Charlottesville Community Engagement

December 22, 2025 has arrived and so has this sonic edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Many of the longer versions of stories are produced as if they are going to air on the radio, and for this edition two have already done so! The other two have not, but will be among the stories that may be chosen for the December 27 edition that will air on WTJU at 6 a.m. Between now and then the goal is to spend the holiday period combing through a backlog of potential topics. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I’m glad that this is what I do.

In this edition:

* Charlottesville Planning Commission seeks some changes to city’s five year CIP (read the story)

* Charlottesville ends use of Flock system (read the story)

* Charlottesville transitions parking garages to AI-powered access management (read the story)

* The Albemarle Planning Commission takes a look at a new tool to be used to measure how the county’s growth area land is being used (read the story)

Not quite in this edition but recently written all the same:

* Board of Visitors names Darden Dean as next UVA president

* Charlottesville City Council makes appointments (link to Substack)

* Rezoning sought for between 22 and 110 more units in Hollymead in Albemarle

Shout-out to Patreon-fueled shout-outs!

Since the beginning of this newsletter, several organizations and one business have been supporters of Town Crier Productions with a $25 monthly contribution funded through Patreon or some other financial method! That system is slowly giving away to something different but I thought I would take this special Monday morning slot to thank the following for still sticking to it:

* Alliance Francaise

* Camp Albemarle

* Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards

* Charlottesville E-Bike Lending Library

* Cville Jazz Society

* Design Develop

* Plant Virginia Natives

* Re-Leaf

* Rivanna Conservation Alliance

* WTJU

If you have a moment, take a look at any of the ones that sound interesting to you. Learn something new!

A new system of shout-outs will come into place in 2026 and if you are interested in sponsorship opportunities, please drop me a line. I’m a one-person information outlet and for that number to go up, I have to continue to grow revenue.

Why not start a week off with a podcast edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement? There are likely many answers why not with a primary one being that it is atypical for such a program to be sent out through this feed on a Monday morning. Perhaps a better question is why produce audio versions of this newsletter at all? The answer to that is simply just to take a listen and hear for yourself.

In this edition:

* Charlottesville City Council is briefed on transportation happenings, including plans to hire at least ten bus drivers a year until there’s a total of 108 (read the story)

* The Virginia Department of Transportation says Charlottesville is making progress towards delivering transportation projects, but the city is still deficient (read the story)

* A future UVA Engineering Building gets boost from use of strategic funds (read the story)

* The UVA Buildings and Grounds gets updates on various projects and adds repairs to Steele Wing to the Major Capital Plan (read the story)

* Charlottesville Planning Commission gets updates on UVA projects (read the story)

Shout-out to Patreon-fueled shout-outs!

Since the beginning of this newsletter, several organizations and one business have been supporters of Town Crier Productions with a $25 monthly contribution funded through Patreon or some other financial method! That system is slowly giving away to something different but I thought I would take this special Monday morning slot to thank the following for still sticking to it:

* Alliance Francaise

* Camp Albemarle

* Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards

* Charlottesville E-Bike Lending Library

* Cville Jazz Society

* Design Develop

* Plant Virginia Natives

* Re-Leaf

* Rivanna Conservation Alliance

* WTJU

If you have a moment, take a look at any of the ones that sound interesting to you. Learn something new!

A new system of shout-outs will come into place in 2026 and if you’re interested in sponsorship opportunities, please drop me a line. I’m a one-person information outlet and for that number to go up, I have to continue to grow revenue.

This week, WTJU is holding their Classical Marathon which means that there will be no radio version of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Yet, the production of the newsletter often depends on harvesting audio recordings of meetings. I’m Sean Tubbs, publisher and president of Town Crier Productions, and I’ve been chopping up sound into stories for over thirty years now. This podcast version for December 10, 2025 includes three sonic articles from the past week so I can make room for the next set.

There will be another regular newsletter later on this evening.

Here are the highlights:

* Former Congressman Tom Perriello enters the race for the Democratic nomination to represent Virginia’s Fifth District in the U.S. House of Representatives (read the story)

* Two special elections scheduled in Virginia on January 6 (read the story)

* Virginia transportation panel briefed on $20 million for Boulders Road project (read the story)

* Albemarle Schools seek funding for fourth high school while Supervisors want more data on need (read the story)

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

Today’s only shout-out: Enjoy the WTJU Classical Marathon through the new app!

WTJU is pleased to announce our brand new mobile app! You can download a version from either the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Here are the links to both:

* iPhone version

* Android version

The WTJU app is the place to tune in and listen live to WTJU, WXTJ, and Charlottesville Classical. Aside from the live stream, listen to archived shows, view recent songs, playlists, and program schedules, check out videos of live performances, stay up-to-date on WTJU’s most recent news and articles, and more!Live chat with your favorite hosts, share stories with your friends, and tune into your community all in the palm of your hand.

What does it mean that there is a Friday podcast edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement? In case anyone asks, an explanation: This newsletter began in July 2020 as a podcast as a next phase of work I began at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. In the spring of 2024, I began producing a radio program for WTJU and decided to separate that production into a separate process.

Now it is December 5, 2025 and there is enough information to get out a podcast before the next radio show. See below for some introspection about why I hope to increase the amount of audio in the future.

