Accessibility advocate India Sims and her friend Cynthia Pettus left Alamo Drafthouse midscreening on May 25 after they were told their wheelchairs’ location violated the fire code. Sims, a lifelong Charlottesville-area resident, has previously seen films at Alamo without issue. “I’ve been there multiple times to see things,” she says. “My chair was always around; […]
Accessibility advocate India Sims and her friend Cynthia Pettus left Alamo Drafthouse midscreening on May 25 after they were told their wheelchairs’ location violated the fire code. Sims, a lifelong Charlottesville-area resident, has previously seen films at Alamo without issue. “I’ve been there multiple times to see things,” she says. “My chair was always around; […]
As more proposals seek approval under Charlottesville’s new development code, the Board of Zoning Appeals will play a technical role in making some of the decisions. Its meetings will also be one of a few places where people can officially express their objections. “We are hearing an administrative modification today,” said zoning administrator Read Brodhead […]
Access to mifepristone was once again on the local docket, with representatives from the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Food and Drug Administration presenting oral arguments on May 19 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Charlottesville. The suit, filed by Whole Woman’s Health Alliance in May 2023, challenges […]
More than eight years after the Virginia Department of Transportation awarded a grant for construction of a shared-use path along Rugby Avenue by the Route 250 bypass, the project is nearing completion. The 10-foot-wide path, and a return to the original traffic pattern along Rugby Avenue, will be finished by the end of August. The […]
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit just over five years ago, child-care providers struggled to find ways to stay open amidst social distancing rules. Congregation Beth Israel “pivoted to a forest school model, embracing outdoor learning to keep our doors open for families,” said Jill Abbey-Clark, the director of what CBI calls its Forest School. To […]
The development of housing reserved for people with low incomes can take a long time, given shifting timelines of residents’ availability. That has twice been the case for SupportWorks Housing (formerly Virginia Supportive Housing), a Richmond-based nonprofit that steered the 60-unit Crossings at Fourth & Preston in Charlottesville through a complex process that involved a […]
In one of Charlottesville’s warmest neighborhoods, John Hunter’s yard feels like a cool oasis. An array of waist-high shrubs and groundcover fills the property, while a billowy corkscrew willow, a hardy black walnut, and several juvenile trees cast shade over the space. Come summer, the plants go a long way toward helping Hunter and his […]
The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors adopted a $644 million FY26 budget on May 7. The budget is balanced with a 4-cent increase to the real property tax rate, and a restoration of the pre-pandemic personal property tax rate. New rates go into effect on July 1, for an overall real property tax rate of […]
Charlottesville has seen many periods of growth since its founding in 1762, and new development rules adopted in late 2023 point the way to a more dense future. Along the way, city leaders have made decisions about whether some buildings should be preserved, assigning the Board of Architectural Review—the governing body that makes such decisions—a […]
The U.S. Department of Education rescinded its recommendation that Charlottesville City Schools acquire the site of the former Federal Executive Institute. In a May 9 email to CCS, the DOE said it will instead recommend the U.S. General Services Administration move forward with the University of Virginia’s bid for the property. “Upon further review of […]