It’s beginning to look a lot like a holiday break with Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and festive fixtures in the Barclays Premiership. Until then, there’s still some business to attend to such as a sonic recap of stories from last week in this podcast edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. I’m Sean Tubbs, always interested in finding new ways to get the information out.

On this penultimate edition for 2024:

* Governor Glenn Youngkin recommends $1.1 billion fund to cover car tax credit as part of his suggested amendments to Virginia’s budget (learn more)

* Charlottesville City Council is briefed on increasing costs for public safety and transit (learn more)

* Charlottesville Planning Commission seeks more funding for affordable housing, planning for schools (learn more

* The City of Charlottesville has completed a section of sidewalk on Monticello Avenue (learn more)

* Sanders addresses low-barrier shelter before Council approves $3 million for other Salvation Army project (learn more)

* UVA’s non-voting member of the city Planning Commission gives an update on capital projects for Charlottesville Planning Commission (learn more)

* UVA Health Children’s and Sentara Martha Jefferson have opened a new clinic for children behavioral and mental health (learn more)

While most items in this newsletter feed are text-only, every so often there’s an audio version. Sign up to get both! Consume what you can!

First shout-out: Celebrating the community’s other information organizations!

In today’s second shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.

There’s also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you’ll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.

Second shout-out: Cvillepedia!

Cvillepedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this second shout-out today is to provide a little bit about what I know. I helped create the website back in the late 2000’s as a way of keeping track of all of the stories being written for the nonprofit news organization I worked for at the time.

Now Cvillepedia is hosted by the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library under the stewardship of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. There are over 6,500 articles and we need volunteers to help keep it up to date and to capture more of this community’s history, present, and future.

If you want to learn how to do research, learn how to explore historical documents, and want some experience writing, consider becoming a volunteer. As a little teaser, here’s some of what’s listed for December 23 throughout the years:

Events

* 1914 – Fire breaks out at Albemarle Hardware Company on East Main Street and takes seven hours to extinguish [1]

* 2062 – A time capsule buried in 2012 will be unearthed to celebrate Charlottesville's 300th Anniversary.[2]

Births

* 1895 – Alfred Washington is born to Gus and Martha Washington in Charlottesville. A resident of Chestnut Grove and a farmhand, he was called up for service in World War I and had his portrait photograph included within the Holsinger Studio Collection.

References

* ↑ Web. Business Block Nearly Consumed, Staff Reports, Daily Progress Digitized Microfilm, Lindsay family, December 24, 1914, retrieved December 25, 2016 from University of Virginia Library. Print. December 24, 1914 page 1.

* ↑ Web. Time capsule causes disappointment in Charlottesville in 2012, News Article, Daily Progress, May 27, 2017, retrieved May 24, 2024.

Welcome to a new era of the podcast edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement with an experiment in sending these out on a Monday morning as opposed to a Saturday afternoon. I’m Sean Tubbs, the host and producer and employee-of-the-month at Town Crier Productions.

The reality is that most people who experience this information do so by scanning words arranged into paragraphs which works out well because that means I can get more editions out faster.

But many of the stories are produced by piecing together snippets of sound from meetings of local and regional government. Thirty years ago when I gained my first professional experience, this would be done by slicing bits of tape and assembling them together and recorded to a cartridge. The technology has morphed so many times since then, each of the audio versions you here harken back to days gone by.

Enough of this introduction. Let’s move on to the actual show going out on December 16, 2024.

In this installment:

* Charlottesville City Council briefed on upcoming spending on housing and infrastructure (learn more)

* The UVA Finance Committee signs off on North Grounds Parking Garage, Ivy Road student housing (learn more)

* Albemarle Supervisors vote to join Regional Transit Authority (learn more)

* Council briefed on status of negotiations with VEO for scooter/e-bike permit (learn more)

* Rumble strips at Nelson County intersection subject of concern (learn more)

* New NDS director previews departmental website for Charlottesville PC (learn more)

Every so often there is a podcast edition that goes out in the main feed. This is that version. Sign up if you want all of it.

