Monthly Archive for September, 2002

Rent Too High in Charlottesville

A new study by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, “Rental Housing for America’s Poor Families: Farther Out of Reach Than Ever,” says that somebody earning minimum wage in Charlottesville would have to work 104 hours to be housed comfortably. Working full-time, $13.33/hour is the required income level to do so. 48% of the renting population in Charlottesville are therefore living in homes that are priced beyond the standard 30% of the household income. “Housed comfortably,” though subjective, means a simple two-bedroom rental unit for the purpose of this report. Elizabeth Nelson has the story in today’s Daily Progress.

Child Poverty in C’ville

George Loper has combined figures from Gary Grant‘s most recent constituent report with figures from the city to come up with a list of city and county schools and the percentage of students living in poverty. Poverty percentages are defined under a federal income formula, and eligibility for a free lunch is defined by income guidelines. In the county, levels range from 59% (Yancey Elementary) to 2.9% (Meriwether Lewis Elementary); in the city, from 81% (Clark Elementary) to 21% (Venable Elementary.) This provides an interesting snapshot on the economic well-being of each corresponding district in the area.

Reservoirs Gain Water

According to the Water Emergency page on the Albemarle County Service Authority’s website, reservoir supplies have increased from 53.1.% of capacity to 53.9% of capacity. Given that an average of 1.5 inches of rain fell across the area yesterday, we can calculate that a 1% gain in the reservoirs requires approximately 1.9 inches of rain. Therefore, we would require just over 30.5 inches of rain in order to reach 70% capacity, at which point restrictions would be cut back. Good news from ACSA, as reported in the Progress, is that area water usage has dropped from an August average of 13.2M per day, to 10.4M throughout most of September, and is now down to 7.8M as a result of the most recent water restrictions.

Wal-Mart Fined for Watering Plants

Wal-Mart has been fined $500 for violating water restrictions, WINA reports. The Albemarle County Service Authority discovered that Wal-Mart was watering their plants, a violation of water restrictions. Should they be caught again, they will be fined $1,000; caught again after that, and they could have their water supply cut off entirely.

Richards Accused of UVa Mail Abuse

Charlottesville City Councilor and 5th district Congressional hopeful Meredith Richards has been acused of abusing the UVa messenger mail system for promotional purposes. 600 fundraiser invitations were sent to a handpicked list of UVa faculty members via the internal mail system, which UVa mail officials says is an abuse of the intra-school communications system. It appears that Richards may not have been aware of the manner in which the invitations were distributed, and it is not yet known who caused it to occur. Paul Quinlan has the story in today’s Cavalier Daily. Update: Richards’ campaign communication coordinator Dave Sagarin has posted a comment to this story explaining. It seems that the error was made unknowingly by UVa students, but Richards still accepts responsibility, and intends to make restitution, if necessary.

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