Archive for January, 2007

Strom Arrested for Child Porn

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 5, 2007 in Crime.

The founder of the Charlottesville-based National Vanguard white supremacy group was arraigned on charges of possession of child pornography and witness tampering after being arrested at his home last night by FBI agents. Kevin Strom, an occasional cvillenews.com troll, is accused of possessing “multiple images of child pornography” on his computer and physically assaulting a witness to his crime. This yahoo is considered one of the top intellectuals in the Neo-Nazi movement, a group of people with an average IQ around room temperature.

The Hook has more on their blog.

3 Comments

Bar Backs Downer, Higgins

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 6, 2007 in Law and Justice.

The Charlottesville Albemarle Bar Association, having held an interview forum and considered comments from the public, has backed both Judge Robert Downer and prosecutor Cheryl Higgins to replace Judge Paul Peatross, Liesel Nowak reports in today’s Daily Progress. It’s the General Assembly who will make the decision, though, and there’s some reason to believe that they will ignore the bar.

Bizarrely, several lawyers tell the Progress that Albemarle commonwealth’s attorney Jim Camblos is still considered to be in the running by some members of the General Assembly. Even Republican Del. Bill Janis, who represents Louisa, says that Camblos “would be an imminently qualified judge,” despite the bar having made clear that he is not.

4 Comments

Newsplex to Leave the Ix?

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 6, 2007 in Meta News and Business.

The Newsplex — the offices of CBS 19, ABC 16 and Fox 27 — is looking to move, Brian McNeill reports in today’s Progress. They’ve leased a space in the Ix Building since they opened a couple of years ago, but now that they’ve outgrown it they’re considering Embarq’s three-acre plot on Hydraulic.

I always want to write “Newsplex of Doom.”

5 Comments

Lowest Unemployment in the Nation

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 7, 2007 in Business.

Charlottesville has tied for third place with the lowest unemployment rate in the nation in an analysis of November employment data. We’re at 2.1%, with Fargo, ND (1.7%) and Logan, UT (2%) coming in ahead of us. We tied with Billings, MT.

13 Comments

Martha Jeff Hopes for a Quiet Departure

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 8, 2007 in Development and Business.

Martha Jefferson Hospital is due to move out of downtown in a few years, consolidating all of their operations up on Pantops, and they’re hoping to keep the neighborhood from hating them for it. Brian McNeill writes in today’s Daily Progress about what is permitted to replace the hospital under zoning regulations, what might end up there, and how it could affect the neighborhood. The whole area has developed around the hospital for the past 80 years; it’s going to be awfully tough to find something else to go in there that won’t radically disrupt the human settlement and usage patterns of what will long be known as the Martha Jefferson neighborhood.

3 Comments

The 4,612 Things Stolen in C’ville Last Year

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 8, 2007 in Crime.

The Daily Progress Rob Seal reported yesterday on some of the items reported stolen to Charlottesville police in 2006, revealing that some mighty unusual things are stolen each year.

The Charlottesville Police Department was kind enough to provide me with a copy of this list, and I reproduce it here for your listening and dancing pleasure. It makes for some bizarrely fascinating reading. I don’t know what’s weirder: that some of these things are stolen, or that anybody bothers to call the police to report them. If I had some more time on my hands, I’d keyword these and turn them into a tag cloud.

Continue reading ‘The 4,612 Things Stolen in C’ville Last Year’

13 Comments

New Site: Richmond Sunlight

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 10, 2007 in Law and Justice.

Please excuse a quick self plug. I launched a new site yesterday, Richmond Sunlight, that makes it simple to keep up with the General Assembly. Their 2007 session started today, and they’ll carry on for the next 45 days. The site is blog-like and heavily collaborative: you can post your thoughts about a bill in the form of comments, vote on whether or not you think a bill should pass, pingback from a blog, tag bills with relevant keywords, etc. Take it for a spin. I hope you find it useful.

13 Comments

Kuttner May Build Affordable Housing

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 10, 2007 in Development.

In last week’s C-Ville Weekly, Will Goldsmith wrote about Oliver Kuttner’s planned work on the old Central Fidelity bank. In it, Oliver says that he’s considering doing something audacious:

Kuttner wants several floors of retail by opening up the basement as a courtyard along the side street and creating a second floor of retail fronting the Mall. He plans four apartments above the retail in a first phase of redevelopment. The second phase will be a larger structure closer to Water Street that nears the nine-storey limit, which will contain either a 72-room hotel–or affordable apartments at around $500 a month.

$500 apartments on the Downtown Mall? That’s awesome. Oliver would be a minor hero if he did that.

(Via Dave Norris)

25 Comments

Mallek Seeking White Hall BoS Seat

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 12, 2007 in Politics.

