CBS Publicizes Anonymous Gang Letter

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 7, 2007 in Crime and Meta News. 62 Comments

CBS-19 got an anonymous, unauthenticatable comment on their website from somebody claiming to be in on these random attacks around downtown, with the pseuodnym “Chaos.” A useless lead from a random kook? No, a useless lead from a famous random kook: CBS-19 did a story about it. They even showed the missive to police, who had no comment…but still they ran the story.

If I comment on their site with a goofy nickname, claiming that I kidnapped the Lindbergh baby, maybe they’ll do a story about that, too.

City to Formalize “Huja’s Slush Fund”

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 2, 2007 in Development and Politics. 8 Comments

In the latest C-Ville Weekly, Will Goldsmith uncovers the existence of what sounds like an accidentally secret grant program for affordable housing, at $250k/year. The Housing Initiatives Fund has been available for organizations that need a grant, and fast, if presented with a chance to buy a property to turn it into affordable housing. It was established by Satyendra Huja during his tenure with the city. The trouble is that the existence of the fund has never been advertised, and there’s no formalized application process. So while Piedmont Housing Alliance and Habitat for Humanity knew about the program, Albemarle Housing Improvement Program had no idea. Even Virginia Land Company (Charlie Hurt’s development firm) took advantage of the program. The organizations that tapped into the money said they figured everybody knew about it. Work began immediately to formalize the process once these problems became known to the city’s housing advisory committee last month.

Survey: Protect Rural Areas

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 1, 2007 in Development. 18 Comments

Charlottesville Tomorrow released a survey on Monday that shows very strong support for rural preservation in Albemarle County. Both The Daily Progress and The Hook report on it, highlighting the finding that 78% of us support the “phasing” concept, which would limit the rate of growth. Just such a proposal failed 3-3 before the BoS last year.

Albemarle County Fair Opens

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 1, 2007 in Entertainment. 20 Comments

The Tornado
The Albemarle County Fair started its six day run last night. It’s open from 4pm-11pm this week, 10am-11pm on Saturday, and 1pm-6pm on Sunday. The catalog / program is available online, but you’ll find all of the things you’d expect, from a pie eating contests to rides, bluegrass to livestock exhibitions. It’s just ten minutes south of town on 29, and admission is $7 for adults, $3 for kids, and free for kids 5 and under.

Silvia’s family entered a whole mess of stuff and has a photo album of their visit to the fair last night. It looks like they won some ribbons!

Downtown Business Owners Complaining About Shelter

Published by Waldo Jaquith on July 30, 2007 in Business. 28 Comments

Some downtown business owners aren’t happy about having a homeless shelter downtown, Seth Rosen writes in today’s Daily Progress. Downtown Business Association co-chair Bob Stroh says that “[t]here are locations that would be more helpful to the community than locating it right smack in the middle of the most vibrant commercial district” in response to the months old news that movie director Tom Shadyac had purchased and donated the First Christian Church to serve as the COMPASS Day Haven shelter. Of course, it’s the downtown location that makes it so perfect, what with homeless people generally having to get around on foot. If the DBA has offered to donate millions of dollars in non-downtown real estate to COMPASS, that’s not mentioned in the article. Downtown police officer Casson Reynolds even digs up an old chestnut that good services for the homeless will make C’ville a magnet for the homeless, despite the fact that the local homeless population is far more likely to be local than, say, you. To Seth Rosen’s credit, he points this out.

But not all downtown merchants are grinches. Mary Loose DeViney, owner of Tuel Jewelers (disclosure: and a friend of mine) is happy about the shelter, telling the paper that “[w]e have bums to billionaires and they all walk the same bricks, as they should.” I can’t imagine what the DBA hopes to gain with this kvetching. It certainly can’t be goodwill.

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