Why, it seems like it was only 16.5 months ago that I forecast that Stonehaus was blowing hot air when they claimed that their “Belvedere” subdivision would be “affordable,” as the developer claimed it would be when they convinced the Board of Supervisors to approve it. Lo and behold, Brian McNeill writes in today’s Daily Progress that Stonehaus has gone and swapped buzzwords on us — now they’re “green”….and single-family houses “will cost somewhere in the $400,000s or $500,000s,” which is “affordable” if you have $3,000/month to spend on your mortgage. (Assuming that you want to spend no more than 30% of your income on your mortgage, that requires an annual household income of $119,880.) Stonehaus tells the DP that their motive isn’t profit, no-no, it’s asking themselves “every day, what’s the moral course?” The 675-unit development is going in on that big chunk of land on Rio Road, on the far side of 29 — you know, the one that got bulldozed a couple of years ago.
A group of business owners along 29 N. are protesting the still-under-development Places 29 plan, Jeremy Borden wrote in the Daily Progress earlier this week. The purpose of Places 29 is to figure out what the 29 corridor should look like, because the current process will leave us with sprawl clear to Culpeper and bumper-to-bumper traffic before long. The North Charlottesville Business Council has boldly proposed, instead, absolutely nothing.
Rivanna Supervisor Ken Boyd’s district includes a bunch of 29 N., and he makes clear in the article that he’s with the businesses here. That highlights the coming clash, between now and November, between Boyd and planning commission chair Marcia Joseph, the Democratic candidate running against Boyd. Surely Boyd is angling for high-dollar campaign contributions from developers who oppose any sort of restrictions, given that Joseph has made clear through her work on the planning commission that she supports smart growth. Thanks to Charlottesville Tomorrow’s collaboration with the Virginia Public Access Project, it’ll be easy for everybody to see where each candidate’s money is coming from, as with all candidates in Charlottesville and Albemarle.
I’ve heard a lot of talk this week about a proposal made by City Councilor Julian Taliaferro a few weeks ago: merging the Charlottesville and Albemarle governments. The periodic reversion debates has always been freighted with ego problems; if Charlottesville is a mere town, doesn’t it lose some standing? Merging governments, on the other hand, is purely practical, and has no impact on the standing of either the county or the city. We already share some services, and we share revenue. Why not stop dating and get hitched?
Whether through reversion of merging governments, I think it’s about time we again looked seriously at ending the duplication of services and, more important, forced the two municipalities to cooperate as closely as possible. And, while I’m making wild-eyed suggestions, I also recommend that Crozetians put together a plan to gain permission from the General Assembly to incorporate as a town. Until Crozet has its own governing body, it will continue to be the county’s population-boom dumping ground. Isn’t time time the town took control of its own destiny?
The filing deadline is June 12. If there aren’t enough candidates, the seats will be filled by judicial appointment pending a special election to fill them properly.
Good news: The latest edition of Frommer’s “Cities: Ranked and Rated” has Charlottesville ranked as their #17 city, Brian McNeill wrote in yesterday’s Progress, down from its #1 ranking in the first edition of the book. The top ranking, bestowed three years ago, brought a great deal of attention to Charlottesville, particularly in the form of people moving here because they heard it was a good place to live. Hence, the price of housing went way up (hey, it’s a bargain if you’re from Jersey) which, ironically, is precisely why we’ve dropped to #17. As Mayor David Brown points out, “a little breather would be a good thing.”
But, if anybody from outside C’ville asks why we dropped in the rankings, tell them it’s because of our failing schools, legions of homeless, out-of-control STD rates and, of course, that serial murderer who’s still on the loose.
