At each of the past five City Council meetings, I have presented two ideas to improve Charlottesville in ways large and small for $10,000 or less apiece. Some ideas have been mundane, some quite interesting (if I say so myself), but I believe that all could change the city for the better. Whether or not Council will do anything about any of them remains to be seen, but I won’t bug them about (most of) them for a year or two. I’ve been posting these individually every couple of weeks, but I’ve gathered them all here in one entry. They are in chronological order, with tonight’s final ideas last.
Microgrants for Social Change1
I should like to see small grants made available to citizens of Charlottesville for the purpose of effecting social change. These grants should not exceed $100 each, and should be made available to citizens under the age of 21. $100 may not sound like much, but an innovative mind without significant income can make it go a long way. For example, a 14-year-old girl who feels that her neighborhood’s woes are not being adequately addressed by the city or the local media could request $60 to make several hundred photocopies of her own community newsletter. Or a 17-year-old boy who would like to start a neighborhood vegetable garden for his younger peers could request $100 for supplies. These grants should be provided with as little hassle as possible — no paperwork involved — and reviewed and provided on the spot by a thoughtful, accessible administrator. I estimate an annual cost of under $5,000, although that would vary, depending on the program’s success.
Sustaining Grants for Social Change
I should like to see a sizable grant made available once annually for the purpose of sustaining a social activist for a period of weeks or months, such that they could devote themselves wholly to their work in that period. For example, a public housing activist may find that she does not have nearly enough time to dedicate to her work — between working 40 hour weeks and having a family to care for, only a weekend here and a weekend there may be available. She could apply for a grant of $8,000 — the same as two months’ income — to allow her to work on public housing issues full-time for that period. This should require an extensive review and application process. i suggest that the harsh glare of the inevitable media spotlight would be enough to ensure that the receiver of the grant did not waste their time.
Municipal Use of Free Software
Municipalities and even nations have started to discover that they do not need to use expensive commercial software on their computers. For decades, software developers around the world have collaboratively written free software that frequently outperforms commercial software, much to the frustration of industry giants like Microsoft. Programs like Linux, Apache, OpenOffice, and Sendmail. Increasingly, U.S. municipalities and even whole nations are discovering that they can save millions of dollars by switching to this free software. The 70,000-person city of Largo, Florida made the switch a few years ago — they’re saving over a million dollars a year on software, hardware, support, and employee costs. The city of Munich, Germany made the switch last week. I can only imagine how much they’ll save.
I should like for the city to formalize the consideration of free software whenever appropriate. Because free software is not usually made by corporations, there is nobody available to respond to an RFP put out by the city IT department when they’re searching for a new mail server, a website management package, or 500 licenses for a word processor. I should like for the IT department to provide a bid to themselves, by researching the available options among free software programs, determining the cost of implementation, and considering those options on the same merits as third-party bids for commercial software. Having had some exposure to the IT department, notably employee John Lewis, I know that they are more than capable of providing well-researched internal bids to promote this cost saving measure.
The price tag on this? I suspect somewhere around $5,000 in employee time, but I’m afraid that I don’t know for certain. But the cost savings could be huge.
Downtown Municipal Wireless Network
In early January, I privately proposed to you the creation of a wireless network blanketing the Downtown Mall with Internet connectivity. Although there has been much further discussion, it has not yet happened. So allow me to say it again, in a public forum. The idea is this: use off-the-shelf hardware combined with inexpensive weather housing and a run-of-the-mill DSL Internet connection to create an 802.11b-based wireless network that would run from City Hall to the Omni. Laptops commonly come with the necessary hardware to connect to such a system. I’ve talked to restaurateurs, and they love it because it makes downtown the natural lunch and dinner spot for wired professionals that crave connectivity. Tourists and professionals here on business trips love it, because it makes downtown the obvious place to be to stay in touch with home. And, of course, citizens love it, because it makes it all the nicer to spend time sitting outside on beautiful days like today. Best of all, a local Internet service provider is willing to foot the bill for the cost of the DSL. The estimated price tag for all of this? A one-time fee of just under $3,000.
Preserve Commercial Art
In our efforts to preserve the character of the downtown historic district, it is important that we not overlook some of the architectural nuances brought about by the commerce that took place here from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s. One of the strongest reminders of those days past is the faded commercial artwork that adorns the walls of many buildings. There are signs painted throughout the downtown area that proclaim the quality of a particular hamburger, extoll the refreshment of a Coca-Cola, or list the wide variety of products available within. As these signs disappear due to simple weathering and exposure to sunlight, we are losing an easily-preserved element that makes downtown both a tourist destination and the colorful place that it is. I propose the creation of a small program that would reimburse property owners for the cost of repainting and maintaining those signs. In many cases, the cost of repainting those signs would run only a few hundred dollars, but the owners of those buildings may not appreciate the value of maintaining them. If this program were successful, it might cost as much as a few thousand dollars a year, but, due to the dwindling number of these murals that remain, probably not a whole lot more than that.
Redesign the Water Bills
Redesign the water bills. Currently, these are extremely straightforward: “here’s how much water that you used, here’s how much that it costs.” Although the often-enclosed encouragements to conserve are good, some more direct information would be easy to generate and surely helpful. For example, each bill could indicate the quantity of water in use compared to the city average, stating something like “you use as much water as the average three person household in Charlottesville.” Of course, if this bill is going to a household of one, they might see the need to change their behavior. Historical data would be wonderful — perhaps a graph showing a household’s last 12 months of water usage, so that they can see the results of their water conservation. Corresponding words of praise and encouragement would be all the better, along with appropriate tips for further conservation. It would surely be of great help to provide ongoing reminders of the need to conserve water, such that each citizen can be aware of the quantity that they are personally using. I must admit that I’m unable to provide a cost estimate of this, as it is entirely contingent on the nature of the existing billing system, with which I am unfamiliar. That said, such a system would be both conceptually and programmatically simple to create and, should it help prevent another water crisis, the savings to the city could be impressive.
