March 17, 2025: Public health professional enters race for Charlottesville City Council
Plus: An account of public hearings on Albemarle's budget and Charlottesville's parks and rec master plan
This particular newsletter will not penalize you if you decide to not wear an article of clothing that is colored green. That’s not because of any particular dislike of St. Patrick’s Day but instead a lamentation that there was no edition that came out on the Ides of March. That also meant there was no formal commemoration of the five years anniversary of the podcast I launched to document the COVID-19 pandemic. Charlottesville Community Engagement flowed from that particular work. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I want to know what you’ll do today.
In today’s installment:
A new face has entered the nomination contest for a Democratic spot on the ballot for Charlottesville City Council
One person speaks at the Charlottesville Planning Commission’s public hearing for the draft Parks and Recreation Master Plan
An account of the first public hearing on Albemarle County Jeffrey Richardson’s recommended budget for FY2026
First shout-out: What ReLeaf Cville is up to!
In today’s first subscriber-supported announcement: ReLeaf Cville seeks to help restore the amount of the city that is covered by trees. Here are some of their efforts since 2022.
• Planted over 300 trees particularly in neighborhoods with low tree cover, including 10th and Page and Rose Hill. Most recently in the Woolen Mills, working with the Rivanna Conservation Alliance, the group will have planted 135 trees to help keep the Rivanna River clean.
• Started a three-year Tree Preservation Program with a $189.9K grant from Virginia Department of Forestry to provide free tree care to 28 Fifeville homeowners to help preserve 48 mature trees this winter.
• Educated over 540 students about the value of trees and nature in the City and developing a Green Team of 15 teenagers every year. This group is taught about the value of trees and nature in the City. After teaching them how to approach people going door – to- door, they canvas the neighborhoods asking if we can plant trees in homeowners yards. This winter the Green Team, working with the Rivanna Conservation Alliance, is removing invasive plants and plant new tree seedlings to refurbish forested areas.
• Environmental Education Summit. With a grant from Clean Virginia, in mid-February the group will hold a summit with over 30 organizations involved in environmental education
Fleisher enters race for Charlottesville City Council
A healthcare professional who was part of the community’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic is the third person to file for the Democratic primary for two seats on the Charlottesville City Council.
“I’ve worked with City Hall, County leaders, and institutions throughout the Charlottesville region to advance our shared goals,” wrote Jen Fleisher in an information release announcing her campaign. “I’m excited to bring those skills and partnerships to City Council.”
Today is the opening of the official nomination window for candidates to get on party ballots in Virginia. That’s handled by local political party committees unless a candidate is independent.
Fleisher dropped off her nominations today at the home of Josh Throneburg, the co-chair of Charlottesville Democrats. He was accepting paperwork through 5 p.m today for candidates.
“And after that, they will schedule a time and location with me, any time up until 5 pm on April 3rd,” Throneburg said in a response to a question.
Fleisher joins incumbents Brian Pinkston and Juandiego Wade as candidates who have already filed statements of organization with the Virginia Department of Elections. She works for the Blue Ridge Health District leading their Community Health Improvement Plan. During the pandemic, she lead mass vaccination programs including drive-through clinics and the BRHD’s mobile program.
In her work capacity, Fleisher is part of the Regional Transit Partnership, the Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, and the transportation work program of the Charlottesville Area Alliance.
“Safe, clean, reliable transportation is essential for the health of our City’s people and the planet, so it has to be a top priority for City Council, too,” Fleisher said.
The primary is on June 17 and will be the first to be conducted in Charlottesville used ranked-choice voting. I’ve already been contacted by a colleague about whether we should schedule a candidate forum. If we do, it will be after April 3 when the nomination process ends and before early voting begins.
Are you going to run?
Charlottesville Planning Commission holds public hearing on parks plan
This newsletter will go out after the Charlottesville City Council will get a briefing on the draft Parks and Recreation Master Plan but before the public hearing. Longtime readers know I can’t get to everything quickly, but as this has received very little attention from other information outlets, here we go for posterity.
