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May 16, 2026: Two stories on future homeless shelters, two stories on AC44, and five more on Charlottesville area government

Where do you get your information about what’s happening in the greater Charlottesville area? Hopefully from multiple sources in order to expose yourself to multiple perspectives. But perhaps this is your first time looking at (or listening to) the opening words of a sonic edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that seeks to get more people to understand what’s happening at local and regional government.

In this edition:
  • Salvation Army launches fundraising campaign for Center for Hope (read the story)
  • Many details remain to be worked out for how three groups will work together at Charlottesville’s future low-barrier shelter (read the story)
  • Albemarle staff working on five projects to implement new Comprehensive Plan (read the story)
  • Albemarle Supervisors leave Comprehensive Plan amendment process as is (read the story)
  • Charlottesville to form committee of developers to encourage more Missing Middle housing (read the story)
  • Council holds first reading on how to use Community Development Block Grants CDBG funds in 2026 (read the story)
  • Tree Commission presents recommendations for how City Council can help improve tree canopy (read the story)
  • In a divided vote, MPO Policy Board moves forward with two Smart Scale projects without city support (read the story)
  • Albemarle and Charlottesville both mark Older Americans Month (read the story)

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Charlottesville City Council hears about the State of Homelessness but little about next steps for 2000 Holiday Drive

Today’s edition is sponsored by Nola Builds

Five times five is not 125, but May 5 is the 125th day of the year and goes by 5/5 no matter what side of the Atlantic you are on. Charlottesville Community Engagement has so far been produced on the Western side but one potential future would be for at least some editions to be created in other parts of the world. After all, it has now been three years since the World Health Organization declared the end of the COVID-19 pandemic global health emergency. This opening paragraph was written while listening to an Italian radio station.

In this edition:
  • Four nonprofit groups that provide support for unhoused people present the annual State of Homelessness report to Charlottesville City Council
  • There’s no new public information about how three of those groups will operate a low-barrier shelter at 2000 Holiday Drive
  • More support has been requested for those in encampments along the Rivanna River but at least one Councilor said another plan is needed

Some thoughts about what this is

This website has been around for over 21 years, but none of it ever really came together as a cohesive information. The Charlottesville Podcasting Network was an experiment, one that resulted in me being hired at Charlottesville Tomorrow where I worked for eleven years.

During that time, I had no room for experimentation. I was told what to do, and I benefited from that discipline. I became the best reporter I could be with a good editor. After eleven years, I’d written so much about this community.

I lost the ability to be independent and experiment. In the summer of 2020, I created Charlottesville Community Engagement as a way of getting back to journalism and experimenting with form.

For the first three and a half years, all of the newsletters were podcasts. That changed in February 2024 when I began doing a radio version for WTJU Public Radio. Since then I’ve been upping my game, and today I was able to get a combination podcast / newsletter out on a very important topic in the community.

I hope this matters. I don’t really know anymore. I feel a calling to do the work, but I have a sense that the public has moved on and doesn’t want what I offer. If this was a purely capitalistic enterprise, I’d have shuttered ages ago.

But I feel we live in an age where no one really knows what to do anymore. There’s a lack of hope about what can be done, and somewhere in all of this is a need for better communication.

Is this it? That’s up to you. And if you want me to have the chance to keep trying, please consider a charitable contribution to Town Crier Productions. If you have questions, let me know. In the meantime, I’ll be working seven days a week to try to get this right.

That gum you like will come back in style.

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Charlottesville Community Engagement for May 1, 2026:  A new non-profit for public housing, the history and future of CAT, Emily Couric Leadership Forum scholarships, and two stories from UVA

In this edition:
  • City Council allows CRHA to form a nonprofit for fundraising purposes (read the story)
  • Charlottesville Area Transit director briefs CARTA (read the story)
  • Emily Couric Leadership Forum awards $250,000 in scholarships (read the story)
  • Regional cigarette tax board turns five this October (read the story)
  • UVA Finance Committee briefed on need for tuition increase (read the story)

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Charlottesville Community Engagement for April 24, 2026: Albemarle adopts a budget and Charlottesville is poised to move some money around

