Monthly Archive for April, 2010

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State Road Funding Plummets

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 15, 2010 in Government, Taxes and Transportation. 16 Comments

How bad is the state’s financial situation? VDOT is allocating $325,000/year to Albemarle County each year for the next five years for secondary roads, Brian Wheeler writes for Charlottesville Tomorrow. Compare that to $5,150,000 in 2004. And that tiny bit that we’re still getting is from right-of-way fees in our own utility bills—the state is, strictly speaking, not giving us a penny. The only transportation project that’s happening now is Meadowcreek Parkway, and that’s due to federal funding from back in 2005.

You just can’t build much for $325,000 in the realm of transportation. That’ll get you a nice new sidewalk, maybe a hundred yards of widened road. Gov. Bob McDonnell was elected to office last November on a platform that involved a great deal of talk about solving the state’s transportation crisis (we’re fast hurtling towards the day when we can no longer maintain existing roads), which he pledged to do without raising taxes. If you can figure out how to do that, you might let the governor know—no doubt he’s wondering how to pull it off, too. The General Assembly lacks the political will to solve the transportation problem, which will require developing a long-term revenue source to fund roads at a rate that adjusts with the use of roads, such as by increasing the gas tax.

A fun fact from this article: “Secondary roads are those numbered 600 and above. Primary roads, such as U.S. 29, are funded from other sources for their construction and maintenance.”

Advance Mills Bridge Reopens

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 15, 2010 in Transportation. 1 Comment

After being closed for three years, the Advance Mills bridge has finally reopened, Brandon Shulleeta writes in today’s Daily Progress. Only foot and bicycle traffic has been allowed to cross the Rivanna there, leaving residents on the far side taking an awkward route to town for a long time now. The price tag on this new bridge—which has substantially retained the sharp look of the old one—is $3.3M.

UVIMCO Head Quit Due to Affair?

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 9, 2010 in Government and UVa. 14 Comments

Brendan Fitzgerald has a piece in C-Ville Weekly at the intersection of juicy gossip and hard news: outgoing UVIMCO CEO Chris Brightman may have been forced out due to an affair with an employee. The University of Virginia Investment Management Company handles UVA’s endowment—billions of dollars—and Brightman’s abrupt resignation a few weeks ago came as a surprise. About the same time, his executive assistant left UVIMCO. Now Fitzgerald sees that the coworker with whom Brightman was having an affair—one Carolyn Barfield Sawyer—is being divorced by her husband, eleven days after Brightman’s resignation, citing her affair with a coworker during a work-related trip to Arizona. Of course, nobody is commenting on this. In an odd coincidence, Barfield was recently hired by City Council to replace the retiring Jeanne Cox as Clerk of Council. One of her recommendations is said to have come from Brightman.

Update: I reversed Brightman and Barfield in an initial version here—it’s Barfield’s spouse who has filed for divorce.

Real Estate III Becomes a Better Homes & Gardens Franchise

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 8, 2010 in Business. 63 Comments

Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate, a national real estate conglomerate, has brought local real estate agency Real Estate III into its national franchise, they’ve announced in a press release. Their website has already been overhauled to reflect the news, being announced right now at an event at The Paramount. The company will travel under the name of “Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate III,” presumably a brief stop on its way to becoming, simply, “Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate.” Real Estate III was founded by Frank Kessler forty years ago. BH&G is acquiring for its network local real estate agents all across the nation, adding up to 125 offices in fifteen states. With the awful housing market, a lot of real estate agencies are hurting, making this the perfect time for a big company to gather up a bunch of comparatively small ones.

9:25 PM Update: The apparent marketing director for Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate III is insistent that they haven’t been sold, but won’t say what has actually happened. She would like you to know that I’m “obviously living la la land,” and suggests that they should “call their lawyers.” When she deigns to inform me of what this transaction is properly called, if not a “sale,” I’ll update this blog entry accordingly.

10:50 PM Update: Bryan McKenzie kind of explains this in Friday’s Progress. It’s still not clear what has transpired here, but my capacity to care is limited, so suffice it to say that Real Estate III has a new name, BH&G probably gave them some money, and they got something in return, but nobody’s saying what, and it involves entering into a franchise agreement with BH&G. I’ve updated this story to reflect that.

Parkway Shooter Suspect Arrested

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 7, 2010 in Crime. Closed

Ralph Leon Jackson, a 56-year-old man from Stuart’s Draft, has been arrested and charged with the attempted murder of a couple on the Blue Ridge Parkway yesterday. Police found him thanks to an anonymous tip, and had a SWAT team seize him at his house around dawn this afternoon. He’s made “incriminating statements,” say police, but there’s still no understanding of why he shot two complete strangers. If he’s the guy, a lot more information should be coming out over the next few days.

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