The city hired Pros Consulting to review the Department of Parks and Recreation and recommend items for the future.
“This is a comprehensive master plan,” said Director Riaan Anthony. “It is a guide. It's a roadmap with community priorities in mind and foremost.
The project manager from Pros Consulting is Mike Svetz who was the city’s parks and recreation department in the late 2000’s when decisions were made about the future of McIntire Park as well as the city’s pool facilities. He said the document before the Planning Commission was intended for the city and not the rest of the region.
“It is a ten year planning horizon,” Svetz said. “It is based on City of Charlottesville resident need, unmet need and importance as it relates to experiences and opportunities desired.”
Svetz claimed that almost 2,500 people participated in the plan’s development through 33 different engagement opportunities. Increasing walkability is a key component of the draft plan with an emphasis on creating more shared use paths for both recreation and transportation.
“Shared use paths are accessible, paved or stone dust for lack of a better phrase,” Svetz said. “Trails that are intended to be utilized by different folks. People that walk, people that jog, people that ride bikes, people that skate, people that use scooters.”
The total cost of implementation for the plan is $78 million, but Svetz said city taxpayers would not shoulder all of the burden. He mentioned grants, but any time that word is used now it is important to point out that U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy is planning on review of all grants to eliminate funding for bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
For instance, take a look at this article on Streets Blog that breaks down a memo that went out last week.
Back to planning.
Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg said he was glad to see the shared use paths in the plan but noted that they all seem to be concentrated in the city.
“I mean they're all important links within the city and to parks,” Stolzenberg said. “But none of them touch the proposed Three Notch’d Trail which I'm sure you know, the county got a 2 million plus grant from the federal government to start planning up to the city limits.”
Stolzenberg wanted to know if the master plan anticipated that in anyway, as well as eventually planning to connect it to a pathway eastward to connect to the Virginia Capital Trail.
Charlottesville trail planner Chris Gensic said he involved with the creation of the Three Notched Trail as a concept and the answer is yes.
“Most of it coming into the city would be woollen mills, up the Coal Tower to the Downtown Mall, Gensic said.
He said from there the pathway would have to go on the street because the railroad continues to resist nearby pedestrian pathways for insurance reasons.
“You have to get out to Ivy Road and you're basically using West Main University and Ivy with improvements on that side,” Gensic said.
Two people spoke during the public hearing. One of them was a county resident who had a lot of concerns about the plan.
“There's places like Tonsler Park and they're making recommendations where they're saying instead of giving more space to pickleball and tennis, which are both medium priority things, instead they're adding additional sports to the courts that are there,” said Jackie Temkin. “So they're squeezing in an additional court that is supposed to happen. And you have more people competing for the same space.”
Temkin also questioned why there’s a suggestion for a cricket pitch in Tonsler Park given that survey research showed almost no demand for one. She also said not enough is in the master plan to correct what she described as gender inequalities in the city’s current offerings.
“There are very few if any other girls programs,” Temkin said. “I represent one program through the [United States Tennis Association] called Girls Rule the Court and it's supposed to be a girl program. We have consistently had issues trying to reserve courts because there's not enough.”
Anthony said the cricket pitch is intended to support a population of refugees from Afghanistan who now live in Greenstone on 5th which is within walking distance of Tonsler Park.
The second speaker was with the Piedmont Environmental Council who advocated for more places for people to walk.
I am out of time but I can write that the Planning Commission’s recommended language to state connectivity to the Three Notched Trail is sought. I wanted to get this out before the City Council’s public hearing and I have succeeded. Next time, a more complete story. Now, onto another one!
Second-shout out: Cville Village?
Can you drive a neighbor to a doctor’s appointment? Change an overhead lightbulb, plant a flower, walk a dog for someone who is sick, visit someone who is lonely? If so, Cville Village needs you!
