Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith

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City Schools Moving to Healthful, Local Foods

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 15, 2010 in Agriculture and Education. 11 Comments

There’s a movement afoot to improve Charlottesville school food, Rachana Dixit writes in today’s Daily Progress, and it’s picking up steam. The city has long employed a dietician in the form of Alicia Cost to feed its 4,000 students, and recently hired allowed Rachel Williamson to manage a food garden at Buford. The national movement in support of local food and the strengthening local food network are making it possible to feed kids more healthful foods than the standard fast-food fare (Domino’s pizza was a major daily offering when I went to WAHS in the early nineties), with the caveat that it’s got to be a) cheap and b) something that the kids are willing to eat. Martha Stafford, owner of the Charlottesville Cooking School, has been hired to come up with some new recipes within those parameters, and has recently been having luck with a black bean and rice taco.

It’s embarrassing how excited I am by this.

11/18 Update: Guinevere Higgins points out that Buford doesn’t employ Williamson—an independent organization does.

City Post $3.6M Budget Surplus

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 11, 2010 in Government and Taxes. 7 Comments

The city has posted a $3.6M budget surplus, Rachana Dixit reports for the Daily Progress, a result of spending $4.8M less than planned and taking in $1.2M less than planned. (That’s out of a $126M budget, or a 2.8% overrun.) The city plans to use $2M of that towards capital improvements, with the balance going to a bunch of programs, including $750 bonuses to employees who have been at their jobs for at least a year. (Virginia is doing the same thing—state employees all get a bonus of 3% of their salary this month.) Council will vote on that on Monday. This is the fourth consecutive year of budget surpluses.

The city’s budget is available online, for those who care for the details.

Gyms’ YMCA Lawsuit Dismissed

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 3, 2010 in Government and Law and Justice. 1 Comment

A judge has tossed out a lawsuit challenging the planned Young Men’s Christian Association facility in McIntire Park, Jim Hanchett reports for CBS-19. ACAC, Gold’s Gym, and Total Performance Sports & Fitness filed a suit against the city and the county back in May, alleging that the YMCA was given an unfair advantage, because the municipalities didn’t give any of the other three gyms the chance to bid on the project. Note that the lawsuit that has been dismissed is the one against the county—the one against the city is pending. Unfortunately, Hanchett doesn’t explain the grounds on which the case was dismissed.

Hurt Defeats Perriello

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 3, 2010 in Politics. 36 Comments

Chatham lawyer and state senator Robert Hurt defeated incumbent Congressman Tom Perriello in last night’s election, garnering 50.75% of the vote. The freshman Democrat was elected in an upset two years ago, defeating Republican Virgil Goode. Perriello was just one of dozens of incumbents to lose their seats nationwide in an anti-incumbent fervor. Hurt ran the sort of campaign generally associated with a safe incumbent, taking few risks and refusing to participate in debates, a strategy that clearly worked out for him. Perriello’s term runs until January, when Congressman-elect Hurt will be sworn in.

President Coming to Charlottesville on Friday

Published by Waldo Jaquith on October 26, 2010 in Politics. 61 Comments

President Obama is coming to Charlottesville on Friday. He’ll be holding a rally at the pavilion in support of Congressman Tom Perriello, who is up for reelection on Tuesday. Perriello has been tied with challenger Robert Hurt, and is looking for every advantage in the final days before the election. Not only will this get him media attention throughout the district, but it’s probably also intended to fire up volunteers. The trade-off is that it’s likely to fire up Hurt’s volunteers, too. The event is public, gates open at 5 PM.

The last time a sitting president visited Charlottesville was George Bush, in 2008, when he spoke at the Independence Day naturalization ceremony at Monticello.

Disclosure: I’ve donated a few hundred bucks to Perriello, between this race and in 2008. I’m not really sure how much in all.

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