For 11 years, Gary O’Connell has been the man behind the curtain for the City of Charlottesville: While City councilors come and go, the City manager spans regimes. Though by some measure the puppet of the Council, required to do their bidding based on the priorities they set, he can turn the table—setting the agenda […]
For 11 years, Gary O’Connell has been the man behind the curtain for the City of Charlottesville: While City councilors come and go, the City manager spans regimes. Though by some measure the puppet of the Council, required to do their bidding based on the priorities they set, he can turn the table—setting the agenda […]
Maybe new renovations to the Northside Library will help the good citizens of Albemarle choose free media over $14 CDs and $50 video-games at nearby Circuit City. It’s a fixture in every town: the public library. Just by living here (and paying taxes), you get access to a wealth of knowledge. Yet many residents aren’t […]
comics This year Houghton Mifflin added a comics volume to its prestigious Best American series. It’s kind of a big deal for the comic industry, the literary equivalent of being called up to the big leagues after years of toiling away on a farm team. The publisher picked indie comics legend Harvey Pekar (American Splendor) […]
Dear Ace: I never raked my leaves. Will I get in trouble?—Lee Z. Bones Dear Lee: So you’re that guy on the block, huh? Lawn left unmowed, newspapers dating back to 1982 piled in the yard, broken beds on the porch, holiday decorations left up year-round? Well, no worries: Ace is on the beat. He […]
music The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players (TFSP) are, literally, well, a family of slideshow players: Jason, the father, plays guitar and keyboards and sings, daughter Rachel beats the drums and mom Tina Piña adds vocals while she directs the slideshow. The TFSP website contains a succinct description: “We take vintage slide collections we’ve found at […]
Hey you. Yes, YOU. Congratulations. Time magazine (www.time.com) has just named YOU its Person of the Year for 2006. There you are, smiling back at yourself from the mirror on the cover. You should really rethink that piercing.
What does “mixed use” mean, anyway? The definition of that term, so often invoked in planning discussions, lies at the root of a civil suit percolating in the Charlottesville Circuit Court between the City and developers in the Fifeville neighborhood. Estes Street Partners LLC, led by Richard G. Carter, has filed suit, asking the court […]
“The relatively pristine, wooded character of the County’s high elevations—the blue backdrop of the mountains—defines much of the character of Albemarle County and has served as an inspiration and cultural landmark for residents since colonial times.” So we need to protect it with more zoning—and government incentives. That’s the thrust of a proposal for a […]
This month, the Board of Supervisors in Northern Virginia’s Prince William County—fed up by lagging infrastructure to accommodate its dramatic growth—voted unanimously for a de facto moratorium on approving new residential development. They won’t consider any new rezoning requests for all of 2007.
Al Terek Pettiford reads poetry at his graduation from the New Beginnings transitional re-entry program at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail. Pettiford, serving time for embezzlement, is one of 14 inmates to graduate from the program,