Podcasts about university village

Feliks Banel's guests on this special three-hour "FLAGSHIP FAREWELL" episode of CASCADE OF HISTORY – broadcast LIVE from the Burgermaster in University Village in Seattle as it prepares to close forever - include Eugenia Woo from Historic Seattle; former journalist and Seattle City Councilmember Jean Godden; Cynthia Brothers of Vanishing Seattle; author Taha Ebrahimi; historian Kent Sullivan; SPACE 101.1 FM founder Julianna Ross; and many, many others who share their memories and observations. This Burgermaster location, near University Village, is scheduled to close permanently on Sunday, February 23, 2025. This LIVE, LOCAL AND REMOTE broadcast of CASCADE OF HISTORY was originally presented from 11am to 2pm Pacific Standard Time on Friday, February 21, 2025 via SPACE 101.1 FM and streaming live via space101fm.org from a booth at the original Burgermaster flagship location in Seattle.

Friday's Daily Puck Drop with Jason “Puck” Puckett features guests Jim Moore, former Seahawks linebacker Lofa Tatupu, PuckSports handicapper TroyWins.com and Chris Egan from KING 5.  The show opens with Jim detailing his hatred for technology and Puck chastising him for participating in dry January. Jim's life is turning into the movie “Falling Down” which starts Michael Douglas. (21:47) - Former Seahawks linebacker Lofa Tatup joins for his weekly visit and they discuss what they want in a new Seahawks offensive coordinator, Geno Smith's future, NFL playoff games and Lofa wanting to fight Eagles receiver A.J. Brown. (47:45) - PuckSports handicapper TroyWins.com joins the show from Palm Springs where he's watching the American Express golf tournament and he handicaps the NFL playoff games and the national title game. Troy also unveils his “Dog of the Week.” (1:03:40) - Friday VoiceMails is back and features three new characters….Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald, former Seahawks linebacker Lofa Tatupu and the late Bob Uecker. (1:09:20) - Chris Egan from KING 5 finished up the Friday as he always does.  Egan and Puck talk Mariners fans apathy, Geno Smith love, Chris' fabulous piece on a high school sports volunteer and his wife fat shaming him at Taco Bell. (1:37:46) - “Hey, What the Puck!?” Burgermaster in the University Village is closing shop after being open since 1952. Puck express frustration with the city and losing its identity. 

Seattle has become a hot spot for the theft of electric vehicle (EV) charging cords, which are rich in copper. Charging provider Electrify America reported that a single station in Georgetown had more than 50 cables stolen over the past couple years. In that same amount of time, a different station in University Village criminals nabbed more than 20. "Unfortunately, the theft of charging cables is on the rise," said Rachel Moses with Electrifying America.

GUEST: Geri Mayer-Judson, Show Contributor & John Kaye, co-founder and CEO of Burb Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No funding for schools, transit, or hospitals: is B.C's 2024 Budget underwhelming? GUEST: Eric Woodward, Township of Langley Mayor Cannabis store opens in University Village at UBC after “marathon” application process  GUEST: Geri Mayer-Judson, Show Contributor & John Kaye, co-founder and CEO of Burb The Week That Was in BC Politics GUEST: Keith Baldrey, Global BC Legislative Bureau Chief What impact does B.C's flipping tax have? GUEST: Michael Geller, President of The Geller Group, Architect, Planner and Real Estate Consultant The Wrap - Should Vancouver use tax money to send officials to the Junos in Halifax & If you were made a curator for a day at the Vancouver Art Gallery, what would it be for? GUEST: Leah Holiove, TV Reporter and Radio Host GUEST: Sarah Daniels, real estate agent in South Surrey; author and broadcaster Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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GUEST: Victoria Palmer, legal advocate for Washington Civil Rights Council. She joins Ari to talk about the March to End the Healthcare Mask Mandate - this Saturday, December 17th 11:00 am to 1:00 pm at University Village in Seattle. For more information, check out thier website WCRC.US

Feliks Banel's guests on this episode of CASCADE OF HISTORY – broadcast LIVE from the Burgermaster in University Village in Seattle - are Burgermaster CEO Alex Jensen; Candy Cane Lane resident Joseph Manalang; Evergreen State political scion Art Langlie; Seattle Civil War historian and tour guide Richard Heisler; and non-roving (for once!) correspondent Ken Zick. This LIVE broadcast of CASCADE OF HISTORY was originally presented at 8pm Pacific Time on Sunday, December 4, 2022 via SPACE 101.1 FM and streaming live via space101fm.org from studios at historic Magnuson Park on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle.

