Gov. Glenn Youngkin says he will appeal a recent lower court’s ruling to the Supreme Court. File photo.
Roll it back
On October 27, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling ordering the Youngkin administration to add more than 1,500 Virginians back onto voter rolls. Both Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares said they will appeal the case to the Supreme Court, calling the decision an attempt at undermining election integrity.
The decision comes on the heels of a Department of Justice suit alleging an August 7 executive order by Youngkin ordering the daily removal of voters identified as noncitizens by Department of Motor Vehicles records, violates a provision of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The legislation prohibits the systematic removal of voters from rolls within 90 days of federal elections.
District Court Judge Patricia Giles of Alexandria ordered the commonwealth to reinstate the voters on October 25. The Fourth Circuit not only upheld Giles’ decision, but declined a request from Miyares to stop enforcement of the order.
While Miyares argued the order would add noncitizens back to voter rolls, the circuit court panel echoed Giles’ determination that, “‘neither the Court nor the parties … know’ that the people ‘removed from’ the voter rolls under the challenged program ‘were, in fact, noncitizens,’ and that at least some ‘eligible citizens … have had their registrations canceled and were unaware that this was even so.’”
A review of court records by the Richmond Times Dispatch shows several legal voters had their names removed from rolls based on outdated or incorrect DMV records.
Group project
Charlottesville City Schools has partnered with Virginia Career Works on an effort to improve students’ career readiness and help fulfill future workforce needs, according to an October 23 press release.
As part of the collaboration, the district and workforce group plan to create programming for specific hiring sectors to create paths to employment, drawing inspiration from and expanding on existing initiatives at the Charlottesville Area Technical Education Center.
“The feedback from our industry partners has been invaluable to make sure that our students are prepared for careers,” said Stacey Heltz, principal of CATEC and career and technical education coordinator for CCS. “The partnership with VCW will expand the reach and depth of this advisory network.”
CCS Superintendent Royal Gurley also highlighted the importance and potential widespread benefits of the collaboration. “By working closely with industry leaders, Charlottesville City Schools is securing a bright future,” he said, “not just for high school students, or the adults who take classes at CATEC, but also for the city as a whole.”
A Charlottesville City Schools and Virginia Career Works collaboration was inspired by initiatives at CATEC. Photo by Rob Garland Photography.
Walk this way
Darden Towe Park’s Free Bridge Lane will be closed to cars starting November 1 for a one-year trial period promoting walking, running, and biking. The pathway, located along the Rivanna River, serves as part of Albemarle County’s 2019 plan supplementing bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. Parking will still be available at the lot on the north end of the road.
In memoriam
Professor Emeritus Charles J. Goetz, an economist who taught at University of Virginia School of Law for more than 30 years, died October 16 at age 85. After earning his Ph.D. in economics at UVA in 1965, Goetz played a major role in expanding the influence of economics in the legal field. He is remembered by students and colleagues for both his groundbreaking work and generous spirit.
Economist and UVA law school professor Charles J. Goetz passed away on October 16. Photo via UVA Law/UVA Communications.
Bed news
Charlottesville may add two new shelters after City Manager Sam Sanders recommended a $5.25 million budget with funding for the city’s rising homeless population. Projects planned in partnership with The Salvation Army would add 100 beds to the Ridge Street campus and a new 50-bed low-barrier option at the organization’s Cherry Avenue thrift store. Sanders also proposed adding public bathrooms downtown.
Albemarle County school board candidates Chuck Pace (left) and Jim Dillenbeck (right). Supplied photos.
It’s election season, and presidential candidates aren’t the only ones vying for your vote. From the federal to the local level, here are some of the other candidates Charlottesville-area voters will see on their ballots.
Federal
In addition to selecting a U.S. senator (see pg. 10), Virginians will elect their next batch of congressional representatives.
Following redistricting in 2022, area residents will vote in either the 5th (Charlottesville, Nelson, Fluvanna, and most of Albemarle) or 7th (Greene, Orange, a portion of northern Albemarle) district races. In the 5th, John McGuire (R) and Gloria Witt (D) are running to replace incumbent Bob Good, who was knocked out of the race in the June Republican primary. With Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s decision to run in the 2025 gubernatorial election, either Derrick Anderson (R) or Eugene Vindman (D) will be elected the next representative of VA-7.
State
Across the commonwealth, voters will also weigh in on an amendment to Virginia’s property tax exemption for veterans and surviving spouses. The proposed amendment would change language in the state constitution from “killed in action” to “died in the line of duty.” Changing the wording would extend the current tax exemption to all surviving spouses of soldiers who died in the line of duty, including those killed in action who are already eligible.
Local
Albemarle County
In Albemarle County’s Rio Magisterial District, ballots will be cast in a special election for either Jim Dillenbeck or Chuck Pace to serve the remaining year of now-Del. Katrina Callsen’s term on the board. Pace was appointed to the position by the school board last year, and is seeking formal election to the body.
