Today I graduated from Leadership Cville. I hope people in our community will consider applying for it. One of the fellows in the last year’s Sorenson Class (documented by Across the Aisle), is this year’s Chamber’s Small Business Man of the Year recipient- Grant Tate. I have had the honor of knowing Grant Tate casually for about a year, I am more familiar with others in his organization Bridge, LTD- Jennifer Till and Connie Brennan. I particularly appreciated his comment (because they awards are always a surprise) “now I know why my brother flew into town” so cute and honest. I appreciate that about Grant and his team.
I celebrated JustChildren’s 10th bday last night at the old Michie building. The program at the Legal Aid Justice Center is remarkable, and involves any educational related legal issues. Congratulations to JustChildren and LAJC.
"Across the Aisle" appeared on PBS last night as I mentioned I was at a bday party so I only had a chance to watch the last fifteen minutes. The program was well done and I look forward to see the whole thing soon.
On the tv front, I haven’t watched General hospital in months- is that progress? I barely keep up with the show online, I also barely watch anything except ten oclock news, Frazier and Seinfeld as I am falling asleep. Although this evening I did get sucked into the Lost finale- I do follow that online, particularly the WaPo’s Lost chats, and btw wtf? This show is unbelieveable. Oh my goodness, that ending was completely unexpected.
Chris is setting up the directv for our annual Tour de France three week marathon. It was nice of the WaPo to write about cycling today- about the performance enhancing drugs and David Millar, reformed doper.
I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea- I look forward to a good night sleep soon, I told Chris that it feels so dumb to expect sleep to make me feel less tired- it just doesn’t, and I have no way of feeling less tired until the c-pap makes an appearance in my house.
Showing posts with label Chamber. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chamber. Show all posts
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
What is going on here?
Over on www.CvilleNews.com, a commenter (hey Karl) asks 'what is the backstory here?' with respect to the new EMS program at the fire department.
A good place to start is the presentation by the chair of the oversight committee and the report the committee created.
You know the saying, "the ends justify the means"? It is kind of what is going on here. I am going to take this story backwards since at the end here it started to make a little sense.
The Chair of the Committee (MaryLooseDeviney- and I know I butchered her name, apologies) was the one who described it best- when she visited the emergency communications center on a weekday- all the ambulances (3) were out on calls at some point (she got there at 8, the time all ambulances were on calls was 9:15). She then details her thoughts, if at that time, one of her customers falls on the downtown mall, what would happen, who would come to their aid?
In reality- a first responder would until an ambulance was cleared. Cville/Albemarle (and many other jurisdictions) have a tiered response system- fire engine goes first with a medic/EMT onboard to administer care. The ambulance comes next.
Notice she didnt mention anything about response times? Funny...
In fact she stated there is no problem with the response times on CARS end. (the report [pdf] indicates the CFD has some issues with response times, but apparently is outside the scope of inquiry).
There is this lovely thing called ambulance utilization yadda ya- it is a metric, the metric for Cville is 3.5 ambulances (I am not an expert on this stuff), CARS has three ambulances during the day. The report indicates this metric standard is used widely but "much debated." um, ok.
Again nothing to do with response times.
What the CFD is pleased about is getting rid of the tiered system, they are seeking to collapse the tiers into one, one in which they will be the only ones to respond, I suppose CARS will still respond too since CFD is only seeking 2 ambulances ($530,000 over ten years) and 6 paid medics (high level training). Will this translate into quicker response times? I dont think it matters for CARS since that is not an issue for them, but for CFD? I hope so.
Finally the emergency communication center will still have to ask tier questions for County calls. An argument made by Taliferro is 'you never trust the person on the phone to be as accurate as an impartial observer' about the condition of the patient. And here I absolutely agree with him. But I dont think it is worth spending all of this money on since the same tier system questions will likely still be asked of every caller.
A great aspect of the Oversight Committee is the creation of standards for performance. I know everyone will benefit from that.
