Podcast appearances and mentions of virginia health system

On this episode of IPA's What, Why & How podcast, Kate Gainer welcomes Kyle Robb, PharmD, BCPS, Director of State Policy & Advocacy at ASHP, and Anna Legreid​​​​ Dopp, PharmD, CPHQ, Senior Director of Government Relations at ASHP, to discuss ASHP's top priorities and what's happening at the federal level. Kyle Robb, PharmD, BCPS, currently serves as Director of State Policy & Advocacy at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). Kyle supports ASHP members and State Affiliates as they seek to advance the practice of pharmacy through engagement with state government. He is an alumnus of the Virginia Commonwealth University/American College of Clinical Pharmacy/American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Congressional Health Care Policy Fellow Program and served as a Health Policy Fellow on the staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions. Prior to working in policy, Kyle was a pharmacist at the University of Virginia Health System. Anna Legreid Dopp, PharmD, CPHQ, currently serves as Senior Director, Government Relations at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). Previously, Anna served as Director of Clinical Guidelines and Quality Improvement at ASHP. Prior to this role, she served as Vice President of Public Affairs for the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin (PSW) while practicing as a clinical pharmacist at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics. She also served as a Pharmacy Benefit Consultant with WEA Trust in Madison, WI and a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy. Anna received her Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy and served as a Congressional Health Policy Fellow with the United States Senate. Resources from today's episode: Action Alert: Residency Funding and the Rebuild America's Health Care Schools Act of 2024 ASHP Medication Shortages Webpage Action Alert: Oppose Site Neutral Proposals ASHP 340B Resources ASHP/ACCP/VCU Congressional Fellow Program ASHP on PBMs Podcast Series: Federal Trade Commission's Report on PBMs Specialty Steering White Bagging and Site of Care Restrictions Connect with us on LinkedIn: Kyle Robb Anna Legreid Dopp Kate Gainer Iowa Pharmacy Association

On episode 221 of EHS On Tap, Dr. Nathan Charlton, an emergency medicine physician at the University of Virginia Health System, talks about the impact of drug use on workplace safety.

The University of Virginia Health System recently announced the acquisition of Warrenton-based Piedmont Family Practice; The state budget includes a loan for Newport News to help lure a potential $400 million housing project from the U.S. Navy; Henrico County recently announced it's establishing an Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

On this UVA Speaks podcast, Shawn Pelletier, MD, Professor and Chief of the Division of Transplant Surgery at the University of Virginia Health System, shares with us. He explains the different aspects of organ donation from living donors who donate their kidneys or part of their liver and those who arrange to donate their organs after death. Dr. Pelletier shares medical advances that have enabled surgeons and transplant teams to provide life-saving care to more patients. The need for transplanted organs outpaces the available supply. In 2023, there were 46,000 transplants performed; however, over 103,000 patients are currently on the transplant waiting list. Transcripts of the audio broadcast can be found here. Shawn Pelletier, MD, is a Professor, Chief of the Division of Transplant Surgery, Director of the Transplant Service Line, and Surgical Director of the Liver Transplant Program at UVA Health Systems. He has been on the faculty at UVA for 12 years, is a leader in several professional organizations, and has contributed to more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

In this edition:* The University of Virginia Health System has purchased a 5.2 acre historic property in Fifeville for $3.5 million* A small grocery store on Preston Avenue said it's working to stock empty shelves and will stay open* Albemarle Supervisors review the way the next transportation priority list is being developed 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

On this episode, Sean was joined by Dr. Brian Fengler of EvidenceCare to discuss the state of healthcare and what he as an Emergency Room Physician has see as opportunities to gain access to evidence based care information to assist in the treatment of patients at bedside faster and more accurately. About Dr. Fengler: (https://evidence.care/) Dr. Brian Fengler is the co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of EvidenceCare. During his career as an emergency medicine physician, Brian saw and experienced a provider struggle to access evidence-based content quickly and at the bedside. Looking to fill this gap, Brian founded EvidenceCare in 2014. After finishing his residency at the University of Virginia Health System in 2008, Brian moved to Nashville where he began his practice in the emergency department of St. Thomas Health System. He was also a founding physician and managing director of Physicians Urgent Care and a partner-owner of Middle Tennessee Emergency Partners physician group. During these ventures, he served as an assistant professor of emergency medicine for the University of Tennessee/St. Thomas residency program. In 2016, Dr. Fengler left the daily practice of medicine to focus full-time on his work at EvidenceCare.

This episode recorded live at the 20th Annual Becker's Healthcare Spine, Orthopedic + Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference features Matthew Meyer, Critical Care Anesthesiologist at University of Virginia Health System. Here, he discusses sustainability in healthcare, what steps can be taken to decrease healthcare's carbon footprint, and much more!

This episode recorded live at the 20th Annual Becker's Healthcare Spine, Orthopedic + Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference features Matthew Meyer, Critical Care Anesthesiologist at University of Virginia Health System. Here, he discusses sustainability in healthcare, what steps can be taken to decrease healthcare's carbon footprint, and much more!

Dr. Brian Fengler is the Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer of EvidenceCare. He empowers clinicians to make better care decisions by improving clinical workflows using their EHR-integrated and content-agnostic platform. After finishing his residency at the University of Virginia Health System in 2008, Dr. Fengler moved to Nashville where he began his practice in the emergency department of St. Thomas Health System. He was also a founding physician and managing director of Physicians Urgent Care and a partner-owner of Middle Tennessee Emergency Partners physician group. Dr. Fengler received his medical degree from the State University of New York Upstate Medical University. He is also a frequent host of “The Better Care Podcast.”  Learn more about Brian at https://atchainternational.com/healthcare-and-higher-podcast-ep70-brian-fengler/ For a complete list of guests and links to past episodes, visit https://atchainternational.com/healthcare-and-higher-podcast/ Are you a healthcare professional or healthcare executive looking to advance your career, build a better brand, or create a leadership legacy? Visit us at https://atchainternational.com to learn how we can help. Follow Healthcare And Higher: - LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-healthcare-and-higher-podcast - Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/healthcareandhigher - Pinterest at https://pin.it/6VLCNk9 Connect with Iqbal on: - Linked at https://www.linkedin.com/in/iqbalatcha/ - Twitter at https://twitter.com/IqbalAtcha1 Join us next week for another exciting episode of the "Healthcare and Higher" podcast! #HealthcareAndHigher #IqbalsInterviews Song Credits: "Life Is A Dream" by Michael Ramir C. "Stay With Me" by Michael Ramir C.

Oncology nurses provide remarkable care every day, without even realizing the impact it has on their patients and families. Organizations like the DAISY Foundation provide a meaningful way for patients and nursing peers to recognize and thank the inspiring oncology nurses who've gone beyond their typical role. Erica Fischer-Cartlidge, DNP, RN, AOCNS®, EBP-CH, chief clinical officer at ONS, sat down with ONS member and DAISY Award recipient Laurie Rudolph, BSN, RN, OCN®, CBCN®, her nominator, Jamie Stern, RN, BSN, CCRN, and Magnet program manager Kathy Garrison, MSN, RN, NPD-BC, PCCN-K, all at the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville, to talk about the importance of gratitude through recognition like DAISY and its effect on nursing well-being and morale. ONS is one of the DAISY Foundation's Supportive Associations. You can also earn free NCPD contact hours by completing the evaluation we've linked in the episode notes. Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0 Earn 0.5 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at myoutcomes.ons.org by April 14, 2025. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of NCPD by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. Learning outcome: The learner will report an increase in knowledge related to gratitude and recognition in nursing. Episode Notes Complete this evaluation for free NCPD. Nominate a fellow oncology nurse for an ONS award. Recognize a nurse through the Oncology Nursing Certification Corporation. The DAISY Foundation Oncology Nursing Podcast Episode 231: Nurses Thrive in a Healthy Work Environment ONS Voice articles: Patients and the Public Recognize and Thank Dedicated Nurses Wrap Up the Year With Reflection and Gratitude American Nurses Association: Gratitude Practice for Nurses Harvard Business Review: Giving Thanks at Work: An HBR Guide Greater Good Magazine: Can Practicing Gratitude Boost Nurses' Resilience? Step Sisters To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities. To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email pubONSVoice@ons.org. Highlights From Today's Episode Jamie “It's truly inspiring what colleagues do in our field, and sometimes it's a thankless job. You don't always see patients from start to finish—you don't get to celebrate with them. In this case I felt that DAISY was an incredibly rewarding program, and it really is for the exceptional nurse that goes beyond measure.” Timestamp (TS) 06:35 Laurie “I think the wonderful thing about nursing is that we don't realize what an impact we have on people's lives when we're just doing our day-to-day jobs. We are always striving to provide the best care that we can to every patient and family, but there's an impact that we don't really truly understand.” TS 12:55 Kathy “Our nurses are very eager to recognize their colleagues when they see something, and their colleague would be like, ‘No, no. I'm just doing my job.' But sometimes they're doing above and beyond of what is expected and normal. We do have a lot of celebration. We find its very helpful to keep morale and engagement up.” TS 16:02

Identifying opportunities for improvement is a characteristic of being a leader, but taking the risk and initiating the change can be challenging. Join Jonathan Bartels from the University of Virginia Health System as he shares his journey of identifying opportunities and pioneering “The Pause” and “Compassionate Care Retreats” to help improve experiences for patients and nurses.This episode is brought to you by: AACN's Fundamental Skills for Nurse Managers, with information available at www.aacn.org/managercourse

Students with underdeveloped Executive Function skills often present themselves as highly impulsive or distracted, reactive rather than reflective, forgetful of their goals, lacking persistence or as those who dislike effortful tasks. Such behaviors often are alarming as they sabotage personal success and social cooperation. However, a myriad of traumatic exposures in childhood in Black communities leads to stress-related cognitive, emotional, and physiological compromise that tends to disproportionately affect that community and requires special consideration.On today's episode, assistant professor and Adult Emphasis Neuropsychology Director at Spalding University School of Professional Psychology, Dr. Willie F. McBride discusses what considerations we must give and how best to work with and engage in intersectional thinking while serving the needs of Black children and adults. Helping children from diverse backgrounds to build their Executive Function skills requires neuropsychologists, clinicians, and educators to personalize tools for advocacy and a pause to activate our own discernment can go a long way.About Dr. Willie F. McBride, Ph.D.Dr. Will McBride is a neuropsychologist, assistant professor and co-director of the Complete Neuropsychology Services at Spalding University. He completed his neuropsychology fellowship at the University of Virginia Health System where he primarily focused on evaluating neurodegenerative processes in older adults. He has a burgeoning interest in cultural neuropsychology and examining health disparities within the African American community and is a co-founder of the Society for Black Neuropsychology. He completed his doctorate at the Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology. His hobbies include collecting vinyl records, playing video games, spending time with family, and watching movies/anime.Website: www.soblackneuro.orgAbout Host, Sucheta KamathSucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.Support the show

Susan Jackiewicz, Administrator for the Neurosciences Center of Excellence at University of Virginia Health System, & Ava Speciale, Nurse Manager Trauma & Surgical Subspecialties Acute Care & Inpatient WOC Team at UVA Health. Here, they discuss the ramping up of, their work preventing, & what should be done about workplace violence in healthcare.

On this UVA Speaks podcast, Jennifer Payne, MD, Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia Health System, talks about perimenopause which is a time when women face many medical, physical, and mental health changes. Payne explains that research shows an increased risk for mental health issues during this time of hormonal fluctuation that can last up to a decade. Treatment options are described including mental health medications, hormone replacement, cognitive behavioral therapy, herbal remedies, and lifestyle changes that can help physical and mental health symptoms. Transcripts of the audio broadcast can be found here. Jennifer Payne, MD, is a Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences in the School of Medicine at the University of Virginia Health System. Dr. Payne is an expert in reproductive psychiatry. She helps people who experience a psychiatric illness that is influenced by times of reproductive hormonal change. This can include pre-menstruation, pregnancy and after pregnancy (postpartum), and perimenopause (years leading up to menopause).

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

In this touching episode, Marcus interviews Jonathan Bartels, RN the creator of The Pause. Jonathan shares the experiences that helped form The Pause, and how it originated in the ED. It did not stop there and is now practiced around the globe. This selfceare practice is just a single tool in the kit of healthcare providers and the two share other ways for healthcare workers to take care of themselves. Key topics:00:00 – Introduction01:30 – Marcus asks Jonathan to introduce himself and his work.06:44 – Jonathan talks about the death of his brother being a catalyst for his work in healthcare.08:15 – Marcus asks about Jonathan's work as a trauma nurse. 10:00 – The conversation moves into compassion and presence. Jonathan highlights Being with Dying training and Compassion Care Initiative.13:10 – Jonathan reflects on The Pause and what it means for care givers.20:00 – The two talk about compassion, and the intersection of The Pause and the I'm Here Movement.24:00 – Marcus brings up the Pandemic and the pain it has caused. Jonathan talks about the focus of hospitals and the staff that keeps things running.28:00 – Both Marcus and Jonathan highlight the fact that the practice of The Pause is selfcare, just as much as it is patient care.31:38 – Marcus asks the standard rapid-fire questions for Jonathan.37:00 – Thank you and Goodbyes! Jonathan shares his website and how they can learn more about The Pause. Resources for you: Connect with Marcus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusengel/Connect with Jonathan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/Bartels_jonathanLearn more about The Pause: https://thepause.me/Learn more about the Compassion Care Initiative: https://cci.nursing.virginia.edu/about/Subscribe to the podcast through Apple: https://bit.ly/MarcusEngelPodcastLearn More About Jonathan:In 2010, as an Emergency trauma nurse, Jonathan Bartels, RN initiated a practice called “The Pause.” This practice has been instrumental in promoting a paradigm shift surrounding death and self-care across healthcare both nationally and internationally.  He has received accolades from the American Academy of Critical Care Nurses (2018 Pioneering Spirit Award) and the Schwartz Center for compassionate healthcare in 2017.  Prior to pursuing a degree in nursing, he received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (1990) from Canisius College in Buffalo NY. Following that degree, he joined the Comparative Religion Graduate program at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI (1993-1996).  The focus of his academic pursuits include Eastern/Western Philosophy & Mysticism.  He is currently the Palliative Care Liaison nurse at The University of Virginia Health System.  He is also currently the Health System Liaison for the Compassionate Care Initiative (CCI) from the University of Virginia School of Nursing.  Since 2010 Jonathan has been a facilitator for Resiliency/ Compassion retreats offered by the CCI which has been offered to over 3000 medical/nursing students and healthcare providers. Jonathan is a podium presenter, artist, nurse, retreat facilitator.  His interests and goals are to support compassion/resilience both for his fellow healthcare providers and also to the patients he serves.Date: 07/18/2022Name of show: Compassion & Courage: Conversations in HealthcareEpisode title and number: Episode 59 – Jonathan Bartels - How to Implement The Pause

Hear ye, hear ye, oyez, oyez, and all that jazz! Welcome to the 192nd day of the year, which is also somehow International Town Criers Day so I am honored to be here to present to you another installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a publication that enters its third year with this this 406th installment. I’m your host Sean Tubbs, ready to bring you as much information as I can, updating what it means to be a town crier in these fragmented times. Sign up to get all of the installment delivered in your inbox! If you opt for a paid subscription, Ting will match your initial payment! On today’s program:An update on COVID in Virginia as the BA.5 Omicron variant wave continuesLouisa County’s Board of Supervisors gets a briefing on a Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan but want to know more about its purposeUVA will ask to demolish an apartment complex from the 1940’s with no specific plans for the future of the 4.1 acre propertyA long-time official with the Charlottesville Fire Department now works for AlbemarleAnd an audio piece funded by the Charlottesville Sister Cities’s Commission makes it debutFirst shout-out: The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign Since the very beginning of this newsletter, one long-time Patreon supporter has used his shout-out to draw your attention to the work of the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign. The campaign is a coalition of grassroots partners including motivated citizens and volunteers, partner organizations, and local governments who want to promote the use of native plants. Summer is in high gear and pollinators are active! Want to learn more? Visit plantvirginianatives.org to download Piedmont Native Plants: A Guide for Landscapes and Gardens. COVID cases in Commonwealth continue to be prevalent with BA.5 wave The Virginia Department of Health reports another 2,132 new cases of COVID today as measured through the PCR tests conducted in health-care settings. The seven-day average of positive tests is now at 23 percent. “We are seeing quite a lot of community transmission of COVID-19,” said Dr. Patrick Jackson is an infectious disease expert at the University of Virginia Health System. “The numbers listed, the number of infections in the community, are going to be artificially low because so many people are doing hometesting and those don’t get into that pot.” Dr. Jackson said this is a similar pattern to what was seen during the early days of the Omicron wave last fall. He said what’s known as the BA.5 variant is not leading to as many hospitalizations or deaths. “It is encouraging that the numbers of bad outcomes don’t seem to be going up nearly as we’ve seen in previous waves,” Dr. Jackson said. “So this does look to be another period of time in which many people will become infected with COVID-19, become symptomatic with COVID-19, but probably would not expect to see another big wave of hospitalizations or deaths from this virus.” Dr. Jackson said it still makes sense for people to try to avoid the virus by getting boosted and by wearing masks while indoors, especially if you are immunocompromised. “If you’re going to be masking, I certainly would use a high-quality mask to try to get as much benefit out of that as possible,” Dr. Jackson said. “No face in making your face warm to no good end.” For more information on vaccinations and boosters, visit the Blue Ridge Health District’s website.University Gardens slated for demolitionAn apartment complex on U.S. 29 built in 1948 and owned by the University of Virginia since the early 1960’s will be torn down rather than renovated.“The University Gardens buildings have reached the end of their useful life and UVA Housing and Residence Life (HRL) has determined the best course of action is demolition since maintenance and operating expenses have escalated to a level where continued operation is no longer economically viable,” reads a fact-sheet for the development.Necessary repairs included upgrades to electric systems, roof replacements, and HVAC improvements. A plan to demolish the structures will be presented to the Board of Visitors in September. Demolition would take place early next year and the space will be converted to parking. “There are no immediate plans for redevelopment at this time,” the fact-sheet continues. The Board of Visitors’  next regular meeting is scheduled for September 15. Albemarle Fire Rescue hires Charlottesville veteran for new deputy chief There’s a new deputy chief of community risk and resilience at Albemarle County Fire Rescue. Emily Pelliccia was named to the position earlier this month after serving 28 years with the Charlottesville Fire Department. "Deputy Chief Pelliccia has a proven track record of success in establishing collaborative relationships with government officials, businesses, and community members that will be vital as our department grows to meet the needs and challenges of the developing community we serve,” said Albemarle County Fire Rescue Chief Dan Eggleston in a news release. Pelliccia began her career as a volunteer with the Charlottesville-Albemarle Rescue Squad. According to the release, she has served as “Firefighter, EMT, Captain, Battalion Chief, Deputy Chief, Emergency Manager, Hazmat Technician, SWAT Paramedic, and Health & Wellness Director.”In the new position, Pelliccia will oversee the Fire Marshals’ Office and Community Engagement. She’s been in the new role since June 21. Sister Cities Commission funded sound project debutsCharlottesville’s Sister Cities Commission exists to encourage cultural exchanges between our portion of the 38th parallel with four communities across the globe. Or five, if you count Pleven, Bulgaria.One of the communities is Poggio a Caiano in Italy, and yesterday a new audio piece funded by a grant from the Sister Cities Commission debuted. Charlottesville musicians Wes Swing and Kelley Libby traveled to Poggio this March to record sounds and local music. The result is a 32 minute piece called Storie Musicali, Italian for Musical Stories. The work also includes songs and sounds recorded in Charlottesville, and the two are blended together into one soundscape. Take a look on YouTube:Second shout-out: WTJU staging the Cville Puzzle Hunt on August 27In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out: By now, readers and listeners know WTJU’s position on algorithms. But do you know that the radio station celebrates puzzles? In fact, on Saturday, August 27, WTJU is organizing the Cville Puzzle Hunt, a huge, cerebral puzzle that will spool out across downtown Charlottesville. The Cville Puzzle Hunt will take you and a team of friends on a wild afternoon running around trying to untangle five diabolical, large-scale puzzles inserted into the urban landscape. The opening clue will be read at 1 p.m. at the Ix Art Park. Find out more about this WTJU-organized event at cvillepuzzlehunt.com. Louisa Supervisors briefed on Regional Hazardous Mitigation Plan, push back on incomplete dataThe Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission continues work on a document that’s intended to coordinate regional responses to natural disasters and other calamities. Ian Baxter of the TJPDC presented to the Louisa Board of Supervisors last week. (read the draft plan)“So the plan itself is essentially to prepare for natural disasters,” Baxter said. “We’re lookint to reduce loss of life, property damage, and disruption of commerce. I think I should reiterate before I get into the weeds, so we’re serving the six localities that comprise the Planning District.” Baxter initially said such plans were required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a condition of eligibility for some of its grant programs, but he would later clarify that information after the meeting. More on that below. Baxter said the plan is based on an analysis of the most likely disasters. The categories of Hurricanes/highwind/windstorms, flooding, and winter storms all rank as the highest probabilities for this region.Before Baxter’s presentation, several members of the public complained about a flooding problem in the town of Louisa. One Supervisors noted there were specific mitigations for each locality, but wondered how that might apply to an ongoing situation.“What does this document do for us?” asked Supervisor R.T. “Toni” Williams o“That’s a great question,” Baxter said. “The action items sort of serve as a base for what localities might engage in. These are aspirational. They’re not tied to implementing all of these mitigation action items. What it does for you is give you a good blueprint for what you can hope to accomplish over the next five years.” Baxter said having the plan in place would allow federal funding to flow after a disaster. Williams was skeptical of this approach. “It gives us access to funding after said disasters happen,” Williams said. “Because we have a mitigation plan. Just because we have one. We don’t have to do anything with it. It just sat on the shelf and because we spent money creating a plan, that gives us access to mitigation funds after a disaster happens. That just seems totally backwards to me.” Williams said he was not interested in what plans are for other communities in the area, but wanted to know what it could do for Louisa. Supervisor Bill Adams said he was concerned about data from the National Climate Data Center on page H-14 that summarizes the number of floods since 2010 and the amount of damages reported. Albemarle reported $50,000 whereas Greene reported $4.777 million. “And most other counties didn’t report anything,” Adams said. “We just heard people here talking about…. Mrs. Woolfork was talking about the $25,000 to their driveway, I’ve been to their house, I know their driveway, and I know the culverts they’re talking about replacing. It says here this data came from the National Climate Data Center. Obviously it’s not complete. Where do they get their data?”Baxter said he did not know where the data came from, but that the TJPDC relies on the data coming from the federal government. Williams said he wanted a work group to be convened of Louisa officials including town officials  to see if they can mitigate flooding on a specific portion of Beaver Creek. “In my mind that would be money well spent with the TJPDC,” Williams said. The working group will be formed and the draft plan will return to the Board. Baxter sent an email sent to Louisa Supervisors after the meeting to clarify something in his presentation. I misspoke when I described what the hazard mitigation plan provides eligibility for in terms of mitigation grants. In fact, a variety of pre­-disaster grants are open to localities that adopt a Hazard Mitigation Plan, and most post-disaster eligibility is not contingent on the adoption of a plan (so, the County would still be eligible for disaster relief even without an adopted plan). Please see the chart below:Thanks to Tammy Purcell of Engage Louisa for her help with a fact-check in this story.Support the program!This is episode 406 of this program and it contains stories you’re simply not going to see anywhere else. At least, a style you won’t find except here and Information Charlottesville. Town Crier Productions is not a nonprofit organization, but around a third of the audience has opted to contribute something financially. It’s similar to the old days when you would subscribe to a newspaper. I subscribe to several, myself!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

For those who follow government budgets in Virginia, Happy 2023! Fiscal year 2023, that is. To my knowledge, there is no celebration but there likely will be a few hiccups here and there as new laws take effect and some cheering as municipal and state employees receive pay increases with the new budget. But for a massive celebration, you’ll have to head north to the border where it’s Canada Day. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I strive to make as many days as possible have a new installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement and so far I’m one for one for the fiscal year.On today’s program:A brief look at new laws that go into effect today The Virginia Department of Health announces a dashboard to track firearm injuries in the CommonwealthCharlottesville City Schools expect the bus driver shortage to worsen and are encouraging parents and guardians to think about alternative methods of transportCharlottesville Area Transit looks at several different kinds of new bus sheltersPiedmont Housing Alliance gets another $2 million from the federal government to help subsidize Friendship Court and Southwood Apartments RCA seeks volunteers for clean-up of invasive vines In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out, the Rivanna Conservation Alliance wants you to know about some upcoming opportunities to volunteer. For the mornings of both July 7 and July 9, RCA is seeking people to help clean up invasive vines in the Dunlora neighborhood near a recent buffer planting. Clearing out the vines will help protect newly planted trees and is part of  natural forest regeneration project conducted by the Virginia Department of Forestry. RCA will provide gloves and some cutting equipment, or you can bring your own but leave the chainsaws at home! Visit rivannariver.org to learn more! Fiscal Year 2023 begins: Some of what’s newIt’s the first day of the Fiscal Year 2023, and July 1 brings with it several changes in rules, regulations and rates. A whole host of new legislation has gone into effect, according to a status report put together by David Blount of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. (view his latest update) Another 37 miles of the middle portion of the James River are now considered scenic, as are another 23.2 miles of the Maury River. Also, an 8.8 mile section of the Shenandoah River. There is now a Forest Sustainability Fund to promote public education about outdoor recreation and forest conservation The Town of St. Charles in Lee County in no longer exists (updated!)It is now a Class 6 felony to steal a catalytic converterThere can now be seven judges in Virginia’s 31st Judicial Circuit, which covers the area around Manassas in northern Virginia Localities must report potential cybersecurity threats to the Virginia Fusion Intelligence Center Localities smaller than 40,000 people can now opt out the Marcus Alert System If you’re hunting with a dog, the dog needs to wear an identification tagFor more on new state laws, read this Associated Press article. The elimination of the 1.5 percent state sales tax on groceries does not go into effect until January 1. At the local level, Albemarle County’s food and beverage tax rate increases to six percent of the total bill and the transient occupancy rate increases to eight percent. Charlottesville’s meals tax rate increases a half-percentage point to six and a half percent. The one penny increase in the real estate property tax rate is already in effect, as that rate goes by the calendar year. State agency launches dashboard to track firearms injuries in Virginia The number of firearm injuries in Virginia that resulted in emergency room visits increased by nine percent from 2020 to 2021. That’s according to a new dashboard unveiled yesterday by the Virginia Department of Health that tracks the information by age, sex, race, and ethnicity. The data is tracked by counting up the number of times key phrases are used when a patient gives a reason for a visit. The terms include: gun with wound, gunshot, buckshot, revolver, rifle, shotgun, firearm, pistol, handgun, been shot, I was shot, I got shot, or graze with bullet. A press release points out that:Emergency room visits for firearms injuries have increased 72 percent from 2018 to 2021Since the data set begins in January 2016, 86 percent of visits for firearm injuries are males In 2021, 65 percent of patients were Black In 2021, 31 percent were between the ages of 18 and 24In the Blue Ridge Health District, there have been 294 visits to emergency rooms for firearm injuries since 2016. The work is covered by a grant to the VDH from the Centers for Disease Control to help improve public health surveillance of firearm injuries, according to a release. For acronym fans, the CDC program is known as Firearm Injury Surveillance Through Emergency Rooms, or FASTER. The dashboard does not yet extend to hospitalizations and deaths, but that’s expected later this year. Those who are going to take a look at the data are reminded to review a list of limitations with what’s known as syndromic surveillance. Pandemic update: Still on the plateauIt’s another holiday weekend during the era of COVID-19 and Virginia remains on a plateau of a high number of cases. The seven day percent positivity for testing is 20.5 percent, up from 17.4 percent on June 23. Today the Virginia Department of Health reports another 3,393 new cases. That’s based on PCR tests and does not include at-home tests. “There is still a fair amount of disease in the community,” said Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiologist at the University of Virginia Health System. “We’re certainly seeing that with our staff. In fact, there are a fair number of people that are out right now because they have COVID and its frustrating.”Dr. Sifri said many have already had COVID and are vaccinated, but COVID-19 continues to mutate with new strains. However, vaccination has led to less severe cases.“What we are not seeing is people getting critically ill like they were before so the fact that folks are vaccinated has made a huge difference in how the disease presents,” said Dr. Reid Adams, chief medical officer for UVA Health. According to the VDH, nearly 83 percent of the adult population is fully vaccinated. There is a seven-day average of 3,000 doses administered a day. Dr. Sifri said this is a good time to get a booster if you have not done so. He also said a panel of the Food and Drug Administration is encouraging to continue vaccine manufacturers to continue development of new versions that can combat the latest variant of the Omicron strain. Dr. Sifri said people should not wait. “I would advocate if you are eligible for a booster and its been a long time since your body has seen the spike protein, it’s a good time now to get it to prevent infection,” Dr. Sifri said. Visit vaccinate.virginia.gov to schedule an appointment. Piedmont Housing Alliance gets $2 million in additional federal funding The U.S. Treasury Department has awarded $2 million to the Piedmont Housing Alliance through its Community Development Financial Institutions fund. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine made the announcement in late June. The funding comes specifically from the Treasury Department’s Capital Magnet Fund. In a release, Piedmont Housing Alliance said the funding would provide gap funding for the second phase of Friendship Court as well as the 206 apartments the agency is building at Southwood to satisfy the terms of funding Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville received from the Albemarle County and the Albemarle Economic Development Authority. “High development and construction costs, high land and acquisition costs, and limited subsidy resources translate to significant funding gaps for affordable housing developments,” reads the release. “Without adequate subsidies, it is virtually impossible to build affordable housing.”In the fiscal year that begins today, the city of Charlottesville is providing an additional $2.5 million to Piedmont Housing Alliance for the second phase of Friendship Court. Another $10.25 million in city funding for Friendship Court in FY24 through FY27. The adopted capital improvement program for Charlottesville also shows nearly $5 million in city subsidies for two other affordable housing projects, both located on Park Street and rezoned by City Council earlier this year. Today’s second shout-out: Frances Brand and Cvillepedia 101In today’s house-fueled public service announcement, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society wants you to know about an upcoming exhibit at the Center at Belvedere featuring portraits of several historical figures active in the Charlottesville area in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Frances Brand was a folk artist who painted nearly 150 portraits of what she considered “firsts” including first Black Charlottesville Mayor Charles Barbour and Nancy O’Brien, the first woman to be Charlottesville Mayor. Brand’s work will be on display from July 5 to August 31 in the first public exhibit since 2004. And, if you’d like to help conduct community research into who some of the portraits are, cvillepedia is looking for volunteers! I will be leading four Cvillepedia 101 training sessions at the Center every Monday beginning July 11 at 2 p.m. Sign up at the Center’s website.Charlottesville schools preparing for “worse” situation for bus drivers this fallThere are 54 days until Charlottesville City Schools begin for the next academic year. The school system is seeking assistance and input on alternative methods of getting students to school as an ongoing transportation crisis continues. “As we look to fall 2022, our school bus challenges appear to be worse, not better,” reads a website set up to provide information in advance.The website states the city’s efforts to incentivize new drivers by increasing pay and offering bonuses are not working out. As such, the city wants to get parents ready for potential alternatives. Supporting walking in expanded walk zonesEncouraging use of public transportationCollaborating with community partners to support bikingAdding mini-school buses (hopefully electric)The first of several listening sessions will be held next Wednesday at Westhaven, with others scheduled later in the month at Friendship Court and Hearthwood Apartments. Charlottesville Area Transit designing new bus sheltersAs it seeks to find new drivers, Charlottesville Area Transit is also working to redesign its bus shelters. The agency has hired the firm Wendel Companies to come up with a customized template, and the Regional Transit Partnership got a briefing on the work last month.“We’re really looking at how to look at transit holistically, how to encourage people to take transit,” said Jeana Stright of Wendel Companies. “Part of what makes people want to take public transportation is having a place to wait for the bus, having amenities while you are there, or having a system for what reflects their needs.” Three concepts for the future shelters have been designed, one of which mimics the design of the Downtown Transit Station on Water Street. Stright recommends benches be present in all shelters, as well as space for wheelchairs. She also suggests one modular design with easy to replace parts due to the possibility of vandalism. “We are also looking at a way to incorporate local artists or local communities into the stops to be able to help yourself as you’re riding along on the bus as well, as you’re passing these different shelters, seeing different art, seeing different color schemes perhaps as part of that art panel, so that you can say ‘I’ve driven by that really cool fruit graphic,” Stright said. The partnership was asked to provide feedback. There was no specific information provided about how much each would cost, or how much of a budget CAT has to install the shelters. However, Stright said they have researched costs and all three options would be in the same basic price range. One member of the partnership said she was concerned about the practicality of some of the shelters. “I love all the designs but once again it’s a question of taxpayer’s dollars,” said Albemarle Supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley. “And the artwork I think is great if we can afford it. But I like simple.”Albemarle Supervisor Diantha McKeel said she has been working with CAT Director Garland Williams on the idea of incorporating artwork into some bus shelters. “That artwork would need to be funded privately by neighborhoods,” McKeel said. “We wouldn’t be using [tax] dollars. You know, the murals that got put up on Georgetown, and Barracks, and Hydraulic? Those were all privately funded so that’s what we’d be talking about.” McKeel said it was crucial that the shelters provide relief from the sun and rain. See also: Next steps outlined for Charlottesville Area Transit route changes at partnership meetings, June 24, 2022Watch the partnership meeting:Support the program!This is episode 403 of this program and it contains stories you’re simply not going to see anywhere else. At least, a style you won’t find except here and Information Charlottesville. Town Crier Productions is not a nonprofit organization, but around a third of the audience has opted to contribute something financially. It’s similar to the old days when you would subscribe to a newspaper. I subscribe to several, myself!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