Comes now December into the court of our current existence. What shall the tenor of this month be? Does this depend on the player and their ability to read the script? Every single episode of Charlottesville Community Engagement is written down in a fashion to serve as a way to communicate items of importance. I'm Sean Tubbs, producing these informational programs to describe as much of the stage as possible.On today's program:* One person is dead after an early morning fire on Pen Park Lane today* Charlottesville opens up applications for nonprofits to provide supportive services related to housing * Republican Delegate Marie March of Christiansburg submits several bills to undo legislation passed in 2020 when the General Assembly was controlled by Democrats* And the Albemarle Planning Commission recommends denial of a rezoning for 525 units on Old Ivy Road in part because of a lack of information about transportation solutions that are not yet ready for the public to see First shout-out: Homelessness in Charlottesville: From Stigma to SolutionsWant to learn how to help our unhoused neighbors find affordable permanent housing? LivableCville is hosting a webinar, "Homelessness in Charlottesville: From Stigma to Solutions", on Wednesday, December 14 at 5:30 PM. Learn from experts from The Haven and the Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless about housing, homelessness, and policy recommendations to address homelessness in Charlottesville. Registration information is available at LivableCville.orgFire on Pen Park Lane claims one lifeAn early morning fire in Albemarle County's urban ring killed one person after midnight today. The Albemarle County Fire Rescue announced that both career and volunteer units responded to a structure fire report on Pen Park Lane. “The first apparatus arrived on scene seven minutes after dispatch and observed fire through the roof of the residence,” reads a press release. Crews from the City of Charlottesville also responded. Unfortunately, the occupant of the home was found dead. The name has not been released and the Fire Marshal is investigating. The release ends with a reminder to check to see if your smoke alarms are working. Learn more at Albemarle.org/SafeatHome.Charlottesville opens up housing support applicationsA housing plan adopted by the Charlottesville City Council in March 2021 called for a shift in the way the city funded programs to build, preserve, and maintain units that are guaranteed to be sold or rented below the market value.“The Affordable Housing Plan recommends that the City make a strong and recurring financial commitment to address housing needs in Charlottesville in order to (1) increase the number of subsidized affordable homes by 1,100 homes (on top of an existing 1,630 actively subsidized homes), (2) preserve 600 existing subsidized affordable homes, and (3) stabilize 1,800 to 2,200 owner and renter households facing housing instability,” reads an application for non-profit groups seeking funding for Housing Operations and Program Support. In mid-October the city's office of Community Solutions announced future funds would be available through four separate pools.One of them is $575,000 made available to nonprofit organizations under the Housing Operations and Program Support category. This used to be under the city's Vibrant Communities Fund. (read the FY23 report)“This competitive application process is open to not-for-profit organizations that engage in affordable housing related activities that may be requesting operational or program type funding. Organizations must have substantial presence in the City of Charlottesville and engage in affordable housing activities within the City limits. Funding will not be guaranteed.”Examples of groups that are funded through this process range from the Albemarle Housing Improvement Program to Shelter for Help in Emergency. Applications are due on December 30, 2022. In early November, the city issued a notice of funding for major construction projects similar to the ones currently under construction at Friendship Court and at South First Street.  That application round closed on November 30. 2023 legislation round-upThere are now 40 days until the beginning of the 2023 General Assembly and the flow of prefiled legislation continues. * Delegate Marie March has filed a bill to allow anyone to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. That's HB1393. March has another bill in HB1394 that would repeal the provision that allows a judge to approve the removal of someone's firearms if they are deemed to be a risk to others. Another bill in HB1398 would prohibit a private property owner from prohibiting others from carrying concealed weapons on their premises or in their vehicle. * Human rights would begin at conception under another March's next bill, HB1395.* Another bill from March would create the Education Savings Account Program which would allow parents and guardians who don't enroll their children in public to have the government pay for their education anyway. (HB1396)* March also has legislation in HB1397 that would allow parents to opt out of all immunizations required to attend school.* March also seeks repeal of the Community Policing Act and its provision that prohibits law enforcement officers from making decisions based on race, and would stop the requirement that police departments and sheriff's offices record racial data for motor vehicle stops and other interactions. (HB1401)* Another bill from March would change the way vehicles are assessed by altering the calculation method for personal property taxes. (HB1402)* Some of Virginia's colleges and universities would be required to provide housing at no cost to certain students when classes aren't in session. HB1403 is from Delegate Anne Ferrell Tata. * Switching to the Senate, Senator Ryan T. McDougle has filed a bill to require a photograph be presented as identification before someone votes. (SB794)* Senator Emmet Hanger has filed a bill to continue a requirement that 50 cents for each head of cattle that is assessed and earmarked for the Cattle Industry Board. (SB795)Second shout-out: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign Since the very beginning of this newsletter, one Patreon supporter who has been there since July 2020 has used his shout-out to draw your attention to the work of the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign. The campaign is a coalition of grassroots partners including motivated citizens and volunteers, partner organizations, and local governments who want to promote the use of native plants. We're now close to the beginning of winter and if you're already looking forward to the spring, this is the time to learn about what you need to plan to attract pollinators who'll keep native species going. To learn more, visit plantvirginianatives.org to download Piedmont Native Plants: A Guide for Landscapes and Gardens. Albemarle Planning Commission recommends denial of Old Ivy Residences projectThe Albemarle County Planning has recommended that the Board of Supervisors deny a rezoning for development of a rental housing complex with 525 units on Old Ivy Road after several members said they did not have enough information about details about transportation improvements that are being planned but not yet released to the public. The motion to deny came after most members said they supported the project otherwise.“Hopefully our Supervisors will have seen that we wrestled hard with this and that we liked the development,” said Commissioner Julian Bivins. “But we are also trying to figure out how to get the various infrastructure in place.” This is the second time the Planning Commission has seen the proposal. The first was in June when the developer asked for a deferral after a long conversation about transportation impacts. (Greystar asks for more time on Old Ivy Residences rezoning after Planning Commission public hearing, June 23, 2022) The planner working for Albemarle County is Cameron Langille.  He described the location of the five properties that make up the project. “To the west is the U.S. Route 250 and U.S. Route 29 bypass,” Langille said. “To the south is Old Ivy Road. To the north is some land that's actually owned by [the University of Virginia]. To the east there are some existing residential developments and that includes University Village and Huntington Village.” The Darden School of Business and the School of Law are to the northeast of the site. Some sections of the properties are designated as Urban Density Residential in the Future Land Use Map and others are designated as Parks and Green Systems. “Basically they want to rezone all of these parcels to R-15 so that a total of 525 dwelling units could be built on site,” Langille said. The development would be a mix of different types of housing from townhouses to apartment complexes. Greystar is proposing to guarantee 15 percent of the total units will be rented to households with incomes below 80 percent of the area median income, a change since the first proposal. That would last for a period of ten years. “That's the county policy now,” said Valerie Long, an attorney with the firm Williams Mullen representing Greystar. “Eighty percent AMI for ten years.” Long said she is aware the county is working on the details of a new policy to require longer terms at deeper levels of affordability. As for transportation, Greystar has proposed a transit stop on Old Ivy Road, new turn lanes into the development, a multiuse path along Old Ivy Road, and they've agreed to pay a portion of infrastructure improvements off-site up to $750,000. The area already has issues according to a traffic study conducted for the rezoning.“The existing conditions that were identified show that there are failing movements during the morning and afternoon peak hours,” said Kevin McDermott, a planning manager for Albemarle who specializes in transportation. “There's also a lack of pedestrian and bicycle connectivity in the corridor.” One of the requests in the rezoning is to have a proffer associated with the 1985 proffer waived. At the time, the landowners agreed to restrict further development until the county was satisfied that enough transportation infrastructure was in place. “That wasn't specified to what would meet that criteria,” McDermott said. Some sidewalks in the area have been constructed since 1985, but problems still exist such as the one-lane railroad underpass at the eastern end of Old Ivy. Road  McDermott said the Virginia Department of Transportation has reviewed potential solutions and concepts have been shared with the county, the city, and the University. “They are still finalizing that study and it will be  made publicly available but based on what we have seen, staff and VDOT believe that there are immediately implementable solutions to address those poor operational issues at the western end of the corridor,” McDermott said. McDermott added VDOT has identified funding for those projects as well.  He said there are no immediate solutions to address the underpass.“But we are still digging into some options over there for a way to get pedestrians under that railroad,” McDermott said. Overall, staff changed their recommendation to one of approval.John Clarkson with Greystar Development represented the company and said the new application reflects previous concerns about affordable housing and transportation made in June. “We want to be good neighbors and participants within the community and we feel like we've made a lot of changes working with staff to meet those requests that you all made for us at that meeting,” Clarkson said. Long said the amount of funding for transportation has also been increased since the summer. “We increased the cash proffer for transportation,” Long said. “It's a total of $1.25 million. We've drafted the proffer to be very flexible.” Before we get to the public hearing, it's important to note that the University of Virginia has long-term plans to develop Ivy Garden, a 20th century apartment complex that will be replaced with more housing and non-residential space. (UVA making plans for Ivy Garden redevelopment, June 9, 2021)Public hearingSeveral dozen person spoke at the public hearing, mostly in opposition. One resident of University Village said the transportation impacts would still be too much. “You know that it takes a no vote on your part to nudge Greystar toward making some improvement in their project,” said Bill Sherman. “I am not against development, be it student or private housing, but I do oppose any consideration that would increase the traffic on Old Ivy and put everyone, especially our pedestrians, at greater risk,” said Elizabeth Vinton, a retired pediatrician who now lives at University Village. Another University Village resident, Lyle Hallowell, said he was concerned that some of the information about transportation including a new traffic study had not been made available to the public before the meeting“One thing I've heard is that there was new data collected and I'm happy to hear that as I'm a bit of a data person,” Hallowell said. “I'm a little sad that it wasn't widely shared with everybody so we learned a lot about who counts and who doesn't tonight.”Hallowell also said he would have liked to have known more about why staff felt comfortable switching their recommendation based on information not yet available to the public. He said residents already on Old Ivy Road should also be considered stakeholders. “We heard that were good plans here and in those good plans, shared with the stakeholders, that there's great promise for this road, shared with the stakeholders. In New York, where I came from two years ago, we say, ‘what am I, chopped liver?' Not all of the public comment was against the project. Will Sanford lives in the Rivanna District.“This property contains one of the longest privately-owned parts of the Rivanna Trail connecting Leonard Sandridge Road to Old Ivy Road,” Sanford said. “I'd like to thank the current owner for letting the public use this trail on the property for more than 20 years. Greystar has been proactive in reaching out to the Rivanna Trail Foundation and the Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Club and after working with board members at both organizations, Greystar has illustrated the approximate location of the trail on the concept plan and are willing to proffer a permanent solution for the trail as part of their site plan.”Other speakers supported the project because they said it would bring new housing options to the area that needs them. One of them is Ivo Romenesko, who served in the early 2000's on an Albemarle County committee that recommended the creation of the Neighborhood Model District in zoning. “Predictability of land use was critical to approval of the Neighborhood Model principles over 20 years ago,” Romenesko said. “That was for neighbors and for landowners. Today urban areas are responding to density change, but not fast enough for the population growth.”Romenesko said Old Ivy Residences satisfies the Comprehensive Plan by putting new homes exactly where it was recommended. He reminded the Planning Commission that the reason it's not been developed yet is because VDOT planned to use some of the land for an intersection for the Western Bypass, a project long planned and now defunct. In her rebuttal after the public comment, Valerie Long acknowledged the project would impact a congested road but said Greystar would be part of the eventual solution by providing a multi use path and other infrastructure.“Denying this application and preventing it from being developed will not solve those safety problems or those congestion issues,” Long said. Long added that this project has jump-started a look at the existing issues. “Once we submitted our application, people started looking at, VDOT hired a consultant, they've continued to look at it,” Long said. “There have been lots of discussions with the University, VDOT, Mr. McDermott, and others about how to address it. The University is highly interested in pedestrian issues under the bridge. For all the same reasons that everyone else is.” Then it was time for the Commissioners to weigh in. Lonnie Murray went first.“I do feel very uncomfortable that we heard that there are proposed traffic solutions but we don't know what they are and so we can't really evaluate whether they would be effective or not because we don't have them in front of us,” Murray said. Commission Chair Karen Firehock agreed with the sentiment .“I have to weigh evidence that I have before me in terms of whether solutions are viable and I don't have enough detail on what it is that VDOT has proposed or what it is thinking of,” Firehock said. Commissioner Corey Clayborne said he could support the project. He said a by-right project would also impact transportation, but that would not come with anything from the developer to address issues. He said he trusted staff if they say there is a solution. Commissioner Julian Bivins said he had to honor the condition for the 1985 rezoning that limits development. “The Supervisors put a conditioned precedent on development there whether or not I like it or don't like it,” Bivins said. “They are the ones who get elected. We get appointed.” Bivins also said the University of Virginia needed to step up to be part of the solution to fix the railroad underpass. Commissioner Luis Carrazana also said it was difficult to have a position if the infrastructure would be sufficient. But he said much had improved since June.“There has been several areas that has improved,” Carrazana said. “However, we don't have the infrastructure. Maybe it's on the way. Maybe the plans are there and if this goes to the Board of Supervisors, they can  evaluate if they believe it's substantial enough.” Carrazana also urged neighbors to come to the table to do their part to create a safer transportation network.“If everyone keeps trying to work together, we can actually make this happen,” Carrazana said. Valerie Long was offered one more opportunity to answer questions, most of them about transportation. She said she hoped the Commission would take McDermott at his word that the VDOT study will show solutions that will address issues on the western end.“I think we need to trust the experts,” Long said. Long also said the Timmons Group has produced documents to share with the University about ways to address the eastern end of Old Ivy Road. “The biggest problem with that bridge, and obviously the drainage is a significant issue that needs to be fixed, it's the alignment of the road under the bridge,” Long said. “It doesn't go perpendicular under the bridge. It comes in at an angle.” After that, Bivins made a motion to deny the rezoning. The vote was 5 to 2 with Commissioners Clayborne and Missell voting no. However, the Commission did vote unanimously to recommend approval of changing the classification of slopes from preserved to managed. The VDOT study may be available for the public by the time the project gets to the Board of Supervisors. “They may hopefully be in possession of the VDOT study by that time and can perhaps miraculously UVA could come forward and be more communicative about their willingness to engage in and help make some of these connections,” Firehock said.Reading material for this Friday afternoon:* After long hiatus, UVA's Democrat, Republican groups are speaking, dining again, Andrea Ramspacher, UVA Today, November 11, 2022* PVCC launches new associate degree program in partnership with WillowTree, Dominga Murray, NBC29, December 1, 2022* Albemarle County police say gang violence is behind increase in shootings, car thefts, Alice Berry, Charlottesville Daily Progress, December 1, 2022* ACPD: Juveniles charged in connection with shootings, car thefts, Dryden Quigley, NBC29, December 1, 2022* Police say Charlottesville area has a gang problem, members are juveniles, Felicity Taylor, CBS19, December 1, 2022* Around Virginia, transit agencies navigate the transition to electric buses, Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury, December 2, 2022Housekeeping for #465Another end of the week and another end of the program. There's still so much to get to, but the next regular installment won't come out until Monday. However, there will be installment of the Week Ahead out on Sunday as well as another installment of Fifth District Community Engagement.I have increased Fifth District Community Engagement's frequency and am slowly going through each locality to find out what elections are coming up at local bodies. Currently my time to do this is covered by those paying me through Patreon and I'd love you to subscribe if you haven't already. I also appreciate those subscribing through Substack and I'm just about to invoice Ting for our arrangement where Ting matches the initial payment. That could be for $5 a month, $50 a year, or $200 a year. That latter category comes with two shout-outs a month. And even if you don't subscribe, Ting still wants to be your Internet provider. If you sign up through this link and enter the promo code COMMUNITY, you will unlock:* Free installation* A second month for free* A $75 gift card to the Downtown MallThis Friday is Bandcamp Friday and consider buying a copy of Wraki's Regret Everything. Much of the music in the podcast comes from Wraki. Original theme is by P.J. Sykes and other things come from the Fundamental Grang. Any questions? Drop me a line and thank you for reading and or listening.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

