Monthly Archive for January, 2013

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Supreme Court Dismisses YMCA Case

Published by Waldo Jaquith on January 12, 2013 in Government, Law and Justice and Sports. 15 Comments

The Supreme Court of Virginia has dismissed the lawsuits against the Young Men’s Christian Association’s planned fitness center in McIntire Park, Sean Tubbs reports for Charlottesville Tomorrow. ACAC and Gold’s Gym sued Charlottesville and Albemarle County after the governments struck a deal with the YMCA to put a gym in the park, but didn’t open the process to a competitive bidding process that would have allowed either of those businesses to have a shot, as is standard in the procurement process.

The 39-page opinion makes for an interesting read. Although § 15.2-953 of the Virginia Code allows localities to provide money or property to non-profit organizations in exchange for those organizations providing services to citizens, the plaintiffs argued that the defendants’ actions here really should be governed by procurement law, and not by § 15.2-953. The court disagreed, citing a 2007 case to say that the gyms are “attempt[ing] a third-party challenge to a governmental action when such a challenge is not otherwise authorized by statute.” “ACAC alleges that it pays taxes in Albemarle County, it is not seeking to protect the interests of the taxpayers of Albemarle County and thus does not allege a justiciable controversy.” Also, the plaintiffs didn’t name the YMCA as a defendant, making it impossible for the court to compel them to do anything in this matter. The court considers a string of similar claims, and comes to the same conclusion in every case—there’s nothing that the court can do about them.

It was in December of 2007 that City Council voted to lease parkland to the YMCA—just over five years ago—and May of 2010 that the lawsuits were filed. This legal dispute was said to be the only thing standing in the way of starting construction, so presumably that’s the next step.

Jim Baldi Arrested

Published by Waldo Jaquith on January 9, 2013 in Crime. 5 Comments

Two and a half years after he went on the run, Jim Baldi has been arrested in California, Dave McNair writes for The Hook. The former owner of an accounting firm (and Bel Rio, the Belmont restaurant) disappeared after financial irregularities emerged. He was charged with embezzling from clients, and then was gone without a trace. Many folks—myself included—thought he’d never be heard from again. The U.S Marshals Service and the Albemarle County Police tracked him down. He’s awaiting extradition to Virginia.

Pfaltz, Vandever to Run for City Treasurer

Published by Waldo Jaquith on January 3, 2013 in Politics. 6 Comments

Republican John Pfaltz and Democrat Jason Vandever will be the candidates for Charlottesville treasurer, Graham Moomaw writes in the Daily Progress. Vandever is the interim treasurer, having served as the deputy for retired long-time treasurer Jennifer Brown. Pfaltz is a professor emeritus of computer science, perhaps best known in local political circles for his unsuccessful run for City Council in 2000.

The special election is being held at the behest of local Republicans, who didn’t want to see Vandever remaining interim treasurer until next November. They demanded an election, but before Judge Hogshire would order that one be held, he wanted to know that Republicans would actually run a candidate, something that they have often failed to do in city elections. As Moomaw points out, the chairman of the Charlottesville Republicans assured the judge that they had a candidiate, but that his identity was a secret, in an interaction that took place prior to when Pfaltz says that he decided to run. (Pfaltz says that there was another person, but he declined to run.) He’s holding a campaign announcement for the city office in North Garden tomorrow morning.

The good news is that the election is being contested. I was beginning to doubt that Republicans could find candidates for any office in Charlottesville.

01/06 Update: It turns out that Pfaltz is running as an independent, not as a Republican. So one could either see this as yet another a failure on the part of city Republicans to field a single candidate, or an effort by Pfaltz to avoid association with a label that he fears would tarnish his candidacy. Or maybe something more generous that I can’t think of.

Early Progress Archives Go Online

Published by Waldo Jaquith on January 2, 2013 in History. 7 Comments

The Daily Progress’ earliest archives have been made available online, the newspaper reports, in an effort spearheaded by Jefferson Madison Regional Library and facilitated by the University of Virginia library. Eight people collaborated to scan in and catalog most every issue from 1892–1923, with the resulting scans hosted on UVA’s website. They’re just images scanned from microfilm at this point—the text itself isn’t searchable, and it can be tough to read at times—but it’s a great start. The project was funded jointly by JMRL and a private foundation.

So far I’ve just been opening up random issues and browsing around, and it’s just fascinating. Local history buffs are going to disappear into these archives and not be seen for weeks. For example, to pick one out of a hat, the front page of of the December 4, 1894 issue informs us that “metal is now being placed on Park Street”; “pheasants, judging from the number seen at the restaurants, are quite plentiful”; “the first car was placed on the electric street car line”; and “Mr. Thomas A. Marshall, while engaged in cutting feed for stock yesterday at ‘Clairmont’ Farm, had the misfortune to sever the index finger of his left hand between the first and second joints.”

News is enormously valuable the day that it’s published. Its value drops precipitously thereafter but, given enough time, it begins to rise again. Apparently after 121 years, it’s nearly as good as today’s news.

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