Monthly Archive for December, 2008

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Chamber Endorses Transit Authority

Published by Waldo Jaquith on December 10, 2008 in Business, Taxes and Transportation. 9 Comments

The Chamber of Commerce has endorsed the establishment of a regional transit authority, the Progress reports, in a move that should surprise anybody following local politics. The Chamber has historically been pretty far to the right—it was just a few years ago that they suggested that government shouldn’t establish a minimum wage—so supporting the creation of a new government entity and a new taxation structure to support it is a sign either of how badly the state has failed to fund transportation or how far that the Chamber has moved to the left.

This leaves Del. Rob Bell in an awkward position, since he opposes allowing citizens to hold a referendum to determine if they should fund a transit authority. Bell surely doesn’t want to go up against the Chamber, especially not on something this large, so he’s likely left having to justify a 180° on this.

Nelson Supporters Local Food Distribution Hub

Published by Waldo Jaquith on December 10, 2008 in Business. 16 Comments

Nelson County has bootstrapped an Ivy-based local-food distribution hub, Erin McGrath writes in the Nelson County Times, providing $10,000 towards its establishment. The non-profit would serve the Thomas Jefferson Planning District (Nelson, Albemarle, C’ville, Fluvanna, Greene, and Louisa), functioning as a badly-needed middleman between farmers and final points of sale like restaurants and grocery stores. It’s the idea of Charlottesville’s Kate Collier and Marisa Vrooman, who figure it’ll take $300,000 to get started. Next they’ll be asking the BoS for $80,000. It’s definitely not a good time to asking any government entity for money, but if they can demonstrate that a significant economic gain will result from enabling this trade, it might be a smart investment for TJPD members.

Calculating Cost of Housing in the Face of Students

Published by Waldo Jaquith on December 10, 2008 in General News. 6 Comments

In today’s Progress, Rachana Dixit explores the difficulties of calculating the cost of housing in a college town. Looking at the raw numbers, about half of the city is spending more than a third of their income on housing, which is trouble. Except for students, for whom that’s a reasonable thing to do for a few years. Knowing how much people are paying for housing is important, because it’s a key method of determining the fiscal health of the population and the appropriateness of our housing stock. It’s good that we all see the problem of these data—now we’ve got to solve it.

BoS Wants 6 Cent Tax Hike

Published by Waldo Jaquith on December 10, 2008 in Taxes. 41 Comments

The Albemarle Board of Supervisors has asked county staff to prepare a budget with a real estate tax rate of 77 cents, Brandon Shuletta writes in today’s Daily Progress, an increase from the current 71 cents. Declining property values require a tax hike in order to maintain existing services. Ninety cents would keep county revenue level, while 74.5 cents would keep taxpayer payments the same. Every member of the BoS had their own figure in mind, but they ultimately decided on 77 cents, with supervisors Ken Boyd and Lindsay Dorrier (the two conservative members of the board) both dissenting.

Groh’s Contract Capped at 2011

Published by Waldo Jaquith on December 1, 2008 in Sports and UVa. 47 Comments

UVa has declined to extend Al Groh’s contract, the Post reports, leaving him under contract for just three more years. His record leaves something to be desired among Cavaliers fans, so there’s been support for seeing him replaced with a new football coach.

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