So despite the means being about CARS response times, the ends of creating an taxpayer subsidized ambulance service justified that tarnishing of CARS (I jest of course). I wish the CFD had approached it in a better, more honest way.
The question left unanswered by everyone "how are these recommendations going to change the response times for first responders?" Lynch asked some good questions that were answered in very circular fashion thus creating frustration and confusion by those of us who thought the questions were reasonable.
I know reasonable people differ, I respect the folks who created this new service and hope it does create a better service for the community since we are spending so much money on it. My opinion is ultimately the committee didnt need to rely on the 'four' chiefs to come up with a proposal, an innovative, more cost effective plan could have been achievable and workable. I will gladly change my thoughts on the subject if I see a dramatic improvement, so stay tuned.
A good place to start is the presentation by the chair of the oversight committee and the report the committee created.
You know the saying, "the ends justify the means"? It is kind of what is going on here. I am going to take this story backwards since at the end here it started to make a little sense.
The Chair of the Committee (MaryLooseDeviney- and I know I butchered her name, apologies) was the one who described it best- when she visited the emergency communications center on a weekday- all the ambulances (3) were out on calls at some point (she got there at 8, the time all ambulances were on calls was 9:15). She then details her thoughts, if at that time, one of her customers falls on the downtown mall, what would happen, who would come to their aid?
In reality- a first responder would until an ambulance was cleared. Cville/Albemarle (and many other jurisdictions) have a tiered response system- fire engine goes first with a medic/EMT onboard to administer care. The ambulance comes next.
Notice she didnt mention anything about response times? Funny...
In fact she stated there is no problem with the response times on CARS end. (the report [pdf] indicates the CFD has some issues with response times, but apparently is outside the scope of inquiry).
There is this lovely thing called ambulance utilization yadda ya- it is a metric, the metric for Cville is 3.5 ambulances (I am not an expert on this stuff), CARS has three ambulances during the day. The report indicates this metric standard is used widely but "much debated." um, ok.
Again nothing to do with response times.
What the CFD is pleased about is getting rid of the tiered system, they are seeking to collapse the tiers into one, one in which they will be the only ones to respond, I suppose CARS will still respond too since CFD is only seeking 2 ambulances ($530,000 over ten years) and 6 paid medics (high level training). Will this translate into quicker response times? I dont think it matters for CARS since that is not an issue for them, but for CFD? I hope so.
Finally the emergency communication center will still have to ask tier questions for County calls. An argument made by Taliferro is 'you never trust the person on the phone to be as accurate as an impartial observer' about the condition of the patient. And here I absolutely agree with him. But I dont think it is worth spending all of this money on since the same tier system questions will likely still be asked of every caller.
A great aspect of the Oversight Committee is the creation of standards for performance. I know everyone will benefit from that.
So despite the means being about CARS response times, the ends of creating an taxpayer subsidized ambulance service justified that tarnishing of CARS (I jest of course). I wish the CFD had approached it in a better, more honest way.
The question left unanswered by everyone "how are these recommendations going to change the response times for first responders?" Lynch asked some good questions that were answered in very circular fashion thus creating frustration and confusion by those of us who thought the questions were reasonable.
I know reasonable people differ, I respect the folks who created this new service and hope it does create a better service for the community since we are spending so much money on it. My opinion is ultimately the committee didnt need to rely on the 'four' chiefs to come up with a proposal, an innovative, more cost effective plan could have been achievable and workable. I will gladly change my thoughts on the subject if I see a dramatic improvement, so stay tuned.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
The next part of LC
Yesterday was a long day for us LC'ers (not arduous just long). We met at the Omni - early and by the end of the day we had choosen our projects.