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

The first Saturday in June has arrived, just as it did 364 days ago. This particular day goes by the name June 4, 2022, but it may also answer to Day 155. This particular episode of Charlottesville Community Engagement may be referred to as number 391, a fact whose significance is suspect. If this show were a mystery, I, Sean Tubbs, would be the suspect for host. This newsletter and podcast is free, but Ting will match your initial payment to help keep this brand of community journalist in style! On today’s show:A third Democrat is seeking the nomination for the new 55th House of Delegates The General Assembly takes the next step towards adoption of a Virginia budget for the next two fiscal years The spring 2022 COVID surge continues The University of Virginia’s land use committee reviews the $2.8 billion capital plan, including a 1,000 space parking garage and 440 units of student housing at DardenFirst shout-out goes to a Livable Cville eventIn today’s first subscriber supported shout-out, Livable Cville wants you to know about an online presentation coming up on June 7. The Community Climate Collaborative and Livable Cville are presenting a talk on what they consider Climate-Smart Zoning. Executive Director Susan Kruse and Director of Climate Policy Caetano de Campos Lopes will be the presenters. This is happening on Tuesday, June 7, from 5:30 p.m to 6:30 p.m. Sign up for the free event on EventBrite. Laufer seeking Democratic nomination for 55th District A third Democrat has filed paperwork with the Virginia Department of Elections to be a candidate in the new 55th House District in the next election cycle, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Amy Laufer is the current chair of the Albemarle County Democratic Committee and was twice elected to the Charlottesville School Board in 2011 and 2015.In 2017, Laufer was one of two Democrats on the ballot for Charlottesville City Council and placed a close third behind Independent Nikuyah Walker and Democrat Heather Hill.  In 2019, she resigned from the School Board when she moved to Albemarle County. Soon after, she ran in the 17th Virginia Senate District against Republican Bryce Reeves. Reeves won with 51.6 percent of the vote with Laufer receiving 48.1 percent.Laufer joins Albemarle Supervisor Donna Price and emergency room nurse Kellen Squire in the nomination race, which could still take place this year pending a federal lawsuit. No new orders have been issued in the Goldman V. Brink case since May 5. The incumbent, Republican Rob Bell, has not announced whether he will seek a new term in the new district, which now includes most of Albemarle County and parts of Nelson and Louisa Counties. General Assembly moves forward with state budgetBoth Houses of the General Assembly have adopted the conference reports that represent compromises in the state budget. It’s now up to Governor Glenn Youngkin to determine whether to sign the bills as presented or make further amendments. He has up until the end of the month to take action. Delegate Barry Knight (R-81) served on the House Conference Committee for both HB29 and HB30, the bills that technically carried the budgets for the current biennium and for the next two years. “It’s been a long haul but I believe the result is a fiscally sound, bi-partisan budget we can all be proud of,” Knight said. Knight said a record growth in state revenue has enabled the General Assembly to invest in core government services.“At the same time, the extraordinary revenue situation has enabled us to protect for the future by using one-time revenues to address long-lingering, one-time investment needs, prepay upcoming commitments, fund capital projects with cash and not bond, and remove the account gimmicks we used to balance our budget during the Great Recession,” Knight said. Those investments include $400 million for public school system capital projects already constructed with each locality getting at least a million, as well as another $450 million for new school construction. Knight said that includes a $750 million payment into the Virginia Retirement Services as well as an additional $250 million if the state hits a certain revenue target. Additional funds will go into the “rainy day fund” to have that balance hit what Knight said was a record-setting $3.4 billion. There’s another $2.5 billion from surpluses that will go to previously committed projects. “In addition, the conference report reflects $4 billion in tax relief for Virginia’s families including an increase in the standard deduction including from $4,500 to $8,000 for individuals, double that for joint filers [and] the full elimination of the state’s sales tax on food,” Knight said. There’s also to be a $250 tax rebate for individuals and $500 for households. HB29 passed the House of Delegates on a 93 to 2 vote and the Senate on a 35 to 1 vote. There was no comment about HB29 in the House, but several Democrats had concerns about some of what was in HB30. Delegate Dawn Adams (D-68) had three reasons why she voted no, but one was a lack of transparency during the conference process. “I haven’t seen this lack of transparency in the process since I’ve been here and there’s a fair amount of policy being written through the budget that I think is really, really concerning and has not involved legislators which is so important in making good laws,” Adams said. Delegate Danica Roem (D-13) said she was concerned that revenue cuts to transportation will take away dozens of millions that she said are required to maintain Virginia’s crumbling system. Others were concerned about changes made to marijuana possession that were made in the budget. Others said there was not enough money being put toward affordable housing, with one Delegate citing a 2020 study by the Joint Legislative Audit Review Committee (JLARC). “We have got billions in surplus revenue,” said Delegate Alfonso Lopez. “Now is the time for Virginia to be forward thinking, to invest in housing. Housing trust dollars are the critical layers of debt and equity needed to develop quality affordable housing.” The vote on HB30 was 88 to 7, with dissenters coming from both parties. Republican Delegates Nick Freitas (R-30) and Phil Scott (R-88) joined Adams and four other Democrats in voting against. The Virginia Senate approved HB30 on a 32 to 4 vote. After the votes, Delegate Terry Kilgore explained the next steps. “The Speaker [of the House Todd Gilbert] and the Lieutenant Governor [Winsome Earle-Sears] have three days to sign and enroll the bill or get it to the Governor,” Kilgore said. “The Governor then has seven days to act on any amendments and then we would need to come back prior to July 1 to act on those amendments so what we can make sure we have a budget for Virginians.” Spring 2022 COVID surge continuesOn Friday, the Virginia Department of Health reported 4,057 new cases as detected through PCR tests, the highest one day total in several weeks but consistent with a growing trend. The seven day average is 2,841, though the actual number of cases is likely much higher due to the number of home tests. The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reports 87 patients in intensive care units with 30 COVID patients on ventilators. The proliferation of the second Omicron strain has led to many people contracting COVID for a second time. “We are seeing second infections occurring particularly in people that had infections in December and January and in early February and now we’re three months out from that and because of the strain differences and that time lag and difference, we are seeing breakthrough infections,” said Dr. Costi Sifri, director of hospital epidemiology for the University of Virginia Health System. Dr. Sifri said at least some patients do have lingering symptoms associated with long COVID such as fatigue and brain fog. This is still an active area of investigation. “There is still much to be understood about long COVID, what its pathophysiology is, what are the biologic mechanisms that lead to it,” Dr. Sifri said. “That’s still being an active area of investigation trying to understand that and perhaps at some point better be able to predict who may be more susceptible to it.” Dr. Sifri said it can be expected that additional variants will emerge, but that the outlook is not bleak.“What we’re also seeing is that as this occurs, the relative proportion of people that are needing medical care, that are coming into the hospital because of severe COVID, coming into our intensive care units, and importantly, the proportion of people that are dying of COVID, those are going down,” Dr. Sifri said.However, Dr. Sifri said the public should be mindful of the potential for a more deadly strain to emerge. On Thursday, the White House announced that authorization for vaccines for children under the age of five may come sometime this month. The Blue Ridge Health District said in their weekly newsletter they would be ready to distribute and administer the vaccines when the time comes. Today’s second shout-also goes to WTJUIn today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out:  This year, WTJU 91.1 FM turns 65 and to mark the occasion, there’s a new micro-museum exhibition this summer! Radio Relics traces WTJU’s storied history of broadcasting for our community. As part of our 65th anniversary celebrations, WTJU has curated photos, artifacts, and t-shirts – so many t-shirts! – spanning more than six decades.The exhibition is free and will be open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from June 3 through July 29. The museum space is a renovated, vintage camper parked behind WTJU’s studios at 2244 Ivy Road in Charlottesville. WTJU’s Radio Relics exhibition shows off some of the artifacts collected over the years, many contributed by former WTJU General Manager Chuck Taylor.  In fact, there’s even a new initiative to raise money through the Chuck Taylor Fund for WTJU History. Contact General Manager Nathan Moore to learn more. Or donate today!UVA committee briefed on new capital projects The Buildings and Grounds Committee of the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors met on Thursday and got an update on capital projects and the next master plan. Colette Sheehy is the executive vice president and chief operating officer at UVA. “So this is the time of year when we ask for approval of the newly revised Major Capital Plan,” Sheehy said. “You’ll recall that we reviewed it with you in March.” The last Major Capital Plan adopted last year was for $3.1 billion worth of projects and several of those have been completed since then such as the University Hospital Expansion, the orthopedic center on Ivy Road, and the student health and wellness center on Brandon Avenue. “We have a lot going on,” Sheehy said. “Thirty-one percent of the value of the entire capital program represents projects under construction and we are going to have a very busy 24 months coming up as many of these projects reach conclusion.” The landscaping and the infrastructure for the Emmet-Ivy Corridor should be completed by next spring. Renovations of Alderman Library and construction of the Contemplative Commons should be completed in the fall of 2023.“The School of Data Science will follow on the heels in December of 2023 and then the following spring, late spring, early summer, the Brandon Avenue undergraduate residence hall,” Sheehy said. Sheehy said the next plan will include several design studies as well as eight new projects, four of which were not on the list in March. One of them would be for student housing at the Darden School of Business. “They are proposing to build about 440 beds that would house two-thirds of their residential MBA students,” Sheehy said. “It is something that competitor business schools do.” There is no cost estimate for that project, which would offer a range of options for students and their families. (read a fact sheet) Sheehy said another project is to construct a 1,000 space parking garage, but she did not elaborate on its location. A fact sheet states the cost estimate is $54 million and would replace parking in the existing Emmet Ivy Parking Garage that will be dedicated to uses such as the future hotel, the Karsh Institute of Democracy, and the School of Data Science. “The current parking inventory displaced by the Ivy Corridor redevelopment must be met in a location that serves multiple constituencies and links effectively to transit,” reads the fact sheet. Other new projects are renovations to the physics building as well as Pinn Hall. After that presentation, UVA Architect Alice Raucher updated the committee on the creation of the 2030 Grounds Framework Plan, which updates a master plan adopted in 2008. The pandemic delayed the work slightly and the end of this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement will delay my reporting on it. I’ll cover that in a future edition. Sound permitting. Town Crier Productions has a sponsorship thing with Ting!For over a year one year now, Town Crier Productions has had a promotional offering through Ting!Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

This 141st day of 2022 also has the distinction of being National Waitstaff Day, and in this time of college and university graduations, my thoughts are with those people who bring food and drink to celebrations all over the globe. For most of my career in journalism, I supplemented that work by being attentive, detail-oriented, and as accurate as possible as I served customers and clients. That experience really wasn’t that much different from any of the work that goes into every single installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, and I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. This is episode 383, and to help us all eventually get to episode 838, consider becoming a paying subscriber! On today’s program:Time is running out to tell Albemarle County your thoughts on the growth management policy that some would say has limited sprawl, and others would say has limited development Another land use lawsuit has been filed against the city of CharlottesvilleCharlottesville seeks a firm to help hire a new police chief And the spring COVID-19 surge continues with cases rising in Virginia and beyond Shout-out to Town Crier ProductionsIn today’s writer-and-publisher supported shout-out, Town Crier Productions, is the umbrella organization responsible for this Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter. I founded the company two years ago to support my interest in bringing the community as much information as possible about local government, land use, the environment, economic development, and so much more. The company is still just getting started, and if you’d like to help, consider a subscription through Substsck, or support Town Crier Productions through Patreon. There are also other sponsorship opportunities available as the number of offerings increases. To learn more, visit the Information Charlottesville archive and click on the Support the Info button. My sincere thank you to the hundreds of subscribers who have signed on so far! COVID-19 updateOn Friday, the Virginia Department of Health reported another 3,847 cases bringing the seven-day average of new cases to 3,157. The seven-day percent positivity increased to 15.6 percent, up from 9.1 percent three weeks ago. Nationwide, the trend is toward more cases and more hospitalizations according to the Centers for Disease Control’s COVID dashboard. That tool also shows a trend toward fewer deaths per day with 242 a day reported on Thursday night. That could change as death is a lagging indicator as explained by Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System. “As we see the summer surge start to move out of the northeast which is a highly vaccinated and COVID-experienced population to other parts of the country, we have concerns in the public health community that maybe what we’ve seen so far may not hold as true as the surge moves to the southeast,” Dr. Sifri said. This week, the Blue Ridge Health District discontinued its local dashboard for COVID data from within its boundaries. This follows the Virginia Department of Heath’s retirement of four dashboards. “The CDC dashboard is considered the standard when it comes to cases by vaccination status, as the definition of vaccination status is rapidly changing nationwide,” reads a newsletter from the Blue Ridge Health District. You can find local data on the VDH dashboard by selecting the appropriate geographic region on the cases tab. Children between the age of 5 and 11 are now eligible for boosters of the Pfizer vaccine. Appointments in the Blue Ridge Health District can be made online. Read the release on the Centers for Disease Control website for more information. There will be a community remembrance on Tuesday, May 24, at 7 p.m. at the outdoor ampitheater at Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital for those who died from COVID-19 hosted by area health care providers. (Facebook event page)Charlottesville opening up search for new police chiefNearly ten months since former Charlottesville police chief RaShall Brackney was fired by former City Manager Chip Boyles, the city is seeking a permanent replacement. On Friday, the city issued a request for proposals for a firm to conduct an executive search. “The City is seeking a consultant to assist the City Manager through the process of hiring a new Chief of Police who embodies the principles of 21st Century Policing and has an anti-racist focus,” reads the request for proposals. As part of the work, the selected firm will also seek community input on what the “desired characteristics and qualifications” for such a person would be. The solicitation states this will include a survey and in-person meetings. The firm will also be responsible for conducting background checks on all of the finalists. “The Chief of Police is hired by and reports to the City Manager, but upon hire will be officially confirmed by the City Council,” the request continues. The department is currently being led by Acting Police Chief Latroy Durette.The city is being run by interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers.  The closing date for the executive search firm is June 15. Lawsuit filed against City of Charlottesville for rezoning of 240 Stribling A person who lives on property on Stribling Avenue has filed suit against the Charlottesville City Council seeking declaratory judgment that the rezoning of 240 Stribling Avenue in April was illegal. (read the complaint)“During the Planning Commission and Council meetings, the large amount of tax revenue to be gained from increasing the density was discussed as the primary reason for backing this ordinance,” reads paragraph eight of the suit, which was filed on May 18 and served to the city a day later. Charlottesville City Council approved the rezoning on April 18, which will allow up to 170 units on about 12 acres in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood. (read a story)The plaintiff is Cabell Marshall, who is representing herself in the matter. The suit states that Marshall “occupies a house” across from 240 Stribling, but does not specify which one until the signature at the end of the document. Much of the complaint repeats testimony made by opponents of the project, such as increased exhaust fumes and additional traffic. The suit filed on May 18 also argues that an agreement between the city and Southern Development to pay for the upfront costs of upgrading Stribling Avenue is also invalid. “Many neighbors on Stribling Avenue felt overwhelmed by [Charlie Armstrong]’s seemingly unfair advantage in getting advance encouragement directly from the city,” reads paragraph 13. “Virginia Code Section 2.3-3103 prohibits a city employee or someone in an advisory agency from using for his own benefit or that another party confidential information that he has acquired by reason of his public position and which is not available to the public.” The complaint also argues that the public hearing was invalid because it was held while Council meetings were still remote. There’s also an argument the city has not done enough to upgrade city streets, such as the intersection of Stribling Avenue and Jefferson Park Avenue.One of the first legal questions will be whether Marshall has legal standing to bring the suit forward. The owner of the house where she lives is John C. Marshall, who is not named as a part in the suit. He owns two other properties on Stribling Avenue as well as three other throughout city limits. In today’s other two shout-outs Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects. The final comes from another Patreon supporter who wants you to go out and read a local news story written by a local journalist. Whether it be the Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow, C-Ville Weekly, NBC29, CBS19, WINA, Charlottesville Inclusive Media, or some other place I’ve not mentioned - the community depends on a network of people writing about the community. Go learn about this place today!Albemarle closing survey on growth management policy Like many localities across Virginia’s Fifth District including Nelson County and Danville, Albemarle County is currently reviewing its Comprehensive Plan. State law requires localities to prepare such plans and update them on a periodic basis. Albemarle is reviewing its plan in a four-phase process and the first phase will take a look at the county’s growth management policy. A survey for input closes on Sunday at midnight. “The current Comp Plan directs new residential, commercial, retail, office, and industrial development into the Development Areas,” reads the first part of a StoryMap that seeks to explain the history of the growth management policy. “The Rural Area is intended to be used for agriculture, natural resource protection, and some residential homes.”That’s roughly five percent of the county’s 726 square miles. Albemarle’s first Comprehensive Plan in 1971, and originally envisioned a much larger development area.  This was at a time when Charlottesville still had the ability to annex county land if it could prove to a judge that the city would be able to provide urban services more efficiently. However, subsequent plans reduced that area due to concerns such as siltation at the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir, which opened in 1967 and soon began to fill in. Another issue was the high cost to build water and sewer infrastructure to remote areas. Several villages have been removed since, such as the ones in Earlysville, Ivy, North Garden, and Stony Point. In the early 90’s, four areas were added including the Village of Rivanna, the North Fork Research Park, and what is now being developed as North Pointe. For the full history, read part two of the StoryMap. It’s well worth a read as the county considers changes. “With an evaluation of the County’s Growth Management Policy, perhaps one of the most important factors to consider is how the policy is impacting the well-being of County residents and whether the policy is leading to equitable outcomes across different geographies within the County, such as residents in the Rural Area compared to residents in Development Area, or across different demographic groups such as age and race,” reads another portion of part 2.The survey closes Sunday night. (fill out the survey)Help Ting help support Town Crier productions!For one year now, Town Crier Productions has had a promotional offering through Ting!Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

There is a month and a week left until the summer solstice, and the time when the days begin growing shorter. Until then, there are now over 14 hours of sunlight in the section of the Earth on the day when the May 16 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement is produced. That’s enough time to ensure that this newsletter and podcast at least tries to bring as much information as possible. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. On today’s program:Charlottesville Planning Commission recommends a seven-story building on Jefferson Park AvenueA fatal crash on U.S. 29 near Greenbrier Road has claimed the life of a Charlottesville manAn Augusta County elections official is the latest appointee to the State Board of ElectionsA quick update on COVID-19 from the UnivToday’s first shout-out goes to LEAPWe’re now well into spring, and many of us may have already turned on our air conditioning units for the first in months. To see what you can do to get the most out of your home, contact LEAP, your local energy nonprofit, to schedule a home energy assessment this month - just $45 for City and County residents. LEAP also offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If someone in your household is age 60 or older, or you have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!COVID cases still increasing; UVA Health urges renewed maskingAs the week begins, the Virginia Department of Health this morning reports a seven-day average for new COVID-19 cases at 2,750 a day and the seven-day percent positivity has increased to 14.6 percent. The actual amount of spread is likely higher due to the number of home tests that have become common as a first diagnosis for many people. “There are many people calling saying they’re COVID positive and importantly and interestingly, a fair number of those people have been vaccinated,” said Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology for the University of Virginia Health System. With more cases in the community, UVA officials say its time to take precautions again.“Personally I’m masking back up and I think a lot of people are making the decision,” said Wendy Horton, the CEO of the UVA Health System. “It’s people that have been really careful, been vaccinated, and I think we’re just in this interesting time where we’re really tired of masking but I think it’s alive and well. We know it. We see it in our workforce. We see it in our patients.” The latest COVID model from the UVA Biocomplexity Institute was released on Friday. “Models forecast a significant surge of cases in the coming weeks,” reads the model. “Case rates are not expected to reach levels seen during the January wave. But they will likely exceed those seen in pre-Omicron waves.” Dr. Sifri said ebbs and flows are likely to continue as COVID-19 continues to transition from pandemic to endemic. He said the same public health advice exists. “In a period of time like now where we’re starting to see a surge in cases, this is the time to say okay, in this time and place right now, wearing a mask is helpful to prevent transmission,” Dr. Sifri said. “It’s also important because with COVID it still remains the case that probably half or more than half of cases are in people who are asymptomatic or have such mild symptoms that they don’t recognize that they’re sick.” This week the Virginia Department of Health is retiring several dashboards and ways of reporting COVID. People who seek to know cases by vaccination status will need to go to the Centers for Disease Control website. Cases and Deaths by Date Reported will also be phased out. The changes will take place on May 19. The VDH already has stopped reporting cases by locality on its website. Learn more about the changes on their website.Fatal crash on Seminole TrailAlbemarle County police are investigating the cause of a fatal crash last night in the 1200 block of U.S. 29 near Greenbrier Drive. Thirty-six-year old Justin Michael Tilghman of Charlottesville died at the scene of the crash which happened at 9:21 p.m. last night. The driver of a second vehicle was taken to the University of Virginia hospital. The Albemarle County Police Department’s Fatal Crash Reconstruction Team is leading the investigation. This is the fourth fatality on Albemarle County roads so far in 2022. Augusta County official named to State Board of ElectionsGovernor Glenn Youngkin has named a member of the Augusta County Board of Elections to serve on the Virginia State Board of Elections. Youngkin named Georgia K. Alvis-Long to the position. A press release identifies her occupation as a registered nurse instructor. Under Virginia law, the State Board of Elections is a five-member body that will have three members from the political party that won the Governor’s mansion in the last election. “Each political party entitled to an appointment may make and file recommendations with the Governor for the appointment,” reads Section 24.2-102 of Virginia Code.Alvis-Long fills a position left by the resignation of Jamilah D. LeCruise. For more recent appointments, take a look at the full release. Second shout-out: Charlottesville Jazz Society spotlighting benefit show for UkraineIn today’s second subscriber supported shout-out. The Charlottesville Jazz Society is spotlighting a benefit event to support the people of Ukraine at the Whiskey Jar this Wednesday from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Young jazz students near the besieged city of Mariupol sent guitarist Royce Campbell a plea to help, and several area musicians have jumped into help. Vocalist Monica Worth has organized the event, and Campbell will play for Ukraine with bassist Andre La Vell and drummer Jim Howe. Many of Charlottesville’s best jazz musicians will sit in. Donations will be collected and sent to Global Giving’s Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund, and you can also go ahead and support this effort with a payment online. That’s We Play for Ukraine at the Whiskey Jar this Wednesday from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Divided Planning Commission approves seven-story building on Jefferson Park Avenue A divided Charlottesville Planning Commission voted 4-3 on May 10 to recommend that City Council approve a special use permit for additional height and density for a seven-story U-shaped building at 2005 Jefferson Park Avenue.  They’ve also recommended reducing parking requirements by 22 percent over what would otherwise be required.“The [special use permit] is required to accommodate a development being proposed for 119-units of multifamily dwellings within one building with underground parking,” said city planner Matt Alfele. This project was filed after the city adopted a new Comprehensive Plan and Future Land Use Map created as part of the Charlottesville Plans Together initiative, which is still underway. There are currently 17 units across multiple structures across the property. “The Future Plan Use Map, the Comprehensive Plan that we went through, is increasing density and increasing density in certain areas of the city, and this area of the city is one that is looking to increase density and to increase density at especially this scale is going to create a big building,” Alfele said. The developer would pay $500,000 into the city’s affordable housing fund rather than provide required affordable units on-site or at another location nearby. They’ll build 125 parking spaces in an underground garage with access on Washington Avenue. Residents would not be eligible to park on that street or Observatory due to restricted parking. The building would be seven stories taller from JPA and would be five stories tall at the back. “The biggest concern I think staff had was the rear elevation, the five story building going down into the mainly single-family, two-family neighborhood,” Allele said. This request comes after City Council adopted a new Comprehensive Plan with a Future Land Use Map that encourages more residential density, but before the new zoning rules have been written. “Do you happen to know and can you remind me what in our Future Land Use map, what this area is designated as, and what the by-right height would be in that corridor?” asked City Councilor Michael Payne. “This is Urban Mixed Use Corridor and the height is five stories or up to eight at key intersections,” Alfele said. “This is one of the areas where our Comprehensive Plan land use conflicts with our current zoning because our Comprehensive land use map is anticipating our zoning changing. The Future Land Use Map measures in stories and not feet.” Under the existing zoning, the structure could be 35 feet tall without a permit. This is one of the areas that will be clarified in the zoning rewrite. The term “key intersection” is also currently not defined. Payne pointed out the Comprehensive Plan seeks to encourage more units that would be rented to people below market. “The framework that we’ve adopted for that is that if we’re going above the by-right height, the reason we’re doing that is to have an inclusionary zoning program that’s going to required affordable housing as part of that,” Payne said. Payne also suggested $500,000 as an affordable housing contribution would not go far. “I know it’s their choice and we don’t have any control over it but I would just note for the record that we got an affordable housing report that included data on the total subsidy needed to construct a new affordable unit, and I can’t remember the exact number but I know in Virginia that total subsidy to build one new unit could be around $300,000,” Payne said. Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook noted that there had been a lot of concerns during the Future Land Use Map from other neighborhoods such as North Downtown, but he had not heard much from the JPA neighborhood at that time.“The one area where it seemed clear that everyone was willing to agree we should have increased density was along JPA yet there was no basically no public discussion of that fact,” Snook said. Until the rezoning is finalized, individual applications like this are the forum for how the city will look in the future. The project will need a certificate of appropriateness from the Entrance Corridor Review Board, which is also the Planning Commission. They’ll get to influence the design. The developer said the area was already predominantly occupied by renters, and that this level of density is served by transit. “We are one block away in each direction from the trolley stops,” said Erin Hannegan with Mitchell + Matthews Architects and Planners. Hannegan acknowledged the Future Land Use Map designation of Urban Mixed Use Corridor and said this project meets the goals of the Comprehensive Plan.“The further definition is ‘higher intensity mixed-use development’ for this area and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do,” Hannegan said. “A higher intensity development. Mixed use is not allowed under the R-3 mixed-use currently designated.” Hannegan acknowledged that the new building would be out of scale with what is currently there, but anticipated the future conditions of JPA.“This building might be taller than its current neighbors but it won’t be out of character with the future implementation of the Comprehensive Plan and the implementation of the vision that’s been in the works for over 20 years for this particular neighborhood,” Hannegan said. At the public hearing, Nina Barnes of the Jefferson Park Avenue Neighborhood Association said the Comprehensive Plan compels Council and the Planning Commission to take adverse effects into account when considering a special use permit. “Adverse impacts may include traffic or parking congestion, undue density and population, and massing and scale,” Barnes said. “This project has adverse effects in all of these ways.”Barnes said the seven-story building would block the sun from existing one and two story buildings.Ellen Contini-Morava said the staff reports seemed to be in favor of the developer, and noted the gap between an adopted Comprehensive Plan and older zoning. She said this undermines the spirit of the Cville Plans Together Initiative. “This application treats the rezoning that’s proposed in the Future Land Use Map as if it were already in place,” Contini-Morava said. “This application not only aims to short-circuit the rezoning process but even requests a height that is two stories higher than the five stories suggested in the Future Land Use Map for the JPA corridor.” Fifeville resident Matthew Gillikin spoke for the group Livable Cville, which is not a registered entity with the State Corporation Commission but is active in promoting higher density in the community. Gillikin said the answer to affordability in Charlottesville is more housing. “And the developer is planning to contribute nearly $500,000 to the Charlottesville affordable housing fund as a condition to build,” Gillikin said. “This will fund groups like [Charlottesvile Redevelopment and Housing Authority], LEAP, [Albemarle Housing Improvement Program], [Piedmont Housing Alliance], and Habitat for Humanity in the work to address local housing issues.” Gillikin said approval of this project would prevent students from moving into local neighborhoods such as Tenth and Page and Fifeville. These units would have no affordability provisions. For comparisons let’s look at the Standard, another building designed by Mitchell + Matthews Architects. According to their website, the lowest rent for a room in a four-bedroom unit goes for $1,029 a month. Double occupancy in a single bedroom in a three bedroom unit can go for $845 a month. One and two bedroom units in the Standard are sold out. Pricing is not available online for the Flats at West Village. The Lark on Main has a one bedroom unit with a study for $1,879 a month. A room in a four bedroom, four bathroom costs $955 a month. Garage parking is an extra $100. Commission discussionAfter the public hearing, Commissioner Hosea Mitchell said he supported the project, but did want the massing to be a little more consistent with the rest of the neighborhoods. “We do need more housing in Charlottesville and we do a bit of relief valve,” Mitchell said. “We need housing in Charlottesville that is closer to UVA so that the housing that is further away from UVA can be used by the rest of our citizenry,” Mitchell said. Commissioner Taneia Dowell said if the developer is going to additional density based on the future zoning for the property, the spirit of the Affordable Housing Plan must also be honored. “That’s where I’m really having some heartburn,” Dowell said. “If we’re going to go off future endeavors for this project and this special use permit, then we need to go off future endeavors for everything related to this.” Commissioner Jody Lahendro said he could not support this level of density in the area and especially with a building with that much massing. He said the Comprehensive Plan also calls for development on Entrance Corridors to be compatible with existing neighborhoods. “I am not in favor of sacrificing a long term neighborhood for providing student housing for the University,” Lahendro said. “I think the people who have lived here and the single-family homes in this neighborhood deserve… we can’t just pretend that they’re not there.” Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg said he was reviewing the permit request under existing rules and not looking ahead to the new zoning. Quoting the standards of review, he noted that the Commission must review whether a proposal would be “harmonious with existing patterns of use and development in the neighborhood.”“But it will shock you guys to learn that harmonious is not actually defined in the code so the question I think before us is whether a five-story building can co-exist near or next to even smaller buildings including detached houses,” Stolzenberg said. “I’d note there’s already a four and a half story building at the head of the street.” Bill Palmer is with the Office of the Architect at the University of Virginia and sits as a non-voting member of the Planning Commission. He said UVA is not in an era where they are being required by the Commonwealth of Virginia to increase enrollment. According to the UVA office of Institutional Research and Analytics, there was an on-Grounds enrollment in Fall 2021 of 16,793 undergraduates and 6,928 graduate students. (enrollment data)“If you look at our official projects, they are flat,” Palmer said. Palmer said UVA is building additional housing on Grounds, including a second new structure in the Brandon Avenue Corridor. He also said the UVA initiative to build up to 1,500 new affordable units in the community includes a site further down from 2005 JPA in Albemarle County at the Piedmont housing site. “In terms of having affordable housing close in the future, that will be a place where the University is trying to provide something,” Palmer said. Council thoughtsCouncil will have the final decision, but did not vote during what is their first reading.Councilor Payne said he was frustrated that the affordability rules of the future are not yet in place. “This happened with another [special use permit] a few weeks ago where we’re in this strange situation where we’re sort of evaluating the Future Land Use Map and zoning map rewrite in mind, but if we’re using that in our evaluation, that will include our framework of inclusionary zoning and affordable housing overlays which are critical to the success of that plan for affordable housing,” Payne said. Councilor Brian Pinkston said he is learning toward support because it did provide more housing close to the University of Virginia. “I’m not able to fully articulate how we square that with point number one which is whether it is harmonious,” Pinkston said. “To some degree I think harmoniousness might be in the eye of the beholder. I will say that in terms of how the design was laid out and that you have seven stories in the front and five stories in the back, I thought there was some care and attention to trying to integrate into the neighborhood.” Snook also said he had issues with the word “harmonious” and said the traditional form of land use control known as “Euclidean zoning” is not good at dealing with change. “It doesn’t allow for us to grow gradually from a little bit of density to a little bit more density,” Snook said. “It allows us to say okay, we’re going to rezone the entire block of the entire neighborhood but it doesn’t let us go bit by bit.” As the Entrance Corridor Review Board, the Planning Commission voted unanimously on a motion to acknowledge there would be an adverse impact, but those impacts can be mitigated through the design process. As the Planning Commission, they consider a motion made by Stolzenberg to recommend approval. The was 4-3 with Stolzenberg, Mitchell, Habbab, and Commission Chair Lyle Solla-Yates voting in favor. Lahendro joined Dowell and Commissioner Liz Russell in voting no.  Help Ting help support Town Crier productions!For one year now, Town Crier Productions has had a promotional offering through Ting!Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to Mother’s Day Eve, a holiday that may not exist, but is certainly a possibility in a world that seems to have an occasion for everything. While we wait for Mommoween to be invented, we’ll just have to settle for another installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that is most certainly not funded by Big Greeting Card. Find the info worthwhile? Send it on to others! On today’s program:Greene County’s Commissioner of Revenue resigns after pleading guilty to federal charges of witness tampering Kellen Squire officially launches his race to the Democratic nominee for the 55th House District Dr. Denise Bonds is stepping down as director of the Blue Ridge Health DistrictAnother surge of COVID appears to be in the making, but it’s too early to tell how severe it might be And the City of Charlottesville is taking donations to help cover unpaid utility bills Today’s first shout-out goes to WTJUAlgorithms know how to put songs and artists together based on genre or beats per minute. But only people can make connections that engage your mind and warm your heart. The music on WTJU 91.1 FM is chosen by dozens and dozens of volunteer hosts -- music lovers like you who live right here in the Charlottesville area. Listener donations keep WTJU alive and thriving. In this era of algorithm-driven everything, go against the grain. This week is the annual Rock Marathon, so tune in and support freeform community radio on WTJU Consider a donation at wtju.net/donate.Snow resigns as Greene County Commissioner of RevenueLarry Snow has resigned as the Commissioner of Revenue in Greene County after pleading guilty in federal court to tampering with a witness. Snow appeared in the Western District Court in Charlottesville Friday to answer to charges that stemmed from a federal investigation, along with his son who pleaded guilty to a charge of heroin distribution. The elder Snow was caught trying to harass and intimidate a confidential informant involved with the investigation.“Elected officials should hold themselves to a higher standard and serve their community responsibly,” said Stanley M. Meador, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Division in a release sent out by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia. “Mr. Snow violated the faith entrusted to him, and with his son criminally used personal information of community members for their own gain,” Snow was first elected to the position in 1987 and was reelected in 2019 while under indictment with three quarters of the vote. In November 2017, Bryant Snow was arrested on two state counts of distribution after selling methamphetamine and heroin to an informant. He plead guilty to the meth charge in April 2018 and was imprisoned at Central Virginia Regional Jail. While there, the father and son discussed ways to intimidate someone referred to as Person A. At one point, the elder Snow sent out over 12,000 pamphlets to Greene County residents describing how the Sheriff’s Department uses informants in an attempt to dissuade Person A. Larry Snow will be sentenced on July 25 and Bryant Snow will be sentenced on August 1 before Senior Judge Norman K. Moon. Bonds stepping down as director of the Blue Ridge Health DistrictA search will soon get underway for a new director of the Blue Ridge Health District now that Dr. Denise Bonds has announced she’ll step down from the position at the end of this month. She’s been the health director since 2015 and led the agency during the COVID-19 pandemic and during a name change. “Under Dr. Bonds’ leadership, BRHD expanded its HIV testing and prevention services, increased access to testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and broadened the size and reach of the Population Health Division, including launching a robust Community Health Worker program,” reads an announcement from the Blue Ridge Health District sent out yesterday afternoon. Dr. Bonds also served as interim director of the Rappahannock Area Health District from August 2020 to April 2021. The Blue Ridge Health District is also closing down its COVID-19 case investigation team. According to the release, they followed 47,274 cases since March 2020. After this weekend, the Mobile Health Unit created during the pandemic has held 200 events at which over 5,000 COVID vaccinations were administered. A memorial to those lost during the COVID-19 pandemic will be held on May 24, 2022 at the Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital Amphitheater.COVID-19 update A spring surge of COVID-19 continues to rise with the Virginia Department of Health reporting 2,677 new cases on Friday, with a seven-day average for positive tests at 11 percent. That’s about where things were in late February when the Omicron surge was waning. “And that’s up from around three percent, three and a half percent in March, so we have seen an increase in test positivity,” said Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System. “This is occurring in a background where we’re having less testing in general because of the growth of at-home testing and I would say the vast majority of the people who are testing positive at home through a rapid antigen test are not going on to get a PCR test somewhere else.” The dashboard for the Blue Ridge Health District hasn’t been updated since May 1, and the Virginia Department of Health no longer provides that information in an easily-consumable fashion. The dataset is available here.  The increasing number of cases are not leading to increased hospitalizations. Today the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association reports 30 COVID-positive people in intensive care units and 11 on respirators. At the height of the Omicron surge in late January of this year, that number climbed over 400. Dr. Sifri said the numbers are expected to rise as more people forgo wearing masks indoors and as people move further away from their vaccinations or boosters. “There is some progressive loss of some immune response,” said Dr. Sifri. “And finally, in this background is new subvariants of Omicron.” Dr. Sifri points people to the weekly models produced by the University of Virginia's Biocomplexity Institute. The latest from April 29 predicts a further surge this summer, though with lower death rates due to treatments that are now available, more than two years after the pandemic began. “The open question is how much of an impact will that have on health systems?” Dr. Sifri asked. “Is that going to lead to more hospitalizations? Is that going to lead to more [intensive care unit] hospitalizations and deaths? That’s our concern.”Dr. Sifri said vaccinations may not prevent infection but do limit the severity. City taking donations to cover unpaid utility billsIt’s been nearly a month since the City of Charlottesville announced it would resume the practice of shutting down service for unpaid utility bills. There was a statewide moratorium on such disconnects that expired last September. In all, the city used $557,000 in various federal assistance programs to help some customers.However, they announced in April disconnects would resume. “To date, six accounts have been disconnected and remain out of service,” said Chris Cullinan, the city’s finance director, in an email to Charlottesville Community Engagement. However, the city is taking donations to help prevent further disconnects. Cullinan said that as of Thursday, the city had received $800 from concerned community members. He said checks marked with “Water/WW Assistance” in the memo can be sent to:City of Charlottesville Utility Billing OfficePO Box 911Attn: Water and Wastewater AssistanceCharlottesville, VA  22902Second shout-out goes to a Charlottesville Jazz Society event this weekendIn today’s second subscriber-supported shout-out, the Charlottesville Jazz Society and WTJU are pleased to bring bassist Joe Fonda back to town with his long-standing group the Nu Band. They’ll be appearing Tuesday May 10 at the Bridge at 209 Monticello Road. The Nu Band is a dynamic jazz ensemble from New York City, featuring some of the most unique, compelling and in-demand voices in creative music today. The band was formed in 1999, and since then has released 10 recordings, completed 9 European and several US tours, bringing forward-leaning, provocative and evocative music to the world. All tickets for The Nu Band at The Bridge, May 10th at 7 pm will be $10 at the door. For more information visit cvillejazz.org, Squire launches campaign with ad releaseThere’s still no firm resolution on whether Virginia will elect the next set of members of the next House of Delegates this November or the next, but there are two active candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for the newly drawn 55th District. On Friday, Kellen Squire released a video to launch a campaign for which he filed earlier this spring. He’s an emergency room nurse who ran in the 58th District in 2017 against incumbent Rob Bell. “Just as I believe there’s hope for me when I come home to my family,” Squire narrates in the two-minute video that depicts him driving home from a shift, concluding with him getting out of his vehicle. “I’m Kellen Squire and I’m running for the House of Delegates because as an emergency department nurse, I know that we all do better when we all do better,” Squire continues. “I’ll fight unapologetically for rural Virginia. I’ll put people before party. And I’ll make sure no Virginian gets left behind.” Squire joins Albemarle Supervisor Donna Price in the race for the Democratic nomination, a race in which the winner could take on Republican Rob Bell, who has represented the 58th District since 2002. He’s not yet made an announcement about the next election. The 55th District is geographically different and will consist of most of Albemarle County, western Louisa County, and northeast Nelson County. Price made her announcement on Facebook on Tuesday, a day after someone leaked a draft Supreme Court ruling purporting to overturn Roe v. Wade. (read the story)There is a chance that an election could be held this year due to a federal lawsuit filed by Richmond attorney Paul Goldman arguing that legislators elected in 2021 are in unconstitutional districts. Judge David Novak of the Eastern District of Virginia is expected to rule on whether Goldman has the legal standing to file the case.On Thursday, Novak admonished Goldman for filing a motion to ask the court to consider the draft ruling as evidence for why a House of Delegates race should be run this year. “The Court hereby STRIKES this Motion at patently inappropriate and completely irrelevant to this case,” Novak wrote in an order. “Neither draft opinions nor press reports have any impact on the decisions of this Court.” Novak told Goldman to stop filing additional motions. Help support Town Crier Productions with a paid subscription to this newsletter!For one year now, Town Crier Productions has a promo with Ting!Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Today consists of a four and four twos, adding up to April 22, 2022. Far more understandable than Day 112, which is another name this Friday could go by. My name is Sean Tubbs, and this is another installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that seeks to provide information about all manner of items in local and regional government in and around Charlottesville. Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.On today’s program:Charlottesville City Council learns of an even higher surplus than expected for the current fiscal yearVirginia is set to end its rent relief program in mid-MayA Colorado educator will become the next president of Piedmont Virginia community College A series of speakers wants Charlottesville Area Transit’s Route 6 to continue to stop at the doorstep of Crescent HallsAnd former UVA basketball star Sean Singletary enters the development community in Charlottesville First shout-out goes to the Piedmont Master Gardeners for their annual plant saleIn today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out, the Piedmont Master Gardeners are pleased to announce the return of their annual plant sale! That’s happening on Saturday, May 7, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Albemarle Square Shopping Center. The sale will offer thousands of annuals, perennials, shrubs, vegetables, herbs and houseplants, including a large selection of native plants.In addition, shoppers can purchase garden implements, yard ornaments and other “Green Elephants”; have their tools sharpened by an expert; and drop off their surplus plastic nursery pots for recycling. The sale will also feature a Help Desk for gardening questions and information tables on native plants, soil and composting, invasive plants, conservation landscaping and much more.For more information, visit piedmontmastegardeners.org. Before we begin today, a quick program note. This show is a product of the pandemic. For the past two years, I’ve been producing informational podcasts to help people know what’s going on. I became a journalist almost 30 years ago because bringing people information is what I’ve always wanted to do. At no point do I want to tell you what to think. And for the past two years, I’ve more or less  been able to do this all from home. And for a lot of that time, most of you were at home too. Now that Albemarle and Charlottesville have both gone back to in-person meetings, it’s a bit jarring. I’m not used to it yet and I still have one eye on COVID cases to see what’s going on. Tomorrow’s show will contain an update from the UVA Health System.But I know I’m not alone. At Monday’s first in-person meeting in 25 months, Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook had a similar sense of disorientation when a resident of Crescent Halls came up to speak. “You’re Miss Sandridge… I know what you look like without a mask on a Zoom call but I don’t know what you look like face to face,” Snook said. We’ll hear more from Judy Sandridge later in the show, but I wanted to begin today by acknowledging the past two years and how they were very different from any other time in my career. I’ve gotten used to writing from home. Soon I’ll be back out there doing more, but it’s still an end to an era. The writer Addison Del Mastro has a piece on his Substack Deleted Scenes called Final Pandemic Thoughts which I think is worth a read. That’s not really within the scope of Charlottesville Community Engagement, nor is this whole first segment. But I am curious to know what your thoughts are on where we’ve been the last two years, and what you’d like to see going forward. As for me, I hope to continue bringing you this program.Council gets revenue update Even though Council has recently adopted a budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1, there is never a time when the city’s finances are not in the public eye. Interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers briefed Council this week on the state of revenue collection for the current fiscal year that ends on June 30. “So far this year we have currently collected 66.93 percent of our budgeted revenue and we remain on track to collect more than the adopted revenue budget of $192,212,843,” Rogers said. The next tax bills are due on June 6 and will include the one cent real estate tax increase adopted by Council earlier this month. Tax rates go with the calendar year, not the fiscal year. That means a budget surplus is almost certain. “While we discussed during the budget process that we would end up with $12 million more, what I’m seeing now based on that revision, it’s $13 million,” Rogers said.Final decisions about how to use that funding will be made by Council later this year after the FY22 books are audited. Runyon named as PVCC’s next presidentThe chancellor of Virginia’s Community College System has named a Colorado educator as the next president of Piedmont Virginia Community College. Dr. Jean Runyon is currently the campus vice president at Front Range Community College in Larimer. . “We are excited to welcome Dr. Runyon to PVCC and believe she will be able to build upon the success and great potential that exists here, not just at the College but throughout the community,” said PVCC College Board Chair Lola Richardson in a statement. Runyon will be PVCC’s sixth president since it was founded in 1972. She’ll succeed Frank Friedman in the position he has held since November 1998. The new president has a long history in higher education with positions such as the director of the Innovative Teaching Center at the College of Southern Maryland and eight years in various positions at Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland. She’ll take the reins at PVCC in July. Virginia rent relief program is set to end In another sign that the pandemic era is over, the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development is closing an online portal through which people can apply for rent relief. Virginians have until midnight on May 15 to make a new application. Virginia was one of the first states in the nation to put a mortgage and rent relief program in place soon after the federal Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES). The program went live in June 2020 and has provided more than $713 million in relief for 104,990 households across the Commonwealth. To be eligible, households need to have an income less than 50 percent of the area median or have to have had one member out of work for up to 90 days. “DHCD will continue to work with partners and stakeholders across the state to create comprehensive strategies to increase the supply of affordable housing, address and prevent evictions and reduce barriers in housing throughout the Commonwealth,” reads a notice on the agency’s website. For more information, visit the DHCD’s website.Today’s second shout-out goes to WTJUAlgorithms know how to put songs and artists together based on genre or beats per minute. But only people can make connections that engage your mind and warm your heart. The music on WTJU 91.1 FM is chosen by dozens and dozens of volunteer hosts -- music lovers like you who live right here in the Charlottesville area. Listener donations keep WTJU alive and thriving. In this era of algorithm-driven everything, go against the grain. This week is the annual Rock Marathon, so tune in and support freeform community radio on WTJU Consider a donation at wtju.net/donate.Former UVA basketball star part of redevelopment project at 1101 East Market StreetA former University of Virginia basketball player who also played in the National Basketball Association is part of a development team that seeks to build eleven townhouses in downtown Charlottesville. “Just excited to be back in town and on about the progress with this project,” said Sean Singletary, who played for UVA in the mid 2000’s. “Ever since I graduated from school here, I’ve always wanted to move back here and just give back to the community. Charlottesville and UVA have done so much for me.” A preliminary site plan has been filed with the city of Charlottesville to build several townhomes in the Little High subsection of the Martha Jefferson neighborhood at the intersection of East Market and 11th Street. In all, 11th Street Partners seeks to consolidate four lots into one before building ten townhomes. Several existing structures on those properties would be removed, but a house at 1103 East Market Street would remain as it is not part of this project and is owned separately. As part of this plan, the house at 1101 East Market Street would be replaced with a new structure.  “We determined that the most beneficial to the community would be to demolish these existing structures and replace them with very attractive units that we think are going to add a significant benefit to the community at large,” said engineer Eric Woolley.One of these would be a sidewalk on this stretch of East Market where there currently is not one on the northern side of the road. Utilities would be placed underground. Each townhouse would have three bedrooms and three off-street parking spaces. “The way we’ve oriented the units, we think it’s going to be beneficial to the neighborhood by actually providing more parking within the development which alleviates the pressure of overlap parking to other neighbors,” Woolley said. While the application for the Vue at East Market is by-right and would not require a decision by elected officials, a request to close off a public right of way does.“The alley closure piece does have discretionary review by City Council but the other components would not,” said Carrie Rainey, a city planner. One of Singletary’s three partners is Keith Payne, an All-ACC conference running back on the UVA football team. “This is extremely exciting for our team to be able to develop in Charlottesville, especially downtown in a great neighborhood,” Payne said. Payne said he and Singletary graduated together, and have always been looking for an opportunity to develop in Charlottesville. “Being on the corner there, we felt this could be a vibrant site for the city,” Payne said. The team wants to develop other projects in the community. No one spoke at the community meeting on Wednesday. To view the discussion, take a look at the video here. PHAR seeks to keep Crescent Halls bus stop in placeA series of speakers at Monday’s City Council meeting asked the elected officials to weigh in on a decision by Charlottesville Area Transit to relocate the bus stop at Crescent Halls, a public housing site that is currently undergoing renovations. The homes are currently served in both directions by Route 6 and the agency is making the change to help speed up the route. That had not been the plan, according to one resident. “We were told that they would pick up one side and when they come back they would let people off in front of the door,” said Alice Washington. “We need that. Crescent Halls is a senior and disability building.” As such, Washington said many residents use wheelchairs or walkers to get around and need to be able to board the bus. That will be much harder if they have to walk what she said were the 89 steps to the new stop. “If they got to walk from way over here over there and some of these people are almost 80 or 90 years old, it’s impossible,” Washington said. We briefly heard from Judy Sandridge earlier. Let’s hear her again. “If you see me hear with my cart here again, my oxygen, and a thing full with food trying to walk 89 steps?” Sandridge said. “She walked 89 steps. I can’t do that.” Other voices included Brandon Collins, the redevelopment coordinator of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority who said keeping the bus stop where it is has been a high priority during renovation discussions. Another was Shelby Edwards, who succeeded Collins as the main voice of the Public Housing Association of Residents in her capacity as executive director. “PHAR has hosted both private and public conversations with CAT about this topic,” Edwards said. “We don’t understand why this has been such a laborious task. We know that that CAT would like to move to the 30 minute service to increase ridership, but this means little if the people who switch over already have other forms of transportation. Yes, we do want a world where everyone can use mass transit but we first need one where everyone who has no other form of transit can continue to move around freely.”Council also heard directly from CRHA’s Executive Director, John Sales. “We need that bus stop in front of the building,” Sales said. Sales added that a site plan amendment to the Crescent Halls renovation would be required, which could delay the ability for residents to move back in. Sales also pointed out that the route change has not yet been finally approved by City Council. “So I just want to make sure that any other route changes that are going to be impacted by this 30 minute transition gets discussed because not only will Crescent Halls be impacted, but people all over the city are going to be impacted, without anyone knowing,” Sales said.In 2021, Charlottesville Area Transit worked with a consultant to realign the routes, but the changes have not yet been implemented. Under the new changes, Route 6 would no longer travel to the University of Virginia Health System but would stil travel between Willoughby Shopping Center and Downtown. The route would also no longer travel on Ridge Street via Brookwood Drive. No action was taken at the meeting, but this morning Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders and CAT Director Garland Williams offered the following statement:“The City Manager has asked staff to consider options regarding the bus stop service to residents of Crescent Halls, including the Paratransit service administered for the City by JAUNT.  There are multiple conversations in progress and a number of options are being considered but the iterative process of review, feedback, and costing is in full motion.  We will be convening all parties to review and determine workable options to present to Council as soon as possible.”The route changes have not yet been made because of a lack of drivers that would be required to provide the additional service. Support Town Crier Productions through Ting!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

