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SUMMARY KEYWORDS

charlottesville, people, cville, community, songs, land use map, folks, music, comprehensive plan, plans, read, highlander, albemarle county, teachers, support, soundboard, appalachia, zoning code, letter, hear

SPEAKERS

Mary Govan, Erin O'Hare, Sam Gleaves, Annie Parnell, Mary Garner McGehee, Julie Govan, Karen Kirn

Mary Garner McGehee  00:03

Thanks for tuning in to Charlottesville Soundboard. I'm your host, Mary Garner McGehee. Soundboard airs every other Saturday at 6am on WTJU 91.1 FM and also comes to you as a podcast that belongs to the Virginia Audio Collective. This week, we're catching up on the Charlottesville comprehensive planning process with Erin O'Hare.

Erin O'Hare  00:23

A comprehensive plan guides a city or a county. And in Virginia, all cities and counties have to have a comprehensive plan, and they have to update it every five years.

Mary Garner McGehee  00:37

We'll talk about what the current draft would mean for affordable housing and life in the city and the region. Then, we're going to hear from an Albemarle family about their efforts to support antiracism work in the county schools. And stay tuned in the second half of the episode for a conversation with Sam Gleaves. He's a musician, educator and activist from Wytheville Virginia, who uses his talents in bluegrass and old time music to tell the unsung histories of Appalachia's LGBTQ+ community. And if you hear some weird noises or sound quality issues in the background, it's because I'm recording this episode from vacation. Our Production Assistants at TJU you have really stepped up to bring you this episode. I'm going to hand things over to our Assistant Producer Karen Kirn, who spoke with Erin O'Hare at Charlottesville Tomorrow about the ongoing comprehensive planning process.

Karen Kirn  01:30

So first question, what is Cville Plans Together and what is its overall mission?

Erin O'Hare  01:37

Cville Plans Together is an initiative that is working to create a few different documents that will eventually become part of Charlottesville city's Comprehensive Plan.

Karen Kirn  01:49

So what exactly is a comprehensive plan?

Erin O'Hare  01:53

So, a comprehensive plan is the plan, the document that really guides a city or a county. And in Virginia, all cities and counties have to have a comprehensive plan. And they have to update it every five years. The Charlottesville city comprehensive plan will have seven chapters. And those chapters are community engagement and collaboration, land use,  urban form, and historic and cultural preservation. That's the second chapter. The third chapter will be housing. The fourth is economic prosperity and opportunity. The fifth is environment, climate and food access. The sixth is transportation. And the seventh will be community facilities and services.

Karen Kirn  02:47

So how is that related to the city's zoning?

Erin O'Hare  02:51

So, zoning code is completely different from the land use map. They're related because the land use map can help inform the zoning code. But, the zoning code is a legal document. It's so much more detailed than the land use map. So zoning is one part of one chapter of the comprehensive plan. So right now, Cville Plans Together - with input from the community - they're working on the draft Future Land Use Map. And again, I want to reiterate that right now, it is a draft. It's not a final document. And that land use map, as folks have been saying, is - it's a visionary document. It's, it's what could we do in the future? What are some of our options? And once you have those options and that vision in place, that's when the zoning code comes in. Just because a neighborhood is zoned a certain way on the land use map doesn't mean that that's a blanket thing for the whole neighborhood. The zoning code will take into consideration things like would a building of this height actually work next to these particular buildings? Or is it even safe to have this on this corner where it's a really busy intersection? So the zoning code, which will come later, that will be so much more detailed. And we're just, we're not there yet.

Karen Kirn  04:32

In what ways Have you seen the Charlottesville residents get involved in the comprehensive planning process?

Erin O'Hare  04:38

I know that folks have called. They have sent emails. People have commented via the interactive map. They've commented via the survey. They've come to steering committee meetings and webinars. People are commenting on social media, they are talking about it on Next Door. Certain neighborhood associations are organizing and sending letters to Cville Plans Together into the Planning Commission. Some groups like the Charlottesville Low Income Housing Coalition, or CLIHC, they organized a letter, you know, asking the consultants to address historically racist and economically discriminatory housing policies in a couple of different ways. And I know, from looking at that page that, you know, a few 100 community members have signed that as well. So lots of folks getting involved in the last, you know, month and a half for sure. As soon as the, the map came out, right, it gave it a visual for people. They're like, "Oh, it's a map. Something's happening, you know, because you can actually see it."