I will try to remember them:
1. First Street Church project- health-related
2. Elderly oral history project (intergenerational interviews and write-up)
3. Playground stenciling-
4. Computers 4 Kids curriculum development for peer to peer mentoring and pilot the class.
5. Develop a toolkit for care providers of seniors (lightbulbs, duct tape to tape down wires or carpet etc.)
6. Financial literacy group.
I am in group #4. All of the projects were impressive. #1 had the most takers, including me and another member of my group, but we couldnt have too many people in the group so we gracefully went to group #4 (one part of this sentence is not true). #4 is a discrete project with clear objectives and I am looking forward to getting to know the folks at C4K. The group frequently applies for funding, which honestly it has not been awarded (so this is the Catholic guilt thing). The group is worthy and I am privileged to be working with the folks in my group and c4k.
I am happy to report I won an election. I am one of two representatives of my class on the LCAA (Leadership Charlottesville Alumni Association). From LCAA board to the Senate- it could happen...
I will try to remember them:
1. First Street Church project- health-related
2. Elderly oral history project (intergenerational interviews and write-up)
3. Playground stenciling-
4. Computers 4 Kids curriculum development for peer to peer mentoring and pilot the class.
5. Develop a toolkit for care providers of seniors (lightbulbs, duct tape to tape down wires or carpet etc.)
6. Financial literacy group.
I am in group #4. All of the projects were impressive. #1 had the most takers, including me and another member of my group, but we couldnt have too many people in the group so we gracefully went to group #4 (one part of this sentence is not true). #4 is a discrete project with clear objectives and I am looking forward to getting to know the folks at C4K. The group frequently applies for funding, which honestly it has not been awarded (so this is the Catholic guilt thing). The group is worthy and I am privileged to be working with the folks in my group and c4k.
I am happy to report I won an election. I am one of two representatives of my class on the LCAA (Leadership Charlottesville Alumni Association). From LCAA board to the Senate- it could happen...
Friday, November 09, 2007
Leadership at a Crossroads
There are two parts to LC, the first ten weeks are a four or five hour class once a week. The other is a group based, self-directed project to be completed by May when we graduate! This week was our last official Leadership Cville class.
I enjoyed every week (although I was sick one week and only could savor the wonderful BRIX lunch- sponsored by BartonMalow- before I went home). I am one of those annoying people who get a lot out of things, so while some are bored, I am on the edge of my seat (sidenote to my high school teachers- this happened sometime in college- I apologize for napping, doodling or otherwise not focusing in your class).
So what project idea do I have after learning so much about the Charlottesville-Albemarle region? ... I may not present an idea, I havent quite decided. Sometimes it is nice to be a member of a group, not the originator of the idea. I have a lot of energy to move a project, but I find it difficult to move people to the idea of my project and keep them motivated throughout. I am still learning about leadership.
I have one idea- I actually had this inspiration at a QCC meeting on Restorative Justice. I am throwing it out because I want someone to make this happen and I have very little time to devote to doing it right.
My idea involves offenders coming out of jail (non-violent and other qualifiers that I am not thinking of right now); recidivism rates are exceptionally high among this population because offenders find it difficult to get a job. It is hard to find a job for a number of reasons (training, depression and offender status). My hope is to have a non-profit in this community (ie OAR) to work with Chamber businesses and offenders to facilitate transition from jail to the workforce. Cville has an inordinate amount of non-profits so I dont want anyone starting another new one, and the jail here is progressive so the folks do try to help promote a smooth transition already. However, with training specific to the jobs available, mental health treatment and reasonable expectations on the part of the offender perhaps the recidivism rate would improve.
What about it? Is this possible? Is it true I dont have time or am I making excuses?
I enjoyed every week (although I was sick one week and only could savor the wonderful BRIX lunch- sponsored by BartonMalow- before I went home). I am one of those annoying people who get a lot out of things, so while some are bored, I am on the edge of my seat (sidenote to my high school teachers- this happened sometime in college- I apologize for napping, doodling or otherwise not focusing in your class).
