This is both the time that was as well as the time that will be. This is the time for a Saturday edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that seeks to cover as much as possible in the limited time allotted to this purpose. It is August 20, 2022 and this is the moment in this 420th installment in which the information truly begins.
What you will find in the next several paragraphs:
Governor Youngkin seeks tax refunds in next year’s budget
The University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors holds a retreat tomorrow
A new hotel at the Darden School of Business is halfway completed
Albemarle County’s Economic Development Authority approves grants for two area nonprofit groups
First shout-out: Rivanna Trail Foundation marks 30 years
In today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out: The Rivanna Trail turns 30 this year and to mark the occasion the Rivanna Trail Foundation is throwing a party the weekend of September 24. It’s also the annual Loop De Ville which is being expanded this year.
That Saturday is National Public Lands Day, and if you want to walk the 20 mile loop of the Rivanna Trail or take place in a run of the circuit, go ahead and register now. What about a mountain bike ride? The first 25 registrants for each will get free admission to that night’s Rivanna Roots Concert at the Rivanna River Company.
Visit rivannatrails.org to learn more about what’s happening on Sunday, including a 15-mile mountain bike ride with the Charlottesville Mountain Bike Club, a family-friendly walk at Riverview Park, and a five mile run. That’s followed with a celebration from noon to five at the Wool Factory. For all of the details, visit rivannatrails.org.
Youngkin seeks more tax breaks
Governor Glenn Youngkin has now been in office for seven months, and coming up soon is his full General Assembly session that he doesn’t have to share with his predecessor. Yesterday the Governor appeared before the joint House and Senate Money Committees to signal what he wants to achieve.
“Our shared priorities [are] lowering the cost of living, giving our children the education that they deserve, keeping our communities safe, creating jobs and growing our economy, and transforming the government to serve the people,” Youngkin said.
Youngkin said the bipartisan budget he signed earlier this year included $4 billion in tax relief and he wants more.
“Today I formally report that Virginia ended the fiscal year with a record general fund balance,” Youngkin said. “I’m incredibly proud to share, and hope Virginians will be proud to hear, that our state government spent roughly $1.2 billion then was appropriated by the General Assembly.”
Youngkin said that ends up in a $3.2 billion cash surplus and he said not all of it has to be spent. About $1.2 billion will be reappropriated, $900 million will go to a rainy-day fund, $585 million will go to items in the FY23 budget, $250 million will go to the Virginia Retirement Syst em, $150 million will go pay to widen Interstate 66, $100 million for capital cost overruns related to inflation, $85 million for economic development, and $131 million for the water quality improvement fund.
“After accounting for all earmarked uses of this cash surplus, I have directed the comptroller to assign $397 million for deposit into a fund for taxpayer relief,” Youngkin said.
Youngkin wants refund checks sent to taxpayers.
“So please make no mistake,” Youngkin said. “The budget we will introduce in December and the final budget that I intend to sign next year will once again include tax reductions.”
The General Assembly is split between a Republican-led House of Delegates (52 to 48 seats) and a Democrat-led Senate (21 to 19 seats).
Youngkin is a potential candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2024 and his comments appeared to position his seven months as Governor as experience for why he is qualified to be the head of the federal executive branch.
Youngkin claimed Virginia suffered under eight years under two Democratic governors. As evidence, he cited the news announced in June that Lego will open a factory in Chesterfield as evidence, but that deal was brokered through the non-partisan Virginia Economic Development Partnership and relied on multiple parties and multiple approvals such as Chesterfield County, the Greater Richmond Partnership, and the General Assembly’s Major Employment and Investment Project Approval Commission. That takes much longer than seven months. The workforce will be trained through the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, which launched in 2019 when a different governor was in office. (learn more)
Youngkin also said Virginia needs to cut regulations that he claims stop businesses from moving forward. He’s established a new Office of Regulatory Management and this will be run by Andrew Wheeler, who the General Assembly declined to confirm as Virginia’s Secretary of Natural Resources. He also signaled an interest in telling Virginia localities to loosen restrictions on homebuilding.
