Podcast for October 17, 2024: Long Bridge expansion, CAT service changes begin on November 9 and Albemarle's Comprehensive Plan

There are written versions of Charlottesville Community Engagement and then are the ones where there are voices that can be heard. This is the latter kind, a collection of recent stories that have gone out in print form. The prophecy foretells of a time when the two strains will weave together once again, but for now it’s October 17, 2024 and here’s what you will hear if you hit play above:

In this sonic edition:

• Albemarle PC begins review of new AC44 language on growth management (learn more)

• Ground broken for Long Bridge project to expand passenger rail capacity in Virginia (learn more)

• Charlottesville Area Transit will make service adjustments on November 9 including increasing service on two routes that serve central Charlottesville (learn more)

• City Council discusses pedestrian safety in wake of pedestrian death on Elliott Avenue (learn more)

• Changes may be coming to how VDOT classifies area roads (learn more)

• Albemarle Supervisors briefed on Ivy Road pipeline projects (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.

In any given week, I’m writing a lot of stories. Not all of them need to be produced for audio and earlier this year I made the decision to produce fewer podcasts. One day, though, I’d like to be getting that audio to more places and I’d love to train others how to do what I can do. For now, take a listen and share the work

Second shout-out:  Like bowties, podcasts are cool!

Perhaps the podcast versions are a bit of an indulgence, but there are at least 200 people who listen each time. Maybe that number is small, and maybe it is not commercially defensible. Yet, audio production is intricately woven into how I do my research. My first ever professional work was an internship at WVTF Public Radio nearly 30 years ago, and this is an extension of that work. 

But this podcast is not the only way to hear the stories! There’s also a Soundcloud page and each of those is appended to the bottom of stories on Information Charlottesville. As long as I keep publishing Charlottesville Community Engagement, there will be an audio component.

Thank you to Wraki for the incidental music in the podcast. Go take a listen to the songs in the clear on Bandcamp.  

Reading material will be back in the next regular newsletter which I hope to produce on Friday. And if you don’t know by now, Ting will match your initial payment through Substack. That’s part of a generous sponsorship that’s been in place now since April 2021. If you sign up for service and you are within Ting’s service area, 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