Rick Sincere points out that the city has posted election results going back 45 years. They’ve got PDFs of City Council election results going back to 1960 and general election results going back to 1977. Good stuff.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
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After nearly a month of David Toscano being the only candidate in the 57th District House of Delegates race, things are heating up. On Monday afternoon, UVa professor Richard Collins announced his candidacy, as Liesel Nowack reports in the Progress. To a crowd of about 50 people on the Downtown Mall, Collins announced his plan to eliminate the “growth tax” — the much-hated biannual reassessment of property values — and reassess only when property is sold. Collins is one of the founders of Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population, and is perhaps best known for his opposition to continued unrestrained growth in the county.
On the presumed opposite end of the growth spectrum is Clement “Kim” Tingley, a developer who intends to announce his candidacy at 10am on Wednesday morning, WINA reports. Tingley has been talking about running for several weeks now, so his candidacy has been expected.
With all three men now vying for the Democratic nomination, things should be quite a bit more interesting on the political scene between now and the June 14 primary. A Republican candidate is yet to emerge.
Disclosure: I have informally advised Collins on a volunteer basis, and I introduced him when he announced his candidacy. Also, my fiancee is on his campaign payroll. So you can basically assume that I’m making most of this stuff up.
Thursday night’s school board meeting sounds like it was pretty tense. In yesterday’s Progress, James Fernald wrote:
A split in the crowd of more than 150 at the meeting was evident as most speakers either showed support for Superintendent Scottie Griffin or criticized her.
Mark Krebs, a former School Board member, asked the board to consider removing the superintendent.
“This is a superintendent who has made her race an excuse for her incompetence,” Krebs said. “Do these comments make me racist?” Many in the audience shouted over his “no” with an emphatic “yes.”
[…]
M. Rick Turner, dean of African-American Affairs at the University of Virginia and president of the local chapter of the NAACP, again at Thursday’s meeting accused members of the City Council and School Board of being racist.
“This insidious form of racism and corruption has taken us far away from solving the achievement gap,” Turner said. “A modern-day lynching is happening right before our eyes.”
Hey, don’t hold back, Dean Turner — tell us how you really feel.
cvillenews.com member “Upset” has his/her own account of the meeting, describing what went on.
To pack all of the school board/Griffin news into one post, Courteney Stuart has a piece about Griffin in this week’s issue of The Hook, while Cathy Harding has a big ol’ story about the state of Charlottesville schools and where the current situation fits into the long-term narrative.
In yesterday’s monthly joint meeting of the school board and City Council, City Councilor Blake Caravati seemed to be chalking up the recent school troubles to poor leadership on the part of board chair Dede Smith. In today’s Progress, James Fernald writes:
City councilors and the School Board focused on low morale in Charlottesville’s schools at a joint meeting Wednesday, with one councilor laying the blame on poor leadership of the board.
Blake Caravati said part of the problem is comparatively low proposed teacher raises in next year’s school budget.
Several times during the meeting, Caravati questioned whether “Madam Chair” – Dede Smith – could “lead the board to make this budget work.”
Smith responded: “If you want to make me the scapegoat, fine.”
The board is meeting tonight. Presumably, the drama will continue.
The good news is that UVa has bought several private apartment buildings to use as student housing. The bad news is that UVa has bought several private apartment buildings to use as student housing. They’ve had a housing shortage that has been problematic, which led to a promise to provide more housing year ago. In an effort to alleviate this, they’ve bought a five-building apartment complex from Wade Apartments, just off JPA, as well as the University Forum complex, for a total of $11.05M. Between the two of them, the apartments can house 265 students.
In providing housing for students, it may help to limit the increase in rent prices created by students crowding into privately-owned houses. On the other hand, UVa just took eleven million dollars worth of property off of Charlottesville’s tax rolls which is, what, $120,000 in property taxes each year?
Damned if they’re do, and damned if they don’t. David Hendrick has the skinny in today’s Progress.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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