June 4, 2024: Three Democrats and Republican incumbent appear at Spring Creek candidate forum; McGuire did not show up
Plus: Ridership is up on Amtrak trains in Virginia but subsidies still required
We are now 156 days into 2024 and there do not appear to be any salient connection between those two numbers. At some point, almost everything in our lives is arbitrary and thus potentially changeable. At some point more than two thousand and twenty-four years ago, the month of June was known as Iunius and was the fourth month of the year until there was reform in the second century B.C.
None of this has anything to do with Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter that documents change on a timeline much closer to the horizon. I’m Sean Tubbs for the foreseeable future.
In today’s installment:
Ridership is up on four Amtrak routes supported by the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority with Charlottesville the sixth busiest station in April
The Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce is seeking applications through June 28 for its leadership program
Four of the five candidates seeking party nominations for Virginia’s Fifth District seat in the House of Representatives appear at a campaign forum in Louisa County
First-shout: Five Things ReLeaf Cville Has Done This Year
In today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out: ReLeaf Cville seeks to help restore the amount of the city that’s covered by trees. This year they’ve done five things they want people to know about:
The Virginia Department of Forestry awarded a $190K grant to preserve mature trees in neighborhoods with low tree cover with a focus on Fifeville
Another grant helped with the planting of almost 130 trees in the Rose Hill neighborhood
This summer will be the third in a row ReLeaf will partner with the Rivanna Conservation Alliance to train young people to help with outreach efforts to plant trees in the Woolen Mills neighborhood
They partnered with the Van Yahres Tree Company to provide volunteer work on Arbor Day to check in with recently planted trees in the 10th and Page neighborhood
They’ll be appearing on VPM on June 25 to discuss their work to date
If you’d like to support their work, visit releafcville.org
Ridership continues to increase on Virginia’s Amtrak routes
The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority meets today at 2 p.m. in Alexandria just days after the agency announcing another increase in passengers. (agenda)
“With a total of 118,474 passengers traveling, April 2024 beat April 2023 by 9.8 percent,” reads a press release sent out on May 31. “All four Amtrak Virginia corridors saw ridership increases resulting in the highest ridership for the month of April since the Commonwealth started state-supported service in 2009.”
The Northeast Regional service from Roanoke saw 28,623 passengers in April 2024, up 4.4 percent from April 2023.
The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority currently supports eight daily trains along four routes but seeks to expand that to thirteen daily trains through the Transforming Rail in Virginia initiative.
The report from executive director D.J. Stadtler has more details about the steps to get there. There’s also a cautionary note about the budget which currently is meeting the goal of 67 percent cost recovery.
“While ridership is up 11 percent, train operating revenues have not kept pace due to flat
[Northeast Corridor] through revenue,” reads page 12 of the executive director’s report. “Coordination with the Amtrak revenue management team is needed to balance Virginia's revenue and ridership mix.”
For comparison, cost recovery in FY21 was 34 percent due to lower ridership related to the pandemic.
In April, Charlottesville was the sixth busiest station with 6,388 passengers boarding and 6,822 passengers getting off. Roanoke was the tenth busiest station with 3,880 passengers boarding and 4,056 alighting. Lynchburg was thirteenth with 2,447 ons and 3,118 offs.
Business group seeks applicants for leadership program
The Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce has been in existence since 1913 and throughout that time has sought to bring business people together for whatever purpose was important at the time.
In 2024, the organization is seeking people who want to help solve the problems of the 21st Century through collaboration.
“As our region addresses complex community challenges like affordable housing, climate resilience and healthcare access, cross-sector collaboration is increasingly crucial,” reads a May 15 press release seeking applicants for the latest version of a networking program with a purpose.
The Leaders Lab of Greater Charlottesville is a nine-month program that runs from September to May of each year with lessons in “conflict resolution, multi-party negotiations, cultural competence, meeting facilitation” and more.
Those selected will meet one day a month. There is a tuition fee and the amount available for scholarships for the 2025 years has already been committed. Many employers will cover the cost.
This program builds off a previous one called Leadership Charlottesville. Applications are being taken through June 28. To learn more about the program, there are two virtual question and answer sessions to be held on June 12 at noon and 4 p.m.
Sponsored message: Buy Local
Buying locally supports our neighbors and community members and makes a big impact for our local economy. Local businesses are more likely to reinvest in our community and their goods and services contribute to the unique character of our community.
Learn more about how you can support local business at ShowLocalLove.org and on social media:
Four of the five candidates in Fifth District primaries appear at Spring Creek forum
The primary election for Congressional elections in Virginia is coming up on June 18 and some of the candidates seeking their party’s nomination appeared at a forum on May 30 at the Spring Creek Golf Club.
