Running through it

An expansive Virginia pasture opens up alongside the third mile of this year’s Charlottesville half-marathon course. The path then drops down on to Clark Road, a snaky, tree-lined gravel road where the next hill—and there’s always another hill—is obscured by trees until you turn a corner and start climbing. Runners pass Our Lady of the […]

Goodbye, generals

For nearly a century, Charlottesville’s downtown statues of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson have stood as brutal emblems of white supremacy. Local Black activists have fought long and hard for the bronze eyesores to be taken down for good, but the city has faced a string of roadblocks over the past four […]

Rolling out the red carpet

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, local shelters have drastically expanded their efforts to house our most vulnerable community members. With support from the Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless and People and Congregations Engaged in Ministry, those experiencing homelessness have been able to stay at hotels, where they receive daily meals, case […]

In brief

Slow train comin’ Last month, Governor Ralph Northam signed agreements with CSX railroad and other entities to complete a $3.7 billion investment in passenger rail in Virginia. The agreement will eventually add more train service to and from Charlottesville, but it will be at least a couple of years before passenger rail becomes available.  The […]

Shot out

By Emily Hamilton Early last week, UVA first-year Reese Alpher heard she could get a coronavirus vaccine if she drove two hours south to a community vaccination center in Danville—so she jumped at the chance.  “When I went, the word was that [the shots] were getting thrown out and that there were too many vaccines […]

Guns down

Joy and laughter filled the summery Friday afternoon air, as dozens of children danced in a church parking lot across from the South First Street public housing neighborhood. People later left the dance floor to tour the inside of a rescue truck and pick out new reads from the Free Book Bus, while others waited […]

Speaking up

In 1990, 12 percent of UVA’s students were Black. In the three decades since, that number has fallen, and now hovers around 6 percent. (The school doesn’t represent the state—19 percent of Virginia residents are Black.)    How did the university lose so many Black students? How can it increase Black enrollment? And how can […]

In brief

Mayor’s poem sparks conversation  Last Wednesday morning, Mayor Nikuyah Walker posted a poem on her Facebook and Twitter pages. “Charlottesville: The beautiful-ugly it is. It rapes you, comforts you in its cum stained sheets and tells you to keep its secrets,” the mayor wrote.   The poem grabbed the attention of people in and outside […]

Come visit… please

The Charlottesville area’s tourism-dependent economy has felt the effects of the pandemic. “From Q4 2019 and Q4 2020, Albemarle County lost 44% employment in the Accommodations and Food Services Sectors,” wrote Eric Terry, president of the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association, in a recent letter to Roger Johnson, the chair of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Convention […]

Red tape

As the greater Charlottesville-Albemarle area continues to feel the effects of a housing shortage, a panel of developers argued last week that localities in the area can incentivize new construction through land use reform.  “We intentionally, through our comprehensive plans and our zoning ordinances, limit the supply of land for new homes,” said Charlie Armstrong, […]