Normally it wouldn’t be news that somebody is thinking about running for the Charlottesville school board, but it’s not every day that a) Sean McCord runs or b) that somebody blogs about the decision process. Sean is a well-known local blogger, regular cvillenewser, head of the Local Support Partner Program at UVa, and has three kids in city schools. By way of introduction, the Johnson Village Democrat opens his blog with this post:
I am considering running for the Charlottesville School Board. What seemed a simple idea when it was first presented to me has become unexpectedly complicated. I have decided to document the process here. In this space, I will gather the information that one needs to run. If I run, I will write about my experience. If I win, I will maintain this blog as a School Board member. If I do not win, I will offer this blog site to a sitting member or members of the Board. Above all, I intend to conduct all of this business in an open and honest manner, and I expect all of you to call me to task if I stray from the pledge.
Sean is like City Councilor Dave Norris in that what would make him such a great candidate are precisely the qualities that he possesses that would make any reasonable person assume that he’d never run for an office. Whether or not he runs, though, I’ll enjoy following his decision process on his blog.
There are three contested nominations in Albemarle County, all among Democrats, and all will be settled at the Monday evening nomination convention. The Albemarle County Democratic Party will hold the event at 6pm at the Albemarle County Office Building. Attendees will be selecting between Janet Ferrance and Debbie Shipp for Clerk of Circuit Court, and Larry Claytor and Roger Craig for Sheriff. Those living in the southern end of the county will be voting on whether incumbent Lindsay Dorrier or challenger Kevin Fletcher should be the party’s nominee. The winners of those contests will go on to face independent and Republican opposition in the general election come November.
Registration starts at 6pm, and the doors close at 7pm, so make sure you get there early enough to get signed in so that you’ll be credentialed to vote. If you get there late then you can only watch.
Few people have the faintest idea of how to pick somebody for clerk, though I get the sense folks are starting to make up their minds in the sheriff’s race. I’ll be spending the entire week at the beach, so I won’t be able to cast a vote, but if I were, I know I’d be voting for Larry Claytor. His campaign has been enormously impressive, he’s a great guy, and, having talked with him just a couple of times, I don’t doubt this Jim Webb Democrat will run a very vigorous campaign come fall. (Disclaimer: I’ve received $30 in advertising revenue from his campaign to run a pair of ads on cvillenews.com.) On the topic of clerk, though, I must admit that I’m clueless.
The five Democrats vying for the three available seats on City Council held their first forum a couple of nights ago, and Charlottesville Tomorrow provides audio and video from the debates. The format was pretty interesting: speed-dating style small group discussions followed by the usual answering questions from the audience.
Here’s excerpts of the candidates’ comments on the topic of growth in the small group discussions (45 minutes):
And here’s the audio of the panel discussion: (50 minutes):
Three more debates are planned. Here’s hoping that the format and atmosphere of each of these remains as interesting and collegial as this first one — it’s a lot better than the format that’s been used by local Democrats for some years now.
Albemarle Democrats held their nomination caucus last night, Liesel Nowak reports in the Progress, and nominated Larry Claytor for sheriff, Lindsay Dorrier for reelection to the BoS, and Debbie Shipp for Clerk of Court. Claytor and Dorrier both enjoyed landslide victories among the 400 caucus members. Now the three — and the other uncontested nominees — will go on to attempt to win the general election. This promises to be the most colorful Albemarle election in years, with an impressive and impassioned lineup of candidates and enough of a smattering of independent candidates to make things unpredictable.
Charlottesville resident Grant Brownrigg has declared his candidacy for the school board, Matt Deegan reports for the Progress. Brownrigg is the creator of the Grantland business comic, has served on the school board’s discipline task force, and has three kids in city schools. He and Alvin Edwards are the two candidates to declare thus far, leaving the board two candidates short of the four required to fill the open seats. The filing deadline is June 12.
There’s a new candidate for City Council: Peter Kleeman intends to run for City Council as an independent, Charlottesville Tomorrow reports. Kleeman, a Democrat, unsuccessfully sought the party’s nomination for Council in 2000. He’s a transportation planning consultant, downtown resident, ardent environmentalist and, by way of disclaimer, a good friend. He’s in the process of collecting the required 125 signatures from registered Charlottesville voters, in order to get his name on the ballot. Though many Republicans won’t see this particular independent candidate as providing any real choice come the November elections, the fact is that a) he’s running and they’re not and b) he’s a Democrat, but he’s hardly of Charlottesville Democrats.
