After being closed for three years, the Advance Mills bridge has finally reopened, Brandon Shulleeta writes in today’s Daily Progress. Only foot and bicycle traffic has been allowed to cross the Rivanna there, leaving residents on the far side taking an awkward route to town for a long time now. The price tag on this new bridge—which has substantially retained the sharp look of the old one—is $3.3M.
cvillenews.com
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Brendan Fitzgerald has a piece in C-Ville Weekly at the intersection of juicy gossip and hard news: outgoing UVIMCO CEO Chris Brightman may have been forced out due to an affair with an employee. The University of Virginia Investment Management Company handles UVA’s endowment—billions of dollars—and Brightman’s abrupt resignation a few weeks ago came as a surprise. About the same time, his executive assistant left UVIMCO. Now Fitzgerald sees that the coworker with whom Brightman was having an affair—one Carolyn Barfield Sawyer—is being divorced by her husband, eleven days after Brightman’s resignation, citing her affair with a coworker during a work-related trip to Arizona. Of course, nobody is commenting on this. In an odd coincidence, Barfield was recently hired by City Council to replace the retiring Jeanne Cox as Clerk of Council. One of her recommendations is said to have come from Brightman.
Update: I reversed Brightman and Barfield in an initial version here—it’s Barfield’s spouse who has filed for divorce.
Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate, a national real estate conglomerate, has brought local real estate agency Real Estate III into its national franchise, they’ve announced in a press release. Their website has already been overhauled to reflect the news, being announced right now at an event at The Paramount. The company will travel under the name of “Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate III,” presumably a brief stop on its way to becoming, simply, “Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate.” Real Estate III was founded by Frank Kessler forty years ago. BH&G is acquiring for its network local real estate agents all across the nation, adding up to 125 offices in fifteen states. With the awful housing market, a lot of real estate agencies are hurting, making this the perfect time for a big company to gather up a bunch of comparatively small ones.
9:25 PM Update: The apparent marketing director for Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate III is insistent that they haven’t been sold, but won’t say what has actually happened. She would like you to know that I’m “obviously living la la land,” and suggests that they should “call their lawyers.” When she deigns to inform me of what this transaction is properly called, if not a “sale,” I’ll update this blog entry accordingly.
10:50 PM Update: Bryan McKenzie kind of explains this in Friday’s Progress. It’s still not clear what has transpired here, but my capacity to care is limited, so suffice it to say that Real Estate III has a new name, BH&G probably gave them some money, and they got something in return, but nobody’s saying what, and it involves entering into a franchise agreement with BH&G. I’ve updated this story to reflect that.
Ralph Leon Jackson, a 56-year-old man from Stuart’s Draft, has been arrested and charged with the attempted murder of a couple on the Blue Ridge Parkway yesterday. Police found him thanks to an anonymous tip, and had a SWAT team seize him at his house around dawn this afternoon. He’s made “incriminating statements,” say police, but there’s still no understanding of why he shot two complete strangers. If he’s the guy, a lot more information should be coming out over the next few days.
Council will hold the real estate tax rate at 95¢, Rachana Dixit writes in the Daily Progress. The same as the current rate, that means that, due to declining property values, the city budget will decrease by $1.7M in $141M. That puts the tax rate at 85% of its high in recent history, $1.11 in 2001.
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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