It’s official: council voted last night to let the Young Men’s Christian Association establish a private fitness center on several acres of McIntire Park, Seth Rosen writes in today’s Progress. In exchange for a forty year lease on $2M in parkland and $1.25M in cash to build a lap pool, CHS’ swim team will be given priority in the swim lanes. The vote was 3-2, with Kendra Hamilton and Julian Taliaferro voting against it.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Monthly Archive for December, 2007
Page 2 of 4
In today’s Progress, Seth Rosen describes a dispute over what to do with a big chunk of undeveloped land on the corner of Cherry and Ridge. It’s in private hands, owned by developers, who want to acquire a couple of small city-owned parcels next to it, but the neighborhood is opposed. Rosen does something in this article that’s so rarely done in the Progress, which is to present a brief, factual overview of the heart of the story, rather than merely dancing around it:
Yet in the coming weeks the developer likely will press councilors to make a final decision. If councilors acquiesce to a land deal, they risk alienating many outspoken residents. If they rebuff the offer, they could kill a development that would bring tax dollars and help revitalize the Cherry Avenue corridor.
Land owner Southern Development says the project can go ahead with the land that they have, they just figure it’d be better with the city’s land, too.
Jeremy Borden had a nice article in Saturday’s Progress about The Womenfolk, an early 60s all-female band that were big in the U.S. and in Europe for about three years before fading out. Four members of the band (two of whom I know, but hadn’t the faintest clue about their prior fame) got together recently and recorded an oral history of the band at Live Arts. One of their hits was their cover of Malvina Reynolds’ “Little Boxes” — Womenfolk’s version remains the shortest-ever song on the Billboard charts, at 1:03. It sounds like they had a heck of a ride, and had the rare wisdom to give up performing when it stopped being fun.
The county’s recent pledge to reduce greenhouse emissions is nice, but Seth Rosen writes in the Progress that the city will be taking some pretty impressive concrete steps along the same lines. Council will require the city to reduce carbon emissions, buy electricity produced sustainably, and even create a power co-op with other buyers to demand renewable energy from Dominion. The paucity of renewable energy prevents council from setting benchmarks, unfortunately. The commitment to buying power from local producers is especially awesome, though I wonder how it will work. If I stick a 3KW solar panel array on my roof, how will the city get the energy that I produce? Would they buy credits from me, while I just net meter that power back into Dominion’s grid? (I wrote a bunch about this very topic earlier this year.)
Council will vote on this Monday night, where it will almost certainly pass.
Double H Farms have gotten about the friendliest possible court ruling, Rob Seal writes in today’s Daily Progress. Richard Bean and Jean Rinaldi had expected the worst after their bizarre SWAT-style arrest on a labeling offense back in September, but the judge who OKd dropping nearly all of the charges and the fine actually volunteered that farming laws just don’t make any sense, and that the legislature should fix them. They had to plead guilty to a single count of transporting uninspected meat for sale, and they’ve had to agree to comply with all state and federal farming regulations.
Incidentally, none of the 127 bills pre-filed for this January’s General Assembly session address farming. But there are thousands more bills to come, so it’s certainly not too late.
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 #
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