In this edition:
  • Albemarle County Supervisors adopt a budget for FY2027 that includes $7 million for affordable housing and $386,000 for the Dogwood Vietnam Memorial Foundation (read the story)
  • Albemarle Supervisors thank staff for turning meeting minutes around faster (read the story)
  • Council briefed on use of just under $4.5 million in surplus funds including $1.1 million for Angus Road crosswalk improvements (read the story)
  • City Council poised to reallocate $1.8M to cover cost overruns for Meadow Creek Trail, Pollocks Branch bridge (read the story)
  • Charlottesville City Manager Sanders provides update on work plan (read the story)
  • Charlottesville seeks applicants for boards and commissions (learn more)

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Charlottesville Community Engagement for April 17, 2026

Stories in this edition:

  • Albemarle Supervisors will not move forward with a personal property tax rate increase in 2026 (read the story)
  • However, Supervisors do find an additional $2 million for the Affordable Housing Investment Fund (story forthcoming at C-Ville Weekly)
  • Area planners hear from VDOT about a desire to coordinate transportation projects (read the story)
  • UVA representative to city PC reports on various projects including new access for Center for Politics (read the story)
  • Charlottesville’s Department of Neighborhood Development Services announces changes to the city’s Development Code (read the story)

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Podcast for April 10, 2026: 83 percent of this edition has to do with either Albemarle or Charlottesville’s FY27 budget

The end of the week has rolled around again which means it is time to scramble out another audio edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement.

This time around there is a big focus on municipal budgeting because the purpose of Town Crier Productions is to focus on the details of revenues and expenditures with a hope toward greater community understanding. At least, that’s the way this version of Sean Tubbs is programmed.

In this edition:
  • Charlottesville City Council has adopted a budget for the next fiscal year that increased the real property tax rate by a penny, one fewer cent than had been proposed (full story here!)
  • Albemarle Supervisors have a few remaining decisions to make for the county’s FY2027 budget (read the story)
  • Albemarle and Charlottesville commemorate Dark Sky Week (read the story)
  • A preview of the Week Ahead

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Charlottesville Community Engagement for March 30, 2026: Council gets update on low-barrier shelter and public artwork

What has happened in the last week? There are many different organizations that document current events and affairs through the telling of stories and then packaging a look back. This is a journalistic tradition that dates back many years and Charlottesville Community Engagement seeks to continue with this Monday morning look and listen for people to catch up.

Most people read the material while others look forward to every installment of the podcast edition which offers a chance to hear what people sound like. I’m Sean Tubbs and here are five stories you may have missed:

  • Charlottesville City Council briefed on low-barrier shelter might work groups that provide the programming (read the story)
  • City Council agrees to hire consultant to develop public arts commission for Charlottesville (read the story)
  • One of Albemarle County’s community advisory committees weighs in on what they’d like to discuss at this year’s meetings (read the story)
  • Albemarle County Executive Jeffrey Richardson shares data points on Albemarle services with Supervisors (read the story)
  • The director of the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority gives an update on Long Bridge and expansion of service to Christiansburg (read the story)

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Charlottesville Community Engagement for March 20, 2026: Halfway through budget season for FY2027

In a democracy, local governments play a vital role in providing services to the people who live there and the budget process is a glimpse into the priorities of a locality. There are many complexities for decision-makers to consider, knowing their time in office only continues if they have support of the electorate. This podcast edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement is a snapshot of the budgets in Albemarle County and Charlottesville just before the equinox.

Here are links to stories as they appear on Information Charlottesville.

In this edition:
  • No major comments at Charlottesville City Council’s first public hearing on two-cent tax rate increase for FY2027 budget (read the story)
  • Albemarle County Supervisors make adjustments to their proposed budget for FY27 and opt to advertise an increase in the personal property tax rate to dedicate additional revenue to an affordable housing fund (read the story)

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Charlottesville Community Engagement for March 2, 2026: Albemarle’s budget, Charlottesville’s zoning, and Greene’s next Supervisor

Charlottesville Community Engagement is the name of a newsletter and podcast created in the summer of 2026 as a new way of getting information out to people. The show is delivered primarily by Substack but as this year continues, there will be an exploration of other ways to distribute the audio version.

This is a cross-post. For more information on the original, head over to Substack.

