Albemarle County has issued a notice concerning locations for tree drop off where they will be recycled into mulch for use in public areas.
Author Archive for Duane Gran
Do you have old paint, used oil, batteries or other items which aren’t permitted in normal refuse pick-up? Take note that the Ivy Materials Utilization Center will accept these items on Oct 14th from 9am to 2pm free of charge. The county offers details, including directions.
A Daily Progress article describes how Music Today is monitoring eBay and other avenues for after-market sales of tickets. This is in accordance with their terms of service, which states:
Tickets purchased through this site are intended for personal use by the buyer. We strictly prohibit the resale of any tickets obtained through this site for more than the purchase price. If you are found to be or we in good faith believe you are reselling, trading or brokering tickets for profit that you purchased through this site, we may at our sole discretion cancel all or part of your ticket order and all or part of other pending orders in your name and/or put all or part of your orders and all or part of your other pending orders in your name at will-call for pick-up only by you.
This peculiar restriction naturally will upset people who discover the policy when they are turned away at the door. One viewpoint holds that scalpers fulfill a market need for people who don’t, for a variety of reasons, purchase tickets through the official venue. The other viewpoint maintains that Music Today is welcome to set its own policies and the purchaser agreed to them when the ticket was sold.
What do you think?
This weekend, August 4th through the 6th, the Commonwealth of Virginia has authorized retailers to sell certain school items tax free. There are price limits for items and not all retailers are guaranteed to participate.
The Daily Progress reports that a “proposed 101-foot-tall building at 201 Avon St. could add up to 116 condominiums and 22,000 square feet of commercial space to downtown.” The architect boasts a record of environmental advocacy and, in their words, “focuses on the full ecology of the building.” From the article:
The building would be one of the first structures in Charlottesville to be built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design specifications through energy-efficient construction, use of recycled materials and other green building techniques.
Residents of Albemarle County will want to take advantage of the tree recycling program to avoid other less desirable outcomes, such as filling the landfill or lobbing branches into the neighbor’s yard. Maybe next year they will accept Festivus poles as well. One can hope.
Robert Greenwald has produced a critical documentary about Wal-Mart which is being shown in various places around the nation this week. On November 17, one can see it locally at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church Unitarian Universalist and the Friends Quaker Meeting House. Wal-Mart has responded to some aspects of the documentary that differ from the facts. Hopefully events like these raise dialog about the intersection of global commerce and society.
11/17 Update by Waldo: Charlottesville Podcasting has an MP3 of last night’s town meeting about Wal-Mart.
Whether you are moving or just need to clean out the attic, consider checking out the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA rummage sale as a venue to donate items. C’mon. Do it for the cats. Or the dogs, if that is your thing.
A Daily Progress article covers the first donation to Albemarle County’s Acquisition of Conservation Easements program, a tax-deductable fund for the county to purchase land easements. From the article:
Albemarle County will be able to set aside more rural land like Ford’s because of a $10,000 anonymous donation to the county’s Acquisition of Conservation Easements program, the county announced Monday.
The program was established in 2000 and the fund set up earlier this year. The $10,000 is the first contribution to the program, and the money will be used exclusively for the county to purchase easements - voluntary agreements that help maintain open space and ecological diversity by restricting development of land.
Persons concerned about sprawl and protecting open spaces may wish to read a county press release for details on how to contribute to the fund.
Sean Tubbs, who runs the Charlottesville Podcasting Network, interviewed Ralph Chester, a Louisiana resident who has found safe haven in Charlottesville. The interview is about 25 minutes in length. The following statement from Mr. Chester speaks volumes about the humanity of the situation:
In one of the past hurricanes that affected the area when the… Superdome was opened, as a shelter of last resort, and was populated by people that could not get at that time… there was a great deal of destruction and some of the more horrific elements of human behavior that went on this time last time, so much was the case that the powers that be in the city then said, including the people who run the Superdome said, it’ll never happen again that this will be used as a shelter. Obviously, it was used a shelter again, and had even more people, and it had more problems. But it was a necessity, it had to happen.
Sean will conduct additional interviews in the coming weeks on the Podcasting Network.
Gas prices have been making the news lately. A variety of factors may explain the rise in fuel cost, but a Department of Energy site provides some insight. One surprising result may be that taxes comprise 19% of the cost of fuel.
In the short term, Virginian’s are thinking of ways to save money on fuel in anticipation of the coming winter, especially since 1/5 of the nations natural gas refineries have been made inoperable by hurricane Katrina. Conservation efforts may be the best short term help for home fuel and seeking out the cheapest local gas may help for automobiles. Don’t forget to consider the Ride Share Program to carpool.
On a more lighthearted note, maybe we can direct our road rage into something more useful, or if we get absolutely desperate we can always count on Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez for help.
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