Cville Village is a local 501c3 nonprofit organization loosely affiliated with a national network of Villages whose goals are to help seniors stay in their own homes as long as possible, and to build connections among them that diminish social isolation. Volunteers do small chores for, and have gatherings of, professors and schoolteachers, nurses and lawyers, aides and housekeepers. Time and chance come to all – a fall, an order not to drive, failing eyesight, a sudden stroke. They assist folks continue living at home, with a little help from their friends.
Cville Village volunteers consult software that shows them who has requested a service and where they are located. Volunteers accept only the requests that fit their schedule and their skills.
Volunteering for Cville Village will expand your circle of friends and shower you with thanks.
To learn more, visit cvillevillage.org or attend one of their monthly Village “meet-ups” and see for yourself. To find out where and when the next meetup is, or to get more information and a volunteer application, email us at info@cvillevillage.org, or call us at (434) 218-3727.
Many people weigh in on Albemarle’s recommended budget at first public hearing
This week will see two town hall meetings and two work sessions for Albemarle County’s proposed budget for FY2026. County Executive Jeffrey Richardson introduced the document at a meeting on February 26. Go back and read this story if you want more details.
After that work session, the $642,386,163 budget began its way through the public process which included a public hearing before the Board of Supervisors on March 3.
In previous years there were not many speakers. That’s not the case this year. What follows are some of the comments. Attempts have been made to spell each name correctly but please send in adjustments.
The first speaker was Karen Egan, a resident of the Rivanna District who seeks additional funding to add capacity at Albemarle Public Schools.
“ACPS schools are overcrowded and antiquated,” Egan said. “The majority of ACPS students currently attend schools that are at or over 95 percent capacity with several over 100 percent capacity.”
Hollymead resident Brad Rogers called for Supervisors to tour facilities with their counterparts on the School Board to assess conditions and to strategize on new funding sources.
“We have heard of far off legislative solutions such as a 1 percent sales tax that has failed to receive the support it needs to be enacted,” Rogers said. “But there are many other tools at your disposal that can be used right now. Please consider bond referendums, public private partnerships, specific tax based carve outs for schools and or additional methods to fund critical school facilities.”
Rogers referred to attempts by the General Assembly to adopt legislation allowing localities to hold a referendum on that sales tax. Legislation passed both chambers in 2024 but Governor Glenn Youngkin exercised his veto. Legislation passed again this year, and Youngkin has not yet taken any actions.
The next speaker is from the group IMPACT which for decades has advocated for social justice issues. This year they’re making a push for additional funding and specifically substantial investment in the county’s affordable housing trust fund.
“These trust funds have been successfully implemented across the country helping seniors, essential workers, families and individuals find stable housing,” said Tom Ekman of the Rivanna District. “For every $1 put into a housing trust fund, nonprofit developers can leverage an extra $8 from other sources.
Housing affordability continued as a theme with the fourth speaker. Dave Norris served two terms on City Council from 2006 to 2013 and is now the executive director of the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors Foundation. The organization sent a letter to Richardson and the Supervisors supporting a $10 million for the housing trust.
“Realtors are on the front lines of our community's housing challenges,” Norris said. “They see the impact every day of rising housing prices and how it places homes out of reach of the very people who do the hard work of making our community function.”
The budget introduced by Richardson has $4.2 million in funding for affordable housing with $3 million of that being a transfer of $3 million from the budget of the current fiscal year. The rest would come from a portion of a four cent increase in the real property tax.
The next speaker, Lois Sandy, said the amount proposed in Richardson’s budget is too low.
“I know there are several thousand, I don't know the exact number, but several thousand adults in our Albemarle community unable to afford housing,” Sandy said.
Michael Monaco, the chair of the Crozet Community Advisory Committee is glad that four-tenths of a cent of the tax rate increase will go toward housing, but he said it is not enough.
