Recent editions of this newsletter and podcast have demonstrated my thrill at the existence of Leap Day, and that is followed up by my absolute love of March 4th, a position on the calendar that is also a triumphant command! This is the Charlottesville Community Engagement edition for the 64th day of 2024. I’m Sean Tubbs, a lover of calendars.
In this edition:
A lecturer at the University of Virginia School of Architecture and former chair of the public housing authority is now a member of the Charlottesville Planning Commission
Charlottesville City Council is poised to reallocate $215,000 in federal funds to allow the the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank to offer more produce
A representative of the new transit union calls on Council to end its contract with Jaunt
And the University of Virginia surpasses its $5 billion fundraising campaign and gets two major donations from the Harrison Foundation
First shout-out: Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards class coming up on March 12
In today’s first subscriber-supported public service announcement, the Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards has a mission to support rural and urban forests and to promote knowledge and understanding of the value of trees for present and future generations. Toward that goal, they offer the occasional free class.
On Tuesday, March 12, there’s an online webinar where you can learn how to select a tree for your property that will have the best chance to survive and flourish in the place that you choose for it. Tree Steward Tim Maywalt will discuss best practices for planting and show you how to care for your newly planted tree and your other landscape trees for the long term.
This class is free, but donations are always appreciated. Thanks! Register for the class at charlottesvilleareatreestewards.org!
UVA lecturer and former CRHA Chair named to Charlottesville Planning Commissioner
The Charlottesville City Council finally filled a vacancy on the Planning Commission last month by naming a former member of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
Betsy Roettger is a lecturer at the University of Virginia School of Architecture and served two terms on the CRHA Board of Commissioners. According to her bio, she “teaches both graduate and undergraduate design studios and seminar courses in the Departments of Architecture and Urban and Environmental Planning.”
Roettger fills the vacancy created when Liz Russell resigned last June. Her term expires on August 31 as does the term of Commissioner Lyle Solla-Yates.
Council also made the following appointments:
Addison Barnhardt and James Cauthen were reappointed to the Economic Development Authority. Both had terms set to expire on March 31.
Julie Basic was appointed to the Historic Resources Committee.
Charley Burton was appointed to the Human Rights Commission.
Richard Brugh. John D’Earth, and Elayne Phillips were named to the JABA Board of Directors
“There’s still a lot of other openings but we really appreciate individuals willing to volunteer and give back to that community in that manner,” said Mayor Juandiego Wade.
If you want to apply, take a look at the current vacancies on the city’s website.
Council poised to reallocate $215,000 in federal funds to Blue Ridge Area Food Bank
Charlottesville City Council will hold the second reading tomorrow night on the reallocation of $215,000 in federal funding to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank to help the nonprofit organization purchase a larger refrigerator for their Harris Street distribution center.
“The limited capacity that they have for the storage often means for them to have to turn away donations of fresh produce,” said Anthony Warn, a grants analyst of Charlottesville’s Office of Community Solutions.
The organization covers 25 counties and has been busy the past few years with both the pandemic and with rising food costs due to inflation.
“Last year, we distributed about 27 million pounds of food through these community organizations,” said Michael McKee, the chief executive officer of the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. “That’s enough for about 23 million meals and about 30 percent of that food was fresh produce.”
McKee said the need for the organization is growing as has its need to use more of its resources to acquire food.
“In 2019, the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank spent $1.8 million buying food for distribution,” McKee said. “Last year we spent $5.3 million buying food for distribution.”
McKee said capital costs such as a new cold storage unit take away from the ability to deliver food to households in need.
If approved, Council would cover the entire cost of the project which would also include covering the loading dock area. The new infrastructure could also reduce energy costs because the current refrigerator runs almost constantly.
“I am ecstatic to support this,” said Vice Mayor Brian Pinkston. “I think the fact that we’re able to help ourselves and also help the network and to support our volunteers, I think it’s a great project.”