In this edition:

* Virginia’s elections are certified; Catalano holds on to Stanardsville seat on Greene Board (read the story)

* Charlottesville PC takes first look at draft Capital Improvement Program (read the story)

* Albemarle Supervisors ask local legislators for help on transportation funding (read the story)

* Charlottesville moves step closer to construction of Barracks-Emmet Streetscape (read the story)

* Charlottesville City Council fixes an underpayment to the area ’s tourism agency (read the story)

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

Today’s shout-out: Town Crier Productions!

This newsletter as well as Information Charlottesville are the two main platforms for Town Crier Productions. That’s the name for the business entity I created in 2020 when I decided to launch a new chapter in journalism.

I’ve been able to sustain this work and cover many stories over the past five years because of the many ways people can support the business. One way is to go for a paid subscription here on Substack which goes a long way to support all of the research and reporting.

Other ways? Well, you can always consider taking out a sponsorship or advertisement or whatever it is called when you want to get a message out to draw attention to your business, organization, event, or anything that might fit in with this particular audience. Drop me a line if you want to see the fledgling media kit and help me experiment.

But also, thanks to all of you who read this each time it is published. A publication like this may not be for everyone, but it has found an audience. We’re all in this together, and I’m grateful for any support so I can keep paying attention and sharing what I find.

So the real shout-out here - is to all of you! After all, isn’t that what a Town Crier does?

Thoughts about why this edition:

Before I launched this newsletter in July 2020, I had created a website that I was going to call This is Charlottesville. If you look closely, that’s the first domain I registered sometime after I left my last journalism job.

This particular edition is going to be reposted to the Charlottesville Podcasting Network, a moribund website that a longtime steward fixed this week for me. I created the website in the spring of 2005 when I realized I could post longer versions of my freelance stories to a place on the Internet I could control.

Twenty years ago was an epoch ago. Social media was in its infancy but in Charlottesville, we had cvillenews.com which was an early gathering point for those who were online early when you needed a computer to get to all of it.

I had no idea how to make money off of the podcast site, and a first version of my business ended up being about taking whatever revenue I could with not a lot of thought about what it was I was doing. There were some really big failures and I was grateful when I had the opportunity to join Charlottesville Tomorrow.

I spent eleven years there and took a break from journalism. But from the beginning of the interregnum, I wanted to have a place to experiment with getting information out to people. When the pandemic hit, I took a leap of faith to start what was intended to be a simple newscast. But that grew and grew until I’m at this point where I’ve got to fix a lot of things if I’m going to stay in the air.

There are many flaws with aspects of my current way of producing things. There are so many dumb errors that go out to thousands of people because I don’t have a second set of eyes.

Until the spring of 2024, all of the newsletter were podcasts but I broke the production into separate processes when I began doing the radio version for WTJU.

Doing so lost an editorial check. It’s very hard to read copy from a script with errors in it. I’m prone to silly errors and I can be hasty trying to get information out to people.

But when I read the copy, I have to fix it. One solution would be to at least produce the narration for every version before I hit send.

Next week there is no radio show as WTJU holds their Classical Marathon from December 8 to December 14. That may mean I take a fresh approach to audio production.

In any case, this is the introspection about audio. I hope you enjoy the day.

This time the podcast is the same file as the radio show that airs on WTJU, complete with public service announcements and continuity befitting a program that goes out over broadcast signal at a specific time. For the sake of the holiday, I have made this the November 29, 2025 edition.

This is the 333rd day of the year, a fact that may or may not have any significance but sounds like a good thing to say. I’m Sean Tubbs, the publisher of Town Crier Productions and the writer behind Information Charlottesville at infocville.com. Most Saturday mornings I present you with several recent stories in audio form, and this week is not one of the exceptions. Though, this edition begins a process of looking back at this year.

In this edition:

* Legislators have filed the first bills for General Assembly 2026 (learn more)

* A new era for public transportation could be underway with the formation of the Charlottesville Albemarle Regional Transit Authority (learn more)

* The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority finds out how much a pump station failure cost to repair (learn more)

* Charlottesville rooting out invasive species on city parkland (learn more)

Archive stories:

* This being Thanksgiving week, there aren’t as many fresh stories, so this is a good time to begin the process of looking back. One of the first important stories of 2026 will be when assessments begin to come out. Here’s how that sounded in January 2025 when they went up 5.1 percent.

* Meanwhile, property assessments in Charlottesville went up 7.74 percent for 2025. In January, Albemarle Supervisors filled a key vacancy. Here’s that story.

* Charlottesville had a surplus for FY2024 in excess of $22.4 million and some of that funding would eventually go to pay for things such as an office building intended to be converted to a low-barrier shelter for the homeless. Let’s go back to January to hear more about that surplus.

* There are a lot of quirks to the area and one of them is the 45 acres or so of land in Albemarle County in the Woolen Mills that can only be accessed via the City of Charlottesville. One more story from January.

Meta-information for November 29, 2025

I did not work on Thanksgiving and I so wanted that streak to continue into the following day. I had a better time than I thought I would, and made a choice to stay in one place rather than be itinerant.

I drove back at sunrise and traveled on U.S. 250 approaching Charlottesville from the west. The roads were empty as the sunlight slowly drifted over the horizon. I thought about the many times I’ve driven that road and how many stories I have written about places that have been built over the last twenty years.

When I first moved to this community, I worked on Ednam Drive near the Boar’s Head. I would travel there from northern Albemarle by the airport. The house I lived in was torn down to make way for the North Pointe development. Nothing up there looks the same anymore.

