Charlottesville Community Engagement Town Crier Productions

This being a leap year, July 18 is the 200th day of the year. Will knowing that piece of information have any effect on how this day flows for you? Is there any significance to this being the 707th edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement? If so, can it be found by listening to endless covers of the song Seven and Seven Is? I’m Sean Tubbs, and while that’s unlikely I’m going to keep trying. 
In today’s installment:
* Charlottesville City Council is briefed on work toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions including a new dashboard to keep track of progress
* The Albemarle County Economic Development Authority endorses a request to increase the pay scale for federal employees in the Charlottesville Metropolitan area 
* Albemarle County has issued a request for proposals for a firm to change the traffic layout of The Square in Crozet and provide other improvements 



This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Yesterday my copy of Tuesday’s Charlottesville Daily Progress arrived via mail and it was a thrill to smell the paper and to remember my early days as a journalist. Though I was never an employee, I had stories appear for nine years from 2009 to 2018 and I’m glad to have been part of the first rough draft of history. 
I am grateful there are many sources of information about what happens in this community and glad I’ve got enough paying subscribers myself to keep me practicing my brand of journalism here at Charlottesville Community Engagement. I’m Sean Tubbs, making sure you check out the ‘reading material’ at the bottom of every edition. 
In today’s installment:
* Charlottesville Area Transit starts off the new year with new resources
* A work group has created by-laws for a future Charlottesville Albemarle Regional Transit Authority 
* Charlottesville is seeking people to join boards and commissions and applications are due July 31



This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Today marks the 79th anniversary of the first ever detonation of a nuclear bomb with the Trinity test in New Mexico as part of the Manhattan Project. Just a few weeks later, the United States would use one of these in combat to end the Second World War. The devices kept getting tested, though, and over 200,000 American soldiers took part in those that happened aboveground. Their participation was a secret until years later.
In 2015, the General Assembly passed a resolution marking July 16 as National Atomic Veterans Day. I’m Sean Tubbs, and this is today’s edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement.
In this edition:
* The Virginia Department of Transportation is planning on putting lights on a section of I-64 at Afton Mountain 
* Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders reviews his first year in office 
* Albemarle County planning staff have made changes to the way the Comprehensive Plan is being revised and the Planning Commission got a briefing last week 




This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Time passes by quickly between sonic editions of the program for reasons that are still in flux, but here we are again with Charlottesville Community Engagement for July 12, 2024. This week marks the fourth anniversary of the first edition and since then I’ve written and produced thousands of stories.  I’m Sean Tubbs, and my best time is when I get to sit down and devote time to putting one of these together. 
In this edition: 
* July 12 marks anniversary of the lynching of John Henry James (learn more)
* Charlottesville City Schools moving forward with new names for existing institutions (learn more)
* Charlottesville marks Parks and Recreation month with proclamation, public input meetings (learn more)
* A long time advocate for the elderly is stepping down (learn more)
* Dominion seeks proposals to explore feasibility of a small nuclear reactor at Lake Anna (learn more)
* An environmental group gives a C+ to health of the Chesapeake Bay (learn more)
* Albemarle County launches a way for people to track transportation projects as well las some other tidbits (one story) (a second one) (and a third)

First-shout: Piedmont Master Gardeners have a newsletter
In today’s first subscriber-supported shout-out, the Piedmont Master Gardeners have already filled a July 20 class they have planned. But you can still learn a few things from their monthly newsletter called The Garden Shed. 
Volume 10, Number 7 for July 2024 is currently out and has articles with relevant articles for this scorching summer. Read about how to garden in Intense Heat and Drought and how to stop wilts and root rot in your vegetable garden, and a guide to freezing fruit! There are also columns on edible and ornamental items that might have sprung up in gardens this July. 
Take a look at the issue and another one will be along soon for July. And be on the lookout for classes as they fill up fast! There’s a lot more information at piedmontmastergardeners.org. 


