“In loco parentis,” or just loco?

From the get-go, it was clear that last week\’s Albemarle County School Board meeting would revolve around a single topic: alcohol, kids, and what schools can do when those two volatile compounds mix off-campus.

City, County Approve Ragged Mountain Water Option

It\’s a done deal—except for the deal. Both Charlottesville City Council and the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors last week approved Ragged Mountain Reservoir as the preferred alternative to meet water needs until 2055. However, the tougher questions about mitigation, money and phasing remain unresolved.

Supes to earn slightly-less-crummy salary

Rarely does someone get to vote on their own salary—but on Wednesday, June 7, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors did exactly that when they agreed to raise their yearly compensation to a robust $13,530 from the paltry sum of $13,016. The 3.95 percent boost matched the yearly increase for all County employees.

Play On!

Alex Citron drives around with a bumper sticker that reads “What is Ix?” Well, at the moment, the former Frank Ix & Sons textile mill is 17 acres of mostly dilapidated space along Sixth Street between Elliott and Monticello avenues. But, if all goes as planned, it will soon be home to another Downtown theater group.

7-Eleven left out of Albemarle Place

If you were afraid of losing the 7-Eleven on the corner of Hydraulic Road and Route 29N to the massive development known as Albemarle Place, rejoice (for a while at least): Even though the “New Urbanist” development—with its mixed-use zoning for retail and residential—will surround the property, developer Landonomics and 7-Eleven property owners cannot reach an agreement. But it\’s not for lack of effort\-hey\’ve been trying for six years.

As Capshaw-ville Expands, Alt art center seeks New Home

Soon The Jefferson Theater building will become another piece of Coran Capshaw’s empire. And when the theater closes for extensive renovations this summer, there will no longer be room for basement tenants like Better Than Television (BTTV), which must leave by June 30.
BTTV, an all-volunteer “radical” community center, has occupied 2,000 square feet in the basement for approximately one year, where they operate a lending library, a free store, a ‘zine rack, and a stage room for plays, music shows, films and sundry other eclectic projects geared particularly toward teens. Along with Tibetan street vendors who sell their wares outside during the day, BTTV subleases their basement space from a photographer. According to Sam Schuyler, a project assistant with Capshaw’s Red Light Management, that photographer’s lease has recently expired.

looking at Bundoran Developer’s Track Record

Qroe Farms, the company developing Bundoran Farm just south of Charlottesville, positions itself as an agriculture- and environment-friendly developer—one that often sacrifices housing lots in order to preserve surrounding forests, fields, streams and views.

Police Sting Nabs iPod-Driven Auto Thefts

City police set the bait—an unlocked vehicle with obvious iPod, cell phone, camera and watch—along Madison Avenue. Three minutes later they sprung the trap, after two teens on bikes swiped the iPod and cell phone, making it 30 yards before police arrested them. Police found two more iPods after a search. Both juveniles were convicted last week of petty larceny.