“We must tackle root causes behind the supply and demand mismatch in places to live,” Youngkin said. “Unnecessary regulation, over burdensome and inefficient local governments, restrictive zoning policies, and an ideology of facing tooth and nail against any development,” Youngkin said.
Youngkin did not offer specifics. More on Virginia government in future editions of Charlottesville Community Engagement.
New hotel at Darden Business School halfway complete
There have been a series of new hotels constructed in the area within the last few years to satisfy demand for those who seek to travel to the area. Many visitors who come here have some ties to the University of Virginia and two new hotels in the works will cater directly to those people.
Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants will operate a new hotel under construction at the UVA Darden School of Business which will replace the UVA Inn at Darden with 199 rooms in a five-story structure with around 11,500 square feet of meeting space and a ballroom large enough to accommodate up to 425 guests.
UVA Today reported last week that the project is about halfway completed. Here’s a quote from the article.
“The hotel will be open to all,” said Ashley Williams, CEO and chief learning officer of Darden’s executive education, lifelong learning and non-degree programs. “Everyone from the Darden, UVA and local communities and guests visiting from out of town will be welcome, and the property will be a great place to stay, dine, drink at the pub and bar, or host an event.
The hotel at Darden is expected to open in the spring of 2023, according to the project website.
The University of Virginia is also planning on a 215-room hotel and conference center to be built in the Emmet-Ivy Corridor. The Board of Visitors approved the 223,000 square foot project in March 2021. The designer is Deborah Berke Partners.
UVA Board of Visitors hold retreat this weekend
Students at the University of Virginia have returned to Charlottesville for the fall semester, and the public body that oversees its administration and operations will meet Sunday and Monday for a retreat. The Board of Visitors will gather at the Boar’s Head Resort beginning at noon Sunday, but the meeting will not be streamed online.
After introductory remarks from President Jim Ryan and Rector Whittington Clement, the Board will hear from two state officials on the topic “Focus on Relationship with Commonwealth.” The speakers are Peter Blake, director of the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) and Todd Gilbert, the Speaker of the House of Delegates.
In his comments on Friday, Governor Youngkin said he still expects all of Virginia’s public universities to freeze tuition but he did not mention the University of Virginia by name, but said there are two that have not complied with his wishes.
On Sunday there will also be talks on legal issues related to Board service, an overview of the New College Curriculum and Civic Education, followed by a tour of the UVA Orthopedics Center. On Monday morning there will be a report on the athletics program, a financial overview, and then an orientation for new Board Members.
Second shout-out: Charlottesville Jazz Society has a concert coming up
In today’s second subscriber-supported shout-out, the Charlottesville Jazz Society wants you to know about the upcoming return on September 15th of Dutch trumpeter Eric Vloeimans to Charlottesville with a concert at the Irving Theater in the new CODE building.
Eric Vloeimans will perform as part of a duo with the remarkable accordionist Will Holshouser. They’ll play evocative, folk-inspired original compositions that mix European and American influences, plus a few choice covers, such as a ballad by Prince. The pair are on an American tour promoting their new live album, Two For The Road. For ticket pricing and purchases, visit cvillejazz.org. Charlottesville Jazz Society supporters get a discount.
Albemarle Economic Development Authority supports two grants
This week, the Albemarle Economic Development Authority offered financial support to grants already received by local nonprofits. In many cases involving state or federal programs, large awards require some local money in the form of matching grants.
The Bridge PAI has received a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for a project called Unsettling Grounds that will reexamine space in the Broadway corridor that has been studied by the county as an area for economic development. The EDA will contribute $5,000 to the project.
“The idea of the title Unsettled Grounds is a project that uses some experimental methods to try and create monuments and works by and for Black, indigenous, and low-income artists, supporting them their artistic endeavors,” said Jay Simple, the executive director of the Bridge Performing Arts Initiative.
The idea got its start when Siri Russell was the director of equity, diversity and inclusion for Albemarle County as a way of bringing both social justice and placemaking to the Broadway corridor between the Woolen Mills Factory and the city’s Belmont neighborhood.