I wrote stories about the roundabout at U.S. 250 and Route 151. I was part of a collaboration with the Daily Progress where four of us were assigned a stretch of the roadway as it goes from Nelson to Zion Crossroads. All of these forgotten stories flashed through my mind including different places I’ve been to as a catering server or a friend.

There was no traffic but me so I was able to drive slow and go at my own pace. The fight over the Restore-n-Station. The storage unit at the corner with Old Trail. The people who died at the Harris Teeter. The landscaper who had to fight the county to use property just outside the growth area as a business. The construction of another roundabout now underway. That place where my friends used to live off of Gillums Ridge Road. That woman’s house in Ivy who hired me to do transcription for a documentary she was making. The fact that I’ve never been to Duner’s and probably never will.

The recovery hospital UVA built that I wrote about at a time when I had no idea what happened in places like that. Now I am older and have spent a lot of time with my parents in similar spots.

And then an explosion of thoughts as I drove past the Boar’s Head where I spent a year and a half in my first real production job. My entire life changed working at that spot. It was too dark to see the renovations at Birdwood. I thought about stopping at the Bellair Market but it may not have been open. I remembered being a volunteer for the Charlottesville Track Club picking up supplies left in Ednam Forest for an organized marathon training.

But once I got east of the bypass, suddenly so much change. I remembered the medical building torn down to build another medical building. New buildings on one side of the road constructed close to traffic with a new sidewalk. And then the cinderblock stairwell towers that will make up the Blume, followed quickly by a great expansion of the University of Virginia. The Karsh Institute of Democracy is coming along and the new student housing buildings are coming out of the ground. The Virginia Guesthouse will open up for the first guests next year and UVA awaits funding for the arts center approved earlier this year.

Thanksgiving was two days ago, but I want to thank you all again for reading this newsletter and especially thank those who are paying me to keep writing stories. I’m grateful to be able to do this work.

I could reminisce all day but I have new stories to write.

For this edition, I did begin the process of looking back at 2025. In December I will produce a series of editions from stories from this year. I do this as a way of seeing what loose ends I have to tie up and what I have to look forward to in the next year.

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

Written editions of Charlottesville Community Engagement often begin with a historical anecdote to mark the day and tie stories to a greater sense of the world. But what about this newsletter’s history?

* The first November 22 edition came out in 2021 as you can see and hear here.

* The November 22 version from 2023 was the only one made that week. Go look!

* Last year? November 22 rounded out a full week of newsletters!

This edition is a podcast version where 92.3 percent of the material has already gone out in print form but now the stories can be heard as if you were listening to public radio.

What’s in this edition?

* Albemarle’s Economic Development Authority gets an update on AstraZeneca’s investment at Rivanna Futures (learn more)

* Officials celebrate one transportation project while another gets underway

* Jaunt CEO Mike Murphy briefs Charlottesville City Council (learn more)

* With one quarter down, Charlottesville currently projected for $921K surplus for FY2026 (learn more)

* Albemarle Supervisors take a look at the five-year financial plan as budget planning accelerates for fiscal year 2027 (learn more)

Sponsorship demonstration: Westwind Flowers

Fall is in full bloom at Westwind Flowers! With the crisp autumn air settling in, they’re celebrating the season with fresh, local blooms perfect for every occasion.

And as the holidays approach, let Westwind Flowers bring local beauty to your celebrations. Dress up your Thanksgiving table with seasonal blooms, gift your host or hostess with a gorgeous indoor plant, or join us for one of our Holiday Wreath Workshops on November 29th or December 6th. Create your own festive wreath, from the base to the finishing touch, with expert guidance and fresh, locally grown greenery.

Westwind Flowers offers sustainably grown, thoughtfully curated cut flowers, perfectly suited to the season and the special moments in your life. They believe the blooms in your vase should be just as fresh, and just as local, as the food on your table. Visit their website to learn more!

Thoughts at the end of #960-A

This is the first podcast edition in two weeks. The reason there was none last week? Last Saturday I published a text edition instead based on differing accounts of the forced resignation of University of Virginia President Jim Ryan.

For a while I was posting these on Mondays, but the gravity of my workflow means they come out best on Saturday mornings. I’ve been an audio producer for most of my journalism career dating back to 1995 and an internship at WVTF Public Radio. Recording audio is how I’ve always conducted interviews, though I've not done that for a while.

I would like to do so, though. Since beginning this newsletter in the summer of 2020, I’ve mostly relied on harvesting government meetings and information releases. For me that is efficient approach because it can be much more time consuming to process those interviews and turn them into finished pieces. The nature of my business plan is to be as prolific as possible.

I’m a journalist first. Being a business person ranks lower, though I’ve added a lot of over the past five and a half years. I’m excited to look ahead to 2026 and trying out some new things as I can. Maybe I’ll finally finish that media kit! Let me know if you want to see a preview.

For now it is time to finish this up and move on with the day. Below is an image from one of the stories this week.

Time again for another sonic edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that seeks to capture at least some of what happens in local and regional government. The timestamp for this one is the 312th day of the year 2025, otherwise known as

November 8. I’m Sean Tubbs, glad to bring you another set of stories that went out this morning on WTJU. Why not send them out again to all of you?

In this edition:

* A round-up of elections at the state and local level

* Charlottesville is planning to launch a public art program and City Council gets an update (4:30) (read the story)

* Charlottesville is holding a Community Walk this Sunday through the Venable neighborhood (read the story)

* A divided City Council appears willing to sell Clarke Court to the Jefferson Scholars Foundation (read the story)

* Albemarle County prepares to celebrate Veterans Day with a ceremony

* A very quick preview of the Week Ahead!

