A Year of Charlottesville Blogs

Published by Waldo Jaquith on June 15, 2006 in Blogs. 9 Comments

It was one year ago today that the Charlottesville Blogs website was established, in order to aggregate all of the great blogs in Charlottesville. There were only maybe a dozen Charlottesville bloggers at the time: BK Marcus, Bill Emory, Brian Geiger, Colten Noakes, Duane Gran, Helena Cobban, Jim Duncan, Lafe, Polyglot Conspiracy, Ryan Chiachiere, Rick Sincere and Joe Stirt were all running thoroughly enjoyable blogs at the time. Granted, at first it was basically all Book of Joe all the time (face it, Joe, you’re prolific) but as the ranks swelled, the variety and insight represented became more and more impressive.

Today there are 174 Charlottesville area blogs, and I can honestly say that I really, really enjoy reading them. I couldn’t have forecast a fifteen-fold increase in just twelve months, and certainly I never would have expected that the quality of writing and insights would increase at the same rate. I believe I’d be happy limiting myself to reading only Charlottesville blogs, so impressive is the bunch.

Nothing particularly special happened a year ago — Charlottesville Blogs was just a way to aggregate all of the great blogging that was going on, that in some cases had been going on for years. But the explosion in blogging among y’all in the past year has been amazing, and worthy of acknowledgment. So I celebrate this arbitrary anniversary today. What it’ll all look like in a year’s time I don’t dare speculate.

Officers Will Plead Guilty to Corruption

Published by Waldo Jaquith on June 15, 2006 in Law and Justice. 5 Comments

Remember those two cops caught turning a blind eye to prostitution at Maxx in exchange for cash and sex? Liesel Nowak reports for the Progress this evening that Roy Fitzgerald and Charles Saunders are going to plead guilty to plead to lying to federal agents. Presumably the overall case is still proceeding, though that’s not made clear in the article. Apparently not.

Qroe Executives Die in Plane Crash

Published by Waldo Jaquith on June 15, 2006 in Business and General News. 1 Comment

In today’s Daily Progress, Jessica Kitchin and Bryan McKenzie write that Qroe Companies founder and president Robert Baldwin and regional director David Brown both died in yesterday’s Bundoran Farm plane crash. The NTSB investigation is underway, and it seems likely that they’ll conclude that the crash resulted from the pilot hitting power lines during landing as a result of poor visibility.

Though Qroe’s $30M purchase of Bundoran has been described as a done deal, it’s my understanding that, in fact, the transaction had not yet been completed — perhaps that was on yesterday’s agenda. With the blow that the loss of these two men must represent to Qroe, I have to wonder if the Bundoran sale may may by the wayside.

8:15pm Update: The Hook points out there ain’t no overhead lines to be hit. There goes that theory.

Plane Crash at Bundoran

Published by Waldo Jaquith on June 14, 2006 in General News. 2 Comments

A small plane crashed late this morning while attempting to land at on the strip at Fred Scott‘s Bundoran Farm, south of town near the crossroads. There was an explosion upon impact, followed by a fire. The two men in the the plane have died.

Bundoran is in the process of being sold to developers Qroe Farm — it’s yet to be seen what this crash has to do with that in-progress sale.

NBC 29 has the story, and The Hook is following developments.

3pm Update: Sean Tubbs, who’s really on his toes today, already has a podcast report from the scene.

10pm Update: The AP has more, including that the plane is owned by David Brown, of Hartford, CT. Brown was described as “regional director of Qroe Companies” by the Progress last month, so it seems clear that Qroe employees were the victims of the crash. Finally, The Hook reports that the plane hit some wires while landing, which is the apparent cause of the accident. It was pretty rainy at the time of the crash, which must have made for poor visibility.

Green Condo Construction for Belmont

Published by Duane Gran on June 13, 2006 in Business and Development. 7 Comments

The Daily Progress reports that a “proposed 101-foot-tall building at 201 Avon St. could add up to 116 condominiums and 22,000 square feet of commercial space to downtown.” The architect boasts a record of environmental advocacy and, in their words, “focuses on the full ecology of the building.” From the article:

The building would be one of the first structures in Charlottesville to be built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design specifications through energy-efficient construction, use of recycled materials and other green building techniques.

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