First shout-out: Celebrating the community’s other information organizations!

In today’s first shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.

There’s also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you’ll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.

Checking in on the spreadsheet that runs the information!

Second shout-out: Cvillepedia!

Cvillepedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this second shout-out today is to provide a little bit about what I know. I helped create the website back in the late 2000’s as a way of keeping track of all of the stories being written for the nonprofit news organization I worked for at the time.

Now Cvillepedia is hosted by the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library under the stewardship of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. There are over 6,500 articles and we need volunteers to help keep it up to date and to capture more of this community’s history, present, and future.

If you want to learn how to do research, learn how to explore historical documents, and want some experience writing, consider becoming a volunteer.

As a little teaser, here’s some of what’s listed for December 16 throughout the years.

Events:

* 1937 – After repair and re-installation, the "Great Clock", termed “a masterpiece of backwoods ingenuity,” designed by Thomas Jefferson and built by Philadelphia clockmaker Peter Spruck in 1792, once again beat out the hours on the big bell in the dome at Monticello.

* 1975 – Blenheim, a 19th century structure in Albemarle County, is listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register.

* 2004 – The historic Paramount Theater reopens after a $14 million restoration.

* 2008 – Albemarle County Board of Supervisors hold a retreat at which they get a lesson on the development of the county's Comprehensive Plan. David Benish, the County’s Chief Planner at the time, traced the evolution of the Comprehensive Plan. Benish said the County’s growth management policy stems from the adoption of the first plan in 1971.[1]

And now we find ourselves on December 7, 2024 or at least that’s where I find myself when I’m putting together the latest sonic edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. I’m Sean Tubbs, the only person currently working for Town Crier Productions unless you count two feline partners who occasionally make an appearance in the narrations but so far have not appeared in a recording. Is today the day? Listen for yourself!

On this edition:

* Quantitative Foundation gives another $20M to UVa for second building for School of Data Science (learn more)

* Charlottesville Planning Commission gives more direction on capital improvement program (learn more)

* The Charlottesville Redevelopment Housing Authority has a conversation on preventing evictions (learn more)

* Commonwealth Transportation Board supports cancellation of two Charlottesville projects, formally cancels Emmet Street Phase Two (learn more)

* Louisa’s Board of Supervisors support that county’s continued funding of Household Hazardous Waste Day (learn more)

* More details on UVA’s new urban area from the Buildings and Grounds Committee (learn more)

Saturdays are for podcasts! The next edition will be the Week Ahead! Sign up to get all of the content!

First shout-out: Celebrating the community’s other information organizations!

In today’s second shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.

There’s also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you’ll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.

Second shout-out: Cvillepedia!

Cvillepedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this second shout-out today is to provide a little bit about what I know. I helped create the website back in the late 2000’s as a way of keeping track of all of the stories being written for the nonprofit news organization I worked for at the time.

Now Cvillepedia is hosted by the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library under the stewardship of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. There are over 6,500 articles and we need volunteers to help keep it up to date and to capture more of this community’s history, present, and future.

If you want to learn how to do research, learn how to explore historical documents, and want some experience writing, consider becoming a volunteer. To give you a sense of one potential project, Frances Brand painted dozens and dozens of portraits of people in the Charlottesville area. Who were they? What can we learn about where we are now by documenting the stories of everyone from Ruth Klüger Angress to Jay Worrall?

As a little teaser, here’s some of what’s listed for December 7 throughout the years.

Events

* 2020 – Charlottesville City Council approves the idea of exploring a Sister City Connection with Huehuetenango, Guatemala. [1]

Births

* 1754 – Jack Jouett is born.

