Opportunity.op-por-tu-ni-ty |ˌäpÉ™rˈt(y)oÅnitÄ“| |ˌˈɑpÉ™rˌˈt(j)unÉ™di| |É’pəˌtjuËnɪti|noun ( pl. -ties)a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something : we may see increased opportunities for export | the collection gives students the opportunity of reading works by well-known authors.• a chance for employment or promotion : career opportunities in our New York headquarters.Yesterday I had the opportunity to give an unexpected marketing presentation.
Date Archives October 2005
Albemarle BoS Debate Podcast
These podcasts, sponsored by the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors, have proven to be an outstanding method of communication to the public. Not everyone can attend these forums, but do have the ability to listen to them at their own leisure. Now, if only the County and City would contract with Wordcast Productions and podcast more of the Planning Commission meetings, BoS meetings, et. al.Transcript of the Rio District candidate forum, provided by Charlottesville Tomorrow.
Albemarle BoS roundup
Cville Tomorrow has an informative post showing the County’s apparent disconnect (pun intended) regarding one of the more contentious aspect of the County’s planning – interconnecting roads – whereby new and existing developments may have their cul-de-sacs opened up to through traffic to alleviate traffic on the major arteries…. Of the candidates in the Rio District, David Slutzky seems to be the only one who articulates the difference between a theoretical solution and reality.Gary Grant says – “I really don’t have sympathy for the first parcels …… The HooK had David Slutzky on the Hot Seat last week.Gary Grant had his HooK time as well.One of the reasons that CAAR endorsed Christian Schoenwald is his attention to affordable housing…. When you think of affordable housing, do you think of a small condo?This is a critical election, educate yourselves and make the appropriate, educated decision for the County’s future.
Gov. Warner’s transportation committee
From the Road to Ruin – Gov. Mark Warner yesterday announced the creation of a Commission on Transportation in Urbanized Areas which will, as the release says, “recommend strategies for better integrating planning and transit options in Virginia’s urbanized areas.” It’s supposed to come up with those recommendations by Dec. 31.It would have been nice if someone from the Charlottesville/Central Virginia region had been selected. We do happen to be one of the biggest North-South bottlenecks in the Commonwealth, for goodness sakes. From now until 31 December, they are supposed to develop viable solutions to Commonwealth and local land use, transportation, growth issues?
Rio District BoS candidate debate
Last night’s candidate forum sponsored by the Free Enterprise Forum has been podcast. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend; love this podcast!Visit the Charlottesville Podcasting Network to hear Gary Grant, Thomas Jakubowski and David Slutzky tell the voters why each is the best candidate.Analysis a bit later …
Eminent Domain in Albemarle County
They will be discussing, among other things, another approval for part of the Old Trail development in Crozet.The Jefferson Area Libertarians have this one covered, pretty well, and I wrote about it last week.Read the entire article at the JAL site, but here is a snip – Albemarle County and the developer have essentially created a situation where they can just wait Mr. Minnerly’s family out…. The County appears to think its more important to adhere to their “Master Plan” requiring interconnecting neighborhood roads, and the developer has told Mr. Minnerly that any connection he has to build to Jarmans Gap Road will cost a lot more money and he doesn’t want to pay it.This sounds like yet another argument for the County to have some flexibility to their vaunted Neighborhood Model…. Another snip from their press release – Because the developer’s proposed road must be built nearly to the edge of the Minnerly property, and clearly pointed across it as an unfinished road, it is a clear threat to the Minnerly property and will make it very difficult for them to ever sell to anyone but the County in the future. And once the homes are built according to the developer’s proposal, the County would have no choice but to use eminent domain to complete the road in the future.This is a situation where eminent domain can very clearly be prevented now with only minor modifications to the plat, flexibility in Master Plan guidelines, and with some basic respect for private property rights displayed by the County.
Central Virginia Wine futures look good.
One of the great things about Central VA is that we are fortunate to have a number of outstanding vineyards. If there were a local tour company that would cater to folks who want to visit several in a day, I think that this would be a potentially profitable business, and would provide a good public service. Based on this DP article by David Hendrick, we should look for some good wine from the local vineyards.Indeed, they say, although weather is a factor in a wine’s final quality, the unpredictable climate will not be a ceiling on the industry’s growth.Rausse pointed out that climate conditions in much of Europe’s grape-growing regions are similar to Virginia’s.”Every year we get better and better,” McCarthy said…. Even better, there is a link to the Winetalk Podcast that I sponsored recently (or WineCast)!