The Albemarle County BoS set a real estate tax rate of 74.2¢ last night, Brandon Shulleeta writes in the Progress today, establishing a budget that’s $30M lower than the current fiscal year’s. The idea was to maintain current dollar tax payment levels for property owners. The result is significant service cuts—our library system will continue to be neglected, government operations are short-staffed, and employees are having their salaries frozen.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Monthly Archive for April, 2009
Page 3 of 5
The Gravity Lounge has been shut down by its landlord, Lisa Provence writes for The Hook. Building owner Ludwig Kuttner cites two years of back rent and fire safety citations as the reasons for giving Bill Baldwin the boot. He intends to install a new management team and reopen as soon as possible. Brendan Fitzgerald explained the struggling venue’s situation in C-Ville Weekly in February—it sounds like Kuttner’s current role is less as landlord and more as owner of Gravity Lounge, which makes his actions a little less strange than they might sound at first.
- Image courtesy of the TJ Center.
Charlottesville Thomas Jefferson for the Protection of Free Expression has named the recipients of their annual Muzzle Awards, the dubious distinctions given to those government-related organizations who have done the most to squelch free expression in the prior year. Recipients this year include the DNC, the RNC, two judges, four colleges, two high schools, one school board, and one military base. Camp Lejune, for instance, threatened to fire a civilian employee for the bumper stickers on his personal vehicle, including one reading “Remember the Cole, 12 Oct. 2000,” honoring the employee’s son, who died in the attack. And Yuba College threatened to expel a student for proselytizing outside of the permitted hours of noon to 1 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays. No doubt these awards are proving embarrassing to their respective government entities. Wistar Watts Murray provides the full rundown on this year’s awards as the cover story in this week’s C-Ville Weekly.
Disclosure: The Thomas Jefferson Center is one of the groups representing cvillenews.com in Thomas Garrett v. Better Publications. But I write about the Muzzles every year, so there are no shenanigans here.
Last night City Council voted unanimously to upgrade the McIntire wading pool to keep it open, Rachana Dixit writes in today’s Daily Progress. The facility requires significant upgrades, and it’s not clear that it can survive in the face of the interchange planned for the McIntire/250 Bypass intersection, but the goal is now to keep it operational.
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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