Albemarle County continues review of “AC44” Comprehensive Plan

I started this website 19 years ago to experiment with the production of content. At the time I was a freelancer who sold stories for public radio outlets, and the idea of podcasting opened up the potential for new markets and new ways of telling stories.

There are a lot of experiments still posted in those early days, but there was never really much regular content except for Rick Moore’s Sunday Morning Wake-Up Call and other radio shows.

When I went to work for Charlottesville Tomorrow, my ability to experiment was restricted but I began to write articles that were just text and images. The audio fell behind. Someone else became a caretaker of this site, which I could not keep up anymore.

Four years ago, I became an independent journalist again and I produce a regular newsletter and podcast called Charlottesville Community Engagement. Earlier this year, I began a new partnership with WTJU where they would air a version of the podcast on Saturday mornings.

I’ve not been posting those to this website because I ‘m not sure if there’s audience. I usually just cross-post the WTJU version to the CCE feed.

But this edition is a little different because it inadvertently became a capturing of two different meetings at which Albemarle County’s Comprehensive Plan was discussed. The four-phase review process began in the fall of 2021 and county staff took a pause at the end of the second phase.

This edition of the WTJU podcast contains sonic summaries of the July 9, 2024 meeting of the Albemarle Planning Commission and the July 17, 2024 meeting of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors. If you want to know more about the process, my reporting is one of the only non-government accounts. One of the Supervisors even noted that there were no members of the media present. Since the pandemic, I record from home.

In any case, here are some selected articles I’ve written in the past three years on what the county calls AC44.

AC44 process continues with Albemarle Supervisor discussion on environmental stewardship

At their meeting on January 17, 2024, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors reviewed draft goals and objectives for five of the eight chapters in the update of the Comprehensive Plan. The process is called AC44. This audio originally appeared in the January 26, 2024 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement and is also archived on Information Charlottesville. I’m cross-posting audio to this site as an experiment and furtherance of the archive!

Move2Health Equity presents 2021 transportation survey results to City Council

Since reacquiring management of the Charlottesville Podcasting Network, I have resisted posting material here. When I created this site, it was just to experiment with the technology. Thousands of podcasts later, there is a lot here I want to keep as an archive of a certain time.

But I also want to add things, even if those things may just be repurposed content from my other work at Town Crier Productions.  That’s the company I created in 2020 to help me figure out how to make a living covering the world around me as a journalist.

So, I think what I may do for a time is continue to post these and to add a little commentary about the stories where I can. I’m not doing that for this one, nor am I going to repost all of the text. You can read that on Information Charlottesville.

Anyway, here are the first two paragraphs of the story to whet your appetite.

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The current administration of the City of Charlottesville has inherited a city government that has struggled to turn ideas for road and multimodal improvement into completed projects. For instance, the Commonwealth Transportation Board awarded three Smart Scale grants to the city in 2016, but none of them has yet gone to construction. The city saved up millions for a West Main Streetscape project that was canceled last year with the money reprioritized for the renovation of Buford Middle School.

The task of reforming the city’s transportation process has fallen to Deputy City Manager Sam Sanders. Last year, he worked with the Virginia Department of Transportation on a plan to fix the city’s broken process, including the cancellation of a couple other projects. Last year, the city did not submit any applications through the Smart Scale process. That was one concession to VDOT officials who have become impatient with the city’s inability to deliver.

 

 




Apropos Of Something: “Booking” Your Own Life Story & Building Bridges, Blueprints Optional

Apropos Of Something hosts Ellen Daniels and Nancy Laurence talk with Kate Buford, founding partner of Biography by Design, award-winning author, radio commentator, on why everyone’s life story has the makings of a rich, compelling read; and Russ Linden, Chair, Welcoming Greater Charlottesville, on how celebrating diversity brings people together.

Apropos Of Something seeks out guests who are passionate about the arts, politics and society at-large. Co-hosts Ellen Daniels in Charlottesville and Nancy Laurence in New York City chat with experts, activists, and the most interesting people they can find. We guarantee every show will be Apropos Of Something.

Join Ellen and Nancy on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, every Saturday from 10-11 a.m.




Apropos Of Something: Creating Novel Ideas & Empowering Youth For Life

Apropos Of Something hosts Ellen Daniels and Nancy Laurence talk with Jane Alison, UVA Prof. of Creative Writing, novelist, memoirist, on why her work takes its cues from nature; and Daniel Fairley II, Youth Opportunity Coordinator, City of Charlottesville, on how fostering achievement, celebrating diversity strengthens a community.

Apropos Of Something seeks out guests who are passionate about the arts, politics and society at-large. Co-hosts Ellen Daniels in Charlottesville and Nancy Laurence in New York City chat with experts, activists, and the most interesting people they can find. We guarantee every show will be Apropos Of Something.

Join Ellen and Nancy on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, every Saturday from 10-11 a.m.




Apropos Of Something: Greenlighting A Green City & Moving Narratives, Poignant And Provocative

Apropos Of Something hosts Ellen Daniels and Nancy Laurence talk with Susan Elliott, Cville Climate Protection Program Manager, Div. of Environmental Sustainability, on the city’s multi-pronged plan to tackle greenhouse gas emissions; and Eduardo Montes-Bradley, award-winning documentary filmmaker, photographer, author, on illuminating people and places with his signature provocative pov.

