Do I have to do another edition of the newsletter and podcast today? Couldn’t I just do nothing at all in the hopes that somehow everything gets accomplished anyway? The answers are yes and then no.
September 6 is is Fight Procrastination Day and a lifetime has taught me it’s important to tackle tasks as swiftly as possible before they transform into unslayable gargantuans. So this edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement can be seen as the completion of at least a sidequest.
On today’s program:
A framework is now in place for the creation and implementation of Charlottesville’s next strategic plan
A public-private partnership is awarded $60,000 to help revitalize businesses in Stanardsville
Want to make a television show? An open house is coming up on info on how to do so for Charlottesville public access
The Center at Belvedere honors an outgoing director with an endowment
The city of Charlottesville has hired a communications and public engagement director
And City Manager Sam Sanders addresses efforts to sway the outcome of a study on alternative fuels for public transportation
First shout-out: Friends of Downtown Cville
In today’s first Patreon-fueled shout-out: The temperature gauge and humidity still say summer, but schools have been open a week now so fall is approaching. Friends of Downtown Cville are thinking ahead to activities on the Downtown Mall as the nights grow longer. Here is some of what to expect:
This Friday from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. is the Coca Cola Block Party to celebrate the new ghost mural.
There’s a membership drive coming up on September 22 for those who want to get involved with all of the happenings on the Mall this fall
Doggie Howl-o-Ween and Downtown Safe Halloweeen are only two months from now
And it’s not too early to think about the holidays and Magic on the Mall coming up Thanksgiving through Christmas
Council adopts framework for strategic plan
Charlottesville City Council have adopted the outline of a document intended to guide the work of hundreds of municipal employees through 2028.
“This is some long hard work that we’ve been working with the Raftelis Group to get done,” said City Manager Sam Sanders at the 4 p.m. work session from the September 5 meeting.
A strategic plan is a set of directives used by localities to guide the work that staff conducts and investments that are made in big projects. Charlottesville has been working off an older document after development of a new one stalled in 2021.
The city hired the Raftelis Group earlier this year to do the work. That has involved a lot of conversations with staff as well as a Council retreat in May.
“In the conversation it was very clear that justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) were truly core values to all of the work that this organization engages in,” said Michelle Ferguson of the Raftelis Group.
The framework has a vision and nine “strategic outcome areas” that will eventually have specific strategies in place. Ferguson said work on JEDI issues could be seen as a tenth outcome area of its own.
Those strategic outcome areas are:
Climate Action
Economic Prosperity
Education
Housing
Organizational excellence
Partnerships
Public Safety
Recreation, Arts, Culture
Transportation
Each outcome area has its own description.
The new plan will cover the next five years.
“It gives staff the ability to work on implementation so immediately upon your adoption of this matter later this evening, we will begin to operationalize it,” Sanders said.
Sanders said adoption of the framework would be the beginning of the plan and that Council can always shift direction if so desired.
“This is really how you set the vision and then we as staff will take it from there,” Sanders said.
However, the plan is not quite yet complete and strategies have yet to be formally written down.
“While this may not be all of the plan, I would submit that it is however the most important parts of the plan because the framework that you all have outlined really includes the key direction,” said Michelle Ferguson of the Raftelis Group. “Where does the community want to be? Where do you want the community to be over the next five years?”
Sanders said the city will need to rehire the Raftelis Group to continue their work as their original scope has concluded. The new city manager also said he would create his own work plan that would be tied directly to the strategic plan.
“So I’m going to live by this document and then the team will be expected to live by this document,” Sanders said.
Vice Mayor Juandiego Wade said there was one item he wanted to make sure was covered somewhere in the strategic plan.
“The word ‘food equity’ should be included,” Wade said. “I’m seeing more and more reports about how inflation is really impacting that and our effort last time played a big role in organizations like Cultivate Charlottesville and things like that.”
Wade said that would help such groups with grants for specific programs.
City Councilor Michael Payne said he thought food equity might have a spot under one of the nine outcome areas as they are broad categories.
“I think food equity could be under economic prosperity under a strategy for community wealth building which I know is how Cultivate Charlottesville has explicitly thought about it,” Payne said.
Following the presentation, City Councilor Leah Puryear wanted to know how work toward justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion would be measured. Sanders said that one of the items that needed more work.
