When written in numbers, today’s full date has four twos, a zero, and a five. Put them all together in the right way and it’s February 22, 2025, and I will not play a similar puzzle with the name of the show which begins with two C-words and an E. I’m Sean Tubbs, the producer of Charlottesville Community Engagement which is made up of the audio versions of stories about local and regional government in the Central Virginia listening area. Let’s get to it.
Today’s audio versions of stories already published in written form:
A round-up of the landscape of local elections as the spring comes closer
Charlottesville School Superintendent Gurley presents budget request to City Council (learn more)
A look at the City of Charlottesville’s finances before the next budget comes out (learn more)
Two members of City Council pay tribute to the late Charlottesville Mayor Satyendra Huja (learn more)
The Buildings and Grounds Committee of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors endorses the design for new student residences planned for the intersection of Ivy Road and Copeley Road (learn more)
The University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors has the first of two emergency meetings to discuss the future of gender-affirming care at the UVA Health System (learn more)
First shout-out: Celebrating the community’s other information organizations!
In today’s first shout-out in the form of a house ad, I want to make sure everyone knows that every edition of the regular newsletter (not the podcast ones) ends with a section called Reading Material. Charlottesville Community Engagement is just one offering in a landscape that includes the Charlottesville Daily Progress, C-Ville Weekly, Charlottesville Tomorrow, and Cville Right Now, I curate links from these sources because I believe a truly informed community needs multiple perspectives.
There’s also the Cavalier Daily, Vinegar Hill Magazine, the Fluvanna Review, the Crozet Gazette, NBC29, CBS19, and other sources. But if you look every day, you’ll find links to articles in national publications, all linked to give you more perspectives on some of the issues of our times.
Show notes for 817A: Why this one and not another one?
In this particular edition of the newsletter that carries the podcast, a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how things get made. For the past year now, audio production has shifted as I began doing a radio version for WTJU. The show airs at 6 a.m. so the audience may be low, but I’m grateful to have a regular place in the airwaves.
This week was another where I didn’t have a lot of audio because most of the stories this week were ones that didn’t originate from a meeting. Take a look at the table below the second shout-out to see what I’ve been up for the past two weeks. By the time I get to Saturday morning, I’m ready to get to the new set of stories.
I spent Friday putting together the audio versions, a process that takes a lot longer than it used to because the audio can’t be terrible. It could be terrible when this was just a podcast. On Friday morning I wasn’t sure how I was going to pull off putting together a 29 minute piece, but somehow it happened.
One of the ideas was to take two of the Election 2025 stories and put them together as the show’s opener. I almost never read new copy for WTJU but this time it made sense to eat up time in the show by giving listeners a little more information.
I also added about a minute to the piece on members of City Council paying tribute to the late Satyendra Huja by including a clip from his 2007 interview with Charlottesville Tomorrow. I was able to grab that from his cvillepedia entry and imagine my surprise when I heard my voice as the interviewer! I forgot I had done that.
In any case, that’s this set of stories. I’m going to leave the text for the script for the election round-up.
Election round-up: Information on Jack Jouett District race in Albemarle and Charlottesville School Board
There are 254 days until the general election on November 4. Virginians will go to the polls to elect a new Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General. They’ll also select a member of the House of Delegates as all 100 seats are up.
There are also local elections across the area.
For the first time in six years, there will be a contested race for the Democratic nomination for a seat on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors.
In January, Supervisor Diantha McKeel announced she would not seek re-election to another term for the seat she has held since 2015. Two candidates have expressed interest in replacing her as the Democrat on the ballot for the Jack Jouett District.
Sally Duncan of Earlysville, a history teacher, has filed paperwork with the Virginia Department of Elections to run as a Democrat for the seat.
Earlier this month, historian David Shreve told members of the Albemarle Democratic Party that he would also be seeking the nomination.
The two as well any other candidates who emerge will be on the ballot of the June 17, 2025 Democratic Primary unless the local party decides to pick another nomination process.
Duncan received an undergraduate degree in American Studies from the University of Virginia in 2020 and earned a graduate degree in Religious Studies in 2023. She’s currently a high school history teacher and has a total of five children.
Duncan will formally announce her candidacy at the County Office Building on February 25 at 11 a.m.
Shreve has served as a member of the Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee as well as the Albemarle County Economic Development Authority. He has also served as co-chair of the Jack Jouett District Albemarle Democratic Party Committee. Shreve has also been involved with several non-profit groups including a board member at the group Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population.
In his professional capacity, Shreve has worked for the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia and spent one year working for the National Governors Association. He recently started a job as a senior economist for the Center for the Advancement of a Steady State Economy.
This year in Albemarle, both Rio District Supervisor Ned Gallaway and Samuel Miller District Supervisor Jim Andrews are up for election. Neither has yet revealed their plans.
There will also be a contested race for the Charlottesville City School Board. Last time around there were four seats open, and four candidates emerged. This time the seats held by Emily Dooley, Lisa Torres, and Dom Morse are all up for election.
Both Dooley and Torres have stated they will seek reelection. So far, I’ve not heard from Morse but both Dashad Cooper and Zyahna Bryant have filed their paperwork to run for the seats.
More in the future.
Learn more:
Two Democrats have announced for Jack Jouett seat on Albemarle Board of Supervisors
Zyahna Bryant enters the race for Charlottesville School Board
Second shout-out: Town Crier Productions
I created Town Crier Productions in the summer of 2020 as a way of getting back to the business of journalism. Whether you are listening or reading this newsletter, it’s part of a venture based on a pretty simple idea: I will continue to spend my time researching and reporting and will provide ways for people who want to pay for the material to be produced!
In 2025 I’m seeking ways to solidify the business, and here are some ways you can support the work.
Sign up for a paid subscription through Substack. There is not much premium content because my primary aim is to get information out to as many people as possible. I’m long overdue on December 2024 transactions, for instance, and that’s what I’ll do as soon as this is posted!
Contribute through Patreon. A major goal this year is to replace this with a way to make a tax-deductible donation, but that’s not set up yet. If I had more time, I’d make more audio programs through Patreon. Maybe today I’ll do something weird.
Send in a check made out to Town Crier Productions at PO Box 1754, Charlottesville, Virginia, 22902. This will be used as a replacement for Substack.
Ask me about advertising opportunities! I am testing out advertising on Information Charlottesville and I’m enjoying the experiment. Reach out if you’d like to get in on an introductory deal!
Volunteer for cvillepedia, a great way to become a fact checker and to bolster your research skills!
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