In June, word came out that Orange County was considering blanketing the area in wireless internet service and, in today’s Daily Progress, Kate Andrews writes that Orange is going wireless. At first, service will only be for use by the Orange and Gordonsville governments, but the $411k project may end up being expanded to providing access to homes and businesses. Orange County isn’t exactly a hotbed of high speed access, and businesses aren’t fighting over the sparsely-populated market — this may be the only way for many residents to get decent bandwidth.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith
Page 300 of 549
In today’s Daily Progress, Jessica Kitchin has a lengthy article exploring the costs and the benefits of Albemarle’s Neighborhood Model of development. The concept of the new urbanist approach to development is to lower the cost of living and raise quality of life for residents, but creating such neighborhoods is more expensive, in part because developers simply aren’t accustomed to building anything other than McMansion after McMansion. The county’s requirement that 15% of Neighborhood Model construction be “affordable” only further muddies the financial waters. I think the most interesting bit of the article is this:
Affordable housing is defined as safe, decent housing where costs don’t exceed 30 percent of the gross household income. The county’s policy addresses those with household incomes at or below 80 percent of the area’s median income — this year, 80 percent of the median is $53,360. At a 6 percent interest rate, Albemarle County Housing Director Ron L. White estimated, the average family making that could afford a $175,000 mortgage.
Albemarle’s median home value, meanwhile, is $280,000. Many attribute the skyrocketing home values – which went up 45 percent from 1990 to 2000 and have risen 74 percent since 2000 – to the market in a high-demand living area.
Kitchin does a good job of exploring this dynamic, interviewing all the people that play a role in the local housing process. The Progress should have features this in-depth more often.
Erstwhile House of Delegates candidate Rich Collins got what he was looking for in court yesterday: a trespassing conviction, Liesel Nowak reports in today’s Daily Progress. Collins was arrested for trespass for campaigning on private property in mid-May, leading to his civil suit against the property owner, joined by the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia and the Rutherford Institute in his case.
His criminal conviction is required in order for him to appeal the case up to the Virginia Supreme Court, the only state court that can set new precedent in the matter, hence his happiness at being convicted by Judge Stephen Helvin. The judge believes it likely that the court of last appeal would rule against Collins, but added: “If I were on the Supreme Court, I’d rule in your favor.” Helvin confessed that he’d thought the case would be an easy one, but that upon consideration, he found himself favoring Collins. “It’s not an easy issue. For someone born in the shadow of Monticello, this is one time I wouldn’t mind going up to talk to the guy on the hill.”
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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