We've reached the fourth Monday of the month and are now in the final lap with the finish line coming at the end of All Hallow's Eve. Shall we celebrate All Hallow's Day? Between now and then there's a lot to get through in as many installments of Charlottesville Community Engagement that I can put together between now and the time of disguise. I? Sean Tubbs. On today's version of this publication:* One person has died following an early morning shooting Sunday on the Downtown Mall * Charlottesville preparing to remove nine trees from the Downtown Mall* Two Charlottesville playgrounds remain closed while repairs continue* Time is running out to submit a poem to JMRL's latest contest* Albemarle County Supervisors finalize legislative priorities * The Center for Politics at UVA takes a look at concerns about the upcoming election Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.First shout-out: Rivanna Conservation Alliance Round-Up wrap-upIn today's first Patreon-fueled shout-out: The Rivanna Conservation Alliance would like to thank everyone who participated in the recent Rivanna River Round-Up! In all, 243 helped remove 173 tires, filled up 148 bags of trash and attended to 27 miles of river and trail. To help cover the costs, the Rivanna Conservation Alliance is selling t-shirts. Want to get involved with ongoing clean-up efforts? On Saturday, October 22, the RCA will hold a stream buffer maintenance day at Crozet Elementary School to check in on how trees planted three years ago are holding up. Visit rivannariver.org to learn more. One killed in early morning shooting SundayOne person has died following a shooting early Sunday morning on the Charlottesville Downtown Mall in which three people were hit with bullets. According to a release, the Charlottesville Police Department responded to the 200 block of West Main Street on the Downtown Mall. “The victims were then transported to UVA medical center for treatment; two of which are currently in stable condition. The third victim succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased later in the morning.”The release goes on to state that the incident does not pose an “immediate threat” and an investigation. A request for a follow-up this morning yielded no results. For more information, some other media coverage:* Charlottesville Mall shooting leaves one dead and two injured, Daily Progress* Police investigate fatal shooting on Downtown Mall, CBS19* CPD: 1 dead, 2 injured in connection with W. Main St. shooting, NBC29Photojournalist Eze Amos was on the Mall at the time. City crews preparing to remove some Downtown Mall treesLater this week, the city's Parks and Recreation Department will hold an information meeting on removing some of the trees on Charlottesville's Downtown Mall. Riann Anthony is the deputy director of the department. “We are very lucky that the Downtown Mall trees have been in existence for this long,” Anthony said. “Some of them are healthy and others are not healthy but per our urban forester is that all of the trees are stressed from a number of factors.”Anthony addresses the city's Parks and Recreation Advisory Board last Thursday. He said the number one factor are the tree grates that he said are squeezing trees that have outgrown them. He also said heaters for outdoor restaurants also cause stress.“There's a lot of café spaces that also have little lights that they use, nails, to put the lights on and stuff like that nature,” Anthony said. The city has been studying this issue for many year but action has not yet been taken. Anthony said the city is looking to remove hazards that might be in danger of falling. The ones most at risk will be removed over the next few months.“These are trees that are in the worst shape and we are looking out for the best interest of our community and of the folks that work on the mall,” Anthony said. “We do not want to ever see a tree just fall.” Nine trees in all will be removed. The first education session will be on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. via Zoom. Two in-person meetings will be held next week. (meeting info)Anthony said the city is also seeking a consultant to help come up with a replacement policy for trees on the Downtown Mall. Charlottesville playground installation taking longer than expected The closure of city playgrounds at both Belmont Park and Meade Park will be a little longer than expected. The Parks and Recreation Department is installing new equipment at both locations and work had been expected to be completed this week. However, installation of individual pieces is taking more time. “We are extending the reopening date to tentatively, November 4th, but may open sooner if complete,” reads a press release that went out Friday morning. A Keaton Forest suite of playground structures is being installed at Belmont Park whereas Meade Park will have the first Modern City installation in Virginia. One more day to submit a poem for JMRL contestThe Jefferson Madison Regional Library and WriterHouse have teamed up for a poetry contest that ends tomorrow. If you're over 18 and have one original, unpublished poem you'd like to submit, there's an online form that's taking submissions through tomorrow at 5 p.m.  The theme is transformative change. “For hundreds of years, poets have altered the course of history by speaking out about issues that concern their communities, and this year's theme of transformation echoes that critical legacy of the power of the pen to affect positive change for all of us,” said WriterHouse executive director Sibley Johns. This contest is now in its sixth year. There are prizes for winners. For more information, visit jmrl.org/poetrycontest. Albemarle Supervisors set legislative priorities for 2023 General Assembly There are 79 days until the General Assembly convenes for the 2023 session for the second year with Glenn Youngkin in the Governor's Mansion. Last week, Albemarle Supervisors finalized their list of legislative priorities that they hope to convince legislators to turn into a bill. (2023 Legislative Priorities) (2023 Legislative Positions and Policy Statements)Supervisors last discussed the list in September and extensively discussed a request to expand the number of virtual meetings an appointed body can have. Another of the priorities is to request the ability for counties to decide for themselves if they want to hold a referendum on additional sales tax to generate revenue for school construction projects.“There are currently nine counties and one city in the Commonwealth which enjoy this authority to levy an additional one-percent sales tax which is used exclusively to fund school division capital projects,” said county attorney Steven Rosenberg. Legislation failed to make it out of a House of Delegates subcommittee last year. Another priority is to request a change of the eligibility rules for sites to participate in the Virginia Business Ready Sites program. Currently land in most economic development regions must be of a certain size to quality, and Albemarle wants that to be reduced.“There are not that many properties in the county that satisfy that 100 acre contiguous developable standard,” Rosenberg said.Albemarle wants to cut that in half to 50 acres and Rosenberg said two Go Virginia regions already have that lower threshold. “The economic development office (EDO) has identified sites that would otherwise fulfill the requirement but for their acreage,” Rosenberg said. “I will finally add on this item that there is one site in the county that does satisfy the requirement and it's in North Fork and the EDO is currently working with the University of Virginia Foundation in seeking funds for that site.” There will be one more discussion of the priorities in November if needed. See also: * House subcommittee kills school sales tax bills, February 25, 2022* Albemarle Supervisors to support legislation to allow advisory body meetings to go virtual, September 13, 2021)Second Shout-out is for the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards In today's second subscriber-supported shout-out, an area nonprofit wants you to know about what they offer to help you learn how to preserve, protect, and appreciate! The Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards holds several events throughout the year including a walk in western Albemarle County on the morning of November 12 through a well preserved and highly diverse woodland to see naturally occurring winterberry, spicebush, and dogwood laden with red berries. In abundance will be nuts from forest oaks, hickories, walnuts as well as orchard grown Chinese chestnuts, walnuts, pecans, and American hazelnuts. Registration is limited. There's also still time for an online Zoom tree identification class tomorrow night. Visit charlottesvilleareatreestewards.org for more information. Center for Politics forum explores election security in advance of Election Day Tensions are running high across the country as Election Day approaches and many members of one of the two American political parties continue to insist that the 2020 Presidential election was stolen. The University of Virginia's Center for Politics held a forum last week to discuss the upcoming elections moderated by Christopher Krebs, who served as the United States Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. He said much of the threat dates back to Russian efforts to hack the 2016 elections. (wikipedia article)“It had three different components,” Krebs said. “The first was attempts to get into voter registration databases and other systems administering elections. The second was targeting and hacking into political campaigns, the [Democratic National Committee], the Hilary Clinton and the third is this more pernicious, drawn out disinformation campaign that's really rooted in the entirety of Russian information doctrine going back really a century or more.” Krebs said the Russian campaign was intended to destabilize democracy, and not much was done to shore up security systems.“And there were domestic actors that saw the playbook run in 2016 and adapted it to their own measures,” Krebs said.Krebs said he is concerned about continued efforts to falsely claim that President Joe Biden was not elected, as well as continued attacks on election workers. He said death threats are common. “It's part of unfortunately doing business as election workers right now and that is leading to a retreat and exodus from the work force which in turn kind of turns out to be a former of almost voter suppression,” Krebs said.That's because fewer election workers means fewer precincts and longer lines. Krebs said there's also a strategy to radicalize election workers. Barbara Comstock served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives in Virginia's former 10th District. The Republican politician is now involved in Issue One and the National Council for Elections Security.  “I am for the first time in my life a single issue voter,” Comstock said. “I've never been a single issue voter. I was a conservative Republican but now my issue is democracy before any other issue. And if you aren't going to respect elections and who wins and who loses, you can't have any other issues before that.” Comstock said she is concerned about candidates who have already declared they will not accept the elections results unless they win. “Those kind of situations are going to repeat themselves around the country,” Comstock said. “We're a 50/50 country. I won my first election by 422 votes.” Comstock said on that night, she knew where the votes were coming in because she was familiar with the polls. She said many with conspiracy theories have never worked an election before. “And these are people who just didn't understand anything about  retail politics,” Comstock said. “They were just people who were preaching to the choir, hung out with everyone who thought the way they did, and had never knocked on a door.”Renée DiResta, research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory, has been studying rumors that circulate online about perceived election fraud.“When somebody believes that their ballot has been invalidated because they were given a sharpie marker at the polls and they remember being a kid in school and being told you can't use a sharpie marker on a scantron and they believe that there's a false plot to steal the election from them because that's kind of where the political climate of the country is at this point,” DiResta said. “Those claims tend to go viral and one of the things we look at at Stanford is how those claims go viral and where and in what communities on the internet.”DiResta said the sharpie argument has come back again in Arizona during the 2022 race. She said she's part of something called the Election Integrity Partnership which is a non-partisan coalition to help groups that want to fight disinformation by crowd-sourcing responses by helping to find the right messenger to convey correct information. “That person who is a trusted counter messenger counter speaks to the people in their communities,” DiResta said. “They don't want to hear Stanford Internet Observatory thinks that your sharpie markers is wrong because who the hell are we? We're ivory tower academics. We have no trust and we have no resonance in that community but the local elections theoretically do because they are members of the community.” Siva Vaidhyanathan, the Robertson Professor of Media Studies and director of the Center for Media and Citizenship at the University of Virginia, said democracies have been under attack from across the world in the past decade. He said a lot of this builds off the stoking of fears of other Americans. “We're now in a situation in this country of all countries where we don't have a romance of  democracy,” Vaidhyanathan said. “We don't have something that moves us to believe deeply in the power of each other, in the shared future that we all have whether we admit or not.”Election Day is now 15 days away. This Wednesday, the two candidates in the Fifth District will meet at Hampden-Sydney College for the first and only campaign forum of the race. Some information here, and more in the next newsletter.You can watch the whole Center for Politics event on YouTube. Other articles for your review:As much as I try, I can't get it all. Here are some recent stories you may be interested in reviewing. * Charlottesville's first climate action plan, Anahita Jafary, NBC29, October 20, 2022* Richmond Fed: Va. gained 8,000 jobs in September, Virginia Business, October 21, 2022* Charlottesville man's lawsuit against University Village tests state condo law, Daily Progress, October 21, 2022* Bob Good visits Albemarle County, CBS19, October 22, 2022 * Public comment period ends Wednesday for proposed transgender policy, WWBT, October 24Concluding notes for the end of #447 Monday will end and Tuesday will begin and I am hopeful that there will be another installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement. There is so much to get through, and I'm grateful for paid subscribers who are helping me attempt to keep the stables clean. Do consider a paid subscription through Substack at either $5 a month, $50 a year or $200 a year.And if you do that, Ting will match your initial payment, making it very likely I'll get to keep doing this for a while. That's my goal, at least. This work is how I exercise my love of democracy, by pointing out the decision points close at hand. I will try to resist saying what I think, because mostly what I think is how I can get this up to a seven-day-a-week publication. There's enough to go round. If you do sign up, Ting will match your initial subscription. And even if you don't sign up for a paid subscription to this newsletter, Ting wants your custom too, and if you sign up through a link in the newsletter you will get free installation, a $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall, and a second month for free. Just enter the promo code COMMUNITY.Did you know this newsletter is also the working script for a podcast? Do sign up in your podcast player, because it's a great way to hear people's voices. There is the occasional music bit from either the Fundamental Grang or Wraki, a chameleon-like blender of sonic stylings. Check them out on Bandcamp.  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

You're listening to I love it when... I am your host, Mo, and I'm a speaker, coach and retreat facilitator. You're in the right place if you're looking for inspiration, education and a path to find your true self. My intention is to bring you stories that will help you uncover the magic within so that you can truly: BE YOU. I love it when... I have the opportunity to learn a new perspective!I am very passionate about creating environments where people feel they can truly be themselves. I believe that when we reach that place- we'll find the world to be a hell of a lot different than it is today.I met Jered about 10 years ago when I first sat down in his chair at Headlines in University Village to have my hair cut. He and I immediately connected and began to learn more about each other.Jered has a story and presence that deserves to be heard and seen. He brings patience, presence and a beautiful energy to every human he interacts with. Today's episode is just the first of many with us.