Karen Kirn  05:47

Are there any voices or specific groups that are underrepresented in these community discussions?

Erin O'Hare  05:56

That's a really hard question to answer because, because I'm not in on the comments that the Cville Plans folks are receiving. So my understanding is that that information will be made available on June 29th. At that work session between the Planning Commission and Cville Plans Together. At that point, they will have more information on how many people responded from which neighborhoods around town. You know, like I mentioned, the Charlottesville Low Income Housing Coalition. They put together this, this letter. And they tend to represent a lot of lower income folks who, you know, are disproportionately Black and Brown in our community. And, you know, then you also have a lot of vocal folks in the wealthier majority white neighborhoods. And I think it's fair to say that they're often the loudest voices for a few different reasons. And one thing I will say is that renters are often left out of these conversations or made to feel like we can't participate maybe. A I myself, am a renter. I've lived in Charlottesville for almost 12 years. I've rented the whole time I've lived here. I can't afford to buy a house here. But I pay taxes here, I contribute to this community. I live here. And Charlottesville has a lot of renters for a number of reasons, you know, affordability of buying a home, which many people can't, big wealth gap, you know, students more transient folks, but renters also can have a say in this process. It's not just landowners. So that's something that I feel pretty strongly about just because of how many renters we have here in Charlottesville. You know, renters are residents. And houseless folks are residents as well. That's something that I would would really stress to, to listeners. I understand why people would feel like they don't have a say or why they're intimidated, but they have a voice and they can use it here.

Karen Kirn  08:14

From what you've seen and heard so far. Do you think that the revisions and the subsequent new Comprehensive Plan will be beneficial overall for Charlottesville and its residents?

Erin O'Hare  08:25

I do think that the guiding principles for the for Cville Plans Together are are promising. As the website - its website, Cville Plans Together.com - says equity is the requirement for effective planning. And I do think that they're trying to, you know, make this equitable. And equity, you know, Charlottesville has had so much inequity for so long. And you know, folks can read more about that equity statement on the Cville Plans Together homepage. The website says, "Land use planning and development in Charlottesville, as in many places, has not always been equitable for all people. In order for the city's plans to be both meaningful and effective, the issue of equity must be addressed. When we talk about equity, we mean that the city and consultant team will be gathering input from the community and reviewing data to better understand where there are gaps in access to the things that define a good quality of life. For example, affordable high quality housing, efficient, reliable and safe transportation options, healthy and accessible food sources and a variety of jobs and training opportunities." And it just, it continues on a little bit. So the the fact that equity is really what they say is the guiding principle for, for this plan, I think is a really good thing. And I'll add to that too. The Future Land Use Map and the zoning code alone cannot ensure that. Right? There has to be other policies put into place in other areas of city government that would support that. Right? That's why the comprehensive plan has seven chapters.

Karen Kirn  10:15

So what are the, what are the next steps in this process?

Erin O'Hare  10:19

The next step is that the Cville Plans Together team will bring all of the comments that it has collected throughout the community comment period. And then they will present those comments to the Charlottesville Planning Commission in a work session on June 29th. And that work session will be open to the public. People can sign up to watch online. And then from there, the next steps will be determined based on how much work they need to do.

Karen Kirn  10:49

You also mentioned that they extended the community comment period. Why did they do that? And why is this beneficial or significant?