This edition is an audio version which is on the same feed as the newsletter. The links above go to stories that have already gone out. The next new edition is tomorrow!

Sponsorship demonstration: Westwind Flowers

Fall is in full bloom at Westwind Flowers! With the crisp autumn air settling in, they’re celebrating the season with fresh, local blooms perfect for every occasion.

And as the holidays approach, let Westwind Flowers bring local beauty to your celebrations. Dress up your Thanksgiving table with seasonal blooms, gift your host or hostess with a gorgeous indoor plant, or join us for one of our Holiday Wreath Workshops on November 29th or December 6th. Create your own festive wreath, from the base to the finishing touch, with expert guidance and fresh, locally grown greenery.

Westwind Flowers offers sustainably grown, thoughtfully curated cut flowers, perfectly suited to the season and the special moments in your life. They believe the blooms in your vase should be just as fresh, and just as local, as the food on your table. Visit their website to learn more!

Sponsorship demonstration?

Every edition of this newsletter allows me to continue to experiment with getting messages out to people who are paying for that for one reason or another. This all began in 2020 when I was considering a launch and created a Patreon account. Many of the shout-outs you see and hear are because I created a system where people or entities that paid a certain amount could get some sort of a benefit.

Over the years, I’ve offered more opportunities for people to qualify for shout-outs but the vast majority of people who are eligible for that system don’t take advantage of it. And as the audience grows, so does the value of reaching people.

In addition to this newsletter, there’s also Information Charlottesville, a companion website that provides a more robust archive than what my current service provides. Traffic there is light but the potential is there for that to serve as a community archive.

I’m not ready to broadcast the media kit I’ve put together yet because it’s not quite ready. I’ve still got a lot to learn and I’m looking for people and entities that would like to help support the business while assisting me with my experimenting.

I am a one-person operation and I put the reporting first. But as I continue this experiment I find myself intrigued with a part of the business I’ve never really been part of except for my attempts to sell ads in the early 1990’s for a college newspaper.

Drop me a line if you’d like to learn more.

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one newsletter to produce an audio version, than this shall be what happens. As in, this a stand-alone audio edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter produced by Town Crier Productions with information about growth, development, government, and the occasional attempt at humor. I’m Sean Tubbs, encouraging readers to become listeners, listeners to become readers, and glad you’re here either way.

On this edition of the program:

* The Virginia Senate follows the Virginia House of Delegates in advancing a Constitutional amendment to allow for a one-time redrawing of Congressional districts (House story) (Senate story below)

* A preview of two readings coming up this month from the poet and author MaKshya Tolbert (story below)

* Charlottesville design panel approves design for fence at Downtown Mall business, though Council must approve special exception (read the story)

* Work continues to prepare candidate projects for VDOT’s next Smart Scale Round (read the story)

* Greene Supervisors briefed on innovation corridor planning (read the story)

* Council signs off on revenue-sharing application for sidewalk in Meadows neighborhood (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: Westwind Flowers

Fall is in full bloom at Westwind Flowers! With the crisp autumn air settling in, they’re celebrating the season with fresh, local blooms perfect for every occasion.

And as the holidays approach, let Westwind Flowers bring local beauty to your celebrations. Dress up your Thanksgiving table with seasonal blooms, gift your host or hostess with a gorgeous indoor plant, or join us for one of our Holiday Wreath Workshops on November 29th or December 6th. Create your own festive wreath, from the base to the finishing touch, with expert guidance and fresh, locally grown greenery.

Westwind Flowers offers sustainably grown, thoughtfully curated cut flowers, perfectly suited to the season and the special moments in your life. They believe the blooms in your vase should be just as fresh, and just as local, as the food on your table. Visit their website to learn more!

Virginia Senate passes first reference of Constitutional amendment to allow mid-Census redistricting

The Virginia General Assembly has taken the first step towards amending the state constitution in order to allow for a one-time redrawing of Congressional boundaries to counter similar moves being made elsewhere.

Democrats hold the majority in both the House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate, and Republicans in both chambers objected to the process, arguing there was not sufficient notice to voters and that at least a million people have already cast their ballots in early voting. A lawsuit has been filed and the first hearing is on November 5, a day after the election.

Article XII of the Virginia Constitution describes how that document can be changed. Section 1 explains that both houses of the General Assembly must first adopt a resolution. Then an election has to take place in the House of Delegates. Then the General Assembly has to vote on the resolution a second time before it goes to the voters in a referendum.

Amendments to the Virginia Constitution are fairly common with the last one approved by voters in 2024. Over 92 percent of the electorate approved a proposal to extend tax exemptions to spouses of soldiers killed in the line of duty.

In 2020, two-thirds of the electorate voted to establish an eight member Virginia Redistricting Commission which would take over the process of establishing legislative districts from the General Assembly.

In the final week of October 2025, Republicans argued in committee meetings and from the House and Senate floor that this amendment counters the will of the people. Democrats argued the step is necessary to counter a presidency that is acting beyond its power by asking other states to change their rules.

This story covers the Virginia Senate debate on October 31.

For more background, go back and read these two stories:

* Virginia General Assembly has begun consideration of Congressional redistricting during special session, October 29, 2025

* Constitutional amendment for Virginia redistricting passes House, awaits action in Senate, October 31, 2025

The Senate took up House Joint Resolution 6007 the Friday morning of Halloween. The day before, the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee approved the amendment on an 8 to 6 vote.