So what project idea do I have after learning so much about the Charlottesville-Albemarle region? ... I may not present an idea, I havent quite decided. Sometimes it is nice to be a member of a group, not the originator of the idea. I have a lot of energy to move a project, but I find it difficult to move people to the idea of my project and keep them motivated throughout. I am still learning about leadership.
I have one idea- I actually had this inspiration at a QCC meeting on Restorative Justice. I am throwing it out because I want someone to make this happen and I have very little time to devote to doing it right.
My idea involves offenders coming out of jail (non-violent and other qualifiers that I am not thinking of right now); recidivism rates are exceptionally high among this population because offenders find it difficult to get a job. It is hard to find a job for a number of reasons (training, depression and offender status). My hope is to have a non-profit in this community (ie OAR) to work with Chamber businesses and offenders to facilitate transition from jail to the workforce. Cville has an inordinate amount of non-profits so I dont want anyone starting another new one, and the jail here is progressive so the folks do try to help promote a smooth transition already. However, with training specific to the jobs available, mental health treatment and reasonable expectations on the part of the offender perhaps the recidivism rate would improve.
What about it? Is this possible? Is it true I dont have time or am I making excuses?
Friday, February 23, 2007
Conversations on Poverty
The Quality Community Council & the Virginia Organizing Project sponsored a conversation on the poverty of Criminal Justice issues as part of their ongoing conversations on poverty.
The panelists included Shon Parker, Community Activist; Phyllis Back, Charlottesville Albemarle Regional Jail; Joy Johnson, Quality Community Council; Christa Pierpont, Restorative Community Foundation; Jack Payden-Travers, Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Moderators David Saunier and Jen Larson Sawin, Central Virginia Restorative Justice.
Two things I take with me as I leave the program-
1) As a community, we should educate ourselves on the power of restorative justice and implement RJ techniques in our schools and larger community.
2) Redefining punishment to stop at the end of a jail term/probation and focusing on support for an ex-offender. We are quick to turn our backs on folks when they need our help most, unfortunately if we turn our backs, the ex-offender has few choices and may be more likely to recidivate (that is a word I think).
The program was a true conversation and we (as the audience and panelists) are hoping to generate interest in RJ and facilitating transition for offenders back into the community.
Next conversation is on hunger next Tuesday at Buford at 7:00PM.
I am proud to live in a community where these conversations are happening AND action and results are expected.
The panelists included Shon Parker, Community Activist; Phyllis Back, Charlottesville Albemarle Regional Jail; Joy Johnson, Quality Community Council; Christa Pierpont, Restorative Community Foundation; Jack Payden-Travers, Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Moderators David Saunier and Jen Larson Sawin, Central Virginia Restorative Justice.
Two things I take with me as I leave the program-
1) As a community, we should educate ourselves on the power of restorative justice and implement RJ techniques in our schools and larger community.
2) Redefining punishment to stop at the end of a jail term/probation and focusing on support for an ex-offender. We are quick to turn our backs on folks when they need our help most, unfortunately if we turn our backs, the ex-offender has few choices and may be more likely to recidivate (that is a word I think).
The program was a true conversation and we (as the audience and panelists) are hoping to generate interest in RJ and facilitating transition for offenders back into the community.
Next conversation is on hunger next Tuesday at Buford at 7:00PM.
I am proud to live in a community where these conversations are happening AND action and results are expected.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Chamber event
Fascinating evening with nearly 500 of my closest friends. Grace Carpenter won the Paul Goodlowe McIntire Award for Citizenship (in case you too were on the edge of your seat). She is clearly deserving, even though I havent had the opportunity to meet her.
The food was not that good- Salad course- spinach with grilled(?) onions and two or three diced red peppers (that is to say, not much)- honestly I enjoyed the salad very much. My friend laughs at me because I came up with a great answer to the question "why do you eat so much salad?" I know you may not encounter this question a lot, but she does. The correct answer "because I can" plain and simple.