Erin O'Hare  10:57

Sure. So about two weeks ago, Cville Plans Together decided to extend the community comment period. And I talked with a couple of the consultants. They said that they really want to allow for more people who are just coming into the engagement process to have time to review the materials, to read everything, to learn and to provide their feedback. And they also wanted to make sure that neighborhoods and different populations of people who maybe haven't been represented in the feedback so far, get the opportunity to comment if they'd like. And it's significant because the community engagement period was already about a year long, which obviously the pandemic affects that. Right? I know that the consultants and the Cville Plans Together group had lots of plans for in person, Town-Hall-style meetings and conversations and because of the pandemic, that just wasn't possible. And the city decided to continue with the process, you know, and they decided to do community engagement through a few different avenues. So, they did some door knocking safely with masks to talk with folks. They opened up the, you know, the comment part on the Cville Plans Together website. They sent out emails, I had seen yard signs. And then, you know, also had people on the steering committee going to the communities that they're a part of and saying, "Hey, this is happening. Would you like to talk about it? Let's talk about it." And some of the Cville Plans Together team members have said that, in a way, it's, it's allowed more people to engage. Because, you know, someone who maybe works like a very demanding job, or works and takes care of a family, or works two jobs, three jobs, they might not be able to come to a Town Hall meeting at 6pm on a Tuesday. So, moving it to, you know, online really helped. But of course, not everyone has internet access. So that's why they were doing the door knocking. And they've also did have a few pop up stands at places like the Jefferson School City Center because they were in the Downtown Mall, Reid's Super Save Mart, Church of the Incarnation, Riverview Park and a few other spots with and they were out there with the map with, you know, survey questions, just, you know, ready to listen to folks.

Karen Kirn  13:45

So looking, I guess, further into the future, how might this Comprehensive Plan change the city?

Erin O'Hare  13:53

Well, ideally, it would make the city a more equitable place for all of its residents. It would prevent folks from being displaced with a particular focus on, on the folks that, you know, housing plans maybe haven't considered in the past. And that's definitely personal to me. That's not the view of Charlottesville Tomorrow, but I think that there is a great opportunity here to make Charlottesville a more equitable place to live. Again, I think that guiding principle of equity is a great opportunity. And that, you know, just kind of ripples out into making Charlottesville a better place for everybody.

Karen Kirn  14:31

Right. Well, those were all the questions that I had, is there anything else that that you would like to add before we wrap up?

Erin O'Hare  14:39

I would really encourage people to read that Cville Plans Together explainer on our website. And I digested a lot of information to just give the basics of where we are right now in the Plan. And I will continue to do updates, and my colleagues and I will do our best to answer questions to explain things more. And if folks have questions that they want answered in future articles, they can email me at eohare (O H A R E) @cvilletomorrow.org.

Mary Garner McGehee  15:17

Erin O'Hare is reporter at Charlottesville Tomorrow. You can read the whole draft of the Comprehensive Plan and make comments at cvilleplans.com. You're listening to Charlottesville Soundboard here on WTJU 91.1 FM and the Virginia Audio Collective. Both are a service of the University of Virginia. However, opinions expressed on this show are not the positions of the University. In our next segment, I chatted with Julie and Mary Govan. They've recently written and distributed a letter in support of the Albemarle County School Board's efforts to increase antiracism education.

Mary Govan  15:55

As parents, educators and public school stakeholders, we are seeking a truly inclusive school system. One that, in the words of Albemarle County Public School's antiracism policy, is committed to eliminating inequitable practices and cultivating and the unique gifts, talents and interests of every child to end the predictive value of social or cultural factors such as race, class or gender on student success. We are grateful for your leadership in this endeavor. My name is Mary Govan, and I'm a 10th-grader at Albemarle High School.

Julie Govan  16:33

My name is Julie Govan and I am Mary's mom, and I am mom to three other children who are also students at Albemarle County Public Schools.

Mary Garner McGehee  16:44

So why did y'all decide to write and then distribute this letter that we're going to talk about today?

