According to data collected by the website eBird and curated by the American Bird Conservancy, there are at least 488 species of our feathered friends in Virginia. Every edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, including this February 20, 2024 edition, is fueled by observations of the activities of winged creatures who are unaware of the existence of journalism. I’m Sean Tubbs, and perhaps there’s grant funding available to attempt translations to penetrate an untapped market? 

On today’s show:

* Work could start this summer on new infrastructure at The Square in Crozet

* A project to create a safety plan for area roads in the region goes before the Greene and Nelson Boards of Supervisors

* Charlottesville City Council has another discussion about the FY25 budget and learns more about a process driven by their priorities to retain staff and implement collective bargaining

The Wikipedia entry for Writer’s block currently suggests five distinct causes for the phenomenon ranging from “physiological and neurological basis” to “negative self-beliefs and feeling of incompetence.”

None seem to apply to the inability for Charlottesville Community Engagement to swiftly write up all of the desired stories in the timeliest of manners. Time is required to sift through all of the elements to see what segments result. I’m Sean Tubbs, understanding there are no more than seven days in a week. 

On today’s show:

* The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority announces a pump station has been completed in the wake of a January 9 incident that overwhelmed the system leading to untreated sewage entering Moores Creek

* The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission’s Board learns about and then endorses two efforts to get people around the area without a car

* Charlottesville City Council adopts the manual to guide the development review process under the new zoning code, and allows for more projects to be considered older the old one

Today is a day intended to celebrate one version of love, but there are many forms of devotion. This is the 636th edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that seeks to provide as much information as possible about a particular region of the United States of America. I’m Sean Tubbs, and this love is what I got. 

On today’s show:

* One of Charlottesville’s Deputy City Managers is no longer with the city, and there are two other new top vacancies

* The United States Department of Agriculture has released their latest count of all statistics related to farming, and the number of farms is down in Albemarle County

* The Charlottesville Human Rights Commission is seeking your input on what area they should focus on next 

* New members join the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission and get an introduction to the organization

* Charlottesville City Council adopts an Affordable Dwelling Unit manual despite some concerns

We are in an age where perhaps we need new metaphors to describe 21st century life. Sometimes people will say they are “drinking from a firehose” when they’re placed in a new situation, or perhaps “in the deep end” or perhaps “in the weeds.” These may no longer be relevant. Sadly, the research budget for Charlottesville Community Engagement does not include funding for neologisms, but your suggestions for phrases, new and old, are requested. I’m Sean Tubbs, not sure if this a sequitur or the non kind. 

On today’s show:

* A truck hit a utility pole in downtown Charlottesville last night knocking out internet service with the Ting slowly returning service throughout the day 

* City Manager Sam Sanders gives an update on his quarterly work plan and announces the city’s decarbonization study is on pause 

* A very brief look at bills that have passed the House of Delegates including new rules that would allow cyclists to yield at stop signs and ride two abreast

* A very brief look at a series of legally mandated public notices in the first of a new signal boosting series

Ordinarily we could say that February 8th marks the beginning of the second quarter for this particularly-shaped month, but we’re in one of those years with an extra day.

How are your plans to mark Leap Year shaping up? Would you support an alternate plan to make that extra rotation its own special month, and if so, what would it be called? This assemblage of information is called Charlottesville Community Engagement and I’m called Sean Tubbs, and this is called the last sentence of the intro. 

On today’s show:

* City Council holds the second reading on a resolution authorizing the purchase of 405 Levy Avenue from the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority and the amount authorized increased since the first reading

* The General Assembly catch-up session continues with a list of continued bills 

* The Board of Architectural Review takes a look at a speculative project on West Main Street on property that has since been listed for sale

When I was younger, the phrase “News You Can Use” became quite popular in television journalism. I’m not entirely sure what that was intended to convey, but I can state that much of what appears in the editions of Charlottesville Community Engagement can be described as “Information I Want To Know.” I’m Sean Tubbs, and I sincerely hope you can use some of this material. 

On today’s program:

* No one speaks at two City Council public hearings related to the Development Code held on a Thursday

* A broad over at what’s been happening at the General Assembly 

* Charlottesville City Council is briefed on a potential revenue gap in the next fiscal year due to previously made decisions to increase pay for city employees 

What should the length be for an edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement? The answer depends on a variety of different factors and the mathematics and algorithms have yet to be worked out. With 631 editions already floating down the river of time, some information is unknown. At a minimum, there must be three segments, unless one of them is ridiculously long. An exact rubric cannot be guaranteed until there are 6,031 editions of the program. I’m Sean Tubbs, happy to keep on providing test cases

On today’s show:

* The number of housing sales continues to decrease in the region according to the latest report from the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors

* The city’s Office of Economic Development has released a snapshot of vacancies in six Charlottesville shopping centers

* The Charlottesville Planning Commission is briefed on the new Development Review Procedures Manual 

I got you babe, as in this is Groundhog Day, and I’m Sean Tubbs here with another edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement and whether or not Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, this is another program about the mundane and routine that when added up becomes whatever happens with local government. This edition of the program is dedicated to the late Ken Boyd, an Albemarle County Supervisor who routinely invoked the 1993 comedy directed by Harold Ramis to convey the sense that all of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again. Now, on with the latest bits of information. 

On today’s show:

* A UVA working group looking for ways to prevent gun violence has issued its initial report 

* The Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Policy Board gets an update on studies for future transportation projects around Old Ivy Road and Barracks Road

* The University of Virginia is moving forward with a study of what to do with the Oak Lawn property

* The Virginia Department of Transportation seeks comment on banning trucks from using Plank Road to get from U.S. 29 to Afton Mountain. 

* Charlottesville awards Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative funds to a project to model the Moores Creek and Meadowcreek watersheds 

The final day of January 2024 is upon us, and please turn in your rankings on the quality of the month based on a variety of considerations. Have you accomplished what you wanted to do? Did you learn something new? How many editions of Charlottesville Community Engagement did you read or listen to? I’m Sean Tubbs, and for the next 3,000 words or so, none of those questions are relevant. 

On today’s show:

* The average property in Charlottesville has increased in value by five percent in 2024 according to the city assessor’s office 

* The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority will spend $2.65 million for a building on the Downtown Mall and Council has taken the first step toward buying a key CRHA property for $4 million 

* No one speaks at a public hearing on how to use the city’s most recent year-end surplus

* The MPO Policy Board endorses a federal grant application to further engineer a bridge across the Rivanna River 

* A quick look at zoning clearance applications in Albemarle hints at plans for a restaurant to become a bank and a new storage facility on Rio Road

A reader informed me today that I am saying too much about my personal life in these opening segments of Charlottesville Community Engagement. That may or may not be the case and perhaps it’s time to turn all of this over to artificial intelligence and I’ll go back to waiting tables and cooking people food. However, that sounds like more work than simply proceeding with the January 29, 2024 edition of the newsletter and podcast. I’m Sean Tubbs, beep beep, boop boop. 

On today’s show:

* A boil water advisory in Albemarle County was lifted Sunday after tests showed no bacteria infiltrated the distribution network for treated drinking water

* New population estimates are out from the Weldon Cooper Center of Public Service at the University of Virginia

* City Council gets a briefing on the initial stages of a plan to create a management plan for Downtown Mall trees

* And an area publication has a new owner and will remain locally owned