Charlottesville Community Engagement

10-5 stands for relay, so that’s just what I’ll do to begin this October 5 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. According to one source for dubious holidays, today is National Be Nice Day and perhaps you might do something to also commemorate World Teachers’ Day . This also may be an occasion to educate yourself about your mental health on National Depression Screening Day . No matter...

Here’s a message for you to receive on this October 4. In the late 1930’s,  the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International created a system of Aural Brevity Code s to standardize radio communications between officers in the field. The usage of the word “ten” first gave enough time for early radio microphones to transmit a clear signal of the more important second number. T...

Brace yourselves for October is the month that there may be more references to particular Citizen Band radio codes, a tee-hee that only works under the America system of naming dates. Today is 10-3, which means “stop transmitting.” Unfortunately, we’re only at the beginning of this edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement so you’ll have to wait about fifteen minutes.  On today’s program: *...

The final Friday of September is upon us and there are 344 days until there is another one. Perhaps the best thing to do is to think about today while also thinking about all of the times that are still waiting in the future. It’s the mission of each edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement to provide a little context of where this community has been, where it is, and where it might go in t...

The word today is “preantepenultimate” to describe the ordinal nature of this day out of the 30 days that go by the name September. Twenty-seven is also a cube of three, but that fact is not as relevant we are now on the eve of the eve of the eve of October. I’m Sean Tubbs, warning readers and listeners alike there will be more math in this installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement.  On...

Welcome to Johnny Appleseed Day . Or if that doesn’t take root in your mind, celebrate National Compliance Officer Day and think whether Mr. Appleseed’s work would be acceptable with 21st century agricultural practices. If you fail to have interest, ponder whether apples could be used in a commemoration of National Dumpling Day . If that’s all nonsense to you, perhaps this edition of Charlottesvil...

September 20 is the 263rd day of this year, a period of sun-loop that many refer to as 2023. That means the year is now 72 percent full, which is as good enough as a segue as any to tell you this is also National School Backpack Awareness Day . Readers and listeners are asked to make sure that anyone in your lives who use such a conveyance device to do so safely. I’m Sean Tubbs, because of course...

Welcome to a rare Saturday edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement . This installment is necessary to get recent information to people in as timely a manner as a one-person operation can manage. There has been a lot of relevant subject matter related to land use, transportation, and economic development and it is the mission of Charlottesville Community Engagement to turn as much of it as...

Today could be construed as the Ides of September, but that construction could turn out to be faulty. A little research might help with this foundational first line of this edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, but that work is usually reserved for the body and not this header which likely did not make a goal. I’m Sean Tubbs, and it turns out September 13 was the Ides of September.  On...

Somehow we are already halfway through September, prompting me to wonder if time has sped up somehow. However, there is no way to really study such perceptions in a scientific way, and scientific research into temporal practice is not the major focus of Charlottesville Community Engagement. I’m Sean Tubbs, glad to be at September 14, 2023  no matter how or when I got here.  On today’s program:  *...

Today is Day 250 of Year 2023, with another 115 to go until we all take a leap into the next year. The relevance of these numbers will depend on the reader or listener’s perception of time. Every edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement captures a point in time, though not always in a strictly linear fashion. I’m Sean Tubbs, a person seeking to produce as many of these snapshots as possible...

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 Cha...

What is “community engagement?”  In the case of this regularly produced newsletter and podcast, the idea is for a third-party not connected to the government to provide as much information as possible about what’s happening. This publication carries that title in the same way that 19th century newspapers named themselves after the act of journalism. Think of the Inquirer! The Chronicle! The Times-...

As of August 30, 2023 is now two thirds of the way until the end. Perhaps one way of thinking about that is that we have now heard both sides of a long-playing record designed to play at 33 revolutions per minute. It is at this point where the metaphor perhaps falls apart, but I’m still curious to know: What are you going to listen to in the next 166,656 minutes or so? This is Charlottesville Comm...

Welcome to the third fifth Tuesday of 2023. There’s one more which you may also know as Halloween.  That means you only have nine weeks left to learn the mash… the Monster Mash. Between now and then, how much information can be written about the area in and around Charlottesville? This is a rhetorical wager only. On today’s show: * The Albemarle County Police Department is investigating a homicide...

What kind of a day is August 23, 2023? Well, it is one in which another edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement has been published, hopefully informing you of something you didn’t know before. I’m Sean Tubbs, glad to sift through as much as I can to bring you as much as I can as often because it is there.  On today’s program: * As the public hearing for Charlottesville’s new zoning code lo...

In an era where every day seems to have a celebration of something obscure or suspect such as National Tooth Fairy Day or Be An Angel Day , every single installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement seeks to draw your attention to some of the complexity of the world and to point you in the direction of resources to make sense of something you don’t know. I’m Sean Tubbs, hoping to spark curio...

One of the unacknowledged co-workers here at Town Crier Productions is Karen and that changes right now as a result of August 17 being National Black Cat Appreciation Day . That’s the only sentence about that in this edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement , because this newsletter and podcast feels strange about stooping to cat pictures to boost audience numbers. I’m Sean Tubbs, and I did...

This is the 566th edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that attempts to keep an eye on a great many things with the hope of explaining how things get built. I’m Sean Tubbs, a journalist who has covered the topics of land use, growth, and development in the Charlottesville area for many years. Often this newsletter covers three to six different stories but today...

With August 14 having arrived, 2023 is now over 61.9 percent of the way through to 2024. But you are just at the beginning of another edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement, a newsletter and podcast that seeks to capture as much as possible about what happens in a given year. I’m Sean Tubbs, constantly trying to increase the amount actually covered.  In today’s edition:  * Charlottesville...

There are two questionable holidays worth noting before the actual information content begins in this edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. The first invites you to take a look at where you are right now as it is Update Your Bio Day . I would update mine , but it’s also National Lazy Day so maybe I’ll wait until next year. I’m Sean Tubbs and… who are you? Update away and away with the u...

The chroniclers of fake holidays have decided that August 8 is Happiness Happens Day and I’d like to know if there’s a way to measure this elusive quantity or if it even actually exists. The Declaration of Independence aspires to allow everyone to pursue this emotion, but there are no guarantees. For some, happiness is simply being heard. Charlottesville Community Engagement is an inanimate constr...

Three-quarters of dates that fall upon August 4 are the 216th day of their year. Next year everything will be slightly changed, so let’s all experience this normality while we can. We’re now 59 percent of the way through 2023 a year that perhaps has proven there is no such thing as a normal year for Charlottesville Community Engagement . I’m still Sean Tubbs either way. On today’s installment: * T...

Why do we call this month August? As someone born in this month, I have to confess I have no idea. Why do we name months? Will there ever be any changes? Why do we celebrate birthdays? Why can’t I just simply look up the definition? None of the answers to these questions can be found this edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement , but perhaps you’ll learn something anyway.  On today’s progr...

The final day of July. The ultimate day of July? Either way this is the fourth 31st of the year and the end of the seventh month. There is no way of knowing for sure either mathematically or scientifically if time is moving faster, so such philosophical ponderings are not really part of any edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. I’m Sean Tubbs, freezing time as best I can when I can.  In...