Deaths

* 1932 – George R Ferguson Sr. dies in Charlottesville and is buried in the Sammons Family Cemetery. A physician and the father of George R Ferguson, his portrait photograph was prominently featured in the “Visions of Progress: Portraits of Dignity, Style and Racial Uplift” exhibit of Rufus W. Holsinger's photographs that was on display at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library from 2022 to 2023.

* 1941 – Harry H. Gaver becomes the first alumnus of the University of Virginia to die in World War II, meeting his end during the surprise Japanese military strike on Pearl Harbor.

As promised four weeks ago, this is the fifth Saturday of November. Or at least, this podcast edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement is being produced on November 30. Every week I write over two dozen stories but only some of them are converted into audio versions both for this feed and for WTJU-FM. Most of those stories also end up being added to Information Charlottesville, the archival companion to this Substack feed. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I put this together for many reasons but a love of audio production is at the top of the list.

Here’s what’s in the edition for the final Saturday of this month:

* Albemarle Supervisors briefed on potential revenue gap in five-year financial work session (learn more)

* The UVA Foundation seeks firms to build 600 units of mixed-income housing at North Fork (learn more)

* Albemarle Planning Commission recommends denial of a “public garage” in Keene (learn more)

* Charlottesville’s Board of Architectural Review wants a different design for a proposed hotel for 218 W. Market Street (learn more)

* The director of the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority RSWA director briefs officials on some of the challenges facing the disposal industry including a dwindling amount of landfill space (learn more)

* Charlottesville using ranked-choice voting to select name for holiday tree (learn more)

First shout-out: Shout-outs on Town Crier Productions!

When I went back to journalism in 2020, I started a Patreon account as one way to figure out how to pay my bills. For years I had the idea of producing something that sounded like a public radio show, and I decided to offer “shout-outs” to those who were in the $25 a month tier.

That’s why you read or hear brief spots for WTJU, the Rivanna Conservation Alliance, Plant Virginia Natives, and other entities that opted for that tier. Over the years I’ve expanded this and those who pay more than $200 a year through Substack also get a shout-out.

In 2025, I plan to shake up the system a little as I try to bring in more revenue to help grow Town Crier Productions as a business. I don’t have anything to offer just yet, but I’m interested in hearing from businesses and organizations that might want to help support the work and reach a growing audience. So, drop me a line and let’s build the community together!

Second shout-out: Cvillepedia!

Cvillepedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this second shout-out today is to provide a little bit about what I know. I helped create the website back in the late 2000’s as a way of keeping track of all of the stories being written for the nonprofit news organization I worked for at the time.

Now Cvillepedia is hosted by the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library under the stewardship of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. There are over 6,500 articles and we need volunteers to help keep it up to date and to capture more of this community’s history, present, and future.

One of those articles is November 30 and there’s a list of some things that happened today:

* 1897 – Charlottesville City Council holds a special meeting to discuss supplementing the area's water supply and they agreed to sell $35,000 worth of bonds to finance improvements. [1]

* 1899 – The last Thanksgiving of the century was held on the final day of the month. [2]

* 1903 – A special meeting of the Charlottesville City Council takes place and City Engineer C.L. DeMott comments that the city is run by the street railway company. Mayor J. Samuel McCue said that might have been true of a different Council. [3]

* 1905 – President Theodore Roosevelt traveled through Charlottesville on his way to Pine Knot. [4]

* 1925 – Planning continues for the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with Charlottesville hoping to take the lead. [5]

* 2010 – Kick-off meeting for Belmont Bridge replacement at CitySpace. [6][7]

There’s so much more to had and so many sources to cite. If you’re interested in helping out, drop me a line and I’ll put you in touch with someone at the ACHS.

Eighty percent of Saturdays in this month of November have already occurred if you include the one in which this edition of the Charlottesville Community Engagement podcast is released into the world. At one point, there was a podcast for every newsletter. When you’re done listening to today’s edition, why not go back to 2020? Thanks to paid subscriptions, I’ve been able to develop a body of work over the past four and a half years and have tracked a great deal of information. As we approach the next winter holiday, I will be reflecting on how grateful I am to those who support the work. 

