Thanks to VPAP, we know that the Rio District race in which David Slutzky lost to Rodney Thomas cost $150k , the Samuel Miller District race cost nearly $100k, and in the City of Charlottesville with its traditionally non-competive elections cost a mere $20k. It’s a damn shame that local elections cost a quarter of a million dollars.
Browsing Category Politics
Thoughts on Crozet Library’s Further Delay
I suspect no one has or will move to Crozet because of the library, but having a good library, as we do now, is a component of a community with a high quality of life. … Based on those standards, if Crozet’s service area population (that is, the population within 6 miles of the library) reaches 25,000, the public library should be in the square foot range of 15,000 SF – 20,000 SF. … John Halliday, Library Director Jefferson-Madison Regional Library 201 East Market Street, Charlottesville Virginia 22902 Mike Marshall at the Crozet Gazette noted last month : County leaders have notified the Crozet Library Steering Committee that they will recommend to supervisors that the project be pushed back yet again (it was originally slated to open in 2011) and not be considered for funding before 2015. … The County should take advantage of currently depressed construction costs by either borrowing money, getting a slice of the $787 billion the federals are looking to spend on “shovel ready†projects, or by suspending the County’s annual tribute payment to Charlottesville—the so-called “revenue sharing agreement†in which only the County does the sharing—a sum which next year will run about $18 million.
Time for Government to Get out of the Trash Business?
Dave Mcnair at The HooK has a great story about the impact the Vanderlinde single-stream recycling facility has had on the government’s own trash business. There are two issues – 1) The lawsuit 2) The future of the government-run operation – the RWSA – in light of what seems to be competition that, left to the open market would close down the RWSA’s trash business. … So, will Van der Linde’s MRF become our area’s landfill of the future? … Do we, as trash-producing, tax paying citizens need or want government to keep doing what’s obsolete?
Vineyards in Albemarle are Good – Right?
It seems that well enough may not be left alone ; Cathy Harding reports in this week’s C-Ville: Recent discussions between the Albemarle County Planning Department and county wineries raise questions about exactly what comprises normal activity at a winery—and even, to a degree, what constitutes a farm winery, itself. Planners want to bring the county’s current zoning ordinance in line with the State Code that regulates farm wineries. It seems that, so far at least, the language and stipulations they’ve come up with are leaving a sour taste in the mouths of some local wine professionals. It boils down to three areas of concern: hours of operation; limits on numbers of people that can attend winery events without a zoning variance; and, as mentioned, the definition of farm wineries as well as agritourism.
DP and Charlottesville Tomorrow begin Four-Part Series on Traffic and Growth
Part One started yesterday in the Daily Progress . The difficulty in balancing growth pressures and a decline in transportation infrastructure spending is growing more acute, but there is little movement toward solutions. How would you solve the transit/traffic/transportation issues the Charlottesville/Albemarle region is facing?
“Everything’s on the Table” – Albemarle County Schools Budget
Brandon Shulletta writes in today’s Daily Progress : School division leaders drafting budget requests are also wondering whether next year’s supervisors are more likely to maintain the current real-estate tax rate of 74.2 cents per $100 of assessed value or increase the rate to 77.2 cents — two options officials have keyed on. At the 77.2-cent rate, county heads project that the average homeowner would pay the same real-estate taxes next year as under this year’s rate because assessed home values are declining. … Rather than complain about or note how ridiculous it is for local governments to decide how much they are going to spend before they know what their actual income is going to be , I’d rather come up with possible solutions . … Have all the kids meet at the front of the subdivision. – What impact would year-round schooling have on the budget? – How much money would be saved by turning off lights methodically and religiously?
CharlAlbemarle Transit Authority – What’s Next?
The fate of a proposed Regional Transit Authority (RTA) could depend on who is selected in January to represent the City Council and the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors on two regional transportation bodies.
…Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed a bill authorizing Charlottesville and Albemarle to create a transit authority , but a companion bill that may have provided a funding source for enhanced service did not make it out of committee. That legislation would have authorized a referendum in which city and country residents would have voted on a sales tax increase to pay the RTA’s operating and capital costs.
… The Charlottesville/Albemarle region needs some form of transit that helps alleviate the traffic and congestion that, while not as bad as other areas (Northern Virginia/LA/etc) – is bad by Charlottesville standards – and frankly, those are the standards that matter to me.