Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith

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City to be Sued Over Panhandling Restrictions

Published by Waldo Jaquith on June 22, 2011 in Government and Law and Justice. 8 Comments

Attorney Jeffrey Fogel is filing a lawsuit against the city on behalf of five local panhandlers, Tasha Kates writes in the Daily Progress. The city strengthened its law prohibiting panhandling last summer, prohibiting solicitation of people doing business with vendors or within 50 feet of the crossings. Notably, Mayor Dave Norris—a strong advocate for the homeless—is a defender of the law, believing it to be “modest.”

Fogel argues that the prohibition is a violation of their First Amendment rights, because the law is not content-neutral, but instead prevents people from saying specific things. Whatever you might think about panhandling, this seems like a legal matter worthy of the consideration of the courts.

Cannon Running for City Council

Published by Waldo Jaquith on June 22, 2011 in Politics. 16 Comments

Democrat Brevy Cannon has announced his candidacy for City Council, Graham Moomaw writes in the Progress. The 36-year-old UVA employee and volunteer firefighter is the sixth Democrat to enter the race for three nominations. He moved here in 1997 to attend UVA. In his announcement speech, Cannon promoted the need for job creation—specifically biotech—improving the Rivanna Trail, and made an unusual proposal to replace the Belmont Bridge as planned, but leave one longitudinal half of the existing structure standing as a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists.

Democrats will nominate their candidates on August 20.

Bundoran Foreclosed On

Published by Waldo Jaquith on June 20, 2011 in Business and Development. 3 Comments

Wells Fargo has foreclosed on the Bundoran Farm development, Bryan McKenzie writes for the Progress. Over three square miles of the development—presumably not including the parcels already sold—will be sold on the steps of the courthouse next week. The developer says that their partners, who provided the money for the development, had “their other investments…hit hard and they had liquidity issues and couldn’t meet the lender’s requirements”—or, in English, they didn’t have the money to pay their mortgage. Wells Fargo says that they’re hopeful that the development will continue in its current rural style, with large lots and ongoing agricultural interests, but what with selling it, what they hope for probably doesn’t much matter.

Kluge Declares Personal Bankruptcy

Published by Waldo Jaquith on June 20, 2011 in Business. 1 Comment

Patricia Kluge and her husband Bill Moses have declared personal bankruptcy, Bryan McKenzie writes for the Progress. The records filed so far provide only a range of financial figures, but they’re known to owe between $10M–50M with assets of just $1M-10M. Kluge’s (former) wealth came, famously, from marrying billionaire John Kluge in 1981, and divorcing him in 1990. Nobody knows for sure how much she got in the divorce, though estimates range from $1M/year in alimony payments to a $1,000M settlement. (John Kluge died last September.) Their winery was foreclosed on last year and bought by Donald Trump at auction. The next step in the bankruptcy is for the couple to provide a detailed list of their assets and creditors, and then the court will appoint a trustee to figure out how to deal with the financial mess, since Kluge and Moses are unable to do so themselves.

I suspect we’re all about to hear a bunch of stories about precisely who these creditors are—employees, contractors, and local vendors, all owed money that they may not see for years.

Did Dorrier Really Have a Deal with Connaughton?

Published by Waldo Jaquith on June 17, 2011 in Transportation. 20 Comments

It’s looking like perhaps Supervisor Lindsay Dorrier—the swing vote on the sudden, unannounced vote to move ahead on the Western Bypass—might have misunderstood the deal that was offered to him in exchange for his vote. In The Hook, Hawes Spencer recounts Dorrier’s remarks at last week’s meeting:

As Dorrier gathers his thoughts, he asserts that what changed his mind was a half-hour conversation with Virginia Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton, in which the Bypass-eager Secretary allegedly promises that the plan also includes full funding for a widening of U.S. 29, as well as a new bridge to extend Berkmar Drive northward over the Rivanna River.

“When he said all that,” says Dorrier, “I said I would switch my vote and go forward immediately.”

But Spencer interviewed Connaughton:

Connaughton clarifies that his conversation with Dorrier did not include any promises about funding Berkmar Drive Extended or any extra bridge across the Rivanna River.

“The discussion I had with him was specifically about this project,” says Connaughton, further clarifying that he considers the planned widening of U.S. 29 the only other part of the discussion.

And then Charlottesville Tomorrow’s Sean Tubbs went to Richmond to watch the Commonwealth Transportation Board adopt their highway construction plan for the next six years (one of only two reporters who bothered to show up), and of the $8.3B allocated, there wasn’t a penny for the Western Bypass. Tubbs asked Connaughton about it, and “he said funding for the project would come from reallocating money from other projects, but did not specify which ones.” James Rich is the area’s CTB rep, and he sure sounds dubious that it’s possible to do that.

Supervisor Dennis Rooker—on the losing side of the 4-2 vote—has his own theory as to how the retiring supervisor was persuaded to change his vote. Spencer explains:

Interviewed a few days later, Rooker too is still fuming, and he feels sorry for the 67-year-old Dorrier, who suffers from debilitating Parkinsons, a disease that has physical and sometimes mental effects.

“I think Lindsay is in an impaired state,” says Rooker. “I’ve observed in meetings he’s often confused. Do I think he can be manipulated? Yes, because he gets confused.”

But Dorrier recoils at the suggestion.

“That’s an opinion I don’t share,” he says in a telephone interview. “I take my medication. I stand by the decision, and I think it’ll be beneficial to the public.”

So we’ve got the guy who supposedly cut this deal with Dorrier denying that he offered the upgrades that got Dorrier to change his vote, and we’ve got the board in charge of allocating the money not allocating any money for this road. I’m not sure what’s happened here, but something definitely isn’t right. I worry that Dorrier got snookered, taking the rest of us along with him.

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