Poster Boards
Our nation has a long and proud history of the display and distribution of handbills and posters. Throughout the 1700s and 1800s, handbills were the primary method of promotion by average citizens, permitting cheap and easy advertising and political expression. In fact, handbills were essential to the coordination of efforts among Americans in the 1770s to rise up and revolt against the British. It was handbills that the framers of the Constitution very much had in mind when they provided us with freedom of the press.
Unfortunately, there is no sign of this in Charlottesville. In the past decade, the number of public spaces for the posting of handbills has dropped dramatically, as many a professional poster-hanger has lamented. Just on the Downtown Mall, we’ve gone from having three kiosks to just one. Those looking to promote an event or an interest are left to inquire within shops to gain permission to put posters within the shop windows, permission that is often denied. This leaves only surfaces like walls, windows of empty storefronts and telephone poles, all of which are forbidden by law. I know many business owners who have been frustrated to arrive at work in the morning to find posters stuck to their windows.
I ask that the city provide public surfaces to permit this American tradition to carry on in a legal fashion. It is a cheap and simple way to allow free expression. The cost of doing so should be negligible – just the price of a few dozen cork boards and a handful of screws…maybe a few thousand dollars for kiosks, if you want to get fancy.
Move Council Elections
Our elections must be moved from May to November. You first took up this issue in November 19th of 2001, concluding that Council should look into moving them. It has been brought up occasionally ever since, but never to any resolution. It’s time to do something about it.
In the last City Council election, we had an absolutely appalling 22% turn out. That’s less than half of what we get during a general election.
Delegate Mitch Van Yahres successfully introduced a bill during the 2002 General Assembly session that permits localities to change elections to November. Richmond was one of the first cities to take advantage of this, and the change was reportedly a rousing success. Apparently, voters feel energized and more aware of political matters when November rolls around, because that is the primary thrust of local and national media coverage during that time.
As far back as September of 2001, The Electoral Board beseeched Council to make the change, having voted unanimously in support of doing so. The savings of time and money would be tremendous. In fact, not only would there not be a cost affiliated with moving elections to November, but, according the Voter Registrar’s office, we would save $29,000 each election year.
The only reason that I’ve heard for holding elections in May is that only the dedicated, informed voters will vote then, and so there’s a more informed electorate. That’s hogwash. If we’re so determined to ensure that less educated voters don’t take part in the political process, perhaps we could institute a reading test or a poll tax. How far are we willing to go to ensure that the average Charlottesville citizen will not vote in City Council elections?
It’s time to move Council elections to the same odd-numbered years that we use to elect our Constitutional officers and our state representatives.
MP3s of Council Meetings
I used up my allotted time on May 19th, as I have at every meeting. It’s only because I talk so fast that I can fit all of this in. Despite all of this talking, [Clerk of Council] Ms. Cox’s minutes indicate only as follows:
“Mr. Waldo Jaquith, North 1st Street, presented what he said will be the first of ten ideas for the City to consider: 1) making grants of $100 each available for residents under 21 who work for social change (at an annual cost of approximately $5,000); and 2) provide a sizeable grant for sustaining a social activist.”
And that’s certainly the gist of what I said. In fact, having reviewed minutes from city councils throughout the U.S., I know that Ms. Cox does a wonderful job of providing unusually detailed minutes. But we can do better.
One of my favorite things about National Public Radio is that, if I miss something or want to hear a commentary again, I don’t have to settle for a mere overview of what was said. For years now, it has been simple to listen to hours-, weeks- or even years-old stories from any of their shows, by simply going to their website and downloading the audio of that show. Charlottesville’s own Dave Matthews Band permits archiving of all of their recordings, allowing fans to easily download a pristine copy of virtually any song from any past performance.
I believe that we would be wise to make use of the city’s website to accomplish this same goal. The recorded audio from each Council meeting should be put onto the website, along with the minutes, and permanently archived there. This would not just be useful for those who missed the meeting, but fantastically useful to historians in 10, 50, or 100 years’ time.
Having set up similar systems in the past, I can say that this ought not require a great deal of work. An hour’s time per Council meeting at the most, probably considerably less. Including the potential additional costs for the website, I estimate a maximum cost of $1,000 per year, though more likely closer to $500.
Adopt-a-Supervisor
Charlottesville and Albemarle are both regularly criticized for a lack of cooperation on a variety of fronts. Everything has come under fire, from the police forces to the rescue squads, the planning departments to the school systems. There are a variety of reasons for these disconnects and items of confusion, but it all basically comes down to a lack of communication. The interactions between supervisors and councilors happen on a fairly shallow, infrequent basis.
That’s why I propose the creation of an Adopt-a-Supervisor program. I want each of you to select a new best friend in a member from the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors. Have dinner with them once a month. Go out for coffee or drinks once a week. Ask your new buddy and their family to join your family in attending the big game at UVa. Bake a cake for their birthday. Send flowers when they’re sick. (You’ll know they’re sick because you won’t have heard for them for a few days, and you will naturally become worried.)
Now, Democrats, no fighting over Sally Thomas. First come, first served. But Councilor Schilling, you get David Bowerman.
When all of you start doing this, I guarantee you that you won’t be surprised by anything that the Board of Supervisors does. In fact, I bet that you’ll find some coordination starts to happen, with Albemarle and Charlottesville finding common problems and common solutions, inevitably bettering both parties.
And the price of all this? Well…who could put a price on friendship?
1In the interest of giving credit where credit is due, this idea comes from William Upski Wimsatt’s “No More Prisons,” which I read about a year and a half ago.