how you spend it, we have an economy that has been built on a university and tourism that leaves the majority of the individuals who happen to be people of color, Black people and other people of color, to service those industries who can never make it out of poverty wages job even though we’re talking about a [nearly] $700 [million] industry,” Walker said. “That should be unacceptable to all of us.” Walker said she would not be silent about her views. “Besides the guests on this call, two of the four, I am the only Black person or person of color represented on this screen, so part of Heather and Chris [Eure]’s conversation about how to change that is a very important conversation.”The conversations will continue at the CACVB’s next meeting. Phew. This was a long one. Thanks for reading if you made it this far. Never a dull moment. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s Substack-fueled shout-out, would you like to use your tech, data, design, or research skills in the name of community service? Code for Charlottesville may be the place for you! Code for Charlottesville will be holding an orientation session on April 21 where you can learn more about their streetlight mapping project, criminal record expungement data analysis, or their pro-bono tech consulting for local nonprofits. Learn more on the Code for Charlottesville website. On today’s show:Charlottesville City Council gets an update on the current year’s financial shortaAlbemarle’s Places29-Hydraulic Committee gets updates on Boys and Girls Club, Charlotte Humphris park, and StonefieldEven though the Charlottesville City Council meeting from April 19, 2021 was the shortest in recent memory, the next two newsletters will include info from that event. They were finished with business by 8:30 p.m, something that almost never happens. Last week, Charlottesville City Council adopted a $192.2 million budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2021. Yesterday the five Councilors got an update on efforts to plug the revenue shortfall expected in the current fiscal year due to declines in meals and lodging taxes. “We’re now projecting revenues will come in at approximately $8.3 million lower than what our adopted budget amounts are,” said Ryan Davidson, a senior budget management analyst with the city of Charlottesville.That estimate is based on meals tax revenues that are $3.7 million less than anticipated and lodging taxes that are $2.73 million less. This is the last quarterly report of the fiscal year, which now means staff will have to identify ways to make up the shortfall. “We’ve talked about the COVID reserve of approximately $6.7 million and and on top of that there was also CARES funding from the first round of federal funding that came through that was previously authorized for FY21 operating expenses,” Davidson said. “We have some revenue decreases that should have some corresponding expenditure decreases.” The budget will be further reconciled as actual revenues come in, as well as the city’s first receipt of proceeds from the American Rescue Plan. Davidson said he would share more about that with Council and the public as more information become available. Charlottesville’s first financial snapshot as of March 31, 2021 (report)Council also got a preview of the United Way of Greater Charlottesville’s Envision campaign. Ravi Respeto is the organization’s president. “It’s really about looking to the future of what Charlottesville can be while we work together to look at reducing poverty in our community, working as nonprofit partners and peers toward a common goal,” Respeto said. The plan has two strategic goals. One called Financial Stability seeks to help 1,800 families out of poverty by 2026 by getting them to a household income of $45,000, which is considered the threshold for survival in Charlottesville. The second is a School Readiness goal to increase the number of kindergarteners who pass literacy benchmarks. “We’ve been doing school readiness in our community for many, many years but financial stability is becoming really our key focus and sort of the bedrock for all of the work that we’re doing,” Respeto said. Respeto also detailed the United Way’s increasing move toward providing direct services in collaboration with governments and other nonprofits. She said the Community Emergency Relief Fund helpline receives between 250 and 300 calls a day. “And we suspect that the need isn’t going to go away any time soon,” Respeto said. Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker noted that one resource known as the Pathway Fund is running out of money. She wanted the city to find a way to provide additional revenue out of a sense of urgency.  “One thing can set a family back and it could be some one thing as simple as a car repair but it has that kind of domino effect,” Walker said. “It absolutely does,” Respeto said. “Families who are already living under constant poverty, it’s hard for them to get out of it,” Walker said.Later in the meeting, Council discussed replenishing the Pathway fund. We’ll have more from that discussion in a moment. A slide from Respeto’s presentation to Council on April 19, 2021 (download presentation)At the same time Charlottesville City Council’s work session was wrapping up, the Places29-Hydraulic Community Advisory Committee was getting underway. They learned that the Boys and Girls Club of Central Virginia is going to break ground in June on their new facility at the Albemarle County’s Lambs Lane Campus. James Pierce is the CEO.“We’re very excited about all of the county support we have received to this point,” Pierce said. “That means we have a target date for completion and opening with the school year of 2022.” The facility is expected to provide after-school education and activities for around 300 people a day who are between the ages of 13 and 16. A special use permit request will be made to turn the area into a community center that can be used by more than just the Club. The CAC also got an update on an effort to refurbish Charlotte Humphris Park, one of the largest parks in Albemarle’s growth area. Kimberly Swanson is a member of the Places29-Hydraulic CAC. “So the park itself is 23 acres without about one and a half miles of paved trails,” Swanson said. “There’s a forested portion. Towards the back is a meadowed, more open area and there’s also a wetland area.” Benches and a natural play area are two of the amenities that have been added to the park. Learn more about the park in this presentation The CAC also got an update from the manager of Stonefield, Samantha Strong. The commercial area’s main tenant is just about to reopen after over a year of being shutdown for the pandemic. “We do have a date for the movie theater,” Strong said. “We are less than a month away so we are working diligently away on getting everything ready.” Strong said Splendoras will reopen in Stonefield and is working on inspections. The space formerly used by Pier One will be divided into three spaces, one of which will become a Torchy’s Tacos franchise. “They’re out of Texas and this is their first location on the east coast area here,” Strong said. Stonefield was rezoned by the Board of Supervisors in 2003, but ground was not broken until May 2011 for many reasons including the Great Recession. The original developer had rezoned the land for a 65 acre development that was originally promoted to have more of an urban form, with multiple story buildings. A second developer brought the property and first built single-story retail establishments. A third development firm, O’Connor Capital Partners, purchased the property in late 2016 and has since returned to the original vision. Construction of new multifamily apartments has also led to more pedestrian interconnectivity to nearby streets. Supervisor Diantha McKeel had this description, though the handrails aren’t yet installed.“If you think about where the Thai restaurant is, down, there’s a staircase there you can walk down into Stonefield, which is pretty cool,” McKeel said. Albemarle County has agreed to participate in a partnership to build below-market units for people at risk for being homeless at the site of the Red Carpet Inn. Albemarle’s Office of Housing will commit 80 of its federal housing vouchers to Virginia Supportive Housing, one of three nonprofits working to redevelop the site in a project now known as Premier Circle. Virginia Supportive Housing worked with the City of Charlottesville on the 60-unit Crossings at 4th and Preston which opened in March 2012. Virginia Supportive Housing has submitted an application for low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) for their portion of the Premier Circle project, which also includes 60 units being pursued by Piedmont Housing. Last month, the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation awarded a $4.25 million grant for the project. For all of the details on the project to date, there’s this article from Allison Wrabel in the Daily Progress.Enjoy the program? Want it to keep going? Ting is matching the dollar amount of subscriptions as a way of supporting my journalism. If you contribute $5 a month, $50 a year, or $200 a year, Ting will match this amount. Learn why on the About page. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In this weeks episode of "The Review" Hester and Mardi talk about the challenges interview guest Amy Findlay faces in the music industry as she heads up an all girl band with her three younger sisters called Stonefield. We draw comparisons to her partners career who is also a musician and the greater discussion of gender bias. We waffle on about our excitement for the AFLW finals and ride the emotional rollercoaster of each game. The highlight of this episode is welcoming none other than The Outer Sanctums LUCY RACE! She talks to us about diversity in board casting as her program "Making the call" is about to commence their second round of programs in partnership with the Office for Women in Sport. Find Amy Findlay on Instagram @amyleefindlay and find Stonefield on Instagram @stonefieldband Find where you can listen to The Outer Sanctum at https://www.outersanctum.com.au/listen and follow them on Instagram @theoutersanctumpodcast Pease come visit us at www.thesignificantotherspodcast.com or join us for a chat on Instagram: @thesignificantotherspodcast

