Thread by @socialistdogmom

i hope tonight’s charlottesville city council meeting ends before the snow is supposed to start around midnight 🤞

the meeting is being livestreamed here if you want to follow along at home!

facebook.com/cvilletv10/vid…

we’re underway now. no wes bellamy tonight? kathy is making an announcement about upcoming community engagement about climate action priorities. they’re accepting public comment about greenhouse gas reduction goals. climateactiontogether.org

nikuyah says wes will be late but is coming. the new clerk of council is reading the consent agenda

nikuyah notes for the record that she disagrees with the lease terms for the historical society but doesn’t pull it and pulls item C from the consent agenda for discussion at the end of the meeting. the modified consent agenda passes unanimously 4-0 (wes still isn’t here)

response to matters by the public from city mgr mike murphy: first, the benches on the downtown mall. it’s complicated! before the mall was rebricked, benches weren’t fixed to the ground. that’s not the case now.

murphy says years ago benches were pulled based on recommendations of “various committees.”
3 years ago the ugly black backless metal benches were put out in front of city hall. the plan was to put them in more places, but the BAR didn’t approve in 2016.

the city has “some amount” of the old benches in storage and it’s possible council could take action to have them put back on the mall. murphy says they may want to seek input from the BAR about what designs would be appropriate.

there is talk about piloting a new trolley route. that will start the first week of march.
there was some public question about what happened to the vinegar hill plaque. it was removed due to some construction but it will be put back (when?)

last night was the first day of the annual deer culling, which will last 2-3 weeks.
that’s it from murphy. kathy has questions about the benches. (me too)

he’s not certain about the condition of the old benches - they’ve been in storage for many years. we also have some more of the ugly metal ones, but BAR may still not approve them.

“certificate of appropriateness” sounds like a made up thing you’d say to make fun of an opaque and circuitous bureaucratic process. but it isn’t apparently.

public comment time: hey the first speaker is someone i’ve talked to on twitter! she’s real! and she’s concerned about pedestrian safety on water street near the ice rink demolition.
it sounds messy there.

she also asks them to consider permanently closing the 4th street downtown mall vehicle crossing. it isn’t safe & it’s offensive after what happened on august 12.

i did NOT know the city closes the sidewalk to pedestrian traffic on belmont bridge during concerts. she’s right - closing a public sidewalk for private profit is seriously inappropriate.

next commenter says there have been three more serious accidents at the 5th and harris intersection since she last spoke to the city about it. she is NOT satisfied with what murphy said about it at the last council meeting

https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1092614093389905925?s=21

ms joy asks council to concur with the planning commission’s decision about the critical slope at the south first street project.

the next speaker agrees that sidewalk accessibility is very important but objects to the august 12th car attack, of which she is a survivor, being used to further any agenda.

next speaker says climate change isn’t a political agenda, “it’s a personal agenda.” she is the founder of something called “better world betty” (i’ve never heard of it so i can’t tell you any more than that)

next up is a resident of public housing talking about redevelopment. she, like ms joy, thanks the planning commission for their recommendation on the critical slope waiver. (that council vote is on the march 4 council agenda)

“none of you have to live in the conditions that we do. this can’t wait,” she tells the councilors. she urges them not to cause any further delay in the south first street redevelopment.

now joan fenton, the chair of the downtown business association. she wants to respond to a few things before actually saying what she came here to say. she say the water street pedestrian access has not been handled well

joan also asks someone to get in touch with google maps - apparently a lot of people’s GPS systems are telling people to drive the wrong way down some downtown streets. (i’ve not had this problem but it sounds dangerous)

about the benches, joan says “there were people out there with knives” threatening people. ??????
i once ate lunch sitting down on the ground downtown, joan. put the benches back.

joan also says the city is “short sighted” and not receptive to what businesses need. is she blaming them for the dewberry hotel failure?!
“it’s become a very negative environment” re: talk about raising taxes.

now brandon from the public housing association of residents. he’s also here to talk about the critical slopes waiver. he asked them at the last meeting to show a little enthusiasm for the redevelopment process!

