Change of plans?

The developer of a planned nine-story apartment building at 218 W. Market St. is considering building a hotel there instead. “It’s a great opportunity to further expose the Downtown Mall to visitors coming into Charlottesville, and increase the vitality of our downtown,” says Jeffrey Levien of Heirloom Development. In September 2020, City Council granted Levien’s […]

Crowd pleasers

April is here and so is Charlottesville’s annual Tom Tom Festival, flooding the downtown area with events, music, and people. The festival has grown substantially in its 12 years, and is slated to span five days, from April 17-21, with a medley of different showcases including panels on technology, entrepreneurship, social justice, and consciousness. With […]

In brief

Taxed for time Charlottesville City Council worked down to the April 15 statewide deadline to approve the city’s budget for fiscal year 2025. Tax increases were a topic of hot discussion, with council reworking and amending levies repeatedly during the months-long budget process. Coming in at a whopping $253,335,298, the city’s general fund will finance […]

Green speak

Every seat was filled Saturday, April 13, as Dana Milbank recounted what led him to be aiming a bolt-action rifle out of his bathroom window at three whitetail deer. The answer, besides good luck and bad timing, is that the population of whitetail deer has swelled to more than 14 times what the ecosystem can […]

Price of prevention

Controversy arose last week when local violence interruption group the B.U.C.K. Squad announced that City Council reduced its funding for 2025. While councilors argue the $200,000 allocation from the Vibrant Community Fund shows strong support for the group, the B.U.C.K. Squad’s leadership is disappointed and confused by the decrease from the proposed $456,000. “The BUCK […]

One exit

Any structure erected in Virginia must conform to building codes created around a century ago to ensure safe construction methods are followed and that people inside can get out if there’s a fire. Such provisions spread across the country after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in March 1911 in New York City that led to […]

The Big Picture

The top of the Water Street Garage was a popular spot on Monday, April 8, when residents gathered a little before 3pm to see the partial (about 86 percent) eclipse, when the moon blocked a large part of the sun from view. If you missed it, you’ll have to wait a while for a similar […]

Working it out

The local chapter of United Campus Workers of Virginia met with University of Virginia President Jim Ryan and other leaders on April 4 to discuss issues related to graduate student wages. The meeting was prompted by the union’s attendance at the March 1 Board of Visitors meeting. Delegations from both UCW UVA and the university […]

Meet the beetles

On a warm day early in spring, a group of volunteers led by the National Park Service is surveying Sugar Hollow Reservoir, hoping to find a new resident living on hemlocks in the forest. They hold broad, white sheets under a tree and knock the needles with a long stick. What they’re looking for is […]

In brief

Money talks Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced on April 8 that he would not veto the entire state budget created by the legislature, instead putting forward a swath of broad-reaching amendments. The governor’s “common ground budget” has some key differences from the version passed by the state legislature earlier this year: It cuts all tax increases […]