Monthly Archive for May, 2010

Page 2 of 2

Conservatives Oppose Grade-Separated Interchanges on 29

Published by Waldo Jaquith on May 11, 2010 in Business, Government and Transportation. 11 Comments

Several BoS members and the head of the Chamber of Commerce are opposing the planned grade-separated interchanges on 29, Sean Tubbs writes for Charlottesville Tomorrow. There’s a five-year-old plan to improve traffic flow on 29 by having some intersections (Rio and Hydraulic, in particular) go under the highway, which is the only viable system that’s more efficient than traffic lights. The three most conservative members of the Board of Supervisors don’t like it, and neither does Timothy Hulbert. (This is why Lynchburg hates us.)

But none of this much matters anyway, because there’s no money for transportation, and no prospect of any money for years. Governor McDonnell’s plan for funding roads is to pay for them with income that will mystically come from allowing oil companies to drill off the coast of Virginia. Let’s not hold our breath waiting for that.

Whole Foods Developer Sued by Neighboring Kmart

Published by Waldo Jaquith on May 10, 2010 in Business, Law and Justice and Transportation. 7 Comments

Kmart is suing Whole Foods’ developers for building on their land without permission, Rachana Dixit writes. Apparently, the owner of the shopping center is allowing Whole Foods to make some improvements to land that Kmart leases, but the developer has started building a road—eventually Hillsdale Drive—and additional parking where Kmart says they’re not allowed to. Though this could just be a simple property dispute between two neighboring properties, it could affect Hillsdale Drive Extended that’s planned to parallel 29N, which is one of the very few new roads that’s actually being developed in the area anytime soon.

Newspapers Contest Order Sealing Murder Warrants

Published by Waldo Jaquith on May 8, 2010 in Law and Justice and Meta News. 3 Comments

Newspapers are demanding that the city unseal the court order that sealed search warrants related to the death of Yeardley Love, Ted Strong writes for the Progress. Along with the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Washington Post, the Progress has filed a challenge in city court to the secret search warrant order. This is not a demand that the warrants be made public, but that the order sealing the warrants be unsealed, so that it’s possible to determine what the rationale was for sealing the warrants. (Progress publisher Lawrence McConnell is, not coincidentally, the president of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, an organization that promotes sunshine laws and generally opposes this sort of thing.) The next step, presumably, is for the court to determine whether they agree with the petitioners, though it’s not clear to me what the likely timeline is for that.

Disclosure: I serve on the board of VCOG with McConnell.

Fourth Year Found Dead; Classmate Arrested

Published by Waldo Jaquith on May 3, 2010 in Crime and UVa. 84 Comments

UVA fourth-year and women’s lacrosse team member Yeardley Love was found dead in a Fourteenth Street apartment early this morning, and fellow lacrosse player George Hugely has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Both are 22, from Maryland, and are said to have had a relationship. Police say that Love’s body showed signs of trauma, but they’re awaiting the results of an autopsy to say anything further about her death.

Sideblog