Monthly Archive for January, 2007

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Downer Named Peatross’ Replacement

Published by Waldo Jaquith on January 23, 2007 in Law and Justice and Politics. 18 Comments

Judicial nominations were introduced to and passed by the Senate and the House of Delegates today — Judge Bob Downer has been appointed to the 16th judicial district to replace Judge Paul Peatross, effective June 1. Downer was one of the two candidates recommended by the bar, so his appointment comes as no particular surprise.

1:45pm Update: “iknowcville” points out that Downer has simply been reappointed to the same seat in this bill, making everything that I wrote entirely wrong. Or, rather, it may turn out to be correct, but that would just be a lucky coincidence. SR43, which makes the circuit court nominations, is entirely silent on Peatross’ replacement.

01/24 Update: Bob Gibson writes that Downer’s reappointment may well indicate that he’s out of the running for Peatross’ seat. In an interview with Del. Bill Janis it becomes clear that our representatives have no interest in following the bar’s recommendations and see this appointment as political, rather than merit-based, unlike virtually everybody else in the community.

Albemarle Assessments up 15%

Published by Waldo Jaquith on January 22, 2007 in Development and Politics. 46 Comments

In a press release, the county has announced that real estate values in the county have risen by an average value of 30% since the last biannual assessment, in 2005. Assessments increased by 27% in 2003 and the same percentage in 2005. By my math, that’s a 109% increase in property values in the past six years, which is a fantastic rate of return if you’re investing, but not so hot if you have no intention of selling your home.

Note that this is only a calculation of the market value of properties — the rate reflects the realities of real estate prices in the area, and not any taxation decision on the part of the county. Albemarle is free, of course, to adjust their tax rate downward, rather than increase revenues by over a quarter, in order to ease the burden on property owners.

The Hook and The Daily Progress have more.

Report: Housing Situation Sucks

Published by Waldo Jaquith on January 19, 2007 in Development. 34 Comments

A comprehensive study of the availability of housing that’s affordable to residents shows that it’s a bad situation and it’s getting worse, Brian McNeill reports in today’s Daily Progress. Given the number of families earning less than $28,500/year, we’re short 4,200 housing units. Who makes $28,500/year? Everybody in the top five most common jobs here: cashiers, restaurant workers and retail employees. They also found that public employees (police, fire, teachers) have to live farther and farther away from Charlottesville in order to pay for housing, leading to more traffic, more need for childcare, and more pollution.

The study was commissioned by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission and conducted by the Virginia Center for Housing Research. The TJPDC tells me that they won’t have the study available electronically until next week, so I’m afraid I can’t point you to a copy of it.

01/24 Update: The report is now available (2.2MB PDF).

Our Mall Fountains Have Strayed

Published by Waldo Jaquith on January 19, 2007 in General News. 13 Comments

In this week’s Hook, David McNair takes a look at the four fountains on the Downtown Mall (Miller’s, Central Place, Sal’s, Nook) and, look at Downtown Mall designer Lawrence Halprin’s original vision, finds them wanting. Halprin’s vision was for them to be interactive. There’s a reason why the Central Place fountain is wide, shallow, and has steps leading down into it: people are supposed to be able to walk into it. Instead, it’s surrounded by chain. The three smaller fountains are inaccessible to the public during the warm portion of the year, because the space around them is leased to restaurants for cafés. Everybody McNair talks to agrees that it’s time to make the fountains accessible again and restore Halprin’s plan.

(Via David’s blog)

Judicial Candidates Hold Forum; Camblos Stacks the Deck

Published by Waldo Jaquith on January 17, 2007 in Law and Justice and Politics. 16 Comments

All seven people seeking to be named as the replacement for Judge Paul Peatross attended a forum held last night by Del. Rob Bell. (NBC 29, CBS 19, DP) Bell did not attend his forum, and he likewise missed the bar association’s forum. Only two of those candidates were recommended by the bar — Judge Robert Downer and prosecutor Cheryl Higgins — but the General Assembly is functionally free to pick anybody that they want. The purpose of the forum was to have a committee of five people, selected by Del. Bell, quiz the applicants and render their verdict on who would make the best candidate. The only un-endorsements from the audience were from people speaking out against Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Camblos. The positive comments were largely in favor of Judge Downer and Camblos. Though, as it turns out, Camblos’ praise was a setup.

One reporter tells me that, after talking with some of the speakers and all of the judicial candidates, he caught Jim Camblos stacking the deck. All of the other candidates respected process, while it turns out that Camblos convinced five people to attend the forum to stand up and speak in support of him. That kind of thing is, unfortunately, par for the course for Camblos.

Judge Peatross’ retirement takes effect at the end of this month, so the General Assembly will need to take this up in the next couple of weeks.

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