tl;dr – we’re going to try to learn about local government. If anyone wants to help plan and organize, please contact me. 434-242-7140
How exactly does local government work?
(few people know)
A few weeks ago, I wrote a story on RealCrozetVA
I saw this post recently – An Adult Civics Hour and think we can do the same thing Crozet. And Albemarle. Based on the Facebook responses, we’re interested.*
I’m thinking of doing this at Crozet Mudhouse to start. Maybe an initial meeting to set the stage.
Topics? Maybe set a monthly agenda?
Note: This is about local politics, but it’s not partisan political; leave that stuff at home.
If you’re interested, please tell me here.
People Came
Know what? 7 people (counting myself) showed up on Thursday night, and we had a very good discussion about, essentially, how we don’t understand how our local government works.
Local government is complex. Albemarle County’s budget is $430M in 2018. Charlottesville City’s is $180M. Each has commensurately labyrinthian bureaucracies, systems, and ways to get things done.
Citizens should know about this stuff.
But wait! This is a real estate blog.
Yes, yes it is. And real estate is about community, neighborhoods, schools, infrastructure, taxes … all things related to, affected by local governance.
This is the after-action report I wrote to the people who indicated they are interested in this gathering.
As I said last night, I don’t know what I’m doing with this, but I know I want to know more.
- If anyone wants to help me plan/organize, please let me know
- Next topic – aiming for a panel on the Comprehensive Plan for Albemarle County.
- what are the levels?
- How can one make one’s voice heard?
- I’ve invited two people so far, and may target a third
- Other topics we might get into
- How does a thing (development, policy, gov’t action) become a thing? What’s the process, what’s the org chart for that look like?
- Where can my voice be heard?
- How does one get on a group? (CAC, Board of Supervisors, committee)
- When are elections? For what?
- School Board
- Board of Supervisors
- What else?
- Charlottesville + Albemarle
- Next Gathering
- 17 May (seems Thursdays are good) — this is a tentative date; I’m working on firming up the panel.
- Location to be determined.
- Need a big white board
- To show parts of the comp plan – the big parts, not the minutae
- Other things
- This is *not* specific to Crozet
- This is *not* partisan; no one cares if you’re a D or R or I or whatever; we’re neighbors figuring out Civics 101.
- This is *not* about advocating for or against a specific thing.
- National stuff may come up, but only through a local lens
- Someone to get guests
- Someone to organize venues
- Someone to do the “hype”
- I’ll do an eventbrite, meetup, facebook event, blog posts, etc.
- I’m hopeful for a great panel
- Suggestions? Comments, thoughts?
*I am vehemently opposed to the term “meeting” to refer to what we are doing.