Road to hell
I appreciate C-VILLE’s coverage of the City of Charlottesville’s continued attempts to seize private property (Steephill Street) for a public purpose without going through a lawful process [“On the Road Again,” Government News, May 25, 2010]. Native sons Madison, Monroe, and Jefferson would be horrified. Thankfully, the press is still free to bring this issue to the public’s attention.
I regret however that I was not allowed to respond to Ric Barrick’s statement referring to “many conversations about our plans for that street,” his claim that “there was raw sewage going into a creek,” or City Attorney Craig Brown’s statement that I had put up “road blocks.”
A City crew showed up unannounced to work on Steephill Street. I e-mailed Director of Public Works Judy Mueller to remind her that Steephill Street is a privately maintained, privately owned road.
My “road blocks?” Quoting an opinion from the City Attorney’s Office that Steephill Street “is a private way and there are no public rights, interests or obligations therein.” Citing deeds showing that the public record agreed that Steephill is private property. Requesting that Mr. Brown demonstrate that the City has any rights at all to that property. He has not responded.
There was no sewage flowing into a creek. The break was 200 feet away. The problem that City staff described was that a small amount of gravel and mud were entering the pipe and could eventually block it if allowed to build up.
Facts and documents are available on my blog: http://steephillstreet.wordpress.com.
Louis Schultz
Charlottesville
On a roll
When I saw your article on the ice park [“Later, skaters,” Government News, May 25], I started thinking of all the things that this massive place could be and then it hit me! A Roller Skating Rink! It’s perfect! It could be like the rink in Staunton, that place has a lot of business from camps, schools, and just the normal crowd of families! I saw that one of the options in the article was an arcade. I know that the roller skating rink in Stunton has a few arcade games so I thought that they would go well together. I think turning the rink into a roller skating rink would get a lot of attention from all ages! And you can make certain nights “Roller Disco Night” and bring back memories. You could have neon lights everywhere! There has also been a renewed interest in roller derby as a result of the movie Whip It. I think Charlottesville will be ready for that! I hope you take this idea into consideration and I’m sure that whatever the outcome may be of the Ice Rink, it will be fantastic!
M. Fogler
Charlottesville