In a haze

By Danny O’Dea All along Route 151, breweries and wineries dot the sides of the road. This beautiful, hilly stretch of Nelson County highway is known around the state for its picturesque watering holes.  Take a turn down the more residential Dick Woods Road, however, and you’ll see signs with bold letters that read “NO […]

Put our heads together

It’s no secret that Charlottesville has an ongoing affordable housing crisis, in part due to the city’s long racist history of segregation, redlining, and racial covenants. Behind a huge push from local activists, the city has set aside millions of dollars in recent years to build more affordable housing units. And after releasing an affordable […]

In brief

Descendants will have equal say at Montpelier  The Montpelier Foundation voted last week to share governance of the historic property with the Montpelier Descendants Committee, an organization comprised of descendants of the enslaved laborers who once lived and worked on the plantation.  Montpelier is widely known as the estate of James Madison, the fourth U.S. […]

Going green

In 2009, Dr. Latham Murray of Earlysville passed away at age 59 at his childhood home, Panorama Farms. His family decided to take care of the funeral themselves, building him a homemade coffin and burying him in their family cemetery. Without knowing it, they had given him a natural burial, free of toxic embalming chemicals, […]

Hollowed-out halls

For more than 20 years, Crescent Halls residents have been speaking out about the intolerable living conditions in the public housing apartments, including leaky laundry machines, broken air conditioners, sweltering heat, sewage flooding, busted elevators, bed bugs, and cockroaches. Charlottesville leaders vowed in 2010 to redevelop the 45-year-old complex for seniors and disabled residents—along with […]

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 […]

Promise kept

“For more than 25 years, redevelopment and public housing in the City of Charlottesville have been conversations and promises to residents,” said Audrey Oliver, standing on a dirt lot near Oakwood Cemetery downtown. “The promises became broken, and residents became discouraged, because the promises were never delivered.” That string of broken promises will soon be […]

Put it in park

By Sean Tubbs The fate of a proposed 300-space city-owned parking garage at Seventh and Market streets—in the space currently occupied by Lucky 7 and Guadalajara—hangs in the balance. Charlottesville City Council has to decide whether or not to include $8 million in next year’s capital budget plan for the project. The proposed garage has […]

In brief: Affordable apartments denied, vaccine clinic opened, and more

Nothing special Charlottesville’s fraught debates over how to address the city’s affordable housing crisis continue. At Monday night’s meeting, in a 3-2 vote, City Council denied a special use permit that would have allowed a modest number of new affordable units to be constructed in Belmont.  The proposed apartment complex at 1000 Monticello Rd. would […]

Future code: How will a tech boom change the city?

By Sydney Halleman It’s 10am on the Downtown Mall, and already the sounds of demolition flood the area. Pedestrians stream past Mudhouse Coffee and The Whiskey Jar, and a few glance at the tall fence erected recently across the walkway, and the signs that read, “Do not trespass. Construction site.” Machinery looms over the area […]