The Albemarle Board of Supervisors have approved the construction of a much-debated 110-foot-tall tower in the northeast corner of Albemarle County. The tower is the last of six towers to be approved for the area’s new 800MHz radio system, which will tie together the Charlottesville, Albemarle and UVa police and rescue departments so that they can communicate directly with one another. The reason that the tower was debated was because it will be located in the Southwest Mountains Rural Historic District which, as the Piedmont Environmental Council points out, should be protected from visual intrusions like a radio tower. WVIR had the story on this evening’s 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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I have been of two minds on this. First should there ever be, God forbid, a disaster in this area everyone will wonder what the fuss was all about. Second viewshed is very important to the resident of this area. I was curious to know if there could have been a compromise which would have allowed the tower to be built but when technology allowed it, the tower could be taken down when it was no longer needed because signal technology or some other improvement had made it uneeded. For example mass adoption of satellite tech.
My fear is now that it’s up all sorts of cell and microwave tech will be attached keeping the tower up way past it intial usefulness. Could the solution be a “sunset” provision for these towers. For example make it’s approval good for only ten years when all is re-examined. It seems that government is only interested in going forward and rarely looking back.
(P)
I propose everybody learn to embrace such things. They don’t have to be eyesores, they can be monuments to progress and the power of communication. Take the lovely Sutro Tower of San Francisco. To the residents of this area it may seem like a horribly ugly beast that blocks the views of the rich and taints the views of visitors, but to locals it’s majestic and very much a symbol of the city’s world presence. they’d be crushed to lose it.
this may sound like a ludicrous idea, maybe it is, but in my mind no sillier than blocking a really good regional safety feature because we want to keep things pretty.
I like a clean skyline as much as the next guy, but this kind of progress I can’t argue with. like anon says, when something terrible happens and emergency response across the region is tremendous, we’ll know what those few, random moments of sadness for tarnished nature went to pay for.