This week on The Significant Others we take our first big leap away from the AFL and jump into the Australian music industry with the talented and insightful Amy Findlay. Amy talks us through growing up with her three little sisters and forming their band, Stonefield. We hear about the highs and lows of her music career from wining major competitions and playing incredible gigs to the gender bias in the industry and fighting for independence. Amy also shared her experiences of navigating an the music industry with her partner (King Gizzard and Lizard Wizard's Michael Cavanagh) and her experiences as a significant other. You can follow Amy @amyleefindlay and her band Stonefield @stonefieldband. Visit us at www.thesignificantotherspodcast.com or join us for a chat on Instagram: @thesignificantotherspodcast

1 Corinthians 15:1-8

Visit thorbullets.com/nmlra for your chance to win a pack of premium THOR Bullets. Tyler Mazer is the artist behind "Stonefield Accoutrements, but he's also a father, husband, and muzzleloader at heart. Tyler's first experiences with muzzleloaders came from his uncle, who would take Tyler to the range to assist with loading his muzzleloader. As a boy, Tyler's grandfather would pack up the family each year and travel to the NMLRA National matches to compete. While he doesn't shoot much anymore, Tyler's father has passed down a love for muzzleloading and its accompanying traditions to be enjoyed in the years to come. Tyler was born and raised in Virginia, a hotbed of American history and has loved the outdoors for as long as he can remember. Listen to our full interview today to hear about Tyler's history, his family, and how he finds artistic balance in the world of muzzleloading. It's always wonderful to talk to young muzzleloaders like Tyler, and we can't thank him enough for taking time out of his day to talk with us. If you are interested in getting started in muzzleloading I hope you've enjoyed this episode. You can reach out to Tyler online via his Facebook page and his Instagram profile , be patient though, he has two young kids and works a full time job! Shop for your muzzleloading supplies with our sponsors Muzzle Blasts on Instagram NMLRA on Facebook NMLRA on Youtube Muzzle Blasts Podcast A special thanks this week to the guys at Primitive Pursuit for sponsoring the podcast! Primitive Pursuit was founded in 2017 to be an outlet for learning experiences as a traditional bowhunter. We couldn't have this conversation, the podcast, or anything here at the NMLRA without the support of our members. Everything we do is made possible because of their generosity. Thank you. Find out more about being a Member --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/muzzleblasts/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/muzzleblasts/support

Stonefields is a rural property that is regaled the country over for its iconic horticulture.