In this edition:
  • Greene Supervisors appoint former member to fill vacancy (learn more)
  • Albemarle Planning Commission wants to see another design for Windy Knoll (read the story)
  • Albemarle Supervisors take action on Boulders Road project (need to produce)
  • Charlottesville PC looks ahead to next set of zoning changes (need to produce)
  • No tax rate increases included in proposed $724M Albemarle budget for FY2027 (read the story)

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Charlottesville Community Engagement for December 22, 2025: No more Flock but recognition cameras go live in downtown parking garages

December 22, 2025 has arrived and so has this sonic edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. Many of the longer versions of stories are produced as if they are going to air on the radio, and for this edition two have already done so! The other two have not, but will be among the stories that may be chosen for the December 27 edition that will air on WTJU at 6 a.m. Between now and then the goal is to spend the holiday period combing through a backlog of potential topics. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I’m glad that this is what I do.

In this edition:
  • Charlottesville Planning Commission seeks some changes to city’s five year CIP (read the story)
  • Charlottesville ends use of Flock system (read the story)
  • Charlottesville transitions parking garages to AI-powered access management (read the story)
  • The Albemarle Planning Commission takes a look at a new tool to be used to measure how the county’s growth area land is being used (read the story)
Not quite in this edition but recently written all the same:

Charlottesville Community Enagement is an extension of what this website was intended to do. It is a product of Town Crier Productions and I’m cross-posting it here as a way of trying to rethink what this website could do.

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Charlottesville Community Engagement for December 10, 2025: Tom Perriello, a fourth Albemarle high school, and a possible extension of Boulders Road

The Charlottesville Podcasting Network was created in April 2005 to produce audio programming for the community. There has not been any new content for a while and it is unclear if and when that might happen.

But, today I’m cross-posting an edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement.

Four stories in this edition:

  • Former Congressman Tom Perriello enters the race for the Democratic nomination to represent Virginia’s Fifth District in the U.S. House of Representatives (read the story)
  • Two special elections scheduled in Virginia on January 6 (read the story)
  • Virginia transportation panel briefed on $20 million for Boulders Road project (read the story)
  • Albemarle Schools seek funding for fourth high school while Supervisors want more data on need (read the story)

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Audio from an April 2010 discussion on the Downtown Mall

The Charlottesville Podcasting Network was created twenty years ago this month. I’m Sean Tubbs, the person who launched the site. These days I’m the president of Town Crier Productions and this website is now under that umbrella.

My other platforms at the moment are Charlottesville Community Engagement and Information Charlottesville. The former is a newsletter sent out through Substack. The second is a website I created as an archive for whatever I wrote during a period when I wasn’t a working journalist.

This website was created as a way for me to experiment with podcasting. At the time I was a freelance radio producer and saw the new distribution technology as a way for me to potentially make additional money.

Now I make my living because there are a lot of people who want me to keep writing. There are ways that brings in revenue. The profession I am in has always been supported through multiple sources of revenue.

I took another job at another organization in April 2007 because I had responsibilities. I was no longer in charge and could not devote much attention to this website anymore. I handed it over to a couple of other caretakers, and one of them retired a few years ago.

Since then, I’ve posted a few things, but not on a regular basis. This is definitely a website on hiatus, much like Fifth District Community Engagement and Charlottesville Quarantine Report. The latter was something that sprang forth from me in the early days of the COVID19 pandemic.

I do not know what the future of this website will be, but I do know I will be revisiting the work of 20 years ago as I experimented with using audio to tell longer stories in different configurations then I could get on the radio. For most of my time at Charlottesville Tomorrow, I did not do much with audio except for posting entire files of the meetings I covered.

And that’s what the audio is for this post. This is from a meeting in April 2010 of those members of Charlottesville City Council who were on the elected body back in the 1970’s when the decision was made to convert East Main Street into a pedestrian mall. You can read the story over at Charlottesville Tomorrow. This audio is available there as well.

I’m uploading it here because it’s a Saturday and those are usually the days I organize things because I try not to have a deadline. I’m cleaning up files and this was one I came across that I downloaded at some point intending to cut it up into soundbites.

Maybe I’ll do that one day, but organization involves archiving and connecting the present with the past in hopes of having both stick around into the future.