"POCUS Spotlight: Lung Ultrasound," by William Manson, MD, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, Virginia; and Rosie Hogg, MB, ChB, FRCA, MD, Consultant Anaesthetist, Belfast Health & Social Care Trust, Belfast, United Kingdom. From ASRA Pain Medicine News, February 2022. See original article at www.asra.com/asra-news for figures and references. This material is copyrighted.   

March Eleven. 3/11? 3-1-1? In some places you can dial that number to get information, a valuable commodity in a complex world. On this 70th day of 2022 and in this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, you can find out a lot of odds and ends about what’s happening. How many of each? Stick around and find out. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. For all the odds and ends, please sign up for free and consider becoming a paid subscriber!On today’s program:Charlottesville City Council will get an update on efforts to create a long awaited climate action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions The city will use funding from a carbon cap and trade program to prepare for future flooding Charlottesville Area Transit wants your input on the next generation of bus sheltersCharlottesville is close to hiring a new communications director, and is seeking college students to apply for internshipsA brief update on the pandemic First shout-out if for CBIC’s C-E2 eventIn today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out, the Charlottesville Business Innovation Council wants you to know that after two years, they’re holding their Charlottesville Entrepreneurs and Espresso event in-person on the morning of Tuesday, March 15 at the CODE Building? What is Charlottesville Entrepreneurs and Espresso, or C-E2? It’s a casual, caffeine-fueled gathering of learning at all stages of venture creation. Get inspired, meet fellow entrepreneurs, share lessons learned, and become a part of Charlottesville’s vibrant and growing entrepreneurial ecosystem. Visit cvilleinnovation.org to learn more about this free event or sign up on Eventbrite. Pandemic turns 2 Tomorrow marks the two-year anniversary of the declaration of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic in Virginia. The seven-day percent average for new COVID tests is at 4.7 percent, around a level not seen since late last July when the Delta variant caused a surge that has not quite receded until now. Still, the Virginia Department of Health marks another 1,272 new cases today. The agency has also made changes to its COVID dashboard and no longer is listing case counts by locality. That data, as well as deaths reported by date, will continue to be available on Virginia’s open data portal.The Blue Ridge Health District does report local case data and there are 48 new cases today and the percent positivity is at 4.5 percent. The Centers for Disease Control now list Albemarle, Charlottesville and the other Blue Ridge Health District localities as medium. (review the map)“We were anticipating that we would be dropping to a medium level when we were looking at the numbers earlier this week so those were born out yesterday when the CDC updated their calculations,” said Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System.Dr. Sifri said he would recommend that those with underlying conditions or who are immunocompromised to remain masked indoors and to make sure their mask offers enough protection. Dr. Sifri said there is a lot of immunity in the community through both vaccination and infections, but he said there is still opportunity for another variant to happen in the future. When will be determined on a number of variables. “And I think clearly for a lot of people after two years of living through this pandemic, they are at a point where they’ve been vaccinated, they’ve taken precautions, but have now sort of have come to a point where its an understanding there will be some level of circulation likely going forward for the foreseeable future and we could anticipate this may become another seasonal virus,” Dr. Sifri said. As we hit the two-year mark, there have been 19,212 COVID deaths in Virginia, and 431 in the Blue Ridge Health District. It’s been two years since I launched a podcast to cover the response. Go back and listen if you’d like to revisit any of that recent past. (Charlottesville Quarantine Report)Charlottesville sets April 18 work session for work session on climate action Nearly all functions of government in most Virginia localities can be derived from their Comprehensive Plan, which lays out broad steps to turn a community’s vision into action. The new Comprehensive Plan adopted by Council in November calls upon the city to create a specific plan to demonstrate how Charlottesville will meet specific reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The nonprofit Community Climate Collaborative wants City Council to spend more money to get a plan in place as soon as possible. Executive Director Susan Kruse posted a blog entry on March 3 saying Charlottesville has fallen behind on efforts. She read from this post at Council’s meeting this past Monday. “This July will mark three years since Charlottesville set its sights on climate leadership,” Kruse wrote in the post. “Three years, and we have no Climate Action Plan, our GHG emissions inventory is four years out-of-date, and the window to reduce emissions to prevent catastrophic impacts is rapidly closing.” On Monday, Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders acknowledged that the city has not been able to move swiftly to create a plan. “I just want to be upfront with everyone and acknowledge we know there’s work to be done there,” Sanders said. Sanders said there will be a Council work session on April 18 and staff in the city’s sustainability division will present what they have been working on since Council adopted reduction targets on July 1, 2019. That stated the city would work towards a “community-wide greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 target from its 2011 inventory year” as well as to be carbon neutral by 2050. (read the minutes)At the time, then-city manager Tarron Richardson was less than two months on the job and two other people have held that position since. Sanders has only worked for the city since last July. “There have been significant impacts from the COVID pandemic and organizational staffing changes that have prevented them from moving as originally planned,” Sanders said. “Our goal would be to try to get back on track so this would be a moment to reboot that effort.”Sanders said groups such as the Community Climate Collaborative will be involved in the work. After Sanders gave Council an update, Kruse read from her prepared letter during the city’s Community Matters portion. She acknowledged the April 18 work session, but pushed for a deadline to complete a Climate Action Plan. .“If current resources are not enough to complete the plan, it’s time for Council to bring in some outside help,” Kruse said. Last November, City Council adopted an update of the Comprehensive Plan, a document for which state code requires periodic revision. Review of this plan took nearly five years and its completion required the city to pay a consultant over a million dollars.One of the guiding principles in the plan is under the heading Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability. (look for it on page 22)“The City government will reduce its carbon footprint and other environmental impacts,” reads that guiding principle. “The Charlottesville community will be empowered and encouraged to reduce their environmental footprint and benefit from energy-efficiency efforts.”The various chapters of the Comprehensive Plan are embedded with many directives, strategies, and goals. For instance, Strategy 3.4 of the land use chapter (page 38) is to “encourage sustainable, energy efficient building designs and low impact development as complementary goals to historic preservation, including through support for adaptation, reuse, and repurposing of the built environment.” Goal 4 of the housing chapter has four strategies with steps toward addressing energy efficiency in new and existing housing (page 50)The transportation chapter (page 55) seeks to expand alternatives to driving and encourages the “adoption and support of new and emerging transportation technologies will further expand travel options throughout the city and will contribute toward the City’s climate goals and improving public health by reducing vehicle-related emissions.” There is an entire chapter with the title Environment, Climate, and Food Equity (page 65) that repeats the July 1, 2019 greenhouse gas emissions goal of which the first goal is dedicated to reaching the reduction targets, with eight strategies. The first listed is to create a Climate Action Plan.The environmental chapter also includes directives to prevent further degradation of the tree canopy, continue work in the city’s Water Resources Protection Program, and to encourage use of sustainable materials. The Community Facilities and Services chapter (page 79) covers community infrastructure and strategy 2.4 calls for the city “to employ innovative technology and green building practices for all eligible capital construction and renovation projects” and strategy 4.10 to “participate in and complete Climate Hazard Risk Assessment activities, to follow finalization of the Climate Action Plan.” Goal 1 of the Community Engagement and Collaboration is to “empower community members by providing and actively sharing the information they need to participate in a meaningful way.” Albemarle County adopted a Climate Action Plan in October 2020 that has much more specific details about how to get there. That work session will be held on April 18. Make sure you’re reading the Week Ahead newsletter each Sunday to know what’s coming up and follow along with stories on climate action at the Information Charlottesville archive. Today’s second shout-out goes to a Livable Cville eventIn today’s first subscriber supported shout-out, Livable Cville wants you to know about an online presentation coming up on Wednesday, March 16. "Can Zoning Create a More Affordable Charlottesville?" That’s the question to be explored by Dr. Jenny Schuetz of the Brookings Institute. She’s the author of Fixer-Upper: How to Repair America’s Broken Housing Systems. The event is free but you’ll have to register at EventBrite. Charlottesville seeking firm to model Moores Creek watershedA changing climate has meant the likelihood of more flooding across the Commonwealth, and Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) has meant more funding to help with preparation. Charlottesville is currently seeking an engineering firm to update models from 2008 for how stormwater flows in the Moores Creek watershed.Back then, the city partnered with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to produce that model, as well as ones for the portions of the city in the Rivanna and Meadow Creek watersheds. Now Charlottesville will use $153,000 from the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Grant program to further study the Moores Creek watershed, which makes up a third of the city’s land along the southern border with Albemarle. “The stormwater management model will be a critical tool for planning and project implementation efforts administered under the umbrella of the City’s Water Resources Protection Program,” said Andrea Henry, the program’s administrator. “This is the first in what will hopefully be a series of models to support the development of stormwater management and flood resiliency plans for the City.”The more detailed information will help determine best locations for stormwater pipe upgrades, and to develop flood inundation maps for the various tributaries of Moores Creek including Lodge Creek, Rock Creek, Pollock’s Branch, and Quarry Creek. Goal 10 of the Community Facilities chapter of the Comprehensive Plan relates to stormwater conveyance infrastructure, with strategy 10.3 related to modernization efforts. Virginia joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in the summer of 2020, which means companies that generate electricity through fossil-fuel companies must pay to exceed caps on the amounts of carbon dioxide. In Virginia, more than half of the proceeds go to pay for flood preparedness programs. Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order soon after being inaugurated to withdraw Virginia from RGGI, but legislative approval is needed and so far efforts to withdraw have been blocked by the Senate, where Democrats have a 21 to 19 majority. So far, Virginia has received $227.6 million in proceeds from four auctions, including $85.6 million in December.Charlottesville Area Transit seeking input on future bus sheltersThe area’s primary fixed-route transit service is seeking your input into how their future bus shelters will look. “Charlottesville Area Transit (CAT) seeks to develop a bus shelter design that will serve as a unique and universal identifier of transit in the Greater Charlottesville Area,” reads an announcement for a public survey seeking input on three designs.All three come out of a charette held last August, and CAT’s architectural consultant wants more comments in order to come up with one single concept. Another round of presentations will be held when that’s ready for public review. City seeking applications for internships, close to hiring CAPE director Do you know someone younger who could use an opportunity to gain some real-world experience? The City of Charlottesville is accepting applications from college students to work as paid interns all across the municipal government. “This is developmental work designed to provide university students and recent graduates with meaningful entry-level professional work,” reads the press release for the opportunity. “The assignments require application of university-level knowledge typically gained in profession-specific curriculum typically found in local government.” The release goes on to state that interns will be closely supervised and will work on a specific project during their temporary employment. Departments seeking interns include the City Manager’s office, the Office of Communications, Neighborhood Development Services, and the Police Civilian Oversight Board. Applicants need to have completes sixty hours of coursework and to have a grade point average of 2.0. Anyone interested can apply here. Speaking of jobs, the city still has several top vacancies that are still being filled. Deputy City Manager Ashley Marshall have City Council an update on Monday, March 7. “The city is making some progress on some key hires,” Marshall said. “Interviews are underway for our director of communications and public engagement. And yes that title does sound a little different because we are going to emphasize public engagement within our communications’ professional team.”That matches the same job title as the equivalent job in Albemarle County. Marshall said the city is also reviewing resumes for the Director of Human Services and the Director of Informational Technology. The position of Human Resources Director is still being advertised. “We expect to move forward to interview phases on all three of those last director positions shortly,” Marshall said.  Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Seven days into March and we finally encounter a Monday. Will this day be any different from the six that have come before it? Certainly there is more light and green shoots from yesterday are a little bit longer. There are more bird songs in the air than this time last month. The perfect soundtrack for to begin another week of Charlottesville Community Engagement! I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. On today’s show: The University of Virginia’s Buildings and Grounds Committee gets an update on the next round of construction projectsUVa students vote to change the one punishment for an honor code violationMore examples of divided government as the Virginia General Assembly meets in its final regularly-scheduled week. Today’s first shout-out goes to LEAPYou don’t need the “luck of the Irish” to be safe and comfortable in your own home. To see what you can do to get the most out of your home, contact LEAP, your local energy nonprofit, to schedule a home energy assessment this month - just $45 for City and County residents. LEAP also offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If someone in your household is age 60 or older, or you have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Charlottesville’s FY23 Budget posted - Rogers does not recommend a property tax rate increase Just as I was about to hit send today, interim City Manager Michael C. Rogers’s $216.17 million budget was posted on the city’s website. Rogers does not recommend an increase in the real estate tax rate at this time. However, Council can still decide to move forward with a ten cent tax increase, which would generate $9.2 million. “While the funding from that additional 10-cents assessment is in the presented budget for City Council to consider, the City Manager’s budget does not utilize thosefunds as part of the presented balanced budget,” reads Rogers’s letter to the Council. This budget is presented almost two years after the pandemic altered the economic situation. Rogers said there has been a rebound. “Sales tax is up 8.33 percent, meals and lodging tax are up 19.3 percent and 30 percent respectively,” Rogers said. “While the City’s unemployment rate was at acalendar year high in June 2021 at 4.1 percent, by year end it had plummeted to 2.35 percent.” The Commissioner of Revenue is recommending a decrease in the personal property tax rate due to the increased valuation, but the budget currently recommends that being kept at $4.20 for now. Senior Budget Analyst Krisy Hammill said the recommended rate would be unveiled during the budget process. Bond proceeds to cover the cost of the $75 million reconfiguration would not be authorized until FY24. The budget will be presented to the City Council tonight and the first work session will be held virtually Thursday beginning at 6 p.m. More details in a future installment of the newsletter. UVA students vote to end expulsion for honor violationsStudents at the University of Virginia have voted to end a long-standing tradition where people can be kicked out permanently for violating the honor code. Instead, the new single-sanction punishment will be a year’s suspension rather than the traditional expulsion. According to UVA Today, over 6,000 students voted on the proposal with around 80 percent in favor of the change. The University Board of Visitors met last week and President Jim Ryan told the group that he would not have voted to make the change. He also spoke of the enhanced community involvement UVA has made during his tenure. Ryan established the President’s Council on UVA-Community Partnership and a report was completed in February 2019. (read the report)“It has been in the spirit of what we can do together and the approach on affordable housing is a great example of that,” Ryan said. UVA has pledged to work with a private developer to build up to 1,500 below-market units and has selected three sites on land owned by the UVA or its real estate foundation. One of them is at the North Fork Discovery Park, and a rezoning for that project is making its way through Albemale County’s land use application process. “All of it going a long way to changing the narrative about UVA and about UVA’s relationship to Charlottesville and Albemarle County and I think that that’s a very good thing for the University,” Ryan said. “There’s still plenty of work to do but the conversation is different than it was four years ago.” Ryan also sought feedback on the University’s strategic plan and some of the initiatives within. One of them is to “Be a strong partner and good neighbor to the Charlottesville region.” (See all of the articles tagged Land Use - University of Virginia on Information Charlottesville) UVA committee gets update on construction On Thursday, the BOV’s Buildings and Grounds Committee met and discussed several matters of interest. There are several major construction projects underway with the most impact likely coming from the Emmet - Ivy Corridor where the School of Data Science is well underway heading toward a December 2023 completion date. The committee was briefed on some changes coming to UVA’s Capital Plan which has a budget of just over $3 billion, according to Colette Sheehy, Senior Vice President for Operations and State Government Relations. “We’ve actually completed quite a bit of work in the last year, $700 million worth of projects,” Sheehy said. “Some of the more notable ones include the University of Hospital expansion, the orthopedic center, and the Student Health and Wellness Center.”Sheehy said staff are proposing adding $411 million in new project, with $20 million of that just to plan projects. The proposed 2022 Capital Plan would be $2.67 billion. They’re also proposing removing a standalone project to construct a $60 million new building for the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. “We now are pursuing a partnership between the Karsh Institute for Democracy and the Batten School to provide some space for Batten within the Karsh Institute,” Sheehy said. That building will also be within the Emmet - Ivy precinct along with a new hotel and convention center. Construction of that building is expected to begin in late spring or early summer. Projects under construction are the renovations of Alderman Library, a new residence hall on Brandon Avenue, and the Contemplative Commons near the Dell stormwater pond. Projects in the planning stages include a football operations building, an Olympic sports complex, the Karsh Institute, and a new building for the McIntire School of Commerce. There are three new projects that will be added to the planning pool. “One is the Center for the Arts,” Sheehy said. “The planning authorization was included in Governor Northam’s introduced budget allowing us to actually use our money to do the planning. But that is a good signal the state is interested in funding that project in the future.”This authorization remains within the budget bill currently being negotiated in the General Assembly. UVA has an $11 million gift to cover the cost of the design work. There’s also a $4 million gift to begin planning work for a Center for Design for the School of Architecture and a $5 million gift for an academic building for the Engineering School.“We’ve done some planning already for both of those schools and there is a need for additional space,” Sheehy said. Four projects would be added for construction, with one of them being a $350 million Institute for Biotechnology. “It is a research facility with a manufacturing facility included in it that would allow us to produce research through to clinical trials for new drug therapies,” Sheehy said. “The intention is that it would attract many biotechnology companies that would want to work with our faculty and to locate in and around Charlottesville.” This project is also within both the House and Senate versions of the budget. Other new projects are additional landscaping on Ivy Road, HVAC work at Monroe Hall, and infrastructure at Memorial Gym to make it more accessible as well as ADA compliant. There is also funding for a study of childcare needs as well as a space study for nursing to accommodate more instructional space. The changes to the Capital Plan will be voted upon in June. Sheehy also said there will also be an update of the 2019 Parking and Transportation Study post-COVID. (read the 2019 study)“The president has asked us to go back and do a more comprehensive kind of broad-based look at the need for parking overall across the institution,” Sheehy said. One member of the Buildings and Grounds Committee suggested building additional parking on the other side of the railroad tracks south of the University of Virginia Health System. Sheehy pushed back. “We have to be careful that that’s a residential neighborhood and there are lot of issues to consider,” Sheehy said. “Traffic, neighbors, the needs of the health system. We will look at all of that.” The next meeting of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors is in June.Shout-out to the Piedmont Master GardenersThe second shout-out today goes to the Piedmont Master Gardeners to announce their 2022 Spring Lecture Series featuring leading experts on sustainable landscaping, indigenous gardening wisdom and small fruit production at home. For all four Thursdays in March, you can buy a virtual ticket for these informative events. On March 10, Renée Gokey and Christine Price-Abelow of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian will discuss  “The Three Sisters: Indigenous Origins and Best Growing Practices.” On March 24, Jayesh Samtani will discuss “Home Garden Berries—Selection, Cultivation, and Growing Alongside Ornamental Plants”. To purchase a ticket and for the rest of the sessions, visit piedmontmastergardeners.org/events.General Assembly updateThere are only a handful of days left in the 2022 General Assembly, and there are several bills that are now in conference. I’ll try to track the progress as many of those as possible, but for now, here are some more bills that originated in the Republican-controlled House of Delegates that did not make it out of the Democrat-controlled Senate.A bill to delay the requirement of the State Air Pollution Control Board to implement federal Clean Car regulations failed to make it out of the Senate Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources Committee on a party-line 7 to 8 vote. The House of Delegates had passed the Bill 52 to 48. (HB1267)A bill to allow hunters to go onto other people’s property to retrieve the animals they’ve killed also did not make it out of that Senate committee on a 10 to 5 motion to pass by indefinitely. (HB1334)A bill that would have required people seeking an abortion to provide written consent and undergo counseling was passed by indefinitely in the Senate Education and Health Committee on a 10 to 5 vote. (HB212)A bill related to abortion that would have made it a Class 4 felony to not treat an “infant born alive” passed the House on a 52 to 48 vote but was passed by indefinitely by the Senate Rules Committee on an 11 to 4 vote. (HB304)The Senate Education and Health Committee also defeated a bill to allow the Commissioner of Health to allow people to be exempt from vaccine mandates for religious reasons. That was defeated on a 9 to 6 vote. (HB306) Also passed by indefinitely is a bill that would have directed the Board of Education to provide alternate pathways for people who want to attain an advanced high school diploma. (HB340)Another would have created Parental Choice Education Savings Accounts. HB1024 passed the House of Delegates on a party-line 52 to 48 vote but was passed by indefinitely by the Senate Education and Health Committee on a 9 to 6 vote. A bill to prohibit the teaching of moral dynamics of race and sex had passed the House of Delegates on a 50 to 49 vote, but the Senate Education and Health committee passed this by indefinitely on a 9 to 6 vote. (HB787)A bill to require the Department of Planning and Budget to establish a program to reduce regulations and to limit spending by state government agencies made it out of the House of Delegates on a 51 to 47 vote, but the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee voted this down on a 11 to 4 vote. (HB244)That committee also killed a bill to lower the state’s gas tax rate for a one-year period. This was on a 12 to 4 vote. (HB1144)A bill to eliminate permanent lists for absentee voters passed the House of Delegates on a 52 to 46 vote but the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee voted to pass it by indefinitely on a 9 to 6 vote. (HB175)A bill that would allow some school security officers to carry a firearm passed the House on a 52 to 46 vote but was passed by indefinitely by the Senate Rules Committee on a 13 to 3 vote. (HB8)A bill that would have allowed high school students to be arrested for disorderly conduct on school property also was killed by the Rules Committee on a 13 to 3 vote. The House of Delegates had passed that 52 to 48. (HB89)The Senate Rules Committee also passed by indefinitely a bill that would have created a Commission on Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Commonwealth. The vote was 14 to 2 on a bill that had passed the House of Delegates unanimously. (HB1057)Oral arguments scheduled for tomorrow in House 2022 race appealTomorrow afternoon, a three judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals will hold oral arguments for a lawsuit in which one party seeks an election in the House of Delegates this year. Richmond attorney Paul Goldman sued the Virginia Board of Elections last summer that argued the boundaries for the House of Delegates in the 2021 election were unconstitutional because they are out of date. For more on the case and how we got to where we are, I recommended reading Brad Kutner’s March 5 story on Courthouse News. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

The name of today is also a command. March Forth! The world has changed a lot in the past several years, and it will change again as our future quickly becomes history. With so many potential choices and pathways, sometimes all you can do is march forth, and today is a good day to ponder what that all may mean. This is Charlottesville Community Engagement and I’m your host Sean Tubbs, fervently hoping that you will find your way. Sign up to get every edition in your inbox!On today’s program:Area transportation planners are submitting three projects to VDOT to improve the Fifth Street Corridor in both Albemarle County and CharlottesvilleRiverbend Development has filed plans for a mixed-use community near the intersection of U.S. 29 and Interstate 64Another update  on the waning of the omicron surgeAlbemarle County may soon return to in-person meetings Today’s first shout-out goes to Mulch MadnessIn today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out, are you ready for Mulch Madness? The Rivanna Solid Waste Authority has a free mulch giveaway beginning tomorrow through April 16. In between all the big games, the RSWA wants you to get your yard ready for spring. If you have a way to transport mulch, head on over to the Ivy Material Utilization Center between 7:30am and 4:00pm, Monday through Saturday, where you can pick up up to two tons free. Rivanna staff are available to help load, but ask that you bring a covering. Mulch is double ground and derived from vegetative materials brought to Ivy for disposal. That’s Mulch Madness at the Ivy Material Utilization Center. Visit rivanna.org to learn more.Pandemic update: Omicron continues slow declineThe Omicron surge of COVID-19 that began in mid-December continues to slowly recede. Today the Virginia Department of Health reports a seven-day percent positivity of 7.2 and the seven-average of new cases is 1,326. In the Blue Ridge Health District, there are 81 new cases reported today and the percent positivity is 7 percent. Dr. Costi Sifri is the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System and he said he expects the numbers to remain on a steady decline, but people should remain vigilant. “I think we can anticipate that in the spring and hopefully the summer, COVID is going to be much less of an issue for us on a day-to-day basis,” Dr. Sifri said. “But we should anticipate that it could come back.”Dr. Sifri said there are no new variants of concern on the horizon, but a substrain of omicron continues to spread. He said monitoring efforts must continue and also be strengthened. “The genome surveillance systems around the country and around the world have continued to improve,” Dr. Sifri said. “There needs to be continued investment in those to beef those up so that we can have better early warning signals for variants of concern.” This week a new law went into effect allowing parents and guardians let their children opt out of mask mandates in public schools. The Centers for Disease Control lists this region as having a high level of transmission. “It seems very prudent to me that students continue to mask indoors until those case counts come down to a low level,” Dr. Sifri said.Tonight, the UVA Medical Center’s South Tower will be illuminated in blue and yellow to support members of the community who are affected by the Putin administration’s invasion of Ukraine. That will continue on Saturday and Sunday night. Dr. Sifri called the invasion a humanitarian catastrophe that could be compounded by COVID. “I do think about the intersection between the pandemic and what is occurring with displaced peoples,” Dr. Sifri said. “Ukraine has a populace that is I think only 40 percent vaccinated and they are having to flee their country and their cities and their homes on buses and trains and we can anticipate will be living in challenging situations with multifamily settings and the opportunities in that setting for infectious disease like COVID are tremendous.”Dr. Sifri said the world’s response to COVID as well as other challenges speaks to the need to be prepared for crisis before it happens. Albemarle Supervisors briefed on eventual end of the local COVID emergencyAlbemarle County and Charlottesville remain underneath a local state of emergency, which has meant virtual meetings for the past two years. On Wednesday, the Board of Supervisors were briefed on the steps to move forward. “The local emergency has allowed the county a number of advantages in addressing timely issues related to mitigating the spread of the COVID virus during the emergency,” said Doug Walker, the deputy county executive. “We now believe that those advantages are no longer needed and we are in the progress of returning to a more normal operation.” The Board will be asked to vote on a resolution to end the emergency while also allowing the “continuity of government” ordinance to remain in place. That would allow for some meetings to remain virtual for a period of time. However, if they adopt the ordinance, the Board of Supervisors, Planning Commission, and the School Board would begin holding hybrid meetings beginning with the first week of April. Other groups such as the Economic Development Authority would begin hybrid meetings in June, and others would have up to the end of March 2023 to meet virtually. Lane Auditorium would be reconfigured to allow distanced seating on the left hand side of the room and normal seating on the right hand side. Total visitor capacity would be capped at 200. The ventilation system has been upgraded to refresh the air in the auditorium ten times an hour. The resolution will be voted on at the March 16 meeting. Rezoning sought for land near Virginia Eagle distribution facilityThe highway-like character of U.S. 29 in Albemarle County southwest of Charlottesville will further change in the near future now that a rezoning has been filed for around 63.5 acres around the Virginia Eagle distribution center. Riverbend Development is seeking a rezoning to the Neighborhood Model District to build several hundred apartment units. “This project will include a mix of residential and commercial units, as anticipated by the Comprehensive Plan for this location,” reads the narrative for the application. “Approximately 475 residential units are proposed, primarily multifamily.”Also proposed are a hotel, a congregate care facility, office buildings and retail. The Board of Supervisors adjusted the county’s growth area boundaries in September 2015 to add 51 acres as part of an incentive package to attract a brewery to locate on the site. That was a lower amount than had been requested, and only extended to land that already within the jurisdictional area for public water and sewer. (read the minutes from the September 23, 2015 meeting)“At 64.36 acres, the Sieg property is strategically positioned at the crossroads of Interstate 64 and Route 29 and within the growth area of Albemarle County,” the narrative continues. “This land is ideally situated for a new mixed-use community with a variety of housing options, office sites, aging in place and retail destinations.” The Comprehensive Plan designates the land as Regional Mixed-Use. Riverbend Development will pay to extend water and sewer to the properties. U.S. 29 is considered by the Virginia Department of Transportation to be a Corridor of Statewide Significance.A traffic light was installed in late 2020 on the southern side of the U.S. 29 and I-64 interchange as part of a Smart Scale funded effort to make the junction safer. That signal is about 1,400 feet away from Gold Eagle Drive, which would serve as one primary access point to the property with Shepards Hill Road serving as the second. The plans propose a “Green T” intersection which would halt southbound traffic on U.S. 29 at a second traffic light in the area. Second shout-out goes to a Livable Cville eventIn today’s second subscriber supported shout-out, Livable Cville wants you to know about an online presentation coming up on Wednesday, March 16. "Can Zoning Create a More Affordable Charlottesville?" That’s the question to be explored by Dr. Jenny Schuetz of the Brookings Institute. She’s the author of Fixer-Upper: How to Repair America’s Broken Housing Systems. The event is free but you’ll have to register at EventBrite. Review process continues for next round of Smart Scale candidate projects Efforts are underway to secure funding to transform the character of Fifth Street and Fifth Street Extended between Ridge Street and Ambrose Commons. There are at least three projects being considered for the next round of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Smart Scale process. “Smart Scale is the process that the state uses to prioritize and fund transportation projects,” said Sandy Shackelford, the director of planning and transportation for the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. The deadline for the fifth round is approaching later this spring. Each locality can submit up to four projects, and regional planning bodies also get four. “Projects are evaluated and given a benefit score based on how well the project meets needs in areas like safety, congestion relief, and economic development,” Shackleford said.Project pre-applications need to be submitted by March 31 with a final application is August 1. The results will be presented to the Commonwealth Transportation Board next January. Funding is limited. The TJPDC held a workshop on February 28 to present candidates to the public. (watch the workshop)Charlottesville will only submit one application this year. That will be for safety improvements on Fifth Street Extended that could be coordinated with a previous Smart Scale project. (read that application)“We do currently have a funded project at the intersection of Cherry [Avenue] and Elliott [Avenue] so we are looking to kind of connect to that already-funded project and continue south,” said Brennen Duncan, the city’s traffic engineer. How far south depends on how much funding would be available. Earlier this year, the City Council dropped the speed limit on 5th Street Extended to 40 miles per hour to try to slow down traffic after a series of fatalities in 2020. “We’re primarily focused on safety, congestion, pedestrian access, and bicycle access,” Duncan said. Duncan said public meetings will be held in April to shape this project and there is no current cost estimate. There are other previously awarded Smart Scale projects along the corridor. Further to the south, the Metropolitan Planning Organization will submit an application to make improvements for a four-tenths of a mile long stretch where Albemarle County is on one side of the road and Charlottesville is on the other. (read details)“The Fifth Street improvements include adding a left turn lane south into Fifth Street Station Parkway, median adjustments into the Willoughby Shopping Center across from the Willoughby residential neighborhood, construction of a left-turn midblock into Willoughby Shopping Center, [and] traveling north, restricting south turn lane into the Willoughby Shopping Center,” said Ryan Mickles, a regional planner with the Thomas Jefferson Planning District. A shared-use path is also suggested in this project as are other elements. There’s no cost estimate yet for this project. Another project would see bicycle and pedestrian improvements between Ambrose Commons to Stagecoach Road south of I-64. These would provide a way to get to Southwood on foot or bike while passing by the Albemarle Business Campus and Albemarle County’s southern office building. (read those details)“We’re going to basically install a shared-use path on the west side of the road offset by a six foot buffer strip,” said Chuck Proctor, a transportation planner with VDOT. In the fourth Smart Scale round, Albemarle County won $5.263 million in funding for a roundabout at the intersection of Old Lynchburg Road and Fifth Street. The Board of Supervisors committed a $2 million match to the project to help improve its ranking under Smart Scale. I will have more from this workshop in future installments of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

It’s the final day of February, but 2022 still has a long way to go. In fact, after today there is 83.8 percent left before it’s time to change the yearly calendar once more. Tomorrow may be heralded by a lion, so be on the listen-out for a roar. But for now, it’s time for another Charlottesville Community Engagement, and I’m your host, Sean Tubbs.This newsletter and podcast is free to sign up for, but your paid subscription ensures this one-person operation will continue well into the future! On today’s program: A new group called Friends of Cville Downtown launches by wrapping the Dewberry structure with a muralCity Council upholds a decision made by the Board of Architectural Review One Charlottesville tax relief deadline is approaching, and the city is looking for more people to serve on advisory panelsA University of Virginia epidemiologist weighs in on what’s next with COVID First shout-out goes to a Livable Cville eventIn today’s first subscriber supported shout-out, Livable Cville wants you to know about an online presentation coming up on Wednesday, March 16 at 5:30 p.m. "Can Zoning Create a More Affordable Charlottesville?" That’s the question to be explored by Dr. Jenny Schuetz of the Brookings Institute. She’s the author of Fixer-Upper: How to Repair America’s Broken Housing Systems. The event is free but you’ll have to register at EventBrite. Pandemic update to begin the weekToday the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day percent positivity is now at 7.3 percent, another indicator the Omicron surge is continuing to wane. The seven-day average for new cases is now at 1,621 with 764 new cases reported today. However, the death count from the Omicron variant continues to grow with a cumulative total of 18,771. Ten days ago, that number stood at 18,016 but the VDH always stresses that it takes a while for COVID deaths to be officially recorded. The Blue Ridge Health District now has a total of 419 deaths from COVID, and that number was at 386 ten day ago. There are 26 new cases in the BRHD today. What’s next? Dr. Costi Sifri is director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System. He said a majority of people in the Charlottesville area are either fully vaccinated or have had COVID. “I think in the near term we can and are expecting that we will see a continued diminution of cases going forward and I think that’s likely to occur not only over the next couple of weeks but perhaps and hopefully the next couple of months,” Dr. Sifri said. However, Dr. Sifri said COVID can be unpredictable and there are many parts of the world have low vaccination rates, allowing further mutations to occur. He said the current question is how long immunity through vaccination or previous infections will last.“Will there be future differences with the virus?” Dr. Sifri asked. “Does it evolve or change to overcome some of these protective immune responses that we’ve developed? And how robust or how prolonged are those immune responses?”Tomorrow is also the day that a new law goes into effect allowing parents to opt out of school mask mandates. This morning the UVA Health System announced that the drop in case counts will result in additional visitation at the UVA Medical System. To see the details of what has changed, visit the UVA Health System.Tax relief deadline is tomorrow Tomorrow is the last day for elderly and disabled property owners in Charlottesville to apply for tax relief. “If you own and are living in your home in the city of Charlottesville, if you are over 65 years of age, or are permanently disabled, and if you have a yearly household income of $55,000 or less, and a net worth of $125,000 or less excluding the value of the home, you may qualify for tax relief under this program,” said City Councilor Sena Magill. Visit the Commissioner of Revenue’s website for more information and to find the application. Residential property is up 11.69 percent in 2022. In addition, Council has advertised an increase of ten cents on the property tax rate. City Council will be presented with the budget on March 7. Want to be on a Charlottesville board or commission?With spring here perhaps you’re looking for a fresh hobby. Why not consider being on a Charlottesville Board of Commission? There are several vacancies and Council is taking applications through March 12. Charlottesville Economic Development Authority - one openingCitizens Transportation Advisory Committee - two openingsCommunity Policy and Management Team - two openingsHistoric Resources Committee - four openingsHousing Advisory Committee - one vacancy (specifically for a member of a neighborhood association)Measurements and Solutions Group - eight openingsPersonnel Appeals Board - one opening (for a non-city employee) Region Ten Community Services Board - one openingSocial Services Advisory Board - two openingsTree Commission - four openingsVendor Appeals Board - one openingYouth Council You can apply here. Council will next make appointments on March 21. Council upholds BAR approval at 605 Preston Place The Board of Architectural Review approved what’s called a “certificate of appropriateness” to allow for an apartment complex to be built in the side yard of a 19th century structure. Council was asked to hear the appeal from neighbors who argue the city’s architectural design control (ADC) rules were not followed. At the beginning of the appeal, city historic preservation planner Jeff Werner described the project.“The project is a proposed three-story apartment building,” Werner said. “It’s located on a parcel at 605 Preston Place. The property is within the Rugby-Road-University Circle-Venable ADC district. Also on this property is Wyndhurst which is a home constructed in 1857 and it was formerly the manor house for a 102-acre farm.” The appellants sent in a 19-point letter to make their arguments. Point number two argued that the footprint and massing of the new building would not be not in harmony with the district. Werner disagreed.“To be clear, the design guidelines are intended to be flexible and flexible enough to both respect historic properties and to embrace future new design,” Werner said. Werner recommended the Council uphold the BAR’s determination. Larry Getty represented the appellants. “We actually feel the Board of Architectural Review did not really explain their decisions as to why the number of elements that Jeff Werner discussed actually do satisfy the guidelines,” Getty said. “It is totally out of place with the buildings that are on three sides of the site.” Breck Gastinger is the chair of the BAR and before he spoke he told Council a little about what the panel does. “We are made up of nine citizens of Charlottesville,” Gastinger said. “All of us are volunteers and we are appointed by City Council. We work on your behalf for the city. We’re made up of design professionals, business owners, residents of properties within historic districts.”Gastinger said BAR members must follow the guidelines as they make their determinations. He said the city’s architectural story is always changing. “Our guidelines for the BAR do not mandate particular styles of architecture or prevent new buildings from being added within historic districts,” Gastinger said. “As Charlottesville continues to grow and evolve as a city, we want to make sure it’s going to be done in a compatible way.”Gastinger said the BAR helped inform the project through multiple hearings and their approval was a unanimous 8-0 vote. Mayor Lloyd Snook said he sided with the BAR.“I was struck by the fact that some architects for whom I have a great deal respect were looking at it quite critically and praising what was being done and I would have to say that if those architects are saying good things about it, that’s a very strong recommendation for me,” Snook said. The vote to uphold the BAR was unanimous. Patreon-fueled shout-out to LEAPWhen you think of romance, you might not immediately think of energy efficiency - but the folks at LEAP think keeping your family comfortable at home is a great way to show you care during the month of love. Your local energy nonprofit wants to make sure you are getting the most out of your home all year round, and LEAP offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If someone in your household is age 60 or older, or you have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Friends of Cville Downtown launches with unveiling of mural on Dewberry building It was a warm morning for this last day of February and several dozen people gathered in Central Place outside the Dewberry Hotel, an unfinished structure for which construction stopped over 13 years ago when the previous owner ran out of money. A group called Friends of Cville Downtown has raised funds to wrap the skeleton of the unfinished hotel with artwork. The official reveal was a chance to also launch the organization. Board member Michael Caplin called a “placemaking partnership” to increase economic development downtown in an inclusive manner. “Friends of Cville Downtown is raising private money to fund the costs of a campaign for Main, an array of projects that can invigorate the downtown environment with lights, art, paintings, seating, events, banners, sanitation, safety add-ons, and a rich array of events with something for everybody,” Caplin said. “We will accomplish this by working together with one another and with city government in the spirit of goodwill and common purpose.”The first project is the Music Box on Main, which is the name for the temporary installation by the artist Eric Waugh which covers all nine stories of the unfinished Dewberry. “Eric’s paintings, Jazzmaker 1 and Jazzmaker 2, were enlarged and printed on a 13-foot-wide vinyl mesh banner wrap,” Caplin said. “Ten giant rolls of wrap were carried to the roof.”Crews rappelled from the top affixed the wrap to the building, and the goal is to cover up the skeleton for at least the next year. Caplin said the work has been done in conjunction with the Dewberry Group, who even donated $10,000 to the project. “I hope you will say to yourself, ‘what wonderful thing shall we do next, and how shall we get it done together?’” Caplin said. Mayor Lloyd Snook said he welcomed the effort. “We lost sight of the fact that so many of the businesses on the Downtown Mall are operating on very thin margins and the last few years have been very tough for them,” Snook said. “To have people who have the ability to step up to make significant contributions to be able to do the kinds of things the Friends of Cville Downtown are talking about doing is really exciting. It’s exciting for the city government to know that there are going to be people out there who are able to help and willing to help.”Ludwig Kuttner is the vice chair of the Friends of Cville Downtown board. He said he wanted to take action to cover up visual blight and to restore what he described as “positive energy” to the mall.“I think people have complained about it now for over 12 yeers, and it’s ugly and there have been complaints and we just decided let’s do something about it,” Kuttner said. Caplin came up with the idea for the wrap, which includes a wrap on 2nd Street SE. He saw the black façade of the old Boxer Learning building as being like the black keys of a piano.“So I envisioned the windows white and then a swirly jazz thing at the top and I had a friend of mine photoshop it for me to see what it would like when it was done and we sent that image to the Dewberrys and said ‘would you give us permission to do this to your building?’ and Jaimie Dewberry called up and said ‘this is genius, go right ahead!’” As for the future of the Dewberry, Caplin said he was not privy to any information but that they had full permission to apply the temporary measure. “It’s now a positive element of our skyline instead of a ‘what’s happening’ element of our skyline,” Caplin said. Stay tuned for more information as it develops. What do you think? Leave a note in the comments. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

"The ASRA Pain Medicine Mentor Match – Building a Society Where Everybody Knows Your Name," by Kristopher M. Schroeder, MD, ASRA Pain Medicine News Editor; and Ashley Shilling, MD, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Orthopedic Surgery, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, Virginia. From ASRA Pain Medicine News, February 2022. See original article at www.asra.com/asra-news for figures and references. This material is copyrighted.-Register as a mentee and mentor at connect.asra.com/mentoring.

There is no holiday today, at least not officially. For the most part, there’s nothing special about today at all, unless you have a lot of love… for local and regional government! If so, this and every other installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement will take aim at your heart, mind, or wherever in your metaphorical sense of self where new information is supposed to go. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs, trying to look whatever the opposite of cherubic is. On today’s program:Governor Glenn Youngkin issues a PSA asking people to get vaccinated but stops well short of a mandateCharlottesville City Council transfers some federal money for a sidewalk to fire prevention measuresA General Assembly wrap-up before Crossover DayA survey is now available seeking input on two options for a pedestrian bridge across the Rivanna River A very brief update on Charlottesville’s zoning updateShout-out to Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards In today’s subscriber-supported Public Service Announcement, the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards continues to offer classes winter and spring to increase your awareness of our wooden neighbors and to prepare for the future. The next event is February 22 at 7 p.m. when tree steward Emily Ferguson will help you look beyond the monotonous winter forest by focusing on the finer details that will help you differentiate between species of trees. Learn more at charlottesvilleareatreestewards.org. (register for the February 22 session) Governor Youngkin asks Virginians to get vaccinatedThis morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports an average of 3,783 new COVID cases and the seven-day percent positivity has dropped to 11.1 percent. That’s down from 19.7 percent a week ago. In the Blue Ridge Health District today there were 46 new cases and the percent positivity is at 14.6 percent. The Virginia Healthcare and Hospital Association reports 1,676 patients in hospital with a positive COVID test.  That’s down from 3,845 a month ago. As of today, 70.9 percent of Virginia’s total population is considered fully vaccinated, but a smaller portion of that number has received a booster or third dose. That figure is 2,754,159. Today Governor Glenn Youngkin launched a public service announcement encouraging people to get a vaccine, but that he will do nothing to require that anyone get one. “In Virginia, there’s a better day right around the corner,” Youngkin said. “I won’t mandate it but the vaccine is the best way to protect our loved ones, our lives, and our livelihoods.” Youngkin said he and his family decided to get the vaccine.“While the vaccine won’t completely prevent you from contracting COVID-19, it makes it far less likely that you will be hospitalized or die from the virus,” Youngkin said. Last week, the CDC released a study indicating that those who have only have had two doses likely have their immunity fade after four months, but more study is needed to determine the efficacy of the booster or third dose. This morning the University of Virginia Health System announced that additional visitation will be once again allowed at various facilities. A press releases this is due to decreasing COVID cases. Visitors must wear a mask at all times and and cannot have any symptoms or contagious diseases. Public spaces including cafeterias and lobbies remain closed. Visit the UVA Health website for more details.Route 151 / U.S. 250 roundabout constructionConstruction of a roundabout at the intersection of U.S. 250 and Route 151 in Albemarle County is moving ahead. This week, a section of  Route 151 in northwest Nelson County will be closed overnight to allow installation of pipes for three waterways to be temporarily diverted during the project’s construction. According to a release, traffic will be detoured using Goodloe Lane and Old Turnpike Road from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. each night.The project is one of several funded in the second round of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Smart Scale process. Smart Scale is a system that funds projects based on a series of criteria including decreasing congestion and improving public safety. The application lists the reasoning for the project. “US 250 is not able to handle overflow when incidents occur on I-64 resulting in significant delays,” reads the application. Other Smart Scale projects funded that year include changes to I-64’s exit 118, conversion of exit 124 to a diverging diamond, and a roundabout at the intersection of Proffit Road and Route 20. Applications for Round 5 are currently being prepared. For more information on what the candidate projects are, visit the Smart Scale site on the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. Rivanna pedestrian bridge survey openOne of those 5th round candidates is a pedestrian bridge across the Rivanna River to connect Woolen Mills and Pantops. Two choices are being reviewed by a stakeholder committee who will make a recommendation to the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization. A survey is now open through March 4 to gauge public feedback. Visit the TJPDC’s website for more information. See also: Rivanna bridge options narrowed to two, January 12, 2022Decision point looming for Rivanna bike and pedestrian bridge, February 2, 2022Charlottesville zoning updateCharlottesville has begun the process of updating the city’s zoning code to reflect both an affordable housing plan and a Comprehensive Plan that seeks to increase the number of places to live within city limits. An internal review by city staff took place on Thursday, according to Neighborhood Development Services Director Jim Freas. ‘We’re slowly building up,” Freas said. “The first product is a diagnostic and approach report. Things will really ramp up once that’s released. We are targeting a mid-April date for the release of that report.” Mark your calendar. Meanwhile, Albemarle County’s Comprehensive Plan review kicks off this week with three pop-up events and a virtual meeting on Thursday. Read the Week Ahead newsletter for more information. See also: Charlottesville zoning rewrite to begin this year, January 12, 2022A portion of Franklin Street sidewalk funding going to pay for fire prevention kitsLater this week, a task force appointed by City Council to make recommendations for how federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds are spent will meet. Earlier this month, Council agreed to reallocate money a previous task force had opted to spend on a sidewalk on Franklin Street in Belmont, but less than staff had suggested. (staff report)Erin Atak is the city’s grants coordinator. “On January 14, 2021, Charlottesville was found to be noncompliant for the second consecutive year with CDBG requirements,” Atak said. “The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] noted that Charlottesville’s lack of spending performance was an issue.” Atak said the city receives about $400,000 a year in CDBG funding from HUD and they want it to be be spent within a certain time. Based on the recommendation of a task force, Council selected the sidewalk project and its scope was much bigger than originally anticipated.  The goal right now is to address the timeliness issue. “By May, the city is required to spend approximately $227,973,” Atak said. Atak said the money can be used to address the COVID-19 pandemic. When she sent around an internal request to city departments to see if they had any projects that would fit the bill, the Charlottesville Fire Department had a project to spend $217,200. “The Fire Department listed several housing maintenance activities which included smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, stove top fire-stop installation and CPR-assist devices, all of which are HUD-eligible, could meet City Council priorities to provide homeowner rehab, and entitlement funding in the Ridge Street and Belmont priority neighborhoods,” Atak said. Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook asked if the balance could be given to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville for their projects on Nassau Street. Atak said that projects that receive federal funding are subject to much more scrutiny, and the money would not be spent in time. Snook pushed. “I mean, is that something where it’s ‘come on, if someone just pushed the pedal to the metal we can make this happen’, or is it  ‘come on, this is the federal government you’re talking about.’ In other words, how serious is the risk this doesn’t get done if we suggest the money should go to that cause?”Two members of city staff responded in unison. “It’s very serious,” Atak sad “It’s very serious,” said Alexander Ikefuna, the city’ interim director of the Office of Community Solutions.” Councilor Sena Magill said she supported this use of funding, especially for carbon monoxide detectors which she said the Fire Department often can’t provide.“It’s one of those things that keeps getting kicked off down the road and whenever the Fire Department has a little extra somewhere, they try to put it into this,” Magill said. “And keeping houses from burning down is a way to keep them affordable, too.” Councilor Michael Payne expressed concern about how this information was presented to the elected body. “I don’t think the process was adequate enough to feel like I was presented with options to choose from,” Payne said. “I feel a little boxed in in terms of being presented only one option and given this point in this process. That boxing in to make one decision. I do feel like this was a wasted opportunity to at least evaluate and look as a policy option for Council at possible expenditures on vitally needed affordable housing needs.”To that end, Council opted to spend less money than staff had suggested with $140,585.49 to the Fire Department rather than a higher amount recommended. Councilor Payne still voted no. Shout out to the League of Women Voters Natural Resources CommitteeIn today’s second subscriber supported public service announcement, the Natural Resources Committee of the League of Women Voters of the Charlottesville Area wants you to know a webinar coming up on Tuesday, February 15, at noon. They’ll talk about Renewable Sources of Electrical Power: Challenges and Promises. How can we develop renewable sources without endangering our ecological systems? The seminar will feature Dan Holmes from the Piedmont Environmental Council and Jeff Hammond with Apex Clean Energy. They’ll address some of the complexities in switching utility scale electric power from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Register for the Zoom and get ready to learn!General Assembly updateWe are one day from Crossover Day in the General Assembly, so let’s check the statistics before the action begins today! This was up to date as of 7 a.m. this morning.  A total of 2,501 bills and resolutions have been introduced, and 351 of them have been killed through various actions. Another 143 will come back in 2023. The Senate’s passed 592 pieces of legislation and the House of Delegates has passed 572. The Senate has passed four bills from the House of Delegates that have already crossed over, but the House of Delegates has yet to do the same. Those bills include a non-controversial bill that would require the State Registrar of Vital Records to update the Board of Elections once a week of people who have died so they can be removed from the voter rolls. (HB55)Other bills that have passed the Senate and require House passage include:A bill to require absentee ballots to be sorted in the precinct where the voter lives as opposed to a central district passed the Senate unanimously, (SB3)Localities would be required to provide data to the state once a year on emergency sheltering capabilities if SB60 passes. The Senate passed it unanimously. Martinsville voters will decide whether to revert to town status in a bill that passed the Senate 32 to 8. (SB85) A similar bill (HB173) passed the House on a 82 to 18 vote and is before the Senate Local Government Committee. The Town of St. Charles in Lee County would be terminated under SB589 which passed unanimously. (SB589)Sports betting establishments and casinos won’t be able to use the phrase “Virginia is for Bettors” under SB96, which passed the Senate unanimously. A bill to create the Virginia Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Historic Preservation fund passed the Senate on a 30 to 10 vote. (SB158)A bill to require those who display a Farm Use tag on their vehicle to get it from the Department of Motor Vehicles passed the Senate unanimously. (SB186) Similar legislation has passed the House of Delegates. (HB179)Currently several localities in the James River watershed have combined sewer and stormwater systems which results in effluent to be released into waterways. The Senate passed a bill on a 36 to 4 to speed up the deadline to change that from 2035 to 2030. (SB354)In 2020, the General Assembly passed legislation requiring the creation of a Marcus Alert system that would alert public safety responders of a person’s mental state so that a non-violent response could be made by trained mental health specialists. The Senate passed a blll unanimously to clarify that participation by localities would be optional. (SB361)Hazing that leads to someone’s death would be a class 5 felony under SB440, which passed the Senate on a 30 to 10 vote. The Department of Corrections would need to convene a work group to review fees charges to inmates for various services such as telephone use, meals, and medical records if this bill also passes the House. The Senate approved it on a 31 to 9 vote. (SB441)Under SB491, the Virginia African Diaspora Advisory Board would be established to advise the Governor on ways to increase trade and cultural exchange between Virginia and African nations. The passed the Senate unanimously. A bill to allow for recall elections for certain officers passed the Senate on a 21 to 18 vote. (SB495)A bill to create a grant program to help localities develop wildlife corridor plans and implement them passed on a 29 to 10 vote. (SB707)Now let’s go to the House of Delegates.Virginia law currently states that elementary and secondary students cannot be considered to be engaged in disorderly conduct if they’re on school property. HB89 would change that to refer to kindergarten through 8th grade, paving the way for high school students to be potentially be arrested for “public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof.” That passed the House of Delegates on a 52 to 48 vote. Virginia has a shortage of mental health beds. HB105 would study the transformation of Catawba Hospital into a facility for substance abuse treatment and recovery services. This passed the House on a 99 to 0 vote. Currently, invasive plant species can be sold in Virginia. Under HB314, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services would need to develop signage to be given to retailers to point out the benefits of native plants and the hazrds of invasive ones. This passed the House 99 to 0. A bill to allow parks authorities the ability to install electric vehicle chargers passed the House on a 94 to 6 vote. (HB443)A bill to allow home-schooled children the ability to play in public school sports passed the House 50 to 49. (HB551)Stealing catalytic converters would be a Class 6 felony under HB740 which passed the House on a 69 to 30 vote.A bill to require voters to present a photo ID before casting a ballot passed 52 to 48. (HB1090)A bill to require School Boards to hold a public hearing before adopting cultural competency requirements passed 51 to 48. (HB1093)Seventh and eighth graders in public school would have to undergo at least one hour of personal safety training in physical education class if HB1215 makes it through. The House adopted it 99 to 0. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

