Charlottesville Soundboard

This time last year we all had some difficult decisions to make about holiday travel. The first vaccines were in the final stages of the approval process and COVID-19 was running wild through the population. This year the situation is a lot different if you and your family have been vaccinated. This week, we’re hearing from Dr. Avula of the Virginia Department of Health about the COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11 and booster shots for the rest of us. In the second half of the show we want to share some important reporting from another local podcast called Sacred and Profane. Sacred and Profane is a project of the Race Religion and Democracy Lab at the University of Virginia. This episode is about how we mark and mourn the places in our city where enslaved people were bought and sold. 

A lot of us local policy nerds have been eagerly awaiting the new Charlottesville Comprehensive Plan. This process of laying out a vision for the city started nearly five years ago. On Tuesday October 19th, the planning commission made a major step by recommending the plan to City Council for approval. So we are very excited to get the inside scoop today with Charlottesville Planning Commissioner, Lyle Solla-Yates. Stay tuned in the second half of the show for an interview with the director of our regional libraries, David Plunkett. 

This episode is our last in a series ahead of the local elections on November 2nd. There are a lot of important elections in Virginia this year. You can listen to our interviews with State Delegate Sally Hudson and the Democratic City Council candidates in this feed. But today we’re talking to Independent City Council candidate Yas Washington. And in the second half of the episode we’re back to our usual arts and culture coverage with the editors of the latest issue of Mala Leche, a local feminist zine. 

Elections information: elections.virginia.gov 

It has been a hectic week in the world of local governance. On Tuesday night, City Council accepted the resignation of the City Manager, Chip Boyles. Boyles has only been serving as city manager for ten months. So that really makes today’s topic even more important. In this episode we’re continuing our series on the local elections with interviews with two city council candidates. As a note, all of these interviews were conducted before Chip Boyles resigned last week. Juandiego Wade and Brian Pinkston won the Democratic primary for the two open at-large city council seats back in June. But the race isn’t over yet and next week we’ll be sharing an interview with independent city council candidate, Yas Washington.

This week we’re starting a little series on the upcoming local elections. Stay tuned for our next episode with the City Council candidates but today we’re kicking things off with incumbent state delegate Sally Hudson. And in the second half of the show we’re excited to introduce you to Dr. Dena Jennings. She’s a physician, a musician, a banjo luthier, a healer, a music festival organizer and she’s even farming and restoring a large farm here in central virginia. https://www.facebook.com/sankofa.thang/about/?ref=page_internal

Today we’re going to zoom in on evictions. In the first half of the show, we talk to attorney Caroline Klosko from the Legal Aid Justice Center. She specializes in representing low-income tenants. And in the second half of the show, we’re going to look at the local policy side of things with City Councilor Michael Payne.

Today we’re going to hear the latest about COVID-19 and the delta variant from the Blue Ridge Health District. They discussed vaccination rates, vaccine locations, and what back-to-school will look like. They also reviewed the new CDC guidelines, which were updated after the highly contagious Delta variant became the dominant strain circulating in the US. And stay tuned in the second half of the show for a conversation looking back on August 11th and 12th and what the ripple effects have been over the past four years.

Today we’re going to talk about evictions. Evictions happen when renters are unable to pay their rent or violate their lease. For the past year, the courts have been closed and renters have had extra protections from the CDC against eviction if they were behind on their rent. However, those protections expire next week. So we sat down with Erin O’Hare at Charlottesville Tomorrow to talk about what this means for our already very housing cost-burdened city. And in the second half of the show, we’re going to take a look at what it’s like to try and get around the city on foot, bicycle or with a mobility challenge.

Learn more about the Legal Aid Justice Center and their resources: https://www.justice4all.org/ 

City & County Housing Offices: https://www.cvillerha.com/ & https://www.albemarle.org/government/social-services/housing

Here in Charlottesville, it’s starting to feel like the threat of COVID-19 is subsiding. People are out and about, sometimes unmasked, maybe you’re starting to travel again… Well today we’re going to touch base with Jessie Higgins to hear about the vaccination process here in the Blue Ridge Health District and the differences between State COVID policy and Local COVID policy. And in the second half of the show, we go on a little field trip to a new interactive, outdoor sculpture garden at the Kluge-Ruhe. 

This week we’re continuing some conversations we’ve been having over the course of the year. We’ll get some updates on the local elections season, the comprehensive plan and affordable housing, and the fate of our confederate monuments. And in the second half of the show, we give you a sneak peak of a new exhibit opening this week at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection. 

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