Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith

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City Kills Rescue Squad Plans

Published by Waldo Jaquith on October 17, 2008 in Government and Taxes. 37 Comments

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.

Charlottesville Derby Dames

Published by Waldo Jaquith on October 16, 2008 in In Brief. Closed

Taking it up a notch from CLAW: roller derby in C’ville.  #

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Concert

Published by Waldo Jaquith on October 16, 2008 in In Brief. Closed

Free Dave & Tim concert at VCU, tickets available at the Wertland Obama office Saturday morning.  #

Tiger Fuel Offers Gas Price Explanation

Published by Waldo Jaquith on October 14, 2008 in Business and Transportation. 47 Comments

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.

Sky-High Voter Registration Rates

Published by Waldo Jaquith on October 14, 2008 in Politics. 2 Comments

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.