“it would’ve been very crass” to hold money over the heads of residents just because they don’t like the design, brandon tells council. he asks them to look at the plan on its merits & support resident directed redevelopment of public housing.

now a representative from the people’s coalition talking about disproportionate minority contact in our policing.

he says we need a CRB that has the power to investigate civilian complaints & review internal investigations.
he also asks the city to review the remarks made by police union attorney denise lunsford about CRB member ms katrina.

and now ms katrina! denise lunsford, atty for the southern states police benevolent assoc had accused her of a conflict of interest. the city commonwealth’s atty has cleared katrina of any wrong-doing.

dailyprogress.com/news/local/cit…

katrina asks city atty john blair what would’ve happened if platania hadn’t cleared her. he says denise was seeking to have her prosecuted (it’s a class one misdemeanor). again, the prosecutor found the allegation baseless.

“what can be done about her trying to bring me down like this?” she asks.
it is a little frightening for the police’s lawyer to be trying to intimidate members of the police civilian review board.

“we just have to work really hard” to get the CRB’s bylaws passed, says nikuyah. letting the CRB fail would be a victory for denise.

next up a man who lives in the county talking about climate change. community bikes gives out/sells at very low cost up to 40 bikes per week in the summer.

united urban agriculture of charlottesville trains people to grow organic food.
he also volunteers at an org that fixes computers & gives them away.

next two names called were no shows. there’s a few spots left so nikuyah opens it up to anyone who wants to speak. a resident of crescent halls wants to know why it’s taking so long for redevelopment funds to be approved.

“we live here. in substandard housing.” she’s pointing in the direction of the half completed dewberry hotel. she tells them to look him up - he has unfinished projects in multiple states! why can the city give him tax credits & they can’t help crescent halls?

nikuyah says the funding for crescent halls has been approved.
“why is there such a runaround for local stuff that we need but an outsider can come in and boom, it’s done!” the speaker asks again. “3 hotels have been built” since they asked for redevelopment.

nikuyah says the plans to rehab crescent halls have been looked at. brandon calls from the audience “how much money?”
mike murphy says there is $15mil in the budget proposed for the housing authority. $3mil a year for 5 years.

it will need to be approved by council on april 8 (the whole budget)
murphy says this funding is believed to be sufficient for redevelopment of crescent halls. it will be rehabbed one tower at a time (there are 3 buildings)
the resident is SKEPTICAL.

march 14 - housing authority needs to have their LIHTC application into the state
april 8 - council approves the budget
july 1 - all monies approved by council become available

next speaker says it’s her first meeting. she is also concerned about the issues at the harris and 5th street intersection. she lives in the neighborhood and had a serious accident in that intersection in november.

“there’s nothing we can do about what people choose to do when they’re driving,” but she says people get so frustrated with the backup in that area that they get aggressive and it is dangerous.

a teacher was killed in an accident in that intersection (last year, i think?).
the speaker says she is still dealing with the concussion she suffered in november. she urges council to take another look at the issues in that stretch of road.

mike murphy: restriping has been suggested, but it can’t be done this time of year. he will talk to the traffic engineer what other interventions are available & will return to council with suggestions.

mike signer says people were upset but an unfortunate statement from a staffer last meeting -
“we can’t do anything if people aren’t going to obey the laws”
he wants to convey that the city is trying & does care

kathy asks that someone double check the crash data to ensure it’s being accurately reported (some have suggested it is being under reported)
kathy also says traffic signal updates are on the CIP list of unfunded projects.

ms gloria, a member of the police civilian review board: “does the city really want us to have a board?” “it’s just one thing after another!”

she is struggling with the open meeting requirements - she wants to be able to talk things through with other board members. (the law requires that 3 or more members talking be noticed as a public meeting)

heather asks her, laughing, if she saw the city council retreat, calling it a “perfect example of a time it would’ve been nice to meet behind closed doors”

aw c’mon, we had a nice time!

https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1075085590302023680?s=21

and now reverend don gathers. he was a member of the CRB, but stepped down citing health problems. he asks the council to support the board and help ensure its success.