We’re now one day past the summer solstice, and one day closer to the next one. There’s a rhythm to our existence on this planet that never stops so it makes a lot of sense to take a lot of snapshots. Here’s another installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement capturing a few observations about June 22, 2022, the first full day of summer. I’m Sean Tubbs, ready to adjust to days that shed light as I shed light on more buildings and food. Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Ting will match your initial payment!On today’s program:Details on how Charlottesville’s future zoning will match Future Land Use Map vision for more density all across the city Lights will soon be installed at the McIntire skate park in CharlottesvilleThe Albemarle Planning Commission takes up a rezoning for 525 units on Old Ivy Road and the developer asks for more time to retool the application First Shout-out is for the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards In today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out, have you ever wanted to learn as much as you can about how to preserve and protect trees? The Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards are opening up registration for their fall series of online training sessions and field activities running from August 9 through November 19. Full tuition details are at charlottesvilleareatreestewards.org and if you want to get a feel for what you may learn, there’s a public tree identification walk through the grand trees spanning the front areas of the University of Virginia on Sunday, June 26. Attendance is limited, so register today! June 27 meeting scheduled to review Charlottesville zoning reportTwo of the three components of Charlottesville’s update of its overarching land use policies are complete, and the work towards the third is moving along. Last week, the city released what’s being called the Diagnostics and Approach Report which provides a pathway forward for how the city’s zoning ordinance will be rewritten. (read the draft)“This zoning rewrite project is not about adding more plans, goals, or objectives – this work is entirely focused on implementing the Affordable Housing Plan and the Comprehensive Plan,” writes James Freas, the city’s director of Neighborhood Development Services. All of this work has been done and will be done done under the auspices of the Cville Plans Together initiative. A public meeting will be held on Monday, June 27 at the Ting Pavilion about the document. “At the core of the entire Cville Plans Together process there has been a commitment to addressing issues of racial equity and affordable housing and that core commitment remains as we work through the zoning rewrite. Meeting this commitment requires that our zoning allow people to build more housing units throughout the city, that it establishes incentives to include affordable units in new multi-family development, and that it is sensitive to the potential for displacement.” The draft report calls for several steps to make the zoning ordinance more predictable. This would include restricting the usage of the special use permit process to uses rather than bulk and massing. It would also discourage further rezonings. The future zoning map is to facilitate the vision of the Future Land Use Map, which calls for all single-family residential lots to be able to build three units with a fourth available if it is rented or sold at city-defined affordability levels. In fact, much of the additional density in higher-intensity zones would require that same affordability for “bonus” units. In a separate but related process, HR&A Advisors are working with Code Studio and the city on an inclusionary zoning ordinance to codify the details. This will also include the Sensitive Communities areas which are intended to stop further displacement in neighborhoods such as Fifeville and Tenth and Page. Several properties in those areas have recently sold for high amounts. Other useful information and recommendations in the draft:A description of housing types begins on page 33 if you want to know the difference between a carriage house and a triplex and a twelveplex.There is a recommendation to create zoning districts based on building form to reflect the different designations in the Future Land Use Map. There would be a “house-scale district” and a “medium-scale district.” Smaller lots would be permitted more “lot coverage” than larger ones.  Other recommendations include reducing parking requirements and the modification of existing setback requirements to provide flexibility to place more units on lots. There are pages of diagrams that depict how this might be achieved for different lot sizes and shapes. There is a focus on urban form rather than density, allowing density to be regulated by building codes and fire codes.Building heights would be expressed in both feet and stories Some of the many existing mixed use corridor districts with similar building heights and an urban form could be combined into a single district. The word “family” would be replaced with “household” or “unit” There should be more use of manufactured homes particularly for “tiny” homesThe Entrance Corridor Review Board should be eliminated by building standards into the zoning codeThe work is not yet complete. Some but not all of the existing zoning categories have been taken through the process but Appendix B shows the ones that have. There will certainly be more information about this process in the next few months. Please stay tuned to this newsletter which seeks to bring as much information as possible. Fundraising goal met to light up McIntire Skate ParkA public-private partnership to relocate a skate park removed for road construction resulted in a new facility in McIntire Park opening in 2019. But until now, there have been no lights due to budget cuts to the project made to get it completed. This morning the city announced a fundraising goal has been met and lights will be installed by mid-September. When in place, the park will stay open until 10 p.m. “The lights are LED fixtures from MUSCO Lighting, chosen for their low-light pollution, energy use, heat emission, and longevity,” reads a press release. The funding for the lights comes entirely from private donations with contributions from the Bama Works Fund, the Perry Foundation, the Rock The Lights Campaign by Duane Brown, Upper-level Screen Printing, Freestyle, Hatcher Consulting, and Anonymous Local Foundation.Second shout-out: SCAN holding a Beekeeping 101 class 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. There are plenty more pollinating resources on the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page, so sign up to be notified of lectures, plant sales, and more! Greystar asks for more time on Old Ivy Residences rezoning after Planning Commission public hearing The Albemarle County Planning Commission had a long public hearing on June 14 on Greystar Development’s rezoning request for up to 525 units on about 35 acres on Old Ivy Road. The five parcels of property are nearby University Village, Huntington Village, Ivy Gardens, and several office spaces mostly owned by the UVA Foundation. “And then to the north of course is the Darden Business School at UVA, North Grounds including the law school and other nearby UVA destinations,” said Rebecca Ragsdale, a planning manager with the county. There are three different zoning types across the property, with R-1, R-10, and R-15. The higher intensity zoning parcels have legally-binding conditions on them called proffers. “And one of those proffers is that the R-15 properties are limited to R-1 density until transportation proffers are deemed satisfied by the Board of Supervisors,” Ragsdale said. Some of the land had been owned by the Virginia Department of Transportation for usage for the now-defunct Western Bypass. The Rivanna Trail runs through the site and portions of it will be rerouted as part of the development. There are discrepancies between what county staff in terms of affordable housing and what the developer had offered. Ragsdale said the developer’s interpretation assumed that the R-15 properties are already rezoned and should not trigger the county’s policy. As such, they’re offering 14 of the units to be designated as affordable rentals. Staff disagrees. But the major concerns related to transportation impacts. Planning Manager Kevin McDermott said a traffic study commissioned by the developer found that intersections on the western end of Old Ivy Road particularly at the U.S. 250 interchange are already overburdened. “Existing conditions at those are currently failing for many movements and poor all around,” McDermott said. McDermott said the county and the Virginia Department of Transportation are working on potential options but the work is not complete. “If they are determined as feasible, we would need to identify funding for that,” McDermott said. The eastern end of Old Ivy Road has a narrow railroad underpass, which McDermott said was also being studied but nothing is shovel-ready. McDermott also said the traffic study also showed that Old Ivy Residences would cause further delays. He said there have been some improvements to upgrade the road such as installation of curb and gutter and a thirty-foot road width. However, he said nothing has been done to realign the roadway at the underpass and there’s a partial sidewalk on the south side of Old Ivy Road. Greystar argues development is consistent with comp plan John Clarkson is the managing director of Greystar, which is based in Charleston, South Carolina. “We think we have a project here that is very appropriate for what is defined by the zoning,” Clarkson said. “We intend to build a very thoughtful and well-designed project that meets the housing demand.” Greystar hired the law firm Williams Mullen to help them through the land use process in Albemarle. Attorney Valerie Long said there have been enough improvements on Old Ivy Road since the proffer was adopted in the rezoning in 1985. “Most significantly, the University’s construction of Leonard Sandridge Drive which obviously took a tremendous amount of traffic off of Old Ivy,” Long said. “Really the outstanding one is the railroad trestle. We certainly understand and agree that is a problem and we are comforted and encouraged by Mr. McDermott’s comments about how closely they are working with VDOT and the University representatives to address that issue.” Long said Greystar will make contributions to a solution when it is identified. She said the issue before the county is whether to approve dense housing inside of the designated growth area where the units would be close to where people want to be. There is currently no transit along Old Ivy Road, but Long said they would build a bus stop. They’re also asking for a reduction in the parking requirements. Long also addressed the concern about the developer’s interpretation of the county’s housing policy. The Bivins that Long refers to is Commissioner Julian Bivins, who represents the Jack Jouett district where this development would be built. “The land is zoned R-15, not all of it it, but the vast majority as Mr. Bivins indicated, about 27 acres, are zoned R-15,” Long said. “So we’re not asking for an increase in those parcels in terms of units.” Rents would be between $1,850 and $3,600. Bivins suggested that Greystar offer more than just 14 units. “Affordable units is not about poverty,” Bivins said. “Affordable units is about jobs and because our community morphing into more of a service industry, those jobs don’t pay as much as some of the other jobs used to be. So I think if this goes forward, when it goes forward, it would be a really strong signal that [you] really want to be responsive to the community if [you’re] not saying [you’re] only giving 14 units.” Public hearingOver two dozen people people spoke at the public hearing, most of them opposed. One of them was Joel Loving who lives in the Bel Air neighborhood.“There’s no question that adding as many as 1,500 residents and a thousand vehicles to this small area will have a substantial impact on pedestrian and vehicular traffic, stormwater, the local school system, and I’m sure there’s plenty more that will be discussed this evening,” Loving said. Elizabeth Kutchai recently moved into University Village after living in Charlottesville for decades. She said 525 units are too many. “The University of Virginia has already erected many new buildings on Old Ivy Road,” Kutchai said. “They also own Ivy Gardens Apartments and have plans to redevelop that property, increasing its density by 150 percent. See also:UVA making plans for Ivy Gardens redevelopment, June 9, 2021UVA committee briefed on new capital projects, June 4, 2022Many other residents from University Village asked for the Commission to consider specific topics, such as a concern fire and rescue access would be limited. “No fire department no matter how good they are is going to be able to cope with a fire in a development of this size when you have people packed in there like sardines,” said resident Daniel Avery.One of the final speakers from University Village was Sally Thomas, who served 16 years on the Board of Supervisors. In 2001, She voted to adopt the Neighborhood Model District zoning to fulfill the Comprehensive Plan goal of compact development in the designated growth areas. “This Old Ivy apartments complex is not what the county hoped for in smart growth,” Thomas said. “Why not? It’s certainly dense and within the growth area. But it’s also like too many other projects that seemed to be desirable developments. It overloads the present facilities and its interconnectivity just hasn’t quite been developed in a way that will work for both the residents and the neighborhood.” Only three people spoke in-person at the public hearing in favor of the rezoning. One was the lawyer for the property owner who will sell it to Greystar. Another was John Matthews whose company produced a report for the development. The other was Ivo Romenesko. He’s a Farmington resident who was also part of the Development Initiative Steering Committee which helped develop the Neighborhood Model. “The clock is ticking on the growth area,” Romenesko said. “I think that the double digit percentages that are occurring with population in Albemarle and the Planning District put pressure on Albemarle County and I would like to see the growth area accommodate as much reasonably good, well-designed development as it can so that we can preserve the beautiful areas of Albemarle County as long as we can.” In her rebuttal after the public hearing, Long acknowledged there is work to be done to increase connectivity for both pedestrians and motor vehicles. She said Greystar is offering funds toward improvements. “Greystar is committed to continuing to negotiate with all of its neighbors,” Long said. “They want to improve the safety and the traffic issues and they’re continuing to make those contributions and as somebody said, make the connections. We’ve spent a lot of time talking to Mr. McDermott and VDOT and other folks. We’ve had our traffic engineer putting suggestions together, our civil engineer drawing plans, submitting them to various off-site owners with engineered plans for paths, for connections, for road improvements. We just can’t do it unilaterally.” Commissioners had concernsAt-Large Commissioner Luis Carrazana likened the 1985 proffer restricting development until transportation improvements as a gate. “That is a concept that I believe is very useful particularly as we consider amendments to our Comprehensive Plan,” Carrazana said. Carrazana said the Commission hears again and again about overburdened roads and overcrowded schools. He also said he did not think the conditions of the proffer have been met. “In terms of the failing road, and that road is not getting any better,” Carrazana said. “It is dangerous.” Commissioner Karen Firehock said another constraint is the presence of the railroad, which has been owned by CSX for many years but will soon be owned by the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority. She said the underpass is hazardous after heavy rainfall. “I have seen cars floating, very surprised UVA students in fact not realizing that wasn’t just a puddle and having cars being towed out and totaled because they were underwater,” Firehock said. However, Firehock said she felt this was a good area to develop if the connections can be made. Commissioner Corey Clayborne said he felt the density could be appropriate but traffic concerns are a show-stopper. “I don’t believe that the transportation piece has been satisfied according to the Board’s stipulation on that,” Clayborne said. “That hasn’t been proven to me tonight.” Clayborne said he did understand how the developers came up with the number 14 for affordable housing units. “But nothing prevents you from doing above what the policy asks either and there’s just no way that I could vote for 525 units and… 14?” Clayborne said.Bivins suggested that Greystar could get permission to connect to Leonard Sandridge Road, which leads out to eastbound U.S. 250.“I don’t know you do that,” Bivins said. “You all are sophisticated enough and you all have the various buttons that you can push in that administration. I would encourage you do to that and I would particularly encourage you to do that before you meet with the Supervisors.” Bivins made a motion to recommend denial of the rezoning, but Long approached and asked for a deferral so some of the issues could be worked out. The Planning Commission granted that and Firehock has the final word in this story. “I will just say that I very much look forward to seeing how the applicant works on all of these things because I think we do believe that density in the urban ring is a good thing,” Firehock said. 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