Scottsville
Albemarle and Fluvanna residents in the Town of Scottsville will cast their ballots in mayoral and Town Council elections. Current Scottsville Mayor Ronald Smith is seeking reelection, with Vice Mayor Edward Payne also tossing his hat in the ring. This year’s election is abnormal as there are three seats open on the Scottsville Town Council, but only one candidate on the ballot—current council member Alex Bessette.
Outside of Scottsville, Fluvanna County has no local races on the ballot this year.
Nelson
In Nelson County, Neely Hull is the sole candidate in the special election for treasurer.
Greene
A special election for treasurer is also on the ballot in Greene County, with Dawn Marshall the lone candidate.
In the Stanardsville District, voters will elect a Board of Supervisors member, with Stephen Catalano the only non-write-in candidate. In Stanardsville proper, there is a special election for a Town Council term expiring at the end of 2026.
Orange
In Gordonsville, residents are voting in several local races, with the mayorship and two seats on Town Council up for grabs. Town Councilor Ron Brooks III is the only candidate for mayor, with current Vice Mayor Emily Winkey, planning commission member Stevean Irving II, and Mary “Cyd” Black running for council.
The Town of Orange also has two Town Council seats on the ballot. Four newcomers are running for the positions: James Cluff, JL “Jeff” Crane, Delmer Seal Jr., and Rita Carroll.
For more information on local elections or to view sample ballots, visit elections.virginia.gov or your respective city or county website.
The area highlighted in purple is where the additional 300 units would be built in Albemarle County’s Brookhill development. Photo via Riverbend Development.
When Albemarle supervisors approved a rezoning of 277 acres north of Polo Grounds Road in November 2016, Riverbend Development got the green light to build up to 1,550 residential units and develop 130,000 square feet of commercial space.
Eight years later, Riverbend has asked Albemarle for permission to build 300 more homes as part of a plan that will likely result in significantly less non-residential space.
“This request is made in recognition of the ongoing housing crisis in our region and the need to construct more units at a variety of price points and especially more units that are affordable to households in the area,” reads a narrative filed earlier this month.
This application follows another one made last year by Great Eastern Management Company to allow for an increase in the number of units there from 893 to 1,548. Public hearings for that change have not yet been scheduled. The developers of the Albemarle Business Campus on Fifth Street Extended are also seeking to trade out commercial space for more residential.
All are responses to a housing policy Albemarle supervisors approved in July 2021 that calls for ways to “increase the supply of housing to meet the diverse housing needs of current and future Albemarle County residents.”
The amendment to Brookhill’s previous rezoning requires a new traffic study, which describes the changes to the commercial space. According to that document, the new plan halves the proposed amount of retail to 50,000 square feet and office space is no longer proposed.
So far, Riverbend has completed 595 of the 1,550 units allowed according to Abbey Stumpf, the county’s director of communications and public engagement.
The new units will be built in what had been billed as a town center during the rezoning. At one point there was a proposal to build an ice rink but that project never materialized, despite an active fundraising effort.
The binding “code of development” for the project requires a minimum of 50,000 square feet of non-residential to be constructed in the town center. The new study indicates a 20,000 square feet brewery tap room is planned.
The study indicates the mix of residential units will be changing as well. The original rezoning anticipated 550 single family homes but the new study only anticipates 120. There would be 700 townhomes instead of 200 and 960 apartments instead of 600. The new study reflects that a congregate care facility has already been built.
At some point, Riverbend will be required to hold a community meeting for the public to learn about the plan before it goes to the Planning Commission. That has not yet been scheduled.
The amendments also come at a time when work has resumed on a Comprehensive Plan that is being updated to guide the county to accommodate projections from the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service that Albemarle will have over 155,000 people living there by 2050.
Many residents of the Village of Rivanna growth area have protested the idea that residential density be more than one acre per unit, prompting some members of the Board of Supervisors to explore swapping out the land with other places in the county.
Candidates Tim Kaine (left) and Hung Cao (right). Supplied photos.
Virginia is one of 33 states with a U.S. Senate seat up for grabs this November. Two-term incumbent Tim Kaine (D) faces a challenge from former navy Captain Hung Cao (R). In the lead-up to Election Day, C-VILLE reached out to both candidates via email.
C-VILLE: What are your top priorities if elected to the Senate?
Tim Kaine: The economy, affordable housing, and health care are issues I hear about all across Virginia.
I’ve proudly helped pass legislation to create good-paying manufacturing jobs, supercharge the green energy sector, and rebuild our infrastructure, but we must do more. Our American Rescue Plan ushered the strongest jobs recovery on record and expanded the child tax credit. … I’m working to bring that tax cut back and make it permanent. To grow our economy, we must also pass a comprehensive immigration reform package to both secure our border and enable companies to hire more skilled workers.
In 2017, I cast a deciding vote to preserve the Affordable Care Act, protecting the health care coverage of 1.3 million Virginians with pre-existing conditions. In 2022, I helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act to slash prescription drug costs. In the aftermath of the Dobbs decision, I have introduced the only bipartisan bill in Congress that would guarantee all women the freedom to make their own reproductive choices.