“What we will bring to you be satisfactory in that we will break down what is made up in that particular commitment as we see as operational things that can be done,” Sanders said. “And then of course it falls under each of the nine categories.”
Mayor Lloyd Snook said he tried to determine if there was any order of ranking among the nine strategic outcome areas, an exercise that was inconclusive.
“One of the nice things about this is that it really wasn’t capable of calling them 1, 2,3, 4, 5, 6,” Snook said. “But the one that was at the absolute center was organizational excellence and if we do achieve that goal, the other eight become that much more possible.”
Several hours after the work session, Council adopted the framework. More details to come as more reports are made and strategies are strategized.
Stanardsville revitalization project awarded $60K in state funds
A public-private partnership that seeks to nurture the business community in Greene County’s only town will receive $60,000 from the state government for a project called “Community Business Launch 2024.”
The funding from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development will go to a group called Stanardsville Area Revitalization.
“[Community Business Launch] projects train entrepreneurs and small-business owners on business planning practices, culminating in a group of finalists pitching their ideas to a panel of judges with winners receiving grant funding and support services from the community to kick-start their new venture,” reads a press release from Governor Glenn Youngkin’s office sent out on Tuesday.
According to their website, Stanardsville Area Revitalization has received over $3.1 million in grants over the years to support projects and has raised over a half million in local funds for required matches.
News of the award is part of a greater announcement of over $2.9 billion in small business development and community revitalization projects across the Commonwealth. It’s also only one of two projects announced in the Thomas Jefferson Planning District.
The Louisa Forward Foundation will receive $15,000 for a wayfinding project from the Virginia Main Street Community Vitality Grant program.
Other Community Business Launch grants include $100,000 for the Lynchburg Business Association, $100,000 for the Metropolitan Business League Partnership in Petersburg, $60,000 for the City of Covington and $50,000 a piece for the Town of Waverly and the Town of Wise.
The Staunton Downtown Development Association received $20,000 for the Central Avenue Project from the Virginia Main Street Downtown Investment grant program. The Waynesboro Economic Development Authority has been awarded $100,000 for a project called Resurgence 2 2024.
For the full list of grant recipients, visit the DCHD website.
City-run media collective to hold open house
Have you ever wanted to try your hand at creating your own television show? If so, there’s an upcoming opportunity to learn how from a member-based organization with ties to the City of Charlottesville.
“The Charlottesville Community Media Center will hold an open house on Saturday, September 23 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. inside York Place on the Downtown Mall,” said City Councilor Michael Payne at the beginning of the September 5, 2023 City Council meeting.
Payne is one of the CCMC’s hosts with a show called Community Matters that featured an interview with City Manager Sam Sanders in Episode 7.
Other shows include:
Breaking the Chain with June Bates and Rev. Dr., Lehman D. Bates, II
The Blue Ridge Barn Dance with Brandon Wayne and his Lonesome Drifters
Let’s Talk! with Nicole Dickerson, June Bates and Sherika Turner
Save the Nation with former City Council candidate John Edward Hall
Rivanna Review with Robert Boucheron
“The Charlottesville Community Media Center, or CCMC, serves as the center for public access television and the mission is to encourage and inspire community expression by offering resources to create and distribute media that celebrates, arts, education, cultural exchange, achievement, and social awareness,” Payne said.
The open house will be a live two-hour broadcast on public access television that will be hosted by Andrea Copeland, a long-time CCMC host.
The Center to honor outdoing director with new endowment
In his 24 years of work as the executive director of the Center at Belvedere, Peter Thompson has overseen the nonprofit group’s mission to promote healthy aging in the community. That included a move from operations on Hillsdale Drive to a new facility in Belvedere.
Now the organization has announced they will create an endowment in Thompson’s honor that will promote professional development as well as maintenance for the relatively new building.
“Peter’s vision and enthusiasm inspired our community to support the construction of The Center at Belvedere,” said Christine Thalwitz, president of the Center’s Board of Directors.
Now the entity is hoping to raise $100,000 in funds for the Peter M. Thompson Endowment for Capital Renewal and Professional Development. The first part will allow the Center to begin setting aside money to pay for items that may need replacing sometime in the mid 2030’s.
The second part will go to help staff who want to gain new skills or otherwise improve their professional service.
Potential donors can contact the Center’s Philanthropy Director Melanie Benjamin at 434.220.9744 or melanie@thecentercville.org.
