Democrats’ sweep of local and statewide elections have them talking about undoing the Western Bypass, Courteney Stuart reports for C-Ville Weekly. A conservative majority on the Board of Supervisors, spurred on by a Republican administration in the governor’s office, held a surprise midnight vote to approve the Western Bypass in 2011. Supervisor Dennis Rooker thinks that there’s both the political will and the mechanisms to halt the plans, with incoming governor Terry McAuliffe appointing a new Secretary of Transportation and the BOS naming two members of the Metropolitan Planning Organization to replace the recently defeated Rodney Thomas and Duane Snow.
cvillenews.com
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Charlottesville developer Gabe Silverman has died.
While in New York City a few weeks ago, he was hospitalized with chest pain, and required a lengthy operation to repair what turned out to be a torn aortic artery. He had been recuperating ever since, with family and friends visiting him, and seemed to be on the mend when he passed away yesterday.
With his business partners, he owned real estate throughout downtown Charlottesville (the Ix building, the Main Street Market, the Amtrak station, and dozens more properties), and was the first developer to invest towards a revitalization of downtown, starting with his 1990 purchase of the Old Michie Building. Famously cantankerous and unpretentious, Gabe clashed on ideological matters with city officials, especially when he felt that he was being prevented from serving larger community needs through his work. To his partners’ constant exasperation, Gabe regarded his real estate holdings as venue for improving Charlottesville and righting societal wrongs. In any discussion, his constant refrain was “OK, but how do we use that to—” as he tried to redirect mundane ideas towards addressing problems of poverty, racism, classism, sexism, and other societal ailments.
His wife, artist and teacher Karen Shea Silverman, died of brain cancer in 2004. Gabe is survived by his two daughters and his grandson. He was 73 years old.
The last discussion that I ever had with him, just six weeks ago, began with me telling him that I needed a small office space for a new business, and concluded with him having persuaded me to use that business to anchor an incubator-style coworking space that he’d provide the space and funding for, in order to establish a downtown hub for socially aware tech firms. He had that sort of effect on people. Before we parted, he emphasized that he didn’t just want to make a small change in Charlottesville: “I’m going to die, you’re going to die, so how do we use this to create a lasting change in Charlottesville?”
I thought there was more time.
It wasn’t even close.
Democrats didn’t just win every city election—there’s nothing unusual there—but have unseated two Republican incumbents in the process of winning every Albemarle Board of Supervisors seat. Diantha McKeel defeated Phillip Seay in Jack Jouett (57% to 43% 70% to 30%), Brad Sheffield unseated Rodney Thomas in Rio (57% to 43%), Liz Palmer unseated Duane Snow in Samuel Miller (57% to 43%), and Jane Dittmar beat Cindi Burket in Scottsville (58% to 42%). That will make 4/6 of the BOS women, and 2/6 veterinarians. Although BOS races tend to be decided by issues specific to each district, Snow and Thomas’ role in the surprise midnight vote on the Western Bypass, combined with unhappiness about their opposition to Women’s Equality Day and the Equal Rights Amendment, may have galvanized opposition to them and support for female candidates across Albemarle. Tonight’s results leave Ken Boyd as the sole Republican on the Board of Supervisors, a really stunning change in fortunes for the once-powerful Albemarle Republican Party.
In the city, Kristin Szakos won reelection easily, and her running mate, independent-turned-Democrat Bob Fenwick, likewise won easily, with 36% and 32%, respectively, to Republicans Mike Farruggio’s 19% and Buddy Weber’s 12%. For the Commissioner of the Revenue, Democrat Todd Divers got 62% in a three-way race.
Surely you’ve noticed the flatted squirrel corpses paving every road in the area. There have been lots of theories as to what’s going on (bumper crop of ignorant squirrel pups, shortage of food, squirrel migration, and nothing’s different but us talking about it, among others), and in the Daily Progress, Bryan McKenzie explains the squirrelpocalypse. Last year there were an amazing number of acorns, supporting an unusually large population of squirrels. This year, there’s a very low number of acorns, so the offspring of that large population are competing over a small number of acorns. The interesting twist is that many of these squirrels are actually trying to migrate, seeking out a new home with more food. McKenzie writes:
Meriwether Lewis reported large numbers of squirrels were swimming the Ohio River. He sent his Newfoundland dog, Seaman, into the water to harvest the rodents for dinner.
“They were fat and I thought them, when fried, a pleasant food,” he wrote to then-President Thomas Jefferson.
Massive squirrel migrations were reported across the upper Midwest, New England and into South Carolina in 1809, 1819, 1842, 1852 and 1856, according to various studies of the phenomenon.
Apparently there are just occasional confluences of factors that cause huge numbers of squirrels to wander across the countryside, and we’re having our first such event since 1968.
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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