I have spent my entire career, including 17 years as a fair housing attorney, fighting for fair housing and working to lower housing costs in Virginia. My LIFT [Low-Income First-Time Homebuyers] Act would help first-time, first-generation homebuyers accelerate wealth-building through homeownership. We need to get this passed and signed into law.
Hung Cao: Securing our open border. In fact, everything that’s going wrong in our country right now stems from our wide-open southern border, and Virginians across the commonwealth know it. … Our wide-open southern border is a huge national security threat.
How does your platform align with and support the best interests of Virginians?
TK: My campaign motto is “Standing Up for Virginia” because my entire campaign is entirely about Virginia. … If I continue to have the great honor of serving my commonwealth, I’ll keep building on my work and keep listening to Virginians and what’s on their minds.
I want to continue lowering costs for Virginia families by cutting the cost of child care and slashing taxes for working families.
Communities across the country, but especially northern Virginia, are facing rising housing costs. I introduced the Fair Housing Improvement Act, which would protect veterans and low-income families from housing discrimination, the Low-Income First-Time Homebuyers Act, and am one of the lead sponsors of the bipartisan Housing Supply and Affordability Act. I support an expansion of the low-income housing tax credit, responsible for increasing the supply of affordable rental housing.
HC: We have to make the cost of living, goods, gas, and groceries more affordable. Under Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Tim Kaine’s radical agenda, Americans and Virginians are hurting from the increased cost of goods and prices, making the American dream no longer what it was when my family and I immigrated to this country. But we have to start with securing the border. That’s step one. … We need to put the American people and Virginians first and that begins with closing our border.
How do your policy positions differ from your opponent? How, if at all, do they overlap or intersect?
TK: Unlike my opponent, I trust Virginia women to make their own health care decisions. After the Supreme Court’s disastrous Dobbs decision, I got to work and introduced the only bipartisan bill in Congress that would codify the core holdings of Roe v. Wade and related Supreme Court cases to protect access to abortion and birth control.
I proudly helped pass legislation that is expanding high-speed internet, rebuilding roads and bridges, rail and public transit, ports and airports all over Virginia. I also worked to pass legislation that is bringing manufacturing back to America and easing supply chain issues. My opponent opposed all of these investments and the good-paying jobs they are bringing, and would vote against the reauthorization of our bipartisan infrastructure law in 2026.
… I believe health care is a right, which is why I’ve introduced a Medicare-X plan that which would give all Virginians access to a plan similar to Medicare. Furthermore, I will always fight to defend Social Security and Medicare and ensure that these programs are sustainable for generations to come.
HC: I am running for U.S. Senate to save the country that saved my life. I spent 25 years in Navy Special Operations with combat in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia, while Tim Kaine spent 30 years in elected office. … In the U.S. Senate, I will always put Virginia first and protect the commonwealth.
If elected to the Senate, will you certify election results regardless of party outcome if the election is deemed free and fair?
TK: Of course!
HC: Yes.
What, if any, concerns do you have with your opponent, his campaign, or his platform?
TK: My opponent has insulted and talked down to the Virginians that he hopes to represent in the U.S. Senate. … He has also continued to insult Virginians by failing to show up for them, when he skipped 12 of 13 candidate forums in his Republican primary election. My favorite part of my job is traveling and meeting Virginians in every corner of the commonwealth. If someone won’t show up for you, they won’t stand up for you.
HC: After 25 years serving our country in the Navy, I’ve been all over the world. I’ve seen communism first-hand and know what it’s like to lose your country. We’re losing ours today and trust me, there’s nowhere else to go. I’ve spent my life trying to repay my debt to America, and I’m not done fighting for us. Tim Kaine is a weak man in a dangerous world and along with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, he is destroying Virginia’s way of life.
Photo via Matt Riley / UVA Athletics Communications.
Off court
Tony Bennett retired as head coach of the University of Virginia men’s basketball team after leading the program for 15 years.
UVA announced Bennett’s immediate retirement on October 17, shocking the Cavaliers faithful since it came just 20 days before the team starts its regular season and four months after the coach signed a contract extension that would have kept him at the university through 2030. For Bennett, the decision was made after months of deliberation and a growing discomfort with the changing world of college basketball.
“It’s not fair to these guys, and this institution that I love so much, to continue on when you’re not the right guy for the job,” a choked-up Bennett said during an October 18 press conference. “I’m a square peg in a round hole. That’s what it is.”
In his time at UVA, Bennett, the winningest coach in program history, led the Hoos to a 364-136 record, with two ACC Tournament titles, six ACC regular season championships, 10 NCAA tournament appearances, and a 2019 NCAA championship. The three-time national coach of the year was also named ACC coach of the year four times. Ten Virginia players were selected in the NBA Draft during Bennett’s tenure at the university.
Associate head coach Ron Sanchez was named interim head coach for the 2024-25 season. Sanchez, who led the University of North Carolina Charlotte men’s basketball team from 2018 to 2023, is no stranger to the program, having been on Bennett’s staff for 12 years, including three years at Washington State and nine years at UVA.
