As proudly goofy members of the punk-pop church, the Black Kids have neither profound gloom nor shocking musical innovations to impress the sort of hipsters mildly amused by musicians supporting their tales of temporary passion with big beats, old-style synthesizers and background singers echoing their leader with deadpan sarcasm. Rather, the Kids’ sarcasm is a […]
Charlottesville Newsplex, the TV station that operates CBS 19, ABC 16 and Fox 27, is pushing back the timeline for moving operations to 2307 Hydraulic Rd., but General Manager Brad Ramsey, who took the reins in July, says that the project is sill moving forward. “We’re considering all of our options, I guess is the […]
Albemarle County finally released its second quarter building report last week, and, as expected, numbers are way down. Only 266 building permits for new residential housing units were issued in the first six months of 2008, putting this year on pace for the lowest amount of new construction since the Weldon Cooper Center started keeping […]
Developer Oliver Kuttner has been spending most of his time in Lynchburg lately. “I have 750,000 square feet in Lynchburg,” says Kuttner, talking on his cell phone while standing in one of his Lynchburg properties. “I’m down here every day.” The city Board of Architectural Review decided that this addition and carriage way for cars […]
In the end, the city approval of its portion of the Meadowcreek Parkway came down to a technicality, one so small that three of five city councilors couldn’t say no. On Monday, August 18, after a dozen speakers implored them not to, councilors David Brown, Satyendra Huja and Julian Taliaferro gave the tiny nudge necessary […]
Funding crunch Two-year state operating budget: $76 billionAnnounced state spending cuts: $49 million, over three yearsCity operating budget, FY 2009: $127 millionCity budget deficit FY 09: $1.8 million Governor Tim Kaine last week announced that nothing was off the table for spending cuts—including the usual sacred cow of education—in order to balance the state budget […]
“Ever since I arrived in the U.S., I’ve always had my people back home in mind,” says Nana Akyeampong-Ghartey. The native Ghanan immigrated from Winneba, a university town, 12 years ago, and he’d like to do what he can to shorten the 5,300-mile distance between Charlottesville and his hometown on the West African coast. “I […]
When one ventures up Route 29 on the way to D.C., one seriously considers the thought of abandoning this worldly existence and becoming a hermit. Traffic and pollution (and, well, distance) make it impossible to enjoy a nice stroll to Washington. So what about the train? Currently, the service offered by Amtrak between Charlottesville and […]
Worked for city transit for: 11 yearsResides in: Albemarle CountyJob title: Customer service rep. Camacho assists in directing people to where they need to go and in handling complaints from users. Best of times: Helping others. “When things happen to peoples’ cars, you want to help them find a proper route to get them to […]
Dear Ace: Where can I go in Charlottesville to buy a boa constrictor/talking parrot/ferret/alligator/elephant/etc.?—Zoe KeeperZoe: Let Ace first address the issue of putting the words “exotic” and “ferret” in the same sentence. Ferrets, faithful reader, are not exotic. They sleep 14-18 hours a day and, according to Ace’s trusty source (thanks, Wikipedia!), include raisins among […]