Now, let’s get to what’s in here today. Each of the links goes to a story posted on Information Charlottesville, a companion to this newsletter. If you like what you read, why not share it with someone you think might want to know what’s going on? 

This week’s sonic stories: 

* Albemarle County continues work on the Comprehensive Plan update and will get outside help to review of how efficiently development area is used (learn more) 

* The Virginia Public Access Project has put together a more complete picture of turnout in the 2024 elections (learn more)

* Arlington County will appeal a judicial ruling invalidating their program for providing middle missing housing (learn more) 

* Charlottesville City Council gets the first of three budget briefings intended to get their initial response to proposed new spending and City Manager Sam Sanders said he will try to recommend a budget without a tax increase (learn more) 

Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

First shout-out:  Cvillepedia! 

Both of today’s shout-outs relate to the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. Neither of these are paid for in any way. I really want you to know these things, beginning with cvillepedia. 

Cvillepedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this first shout for the November 23, 2024 edition seeks to provide a little bit about what I know. I helped create cvillepedia back in the late 2000’s as a way of keeping track of all of the stories being written for the nonprofit news organization I worked for at the time. 

Now Cvillepedia is hosted by the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library under the stewardship of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. There are over 6,500 articles and we need volunteers to help keep it up to date and to capture more of this community’s history, present, and future.  

If you want to learn how to do research, learn how to explore historical documents, and want some experience writing, consider becoming a volunteer. To give you a sense of one potential project, Frances Brand painted dozens and dozens of portraits of people in the Charlottesville area. Who were they? What can we learn about where we are now by documenting the stories of everyone from Ruth Klüger Angress to Jay Worrall? More on Brand in the next shout-out? 

Questions? Drop me a line! There’s even a Slack channel if you’d like to get involved!

Second shout-out: ACHS taking orders for book profiling local artist Frances Brand

In the next shout-out for the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society: Frances Brand lived from 1901 to 1990 and in her later life she undertook a series of portraits of individuals from Charlottesville and Albemarle County that would become her Gallery of Firsts.

Brand was a U.S. Army major, a civil rights activist, a world traveler, a devoted churchgoer, and an accomplished artist, among other things. Some remember her as a colorful eccentric who loved to dress in purple, while others knew her as a committed and lifelong social activist.

Behind each of Brand’s portraits of these 20th-century pioneers is a special story. To collect some of them, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society has created a book that features 51 portraits from the full collection of currently known Firsts portraits and share some of the compelling stories about those depicted.

ACHS is taking pre-sale orders now for shipping in November. To place your order, visit the ACHS store. 

Reading material for #767A

This one is a little different. This morning I’m cleaning up some of my files and opted to go through a document I keep that tracks the state of journalism. These are all from the time when I was launching this work. 

* How Can the Press Best Serve a Democratic Society?, Michael Luo, New Yorker, July 11, 2020

* Report for America opens newsroom applications, expands opportunity to hire more journalists, Report for America, July 13, 2020

* How the Decline of Local News Threatens Local Democracy, Michael Hendrix, Manhattan Institute, October 5, 2020 

* To save itself, journalism will need to stop preaching to the choir, Lauren Harris, Columbia Journalism Review, July 15, 2020

* The Journalism Creators Program at CUNY teaches participants to launch their own news products, from wherever they are, Hanaa’ Tameez, Nieman Lav, October 27, 2020

* What Happens When a Community Loses Its Newspaper?, Christine Ro, November 11, 2020

How well have I done? Well, I’m still afloat! I am grateful for all of those who are supporting the work. If you’d like to join them, there are many ways to do so. I’m just not as good at figuring out the best way to ask! 

Exactly twenty percent of the days in this November are a Saturday, and this is the one in the middle. This marks the third consecutive week in which the audio version of Charlottesville Community Engagement goes out on the first full day of the American weekend. Could it be that a routine is in place? I’m Sean Tubbs, and you’ll just have to wait. 