“I’m at peace,” Bennett said during the press conference. “When you know in your heart it’s time, it’s time.”
Just the ticket
File photo.
After a 45-day warning period, Albemarle County began issuing citations on October 21 for motorists caught speeding in the Hydraulic Road school zone.
Drivers going 10 or more miles per hour over the speed limit are subject to a $100 fine, though the citations are not reported to the Department of Motor Vehicles. With the enforcement of citations, Albemarle County Police hope to see a decline in speeding by the Lambs Lane campus that includes Albemarle High, Journey Middle, and Greer Elementary.
Between September 3 and October 11, ACPD reviewed and issued 4,902 warnings, according to a release from the county.
“With the transition to full enforcement, we aim to see improvements in driver behavior, ensuring a safer environment for students, families, and staff as they travel to and from school,” the county said. “For school children and other vulnerable road users, drivers must stay alert and obey the posted speed limit. Driving too fast for certain conditions is one of the most prevalent factors contributing to traffic crashes.”
For more information on the speed cameras and citations, visit the Albemarle County website.
Not too much
Hometown rock group Dave Matthews Band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in a Cleveland, Ohio, ceremony on Saturday, October 19. Other inductees included Cher, Ozzy Osbourne, Peter Frampton, and Mary J. Blige. Matthews followed up the event with a social media post recognizing the band’s beginnings in Charlottesville and thanking longtime manager Coran Capshaw.
Photo by Tristan Williams.
Almost there
The final phase of Biscuit Run Park—a 1,190-acre state park off Scottsville Road—has begun. Heralded as Albemarle County’s largest park, Biscuit Run’s first phase has included the installation of the park’s eastern entrance off Route 20, a trailhead with 75 parking spots, and public restrooms. Construction crews are currently focused on the Route 20 entrance. Expect delays on Route 20 for the rest of the month.
Shooting death
Following what Charlottesville police have described as a “gang-related” shooting the night of October 19, one person is dead and another injured. Police were called to Rio Hill Apartments in the 1600 block of Rio Hill Drive around 8pm, where they found the deceased, 23-year-old Charlottesville resident Zerrion Eubanks-Warfield. “The incident involved multiple gunshots, with several vehicles and apartments struck,” police said in an October 20 statement.
Democratic candidate Gloria Witt grew up in Amherst County, which is located in Virginia’s 5th District. Supplied photo.
Voters in Virginia’s 5th District will choose a new congressional representative come November 5, with Democrat Gloria Witt and Republican John McGuire vying for the seat. Ahead of Election Day, C-VILLE reached out to both candidates to learn more about their local and national priorities.
C-VILLE: What are your top priorities if elected to Congress?
Gloria Witt: My top priorities are rooted in making sure that the people of the 5th District have opportunities to thrive. This includes ensuring access to quality health care, protecting Social Security and Medicare, addressing the affordable housing crisis, and expanding economic opportunities through job creation and workforce development. I also prioritize preserving democracy by protecting voting rights and accepting the outcomes of our elections.
On the national level, I am focused on safeguarding democracy, addressing income inequality, and expanding access to health care and affordable child care. I want to restore reproductive rights, strengthen mental health care, and ensure our veterans get the support they deserve.
Locally, I want to focus on revitalizing our small towns and rural communities by addressing the housing shortage, supporting farmers, and increasing infrastructure investments, especially in broadband access. Public education is a top priority. I will push for vastly expanded career and technical education programs.
How does your platform align with and support the best interests of constituents in the 5th District?
GW: My platform is based on the everyday needs of families, workers, and small-business owners in the 5th District. We need practical solutions for affordable health care, better-paying jobs, and ensuring our children receive the education and skills they need. We are failing our youth; they have to leave or they are stuck making a starvation wage. My goal is to lead the charge to make sure that our career and technical programs are producing enough workers for existing business and attracting new businesses with a skilled workforce.
How do your policy positions differ from your opponent?
GW: My opponent and I have very different visions for the future of this district. I believe in expanding access to health care, investing in public education, and making sure working families have the support they need. In contrast, my opponent supports policies that roll back social programs like Medicare and Social Security. I also support a woman’s right to choose, while my opponent wants to restrict reproductive rights. Fundamentally, I believe in building a fairer, more free, inclusive future, while my opponent is focused on policies that benefit the wealthy and big corporations and restrict individual freedoms. I also accept that Trump lost the 2020 election.
How, if at all, do they overlap or intersect?
GW: We may overlap in wanting to create more jobs and spur economic growth, but we differ in how to achieve that.
Party control of the House of Representatives is anticipated to be decided by a narrow margin this year. How would Democratic control of the House benefit 5th District constituents?
GW: Democratic control of the House will ensure we continue to make progress on critical issues like health care affordability, protecting Social Security, and addressing income inequality. It also means ensuring that democracy and voting rights are protected from those who want to undermine them. A Democratic House will work toward policies that lift up all Americans, not just the wealthy few.