Stonefields is a rural property that is regaled the country over for its iconic horticulture.

The posse enters the city of Stonefield, looking for their task at hand. However, it seems some event in the center of town is currently going on. Deadlands: The weird west is based on Savage Worlds: Adventure edition, both of which you can find here: https://www.peginc.com/ Intro and Outro Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDPMAuv-3nk&ab_channel=RossBugden Program: Fantasy Grounds Unity Follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/7throll Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/7thRoll/

We switch away from Dungeons & Dragons for a little bit to start a deadlands mini-capaign. The posse will be solving problems in the village of Stonefield, and hope to survive that process. Deadlands: The weird west is based on Savage Worlds: Adventure edition, both of which you can find here: https://www.peginc.com/ Intro and Outro Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDPMAuv-3nk&ab_channel=RossBugden Program: Fantasy Grounds Unity Follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/7throll Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/7thRoll/

Culley Baggett, Owner & Creator of The View-Thru, and Keith Smith of The YES Team Realtors joined me live on The I Love CVille Show! The I Love CVille Show headlines (Monday, August 24) 1. University of Virginia Dean Allen Groves on the ramifications of not following covid guidelines upon students returning to Charlottesville, Virginia. https://news.virginia.edu/video/dean-groves-outlines-consequences-failing-follow-covid-guidelines 2. UVA Class of 2024 welcomed with virtual ceremony. https://news.virginia.edu/content/class-2024-welcomed-virtual-opening-convocation-ceremony 3. Virginia Athletics announced Friday that there have been no new positive tests of COVID-19 among student-athletes since July. This update includes test results from students on the baseball and men's and women's cross country teams, which returned to Grounds for training last week, in addition to seven other teams — men's basketball, women's basketball, field hockey, football, men's soccer, women's soccer and volleyball. In total, 282 student-athletes have been tested for the virus and four have tested positive. https://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2020/08/virginia-athletics-says-that-there-have-been-no-new-positive-cases-of-covid-19-among-student-athletes-since-july-24 4. Syracuse University suspends 23 students after “reckless gathering.” https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/22/us/syracuse-university-party-covid-19-trnd/index.html 5. UNC clears athletes to return to football practice today. https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29718749/unc-clears-athletes-practice-football-resume-monday 6. 13,483 students returned to the classroom today in Roanoke County public schools. Roanoke County's reopening plan calls for pre-K through second grade students to attend five days per week and upper grades to attend two days per week. All students also have the option to be fully online; about 23% of students have chosen to attend virtually. https://roanoke.com/news/local/education/with-backpacks-lunch-boxes-and-masks-13-483-roanoke-county-students-return-to-the-classroom/article_0a167cbe-a0bf-5d54-bb4f-9c2fbf9d4723.html#tracking-source=home-breaking 7. Gordonsville Drive-In Movie Theater. Show picture. 8. Regal Cinema in Stonefield reopened on Friday. https://www.cbs19news.com/story/42528400/regal-stonefield-reopen-with-a-50person-limit-per-auditorium 9. Alamo Drafthouse reopened on Saturday in 5th Street Station. https://www.cbs19news.com/story/42531110/alamo-drafthouse-reopens-after-being-closed-since-march 10. Downtown Staunton hammered with more flooding on Saturday night. https://www.nbc29.com/2020/08/23/two-weeks-after-aug-th-staunton-flooding-event-local-businesses-are-affected-by-more-flooding/ 11. After 20 years, the “Cheers” bar at Boston's Faneuil Hall Marketplace is closing. https://www.wtvr.com/news/national/cheers-bar-in-boston-closing-permanently-on-aug-30 12. Is this the restaurant footprint/model of the future? https://richmond.com/news/national/heres-what-the-taco-bell-and-perhaps-fast-food-industry-of-the-future-will-look/article_0489f5ec-0011-5189-9b74-7a8ec0fc3197.html?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_Richmond_Times-Dispatch The I Love CVille Show airs live before a worldwide audience Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. The I Love CVille Show is powered by four generation strong Intrastate Inc., trusted limo company Camryn Limousine, the talented Dr. Scott Wagner of Scott Wagner Chiropractic and Sports Medicine, custom home builder John Kerber of Dominion Custom Homes and entrepreneur Patricia Boden Zeller's Animal Connection – All Natural Store for Healthy Pets.

Today's episode opens with a trilogy of tracks involving the incomprable multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer, Colin Marston. We start with new music from his band Krallice, who just put out a punishing new record of extreme black/death metal. We follow that with some of his work from behind the board with Afterbirth, off their stunning new album Four Dimensional Flesh. Then we'll hear something from Colin's collaboration with the legendary Gorguts off their brilliant comeback album Coloured Sands. Suffocatingly dark and punishing tracks from new albums by Cosmic Putrefaction, Solothis and Ruin Lust will show up to perferoate your eardrums as well. Heavyweights of Canadian thrash Razor, Eudoxis and Infernäl Mäjesty will all make an appearance to get the rivet-heads in the pit moving, alongside a track from terrifying Norwegian thrashers Condor. The second half of the show will feature hard-rocking fuzz grooves from Magic Circle, Dead Quiet and Getaway Van, alongside spacey psychedelic jams from Stonefield, Moths & Locusts and White Hills. We'll also get into some retro true-metal with Sumerlands and Traveler, as well as some planet-smashing doom riffage with Mendozza and Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard. Plus, we'll dig a classic track out of The Graveyard from the almighty Morbid Angel! WWWWWWHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!

