Scrolling with Sally Vol 1. No. 1
This is a little longer because it is the introductory post. My plan (which may be too ambitious) is to send these out every two weeks, along with occasional weekend Long Reads that are a concentrated look at one topic, with links and resources to spend some time on while you drink your morning coffee. If you are interested in getting this in your inbox, the sign-up link is here.
Why A Newsletter?
I have voted in nearly every election since I turned 18, but it has only been in the last decade that I’ve come to deeply understand how voting is just the first step. Participatory democracy involves participation. As the spouse of a government employee, I’ve had a front row seat to understanding how the daily minutiae of meetings, emails, and decisions culminate in progress. This experience has also shown me how time-consuming and difficult it can be for people to participate, because local government never stops. Someone (lots of someones) is always on duty. Varying departments have varying priorities, and there are more meetings than any one person can stay on top of.
It takes time and effort to stay informed about what is going on in a community, and a lot of people just don’t have that extra margin, especially in a place where housing is so expensive that it often requires 2 or more jobs to afford. This newsletter is one way I am hoping to help alleviate that effort.
I want to help bring local government to people. I don’t think the meetings I go to, the reports I read, and the information I learn is meant only for me, or just to help me make good decisions. It’s also information for the sake of the community. I know we have some great local journalists and people working to keep us all informed, and the county also officially has a variety of ways they are working to inform and engage us all. But this summer, I will have been writing and interacting publicly online for 15 years. Writing my thoughts and experiences is so second-nature to me that it only makes sense that I would continue to do so in this role. These newsletters are solely my opinions, my experiences, and my personal take on the issues as we all work together to continue making Albemarle County an even better, more affordable place to call home.
In a world of constant content, the amount of information can be overwhelming. And yet. We still want to be informed. We want to be connected. One of the best parts of social media is that it is social; we get to know each other and learn from each other. In my case, I often “like, share, and subscribe” as if it’s second nature. And so it only seems natural to continue that habit with you. Here are some of the happenings in our community, the things I am doing, reading, and learning, both online and off.
The Jouett Journey
- what your Supervisor has been up to lately
Over the past couple of months I continued learning more about some of the issues and organizations in the community. I toured Loaves & Fishes and one thing that I really loved was how they have an advisory group made up of clients – I think it’s so important for people who receive services to also have a say in how those services are handled.
I also met with the Center for Community Partnerships at UVA. They work to provide various reports and support the community in a variety of ways, such as through the important Orange Dot Report. I left that meeting so encouraged by the great work happening there.
I was also so energized after touring Venture Central and seeing the 434 Accelerator space. I came away with a much better understanding of what a thriving entrepreneur and innovator economy we have in our community. Economic development has quickly become a top priority for me and I am really excited about the possibilities to support our business community, especially our new and growing businesses.
See your Neighbors!
- events and activities around town
The community events I was able to get to were largely holiday focused. I went to the Forest Lakes Holiday Market – I love arts and crafts markets and it’s always fun to support local artists and crafty people. I also was able to catch the tree lighting at the Shops at Stonefield. I was so impressed by how kid-friendly it was. Everything was free, including cotton candy and all the light-up necklaces and rings. There was a DJ, along with the characters Anna and Elsa, and I honestly don’t think I’ve been around that many kids since my own kids were in elementary school. I loved seeing such a great family-friendly event so well-attended!
Coming up this week, a handful of events that caught my eye are:
Invasive Species Plant Walk with the Botanical Garden, the Tjukurpa | Handle It art exhibition in its last month at the Kluge-Ruhe, and too many events to count with JMRL!
On the Agenda
- things I found interesting from the Board of Supervisors meeting
This section will be highlighting something that is coming up on the agenda or was in the previous meeting. This week is the organizational meeting for the year, so the agenda is light. But, I will direct your attention to the many openings on a variety of Boards and Commissions, so if you are interested in getting involved, or know someone who is, pass the information along!
In particular, I am looking for people in the Jack Jouett district who are interested in being on the Department of Social Services Advisory Board and the Albemarle County Service Authority Board. If interested, you can apply here.
The Receipts
- learning about the county budget
Obviously, the one part of local government that people like least is having to pay for it. When I was door-knocking in the spring, I had a couple of people ask, “but where does our money go?” It's a great question. Our budget document is 350 pages, so it is understandable that people don’t have an intimate understanding of the line-items. One of my favorite parts of the campaign was when I read the budget to have a better answer for people, and as a result, I met with the organization Ready Kids. This newsletter is already too long, so I won’t gush about them now, but suffice it to say, there are some incredible organizations in our community and some of our tax dollars support their efforts.
So I thought it would be a good exercise, especially as we head into budget season, to get a better understanding of our budget. In the future, this section will look at an item, a process, or an organization in the budget, so we can all get a better understanding of how the budget works and what things we are supporting with our money.
The Weekly Brainrot
- pop culture I’ve been consuming lately
This last section comes from my love of the NPR podcast, Pop Culture Happy Hour. At the end of their regular episodes, the hosts go around the table and say ‘what’s making us happy’ and it’s a great way to find out about cool cultural items you might not have known about. I’ve called this section Brainrot, but actually I think pop culture is so important that it’s primarily what I studied when I was at UVA. I love music and movies and memes, and while I am rapidly approaching this,
I try to stay current with pop culture and I think taking the time out for joy and brain breaks and conversations about art and music is really important.
Over New Years, I watched Stranger Things. I had seen Season 1 when it came out years ago, but then didn’t keep up with it. One of my kids had movie tickets to the finale and she was so paranoid about spoilers, so as a joke, we put on Season 2. We got the reaction we were hoping for, but also got caught right back up in the story, and ended up binging the whole series. No spoilers here, but I cannot believe people had to wait 3 years in-between seasons! It was so well done, and as an 80s baby, it was fun to relive those housing interior design decisions. And roller rinks – bring those back! I haven’t truly binged a series in years, so that was a really fun way to spend the holiday, and I'm happy to finally understand all of the Kate Bush and Chrissy Wake Up memes.
This was an extra long newsletter, but if this is the sort of hyper-local information you are interested in, I would love to have you along for the ride, and feel free to pass this on to whomever you think might be interested!
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