Earlysville resident Ann Mallek is running for Board of Supervisors, Charlottesville Tomorrow reports. Though she hasn’t made her formal announcement yet, she confirmed her intention to unset freshman White Hall district supervisor David Wyant at last night’s Crozet Community Association meeting. Mallek is the first new candidate to announce for this November BoS elections. Rivanna representative Ken Boyd and Scottsville representative Lindsay Dorrier’s seats are also up this year.

34 Comments

Council to Reconsider Precinct Boundaries

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 17, 2007 in Politics.

I heard on WINA that City Council intends to look at the boundaries that define each of the eight voting precincts in the city. They’re going to establish an advisory panel to examine the existing boundaries and look at how they could be improved. If I recall correctly, the boundaries were established long, long ago, when the city was physically smaller. As the city grew, annexing land from the county, the precincts were expanded out to encompass the new area. At this point they’re functionally arbitrary, and badly in need of reconsideration. Any changes will have to be approved by the Department of Justice, to make sure that they’ve been established fairly. Good on Council for taking this step.

Hey, remember that election study that was released two years ago? An elected mayor? Instant runoff voting? Whatever happened to that?

13 Comments

Judicial Candidates Hold Forum; Camblos Stacks the Deck

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 17, 2007 in Law and Justice and Politics.

All seven people seeking to be named as the replacement for Judge Paul Peatross attended a forum held last night by Del. Rob Bell. (NBC 29, CBS 19, DP) Bell did not attend his forum, and he likewise missed the bar association’s forum. Only two of those candidates were recommended by the bar — Judge Robert Downer and prosecutor Cheryl Higgins — but the General Assembly is functionally free to pick anybody that they want. The purpose of the forum was to have a committee of five people, selected by Del. Bell, quiz the applicants and render their verdict on who would make the best candidate. The only un-endorsements from the audience were from people speaking out against Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Camblos. The positive comments were largely in favor of Judge Downer and Camblos. Though, as it turns out, Camblos’ praise was a setup.

One reporter tells me that, after talking with some of the speakers and all of the judicial candidates, he caught Jim Camblos stacking the deck. All of the other candidates respected process, while it turns out that Camblos convinced five people to attend the forum to stand up and speak in support of him. That kind of thing is, unfortunately, par for the course for Camblos.

Judge Peatross’ retirement takes effect at the end of this month, so the General Assembly will need to take this up in the next couple of weeks.

16 Comments

Our Mall Fountains Have Strayed

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 19, 2007 in General News.

In this week’s Hook, David McNair takes a look at the four fountains on the Downtown Mall (Miller’s, Central Place, Sal’s, Nook) and, look at Downtown Mall designer Lawrence Halprin’s original vision, finds them wanting. Halprin’s vision was for them to be interactive. There’s a reason why the Central Place fountain is wide, shallow, and has steps leading down into it: people are supposed to be able to walk into it. Instead, it’s surrounded by chain. The three smaller fountains are inaccessible to the public during the warm portion of the year, because the space around them is leased to restaurants for cafés. Everybody McNair talks to agrees that it’s time to make the fountains accessible again and restore Halprin’s plan.

(Via David’s blog)

13 Comments

Report: Housing Situation Sucks

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 19, 2007 in Development.

A comprehensive study of the availability of housing that’s affordable to residents shows that it’s a bad situation and it’s getting worse, Brian McNeill reports in today’s Daily Progress. Given the number of families earning less than $28,500/year, we’re short 4,200 housing units. Who makes $28,500/year? Everybody in the top five most common jobs here: cashiers, restaurant workers and retail employees. They also found that public employees (police, fire, teachers) have to live farther and farther away from Charlottesville in order to pay for housing, leading to more traffic, more need for childcare, and more pollution.

The study was commissioned by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission and conducted by the Virginia Center for Housing Research. The TJPDC tells me that they won’t have the study available electronically until next week, so I’m afraid I can’t point you to a copy of it.

01/24 Update: The report is now available (2.2MB PDF).

34 Comments

Albemarle Assessments up 15%

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 22, 2007 in Development and Politics.

In a press release, the county has announced that real estate values in the county have risen by an average value of 30% since the last biannual assessment, in 2005. Assessments increased by 27% in 2003 and the same percentage in 2005. By my math, that’s a 109% increase in property values in the past six years, which is a fantastic rate of return if you’re investing, but not so hot if you have no intention of selling your home.

Note that this is only a calculation of the market value of properties — the rate reflects the realities of real estate prices in the area, and not any taxation decision on the part of the county. Albemarle is free, of course, to adjust their tax rate downward, rather than increase revenues by over a quarter, in order to ease the burden on property owners.

The Hook and The Daily Progress have more.

46 Comments

Downer Named Peatross’ Replacement

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 23, 2007 in Law and Justice and Politics.

Judicial nominations were introduced to and passed by the Senate and the House of Delegates today — Judge Bob Downer has been appointed to the 16th judicial district to replace Judge Paul Peatross, effective June 1. Downer was one of the two candidates recommended by the bar, so his appointment comes as no particular surprise.

