It’s the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month of the Twenty-Third Year of the Twenty-First Century. That’s 105 years since the Armistice that ended World War One. That’s a good reason to put out a special edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement to honor Veterans Day and to mention a few other things. This is also the 600th edition of the newsletter and podcast, and it’s good to day to reach a milestone. I’m Sean Tubbs.
On today’s program:
The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors honors Veterans Day
A delegation from Guatemala is coming to visit Charlottesville
There will soon be another round of maintenance of trees on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall
First shout-out: Virginia Veterans Services Foundation
In today’s holiday-focused public service announcement, there are 700,000 veterans living in Virginia after serving in the armed forces in conflicts ranging from World War Two to the present day. Many need assistance from time to time, and the Virginia Veterans Services Foundation exists to provide that help. They seek contributions to support:
Visit the Virginia Veterans Services Foundation website to learn more.
Albemarle County Supervisors marks Veterans Day
Today is the 85th anniversary of Veterans Day and earlier this month, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors marked the occasion.
“Throughout our nation’s history, the United States of America has called on its citizens in uniform to serve and to protect our national security,” said Donna Price, the chair of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors and herself a veteran and is a retired U.S. Navy Captain in the Judge Advocate Generals.
Price read from a proclamation recognizing the continued celebration of the national holiday.
“On this day and every day, we remember the millions of patriots who have served and sacrificed for the betterment of our nation,” Price said.
There are many veterans serving in Albemarle County government and in Albemarle County Public Schools and the proclamation is intended to salute their contributions now and in the past.
“We, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, do hereby recognize November 11, 2023 as Veterans Day and celebrate all who have served our country around the world,” Price said.
Deputy County Executive Trevor Henry is also a retired Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy.
“In local government and in schools we believe we have well over 200 employees that in a prior life raised their right hand to support and defend our Constitution,” Henry said. “And when there period of service ended via either retirement or an obligation, they also found their way to our organization.”
Three of those employees appeared before the Board to tell a bit of their stories and what they do now.
Sergeant Dale Shoop served in the U.S. Army from 1983 to 1986 with some of that time in the demilitarized zone in Korea. He now works in Community Development as an inspector.
“Heartfelt acknowledgment to my great grandfather, my grandfather, and my uncle for serving in the Royal Air Force, the Royal Army, and Royal Navy in Great Brain and England,” Shoop said. “Thank you to my father who served in the United States Army and my son who served in the United States Army and continues to serve in the intelligence sector.”
Sergeant Roger Snodgrass served in the U.S. Coast Guard from 2002 to 2007 before joining the U.S. Army where he served under active duty through 2014.
“Sergeant Snodgrass joined Albemarle County as a police officer in 2014 and currently holds the rank of sergeant on evening shift patrol,” Henry said.
Snodgrass thanked the county for being an organization that’s friendly to veterans.
“As an individual who has multiple friends and family members in other local government, I do have the opportunity to say that this is a high performance organization,” Snodgrass said. “With our Board of Supervisors, our county executive’s office, and our command staff with Albemarle County police department, they allow us to be able to provide outstanding customer services, day in, day out.”
Reynaldo Avali served in the U.S. Army Reserve as a bridge crew member with the 299th Engineering Division beginning in 1995 with multiple deployments to Iraq.
“During the first deployment to Iraq, they placed two bridges over the Euphrates River for combat operations,” Henry said. “The second time his unit was responsible for maintaining the bridges, training Iraqi engineers, and responsible for removing six bridges for retrograde operations.”
During that time, Avali has also worked in building services for Albemarle County Public Schools where he continues to serve.
Supervisor Bea LaPisto Kirtley thanked all of the veterans assembled in Lane Auditorium for their service.
“It is something that you all do for us to keep our democracy safe, to keep all of us safe,” LaPisto Kirley said. “It is a solemn oath that you take to protect all of us and please be aware that all of us appreciate it. I think all of America really appreciates your service.”