Today’s Patreon-fueled shout-out comes from an anonymous supporter who wants to say - "We keep each other safe. Wear a mask, wash your hands, and keep your distance."* There are another 861 cases of COVID-19 in Virginia reported today by the Department of Health, and another 11 deaths for a total of 2,396 people dead since the pandemic began. The seven day average for positive tests dropped to 6.8 percent. There are another 19 new cases in the Thomas Jefferson Health District. The test rate here is at 6.4 percent, up from 6.1 percent on Monday. *The Virginia General Assembly convenes today for a special session expected to cover the impacts of COVID-19, criminal justice and police reform, and whatever else might come up. A joint meeting of the House Appropriations, House Finance and Senate Finance committees kicked off the session at 9:30 a.m. beginning with remarks and budget amendments from Governor Ralph Northam. “Virginia ended the 2020 fiscal year on June 30 with a $234 million shortfall in general revenue collection,” Northam said. “We now project that we will have $2.7 billion less than we expected in general revenue for the coming biennium. We feared worse. But this still requires serious and thoughtful budgeting and planning.”The full House of Delegates convenes at 1 p.m. at the Siegel Center in Richmond, and the full Senate will also convene at 1 p.m. (full schedule) (legislation list)*Charlottesville City Council held a public hearing last night on giving permission to the regional water authority for a pipeline to connect the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir with the Ragged Mountain Reservoir. The project has an $80 million cost estimate and is the second phase of the community’s long-term water supply plan. “This waterline will replace the existing Upper Sugar Hollow pipeline which is very old and increase raw water transfer to the urban water system,” said Lauren Hildebrand, the city’s utilities director. “The waterline is anticipated to be constructed between 2027 and 2040.” At the public hearing, former City Councilor Dede Smith continued her opposition to the plan, which she voted against in January 2012.  She claimed there were cheaper alternatives. “This $80 million pipeline that may I add was not in the original plan and was added very late in the game doubles the cost of the community water plan and that is going straight into our water bill,” Smith said. The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority submitted its application for the water supply plan in June 2006. “The project involves expansion of the existing Ragged Mountain Reservoir (RMR) and construction of a new raw water intake and pipeline from the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir (SFRR) to RMR,” reads the permit application to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The application goes on to say that timing of construction would be dependent on funding. The first phase of the plan was completed in 2014 when a new earthen dam was built at Ragged Mountain Reservoir, expanding capacity. The second phase is not yet programmed in the RWSA’s Capital Improvement Program, which lays out how ratepayer money is reinvested back into the water and wastewater system. One of the next steps is an analysis of current water usage rates which was presented to the RWSA in June. Capital projects such as the waterline are paid for through bonds floated by the RWSA and paid by ratepayers in the form of debt service. The cost share agreement adopted in January 2020 states that Albemarle ratepayers are responsible for 80 percent of the costs of the waterline. Council asked for a full briefing on what the impacts that other 15 percent might have on Charlottesville ratepayers in the future. Council also passed a resolution in support of three Smart Scale applications, one of which would include a pedestrian bridge to connect the city’s side of U.S. 29 with Stonefield. “We definitely need some way for people that aren’t in vehicles to get across that road because it is not an option right now at all,” said City Councilor Heather Hill.*New apartment units are coming to the Stonefield mixed-use development in Albemarle County, according to information told to the Places-29 Hydraulic Community Advisory Council Monday evening. Stonefield was originally rezoned by the Board of Supervisors in 2003, but the project did not break ground until the spring of 2011. “The original vision was for a very vertically mixed-use development and it remained unbuilt for a number of years and what we’ve all seen built out has been more single-use and shorter buildings due to economic factors,” said county planner Micheala Ac cardi. “For the past two years we’ve seen developers come in submitting some plans that are more consistent with that more vertical mixed-use development.” Accardi said these include 220 apartments planned for a new building on an empty parking lot between Hydraulic and the Hyatt Hotel, which will also include commercial space. Close by there are 49 town homes under construction as well as another 160 unit apartment building. Supervisor Diantha McKeel said these new projects will get the built environment closer to what had been planned. “If you think about the main street where all those stores are, those stores were planned to have residential living above them,” McKeel said. “When the economics and recession hit, those residential units were taken away. It would have been more like a, if you think about downtown Charlottesville where you have stores on the mall and then residences above, that’s what Stonefield was originally planned to look, we’re making up for that now.” Another common link between the downtown Mall and Stonefield is the presence of a movie theater, and those were all closed at the beginning of the pandemic. Victoria Tremaglio is the general manager of the Shops at Stonefield, which she said is holding its own despite the loss of a few tenants. She said the Regal Theater will reopen this Friday for limited service. “They’re going to have 50 people per theater to start, I think with $5 movies at Regal which should help with some foot traffic,” Tremaglio said. As for Stonefield, Tremaglio said more people are coming back. “People have been super respectful, super safe, lots of outdoor dining. You’ve probably seen Champion Grill is on the green and they’re going to be adding a tent. We’ve added other tables and chairs outside for people to sit.”The Violet Crown on the Downtown Mall remains closed. *Coming up in government meetings today, the Albemarle County Economic Development Authority and the Albemarle Planning Commission meet, but not at the same time. The EDA meets at 4 p.m. for the first time since three members resigned last month in protest of new conflict of interest forms they had to sign. (meeting info) The Planning Commission has a public hearing at 6 p.n. on a rezoning for the proposed Albemarle Business Campus on Old Lynchburg Road across from the county’s office building. (meeting info) The Charlottesville Board of Architectural Review will meet at 5:30 p.m. Items include lighting and interpretive signage of the historically protected Coal Tower on Water Street, an update on the Belmont Bridge project, and a letter of support to apply for the Burley School to be on the National Register of Historic Places. (agenda) (meeting registration)Correction: This article originally stated an incorrect figure for the cost share for the future waterline. It has since been corrected. I regret the error. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Hello and welcome to the first episode in our new series, Bass Guitar Nerds. This series will be running every other week, alternating with The Friday Special series.This week I'll be introducing you to our new hosts, JD Short and Naomi Macleod. We're going to be talking all about their rigs - JD's fantastic pair of Stonefield basses and Naomi's awesome chop-shop Bronco. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode, I'm talking with artist, expressive arts guide and creativepreneur Susie Stonefield Miller about creativity as a medium for personal growth. About Susie Susie can be the midwife to your creative spirit! In both online and in-person programs Susie holds space for transformation through creativity. She accompanies clients on the deep dives of life. Susie helps clients focus on the process, not on the product, digging into the rich soil of relationship with your soul and your shadow because, that’s exactly where the silver linings of life hide. The roots of your truth. Susie is all about the messy middle of transformation. The goo inside the chrysalis. No longer caterpillar, but not yet butterfly. She wants you to spread your gorgeous wings, but knows how hard the journey to that moment is. And before you get there, you have to do the work. The work of the goo. Working with Susie is like having a guide for that journey of transmutation. Someone to hang out with you in the chrysalis. We all want to be transformed, but do we want to do that alone? No, of course not. Susie knows the path well, having transformed her own life and learned to tell her truth through the power of creativity. Susie is a certified person-centered expressive arts facilitator and a lifelong artist. She's a 4 on the Enneagram (no surprise there!) and she lives and works in Northern California. Susie also has a real life art haven in the wine country where she teaches art journaling and holds retreats. Follow Susie: www.unfoldart.com FB: https://www.facebook.com/susiestonefieldmiller FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/creativeliferaft IG: https://www.instagram.com/creativity_midwife/