@CvilleCityHall i’ve heard from several people tonight that the livestream on tv10 is acting up, cutting out — any idea what the problem might be?

as he walked away from the podium, the still very new clerk of council asked his name, which was met with some gentle laughter. everyone knows don! she must be new to town, not just the job.

we started to go to break, but kathy wants to make it clear that contractors were told that ensuring safe pedestrian access was their responsibility. murphy says the situation near the ice rink needs to be investigated.

kathy says she “wholeheartedly” supports the civilian review board, citing her work with wes on the resolution authorizing it. (she hasn’t announced yet, but she’s campaigning hard)

ok NOW we’re taking a brief recess.

it just occurred to me that the older man who was sitting next to me & kept shooting me furtive disapproving glances probably thought i was just some young person staring at my phone and not paying attention to the meeting 😂

still no councilor bellamy - i just remembered it’s TUESDAY. meetings are usually mondays, but yesterday was a holiday. i believe he teaches a class on tuesday evenings and is probably on his way from... richmond, i believe?

there are some issues with the livestream but hopefully part 2 will be a little smoother!

https://twitter.com/cvillecityhall/status/1098027440566423553?s=21

the second half of the livestream is up on facebook now. we’re still in recess but should be back momentarily.

facebook.com/cvilletv10/vid…

the staffer that was supposed to give this report worked her last day for the city friday, so alexander ikefuna, the NDS director, will be presenting instead.

discussion of this item starts on p. 66 of the agenda background. i confess i didn’t have time to read it today.

charlottesville.org/home/showdocum…

apparently the only public comment received on this report was received at 4:49pm on friday - just minutes ahead of the cutoff.

ok it was just a report & a public hearing. no one wanted to comment so on we go. the next two items are both re: the hogwaller farm project. it sounds like the second item is contingent on the approval of the first - a rezoning followed by a special use permit.

“rezoning” autocorrected to “revoking” which is a very different scenario!

the applicant contacted the city attorney this morning about a proffer. i’m confused. signer says this is the first time he’s ever seen this issue come up “live” and has some concerns.

i’m as confused as heather looks

https://twitter.com/edevonrobinson/status/1098033101719130112?s=21

blair says “it’s actually going to be a less intense use of the property” than what was previously proposed.

kathy asks how is this not undermining the authority of the planning commission to do it this way? what would prevent future applicants from making proffers directly to council?

blair says we should hear from the applicant first - it may not be as big a deal as she’s concerned about (that’s a heavy paraphrase)

sometimes phrases like “special use permit” make me sleepy.

on-site affordable units in the form of accessory dwelling units @ 50% AMI. (this must be the new part - a quick scroll doesn’t show it in the agenda background?)

dr bellamy made it to the meeting in time for the discussion of this agenda item — he didn’t miss any agenda items that were voted on )except the consent agenda).

it’s powerpoint time, baby! the property owner is giving a presentation.

i always forget this project is right along my regular neighborhood dog walk route

he’s talking about concerns of neighborhood residents & how they’ve made changes to accommodate them. they’ve performed soil testing to confirm it’s safe to farm there.

this project is on both city and county land. i believe the county has already approved all the necessary things on their end, so the developer in a bit of a bind until the city signs off on it.

the project includes an urban farming component and they plan to offer workshops on things like seed starting

the current zoning would allow them to build five duplexes, four bedrooms each. the rezoning they are asking for would result in a similar number of bedrooms (42), just arranged in a different number of units.

kathy is concerned about the lack of evidence of any commitment from any community partners on the urban farming project.
(ah yes, the owner says he does already have all the necessary permits from the county).