Apropos Of Something seeks out guests who are passionate about the arts, politics and society at-large. Co-hosts Ellen Daniels in Charlottesville and Nancy Laurence in New York City chat with experts, activists, and the most interesting people they can find. We guarantee every show will be Apropos Of Something.

Join Ellen and Nancy on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, every Saturday from 10-11 a.m.




Apropos Of Something: Filling Classrooms With Black Magic & The Spell Of Good Writing

Apropos Of Something hosts Ellen Daniels and Nancy Laurence talk with Lauren Mims PhD, Developmental Scientist, former Asst. Dir. of the W.H. Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans, on school reforms and strategies that close opportunity gaps for Black youth; and Kate Buford, founding partner of Biography by Design, award-winning author, radio commentator, on why everyone’s life story is a rich, compelling read.

Apropos Of Something seeks out guests who are passionate about the arts, politics and society at-large. Co-hosts Ellen Daniels in Charlottesville and Nancy Laurence in New York City chat with experts, activists, and the most interesting people they can find. We guarantee every show will be Apropos Of Something.

Join Ellen and Nancy on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, every Saturday from 10-11 a.m.




Apropos Of Something: Fostering Climate Change Resilience

Apropos Of Something hosts Ellen Daniels and Nancy Laurence talk with Sierra Gladfelter, Interim Project Manager, UVA Institute for Engagement & Negotiation, VA Chapter Development Associate, Sierra Club, geographer, writer, researcher, on climate-exacerbated water scarcity and the ways in which communities are creatively adapting to these changes.

Apropos Of Something seeks out guests who are passionate about the arts, politics and society at-large. Co-hosts Ellen Daniels in Charlottesville and Nancy Laurence in New York City chat with experts, activists, and the most interesting people they can find. We guarantee every show will be Apropos Of Something.

Join Ellen and Nancy on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, every Saturday from 10-11 a.m.




Apropos Of Something: Community-Driven Social Activist & Cooking Up Culinary Careers

Apropos Of Something hosts Ellen Daniels and Nancy Laurence talk with Don Gathers, Cville social activist, co-founder of Cville Black Lives Matter and Congregate Cville member, whose community efforts, like his thinking, always lean forward; and Antwon Brinson, founder and president of Culinary Concepts AB, on cooking up the career path of a lifetime for young adults.

Apropos Of Something seeks out guests who are passionate about the arts, politics and society at-large. Co-hosts Ellen Daniels in Charlottesville and Nancy Laurence in New York City chat with experts, activists, and the most interesting people they can find. We guarantee every show will be Apropos Of Something.

Join Ellen and Nancy on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, every Saturday from 10-11 a.m.




Apropos Of Something: Translating Life Into Lessons & Inspiring Dreamers Without Borders

Apropos Of Something hosts Ellen Daniels and Nancy Laurence talk with Leona Sevick PhD, award-winning poet, Provost and Prof. of English, Bridgewater College, advisory board, Furious Flower Poetry Center, on her new book Lion Brothers, a collection of poignant, private yet profound poems; and Alex Zorychta, Asst. Dir. for Technology Entrepreneurship, Program Dir., Works in Progress, UVA, on inspiring innovative entrepreneurial students to create start-ups, non-profits and new technologies.

Apropos Of Something seeks out guests who are passionate about the arts, politics and society at-large. Co-hosts Ellen Daniels in Charlottesville and Nancy Laurence in New York City chat with experts, activists, and the most interesting people they can find. We guarantee every show will be Apropos Of Something.

Join Ellen and Nancy on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, every Saturday from 10-11 a.m.




Apropos Of Something: Observing Social Climate Change & Native American Is American

Apropos Of Something hosts Ellen Daniels and Nancy Laurence talk with Karen E. Bender, Visiting Distinguished Prof. of Creative Writing, Hollins Univ., fiction editor, Scoundrel Time, award-winning author, on her politically timely book of short stories, The New Order; and Susan Devan Harness, oral historian, speaker, noted author, on her new memoir Bitterroot, the emotional and complicated journey to unearth her American Indian past.

Apropos Of Something seeks out guests who are passionate about the arts, politics and society at-large. Co-hosts Ellen Daniels in Charlottesville and Nancy Laurence in New York City chat with experts, activists, and the most interesting people they can find. We guarantee every show will be Apropos Of Something.

Join Ellen and Nancy on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, every Saturday from 10-11 a.m.




Apropos Of Something: Social Media, Social Justice & Framing A Photographer’s Life

Apropos Of Something hosts Ellen Daniels and Nancy Laurence talk with Meredith D. Clark PhD, journalist, author, Asst. Professor, UVA Department of Media Studies, on the wide-ranging impact of black twitter and the digital archiving of social justice; and Preston Lauterbach, music journalist, award-winning historical author, VA Humanities Fellow, on his new book Bluff City, which chronicles the secret life of photographer Ernest Withers.

Apropos Of Something seeks out guests who are passionate about the arts, politics and society at-large. Co-hosts Ellen Daniels in Charlottesville and Nancy Laurence in New York City chat with experts, activists, and the most interesting people they can find. We guarantee every show will be Apropos Of Something.

Join Ellen and Nancy on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, every Saturday from 10-11 a.m.