1:45pm Update: “iknowcville” points out that Downer has simply been reappointed to the same seat in this bill, making everything that I wrote entirely wrong. Or, rather, it may turn out to be correct, but that would just be a lucky coincidence. SR43, which makes the circuit court nominations, is entirely silent on Peatross’ replacement.

01/24 Update: Bob Gibson writes that Downer’s reappointment may well indicate that he’s out of the running for Peatross’ seat. In an interview with Del. Bill Janis it becomes clear that our representatives have no interest in following the bar’s recommendations and see this appointment as political, rather than merit-based, unlike virtually everybody else in the community.

18 Comments

Misc. Development News

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 29, 2007 in Development.

Via Bill Emory, there are a pair of interesting articles on the topic of growth.

First is Jeremy Borden’s article in today’s Daily Progress, about developers who believe that development shouldn’t be regulated. (There’s a shocker.) Wendell Wood thinks that planning within growth areas “smacks of socialism” while an attorney for area developers says she “feels very strongly that it’s not needed.”

The flip side of that coin comes in today’s Washington Post editorial that summarizes the pair of fascinating articles by Michael Laris and David S. Fallis in last week’s Post [1, 2] about corruption in Loudoun County after pro-development forces took over the Board of Supervisors. Loudoun developers, complaining about growth restrictions, managed to get all of those restrictions removed and make themselves and their friends on the BoS extremely wealthy in the process. Prosecutors launched an investigation into the case mere days after the story was published.

There is no more powerful political force in Albemarle County than developers. They are debatably the most powerful political force in the state. Their motive is profit (and rightly so), not the interests of Charlottesville and Albemarle County; the two overlap, but only slightly. The notion that we should abandon planning to them is frightening. Bill Emory suggests a simple test to consider the intentions of a real estate developer: Does s/he live in the area that will be developed, and will s/he continue to live there after it’s developed?

Finally, from Jim Duncan comes word of SB988, which would permit the county to regulate construction in order to protect viewsheds for the purpose of tourism. (Such as the view from Monticello, presumably.) The bill specifically states that decisions would be made by county staff, without a public hearing, though appeals may be made to the planning commission. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Creigh Deeds, tells Jim that he introduced the bill at the request of the Board of Supervisors.

01/30 Update: Jeremy Borden writes in today’s Progress that Biscuit Run will require widening 20 South, a $17M project, but developers have only offered $5.5M to the county in total. That doesn’t even include the many, many additional improvements needed to handle the increased population: four new traffic signals, eight new intersection improvements and, of course, schools, police, fire, rescue, jail capacity, water, etc. So the $5.5M is to, what, put the thing on layaway?

30 Comments

C-Ville’s Development Map

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 30, 2007 in Development.

C-Ville Weekly has set up a totally rad feature on their site: an interactive map of where development is taking place in Albemarle County. I’m always glad to see media outlets using the technology available on the web to its full capacity, rather than just dumping their print content on there and calling it a day. (Via Jim Duncan)

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Madison-Greene Bar Gives Nod to Downer

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 30, 2007 in Law and Justice and Politics.

Judge Robert Downer has been endorsed for Circuit Court Paul Peatross’ seat by the Madison-Greene Bar Association, The Hook reports. Downer was endorsed by the Charlottesville-Albemarle Bar Association earlier this month. There is widespread speculation that Reps. Rob Bell and Bill Janis intend to nominate Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Camblos for partisan reasons, despite that four municipalities’ bar associations have now given him a vote of no confidence.

7 Comments

City Schools’ Survey

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 30, 2007 in Education.

Charlottesville City Schools are conducting a web-based survey of community members about their perception of the school system. It’s open to residents of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. There are fifty questions, and it takes about ten minutes.

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City Property Assessments Increase 14%

Published by
Waldo Jaquith
January 31, 2007 in Development and Politics.

The city’s annual property assessments are up 14.3% this year, Charlottesville reports in a press release, with residential properties increasing by 15% and commercial property increasing by 11%. Last year they increased by 18.8%, so at least things have cooled down a bit, but not much. Hopefully somebody smarter than me will provide the internals on this — what the largest increase was, how different neighborhoods faired, etc.

Aren’t residential and commercial properties taxed at the same rate? If so, couldn’t we split those off and tax the two at different rates? That might allow the city to shift some of the burden off of homeowners and onto business owners, since the latter at least enjoys some income as a result of their structure, and since the assessment increases always seem to be less for businesses than for residences. I wonder if this has been done elsewhere and how well it’s worked.

13 Comments

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This is a community news blog about Charlottesville, VA, USA, started in March of 2001. It's run by Waldo Jaquith. It has nothing to do with C-Ville Weekly, the newspaper. Feel free to submit a story.