Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith

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VDOT Agrees to Lower 29N/Forest Lakes Speed Limit

Published by Waldo Jaquith on July 2, 2008 in Transportation. 26 Comments

VDOT presented their safety assessment of the Forest Lakes intersection with 29N last night, and 160 people showed up to see how the intersection could be improved. Sixteen year old Sydney Aichs was killed there in May when the driver of a semi ran the red and hit her car at full speed. VDOT says that the intersection isn’t up to spec, since there’s not enough “stopping sight distance.” Folks want to see the speed limit there lowered to 45 MPH from 55 MPH, and they were frustrated by VDOT saying that it would take at least a few months to accomplish, despite their agreement that it should happen. (How hard is this? Just replace a few signs. You’re done.) Sean Tubbs mentioned in a comment that VDOT told the BoS this afternoon that they may have it done by the end of the week, which is more like it.

That’s a whole section of 29N that, for years, was 55 MPH clear up to Gainesville, without a stoplight to be seen (other than the one at Pete’s Park-n-Eat. Towns, counties, and VDOT have all been slow to realize that the whole road is changing to a continuous suburban corridor. In thirty years, driving to D.C. is going to be a five hour process.

Incidentally, this story is written by the newest Daily Progress reporter, Brandon Shulleeta. He comes to the paper from the The Caroline Progress, interned at the Richmond Times-Dispatch last year, and attended VCU, where he studied broadcast journalism.

Downtown Mall Plans Being Finalized

Published by Waldo Jaquith on July 2, 2008 in Development and Politics. 12 Comments

Plans are being finalized for the Downtown Mall overhaul, Sean Tubbs writes for Charlottesville Tomorrow, and a couple of hundred people showed up at a Monday-night forum to see and comment on the plans. Having learned from when the Mall was built in the first place, the city will be working with “block captains,” representing the businesses on each block of the Mall, to figure out how to time construction to keep from shutting down the whole shebang for all five months that the reconstruction should require. In a minor but important issue, they’re looking at going with 4″x12″ pavers, as specified by the original designer of the Mall, with sand-swept joints, rather than the mortared ones that have worked out so badly. Construction is scheduled to begin in January.

Coolest of all, they’re looking at giving away the torn-up bricks to the public, so that we can all have a bit of the Downtown Mall on our patios and in our barbecues. Sign me up for that.

President to Speak at Monticello July 4

Published by Waldo Jaquith on June 27, 2008 in Government and Politics. 215 Comments

Monticello Naturalization Ceremony President George Bush will be the speaker at this year’s Independence Day naturalization ceremony at Monticello. Such events take place around the country, and the annual event at Monticello is for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. Charlottesville’s is always a big deal, not just because of the always-excellent speakers (Sam Waterston, actor and Unity08 founder, spoke last year), but because of its great location. The event is free, though probably tough to get into this year. It’s always stunningly hot, even at its 10am start time, so prepare accordingly if you intend to go.

Botanical Garden Proposed for McIntire Park

Published by Waldo Jaquith on June 22, 2008 in General News. 33 Comments

The Meadowcreek Parkway and the YMCA will significantly reduce the size of McIntire Park, including lopping at least two holes off the golf course. Though only golfers can say whether a seven-hole course is of much good to anybody, one local group is proposing replacing the golf course with a botanical garden, Seth Rosen writes in the Progress. City leaders are supportive of the idea, but the catch is that it’d cost upwards of $50M (!) to pull it off. That could be done with city dollars, or the city could give a nonprofit a lease on the land, and that group would do it as a barn-raising (in the style of The Paramount). It had been suggested that a recreational pond be installed there, which was a bang-up idea, but the Army Corps of Engineers said it wasn’t feasible. A botanical garden would certainly reduce the sting of losing a chunk of parkland.

County to Crack Down on Red Light Runners

Published by Waldo Jaquith on June 20, 2008 in Crime and Transportation. 41 Comments

Albemarle County Police are going to start ticketing people for running red lights on 29 North, CBS 19 reports. All of next week, the cops will be going after folks along the corridor. A paltry 284 tickets were issued for running reds in the entirety of the country during the whole of 2007. It was two and a half years ago that the Progress‘ Jessica Kitchin sat and watched a half hour of rush hour traffic at the intersection of Rio and 29 and found that somebody ran the red every single time. At $161 a throw, I’d think that intersection would be a license for the county police to print money. And if that’s a money-losing proposition for the department, then the county needs to increase the fine.

In case it’s not obvious, red light runners make me furious. (Note to self: You must now never, ever get caught running a red.)

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