The brand new Crozet branch library. Photo: Jack Looney

Into the bookless future: As the county invests $20 million in new construction, libraries come to a fork in the road

The universe (which others call the Library) is composed of an indefinite, perhaps infinite number of hexagonal galleries.–Jorge Luis Borges, “The Library of Babel” In September, Albemarle County will open a library in a brand new building in Crozet. Between now and then, it will also begin a public planning process for the newly approved [...]

Behind older homes in the city’s 10th and Page neighborhood, a new student housing complex is nearing completion. Charlottesville is one of Virginia’s least affordable places to live, but making the market more equitable is a tall task. Photo: John Robinson

Mailbag: Charlottesville’s housing crisis is self-inflicted

Free market housing Recently this paper published an article about the well-documented problem of Charlottesville’s housing unaffordability. It claimed that nearly half the city’s population now pays over 30 percent of income on housing, making it Virginia’s second-costliest city. To a degree this problem exists because many residents here are unemployed or hold low-wage jobs. [...]