Monthly Archive for July, 2005

Page 3 of 5

Council to Challenge Census

Published by Waldo Jaquith on July 18, 2005 in Development and Politics. 5 Comments

The April census numbers for Charlottesville report that the population has dropped by 8.7% since 2000, but City Council isn’t buying it. At tonight’s City Council meeting, they voted unanimously to formally challenge the Census Bureau’s findings, asking for a recount, WCAV reports. Getting the number right is important, because state and federal funding is often based on the population size — if our population is being underestimated, then we’re not getting our fair share.

A quick Google perusal shows that such challenges are common, for the same reasons cited by the city. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.

Belmont Growing Up

Published by Waldo Jaquith on July 18, 2005 in Business and Development. 3 Comments

Just a few years ago, Belmont was almost entirely residential, with only a few businesses, the sorts that had been there for decades. Now, with the hipification of the neighborhood and some hot spots clumped together, it’s all changing. David Hendrick writes in today’s Progress:

Following in the pioneering path of the popular tapas restaurants Mas, a trio of new businesses – one open, two soon to come, are bringing an increasingly commercial, urban feel to a pocket of the neighborhood.

Come fall, it looks likely that a combination wildlife photo gallery and café will share space at the Monticello Road-Hinton Avenue nexus with a fine dining jazz club and the already bustling La Taza, a coffee bar and eatery.

[…]

“It’s very unusual in that it has a village sort of feel,” Easter said of the area surrounding La Taza. “Some people describe it as the Soho of Charlottesville, which really cracks me up.”

What this new Belmont feel reminds me of, more than anything else, is the urban pockets that circle suburban Paris, a few miles outside of the arrondissements. I like it.

Progress on Alternative Transportation

Published by Waldo Jaquith on July 18, 2005 in Development and Transportation. 10 Comments

John Yellig had a good piece in yesterday’s Progress and has a good second part in today’s, both on alternative transportation. Yesterday’s was substantially about CTS, while today’s is about bicycling and walking. That second piece includes a great quote from Stratton Salidis: “Walking has become an ‘alternative transportation’. That’s just nuts.” Damned straight.

Alston Juror Speaks Out

Published by Waldo Jaquith on July 16, 2005 in Law and Justice. 3 Comments

dsewell writes: “Elizabeth Kutchai, a member of the 2004 jury that convicted UVa student Andrew Alston of manslaughter in the stabbing death of Walker Sisk, has written an account of her experience as a juror published in the June 2005 issue of the Swarthmore College Bulletin (an alumni magazine). She is photographed carrying the issue of The Hook that ran the cover story The Verdict: Sisk’s Family Speaks Out; Kutchai’s thoughtful piece is an important supplement to the coverage and reaction that came out immediately following the verdict and three-year sentence.”

Brian Wheeler Takes to Blogging

Published by Waldo Jaquith on July 15, 2005 in Education and Politics. 2 Comments

Brian Wheeler, at-large member of the Albemarle School Board, is well-known as somebody who is technologically savvy. Now he’s taken it up a notch, and today kicked off his SchoolMatters Weblog, a blog about the Albemarle County public schools. That makes him, I believe, the first elected official in the area to take up blogging.

I know I’ve said this before, but if we get enough people blogging in Charlottesville — and we have a lot of blogs here now — and they represent a broad cross-spectrum of the area, I’ll be happy to see cvillenews.com rendered useless.

Sideblog