Charlottesville is selling old Downtown Mall bricks to recoup some construction costs. Great thinking. #
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
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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Another example of after the fact thinking, poor planning, thoughts of easy cost recovery, etc. This project could easily have GENERATED REVENUE over time. I talked about this idea at one of the meetings, but it fell on deaf ears. Here it is/was:
We’ve all seen this… Anyone who has been to a city w/ some forward thinking folks have seen their pedestrian malls bricked w/ dedicated, or simply inscribed, bricks that the people gladly pay for (and, given all the pretentiousness around c’ville, folks would f’ing line up to fork over 50 bucks per brick.) All you do is take the orders/money and then use the new (inscribed) bricks for “repairs as needed” until the whole thing is done over many years. Shit- they should have been doing that for years as they’ve bricked around the courthouse and some side streets- the dips.
So, at the meeting, I stood up and asked why this wasn’t being investigated. The answer: “it’s not in keeping w/ the original Halperin design.” What nonsense- it wouldn’t have changed the overall visual lay out. It was clear to me the decisions had been made and nothing was going to change.
Fires me up that this was all hamfisted, and at such a cost (and a clear statement as to screwed up priortities.) B/c of self induced pressure to keep this thing on schedule they’re scraping these good bricks up with a mini-dozer, and destroying a fair amount of them in the process. Way to go. With better planning this needn’t have been such a farce.