Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith

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Suspect Arrested in Hessian Hills Burglaries

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 28, 2007 in Crime. 3 Comments

For six months now, the Hessian Hills and Canterbury Hills have been plagued with burglaries — dozens of them, often on weekdays, in the afternoon or early evening, with electronics and similar high-dollar items stolen. Some houses were hit twice. Now the police think they’ve got someone. In a join press release (below), the county and city police have announced the arrest of 41-year-old William Frances Breckenridge on Monday, charging him with stealing from a vehicle and homes. If this really is the guy that’s committed all of the crimes, that list of charges will have to get a whole lot longer. Thanks to Al for the news.

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C-Ville Weekly’s TV Spots

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 28, 2007 in Business and Meta News. 8 Comments

Here’s something new to our market (I think) — TV ads for a print publication. (Though who can forget The Hook’s possibility unintentionally funny radio spot from back when that paper first launched?) C-Ville‘s two spots were put together by Johnny St.Ours. My favorite:

Two points to the first person who can name the location where each ad was filmed.

10:30pm Update: The Hook points out that they have TV ads, too. In case it’s not totally obvious, I can’t pick up any local TV stations from my home, what with there being a mountain the way.

Unanimous Vote Against Biscuit Run

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 28, 2007 in Development. 4 Comments

The Planning Commission unanimously rejected Biscuit Run at last night’s meeting, Charlottesville Tomorrow reports. (Local media outlets left before the meeting ended.) Of the 27 members of the public who spoke at the meeting, only four supported the enormous proposed development. Significant factors in the decision appeared to include the need for significant upgrades to the sewer line (which simply can’t handle thousands of new people), the major expansion to transportation infrastructure that would be required, and some more traditional concerns like proffers, school capacity, etc.

Now comes the fun part: the Board of Supervisors. That’s because the Planning Commission’s vote is simply a recommendation to the BoS, who can choose to accept or reject the recommendation. A unanimous recommendation is tough to ignore without looking bad, but it’s hardly unheard of. Muddying the waters, three members of the BoS are up for reelection, and no industry gives quite as generously as developers.

CPC Stockholders’ Coming Windfall

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 27, 2007 in Business. 10 Comments

More on the topic of the CPC looking to sell a big chunk of their downtown holdings, in the form of an interesting financial revelation from Hawes Spencer at The Hook:

In the mid 1990s, says Spencer Connerat, who was a young banker at the time, he was fascinated when Jim Berry and Hovey Dabney– his bosses at Jefferson National Bank (now Wachovia)– began buying CPC shares for themselves. During 1996 and 1997, Berry and Dabney divided up shares as they became available, each purchasing blocks of shares ranging from 1,485 to 29,690 at prices of $1.00 and $1.05 per share.

[…]

According to our calculations, the per-share dividend just on the sale of the Water Street asphalt lot could be nearly $20.

The city sold off its three major parking lots, counting on CPC — masquerading as a non-profit — to provide for its parking needs and all the while CPC’s major stockholders appear to have known that the business was little more than a real estate investment for them, and that eventually that parking would turn into office buildings or condos.

City to Consider Free Buses

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 27, 2007 in Transportation. 12 Comments

Some city officials are interested in making the buses free, Henry Graff reports for NBC 29, a move that would surrender $400,000 in annual revenue but surely result in more widespread use of CTS. The process of paying slows things down, and having to pay adds a layer of mystery to the system for those who have never ridden the buses. Beginning yesterday the buses became free for anybody with a UVa ID, and the next step would be to try a fare-free month and see what come of that.

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