Generally I try to do only one “links” story a week, but this week has seen several stories come to light that are of critical importance to … basically everyone.

Growth and Development update with Brian Wheeler – learn more about Bundoran Farm, the Water Supply (and increasing rates), Meadowcreek Parkway and how our infrastructure is catching up with us.

Can Poor Writing Skills Overshadow Good Content? – Yes. Yes. Yes.

Credibility coming back to appraisals? The consequences – intended and unintended of this development – may be enormous.

Virginia’s attempt to (temporarily) forestall foreclosures (for some)

The HooK has an extensive story on the Charlottesville/Albemarle water supply solution.  The solution that came about was the result of unprecedented public input and cooperation; but is there room for improvement? Could it be this easy? – (more at Cvillenews)

Every day, a little more sediment seeps into the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir, reducing its capacity to quench the thirst of our growing population. Dredging it, however, will cost millions, mostly for trucking away the dirt.

Meanwhile, just a couple of miles away lies the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport, which wants to expand its runway and plans to spend $15 million of its $50 million budget to… truck in dirt.

Why can’t these two quasi-governmental bodies get together to save each other millions of dollars while solving the local water crisis? A Hook investigation finds they haven’t really tried– that no serious studies have been conducted to discover if dirt-swapping might be a viable solution to both their problems. And dredging supporters allege the company that told the local waterworks to dam its way out of disaster might have a conflict of interest.

Our region has a deserved reputation for studying everything ad nauseum, and I’m tempted to just be grateful that something is going to be done.

Videos of the General Assembly are up at Richmond Sunlight. Yay, accountability and sunlight.

This is a conference being held at my alma mater in April – it should be mighty interesting (albeit a bit expensive). Hopefully someone will blog about it.

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