Where to Retire Magazine, published five times a year, has named Charlottesville has one of the 100 best places for retirees to live. Of course, the top 100 isn’t exactly exciting. Plus, wouldn’t you think that, given the magazine’s name, they’d pretty much list the same cities in every issue? Anyhow, Jake Mooney has the story in today’s Progress.
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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As a longtime resident, I am weary of Charlottesville’s high rankings in national surveys of this kind. Yes, it’s a wonderful community overall, and one of the things that makes it so is its size. I was working in a store downtown when the Washington Post did that feature on Charlottesville, and about one in four NoVa visitors who came in during the following month said something to the effect of, “We loved the article and are thinking about moving here.”
Aagh! Don’t get me wrong; I’m not a xenophobe who believes change is bad, but I know how much Charlottesville has changed in 20 years (anybody else remember Rt. 29 before the Fashion Square Mall, which was way north at the time it was built?). With growth comes more of the problems that people are moving to C’ville to get away from — traffic, for example, as well as a sense of living in a close community.
I guess I feel like it’s similar to Fridays After Five — I loved Fridays best when it was a manageable size; now it’s a sea of bodies and I avoid it more often than not. Popularity can often destroy the reason a thing became popular in the first place, and I hope that doesn’t happen as Charlottesville continues to get national recognition for how cool it is to live here.
One of the more fascinating things about living in the country is that people find the idea of living in the country to be a great idea UNTIL they move here. Then it is nothing but complaints about a lack of paved roads, trash pickup, lack of cable and so on.
The same is true about retirees moving to C’ville. As the first poster stated, more people mean more traffic but also with more people, more instances of NIMBYism when faced with the need to make adjustments. (Or, the “I got my country estate — now go somewhere else for yours.)
There’s a wonderful book about the idea of moving to a small town and the bottom line was the author felt people should consider their personalities and lifestyles before making such a commitment.
With all of the retirement homes, I have wondered how easy it is for these places to hire people to be CNAs, housekeepers, etc. given our low employment levels. Will C’ville remain an attractive place for retirees down the road? Or, in a nutshell, do we have the resources for a large graying population?