The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority has decided to spend $5.2M to reduce the sewage stink from the Woolen Mills processing plant, Seth Rosen and Jeremy Borden write in the Progress. Three million of that will go to building an enclosed receiving statement, with scrubbers to filter outgoing air, and $2.2M will go for equipment to regularly clean the whole joint. Folks living in the area have complained for years, and rightly so — nobody wants to live near that.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Monthly Archive for March, 2008
Page 3 of 6
NBC 29 reported something yesterday not likely to surprise many: a lot of UVa students stick around after they graduate. According to the UVa Alumni Association, 7-10% of each graduating class stays in Charlottesville. JMU, on the other hand, says that 15% of their graduates live within fifty miles of campus.
While interesting, that doesn’t necessarily tell us much. Perhaps 7-10% of UVa students are from Charlottesville. It strikes me as pretty likely that 15% of JMU’s graduates are from within fifty miles of Harrisonburg. (The media reporting bad or useless statistics are a pet peeve.) That said, we all know lots of people who stuck around after getting their degree, so whatever the percentage is, it’s got to add up to a significant chunk of the population.
The $500,000 Charlottesville Transit System GPS installation is done: now you can track CTS buses’ locations online or at dozens of bus stops. At least, it’s possible in the abstract that they can be tracked online. I wouldn’t know, because the site requires Internet Explorer and some Adobe plugin. (Install a plugin? Really? Didn’t we already do 1998?) Like one in four UVa students, I have a Mac–there is no IE to suffer through. Want to check your iPhone/Treo/Blackberry to see if you can make the next bus? You’re out of luck. Work in an office that doesn’t allow installing software? No schedule checking for you.
The significant upside, of course, is the remaining 95% of the system. Now CTS can track, coordinate, and adjust bus schedules in real-time to meet traffic demands. And the little screens at the bus stops sound pretty great. I’ll just have to abandon my hope of putting together per-line location-triggered RSS feeds and e-mail alerts. Cue the tiny violin.
It’s been tough keeping up with the news about whether Charlottesville and the Charlottesville Albemarle Rescue Squad have forged a deal to cooperate on charging for emergency service. First it was widely reported that there wasn’t a deal. Then that there was. Then that there wasn’t. What gives? Seth Rosen looks into the state of things for the Progress. There is clearly not a deal at this point; CARS’ Larry Claytor makes that clear. City manager Gary O’Connell has stopped talking to the media, presumably feeling cautious since he was the source of the false news in the first place. Apparently, CARS’ board hasn’t even talked to the city about a deal yet, leaving the rescue squad feeling puzzled about all of the news.
Maybe CARS will want to play ball with the city’s upstart rescue squad, maybe not. But this marks the second time that the city has put their foot in their mouth on this deal, which doesn’t put them in a great position to plead for cooperation.
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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