On the program today: 

* Charlottesville continues to move forward with several long-delayed transportation projects (learn more)

* Charlottesville waives a procedural step to expedite funds transfer for Pollocks Branch bridge (learn more)

* Albemarle Supervisors approve a permit for mixed-use building and want school division to accept pathway to Agnor Elementary (learn more) 

* The School Division explains why they did not accept the pathway but are willing to entertain an alternative connection 

* Albemarle Supervisors agree to allow Defense Intelligence Agency to use county-owned land for field training (learn more)

* Preliminary work is beginning on new regional hazard mitigation plan (learn more)

* The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is preparing for a regional housing summit and an update of housing needs assessment (learn more)

First shout-out:  Cvillepedia! 

Cvillepedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this second shout-out today is to provide a little bit about what I know. I helped create the website back in the late 2000’s as a way of keeping track of all of the stories being written for the nonprofit news organization I worked for at the time. 

Now Cvillepedia is hosted by the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library under the stewardship of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. There are over 6,500 articles and we need volunteers to help keep it up to date and to capture more of this community’s history, present, and future.  

If you want to learn how to do research, learn how to explore historical documents, and want some experience writing, consider becoming a volunteer. To give you a sense of one potential project, Frances Brand painted dozens and dozens of portraits of people in the Charlottesville area. Who were they? What can we learn about where we are now by documenting the stories of everyone from Ruth Klüger Angress to Jay Worrall?

Questions? Drop me a line! 

Second shout-out:  Celebrating the community’s other information organizations!

In today’s second shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.

There’s also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you’ll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.

End notes for #762A

This is the 14th day in a row that something has gone out in the newsletter feed. Admittedly, there’s no real new content in this. I have other stories I thought about putting in the podcast, but I ran out of energy and I’m ready to take some of today off. 

Not much, though. 

On to the Week Ahead!

We are now at the second Saturday of the 11th month of the 2024th year of this naming system. It appears that it may become somewhat routine to target the podcast version of Charlottesville Community Engagement to go out on this day named after a planet. Like interplanetary probes, sometimes they’ll make it. Sometimes they won’t. I’m Sean Tubbs, still trying to get a hang out of gravity. 

In this edition:

* A recap of this week’s elections and a look ahead to next year (learn more)

* Charlottesville experienced lower revenue collections in first quarter of FY2025 

* Charlottesville to make plans to improve pedestrian safety on Elliott Avenue (learn more)

* Albemarle wins state award for Human Services Alternative Response Team (learn more)

* Piedmont Virginia Community College and the UVA Equity Center have published latest snapshot of family economics in region (learn more )

* If Albemarle and Charlottesville plan together, can that help the community adapt to climate change? (learn more)

This is the audio version of the newsletter and it sounds like like public radio. Take a listen!

First-shout: ACHS taking orders for book profiling local artist Frances Brand

Frances Brand lived from 1901 to 1990 and in her later life she undertook a series of portraits of individuals from Charlottesville and Albemarle County that would become her Gallery of Firsts.

Brand was a U.S. Army major, a civil rights activist, a world traveler, a devoted churchgoer, and an accomplished artist, among other things. Some remember her as a colorful eccentric who loved to dress in purple, while others knew her as a committed and lifelong social activist.

Behind each of Brand’s portraits of these 20th-century pioneers is a special story. To collect some of them, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society has created a book that features 51 portraits from the full collection of currently known Firsts portraits and share some of the compelling stories about those depicted.

ACHS is taking pre-sale orders now for shipping in November. To place your order, visit the ACHS store. 

Second shout-out:  Cvillepedia! 

Cvillepedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and this second shout-out today is to provide a little bit about what I know. I helped create the website back in the late 2000’s as a way of keeping track of all of the stories being written for the nonprofit news organization I worked for at the time. 