Before the full debate, there were three requests to amend the resolution including one from Senator Christoper Head that would have required the mid-Census boundary change to go through the Virginia Redistricting Commission. Those failed on partisan lines, and three Republican members were not present.

A long debate over the resolution kicked off when Senator Aaron Rouse (D-22) made a motion for its adoption. He said the amendment would give Virginians a chance to weigh in with their vote on whether the lines should be redrawn.

“We do see evidence that the system is being rigged by a wannabee dictator out of Washington,” Rouse said. “During this Republican shutdown we’ve seen this dictator be enabled by a coequal but separate branch of government. Virginians may have something to say about that.”

Senator Schuyler VanValkenburg (D-16) was one of the patrons for the Constitutional amendment that set up the Virginia Redistricting Commission. He said Republican claims that the amendment would eliminate the body are false.

“That’s not what this is and that’s not what we’re doing,” VanValkenburg said. “Today we are taking a truly proportional response to an extreme situation. The current outbreak of opportunistic mid-decade redistricting means that we are in a truly unprecedented, Constitutional norm breaking time.”

Senator Glen Sturtevant (R-12) said the resolution is a betrayal of voters in part because over a million people had already voted.

“That’s not reform, that’s reversal,” Sturtevant said. “It’s not transparency, it’s a power grab. It’s been rushed. It’s been secretive. And it is purposely timed to avoid accountability in this election.”

Senator J.D. “Danny” Diggs (R-24) said the Constitution is intended to be updated every ten years to accommodate for population shifts.

“This amendment is being proposed not to protect our citizens or to make our government better,” Diggs said. “This amendment is about increasing the political power of the Democrat party. It has an expiration date so that if the political winds change, the Republican party can’t do the same thing in a few years.”

Senator Luther Cifers (R-10), elected earlier this in a special election to replace John McGuire, took issue with Democrats advancing the process in late October, over a month after early voting had begun. Some voters might have changed vote if they had known the General Assembly would take this action.

“It appears to be well-established that the intent of the intervening election in the Constitutional amendment process is so that voters can respond at the ballot box between the two passages of an amending resolution,” Cifers said.

Senator Christie New Craig (R-19) said the resolution is intended to advance national interests rather than those of Virginia’s.

“The timing of H.J. 6007, positioned as an urgent matter, was not authored based on constituent demands,” New Craig said. “It was authored based on instructions from national leadership.”

Senator Mark Peake (R-22) echoed comments made by Delegate Lee Ware (R-72) during debate in the House of Delegates.

“Texas embarking on a mid-decade redistricting was probably not a good idea but because they have embarked on that endeavor doesn’t mean we have to engage in the endeavor,” Peake said.

One argument made by Republicans is that the resolution does not pass legal muster because it doesn’t follow language in state code that requires court clerks to post a public notice of a pending Constitutional amendment 90 days before an election. Senator Head said that has not been followed.

“There’s no way we can do this,” Head said. “I mean you can do this today. You’re going to do this today. We know that you’re going to do this today. It’s going to get the 21 votes. You’re going to pass it because you’re not paying attention to what people are screaming about out there or any of the arguments that are valid that any of us are going to have made.”

Senator Mamie Locke (D-23) said Republicans making arguments about her party taking national direction were hypocritical and they would be doing something similar if they controlled the General Assembly.

“Be assured if the proverbial shoe was on the other foot, a directive from D.C. to the Governor would have been adhered to, quick, fast, and in a hurry to undo the Constitutional amendment in Virginia mid-stream and not one of you would be talking about the sanctity of the bipartisan redistricting commission or the needs of the voters or respect for the will of the people,” Locke said.

Locke said the federal government has been transformed by executive orders from the White House which have been followed by Virginia’s executive branch.

Senator Barbara Favola (D-40) called the resolution one of hope that would give Virginia voters another opportunity to weigh in on a presidency that is bending the rules of the U.S. Constitution.

“That’s what this is,” Favola said. “We’re not redrawing anything today. We’re not doing anything magical. We’re saying to voters, if this goes through the process we’ve laid out, and we’ve explained that multiple times, should the Constitutional amendment go to the voters, they will have the final say. We are in no way undermining the principles that all of us have stood for.”

Senator Scott Surovell (D-34) said the resolution is necessary to combat an unprecedented attempt to change Congressional boundaries to keep Republicans in power no matter what.

“This is a coordinated national strategy to grab power,” Surovell said. “The fundamental power problem that we are giving ourselves the option to address is that Virginia cannot fight with one hand tied behind its back.”

Surovell said a mid-census redistricting is not ideal but is necessary to have as an option as more Republican-controlled states adjust their boundaries.

“What do you do when one side refuses to play by the rules?” Surovell asked. “Do you maintain principles and accept defeat? Or do you recognize that preserving democracy sometimes requires tools you find distasteful to prevent permanent entrenchment of minority rule? We owe it to our constituents to have this conversation. We owe it to democracy to consider all of the options.”

Soon after, the resolution was adopted 21 to 16. The Senate adjourned about an hour later.

Now what? There’s an election on Tuesday. There’s always something to pay attention to.

MaKshya Tolbert reads two poems from Shade is a Place

There are more stories about the mechanics of government coming up later in this edition of the program. But first, let’s take a quick break to hear a poem from MaKshya Tolbert. They’re the 2025 Art in Library Spaces Artist-in-Residence at the University of Virginia as well as a former Chair of other.

