Bits and pieces get renamed

On October 5 UVA’s Board of Visitors passed a resolution to rename a new road and an architectural detail in honor of University Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Leonard Sandridge. What was formerly the North Grounds Connector Road between the 250 Bypass and Massie Road will be called Sandridge Road and the entrance […]

Allen, Webb bicker in final debate

Many political experts will tell you debates don’t matter (“It’s all about the ads, baby”). But incumbent George Allen has seen a double-digit lead in the U.S. Senate race melt away in the months following his “macaca” remarks. And it was obvious Allen’s advisors weren’t taking any chances with the final debate between the Republican […]

Know your house candidates

So you think you know all there is to know about the Virgil Goode-Al Weed race for Virginia’s 5th U.S. Congressional district. You’ve heard their spiels, you’ve seen their signs, you may have even shaken the hand of one or both. You’ve seen it all before—literally, since the dudes ran for the same seat two […]

Fight for your right to a third party

The unenviable third party spot on American ballots pretty much demands some sort of quirk of its candidates. After all, you have to be at least a little, um, eccentric to run against not only two popular candidates, but also the entire two-party system itself.    So this year, in addition to their Gail “for Rail” […]

Big-box project deferred

Does the area want more big-box retail? Such was the gist of a contentious public hearing at the Albemarle County Planning Commission at their October 10 meeting, where commissioners considered, but deferred, rezoning 87 acres of county land to accommodate almost 400,000 square feet of commercial development on the southern side of Charlottesville.    Representing developers […]

City Planners accept nine-storey building

After some debate, the City Planning Commission decided in a 3-2 vote to recommend approval for a nine-storey “mixed-use” building that will include 100 luxury condos at 201 Avon St., just south of the Downtown Mall near the Pavilion.

Talking crime with Corner landlord

On September 10, a UVA undergrad sat on the porch of his rented apartment on Wertland Street, chatting on his cellphone at 4am, when two men robbed him at gunpoint and shot him in the stomach. The crime remains unsolved, but several UVA-area landlords donated $1,000 each to increase the Crimestoppers reward for information leading […]

County survey released

On October 12, Albemarle County’s Development Review Task Force released the results of a voluntary survey that it hoped would generate “ideas and perspectives” rather than “specific conclusions” about the development review process. More than 400 county residents—citizens, developers and Community Development staff—submitted anonymous surveys, which were summarized to yield general themes.    Both developers and […]

Real estate market slows to “reasonable”

After you’ve been to Disney World, the Tilt-a-Whirl at the county fair seems a little disappointing. Similarly, after the wild ride that was local real estate in 2005, this year’s tamer market would seem to signal that housing prices and sales are seriously slowing. But in its third-quarter market report, the Charlottesville Area Association of […]

Armed robbery string confirmed by cops

Police have confirmed two armed robberies from the first week of October are related. The perpetrators attempted to abduct a 19-year-old male from Route 29 and assaulted a UVA student on the Corner—guns were used in both incidents.    On October 3, a teen was in his car at the 7-Eleven on the corner of Route […]