Charlottesville Community Engagement

Before I can write the new set of stories, I must first process all of the ones written in the past week or so. That means producing the audio for the WTJU radio version of Charlottesville Community Engagement which airs every Saturday at 6 a.m. as well as posting as many as possible to the Information Charlottesville website. These are habits that have emerged from the last four years of being an independent journalist seeking to build audience as I can. I’m Sean Tubbs and I am the host of Charlottesville Community Engagement and these are the audio versions of six pieces of information that have previously gone out in the written newsletter.

And no, Jerry, you don’t have to pay attention to this one. There’s no material except for whatever commentary and other sonic mayhem may appear in the audio version.

But if you want to check out the stories: 

* Charlottesville budget staff brief Council on development of FY26 budget (learn more)

* Albemarle County’s Places29-North group gets updates on the High School Center II and new elementary school (learn more)

* Albemarle staff continues work on Comprehensive Plan update (learn more)

* UVA fundraising continues to set new records and the School of Data Science gets a $10 million gift for scholarships (learn more)

* A new director hired in Charlottesville to oversee planning and zoning while a legal challenge to the new zoning code remains pending (learn more)

* UVA Office of Sustainability briefs Board of Visitors’ panel (learn more)

It looks like Fridays may be the days in which the podcast comes out. Sign up to see if that’s what happens in seven days.

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.

Today’s second shout-out:  Town Crier Productions

In today’s second shout-out, once again I’m taking the owner’s prerogative to state a little about the business that operates Charlottesville Community Engagement as well as Information Charlottesville. I am cutting and pasting this because I’m really ready to be done with the work week. But, also maybe you’re new and you’re seeing this for the first time. 

Town Crier Productions was created in 2020 after I felt a calling to return to local journalism. I’ve been able to cobble together a living for over 1,500 days in this manner, and I’m still learning how to create this entity.

I am in the process of re-evaluating some of the previous ways things have worked and I’m starting with these shout-outs. The system you see is one that is wholly improvised and one that can be improved over time. In the weeks to come I will be asking readers and businesses questions about shout-outs, sponsorships, advertising, underwriting, and other ways to put information out in front of an audience that receives about 3,000 views per newsletter. 

Town Crier Productions is not a non-profit and so far lacks a dedicated operations team. But, there is at least one dedicated reporter determined to build an organization that will support the community’s information needs for time to come. Questions? Send them my way, and stay tuned as we all find out how some of these stories turn out! 

There are many advantages to producing audio versions of the stories that go out in the Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter. The most important is that about a tenth of the audience chooses to receive the information that way. Another reason is the ability to hear the voices of decision-makers and those hired to implement the work of government. I’m Sean Tubbs, and my job is to write as much of it down as possible. 

In this sonic edition:

* The Albemarle Planning Commission recommends denial of request to convert house to commercial property (learn more)

* The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority Board of Directors gets an update on planning issues and learns Crozet may need more water. Joint planning with Fluvanna, Louisa, and Greene may also be happening in the future (learn more) 

* SPCA seeking new contract to provide services for Albemarle and Charlottesville (learn more)

* Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders provides an update on Charlottesville’s efforts to assist the unhoused (learn more)

* Charlottesville will need to look for another city attorney, again (learn more)

At one point, every newsletter was a podcast, and every podcast was a newsletter. Then that got complicated. Now it’s also complicated, but in a different way.

Today’s shout-out:  Town Crier Productions

In today’s first shout-out, I’m taking the owner’s prerogative to state a little about the business that operates Charlottesville Community Engagement as well as Information Charlottesville. Town Crier Productions was created in 2020 after I felt a calling to return to local journalism. I’ve been able to cobble together a living for over 1,500 days in this manner, and I’m still learning how to create this entity.

In the months to come, I will be re-evaluating some of the previous ways things have worked and I’m starting with these shout-outs. The system you see is one that is wholly improvised and one that can be improved over time. In the weeks to come I will be asking readers and businesses questions about shout-outs, sponsorships, advertising, underwriting, and other ways to put information out in front of an audience that receives about 3,000 views per newsletter. 

Town Crier Productions is not a non-profit and so far lacks a dedicated operations team. But, there is at least one dedicated reporter determined to build an organization that will support the community’s information needs for time to come. Questions? Send them my way, and stay tuned as we all find out how some of these stories turn out! 

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.