Tolbert has two events coming up as part of the launch of their National Poetry Series-winning debut poetry collection It’s called SHADE IS A PLACE and it is on sale November 4 from Penguin Books

Here’s Ways to Measure Trees, originally published in Poem-a-Day on February 11, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.

Tolbert will lead a public shade walk on the Downtown Mall at 4:45 p.m. with New City Arts on November 4 with a reception and artist talk at 6 p.m. followed by a book signing at the Welcome Gallery at 114 3rd St. NE. The shade walk begins at the Free Expression Monument. (learn more)

On November 15, Tolbert will discuss SHADE IS A PLACE, in conversation with Lisa Russ Spaar, from 7:00pm-8:00pm, New Dominion Bookshop. (learn more).

Today’s sponsor is Piedmont Master Gardeners: Now accepting applications for their 2026 training class. Apply by December 1, 2025

No study of American history or macroeconomics would leave out the impact played by the Great Crash of the New York Stock Exchange of 1929 which culminated on Black Tuesday, 96 years ago today. Stock prices had continued to increase throughout the Roaring Twenties but would generally decline until 1932, marking the era of the Great Depression. This edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement does not have the time or resources to delve into the causes of a financial panic that transformed the United States. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I think people should look back on their own time.

In this edition:

* Earlier this year, President Trump asked officials in Texas to redraw the Congressional maps to give the Republican Party an advantage in the 2026 midterms

* Other states with Democratic majorities such as California have countered with redistricting proposals of their own

* This week, the Virginia General Assembly is meeting in a special session to take a first step to amend the state’s constitution to allow for a mid-Census redistricting

* The podcast version features an audio version of yesterday’s story on 530 East Main Street (read the story)

Charlottesville Community Engagement is the work of one person and that one person sometimes neglects the marketing. You can help fill the gap by sharing with friends!

First-shout: The new WTJU mobile app is here!

WTJU is pleased to announce our brand new mobile app! You can download a version from either the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Here are the links to both:

* iPhone version

* Android version

The WTJU app is the place to tune in and listen live to WTJU, WXTJ, and Charlottesville Classical. Aside from the live stream, listen to archived shows, view recent songs, playlists, and program schedules, check out videos of live performances, stay up-to-date on WTJU’s most recent news and articles, and more!Live chat with your favorite hosts, share stories with your friends, and tune into your community all in the palm of your hand.

Virginia General Assembly takes up redistricting amendment during special session

The second presidency of Donald Trump has introduced many novel approaches to governance in the United States, including pressure on legislators in Texas to break from precedent to redraw Congressional districts in advance of the 2026 mid-term elections.

Traditionally redistricting happens every ten years as mandated in Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. States can determine the method of how they draw districts but for many years Southern states were required to submit boundaries for review to ensure compliance with civil rights legislation such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Republican Party currently holds a narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives with 219 members to 213 Democrats with three vacancies. One of those vacancies has been filled in a special election in Arizona won on September 23 by Democrat Adelita Grijalva but Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has so far refused to swear her in until he calls the full House of Representatives back into session.

According to the Texas Tribune, redistricting in Texas is expected to create five additional safe seats for Republicans. The state’s delegation of 38 Representatives consists of 25 Republicans, 12 Democrats, and one vacancy. Governor Greg Abbott signed the new Congressional map on August 29 with no need for voters to approve the measure.

In response, California Governor Gavin Newsome, a Democrat, suggested legislation called the “Election Rigging Response Act” in direct response to the new maps in Texas, and a voter initiative to redraw maps in the nation’s largest state mentions efforts underway by Republicans to redistrict in Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nebraska, and South Carolina. Proposition 50 is on the ballot on November 4.

Last week, the Virginia Political Newsletter reported that Democrats who control a narrow majority in the General Assembly are seeking to follow California’s lead. On Monday, the House of Delegates agreed to take up House Joint Resolution 6007 which would amend the Virginia Constitution to allow the General Assembly to make a one-time adjustment.

The General Assembly is able to meet because a special session from 2024 was never technically adjourned. To allow consideration of the Constitutional amendment, the joint resolution that sets the rules for the special session had to be changed and agreed to by both the House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate.

One adopted on February 22 of this year lists six items of acceptable business including memorials and resolutions commending people or businesses. A seventh was added to House Joint Resolution 6006 which was introduced by Delegate Charniele Herring (D-4) on October 24. This would allow a “joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Virginia related to reapportionment or redistricting.”

Both the House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate convened on Monday, October 27.

As the debate in the House of Delegates began, Delegate Bobby Orrock (R-66) made a parliamentary inquiry.

“My first inquiry would be given that special sessions have by their very nature only occurred for specific reasons. Ergo, we have resolutions controlling what can be considered during them. And subsequently, to my knowledge and experience here, they’ve never extended for more than a one year period.”

Orrock said the 2024 Special Session was continued to allow progress toward adopting a budget that year. He said that had taken place and the stated reason for the special session was moot.

The amendment itself was not made available until Tuesday afternoon. More on that later.

Delegate Jay Leftwich (R-90) read from §30-13 of the Virginia Code which lays out what steps the Clerk of the House of Delegates has to take when publishing proposed amendments to the Constitution.

“It goes on to say, Mr. Speaker, the Clerk of the House of Delegates shall have published all proposed amendments to the constitution for the distribution from his office and to the clerk of the circuit court of each county and the city two copies of the proposed amendments, one of which shall be posted at the front door of the courthouse and the other shall be made available for public inspection,” Leftwich said.

