It looks as if the free ride with Fridays After 5 may be coming to an end. For fifteen years, acts of local, regional, and national note have performed for crowds of thousands on the east end of the Downtown Mall without cost, supported by sales of alcohol and sponsorships. Citing declining sponsorship dollars, Charlottesville Downtown Foundation is considering instituting an admission fee of $3-$5. In addition, they may end up banning outside food and drink, so that vendors at the event can have a monopoly on sales and, presumably, the amount that they can pay CDF will increase. No decision has been made on these things yet, but it seems as if the organization’s hands are tied. Lisa Provence has the story in this week’s Hook.
cvillenews.com
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Ntelos has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, various business news outlets are reporting. The company seeks to continue operations, and does not think that they’ll be affected by the filing. Ntelos has been in financial trouble for some time, so this filing should come as no great surprise to observers.
As the first step in setting the ’03-’04 budget, City Manager Gary O’Connell has presented his $93MM budget proposal, which includes several fee increases. In specific, vehicle decals would increase by $8.50, trash stickers would double in price (to $2 for a full-sized bag) and the meals tax would increase by $0.01 per dollar. On the other end of things, each city department cut their budget by 5%, resulting in a bunch of small money-saving ideas such as cutting the grass less and not putting postage on parking ticket envelopes. Elizabeth Nelson has the story in today’s Progress. This is just the first step in the multi-month budget process. Any comments can be posted on the budget forum, sent to Clerk of Council Jeanne Cox, or, of course, posted here…but there’s no guarantee that they’ll do any good here. :)
The FBI is now part of the investigative team into last week’s attack on student government president candidate Daisy Lundy. The attack, because Lundy says that her assailant was white and threatened her on the basis of her race, has been classified as a hate crime under federal law. The story was in Saturday’s Washington Post.
The Richmond Building and Construction Trades Council has accused Tenaska of bringing in out-of-state workers to construct their new Fluvanna power plant, making their provision $50MM in wages considerably less useful to the county. Says a member of the trade union, regarding the imported workers, “if we had these jobs, money would be recirculated throughout the state, whereas these guys aren?t paying property taxes and are renting homes. They’re basically taking from the area, but they?re not giving a whole lot back.” Tenaska denies the accusation, and says that they’ll ultimately spend $50MM with area businesses. If all of this seems a bit familiar, it might because a cvillenews.com user forecast this scenario back in October. Austin Graham has the story in Sunday’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 #
-
Archive for Sideblog »
Recent Comments