it sounds like he’s saying he’s having trouble getting commitment from community partners because of the uncertainty facing the project pending city approval on the rezoning

signer has questions about the business plan for this nonprofit, how the owner plans to make this succeed longterm. he says it sounds very promising and exciting, but he has questions. “i guess what i’m looking for is more signs this will work”

one of the people working in the project says she wishes they’d collaborated with the community more earlier in the process but weren’t sure it was a good idea to make any promises about an uncertain project.

wes asks the owner to expound a bit more about the affordable housing aspect of the project. the owner is proffering 3 units @ 50% AMI (for 12 years, i believe he said earlier?)

and that’s 3 affordable units out of 30 total. and at 50% AMI (vs the 80% that is “affordable” under the city code)

“we don’t want to get everybody excited about it” “until it’s a real projects” says the first public commenter, a man who has worked closely with the project owner. he’s from the eco village (there is so much going on in this town i’ve never heard of)

“we don’t have enough workforce housing in charlottesville,” he says. “it’s not affordable housing,” but it’s “the next level up.”
“we need a lot more apartments in town,” he says.

nikuyah says low income housing would include workforce housing - it’s not just people at the lowest income levels. we are in this crisis because developers have been excluding not just the poorest people, but teachers, police officers, etc.

this old man keeps interrupting the mayor to correct her but they are really on the same side?
i hate it when men talk.

next public commenter turns around and says to the applicant that he is willing to meet with them & has concerns. if they can assure him what he is concerned about is safe, he’s willing to support the project.

he passed up to the councilors a study from 1971 on moore’s creek from the army corps of engineers.

he’s passed them TONS of paper. his concern is about urban flooding.

oh wow he’s just passing packets and packets. no way they’re gonna read all that.

next up is brandon again, but not on behalf of PHAR - just as an individual. he has questions about the affordable units. they will be affordable by accepting section 8 vouchers. the landlord isn’t actually seeing a loss. so it isn’t really as generous as they’re making it sound.

the ordinance requires 5% of units be affordable, so they’re offering 2x that (10%, 3/30 units).
the owner is explaining now & sounds a bit defensive...

he clarifies though that under this setup he is indeed seeing less income from the unit than if it were rented at market rate. i won’t pretend to understand how the vouchers work entirely but brandon seems satisfied & i trust that.

next commenter says he lives about 100yds from the proposed project. he’s spoken to the developer & been to community meetings and is in favor of the project

he says this project would be a big community improvement and thinks the farm sounds like a great idea & wants to take part in the gardening classes.

next public commenter is very concerned about the likelihood of flooding on the property. there is a lot of difference of opinion about whether the property is in the floodplain.

three hours into this meeting & after a full day at my computer, i’m reminded that i recently spent a full week nearly immobilized by neck pain. apparently it is NOT good for you to stare down at your lap this much.

one more public commenter. she is concerned. she says the county didn’t approve housing on the property, they approved a farm. she says the farm is only accessible from the city, meaning in the event of a flood they’ll have to use city streets? this feels like a reach.

i have to wonder what the actual underlying concern these people have is. they can’t possibly be this concerned about flooding at their hypothetical future neighbors’ houses.

end of public comment. heather asks for clarification - these lots can be built on regardless, right? even if there’s no rezoning, SOMETHING will be built on these lots. (the answer is of course yes)

the current zoning allows 10 units. the rezoning would allow 30 units. the number of bedrooms & human beings comes out mostly the same, though.

wes wants to come to a decision on this tonight. kathy has serious problems. he asks if she wants to send it back to the planning commission, she says she doesn’t think that would make a difference.

the only change on the proffer received today is a (significant) reduction in the square footage of the commercial use, i think.

kathy is very anxious about rezoning out of sync with the comprehensive plan. “that’s not an holistic vision. that’s not a healthy way” to plan a city.

