Monthly Archive for July, 2011

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Video of Democratic Council Forum

Published by Waldo Jaquith on July 22, 2011 in Politics. 21 Comments

Charlottesville Tomorrow has video and audio of this week’s Democratic City Council forum, which they held in conjunction with the Daily Progress. (Let’s all pause to appreciate the irony of the Progress holding a forum for candidates that they will almost certainly work very hard to avoid endorsing, what with their being Democrats.) Here’s the video:

7/23 Update: Brandon Collins has blogged his answers to the questions posted to candidates in the debate. He’s a council candidate, though not for the Democratic nomination, but he’s answering them anyway.

Meadowcreek Parkway Stalled for Lack of Permit

Published by Waldo Jaquith on July 20, 2011 in Transportation. 4 Comments

The Army Corps of Engineers has pulled the permit for a crucial bit of the Meadowcreek Parkway, Aaron Richardson writes in the Progress. Part of the city’s portion of the road—dubbed McIntire Road Extended—goes over a tributary of Schenk’s Branch, and putting a culvert for the road to pass over requires permission from the Corps. The Coalition to Preserve McIntire Park recently filed for a preliminary injunction against VDOT to prevent the culvert from being put in, arguing that doing so would violate federal law, because of the impact that it would have on the stream. The group is claiming victory here, saying that VDOT folded, knowing that they were in the wrong, and will now have to come up with a method of crossing the stream that doesn’t impact it (such as a bridge), which also has the effect of taking the Corps out of the equation.

CTB Approves Funding for the Western Bypass

Published by Waldo Jaquith on July 20, 2011 in Government, Taxes and Transportation. 9 Comments

The Commonwealth Transportation Board has allocated $230M to build the Western Bypass, according to a press release from the governor’s office. That’s $197M in funding for the new road, and another $33M to add another lane to 29 in both directions between Polo Grounds Road (near Walmart) and Hollymead, to accomodate the proposed interchange there.

This is basically up to the Metropolitan Planning Organization now, who has held one of two planned public hearings on the topic. There was overwhelming opposition at last week’s hearing, though it’ll all come down to guy who wields the tie-breaking vote on the MPO: James Utterback, the administrator of VDOT’s Culpeper District (which we’re in.) The city has two representatives on the MPO who are likely to vote against the bypass bypass, the county has two votes likely to vote for it, and that makes Utterback a pretty important guy all of a sudden.

City Campaign Finance Numbers Are In

Published by Waldo Jaquith on July 18, 2011 in Politics. 24 Comments

Campaign finance reports have been filed by city candidates, Graham Moomaw writes in the Progress, and those numbers give an early indication of the sort of support that candidates are enjoying.

In the council race, UVA employee Brevy Cannon takes the lead with $4,100 in contributions, but that includes a $2,000 loan he made to his campaign. So really it’s former school board member Dede Smith up front, with $3,900 in contributions. Incumbent Satyendra Huja has taken in $3,500, school board member Kathy Galvin raised $3,200, and developer Paul Beyer raised $2,600 (though spent basically all of it). The other candidates are pretty far behind: Scott Bandy took in $120, Brandon Collins raised $750, James Halfaday $850, Andrew Williams $300, and Bob Fenwick didn’t report any donations. Colette Blount joined the race recently enough that she didn’t have to file.

There’s a clear leader in fundraising for the clerk’s race: school board member Llezelle Dugger, with a striking $8,600. Second place is held by incumbent Paul Garrett, with $2,200. Pam Melampy is a distant third, with $900.

Survey Shows Opposition to Shortened County Summer Break

Published by Waldo Jaquith on July 18, 2011 in Education. 5 Comments

Albemarle parents are overwhelmingly against shortening schools’ summer vacation, Aaron Richardson writes in the Daily Progress. The school system sent out a survey to parents, allowing them to pick between starting school on August 8, August 13, or August 22. Of the nearly 2,000 respondents, 1,200 chose August 22. There was no option for later dates. Some parents believe that the county is trying to herd public opinion towards an earlier start, for the purpose of holding the Standards of Learning test before winter break, rather than after, in order to increase scores. And for good cause—they say as much:

Director of Secondary Education Matt Haas said the calendar changes would help make the semesters an even length. By starting earlier, he said, high school students will finish their exams before winter break, and have more time to study for standardized tests in the spring.

“Starting earlier gives teachers more time to get kids ready for the SOLs and AP exams, and have school end after the testing period,” Haas said.

Despite the strong survey results, one can already see some push-back from the school board, discrediting the metrics of their own survey:

Harley Miles, vice chairman and at-large member of the county’s School Board, said the comments on the survey were so varied that the numbers were less important than the concerns parents expressed.

“It’s interesting to me that there’s some parents who say let’s start as early as possible, some say let’s start later, some say let’s start in the middle,” Miles said. “There’s a variety of responses, so you can’t just go on the numbers.”

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