Study Backs JMRL, Lessons Apparently Not Learned

Published by Waldo Jaquith on February 10, 2011 in Education, Government and Taxes. 10 Comments

Remember last year’s showdown between the Jefferson Madison Regional Library and the Albemarle Board of Supervisors? The BoS cut JMRL’s funding, so JMRL’s Board of Trustees announced they’d have to close the Scottsville and Crozet branches. The BoS then insisted that JMRL maintain their existing locations and services…but with less money. Duane Snow threatened to eliminate all funding to the library if they didn’t manage that feat, while providing suggestions that JMRL try things that they’d been doing for years, like “use volunteers” and “cut back your hours.” Lindsay Dorrier entered the fray by claiming—wrongly—that JMRL simply wasn’t allowed to shut down the Scottsville branch. Eventually, the BoS caved and funded fully the library at the existing, anemic levels.

Backstory established, here’s the update. The dubious BoS commissioned an $8,000 independent study of the library, thinking that they could leave the multi-jurisdictional JMRL and run an Albemarle-only library. The study confirms everything that JMRL has been saying for years: that JMRL “provides an efficient and effective library system overall when compared to other localities, despite having one of the lowest per capita funding levels and the lowest number of staff per capita.” Also, it would be totally infeasible for Albemarle to break off from JRML, for a host of simple, practical reasons that are perfectly clear to anybody who takes a few minutes to think about it. Brandon Shulleeta explains all of this in the Progress, and for Charlottesville Tomorrow, Sean Tubbs does likewise, along with a report from the joint meeting between the BoS and the JMRL board, the first such meeting in two decades.

At the meeting, I see, Duane Snow was still insisting that the BoS should be able to micromanage JMRL, despite that they appoint a trio of representatives to the JMRL board to do exactly that. As with last year, Snow is still making suggestions that the library do things that they already do, and have done for years: altering hours, closing in the evenings, and shutting down on some days. This is exactly why the library has a board—they’re in charge of figuring out these things, so that Snow and company can focus on the big issues of running the county. Apparently Snow hasn’t learned that lesson yet. Here’s hoping that his fellow board members have.

Senate Democrats Are in Town

Published by Waldo Jaquith on February 9, 2011 in Politics. 19 Comments

There’s been some buzz on Facebook and Twitter about a mysterious federal security presence around town—well-armored black SUVs and the like. It turns out there’s a good reason: Senate Democrats are holding a retreat at the Boar’s Head Inn. They’re meeting up with White House officials and strategists for a couple of days, and they’ll return to the Senate tomorrow. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is predictably griping about the location (“no word from Senate Democrats on why they’re holding this retreat at the posh Boar’s Head Inn outside Charlottesville”); apparently they’ve never been to the Boar’s Head which, while nice, isn’t exactly the Ritz or, indeed, Keswick Hall.

What Should Our Next Time Capsule Contain?

Published by Waldo Jaquith on February 3, 2011 in General News. 18 Comments

Here’s what’s (ostensibly) in the time capsule from 49 years ago, buried on the 200th anniversary of Charlottesville:

  • The Daily Progress and Wall Street Journal
  • A letter from Mayor Lewis Scribner to the mayor of 2012
  • The Daily Progress’ ceremonial edition on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the city
  • Chamber of Commerce publications
  • Maps and pictures
  • A letter from the fire chief to the fire chief of 2012

Now, that ain’t bad, but it doesn’t show any particular imagination on the part of the people who buried the thing in 1962. Since it’s a foregone conclusion that there’s going to be another time capsule buried next year, to be opened on the occasion of some future anniversary, what should be in that one? What is our message to the people of the future—or, if it’s fifty years from now, ourselves in the future (for some of us)?

Human Feces Being Spread Across Albemarle Farmland

Published by Waldo Jaquith on February 1, 2011 in Agriculture. 18 Comments

Human feces is being sprayed on a field near the South Fork of the Rivanna Reservoir, Sean Tubbs reports for Charlottesville Tomorrow, and it’s perfectly legal. The neighbors, understandably, aren’t thrilled. Recyc Systems, of Culpeper, has a permit to spread the waste—aka “biosolids”—on a total of ten square miles of the county, which they haul down here from Washington D.C.’s wastewater sewage plant. It’s all done for free because—would you believe it?—apparently people won’t pay to have human feces spread all over their property, but they will have it done for nothing. A recent study by the Environmental Protection Agency found that biosolids are full of all the horrible things that your body has the good sense to excrete, including steroids, hormones, flame retardants, and heavy metals. There are some legal restrictions that help, like that livestock can’t graze on the land for thirty days after application, and a plan has to be submitted that explains how phosphorous and nitrogen will be kept out of the watershed.

Even if the county wanted to limit this, there’s no reason to think that they could—it’s regulated by the state, and the county isn’t given the power to regulate it.

City, County Assessments Released

Published by Waldo Jaquith on January 31, 2011 in Development, Government and Taxes. 13 Comments

A lot of us county residents headed to Albemarle’s GIS website on Sunday after Jim Duncan pointed that out assessments were available. (Mine didn’t change.) As Brandon Shulleeta points out in today’s Daily Progress, county property values are down only slightly this year, by 1.24%. The city released their assessments, too, and they saw a 0.63% increase. Both rates were buoyed slightly by commercial assessments, since residential assessments were somewhat lower. These changes are nothing like the enormous increases that we saw just a few years ago, during the real estate bubble, nor are they like the big drops we saw when it burst. Assuming that real estate tax rates don’t change much—not necessarily a fair assumption—then both localities are basically looking at flat funding, and we’re all looking at paying the same amount in real estate taxes that we paid last year.

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