We wrapped up our last meeting of 2022 and covered topics that I expect will be continued themes in 2023 – budget guidance, speed cameras, and employee compensation. Looking ahead, we’ll be discussing the rules for outdoor dining (that were temporarily relaxed during Covid), our community climate plan, and recommendations […]
We kicked off the FY24 budget process this week with our annual joint meeting with our School Board colleagues. TL;DR: the preliminary revenue forecast is 4.2% growth over last year. Read on to learn more about what that may mean for your tax bill and key cost drivers that will […]
I hope your holiday season is off to a festive start. It was wonderful to see so many new faces at the annual “Lighting of the Trees” (and “Eating of the Snacks” if you were able to get samples from the coming soon restaurants at Founders Row). Speaking of FR, […]
With the upcoming holiday, this week’s post will be short and sweet. I am still including links, including to my previous posts, if you’d like more info or my thoughts. This week’s highlights: City Council will be back in session on November 28, so my posts will resume in two […]
In honor of those who have served bravely, our City government is closed today – thank you veterans. I hope you can join this morning’s annual Veteran’s Day ceremony, which has been moved indoors to the Community Center due to the soggy weather. We had a meaty work session this […]
This week’s post will be short but important. At the beginning of our meeting this week, we discussed our full support of the School Board’s public comments to Virginia in response to the Governor’s proposed model policies that seek to rollback privacy protections and treatment of transgender students. I share […]
Thank you for all the responses following last week’s post about the Founders Row theater – I’m glad it was helpful in dispelling the common misunderstandings about how the tax sharing will work. This week’s post is continuing on the theme of dollars and cents. You may be hearing that […]
This week, we cast several votes that move us closer to the completion of Founders Row – we agreed to the final economic development agreement (aka, tax sharing) to bring in Paragon Theaters. The votes, as evident by the 7-0 and 6-0-1 tallies, were less controversial than thought, but I’ll […]
As is sometimes the case, what happened outside of our City Council official agenda is what I found the most interesting and worthwhile to share – this week, I’m going to talk about bicycling infrastructure, the annual Community Profile (like a “state of the union” report for the city) along […]
Based on the questions and concerns I field regularly, our work session this week should rank among one of our most important: we covered all things transportation safety in a joint work session with our volunteer citizen transportation committee. I’ll also share how I’m thinking about equity in transportation, as […]
It was City Council’s first week back and we’re well into the swing of things again. We are continuing to make strides in affordable housing with a final vote this week that launches a new partnership with Wesley Housing, a leading housing non profit, at Virginia Village. For those following Founders […]
I hope your fall is off to a great start – the City Council is coming out of our summer recess with our first meeting next Monday night. This week’s update will be brief as I settle back into a more regular posting schedule – I’ll share my thoughts on […]