And if you’re interested in learning more about what Town Crier Productions puts out, there’s a free post on the Patreon account that lists what you can learn. 

Today is day three of the Local Independent Online News publisher’s sustainability summit in Chicago. I’ve taken a few days off to learn more about the business end of providing information to the public and meeting so many other people who are passionate about their work.

However, I can’t clear all of the deadlines I have and one of them is the weekly radio show on WTJU that airs at 6 a.m. This week I decided to re-use the podcast version of the June 11, 2024 edition of this newsletter taken from the last time I traveled to Illinois. And I figured three days without a new post is way too long, so I thought I’d share it with the Substack audience as well.

The Week Ahead for the next will be out sometime tomorrow, and then I’ll be back to regular programming likely on Tuesday.

We are at the last day of August for 2024, and there are 335 days until the next time we call the current month after that particular Roman emperor. Fans of adulation toward long-gone dictators shouldn’t fret, though. There are 304 days until July 1, a factual statement that should also please Canadians. 

This is the final audio podcast of Charlottesville Community Engagement for this month, the sixth in an effort to make sure there’s a chance for people to hear the people quoted in the stories. I’m Sean Tubbs, grateful for the listeners! 

In this edition: 

* Albemarle Supervisors agree to a tax rebate arrangement with Home Depot worth three quarters of a million dollars (written version coming Monday)

* Albemarle Supervisors have also approved a rezoning for Granger property in Albemarle’s southwest urban ring (learn more)

* Traffic fatalities in Virginia are up while total number of crashes has slightly decreased (learn more) 

* Speed-camera enforcement to begin in October for Hydraulic Road school zones (learn more) 

* Transit partnership votes to transition to Regional Transit Authority (learn more)

First shout-out: Charlottesville E-bike Lending Library 

In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out: The rolling topography of the Charlottesville area keeps some people away from choosing cycling as an option to get around. Perhaps an e-bike is in order? 

That’s where Charlottesville’s eBike Lending Library comes in!  E-bikes are a great way to get around the community but there are many brands and styles to choose from. Because many e-bikes are sold online, it can be a challenge to try an e-bike before buying one.

The Charlottesville E-bike Lending Library is a free, not-for-profit service working to expand access to e-bikes in the area. They have a small collection of e-bikes that they lend out to community members for up to a week, for free. You can experience your daily commute, go grocery shopping, or even bike your kids to school, and decide whether e-bikes are right for you. Check out this service at https://www.ebikelibrarycville.org!

Behind the scenes note to anyone reading

This is a podcast only edition which usually means there is nothing original. This time around, though, there is one story that will go out in written form in Monday’s edition of the regular newsletter. So if you really want to know more about Albemarle County’s $750,000 tax rebate deal with the Home Depot, you can listen to a six minute story I produced yesterday to fill time for today’s radio program that went out on WTJU. 

My professional history in journalism began in 1995 with an internship at WVTF Public Radio. I love producing in sound  and even in a long period of time where I produced very few audio stories (roughly 2007 to 2020) I still produced all of my print stories by going through recordings. 

So now I get to present information in both ways, and my production calendar has matured to be able to help me sort out what stage every single story is in. Today that means an advance audio version of a print story, something I don’t expect to happen often.

But who knows? If it’s not on the spreadsheet, I’m not sure when I’ll be able to really wonder. There’s a lot to do, and I’m grateful to paid subscribers and other contributors who help me keep this business going. 

Is this part spoken in the podcast? Are there secrets and easter eggs? Is there room in this community for odd audio collage? Will I be brave enough to try something new? 

You’ll just have to listen and find out! 

Second-shout: Gazpacho in the Garden at Morven

In today’s second subscriber-supported shout-out: The Morven Sustainability Lab invites you to celebrate the new semester on Friday, September 6 for the annual Gazpacho in the Garden event at 5 p.m. There will be a summer meal harvested from a garden that’s all run by students at the University of Virginia. There will be family-friendly music, lawn games, and tours of the garden where you can learn something. There will be limited seating so do come prepared with picnic blankets and chairs. For ticket information, visit the appropriate page on EventBrite. 

Behind the scenes notes for #CCE-724A

Much of the music in the podcast comes from Wraki and that’s another reason to listen! The bits in between the segments are odd concoctions I make. The opening music is from P.J. Sykes, as I commissioned him more than seventeen years ago for a podcast product that didn’t work out. 

Until now! 

Thanks for listening or for reading to this point.

