I’m still really pissed about the city proposing this ordinance. Horrible policy and horrible process. Just a huge waste of people’s time and resources. I’m glad it was defeated but bad governance nonetheless.

My kids went to the McIntire skate park all three days this weekend. Such a great example of how investing in quality infrastructure benefits the community.

Folks if you are tired of anti-growth advocacy in Albemarle hamstringing new developments, come hang out & plan with like-minded neighbors (including me) at Bar Botanical in Crozet this Thursday between 5 and 7. We can do better!

Hey folks, have you heard about #WeekWithoutDriving? Please join me for the local Cville area experience. Here's a link for more information and to signup: livablecville.org/weekwithoutd...

If they wanted less traffic they would have allowed for amenities to exist that would allow people living there to not be forced to drive to get everything.

I checked out Rio Point, a new apartment complex going up at the intersection of Rio and Warner Parkway. Dunlora fought hard to reduce the amount of housing and to prevent any commercial space, resulting in a development much different from what the county Comprehensive Plan envisions.

I’m really looking forward to this! Albemarle County has lots of pro-housing people and I’m excited to see momentum build for meaningful change in how the county approaches housing.

It’s very cool to see how hard @mike-pruitt.bsky.social is working when the primary isn’t for 9 more months and the general election is more than a year away.

I really don’t like when the days get shorter

McIntire Park is so nice

Got the best parking spot, but also requested a bike rack via MyCville

Pablo Torre takes the jump here from “billionaires are manipulating sports” to “billionaires are manipulating our entire country and its well being” with an assist from @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social. Great episode.

The Rivanna Trail’s Loop de ‘Ville Trail Festival is coming up on Saturday, September 27th. There are many events, including short and long distance hikes, runs, and mountain bike rides. There will be 7 aid stations around the 20 mile loop with snacks and drinks. Learn more at loopdeville.org

Doing a city school board candidate Q&A but not including a question about SRO’s or school safety is an unfortunate choice by Charlottesville Tomorrow www.cvilletomorrow.org/four-candida...

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If you see a street light that’s not lighting the street, you can submit a MyCville request to get it fixed. I submitted one recently (actually had to submit a couple times) and the light was working this morning.

Because the school division DEFINITELY KNOWS WHAT IT IS DOING with SRO’s and school safety, they’ve now decided they only need 2 instead of 4. And they still haven’t done any outreach to teachers. This isn’t safety theater at all. Not at all. More here: charlottesvilleschools.org/SROs

The city schools SRO process has been so poorly done that it’s a great candidate to write up as a case study in bad policy making. The community outreach piece has been performative garbage.

Excellent

An example of bad policy decisions by the Downtown Business Association that I was not familiar with. Have they ever had a good idea?

Turns out there’s an NY Times article from a couple years ago about the couple who hosted us for this very cool experience. It’s an interesting read if you want to learn a few things about lightning bugs. www.nytimes.com/2023/07/29/n...

Ta-Nehisi Coates with an excellent essay on Charlie Kirk and how a Lost Cause style narrative has emerged that papers over Kirk’s racism and bigotry. www.vanityfair.com/news/story/c...

If you’re interested in listening to this update, here’s a link to that section of the meeting: www.youtube.com/live/Pewnrk-...

In case you’re wondering where the 4 city school board candidates (for 3 spots) stand on SRO’s:

94% of Parisians live within a 5-minute walk of a bakery. My kingdom for urbanism this good in the US.

Happy birthday to @sgillikin.bsky.social, my favorite union boss!

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Formally establishing that I am no longer in Paris

Evidently my 13 year old is immune to jet lag. I, on the other hand, am not.

Further details in the Daily Progress article are encouraging, particularly about those changes in priorities Free article link here: archive.ph/jG8Ev

I’m happy about Mitch Rosner taking the helm of UVA Health. He cares deeply about the community and isn’t going to run the health system like an absentee narcissist. People have a lot of respect for him and his priorities are right. www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...

A rare Kathy Hochul appreciation post

Spencer Cox was one of the keynote speakers at the Abundance Conference a week and a half ago

Saturday morning at the bakery around the corner from our apartment in Paris, I spent $13.75 on 4 chocolate croissants, 2 raisin rolls, and 2 baguettes. Best croissants I’ve ever had. I’ll be thinking about that experience for a long time.

Mobile Passport Control. IYKYK

Very disappointed in the land use patterns I observed flying over the Dulles area

My brain just incinerated

The forces of mechanical issues got together and decided to cancel our flight. So another night in France, though the CDG airport hotel culture isn’t quite what we had in the city. Trying again tomorrow!

Take a few minutes to read this. It’s quite good.

Self-cleaning public toilets are all over Paris. I asked a few locals what the secret is. Turns out everyone has to pee and poop from time to time, sometimes at inconvenient times, and that public infrastructure should reflect this. Looking forward to sharing this message with people back in Cville!

CDG terminal 1 is the fanciest place I’ve ever been

I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked because we are headed back to Cville, but I checked out the Carnavalet Museum this morning. It’s a museum of the history of the city of Paris. Really excellent. Hope to visit again.

On my read, “thwarted” is the verb in this sentence.

Relevant to Charlottesville

I would love to see more flower beds like these in Cville. Swap out 100 parking spaces around town for 100 of these. They’re beautiful and can be designed to help out with storm water management. Can also include trees!

the person behind this unhinged, anti-factual editorial is set to decide coverage at one of the nation’s major news networks

One cool thing about the city schools attendance tracking system is that no matter how many times you tell them that your kid is going to be out of school you still get a daily massage asking them to explain why your kid is out of school.

A brave student just almost got arrested for speaking on the steps of the UVA Rotunda. The BOV is so terrified of speech that they're willing to arrest a *Jewish* Student for asking for a seat at the table.

I had high expectations for Luxembourg Gardens and they were exceeded. Absolutely stunning. Full of people enjoying themselves. And an astounding amount of public seating.

Just thinking about how many people in Charlottesville have their perspective on current events filtered through the lens of Ezra Klein and what a big problem that is