Ian makes his triumphant return to the airwaves and attempts to grapple with recording the show at home on his laptop. In this episode, we’ve got new music from Smoulder, Spell, Mendozza, Haunt, Cauldron, Dopelord, Slift and others, plus a song off the newest record from veteran Bay Area thrashers Testament! We’ll dig into some heavy rock with a few prog, psych, and proto-metal touches like Blood Ceremony, Stonefield, Merlin and others, as well as some traditional ‘80’s style speed metal with Blade Killer and Riot City. We will get into a mini set of bestial black/war metal including Goatkraft and Superstition, plus a throwback track from Vancouver’s own Blasphemy from one of their highly influential demos. Plus, we’ll also dig a classic track from Teutonic thrash legends Destruction out of The Graveyard! Let’s get loud!!!

Ian makes his triumphant return to the airwaves and attempts to grapple with recording the show at home on his laptop. In this episode, we’ve got new music from Smoulder, Spell, Mendozza, Haunt, Cauldron, Dopelord, Slift and others, plus a song off the newest record from veteran Bay Area thrashers Testament! We’ll dig into some heavy rock with a few prog, psych, and proto-metal touches like Blood Ceremony, Stonefield, Merlin, as well as some traditional ‘80’s style speed metal with Blade Killer and Riot City. We will get into a mini set of bestial black/war metal including Goatkraft and Superstition, plus a throwback track from Vancouver’s own Blasphemy from one of their highly influential demos. Plus, we’ll also dig a classic track from Teutonic thrash legends Destruction out of The Graveyard! Let’s get loud!!!

Ian makes his triumphant return to the airwaves and attempts to grapple with recording the show at home on his laptop. In this episode, we’ve got new music from Smoulder, Spell, Mendozza, Haunt, Cauldron, Dopelord, Slift and others, plus a song off the newest record from veteran Bay Area thrashers Testament! We’ll dig into some heavy rock with a few prog, psych, and proto-metal touches like Blood Ceremony, Stonefield, Merlin and others, as well as some traditional ‘80’s style soeed metal with Blade Killer and Riot City. We will get into a mini set of bestial black/war metal including Goatkraft and Superstition, plus a throwback track from Vancouver’s own Blasphemy from one of their highly influential demos. Plus, we’ll also dig a classic track from Teutonic thrash legends Destruction out of The Graveyard! Let’s get loud!!!