Julie Govan  16:50

Two of my kids are at Henley Middle School, which is where they are trialing some courageous conversations lessons, which I don't want to speak for Dr. Costa, the principal, but the way I would describe them is an effort to put into practice some of the ideas around Albemarle County's antiracism policy and you know, sort of inclusive and welcoming classroom concepts. And they were trialing these at Henley. And so, because I have kids at Henley, and because I'm interested in supporting my kids at Henley, I had kind of gotten maybe greater awareness of what was going on there. And the fact that these lessons were being met with consternation by some families, and support by a lot of families. And I think a lot of families just weren't really aware because this is a really busy time, and not everybody knows everything that's going on in the schools. And so what a handful of parents did, and I was included in that handful, although I was not the, the initiator of that process, was sort of put together our ideas in a letter so that the school board would have this, this larger statement about like, "Hey, we we agree with what you're doing, we support your mission. And we, we want to make sure you hear that and you hear our voices." And then I guess the, the other kind of big thing that the letter spells out as a request is to not set this up as opt out. You can't tell people, "If you don't like it, you can skip it." These lessons should be set up so that, so they work well. So that, that kids are equipped to say, "This makes me super confused, or this, this doesn't match how my family sees the world or this makes me feel seen and heard and I'm delighted." Or you know any of that. I think that teachers are really great at dealing with that. And the letter wants them to have those opportunities. And that's really how the letter came to be written.

Mary Govan  18:56

I decided to sign the letter because I wanted to show the School Board that I supported the important topics they were trying to emphasize. And I decided to distribute the letter because I knew that there were like, there were many people in the county who, who probably agreed with it and maybe even more people who than, than the people who disagreed. So I knew if we wanted to show it to the school board, we needed a lot of proof that we wanted to continue with these hard topics and we were in support of them.

Mary Garner McGehee  19:35

So, talking a little bit more broadly. Where do you all see room for improvement in terms of inclusivity at Albemarle, in the Albemarle County Public Schools.

Mary Govan  19:46

I feel like seeing a lot of, a lot more teachers of color in the schools would like, would really help. I think it would, would help the students who are of color feel like they are part of the school community more. And I think doing that would be a great start and open up a lot more opportunities.

Julie Govan  20:09

I'd love to see, I'd love to see Black History Month not just be part of one month. I'd love to see civil rights leaders who are LGBTQ represented as well, civil rights leaders who are Black, I'd love to see the stories of Asian Americans and other immigrants in the US addressed as part of history and civics. Those would all be great steps. And lots of individual teachers are already awesome about taking those steps. But equipping all of our teachers to take those steps would be really magical.

Mary Garner McGehee  20:51

Are you able to give any examples of the sort of discrimination or bias that you see fellow students struggle with?

Mary Govan  20:59

I'd say a typical example is of people who are specific race or gender get randomly stopped in the halls more often than others and asked where they are going, even when the other group of people aren't. Another example, I think, is that teachers would mix me and the only other Asian kid in like the grade up, even though we have different, like, specific features.

Julie Govan  21:36

Yeah, it happened repeatedly actually. There was at least one teacher who just could not tell Mary and this other kid apart. And I can tell you that Mary was at the same elementary school from K through five, and every single year, she was the only person of color in her class. And as it was explained to me, the kids there, there were two or three other kids of color, and they were all each placed individually into separate classrooms, so each classroom would have some diversity. But, the problem with that is that it meant that the kids who were most isolated racially never got to be around anybody else who, who didn't look like the mainstream. And so for Mary, I think, like, I was thrilled, I was thrilled her her fifth grade year. And I was like, "Yes! Finally!" And I was really glad that that decision had shifted. I didn't really want her to be the poster child for diversity for her peers.

Mary Garner McGehee  22:45

What would you all say like an inclusive Albemarle County Public School System would look like? Like, what signs of change are you all hoping to see?

Mary Govan  22:54

My mom kind of touched on this, but I would say in addition to the more teachers of color represented throughout our schools, I'd also love to see a more diverse curriculum where there's like, for history or English, not just white people or white men talked about or, or their books read.

Julie Govan  23:20

I do love it that teachers frequently on the sort of more optional, like you pick what you want to read, try to offer some, some different choices. But, but to a certain extent, they're limited by the curriculum. It's set.

Mary Garner McGehee  23:32

Is there anything else y'all want to add or that we didn't touch on but you think is really important?

