At tonight’s City Council meeting, the three big issues were a living wage, raising Council’s pay, and changing the date of Council elections from May to November. It was decided that the final vote on the living wage will be held in two weeks, the Council raise (from $6k to $10k for members, $8k to $12k for Mayor) may be voted on next meeting as well, and there will likely be a public hearing sometime next month on changing the election date. WVIR had the story on their 11pm broadcast.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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Once again, the Chamber president appeared on TV saying that it’s not government’s role to tell companies how much to pay their employees.
I really want to know: is this guy opposed to the concept of a minimum wage? The more often that I hear him say that, the more sure that I am that he thinks $5.25 is just outright unreasonable, that government has no role in this. Which is a debateable concept, I guess, but I think it’s a horrible position for the head of the Chamber to take.
the whole living wage thing is just a touchy subject. my stance has always been – if you dont like your job, get a new one. whats the goverment got to do with any of that?
I hope the council gives themself a raise, they are certainly not getting paid enough considering how much time and money is spent serving the city. As for the “living wage”, if you pass it you just hurt smaller businesses who will in many cases move to the county. Council have already driven many business to the county because of the property taxes. You cannot operate in a vaccum. What will happen to jobs for high school and college students will start to dry-up. And the University won’t have to pay attention to anything council does.
My advice raise the “living wage” and never build the parkway- Albemarle County will be glad you did.
Corporate America owes us! The Fed should just print money and give it out. Who cares about the econonomy at large? We’re Americans after all! We deserve everything and owe nothing!
Yes, sadly I have to point out that I’m being facetious. Apparently this is not always obvious.
Actually, after talking with many of the small business owners I know in town, I’ve found that the majority of them already pay living wage, and it’s in fact the larger businesses that don’t. It always bothers me that while you would think it’d be the other way around, it isn’t. : P
And wasn’t the county the one who wanted the Meadowcreek Parkway? Why would they be glad if we didn’t build it?
The county would be glad from a business viewpoint, as long as ergress/ingress is painful to downtown and employee complain about traffic and parking it will make downtown LESS attractive to new bigger business that downtown will need. The lost of Ground intelligence and the Dot.bombs have left noticable holes in the landscape.
The city dogged denial of the parkway has shown that they care litte for the workers of Albemarle county and don’t really want them to come downtown. Is it any wonder why Martha Jefferson decided to build in the county- it’s easier to get approval and the neighbors don’t constantly b*tching and moaning.
The city will continue to be an island of liberalism and pollyanna thinking because of the economic cocoon that the University puts them in.
The Peoples Republic of Charlotesville is a force that will continue to do what it wants. But years from now when the working poor have all moved away because of gentification of the working class neighborhoods- things might be different. The way the residents can then call for social justice and equality unburden by the sight of the people the claim to be fighting for.
I don’t mean to be insensitive, but it’s not the job of the city to care for the workers of the county, we’ve got our own to worry about. Downtown is presently in the midst of a major economic renaissance, so we needn’t go to any desperate means (such as building major roadways through parks) to improve it. Seeing how jam-packed Downtown is during Fridays After Five, county residents don’t seem to be having too much trouble getting Downtown when they want to. Since VDOT and several traffic consultants have declareed that traffic on Rio Rd. and Park St. will not abate (and in fact only continue to worsen) if the Parkway is built, it doesn’t appear to be a viable long-term solution. As a matter of fact, if it won’t make any progress towards resolving the problem, it’s difficult to call it a solution at all. In addition, I think that us in the city would be much more receptive to the Parkway if it weren’t plowing straight through the city’s largest and most prominent park. I’ve found that county residents often don’t understand that parks are quite important to us due to how open spaces are at such a premium, unlike the county.
Oh, and we’re quite happy on our little “island of liberalism”, so even if you have a fairly negative opinion of us, we’ll still enjoy the company of our backwards county neighbors. ; )
Will wrote”I think that us in the city would be much more receptive to the Parkway if it weren’t plowing straight through the city’s largest and most prominent park. I’ve found that county residents often don’t understand that parks are quite important to us due to how open spaces are at such a premium, unlike the county.”
I have been to your so called “most prominent park”. It may be one of the most under used open spaces in the entire area. More people use Pen Park then Meadowcreek park each day, probably by a factor of ten if you look at the area that would be lost to a parkway. I have often challenged city dwellers on their “love of this park” and almost none had been there and fewer had been there more than once or twice in a year’s time. The parkway will take up a small portion of the park. I have been on those trails and I am amazed when anyone else there. When was the last time you used the “affected area”?