Now Cvillepedia is hosted by the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library under the stewardship of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. There are over 6,500 articles and we need volunteers to help keep it up to date and to capture more of this community’s history, present, and future.  

If you want to learn how to do research, learn how to explore historical documents, and want some experience writing, consider becoming a volunteer. To give you a sense of one potential project, Frances Brand painted dozens and dozens of portraits of people in the Charlottesville area. Who were they? What can we learn about where we are now by documenting the stories of everyone from Ruth Klüger Angress to Jay Worrall?

Questions? Drop me a line! 

(image) 

Thanks for reading Charlottesville Community Engagement ! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Some time has passed since the last audio edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement and now it is finally time. This one goes out on the first Saturday of November 2024 and if you don’t like this one, there are four others you can try out when the time comes. I’m Sean Tubbs, and there is no new content in here unless you count my entry in a local contest! 

This edition also doubles as a run-down of the top stories from this week. Or at least the ones that have already been posted to Information Charlottesville. That’s the archive version of this newsletter that serves as an important component in the mechanism that is Town Crier Productions.

On today’s show:

* Albemarle Planning Commission briefed on land use chapter of new Comprehensive Plan (learn more)

* Written opinion issued in legal ruling that halted Arlington’s missing middle zoning (learn more)

* Plans filed for 12 units near intersection of U.S. 250 / McIntire Road / John Warner Parkway (learn more)

* Federally-mandated transportation body endorses changes to road classifications (learn more)

* Charlottesville City Manager Sanders briefs Council on other community interventions such as purchase of portable restrooms (learn more)

* Charlottesville seeking firms to cull deer and other procurement updates (learn more)

* Charlottesville also is looking for performers for the Grand Illumination on December 6 and you can listen to my entry in the podcast (learn more) 

Sign up for more! Next up is the Week Ahead which will preview next week’s government meetings. The regular newsletter will be back Monday. The next podcast? Still trying to figure out the cycle.

First-shout: ACHS taking orders for book profiling local artist Frances Brand

Frances Brand lived from 1901 to 1990 and in her later life she undertook a series of portraits of individuals from Charlottesville and Albemarle County that would become her Gallery of Firsts.

Brand was a U.S. Army major, a civil rights activist, a world traveler, a devoted churchgoer, and an accomplished artist, among other things. Some remember her as a colorful eccentric who loved to dress in purple, while others knew her as a committed and lifelong social activist.

Behind each of Brand’s portraits of these 20th-century pioneers is a special story. To collect some of them, the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society has created a book that features 51 portraits from the full collection of currently known Firsts portraits and share some of the compelling stories about those depicted.

ACHS is taking pre-sale orders now for shipping in November. To place your order, visit the ACHS store. 

Second shout-out:  Celebrating the community’s other information organizations!

In today’s second shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.

There’s also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you’ll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.

Dashboard for Town Crier Productions as one week becomes the next

Different human beings have different ways of receiving and processing information. Charlottesville Community Engagement is able to provide narratives of civic happenings using text as well as audio. This particular edition for October 23, 2024 is a podcast version with several recent stories. Why do two versions? In the words Bill Siemering wrote to breathe life into National Public Radio, my aim every single day is to “encourage a sense of active constructive participation, rather than apathetic helplessness.” 

In this audio edition:

* Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders announces several upcoming “community interventions” (learn more)

* Charlottesville now pays the private Charlottesville Parking Center $1.8 million a year to rent the Water Street Parking Garage (learn more)

* Albemarle Supervisors discuss growth management policy at AC44 work session (learn more)

* Albemarle Supervisors also lay out their legislative priorities for 2025 General Assembly (learn more)

* Beloved UVA men’s basketball Coach Tony Bennett explains his sudden retirement (learn more)

This is an audio version but the next one will be a text version. There are no video versions planned as the camera keeps breaking.

