Monthly Archive for May, 2007

Page 6 of 8

We’re #17! We’re #17!

Good news: The latest edition of Frommer’s “Cities: Ranked and Rated” has Charlottesville ranked as their #17 city, Brian McNeill wrote in yesterday’s Progress, down from its #1 ranking in the first edition of the book. The top ranking, bestowed three years ago, brought a great deal of attention to Charlottesville, particularly in the form of people moving here because they heard it was a good place to live. Hence, the price of housing went way up (hey, it’s a bargain if you’re from Jersey) which, ironically, is precisely why we’ve dropped to #17. As Mayor David Brown points out, “a little breather would be a good thing.”

But, if anybody from outside C’ville asks why we dropped in the rankings, tell them it’s because of our failing schools, legions of homeless, out-of-control STD rates and, of course, that serial murderer who’s still on the loose.

C-Ville 20 Submissions?

C-Ville Weekly wants you to help them ID the 20 people who “everybody will know in 5 years, the people who will set our trends and shape our community in years to come.” Not influential locals, but locals who will be influential.  #

Loach Running for Supervisor

Things just got interesting in the Albemarle BoS race in the White Hall District: Crozet’s Tom Loach is running. Already Democrat Ann Mallek of Earlysville is challenging incumbent Republican David Wyant. The volunteer firefighter and UVa employee is campaigning against development, as would be expected from an ASAP board member. He’ll presumably be running as an independent.

Not Enough School Board Candidates

Only one candidate has declared for the Charlottesville school board election, Alyson Smith reports for NBC-29, leaving three seats without a candidate. Three of the incumbents have bowed out rather than run for their first election. Last year was the first school board election, and we had six candidate for three seats. It’s not clear whether disinterest this time around is a problem of it seeming so far off from November that would-be candidates aren’t even thinking about it, or if there just aren’t people willing to go through the rigors of an election for something as minor as school board.

The filing deadline is June 12. If there aren’t enough candidates, the seats will be filled by judicial appointment pending a special election to fill them properly.

UVa in Bloom

Cotton Candy

By UVa student Mike Loew. Not news. Just a nice picture from the Charlottesville Flickr pool.