With each passing day, there’s a little more light at the beginning and end of the period in which the sun illuminates our portion of the world. There are 36 days until the time when light and dark is more or less equal. What will happen between now and then? Charlottesville Community Engagement aims to tell you as much as possible. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. It’s free to sign up and get all of the content! On today’s program:Legislation to make mask mandates meaningless in schools is poised to pass the Virginia General AssemblyAlbemarle County is briefed on the potential threat of the Spotted LanternflyCharlottesville City Council is briefed on how floodplains are classified, and then votes to approve a rezoning on Nassau Street to allow more residential density And Charlottesville Economic Development continues tracking retail vacancies across the city Shout-out to Camp AlbemarleToday’s first subscriber-supported public service announcement goes out to Camp Albemarle, which has for sixty years been a “wholesome rural, rustic and restful site for youth activities, church groups, civic events and occasional private programs.”Located on 14 acres on the banks of the Moorman’s River near Free Union, Camp Albemarle continues as a legacy of being a Civilian Conservation Corps project that sought to promote the importance of rural activities. Camp Albemarle seeks support for a plan to winterize the Hamner Lodge, a structure built in 1941 by the CCC and used by every 4th and 5th grade student in Charlottesville and Albemarle for the study of ecology for over 20 years. If this campaign is successful, Camp Albemarle could operate year-round. Consider your support by visiting http://campalbemarleva.org/donate.Pandemic update As the weekend begins, the waning continues. Yesterday the Virginia Department of Health reported a percent positivity of 13.7 percent, down from 23.2 percent eight days earlier. On January 11, that figure was 36 percent. “We are now in a period of time where we are seeing the highest cases of COVID beginning to come down,” said Dr. Kyle Enfield of the University of Virginia Health System. “And these are the highest cases we’ve ever seen, including among our children. And unfortunately some of these children have had long term outcomes that have been related to COVID as well as deaths.” In Virginia, there have been eight deaths in people under the age of 10, and 10 deaths of people under the age of 20. There have been 131,327 reported COVID cases in people under the age of 10, and 204,234 under the age of 20. “And we do know that masking and vaccines have been our best defense at preventing more spread of COVID during all of the pandemic,” Dr. Enfield said. This week, the Virginia Senate passed a bill on a 21-17 vote that would prohibit localities from requiring students to wear a mask in school. The same bill (SB739) was reported out of the House Education Committee on Friday on a 12 to 10 vote. Here’s what it says:“The parent of any child enrolled in a public elementary or secondary school, or in any school-based early childhood care and education program, may elect for such child to not wear a mask while on school property,” reads the bill.Dr. Enfield said that may be premature from a public health perspective. “While I’m very hopeful for a future where we can stop wearing masks as part of our daily lives, I don’t think the time is there yet,” Dr. Enfield said.People who are not vaccinated contract COVID at a rate 4.6 percent more than those who have had their shots, according to the latest data from the Virginia Department of Health. Partially vaccinated people contract at a rate two times higher. Those trends show up close to home, too. “The most salient thing I think people should take away is that the people that we see in the [intensive care unit] right now, which is about a third of our cases, only one of them was vaccinated and boosted and that person is immunocompromised,” Dr. Enfield said. “I think that speaks to the importance of vaccinations ongoing in preventing serious illness.”Visit the Blue Ridge Health District’s website for information about getting vaccinated.Charlottesville  vacancy studyThe city of Charlottesville has completed its latest analysis of commercial property and has found a vacancy rate of 5.23 percent. That’s up slightly from July when the last report from the Charlottesville Office of Economic Development was compiled. “The retail property in the City of Charlottesville is showing slight signs of rebounding from the negative impacts felt since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, “ reads the report. Barracks Road Shopping Center has a vacancy rate of 9.3 percent and the Downtown Mall has increased to 3.7 percent since July. The Corner is at 3.28 percent, Seminole Square is at 12.96 percent. Both Preston Plaza and McIntire Place are both full. The peak vacancy of 9 percent on the Downtown Mall was recorded in July 2009 and January 2010 at the height of the last recession. Notable vacancies include the spaces that formerly housed Bashir’s Taverna and Fellini’s. Since the last study last summer, new stores on the way include a new location for Bebedero in the former Downtown Grille space. A restaurant called Botanical Fare will occupy the former Java Java space. Read the report for more details. Nassau Street rezoning yields four additional unitsCharlottesville City Council has taken action on a rezoning on the eastern edge of Belmont, six weeks after asking for more information. The previous Council had held a public hearing for a request to increase the zoning from R2 to R3 on property that some claimed was unsafe for development. They wanted more information about the property’s relationship with the floodplain. (See also: Council seeks floodplain info before Nassau Street rezoning, December 22, 2021)On February 7, City Engineer Jack Dawson prepared a briefing for the five elected officials, including two members who just joined. “There was a fair bit of community members who expressed concern over the flood risk associated with the rezoning including some varying information about floodplain mapping and some other resources about water surface elevation for the one percent annual exceedance event,” Dawson said. One percent annual exceedance is another way of saying 100-year flood, a term that can be somewhat misleading because such heavy volumes do in fact happen more frequently.  Properties that are prone to flooding can still receive insurance through a program monitored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] “The city agreed to partner with FEMA as floodplain managers when we signed on to the National Flood Insurance Program,” Dawson said. “City property owners get access to insurance through the NFIP exchange and in return we agreed to create a floodplain development ordinance with a series of minimum standards.” The property on Nassau Street is within the one percent exceedance zone, colored light blue on the city’s GIS viewer. That’s different from the floodway which is marked with red and blue stripes. FEMA officials determine where those boundaries lie and make periodic reviews, but property owners can appeal based on evidence. This is a process known as the Letter of Map Revision, or LOMR. “The city is the gatekeeper for determining LOMR validity,” Dawson said. “A LOMR should improve or correct the existing model or improved methods. It’s our job in engineering as the floodplain administrators to make sure it is technically sound.” An application for this property was made to FEMA in October 2014 and sent it on for the city for their comments. However, Dawson said in this case, the technical comments from engineering were not captured in the revision. “The 2017 LOMR. whether or not engineering agreed with it at the time, is the model that informs the flood plain,” Dawson said. He also said that engineering doesn’t usually get involved during a rezoning. “But when a site plan is submitted, we look to make sure it meets all codes and they can be in the flood plain as long as they’re built one foot above the flood elevation,” Dawson said. Dawson said there is a risk in building in the floodplain, and many have done so. There are 266 lots that have structures are in the floodplain. “It’s a high risk area,” Dawson said. “Living there, there’s some implicit risk with that and more people living in the flood plain means there’s more risk taken on as a city.” Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook said he had had concerns about the process after they were brought up. But, he said he arrived at a conclusion after many conversations. “The decision that we are being asked by some folks to make here is not a proper decision for us to make at the rezoning phase,” Snook said. “That does not mean that that if we grant the rezoning that it’s necessarily going to pass the site plan review.” Developer Nicole Scro said that by-right, they would build three duplexes on the property. The rezoning would allow more units to be built, which would bring down the cost of each to the people who will live there. “The composition of the units is smaller units and we’re doing that to save on construction costs so we can hit lower rents,” Scro said. “That’s the purpose of this rezoning.” Scro said she understood the concerns, but said she felt confident about the flood risk. The structures will be built at 327 feet above sea level. “And then we’re going to have three feet of crawl-space and another foot of subflooring so the finished floor elevation will be at 331 approximately,” Scro said. Council voted 5-0 to agree to the rezoning.This isn’t the end of the story with flood modeling. Charlottesville is beginning to develop a new flood model for the Moores Creek watershed to better understand hydrological processes. This is being paid for by the state government with proceeds from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. See also: Charlottesville awarded $153K for flood study from RGGI funds, October 6, 2021Shout-out for an upcoming talk on birdsIn today’s subscriber-fueled shout-out, if you’re interested in learning more about the birds around us, the National Sporting Library and Museum has a virtual event for you coming up on February 24. Jennifer Ackerman, the author of the Genius of Birds, will explore the brilliance of birds and delve into the mysteries of the avian brain. Ackerman as she shares her global adventures into the genius of birds. Learn how birds make and use tools, teach each other skills, count, navigate, create art, perform astonishing feats of memory, communicate, and even pass along cultural traditions.  The author will be joined by two top officials from the Wildlife Center of Virginia, an organization that has helped nearly 90,000 wild animals from every corner of Virginia. Center President Ed Clark and Senior Vice President Amanda Nicholson will bring along Ambassador Animals. The program is free and available via Zoom or Facebook like. Drop a line to info@nationalsporting.org for a link, or visit the National Sporting Library and Museum on Facebook. Albemarle briefed on spotted lanternfly As program manager for Plant Industry Services at the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, David Gianino leads the state’s efforts to fight threats to native plants that could harm whole industries if left unchecked. “And we have many different pest programs where we work with invasive species to mitigate either their spread or their impact here in Virginia, and in 2021 unfortunately Spotted Lanternfly has made its way to Albemarle County,” Gianino said. That was in July 2021 when a plant inspector found multiple life-stages along the Rivanna River near a railroad. Gianino told the Albemarle Board of Supervisors on February 2 that the Spotted Lanternfly can severely damage apples and grapes. “It is a piercing, sucking, mouth-part insect and it sucks phloem and sap from the stems of these trees which can negatively impact yield and can impact the quality of a fruit that relies on lots of sugar content,” Gianino said. “They swarm and feed very intensely in the fall and that can also impact how nice the grapes are, how good a wine it makes.” The spread of Spotted Lanternfly is due to it being a hitchhiking bug that jumps onto modes of transportation. Originally from China, the bug arrived in Pennsylvania in 2014. “It doesn’t traditionally fly but it will glide and it jumps on to cars, trucks, gravel, buses, anything that moves it will jump onto and that’s the primary way it gets around,’ Gianino said. Gianino said the swarms can also affect other property owners because it is unpleasant to be around. He said if not addressed, this can affect agribusiness and especially agritourism. “The sheer number of insects that pest can create in an environment is astounding,” Gianino said. The spread of the spotted lanternfly is compounded by another invasive species known either as alanthus or Tree of Heaven. So far, populations in Albemarle County are not as high as they are in the Winchester area, where a quarantine was established in 2019 and expanded to Clark and Warren counties last summer.“The quarantine requires business owners to obtain a permit and inspect all materials that are stored outside as well as trucks, trailers and vehicles that travel outside of the quarantine area,” reads a site set up to provide information for Winchester area residents. “I believe we have opportunities here to prevent this from happening [in Albemarle] because we do now have better tools,” Gianino said. Gianino said the site in Albemarle was treated with pesticides. Trees were injected with substances to prevent further infestation. “We’ve placed traps, we’ve scraped egg masses, and we plan to do a thorough survey there next year and continue treatment to try and mitigate this population,” Gianino said. There are no natural predators here and Gianino said they do not taste very good to other species. Gianino said early detection is key to addressing any invasive species and people who make a sighting are asked to report it to local extension offices so the extent of the spread is known across the Commonwealth. They also want people to seek out resources:Best Management Practices for Spotted Lanternfly in Yards and Landscapes Homeowner Tips and Inspection Checksheet More on the Plant Industry Services page for more resourcesAlso, kill it. “We tell people to stomp, scrape, squish the spotted lanternfly and then report it,” Gianino said. More on this as we move toward spring. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Another week begins, and it’s the first Monday of February and the sixth of 2022 so far. There are two more minutes of daylight in the Charlottesville area today according to the almanac, and another two minutes per day for every single remaining day in this month. Time has its advantages. So does every installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that always has a protractor handy. I’m Sean Tubbs, trying to plot out all the angles. On today’s program:Details on how Albemarle’s Comprehensive Planning update will be conductedAlbemarle supervisors are briefed on the Urban Rivanna Corridor Plan a few days before City Council considers adding it to their comp plan Another status update on bills in the 2022 Virginia General AssemblyShout-out for WTJU’s Folk MarathonIn today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out, WTJU 91.1 FM invites you to tune in all this week for the annual Folk Marathon. It’s a round-the-clock celebration of folk music, specially programmed for your listening pleasure. Whether your favorites are Woody Guthrie, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Eva Cassidy, or Neil Young… When you connect with WTJU’s Folk Marathon, you’ll find authentic music playing for you. And WTJU amplifies local artists, and this year’s Folk Marathon will air live music every day for you. We’re excited that the line-up includes Barling & Collins, BRIMS, Mama Tried, and more! Plus special guest hosts Terri Allard, Charlie Pastorfield, Jamie Dyer, Devon Sproule, Waverly Milor, and many others. Visit wtju.net to learn more and to make a contribution. Pandemic updateAs we begin the week, the Omicron surge continues a gradual decline. The Virginia Department of Health reports a seven-day percent positivity of 19.7 percent, down from 25.5 percent a week ago. There are 2,250 patients with COVID in Virginia hospitals according to the Virginia Healthcare and Hospital Association. That’s down from a high of 3,948 in mid-January. Dr. Costi Sifri is the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System and he said there is a noted decline, but people should remain vigilant. “While we’re declining we still have very high case rates,” said Dr. Sifri. “There’s been a lot of discussion and anticipation that we’ll see a rapid decline and we are certainly hoping for that in terms of cases. There’s some concern that maybe we’ll see a bit of a plateau or a shoulder perhaps due to the emergence of the omicron subvariant B.A.2.” Today in the Blue Ridge Health District there are another 102 cases reported today. If you’re told by someone you’ve come into contact with that they’re COVID positive, you should get a test. “If you’ve been exposed to somebody who has COVID then it’s really very important so we can break these chains of transmission,” Dr. Sifri said. If you still are looking for a vaccine in the area, visit the Blue Ridge Health District’s website to learn more about you or someone you know might get one. Here’s the link for vaccines. Here’s the link for testing. Albemarle Supervisors briefed on Urban Rivanna Corridor PlanA plan to guide future development on both sides of the Rivanna River has been reviewed by one of the two localities and will go before the other tonight. Albemarle Supervisors learned the details of the plan at their meeting on February 2.  Sandy Shackelford is the director of planning and transportation for the Thomas Jefferson Planning District and she provided a geographic reference. (read the draft)“It’s the portion of the Rivanna River corridor that is 4.3 miles long,” Shackleford said. “It spans from Pen Park as the northern terminus to I-64 as the southern terminus.”Shackelford said the most important priority that came out of the public engagement process was a focus on environmental protection and stewardship of the river. “The determination was that among the guiding principles, environmental protection had to be pulled out as the most important to first consider and only once environmental protection stewardship was addressed could the other guiding principles be considered to be equally important to each other,” Shackelford said. Environmental recommendations include identifying sensitive areas, retaining existing natural habitats, and continued improvements on stormwater management in the urban areas of both communities. City Council will take up the matter at their meeting tonight in the form of an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan. General Assembly update: Good news for dairy providersThere’s a week until Crossover Day in the Virginia General Assembly. February 15 is when bills from one House must have passed in order to make it to the other one for the potential of passing. Control of the legislature is divided up by each political party and differences in political philosophy will continue to be revealed.But, here’s a snapshot as the week begins. A total of 2,466 bills have been introduced and only one has passed both the House of Delegates and the Senate. That bill (HB828) would expand eligibility for a program to help farmers and others who make dairy products. The Republican-controlled House has passed 150 of its own bills, and the Senate has passed 203 of its own. Another 221 bills or resolutions have officially failed, 46 have been carried on to next year, and another 2,035 are pending. Let’s look at some of those that have passed the House of Delegates and now await their fate in the Senate. A bill that would require school principals to report potential misdemeanors to law enforcement passed on a 59 to 40 vote. (HB4)A bill that would make it easier for School Boards to dismiss teachers passed on a 52 to 47 vote. (HB9)A bill that would prohibit localities from requiring contractors to provide benefits passed on a 52 to 48 vote. (HB58)A bill to require political candidates to file campaign finance reports electronically passed 99 to 1. (HB86)A bill altering the requirements for advertisements of public hearings in a newspaper passed 77 to 23. (HB167)A bill allowing City of Martinsville to hold a referendum on whether become a town in Henry County passed 82 to 18. (HB173)Localities could increase the amount of funding they can apply for through the Local Food and Farming Infrastructure Grant Program to $50,000, up from $25,000. That bill passed the House 99 to 0. (HB323)A bill to add “all-virtual public meetings” to a list of permitted government passed meetings 98 to 0. (HB444)Now, a few from the Senate:Augusta County would be authorized to hold another referendum on removing the county seat away from the city of Staunton, under certain conditions in SB283. The bill passed 39 to 1 with the lone vote against coming from Senator Creigh Deeds (D-25). A bill to require a study of public notice requirements with an eye toward streamlining them passed 40 to zero. (SB417)A bill that would prohibit the use of traps to hunt or kill game animals passed 23 to 16. (SB492)Shout-out: Pen Park cemetery discussion on WednesdayIn today’s subscriber-fueled shout-out, work continues to identify people whose remains are buried just outside a cemetery in Charlottesville’s Pen Park. The Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society and the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library will give an update in a webinar on Wednesday, February 9 on the Forgotten History of Pen Park: Unmarked Graves of Enslaved Persons. The panel will discuss the research thus far to identify the unmarked graves of enslaved individuals outside the Gilmer, Craven, and Hotopp family cemeteries and the connections that are being made to living descendants. Speakers include Charlottesville’s historic preservation planner, researchers and descendants. Visit the library’s website at jmrl.org to register. Also go watch the first installment from past June on the Historical Society’s YouTube page.  Albemarle County Comprehensive Plan review underway On Thursday morning, staff in Albemarle County’s Communications and Public Engagement office will hold the first in a series of pop-ups on the county’s review of the Comprehensive Plan. The county’s Planning Commission learned about how the update will be conducted, including details of a working group that will be appointed to work on the project. But what is a Comprehensive Plan? (pop-up info)“It’s a guiding document for growth, development, and investment in the county, and its used to guide decisions on public infrastructure and funding, also policies and programs, and then review of some development applications that come through the county,” said Rachel Falkenstein, the county’s planning manager. Comprehensive Plans have a 20 year horizon and the last update in Albemarle County was approved in the summer of 2015. Since then, Falkenstein said there’s been a lot of change. “An example of that is that we’ve had 4,000 new dwelling units since that 2015 plan was completed and the community’s median household income and home values have continued to rise since that time,” Falkenstein said. There’s also been adoption of a new housing plan, a new economic development plan, and a climate action plan.  The review of the Comprehensive Plan is known as AC44 and will be done in four phases with the first currently underway. (project website)“Phase one is called ‘Planning for Growth’ and in this phase we will review, evaluate, and update the current growth management policy through the lenses of equity and climate action and identify options for updating the policy based on best practices and on capacity projections for residential and business growth in the county,” said senior planner Tori Kanellopoulos. Since 1980, the key feature of that growth management policy has been directing growth into approximately five percent of the county’s 726 square miles. To help inform all four phases, the county seeks applicants for a working group and will spend money to ensure participants come from different backgrounds. “We want to conduct outreach and collaborate with community members whose perspectives haven’t historically been represented in our processes,” Falkenstein said. “We want to think about that equity profile and members of our community who have different lived experiences and maybe the quality of life outcomes have not been as well as others in the community so we want to think about different demographics.” Falkenstein said the expected time commitment is about ten hours a month. People who want to apply have until February 28 to do so. (apply)“Working group members will be compensated for their time and expertise at a rate equivalent to the county’s minimum wage which is approximately $15 an hour,” Falkenstein said. Virginia code assigns each locality’s Planning Commission the responsibility of preparing and recommending the Comprehensive Plan. Commission Chair Karen Firehock said the roles and responsibilities of the working group need to be clear to avoid disappointment in the future. “I think it will be really important to make sure the working group understands their role because I know sometimes in the county there’s been various committees where there has been some confusion on who is making what recommendations, who is in charge,” Firehock said. “We’ve established quite a few committees and we don’t always do a perfect job of having people understand. This is a brand new group and there’s no precedent so I think just being really clear with them what their role is.”Planning Commissioner Luis Carrazana suggested the Commission be as involved as possible. “If we can be involved earlier and having some dialogue either with staff or perhaps with the working group at key moments, I think that would be much more productive,” Carrazana said. Falkenstein said each phase of the review would include two work sessions with the Planning Commission. “One towards the beginning and one towards the end,” Falkenstein said. “Hopefully that would solve for that dynamic where the Planning Commission is not saying yes or no to something that the committee or the public had spent a long time wrestling with.”One of the first deliverables will be an analysis of the county’s capacity to absorb residential and commercial growth with the existing boundaries. Stay tuned in the weeks and months ahead, and do consider that pop-up this Thursday if you’re really keen to learn more about the county’s vision for the future. 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

Quick! Grab a glass and fill it to the fifty percent point with any liquid. How would you describe it? Perhaps for today only you might say it is half full, given that February 3 is Optimist Day, and it may be time to try out that attitude just for one day. That’s not a requirement, however, to interact with this or any installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a podcast and newsletter that wants you to listen and read no matter how you’re feeling today. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I will always hope that you are well.On today’s show:The Pantops Community Advisory Committee gets a briefing on a third hotel on U.S. 250The Places29-Rio Community Advisory Committee gets an update on the Rio Road Corridor PlanAlbemarle’s hope to use photo-speed cameras for traffic enforcement in rural areas is dead in 2022A quick look at the candidates seeking to be the next Congressional Representative for Virginia’s new 5th District The first shout-out goes to LEAPWhen you think of romance, you might not immediately think of energy efficiency - but the folks at LEAP think keeping your family comfortable at home is a great way to show you care during the month of love. Your local energy nonprofit wants to make sure you are getting the most out of your home all year round, and LEAP offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If someone in your household is age 60 or older, or you have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Pandemic update: Surge continues to wane Let’s begin today with a quick look at COVID numbers. Most numbers continue to trend toward, with an average daily count of new cases at 7,237 and the percent positivity is down to 23.2 percent. Still high for most of the pandemic, but short of the high points of last month’s surge. The Virginia Healthcare and Hospital Association reports 2,578 people in hospital with COVID. Today the Blue Ridge Health District reports another 297 new cases and the percent positivity is at 21.7 percent, continuing a gradual decline. There have been at least eight deaths reported since January 26, though COVID fatalities are often reported several days or weeks after the individual passed on. As of today, 16,548 Virginians have died from COVID. The University of Virginia Health System has received $2.14 million in federal grants for a program to help prevent burnout in medical professionals. The Wisdom and Wellbeing program works with partners at the Region 10 Community Mental Health and Wellness Coalition to provide training for healthcare workers across the region. “The program gives care providers, community health workers and healthcare students effective tools to identify and treat ‘stress injuries’ caused by trauma, loss and the many challenges healthcare workers face,” reads a press release.The program will be expanded through the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation, an organization created after a UVA doctor took her own life in April 2020. Congressional fundraising continues for 2022 race as legal case for Delegates’ elections continues We’re still waiting for a final decision on whether there will be a House of Delegates race this year. Last year, Richmond attorney Paul Goldman filed a suit against the Board of Elections arguing that the certification of Delegates for two-year terms last November was unconstitutional due to the legislative boundaries being outdated because they are still based on the 2010 U.S. Census.Last week, attorneys affiliated with new Attorney General Jason Miyares took up the case and have asked judges with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to deny a request by Goldman to submit additional information in the appeal. Among other things, they argue that data Goldman used to claim imbalance in legislative districts cannot be verified. (read that brief)On Monday, the court deferred consideration of Goldman’s motion earlier. (read that order)Request for 2022 General Assembly election still alive in federal court, January 19, 2022Goldman lawsuit prompting Albemarle to consider expedited redistricting schedule, January 25, 2022 But there will definitely be a Congressional race this year under the new districts approved by the Virginia Supreme Court in late December. In the 5th District, Republican Incumbent Bob Good will defend his seat in seeking a second term. He currently has one member of his party challenging him and that’s Dan Moy, the chair of the Republican Party in Charlottesville. According to campaign finance data processed by the Virginia Public Access Project, Good raised $518,278 cash in 2021. Moy did not file a report in that filing period. Three Democrats are in the race. Josh Throneburg raised $270,154 in 2021. He’s an ordained minister and small business owner. Warren McClellan is a farmer who grew up in Southside and he raised $11,001.Andy Parker is running because his daughter was killed while she was doing a television report at Smith Mountain Lake several years ago. He had not filed a report by the end of 2021.  A fourth Democrat, Lewis Combs Jr., suspended his campaign last week due to the new shape of the 5th District. “As a result of our analysis, I have decided that there is not a viable path to victory for our progressive campaign in the 5th Congressional District,” Combs said in a statement “We are confident that our campaign could raise the funds and field the organization needed to run an effective campaign. However, I could not truthfully assure our potential donors that there is a pathway to victory in the general election.” General Assembly snapshot There’s so much going on at the General Assembly and a lot of bits of information may fall through the cracks. As of this morning, 184 of 2,446 bills and resolutions filed have officially failed. The House of Delegates has passed 250 bills and the Senate has passed 309 bills. A total of 139 bills have passed both Houses, with most of these being commendations or celebrations. Thirty-nine bills have been carried on to 2023. Albemarle County asked local legislators to introduce a bill that would allow localities to use photo-speed cameras to enforce speed limits on sections of rural roads. Delegate Rob Bell (R-58) carried HB747, but on January 27 a subcommittee of the House Public Safety Committee recommended “laying on the table” which is one way of saying it died. A similar bill (SB334) in the Senate also died when it failed to report out of the Transportation Committee on January 20. Crossover Day is on February 15. That’s the day when bills must have passed one House to be considered by the others. Third hotel planned for Pantops A lot happens in Albemarle County, and sometimes it takes me a bit to get to all I want to write about. Stories are coming in the near future on redistricting and Albemarle’s Comprehensive Plan process. If you can’t wait, do check out Allison Wrabel’s stories on those items in the Daily Progress. Albemarle launches website, seeks work group members for Comp Plan updateAlbemarle bumps up redistricting timeline, will hold public hearing March 2But, sticking with Albemarle County for a bit, let’s get some updates on various development projects coming up. At the January 24 meeting of the Pantops Community Advisory Committee, members learned about a site plan for a new project at the intersection of Town and Country Lane and Olympia Drive. Rachel Falkenstein is a planning manager with Albemarle. (watch the meeting)“The proposal there is for a five-story 119-room hotel and parking,” Falkenstein said. That use is consistent with the zoning, but the final design will need to get a certificate of appropriateness of the Albemarle Architectural Review board. “It’s right behind Guadalajara and Marco’s Pizza,” said Supervisor Bea LaPisto-Kirtley. “You’ll see some of it from U.S. 250.” The developer is HMP Properties LLC. They own several properties in the Williamsburg area and other parts of eastern Virginia.  This is not to be confused with another hotel under development right across the street. That’s got the working title of Overlook Hotel. The Planning Commission recommended approval of a technical rezoning for that project in January. The Board of Supervisors will make a final decision at some point, but the meeting has not yet been scheduled yet. There’s also a new Holiday Inn Express that’s opened on Pantops Corner Way.One member of the Pantops CAC asked a question that’s on many people’s minds. “Is there really a need for another hotel?” asked Stephanie Lowenhaupt. “Has there been documentation or some type of data that would show why we need a third hotel in that very close area?”Supervisor LaPisto-Kirtley said that’s not a decision that’s up to the local government, but the county does try to promote other uses where it can. “On properties we know that are vacant we try to elicit let’s say high-tech, light manufacturing, high-paying jobs,” LaPisto-Kirtley said. “On other sites like this, whoever owns it, they can do what they want. Presumably they’ve done their homework.” Two more shout-outs: Good cheer and community journalismYou’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement and it’s time for 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!Places29-Rio group reviews corridor plan One of the purposes of a Comprehensive Plan is to direct government resources into specific areas in order to maximize investment in infrastructure. For over forty years, Albemarle County has envisioned an urban area that gets the vast majority of capital dollars. Pantops is one of the designated growth areas, as is the area around the intersection of Rio Road and U.S. 29. (Rio Corridor Public Input page)For the past year, Albemarle has been working on a plan to address traffic congestion and a lack of walkability on Rio Road East in and around the intersection with the John Warner Parkway. They hired the firm Line and Grade to do the work which is being done in two phases. The first extends from the Rio Road / U.S. 29 intersection to the John Warner Parkway and a written draft is nearing completion. The second phase travels down Rio Road East to the border with Charlottesville. The Places29-Rio Community Advisory Committee got an update on January 27 from Dan Hyer of Line and Grade. Specifically he focused on the area of East Rio Road between the Parkway and Pen Park Road. Let’s hear some traffic counts. (watch the meeting) “And what we see is that this portion of Rio Road is at least as of the year 2019 carrying about 9,300 vehicles a day,” Hyer said. “We’re seeing that Pen Park Road carries about 4,400, Pen Park Lane which goes to Lochlyn Hills carries about a thousand. The John Warner Parkway carrying around 19,800. Dunlora Drive carries about 2,400 vehicles per day.” Hyer said those figures are likely out of date with more development in the area. “Lochlyn Hills has continued to develop and bring more vehicles and more neighbors and more residents in the area,” Hyer said. “The Lofts apartment has come online with it, again, more neighbors, more residents, high density, multifamily there.Dunlora Park has come online.” Hyer also the 43-unit Rio Commons project will be developed by-right on land already zoned R-4 just north of the Waldorf School. That will add another 300 vehicles a day. There’s also another by-right development of a farm nearby that could see many more units. Before Hyer was able to get into the details of what phase 2 might look like, members of the CAC questioned his traffic data. One wanted to know what the limits are to development.“At what point would traffic lead to so much that further development would be prohibited?” asked Audrey Kocher, who is serving in her third term on the Places29-Rio CAC. Hyer said development is based on land use decisions made by the locality so if land is already zoned for houses, the developer as a property right to build. “It has nothing to do with how much traffic is or is not on on the road already,” Hyer said.“Whoa!” Kocher exclaimed. “So we can just have a really crowded, dangerous situation.” The point of the plan is to address those public safety concerns in advance of future development. So far, crash data from the Virginia Department of Transportation does not indicate any fatalities. In the future, though, there will be a lot more activity on a 2,000 linear feet stretch of Rio Road East with the 328-unit Rio Point development approved by Board of Supervisors in December. The study is intended to bring it all together for the future. “The roadway is going from this to this and so its getting increasingly dense and increasingly complex and our recommendations need to consider this and account for this,” Hyer said. Hyer said the Rio Point project provides an opportunity to increase non vehicular access via the greenway that runs along the John Warner Parkway. “You can see that if that connection is successfully put in, it would be really helpful for someone who lives in Dunlora Forest and wants to get to the greenway, it might make it a little easier than going through the John Warner Parkway or going down to Pen Park,” Hyer said. There’s also a roundabout funded and planned for the intersection of the parkway and East Rio Road. The work of Line and Grade is intended to inform how the rest of the corridor might look in the future. Phase two is still in the idea phase. “If we want to bring unity to this stretch of road, which is happening, how do we do it?” Hyer asked. “What are the opportunities? And what is the desire?” CAC member Nancy Hunt liked what she saw in Hyer’s presentation because she sees further growth as inevitable. “We’re going to have more traffic,” Hunt said. “This is an urbanizing area and we have to treat all property owners equally. And if we give dense zoning to one, we need to look at the possibility of giving dense zoning to another.”Hunt said she wants speed limits on East Rio Road to be reduced to make it safer for other road users.Fellow CAC Member Judy Schlussel took issue with one image that showed a median on East Rio Road.“I find that as a red flag,” Schlussel said. “We all know now median strips are not maintained and it worries me that if you’re going to put this lovely greenery in, one, who is going to ultimately be responsible for the maintenance.” You can also get a sense of where things are in a January 26 newsletter. Support the showToday I will keep this simple. Visit Information Charlottesville to learn how you can support the show. 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’re now over a month past the solstice and I can assure you that there’s more light in our day and there will be an end to winter. For now, there certainly is a lot of cold and it’s a shame there’s no way to conduct a harvest. I’m Sean Tubbs and I spend my time indoors with the curtains drawn pouring through meetings and agendas to bring you Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that wants you to keep track of the sky. On today’s show:Legislation to allow Charlottesville to hold a referendum on a one percent sales tax  increase for education has passed the SenateCharlottesville needs more time to respond to a lawsuit from a former city managerAlbemarle County begins the redistricting process and may accelerate it due to a pending federal lawsuit that could force House of Delegates races this NovemberCharlottesville’s public housing body is briefed on back rent owed by a third of tenants, and the city wants proposals for three quarters of a million dollars in affordable housing moneyFirst Patreon-fueled shout-out:With winter weather here, now is the time to think about keeping your family warm through the cold Virginia months. Make sure you are getting the most out of your home with help from your local energy nonprofit, LEAP. LEAP wants you and yours to keep comfortable all year round, and offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If you’re age 60 or older, or have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Pandemic updateAs Virginia policy on COVID mitigation strategies continues to change with a new Governor, the numbers continue to come in. Today the Virginia Department of Health reports another 10,699 new cases and the seven day-percent positivity is at 29.5 percent. While the trend this week is downward, these numbers are still higher than at most points during the pandemic. In the Blue Ridge Health District, there are another 350 new cases reported today and the seven-day average for new positive tests is at 25.1 percent. There have been four new fatalities reported since Friday in the district. Augusta Health and the University of Virginia Health System are pleading with members of the public to get a COVID vaccination and a booster to reduce strain on the medical infrastructure. “After two years and four surges, COVID-19 has tragically claimed the lives and health of too many in our communities,” reads a joint press release from both entities. “Our care teams are exhausted, both physically and mentally.”The release points out that the vast majority of hospitalized patients are unvaccinated and urges people to get the booster. It also asks people to continue wearing a mask in public but to upgrade to one that is medical grade as opposed to a cloth mask.Richardson lawsuit updateThe city of Charlottesville has asked for more time to respond to a federal lawsuit from former City Manager Tarron Richardson. Richardson filed a civil rights suit in November in the Western District of Virginia against Council and four individuals claiming he was discriminated against after members of Council broke a non-disparagement clause. He was also barred from publishing an op-ed in the Daily Progress. Charlottesville asked for an extension to respond to the argument, and Judge Norman K. Moon has given them until February 16.  See also: Former City Manager Sues Charlottesville, November 24, 2021Chamber of Commerce welcomes new membersThree new people have been added to the Board of Directors for the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce.Eric Mayberry is the president of the Daily Progress as well as director of sales and local marketing. Jonathan Chasen is a private wealth financial advisor with Wells Fargo Advisors. Rebecca Ivins is a client solutions manager for Hourigan, a construction company that has worked on several projects in Charlottesville including the Dairy Central building, the CODE building, and the Apex building. Charlottesville sales tax bill clears Virginia SenateHere’s a snapshot of where the General Assembly was at the close of business yesterday. The Senate has passed 37 bills, and the House of Delegates of Delegates has passed three, all three of which deal with insurance. So let’s focus today on the 40-member Chamber, where Senator Chap Petersen’s bill to permit hunting on Sunday passed the full Senate on a 29 to 11 vote (SB8). Both Charlottesville and Isle of Wight County are one step closer to being able to hold a referendum for a one percent sales tax increase to support education. SB37 for Isle of Wight County passed on a 27 to 12 vote. SB298 for Charlottesville passed on a 28 to 12 vote. Another bill would allow all localities in Virginia to hold such a referendum also passed on a 28 to 12 vote (SB472). Other bills that have passed the Senate:Legislation to allow employers to offer rewards to people who get the COVID-19 vaccine through their health insurance wellness program has passed on a 19 to 17 vote (SB42)A bill to direct the Department of Health to create a prescription drug awareness program in conjunction with the Board of Pharmacy passed unanimously. (SB14)A locality’s planning commission would have up to 100 days to make a recommendation on a Comprehensive Plan amendment under a bill that passed the Senate on a 26 to 14 vote. (SB35)Candidates for constitutional officers for localities would be required to identify their party registration if the House agrees to (SB39) and Governor Youngkin signs it. The Senate voted 25 to 15.  The Senate unanimously approved a bill to float $101 million in bonds for projects at Virginia Tech and James Madison University (SB93).Juvenile and Domestic Courts could waive the requirement for the ceremonial occasion when a minor gets a driver’s license if SB139 if the House agrees. The Senate passed it unanimously. (SB139)Candidates for public office would have to file campaign finance reports electronically under SB222, which passed the Senate unanimously. Another bill to expand required disclosures for who pays for campaign advertisements also passed the Senate on a 23 to 15 vote (SB318). Finally for the Senate, a bill to allow Arlington County to appoint an independent police auditor passed on a 21 to 19 vote (SB388). Second Patreon-fueled shout out goes to WTJUAlgorithms know how to put songs and artists together based on genre or beats per minute. But only people can make connections that engage your mind and warm your heart. The music on WTJU 91.1 FM is chosen by dozens and dozens of volunteer hosts -- music lovers like you who live right here in the Charlottesville area. Listener donations keep WTJU alive and thriving. In this era of algorithm-driven everything, go against the grain. Support freeform community radio on WTJU and get ready for the Folk Marathon, beginning on February 7. Consider a donation at wtju.net/donate.Public housing agency owed $100K in unpaid rent At last night’s meeting of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority, one Commission noted that there is a great deal of unpaid rent on the agency’s books.“We have roughly a third of our public housing residents not paying their rent,” said John Sales, the CRHA’s executive director. In all, the CRHA is owed about $100,000 in back rent but Sales said that’s not the only financial hit public housing takes as a result because a federal match cannot be made. “And CRHA is not receiving the rental subsidy on it which negatively impacts the overall financial standing of the housing authority,” Sales said. The CRHA has been redirecting other funds towards covering the shortfall with grant funding covering April, May and half of June from last year. Sales said continuing lack of rent payment continues to trouble the federal government.“[The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] is calling it out at every meeting and asks where we are doing to address it,” Sales said. The CRHA’s fiscal year ends on March 31. Sales said the agency is hiring an eviction prevention coordinator and housing stabilization position soon to work with families.“There is a policy now where the housing authority has to work with the families before moving forward with any eviction proceeding to at least get them to attempt to get the rent relief program,” Sales said. Sales said eviction is a last resort. The average rental payment is $247 a month and the monthly operating expense to run CRHA is currently $265,927. HUD considered CRHA to be a “troubled” agency and there will be an audit on March 16. At the meeting, former Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker was officially appointed to serve on the CRHA’s redevelopment committee in an at-large capacity.City seeking affordable housing proposals Since 2007, Charlottesville has had an affordable housing fund to help create and preserve affordable housing units. Today they’ve begun the process of soliciting proposals for how to use $750,000 from the current fiscal year’s capital budget. The notice for funding availability (NOFA) refers to the affordable housing plan adopted by Council last March. “This Plan recommends that the City make a strong and recurring financial commitment to address housing needs in Charlottesville in order to increase the number of subsidized affordable homes by 1,100 homes, preserve existing 600 existing subdidized affordable homes, and stabilize 1,800 to 2,000 owner and renter households facing housing instability,” reads the application.The application comes at a time when the firm HR&A continues to work on an audit of how the housing fund has been used. They gave a preliminary report to Council on December 20 that states the city has not tracked how the $38 million in local funds have been used to date. The current capital improvement program budget for this year includes $1.5 million for CHRA redevelopment, $900,000 for the supplemental rental assistance program, and over $3 million for the redevelopment of Friendship Court. The budget actually shows a line item of $925,000 for the housing fund this year. Questions are out but the answers will come in a future edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. See also: Council briefed on affordable housing funds, December 31, 2021Goldman lawsuit prompting Albemarle to consider expedited redistricting scheduleThe redistricting process in Albemarle County got underway last night with an information session on how it will work out. Guidelines require magisterial districts to be contained with Virginia’s legislative and Congressional lines. Under the new maps approved in late December by the Virginia Supreme Court, Albemarle falls entirely within the new 11th Senate District.“Albemarle County falls into two different Virginia House of Delegates districts, the 54th which is basically the urban ring around the city of Charlottesville and then the 55th which is the majority of the county,” said Anthony Bessette, the Senior Assistant County Attorney.There’s a slight glitch when it comes to the new House of Representatives maps.“Almost all of Albemarle County is in the 5th District but there is a tiny sliver up [north] that is in the 7th District,” Bessette said. There’s even a Twitter account for the sliver. Since 2010, Albemarle’s population grew by 13,385 people according to the Census but the growth isn’t even.“Rio and White Hall grew a great deal whereas on the other hand Scottsville did not grow at the same pace,” Bessette said. That means the Rio District and White Hall districts will need to be reduced in size and others will need to be expanded. In December, Supervisors approved preliminary guidelines that would keep their number at six. “The determination of whether to have six supervisors, five, four, seven, eight, etc, is a local decision that the Board of Supervisors gets to make,” Bessette said. Because of a federal lawsuit that may force an election for the House of Delegates this year, staff is now recommending an accelerated schedule in order to prepare for potential primaries in June. “Long story short on that is that timeline would see the process compressed further to begin on February 2 and end on March 23,” Bessette said. Attorney Paul Goldman has filed suit against the state Board of Elections arguing that the current districts for the House of Delegates are unconstitutional because they are out of date. Goldman filed a brief on January 18 in the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and attorneys for the Board of Elections have until January 28 to file additional materials. Public comment on redistricting will be taken at their February 2 meeting. The maps that have been developed so far were not shown to the public at the information session. Registrar Jake Washburne said three maps are being proposed. “We are planning to send those to the Board of Supervisors so they can be placed on the Board of Supervisors’ agenda for February 2,” Washburne said.  If you want to submit written comments:Richard J. WashburneGeneral Registrar Albemarle County Department of Voter Registration and Elections 1600 5th Street Charlottesville VA 22902 rwashburne@albemarle.orgThanks for reading!For ways to support this newsletter visit Information Charlottesville. Please send this on to someone else so we can grow the audience. Please let me know if you have questions! 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