“Due to redistricting, we are all now in the Fifth District composed of 18 counties whole and six partial counties,” said Bob Babyok, a former member of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors who served as moderator for the event.
All three Democrats seeking the nomination and one of the two Republicans took part in the event. State Senator John McGuire is challenging Republican incumbent Bob Good but did not attend.
“Mr. McGuire was contacted five different times and I never got a response back but I’ve left a seat open for him just in case he comes,” Babyok said.
McGuire did not show up.
The three Democrats are Gloria Witt, Paul Riley, and Gary Terry.
Babyok stressed at the beginning that the event was not intended as a debate. Each candidate had seven minutes to introduce themselves. Danville resident Gary Terry went first and initially eschewed the personal for the political.
“Locally, we have food insecurities, we have housing insecurities, we have children and families that are suffering from trauma,” Terry said. “Nationally there’s an assault on our basic human rights guaranteed to us under the Constitution.”
According to his campaign website, Terry is a 1982 graduate of West Point who served five years in the U.S. Army before entering the civilian workforce.
“I’ve worked for two Fortune 500 companies in leadership roles,” Terry said. “I’ve worked for an international company, a Russian company, so I had the opportunity to spend some time in Russia. I’ve run two businesses and fourteen years ago I left the private sector and joined the nonprofit sector as a leader.”
Terry said Representative Good voted against the Inflation Reduction Act and other bills that would have provided federal funding for infrastructure.
“He’s said that he would shut the government down to prove a point,” Terry said. “He’s floated the idea of cutting Social Security benefits to reduce our debt and more importantly he has refused to work with other members of Congress including those that are on the same side of the aisle.”
Next up was Gloria Tinsley Witt, a native of Amherst County who grew up on a small farm. She said America’s strength is its diversity.
“My values are family, faith, justice, and community-building,” Witt said. “My father was a union steelworker. My mom a domestic… who got a career as a cook in the police department in Amherst County.”
Witt said she’s qualified to represent the Fifth District because she worked 32 years in corporate America and has been a small business owner for the last ten years doing work as an executive coach. She’s the president of the NAACP of Amherst County and serves in other leadership roles. (campaign website)
“I’m on the Board for the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance, tying business and workforce development to public school education,” Witt said. “I’m a member of the board for the Centra Health System, advocating for affordable health care.”
Witt said she decided to run because she feels people’s rights are under attack and pointed to the overturning of Roe v. Wade as an example of a government taking away freedoms.
“To me, that decision was driven by Christian nationalism and we need to call it what it is,” Witt said. “The right is weaponing Jesus against us. I am a Christian. I believe in pro choice, and every woman should have the right to make decisions over her body.”
Paul Riley has lived in Crozet for the past 14 years but was born in a small community in New York state who spent 21 years in the Army. He is now an “Intelligence Solutions Lead” with a company called Prescient Edge.
“I came to this fight because we need a change, and I mean a change for the better,” Riley said. “We need to get back the art of compromise. People say, ‘Oh, you sound like a Republican! Oh, you sound like a Democrat. I don’t even know what the hell that means. I sound like a person who wants to move the country forward.”
Riley said there is a laundry list of issues that need to be addressed at the local, state, and federal levels of government. He said there needed to be higher taxes on those with more money to make room for relief for others.
“We need to make it so that the middle class gets a fair tax break,” Riley said. “I’m willing on day one to introduce the Middle Income Tax Equality Act to take the onus off of the middle class which is all of the people in here and put it back on the corporations and the people who are not paying their fair share.”
Riley said he would defend Social Security benefits and called on a return to empathy. He took Representative Good to task for filing legislation that seeks to dismantle government functions such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and reduce funds for farmers distributed through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“I’m a firm believer in our agricultural system,” Riley said. “We need to have the infrastructure in place for our farmers. I call it digital agriculture, digital technology for agriculture that we need to have in place. We need high speed internet and broadband in this entire district. And the money is there. We just have to bring it to the district to make things better.”
Then it was time for incumbent Republican Bob Good who began with a quip.
“Does anyone else think that I should get 21 minutes?” Good said.
But Good didn’t have that much time. He had to leave the forum to meet with a man who had been arrested in the British islands of Turks and Caicos for packing ammunition in his bags for a trip. Good intervened in his official capacity. (read more on WTVR)
“I flew to Turks and Caicos two weeks ago because of how he was being detained egregiously for an accidental offense,” Good said.