I’m glad to have been able to make a steady living after all this work trying to prove myself. Thank you to paid subscribers, and if you’d like to become one, please remember Ting will match your initial payment. 

 This is an incredibly generous sponsorship, and if you sign up for service and you are within Ting’s service area, enter the promo code COMMUNITY you’re going to get:

* Free installation

* A second month for free

* A $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall

Before additional new stories can be written for Charlottesville Community Engagement, it is necessary to complete work on previous ones. That is the purpose of this edition of the newsletter which includes audio versions for recent stories. I’m Sean Tubbs, ever aware that the treadmill is speeding up. 

In this sonic edition:

* Two dozen apartments planned for land next to Meadowbrook Shopping Center (learn more)

* Demolition permit filed for 303 Alderman Road (learn more)

* Procurement round-up: Repairs coming to the Charlottesville Transit Station (learn more)

* There’s a meeting scheduled on September 10 for upcoming road improvements in the Pantops area (learn more) 

* Both Republicans on Albemarle’s Electoral Board express concern about potential use of ranked-choice voting (learn more) 

If you are new to the newsletter, there is an occasional podcast as well. Back with a regular edition with new information on August 27, 2024. Sign up!

First -shout out: Charlottesville E-bike Lending Library 

In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out: The rolling topography of the Charlottesville area keeps some people away from choosing cycling as an option to get around. Perhaps an e-bike is in order? 

That’s where Charlottesville’s eBike Lending Library comes in!  E-bikes are a great way to get around the community but there are many brands and styles to choose from. Because many e-bikes are sold online, it can be a challenge to try an e-bike before buying one.

The Charlottesville E-bike Lending Library is a free, not-for-profit service working to expand access to e-bikes in the area. They have a small collection of e-bikes that they lend out to community members for up to a week, for free. You can experience your daily commute, go grocery shopping, or even bike your kids to school, and decide whether e-bikes are right for you. Check out this service at https://www.ebikelibrarycville.org!

Second-shout: Gazpacho in the Garden at Morven

In today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out: The Morven Sustainability Lab invites you to celebrate the new semester on Friday, September 6 for the annual Gazpacho in the Garden event at 5 p.m. There will be a summer meal harvested from a garden that’s all run by students at the University of Virginia. There will be family-friendly music, lawn games, and tours of the garden where you can learn something. There will be limited seating so do come prepared with picnic blankets and chairs. For ticket information, visit the appropriate page on EventBrite. 

Housekeeping notes for CCE-772B

With this, I complete last week’s set of stories and feel clear now to get to a whole bunch of ones write this week. The audio component of this newsletter is very important to me and there a lot of loyal listeners. That number is much lower than the “print” audience but I want this work to reach people however possible.

Paid subscriptions keep it going and you know by know that Ting will match the initial payment whether that be at $5 a month, $50 a year, or $200 a year.

Would you be interested in sponsoring the audio version? I’d love to find a way to ensure that I can keep this part of Town Crier Productions going? Drop me a line.

But back to Ting. Ting can help you with your high speed Internet needs. If service is available in your area and you sign up for service, enter the promo code COMMUNITY and you will get:

* Free installation

* A second month for free

* A $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall

There are Fridays and then there’s this Friday, August 23, 2024. This is a podcast version of Charlottesville Community Engagement with audio versions of stories of material sent out earlier this week. Some of the stories have been updated with additional information. Which ones? You’ll have to study closely to find out. I’m Sean Tubbs, encouraging you to listen if you’ve not done so before. 

In this edition: 

* No left turns ever again at Hydraulic Road and U.S. 29 starting Monday (learn more)

* Charlottesville releases a notice of availability for funds for affordable housing projects (learn more)

* Sanders provides updates on Stribling Avenue sidewalk project (learn more)

* There’s a new name for the area’s solid waste drop-off point (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: Information Charlottesville

In today’s shout-out from the owner of Town Crier Productions, have you taken a look at Information Charlottesville? You can do so now at infocville.com.  What’s there? 

Since the middle of February, there have been over four hundred stories contained within the newsletter Charlottesville Community Engagement. The vast majority of them are reposted to Information Charlottesville, a website I created to serve as an archive. Most of the stories from the last four years are on the site and if you go back far enough you can even see the test run I did of this newsletter in early January 2020. 

The goal of all of this is to document a community and region in transition through coverage of decisions about what will happen with links to primary sources to help people gather the information they need to understand context and complexity. 

