Members of the BoS, City Council, Albemarle School Board, and Charlottesville School Board all got together today, Brandon Shulleeta writes in the Daily Progress, all to talk about how to merge some services and save money. Though one might imagine that such meetings happen regularly, they don’t—this sort of collaboration just doesn’t normally take place between all of these entity. They’ve agreed to break into a bunch of small groups over the next year and come up with some ideas before they all get together again, so that they could move faster than all trying to work together as a big group. The immediate goal is short-term savings, after which they’ll move onto figuring out long-term savings, assuming that this all goes forward as planned. The meeting was called by Delegate David Toscano, whose district includes the city and a good chunk of Albemarle surrounding the city.
cvillenews.com
Most Scottsville Town Council candidates think marijuana should be legal in the town, Brandon Shulleeta writes for the Progress. That includes one incumbent running for reelection, Bebe Williams. Not merely legal for medical purposes, but straight-up legal, treated like alcohol. In Virginia, marijuana has long been legal to treat cancer and glaucoma—legal to prescribe, and legal to possess—but there is no legal method of producing or procuring it. Localities are not authorized to legalize marijuana, so Scottsville is actually powerless to do anything—that is, they could pass such a law, but it wouldn’t actually accomplish anything. Note that Scottsville is a town—the only one in Albemarle County—so they actually get to pass laws, maintain their own budget, a police force, etc.
Scottsville is becoming a hip little town, so even if this legalization is in name only, this could goose their reputation in a way that might do them some good.
Details are still coming out in the story of a cyclist killed after being hit by a truck yesterday morning. The Cavalier Daily first reported that the victim is UVA grad student Matthew Steven King The portion of the story that is clear right now is that the accident took place just after 9:00 AM, at the corner of Fourth and Main (across from the market); that King was wearing a helmet; and that the vehicle that hit him was a Charlottesville Public Works truck. One version of the story have the truck making a right-hand turn and colliding with King, while another has King riding on the sidewalk and veering out into the street in front of the truck. (And those are both from CBS-19, who does not appear to have tried to reconcile these two claims.) Police were investigating the scene and conducting an investigation today, in order to reconstruct the accident.
Any sort of accident involving a cyclist and a car inevitably results in recrimination and finger-pointing, with cycling advocates blaming drivers for behaving recklessly around bikes, and opponents of cycling claiming that all bicyclists are dangerous law-breakers. In the past 36 hours, this incident has proven to be no different, with news stories on the topic receiving hundreds of comments, most of which ignore the death of King and focus instead on speculating on what happened and whether, broadly speaking, cyclists or drivers are to blame.
City Councilor David Brown won’t seek a third term on council, the Progress reports. He mentioned that at a council work session last night, and later confirmed it to the paper. The Democrat, a chiropractor, served as mayor during his time on council. His seat is up in November of next year, along with Holly Edwards’ and Satyendra Huja, both of whom are freshmen.
How bad is the state’s financial situation? VDOT is allocating $325,000/year to Albemarle County each year for the next five years for secondary roads, Brian Wheeler writes for Charlottesville Tomorrow. Compare that to $5,150,000 in 2004. And that tiny bit that we’re still getting is from right-of-way fees in our own utility bills—the state is, strictly speaking, not giving us a penny. The only transportation project that’s happening now is Meadowcreek Parkway, and that’s due to federal funding from back in 2005.
You just can’t build much for $325,000 in the realm of transportation. That’ll get you a nice new sidewalk, maybe a hundred yards of widened road. Gov. Bob McDonnell was elected to office last November on a platform that involved a great deal of talk about solving the state’s transportation crisis (we’re fast hurtling towards the day when we can no longer maintain existing roads), which he pledged to do without raising taxes. If you can figure out how to do that, you might let the governor know—no doubt he’s wondering how to pull it off, too. The General Assembly lacks the political will to solve the transportation problem, which will require developing a long-term revenue source to fund roads at a rate that adjusts with the use of roads, such as by increasing the gas tax.
A fun fact from this article: “Secondary roads are those numbered 600 and above. Primary roads, such as U.S. 29, are funded from other sources for their construction and maintenance.”
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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