Delegate Herring countered that that section of code predates the Virginia Constitution of 1971 which does not have those requirements. Leftwich continued to press on this note but Speaker of the House Don Scott ruled that his questions were not germane to the procedural issue.

Delegate Lee Ware (R-72) said the move across the United States to redraw districts mid-Census to gain partisan advantage was a bad idea no matter what party was proposing it.

“Just because a bad idea was proposed and even taken up by a few of our sister states such as North Carolina or California, is not a reason for Virginia to follow suit,” Ware said. “ For nearly two and a half centuries, the states have redistricted following the decennial census, responding to the population shifts both in our country and in the states.”

A motion to amend HJ6006 passed 50 to 42.

The House of Delegates currently only has 99 members due to the resignation of Todd Gilbert. Gilbert had been named as the U.S. Attorney for Western Virginia but lasted for less than a month. Former Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Tracci was appointed to the position on an interim basis.

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

Second-shout out: Cville Village seeks volunteers

Can you drive a neighbor to a doctor’s appointment? Change an overhead lightbulb, plant a flower, walk a dog for someone who is sick, visit someone who is lonely? If so, Cville Village needs you!

Cville Village is a local 501c3 nonprofit organization loosely affiliated with a national network of Villages whose goals are to help seniors stay in their own homes as long as possible, and to build connections among them that diminish social isolation. Volunteers do small chores for, and have gatherings of, professors and schoolteachers, nurses and lawyers, aides and housekeepers. Time and chance come to all – a fall, an order not to drive, failing eyesight, a sudden stroke. They assist folks continue living at home, with a little help from their friends.

Cville Village volunteers consult software that shows them who has requested a service and where they are located. Volunteers accept only the requests that fit their schedule and their skills.

Volunteering for Cville Village can expand your circle of friends and shower you with thanks.

To learn more, visit cvillevillage.org or attend one of their monthly Village “meet-ups” and see for yourself. To find out where and when the next meetup is, or to get more information and a volunteer application, email us at [email protected], or call them at (434) 218-3727.

Virginia Senators pre-debate the amendment on Tuesday

The Virginia Senate took up the matter on Monday as well. Democrats have a 21 to 19 majority and were unable that day to suspend the rules to immediately consider an amendment to HJ6006. They had a second reading on Tuesday.

The initial discussion of the Constitutional amendment took place during a portion of the meeting where Senators got to speak on matters of personal privilege. As with the House of Delegates, many inquiries from Republican legislators happened because the document itself was not yet available for review.

Senator Bill Stanley (R–20) rose to remind his colleagues that the General Assembly passed a bipartisan Constitutional amendment to require that redistricting be conducted by a nonpartisan committee.

“We listened to Virginians who were tired of the gerrymandering,” Stanley said. “In 2019, polls showed 70 percent of Virginians supported redistricting reform. Not 51 percent, not 55 percent, [but] 70 percent. The Mason Dixon poll showed 72% support. And crucially, over 60 percent of Republicans and Democrats alike supported this amendment. Equally when it came to a vote in the Commonwealth. This was not partisan.”

Senator Mamie Locke (D-2) served on the bipartisan redistricting committee and reminded her colleagues that the process broke down in October 2021, as I reported at the time. The Virginia Supreme Court ended up appointing two special masters to draw the current boundaries.

“There was constant gridlock and partisan roadblocks,” Locke said. “[Those] Were the reasons why the Supreme Court ended up drawing the lines because the commission ended up discussing things as tedious as which university could be trusted to provide unbiased data.”

Locke said the proposal in Virginia would still have a bipartisan commission draw new maps after the 2030 Census and that voters in Virginia would still have to approve the amendment.

Senator Scott Surovell (D-34) said the amendment is intended to step in when other branches of government are not exercising their Constitutional authority to provide checks and balances. He echoed Locke’s comment that the redistricting commission would continue to exist.

“There’s no maps that have been drawn,” Surovell said. “There’s no repeal of the constitutional amendment. The only thing that’s on the table or will be on the table later this week is giving the General assembly the option to take further action in January to then give Virginia voters the option of protecting our country.”

Senator Richard Stuart (R-25) said he thinks President Trump is doing a job of bringing manufacturing back to the country and dismissed Surovell’s notion that democracy is at threat.

“I’m not seeing any threat to democracy,” Stuart said. “I heard the word king, and I would remind the Senator that if he was a king, he would be beheaded for what he just said. But in this country, we enjoy free speech. We get to say what we want to say, and that is a valued right and privilege.”

Senator Barbara Favola (D-40) said many of her constituents are concerned about cuts to federal programs due to the recent passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill including threats to Medicaid. She explained why she supports her Democratic colleagues in Congress in the current state of things.

“We are in a shutdown situation because the Democrats are standing up and saying we must extend the tax credits that are available on the health marketplace so individuals can afford their insurance,” Favola said. “Health insurance. This is not going unnoticed by the Virginians we represent.”

Senator Mark Peake (R-22) said Republicans were entitled to govern how they want because they are in control of the federal government.

“The current president won an overwhelming majority in the Electoral College and he won the popular vote by over 4 million or 5 million votes,” Peake said. “That is called democracy. That is what we have. And the Republicans won the Senate and they won the House of Congress. We will have another election next year and it will be time for the citizens to vote. But we are going under a democracy right now, and that’s where we stand.”

The points of personal privilege continued. Senator Schuyler VanValkenburg (D-72) said elections are a chance for citizens to weigh in on a presidency that started the process of mid-Census redistricting.