The crowds are obvious coming to downtown but I was speaking of Downtown as a place to work. In fact it goes to prove my point – downtown has gone from a ghosttown at night to a vibrant showplace because that is a time when traffic doesn’t suck-that parking is available. And incase you have fogotten this is due to things such as the movie theater’ which many bemoaned because the cross street would cause many of “our citizens” to be run over and killed. Deaths to date:0.
And yet net employment may infact have dropped in the last couple of years. Martha Jeff. and then Jefferson bank turn to the county to improve their ongoing operations.
But most of all thanks for the “we’ll still enjoy the company of our backwards county neighbors”. It goes to the heart of most liberals unearned sense of superiority. By all means ignore the arguments presented and take the “moral” highground. As usual “a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing”.
Since moving here in 1988, I find it really interesting that:
1. The county rarely builds roads to move traffic from one area to another but doesn’t hesitate to insist that the city build roads to accommodate the traffic from the county. If people want to live in the county AND have good roads, then it should be part of the burden that they (county and county residents) build some to alleviate traffic and make it part of the city’s problem. But NIMBYism lives on in the county. But if citizens in C’ville don’t want it, then we are blocking the beautiful path of progress for Albemarle and their residents.
2. I also think that the city picks up a lot of the slack and duties that the county should be doing (i.e., developing a bus system which the county has piggybacked on and granted, they do pay more but do they pay their fair share?). How many Section 8 housing is available in the county?
As the previous poster said, when you check out Fridays after Five, people seem to manage to get downtown (and find parking!).
Personally, I do think that the city and the county (both of them!) need to come up with some attractive housing for middle to lower-middle class families (and singles). I think that is the roadblock to better living in this area.
For one check the 1983 revenue agreement between the county and the city. The county taxpayer currently pays the city over 5 million a year. That’s right $5,000,000.00 per year, is that enough? By the way I and my fellow county members get zero imput into the spending of this money. Whatever happen to “no taxation without representation!”.
The parkway dicussion has been going on for over 20 years. We are paying our burden. Is what we are getting in return worth what we pay. I remain unconvinced.
P.S. fridays after five have nothing to do with workers downtown. I makes my point(see above)
You know, you still don’t refute my main point which is that the county (and developers) refuse to build roads to connect county residents with each other. Why should ALL roads go through the town? Your argument that the parkway discussion has been going on for 20 years. Well, how long as the road going around the county? I know it’s been going on since 1988 if not earlier. (I can’t vouch for earlier since I wasn’t living here.)
Even recently, there was an article about building an access road to connect (I believe) Forest Lakes South with Forest Lakes North. Residents had a major aneurysm over the idea of a road coming through “their” development. So this is what I mean about NIMBYism and the county’s attitude that the traffic is someone’s else problem. It is their problem too and to expect the city to solve their problem is a joke. The Meadowcreek Parkway won’t even solve the main traffic problem which is Route 29. When the county can come with roads that divert some of the traffic onto roads adjacent to Route 29 and roads that lead to south of the city as well as connecting the east county, then I’ll believe that the county is taking any kind of leadership on this. Otherwise, it’s just let the city deal with it.
Quite frankly, I think $5 million isn’t all that much when you factor in that this probably includes: CTS, the jail, library services, CTAC, some utilities (such as the recycling) and so forth. As for the taxation without representation, don’t you have a board of supervisors? If you don’t like the amount, complain to them. I’d say Paul Harris (Mr. No Red Light Camera in My District) but he’s gone. Otherwise, come and move into town and vote in our elections if you want representation.
First you state we don’t pay our fair share then you say 5 million isn’t enough. What are you doing guessing? You bring no fact to this arguement.
Second what the county has done wasn’t what we were taking about. It was the parkway-Remember?
The lack of county connector is a county decision- I have never heard of the city asking these roads be built. By the way we have built new roads-Probably more thatn the city by a factor of 50- but that just a guess.
I went to Mcintire Park quite frequently when I was younger, and I still visit it a few times a month. As a matter of fact, I was just there late last week. As for my comment regarding “our backwards county neighbors”, I thought it was obvious that it was a joke, so I apologize for the miscommunication. Don’t take these discussions so seriously, and lighten up on the whole liberal vs. conservative thing, it’s a bit much.
Oh, I forgot: the death toll for the mall crossing is at least 1, because there was a pigeon that was wandering about, minding its own business when it was run over and squashed by a car. There was a small funeral procession followed by protests, and I believe a photo made it into the C-Ville.
Tag team! From here on I will only quote you:
“By the way we have built new roads-Probably more thatn the city by a factor of 50- but that just a guess.”
“What are you doing guessing? You bring no fact to this arguement.”
nope doesn’t work -I admitted mine was a guess.
and that means you have ignored the rest of the arguements I bought up- so they go though untouched-
I WIN!