City Councilor Michael Payne referred to the presentation given by UVA students earlier in the afternoon on behalf of the Public Housing Association of Residents that asked for Community Development Block Grant funds to not be used for physical infrastructure like parks and sidewalks. He said this one makes the cut. (read that story)
“This kind of allocation is exactly the kind of allocations we should be making with CDBG, strategic, high-impact, long-term impact, and directly benefiting working and poor people in our community,” Payne said.
The majority of the money had been programmed for streetscape infrastructure including $155,247.20 from Fiscal Year 2022 that would have gone to a sidewalk project on Ridge Street. Payne supported the allocation.
“It highlights why we should not invest in capital projects because we can’t deliver them on time,” Payne said.
A February 2024 status report from the city’s transportation planner indicates there is no scheduled date for when two Smart Scale projects in the Ridge Street / Fifth Street Extended corridor would be completed.
In other items from Council’s February 20, 2024, City Manager Sam Sanders said the Belmont Bridge is nearing completion.
“The new traffic signals are now up and the old lights and mast arms have been removed,” Sanders said.
Utility work will continue this month as will work on the western sidewalk. Sanders did not mention the emergency contract or provide a new cost estimate.
“But the project is slated to be done in the middle of June,” Sanders said.
Sanders said a notice to proceed has been given to Nielsen Builders of Harrisonburg to begin work on a new bypass fire station.
“It’s a $7.5 million project and substantial completion should be finished in March of next year,” Sanders said.
Sanders said the Fire Department will begin operating out of the station in May 2025.
Charlottesville Area Transit union calls for city to end contract with JAUNT
As Albemarle and Charlottesville officials continue to discuss expanding regional transit, the role of organized labor may make long-planned dreams more complicated to achieve. On February 20, a representative of the Amalgamated Transit Union that represents Charlottesville Area Transit asked the City Council to consider ending its contract with Jaunt.
“The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that any mass transit system in the country also provide equivalent transportation services to the disabled,” said John Ertl of ATU Local 1764. “Throughout this country, this so-called paratransit service is sometimes run in-house and sometimes contracted out to a third party.”
Ertl said localities contract out that service to save money through reduced wages and benefits and he claimed employees at Jaunt have sought to organize.
“The union then asked the Jaunt Board of Supervisors to recognize the union and pass a collective bargaining resolution that would enable those workers to unionize and bargain a contract just like we did at CAT,” Ertl said.
Jaunt is governed by a 14-member board with four representatives from both Albemarle and Charlottesville, as well as two each from Louisa County, Fluvanna County, and Nelson County.
Ertl said 39 Charlottesville Area Transit and pupil transportation employees unanimously ratified their contract on February 4.
“This is a huge milestone for workers’ rights in the city and for our public transit system,” Ertl said.
Ertl said the Board of Directors claim that the enabling authority that passed the General Assembly in 2020 does not apply to their organization.
“In the end, their short-sighted refusal to grant union rights will only harm Jaunt as they lose employees to CAT,” Ertl said.
Ertl said the union wants the city to explore ending its contract with Jaunt and to run paratransit services in-house. Jaunt’s Board of Directors meet tomorrow and an update on the union is on the agenda.
Second shout out: Donations and volunteers wanted for JMRL Friends of the Library Book Sale
I’ve got a reasonable suspicion that anyone reading or listening to this newsletter or podcast are people who love to read and hopefully people who love libraries. One of you supports my work through a Substack subscription and a Patreon membership, which directs me to shout-out to the Friends of the Jefferson Madison Regional Library and specifically the upcoming Spring Sale.
The Spring Sale takes place this year from April 6 to April 14 with a preview on April 5 for members, with all of it taking place at 300 Albemarle Square in the old Northside Library. Do you have some old books you’d like to share with the community and support the library? Large boxes can be taken to the Gordon Avenue library during their opening hours and smaller ones can be taken to any branch library, except Downtown. The deadline for contributions for the Spring Book Sale is Friday, March 15th.
