An appreciation of Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid series has always depended largely on one simple thing: How do you feel about “cut scenes”? If you enjoy having your game play routinely interrupted by these 10-minute-to-hour-long animated movies that advance the story, well, you’re in luck: The fourth and final installment in the saga of […]
Anticipating a one-person show—even if it’s Doug Wright’s Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play, I Am My Own Wife—isn’t an altogether pleasant experience. It’s just so hard to believe that a single actor can strike up the whole band, so to speak, let alone make resonant music. Visions of Jerry Seinfeld with no Jason Alexander […]
Among national cell phone service providers, Verizon Wireless has been noticeably absent in the Charlottesville area. Recently, the company has been aggressively installing cell phone towers in Albemarle County, but efforts to blanket the city in service have run into opposition from citizens concerned about the health risks. Verizon officials hope to put up six […]
Dredging of the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir is coming closer to a reality, one board meeting at a time.
Almost a year after the state legislature granted approval for localities to use photo red cameras, neither the City of Charlottesville nor Albemarle County seem to be in a hurry. The cameras, to be placed at traffic stops, would snap pictures of the license plates of cars crossing an intersection after the traffic light turned […]
Worked for the city for: 30 years Resides in: Albemarle County Job title: City assessor. Barbour is responsible for appraising all property around the City of Charlottesville, spread out into 42 residential areas and 16 commercial areas. Best of times: “The best times are when you get lots of new construction. You have more information […]
Ten years ago, Dave Taylor opened the Read It Again, Sam used bookstore, and as a way of pulling in customers, he placed waist-high racks of paperback fiction outside his front door on the bricks of the Downtown Mall. “Twenty-five percent of my business is from the carts,” he says. A decade later, however, Taylor […]
Though Charlottesville pays a lot of lip service to preserving its historic structures—devoting an entire chapter of its comprehensive plan to the subject—it’s easy for property owners to think they’re the ones who have to pay the price for the city’s principles. The city’s approach is often more stick than carrot. When the city designates […]
It’s a by now familiar sentiment: “We are definitely on a strict budget with gas.” But the person saying it is not a stressed mini-van mom trying to double up on trips to the pool and Kroger this summer. Those are instead the words of Ted Horn, executive vice president of Martin Horn Inc., the […]
Come the end of the year, UVA staff employees who have worked there since June 2006 are going to have to make a decision that will affect their futures at the University. For at least two of them, it will be a family affair. Staff Union at UVA (SUUVA) members Michael and Jolene Kidd have […]