“Best Book Club Ever,” read one sign inside Amazon Books at Seattle's University Village this weekend. On the bookshelves below it were products including an electric 1.5-liter ceramic kettle, a sugar dispenser, and a marble cheese slicer. Elsewhere in the store, shoppers browsed items as varied as a plush baby shark, a Lite Brite, Funko figurines, a USB mic, game consoles, a smart fitness scale, a WiFi router, and kitchen scissors. There was not, as far as I could tell, a kitchen sink. Yes, there were books in this bookstore. But they were surrounded by a cacophony of commerce. Looking around at the seemingly random array of products, it felt like a bookstore subsumed by a variety store — an experiment gone awry, or more likely, an approach influenced by two different executive regimes. No wonder Amazon is pulling the plug, I thought to myself. Listen to the full story on this episode of the GeekWire Podcast, or read it here, as published on GeekWire on March 7, 2022: Amazon's bizarre bazaar: Strange final chapter for tech giant's first bricks-and-mortar bookstore   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Let’s start 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!On today’s show:Charlottesville City Council adopts a Comprehensive Plan and Future Land Use Map after a long public process and long public hearing President Biden signs an infrastructure bill Two area breweries have announced a merger The Places29-Hydraulic group gets the latest on 490 units planned for Old Ivy Road After nearly five years of review, Charlottesville City Council has adopted a Comprehensive Plan and a Future Land Use Map intended to increase the number of housing units within city limits. Council’s vote came after a long public hearing that came after a work session held in the early afternoon where Council also discussed economic development and population trends. The public hearing ended at 10:44 p.m. and Council then discussed the matter for another hour before voting to adopt. Up next will be the rewrite of the zoning code to eliminate legislative barriers to new residential density. I’ll have more on the adoption of the plan and what is in it in an upcoming edition of the newsletter. Take a look at the adopted Comprehensive Plan and the Future Land Use Map here. Two breweries in the area have announced a merger via Facebook post. Champion Brewing Company and Reason Beer will join operations in a partnership that will see Hunter Smith remain as the company’s CEO. One of Reason’s founders, Jeff Railenau, will become the Chief Financial Officer. Josh Skinner of Champion will become the Head Brewer and Reason’s Mark Fulton will become Director of Brewing Operations. Champion will relocate its production operations from a facility in the Woolen Mills on Broadway Street to Reason’s headquarters at Seminole Place on U.S. 29. “We’re excited to announce this partnership with our good friends and esteemed beer minds across town that will bring together two skilled and like-minded teams to streamline operations under one roof,” reads a statement on Champion’s Facebook page.President Joe Biden has signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which will likely change the landscape for the way all kinds of projects in Virginia and the Charlottesville area are funded. “This law makes the most significant investment in roads and bridges in the past 70 years,” Biden said. “It makes the most significant investment in passenger rail in the past 50 years. And in public transit ever.” The bill provides direct funding to specific areas across the entire country. (details from the White House)$55 billion to expand access to clean drinking water, eliminating lead pipes and cleaning up PFAS chemicals $21 billion in funding to remediate Superfund sites in rural and urban communities$66 billion for public transit, including vehicle replacement from fossil-fuel burning to zero emissions vehicles$5 billion specifically to purchase clean school buses$17 billion to modernize ports and update machinery to reduce congestion and emissions$25 billion for airports including efforts to drive electrification and a transition to other low-carbon technologiesOver $50 billion in investments to protect against drought, heat waves, wildfires and floodsThe legislation passed the U.S. Senate on a 69-30 vote and the U.S. House on a 221 to 201 vote. Take a look at the full bill here. “The bill I’m about to sign into law is proof that despite the cynics, Democrats and Republicans can come together to deliver results,” Biden said. There’s also funding to increase internet access.“This law is going to make high-speed Internet affordable and everywhere, everywhere in America,” Biden said “Urban, suburban, rural, and great jobs laying down those broadband lines.” Environmental groups in Virginia are celebrating the signing of the infrastructure bill, which will provide an additional $238 million for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the Chesapeake Bay Program according to a statement from the Choose Clean Water Coalition.“These additional funds will help reduce pollution in the Bay and its waterways, especially as we approach the 2025 deadline to have all pollution reduction practices in place as part of the Bay's restoration effort,” said Coalition Director Kristin Reilly. Reilly refers to something called the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, a framework to reduce pollution across all of the watersheds that feed into the Bay, including the Rapidan, Rivanna, and James Rivers. Investments have been made over the years, including millions to upgrade the Moores Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant to reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus that makes it to the Bay, creating dead zones with no oxygen. The bill has also been celebrated by the Virginia Transit Association, who sent out a release pointing out that the bill contains $102 billion nationwide in funding for passenger and freight rail, or a 592 percent increase over usual funding levels. That could include $1.4 billion for Virginia. “Transit will receive about $1.3 billion in formula funding over the next five years, a 34 percent increase over normal funding levels,” said Danny Plaugher, the Deputy Director of the Virginia Transit Association and the Executive Director of Virginians for HighSpeed Rail. “The Charlottesville area will receive about an extra million a year over that period. Virginia will also be competitive on several expanded transit and rail grant programs which could invest billions into our transportation network."All of Virginia’s Democratic Representatives in Congress voted for the bill, whereas all of Virginia’s Republican Representatives voted against it. But Biden said there was support from industry. “This law was supported by business groups — the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; the National Association of Manufacturers; the Business Roundtable, representing 200 of the largest corporations in America and other top businesses,” Biden said.Local governments are watching closely to see what the bill may mean for their bottom line. “Albemarle County will closely monitor avenues for local governments to apply for funding to advance our strategic infrastructure needs as guidance becomes available from the federal and state governments,” said Emily Kilroy, director of Communications and Public Engagement for Albemarle. You’re listening to Charlottesville Community Engagement.  Time for another Patreon-fueled shout-out! Charlottesville 350 is the local chapter of a national organization that seeks to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Charlottesville 350 uses online campaigns, grassroots organizing, and mass public actions to oppose new coal, oil and gas projects, and build 100% clean energy solutions that work for all. To learn more about their most active campaigns, including a petition drive to the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, visit their Facebook page at facebook.com/cville350A proposed rezoning requested by Greystar Development for about 36 acres of land off of Old Ivy Road will be slightly smaller than the 525 units requested in the first application, but it will still be fairly substantial. “Our current plan is to have about 490 units,” said Valerie Long, an attorney with Williams Mullen. “We’re still under 20 dwelling units per acre so well within the range that’s permitted. The Places29-Hydraulic Community Advisory Committee got a first look at the Old Ivy Residences project, which is currently not scheduled for a public hearing before the Planning Commission. (watch the meeting)The land is split between five parcels, with three of them already zoned for 15 units per acre. “R-15 residential zoning allows for basically any type of residential development whether its single family detached, single-family attached, or multifamily apartments,” said county planner Cameron Langille. One parcel allows for ten units per acre, and the other is currently zoned for one unit per acre. The application is to make them all R-15. A previous rezoning approved by the Board of Supervisors in 1985 has a condition that states that the Old Ivy Road corridor needs to have been upgraded to a certain performance level before development can begin. “The applicant is asking for us to evaluate that and make a recommendation as to whether corridor has been improved to that extent,” Langille said. The board also approved a rezoning in 1996 for one of the parcels that restricts certain uses. Langille said the applicant wants the Board to drop that condition. There’s also a request to disturb slopes which involves changing their classification from preserved to managed. The county’s Comprehensive Plan designated three of the parcels as urban density residential, which allows anywhere between 6 units and 36 units per acre. Land along the U.S. 250 Bypass is designated as parks space and currently is the home of a section of the Rivanna Trail. Greystar officials said that would continue. Staff has conducted one review and the developer is working through the various questions from staff. John Clarkson is a managing director with Greystar Development, a national developer with projects all across the United States of America. “There are opportunities in University towns that lack housing opportunities, very important housing opportunities to provide that level of affordability to make those communities sustainable over the long term,” Clarkson said. Dan Nickerson, a development senior associate with Greystar, is a graduate of the nearby Darden School.“The number one thing we love about this site is the natural landscape and we’ve done the best job we could and we think we’ve done a really good job preserving the landscape while enabling the density that the Comp Plan allows,” Nickerson said. Old Ivy Road is a two-lane road that has a one-way underpass near its eastern intersection with Ivy Road without a sidewalk or bike lane. The western intersection as well as a two-lane bridge over the bypass are also constraints. Long acknowledged that traffic congestion is an issue.“Obviously those issues are existing, have been growing and increasing over the past few decades, but Greystar is committed to continue looking at those challenges and collaborating with [the Virginia Department of Transportation] and the county planning staff as appropriate to work toward identifying solutions,” Long said. Long said Greystar would be willing to pay a “proportional amount” for some of those solutions. VDOT’s Six-Year Improvement program includes funds for a $3 million replacement of the bridge over U.S. 250, but the description currently states it will be built with no additional capacity. Preliminary engineering is underway now with construction scheduled for Fiscal Year 2024. Long said county officials have been able to at least carve out some improvements for the project.“They were able to include in that project design that there will be a pedestrian lane on the new bridge,” Long said. Members of the CAC and the public had the opportunity to ask questions and make comments. Sally Thomas served four terms on the Board of Supervisors and lives next door in the University Village apartment building. “We don’t oppose having neighbors and we are delighted that they are neighbors that care about the environment,” Thomas said. “We also do have a lovely old stand of trees, some over 100 years old, and we want to try to preserve and protect those.” Thomas said University Village wants to make sure there are pathways that safe and attractive and avoid the trees. Kathleen Jump of Huntington Village complex said she likes to walk, but said this section of Albemarle is landlocked with many obstacles for pedestrians. “The eastern bridge is a concern and the pedestrians at that end of Old Ivy Road put their lives in their hands when they cross under that bridge,” Jump said.Kevin McDermott is a chief of planning in Albemarle who specializes in transportation. “We have been evaluating both ends of Old Ivy Road as Valerie mentioned also, very recently, to try to see if there are options for improving them,” McDermott said. “Nothing has jumped out as an easy solution right now. Trying to expand that underpass is going to be extremely expensive.” McDermott said VDOT is working with a consultant to look at both ends of the road to come up with solutions, possibly to inform a Smart Scale application for next year. Taylor Ahlgren just moved into Huntington Village. He wants the development to do as much as it can to discourage vehicular travel. Here’s what he would like to see.“Supporting future residents to stay away from using a car and using alternative means of transportation,” Ahlgren said. The project currently does not have a public meeting scheduled with the Planning Commission. Stay tuned. Also nearby is the Ivy Garden complex, which the University of Virginia will be redeveloped as a mixed-use community. The UVA Buildings and Grounds Committee got a briefing on that project in June. 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