Or maybe you want to volunteer? Find out more information at jmrlfriends.org!
UVA meets $5 billion fundraising goal early
The Advancement Committee of the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors learned on February 29 that a major fundraising milestone had been met since the last meeting in December.
“We’re humbled to say that the last time we were together, we were about $35 million away from hitting the $5 billion goal for the campaign and thankfully due to so many, that happened before the end of the year,” said Mark Luellen, the vice president of advancement at the University of Virginia.
The campaign is called Honor the Future and there is still about a year and a half left until it ends.
“It’s been really heartwarming and humbling to see that things didn’t stop when we hit $5B,” Luellen said. “Not only did we hit $5B, but as of yesterday we crossed $5.1 billion in total commitments to the campaign.”
Luellen said since the beginning of the fiscal year, UVA has raised over $450 million, up 23 percent from the year before. Part of that is that the number of large contributions has increased.
“We’re now I think at about 73 gifts of $1 million or more since July 1 and that’s up 40 percent year over year,” Luellen said.
Peter Grant is the chair of the Honor the Future campaign and he said over 200,000 people have contributed to the effort. He also told the Advancement Committee that at least some alumni have paused donations due to disagreements of political conversations that have happened at UVA in a time of polarization.
“On the other hand I think we’ve retained the support of a great many more people who believe that this University can stand as a leader for the ideal of a marketplace of ideas, freedom of expression, open discourse, and many of them ask in the conversations we have, if that can’t happen at the University of Virginia, where can it happen?” Grant said.
Grant also took the opportunity to point out major contributions that have resulted in new buildings and infrastructure such as the School of Data Science, a new performing arts center, and the Karsh Institute for Democracy.
“All three of which will be anchor tenants in the Emmet-Ivy Corridor, which is yet another symbol and signal of the growth of where we’re headed,” Grant said.
Grant said these new buildings and others such as the future Institute of Biotechnology at Fontaine Research Park demonstrate to alumni the importance of their donations.
For more information, visit the UVA Giving website.
At the end of the Advancement Committee’s meeting, President Jim Ryan had an announcement of two new large donations.
“A new $25 million gift from the Harrison Foundation will name the Harrison Family Olympic Sports Center and a $30 million gift from the Harrison Foundation and the Mary Anderson Harrison Foundation will create the Harrison Family Research Center, a new translational research center and Alzheimer’s and neurodegenerative diseases in the Manning Institute of Biotechnology,” Ryan said.
Ground was broken for the biotechnology institute in December.
For more on the gift, check out the relevant article on UVA Today.
Reading material:
Repairing Charlottesville's broken wastewater station could cost $25M, Jason Armesto, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), March 1, 2024
Good talks illegal immigration, national debt in Amherst, Justin Faulconer, Amherst New-Era Progress, March 2, 2024
Albemarle County police issue more than 100 speeding tickets in 1 day, Emily Hemphill, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), March 2, 2024
Bon voyage, #643!
March Forth indeed with the knowledge that comes with this installment of the program as well as the knowledge there will be another edition in the very near future. There is much to write about in this community and my goal is to deliver as much as I can as often as I can, and thank you for your continued support, readership, and providing an ear.
One way to keep track of what’s coming up is to visit the Notes page on Substack where I provide updates on the production schedule. Another way to keep track of what gets published is to follow the Town Crier Productions page on Facebook. Every new post to Information Charlottesville is sent out through that social media site. There’s also Instagram.
All of this is made possible by paid Substack subscriptions as well as Ting matching every initial payment. The point of all of this is to get more information out about the community, and I’m grateful to be able to continue doing so.
If you are not a paid subscriber yet, your initial payment would be very efficient indeed as Ting will match it, providing a little bit more fuel. This is an incredibly generous sponsorship, and you if you sign up for service and enter the promo code COMMUNITY you’re going to get:
Free installation
A second month for free
A $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall
March 4, 2024: City's transit union asks Council to consider ending contract with Jaunt for paratransit services