Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith

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Our Most Dangerous Intersections

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 15, 2007 in Transportation. 11 Comments

Further to the discussion of newly-legal red light cameras, Brendan Fitzgerald wrote in last week’s C-Ville Weekly about the most dangerous intersections in town, complete with a snazzy Google map of hotspots. The really alarming number comes from Ivy Road (250 West once it ceases to be bypass) and Richmond Road (250 East post-bypass), in both cases within a quarter mile of the bypass — they’re up from 97 crashes in ’04 to 341 in ’06. (Two thirds of that came on the west end.) Unless traffic is up 350% in that period, that seems strange.

I really wish that Charlottesville and Albemarle Police would provide metadata from incident reports on their websites, as I’ve lamented before. C-Ville‘s Google map should be able to draw on regularly-updated incident data to dynamically assess what is the most dangerous intersection in the past week, month, or year, but the data’s just not there.

Albemarle Clerk Retiring

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 15, 2007 in Law and Justice and Politics. Closed

Shelby Marshall, Albemarle Circuit Court Clerk for the past forty years, is stepping down, Liesel Nowak reports in the Progress. Marshall will complete her eighth term, and will be replaced by whomever is elected to the office. WINA points out that she hasn’t had a challenger since 1983, when Fred Heblich ran against her. This is shaping up to be the most exciting local election in some years.

Beebe Sentenced to 18 Months

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 15, 2007 in Law and Justice and UVa. 3 Comments

William Beebe was sentenced to 18 months in prison today for the 1984 sexual assault of Liz Seccuro, the Daily Progress reports. Beebe confessed to the crime in a letter to Seccuro in January of last year, as a part of a twelve-step program, only to claim that he didn’t do it when he was subsequently arrested. Changing his mind again, Beebe pleaded guilty in November, which is what led to today’s sentencing.

Republican Challenging Dorrier

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 13, 2007 in Politics. 11 Comments

Democratic member of the Board of Supervisors Lindsay Dorrier has a challenger in this year’s election in the form of Republican Denny King. (The Progress reported this fully a week ago, but I totally forgot to write about it.) King, who works in the film production business, ran for the Scottsville seat on the school board in 2003. Some may recall his 2004 efforts to start an all-Charlottesville all the time broadcast TV station.

Lindsay Dorrier is nominally a Democrat, but certainly the most conservative elected Democrat to be found in the area; he often votes with his Republican colleagues. His current run on the BoS began in 2000, but he also served from 1976-1980. He was challenged at the end of his 2000 term by a write-in candidate, but won handily.

Democrat Running Against Del. Abbitt

Published by Waldo Jaquith on March 13, 2007 in Politics. 4 Comments

Connie Brennan AnnouncesNelson County Democrat and member of the Board of Supervisors Connie Brennan announced her candidacy for the House of Delegates seat occupied by Delegate Watkins Abbitt yesterday, Bob Gibson writes in today’s Daily Progress. Brennan is a Sorensen Institute graduate and works as a nurse at UVa. Abbitt, an insurance agent, was elected in 1985.

The 59th district is the largest in the state, running from the southwest quarter of Albemarle (coming within yards of the Charlottesville boundary) clear down to Appomattox, including Nelson, Buckingham, Cumberland and, bizarrely, only the western half of Fluvanna. The unusual district was carved out specifically for Del. Abbitt in the 2001 Republican redistricting in exchange for Abbitt leaving the Democratic Party and becoming an independent.

There’s a third candidate in the race, though he hasn’t formally announced. Buckingham’s Eric Winslow — currently a Sorensen fellow — will be running as an independent. Winslow is to the right of Abbitt, and his entrance into this race is going to make it a great deal more interesting.

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