Ian makes his triumphant return to the airwaves and attempts to grapple with recording the show at home on his laptop. In this episode, we’ve got new music from Smoulder, Spell, Mendozza, Haunt, Cauldron, Dopelord, Slift and others, plus a song off the newest record from veteran Bay Area thrashers Testament! We’ll dig into some heavy rock with a few prog, psych, and proto-metal touches like Blood Ceremony, Stonefield, Merlin and others, as well as some traditional ‘80’s style speed metal with Blade Killer and Riot City. We will get into a mini set of bestial black/war metal including Goatkraft and Superstition, plus a throwback track from Vancouver’s own Blasphemy from one of their highly influential demos. Plus, we’ll also dig a classic track from Teutonic thrash legends Destruction out of The Graveyard! Let’s get loud!!!

Stonefield is a band of four sisters who craft road-weary tunes with raw emotion, psychedelic soundscapes and heavy breakdowns. The siblings are always in sync with one another, churning out the explosive constructions with tasteful ease. Check out the super rad performance by Stonefield Live at Audiotree. Download & stream Stonefield on Audiotree Live -- https://smarturl.it/AT-Stonefield  Support the show.

On this week's edition of the Free Form Rock Podcast, we review the album, "Bent" by Stonefield. Before our review, we talk about the sudden passing of Kobe Bryant and the sham that is The Grammys. After our review, we play you out with our tracks of the week which include, "Danny's Chant" by Fleetwood Mac and "Do it for the Kids' by Velvet Revolver. We also bring you a Lee Gerstmann ditty titled, "Puppypumping."  Until next week, tell those you love what they mean to you and Rock Out together with some great music.  

In my conversation with Susie Stonefield Miller, she quotes Rumi, who said, "The wound is where the light will enter you." Our conversation is a testament to how she's lived—and continues living—into that truth.Susie is someone for whom creativity, truth telling, and honoring the process are life and breath, and she has experienced and channeled these gifts into art journalling and now makes a vocational life for herself by helping others do the same.In this episode, we talk about:* How creativity, truth telling, and honoring the process emerged as deep values in her life from a young age and became even more fiercely expressed through art journalling once she discovered it* The immediate release that comes when our inner voice is expressed creatively on the page* Art journalling as process driven rather than product driven* What it's like for her to create containers for people to take deep dives into their inner world* The art journal as a safe space to receive what we have to say without judgment or response, and how safe communities offer this gift plus the ability to be seen, heard, and witnessed* Her journey toward coming out of the closet at age 56 and how art journalling played—and continues to play—a foundational role in that processConnect with Susie on her website and on Instagram at @creativity_midwife.Connect with Christianne on Instagram at @christiannesquires or by subscribing to the Light Notes email list.And consider applying to be a guest on the show! Fill out the guest application form here.

On a bonus episode of Between Frets: We have a follow-up podcast in response to a listener of our “Girls Band” podcast earlier this season. We discuss the amazing female bands that were brought to our attention. We are sure there are plenty more out there. Please tag us on our IG/FB pages. We’d love to hear from you. Links below: https://instagram.com/pinkypinkytheband?igshid=1n34ly1ak2v90 https://instagram.com/blackbelteaglescout?igshid=dnsnoseaztx3 https://instagram.com/sleater_kinney?igshid=uryp1x092ksu https://instagram.com/thelmaandthesleaze?igshid=w75tdg9wz3kk https://instagram.com/laluzband?igshid=1735c1voiwbey https://instagram.com/stonefieldband?igshid=1qc3a5mfm8qj5 https://instagram.com/hindsband?igshid=6o2hls6fbv83 https://instagram.com/jazzinpink?igshid=1lesq3xv7qcw9 https://instagram.com/sasamiashworth?igshid=nxvzllvqik0t Black Belt Eagle Scout, Sleater-Kinney, Thelma and the Sleaze, La Luz, Stonefield, Sasami, Pinky Pinky, Hinds band, Jazz in Pink --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

With this playlist, we present a varied selection of newly released songs, this time exclusively from female artists and female-led bands. Thank you for your interest and let us entertain you! Tracks: Women | Stonefield | BENT | 2019 Flightless Records Freedom | Sampa The Great | The Return | 2019 Ninja Tune Ride on My Bike | Rosalie Cunningham | Rosalie Cunningham | 2019 Esoteric Antenna Confessions | Sudan Archives | Confessions | 2019 Stones Throw Records Painkiller | Birdeatsbaby | The World Conspires | 2019 Dr. Music Records MAY FAILURE BE YOUR NOOSE | Lingua Ignota | CALIGULA | 2019 Profound Lore Records 

In dieser Ausgabe präsentieren wir eine abwechslungsreiche Auswahl neu veröffentlichter Songs, diesmal ausschließlich von Künstlerinnnen und Female-led bands.  Danke für Euer Interesse und gute Unterhaltung! Songs: Women | Stonefield | BENT | 2019 Flightless Records Freedom | Sampa The Great | The Return | 2019 Ninja Tune Ride on My Bike | Rosalie Cunningham | Rosalie Cunningham | 2019 Esoteric Antenna Confessions | Sudan Archives | Confessions | 2019 Stones Throw Records Painkiller | Birdeatsbaby | The World Conspires | 2019 Dr. Music Records MAY FAILURE BE YOUR NOOSE | Lingua Ignota | CALIGULA | 2019 Profound Lore Records

