Call to action
Two years ago, Charlottesville City Council committed to cutting the city’s greenhouse gas emissions nearly in half by 2030, and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Yet to many local climate activists, the city has done very little so far to meet these goals.
To push the city government to take immediate, concrete action against climate change, teen activist Gudrun Campbell led a youth climate strike at the Free Speech Wall on the Downtown Mall last week. Joined by around two dozen students of all ages, Campbell, a freshman at Charlottesville High School, called on the city to invest in its transit system and reduce reliance on single-occupancy vehicles, specifically by increasing bus service, building more covered bus stop shelters, electrifying its bus fleet, and increasing housing density.
“The bus system is not reliable. It only comes once an hour, and it’s not green,” said Campbell. “In Charlottesville, there’s a real focus on getting individual people to take action on climate change…but we really need to have a focus on transit and making sure our solutions to the climate crisis are equitable.”
Campbell, who founded Charlottesville Youth Climate Strike in 2019, also demanded that city schools fund green infrastructure, like solar panels, and work toward carbon neutrality, especially as plans to renovate Buford Middle and Walker Upper Elementary schools move forward.
“The schools are going through really extensive renovations, but so far in those conversations we haven’t really seen anything about making the project green,” said Campbell. “It really is a big opportunity to take steps towards fighting climate change in our city.”
Carrying a variety of colorful, homemade signs, the young protesters took turns leading chants calling for clean energy and green transit, while parents and community members joined in. Campbell passed around a petition for participants to sign to show their support for the strike’s demands.
“We really want to show the City Council that we’re listening, we’re watching, and we need them to act now,” said Campbell.
School reconfiguration moves ahead
On Thursday, the Charlottesville School Board formally voted to request that the city set aside $75 million for a public school reconfiguration project that will see fifth graders stay at elementary schools and sixth graders head to Buford. The vote is a major step forward for a project that’s been in the works for a decade.
The majority of the reconfiguration’s price tag would go toward renovating Buford. Local architecture firm VMDO has been tasked with leading the project, and has released a variety of preliminary renderings of what the new Buford could look like. City Council will discuss the next steps at Monday’s meeting.
“I know what this can do for our students, and faculty, and the entire community here. It will be transformative to the landscape of the arts.”
—UVA Vice Provost for the Arts Jody Kielbasa, after the school announced a $50 million donation for a new performing arts center
In brief
Fraternity brothers indicted
Eleven VCU fraternity brothers have been indicted in connection with the death of Adam Oakes, a 19-year-old VCU student who died from alcohol poisoning after a fraternity initiation ritual in February. All 11 have been charged with misdemeanor hazing and three have been charged with counts of giving alcohol to a minor. Oakes’ death sparked a campus-wide review of Greek life at VCU, and resulted in the expulsion of Delta Chi from campus. His family members say they’d like to see the Virginia General Assembly consider legislation to make hazing a felony.
All aboard
Virginia’s train revolution is chugging down the tracks. Over the weekend, Governor Ralph Northam and a handful of other officials boarded the new early-morning Richmond-to-D.C. Amtrak, which leaves the state capitol at 5:35am and arrives in Washington at 8:22am. Work is currently underway on a $3.7 billion plan to improve the train system throughout the state, including in central Virginia, though local service expansion is still a long way off.
Confederate statues up for grabs
Charlottesville is listening to offers from anyone who wants to acquire its statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, the city announced last week. The statues are currently “disassembled” and tucked away on city property. The deadline for acquisition proposals is October 15. City Council will then vote on whether any of the offers will be accepted.