Transparency News, 6/8/2022

Wednesday
June 8, 2022

There was no newsletter yesterday, June 7.

state & local news stories

A virtual committee meeting of the Virginia LGBTQ+ Advisory Board in May was interrupted by a group of people flooding the chat with racist and homophobic messages and imagery. Board chairperson Lisa Turner told VPM News she wants to see public support from Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration following the incident in May. “We were conducting business on behalf of the administration,” she said.  Turner said she met with the leadership of the other boards and learned that this was the first such interruption of an advisory board’s virtual public meeting. She said all chairpeople agreed to request a commitment from Commonwealth Secretary Kay Coles James' office to review and update policies around remote public meetings.
VPM

Virginia Beach City Council has unanimously approved the zoning change needed for a massive, new e-commerce robotics fulfillment center, which multiple sources say will be home to Amazon. In an 11-0 vote, council approved the motion to modify proffers and to rezone in preparation for the rumored Amazon plant. However, the project is not quite yet done as the city of Virginia Beach must still create a development agreement before they can use taxpayer dollars on the project. Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer states that the agreement will be a public process.
WAVY

The Bristol Virginia City Council met privately again Tuesday to discuss a pending lawsuit with its sister city. This marked the second time in the past four days the council has met behind closed doors to review details of a complaint filed by the city of Bristol, Tennessee regarding the Virginia landfill and its potential response. The council met in a called session Tuesday after meeting for an hour and 40 minutes this past Saturday. All discussions were held outside the presence of the public and news media, citing an exception in the Virginia Freedom of Information Act that allows public bodies to enter closed sessions to discuss litigation and strategy with counsel — in this case, City Manager/City Attorney Randy Eads.
Bristol Herald Courier

A lawsuit filed last week against the Harrisonburg School Board came after months of correspondence between the national organization representing the six local plaintiffs and school officials over the district’s policies regarding transgender students.  The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian organization based in Arizona, has argued that policies the school board approved infringes upon parents’ rights by excluding them from having a say in a child’s preferred name, pronouns and gender identity. School leaders have pointed to documents outlining how the policy includes a student’s parents in discussions about such issues.  According to letters the Harrisonburg City Schools posted on the district’s website, the Alliance Defending Freedom began sending letters to Superintendent Michael Richards in January demanding that the school system immediately rescind the policy concerning the treatment of transgender students who have changed their names and/or preferred pronouns.
The Citizen

A nearly six-hour Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors meeting last Thursday punctuated the nearly six-month process for the two rezoning cases involving the Upper Magnolia Green development, ultimately ending with board approvals that will accommodate a new heavy-industrial zoned technology manufacturing park; three new schools and a library; and new residential construction. The marathon meeting required a suspension of the board rules to continue the public hearings until close to midnight. Comments on the West case lasted nearly two hours with citizens lining both walls of the public meeting room after dozens rallied before the meeting to oppose the heavy industrial rezoning. In sum, 31 speakers – the majority of whom are residents of the area – were either opposed to the rezoning, requested a deferral or asked supervisors to remand the case back to the County Planning Commission; eight – many representing business groups – spoke in favor. The in-person comments were in addition to 61 “no’s” – including 40 from the Matoaca District – submitted through the online portal, according to Carroll during discussion. Later, Holland referenced the 19 comments in support that were submitted online.
Chesterfield Observer