In today’s Substack-fueled shout-out, Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit the Code for Charlottesville website to learn more, including details on projects that are underway.In this edition of the program:Charlottesville City Council discusses a rezoning in Belmont zoning, bringing up issues of affordability and ensuring safe connectivityCharlottesville hires a new planning director An international developer has submitted rezoning plans for 525 units on Old Ivy RoadThe summer surge in COVID-19 continues with another 1,717 cases reported this morning by the Virginia Department of Health. The percent positivity rate has increased to 6.5 percent. In the Blue Ridge Health District there are another 37 cases reported, and the percent positivity is at 4.2 percent.  The Central Shenandoah Health District reports 39 today, and Central Virginia Health District reports 34. There are some interesting geographic variances. The Alexandria district reports 19 while the Leonwisco district in far southwest Virginia reports 53 today and the neighboring Mount Rogers district reports 49.Six months ago today, the VDH reported 3,059 new cases. The agency will update a dashboard that breaks down cases by vaccination status on Friday.If you have questions about what’s happening, you’ll have the chance to ask health officials questions at a town hall that the Blue Ridge Health District will hold on Thursday, August 5, at 1 p.m. Panelists will include Dr. Denise Bonds of the health district and pediatricians Dr. Paige Perriello and Dr. Jeffrey Vergales.  Register on Zoom.On Tuesday, the Roanoke County School Board voted 3-2 to not require masks for kindergarten through 5th grade, according to the Roanoke Times. A look at cases in Virginia over the last 180 days. View the data yourself.Charlottesville has a new director of the department that oversees land use and zoning within the city. James Freas will be the next Director of Neighborhood Development Services, a position that’s been held by Alexander Ikefuna for the past six years. Freas is currently the director of Community and Economic Development in the town of Natick in Massachusetts, a position he has held since November 2019. Before that, he worked in land use positions in Newton, Massachusetts. He also served four years as a city planner in Hampton from 2005 to 2009. This will be a return to Charlottesville for Freas, who graduated from the University of Virginia with an undergraduate degree in psychology. He also earned a Master of Community Planning from the University of Rhode Island and a Master of Studies in Environmental Law from the Vermont Law School. "I am excited to be returning to Virginia and eager to get started with the City,” Freas said in a release. “There are a number of important conversations happening right now around development and zoning and I look forward to engaging with the community.”Freas will report to Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders and begins work on September 13. James Freas (Credit: City of Charlottesville)A developer that builds rental housing throughout the world has filed an application with Albemarle County to rezone 36 acres of undeveloped land on Old Ivy Road for 525 units. Greystar wants to build on property to the west of the University Village retirement community and Huntington Village. “The residences planned for the Property are proposed to be entirely for rent, at least initially, in response to a strong interest in rental properties in the area,” reads the narrative for the proposal. In all there are five properties involved in what’s being called Old Ivy Residences, all but two of which are zoned already at the R-15 zoning category required for density. One 5.52 acre property is zoned R-1. However, there is also an application to change the status of steep slopes on the property from preserved to managed. The lands are currently owned by the Filthy Beast LLC, Father Goose LLC, and the Beyer Family Investment Partnership. According to the narrative, there would be 77 single-family homes, 43 townhouses, 58 duplexes and 312 apartments. Again, all rental. “Market research demonstrates a demand for single- family residences for young families, young professionals, graduate students and retirees who desire more space but are not interested in, or able to purchase a home at this stage of their lives,” the narrative continues. An existing pond on the property would be retained and serve as open space and for stormwater management. Some of the land had been purchased by the Virginia Department of Transportation for the Western Bypass, a project that was canceled in 2014. The western edge of the property is the U.S. 250 bypass You’re listening to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In this subscriber supported public service announcement, over the course of the pandemic, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society has provided hours and hours of interviews, presentations, and discussions about interpretations and recollections of the past. All of this is available for you to watch, for free, on the Historical Society’s YouTube Channel. There’s even an appearance by me, talking about my work on this newsletter. Take a look! *There’s an age-old question in land use. Which comes first? The development, or the infrastructure? Should developments be limited in size if all of the pieces aren’t yet in place to support additional residents? The topic came up during Council’s consideration on August 2 on the rezoning of 1206 Carlton Avenue which will allow development of an eight-unit apartment complex on a currently empty lot in Belmont. The project also requires a special use permit. City planner Matt Alfele represented city staff. “The applicant is also requesting side setbacks be modified from 13 feet to 8 feet,” Alfele said. “The application materials indicate the height of the building would be approximately 40 feet but no greater than the R-3 allotted 45 feet.” Charles Neer of Chestnut Avenue appealed to Council to deny the rezoning, as a previous Council had done for that property in October 2018. “The petitioner has come back again asking to rezone the property, increasing the density from six to eight and not increasing the parking,” Neer said.The project is being developed by Management Services Inc., a firm represented by civil engineer Justin Shimp who we’ll hear from later.This rezoning comes at a time when there is heightened attention on the cost of housing. The Alfele said the Planning Commission had asked Shimp about how much it would cost to live in the apartments. The red star marks 1206 Carlton Avenue“The applicant stated it would be the $1,100 to $1,500 range for a mix of one and two bedroom units within the development,” Alfele said. “The Planning Commission also stated that this type of housing, missing middle, would support more housing opportunities in the neighborhood.”In his presentation, Shimp laid out the dimensions for the proposed building. “So the premise is here that we have a small building that is 26’ by 94’ so its essentially about the size of two single family houses stacked back to back, with a stairwell in the center, is the scale of the house, being about three stories,” Shimp said. Four of the units are one bedroom, and the other four are two bedroom units.    Shimp also said this proposal contains one more parking space than the one denied in 2019. “It is not intended to be luxury type of housing,” Shimp said. “The developer of this is not in that. They’re trying to build a simple structure with moderate price housing.”Shimp stated the rents would effectively be within the range of affordability for people and households making 80 percent of the area median income.  He said the property had been zoned R-3 until a city-wide rezoning in 2003. Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker had concerns there was not enough parking, and that the developer would not be required to add sidewalks elsewhere in the neighborhood as part of the development. She said the city should not have to be the sole party responsible for building infrastructure to support growth. “The developers are talking about feasibility and we never ask them questions about what that means in terms of profit for them and I know I’ve been told quite a few times that that’s apparently not our business,” Walker said. “How can they ask us for more but we think something that’s necessary for the neighborhood and especially for the new community members, that if we’re talking about walkability that we want them to walk somewhere and be safe. I just don’t understand how we think that that is not something that is acceptable to tie into a request when they are asking us to build more than they can build by-right.”Councilor Lloyd Snook  said if the city is going to intentionally increase density, there need to be plans for how the infrastructure will follow. “Whether the infrastructure is provided by the developer or whether it is provided by the city at our expense, and as I look at that area the first that concerns me is that the streets are all pretty narrow, the lots are pretty close together and that’s fine,” Snook said. “But if we’re going to have close together lots and an emphasis on walkability, then we also ought to be having an emphasis on sidewalks and sight lines on the roads that we’ve got. A lot of the roads not only are narrow but they twist and turn a little bit. I would like to think about whether there are things the city would recognize that there are things that we would like to go in that area.”There is no small area plan for Belmont. The 2007 Comprehensive Plan has an appendix that compile neighborhood input that had been collected by the defunct Charlottesville Community Design Center. There’s also the 2015 Bike and Pedestrian Master Plan as well as the also the 2016 Streets That Work plan, which is intended to make streets serve pedestrians and cyclists. Those are handy documents to have, but city engineer Jack Dawson said they are not always useful in cases like such as this. “There is sort of a missing link I would say very generally between developing a single property and looking at the overall multimodal network,” Dawson said. Neighborhood input in the 2007 Comprehensive Plan (page 302 of the PDF)But in the case of 1206 Carlton, Shimp pointed out that there is a sidewalk on one side of Carlton Avenue. He said the issue is a request to build a sidewalk on to Chestnut Street. “We have sidewalks on our side that will get you all the way into Belmont,” Shimp said. “It’s not an issue. There was a question of could we connect to across the street, and that road comes down at a pretty rough slope and I don’t think it’s possible to build a sidewalk without substantial work and probably right of way condemnation. Those are all outside the limits of this project.”Councilor Michael Payne has joined Council since the October 2019 vote. He said he supported the project as a good example of infill development that would provide workforce housing. “You know, I was just comparing it some recent apartments that have come on line,” Payne said. “These are half the rent of some of the new apartments that have come online.”Walker wanted to know what would prevent those units from increasing in rent anyway. Shimp said the design of the project would limit its worth on the open market.“The square footages are not substantial,” Shimp said. “It’s a smaller unit. There’s not swimming pools or other sort luxury amenities. It’s just designed as a workforce housing structure. That’s for the neighborhood that it is in.”Walker said that at one point, her house in Belmont was considered workforce housing with small homes on small lots. “Mill workers at the IX building and now you have houses that are selling for $300,000 and up,” Walker said. One home on Walker’s street that is blocks away sold in June for $452,500, or nearly 48 percent of the 2021 assessment. Shimp said a lack of non-luxury units in the community on the market helps contribute to the rising market price for housing. He again said this project would provide the “missing middle” prompting a question.“So when you are saying missing middle, what does that mean for you?” Walker asked.“That means something that is basically more than a duplex but less than a garden apartment building,” Shimp said. Shimp said that “missing middle” was about the structure, and not about the income of those in it. However, he also said he would be submitting a triplex to city officials and hoped the rent in those would be in the $800 range. Walker expressed concern the rents would not remain low without a guarantee. Shimp said he would like to see a city policy that would make it easier to build houses with rents at lower price points. That is not currently in place. Councilor Lloyd Snook said there was not much the city could do to put an affordability guarantee in place. “In a market economy, I don’t know how you guarantee that kind of thing more than a years down the road anyway,” Snook said. There was no official vote on the rezoning because a second reading is needed. A majority of Councilors did indicate support. It will come back up for approval at a future Council meeting. Before you go! To keep this program going, two things need to happen. I need to increase the number of people who sign up for this email. I also need more of you to sign up for paid subscription through Substack here. Ting Charlottesville will match your contribution as a sign of their support for local independent journalism. So, do consider signing up and drop me a line if you have questions. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Hear Gerson Lemus inspirational story and how he turned his hobby into a full-on business. He started by giving his friends free haircuts to now running a barbershop. If you are in the Inland Empire go check out J'bez barbershop & salon, located at the University Village. 

