Monthly Archive for April, 2007

Page 5 of 13

City Plans a Bicycle Beltway

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 15, 2007 in General News. 13 Comments

The city is planning to build a network of bike trails surrounding the city, paralleling the Rivanna Trail, Seth Rosen reveals in today’s Progress. The city is starting to get easements for twenty miles worth of trails — the same length as the Rivanna Trail — and hopes to begin construction later this year. The easements won’t be finished until 2010, and the trails won’t be done until 2015. The city will create dedicated trails running from the beltway to downtown, too. UVa, frustratingly, isn’t talking with UVa about integrating a bike network of their own with the city’s, but they say they support it in concept.

The simple creation of bike trails will make it viable for people to bike or skate to and from work and school, reducing traffic and giving people an opportunity to improve their health.

Hollymead Stone House Demolished

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 15, 2007 in Development. 4 Comments

Remember the stone house surrounded by the muck of development at Hollymead that disappeared last week? Jeremy Borden explains what happened in today’s Progress. It turns out that Wendell Wood (who you know for his sweetheart deal with NGIC) has owned the 1920s house for 35 years now, and he’s rented it out to tenants over that time. Wood found that the house couldn’t be moved, so he simply tore it down last week. He expressed surprise that people were so interested in the house (moreso than in the development), but the rumors about the house show that Charlottesvillians root for preservation in the face of development. Wendell Wood, of all people, should know that.

Gunfight at Slick Rick Concert

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 15, 2007 in Crime. 2 Comments

There was a gunfight on The Corner this week, Lisa Ferrari reported for CBS-19 on Friday, but somehow nobody was injured. It was apparently spurred by an argument between people attending the Slick Rick concert at the Satellite Ballroom. Shortly after midnight, two men exchanged an estimated ten shots in the corner parking lot, damaging five cars. Police are trying to track down the shooters.

CTS’ Planned GPS Upgrade

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 15, 2007 in Transportation. 12 Comments

The city is paying $500k to let people track the location of city buses electronically, Henry Graff reported for NBC-29 on Friday. In doing so, they intend to solve two problems: chronically-late buses and would-be bus riders not knowing when their bus will be there. They’ll be outfitting 25 bus stops with touch-screen displays to track the buses’ progress but, better still, it’ll be possible to track buses via the web.

Edwards Declares Council Candidacy

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 12, 2007 in Politics. 12 Comments

Community activist Holly Edwards announced her candidacy for City Council today, Seth Rosen wrote in yesterday’s Progress. Edwards is a a volunteer parish nurse at Westhaven Nursing Clinic and PHAR‘s program coordinator, and is advocating affordable housing, reduction of taxes for the middle class and expanded public transportation. She pointedly announced her campaign while standing in front of Crescent Hall. More information about Holly Edwards is available on her website.

04/13 Update: Charlottesville Tomorrow was there, and provides this video: