Newsletter — November 2020

Good afternoon,

I hope November was an easier transition into the holiday season. Thanksgiving this year was certainly different, but I hope you were able to celebrate safely whether virtually or in-person.

The City Council continued work on a few items this month, one of which being the successful conclusion of a restaurant and lodging-oriented COVID Relief Grant. Applications closed mid-month with $667,500 allotted to assist 100 local businesses. As the hospitality industry was hit hardest by the ongoing pandemic, I am glad we utilized substantial CARES Act funding so directly. Below are a few other updates.

• The photo above is from Council’s discussion around our 2020–2021 Goals, Initiatives, and Outcomes set. This plan, covered here, will be fully adopted in December, but the published version now is a great indication of new projects to be undertaken over the next two years. In this video, I tried stressing the importance of lowering our environmental impact as goal for the future.
• As Williamsburg remains close to our state-level legislators, we also voted to approve the 2021 City of Williamsburg Legislative Agenda for the General Assembly. Items include broadband expansion and closing the construction gap on I-64.
• Unrelated to Council work is this article, but I would be remiss without promoting it as it’s been on my mind so much recently. I stopped by the dig site (as you can too any day!) and found their work fascinating. I’m excited for the next phases of the project and a furthered understanding of local, African American history.
• Finally, I have been wondering around ways to be accountable and transparent, since I was promising this during the campaign. Holding “office hours” is difficult with social distancing, so I have decided on a virtual solution, which may be helpful or a hairbrained idea. This newly published page on my website describes projects outside of the normal Council work that I have the pleasure to work on with other passionate community members. If you’d like to learn more about any (and more will be added soon), please feel free to reach out.

Thank you for your love for our City. I hope you will have a healthy and restful remainder of the year. If you are looking for distanced things to do, the CW Ice Skating Rink and Christmas Market are officially back in town!

With gratitude,

Caleb

**this Newsletter is mine alone and does not represent the input of the entire City Council