First-shout: WTJU’s Offbeat Roadhouse features Jeff Massanari Trio this week 

Every Friday night at 8 p.m, Offbeat Roadhouse on WTJU invites a different musical group into your home for an hour long concert live from WTJU’s performance space.  Each week there will be Blues, Folk, Jazz, and Roots acts from around the globe. 

This Friday, the Jeff Massanari Trio will pull into the Offbeat Roadhouse for a concert which will also be broadcast on WTJU. The Jazz guitar master will be joined by Tom Harbeck on bass, and drummer David Drubin.

This is a free event, open to all. You can also listen to Offbeat Roadhouse on the radio (91.1 FM) or on-line, and even video stream it at WTJU’s Facebook page or YouTube channel.  But concerts always sound better with you as part of the studio audience.  WTJU is located at 2244 Ivy Rd in Charlottesville, right next door to Vivace. 

Want to see the live event and plan to see more? Check out more on WTJU’s Events Calendar!

Second shout-out:  Celebrating the community’s other information organizations!

In today’s second shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.

There’s also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you’ll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.

You are listening to Charlottesville Community Engagement for October 23, 2024, a super-sized edition. That’s one story from Albemarle. Let’s hear another, take a break, and then hear a final story from the athletic world. 

Third shout-out:  Podcasts are cool 

Perhaps the podcast versions are a bit of an indulgence, but there are at least 200 people who listen each time. Maybe that number is small, and maybe it is not commercially defensible. Yet, audio production is intricately woven into how I do my research. My first ever professional work was an internship at WVTF Public Radio nearly 30 years ago, and this is an extension of that work. 

But this podcast is not the only way to hear the stories! There’s also a Soundcloud page and each of those is appended to the bottom of stories on Information Charlottesville. As long as I keep publishing Charlottesville Community Engagement, there will be an audio component. Any ideas? Want to get involved? Drop me a line! 

There are written versions of Charlottesville Community Engagement and then are the ones where there are voices that can be heard. This is the latter kind, a collection of recent stories that have gone out in print form. The prophecy foretells of a time when the two strains will weave together once again, but for now it’s October 17, 2024 and here’s what you will hear if you hit play above:

In this sonic edition:

* Albemarle PC begins review of new AC44 language on growth management (learn more)

* Ground broken for Long Bridge project to expand passenger rail capacity in Virginia (learn more)

* Charlottesville Area Transit will make service adjustments on November 9 including increasing service on two routes that serve central Charlottesville (learn more)

* City Council discusses pedestrian safety in wake of pedestrian death on Elliott Avenue (learn more)

* Changes may be coming to how VDOT classifies area roads (learn more)

* Albemarle Supervisors briefed on Ivy Road pipeline projects (learn more)

Charlottesville Community Engagement is a reader-supported newsletter and podcast. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

First shout-out: Celebrating the community’s other information organizations!

In today’s first  shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now,  I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.

There’s also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you’ll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.

Second shout-out:  Like bowties, podcasts are cool!

Perhaps the podcast versions are a bit of an indulgence, but there are at least 200 people who listen each time. Maybe that number is small, and maybe it is not commercially defensible. Yet, audio production is intricately woven into how I do my research. My first ever professional work was an internship at WVTF Public Radio nearly 30 years ago, and this is an extension of that work. 

But this podcast is not the only way to hear the stories! There’s also a Soundcloud page and each of those is appended to the bottom of stories on Information Charlottesville. As long as I keep publishing Charlottesville Community Engagement, there will be an audio component.

Thank you to Wraki for the incidental music in the podcast. Go take a listen to the songs in the clear on Bandcamp.  

Reading material will be back in the next regular newsletter which I hope to produce on Friday. And if you don’t know by now, Ting will match your initial payment through Substack. That’s part of a generous sponsorship that’s been in place now since April 2021. If you sign up for service and you are within Ting’s service area, enter the promo code COMMUNITY you’re going to get:

* Free installation

* A second month for free

* A $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall