I am not sure why you have to insert this commentary into your publication and not refer to Crozet United directly. I’m referring to your intro to the Eastern Ave. article. I found it to be snarky.
For the past several months, a political campaign turned newsletter company
Crozet United provides a lot of information to our community. It’s growing, it’s a resource for Crozet and valuable to our residents. They have also shed some light on what clearly is too close a relationship between County Staff and the builder community at large. They are digging deep and asking questions. Don’t we have to hold our elected representatives to be accountable to the public?
The community is best served when tough questions are asked. Thanks for covering the meeting and topic. Bill O’Malley - Crozet
As I wrote on May 31, Crozet United is a name associated with a campaign that nearly won election in the tightest White Hall race since I've been covering them. Admittedly, that's only 17 years. I stand by my editorial decision to refer to that group given the players involved. As I was told in an email on May 31, they are not the story here.
I have never been a campaign manager of a campaign, nor will I ever be a part of any political campaign. I respect the decision for them to pivot, but the names of the players are the same but yet they are not easy to find. They refused to ask a question about who they were directly.
I also clearly put my name on every single story that I write. I welcome critique, and believe yours is a fair one.
And I believe there are plenty of questions to ask, and the time will come for me to ask them. I've been writing about plans for the provision of infrastructure in this community for a full third of my life. In 2007, transportation funding was different with only the "design-bid-build" option on the table and Albemarle like other localities had to wait until they save up enough secondary road projects.
At the same time, developers seeking rezoning also put forth guaranteed commitments for public infrastructure. Before this practice, Riverbend offered to build what was then called the Bent Creek Parkway between Avon Street Extended and Fifth Street Extended. That was a requirement of the rezoning for Fifth Street Station.
What didn't get built was any of the public infrastructure at Biscuit Run, a 3,100 unit development that my friend Neil Williamson would tell you was burdened by millions and millions in what were called proffers. It ended up not getting built and there are questions still to be asked.
In the early 2010's, a Supreme Court case dealt a mortal blow to proffers. A couple of years before, the Great Recession also knocked out a lot of county staff who were working to build infrastructure. There was a gap of about four or five years before the county had anyone looking at any of any of this.
Flash forward to now. The transportation funding landscape has changed and I've worked hard over that time to try to be able to explain how the process works. I have devoted my entire career, spanning over 30 years now, to writing about details about local government. It's incredibly difficult, but I opted in 2020 to return to journalist, becoming an independent to keep making sure the details were out there.
So, is my first paragraph snarky?
I would argue, something I don't like to do, that it is a sign of respect that I am willing to appreciate that they are now claiming to be a journalistic organization. I will give them the benefit of the doubt, even though I asked two months ago why none of their names were listed anywhere.
My name is Sean Tubbs. I'm at 51 and still a journalist because I somehow believe in what I do. Today, on my birthday, I took seven hours to write a story about something very complex because it is new and novel. I gave credit in that first paragraph to the entity that first brought this to public light, as a sign of respect. I take your claims seriously, which is why they are in a news story. Tomorrow they will be in the podcast.
But because the people at Crozet United have decided to hide their names, my doubt about their intentions linger. I know my intentions are to continue a career where I document ridiculous details about government.
I agree we have to hold our representatives accountable. And I did that by spending seven hours of my birthday today making sure that an account of Wednesday's discussion got out in an account that people can decide for themselves whether it was snarky or not.
The opening line should have referenced the name of the former political campaign by name. I'll correct it tomorrow. I've spent half an hour responding to this because I take my role in this community very seriously. I know at any point I could be wrong, which is why I work so hard to be accurate.
Again, thank you for the thank you. I'm glad I spent a good chunk of my day today on this topic.
Sean,
I am not sure why you have to insert this commentary into your publication and not refer to Crozet United directly. I’m referring to your intro to the Eastern Ave. article. I found it to be snarky.
For the past several months, a political campaign turned newsletter company
Crozet United provides a lot of information to our community. It’s growing, it’s a resource for Crozet and valuable to our residents. They have also shed some light on what clearly is too close a relationship between County Staff and the builder community at large. They are digging deep and asking questions. Don’t we have to hold our elected representatives to be accountable to the public?
The community is best served when tough questions are asked. Thanks for covering the meeting and topic. Bill O’Malley - Crozet
Thank you for the thank you.
As I wrote on May 31, Crozet United is a name associated with a campaign that nearly won election in the tightest White Hall race since I've been covering them. Admittedly, that's only 17 years. I stand by my editorial decision to refer to that group given the players involved. As I was told in an email on May 31, they are not the story here.
I have never been a campaign manager of a campaign, nor will I ever be a part of any political campaign. I respect the decision for them to pivot, but the names of the players are the same but yet they are not easy to find. They refused to ask a question about who they were directly.
I also clearly put my name on every single story that I write. I welcome critique, and believe yours is a fair one.
And I believe there are plenty of questions to ask, and the time will come for me to ask them. I've been writing about plans for the provision of infrastructure in this community for a full third of my life. In 2007, transportation funding was different with only the "design-bid-build" option on the table and Albemarle like other localities had to wait until they save up enough secondary road projects.
At the same time, developers seeking rezoning also put forth guaranteed commitments for public infrastructure. Before this practice, Riverbend offered to build what was then called the Bent Creek Parkway between Avon Street Extended and Fifth Street Extended. That was a requirement of the rezoning for Fifth Street Station.
What didn't get built was any of the public infrastructure at Biscuit Run, a 3,100 unit development that my friend Neil Williamson would tell you was burdened by millions and millions in what were called proffers. It ended up not getting built and there are questions still to be asked.
In the early 2010's, a Supreme Court case dealt a mortal blow to proffers. A couple of years before, the Great Recession also knocked out a lot of county staff who were working to build infrastructure. There was a gap of about four or five years before the county had anyone looking at any of any of this.
Flash forward to now. The transportation funding landscape has changed and I've worked hard over that time to try to be able to explain how the process works. I have devoted my entire career, spanning over 30 years now, to writing about details about local government. It's incredibly difficult, but I opted in 2020 to return to journalist, becoming an independent to keep making sure the details were out there.
So, is my first paragraph snarky?
I would argue, something I don't like to do, that it is a sign of respect that I am willing to appreciate that they are now claiming to be a journalistic organization. I will give them the benefit of the doubt, even though I asked two months ago why none of their names were listed anywhere.
My name is Sean Tubbs. I'm at 51 and still a journalist because I somehow believe in what I do. Today, on my birthday, I took seven hours to write a story about something very complex because it is new and novel. I gave credit in that first paragraph to the entity that first brought this to public light, as a sign of respect. I take your claims seriously, which is why they are in a news story. Tomorrow they will be in the podcast.
But because the people at Crozet United have decided to hide their names, my doubt about their intentions linger. I know my intentions are to continue a career where I document ridiculous details about government.
I agree we have to hold our representatives accountable. And I did that by spending seven hours of my birthday today making sure that an account of Wednesday's discussion got out in an account that people can decide for themselves whether it was snarky or not.
The opening line should have referenced the name of the former political campaign by name. I'll correct it tomorrow. I've spent half an hour responding to this because I take my role in this community very seriously. I know at any point I could be wrong, which is why I work so hard to be accurate.
Again, thank you for the thank you. I'm glad I spent a good chunk of my day today on this topic.