You won’t find pop-up ads but you just might find something you wanted to know about. Visit infocville.com now to learn more about how you can help keep all of this going! 

Second shout-out: Thanks to Wraki for the music! 

If you listen to this edition of the program about halfway through there will be a break where I say “this is Charlottesville Community Engagement”  and usually I would read one of the pieces of copy for a shout-out. 

And underneath it would be a track by the elusive Wraki called “the helvetica syndrome” but in this case I’m drawing attention to the role that this D.C. based artist plays in each and every podcast by provided music that can be used without paying any royalties. I’ve offered, they’ve refused, and so I’m encouraging people to go to Bandcamp to see what other music by Wraki is there. You too can “regret everything” in musical style. 

Or consider diving onto the Wraki wavelength on YouTube. Either way, thank you Wraki!

Good morning and welcome to another edition of the audio version of Charlottesville Community Engagement this time for August 17, 2024. This particular edition of the podcast originally aired on WTJU this morning at 6 a.m.

This is the 230th day of the year meaning we are 62.8 percent of the way to 2025. A lot will happen between now and then, but here is some of what has happened in the last two weeks or so. I’m Sean Tubbs of Town Crier Productions, and written versions of these stories appear at infocville.com: 

In this sonic edition:

* Council wants District Avenue roundabout to offer full access to Meadows neighborhood (learn more)

* City Council approves three acquisitions for parkland and trails (learn more)

* A brief land use update from the University of Virginia (learn more)

* Herrick named as Albemarle’s interim county attorney (learn more)

* Area convention and visitors bureau has moved to a new location (learn more)

* Albemarle Supervisors briefed on procurement mechanism for Eastern Avenue (learn more)

Sometimes when there are too many loose threads, the way out is to sort them all into lines that make sense. That’s the basic theme behind this audio version of Charlottesville Community Edition collecting stories from editions #714 and #715 so work can get underway on #716. I’m Sean Tubbs, and there is madness to this madness. 

On this audio program:

* Charlottesville City Hall has reopened for business after major water leak in 2023 (learn more)

* Council recognizes Farmers Market Week through August 10  (learn more)

* The Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors takes another look at the housing market (learn more)

* Council holds first reading on salary increase for future counterparts elected after next November (learn more)

* Charlottesville authorizes enhanced role of Office of Human Rights in housing investigations (learn more)

* Carlton Mobile Home Park owner accepts Habitat counter-offer day after Council agrees to contribute $8.7M (learn more)

Every now and then there is a podcast version that features the voices of people who spoke at various meetings. Give it a try!

First shout-out: Information Charlottesville

In today’s shout-out from the owner of Town Crier Productions, have you taken a look at Information Charlottesville? You can do so now at infocville.com.  What’s there? 

Since the middle of February, there have been over four hundred stories contained within the newsletter Charlottesville Community Engagement. The vast majority of them are reposted to Information Charlottesville, a website I created to serve as an archive. Most of the stories from the last four years are on the site and if you go back far enough you can even see the test run I did of this newsletter in early January 2020. 

The goal of all of this is to document a community and region in transition through coverage of decisions about what will happen with links to primary sources to help people gather the information they need to understand context and complexity. 

You won’t find pop-up ads but you just might find something you wanted to know about. Visit infocville.com now to learn more about how you can help keep all of this going! 

Second shout-out: Thanks to Wraki for the music! 

If you listen to this edition of the program about halfway through there will be a break where I say “this is Charlottesville Community Engagement”  and usually I would read one of the pieces of copy for a shout-out. 

And underneath it would be a track by the elusive Wraki called “the helvetica scenario” but in this case I’m drawing attention to the role that this D.C. based artist plays in each and every podcast by provided music that can be used without paying any royalties. I’ve offered, they’ve refused, and so I’m encouraging people to go to Bandcamp to see what other music by Wraki is there. You too can “regret everything” in musical style. 

Or consider diving onto the Wraki wavelength on YouTube. Either way, thank you Wraki!

Pliable. Stretchable. Bendabe. Malleable. Whippy. 

These are all synonyms for flexible, a word that describes the production nature of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and occasional podcast that for most of the past four years was both at the same time. Over time, though, it was necessary to become more limber, plastic, elastic, and workable. 

For this August 3, 2024 podcast edition, audio versions of several stories from the last three print editions. I’m Sean Tubbs, glad to be able to still be doing the sonic version.

