On Tuesday, May 7th, the day of the Charlottesville City Council elections, Jake Mooney had a story in the Daily Progress regarding the Republicans’ planned strategy of encouraging voters to cast only one of their two available votes, strengthening the single Republican candidate’s position over the two Democrats. After Republican Rob Schilling won, a review of the votes showed that 31% of voters cast their ballot for just a single candidate. It didn’t take long for people to start pointing fingers at the Progress and accusing them of behaving unethically, including defeated candidate Alexandria Searls. To that end, last week’s Hook featured an article by Lisa Provence (newly available on their website) effectively demonstrating that the Progress’ article was not unethical by most standards. What do cvillenewsers think?
cvillenews.com
The Board of Architectural Review has approved an application to demolish large portions of the Wachovia block on the Downtown Mall. The buildings were originally approved for partial demolition in September of 2000, but building owners Lee Danielson and Colin Rolph failed to do so within in the one-year time limit. The building is for sale, and not all interested purchasers desire to go through with the demolition. Jake Mooney has the story in today’s Progress.
The plan to create a special downtown tax district has been delayed. The Downtown Property Owners’ Council had asked City Council to assess a tax of $0.20 per $100 in assessed value for commercial properties in order to fund downtown improvements. However, the draft law that the city drew up had some problems, not the least of which is that it would have taxed residents, not just commercial real estate. Council ended up not discussing the service district, but hopes to take it up again on June 3rd. There’s no word as to whether DPOC believes that the problems can be resolved that quickly. Jake Mooney has the story in today’s Progress.
legal_recruiter writes: I know that it’s hard to write 70 pages of stuff every week (especially with all the other news outlets in town), but C-Ville Weekly has failed to justify its existence over the past few months. Is it news? Is it entertainment? Does it matter? For most stories in the C-Ville Weekly, the answer to all three is a resounding “no.” [This week’s cover article] on whether Charlottesville is “Southern,” is stupid and has what can charitably be described as a mishmash of quotations on our town. Wait a minute: unsophisticated analysis of stale news and Sabato quotes? The C-Ville Weekly has turned into… the Cavalier Daily!
I’m sure that I’m just begging for an angry phone call in the morning by posting this, but I think it’s an interesting question.
At today’s 5th District Democratic nominating convention, City Councilor Meredith Richards was given the Democratic nomination for Congress by an overwhelming majority. Her opponent for the nomination was George Shropshire, of Cambell County. Richards intends to start campaigning immediately in hopes of unseating Democrat-turned-Republican Virgil Goode in November’s election.
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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