Monthly Archive for October, 2008

Page 3 of 6

An iPhone Mugging

Published by Waldo Jaquith on October 22, 2008 in In Brief. 4 Comments

A guy was beaten for his iPhone on West Main last weekend. These dopes caught thanks to GPS functionality in 3…2…1…  #

NJ Rep. Says He Lives in Virginia

Published by Waldo Jaquith on October 21, 2008 in In Brief. 4 Comments

Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) claims to live in Virginia to get his daughter in-state tuition at UVa. Awk-ward.  #

McDonough: “Green Guru Gone Wrong”

Published by Waldo Jaquith on October 20, 2008 in Business. 6 Comments

In the cover story of November’s Fast Company, author Danielle Sacks argues that Bill McDonough is the biggest obstacle to his own success, and he’s pulling the sustainability movement down with him. The Charlottesville architect is the world’s most celebrated eco-architect, and many people (including me) regard him as a visionary. His trouble is that he’s been repeatedly presented with the choice between making a difference and making money, gone for the latter, and wound up with neither. Most recently he’s butted heads with Charlottesville non-profit industrial eco-designers GreenBlue, an organization that he founded, but now he wants them to license the use of the term “cradle to cradle,” though he didn’t even coin the phrase. As Sacks presents it, McDonough is great at the vision thing, but not so great at the doing stuff thing.

The Progress’ Impending Endorsements

Published by Waldo Jaquith on October 17, 2008 in In Brief. 5 Comments

Given the Progress record of hilariously goofy endorsements [1, 2], let’s all steel ourselves for this year’s round. I’m calling it now: Warner and McCain.  #

City Kills Rescue Squad Plans

Published by Waldo Jaquith on October 17, 2008 in Government and Taxes. 37 Comments

The city is abandoning their plan to establish a rescue squad, Henry Graff reports for NBC 29:

Now, very quietly, we’re told the city is scrapping the plans for its own squads. One source says city ambulances aren’t really needed; another says they cannot be afforded.

Either way, they’re not going to happen, and the money set aside for them will help balance the city’s bottom line.

Charlottesville Fire Chief Charles Werner says CARS is meeting the city’s response time expectations, and a new ambulance at the Monticello Fire Station gives the city adequate coverage. But Mayor Dave Norris says it all comes down to balancing the budget.

By my math, CARS has always been meeting the city’s response time expectations, and given that CARS is already performing this service at zero cost to the city, I can’t see how it ever made sense for Charlottesville to do this. When Council approved this they set aside $750k for it, so that should help with what’s sure to be a tough budget year.