In this edition: 

* Charlottesville City Council to vote Monday on salary increase (learn more)

* Albemarle moving ahead with update of economic development strategic plan (learn more)

* City of Charlottesville updates retail vacancy report  (learn more)

* Six townhouses planned for single-family house on Alderman Road (learn more)

* State Senator John McGuire will be the Republican nominee for the Fifth District Congressional Race this fall after a recount affirmed his victory in the primary 

* The Albemarle Board of Supervisors gets a briefing from Albemarle staff on changes to the structure of the next Comprehensive Plan (learn more)

This time it is a podcast. Next time it will be a summary of what’s coming up at government meetings next week. After that? Sign up and see for yourself!

Sponsored message: Buy Local  

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Learn more about how you can support local business at ShowLocalLove.org and on social media:

* Instagram

* Facebook

* The website formerly known as Twitter

An explanation of shout-outs

In a typical edition, I use this space to provide a “shout-out” to subscribers and Patreon supporters who have qualified for a particular perk. Most of these editions are written as scripts for a podcast as my early journalistic dream was to be a public radio producer. I love the way that public service announcements sound and I love that in three years I’ve been able to use this space to promote items that I think most of you would be interested in. 

In this shout-out, I want to salute anyone who has learned something new from these shout-outs. I also want to thank those individuals and organizations that have supported me in the past. 

(image) Town Crier Productions

Thoughts on 713A and the ending of the work week

At 5:30 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon I am so happy to stop working and to pick it all up again tomorrow. So I will just say that if you have not listened to one of these before, this would be a good one to start. The secret has always been that this was intended to be an audio product as that’s what I’ve always wanted to do. January will mark the 30th anniversary of an internship I had at a public radio station.

The AC44 version aired on WTJU this morning, as I have an obligation to fill 30 minutes a week. Knowing I had to make a new deadline every week, I restructured a lot of my internal processes to be able to make sure I could do it.

This is not that version. I could have just posted that here and taken a day off, but I felt I owe the hundreds of people who do listen to the podcast. I really enjoyed doing this work today while I watched the Olympics in Paris, something I did not expect I would be doing nine days ago.

Watching people compete and be their best is inspirational to me. I’ve worked hard to get good at writing about this stuff, and the podcasts sound pretty good, too. Take a listen, though this one is not soundbite-heavy. I run audio of myself quoting from reports through a filter, which is a very cheap way to try to make it sound interesting. I much prefer people hearing to the voices of people I quote, and that is in the final segment which has already aired on the radio first.

What would me from 1984 think about being able to produce this information and grow an audience? I’m not sure, but I know I’m glad I put this together today. Producing audio is my favorite thing to do. If you listen, thank you!

One more thing to do before going offline for the night. I want to post the WTJU version to the because I put the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisor discussions on the Comprehensive Plan in one podcast. Just another way to document things that may slip past without being published somewhere.

Good morning and welcome to the July 27, 2024 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Today is the National Day of the Cowboy, something officially sanctioned by the General Assembly in 2015. Nothing in this edition pertains to that, but somehow this ended up in the show notes anyway.

In this edition: 

* Habitat for Humanity will make a counter-offer of at least $7 million to purchase the Carlton Mobile Home Park in Charlottesville

* The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission agrees to pursue another round of funding for rural housing presentation 

* The Albemarle Planning Commission recommends approval of a rezoning for up to 165 units at 1193 Seminole Trail just north of the Charlottesville border

* Elected bodies in both Albemarle and Charlottesville are briefed on changes to the budget process that funds nonprofit agencies who provide services to help humans in need 

* New legislation now allows some appointed bodies in Virginia to meet virtually more often

* The TJDPC also receives additional funding from Virginia for broadband expansion 

* A local store that specializes in the creative reuse of art supplies joins a regional collective to promote the practice

Show notes for CCE-710A

If you listen carefully, this is the show that went out on WTJU this morning at 6 a.m. Ordinarily I would swap out the introduction, but I really want to take a break from audio production after yesterday. Sometimes this will happen.

This is the 19th edition of the podcast that has aired on WTJU and since that time I’ve made a lot of changes to my process. But this is not one of the days I want to write about it extensively as there’s other things I want to do today.

So, thanks for listening if you did, and if you didn’t, I recommend it. My career had an early start in public radio and I opted to go a different route and here we are.

Now it is time to get to work on the new set of stories!