Second shout-out: Rivanna Conservation Alliance’s Community Watershed Cleanup
In today’s second Patreon-fueled shout-out: Mark your calendar for the 4th Annual Rivanna River Round-Up on Saturday, September 16th! Volunteers of all ages can participate in a community-wide cleanup across more than a dozen sites in the Rivanna River watershed, clearing litter from our rivers and streams. Registration for the Rivanna River Round-Up is now open!
And want to know more about the Rivanna River and efforts to keep it clean? Do take a look around rivannariver.org to learn more and to find out how you can get involved.
Charlottesville’s new Director of Communications and Public Engagement begins work today
There have been many vacant positions in Charlottesville city government over the past years and on September 5, newly appointed City Manager announced that a key position has been filled.
“I am so happy to be able to finally be able to announce that the city has a director of communications and public engagement,” Sanders said. “Her name is Afton Schneider.”
According to her LinkedIn profile, Schneider has spent the last several years at a company called Enviva that works in wood pellets with the last as a senior manager for brand strategy and communications. She’s also worked for Boeing and Goldman Sachs and has a degree from the University of Lynchburg.
Schneider starts work today in the position.
The last person to hold the position was Brian Wheeler who left city government in November 2021. Wheeler had entered city government in January 2018 just after he left Charlottesville Tomorrow where he had been my boss for eleven years.
Sanders addresses community feedback on fuel for public transportation
In a democracy, there are many forces that seek to influence decisions that get made. That includes nonprofit advocacy groups such as the Community Climate Collaborative which has a current campaign underway to direct the outcome of a current study.
“The impending City Council vote to determine the alternative fuel technology for Charlottesville Area Transit (CAT) demands our unwavering attention,” reads the second paragraph of a letter to City Council for which the group is seeking signatures to support one of the options.
What the letter does not tell you is the date for that impending vote, nor the fact that no vote will come until after a study by the firm Kimley-Horn is completed. Council last got an update on that study in July and Sanders addressed the campaign in his report on September 5.
“I know it is a very hot-button issue that individuals are very supportive of the idea that our transit system can convert to battery-electric buses,” Sanders said. “I just want to remind everyone that no decision has been made, no recommendation has been offered, [and] the work is still being done.”
Sanders said there are federal guidelines related to procurement. He urged people to be patient while all of the information is being put together.
“It is our expectation that Kimley-Horn will be coming back with our CAT leadership team offering what they consider to be recommendations,” Sanders said.
Sanders said the goal is to have that presentation in October but no date has been confirmed. He reminded Council that transportation staff have been working on efforts to provide bus service as the school year began.
Reading material:
Allegations over campaign yard signs in Albemarle County flying from both sides, Jason Armesto, Charlottesville Daily Progress (paywall), August 31, 2023
Vape sensors installed at Albemarle High School, Garrett Whitton, CBS19 News, September 1, 2023
Drastic bus driver shortage continues to challenge Charlottesville and Albemarle schools, Julianne Sanders, Cavalier Daily, September 1, 2023
Albemarle County releases development dashboard, Jacob Phillips, WVIR NBC29, September 2, 2023
How the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally is playing out in court, Priya Kommu, Cavalier Daily, September 4, 2023
Courteney Stuart Reports: Consultant weighs in as CASPCA volunteers let go, WINA, September 4, 2023
To the end of #573 and beyond:
Anything you see in front of you has a story behind it, and that story has a story behind that, and so on and so on until you step back far enough to either see a mosaic or a fractal, depending on how you perceive complexity. Every edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement is my attempt to try to bring order to the chaos I see in front of me, and I’m glad you’re along for this experiment in municipal journalism, perhaps the least sexy version there is but I quite like it.
And there are hundreds of you who like it enough to pay for it, a number dwarfed by circulation figures for local newspapers but a number that has been growing steadily over the past three years. In those three years I’ve written about strategic plans, transit fuel options, and as much as I can about what’s happening or not happening.
Ting recognizes this work by sponsoring Town Crier Productions by matching the first payment of each Substack subscriber. That could be at the $5 a month level, the $50 a month level, or the $200 a year level.
I also want to thank everyone who has already signed up. I couldn’t keep doing this without you.
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September 6, 2023: Council adopts framework for strategic plan for Charlottesville “to be a place where everyone thrives”