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Thoughts on #704A
This week I got halfway through setting up a studio again, but I’m so much more driven to get new stories out than to produce the audio for them. I go in cycles, and at the moment, I seem to be avoiding going through long discussions to distill them. That’s the kind of work I want to be doing more.
But, I wanted to get one podcast out in this feed before the official fourth anniversary begins tomorrow. Four years ago I decided to just start doing this after a lot of planning and thought. Will I still be here in four years? What will have happened by then?
The only way I know how to stay sane is to track as much as I can and to bring it to you. I am hopeful to have audio integrated with the text again. I know there are podcast listeners who don’t read the print version, and I really want to make sure I’m getting these to you.
And now, it’s almost 5 p.m. and I want to get this completed so I can think about how I’m going to finish up the studio!
Let me know what you think! And a subtle reminder that Ting will match your initial subscription should you convert from a free subscription to a paid one!
Ting can help you with your high speed Internet needs. If service is available in your area and you sign up for service, enter the promo code COMMUNITY and you will get:
* Free installation
* A second month for free
* A $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall



This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

What’s in a number? Other numbers, usually. Seven hundred is seven times a hundred, or a hundred and forty fives, thirty-five twenties, twenty-eight twenty-fives, and many other rational combinations. This particular 700 is the one for Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter that seeks to be rational in its approach to presenting information that may sometimes be irrational. 
In this edition: 
* A trauma expert at the UVA Health System offers fireworks safety tips on this dry Fourth
* Fluvanna Supervisors agree to support a marker in Columbia  commemorating the farewell journey of General Lafayette in 1824
* Nelson County will receive $2.5 million from the Virginia Department of Transportation for sidewalk improvements on Front Street in Lovingston 
* Three Virginia transportation projects are among recipients of federal RAISE grants but a local bridge project did not make the cut 



This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

Perhaps too much time passes between podcast versions of Charlottesville Community Engagement but imagine if you will a hypothetical listener at some point in the future listening to all of the episodes one after the other. That doesn’t really matter because you are the one experiencing the audio right now, and I have no idea when you are. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I do have the idea it is time to begin with this set of stories. 
On this program this time around: 
* Two major projects in Charlottesville cross major milestones (learn more)
* Youngkin makes five appointments to the UVA Board of Visitors (learn more)
* Two “shots fired” incidents after Chief Kochis presents data showing crime rate is down (learn more)
* Albemarle PC recommends special use permits for restaurant, solar array (learn more)
* Rosenberg to retire as Albemarle County Attorney (learn more)
* Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Worrell to take time to decide on court trial for zoning lawsuit (learn more)
It’s a newsletter! It’s a podcast! It’s a newscast! Is it a letterpod? I don’t know! But sign up and you’ll get whatever comes next in your inbox


First shout-out: Plant Virginia Natives
We’re in the third week of astronomical summer, and I’ve spent a lot of time fighting the invasive species that love to take over my yard. But as I think ahead to the fall, the winter, and the spring, I’m thinking about one resource that may help me develop a landscape more suitable to this area. I’m talking about Plant Virginia Natives! 
Plant Virginia Natives is part of a partnership with ten regional campaigns for ten different ecosystems across Virginia, from the Northern Piedmont to the Eastern Shore. Take a look at the full map below for the campaign for native species where you are in the Commonwealth. For the Charlottesville area, download a free copy of the handbook: Piedmont Native Plants: A Guide for Landscapes and Gardens. 
This shout-out has been with the newsletter since the beginning thanks to one Patreon supporter! Thanks to that person! 
Second shout-out: Charlottesville Jazz Society
In today’s second subscriber supported public service announcement, the Charlottesville Jazz Society wants you to know about their first concert of the summer. 
Saxophonist and flutist Lynn Riley and her band The World Mix will perform at The Front Porch in downtown Charlottesville from 4 to 7 pm July 21st.  A gifted instrumentalist and composer, Riley has impressed critics and audiences alike with her funky and accessible sound that is firmly rooted in the mainstream jazz tradition, while suffused with influences from a host of world music and the blues. 
For ticket information and to learn more, visit the Charlottesville Jazz Society at cvillejazz.org.
Thoughts on the end of #699-A
This took about four hours to produce. At least an hour of that was spent just staring at the screen as I tried to wake up. I can’t even fathom how I got these out as newsletter and podcasts at the same time. I’ve changed my process since then, and I can’t go back.
But, I will keep doing the audio versions because there are listeners. I am hopeful I can get two out a week, but this might be it. I’m contemplating taking a day or two off with the holiday, but I don’t have paid holidays.
What I do have is an audience that has grown slowly over four years, and I’m grateful that I get to decide what I get to do next. I know the next set of stories and I’m hoping to get something out tomorrow.
Let me know what you think! And a subtle reminder that Ting will match your initial subscription should you convert from a free subscription to a paid one!
Ting can help you with your high speed Internet needs. If service is available in your area and you sign up for service, enter the promo code COMMUNITY and you will get:
* Free installation
* A second month for free
* A $75 gift card to the Downtown Mall




This is a public episode. If you’d like to discus