Fewer NGIC employees relocating than expected

All those home builders banking on selling houses to new National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) employees may be in for a rude awakening. An estimate from the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors (CAAR) is that only 30 to 40 percent of employees will relocate, the rest not wishing to unsettle spouses and children.

The Assault on Reason

This has been Freakout Week for Dems and progressives across the land, and I have not been immune to it. Sarah Palin scares the bejeezus out of me (which is ironic considering how she wants to force the bejeezus into people).

Albemarle Place reemerges

Albemarle Place is not dead yet. The Daily Progress reports that project developer Edens & Avant of Columbia, South Carolina, which bought the property in August 2007, has been in talks with the county and will file a site plan in the coming months.

Harvest fest only sort of rained out

I was out of town last weekend, and blissfully so, but there was one local event I was sorry to miss: the Heritage Harvest Festival at Tufton Farm. This celebration of all things edible and local is put on by Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and Monticello’s Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants. Fortunately, ABODE’s kitchen columnist Lisa Reeder was there, handing out local apples and taking in the scene. Here’s her report:

The notorious B-A-G

Last night my husband and I stopped off at our neighborhood grocery store, the one where we do our last-minute shopping for essentials like beer and half-and-half. We did our usual quick circuit through the aisles, and landed at checkout in under a minute. The worker at the register was unfamiliar to me, but the other young woman sitting nearby is an employee we’ve seen many many times.

The Countdown Begins

We’re leaving together,
But still it’s farewell
And maybe we’ll come back,
To earth, who can tell?
I guess there is no one to blame
We’re leaving ground
Will things ever be the same again?

Local officials woo NoVa workers for NGIC expansion

Elected officials and community leaders are heading to Northern Virginia this morning to address the employees of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) who may be relocated to the new DIA facility at Rivanna Station in Albemarle County as part of the Base Alignment and Closure program. The facility is being built on the site of the current National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC).