Hundred of students will be arriving for school this fall without a place to live, Elizabeth Nelson reports in Sunday’s Progress. Eagle’s Landing and Camden Plaza, two new student apartment complexes, have been pre-renting apartments for months, with Eagles Landing telling prospective students on their website that if they decide to live there, “[their] life will be a million times easier.” The only problem is that, due to construction delays, the complexes won’t be finished until well after the students arrive. UVa doesn’t have nearly enough dorms to house the students, and it’s not clear if area hotels could handle them all. A consequence of UVa’s approach to housing students, or just an unfortunate situation?
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Monthly Archive for July, 2003
Page 2 of 3
Surprising nobody, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors approved rezoning of 24 acres on 29 by 5-1, permitting the creation of a substantial portion the 165 acre Hollymead Town Center shopping center. (The BOS will rule on two other parcels in August.) They did so after two hours of public comment, with plenty of speakers both in favor of and opposed to the big-box development. Ultimately, the supervisors agreed with Charles Martin, who said, simply, “I think a big box is OK.” David Dadurka has the story in today’s Progress.
Having a hard time keeping track of all of the planned developments for 29 North? The Hook has put together a guide, giving the vital stats and stories behind Hollymead Town Center, North Pointe, and Albemarle Place. With 3,690,000 square feet of space between them, there’s a whole lot of traffic planned for 29. Not everybody’s down with the proposals, though — on Wednesday, a group of protesters held a “Voluntary Tax Collection Day,” seeking the $100,000,000 that will be necessary to widen 29 to 11 lanes to support the addition of Hollymead Town Center. Unfortunately, they fell well short of their goal. David Dadurka had the story in Thursday’s Progress.
Albemarle County has launched a great new website, the first major overhaul that their website has seen in years. Their old site was clunky, difficult to navigate, and not particularly informative, whereas the new site is nicely laid out and packed with information. The site actually went up about a week ago, but I totally forgot to mention it here.
At Monday’s City Council meeting, Charlottesville Democratic Party chairman Lloyd Snook introduced a resolution to Council that had been passed by the Charlottesville Democrats at a recent meeting, opposing the USA PATRIOT Act, WINA reports. The Charlottesville Republicans and the Center for Peace and Justice have expressed similar opposition to the PATRIOT Act to Council. Now Council intends to take up the matter at their next meeting to determine if they should pass a city resolution. Back in February, Council passed a resolution opposing war in Iraq, which some decried as a partisan abuse of Council. Does the bipartisan support make this any different? Should Council be in the business of such things?
Full disclosure, not that anyone cares: I was among those that voted to pass that resolution at that Charlottesville Democrats meeting.
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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