“The actual dollar amount in this draft budget, the $4.2 million, is not sufficient,” Monaco said, adding that he and his wife were fortunate to purchase a house that had been proffered to be affordable to a household below 80 percent of the area median income. But just barely.
“Our good fortune and privilege truly opened my eyes to how fragile housing is in Albemarle County,” Monaco said. “Since living in Crozet, I have known too many people who live in Waynesboro, Stanton, Fluvanna, Madison, Nelson just because they can't afford to live in Albemarle County.
Matt Gillikin, a Charlottesville resident and co-chair of the group Livable CVille reminded Supervisors that over 50 organizations recently signed on to a letter calling for a higher tax rate as well as $10 million a year. (read that story)
In his comments, Gillikin referred to a recent report on social mobility in the area. (read that story)
“The Orange Dot report came out in October and it said that 18 percent of Albemarle county families are struggling to meet their basic needs,” Gillikin said. “And it specifically highlights housing as an area where that need is being stretched the most. So what do we need to do? We need to say yes to housing.”
Housing comments continued with Keith McGlamery, a 12-year resident of the White Hall District. He urged Supervisors to find the additional $5.8 million so that more people can find a home.
“A house provides shelter from the elements and is made of wood, steel, bricks and mortar,” McGlamery said. “However, it is the people who live in it, particularly families who transform it into a home. In their home, a person can experience safety and security and a sense of belonging and acceptance.
The next speaker went back to schools. Here’s Heidi Gilman of the Samuel Miller District.
“I would like to remind you as a parent of two kids who are currently in our public schools that it's a good investment,” Gilman said. “The services kids in our community need are urgent and heartbreaking and school is the right place to offer those for many of our families, from mental health to homelessness to basic medical and dental services, not to mention career technical education and basic academics.”
Next up was a member of the Board of Directors of Loaves and Fishes who who thanked Richardson for including $40,000 in the capital budget for the food bank as well as $38,700 in operational funding.
“Loaves and Fishes provides a week's worth of free healthy groceries for more than 10,000 individuals from Virginia each month,” said Larry Brown of the Rivanna District. “And 40 percent of these individuals are residents of Albemarle County.”
And here’s executive director Jane Colony Mills.
“In 2024, the number of people needing our assistance increased 28 percent over 2023 and 92 percent since 2022, with a third of pantry visitors coming two times each month,” Mills said. “The people that we help are seniors, children, adults, people with disabilities, victims of domestic violence and unhoused people.”
Next up was another person who asked for $10 million for housing funds. After that were two representatives from the Lighthouse Studio, a youth organization that asked for a total of $30,000 in funding but said they received none despite having been funded since 2019.
“To go from consistent funding for 6 years to $0 was quite a shock and this would be a significant loss for Lighthouse Studio,” said Lindsey Hepler, Lighthouse’s Engagement Director. “This year we requested $25,000 for our educational programs and and our application was rated as exemplary. Yet we are recommended for $0 in funding.”
Deanna Gould, the organization’s executive director, said Lighthouse also receives funding from grants and other philanthropic gifts.
“While your support does not cover all the funding that we need, it is significant,” Gould said. “And suddenly losing all of it would greatly impact us. We see you as our partner.”
Next, back to housing and a comment from Suzanne Keller, a resident of the Cavalier Crossing apartment complex which was purchased last year by an investment company. The property is now called Attain on 5th, and two bedroom units begin at $1,950.
“The current residents are being kicked out the last day of July,” Keller said. “That's over 100 low income people who are going to flood into the Albemarle Charlottesville housing market on August 1. Are you ready for this? Do you have enough funding to provide even basic assistance to people like us who are essentially being displaced right into your community? This is why we need a housing trust fund of at least $10 million.”
The next person told a personal story that ended with him telling Supervisors he applied for a housing voucher and won the lottery to get a placement.
“I haven't heard anything since then,” said David Voltz. “So I don't know what's going on. But when I find out, I’ll keep you posted.”
