Monthly Archive for March, 2008

Page 5 of 6

BoS Chair: Abandon Revenue Sharing

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 6, 2008 in Politics and Taxes. 18 Comments

Board of Supervisors Chairman Ken Boyd has invoked the nuclear option in city/county relations, suggesting that Albemarle cease sharing revenue with Charlottesville, Jeremy Borden writes in today’s Progress. Boyd’s threat is hollow: Albemarle can’t simply stop paying — a court would certainly order the county to adhere to the contract.

The 1982 deal was struck between the two entities to end the city’s long-standing habit of occasionally expanding its borders, which is how Charlottesville grew from its original one square mile to its current ten. As 29N began to expand economically, the city threatened to grow north to encompass it, with Fashion Square Mall being the target. Albemarle, tired of expanding its revenue base only to have it seized by the city, agreed to share a chunk of its real estate tax with Charlottesville if Charlottesville would stop annexing land. It was put to a referendum, and county citizens overwhelmingly agreed.

The General Assembly put a temporary hold on annexation in 1987, and has extended that temporary hold ever since. It’s due to expire in 2010. Del. Matt Lohr’s HB1979, introduced last year, would have extended it to 2020, but it was vetoed by Governor Tim Kaine. Sen. Emmett Hanger got SB742 through the legislature last week, though it’s not clear whether it will meet the same fate as Lohr’s bill.

To hear Boyd’s comments and read more about the BoS meeting in question, see Sean Tubbs’ report for Charlottesville Tomorrow.

Eastern Connector est Mort?

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 5, 2008 in Transportation. 18 Comments

Things are not looking good for the Eastern Connector, Seth Rosen writes in the Progress. The long-discussed road is intended to move traffic between Pantops and 29N without taking the bypass, or any of the routes we take when we don’t want to deal with the bypass. Basically, to move people between these two points:

Map

It’s not hard to see that you can’t get there from here. Either such a road would have to plow right through the city, or veer around, traversing hundreds of millions of dollars of prime real estate along 20N. After $500,000 in studies, that’s basically what the city and the county have figured out. Four routes were proposed: simply widening 250, building new bridges on either side of Free Bridge, running a road straight through Pen Park to Rio, and beefing up Proffit/Polo/20 N. All have some combination of being ineffective and impossible.

Though nobody’s declared the Eastern Connector dead, it’s hard to see how to move forward from here. The good news is that more traffic means more support for mass transit, which will help with the problem. The bad news is that it’ll have to be really bad for at least a decade or so before that support gels into anything meaningful.

County Considering Ambulance Fees

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 5, 2008 in Taxes. 22 Comments

Albemarle County is looking at charging for ambulance fees, Jeremy Borden writes in the Progress, ending the practice of supporting the cost solely through public funding. The county doesn’t know what they’d charge, but Borden points out that Hanover charges $350—$575, and that insurance generally covers about 80% of that price. Charlottesville looks likely to do the same thing with its new paid ambulance service, due to start later this year.

Real Estate Changes Afoot on the Corner

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 5, 2008 in Business. 10 Comments

The owner of the Anderson Brothers Building on the Corner tells John Ruscher at C-Ville Weekly that he’s looking at new tenants for the building occupied by Plan 9, the Satellite Ballroom and Just Curry. The music store leases the entire building, and in turn leases space to the other businesses; their lease is up in a few months. CVS is looking at the location, though it sounds like they’re not the only ones with their eye on it.

China Annoyed with C’ville Over Tibetan Support

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 4, 2008 in Politics. 34 Comments

China is angry with Charlottesville for our support of Tibet, Henry Graff reports for NBC 29. Council will fly the Tibetan flag next week in a show of solidarity with supporters of Tibetan independence, and that’s not sitting very well with China. The tiny mountain nation was invaded by China in 1950, killing millions of Tibetans and prohibiting the practice of religion, sending the Dali Lama into exile.

If the Chinese government is angry with something you’re doing, then you’re doing something right.

Sideblog