Supervisor Ned Gallaway expressed his appreciation as well and said he recently went back to his hometown to clear out his parents’ home.
“And we found my dad’s formal dress uniform which I had never seen in my life,” Gallaway said. “My brother-in-law who also served was navigating me around the different patches and such telling me, informing me what those were. And then we also found in a trunk a bunch of letters that my grandfather sent my grandmother during the war, but we found the official communication that he was [missing in action]. He was a prisoner of war and he thankfully was able to return at the end of World War II and he became a police officer.”
Supervisor Diantha McKeel took the opportunity to share some resources that are available through Region 10 to veterans. Take a look here if you would like more information.
“Region 10 currently has a partnership with Virginia Lock and Talk with resources available for all individuals including veterans to receive medical lock boxes and bags as well as trigger locks for firearms to assist individuals and families in locking up lethal means,” McKeel said. “Virginia Veterans Service Foundation also has a homeless veterans’ fund and has been able to provide one-time assistance to homeless veterans to support rent, utility, and rental deposits.”
McKeel said Region 10 has also recently hired a peer support specialist to specifically assist veterans.
Supervisor Ann Mallek used her time to mention the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2044 in Earlysville and American Legion Post 74 in Shadwell.
“These organizations take care of their own,” Mallek said. “They raised funds most recently to buy a new medical transport van to help their fellows get to remote medical services.”
Those services are currently a one-way 90-mile drive to south of Richmond. Mallek called for a veterans clinic to be located closer to home, particularly with the potential for expansion at Rivanna Station.
Mallek also put in a plug for an organization called Living Free Together which also provides support to veterans and military families.
Price thanked Mallek for bringing up the role that families play and said that she was grateful for support from hers during her career.
“Military service is frequently a family affair,” Price said. “From the Civil War through World War One, World War Two, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, to today…My father, a 97-year-old World War II Navy Combat vet. My son, a major in the Marine Corps. Myself with my own service. You’ll find that people who work with or serve the county often have other family members who similarly provide public service.”
Albemarle County also held a ceremony at 11 a.m. to mark Veterans Day.
Guatemalan Sister City delegation visiting next week
Technically, Huehuetenango is not one of Charlottesville’s Sister Cities. Instead, the western Guatemalan community is a Friendship City which is one step away.
Either way, a delegation from that community will be visiting next week.
“The goal of the delegation’s visit is to forge initial ties between the government and citizens of Charlottesville and Huehuetenango,” reads a press release announcing the trip that will take place Monday through Wednesday.
This is the first time more than one person from Huehuetenango has visited the area since the relationship was formalized in 2021.
There are two public events happening:
Coffee Open House, Tuesday, November 14, 9:00 – 11:00, Omni Hotel (212 Ridge McIntire Rd, Charlottesville, VA): This is a chance to learn more about Charlottesville’s Sister and Friendship Cities and an opportunity to meet the delegation and drink free Guatemalan coffee brought from Huehuetenango.
Public Reception and Program, Wednesday, November 15, 6:00 PM – 7:30 pm, City Space (100 Fifth St NE, Charlottesville, VA): Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook and Huehuetenango Mayor Gustavo Cano will signing of the Friendship declaration between the two communities. “The event will feature Marimba Music, a short program featuring words of friendship and welcome between the two cities and a choral arrangement from CHS ensemble.”
The way toward this relationship dates back to the work of The Ixtatán Foundation, a group formed in 2001 to help build a high school in a small town in the greater Huehuetenango province.
Charlottesville prepping for more work on Downtown Mall trees
A dozen and a half people gathered on a recent Monday evening on the Downtown Mall outside the Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Department’s offices to learn more about impending tree work to address safety. Urban Forester Steve Gaines held a laser pointer and directed it towards a dead branch he said presents a hazard.
“If you think about like mid summer or in the weeks that we have the holidays coming up,” Gaines said. “How many people are going to be walking on the Mall? Thousands a day.”