The entree was this random combination of miscellaneous fish (with every one having the exact same grill marks) that had absolutely no flavor, delicious red meat thing (very tender) with a scoop of mashed potatoes with no flavor and mixed vegetables that included eggplant and zucchini and virtually...you guessed it, no flavor. Overall, I am happy if the meat is good and it was.
The dessert- imagine a cantalope shaped like a three dimensional triangle placed upside down on your plate- then imagine it being a raspberry thing. I, along with my tablemates, were confused- it was good, but not great. I eat at the Omni regularly because of Rotary Club- the chefs make some delicious desserts (pecan pie, apple pie, chocolate cake) and usually I enjoy the food a lot (think green beans, sald, chicken, meat, veggie lasagna, fish and some starch, usually roasted pototoes). So I am somewhat surprised by the lackluster food, then again for 500 it was tolerable.
I had a great opportunity to sit with the folks from Photoworks, BB&T, Doubleplay Investments, First Settlement Title & of course my law partner.
The Embarq commercial and band (who played the jingles of Embarq) was pretty funny I have to admit (one woman at the table said it was fantastic, she believes the jingle has been underused of late and that jingles are a good tool marketing). Hantzman Weibel had this great little video on the life of Paul Goodlowe McIntire- which explained why all the things in this town are named after him. The swag included a bottle of wine/embarq wine glass and a huge thing of post its that hold a pen too from Hantzman.
Finally, Senator John Warner spoke- really extraordinary speaker so natural, good transitions from topic to topic, made the audience feel special, dealt diplomatically with Iraq and the future hearings for Defense Department Head (Bob Gates), he also mentioned Jim Webb fondly (the two have a very similar path with respect to service to their country). He didnt mention whether he would run again, he does NOT look his age at all.
The evening ended three hours later and when I got home, the Christmas tree was up! If you know me, that is a very positive thing. Thanks Chris!
The food was not that good- Salad course- spinach with grilled(?) onions and two or three diced red peppers (that is to say, not much)- honestly I enjoyed the salad very much. My friend laughs at me because I came up with a great answer to the question "why do you eat so much salad?" I know you may not encounter this question a lot, but she does. The correct answer "because I can" plain and simple.
The entree was this random combination of miscellaneous fish (with every one having the exact same grill marks) that had absolutely no flavor, delicious red meat thing (very tender) with a scoop of mashed potatoes with no flavor and mixed vegetables that included eggplant and zucchini and virtually...you guessed it, no flavor. Overall, I am happy if the meat is good and it was.
The dessert- imagine a cantalope shaped like a three dimensional triangle placed upside down on your plate- then imagine it being a raspberry thing. I, along with my tablemates, were confused- it was good, but not great. I eat at the Omni regularly because of Rotary Club- the chefs make some delicious desserts (pecan pie, apple pie, chocolate cake) and usually I enjoy the food a lot (think green beans, sald, chicken, meat, veggie lasagna, fish and some starch, usually roasted pototoes). So I am somewhat surprised by the lackluster food, then again for 500 it was tolerable.
I had a great opportunity to sit with the folks from Photoworks, BB&T, Doubleplay Investments, First Settlement Title & of course my law partner.
The Embarq commercial and band (who played the jingles of Embarq) was pretty funny I have to admit (one woman at the table said it was fantastic, she believes the jingle has been underused of late and that jingles are a good tool marketing). Hantzman Weibel had this great little video on the life of Paul Goodlowe McIntire- which explained why all the things in this town are named after him. The swag included a bottle of wine/embarq wine glass and a huge thing of post its that hold a pen too from Hantzman.
Finally, Senator John Warner spoke- really extraordinary speaker so natural, good transitions from topic to topic, made the audience feel special, dealt diplomatically with Iraq and the future hearings for Defense Department Head (Bob Gates), he also mentioned Jim Webb fondly (the two have a very similar path with respect to service to their country). He didnt mention whether he would run again, he does NOT look his age at all.
The evening ended three hours later and when I got home, the Christmas tree was up! If you know me, that is a very positive thing. Thanks Chris!
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