Charlottesville Tomorrow provides audio and video of the Farm Bureau’s County Supervisor forum held at WAHS yesterday. #
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
-
Archive for Sideblog »
It often disturbs me that I’m a member of the Farm Bureau as their viewpoint often differs so very much from my own. I really wish that they’d finally wake up and realize that houses are not crops. Somehow, the Farm Bureau has been taken over by development interests that have nothing at all to do with farming. If the current Farm Bureau’s positions are implemented fully in our county then there will be no real viable farmland left (Unless one counts those like Patricia Kluge as “farmers”)
Ever since the Farm Bureau came out against Rural Preservation, it has become clear that we need to start rethinking policies like the land use tax credit. It’s clear that these subsidies costing local taxpayers millions, are not actually resulting in conservation of farm land. Maybe better clarified policies and better enforcement will help, but it I still maintain that our money would be better spent in ACE and gradually phase out this program. The fact that the Farm Bureau is also apparently opposing Easements for conservation is also telling. Around the time they opposed the rural presevation ordinance, I had one of their representatives tell me directly that he opposed it because he wanted to sell his farm to a developer so he could move to West Virginia. What does that have to do with farming?
Keep in mind, I write all this from the perspective of a member of a family that has farmed for countless generations and who still owns our family farms that have been in our family for over five generations. Part of the reason we’ve survived is by wise use of easements, practicing wise stewardship, and thinking over the long term. If the Farm Bureau really supports the interest of farming in this county then it also needs to think in the longer term too. Its long past the time when Farmers can just rely of subsidies and handouts to get by. We need to think creatively and be more active members of our communities, and that means supporting wise stewardship.