If elected to Congress, will you certify election results regardless of party outcome if the election is deemed free and fair?
GW: Absolutely. Our democracy is built on the foundation of free and fair elections. It’s critical that all elected officials respect the will of the voters. … Refusing to do so threatens the very fabric of our democracy.
What, if any, concerns do you have with your opponent, his campaign, or his platform?
GW: My main concern with my opponent is his alignment with far-right extremists who undermine our democratic values. He has shown a willingness to support dangerous conspiracy theories, and that worries me greatly. He has also supported policies that strip people of their health care and phases out Social Security. … His opposition to common-sense gun reform and his stance on reproductive rights are extreme.
Why should Virginians choose you to represent the 5th District?
GW: Virginians should choose me because I’m focused on real solutions that put people first. I grew up on a small farm carrying water and canning food, I know this district, and I’ve lived the challenges many of us face. I’m committed to creating a future where every family has access to health care, where seniors don’t have to worry about their Social Security, and where our children receive the education and skills they need to succeed. I’ll fight for everyone, not just the wealthy or well-connected, and I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work.
As of press time, John McGuire had not responded to any of C-VILLE’s requests for comment. This interview has been edited for length.
About 180,000 honey bees live at Black Bear Solar, which is part of Dominion Energy’s venture into agrivoltaics (using land for both agriculture and solar energy production). Supplied photo.
As part of its effort to go green, Dominion Energy is exploring the potential for honey-bee hives on solar farms through a pilot program at Black Bear Solar in Buckingham County.
In operation since 2023, Black Bear Solar covers roughly 13 acres, producing enough energy to power nearly 400 homes. The site is a small part of Dominion Energy’s expansion of solar farms, prompted by the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act. In line with the legislation, the power company will move to completely renewable energy sources by 2045.
“About a decade ago, we didn’t have a single Dominion-owned solar farm in operation,” says Tim Eberly, senior communications specialist. “Now, we have more than 60 solar farms around the state and they generate enough power to power more than 650,000 homes.”
For farmers, the rapid expansion of solar farms in Virginia presents potential challenges due to competition for ideal land.
Dominion started its venture into agrivoltaics—the joint use of land for agriculture and solar farms—with sheep, which are still used to help maintain grass at some solar sites in the commonwealth. By bringing in honey bees, the power company hopes to bolster the local pollinator population, and, as a result, agriculture.
Not every solar farm is a good fit for honey bees, though. Before moving forward with the pilot program, beekeeper Chuck Burden examined the area of Black Bear Solar to make sure the site could support new hives.
“These honey bees have a three-mile foraging radius, so they’re seeking out pollinator plants and crops … looking for nectar and pollen from flowers and crops they can then bring back to their beehives,” says Eberly of Burden’s work to check nearby farms for pesticides and any other harmful chemicals.
“We didn’t want to bring in these beehives and have them competing with any existing bees in that area, or existing pollinators.”
Approximately 180,000 honey bees now live on the solar farm. If all goes well, Dominion anticipates adding more hives to Black Bear Solar this spring, potentially expanding the program and other new agrivoltaics initiatives to additional sites as appropriate.
“It’s very much in the research phase right now, but … we’re looking at the prospect of pairing actual farming with solar,” says Eberly. Details of the potential program are limited as it is still early in development, but may include “a very small pilot project where we might have a row of crops or vegetables … on a solar site.”
Closer to Charlottesville, Dominion is working to establish a new solar farm at the former site of the Ivy Solid Waste & Recycling Center. No feasibility studies for any agrivoltaics programs at the site have been conducted yet, but there are plans to evaluate the location for appropriate initiatives.
Many residents of the Village of Rivanna growth area have protested the idea that residential density be more than one acre per unit, prompting some members of the Board of Supervisors to explore swapping out the land with other places in the county. Supplied photo.
A delay in the completion of a new comprehensive plan for Albemarle County means adoption won’t happen until at least summer 2025, a time when half of the Board of Supervisors may be up for re-election.
Among other things, the update, known as AC44, will reaffirm rules about what can be built in Albemarle and where.
“Currently, the development areas are approximately 37 square miles, or 5 percent of county land, and the rural area is 95 percent of county land,” says Tonya Swartzendruber, a planning manager in Albemarle.
Virginia code requires localities to update their comp plans every five years and Albemarle’s document was adopted in the summer of 2015. The county began what was to have been a two-year review in late 2021, but staff put the project on hold earlier this year to make the document easier to read.
The Board of Supervisors has decided the current boundaries will remain in place for now, but staff inquired earlier this month as to whether the update should direct them to review conditions every two years to see if there’s enough land to support additional people expected to move here over the next 20 years.
Supervisor Mike Pruitt of the Scottsville District, the youngest and newest member of the board, said he supports monitoring land use trends but is open to expanding the growth area. He was elected last year with no opposition.
“At some point, if our growth patterns do not change, I think the whole board recognizes that the development area will have to change,” Pruitt said at the October 16 BOS meeting. He suggested the county identify a new place where dense development could occur rather than “nibbling at the edges.”
