An audit of the new mail sorting facility has found that they’re slowing our mail down significantly, Megan Davis writes for the Daily Progress. It was two years ago when the USPS announced that they were moving the Charlottesville mail processing facility’s services to Sandston, east of Richmond. There was a lot of concern at the time that the move would negatively impact mail delivery in the area, and that turns out to have been well-founded. The USPS Office of the Inspector General has issued a report (which I can’t find on their website you can read it here) finding a 100% increase in delayed mail passing through the Sandston facility between the last quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2011. In the former period, our mail was still being processed locally; in the latter, it had moved to Sandston. In fact, the facility has the worst record in the country, with 12% of all their mail delayed. Those delays were rarely reported; a single day audit found 350,000 delayed letters, none of which were recorded.
cvillenews.com
Today I got my hair cut at Staples’, picked up some carpentry supplies at Martin, and had lunch at Riverside, and that set me to wondering about which local business is the oldest.
Martin Hardware seemed like a good place to start. They were founded in 1893. But Timberlake’s, as their sign informs all who pass by, was established in 1890. Keller & George promotes their 1875 founding in radio ads. My insurance agent, Hanckel-Citizens, was founded a few years earlier, in 1872. After half an hour of thinking about this and googling around, I can’t come up with any older local business that’s still running, without interruption, and hasn’t been bought up by a larger business.
Now, of course, my curiosity is piqued, and I have to imagine that I’m overlooking something. Do you know of a business that’s older than Hanckel-Citizens?
From Derick Waller at NBC-29, the ten places where the Charlottesville Police give out the most parking tickets:
- Water St. Parking lot (2,756)
- University Ave (1,626)
- E. Jefferson St. (1,321)
- E. Market St. (894)
- 4th St. NE (877)
- W. Main St. (868)
- 13th St. NW (789)
- Garrett St. (779)
- Jefferson Park Ave. (737)
- 4th St. SE (710)
UVA is planning to take down the big magnolias on either side of the Rotunda, Ted Strong writes in the Daily Progress, and some people aren’t thrilled about it. The enormous trees are slated for removal in order to allow scaffolding to be put up around the building, so that the leaky roof can be replaced. (The scaffolding, interestingly, will support a tent to cover the roofless Rotunda.) The trees are thought to have been planted about a century ago, but it’s not clear if they’re really the same trees or replacements. Ironically, the trees could be contributing to the building’s troubles; as evergreens, they leave the building in shade year-round, preventing evaporation of rainwater. A student petition opposing the removal of the trees has garnered over 2,000 signatures.
Remember when Hunter Craig sold Biscuit Run to the state for $9.8M and the hope of tax credits, in order to get rid of that albatross in a terrible economy? And then The Hook figured out that it was turning into a boondoggle, with Craig trying to get state tax credits (which is as good as cash) on an $87.7M appraisal for land that he bought at the height of the bubble for $46.2M? Well, it gets boondogglier. Craig and his associates are suing the state for another $19.48M, Hawes Spencer reports, since they’re not happy with the $21.48M that they’ve already gotten for the land. Why? Because they’re still $25M in the hole, with a lot of that probably owed in the form of monthly loan payments. If that’s a thirty-year note at 5% interest, then Hunter Craig and partner (and father-in-law) Wick McNeely have to come up with $134k/month. (Just this year, McNeely has sold Burning Daylight Farm, his Nova Scotia mansion, put his Garth Road home on the market, and ended his Farmington membership.)
I’m something like $100k underwater on my mortgage. Here I was thinking that it was my duty to suck it up and live with, because it’s nobody’s fault but my own. Maybe that attitude is what’s keeping me from being a successful businessman.
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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