The Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau (CACVB) recently issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking an outside firm “to provide electronic public relations and media services.” These services include:

• Single user license to access media database with complete contact information and access to a minimum of 8,000 media outlets including individual contacts and corresponding contact information and preferences for travel industry media persons

• Electronic tracking of earned media (not traditional clipping service MUST be electronic clips/tracking) by keyword with reporting that includes, at a minimum, a report on the number of articles per outlet, reach, circulation (or impression), and equivalent advertising value of earned media

• Press release distribution through PRWeb, PRNewswire or other credible outlets of this same function

So what exactly is CACVB and why does it require these outside services? The short answer is that CACVB is a multi-million dollar subsidy for the local hotel industry, and the proposed outside vendor represents services that don't require government funding in the first place.

Hugo Chavez dismisses golf as a "bourgeois sport" incompatible with his vision of a socialist utopia. Chavez has some fellow travelers here in Charlottesville, Virginia, where the city's political class has targeted a small but popular golf course as an impediment to the region's newest potential "crown jewel" - a taxpayer-subsidized botanical garden.