Continuing their series of exposés about the reservoir, The Hook this week features an article about all of the opportunities that our government had to get things right, but missed or ignored. Both the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority and the Board of Supervisors got close to getting things right — and apparently had the necessary information to do so — but failed to manage it. Now it looks pretty clear that it would be cheap to fix the Ragged Mountain dams, and that simply dredging would take care of the area’s water needs for decades to come.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith
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I’d wondered if the town had collectively forgotten that the Corner parking lot is the cradle of the local music scene. Brendan Fitzgerald brings the happy news in this week’s C-Ville that, no, people remember: local filmmaker Meghan Eckman is making a documentary about it. She’s spent a year learning about the lot’s history, and is in the process of turning 125 hours of footage into a single work.
It’s noteworthy that the lot’s manager, Chris Farina, is the creator of “West Main Street,” a gem of a documentary made back in 1995. I’ve seen it a half dozen times (I own a copy), and the more time passes, the more valuable it becomes as an artifact of the town’s history.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Ken Boyd has invoked the nuclear option in city/county relations, suggesting that Albemarle cease sharing revenue with Charlottesville, Jeremy Borden writes in today’s Progress. Boyd’s threat is hollow: Albemarle can’t simply stop paying — a court would certainly order the county to adhere to the contract.
The 1982 deal was struck between the two entities to end the city’s long-standing habit of occasionally expanding its borders, which is how Charlottesville grew from its original one square mile to its current ten. As 29N began to expand economically, the city threatened to grow north to encompass it, with Fashion Square Mall being the target. Albemarle, tired of expanding its revenue base only to have it seized by the city, agreed to share a chunk of its real estate tax with Charlottesville if Charlottesville would stop annexing land. It was put to a referendum, and county citizens overwhelmingly agreed.
The General Assembly put a temporary hold on annexation in 1987, and has extended that temporary hold ever since. It’s due to expire in 2010. Del. Matt Lohr’s HB1979, introduced last year, would have extended it to 2020, but it was vetoed by Governor Tim Kaine. Sen. Emmett Hanger got SB742 through the legislature last week, though it’s not clear whether it will meet the same fate as Lohr’s bill.
To hear Boyd’s comments and read more about the BoS meeting in question, see Sean Tubbs’ report for Charlottesville Tomorrow.
Things are not looking good for the Eastern Connector, Seth Rosen writes in the Progress. The long-discussed road is intended to move traffic between Pantops and 29N without taking the bypass, or any of the routes we take when we don’t want to deal with the bypass. Basically, to move people between these two points:
It’s not hard to see that you can’t get there from here. Either such a road would have to plow right through the city, or veer around, traversing hundreds of millions of dollars of prime real estate along 20N. After $500,000 in studies, that’s basically what the city and the county have figured out. Four routes were proposed: simply widening 250, building new bridges on either side of Free Bridge, running a road straight through Pen Park to Rio, and beefing up Proffit/Polo/20 N. All have some combination of being ineffective and impossible.
Though nobody’s declared the Eastern Connector dead, it’s hard to see how to move forward from here. The good news is that more traffic means more support for mass transit, which will help with the problem. The bad news is that it’ll have to be really bad for at least a decade or so before that support gels into anything meaningful.
Albemarle County is looking at charging for ambulance fees, Jeremy Borden writes in the Progress, ending the practice of supporting the cost solely through public funding. The county doesn’t know what they’d charge, but Borden points out that Hanover charges $350—$575, and that insurance generally covers about 80% of that price. Charlottesville looks likely to do the same thing with its new paid ambulance service, due to start later this year.
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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