Gaines said his job as an arborist is to protect people and the trees themselves by trying to understand how they may react.
“What is the probability of that branch failing? And if it does fail, does it land on another branch on its way down? Is it going to hit a building? Is it going to hit a person? What’s the probability? When might it happen? Would it take a major wind event? A major snow event, something like that?”
The bosques of Willow Oaks planted in the mid-70’s are a very important component of the historic Lawrence Halprin design for the pedestrian mall. Many are also approaching their 60th year and their health has not always been closely watched. In December 2015, a report was published that called for a management plan. (read the report)
“Despite the good initial outward appearances of the tree planting, the stand of oak trees is in a fragile, declining state,” reads the executive summary of that report. “The overly tight spacing of the trees and the insistence on paving right up to the base of the trunks of the trees has set in motion a series of biological factors that is beginning to push many of the trees to the point of failure.”
In the summer of 2017, there was momentum toward putting a management plan in place with another tree walk similar to the one from late October. (Could Downtown Mall trees be on the chopping block?, Kayli Wren, Charlottesville Tomorrow, July 26, 2017)
Downtown Mall tree management faded as a priority as other events took place in the summer of 2017. Earlier this year, the city moved forward with a plan to remove several damaged or dead trees. Urban forester Steve Gaines held another walk on October 30 to prepare for another round of maintenance.
“The purpose here was mostly to inform folks about tree work that is very likely coming this winter once the trees go completely dormant,” said Steve Gaines, the urban forester for the City of Charlottesville. “We will be going through to do some pruning. We call it crown cleaning as in we are removing some of the obvious hazards. Two inch deadwood and above.”
Gaines said the event also had provided an opportunity to explain more about a forthcoming plan to manage the trees on the Downtown Mall going forward. The firm Wolf Josey Landscape Architects won the contract from the City of Charlottesville for the management plan.
The work that Gaines talked about on October 30 was more pressing and continued work done in January of this year.
“Every year I do an assessment and I take pictures and hit trees with the mallet and figure out what we’re doing with decay,” Gaines said.
Gaines held the event and will do more like it in the future because he understands how important the trees are to Charlottesville.
“This is the Downtown Mall’s tree, so it’s a very sensitive, very historic topic and people feel very strongly about these trees and we just want to make sure that everybody is well-informed about what is going on with the trees and make people realize that they are going through an inflection point right now and to some degree there is some hazard,” Gaines said.
“Most of those bigger limbs are very dead,” he said to the group while looking at one cluster of trees in front of the parking garage.
During the tour, Gaines also explained more about how the trees interact with fungus, with bugs, other chemicals, and how they’re affected by a changing climate.
Stay tuned for more information about trees on the Downtown Mall and across the entire area.
Reading material:
Charlottesville moves forward with apartment-quashing land buy, Hawes Spencer, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall) November 8, 2023
Charlottesville High School principal resigns, Jason Armesto, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall) November 9, 2023
Bigger at last: Text for historic marker recognizing Charlottesville slave trade revealed, Hawes Spencer, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall) November 10, 2023
Concluding notes for #600
Saturday editions feel good to produce, especially after taking a couple of days off in which I tried to not even think about this work. This week’s time change took its toll on me, which I always hope won’t happen but does all the same.
Rest is not my ideal state of being, but it’s good to be ready for the rest of the year. There’s still so much to get through, and I’m grateful you’re here to read or listen.
As there is no regular schedule as of yet, you can find out if I’m publishing on a given day by looking at my page on Substack Notes. I also talk a little from time to time about the fact that is a business and there’s plenty of room to grow.
If you’d like to support this work and help it grow, do consider a Substack subscription or become a Patreon supporter. As with Election Day, today is not the day for the hard sell. I just want you to read or listen and to help me grow the audience!
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November 11, 2023: Albemarle Supervisors mark Veterans Day; Charlottesville preparing for more Downtown Mall tree work