What can MedTech companies do to be constructive, profitable and value-added participants in the shift to Value-Based Care? The big companies are all over this.  They have entire departments devoted to being ahead of this curve.  What about the small and medium sized companies?   Today we dig into that. This episode is “Intro to Value-Based Care Part 2”.  Once again, our guest to finish this introduction is Barbara Strain, Founder and principal of Barbara Strain Consulting. Prior to her move into consulting, Barbara was on the provider side of the healthcare equation as Director of Supply Chain Analytics and later Director of Value Management at the Univ. of Virginia Health System.  She is also a founding member of AHVAP, the Association of Healthcare Value Analysis Professionals. Needless to say, she knows what she is talking about.  In the last episode, we covered the history of value based care including discussion of various government cost containment measures that are currently in place.  Now we dig further into the trend towards Value-Based Care and what MedTech companies can do to consider this trend in their product development, marketing and sales efforts. I want to give another warm welcome to new members of the MedTech Leaders community.  Barbara is a member and can be reached within the community. For more information on this community, go to medtechleaders.net. I want to thank all of you for your support throughout 2021.  The podcast audience has continued to grow.  And, we have maintained our Feedspot ranking of the 2nd most popular medical device podcast.  Not bad when you consider this is a home produced program without the backing of a media company or commercial enterprise.  The best support you can give me is to share this podcast with a colleague using the share link on your preferred podcast platform. Again, thank you. Now Go Win Your Week!! Barbara Strain's LinkedIn Profile link Barbara's website link “Building New Pathways” Whitepaper link Ted Newill's LinkedIn Profile link More Medical Device Success podcasts link Medical Device Success website link MedTech Leaders Community link

It’s the end of the second week of 2022, and over 324 hours have happened so far. Not everyone has experienced the exact same situations so far, but it’s perhaps quite certain that the year to date has not been quite what people expected. What do people expect? I have no specific knowledge, but listeners and readers of Charlottesville Community Engagement have come to expect a lot of information stitched together in a reasonable manner. On today’s program: The U.S. Supreme Court says a plan to require American businesses require a vaccine mandate is not ConstitutionalGovernor Northam makes a lot of announcements in his final hours in officeGeneral Assembly committees continue to interview Governor Glenn Youngkin’s top appointmentsFirst shout-outIn today’s first subscriber-supported public service announcement: The Charlottesville Jazz Society at cvillejazz.org is dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and perpetuation of all that  jazz, and while this might not be the time to go out and listen people who love to play it’s a great time to learn about musicians in our area. The Charlottesville Jazz Society web site is dedicated to enriching your experience of jazz within the Charlottesville community and beyond. Go visit cvillejazz.org. And if you’d like to get a mention in this space, consider a $25 a month Patreon contribution. U.S. Supreme Court denies federal vaccine mandateThe U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a bid by the Biden administration to require most businesses to mandate vaccines by using the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The 6-3 ruling states that OSHA does not have enforcement authority. (read the ruling and dissent)“Although Congress has enacted significant legislation addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, it has declined to enact any measures to what OSHA has promulgated here,” reads the ruling in National Federation of Independent Business v. Osha.The ruling called the mandate “a significant encroachment” and that OSHA only has the power to set workplace safety standards but not to issue “broad public health measures.” To the majority of Justices, COVID-19 is not an occupational hazard but instead can spread wherever people gather.“That kind of universal risk is no different from the day-to-day dangers that all face from crime, air pollution, or any number of communicable diseases,” the ruling continues. The case was consolidated with another in which 27 states sought a stay. There are currently 27 Republican governors. The six Justices on the majority were all appointed by Republican presidents. The three dissenting Justices were appointed by Democratic presidents who argue in their dissent that the majority “seriously misapplies the applicable legal standards.”However, in another case, the Supreme Court ruled on a 5-4 vote that the Secretary of Health and Human Services does have the authority to require that health care and assisted living facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid can impose a COVID vaccine mandate. (read that ruling)Today’s pandemic numbersToday, the Virginia Department of Health reports another 17,219 cases and the percent positivity remains at 35.8 percent, among the highest levels of the pandemic. There are 3,845 people in Virginia hospitals with COVID, 656 of whom are in intensive care units and 360 are on ventilators. Dr. Costi Sifri is director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System, where there continue to be COVID patients. “We are seeing that about 75 percent of those individuals are not vaccinated,” said Dr. Sifri. “The remaining 25 percent typically are immunosuppressed or have preexisting conditions that put them at high risk for COVID, things like heart failure, heart disease, advanced diabetes, and other medical problems like that. And often while those people have been vaccinated, they’re often not boosted.” In the Blue Ridge Health District there are another 470 new cases today and the percent positivity is at 29 percent. These are among the highest numbers of the pandemic so far, and the sustained effort can be a struggle for health care workers. Wendy Horton is the chief executive officer of UVA Health.“We are two years in and people are exhausted and I think from time to time we saw glimmers of hope that we may be seeing the end of the tunnel and it’s more intense at least for those of us in Charlottesville than it has ever been,” Horton said. “People are tired. They’re really trying the best to serve our patients and our community and at the same time personally impacted this time around.” This morning, the Bodo’s trio of bagel shops announced they will now offer food on a take-out only basis. Northam touts final achievements, including awards to local housing nonprofitsAs the hours of his government tick away, Governor Ralph Northam continues to make announcements including the award of $8.2 million dollars in projects to reduce homelessness. Northam directed the funding to come from the Virginia Housing Trust Fund to go toward about 100 projects across the Commonwealth. They include $220,387 to the Valley Community Services Board for a project called Rapid Re-Housing Youth and $150,000 for Miriam’s House Community First program in the Bedford area. Read the rest in the full press release.In all, Northam has issued over a dozen announcements of activities in his final week including a wind energy partnership with Denmark, land acquisition for the Chickahominy Tribe,  $267 million investment in a paperboard recycling plant in Chesapeake, and $60 million in affordable and special needs housing loans.On that latter matter, Piedmont Housing Alliance will receive $3.4 million for 70 units at Southwood Apartments. Virginia Supportive Housing received $2.5 million for 80 units at the Premier Circle project and $2.4 million for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority for the second phase of the South Street redevelopment. Over in Waynesboro, the South River Development Corporation got $2 million for the redevelopment of the Brandon Hotel for senior units. (read the release)Northam also announced that the Commonwealth of Virginia has signed an agreement with Norfolk Southern to expand passenger service to Christiansburg as part of the Western Rail Initiative. Earlier this week the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority approved the deal which will see the state purchasing 28 miles of right of way between Salem and Christiansburg. The announcement also states that a second train will be added to the Northeast Regional service between Roanoke and Boston sometime later this year. No specific date is mentioned. Second shout-outToday’s second subscriber-supported public service announcement goes out to Camp Albemarle, which has for sixty years been a “wholesome rural, rustic and restful site for youth activities, church groups, civic events and occasional private programs.”Located on 14 acres on the banks of the Moorman’s River near Free Union, Camp Albemarle continues as a legacy of being a Civilian Conservation Corps project that sought to promote the importance of rural activities. Camp Albemarle seeks support for a plan to winterize the Hamner Lodge, a structure built in 1941 by the CCC and used by every 4th and 5th grade student in Charlottesville and Albemarle for the study of ecology for over 20 years. If this campaign is successful, Camp Albemarle could operate year-round. Consider your support by visiting http://campalbemarleva.org/donate. Legislative update: Kay Coles James asked about rights’ restoration We’re on Day 3 of the General Assembly, and as the morning began, not one of the 1,919 bills has been rejected. That’s mostly because committees are just meeting, organizing, and interviewing members of the Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin’s cabinet. That included Fauquier County Sheriff Bob Mosier, who was interviewed by the House Public Safety Committee this morning. That included this question from Delegate Angelia Williams Graves (D-90)Graves:“What is your position with regards to bias training? Is it something that you support or is it something that you don’t feel is necessary?”Mosier:“Oh no, we have it. It’s part of our program. Remember I talked about accreditation a few moments ago? That’s part of it. These are all things that are doable if we can pull the resources together to properly train people, right, for accreditation, and salaries, and all of different things things, then we can get a better law enforcement officer across the board. That’s absolutely part of the program.” You can watch the full meeting at this link.Later in the morning, the House Privileges and Elections Committee interviewed Kay Cole James, Youngkin’s nominee for Secretary of the Commonwealth. That person has many tasks including finding people to be appointed to the hundreds and hundreds of slots for Boards, Commissions, and Councils. The position also oversees clemency petitions and the restoration of civil rights. “When I look at that office, the first thing I think about is that the Secretary of the Commonwealth with its constituent services is the portal for many Virginians to bring before the Governor their concerns, their complaints, their anxieties, or something they want to just have an audience or to hear,” James said. James has served as the director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in the first term of President George W. Bush, an experience she cited in her testimony to the House Privileges and Elections Committee.  James said she looked forward to other duties that come with the office.“Very often what gets overlooked and is an important part of this particular job as well is looking at restoration of rights and pardons and I want you to know that both on a very personal level and a professional level that is very important to me,” James said.Many of the questions from Delegates followed up on that point. In response to one, James said the key is to find employers who are willing to hire those reentering society. Delegate Schuyler VanValkenburg (D-72) asked James how the new administration would change the past eight years of policy. “We’ve had two Governors in a row who have really kind of accelerated rights restoration and done more than previous Governors and I wonder if the plan of this administration is to continue on that path?” VanValkenburg asked. “I want to make it clear its not about numbers, it’s about people,” James said. “And every single request that comes into that office will be given great consideration.”VanValkenburg asked James for her position on bills calling for a Constitutional Amendment to allow restoration of rights to be automatic. In the House of Delegares, there are both HJ9 and HJ28, each filed by a member of a different party. “I don’t want to opine on the legislation,” James said. “I have not seen it. I don’t know what it is. I will operate well within the confines of the law of whatever it is that you in the General Assembly along with the Governor decide,” James said. And at the end of this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, there are 1,925 bills pending and none of them have yet failed. Bound to happen, very soon. Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Understanding this important subject is part of knowing your customer. Here is a factoid from today's conversation, the sickest 5% of the US population consumes 50% of healthcare resources.  One of many reasons fee for service is not sustainable and that the move to value-based care is gaining momentum.  Today's episode is the first of several episodes on Value-Based Care.  I am calling it "Intro to Value-Based Care Part 1".  Our guest for both part 1 and part 2 is Barbara Strain, Principal of Barbara Strain consulting.  Prior to her recent move into consulting, Barbara was the Director of Supply Chain Analytics and later Director of Value Management at the Univ. of Virginia Health System.  She is also a founding member of AHVAP, the Association of Healthcare Value Analysis Professionals. So, she has lived the history of DRGs, Bundles and Value-Based Care.   Barbara is going to give us a foundation in the subject so we will be better prepared for guest speakers from a hospital system, a physician practice and from industry. Before I get to today's episode, I want to share what the podcast content will look like over the first half of the year.  We (when I say we, I mean you and me)…We will be exploring 3 big themes. These themes are Value-Based Care, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.  I really believe these three areas will have a major impact on healthcare and MedTech going forward.  I have been working hard rounding up guest experts in these areas. If you know someone I should consider as a guest speaker, let me know.  I am serious.  Use the contact link in the show notes or message me via LinkedIn or the MedTech Leaders community.  Of course, there will be some other subject matter experts and “In the C-Suite” guests mixed in.  And, due to the difficulties scheduling guests, the themes will be mixed up in order of publication.  So, one week you may get value-based care and the next week artificial intelligence followed by robotics. By the way, Barbara is a member of the MedTech leaders' community.  A place for MedTech leaders and sales and marketing professionals to help each other out, learn from each other and subject matter experts. Several people joined last week.  A warm welcome to all of you.  You can learn more at medtechleaders.net. There is a free trial and the cost is equal to about 3 or 4 cups of artisanal coffee depending how big the cup is you drink. Now Go Win Your Week!! Barbara Strain's LinkedIn Profile link Barbara's website link “Building New Pathways” Whitepaper link Ted Newill's LinkedIn Profile link More Medical Device Success podcasts link Medical Device Success website link MedTech Leaders Community link Link to Ted's contact page

‘Tis the day before Christmas, and all through the town, there may or may not be stirring. I don’t know. I’m not there and away for a family holiday. But there’s too much information to not put out an installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement, no matter where I am. The “I” in that last sentence is Sean Tubbs, who conveniently happens to be me. He and I are the co-hosts in this and every installment of the program. Thanks for listening. On today’s program: It’s unfortunately beginning to look a lot like an omicron Christmas, with this season’s COVID surge on track to surpass last year’sDanville City Council adopts a one-cent sales tax increase to pay for school renovationsMore new bills are filed for the next General Assembly including…In today’s shout-out, a shout-out to the shouters-of out! I want to thank all of the individuals and entities that have supported this newsletter and podcast through a $25 a month Patreon contribution or through some other combination of support. Thanks to the Charlottesville Jazz Society, Code for Charlottesville, LEAP, the Rivanna Conservation Alliance, Lonnie Murray and his penchant for native plants, WTJU, the Albemarle-Charlottesville Historical Society, the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards, Cville 350, Piedmont Master Gardeners, and of course, the Valley Research Center. More in 2022Pandemic updateOn the day before Christmas, the Virginia Department of Health reports its second highest total of new COVID cases since the pandemic began with 8,756 cases. The percent positivity rate has increased to 11.3 percent. In the Blue Ridge Health District, there are 170 new cases and another four deaths have been reported since Wednesday. Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System, is not surprised by the surge.“Importantly what we’re also seeing in certain parts of the state like Alexandria and Arlington, they’re seeing their highest ever one-day totals,”For Alexandria, that meant 316 cases reported on Thursday and 310 cases reported today. Arlington set a one-day total today with 592, surpassing yesterday’s previous one-day record at 359. Richmond also set a one day of 346 today. Rural communities across Virginia are not yet seeing the same spike. “We’re seeing a rapid ascent in terms of total number of cases,” said Dr. Sifri. “This is being seen around the country in a lot of different locations and I think that we should anticipate that we’re going to continue to see this rapid rise, this sort of steep wall of COVID and it appears to be driven by Omicron across most of the state.” Dr. Sifri said researchers are learning more about the variant every day but it appears that cases are not translating into increased hospitalizations, but only time will tell if the size of the wave will still overpower Virginia’s hospitals. He added the UVA Health System had already been recovering from a slight surge from the Delta variant. “I think one of the biggest questions that sort of remains is how well does vaccination and then booster vaccination protect against Omicron,” Dr. Sifri said. “We are learning in the early reports that the two-dose mRNA vaccine does not provide as much protection as we’d like to see. Probably only around 40 percent based on some U.K. early estimates. And then a booster does improve that to around 70 or 75 percent depending on the type of vaccine that you received. Again, those are early data from the United Kingdom. It would be nice and important to see what does that mean here in the United States.”Dr. Sifri strongly recommends everyone get a booster given the unknowns. As of Thursday, 67.2 percent of the total Virginia population is fully vaccinated, but only 1.8 million have received a booster or a third dose. According to the Virginia Department of Health, unvaccinated individuals develop COVID at a rate of 4.1 times of fully vaccinated people, based on data through December 18. “In terms of what we see with people that are hospitalized it is still by and large still to this date people who have not been vaccinated,” Dr. Sifri said. “That is the largest portion of people that are hospitalized with COVID. When we’re taking care of a patient, when they’re in front us we really don’t know if it’s due to Delta or Omicron. We only can collect that information as its reported through our public health agencies.”Dr. Sifri said the situation with Omicron is still fast-moving and more information is needed to tell a complete picture. He said anyone who had COVID before vaccines became available is still potentially vulnerable. “Omicron is different enough that we are concerned that protection is incomplete and we certainly know from other variants and prior studies that the level of protection after so-called natural infection is not as robust as that that is afforded by a vaccination,” Dr. Sifri said.To get a booster or a vaccine, visit vaccinate.virginia.gov. Danville adopts sales-tax increaseIn the upcoming session of the Virginia General Assembly, the city of Charlottesville will seek permission to hold a referendum on a one-cent sales tax increase. That’s the path Danville took in 2020 when they and several other Southside communities petitioned the 2020 General Assembly to the list of “qualifying localities” that could have such a ballot initiative. In November, Danville citizens voted 7,515 to 4,921 in favor of levying the tax.On Tuesday, the seven-member Danville City Council voted unanimously to levy the tax, which will expire at the end of May of 2041. Vice Mayor Gary Miller had this observation before the vote. G.W. is George Washington High School. “Today I had a patient in and her daughter was a proud member of the 1965 GW Women’s Championship basketball team, the last time they won the state championship,” Miller said. “She said she was dismayed. She’d been to GW, that’s where she graduated, and she said how dismal the schools was and she didn’t think it was conducive to learning. And I was just happy to assure her that with the passage of this referendum and the sales tax, that school’s going to look like a different school in just few years and you wouldn’t be able to recognize it.”So far, there’s no pre-filed legislation for Charlottesville to be added to the list of qualifying localities. New 2022 General Assembly billsSeveral new bills were filed on Wednesday. Senator Travis Hackworth (R-Richlands) has introduced a bill eliminating a requirement that local school boards adopt policies regarding the treatment of transgendered students. (SB20)Senator Mamie Locke (D-Hampton) has filed a bill calling for a Constitutional amendment granting the right for people convicted of felons to be able to vote upon release. (SB21)Locke also filed legislation to increase the membership of the American Revolution 250 Commission add four legislators to total of 26 people. (SB22)Another bill from Locke would allow cities with African American cemeteries to be added to the list of entities that can receive state funds to care for them (SB23)Locke’s fourth bill submitted on 12/22 would extend the expiration date of the Eviction Diversion Program one year to July 1, 2024. (SB24)Senator Frank Ruff (R-Clarksville) introduced a bill relating to the cigarette tax that counties can now levy. Businesses that have existing inventory purchased before imposition of the tax could pay the tax without having it stamped or metered. (SB25)Ruff’s second bill would remove a sunset date for a sales tax exemption for the sale of gold, silver, and platinum bullion, as well as legal tender coins. (SB26)Ruff’s third bill would expand the availability of the Neighborhood Assistance Program and the Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credit program (SB27)Chickahominy PipelineThe state agency that regulates the power generation and the transmission of fuel has ruled that an entity that wants to build an 83-mile natural gas pipeline across several Central Virginia is a public utility. That means the Chickahominy Pipeline must be approved by the State Corporation Commission. The company that wants to build it argued they were merely transporting the gas and not selling it. “The Commission agreed that the pipeline company will own and operate a facility through which natural gas will be sold and used for the purpose of heat, light or power,” reads a press release. “Thus, a certificate of public convenience and necessity is required before constructing facilities for use in public utility service.”According to the release, Chickahominy Pipeline intends to connect with an existing natural gas pipeline. Read the full order here.This is Charlottesville Community Engagement and I want to continue the mixed-up holiday by giving thanks to the Piedmont Environmental Council for their support of the Week Ahead newsletter. For 71 weeks now, PEC has sponsored the creation of each Sunday’s look at what’s coming up in local government. I also want to give thanks to Ting for their matching of Substack payments. Creating a community newsletter that seeks to cover as much ground as this one takes a lot of work, and I’m grateful to everyone’s support. Now, let’s get back to the show! Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

This is not the final Saturday of 2021, but this is the final Saturday edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement for this two thousandth and twenty-first year of the common era. There’s been nothing common about this year, or any other, for that matter. This newsletter and podcast seeks to point out items of note, though it’s up to you to decide if there’s a tune. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs.This newsletter and podcast is supported by readers and listeners. Sign up for a regular update on what’s happening in the community, and decide later whether to pay! On today’s show:An update on the pandemic including a recommendation related to the Johnson and Johnson vaccineAn Albemarle Supervisor has concerns about the MPO hiring a consultant to craft a strategic plan Albemarle is considering three software platformsThe Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society explains its Race and Sports initiative and how it advances the study of the era of school desegregation In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out:Algorithms know how to put songs and artists together based on genre or beats per minute. But only people can make connections that engage your mind and warm your heart. The music on WTJU 91.1 FM is chosen by dozens and dozens of volunteer hosts -- music lovers like you who live right here in the Charlottesville area. Listener donations keep WTJU alive and thriving. In this era of algorithm-driven everything, go against the grain. Support freeform community radio on WTJU. Consider a donation at wtju.net/donate.Pandemic updateOn Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control endorsed a recommendation that individuals should receive the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine over the Johnson and Johnson shot. Both Moderna and Pfizer use messenger RNA. Still, the CDC recommends any vaccine in the face of another surge of cases nationally and internationally. (CDC release)“In general, the mRNA vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna should be used in preference over Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine,” said Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System.”Dr. Sifri said the new preference is due to new information that shows the possibility of higher rates of blood clotting than was previously known. “Still, it is a rare event but they are higher and it led to the change in stance,” Dr. Sifri said. The Blue Ridge Health District announced Friday that the Johnson and Johnson shot will only be offered a first dose but boosters will no longer be provided at community-based vaccination events or in mobile vaccination clinics. They will still be available at the community vaccination center at Seminole Square while supplies last. Dr. Sifri said those who have had the booster of the Johnson and Johnson should monitor for any symptoms of blood clots such as shortage of breath. He said UVA Health is recommending those who have not had the J&J booster select either the Moderna or Pfizer when they go in for a booster. Two-thirds of Virginians have now received enough doses to be considered fully vaccinated, or 5.7 million people. So far, only 1.7 million of Virginians have had a booster or third dose. “This is the time now to get your booster,” Dr. Sifri said. “The time for getting boosters to prepare yourself for the holiday season is starting to run out. It takes a little bit of time for that booster to take effect and to boost your immune system to encounter what it may encounter along the way.” As of yesterday, the seven-day average for vaccines administered is at 42,631 shots a day. The seven-day average for new cases was 2,760 a day and the percent positivity is 8.6 percent. The next set of numbers in Virginia will come out on Monday. Dr. Sifri said he expects the surge to continue.“We are anticipating that we’re going to see more cases and I think the likelihood that’s going to translate into more hospitalizations and deaths,” Dr. Sifri said. “We’re starting to see modeling information from the CDC that is warning of that possibility so we are concerned about that. That’s similar to what we saw last year as well.”The difference this year is a supply of vaccines. To inquire about vaccination opportunities at the UVA Health System, call 434-297-4829. You can also visit the Virginia Department of Health site at vaccinate.virginia.gov. Albemarle County softwareAlbemarle County’s procurement office has identified that the firm Granicus will be awarded a sole-source contract for a community engagement platform unless other vendors come forward. In a notice dated December 17, procurement officials state that Granicus “is the only source practically available” and the platform Bang the Table is mentioned. Their website lists it as “a platform to listen, inform, measure, and build community” and also has a helpful online assistant known as Eddie the Engager. Other vendors have until December 28 or the contract will be awarded. In similar procurement notices, Yardi Systems has a sole source award for the Breeze Premier platform for property management and that closing date is December 27. Lexis Nexis Systems has a sole source award that closes on Monday for the Accurint Virtual Crime Center which is touted as a way for law enforcement to obtain “a comprehensive view of people’s identities.”New transportation personnelTwo new faces joined the virtual table at the December 7 meeting of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Policy Board. The federally-mandated body consists of two Albemarle Supervisors, two Charlottesville City Councilors, and the head of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Culpeper District. That’s now Sean Nelson, who became District Engineer in mid-October replacing John Lynch. “I’m glad to be a part of this team here,” Nelson said. “I look forward to continuing to keep things going the way John Lynch did and just hold the steering wheel and carry us in to the future. I appreciate being here and plan to be an active participant.” Ted Rieck is the new director of Jaunt after a period running a similar agency in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “Really happy to be here in Charlottesville,” Rieck said. “As you all know, this is great community and a great part of the country. I look forward to hopefully being a contributor and a partner to all of you as we development transportation and transit in the area.”MPO Strategic Plan?Staffing shortages at the Thomas Jefferson Planning District have meant some delays in work that transportation staff had expected to work on. Director of Planning and Transportation Sandy Shackleford said planners are focused on what has to be done. “We are preparing for things like our long-range transportation plan and that we’re going to be able to do a good job with that,” Shackleford said. “It does mean that there are some projects that we just haven’t been able to pursue for right now like focusing on how we can better integrate climate action initiatives into our long-range transportation plan process.”Shackleford said another item that will be delayed will be the creation of a strategic plan for the MPO. She suggested additional funding could be placed in an existing item would outsource that work rto a consultant. That idea drew the concern of Albemarle Supervisor Ann Mallek. “This makes me very nervous that we’re going to turn over something as particular and local as our strategic planning to some consultant who probably has no familiarity with us at all,” Mallek said. TJPDC Director Christine Jacobs said the plan already had been to spend $25,000 on a consultant to do the plan, but no firms responded at that price. The new idea is to increase that amount by using funds that have not gone to pay a TJPDC staff member. Shackleford said no other MPO in Virginia has a strategic plan. Mallek suggested waiting until the local elected bodies are sat and select new MPO members. The MPO Policy Board will next discuss the matter in January. Julia Montieth, a land use planner at the University of Virginia’s Office of the Architect, said the pandemic has delayed creation on a master plan called the Grounds Plan. “We ended up putting the project on hold until post-COVID or post-better understanding of COVID,” Monteith said. “But one of the things that we did during that year was we did some enabling projects in-house that we felt we were capable of doing to inform the plan. That lowered our fees once we got to hiring the consultants.” Take a look at the 2008 Grounds Plan here You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement. Time for a second Patreon-fueled shout-out:Winter is here, and now is the time to think about keeping your family warm through the cold Virginia months. Make sure you are getting the most out of your home with help from your local energy nonprofit, LEAP. LEAP wants you and yours to keep comfortable all year round, and offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If you’re age 60 or older, or have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society’s Race and Sports projectThe Brown vs. Board of Education ruling in 1954 led to the eventual desegregation of public schools. For many schools created for Black students, that ended an era for beloved institutions. That’s the case with Charlottesville and Jackson P. Burley High School. Dr. Shelley Murphy is the chair of the board of the Albemarle-Charlottesville Historical Society, which has been working on collecting more oral histories as part of a project called Race & Sports: The Desegregation of Central Virginia Public High School Athletics.“Our goal is to collect 50 to 60 interviews from those in our local communities who were young students at that time, many of whom were in the athletics who desegregated the first teams at Lane and Albemarle high schools and some of whom went on to the University of Virginia to play teams there.”Murphy and others presented their work on November 28 to as part of the Sunday Sit-In series put on by AARP Virginia. You can watch the event on their YouTube page. Former City Councilor and historian George Gilliam is one of the participants in the project. He provided some historical context. “So in 1954 in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, the United States Supreme Court ruled that racially segregated schools were unconstitutional,” Gilliam said. “That put Virginians into a box because Virginians had adopted a state constitution in 1902 that provided ‘white and colored children shall not be taught in the same school.’” Virginia resisted the directive even after a reaffirmation in 1955 that ordered desegregation happen with “all deliberate speed.” “And after two years, some Charlottesville residents got frustrated and finally brought suit against the Charlottesville School Board seeking admittance of Black children to all-white schools,” Gilliam said. “The Virginia General Assembly then sprung into action enacting a package of laws providing that among other things that any school that desegregates, whether voluntarily or pursuant to court order, is to be seized by the Governor and closed.”Gilliam said this era is known as Massive Resistance because the state government refused to comply with the law. He said in the fall of 1958, the state closed Lane High School when it appeared some Black students would be admitted. The Massive Resistance laws were determined to be unconstitutional.“In 1959 the parties reached a compromise,” Gilliam said. “The schools agreed to ease Black students into the previously all-white student bodies achieving full desegregation but not until the fall of 1967.”For this period, Jackson P. Burley High School remained open for several years while the transition took place. This is where athletics come in. “Charlottesville’s Lane High for white students and Burley High for Black students both had championship football teams,” Gilliam said. “The high school for white students had a 53-game streak during which they were undefeated. And Burley, the high school for Black students had an entire season where they were not only undefeated and untied, they were not even scored upon!”Gilliam said the legacy of the Burley Bears was threatened with the order to desegregate. UVA historian Phyllis Leffler said telling that story is crucial to understanding many of the dynamics of the time in a way that transcends the legal framework. “The Race and Sports inserts the voices of those who lived through a critical time in our local and national history,” Leffler said. “Those voices of Black and white athletes and what they went through are in danger of being lost. So many of the people we would have liked to speak with are no longer with us so it is imperative to document this period now with those who have stories to tell.”Leffler said a common assumption is that sports was seen as a way to bring the community together, but some of the stories paint a different picture. “We are still living the consequences of racial inequities that go back 400 years,” Leffler said. “This project will hopefully help bring our divided communities together by honestly looking at the costs and benefits of desegregation.”Late last year, Jackson P. Burley High School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Support the program!Special announcement of a continuing promo with Ting! Are you interested in fast internet? Visit this site and enter your address to see if you can get service through Ting. If you decide to proceed to make the switch, you’ll get:Free installationSecond month of Ting service for freeA $75 gift card to the Downtown MallAdditionally, Ting will match your Substack subscription to support Town Crier Productions, the company that produces this newsletter and other community offerings. So, your $5 a month subscription yields $5 for TCP. Your $50 a year subscription yields $50 for TCP! The same goes for a $200 a year subscription! All goes to cover the costs of getting this newsletter out as often as possible. Learn more here! This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