oh dear. i was thinking earlier tonight that campaign mode kathy was actually pretty decent. but three hours into the meeting campaign kathy is turning into sundown kathy. we’ve all had long days. i feel her pain. (like, actually i feel pain. this tone of voice hurts me)

“what would satisfy you in order for this project to move forward?” wes asks her
she’s just stuck on it matching the comprehensive plan. she says this project strikes her as almost “a suburban motel.”
sorry some of us don’t live in single family homes, kathy.

kathy says we need LONG RANGE PLANNING. they’ve hired a long range planner who hasn’t started yet.
heather is playing mediator between wes & kathy. she concedes she shares some of kathy’s concerns about it looking out of place

of the project is good and the only reason it’s bad is that it doesn’t fit the comp plan maybe that’s a flaw in the comp plan?

ok i’m done hearing kathy talk for the night.

there is so much meeting left.

signer: “is this project worth making an exception for?”
he says it has “public spirit” “with a lot of rough edges”

“i wish that you all had come with a business plan,” signer says. he is unconvinced by their argument that “people would’ve gotten too excited” if they had created a concrete plan early in the process.

signer says he thinks the pros outweigh the cons “but i’m not 100% decided.”

nikuyah asks how much time they might need to do that community engagement. the owner says the council meeting 4 weeks out would be sufficient.

signer asks the owner to speak to the public comment that he’d visibly reacted to -
“i never asked the county for residential,” he says. now we’re talking flood plains again. he says the property is 10ft above the “hundred year flood” line

nikuyah asks if there’s any way he would consider expanding the terms of the affordable units - 12 years goes by pretty quickly. he says he could look at it and update the proffer at the next meeting.

the attorney working with the property owner is addressing council now. she says she’s been deeply involved in community engagement & many people in the neighborhood support the project but couldn’t come tonight.

nikuyah is cautioning them to ensure the locally grown food they are offering for sale is actually priced in a way that is accessible to people in that neighborhood.

signet tells them they should go talk to center for nonprofit excellence. “if anyone here has never run a nonprofit before...” he’s really concerned about their ability to run the business.

no motion tonight. murphy asks if they want to bring it back for a public hearing on march 18.
kathy: “it sounds like we have no choice”
wes: “i would like that.”

kathy is now leaning on signer’s argument that the enterprise might not hold water but she’s still making her same complaints about it not matching the comprehensive plan. she’s getting angry.

nikuyah tried to call a recess but all the other councilors groaned. so on we go.

it sounds like during the construction of the monstrosity they are building where the ice rink was, construction stuff will encroach on the public right of way.

signer says he doesn’t have to disclose this, there is no issue but:
“mr woodruff’s firm was a client of my former law firm” - he hasn’t worked there in 2.5 years

no takers on public comment. heather moves they adopt the ordinance. kathy seconds.
but it’s the first of two readings. it’ll go on next meeting’s consent agenda. now on to the $100,000 allocation to the business equity fund.

a reminder that i did not read the background on this 😂🤦‍♀️

https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1097989021698048003?s=21

this would allow small businesses operated by “socially disadvantaged individuals” to take out low interest loans to scale up their businesses

background starts on p127

charlottesville.org/home/showdocum…

kathy asks how an applicant would feel any difference between this program and the CIC micro loan program.
a rep from CIC says the goal is for it to be seamless. it sounds like this is just a funding stream.

nikuyah: so 100% of the allocated amount would go towards this? (yes)
for CIC micro loans the interest rates are 6.75% - 9.75%, the rate is lower if you graduate from a program they offer. current repayment rate is 97%

nikuyah asks if the interest rate could be lower for this program, as it’s for socially disadvantaged individuals. it sounds like his answer is a polite no.
nikuyah: it may be lower than at a bank (if they could get a loan at all), it would be helpful for it to be lower.

this is a first of one reading. nikuyah is clearly very torn about the passing it as written with these interest rates.