The next person was the first to be critical of government spending. David Veliki listed the assessment increases for several properties he is associated with, concluding with one in the Rivanna District.
“And last but not least, house in Stony Point road, assessed at $378,000,” Last year was assessed at $285,000. That's a 32 percent increase. Five years ago it was assessed at $205K. That's an 84 percent increase in value and taxes. So my question is, how can it not be feasible for the Board of Supervisors to get by with increases on the order of 84 percent in tax revenue increase over five years and still maintain that they need to add tax revenue to the base?”
(One note - I could not confirm the spelling of this last name)
The public hearing kept going. My time to write parts of it out is running out.
Heidi Yoon is a parent of a child in the school system and Rio District resident who urged additional funding for school construction.
Sadhbh O'Flynn of the Community Climate Collaborative called for dedicated funding in the FY26 budget for climate initiatives. Specifically, $1 million.
Sarah Delgago of the Rio District also asked for funding for climate funding.
Lanika Hester of the Jack Jouett District also called for $10 million for the affordable housing trust as well as an increase in Albemarle’s emergency relief program to $2 million.
Ang Conn, housing program manager at the Haven, called for funding to support a suite of programs to address housing insecurity.
Elizabeth Carpenter, a nurse at the University of Virginia Health System, called for local funding to make up for likely cuts in federal programs that assist households with low incomes.
Two juniors at Albemarle High School both called for funding for climate initiatives.
Charlottesville resident Nelson Okerson also called for $10 million for the affordable housing trust fund.
Rolf Braun of the White Hall District called for a zeroing out of funds for economic development, particularly any funds for the Rivanna Futures project to build a national security research campus around the Rivanna Station.
The final speaker appeared online and was the second person to ask the Board to be mindful of the increase in tax burden by many long-term residents.
“Tax bills go up and up and up and up every year,” said Jenny Rector. “But residents income does not go up enough or at all to keep up with these increases, along with other widespread increases. Food prices, health insurance premiums out of pocket, health costs, water, other utilities, everything. Many people are falling behind.”
Rector called for Supervisors to adopt a lower tax rate.
My next report will be from the March 10, 2025 work session and hopefully I’ll get to it in time for Thursday’s Budget Town Hall. The first one is scheduled for tomorrow.
Reading material:
Charlottesville veterans take protest to Downtown Mall, Amaya Mitchell, WVIR 29News, March 14, 2025
Virginia farms feel extra financial pressure as USDA cuts grant program, Kate Nuechterlein, WVIR 29News, March 14, 2025
Hundreds gather at Stonefield protesting Elon Musk, potential opening of Tesla dealership, Mark Gad, CBS19 News, March 15, 2025
An end to #832
This one very much is a miracle. I overslept this morning. Well, that’s not true. I woke up at 4 a.m. and refuse to work that early. So I played a lot of silly arcade games to pass the time, did some chores like packing up yesterday’s slow cooker meal, and waited for the light to start work.
And then took a nap until 8:30 a.m. That meant I was behind my C-Ville Weekly story. I also got today’s Fifth District Community Engagement out and then I got to work.
Now a confession of sorts. I use transcription software to help me run through the meetings. After 30 years in this business, I know where the soundbites are and I can get them faster reading. This software has generative capabilities but I do not use them. I will not use them, but the transcription software allows me to move faster.
We all know I’m prune to mistakes but so-called Artificial Intelligence makes a lot more. I could run my stories through an AI editor, but I’d rather pay a human being to do that work. And that is the goal.
As I said in the opening, I am now five years into this experiment in independent journalist. Here’s the link to that first podcast from March 15, 2020.
I hope to be here in five years, ten years, fifteen years, and so on. I reserve the right to change my mind, but if I left this work and this community I would lose my purpose and my soul.
So thanks for reading.
And we end with an OSEES track.
"We all know I’m prune to mistakes" ... this was on purpose to see if anyone would catch it, right? Well, I guess I'm on the one :-)