This community closely follows all stories about major new developments, the city/county budgets, local elections, transportation projects, zoning ordinances, the University of Virginia, and the local water supply. The most “excitement” comes from stories with “backyard” neighborhood appeal, stories where we have some important audio of elected officials discussing these matters, and stories that include details or connections that have not been reported by other media.

Our supporters in the community have shown significant interest in our local election coverage (candidate forums, candidate interviews, voter guides), research projects (e.g. this survey included focus groups & telephone polling), and efforts to simplify a complex project like the area water supply with easy to understand visuals and a common set of facts.

With additional resources, I’d like to see our partnership with the Daily Progress expand to include more collaboration on visuals (they did a map for us on this joint story) and public opinion polling. I am sure most newspapers would like to once again do more in that area, but it takes in-depth research, funding, and sometimes outside expertise/vendors.

Brian Wheeler, Executive Director, Charlottesville Tomorrow

Since we don’t have an editorial page and we don’t endorse candidates, even if our Board and donors were 100% from any political party, would that make a difference in our reporting? I would argue that it would not and that few of the local government issues we cover are even partisan matters.

That said, perceptions in the community have been important to our Board of Directors and that’s why we have sought political balance in board membership and donors over the past four years. More importantly, our track record of handling the candidates and the issues in a non-partisan and objective way speaks for itself, and that’s why the Daily Progress could partner with Charlottesville Tomorrow. Further, every local candidate has participated fully in our election coverage, voter guide, and candidate forums since 2005.

Brian Wheeler, Executive Director, Charlottesville Tomorrow

And while the quid pro quo elements are certainly worthy of discussion in this circumstance and in any partnership, I think there’s a broader element that deserves mention here: if direct money isn’t an option for the parties involved — whether because of financial limitations or the hint of “pay to play” access — perhaps efficiencies and vendor relationships could come into play.

“For example: The Charlottesville Tomorrow board is intentionally made up of Republicans, Democrats and independents”

This is claim has been much debated in Charlottesville. The board is self perpetuating group dominated by wealthy anti-growth democrats with perhaps a single RINO on the board. It’s claim of bipartisanship has been examined by the local weekly The Hook and many in this area remain unconvinced. They have no public membership and as such the board answers to no one but themselves. Local critics has pointed out as well that Charlottesville Tomorrow’s Board of Directors has given political donations almost exclusively to democrats on the local level.

As for the claim that no “money “has been exchanged that is incomplete as well. The Daily Progress will now print and distribute Charlottesville Tomorrow’s voter guide this fall. This will save Charlottesville Tomorrow tens of thousands of dollars had to pay in previous years when it distributed the voter guide themselves.

I assume almost any local paper would be proud to say its agenda is the betterment of its coverage area.

Wheeler’s advice here all sounds smart, but I’d be very curious to get some more content-oriented tips from him. What sorts of coverage does he find generates the most excitement? Have any of his projects been a hit that he can point to when he hits people up for money?

Expanding on your point a bit: Brian went out of his way to note the importance of Charlottesville in the longevity and success of Charlottesville Tomorrow. Finding places with an active and engaged community is hard to do, but the ones that are out there certainly seem like the most fertile ground for these types of hyperlocal/hypertargeted efforts.

Charlottesville has a really vibrant group of local blogs (I lived there for five years) and Charlottesville Tomorrow does a nice job of including relevant media (videos with explanatory timelines underneath, etc.) in its posts.