Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith

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Homeless Population Climbs

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 8, 2008 in General News. 54 Comments

The local homeless population is climbing, Seth Rosen writes in today’s Progress. 292 people in the area are now homeless, an increase from 266 this time last year. A different study, conducted by local schools, has found that the number of homeless children has climbed from 303 to 354. Half of the homeless folks surveyed say that they were evicted or simply couldn’t afford increased rent costs.

And before somebody drags out the long-discredited claim that Charlottesville is some sort of a magnet for the homeless, remember that it just ain’t true. 63% of the local homeless population here is from here, and 23% are from other parts of Virginia. That means that the homeless are way, way more likely to be from here than you are.

City Sign Budget Limited

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 8, 2008 in In Brief. 7 Comments

Council isn’t going to pay as much for signs as city staff requested.  #

New Mall Crossing Permanent

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 8, 2008 in In Brief. Closed

This second Mall crossing is now permanent. How many crossings before we should stop calling it a “pedestrian mall”?  #

South Street Teardown

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 7, 2008 in Development. 12 Comments

Dave McNair writes in The Hook:

The Blue Moon Fund is getting ready to demolish a 13-year-old apartment building on its property at 222 South Street to make way for a new 6,800-square-foot conference center. But an adjoining property owner wonders why the philanthropic organization dedicated to “new economic, cultural, and environmental approaches to resource use, energy use, and urban development” didn’t take him up on his proposal to save landfill space by simply letting him move the building next door.

Tearing down a structure to build an environmentally friendly one is like…uh…help me out here. Pushing your poodle out of a moving car to save a mutt from the SPCA? Selling your child to organ thieves to foster another one? Hacking off a limb to replace it with a less calorically-demanding carbon fiber prosthetic?

McIntire Park Interchange Shortfall

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 5, 2008 in In Brief. 9 Comments

McIntire/250 interchange funding: $29.6M. The selected design: $35M. The forehead-slapping moment when somebody did the math? Priceless.  #