I’ve added another couple of dozen photos to my growing collection of portraits of downtown regulars from the mid 1990s, a result of scanning in a bunch of photos I took back in the day. #
I’ve added another couple of dozen photos to my growing collection of portraits of downtown regulars from the mid 1990s, a result of scanning in a bunch of photos I took back in the day. #
I’ve heard a lot of talk this week about a proposal made by City Councilor Julian Taliaferro a few weeks ago: merging the Charlottesville and Albemarle governments. The periodic reversion debates has always been freighted with ego problems; if Charlottesville is a mere town, doesn’t it lose some standing? Merging governments, on the other hand, is purely practical, and has no impact on the standing of either the county or the city. We already share some services, and we share revenue. Why not stop dating and get hitched?
Whether through reversion of merging governments, I think it’s about time we again looked seriously at ending the duplication of services and, more important, forced the two municipalities to cooperate as closely as possible. And, while I’m making wild-eyed suggestions, I also recommend that Crozetians put together a plan to gain permission from the General Assembly to incorporate as a town. Until Crozet has its own governing body, it will continue to be the county’s population-boom dumping ground. Isn’t time time the town took control of its own destiny?
A group of business owners along 29 N. are protesting the still-under-development Places 29 plan, Jeremy Borden wrote in the Daily Progress earlier this week. The purpose of Places 29 is to figure out what the 29 corridor should look like, because the current process will leave us with sprawl clear to Culpeper and bumper-to-bumper traffic before long. The North Charlottesville Business Council has boldly proposed, instead, absolutely nothing.
Rivanna Supervisor Ken Boyd’s district includes a bunch of 29 N., and he makes clear in the article that he’s with the businesses here. That highlights the coming clash, between now and November, between Boyd and planning commission chair Marcia Joseph, the Democratic candidate running against Boyd. Surely Boyd is angling for high-dollar campaign contributions from developers who oppose any sort of restrictions, given that Joseph has made clear through her work on the planning commission that she supports smart growth. Thanks to Charlottesville Tomorrow’s collaboration with the Virginia Public Access Project, it’ll be easy for everybody to see where each candidate’s money is coming from, as with all candidates in Charlottesville and Albemarle.
Remember, Michael Strickland is hosting a gathering o’ local bloggers tomorrow (Saturday the 5th). Mudhouse downtown, 2pm. Come by, say “hi,” meet your friendly neighborhood bloggers. #
Recent Comments