Supervisor Ned Gallaway’s Rio District seat is one of the three up for election next year. He pointed out that the county’s growth area around Glenmore in eastern Albemarle is developing at about one unit per acre because of opposition from people who live in the area.
“If we’re not getting the density out of a Village of Rivanna, can we get that density back somewhere else that’s reasonable without necessarily changing the 5 percent?” Gallaway asked.
First elected in 2017, Gallaway has never faced an opponent on the ballot.
Diantha McKeel’s third term as supervisor for the Jack Jouett District expires at the end of 2025. She supports Gallaway’s idea.
“If we can look at somehow … trading land without expanding but looking at where there are possibilities to do some trade where it’s actually going to happen,” McKeel said.
The final seat up for election is that of Jim Andrews, who was unopposed in his 2021 race for the Samuel Miller District. He cautioned anyone against thinking expansion is inevitable.
“It may be that a shift of development areas may be the more appropriate way in which we handle this initially,” Andrews said.
Supervisors Ann Mallek and Bea LaPisto-Kirtley were both re-elected in 2023 and both faced opposition. LaPisto-Kirtley said she doesn’t think the boundaries need to be adjusted for decades.
“I think we need to make use of what we have,” she told her colleagues.
Mallek said she was willing to have as many meetings as possible to complete the Comprehensive Plan.
“We’re going to have to keep stirring the pot until we get it just right,” Mallek said.
The county’s growth advisory committees will get the new information on AC44 at a joint meeting on October 30 in Lane Auditorium.
Working with both parents and students, Price Thomas aims to end generational poverty. Photo by Eze Amos.
As the executive director of City of Promise, Price Thomas is working to improve education access in Charlottesville. But for the born-and-raised local, this job is more than a profession—it’s personal.
“This is Charlottesville, a part of my story,” he says, “and I want the next chapter to be marked by something better than the one previous.”
Located in the heart of the 10th and Page neighborhood, City of Promise has been working toward interrupting local cycles of generational poverty through education for more than a decade.
“A lot of what we’re experiencing are reverberations of issues that are going on around the state, around the country,” Thomas says. “But those aren’t sidewalks I’ve walked, those aren’t people I know, those aren’t schools that I went to.”
“There is a piece of this that is objectively personal for me … I can’t do this and go home, because this is home for me.”
The son of two local educators, Thomas attended Charlottesville City and Albemarle County schools. After graduating from William & Mary, where he was a four-year starter on the soccer team, Thomas played professional soccer in Europe before returning stateside to work as a copy editor. Over the last several years, he’s set down roots in Charlottesville, where he is raising two children with his wife, Caitlin.
Thomas’ work with City of Promise is only his latest position in nonprofits. Prior to joining COP in May 2023, he worked with The Montpelier Foundation and United Way of Greater Charlottesville.
City of Promise takes a “whole family” approach to education, and believes that one of the first steps to improve education access (and disrupt generational poverty) is to meet families’ needs by providing resources or connecting people with the appropriate nonprofit. Supplied photo.
“Charlottesville is a small town, and the nonprofit world of Charlottesville is even smaller,” he says. Through his work with The Montpelier Foundation and United Way, he met and learned from other nonprofit leaders, including previous directors of City of Promise. In his 18 months on the job at COP, he’s been figuring out what unique “flavor” he brings to the organization.
City of Promise “started way before me, will live on and succeed far past me,” he says. “But in this moment of time, what is my flavor? … I want us to be both taken very seriously and also very approachable.” Transparency and authenticity between City of Promise and the community are all priorities for the executive director, but not at the expense of agency. “We’ll walk alongside [community members], but we’ll also hold them accountable.”
In the beginning
Inspired by a work group of the Charlottesville Dialogue on Race in 2010, City of Promise developed through a Department of Education Promise Neighborhood planning grant of $470,000 that was awarded to Children Youth and Family Services in 2011. The national, place-based initiative bolsters communities experiencing barriers to education success, including economic hardship and disparity, through funding and recommending strategies and solutions.
City of Promise did not receive implementation funding through the DOE Promise Neighborhood program, but the initial grant was enough to get the nonprofit off the ground. Over the last decade, COP’s focus on improving education access and outcomes has remained at the core of its mission—especially in the area of literacy.
Despite district reading scores hovering near the state average, Charlottesville City Schools have one of the highest literacy gaps in Virginia. As a district, 65 percent of its students achieved proficiency in reading for the 2023-2024 school year, compared to a state average of 73 percent. The data breakdown shows a more striking achievement gap: During the 2023-2024 school year, 40 percent of Black CCS students passed English reading testing, compared to 89 percent of their white peers.
Supplied photo.
Coming into City of Promise, Thomas took the opportunity to refocus the nonprofit’s offerings, taking a “whole family” approach to education access.
“It’s a mindset of helping our community members—parents and students—to feel both supported and challenged to that level of excellence,” says Thomas. “I don’t care where you came from, or how much money you have, or the car you drive, or the clothes you wear, the color of your skin—your job’s to be great. My job’s to help you be great. But ultimately, you’re going to leave the school reading the same books as that kid from Rugby Road, full stop. Period. The way you get there might be a little different, and that’s okay.”
City of Promise cornerstone programs include the Pathway Coaching, Dreambuilders, and LaunchPad Initiative, a pilot program in partnership with CCS and the University of Virginia education school that deploys the Virginia Community School Framework. The LaunchPad Initiative addresses non-academic barriers to support under-resourced students and families, thus improving outcomes. While currently only at Trailblazer (formerly Venable) Elementary, COP hopes to expand the initiative to the remaining CCS elementary schools.
The LaunchPad Initiative is the earliest direct (that is, not accessed through a parent already receiving coaching) program offered by City of Promise.
“It’s about quality at every developmental level. … Starting earlier is critically important,” Thomas says. “Often our theory of intervention is a little too late. We’re starting a little too late, and we’re working uphill. As we start to shape ourselves as an organization, as we start to partner with other nonprofits and for profits, there’s always that little bell that goes off that’s like, we’ve got to do this quicker.”
Similar to the LaunchPad Initiative, COP also offers support through Pathway Coaching. Both offerings aim to bolster students’ academic and socioemotional growth. Coaches employed by the nonprofit mentor students between fifth and 12th grade, helping with access to academic and extracurricular opportunities.
Dreambuilders, City of Promise’s only program that requires an application, fosters family and student success by providing parents and their children with tools for self-sufficiency, including tailored instruction and microfinancing of $5,000. The program utilizes evidence-based resources like the National Center for Families Learning frameworks, but takes an individualized approach tailored to participant needs.
“Everything should feel like it fits together; these are not intended to be three distinct programs. They are really intended to be kind of three self-reinforcing pieces of the same whole,” says Thomas. “If our adults are more efficacious and more confident, that’s great for our kids, who are receiving a whole host of high-quality services.”
Beyond programming, students and families involved in the LaunchPad Initiative, Pathway Coaching, or Dreambuilders can access resources through City of Promise’s Gateway Services. While the application-based financial support service is a critical component of COP’s network, the nonprofit is also helping community members by acting as a convener of resources.
Getting resourceful
Meeting participants’ basic needs, whether through directly providing resources or connecting people with the appropriate nonprofit, is a key first step in improving education access and disrupting generational poverty.
Navigating Charlottesville’s expansive network of nonprofits can be confusing, but Thomas says City of Promise is uniquely positioned, literally and strategically, to help community members locate and access the right resources. The nonprofit’s location in the 10th and Page neighborhood allows not only more convenient access for many of the students and families it serves, but for the organization to more effectively build relationships and trust within the community.
“City of Promise remains an intimate, proximal organization that is able to be nimble and is able to have more of a finger on the pulse,” says Thomas. “That is what’s most important to us.”
Addressing barriers beyond the classroom is a key part of COP’s work to improve education access. While the nonprofit can’t fully resource every program participant alone, it can help connect people with other local organizations—including ReadyKids for teen mental health, Network2Work for jobs and job training, and Cav Futures Foundation for mentoring.
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By more intentionally utilizing the large nonprofit community in the Charlottesville area, City of Promise hopes to collaboratively help families access resources in a way that is both more effective and more expansive.
“For these kids, for these families, it’s not just housing, it’s not just workforce development, it’s not just child care, health care; it’s everything altogether all the time,” he says. “We have to understand that we can’t isolate these tenants in this constellation of care. … We have to figure out how to link arms with other community organizations.”
Meeting participants’ immediate needs while simultaneously building a more proactive support network is a difficult balancing act for any organization, including City of Promise.
“We’re fighting this battle between people with immediate needs that we need to react to, but also not doing that at the expense of being thoughtful about what happens tomorrow,” he says.
At the end of the day, the quantitative, simple answer for how the nonprofit can most effectively help community members is money. Whether through funding for programs or resources, everything boils down to cash flow. But to make a meaningful dent in disrupting cycles of generational poverty, Thomas says City of Promise needs community buy-in and feedback.
“It’s not cheap, and I don’t think it should be. I don’t think we should pretend the folks who live in public housing and these kids and these families should have access to anything less than the rest of us, than your kids, my kids, and all these other little knuckleheads. … That’s [why] I’m here: to kick and scream for [it],” he says. “I think it’s my job now to be the loudest person in the room, but I don’t expect that to be the case for a long time. I don’t want it to be the case for a long time.”
An agentic community and participants not only boosts individual success, but helps City of Promise learn what is and isn’t working directly from the people it hopes to help.
“I think sometimes [nonprofits] say we’re the helpers, we know what the help is. … Feedback has to be incorporated and I want [people] to feel like that’s available,” says Thomas. “The demonstration of success is not how I feel about it or whether people liked that I did it. It’s, does it work for the people for whom it is intended to work for? And at the end of the day, if we can’t say yes to that, we gotta find a way to make that happen.”