There are two weeks until the next eve, but aren’t we always on the eve of something? Time never stands still, and neither does information. Data, facts, and anecdotes all swarm around at blistering speed, but it is possible to stand on the shore of the raging river and take stock, build a camp, and plan for the future. That’s kind of the point of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that is also always on the move. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs. On today’s edition:The consumer price index rises with the increasing cost of energy leading the wayThe corporate owner of the Daily Progress outright rejects a takeover bid from a hedge fundThe UVA Buildings and Grounds Committee contemplates a new building name The city-manager-who-wasn’t takes a job in PennsyvlaniaUVA health officials provide information on the variant Omicron and urge continued vigilance and mask-wearingIn today’s shout-out, a shout-out for shout-outs! If you’re interested in getting information out in this spot, consider supporting Town Crier Productions by making a $25 contribution through Patreon! That gets you or your nonprofit organization four shout-outs a month! These can be for a non-profit, an event, or just a message you want to get out to the word! There are a few guidelines, but this is a great way to support this newsletter and podcast, and to get some eyes and ears on something you want to shout out. Contact me for more information, or just sign up at Patreon.com to learn more! Omicron updateIn another sign Virginia is experiencing another surge in COVID cases, the seven-day average for positive test results is 8.1 percent today, up from 7.2 percent a week ago. Today the Virginia Department of Health reports another 2,848 cases today for a total of 994,069 confirmed cases. The total number of COVID cases in Virginia will likely cross one million total cases over the weekend. “It’s nothing sort of tragic to think about those numbers particularly when you think about the number of hospitalizations and deaths, and the families that have been impacted by the life lost due to that when we have a tool box of tools that can be used and employed to prevent that,” said Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System. Today the Blue Ridge Health District reports 61 news cases and an additional fatality. The percent positivity in the district has increased to 8.6 percent. That figure was 6 percent a week ago. Yesterday, the Virginia Department of Health identified the first case of the Omicron variant somewhere in their Northwest region. The strain was first announced globally on Thanksgiving Day.“We know that it’s spread across and around much of the globe,” Dr. Sifri said. “All continents have cases of COVID except for Antartica and that it’s in nearly 60 countries last I saw.” Dr. Sifri said it’s still too early for sure, but for now it appears that Omicron may not be as cause severe cases of the disease despite news it may spread more easily. “I think that’s still very early data and something we need to take with a grain of salt,” Dr. Sifri said. Dr. Sifri said that early reports are that vaccines appear to have a level of protection against the Omicron strain, but it is diminished and not as robust. “The open questions are does that laboratory data really bear out in the real world, so that’s information that we need,” Dr. Sifri said. “The other question that’s too soon to answer is exactly how long that protection lasts.” Scientists are also studying the possibility that Omicron is more transmissible but that’s another open question until more data comes in. Dr. Sifri called the current wave in Virginia a resurgence of the Delta virus and is likely caused by more indoor gatherings. “So get vaccinated and importantly now, get boosted,” Dr. Sifri said. “We just talked about how the booster is for Omicron but really the booster is also very important for Delta. Remember that your antibody response and your ability to stave off infection after being vaccinated against Delta wears off.” Dr. Sifri said mask-wearing remains an essential tool in public settings to slow the spread. He also recommend people who feel ill should get tested as should people who are going to be heading to a family gathering for Christmas. As 2022 approaches, a new governor will take over in Virginia who may have a different position on masks and vaccines. There continue to be some people who called the entire thing a hoax. “I don’t hear from many of those people except when I’m taking care of them in the hospital and it’s usually in the past tense,” Dr. Sifri said. “‘I did not believe COVID was a big deal. I did not think COVID was a risk for me.’ And those are the people I see in the intensive care unit that are are struggling to survive COVID infection.”The next COVID numbers from the Virginia Department of Health will be out on Monday morning. Inflation upThe Consumer Price Index increased 0.8 percent in November, continuing a yearly trend towards higher costs across the country. Overall, inflation is up 6.8 percent over November 2020 before seasonal adjustments. Energy costs were up 3.5 percent with gasoline rising 6.1 percent. Food costs were up but at a much lower rate of 0.7 percent for food. According to a release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, November’s annual increase of 6.8 percent matches October’s increase, and that had been the largest 12-month rise since June 1982. The energy index increased 33.3 percent over the past 12 months and the gasoline index increased 58.1 percent over the last year. That’s the largest increase since April 1980. The average price for natural gas has increased 25.1 percent over November 2020 and electricity has risen 6.5 percent over the same period.At the same time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported that the average hourly earnings for all employees decreased 0.4 percent from October to November. That figure is down 1.9 percent year to year. According to a report released yesterday on the Work Experience of the Population, 26.4 million Americans experienced unemployment in 2020, up sharply from 12.9 million in 2019. Woolley hired (in PA)Never-to-be interim Charlottesville City Manager Marc Woolley has taken a job as the deputy executive director of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. That’s according to an article on Bloomberg Law. Woolley cited an unwillingness to face the city’s problems under an interim title. He told the publication that he would constantly be looking for another position in the face of pressure. Last Friday, Charlottesville’s procurement department issued a request for proposals to hire a firm to conduct administrative services on an interim basis. “The services… shall be provided by an individual who is either employed by or under contract with the Successful Offeror and who is approved by City Council,” reads the request for proposals. That bid process closes on December 14. The city issued an addendum to the RFP this morning in response to questions. Woolley would have made an annual salary of $209,102.40 and would have had a $500 a month allowance for a vehicle. We know now that there is one deputy city manager position vacant and several other departments are currently led by an existing employee in an “acting” capacity such as the city’s communications director and the head of information technology. The police chief position will not be filled until the firm is hired to provide interim city manager services. We’re also waiting to see what briefs will be filed in response to former City Manager Tarron Richardson’s federal civil rights lawsuit against Charlottesville City Council and others. (read the story)In today’s second subscriber-supported public service announcement: The Charlottesville Jazz Society at cvillejazz.org is dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and perpetuation of all that  jazz, and there’s no time like now to find a time to get out and watch people love to play. The Charlottesville Jazz Society keeps a running list of what’s coming up at cvillejazz.org. Sign up for their newsletter today. Lee says no to AldenThe owner of the Charlottesville Daily Progress and many of Virginia’s other newspapers is rejecting a takeover bid by a hedge fund. Alden Global Capital announced in mid-November that it would purchase shares of Lee Enterprises at $24. Lee Enterprises responded initially responded by invoking shareholder protections. Yesterday they issued a press release stating the price was too low. “After careful consideration with its financial and legal advisors, Lee’s Board determined that Alden’s proposal grossly undervalues Lee and is not in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders,” reads a news release.In a second release yesterday, Lee Enterprise reported revenue growth in their fiscal fourth quarter.  Contemplative Sciences Center namedThe governing body of the University of Virginia met this week, as did its various subcommittees. The Buildings and Grounds Committee had a light agenda that included recommendation to approve the name of a new building. Colette Sheehy is the Senior Vice President for Operations and State Government at UVA. “We’re recommending Contemplative Commons as the name for the building that will house the Contemplative Sciences Center,” Sheehy said. The building will be built on Emmet Street between the pond at the Dell and the buildings that house the Curry School of Education. The Contemplative Sciences Center’s mission is to “advance the study of human flourishing at all levels of education” according to its website. “This building is designed as a hub for academic, co-curricular and extracurricular activities, interdisciplinary collaboration and research, and engagement between UVA and the Charlottesville community,” Sheehy said. The Centers’ construction is funded in part by a $40 million gift in 2016 from Paul Tudor Jones and Sonia Klein Jones. The couple was also instrumental in the center’s founding in 2012. The committee also approved site guidelines and the concept for the expansion of the UVA Encompass Rehabilitation Hospital at Fontaine Research Park. The project will add 16,400 square feet and renovate 50,000 square feet of the existing hospital. I’ll have more from the Buildings and Grounds Committee meeting in an upcoming installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement. 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

Let’s begin today with a 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/cville350                                                                                                                  On today’s program:The CDC has approved booster shots for all adult AmericansThe city fills one position while another became vacant The Virginia Supreme Court appoints two Special Masters to complete the redistricting process Members of the Crozet Community Advisory Committee debrief after Supervisors adopt a master planCOVID updateAs the week ended, the percent positivity creeped up slightly to 5.8 percent as reported by the Virginia Department of Health and the seven day average rose to 1,518. Nearly a million Virginians have received a third dose or a booster shot. The seven day average for doses administered a day was 40,389 on Friday. Also on Friday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized the use of the Moderna and Pfizer booster shots for all adults, and the Centers for Disease Control followed suit later in the day. Dr. Costi Sifri is director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System, and he said this means anyone who completed their two-dose cycle of Pfizer and Moderna can now get a booster dose. “We’re at a point right now where that is going to start including a fair number of people,” Dr. Sifri said. “It’s clear that boosters are really beneficial in boosting up the number of antibodies.”Dr. Sifri said there are an increasing number of “breakthrough-cases” in people who were vaccinated over six months ago. Some of these cases have resulted in hospitalizations and Dr. Sifri recommended those at higher risk should schedule their booster. “I really strongly encourage those people to get a booster especially as we head into the holiday season and as we are starting to see increasing rates of COVID in the nation as well as our community,” Dr. Sifri said. Dr. Sifri said others should consider getting the third dose, especially if they want to avoid contracting COVID. “There hasn’t been much of a rush,” Dr. Sifri said. “Right now we understand that about 16 percent of people in our health district who are eligible for a booster vaccine has received one.”Dr. Reid Adams is the Chief Medical Officer at UVA Health. His recommendation is a little more sharp.“I think the time is now,” Dr. Adams said. “We have gotten to a lower rate in Virginia but it’s certainly not low enough. If you look around the country, particularly in the midwest and the upper plains, we’re really seeing a surge so ideally folks would get their booster now before that happens here.” People who want to schedule a booster dose or get vaccinated for the first time can do so at vaccinate.virginia.gov. There are plenty of appointments and shots.“We have not seen long waits for booster doses here at the medical center,” Dr. Sifri said. “Those are available. In addition there is the availability of getting booster vaccines through local pharmacies and the Blue Ridge Health District.”Since November 6, over 4,674 children between the ages of 5 and 11 have been vaccinated, or around 25 percent of the eligible population. Sage Smith disappearanceToday marks nine years since Sage Smith disappeared, having last been seen in the 500 block of West Main Street. The Charlottesville Police Department put out a release this morning stating they are still seeking the whereabouts of Erik McFadden, calling him a critical person of interest in the case. The two had been expected to meet the night of November 20, 2012, but Smith has not been heard from since. McFadden is believed to have left town rather than speak to the police. “Smith was a beloved family member and friend to many in the Charlottesville and LGBTQ+ communities,” the release reads. “Although [nne] years have passed, CPD is hopeful with the help of the media and continued public interest, we can finally solve this case and bring closure to a family and community that continues to experience anguish.” A missing persons report was filed for McFadden in June 2019 but multiple leads have not turned up any further developments. For more information, take a look at the release. Charlottesville personnel updateThe city has hired a Minority Business Development Coordinator. Ajoni Wynn-Floyd will take the position within the city’s Economic Development Department. The Minority Business Program was created in 2018 to assist qualified businesses with one-on-one business consulting, start-up assistance, and help registering to be vendors for state and local government. “The program is focused on increasing the number of minority- and woman-owned businesses that are registered vendors with the City and to encourage more City spending with such businesses,” reads the intake form on the city’s website.Wynn-Floyd has worked with the Latino Student Alliance and the Diversity Awareness Program board. Earlier this month, the city’s Tree Commission learned of the resignation of Mike Ronayne, the city’s urban forester. He served in the position for five years. The position has not yet been advertised on the Charlottesville jobs board as of Friday afternoon.  At that November 2 meeting, Tree Commission chair Brian Menard said the city must demonstrate support for urban forestry.“We need to have more resources, not just financially, but we need more resources in terms of hands that can do this work and support this work,” Menard said. “We recognize that this has not been an ordinary 18 months but even before then it was clear that there’s just a lot that’s put on one person,” Menard said. Map-drawers selectedThe Virginia Supreme Court has appointed two special masters to complete the process of redistricting maps for the General Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives. Sean P. Trende and Bernard F. Grofman are the selected candidates. “Though each was nominated by legislative leaders of a particular political party, the Nominees… shall serve as officers of the Court in a quasi-judicial capacity,” reads the appointment order made Friday.The pair will work on a single map and have 30 days to complete their work. According to the order, Trende and Grofman must resolve differences in good-faith and are not permitted to consult with anyone except for designated staff at the Supreme Court and the Virginia Division of Legislative Services. They are directed to take into account the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Voting Rights Act. “In short, the Court expects to receive from its Special Masters redistricting maps that have been drafted using factors that are fully compliant with constitutional and statutory law applied in an apolitical and nonpartisan manner,” reads the order. Trende was nominated by Republicans and is a senior elections analyst with Real Clear Politics. Grofman is a political science professor at the University of California at Irvine. Read more at the Virginia Mercury.In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out, Code for Charlottesville is seeking volunteers with tech, data, design, and research skills to work on community service projects. Founded in September 2019, Code for Charlottesville has worked on projects with the Legal Aid Justice Center, the Charlottesville Fire Department, and the Charlottesville Office of Human Rights. Visit codeforcville.org to learn about those projects. Crozet updateA month has passed since the Albemarle Board of Supervisors adopted an update of the Crozet Master Plan, with some land use aspects included over the wishes of some members of the Crozet Community Advisory Committee. For a good summary of what happened on October 20, read Allison Wrabel’s story in the October 21 Daily Progress. Or Lisa Martin’s story in the November 5 Crozet Gazette.On November 10, the Crozet CAC had the opportunity to talk about the plan. Chair Allie Pesch didn’t have anything prepared, and neither had Planning Manager Rachel Falkenstein. The Albemarle Planning Commission had recommended removing the Middle Density Residential designation from a portion of downtown Crozet, but there were four votes on the Board of Supervisors to move forward. White Hall District Supervisor Ann Mallek ended up voting with that majority on the eventual 5 to 1 vote in support of the plan’s update.“I should have done it differently,” Mallek said. “I should have made the motion I was going to make that adopted the Planning Commission’s route and if that had been voted down we would have been much more clear to the membership in the community what was going on.”  Meetings in Albemarle are still virtual due to the pandemic and Mallek said the logistics of getting that motion moved forward were difficult to accomplish over Zoom. She acknowledged that many landowners in Crozet are concerned about the increased density. Many CAC members thought their concerns were too easily dismissed.“I found a fair amount of pretty serious community input ignored at points and I feel that ever since the state abolished the ability to negotiate proffers, developers kind of trump most of the decisions,” said Brian Day.Day referred to legislation in 2016 that rendered invalid an Albemarle policy that required a cash payment from developers for every new unit authorized by a rezoning. Proffers are still legal if they are deemed reasonable and contribute to the direct impact of a development. However, the 2016 legislation ushered a cooling off point where localities were hesitant to even discuss the issue. This past week, for instance, representatives of Greystar Development said they would pay a proportional amount toward upgrades on Old Ivy Road. Michael Monaco, a new member of the CAC, said he felt public input had to be broadened in range. He said Crozet needs more housing and more entry-level jobs so young people can stay.“I think any process that is guided mostly by homeowners is going to be guided mostly by the financial interests of homeowners, consciously or not,” Monaco said. “Any attempt to counter that would be wise.” Kostas Alibertis is on his second term on the CAC. “I think the struggle and the challenge that we had here was the vision of the county versus the vision of the community and I think we’ll always have that unless there is some delineation of where those lines are, and I think that’s what led to all of this frustration,” Alibertis said. Shawn Bird said the process was hurt by a lack of in-person community engagement meetings due to the pandemic.“If you remember those meetings we had at the high school, I thought there was really strong turn out, I thought there were people energized by the process, we had a certain momentum behind it,” Bird said. “I saw new people coming out to those things and then COVID hit and we all had to jump on our computers and it just changed the whole dynamic.”During the process, the CAC took votes indicating a majority were not in favor of the middle density residential category. Those votes are not binding and are only symbolic, but Bird defended the practice as well a 2017 survey (as published in the Crozet Gazette),“I think the powers that be need to know was this issue 13 to 2, or 8 to 7, by the CCAC?” Bird said. “I think you need to quantify to some degree where the citizens fall on particular issues. In my mind, that’s what makes a survey much more powerful to some degree than anecdotal one-offs by people who have the time to jump on these cools and may have the loudest voices.”Allie Pesch said the master plan update was revision and not a rewrite. She said an analysis of the update should look at whether existing goals are being met.“We’ve wanted to increase affordable housing for a while and the solution seemed to be just to increase density and not really look at how that has or hasn’t worked in the existing plan,” Pesch said. Marc McKenney is in his first term on the CAC and he said many are concerned that Albemarle has not made the investments to support that density. “There’s been massive growth in Crozet in the past two decades,” McKenney said. “Population went from 2,200 in 2000, to 5,500 in 2010, to 9,500 or 9,200 a decade later. (TRIM) If we cannot show citizens what’s actually been delivered from an infrastructure perspective, I guarantee you there will be a complete loss in faith by citizens to the county that they have their best interest in providing sidewalks, and road repairs, and bridges.”Some of the current projects in the planning process are:$1.5 million in improvement to the Square anticipated to be completed in May 2023 (page 26 here), $21.25 million expansion of Crozet Elementary School expected to be completed in August 2022 (page 28 here)Sidewalk improvements on U.S. 250 West from Cory Farms to Cloverlawn (page 44)A revenue-sharing application was submitted to the Virginia Department of Transportation on October 1 to complete Eastern Avenue across Lickinghole Creek to Cory Farms Road (Albemarle transportation priority #8)Improvements at Crozet Avenue and U.S. 250 West are being considered for Smart Scale recommendations in 2022 (Albemarle transportation priority #21) The adoption of the Crozet Master Plan happened just before the first phase of the county’s Comprehensive Plan review got underway. A public kickoff meeting will take place in January. Supervisor Mallek urged members of the CAC to become engaged in that process to ensure that Crozet’s voice can be heard.“While people may feel discouraged about particular outcomes in our process, we all need to be keeping our eyes on this other prize going forward because from natural resource planning to historic preservation to climate change to all slews of things, that is the core book that the Board and the staff refer to and this is our chance to make sure that our local words are maintained,” Mallek said. One of the items to be discussed during the Comp Plan review will be the county’s growth management policy. Thanks to Ting for their support in helping this program be produced each day. Today the newsletter ends with a limerick from friend of the show Bekah Saxon honoring Ting for their commitment to match your initial payment to a paid Substack subscription!There once was a reporter named SeanWho needed a check to go onWith money from TingHe could make his words singAnd keep Charlottesville moving alongSpecial 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 Mall This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Dive into a conversation with George and Diana, as they sit and chat about the importance of nutrition from an omni-directional perspective on nutrition. Both George and Diana carry a wealth of experiences that they each shared on the show, only adding and connecting the dots in moving the needle forward in human performance. Furthermore, Diana believes strongly in science, research, and how science is being used to help build a foundation for the tactical professional. Re-educating each tactical professional, not only to support the physical, but most importantly, how nutrition can impact your cognitive function over time. Nutrition can be the smallest worthwhile change, aiding in lowering the chances of illness and disease, over the duration of a tactical professional career, potentially cutting their life span shorter and shorter. Diana Nguyen is a Performance Dietitian for U.S. Army Special Operations to support combat readiness, health, and career longevity for soldiers. Prior to her time in the Special Operations setting, Diana worked in collegiate athletics for 12 years, first as a Graduate Assistant at Virginia Tech, then serving as the Assistant Director for Performance Nutrition at Texas A&M University, and most recently as the Director of Sports Nutrition at NC State University. Diana is also the owner of Nguyen With Nutrition LLC which focuses on performance nutrition education for first responders and tactical professionals as well as competitive athletes. Nguyen earned her bachelor's degree and master's degree from Virginia Tech. She completed her dietetic internship at the University of Virginia Health System in 2008. She is a Registered/Licensed Dietitian (RD/LD), and Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD). She is a member of the practice group Sports and Human Performance Nutrition through SCAN, and she also serves on the Board of Directors for the Collegiate & Professional Sports Dietitians Association (CPSDA) as the Chair of Research and Education. Nguyen's passion for helping athletes and professionals reach peak performance and function through nutrition runs deep. In her free time she enjoys hiking, training and spending time with her family.

Let’s begin with a Patreon-fueled shout-out. Colder temperatures are creeping in, and now is the perfect time to think about keeping your family warm through the holidays. Make sure you are getting the most out of your home with help from your local energy nonprofit, LEAP. LEAP wants you and yours to keep comfortable all year round, and offers FREE home weatherization to income- and age-qualifying residents. If you’re age 60 or older, or have an annual household income of less than $74,950, you may qualify for a free energy assessment and home energy improvements such as insulation and air sealing. Sign up today to lower your energy bills, increase comfort, and reduce energy waste at home!On today’s program: The overall health of the James River has dropped slightly The Food and Drug Administration approves focused ultrasound to treat some symptoms of Parkinson’s diseaseArea transportation officials want your input tonight on the region’s transit futureAn update on planning for Smart Scale’s fifth round The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority prepares its annual plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentWhile the number of vaccinated Virginians has increased due to the extension of shots into people between the ages of 5 and 11, the number of cases has been up slightly over the past two days. However the Virginia Department of Health reports Wednesday figure of 2,592 new cases as a technical error that includes counts from previous days. The seven day average is now at 1,475 a day and the percent positivity is at 5.5 percent today. The Blue Ridge Health District reports another 49 new cases today and the fatality count is at 309. Do you have something to say about how our area bus systems should work? Tonight you’ll have your chance to weigh in on a Regional Transit Vision that could guide the future. Lucinda Shannon is a transportation planner with the Thomas Jefferson Planning District who briefed a technical committee of the Metropolitan Planning Organization on Tuesday.“I’m really hoping you guys will all sign up for the public meeting which is Thursday night at 6:30 p.m.,” Shannon said. “There’s also surveys on both of the TJPDC transit projects.”The TJPDC is also conducting a separate study of the expansion of transit in Albemarle County.Changes to the Charlottesville Area Transit system have been studied and presented to the public this year, but there is no schedule for when they may go into effect as there are more procedural steps to go through. (story map) (presentation)This week, the Norfolk City Council adopted a resolution approving a plan called Multimodal Norfolk that seeks to increase frequency of some buses. “The Recommended Network focuses 70 percent of resources on service that will maximize access to opportunity for most residents and are likely to get high ridership relative to cost,” reads the resolution adopted Tuesday night. “The other 30 percent of resources are focused on service that is not likely to get high ridership but will provide service in areas where there is relatively high need.”Service in Norfolk is provided by Hampton Roads Transit, which that city pays about $20 million a year to operate service.  That includes the Tide light rail system. Meanwhile, work continues to prepare the next round of applications for the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Smart Scale funding process.  Chuck Proctor is a planner with VDOT’s Culpeper District and he’s assisting Albemarle and the MPO come up with potential submissions.“Most of them are bike-ped related, a lot of them are multimodal projects like Avon Street, 5th Street, the 29-250 bypass,” Proctor said. Other projects that could be submitted include the intersection of Old Trail and Crozet Avenue, a recommendation from the ongoing North 29 corridor study, projects on Pantops, as well as various intersections of U.S. 250 east of Pantops. The Thomas Jefferson Planning District can submit up to four applications on behalf of localities. Proctor said he was not aware of what applications the city of Charlottesville might advance. Jeannete Janiczek, the city’s urban construction initiative. In most cases, Charlottesville administers its own projects without involvement from VDOT. “I just want to remind everyone this is still early in the process,” Janiczek said. “We have a new City Council coming online. The city does plan to apply for Smart Scale but we haven’t yet decided which projects.” In four rounds, Charlottesville has been awarded millions for various streetscape projects, none of which has yet gone to construction. In September, Council indicated they would no longer support contributing a local match for funds received for the first two phases of West Main Streetscape. VDOT has not yet been formally informed of any decision, according to spokesman Lou Hatter. Janiczek said potential Charlottesville projects for Round 5 a fourth phase of West Main Streetscape, or in the East High Street, Rose Hill, and the Preston Avenue corridors. There is no information about any of these potential projects available on the city website. In contrast, Albemarle and the TJPDC have been discussing potential projects since the spring. In recent years, Albemarle County has increased its capacity to design and build non-vehicular transportation projects. Kevin McDermott is a chief of planning.“We are now finally after many years in the construction phase for a lot of sidewalk improvements including new sidewalks out on Avon Street Extended, both north and south of the Mill Creek intersection,” McDemott said. The others are:New sidewalk along U.S. 250 near the Harris Teeter including a pedestrian crossing New sidewalk along Rio Road East from John Warner Parkway heading east and south toward CharlottesvilleNew crosswalk at Mountain View Elementary School on Avon Street ExtendedNew sidewalk and shared-use path on Lambs Road to the Lambs Land CampusNew sidewalk on Ivy Road between city limits and the UVA Musculoskeletal CenterThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of focused ultrasound to treat patients with Parkinson’s disease, according to a release from the University of Virginia Health System. Specifically, medical device regulators have authorized medical centers to use something called Exablate Neuro by the company Insightec to treat mobility problems associated with tremors caused by Parkinson’s disease. “Prior to the approval, available treatments for the Parkinson’s symptoms included drugs, which not all patients respond to, and invasive deep-brain surgeries,” reads the release.” Focused ultrasound, in comparison, does not require incisions or cutting into the skull.” During the procedure, highly focused sound waves are used to target faulty brain cells and used together with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), treatment can help ease symptoms. The releases stresses that this is not a cure. The medical technology has been pioneered at UVA and shepherded by the Focused Ultrasound Foundation. Other potential uses include treatment for essential  tremors, uterine fibroids and some forms of cancer.. Research is ongoing. For more information visit the UVA Health website or watch videos on the Focused Ultrasound Foundation’s YouTube page. Water quality in the James River has declined slightly over the past two years, according to a report card issued this week by an advocacy group that seeks to promote practices to reduce pollution. Since 2007, the James River Association has issued the State of the James and this year’s B- is based on a score of 61 percent. Every two years that score is factored by looking at 18 indicators split into the two categories of River Health and River Restoration Progress. In 2017 the grade was 63 percent. “The decline that has occurred since 2017 reflects the impact of abnormally high rainfall experienced across the watershed in recent years causing increased polluted runoff throughout the James,” reads the press release. “While oysters and tidal water quality showed promising resilience over the past year by bouncing back from the surge of rainwater and pollution, the river also revealed stalled progress in phosphorus, nitrogen, and sediment pollution reductions, as well as stream health.” Among the indicators are gauges of how healthy various wildlife populations are. The good news is that the bald eagle scores at 100 percent due to an increase in breeding pairs to 352, indicating the ban on DDT as well as passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973 has led to the resurgence. The bad news is that American shad are rated at zero and efforts to stock the James River watershed with hatchery shad have not worked because of the presence of dams, water intakes for water supply, invasive catfish, and fishing nets intended for other species. “Given the dire situation, Virginia must develop an emergency recovery plan that clearly identifies restoration actions,” reads the report card. “But it will take a long-term and sustained effort to bring American shad back from the brink of collapse in the James.” To look through all of the indicators, visit the State of the James website and explore their story map. What are you most interested in? Let me know in the comments. You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement and it’s now time for a second Patreon-fueled shout-out. The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign, an initiative that wants you to grow native plants in yards, farms, public spaces and gardens in the northern Piedmont. The leaves have started to fall as autumn set in, and as they do, this is a good time to begin planning for the spring. Native plants provide habitat, food sources for wildlife, ecosystem resiliency in the face of climate change, and clean water.  Start at the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page and tell them Lonnie Murray sent you!The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners will hold a closed meeting today to discuss a personnel matter. Last week, the appointed body held a work session on a report the CRHA must turn in to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Kathleen Glenn-Matthews is the deputy director of the CRHA. (FY20-FY21 adopted plan) (FY21-22 draft plan) (FY22-23 draft plan)“The public housing authority PHA plan is a pretty comprehensive guide to all of our agency’s policies and programs,” said Glenn-Matthews. “We spent a lot of time on our goals.”There are two parts to the plan, one of which is a five-year review that won’t be due until 2023. The second part is an annual plan with details about what will happen in the next fiscal year. The fiscal year for the CRHA runs from April 1 to March 30, a different calendar than the city, state, and federal government.  HUD classifies CRHA as a “troubled agency” based on the Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS) and the Section Eight Management Assessment Program (SEMAP). Glenn-Matthews said that means CRHA has to give more information in its annual plan. One of the first items in the draft plan is a listing of the number of public housing units and the number of housing choice vouchers. The number of units has dropped from 376 to 324 due in part to the temporary closure of Crescent Halls due to renovations. The number of housing vouchers has increased due to their use to provide temporary places for temporarily displaced residents. Those vouchers are separate from a program funded directly by the City of Charlottesville but administered by CRHA to increase their number. The city has had a line item of $900,000 a year in the capital budget for this supplemental program. Highlights from the past year include the adoption of policies on security cameras as well de-concentration of poverty.“The PHA’s admission policy is designed to provide for de-concentration of poverty and income mixing by bringing higher income tenants into lower income communities and lower income tenants into higher income communities,” reads a statement in the plan.Glenn-Matthews said the CRHA wants to build a homeownership program as well as augment the family self-sufficiency program.“We don’t have funding for it and we’re penalized by being troubled but we are looking at alternate sources for that and it’s definitely a big priority for us,” Glenn-Matthews said. The draft plan indicates that the CRHA will continue to engage in “mixed finance modernization or development” as well as “demolition and/or disposition” in the coming year. One project is development of between 39 and 50 units at Sixth Street SE. There is also a pending demolition and disposition application for the second phase of South First Street, which would replace 58 existing units with a larger project. Planning for redevelopment of Westhaven is expected to begin in the next fiscal year. “We want to make sure everything in this plan is there that we want to do this year because if not we’ll have to do an amendment, and nobody wants to go through the process,” Glenn-Matthews said. The plan also explains how nonprofit companies have been formed to serve to secure funding for redevelopment. There’s also data on who lives in the units. As of August 31, 76 percent of households had incomes below 30 percent of the area median income, 14 percent are between 30 and 50 percent, and three percent are between 50 and 80 percent. Six percent of households do not have their income data available. Only one percent of residents are classified as Hispanic or Latino, three percent are classified as Asian, 21 percent are white, and 75 percent are Black.There are a total of 736 people living in Charlottesville public housing and the average household size is 2.6 percent. The public hearing on the annual plan will be held on Monday, December 20. Thanks to Ting for their support in helping this program be produced each day. Today the newsletter ends with a limerick from show supporter Harry Landers honoring Ting for their commitment to match your initial payment to a paid Substack subscription!There once was a writer from C-ville,Who sought to shine light upon evil.He did his own thing,With some help from Ting.If there's news to report, we know he will.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 Mall This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out, are you a patron of the James Madison Regional Library system who suffers from a plague of library fines? If so, for the next week you can pay off your balance with a food donation that will go to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. To participate in the Food for Fines program, bring a non-perishable item to the front desk and get a dollar off. Do note this does not apply to missing or damaged items. Patrons who are in better standing than me are also welcome to donate an item or many items. For more information, visit jmrl.org. Visit here for a list of the most wanted itemsOn today’s show: A look at several upcoming developments in Albemarle County including the second phase for Southwood and a three-story self storage building in Crozet  More than 83 percent of adult Virginians are fully vaccinatedThe Village of Rivanna Community Advisory Committee debriefs after a rezoning vote did not go the way members wantedGreyhound has a new owner, and Virginia launches bus service from far Southwest Virginia to the nation’s capital On Friday, Governor Ralph Northam announced that 83 percent of the adult population in Virginia is now fully vaccinated. Also on Friday, the Virginia Department of Health reported the percent positivity dropped to 5.3 percent, on a day when the seven-day average for new cases is 1,328. But there are hotspots emerging across the country. Vermont is experiencing its worst surge yet, with a record 595 cases on Thursday and 505 cases on Friday according to the website VTDigger.Dr. Costi Sifri, director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System, said colder parts of the country are beginning to see the increase. “Just as we’re entering the cold and flu season, we’re also entering the season where we may see increased transmission of COVID just because we’re going into the winter months,” Dr. Sifri said. Dr. Sifri said COVID still represents a significant risk and he recommended people continue to wear masks in indoor public spaces. Thanksgiving is less than two weeks and Dr. Sifri emphasized caution.“One thing I’d want to emphasize is the importance of boosters for people who are vulnerable,” Dr. Sifri said. In the Blue Ridge Health District, ten percent of children between 5 and 11 have been vaccinated during the first week a reduced Pfizer dose has been available.The Virginia Supreme Court has rejected three Republican nominees to serve as Special Masters in the next phase of the redistricting process. In October, a 16-member redistricting commission failed to reach consensus on maps for legislative districts for both the General Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives. Senate Democratic Leader Richard Saslaw petitioned the Court to disqualify the three Republican nominees, claiming conflicts of interest due to their previous work on creating maps.The Virginia Supreme Court agreed.“The Court intends to appoint Special Masters who are qualified and do not have a conflict of interest,” reads a November 12 letter from Chief Justice Donald Lemons. “Although the Special Master candidates are to be nominated by legislative leaders of a particular party, the nominees… will serve as Officers of the Court in a quasi-judicial capacity.”Justice Lemons said that nominees must not consult with political parties once they have been appointed. One of the Republican nominees, Thomas M. Bryan, had been hired by the Republican Party of Virginia as a consultant on using 2020 U.S. Census data for redistricting. That information had not been disclosed in the nominating materials. Republicans have until Monday at 5 p.m. to submit three new names, and Democrats are being asked to submit one more name due to a potential issue with one of their three nominees. For more information, visit the Supreme Court’s website. The national bus company Greyhound has been purchased by a German firm called FlixMobility. They operate a service called Flixbus which operates in 36 countries in addition to the United States. Greyhound serves 2,400 stops across the country, and has a ridership of 16 million passengers. “Buses as a sustainable and accessible alternative are now more important than ever,” reads an October 21, 2021 press release.  “Fluctuations in the cost of gas, the recent escalation of car prices, and climate change concerns have increased the interest of many consumers in finding alternatives to individual car usage.” For $46 million cash and $32 million in future payments, Flixmobility will now own the Greyhound name and the bus fleet, but not any real estate or stops. Flixbus has been running buses in U.S. since 2018. Meanwhile, on Monday the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation will launch the Highland Rhythms service between Bristol and Washington D.C. This is the fourth Virginia Breeze intrastate route to be funded by the state agency, which will be operated by Megabus. A ceremony was held this morning at the Birthplace of Country Music in Bristol (read more in the Bristol Herald-Courier)Time now to take a look at recent land use applications in Albemarle County.First, a site development plan has been submitted for a new Chipotle restaurant to be located in Hollymead Town Center. Before the pandemic, there would be site plan review meetings for the public to comment, but those have not been held. However, the Albemarle officials are looking to begin to resume the public process. “These projects are ‘by-right’, which means that if the proposed plans meet the minimum requirements of the County’s zoning, site plan, or subdivision ordinances, they must be approved,” reads the notice for this application. (take a look)A TGI Friday’s Restaurant used to operate on the site and the existing building will be replaced and a drive-through window will be installed in the new building. Another site plan has been filed for a three-story self-storage facility at the intersection of Brownsville Road, Route 240, and Rockfish Gap Turnpike (U.S. 250).  The zoning on the site is Highway Commercial and a gas station used to operate on the site. That building and a couple of others will be removed to make way for the structure. (take a look)Southwood Phase 2In October, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville filed the second phase of their rezoning for the redevelopment of the Southwood Mobile Home Park. The rezoning would amend the first phase to add 93.32 acres from R-2 to the Neighborhood Model District. “Phase 2 is planned within the project's existing mobile home park where development will occur in phases so as to limit the impact to the existing residents,” reads the narrative. “The resident planners who designed and wrote the Code of Development for Phase I has provided input in this next phase that the form, density, and uses established with Phase I should continue into Phase 2.”This phase of redevelopment would include up to 1,000 housing units in a mix of single-family houses, duplexes, townhomes, and apartment buildings. There would also be another 60,000 square feet of non-residential space. (read the Code of Development)Several blocks in phase one are under construction. *You’re listening to Charlottesville Community Engagement, and time now for another subscriber-supported public service announcement. Are you using too many chemicals in your yard and garden? Would you like to learn more about alternatives? The Piedmont Master Gardeners will a free online information session on the topic Monday November 15 at 3 p.m.  Participants will learn how to keep their landscapes safe and healthy using Integrated Pest Management. The Center at Belvedere will host the session, which carries the name “Why and How to Reduce Chemical Use in your Yard and Garden.” Learn more and register at thecentercville.org.  Albemarle County staff have begun work on the update of the Comprehensive Plan with a public kick-off expected sometime in January. A major aspect of the current plan is a growth management policy which designates specific areas for density. This plan was last updated in 2015 and since then Supervisors have adopted several other policies, such as the Housing Albemarle plan.“To accommodate this growth, the County will need to add approximately 11,750 new units to our housing stock over the next 20 years,” reads Objective 1 of the plan, which was adopted by Supervisors in July. “The county must support the development of an additional 2,719 units to fully accommodate projected household growth through 2040.” One of the growth areas is the Village of Rivanna and their Community Advisory Committee met on November 8. Most of its members are not happy with the Board of Supervisors 4-2 vote in October for a rezoning from rural area to R-1 for an 80-unit single-family neighborhood called Breezy Hill. (staff report) (Village of Rivanna Master Plan) (watch the meeting)Dennis Odinov is the group’s chair. “We all know how it turned out and we may be disappointed but what are lessons learned?” Odinov said. “Are there any lessons learned from this?” Members of the group thanked Supervisor Donna Price for her against the rezoning. Price was joined by Supervisor Ann Mallek. Southern Development had initially requested 200 units, but scaled back due to community opposition. The Village of Rivanna Master Plan designated the land as Neighborhood Density Residential, and a map describes that as up to three dwelling units per acre. Members of the CAC maintained the plan only allows one dwelling unit per acre. Neal Means said pressure from the group helped get the number to 80 but he does not have a positive view of Southern Development. “It just goes to show you that the developers really don’t care about the master plan at all and the arguments they made much later about it should be one unit per gross acre and not net, is just an argument,” Means said. “They’re going to try to get as much as they can any time they want, no matter what the master plan says.”Gross density is a simple calculation of the number of units divided by the size of the land. Net density subtracts from the size of the land the square footage that would be used for infrastructure or open space. In the case of Breezy Hill, the gross density was 1 unit per acre, but the net density was 1.4 per acres. To Means, that means the system is broken. “I don’t think the county’s master planning process is functioning well,” Means said. “I think it’s dysfunctional and it needs to be revisited.” Ultimately, elected officials make their decisions based on interpretation of master plans. Odinov said the current version of the plan was not clear enough to state the wishes of the community. “We have no language in the master plan that says one unit per acre, net,” Odinov said “We don’t say it in the verbiage.” The master plan also states that no new developments should be approved until specific transportation projects are built on U.S. 250. However such a directive is not permissible under Virginia law. In Virginia, localities cannot specifically ask for infrastructure to be built in exchange for a rezoning, but developers can volunteer to pay for projects in something called a proffer. “I thought it was a slap in the face,” said Paula Pagonakis. “I took it as a slap in the face when the developer said he could not provide any proffers because he would not get enough profit out of the project. I don’t know how much impact that had on the vote by the Supervisors but I felt a bit insulted.”In Charlottesville, Southern Development has agreed to contribute nearly $3 million upfront for the creation of a sidewalk on Stribling Avenue, a 170 units project on about 12 acres. If Council approves the rezoning, Southern Development will be paid back through the incremental revenue generated.Supervisor Donna Price voted against the rezoning but said the community pressure to reduce Breezy Hill’s scope resulted in a more palatable project. “Did we achieve everything?” Price asked. “No. But we came out I think a whole better strategically than if it had been at 160 or 130.”Price said she supported increased density in Crozet and voted for the 332-unit RST Residences near Forest Lakes. “Highly dense, but it is also right on a six-lane highway up there,” Price said. “I’ve tried to maintain a consistency of if you get to the periphery of development areas it should be less developed and as you move more toward the center of development it should be  more highly developed and more dense.” An update of the Village of Master Plan is not currently scheduled, according to county planner Tori Kanellopoulos. “It would need to be on the Community Development work program and we do have the Comprehensive Plan update that just started,” Kanellopoulos said. “That will take up a significant amount of resources.”I’ll have a report from the Crozet Community Advisory Committee in an upcoming edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. 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

