Cville Tomorrow News

City’s sidewalk plans prioritized

4/29/2010 * Daily Progress [full story]

Charlottesville resident Ryan Jacoby would like the city to build a sidewalk on his street, Tarleton Drive, because going on a walk or bike ride with his children, 6-year-old Simon and 10-year-old Chloe, is out of the question.

“It’s pretty well-trafficked,” he said of his street.

Fortunately, he might be in luck.

Local officials say tax bills in the mail

4/29/2010 * Daily Progress [full story]

Charlottesville and Albemarle County officials have mailed all real-estate and personal property tax bills.

Taxpayers must make payments by June 7. Failure to pay by the deadline will result in penalties.

Charlottesville and Albemarle residents can pay taxes with cash, checks or debit cards on weekdays. City residents who want to pay in person should go to the front lobby of City Hall at the east end of the Downtown Mall. County residents can make in-person payments at the County Office Building at 401 McIntire Road.

Chapter ready to take advantage of growing research, support sites

4/30/2010 Daily Progress [full story]

An international nonprofit association that supports military units, consultants and private contractors working in intelligence and communications installed officers in its new Central Virginia chapter Thursday.

The Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association swore in 10 officials from companies working in the industry at its first monthly luncheon, held at the Best Western Charlottesville Airport Inn & Suites on U.S. 29, just north of the Greene County line.

The board includes representatives from the Albemarle County-based National Ground Intelligence Center, SRC Inc., Battelle Inc., Wagaman Associates, Charlottesville Systems Engineering, Culpeper-based Uriah Group and Richmond-based SAIC Inc.

Danielson-Minor feud: Two trade barbs after arbitration

4/29/2010 * The Hook [full story]

After a week spent inside some Omni hotel conference rooms putting on evidence as if at trial, would-be hotel-makers Lee Danielson and Halsey Minor each offer their own spin on their court-ordered binding arbitration process.

Danielson, taking note of the various lawsuits Minor is facing and waging, contends that the $3.5 million Minor alleges he’s spent on legal fees litigating the Landmark hotel— a moldering eyesore on the Downtown Mall— might have actually completed the project.

“The hotel should be finished,” says Danielson, “and a man of this substance should be able to finish it and work out his other problems.”

Workforce center open for business at community college

4/29/2010 * Daily Progress [full story]

Piedmont Virginia Community College officials have opened the school’s recently renovated Stultz Center for Business and Career Development for classes, with a formal grand opening planned for June.

The center is located in the former Charlottesville-Albemarle Visitors Center at the corner of College Drive and Route 20. The 9,000-square-foot Stultz Center houses five classroom areas, a conference room and the PVCC Division of Workforce Services offices.

The center will host the division’s expanded class offerings in software applications, information technology and security, and a variety of business courses. It also provides space for contract training sessions for employers and other noncredit and workforce-related training programs.

Martha Jefferson neighborhood applies for designation

4/27/2010 * Daily Progress [full story]

The Martha Jefferson Neighborhood Association has become the first Charlottesville neighborhood to apply for a new local historic designation that was created by the city government last year.

Association President Bruce Odell said the neighborhood formally requested on Monday to become a historic conservation district, which would place new regulations on new construction and property demolitions in the proposed area just outside of downtown. The designation was envisioned as a way to protect parts of the city that are subject to development pressures and teardowns.

“I think we want to make sure that we protect the character of the neighborhood,” Odell said Tuesday.

Rutherford balks at public cameras

4/27/2010 * Daily Progress [full story]

An Albemarle County civil rights organization on Monday went on record against the idea of placing surveillance cameras on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall, calling it an invasion of privacy and possible violation of the First Amendment.

The Rutherford Institute sent a letter to Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris opposing the idea and included a memorandum that provided proposed guidelines and restrictions on use of and access to surveillance equipment.

The institute has been involved in Constitutional rights fights on behalf of prisoners and school prayer, among other concerns. It said the cameras could have a chilling effect on people “exercising their cherished First Amendment rights.” The institute urged the City Council to “carefully evaluate whether a video surveillance system is truly the best way to boost business and deter crime on the Downtown Mall.”

Charlottesville gets part of $20M for energy retrofits

4/27/2010 * C-Ville Weekly [full story]

Just in time for Earth Week, federal funds were allocated to the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA), which means potential green jobs for the area.

“It’s very exciting. It’s big news for anybody who cares about the environment, about job creation, about lowering our utility bills,” says Mayor Dave Norris.

On the eve of Earth Day, Vice President Joe Biden announced that the federal government will invest $452 million in communities around the nation. Of that total, $20 million in Recovery Act funding will go to the SEEA, which includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Money will go toward retrofits—improvements to existing structures to help them save energy.

Setting the stage for UVA drama expansion

4/27/2010 * C-Ville Weekly [full story]

$12.5 million for new 300-seat theater and bigger lobby

During the last year, the theme of UVA’s Arts Grounds seems to be “scaling back for the sake of moving forward.” In 2007, the Board of Visitors approved a $118 million Arts Gateway plan that included a new art museum on Emmet Street and a $26 million expansion and renovation of the drama building on Culbreth Road. When UVA opted instead, in 2009, to renovate the art museum’s current home, museum director Bruce Boucher told C-VILLE that, “in the present economic climate, a very ambitious scheme like [the Arts Gateway] would take a long time.”

Now, plans for the drama building are ready to follow suit. The university recently issued a call for construction managers for UVA’s Thrust Theatre, a 20,500 square-foot addition to current drama facilities, and the first phase of renovations to the drama building. The name stems from the design of the stage, which seats audience members along three sides of the space.

“Hope deferred makes you heartsick,” says Vice Provost of the Arts Elizabeth Hutton Turner. “You need to see hope fulfilled to gather energy, to see what this means for the future.” The theater, according to Turner, is the “baking soda of the Arts Grounds.”

City responds to W. Main Street death of UVA bicyclist

4/27/2010 * C-Ville Weekly [full story]

In each of the last three years, the City of Charlottesville has seen at least one fatality stemming from a collision involving some combination of cars, bicyclists and pedestrians. Last week, a UVA graduate student became the first fatality of 2010.

On the morning of Monday, April 19, Matthew Steven King was riding his bike on West Main Street when he collided with a City of Charlottesville utility truck at the intersection of Fourth Street NE. King, who had been wearing a helmet, was transported to the UVA Emergency Room after the collision, and pronounced dead at around 9:31am from injuries sustained in the accident.

That night, another bicyclist, Sherwood Richers, was reportedly struck by a taxi at the intersection of Emmet Street and University Avenue—less than two miles from the intersection where King was hit. Richers was wearing dark clothes and did not have a light on his bike.