Monthly Archive for August, 2005

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Collins Sues Shoppers World

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 25, 2005 in Law and Justice and Politics. 6 Comments

Rich Collins, erstwhile candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 57th HoD race, has filed suit against Shoppers World over his arrest for campaigning there in May. Collins was introducing himself to voters in the parking lot in front of Whole Foods when Shoppers World manager Charles Lebo asked him to leave. When Lebo said that he’d let others campaign there, just not Collins, the Democrat refused to leave. Though the resultant arrest for may have actually helped his support at the ballot box a few weeks later, he still lost to former mayor David Toscano.

The suit against Lebo and Shoppers World has being filed jointly by the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia and the Rutherford Institute (strange bedfellows), who argue that shopping centers are substantially public for purposes of protected first amendment expression, such as conversation between a candidate and a voter, and that, subject to “reasonable time, place and manner” restrictions, they should not be permitted to bar candidates. One of Collins’ attorneys points out roadways in shopping centers are regulated as public; not such that VDOT maintains them, but it is illegal to drive under the influence of alcohol in a shopping center’s lot. The purpose of the suit is not money — Collins wants the right to return to the shopping center to campaign for David Toscano.

Central to the suit is the matter of the loss of public space. The Rutherford Institute’s John Whitehead says: “As corporations and shopping centers get bigger, where do people go? They go to the shopping centers. It’s the only place where people can congregate, where people can exchange ideas, leaflets.”

Liesel Nowak has the story in today’s Daily Progress. There’s also the ACLU’s press release and the suit itself (36k PDF).

BPL Coming to Nelson

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 24, 2005 in Business. 6 Comments

Folks outside of Charlottesville and central Albemarle are out of luck when it comes to broadband. Practically speaking, it’s dial-up or nothing. So yesterday’s news of coming change must come as happy news to thousands of Virginians. David Hendrick wrote in yesterday’s Progress:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development office has awarded a roughly $19 million loan to International Broadband Electric Communications Inc., an outfit specializing in delivering broadband Internet over existing power lines.

Customers of Central Virginia Electric Cooperative in 11 Virginia counties are expected to benefit, including those in Albemarle, Buckingham, Nelson, Fluvanna, Louisa and Orange.

The technology is already being beta tested by 80 households in Nelson, apparently with success. It’s scheduled to be available by the end of the year, with speeds from 256kbps up to 3mbps. BPL is just one of many proposed “last mile” solutions, which is the method of getting data from the nearly-ubiquitous fat pipes zigzagging the country to each and every home in the nation. Orange County is considering solving this problem with wireless, but Nelson’s mountainous terrain makes BPL far more attractive.

C’ville Real Estate Bubble?

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 17, 2005 in Development. 7 Comments

Lori writes to point out that Wednesday’s USA Today reports on a study by the National City Corp. that names Charlottesville in their list of housing markets where “prices are 30% above where the study estimates they should be based on historic price data, area income, mortgage rates and population density.” On the list of “metro areas that are extremely overvalued and vulnerable to price correction” we’re the 71st most severe in the nation, ranking just behind Asheville and Cambridge, with our residential property overvalued by an estimated 24%.

I’m just waiting for Jim Duncan to weigh in.

County Buys Hybrids

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 17, 2005 in Transportation. Closed

Albemarle County has bought a some new fleet vehicles: a pair of Ford Escape hybrids. Jessica Kitchin (who is seems to be new — welcome!) writes in today’s Progress:

The sport utility vehicles will be used for county business, mostly for those who need four-wheel drive to visit construction sites or navigate dangerous weather. Rising gas prices and an opportunity to be an environmental model to the community were the main forces behind the county’s decision to purchase the fuel-efficient vehicles.

[…]

The county also plans to add two Toyota Priuses to its nine-car fleet within six months.

[…]

County spokeswoman Lee Catlin said that the vehicles, as well as the recent green roof planted on the County Office Building, demonstrate the county’s environmental mindset.

“We want to put our money where our mouth is,” she said. “If we’re going to encourage members of the community to make environmental changes, we need to demonstrate that these options are viable.”

Hybrids generally pay for themselves in a few years, in gas price savings. As gas prices continue to rise, with little reason to think that they’ll drop in the foreseeable future, this is both a good financial move on the part of the county and a fine example for them to set.

Proposed Parkway to Parallel Rt. 29

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 17, 2005 in Transportation. 2 Comments

An odd coalition of urban designer Gary Okerlund, Delegate Mitch Van Yahres, and former deputy city manager and Council candidate Bern Ewert has proposed the establishment of a new 16-mile road paralleling Rt. 29, in place of the $350M western bypass. As Kate Andrews reports in today’s Daily Progress, Ewert has come up with a way to link up parts of 606, Earlysville Road, and Hydraulic to create a contiguous two-lane path that avoids much of the sprawl of 29 North, taking traffic from south of UVa to north of Ruckersville.

New construction would be needed in a couple of places: a bridge over the bypass at the new North Grounds Connector, and a strip of asphalt between 641 and 33. They figure it would cost between $70M-$140, and could handle 20,000 cars each day. At this point, it’s nothing more than three people tossing around an idea, but the vastly reduced cost may make it a tempting alternative to the near-mythical western bypass.

I ran against Bern Ewert for the Democratic nomination for C’ville City Council back in 2002. I thought at the time that he’d make a much better city manager than a city councilor, but he had some pretty interesting ideas for our transportation infrastructure. This looks like another interesting idea from him.

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