Ten years ago, landscape architect Gregg Bleam was hired by the city of Charlottesville to make a master plan to revitalize all 25 city parks, but only after taking it upon himself to drive around to every single one with his 8-year-old daughter in tow. “Weren’t we just at this one?” she asked as they […]
Ten years ago, landscape architect Gregg Bleam was hired by the city of Charlottesville to make a master plan to revitalize all 25 city parks, but only after taking it upon himself to drive around to every single one with his 8-year-old daughter in tow. “Weren’t we just at this one?” she asked as they […]
Less than a year since they last played at the late Starr Hill, the Band From Hoboken returned to Charlottesville to play a seated, “Freewheeling” show at Satellite Ballroom, and the anticipation was palpable. There were no stragglers, and the room was packed by just a little after 9pm. The show began suddenly: In the […]
Chris Onstad, the cartoonist that has been writing Achewood since 2001, took a breather during the winter holidays and ran a few “classic” Achewood strips from December 24-28 (which I greedily and somewhat shamefully read at my desk, shoulders bucking with silent laughs). Within the same week, Time named Achewood the year’s best graphic novel […]
Perspectives may be changing on how tourists best appreciate the sweeping, column-laden majesty of Jefferson’s architecture or recreate the social activities of his time. Today’s Lynchburg News & Advance revisited recently published tourism numbers from Monticello (441,739 guests in 2007, the spot’s lowest total in roughly 30 years) and then, presumably to add insult to […]
Democratic frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have already come prospecting in Charlottesville, as well as Dennis Kucinich, and now it looks like a Republican is going to try his luck. Charlottesville Newsplex reports today that John McCain will hold a fundraiser at the Paramount on February 10, two days before the Virginia primary. A […]
What happens when the housing market takes a nosedive and a deal goes bad between a contractor and a developer? Lawsuits, my friend. Lawsuits. These properties form the crux of a $3 million-plus dispute between R.L. Beyer Construction and Tom Hickman. In January of 2002, when the local real estate and housing markets were turning […]
Since 2003, the City of Charlottesville has been delicately balancing its efforts to grow through infill and redevelopment while at the same time keeping the backhoe from excavating its historic character. It’s an effort that a landowner at 1616 Jefferson Park Ave. is afraid the city might be getting wrong on his side of town. […]
With green building becoming all the rage, developers and builders are jumping over themselves to tout their environmental bona fides. But some, to paraphrase a country song, were green before green was cool. One of them is a native. You may have seen his work around here. Thomas Jefferson—third president, UVA founder and “green” architect, […]
On Valentine’s Day, 2005, Charlottesville resident Shirley Presley filed suit in the United States District Court against the city and the Rivanna Trails Foundation (RTF) for the violation of her property rights over the previous six years, as well as for malicious prosecution by the city. For those claims, Presley asked for $1.4 million in […]
A December 27, 2007, fire that occurred at 528 Jester Ln. in the Camelot subdivision of Albemarle County has been ruled the result of arson, according to Lee Catlin, county spokesperson. “The property owners, Donald and Barbara Smith, were not home at the time of the fire, and lost everything,” she says. The county has […]