A strong leader stays calm in a crisis, taking whatever is thrown at them in stride and simply doing what needs to be done. And it is Jeremy Williamson’s ability to stay cool, collected and confident when problems arise that his colleagues admire most. Jeremy is the Director of Housing Operations and Facilities at University Village and The QUAD Student Housing Communities on the campus of California State University San Marcos. He served as Residence Life Coordinator at the University of Louisville and Area Coordinator at the University of Florida before taking on his current role with Capstone at CSUSM in October of 2017. Jeremy is also a recent recipient of the COCM Excel Award. On this episode of Student Housing Matters, Jeremy joins guest host Alton Irwin for the second in a series of conversations with Excel Award winners to discuss the opportunities for growth associated with working on a young campus like CSUSM. Alton shares what Jeremy’s colleagues have to say about his consistently calm and positive demeanor, and Jeremy explains why the Excel Award was the ‘boost he did not know he needed.’ Listen in for insight on adapting to difficult circumstances without losing your cool and learn how Jeremy’s focus on legacy informs his interactions with the people he serves! Topics Covered Jeremy’s role as Director of Housing Operations at CSUSM’s University Village and The QUAD The opportunities for growth associated with working on such a young campus How Jeremy works with four different partners in the management of his sites at CSUSM How maintaining relationships with former colleagues led Jeremy to COCM Why Jeremy describes the Excel Award as ‘the boost he did not know he needed’ What Jeremy’s colleagues have to say about his calm and positive demeanor (even in crisis situations) Jeremy’s insight on adapting to difficult circumstances without losing your cool How Jeremy’s focus on legacy informs his interactions with the people he serves How being a position to make someone’s day gives Jeremy the greatest satisfaction in his role Connect with Jeremy University Village Apartments at CSUSM The QUAD at CSUSM Jeremy on LinkedIn Connect with Alton Student Housing Matters Student Housing Matters on Facebook Student Housing Matters on Twitter Capstone On-Campus Management Alton at COCM Alton on LinkedIn Email media@cocm.com

Ellie Shannon gives information on the stabbing in University Village neighborhood, and Ivy Winfrey discusses how the changes to the COVID-19 restriction dial will lower restrictions on businesses. After that, Dixon Lawson goes over upcoming events for Colorado State University athletics, and then listeners tune in to a continued discussion between Kota Babcock and Chris LaBelle from CSU Extended Campus about tech boot camps in partnership with Fullstack Academy. Then Babcock tells listeners about struggles faced by the US refugee program's partners and gives a new update on the AstraZeneca vaccine. Following that, "Takes From The Anthropocene" hosts discuss climate change-caused displacement and its implications for the future. After that, Babcock discusses new COVID-19 statistics and how tech companies might face responsibility for the spread of misinformation. To finish up the show, Winfrey explains how Australian lawmakers believed action figurines to cause "psychological harm."

What is the nature of place, and how does one undertake to write about it? To answer these questions, geographer and poet Tim Cresswell looks to Chicago’s iconic Maxwell Street Market area. Maxwell Street was for decades a place where people from all corners of the city mingled to buy and sell goods, play and listen to the blues, and encounter new foods and cultures. Now, redeveloped and renamed University Village, it could hardly be more different. In Maxwell Street: Writing and Thinking Place (U Chicago Press, 2019), Cresswell advocates approaching the study of place as an “assemblage” of things, meanings, and practices. He models this innovative approach through a montage format that exposes the different types of texts—primary, secondary, and photographic sources—that have attempted to capture the essence of the area. Cresswell studies his historical sources just as he explores the different elements of Maxwell Street—exposing them layer by layer. Brilliantly interweaving words and images, Maxwell Street sheds light on a historic Chicago neighborhood and offers a new model for how to write about place that will interest anyone in the fields of geography, urban studies, or cultural history. Tim Cresswell is the Ogilvie Professor of Geography at the University of Edinburgh. Maxwell Street: Writing and Thinking Place was published in 2019 by the University of Chicago Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is the nature of place, and how does one undertake to write about it? To answer these questions, geographer and poet Tim Cresswell looks to Chicago’s iconic Maxwell Street Market area. Maxwell Street was for decades a place where people from all corners of the city mingled to buy and sell goods, play and listen to the blues, and encounter new foods and cultures. Now, redeveloped and renamed University Village, it could hardly be more different. In Maxwell Street: Writing and Thinking Place (U Chicago Press, 2019), Cresswell advocates approaching the study of place as an “assemblage” of things, meanings, and practices. He models this innovative approach through a montage format that exposes the different types of texts—primary, secondary, and photographic sources—that have attempted to capture the essence of the area. Cresswell studies his historical sources just as he explores the different elements of Maxwell Street—exposing them layer by layer. Brilliantly interweaving words and images, Maxwell Street sheds light on a historic Chicago neighborhood and offers a new model for how to write about place that will interest anyone in the fields of geography, urban studies, or cultural history. Tim Cresswell is the Ogilvie Professor of Geography at the University of Edinburgh. Maxwell Street: Writing and Thinking Place was published in 2019 by the University of Chicago Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm

What is the nature of place, and how does one undertake to write about it? To answer these questions, geographer and poet Tim Cresswell looks to Chicago’s iconic Maxwell Street Market area. Maxwell Street was for decades a place where people from all corners of the city mingled to buy and sell goods, play and listen to the blues, and encounter new foods and cultures. Now, redeveloped and renamed University Village, it could hardly be more different. In Maxwell Street: Writing and Thinking Place (U Chicago Press, 2019), Cresswell advocates approaching the study of place as an “assemblage” of things, meanings, and practices. He models this innovative approach through a montage format that exposes the different types of texts—primary, secondary, and photographic sources—that have attempted to capture the essence of the area. Cresswell studies his historical sources just as he explores the different elements of Maxwell Street—exposing them layer by layer. Brilliantly interweaving words and images, Maxwell Street sheds light on a historic Chicago neighborhood and offers a new model for how to write about place that will interest anyone in the fields of geography, urban studies, or cultural history. Tim Cresswell is the Ogilvie Professor of Geography at the University of Edinburgh. Maxwell Street: Writing and Thinking Place was published in 2019 by the University of Chicago Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm

What is the nature of place, and how does one undertake to write about it? To answer these questions, geographer and poet Tim Cresswell looks to Chicago’s iconic Maxwell Street Market area. Maxwell Street was for decades a place where people from all corners of the city mingled to buy and sell goods, play and listen to the blues, and encounter new foods and cultures. Now, redeveloped and renamed University Village, it could hardly be more different. In Maxwell Street: Writing and Thinking Place (U Chicago Press, 2019), Cresswell advocates approaching the study of place as an “assemblage” of things, meanings, and practices. He models this innovative approach through a montage format that exposes the different types of texts—primary, secondary, and photographic sources—that have attempted to capture the essence of the area. Cresswell studies his historical sources just as he explores the different elements of Maxwell Street—exposing them layer by layer. Brilliantly interweaving words and images, Maxwell Street sheds light on a historic Chicago neighborhood and offers a new model for how to write about place that will interest anyone in the fields of geography, urban studies, or cultural history. Tim Cresswell is the Ogilvie Professor of Geography at the University of Edinburgh. Maxwell Street: Writing and Thinking Place was published in 2019 by the University of Chicago Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is the nature of place, and how does one undertake to write about it? To answer these questions, geographer and poet Tim Cresswell looks to Chicago’s iconic Maxwell Street Market area. Maxwell Street was for decades a place where people from all corners of the city mingled to buy and sell goods, play and listen to the blues, and encounter new foods and cultures. Now, redeveloped and renamed University Village, it could hardly be more different. In Maxwell Street: Writing and Thinking Place (U Chicago Press, 2019), Cresswell advocates approaching the study of place as an “assemblage” of things, meanings, and practices. He models this innovative approach through a montage format that exposes the different types of texts—primary, secondary, and photographic sources—that have attempted to capture the essence of the area. Cresswell studies his historical sources just as he explores the different elements of Maxwell Street—exposing them layer by layer. Brilliantly interweaving words and images, Maxwell Street sheds light on a historic Chicago neighborhood and offers a new model for how to write about place that will interest anyone in the fields of geography, urban studies, or cultural history. Tim Cresswell is the Ogilvie Professor of Geography at the University of Edinburgh. Maxwell Street: Writing and Thinking Place was published in 2019 by the University of Chicago Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to episode number 13 of the All Things Local Podcast. On this episode, I speak with Lynette Spencer, Founder and Executive Director of Adventure Works. We are four months into the pandemic now and Lynette and I chat about how her organization quickly adjusted and how they are continuing their mission of bringing mental health services to our community in some very unique ways. We discuss her collaboration with government agencies and other nonprofits, particularly in the University Village neighborhood in DeKalb. She shares how she found her passion of social work, and why she decided to take the leap and start a new nonprofit so that anyone who would benefit from adventure therapy would not be hindered by their ability to pay. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Softy and Dick are live at the University Village Ram until 6:00 tonight getting ready for our Put Up or Shut Up event, and the NCAA Tournament play-in games. The Dawgs are just three days away from playing their first tournament game in eight years. Mike Hopkins joins us to talk about what making the tournament means to him, plus thoughts on the way the team played in the Pac-12 Tournament, and what to expect on Friday. What does the team need to do to beat Utah State on Friday. Brandon Roy stops by to take an in depth look at the squad, including some keys to a victory in the first round.