Good said he was not entitled to represent the Fifth District in the U.S. House and he was willing to stand again. In 2020, he won the nomination in a convention that saw the ouster of Republican incumbent Denver Riggleman. Good said he sought office as a “biblical and constitutional conservative.” (campaign website)
“Biblical meaning that is my worldview, that is where my values and principles come from,” Good said. “Constitutional? I actually believe we ought to pay attention to what the founders wrote in the Constitution and that the Constitution is not just a suggestion, it actually does matter.”
The Constitution has been amended 27 times since being ratified with the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery and the notion that those enslaved counted only as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of the U.S. Census.
Good took the time during the forum to say that the conviction of a former president on 34 felony counts was nothing more than the rigging of the election. This was met with applause and then derision.
“This is collusion between the Democrat party, the Biden White House, the Department of Injustice,” Good said before appealing to the timekeeper after some objected to what he said.
Babyok then appealed to the crowd to allow Good to continue speaking. The incumbent claimed every American is worse off in 2024 than they were when Trump left office on January 20, 2021. He then decried illegal immigration and proceeded to make other critiques against the current administration.
“Remember the $2 gas prices under President Trump?” Good asked. “Do you like the $4 gas prices that you’ve enjoyed under Joe Biden?”
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the price of gasoline was lower for the administration of the 45th president and has trended upwards since. The lowest monthly average for the price of gasoline since 2010 was in February 2016 when Barack Obama was president at $1.872 a gallon.
Good blamed the current president for higher housing costs, inflation. When he again referred to Trump’s conviction in New York State for non-federal charges, there was again applause.
At no point during his seven minutes did Good mention issues specific to the Fifth District which contains three cities in addition to the counties Babyok had mentioned. Good also chided his Republican opponent for not showing up to the event.
“Once again, thank you for letting me be your Congressman,” Good said. “Thank you for the trust you’ve placed in me and I look forward to earning your vote again on June 18 and then again on November 5. Thank you and God bless you.”
At the end of the forum, candidates went into separate corners to answer questions from attendees individually.
Early voting is underway for the primary.
Reading material:
Faculty Research Reveals Insights on Whether ‘Upzoning’ To Encourage Homebuilding Works, Josette Corazaa, UVA Law, May 24, 2024
Charlottesville City Schools delay decision on youth resource officers, Garrett Whitton, CBS19, May 30, 2024
Charlottesville leaders honored with dedication of The Grove at McIntire Park, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), May 30, 2024
Speed cameras in Stanardsville school zones to stay on for summer school, Luke Jordan, WVIR 29NBC, May 30, 2024
Experts more cautious than optimistic about Central Virginia's retail sector, Emily Hemphill, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), May 31, 2024
Settlement approved in wrongful death lawsuit against UVA, CBS19 News, May 31, 2024
5th District Democratic candidates hold forum with residents in Fluvanna County, CBS19 News, June 1, 2024
23M households will no longer receive monthly federal internet subsidy, Elizabeth Daigneau, Route 50, June 3, 2024
Inviting residents to weigh in on road safety, CBS19, June 4, 2024
An ode to the end of #684
A change in this edition is that it’s coming out in the morning. This may be the case this week as I’m in a different part of the country and having to make adjustments due to the presence of many more people around me. In the future, I would like to switch to a morning publication time because I think readership will increase.
Next month is the four year anniversary of this newsletter coming out via Substack and I’m hoping to celebrate this milestone many years into the future. Last week I was honored to receive the Impact Award from the Charlottesville Business Innovation Council at their 25th anniversary gala. I first became familiar with that group when they were the Virginia Piedmont Technology Council and produced several podcasts from their events in the mid-2000’s:
Are blogs changing business? A VPTC panel discussion, November 17, 2005
VPTC: Choosing Our Future: Austin or Aspen?, January 24, 2007
VPTC: Business/Technology Leaders Discuss Economic Development, February 7, 2006
VPTC: Choosing Our Future – Building a Mass Tech Sector, February 23, 2007
I’ve been writing about this community for a while and I’m honored to be able to continue doing so. The above discussions are historical documents and reflect an earlier time in how we communicate. What can we learn from such things?
I’m able to do all of this work through paid subscriptions via Substack as well as supporters through Patreon. The latter helps pay for other things I do at Town Crier Productions to try to document what’s happening. If you’d like this work to continue, consider subscribing. If you have questions, let me know.
And if you join those paid subscribers, Ting will match your initial subscription. That can be at the $5 a month level, the $50 a year level, or the $200 a year level. If you have any questions, drop me a line.
Ting can help you with your high speed Internet needs. If service is available in your area and you sign up for service, enter the promo code COMMUNITY and you will get:
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