Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith

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Cyclist Killed; Investigation Begins

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 20, 2010 in Transportation. 15 Comments

Details are still coming out in the story of a cyclist killed after being hit by a truck yesterday morning. The Cavalier Daily first reported that the victim is UVA grad student Matthew Steven King The portion of the story that is clear right now is that the accident took place just after 9:00 AM, at the corner of Fourth and Main (across from the market); that King was wearing a helmet; and that the vehicle that hit him was a Charlottesville Public Works truck. One version of the story have the truck making a right-hand turn and colliding with King, while another has King riding on the sidewalk and veering out into the street in front of the truck. (And those are both from CBS-19, who does not appear to have tried to reconcile these two claims.) Police were investigating the scene and conducting an investigation today, in order to reconstruct the accident.

Any sort of accident involving a cyclist and a car inevitably results in recrimination and finger-pointing, with cycling advocates blaming drivers for behaving recklessly around bikes, and opponents of cycling claiming that all bicyclists are dangerous law-breakers. In the past 36 hours, this incident has proven to be no different, with news stories on the topic receiving hundreds of comments, most of which ignore the death of King and focus instead on speculating on what happened and whether, broadly speaking, cyclists or drivers are to blame.

David Brown Won’t Seek a Third Term

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 20, 2010 in Politics. 3 Comments

City Councilor David Brown won’t seek a third term on council, the Progress reports. He mentioned that at a council work session last night, and later confirmed it to the paper. The Democrat, a chiropractor, served as mayor during his time on council. His seat is up in November of next year, along with Holly Edwards’ and Satyendra Huja, both of whom are freshmen.

State Road Funding Plummets

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 15, 2010 in Government, Taxes and Transportation. 16 Comments

How bad is the state’s financial situation? VDOT is allocating $325,000/year to Albemarle County each year for the next five years for secondary roads, Brian Wheeler writes for Charlottesville Tomorrow. Compare that to $5,150,000 in 2004. And that tiny bit that we’re still getting is from right-of-way fees in our own utility bills—the state is, strictly speaking, not giving us a penny. The only transportation project that’s happening now is Meadowcreek Parkway, and that’s due to federal funding from back in 2005.

You just can’t build much for $325,000 in the realm of transportation. That’ll get you a nice new sidewalk, maybe a hundred yards of widened road. Gov. Bob McDonnell was elected to office last November on a platform that involved a great deal of talk about solving the state’s transportation crisis (we’re fast hurtling towards the day when we can no longer maintain existing roads), which he pledged to do without raising taxes. If you can figure out how to do that, you might let the governor know—no doubt he’s wondering how to pull it off, too. The General Assembly lacks the political will to solve the transportation problem, which will require developing a long-term revenue source to fund roads at a rate that adjusts with the use of roads, such as by increasing the gas tax.

A fun fact from this article: “Secondary roads are those numbered 600 and above. Primary roads, such as U.S. 29, are funded from other sources for their construction and maintenance.”

Advance Mills Bridge Reopens

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 15, 2010 in Transportation. 1 Comment

After being closed for three years, the Advance Mills bridge has finally reopened, Brandon Shulleeta writes in today’s Daily Progress. Only foot and bicycle traffic has been allowed to cross the Rivanna there, leaving residents on the far side taking an awkward route to town for a long time now. The price tag on this new bridge—which has substantially retained the sharp look of the old one—is $3.3M.

UVIMCO Head Quit Due to Affair?

Published by Waldo Jaquith on April 9, 2010 in Government and UVa. 14 Comments

Brendan Fitzgerald has a piece in C-Ville Weekly at the intersection of juicy gossip and hard news: outgoing UVIMCO CEO Chris Brightman may have been forced out due to an affair with an employee. The University of Virginia Investment Management Company handles UVA’s endowment—billions of dollars—and Brightman’s abrupt resignation a few weeks ago came as a surprise. About the same time, his executive assistant left UVIMCO. Now Fitzgerald sees that the coworker with whom Brightman was having an affair—one Carolyn Barfield Sawyer—is being divorced by her husband, eleven days after Brightman’s resignation, citing her affair with a coworker during a work-related trip to Arizona. Of course, nobody is commenting on this. In an odd coincidence, Barfield was recently hired by City Council to replace the retiring Jeanne Cox as Clerk of Council. One of her recommendations is said to have come from Brightman.

Update: I reversed Brightman and Barfield in an initial version here—it’s Barfield’s spouse who has filed for divorce.

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