Softy and Dick continue live from The Ram in University Village finishing up the conversation with Brandon Roy about the Dawgs in the NCAA Tournament. Jon Wilner joins us each Tuesday at 4:20 to talk all things Dawgs. We get his thoughts on Oregon's easy draw, Mike Hopkins and the LA job, Larry Scott's comments last week, and the Wilner bracket. Textimonials at 49451 react to the first two hours of the show.

Softy and Dick are live at the University Village Ram until 6:00 tonight getting ready for our Put Up or Shut Up event, and the NCAA Tournament play-in games. The Dawgs are just three days away from playing their first tournament game in eight years. Mike Hopkins joins us to talk about what making the tournament means to him, plus thoughts on the way the team played in the Pac-12 Tournament, and what to expect on Friday. What does the team need to do to beat Utah State on Friday. Brandon Roy stops by to take an in depth look at the squad, including some keys to a victory in the first round.

Softy and Dick continue live from The Ram in University Village finishing up the conversation with Brandon Roy about the Dawgs in the NCAA Tournament. Jon Wilner joins us each Tuesday at 4:20 to talk all things Dawgs. We get his thoughts on Oregon's easy draw, Mike Hopkins and the LA job, Larry Scott's comments last week, and the Wilner bracket. Textimonials at 49451 react to the first two hours of the show.

Guest co-host and long time friends of Tommy Lee.Kensen LamPastor | Park Community Church - BridgeportKensen serves as a Pastor for Park Community Church in Bridgeport. Prior to this he was on the Pastoral Staff at the Chinese Christian Union Church in Chicago’s Chinatown overseeing the Young Adult, College, and High School Ministries. He spent over 3 years as the Associate Director for the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. A graduate from the Moody Bible Institute Graduate School with a Masters of Divinity, with an emphasis in Urban Ministry. He grew up in the hustle and bustle of Chicago’s south side. In 2001, upon graduation from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a Bachelor’s in Bioengineering, he then married his college sweetheart and best friend, Susan in 2003. He is passionate about bringing people before God’s word and challenging them to pursue the God that pursues them. He loves eating Americanized Mexican food and lives in Chicago with his wife and 3 sons.Jimmy LeePresident | Goodcity ChicagoJimmy serves as the President and CEO of Goodcity. in 2009, he was named one of Crain's 40 Under 40 following his bid for the United States Congress in the 11th District of Illinois. Jimmy was the former Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and the Pacific Islanders, the former Special Assistant to the Governor of the State of Illinois, and also the former Executive Director of the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. He is energetic, creative, and on the forefront of Innovation when it comes to developing business throughout Chicago. His wife and two daughters live in the University Village of Chicago.

October 29, 2018 Gery Chico – Candidate for Mayor of Chicago Gery Chico Gery Chico was born and raised in Chicago. A product of the city’s neighborhoods, Chico has lived in McKinley Park, Rogers Park, Edgebrook, Budlong Woods, the Near Westside and University Village. Serving as former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s chief of staff from […]

Guest co-host and long time friends of Tommy Lee.Kensen LamPastor | Park Community Church - BridgeportKensen serves as a Pastor for Park Community Church in Bridgeport. Prior to this he was on the Pastoral Staff at the Chinese Christian Union Church in Chicago’s Chinatown overseeing the Young Adult, College, and High School Ministries. He spent over 3 years as the Associate Director for the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. A graduate from the Moody Bible Institute Graduate School with a Masters of Divinity, with an emphasis in Urban Ministry. He grew up in the hustle and bustle of Chicago’s south side. In 2001, upon graduation from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a Bachelor’s in Bioengineering, he then married his college sweetheart and best friend, Susan in 2003. He is passionate about bringing people before God’s word and challenging them to pursue the God that pursues them. He loves eating Americanized Mexican food and lives in Chicago with his wife and 3 sons.Jimmy LeePresident | Goodcity ChicagoJimmy serves as the President and CEO of Goodcity. in 2009, he was named one of Crain's 40 Under 40 following his bid for the United States Congress in the 11th District of Illinois. Jimmy was the former Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and the Pacific Islanders, the former Special Assistant to the Governor of the State of Illinois, and also the former Executive Director of the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. He is energetic, creative, and on the forefront of Innovation when it comes to developing business throughout Chicago. His wife and two daughters live in the University Village of Chicago. 0 LIKES

Guest co-host and long time friends of Tommy Lee.Kensen LamPastor | Park Community Church - BridgeportKensen serves as a Pastor for Park Community Church in Bridgeport. Prior to this he was on the Pastoral Staff at the Chinese Christian Union Church in Chicago’s Chinatown overseeing the Young Adult, College, and High School Ministries. He spent over 3 years as the Associate Director for the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. A graduate from the Moody Bible Institute Graduate School with a Masters of Divinity, with an emphasis in Urban Ministry. He grew up in the hustle and bustle of Chicago’s south side. In 2001, upon graduation from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a Bachelor’s in Bioengineering, he then married his college sweetheart and best friend, Susan in 2003. He is passionate about bringing people before God’s word and challenging them to pursue the God that pursues them. He loves eating Americanized Mexican food and lives in Chicago with his wife and 3 sons.Jimmy LeePresident | Goodcity ChicagoJimmy serves as the President and CEO of Goodcity. in 2009, he was named one of Crain's 40 Under 40 following his bid for the United States Congress in the 11th District of Illinois. Jimmy was the former Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and the Pacific Islanders, the former Special Assistant to the Governor of the State of Illinois, and also the former Executive Director of the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. He is energetic, creative, and on the forefront of Innovation when it comes to developing business throughout Chicago. His wife and two daughters live in the University Village of Chicago.

Va'Shajn Parr, Director of University Village and the Quad (on-campus housing) at CSU San Marcos spoke with us about the service he is using to solve the resident package delivery problem.

EP062 - Deep Dive Amazon-Go Store concept On Monday 12/5/16, Amazon surprised the industry by debuting a new retail concept called Amazon Go.  The 1800 square foot brick and mortar convince store’s most notable feature is that it requires no checkout.  Just put your items in your shopping bag and walk out of the store when you are done.  Payment is handled implicitly (similar to paying for an Uber). The store is for Amazon Prime members only (requires a mobile app to act as a key and let you in the store), and uses a combination of camera and sensors to track shoppers and the items they put in their bags.  The store is open to Amazon employees only for this month, and will be open to all prime members “early next year.” Amazon has a website for the store, and a demonstration video Context and History In the video and on the info site, they talk about having been working on the store for 4yrs The store likely leverages image recognition technology Amazon acquired via Snaptell 2009 The store clearly leverages elements of two patents Amazon filed in 2013 and 2014 USPTO20150012396 TRANSITIONING ITEMS FROM A MATERIALS HANDLING FACILITY USPTO20150019391 DETECTING ITEM INTERACTION AND MOVEMENT  This is one of several retail concepts Amazon is testing in the Seattle area this year. The store is located in downtown Seattle on the edge of the Amazon Biodome (their new HQ complex) at  2131 7th Ave Two other grocery pickup store concepts are under construction are in Balard and Sodo (north and south of downtown), and appear close to completion. Amazon has an open bookstore open in University Village, 4601 26th Avenue NE  (North of downtown) The store is offering a number of new (to Amazon) products including ready to make meal kits (similar to Blue Apron), made to order food, and freshly prepared food. Technology The video the explicitly call out computer vision, deep learning algorithms, sensor fusion, “just walk out technology” #JWOT Computer vision is likely used for  people tracking (patent even talks about using microphones to track peoples location and cell triangulation).  This likely means the store has to be designed to have no blind spots for the camera.  That would mean no restrooms for example, and may make the technology harder to retrofit into existing stores. Sensor fusion using a combination of LIDAR (laser based radar) and cameras for detecting and tracking products Deep learning for product recognition and training.  One insider has said that they can see 30% of a product and accurately recognize it. Amazon makes the analogy to self driving cars which use a similar combination of AI/Cameras/and Sensors for example. The store may or may not use RFID.  The patents reference RFID but the video (and unconfirmed reports from insiders) to give any indication of RFID use.  This is a big deal, as requiring every product in the store to have an RFID tag adds significant operational costs.  This store is a much bigger game changer, if RFID tags are not required. Although Amazon emphasized the huge customer experience benefit of not having to checkout.  The store would also offer other advantages such as inventory accuracy (which would assist BOPIS, Out of Stocks, etc…) The store doesn’t appear to use any form of digital price tags.  This is interesting as Amazon’s previous store concept (Bookstore) uses online prices in the store (which change frequently).  If the prices are truly printed on paper on the shelf, it’s unlikely Amazon is offering the same prices as it’s website. Open Questions: How well does the technology work (what edge cases can trip it up) How well will customers adopt the new use case and which elements will be most compelling How will the store handle families shopping together, parents with kids, etc… How will Amazon address all the privacy concerns and issues with tracking shoppers in the store Will the store carry alcohol and/or tobacco, how will it handle age verification Does the store in-fact depend on RFID Implications for the Industry This is not the first self-checkout concepts.  Grocery stores have been experimenting with full cart scanners for years, Apple has self-service checkout, Walmart has scan and go checkout, and startup Twyst has a “smart bag” that adds up purchases as you put them in the bag.    What’s unique here is they aren’t just making checkout easier/faster, they are eliminating it.  In fairness, IBM made a concept video with the exact same checkout experience in 2009, but it was based on RFID and never went further than the vidmazon has made it real, and is letting customers experience it. All the technologies Amazon is using have been around (and in the retail industry for a while) but no other retailer has built this store.  This is largely due to Amazon’s unique culture… failure is encouraged and Amazon employees are free to experiment.  Most legacy retailers would quickly make a list of reasons not to do the store and move on, Amazon did it anyway. Regardless of the specific technology, operational issues, scalability etc… customers are likely going to love the experience.  Once they have experienced it, they are going to want and expect it everywhere.  For the busy Mom, lower friction experiences usually win, and taking checkout from something that has to be done explicitly to something that happens implicitly is going to be very popular with shoppers.  Once again, Amazon is setting the customer experience expectations that the rest of the retail industry must try to live up to. Don’t forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 62 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Tuesday December 7th, 2016. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at Razorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing.

Connie steers the ship this month as Tom takes most of the show off to hide behind the mixing board. Instead, Ronald Holden (cornishon.org) steps in to co-host and add his comments along the way. This month's interview is with David McIntosh of Joey's Restaurant in the University Village. Ron closes the show with an important tip you won't want to miss for the holidays.

An aspect of tax-increment financing that might rouse the citizenry from its slumber; why Chicago's newspapers don't report on TIF districts; and why renters should care about property taxes. Length 7.8 minutes.