Julie Govan  23:38

I guess I would add one thing. One of the one of the things about writing this letter and signing this letter, and watching the names fill up. On the one hand, it's so exciting to see all of the different people from all over the community who are signing up. It's, it's heartwarming, and then at the same time, you asked like what a more inclusive school community would look like? And I think a more inclusive school community would be one where every principal signals to every teacher and family that they support this work. So many principals and educators have signed this letter, but I have no idea what the pressures on our teachers and our educators are, and I would love to see every single one of them feel positive about this move and empowered to support it.

Mary Garner McGehee  24:36

WTJU is supported by the Southern Environmental Law Center, protecting Virginia's air, water and natural treasures, and leading the way towards a healthy environment for all. Learn more at southernenvironment.org. In our next segment, you're going to hear from our Assistant Producer Annie Parnell and her conversation with musician Sam Gleaves about roots music, storytelling and what he hopes will come out this year's Pride Month.

Sam Gleaves  25:05

"I was born here just the same as you. Another time, another day. I'm sure the good Lord took his time, made each of us just this way."

Annie Parnell  25:21

For those of our listeners who aren't familiar with your music, what would you say are the three most important songs to start with?

Sam Gleaves  25:27

Oh, well, that's an interesting question. No one's ever asked me to do that. So, a song that I have performed a lot that I wrote is called, "Ain't We Brothers," which is about a coal miner from West Virginia who is openly gay and resisted discrimination. He is a very brave person, a hero in Appalachian history, I would say, one of the few working class gay people from Appalachia, who has spoken out a lot about their identity and been an activist. And I was very honored that a great singer from West Virginia named Tim O'Brien sang with me on that song. Another song that I like to share a lot is called "Stockyard Hill." I recorded it with Tyler Hughes, who's also from Southwest Virginia. That song is taken from the words of my great aunt who's an amazing matriarch in our family and storyteller. A traditional song that I've often played in song is called "My Singing Bird." It's an Irish song that I adapted for old time Clawhammer Banjo, and I like to sing that one a lot. So there's, there's a couple of ones to start with. Two of those are on my record, "Ain't We Brothers" and the other was, is on a record called "Sam Gleaves and Tyler Hughes."

Annie Parnell  27:18

So how did you first get involved in old time and bluegrass?

Sam Gleaves  27:21

I was very fortunate to grow up in Wyth county in southwest Virginia, which is an area where old timey music is still played in the community often. You know, in the summertime, usually there are festivals and Fiddler's conventions happening where people are gathering and playing music. And there's a lot of local gathering places where people swap stories and songs and tunes and things. And then I met other musicians who were generous to help me learn by listening and watching them, which is the old way, you know, of transmitting this music. Because a long time ago, you know, most musicians who played Appalachian music wouldn't have read music, like classical musicians do. They would have learned by singing around the house or in their work environment or with family or in church or those sorts of spaces. People learn by listening. So I was just very lucky to grow up in that environment. And I'm thankful for it all the time, because it led me to a career in teaching Appalachian music, which is what I do now at Berea College. I teach Appalachian instruments, and I direct our bluegrass ensemble. "There's no one that can sing so sweet, my singing bird, as you. No there's none of them can sing so sweet, my singing bird, as you."

Annie Parnell  29:07

When it comes to songs like "Ain't We Brothers?" there's this really interesting intersection of storytelling and activism and your music. Could you tell us more about that? What links those practices for you?