“And so the project is really about trying to imagine what is a monument, and where do these monuments live in our landscape, both seen and unseen?” Simple said. “And to do so by investigating history that’s very central to Charlottesville and Albemarle County.”
The product will be an augmented reality tour of the area curated and created by various artists including Marisa Williamson, who did a similar project that toured Philadelphia murals called Sweet Chariot. In this case, at least eight artists will be commissioned and given studio space to do their work. You can learn more at unsettlingrounds.com.
Watch the EDA meeting:
In the second grant, the EDA approved $25,000 for the New Hill Development Corporation for a commercial kitchen to incubate culinary entrepreneurs. This is another project that came out of cooperation with the county’s Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion to obtain a Growing Opportunities Virginia grant.
“The city’s Economic Development Authority also participated in providing matching funds for this grant,” said J.T. Newberry, the principal business development manager for Albemarle. “The total grant amount was for $189,000.”
New Hill was formed in 2018 and Yolunda Harrell is the president and CEO.
“We have a vision to expand to economic opportunities that redefines wealth for a thriving Black community,” Harrell said. “That is why we exist.”
Harrell said a community vision plan overseen by New Hill for the Starr Hill neighborhood included a lot of conversations with entrepreneurs about what they needed.
“Part of what went into that project was this idea in terms of an outcome of creating a business incubator and so of course 2020 hit and what we saw was a tremendous need for why an incubator would exist, not only for Black businesses, but for businesses in general, specifically for businesses in the food industry,” Harrell said.
Harrell said the kitchen will support up to 70 businesses, create up to 94 new jobs, increase revenues for local farmers, and add diversity to the local food economy. The big idea is to bring down the start-up costs for those just getting started.
“Especially when you live in a community like ours that can tend to have very expensive storefronts whereas in other communities where you have a lot more urban sprawl, you may tend to have more price points for storefronts,” Harrell said.
Harrell said that New Hill board member Hunter Smith, the owner of the Champion Hospitality Group, will use the kitchen space for his restaurants. New Hill is also partnering with Culinary Concepts AB to create a boot camp program for those who will go through the program.
Housekeeping for Edition #420
I try to avoid doing editions on Saturday, but there’s so much to get to and much of it doesn’t get written. We have one weekly newspaper with a handful of stories, a daily newspaper that currently is down several reporters, and other organizations that have a tight focus on a certain kind of stories. I applaud the efforts of all of these groups, but I don’t think it’s enough for this community to know what’s happening.
And then there’s Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast just over two years old that seeks to cover as much as possible, written by someone just about to enter a fourth decade in local reporting. I can imagine a world where the profession of journalism wasn’t hollowed out, but rather than lament the slow trickle of information, I can seek to build channels and harness the ebb and flow of daily life into something that can sustain a thriving place.
Bombastic? Of course. I do that well, and I thank the hundreds of subscribers who have so far helped make this possible. You can join them in a handful of ways. The best way would be to purchase a subscription through Substack. Whether it’s $5 a month, $50 a year, or $200 a year, Ting will match your initial payment. And, if you sign up for their services through this link you’ll get a free standard install, your 2nd month free, and a $75 downtown mall gift card! Enter the promo code COMMUNITY for full effect.
Second, consider signing up for a Patreon donation through Town Crier Productions. I launched this two years ago as a way for people to fund the initial start-up of this work. We’re now 420 newsletters in as well as over a hundred Weeks Ahead. Every single dollar pays for me to have a life dedicated to this public service. At $25 a month, you get shout-outs!
One of today’s shout-outs is for a person who pays through both Ting and Substack. The other comes someone paying $25 a month through Patreon. There’s a lot of ways to show your support, and soon this system will change a bit as I try to continue to find ways to sustain my work.
In any case, thank you for being here. I’ll be back tomorrow with a Week Ahead and then again on Monday for another installment of this program. I’m programmed to do this work helping keep an eye and ear on things. Why? Ask me again when we find ourselves at episode #840.
August 20, 2022: Virginia’s governor wants nearly $400 million in surpluses returned to taxpayers; UVA Board of Visitors meets tomorrow