Man on Third

Dear Ace: What’s the deal with Third Street access being restricted to pedestrians only? It seems like there’s vehicle access, but I’ve always been told to move when I park there. There’s nowhere to legally park for loading after 6pm, except at the far ends of the Mall. That is no help at all if […]

Quote, unquote

Well, here we are, drifting into the inevitable, boring halftime show of this never-ending political season: The primaries are over (thank God), the second-half players are finally set, but it’s still way too early to get worked up about the outcome of the chaotic electoral scrimmage to come. But hey, we’re not complaining—it provides us […]

Shoot to the top

For this year’s The-Art-Director-is-on-Vacation photo contest, we asked local camera hounds to send us summer scenes in and around Charlottesville. And they obliged with images ranging from an impromptu, barefoot water dance to a biker’s shadow (and a biker’s footwear) to an utterly broken down school bus lying yellow in the sunshine. In the end, […]

Do the dean shuffle

UVA’s longest-serving dean of admissions, John Blackburn, recently announced that he will retire in June 2009, and that announcement capped a semester of top-level shuffling at UVA. The administrative face of the University is changing. Blackburn’s been at the helm since 1985. President John Casteen and Executive Vice President and COO Leonard Sandridge both have […]

Au revoir 100-percent financing

Just a few months ago, Micah Davis, a broker for Mahone Mortgage, thought he had a deal done. He had run the customer’s numbers through Fannie Mae’s automated underwriting system, and the system had blessed the customer with an approval for a mortgage. Then came June. That was the month when Fannie Mae updated its […]

Budget efficiency studies all the rage

Last summer, the Albemarle County School Board contracted with the Commonwealth Educational Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University to conduct a “Resource Utilization Study” to make sure that the school division practices an efficient use of its resources. “In hindsight, it was brilliant,” says at-large School Board member Brian Wheeler of that decision. Five months later, […]

Transportation talk roils Richmond

As C-VILLE went to press on Monday, state legislators were setting to work in Richmond on Governor Tim Kaine’s transportation bill. And boy, do they have their work cut out for them. Not only do they have to read Kaine’s 55-page reworking of last year’s mirage of a transportation funding solution—they also have to find […]