it is possible that the interest rate for this funding stream could be different from the CIC loans, he says.
unclear who would make that call or when or how transparent that process would be though.

signer says the rates are this way because the loans aren’t collateralized. but nikuyah reminds him the default rate is only 3% - the loans are getting paid back!

nikuyah wants 3-6%. he says he can’t really make promises like that... he says they don’t just loan money, they provide services.
signer proposes taking some of the $100,000 and allocating it toward lowering the interest rates.

another guy in a suit proposes changing it to “up to 9%” so they can make adjustments to that interest rate later. wes says what about “up to 7%” and the original suit guy says he thinks that could work.

wes & nikuyah just renegotiated the terms on some low income business owners’ loans. fascinating.

nikuyah asks how the money from interest is used - he says it offsets administrative and programming costs.

four hours into the meeting & we’re having a vigorous discussion about interest rates. 😴

ok now there’s talk about upping the allocation to $109,000 to cover the administrative costs & allow for a much lower interest rate, even interest free. heather and kathy don’t like the idea of no interest. heather says this won’t incentivize paying it back.

nikuyah also clarifies for heather that the interest doesn’t go back into the fund, back into the community. heather & kathy keep saying you need interest to incentivize repayment.
(i’m not sure kathy heard me say “you just hate poor people)

ok so we’re capping it at 3% and $100,000 will go into the fund and an additional $6000 will be allocated to cover the program’s administrative costs.

nikuyah points out that $6000 offset is assuming everyone in the program was getting that high end 9% rate... but the presenter said earlier that most people actually get that lower rate.

murphy: the delta is so small maybe council should go ahead and allocate $109,000 and whatever the difference in the math here is will go back into he revolving fund at the end of the year.

wes wants to go ahead and vote but everyone else wants a clean amended copy going on the consent agenda next meeting. wes pushes back and heather snaps “is there something pressing?”

i hate to admit it but kathy is probably right. these amendments should be made in writing and voted on next time.

ok wes makes the motion, somebody (kathy?) seconds, and it passes unanimously.

nikuyah calls a five minute recess (everyone objects again but it’s happening!).
we have one more agenda item (the last thing is actually just a written report) plus item C pulled from the consent agenda, then closing public comment.

powerpoint time again.

is it snowing already? ❄️

i zoned out for a minute but this guy is saying things like ‘the plan should be good and people should like it’ and ‘the plan should have goals’
that’s a paraphrase but it really captures the energy.

i know exactly how to turn these reminders off but i will not do it and i will continue to be annoyed by it hourly during every meeting forever

wow weird people don’t want their neighborhood to change, they don’t want density, they want the “character” “preserved”
surprising!

for a town of ten square miles how does charlottesville have so many little food deserts?!

oh it’s because we have terrible public transit

“small area plan” is another one of those phrases that makes me feel very sleepy

i’m not 100% sure what’s going on right now but according to this map it is snowing both where i am now and at my house ☹️❄️

ok the last agenda item is a written report on the ABRT priority setting commission, so we don’t have to talk about it or do anything! just that pulled consent agenda item now.

it isn’t clear to councilors why staff need $66,000 more dollars for the standards and design manual rewrite. ikefuna from NDS says staff need it for community engagement & a consultant. heather says she remembers now.

murphy asks how many additional consultant hours would be purchased. ikefuna says he can’t provide that information now but can get it. murphy presses - this looks like hundreds of hours. (heather & kathy say that includes time revising the manual)

at least i got here early enough to sit in my favorite seat. third row, center section, second seat in from the aisle on the left. sure they’re all the same, but this seat is my favorite. and i’ve been sitting in it for more than five hours now.

ok that’s gonna come back on a future agenda with more clarification i think. and no one wanted to make a public comment (thank you to the three other people still here for not having a comment 🙏)
meeting adjourned.

oh, poor councilors. all day closed session tomorrow starting at 7:45am 😂