To find out more about the Wisconsin Great River Road please check out the website www.WiGRR.com to find out about Stonefield Historic Site visit https://stonefield.wisconsinhistory.org/https://www.facebook.com/stonefieldhistoricsite/Susan: You know, there is something about the Mississippi River that just makes such a connection with people from all over the world. And we do get visitors from all over the world. We are just like in the heart of this beautiful area. We love to be a part of the Great River Road, and we are happy that we are one of the Interpretive Centers on the highway.Bob: The Wisconsin Great River Road Podcast. This time, [I’m] speaking with Susan Caya-Slusser. Susan is with the Wisconsin Historical Society. I visited the Stonefield historic site, and I’ll tell you what: That place was history alive. Susan, that place is amazing.Susan: It is. Yes, Stonefield is one of 12 historic sites operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society. It’s kind of a hidden gem down in Cassville, Wisconsin. It’s located right on the Great River Road. If you want to get to Cassville, there are so many things to do. There is even a car ferry. Yes, we need to get more people down there because there’s so much to see and so much to do once you get in the area.Bob: When we were walking through Stonefield – and there are a bunch of old farm implement in there – to be that close to some of that stuff and to look to see how big it was and to know what it does, that’s pretty cool. The little placard told me the story.Susan: Yes. So how Stonefield came to be is, it started in 1948. There was a great renewal and interest in our farming history. Folks were moving off the farm [and] they were moving into the cities. We wanted to make sure we didn’t lose this rich history, so that was what started it all. And Stonefield opened up for the first time in 1953.Bob: I couldn’t believe how cool the Stonefield site was. Was that the original Cassville where all the buildings are and the main street and you’re walking around the schoolhouses?Susan: When you come into Stonefield, there are different components that you’ll get to go on tour. There the homestead of Nelson Dewey. There is an entrance into what was Governor Nelson Dewey’s barn – this large, beautiful stone barn. There’s the State Ag [Agricultural] Museum. There’s a 1901 progressive farmhouse. But then you walk through this beautiful covered bridge that was built in 1964, and it takes you into a recreated village. The cool thing about it is a lot of the buildings that you’re seeing are old schoolhouses from across Wisconsin that have been repurposed. To recreate a village, what would it have been like for a farmer in 1900? This is the recreation in the people’s minds of the Wisconsin Historical Society and UW Extension what a farming village would have been like in 1900. If you visited the schoolhouse, that was actually the Muddy Hollow schoolhouse that was just up the road from where we sit today.Bob: I was thinking if my kids were in there, they’d be like. ‘How do you get Wi-Fi in here?’Susan: We are thrilled and we are fortunate that we get school visitors from not just Wisconsin, but also Illinois and Iowa that come and visit us in Stonefield. It is wonderful to be able to compare and contrast how things have changed over time, even to the boys sitting on one side of classroom and girls sitting on the other, even to the point where the boys and girls have to use separate doors. It’s just a way to take the kids back and make them think, and also hopefully make them appreciate what they have today.Bob: You mentioned just a minute ago about appreciating things that you have. I’m guessing anybody that walks through the State Agricultural Museum that looked at the old metal tires [and] the old iron tires, they would appreciate immediately the rubber tires we get to drive on today.Susan: Oh, yes. You kind of see a progressive change over time as you move through the State Agricultural Museum, even to one of the first that we have, we have a 1932 Allis Chalmers tractor parked way back in the corner. If you look at it, it actually has tires from an airplane.Bob: Is that why they’re bald?Susan: Yes. That is why they are big and bald the way they are. One of our claims to fame is that we have America’s oldest tractor. We have the McCormick Auto-Mower. The tractor we have is one of two prototypes made to exhibit at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1900.Bob: Besides the beauty of seeing Stonefield in its natural state, I’m assuming you guys probably have different events going on through the year.Susan: Yes. In June we do Agricultural Appreciation Day, tying in with June Dairy Month. In September we have our annual Great River Road Fall Fest. This one is a favorite of mine because it really brings the village to life – the sounds, the smell, the horse and tractors. It just really takes you back to a different time. One of our most popular events is in October, and that is what we call our “Safe and Spooky Event.” This is put on by the Friends of Stonefield and Nelson Dewey State Park – it’s our volunteer group. What happens is the whole village is transformed. Different volunteer groups come into the village, and all the buildings get transformed to be a little more spooky and eerie for Halloween. You will see everything and anyone at “Safe and Spooky Halloween.” All costumes are welcome.Bob: Susan, how do people find out more about Stonefield, the Wisconsin Historic Site?Susan: There are two ways I would recommend. The first is just our webpage, which is stonefield.wisconsinhistory.org. The second is we have a very active Facebook page, which is just Stonefield Historic Site. That’s where you can find out more information about our events. There’s something for everyone when you come and visit Stonefield.

