Category: Speeches and Presentations

Many residents of Free Union are worried that a potential shutdown of a VDOT maintenance facility in their area will drastically slow down the time it takes to have their roads plowed. While VDOT officials say no decisions have been made yet, preliminary plans show Free Union as one of 91 VDOT facilities to be closed as part of a consolidation plan.

This past Friday night, a commmunity meeting was called by Free Union residents to discuss the matter. VDOT officials gave a thirty-minute presentation explaining the plans, and heard comments from Free Union residents opposed to the plan. At times, opposition is heated. Janis Jaquith served as moderator, and Waldo Jaquith recorded the event.

VDOT’s Gary Allen says that no decision has been made. The Daily Progress provides coverage of this issue in a December 2nd article by Jeremy Borden.

Helen Caldicott (left) is a Australian physician who moved to Boston in late seventies. She left medicine in 1980 in order to campaign against nuclear weapons, and according to Wikipedia, currently travels between the United States and Australia, lecturing against nuclear power.

Caldicott was in Charlottesville on September 30 to give a talk, sponsored by the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice, Sierra Club of the Piedmont, and People Allied for Clean Energy. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is currently deciding whether or not to expand the nuclear power plant at North Anna on Lake Louise.

Caldicott’s latest book is called Nuclear Power is Not the Answer To Global Warming or Anything Else.

Thanks to CPN Volunteer Sean McCord for recording this event.

The line-up for the 2006 Virginia Film Festival has been announced. The festival will explore the theme “Revelations: Finding God at the Movies” and will be held from October 26th through the 29th. Festival director Richard Herskowitz describes what attendees can expect at a press conference held at the Music Resource Center on September 27th.

Special thanks to WVTF Charlottesville reporter Luke Church for contributing the audio from this press conference. For Rick Sincere writes about the announcement on his site, and Jane Dunlop Norris has the story in the Daily Progress.

Guv,!E”To what extent are arguments about property rights relevant to our local discussions about managing growth?Guv,!Vkj That’s the question asked by the group Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population at their meeting on September 20th. Three experts took turns answering the question. They include:Jon Cannon (Albemarle County Planning Commissioner; UVA Law School Professor and Director of the UVA Center for Environmental and Land Use Law)

Blake Hurt (President of Capital Real Estate, developer of Republic Plaza; member of Albemarle County Industrial Development Authority; graphic artist)

Rich Collins (Professor Emeritus of Urban and Environmental Planning and founder Institute for Environmental Negotiation, School of Architecture, UVA)

ASAP President Jack Marshall moderated the discussion.

Thanks to CPN Volunteer Lyle Solla-Yates for recording this event.

On Sunday, September 24th, two best-selling authors were on stage at the Paramount Theater to raise money for Democratic Senatorial Candidate Jim Webb. Stephen King was invited by Albemarle County Resident John Grisham to speak to Democrats who paid a hefty fee to attend. CPN was there and now brings you an audio recording of the event for free. The master of ceremonies for the event is Governor Tim Kaine.

This podcast is a slightly edited version to reduce the file size. Applause length has been slightly trimmed, as well as some of Governor Kaine’s introductions at the beginning of the event. He also recognized the work of Delegate David Toscano and Senator Creigh Deeds.

The following is a rough run-down of when each speaker was at the microphone.

00:00 – 11:32 – Introduction from Governor Tim Kaine

11:32 – 43:51 – John Grisham

43:51 – 1:15:39 – Stephen King

1:15:40 – 1:34:43 – Jim Webb

The group Clergy and Laity United for Justice & Peace presented a public forum on September 20th entitled “The Role of Religion in Politics: Jewish, Christian, & Islamic Perspectives.” This seventy-minute podcast version of the event features stimulating and in-depth commentary on this important and frequently misunderstood subject.

The speakers are: Russ Linden, political activist, adjunct UVa faculty member, and member of the Jewish community; Helena Cobban, columnist and member of the Friends (Quaker) community; and Abdulaziz Sachedina, Ph.D., UVa Professor of Religious Studies and member of the Islamic community.

On September 18th, the Charlottesville City Council discussed the question of truck traffic along Franklin Street in the Woolen Mills neighborhood.GYiVyiVDz This is a topic that’s been much discussed by Bill Emory.

On September 16th, the Charlottesville-Albemarle Democratic Breakfast featured a discussion of the Implications of the Marshall / Newman “Marriage” Amendment.

The event was moderated by Katherine McNamara of the online journal archipelago, and the panel includes Mark Usry of Equality Virginia, Anne Coughlin from the U.Va School of Law, Claire Kaplan of Sexual and Domestic Violence Services at U.Va, and Delegate David Toscano.

To subscribe to CPN’s podcast feed, visit our page on Feedburner for detailed instructions. Or, subscribe in iTunes.

In addition to selecting representatives to Congress in this fall’s election, Virginians will also decide whether to amend the state Constitution to define marriage between one man and one woman.

But the Commonwealth Coalition says the amendment may do much more than that and may change the way in which all contracts are treated under the law. The Coalition is made up of groups across the state opposed to the amendment, including Equality Virginia, a gay rights organization. Dyana Mason is Equality Virginia’s executive director.

Mason spoke to a group called Left of Center on September 5th to discuss why she thinks Virginians should vote no in November. Left of Center is a group of twenty and thirty somethings in Charlottesville.

To subscribe to CPN’s podcast feed, visit our page on Feedburner for detailed instructions. Or, subscribe in iTunes.