The effect that his entry will have on the election, particularly if a credible Republican ends up running, will be mighty interesting to watch.
The 400th episode of the Simpsons, “You Kent Always Say What You Want,” aired last night, and it contained a mention of Charlottesville. Our cameo is as a faux ice cream flavor. Fred Weaver provides this clip:
The thirty year old brickwork on the Downtown Mall is long overdue for replacement, Seth Rosen writes in today’s Progress, and the city plans to spend $1.72M to replace the bricks over the next four years. The two automobile crossings are in particularly bad shape — the physical infrastructure was never meant to routinely handle anything heavier than pedestrians. An employee in the city engineering department told me, many years ago, that the contractor who installed the brickwork in the first place failed to meet the spec, which dramatically shortened the lifespan of the surface. The brick replacement is just a small part of the $7.5M in planned improvements, which will include “buying new street furniture, upgrading underground utilities, adding new lighting and improving the surrounding landscaping.”
WINA is running a curious story right now, “clarifying the position of [Sheriff Ed Robb]” in the sheriff’s race. Robb wants listeners to know that “he will not make any public endorsements in the race to succeed him until after June 12th.” Republicans and Democrats have chosen their candidates, which would normally be the end of things, but the filing deadline for independents and third party candidates isn’t for another few weeks. This is a strange thing for Robb to say unless he suspects that another candidate may be jumping into the race. Interestingly, Robb apparently requested this correction as a result of Republican candidate Chip Harding claiming that he had Robb’s support in the race, indicating that Harding had cause to believe that the incumbent is backing him.
Robb won last time around with 49% of the vote, a result of a third candidate garnering just 13% of the vote. The guy who came in second? Larry Claytor, with 37%, the man who is the Democratic nominee this time around.
In the current week’s Hook, columnist Peter Kleeman decries the loss of public space on the Downtown Mall, now that it’s being leased for the exclusive use of not just cafés, but to the ever-growing Charlottesville Pavilion. The agreement between the city and the pavilion allowed them to occupy a certain amount of space, which was extended down the Mall a bit while the transit center was under construction. Construction is finished, but the pavilion wants to continue to cordon off the Mall beginning at the end of the free speech monument, completely blocking the entrance to City Hall. The city is considering allowing the pavilion to continue doing this permanently, any time that they hold an event.
Foreclosure notes in the paper during the first quarter of this year are up 27% from the same period last year. The Piedmont Housing Alliance says they simply can’t keep up with homeowners seeking help, which has increased by five-fold since this time last year. Subprime lenders have provided mortgages to people who simply can’t afford them, and now the industry is collapsing.
I’m mystified that no local media outlet has done a story about DMT Properties and their ilk. The business is a scam, their method of promotion is unsightly and blatantly illegal, and yet nobody says boo. What gives?
Charlottesville Democrats will be holding their convention on Saturday to choose three nominees for City Council among candidates David Brown, Holly Edwards, Satyendra Huja, Jennifer McKeever, and Linda Seaman, with Mayor Brown seeking reelection. The event will be held at the Charlottesville Performing Arts Center beginning at 1pm, but anybody who wishes to vote must arrive prior to 1pm in order to get signed in.
I live in the county, so what I think doesn’t particularly matter, but my favorite candidates for the two open seats are Holly Edwards and Jennifer McKeever. They’re smart, engaged, and experienced, and are very much their own women. (Holly has the added bonus of being a total badass.) I know and like all of the candidates, and, for the first time in my memory, I can say that I’d be very happy to see any of the candidates serve on Council. Both Linda Seaman and Satyendra Huja have enormously valuable experience and long histories of service to the city, and I quite like them both personally.
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.
Recent Comments