Nice misdirection- thankful they can’t vote. Maybe you can fix that as well
So again most of the arguement flows though untouched. Again I am talking about the affected parts of the park. So will you be able to use the park after the parkway is built- I think from the drawing most of the usable park area goes untouched.
I wasn’t offended – though you seem a bit sensitive about having your own words thrown back at you.
by the way went to your website and the song sacred rocks!
could have been a suicide by the bird-was he depressed?
First of all, I’m the anonymous poster who wrote:
“Quite frankly, I think $5 million isn’t all that much when you factor in that this probably includes: CTS, the jail, library services, CTAC, some utilities (such as the recycling) and so forth. As for the taxation without representation, don’t you have a board of supervisors? If you don’t like the amount, complain to them. I’d say Paul Harris (Mr. No Red Light Camera in My District) but he’s gone. Otherwise, come and move into town and vote in our elections if you want representation.”
So where do I say it isn’t enough? I said it isn’t all that much. You still haven’t reputed my argument that the county doesn’t want to get into the road building business and would rather shift the traffic on to Route 29 and through the city rather than allow some traffic to go through the county because of the rampant NIMBYism. If you look,
But you would rather argue semantics. Okay. Fine. If you look at my notes, you will see that I have never said that I personally was for or against the Meadowcreek Parkway. I’ve talked about the county (and its residents) who balk at other roads to alleviate traffic IN THEIR NECK of the woods and complain about the city’s own balkiness. If you can bother to think about it, I’m saying that there is rampant NIMBYism everywhere. But it seems to me that the county thinks that it should have the right to develop every spot of land within its boundaries (as if its citizens want that, fine) but refuse to do anything more than build Meadowcreek Parkway.
And, while we are arguing semantics, you still do not say anything about what the county gets as part of their $5 million. Oh, I guess that the fire service protection is just a pittance, too.
As for roads up on Route 29, please tell me more. I’d like to know where these new roads are. Let’s see, there’s the road construction for the airport. The county (assuming that they did this) did a nice job on the service roads leading up to Walmart, Sam’s. There’s the everlasting construction on Route 29 (I believe that the Appian Way was built quicker). I believe there might be construction going on for Route 20 (but that may be in the planning stage). But where are the roads that alleviate congestion for the many many taxpayers up on Route 29? Or out to Crozet?
You’re really silly to say that “you win.” My point is that anyone wins. It’s that there’s poor planning by the county that allows development of these suburbs but refuse to take the hard choice of building meaningful roads to alleviate traffic. Who wins? I feel sorry for anyone living out on Route 29.
I meant to say NOBODY wins.
The county is making an annual payment to the city because it is getting something and it’s a lot more than bus service. Albemarle, not Charlottesville, receives the property tax and sales tax revenue as well as the business license and other revenue from all the businesses and properties located in urban Albemarle that would have been annexed by the city if the revenue sharing agreement had not been signed. Albemarle also pays the cost of the schools, police, and other services that it provides to those areas. I suspect that the annual payment to the city is less than the net gain made by the county. It’s impossible to determine beyond an estimate though, because nobody knows precisely what areas would have been annexed. Ironically, shortly after the revenue sharing agreement was signed the state legislature enacted a moratorium on all annexations in Virgina of county land by cities.
Kevin Cox
thr county does pay extra for fire service and the new agreement is seperate from revenue sharing.
As for “I win” it was silly and purposeful. You took the one arguement I said I was guessing and turned it around as your only retort. My reponse foster you to answer the question(which I will respond to later) that you had ignored. Hey maybe I do “win” after all.;)
And the reason the city agreed to the revenue sharing agreement was if the annexed one more sliver of land they would have had to submit a new voting arrangement.. At that time the justice department approved no at large voting districts in all the voting right states; of which we are one. This would have meant a city councilors would have been elcted by ward. this would have dealt a siginificant blow to the stranglehold the democrats had (and have) on city politics. It is almost impossibe to determine which motivates a politicain more- self preservation or tax revenues.
Do you recall if this concern over new voting districts was voiced publicly and if it was reported in the local news media? Did the City Attorney bring it up at a City Council meeting? I don’t doubt that you are correct. I am just curious and would like to go back to the Daily Progress microfilms and the City Council minutes and read what was reported and said. In this case it would seem that self preservation was more important than tax revenues.
Kevin Cox
I do not believe it was bought up at the time but latter someone did try to make an issue of it. I don’t believe it went very far. Do you remeber anything else about it?
No, I don’t remember but I am curious enough to go read some of the old Daily Progress articles and see how Frank Buck rationalized the agreement. In light of the moratorium on annexation it seems that the revenue sharing agreement was a fortunate turn of events for the city politicians. The moratorium would have prevented the city from annexing but they wouldn’t have gotten the annual payment from the county.
Kevin Cox