Council supports several requests for affordable housing interventions

In its efforts to increase and preserve Charlottesville’s affordable housing, City Council took a first look at several requests on January 20 before its scheduled approval votes on February 2.  One request asks for a note guaranteeing $3.77 million for a partnership between the Piedmont Housing Alliance and Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville to […]

City of Promise takes a nontraditional approach to public education funding 

With the Virginia legislature and governor teed up, City of Promise Executive Director Price Thomas says now is the time to take “big swings” in public education. Founded in 2010, the Charlottesville nonprofit aims to tackle generational poverty by improving education outcomes through social interventions. Charlottesville students spend more than four times as many hours […]

Looking deeper into a Charlottesville business fulfilling ICE contracts

A recent map of federal contractors working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement included one company from Charlottesville, drawing local attention on social media amid ICE’s brutal actions in Minneapolis and other American cities.  On January 16, the news site Sludge mapped every U.S. company that has begun or expanded contracts with ICE since President […]

Decision deferred on Belvedere proposal to add 128 more units

As one of her first acts in office, Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed an executive order to create a task force to recommend ways to reduce barriers to building houses. “Slow permitting, outdated zoning, labor shortages, and paper-based processes are driving up costs and delaying housing across the Commonwealth,” reads the order to create the Commission […]

Charlottesville recharges its e-bike voucher program 

Charlottesville has updated and expanded last year’s voucher program to help city residents afford battery-powered e-bikes. Every quarter, the city will give away 12 vouchers in each of three tiers: $500 for any applicant (Tier 1); $1,000 for people earning less than or equal to 80 percent of the area median income (Tier 2); and […]

Albemarle Supervisors approve permit allowing floodplain fill-in

T he developer of a future industrial building in the Woolen Mills neighborhood has succeeded in a second attempt to convince the Albemarle Board of Supervisors to allow land to be elevated out of the floodplain.  Last June, the six-member BOS deadlocked on a request from Elemental Ecotech to fill in the floodplain. A tie […]

Resignations portend big Board of Visitors changes as Spanberger takes office

Five members of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors resigned on January 16 and 17, just before and during the inauguration of Gov. Abigail Spanberger. A university spokesperson confirmed the resignees: former Rector Rachel Sheridan and Vice Rector Porter Wilkinson, as well as Paul Manning, Douglas Wetmore, and Stephen Long. Board members submit resignations […]