Sam Gleaves  29:17

When I was a student at Berea College, we read quite a bit of literature from the Highlander Center. So the Highlander Center is in Eastern Tennessee, outside of Knoxville. It's called the Highlander Research and Education Center now, but it began as the Highlander Folk School. And so the whole philosophy guiding the Highlander Center is that you can organize and you can bring people together across lines of difference, across class, race, gender, sexual orientation, all these things if you share your culture, and you listen to the culture of others through stories and songs and that sort of thing. So it's cultural organizing, I think really has been the crux of what Highlander has done over the years. When I was reading about activists, like Gaia, Kandi, Carolyn and others who had been at the Highlander center in their approaches to organizing by bringing people together to sing as, as was done in the civil rights movement and other movements, I thought, "Where are the stories of LGBTQ people from Appalachia? And how can we lift those up in the form of songs?" And you know, just sort of give people a tiny window into the experience of what it's like to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, what have you, and being from Appalachia. So I have only a tiny window to show people what that's like, because I'm a gay man that grew up in Appalachia. But the LGBTQ community is such a huge kaleidoscope of different experiences, right? So I don't claim to represent everyone. That's never been my goal. But what I can do is I can share a little bit from my experience, and say, just by existing and just by making my music, you know, I am a gay person from Appalachia. People do have healthy, whole lives in this region. People do find family. My, my blood family loves and supports me for who I am. And also I have a lot of chosen family who have done the same. And I've, I've chosen to live in Kentucky, because I love my community. And I love the people here and the culture here. So I just want to share with people that there is an LGBTQ+ community in Appalachia. And when I talk about it, it makes me want to write more, it makes me want to learn more about what's happening in our region and write more about it because so much of that history has been pushed to the margins.  "First things first, I'm a blue collar man. Scars on my knuckles, dust on my hands. Probably wouldnt have ever known I've got a man waiting on me at home."

Annie Parnell  32:29

That actually goes pretty perfectly into my next question, which is what's something that you think people get wrong about Appalachia? And maybe by extent its LGBTQ community?

Sam Gleaves  32:40

When I've traveled and performed outside of the Appalachian region, several people have asked me, "Do you feel unsafe living where you do and being openly gay?" And they've, they've asked me that in various terms, but that's what they were asking, you know. And that made me think because safety is a very relative thing. Ssafety is very tied to your privilege. You know, for me as a white cisgendered gay man, from a middle class family, I do feel safe being who I am. It made me think about who, who doesn't feel safe, you know, in in our region? Who doesn't feel safe in Boston and New York, you know? Where are LGBT people are not protected in the eyes of the law, in in their communities, and their families, neighborhoods, all these things? You know, so I hope that we can all think, you know, as we celebrate pride, and as we think about what it means to be LGBT in the year 2021, that we'll try to stand beside our kin, you know, who are LGBT, who don't feel safe in some way or can't express themselves.

Annie Parnell  34:15

More of a nitty gritty question about your music and how it's developed over the past few years. But "Ain't We Brothers" is largely originals. It's mostly songs that you've written with a couple of others mixed in. But lately, you've been doing this interesting series of collaborations with other artists that really emphasize the folk and traditional covers. Is that a shift that you've noticed?

Sam Gleaves  34:37

My original music for me, has always been something that I wrote more for myself and that show, you know, I write songs about my own experience, so I don't always feel like sharing them publicly. And it's a lot more challenging in a way to work up the music that you have written with a collaborator because you have to, you know, explain what the chord progression is, or arrange it and do it, you know, some people love that process. I have found that I enjoy creating original music and working with other musicians to, to arrange it. But I also really just love old time music, and I love country music and bluegrass, and there's so many styles, you know, that I'm interested in. So what I found more often when I collaborate with people is that, you know, let's do what we know, let's, you know, let's make this a collaboration. And I guess I don't want to take up too much space with my original music when I collaborate with people, but, but I am working on another record. I'm just arranging the songs now. But I am working on another record that is more original songs than I've recorded in the past few years. So I'm excited about that.

Annie Parnell  36:05

That is really exciting. Where are you in the process of putting the new music together?

Sam Gleaves  36:08

Now I'm in the process of choosing which songs I feel like I want to share this point and deciding what what is relevant to share right now. Yeah, so that's, that's really fun, you know, going through sort of my musical diary from the past couple years. Because "Ain't We Brothers" was sort of like this too. I had written a lot of those songs over five or six years or so. And so now I'm sort of in that place again, where it's been five or six years again, and I've got material to pick from.

Mary Garner McGehee  36:54

Well, that does it for this week's edition of Charlottesville Soundboard, your source for news, culture and community issues in Central Virginia. My name is Mary Garner McGehee and our Assistant Producers this week are Karen Kern and Annie Parnell. This is Charlottesville Soundboard.