Let’s begin the show with the first of two Patreon-fueled shout-outs. Charlottesville 350 is the local chapter of a national organization that seeks to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Charlottesville 350 uses online campaigns, grassroots organizing, and mass public actions to oppose new coal, oil and gas projects, and build 100% clean energy solutions that work for all. To learn more about their most active campaigns, including a petition drive to the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, visit their Facebook page at facebook.com/cville350On today’s show:Charlottesville selects a Pennsylvania administrator as the third interim City Manager in three and a half years The Fifeville Neighborhood Association seeks a facilitator to help with implementation of the Cherry Avenue Small Area Plan A Charlottesville television pioneer has diedCOVID vaccinations for those aged 5 to 11 have begun  And a Louisa County Supervisors wins a seventh term on a four-vote marginThis weekend, vaccinations of children between the ages of 5 to 11 began in the Blue Ridge Health District. According to spokeswoman Kathryn Goodman, there were 127 vaccinations in that range at the Community Vaccination Center in Seminole Square and Pediatric Associates vaccinated 565 children. The Blue Ridge Health District and the University of Virginia Health System begin administering shots today.  “I think this is a really big step forward and the COVID vaccine is one of the most well-studied vaccines at this point in history,” said Dr. Debbie-Ann Shirley, an expert on pediatric infectious diseases at the UVA Health System. “There have been hundreds of millions of doses already given. There have been clinical trials done in adults, young adults, adolescents, and now children in the 5 to 11 age group.”Federal officials approved the Pfizer vaccine for children last week, which uses a smaller dose than the one given to people 12 and above. Dr. Shirley said that lower dose was suggested through the testing process. Last week, she penned an article on UVA Today outlining the work that has gone into producing the shots. “Using that low dose vaccine, they still make really high levels of antibody that were comparable to the same antibody levels that we’ve seen in adolescents and older adults who received higher doses,” Dr. Shirley said. Dr. Shirley said Moderna has submitted their data to the Food and Drug Administration for approval, and Pfizer will soon submit data for a vaccine for even younger children. This morning the Virginia Department of Health reports another 913 new cases and the seven-day average of new cases at 1,276 a day. The percent positivity has increased slightly to 5.6 percent, up from 5.4 percent on Thursday. The Blue Ridge Health District reports another 42 cases today and there have been five more reported fatalities since Thursday.The man who started Charlottesville’s first commercial television station in 1973 has died. Harold Wright passed away on Saturday at his home at Lake Monticello. WVIR launched on March 11, 1973 using $500,000 of capital as well as second-hand equipment. That’s according to a story published this morning on NBC29.com. Wright retired from the station in January 2020, not long after it was purchased by Gray Communications in March 2019. Louisa County Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes has won re-election to a seventh term representing the Patrick Henry District. A canvas and recount on Friday that included remaining provisional and absentee ballots extended Barnes’ election-night lead of one vote to four votes over challenger William D. Woody Jr. According to coverage on Twitter by Tammy Purcel of Engage Louisa, Woody would have had ten days to ask for a recount but he conceded the race. Charlottesville’s Fifeville Neighborhood Association and the city government are seeking a consultant to help with a series of listening sessions to help implement the Cherry Avenue Small Area Plan. That document was produced by consulting staff at the Thomas Jefferson Planning District and approved as an addendum to the city’s current Comprehensive Plan on March 1. On that same night Council adopted an affordable housing plan as the first milestone in the Cville Plans Together initiative. The neighborhood association seeks a “third-party facilitator to help co-design and lead up to three Anti-Displacement, Land Acquisition, and Development Working Sessions.” The goal is to move forward with  implementation of the plan.  (read the request for proposals)The firm Rhodeside & Harwell will not pursue this request for proposals, according to Cville Plans Together project manager Jennifer Koch. Her team is familiar with the Cherry Avenue Plan.“We reviewed this plan, as we reviewed other completed Small Area Plans, and looked to support recommendations related to fostering a mix of uses and more housing options/density at levels that respect the current scale of the neighborhood,” Koch wrote in an email this morning. “The affordability framework and anti-displacement mechanisms built into the plan (including, but not limited to, the Sensitive Community Areas) also align with goals in the Cherry Avenue SAP.”Since adoption of the plan in March, several properties have exchanged hands. In April, Woodard Properties purchased the Cherry Avenue Shopping Center as well as vacant land immediately behind. In July, the company bought a vacant lot in the 800 block of the busy roadway. Also in July an LLC called Project New Life bought undeveloped land on Cherry Avenue at the intersection of 7 1/2th Street. The Future Land Use Map in the draft Comprehensive Plan calls for Cherry Avenue west of Roosevelt Brown Avenue to be in the new Medium Intensity Residential, which calls for increased housing opportunities “along neighborhood corridors, near community amenities.” The areas around Nalle Street and King Street north of Cherry Avenue east of Roosevelt Brown are designated as “low-intensity residential (sensitive community areas)” to “allow for additional housing choice, and tools to mitigate displacement, within existing residential neighborhoods that have high proportions of populations that may be sensitive to displacement.”But will that stop those with wealth from purchasing single-family homes that would then be protected from additional density? In April, a house in the 700 block of Nalle Street sold for $700,000, or 85.83 percent over the 2021 assessment. October’s property transactions will be posted soon for paid subscribers of Charlottesville Community Engagement. You’re listening to Charlottesville Community Engagement and it’s time for the second Patreon-fueled shout-out. WTJU is hosting Classical Listening Parties, a series of four free, casual events on Tuesdays in November. These four events are led by Chelsea Holt, pianist, teacher, and one of WTJU’s newest and youngest classical announcers. She’ll guide you through all the eras of classical music beginning Tuesday, Nov 9th, 7 p.m.: Early & Baroque. For a list of the others, visit wtju.net to learn more and sign up! At the same time ballots were being counted in Louisa County on Friday afternoon, City Council introduced Marc Woolley as the next interim city manager. Woolley recently resigned as Business Administrator in Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania. The city has U.S. Census 2020 population of 50,099. Deputy City Manager Ashley Marshall and Sam Sanders will remain in place. “Together with the assistance of staff, Sam, Ashley, and Council, I will be focusing on some key issues currently before Charlottesville,” Woolley said. “Mainly the budget and the completion of the Comprehensive Plan.” Woolley will begin work on December 1. The process to find a permanent city manager will resume once again in April. Woolley is a native of Wilmington, Delaware who went to law school at Boston College. He’s worked as general counsel for the Philadelphia Housing Authority, two positions at the Delaware River Port Authority, three positions at the Hershey Trust Company, and the position in Harrisburg. (read his resume)“I’ve been with the City of Harrisburg for the past four years as the Business Administrator,” Woolley said.Harrisburg has a form of municipal government where the executive and legislative branches are separate, so a “strong mayor” oversees department heads. The business administrator position is equivalent to a city manager. “All administration functions flowed through me except for the city solicitor,” Woolley said. According to an article on Pennsylvania Live, Woolley’s resignation had been expected to begin on November 12, but Mayor Eric Papenfuse made that effective November 1 after learning of the Woolley’s decision to leave Harrisburg. Papenfuse was defeated the next day in his bid for a third term, though he ran as a write-in. Anticipating questions from the press about Woolley’s careee, Councilor Lloyd Snook led a friendly cross-examination of his career history after resigning from the Philadelphia Housing Authority. Snook:“Looking at the next ten years or so of your career it seems like you were often put in a position of having to kind of clean up a mess. Is that an accurate assessment?”Woolley:“I think to first assess what the issues were and then accordingly if there were things that needed to be done to implement those policies in order to rectify anything.” Harrisburg has been considered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a distressed municipality since 2010. That requires creation of a Financial Recovery Plan which is called the Harrisburg Strong Plan. The latest financial report for the capital city is from 2019.  Snook:“When you got to Harrisburg there were shall we say some financial difficulties that you were having to unravel.”Woolley:“Some financial difficulties. We are in Act 47 which is for distressed municipalities in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Years before I arrived in Harrisburg there were a number of bond deals that were done and saddled the residents with a lot of debt and turns out they just couldn’t pay it. The city couldn’t pay it back. The state sent in a receiver to develop what they call the Strong Plan. They sold off a lot of assets, almost $400 million worth of assets, applied those to the debt and set up payments for other general obligation debts. When I arrived in Harrisburg, we were rounding the corner. This year and actually starting last year, was able to entertain actually getting back our credit rating. We didn’t have a credit rating. Looking to refinance debt and put out for capital projects. It’s a 180 degree turn from where they were and I think Harrisburg is going to better for it and I think they’re going to get a credit rating. Not as good as Charlottesville, but they’re going to try.”The city has held a AAA bond rating from Standards and Poor’s since 1964 and a AAA bond rating from Moody’s since 1973. For the past several years, the city has been steadily increasing debt-financing for capital projects, including several million a year for affordable housing projects and $75 million for the renovation of Buford Middle School. The next budget may include a property tax increase to help pay the debt service. Woolley will oversee creation of that next document but acknowledged Council will be reopening the pubic process for a permanent manager next spring. (Routine advice wanted for city bonds, October 26, 2021)“This is not necessarily the transition,” Woolley said. “The transition will occur when the new city manager is appointed through the process that you’ve described in April but right now there are certain acute issues that need to be taken care of, mainly the budget and the Comprehensive Plan.” Woolley said his role is to lay the foundation for that person. While Charlottesville’s government is not considered distressed, the separate Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority is considered a troubled agency by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Watch the whole press briefing which included comments and questions from members of the community. The entire event was just over an hour long and is on the city’s streaming archive. (watch)Former City Manager Chip Boyles recently took a job as the executive director of the George Washington Regional Commission, the planning district around Fredericksburg. 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

Let’s begin today with a Patreon-fueled shout-out! The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign, an initiative that wants you to grow native plants in yards, farms, public spaces and gardens in the northern Piedmont. The leaves have started to fall as autumn set in, and as they do, this is a good time to begin planning for the spring. Native plants provide habitat, food sources for wildlife, ecosystem resiliency in the face of climate change, and clean water.  Start at the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page and tell them Lonnie Murray sent you!On today’s show:More details about the next phase of public housing redevelopment in CharlottesvilleCouncil to make a leadership announcement Friday at 3 p.m. UVA Health System reports vaccination numbersLouisa Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes holds a one-vote lead over his challengerAn overview of the Central Virginia Small Business Development CenterAnd Louisa Supervisors an update on a plan to bring water from the James River to Zion CrossroadsWe begin the day with an announcement of something that’s happening tomorrow. City Council will meet at 3 p.m. for an open meeting with the one word description of “Personnel.” City Communications Director Brian Wheeler explained in an email to me this morning that it will be a leadership announcement. There is no interim city manager in place. What will happen? Leave your guess in the comments. (meeting info)There’s a very close race in one of Louisa County’s magisterial districts. In the Patrick Henry District, incumbent Fitzgerald Barnes has a one-vote lead over challenger William Woody Jr. Qualified absentee ballots can be counted up until tomorrow at noon. Thanks to Tammy Purcell of Engage Louisa for the heads-up. Employees at the University of Virginia Health System had a deadline of November 1 to get a COVID vaccine. Wendy Horton is the CEO of the UVA Health System. “At this point today, we are at 98.4 percent fully vaccinated or exempt as a health system and this includes UVA Community Health as well,” Horton said.However, that leaves 173 employees who will either resign or be terminated for non-compliance. Horton said that includes 83 people who directly work with patients and that number includes 43 registered nurses. People who refuse the vaccine will be suspended without pay for a certain period of time for reflection. Those with approved medical exemptions must have a COVID test each week. Today the Virginia Department of Health reported 1,494 new cases and the seven-day percent positive rate dropped to 5.4 percent. Another 69 deaths have been reported since Tuesday. The Blue Ridge Health District reported 58 new cases today. The percent positivity in the district is 5.1 percent. Yesterday, the City of Charlottesville held a public meeting for the next phase of redevelopment at the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Carrie Rainey is an urban planner in the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development Services.“What we’re looking at right now is a final site for what is currently a by-right project to build a new apartment building with structured parking at 715 Sixth Street SE,” Rainey said.Riverbend Development is working with the CRHA on this project, continuing a partnership that has also been involved with Crescent Halls and the two phases at South First Street. CRHA has a new redevelopment coordinator in Brandon Collins, formerly with the Public Housing Association of Residents. “Our resident planners at 6th Street have been working diligently on this plan and I think it really reflects CRHA’s approach to resident-led planning and we’re confident this is the best use of this site,” Collins said. The project is at the corner of Monticello Avenue and 6th Street SE. Six of the existing townhouse units will be removed in this first phase at this property. “The reason we’re taking this approach is because we want to ensure that we have a promise and a priority to the residents of public housing that no one will be displaced throughout the redevelopment process,” said Ashley Davies, vice president at Riverbend Development. In all of these redevelopment projects, the land will continue to be owned by CRHA, but the actual structure will be owned by a nonprofit holding company connected to CRHA. The height of the building has not been finalized.“It’s going to be a three or four story building,”  Davies said, “We’re still working with the resident planners to determine the exact height of the building and number of units, but for now the site plan shows this as a three-story building and 39 units.”The current zoning is Downtown Extended which would allow for that height. There would be at least 40 parking spaces in a structure beneath the building. The goal is to get the site plan approved in order to help qualify an application for Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the entity formerly known as the Virginia Housing Development Authority. Davies said a master plan is in development for the entire four-acre site, but there is no timeline for how that will proceed. “Those conversations are really just beginning to understand what the overall needs are for that area,” Davies said Comments brought up during the site plan conference included landscaping, parking requirements, and pedestrian safety.  The community garden maintained and operated by the Urban Agriculture Collective will be removed to make way for the new units. NDS staff will make comments on the site plan and submit those back to the development team later this month. You’re listening to Charlottesville Community Engagement. Time for the second of two Patreon-fueled shout-outs: Do you suffer from Classical Music Insecurity Complex? That is, you like classical music you hear, but you feel intimidated by all the stuffy etiquette and specialized knowledge? Suffer no more!WTJU is hosting Classical Listening Parties, a series of four free, casual events on Tuesdays in November. These four events are led by Chelsea Holt, pianist, teacher, and one of WTJU’s newest and youngest classical announcers. She’ll guide you through all the eras of classical music beginning Tuesday, Nov 9th, 7 p.m.: Early & Baroque. For a list of the others, visit wtju.net to learn more and sign up! The seven-member Louisa County Board of Supervisors got an update on Monday on the water supply plan for Zion Crossroads, but they also got a pitch from the Central Virginia Small Business Development Center (CVSBDC). The entity is partially funded by the Small Business Administration.“We’re funded by the [Small Business Administration] and the localities that we serve to provide business advising services to individual localities,’ said Greg Dorazio, the assistant director of the CVSBDC. The CVSBDC covers ten counties stretching from Nelson County to Culpeper County from its headquarters in Charlottesville. The idea is to level the playing field for small businesses through counseling. “We have access to research and resources including capital, access to technical experts,” Dorazio said. Last year, the Charlottesville Investment Collaborative became the small business center’s fiscal partner.“Their microloan program is one of the best ways for small businesses to get capital and a lot of folks don’t really know about it,” Dorazio said. Last year during the pandemic, the small business center provided more than double the number of hours of working with clients from around 2,200 hours to over 5,000. That’s in part because of the transition to virtual meetings. “When we’re talking about the client service time, that’s one-on-one with a business owner,” Dorazio said. “We’re really helping them figure out what is the problem they’re facing right now? What are the decisions they need to make? And what do we need to do to help them get the resources they need to make good decisions about their business and continue to grow and move forward?”Dorazio was before the Louisa Board of Supervisors to ask for referrals for businesses as well as $21,249 in funding for the next fiscal year. That decision will come during the budget cycle.The Louisa Board of Supervisors also got an update on progress to build a waterline from the James River to Zion Crossroads. Louisa and Fluvanna are both members of the James River Water Authority, an entity that exists for the purpose.The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will have to grant a permit for the project and the James River Water Authority was about to submit one that included an intake at the site of Rassawek, an important site in the history of the Monacan Indian Nation. Justin Curtis is with Aqualaw, a firm hired to prepare and submit the permit.“At our request, that application has been put on hold while we evaluate an alternative a site a couple of miles up the river,” Curtis said. “We’re doing that in coordination with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (VDHR) as well as the Monacan Indian Nation.”Curtis said the decision point for the James River Water Authority will be whether to pursue the alternative, or proceed with the Rassawek site. That could come in December or January. The Rassawek site was selected in 2013 and two of three required permits had been granted. All of the planning work had been conducted.“That site had been selected because it was the shortest, it was the least expensive, and it followed a bunch of existing corridors and lines which is utility siting 101,” Curtis said. “Fewest number of landowners affected and it had the right water quality and quantity to meet our needs.”Curtis said the Monacans had been consulted, but their stance changed as the granting of the permit drew closer. The federal government recognized the tribe in January 2018. (Learn more about Rasswak from Cultural Heritage Partners)“To get the final permit we needed from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, we have to go through this process where have to mitigate any impacts to historical or cultural resources and that involves consultations with the tribes and certain other agencies and that added a lot of time and expense to the regulatory process,” Curtis said. Curtis said Alternative 1C, also known as the Forsyth site, is the preferred site for the Monacans. “And we ended up reaching an agreement which was memorialized in writing in January of this year and what we came to an agreement on was that if JRWA went and did a new archaeological study of that alternative site and that study did not find any evidence of buried human remains or historic burial sites, then the Monacans would not oppose the project and they would support the project and help us work through the remainder of the permitting process,” Curtis said. The first phase was completed in August and while historic materials were found, none of them were human remains. The second phase started on Monday and will be concluded the week of December 6. The results will be discussed at the next  meeting of the James River Water Authority on December 8. 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

Let’s begin today with a 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/cville350Should Amtraks’s Northeast Regional train make a stop in Bedford? The Charlottesville-Albemarle tourism bureau gets an update on hotel happeningsResidents of the Barracks / Rugby neighborhood will go without water on MondayMonday begins a nearly two-week total shut down of Emmet Street at Ivy Road Vaccinations are coming for children between 5 and 11 If you live in the Barracks / Rugby neighborhood in Charlottesville, be ready for a planned water outage on Monday. A contractor will be working on water infrastructure between Barracks Road and Preston Avenue. City crews will place door hangers on properties that will be affected. The shutdown will be between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.  (learn more)Monday also marks the beginning of a two-week shut down of Emmet Street at Ivy Road for the installation of a massive piece of stormwater infrastructure. Sunday is the second Halloween of the pandemic, but local health officials aren’t concerned that a return to trick-or-treating will see return of another surge.“It’s really important to recognize and understand that the outdoors in always safer than indoors and so those outdoor activities are really fantastic,” said Dr. Costi Sifri, the director of hospital epidemiology at the University of Virginia Health System. Dr. Sifri said people probably don’t have to disinfect any received treats, but recommended frequent hand washing. He also recommended having children avoid large indoor gatherings and wear masks indoors. Yesterday the Food and Drug Administration Approval approved the Pfizer vaccines for people between 5 and 11. More details on that roll-out will be rolled out next week. “Logistics are being worked out but there’s going to be emphasis of trying to make sure the vaccines that are offered are going to be in places that are child-friendly,” Dr. Sifri said. On Friday, the Virginia Department of Health reported a seven-day average of 1,431 new cases a day and a seven-day percent positivity rate of 5.8 percent. On October 1, that last figure was 8.8 percent. Virginia has also recorded 1,101 COVID deaths in October today. The next new metrics won’t be available until Monday morning. Tourism is one of the region’s largest industries, and the pandemic has shown just how important the sector is to the municipal bottom line. Russ Cronberg has been general manager of the Boar’s Head Resort for the past five years.  He gave a presentation on October 25 to the Board of Directors of the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau. The CACVB markets the region as a tourism destination and is funded by a portion of the transient lodging tax. “We have 3,891 hotel rooms roughly give or take a room or two in our market currently,” Cronberg said. “Our annual occupancy is around 65 percent.”Cronberg said most hotels need between 50 percent and 60 percent occupancy in order to break even, so an average of 65 percent is a sign of health.  He said in a given year, over 1.8 million people stay in hotel rooms in the area.“That is not timeshares, that’s not bed and breakfasts, it’s not our AirBnB’s,” Cronberg said. “That’s strictly just our hotel community.” In the year before the pandemic, Cronberg said hotels brought in nearly $14 million in revenue for Albemarle and around $9 million in Charlottesville. The sector is still slowly rebounding after a time when most travel stopped for a while, and the hotel industry lost millions. “Thankfully for many of the grant programs and other government funding that has helped, city funding, we’ve only lost two hotels to permanent closure but actually we have a couple more than are going to reopen,” Cronberg said. The labor shortage is affecting all sectors, including hospitality. Cronberg said the Boar’s Head over 90 job openings in September, forcing the resort to limit the number of guests. He acknowledged that low wages are part of the problem.“One thing that I’m proud of that has come out of this is that it really has opened the eyes of ownership and maybe operators to really speed up the increases in our industry,” Cronberg said. “And I think it’s a really good thing to get back to more equitable wages.”Cronberg said when he began at Boar’s Head in 2016, housekeepers were getting $8.50 an hour. That’s now been increased to $17 an hour. But to keep that going, the economy still has to make it through the pandemic.“The current COVID environment has continued to provide [difficulties] to navigate, but we in the hotel industry have continued to remain flexible with the priority of security and safety of our team as well as our guests,” Cronberg said.Cronberg said the Charlottesville will have to compete with other destinations around Virginia. “In order to do that, I really think and speaking with operators and other GMs and other hotel owners, we really have to look at the CACVB funding model. It’s not just giving the funding and saying thank you, here you go, but measuring those successes and making sure the thing we are doing are driving occupancy to our area, are driving tourism dollars into the arts and into the historical communities.” Later in the meeting, the CACVB discussed the possibility of changing the representation on the Board of Directors to include more representatives from the industry. Such a move would have to be approved by Charlottesville City Council and the Albemarle Board of Supervisors. Read more about that story in Allison Wrabel’s October 25, 2021 article in the Daily Progress. You’re listening to Charlottesville Community Engagement and time for a second Patreon-fueled shout-out! The Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Campaign, an initiative that wants you to grow native plants in yards, farms, public spaces and gardens in the northern Piedmont. The leaves have started to fall as autumn set in, and as they do, this is a good time to begin planning for the spring. Native plants provide habitat, food sources for wildlife, ecosystem resiliency in the face of climate change, and clean water.  Start at the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives Facebook page and tell them Lonnie Murray sent you!(Want a shout-out? Check out Patreon to learn more!)*At the same time the CACVB seeks to compete with other areas within driving distance, another community along the Amtrak line between Roanoke and Washington wants in on the action as well. A group in Bedford has been lobbying for a stop on the service. This past week, officials with the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation reviewed a study on whether that’s feasible and what it would cost. Emily Stock is the manager of rail planning at DRPT. “Our focus is the movement of people and goods throughout the Commonwealth and our primary areas of activity are rail, public transportation, and commuter services,” Stock said.The DRPT began funding regional service in Virginia in the late 2000’s, and the Northeast Regional Service between Lynchburg and Washington’s Union Station began in the fall of 2009. In 2014, DRPT reached agreement with Norfolk Southern to extend passenger service to Roanoke. At that time, the Bedford / Franklin Regional Rail Initiative launched. The Town of Bedford hired a consultant to produce a report in 2016, and the DRPT studied whether there would be enough ridership to support a stop. On October 25, Stock presented the latest report. (watch)“Fast forward to now and we’ve had a few years now under our belt of Roanoke service which has been very helpful to us in projecting potential ridership for Bedford also,” Stock said. But before ridership is considered, the station has to be located on a section of a track within certain parameters. “Norfolk Southern, the host freight railroad, does not allow adjacent high level platforms to their main line tracks,” Stock said. A stop in Bedford would likely be a “caretaker” station and located downtown. Two sites have seen the most study, including the site of a former train depot near the Courthouse. Stock said what would be needed. “A platform with a canopy,” Stock said. “A station building. We’d need enough room for that. Also room for parking, for rental cars, for auto and taxi pick-up drop off.” The courthouse site was dropped from consideration because an at-grade vehicular crossing would have to have been closed to address safety concerns. The alternative is located about a mile west outside of downtown Bedford. “Our cost to construct here would be almost $11 million in 2025 construction dollars and that includes a 40 percent contingency which is standard for this level of design,” Stock said. One consideration while looking at potential ridership is how close Roanoke and Lynchburg are to Bedford. One forecast has found the stop would have 25,400 ons and offs per years, but some of that would take away from nearby stations. The net new riders to the system would be 10,500 per year generated by the Bedford station. The good news for proponents of a Bedford station is that the freight hauler that owns the lines do not have technical objectives. “What we found Norfolk Southern was that they did not see any new material delay for Norfolk Southern operations as a result of a stop in Bedford which is very good news,” Stock said. The report is due to the General Assembly by November 15. Next steps will include federal review under the National Environmental Policy Act and working with the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority on a grant application for the federal funding. “Other good news is that we do expect to start an Amtrak Thruwaybus as a first step,” Stock said. “You may recall that for Roanoke there was a Thruway bus that was operating before any rail service went to Roanoke.”That Thruway service is expected to begin next spring, though a location for the stop has not yet been determined. This service will eventually be extended to Christiansburg, where work is underway to design a passenger rail station to serve the New River Valley. Thanks again for reading!Now, what about supporting the program? Town Crier Productions is open seven days a week to keep up to date with all manner of items. This is the 269th installment of this program, not counting the Week Ahead newsletters. Research is underway to bring even more information to you and the rest of the community.To cover the cost, I need funding. Subscribing through Substack is one way to support this newsletter. Another is to donate through Patreon. There are nearly 100 people who contribute through Patreon each month, making up a good portion of the revenue that supports my ability focus solely on this work. Please visit the site to learn more, and please ask me questions. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Host: Matt Birnholz, MD Guest: Mark H. Stoler, MD Now that vaccinated women have entered the screening population, we are seeing HPV 16 and 18 decreasing. These changes in HPV genotype prevalence may have a significant impact on the clinical management of cervical cancer, and an HPV test with extended genotyping may change the way we screen for cervical cancer as well. Joining Dr. Matt Birnholz to discuss the role of HPV extended genotyping in cervical cancer screening and the importance of identifying HPV 31 is Dr. Mark Stoler, Professor of Pathology and Clinical Gynecology at the University of Virginia Health System.

Dr. Sula Mazimba of the University of Virginia Health System discusses heart health, stress and how organ donation is nothing like what you see on TV.