In the cover story of November’s Fast Company, author Danielle Sacks argues that Bill McDonough is the biggest obstacle to his own success, and he’s pulling the sustainability movement down with him. The Charlottesville architect is the world’s most celebrated eco-architect, and many people (including me) regard him as a visionary. His trouble is that he’s been repeatedly presented with the choice between making a difference and making money, gone for the latter, and wound up with neither. Most recently he’s butted heads with Charlottesville non-profit industrial eco-designers GreenBlue, an organization that he founded, but now he wants them to license the use of the term “cradle to cradle,” though he didn’t even coin the phrase. As Sacks presents it, McDonough is great at the vision thing, but not so great at the doing stuff thing.
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The city is abandoning their plan to establish a rescue squad, Henry Graff reports for NBC 29:
Now, very quietly, we’re told the city is scrapping the plans for its own squads. One source says city ambulances aren’t really needed; another says they cannot be afforded.
Either way, they’re not going to happen, and the money set aside for them will help balance the city’s bottom line.
Charlottesville Fire Chief Charles Werner says CARS is meeting the city’s response time expectations, and a new ambulance at the Monticello Fire Station gives the city adequate coverage. But Mayor Dave Norris says it all comes down to balancing the budget.
By my math, CARS has always been meeting the city’s response time expectations, and given that CARS is already performing this service at zero cost to the city, I can’t see how it ever made sense for Charlottesville to do this. When Council approved this they set aside $750k for it, so that should help with what’s sure to be a tough budget year.
Brian McNeill asked around about Charlottesville’s high gas prices for the Daily Progress, and got the following from the president of local fuel distributor Tiger Fuel:
“The prices are changing very quickly. They’re coming down,” said David Sutton, president of Tiger Fuel Co., which operates a dozen local gas stations and provides oil to roughly 100 others. “Right now, Charlottesville’s prices are a little higher than elsewhere, but they’ll come down, certainly by the end of the week.”
High-volume gas stations are generally charging less than some others, Sutton said, because they are resupplying with gas bought at a lower rate. Stations with less volume are charging higher prices, he said, because they have not yet run out of the more expensive fuel.
The Charlottesville region’s market, he said, does not consume gas as rapidly as places like Hampton Roads, Northern Virginia and Richmond. Consequently, Charlottesville’s prices sometimes lag behind when it comes to price, he said.
“This is not a high-volume market,” Sutton said. “Our prices don’t change as quickly.”
In a comment on the Progress’ site, reader JB makes a good point about this logic:
If C’ville gas prices are slow to decline because of the area being “low-volume”, then the same logic should apply when prices are on the rise. I don’t recall the C’ville area lagging behind when the price was going up. Greedy gas weasels!
The good news is that price are dropping. The bad news is that it’s because the economy is in a nosedive.
City and county registrars have released the final voter registration numbers, John Robinson writes for C-Ville Weekly, and they’re impressive. An admirable 80% of the city’s eligible population is registered, and a really stunning 95% of Albemarle’s eligible population has gotten signed up to vote. That’s an 11% increase for C’ville and a 7% increase for Albemarle in 2008. I know that a lot of people have been working really hard to get more people registered.
The results from the county’s annual citizen satisfaction survey are in, Brandon Shulleeta wrote in yesterday’s Progress, and the surprising news is that 70% of those surveyed “somewhat” or “strongly” support spending more on roads, with 49% saying they’d pay more taxes to make that possible. In past years, this survey asked people what they’d like to see the county do more of, but didn’t also ask if they were willing to pay for those services, so this new approach marks an improvement. Other notable numbers include that 93% of citizens are satisfied with services and that 58% believe that real estate assessments are done fairly. The complete report won’t come out for another couple of months.
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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