Thomas is under no illusions that City of Promise will end generational poverty in his time as executive director, but he is fighting to leave the nonprofit—and Charlottesville—better through his work.
“I want to make sure that we leave this in a way that we furthered the mission, that we’ve moved it forward, that we’ve gotten closer to whatever that huge goal is, that first pie in the sky—we’re going to end generational poverty,” he says. “We have to be very clear that it’s not going to happen today, tomorrow or next week. It’s going to happen by a mosaic of 1,000 little things every single day.”
Tania Israel (left) and Miles Coleman (right) acknowledge the expansion of political polarization. Supplied photos.
With Election Day less than a month away, political tension and stress abound both locally and nationally. Polarization is definitely a contributing factor to the anxiety, but two experts with Charlottesville ties say we may not be as divided as we think.
Now a faculty member at the University of California Santa Barbara, Tania Israel credits growing up in Charlottesville for shaping her work to bridge the political divide.
“I got into this work in Charlottesville,” she says. After organizing a discussion of pro-choice and pro-life locals in the ’90s, Israel was inspired to continue exploring ideological divides. “It didn’t change anything about how I felt about reproductive rights, but it changed so much about how I felt about people who disagreed with me.”
Rather than taking the political science approach, Israel’s examination of polarization draws on her expertise as a doctor of counseling psychology. Her last two books, Beyond Your Bubble and Facing the Fracture (published this August), have focused on understanding and approaching political polarization.
In her work, Israel has found that “we are not nearly as divided as we think we are, our views are not as far apart as we imagine them to be,” but affective polarization remains a critical issue for American democracy and interpersonal relationships.
Diversity of opinion is an important element in maintaining a healthy democracy, but increasing affective polarization—a positive association with one’s own political party and negative feelings toward the opposing party—diminishes the ability for productive dialogue and solution-making.
In a 2022 study, the PEW Research Center found “increasingly, Republicans and Democrats view not just the opposing party but also the people in that party in a negative light. Growing shares in each party now describe those in the other party as more closed-minded, dishonest, immoral and unintelligent than other Americans.” Further, the amount of respondents holding a negative opinion of both major parties has sharply risen, sitting at 27 percent at the time of the survey.
Miles Coleman, an associate editor for Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, has also noted an increase in both partisan and affective polarization.
“There used to be … more people willing to entertain either side, give their votes to either side. That is not as much a thing anymore,” he says. “Coalitions are more firm now, there are fewer moderate to conservative Democrats or liberal Republicans, so you tend to have more people being … locked into either side.”
Split-ticket, swing, and undecided voters still exist, but misunderstandings around these voters and their positionality is rampant, according to Coleman.
“You do have some voters in the middle who are still willing to vote for either side, but that segment, I feel, is increasingly a smaller and smaller segment of the electorate,” he says. Rather than a moderate portion of the constituency evenly positioned between Democratic and Republican political platforms, numerous swing voters have varying policy positions that contrastingly align with either party.
Conversely, the key undecided group to watch this election cycle is the “double haters,” says Coleman. “These are voters who have unfavorable views of both Harris and Trump. … Those voters who maybe don’t like the high prices, the inflation that we see under Biden, but might not want to go back to the days of Donald Trump.”
Coleman attributes some of the current political climate to media ecosystems. “I blame a lot of this on asocial social media,” he says. “It’s increasingly easy for one side to get kind of their own media ecosystem, their own facts. Both sides, really, to some extent, aren’t even on the same page.”
In her work to bridge this political chasm, Israel has also argued that media and tribal politics have exaggerated and exacerbated polarization.
By design, media are created to attract and maintain engagement, frequently employing tactics to amp up consumer emotions to increase and keep interest. Social media in particular relies and thrives on algorithms, which feed users curated content based on prior activity. Consumers receive and interact with content that incites either strong positive or negative feelings, resulting in ideological “bubbles” of media echoing existing beliefs and combative presentations of opposing viewpoints.
“It’s really hard for us to even think about or want to approach people who have different views, if we have skewed perceptions about who they are,” Israel says. “Study after study for decades has shown that we exaggerate the other side’s views, thinking that they are more extreme than they are, thinking that they are hostile.”
For many Americans, having a political conversation with family and friends across the aisle can be a daunting inevitability, but there are ways to have a civil and meaningful dialogue, according to Israel.
“One of the main reasons people tell me they’re interested in having a conversation with someone who is on the other side of the political divide is because they have somebody who they’re close to, a family member or a friend who they want to stay connected with or repair a relationship with, but it’s really challenging because of the different views,” she says. “Approach with the intention to create a warm and caring connection, where your goal is to understand the other person.”
Through her work, Israel has found listening and trying to understand someone’s perspective to be a key step in holding a productive conversation.
“We think that what we should do is lay out all of the facts and figures and arguments to show the other person that we are right and that they are wrong. It turns out people don’t respond very well to that,” she says. “If we’re listening with the intention to understand, rather than the intention to respond … if we can share our stories … how we came to care about an issue, or if there was somebody or something that shifted our view about it, that’s a much more effective way to share our perspective.”
