Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith

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No Charges for Driver in Cyclist Death

Published by Waldo Jaquith on May 18, 2010 in Law and Justice, Transportation and UVa. 32 Comments

A city truck driver will not face charges in the death of a cyclist, Courteney Stuart reports in The Hook. A joint city/county/state police investigation found that witnesses were unanimous: victim Matthew King ran into the truck while the truck was making a right-hand turn, despite the driver’s use of the turn signal and low speed. King had been passing vehicles on the right immediately prior to the crash.

Last week a police officer stood in front of my office on McCormick Road—central grounds at UVA—and stopped every cyclist who rode by dangerously. He lectured each one about the importance of following traffic laws, handed each one a brochure explaining what those traffic laws are, and told them that they were going to start issuing tickets to cyclists this week. It appears that efforts to prevent another such death are underway.

Richmond Camera Must Remove Mural

Published by Waldo Jaquith on May 12, 2010 in Art, Business and Government. 26 Comments

Earlier this year, a sixteen students and two teachers from Tandem painted a large mural on the wall of Richmond Camera, on High Street next to Jak ‘n Jil. (You can see photos on the camera shop’s website.) But the business, despite having approached Tandem in the first place, never applied for any permits to cover one wall of their building in signage. So now the city has told them that the sign is illegal, Courteney Stuart writes in The Hook, and must be removed by the end of the month. The city spokesman points out that Richmond Camera can appeal their decision to the Board of Zoning Appeals, which may well give them permission to keep the sign, but it’s a step that they’ve got to take if they don’t intend to comply with the law.

It’s a great-looking mural that’s definitely more art than advertisement—here’s hoping the BZA lets it stay—but Richmond Camera deserves no sympathy for failing to get a permit. The Tandem kids, on the other hand, ought to be upset and disappointed if their work gets erased. The owner of Richmond Camera owed them better treatment than this. Now it’s up the city to make that right.

05/13 Update: A spokesman for the city tells me that Neighborhood Development Services figures that this mural is art, not signage, and thus that they have no say in whether it should be there. He points out, too, that the store owner has been very cooperative, but that he’s still got to pare down his three signs to the limit of two for an entrance corridor. The colorful mural will stay, everybody’s happy, the end.

Gyms Sue to Stop McIntire YMCA

Published by Waldo Jaquith on May 12, 2010 in Business, Development, Government and Sports. 45 Comments

Three local gyms have filed a lawsuit against the city and the county, CBS-19 reports. They accuse the two municipalities of providing a contract to the Young Men’s Christian Association for their planned McIntire Park facility without going through a bidding process, thus unlawfully permitting ACAC, Gold’s Gym, and Total Performance Sports & Fitness from having the opportunity to get the contract themselves. Charlottesville and Albemarle are giving the YMCA $3M and giving them the land, in exchange for which high school swim teams can use the facility and the YMCA agrees to provide reduced rates for some members. CBS-19 doesn’t say what sort of relief that the gyms are seeking in their lawsuit—perhaps nothing more than the stated open bidding process—but with the well-heeled ACAC owner Phil Wendell behind this, these gyms may give Charlottesville and Albemarle a run for their money.

Conservatives Oppose Grade-Separated Interchanges on 29

Published by Waldo Jaquith on May 11, 2010 in Business, Government and Transportation. 11 Comments

Several BoS members and the head of the Chamber of Commerce are opposing the planned grade-separated interchanges on 29, Sean Tubbs writes for Charlottesville Tomorrow. There’s a five-year-old plan to improve traffic flow on 29 by having some intersections (Rio and Hydraulic, in particular) go under the highway, which is the only viable system that’s more efficient than traffic lights. The three most conservative members of the Board of Supervisors don’t like it, and neither does Timothy Hulbert. (This is why Lynchburg hates us.)

But none of this much matters anyway, because there’s no money for transportation, and no prospect of any money for years. Governor McDonnell’s plan for funding roads is to pay for them with income that will mystically come from allowing oil companies to drill off the coast of Virginia. Let’s not hold our breath waiting for that.

Whole Foods Developer Sued by Neighboring Kmart

Published by Waldo Jaquith on May 10, 2010 in Business, Law and Justice and Transportation. 7 Comments

Kmart is suing Whole Foods’ developers for building on their land without permission, Rachana Dixit writes. Apparently, the owner of the shopping center is allowing Whole Foods to make some improvements to land that Kmart leases, but the developer has started building a road—eventually Hillsdale Drive—and additional parking where Kmart says they’re not allowed to. Though this could just be a simple property dispute between two neighboring properties, it could affect Hillsdale Drive Extended that’s planned to parallel 29N, which is one of the very few new roads that’s actually being developed in the area anytime soon.

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