“The key point is this,” VanValkenburg said. “The president’s ideas are unpopular. He knows it. He’s going to his ideological friends, he’s asking them to carve up maps, and now the other side is upset because they’re going to get called on it in elections.”

The Senate adjourned soon afterward and will take up a third reading of HJ6006 today.

Democrats file Constitutional Amendment for first reference

Early discussions about a potential constitutional amendment in the House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate this week did not include a lot of details about how a mid-Census Congressional redistricting would take place.

House Joint Resolution 6007 was filed with the Virginia Legislative Information System on Tuesday, October 28. As of this publication it is in the House Privileges and Elections Committee because the Senate has not yet given itself permission to take up the matter.

The amendment would amend Article II, Section 6, of the Virginia Constitution to insert language into the second paragraph.

Here is the full text, with italicized words indicating new language.

The Commonwealth shall be reapportioned into electoral districts in accordance with this section and Section 6-A in the year 2021 and every ten years thereafter, except that the General Assembly shall be authorized to modify one or more congressional districts at any point following the adoption of a decennial reapportionment law, but prior to the next decennial census, in the event that any State of the United States of America conducts a redistricting of such state’s congressional districts at any point following that state’s adoption of a decennial reapportionment law for any purpose other than (i) the completion of the state’s decennial redistricting in response to a federal census and reapportionment mandated by the Constitution of the United States and established in federal law or (ii) as ordered by any state or federal court to remedy an unlawful or unconstitutional district map.

Take a look at the whole text here. I’ll continue to provide updates.

Stories you might also read for October 29, 2025

* Charlottesville Ale Trail brings people to craft beverage makers, Jackson Shock, October 27, 2025

* U.Va. leaders defend Justice Department deal in letter to Charlottesville legislators, Cecilia Mould and Ford McCracken, Cavalier Daily, October 28, 2025

* Council agrees to purchase $6.2 million office building for low-barrier shelter, Sean Tubbs, C-Ville Weekly, October 29, 2025

* Republican legislators slam Virginia redistricting proposal, Colby Johnson, WDBJ-7, October 27, 2025

* Democrat Abigail Spanberger backs Virginia legislature’s redistricting push, Steve People and Olivia Diaz, Associated Press, October 27, 2025

* Va. Democrats roll out redistricting amendment to counter GOP map changes in other states, Markus Schmidt, October 28, 2025

* Virginia Republicans Sue to Block Democratic Redistricting Push, Jen Rice, Democracy Docket, October 28, 2025

* Redistricting session to resume Wednesday, WWBT, October 29, 2025

Back to local again shortly after #947

This is a unique version based on me wanting to go through the General Assembly recordings myself. I have a lot of local stories to get back to in the near future and I’m working extra this week to make sure I get back to them.

They include:

* Coverage of the discussion of 204 7th Street at the October 21, 2025 Charlottesville Board of Architectural Review

* Coverage of last night’s Albemarle Planning Commission public hearing on Attain on Fifth Street

* Coverage of two discussions at last night’s Greene County Board of Supervisors

As expected, I work longer hours when I’m out of town on family business because I don’t have the usual places to go. This is okay. Summer is over and it’s time to hunker down and get to work.

Today’s end video is The Streets:

For this October 24, 2025 podcast edition, there are two anecdotes from sporting history worth noting. For one, Sheffield F.C. began operations on this day in 1857. Though they are in the eighth league from the top of English football, they’re the oldest professional club still in operation. Flash forward to 1992 when the Toronto Blue Jays became the first Canadian team to win the world series? Will they do so again this time around? A reminder, Charlottesville Community Engagement is not a sportscast. I’m Sean Tubbs, still wanting to see relegation in baseball.

In the latest sonic edition:

* Charlottesville agrees to settle zoning lawsuit while others call for reform (read the story)

* Civil rights pioneer Eugene Williams dies at the age of 97 (read the story)

* Vacancy on Charlottesville Planning Commission after Stolzenberg resignation (read the story)

* Charlottesville Police Civilian Review Board can once again meet quorum (read the story)

* Sanders updates Council on work plan, potential of subsidizing rents at Kindlewood (read the story)

* Albemarle Supervisors adopt Comprehensive Plan update (read the story)

Shout-out: JackFest takes place this Sunday!

In today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out: Looking for a free fall event for your family that will help raise money for cancer treatments for patients at UVA’s Children’s Hospital? Mark your calendar for October 26 and JackFest at Foxfield in Albemarle County.

The free event is named for Jack Callahan, a boy who beat back metastatic cancer after a 13-month course of intensive treatments in 2019 and 2020. JackFest raises funds for Ronald McDonald House to support families who need assistance while other treatments are underway as well as. Events include:

* Kids’ running races and family relays including a Superhero Dash, Cross Country races for Elementary and Middle Schoolers and a Child-Parent Relay Race

* Family activities such as an inflatable obstacle course, bounce house, and slides; a petting zoo, and a truck touch with emergency vehicles

* Adult and kid food options - including food trucks - and local beer & wine

The running races require registration and a fee. People can sign up for races at the JackFest website.

Second shout-out: Piedmont Master Gardeners

Do you enjoy sharing your passion for gardening with others?

The Piedmont Master Gardeners are now accepting applications for the 2026 training class for Master Gardeners serving Charlottesville and Albemarle County. Applications are due by December 1, 2025.

The in-person class will meet weekly from February through April. Learn more and find the application at the Piedmont Master Gardeners’ website.