Daily Progress & Charlottesville Tomorrow form partnership

By The Daily Progress & Charlottesville Tomorrow
Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Daily Progress and Charlottesville Tomorrow have formed a partnership to share news content.

Under the agreement, news articles written by Charlottesville Tomorrow staff members will appear in the print edition of The Daily Progress.

Charlottesville Tomorrow is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that produces news coverage of land-use, growth and transportation issues in Albemarle County and Charlottesville.

Its articles and audio podcasts are distributed primarily through the CvilleTomorrow.org Web site, but also through e-mail and social media such as Facebook, Twitter and a new community wiki known as cvillepedia.org. Charlottesville Tomorrow also publishes local election voter guides, which are mailed to residents.

Daily Progress Managing Editor McGregor McCance said the newspaper’s readers will benefit by having more local content about these specific issues, which complements coverage provided by the paper’s reporters and editors.

“In the media business and all businesses, I think companies are looking for strong partners to help both sides get better,” he said. “After four years of reading their content, we know it’s accurate, fair and balanced.”

Charlottesville Tomorrow was founded in September 2005. It’s funded entirely by private donations and governed by a board of directors.

“The Daily Progress is really thinking creatively about how to deliver more in-depth news to its readers,” said Brian Wheeler, executive director of Charlottesville Tomorrow. “This is one of the first such media partnerships in the United States between a local daily paper and a local non-profit, both deeply committed to bearing witness to the work of our government and to delivering that reporting and analysis broadly to the public.”

The agreement does not include any payment between the newspaper and Charlottesville Tomorrow for content or promotional material.

View this announcement and comments on DailyProgress.com

The TJPDC announces a new Executive Director

By Fania Gordon & Brian Wheeler
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Monday, April 27, 2009

Executive Director of the TJPDC Stephen W. Williams

The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission (TJPDC) announced last week that it has hired Stephen W. Williams as its new Executive Director beginning on May 11, 2009.  Williams succeeds Harrison Rue who stepped down June 30, 2008 to take a position as a consultant with ICF International.

Podcast produced by Charlottesville Tomorrow * Player by Odeo

Listen using player above or download the podcast: Download 20090421-TJPDC-Williams

Mr. Williams brings over 25 years experience as a professional planner in work at local and regional planning agencies, most recently as Executive Director of the Nashua (New Hampshire) Regional Planning Commission (NRPC).  Mr. Williams brings special skills in the area of transportation planning.

Albemarle Supervisor Sally Thomas (Samuel Miller) served as Chair of the Selection Committee.  “The search for just the right Director has come to a delightful conclusion,” said Thomas in a TJPDC media release.  “We think that Mr. Williams brings an extensive background in many areas in which the Planning District provides services to localities in the region.”

At  a press conference held on April 21, 2009, Mr. Williams commented, “I’m looking forward to working with our local government officials and TJPDC staff to continue the important planning projects underway and to look for new opportunities to assist our localities as they plan for the future.”

Under Mr. Williams’ leadership, the NRPC was recognized as a leading regional planning commission in New Hampshire. He received gubernatorial appointments to the state’s Climate Change Task Force and the Freedom’s Way Heritage Commission. He also was vice-chairman of the New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority. “Recently, I have been most heavily involved in the areas of transportation, transit and rail,” Williams said.

In order to engage the public in transportation planning in Nashua, Williams explained that the NRPC utilized town hall meetings to find out what the citizens wanted.  “At NRPC we have worked to find ways to take the transportation process out to the people instead of asking them to come to us,” said Williams.

When asked about why he wanted to work in Virginia, with its reputation for inadequate funding for transportation projects, Williams responded that he expected to work to address this problem.  “There are 50 states with a reputation for not adequately funding transportation,” Williams said  “A critical part of the role that I expect to play here helping the region to try figure to out how to pay for those projects moving forward.”

TJPDC Chairperson Connie Brennan, Vice Chair of the Nelson County Board of Supervisors, said the Commission is excited about Mr. Williams’ arrival to the region. “We believe Steve can jump right in to build on the good work already underway at the Planning District,” said Brennan. “The region’s localities stand to benefit from the knowledge and expertise he brings with him.”

Mr. Williams holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Montana State University and completed masters’ degree coursework at California Polytechnic State University.

The TJPDC was established in 1972 to promote the efficient development of the physical, social, and economic policies across the region by assisting its member local governments to plan for the future. The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is one of 21 such organizations in Virginia. Planning District Commissions seek to facilitate regional solutions to issues of significance to local governments, including transportation, water resources, housing programs, and economic development. The TJPDC's work is managed by a professional staff in cooperation with elected officials and citizens appointed by local and regional governments. 

TJPDC staff manages the local Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) which is responsible for our region’s transportation planning.  They raise no revenues of their own and act essentially as advisory bodies to the elected governments within their jurisdiction.  The TJPDC serves the City of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, Fluvanna County, Greene County, Louisa County, and Nelson County.

 

Charlottesville Tomorrow’s news headlines now available as an iPhone application

The free app was created during a December "unconference" held in downtown Charlottesville

Charlottesville Tomorrow is pleased to announce the launch of its very own “app” for the iPhone, which is now available for free in the iTunes store.

The software was developed as part of an iPhone “unconference” held in downtown Charlottesville in December 2008. Charlottesville Tomorrow was approached about serving as a test case to show developers how a simple application could be developed. In one day, the basic framework for the application was put together and uploaded to the store.

The application allows iPhone users to browse Charlottesville Tomorrow’s recent articles and to view the events listed in our calendar.

Michael Prichard with Willowtree Consulting said the application was developed using open source principles as a community service.

“We were looking for a local organization that really benefited our community,” Prichard said.  Charlottesville Tomorrow was perfect because the iPhone application was created by local developers and helps both Charlottesville Tomorrow and its readers.”

Prichard and his team have developed many other apps for the iPhone, including a parking garage locater called Spotasaurus and a medical contacts app called DocBook.

Prichard says the application will continue to be improved over the coming years as the iPhone continues to evolve. One future possibility might be the integration of Charlottesville Tomorrow’s audio and video podcasts. Anyone who wants to add their own features and share with the community are encouraged to do so.

“Add useful features and we will put it in the app,” Prichard said.

Sean Tubbs

Sean Tubbs joins Charlottesville Tomorrow

I am pleased to announce that Sean Tubbs has joined the staff of Charlottesville Tomorrow as our first Program Officer.  Sean Tubbs is the founder of the Charlottesville Podcasting Network (CPN).  He joins Charlottesville Tomorrow after working as News Director at WNRN Public Radio and as a freelance reporter for WVTF Public Radio. 

Read the Media Release

Sean brings to our organization the combined talents of a professional journalist and a new media pioneer.  He is well known in the community for his work to make audio podcasts an essential source of local in-depth information and news.  Over the past two years, Charlottesville Tomorrow has used its website, e-mail alerts, podcasts, and blogs to provide information to the public about local growth and development issues.  With Sean's help on staff, I am looking forward to enhancing our coverage to make the information we share with our subscribers even more timely, comprehensive, and compelling.   

Click here to subscribe to Charlottesville Tomorrow's e-mail lists

Sean plans to maintain the Charlottesville Podcasting Network’s website as a home for feature audio stories on arts and entertainment and as a library of local radio interviews. A lot of Charlottesville Tomorrow’s stories are posted there as well as my weekly appearances with Coy Barefoot on WINA.  Sean’s volunteer efforts maintaining the CPN site and training people how to create their own podcasts are a phenomenal public service. 

You can reach Sean Tubbs at his new e-mail address as follows: stubbs @ cvilletomorrow.org

Brian Wheeler