New albums from Stonefield and the Black Keys, This Week In My Internet, shut your trap music, the real victims of invisible likes, contractual obligations, can you be back on your BS if you never left, schtick to what you know, lame impala, quote unquote, bell fractures, relearning naivete, headcount as a distinguishing characteristic, songs from car ads, different dudes, not the hilltop to die on, get back in the car Gary, hero cosplay, inapproriate content, Full Science, Saturday Morning Cartoons' Greatest Hits, G'day Bruce, High Visibility, I don't know much about art but I know what I like, giving credence to cletus rock, the death of background music and unsustainable business models. Next week: new stuff from Gena Rose Bruce and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. Current and recent review albums are in our album review playlist on Spotify (older stuff from 2019 archived here), along with our 2019 After Dark Mixtape of our favourite tracks from albums reviewed this year. Our 2018 AD Mixtape and full list of review albums are available elsewhere on the internet, as is Beeso's kids playlist. Get more BALLS and After Dark in your ears via Omny Studio,Spotify and Apple Podcasts (please subscribe, rate and review), and feel free to hurl your reckons at us via Twitter, Facebook and email.

This week: King Gizzard, Polish Club, the Godfather of Grime, genre-jumping weirdos, is clever good, Gizzverse mythology, thunderstorm filters, too old for 4K, are millennials killing ironic likes, alright stop, Alien Weaponry make friends in Denmark, come party with me, summer beer ads, doing less with more, we have opinions on the Splendour 2019 lineup, two piece plus, pinned posts, Glastormzbury, car audio PSAs and Adam and the Doc’s latest picks for the kids. Next week: new albums from “The Black Keys” and Stonefield. Current and recent review albums are in our album review playlist on Spotify (older stuff from 2019 archived here), along with our 2019 After Dark Mixtape of our favourite tracks from albums reviewed this year. Our 2018 AD Mixtape and full list of review albums are available elsewhere on the internet. Get more BALLS and After Dark in your ears via Omny Studio,Spotify and Apple Podcasts (subscribe, rate and review), and chuck reckons at us via Twitter, Facebook and email.

Hello, Ali and Adrian go through some recent or somewhat recent song releases from various artists. Songs as mentioned:Hot Motion - TemplesSleep - StonefieldZeus in the Architecture - Art vs SciencePub Feed - The ChatsSalted Caramel Ice Cream - MetronomySea of Ruin - El SupremoDumb Things (live) - Paul Kelly

Más madera. Rock`n`roll, blues, hard, pop…. de todo esto va el Sonidos y Sonados de esta semana, un programa que cuenta con la grandísima  colaboración de The Kabooms, Pink Cats, Stray Cats, The Cash Box Kings, Cristone «kingfish» Ingram, Atticusfinch, The Gold, Siete 70, Stonefield, Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul, Maryland, Pol Cruells, […]

In this episode we have the usual nonsense, but we also talk about the following bands played: 1. Rackett - RACKETT are an all-girl, riot-pop squad from Sydney, Australia. The band is fronted by Rebecca Callander on rhythm guitar and vocals, Ally Gaven on bass, Astrid Holz on drums and Kat Ayala on lead guitar. The members have undergone extensive music and performance training and specialise in a range of genres from jazz to heavy metal. Their combined powers make for a diverse and highly skilled songwriting team, taking no time at all to move from their once virtual anonymity to becoming a house hold name. Receiving spots and rotations on community and commercial radio, features in Rolling Stone Magazine, Tone Deaf, Music Feeds & more and earning a fierce reputation for crafting an adventurous live show described by The Music, as both “Intense” & “Magical” as well as receiving a nomination as ‘Best Live Act’, 2018 by the National Live Music Awards alongside Ball Park Music and Hockey Dad. After supporting the likes of Abbe May, The Bennies, DZ Deathrays and having championed national tours with the likes of The Darkness (UK), Killing Heidi and Stonefield. RACKETT are also no strangers to the Festival Circuit bringing their distinctive sound to Groovin the Moo, Big Pineapple Festival, Festival of the Sun, Secret Garden Festival, Hotter than Hell, Electric Lady, Jungle Love and more. https://www.facebook.com/RACKETT.tv 2. Fasha – San Francisco, CA Ambient, intelligent, alternative art rock music. Similar artists: Deftones, Bring Me the Horizon, Mars Volta, Echo and the Bunny Men,30 Seconds to Mars, Team Sleep, M83, Radiohead, Depeche Mode, David Bowie, Sonic Youth, Animal Collective. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fasha/241248655923264 3. Six Feet To Salvation – Fort Wayne We are 5 guys each with our own influences and style that came together to create our own collective sound With 2 Lead Vocalists no 2 songs sound alike. Something for everyone. https://www.facebook.com/playitloud.4ever/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/luciaandglynn/support

Imagine the living nightmare your life would be if you woke up one day in the world of Entourage's Ari Gold.  Danielle Lien tells you how that actually happened to her - and how she survived that shitty job.  Set sail with us as we dive into the white-capped waters of music publishing and sync licensing, featuring Danielle Lien and your happy hostess, Catherine Law.  We talk about getting fired, the line where your comfort zone ends, and her current favorite band, Stonefield. Most importantly, we tackle the ever-present dangers of scurvy.   How To Fail In Hollywood with Catherine Law is a podcast where entertainment industry pros tell all about the shitty jobs, false starts, and failures that brought them to their dream jobs.