Building a better city New Year’s is a time for resolutions, but this year, we decided to focus our attention on city improvements, not self-improvement. So we asked a bunch of community leaders about their hopes for Charlottesville (and added a few of our own). Here’s to a new year, a new decade, and new […]
On January 1, three new Charlottesville City Council members will officially begin their terms. Michael Payne, Sena Magill, and Lloyd Snook will join current councilors Heather Hill and Mayor Nikuyah Walker as Wes Bellamy, Mike Signer, and Kathy Galvin ride off into the sunset. Magill and Payne say their priorities continue to be the issues […]
Nearly two years after appointing the initial Police Civilian Review Board, Charlottesville City Council inched closer to making a permanent oversight board a reality at their October 21 meeting, with a first reading of the CRB’s ordinance and bylaws. But members of the initial CRB were not pleased, saying councilors had severely weakened the proposal […]
There are three open spots on Charlottesville City Council this year and three candidates who’ve won the Democratic nomination, usually a virtual guarantee of being elected. But three independents are still in the race, and as Nikuyah Walker proved with her victory in 2017, they can’t be [...]
Follow the money Breaking down campaign finance reports With election day less than two weeks away, candidates will submit their final campaign fundraising reports on October 28. Using data provided by the Virginia Public Access Project, here are how things stand in two races with significant [...]
Inching closer Albemarle County staff is recommending the Board of Supervisors consider adopting an ambitious climate goal: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050, aligning themselves with the same goals as the city. Last month, county staff gave the [...]
When Mayor Nikuyah Walker was elected to City Council in November 2017, she became the first independent candidate to claim a seat since 1948. A few weeks ahead of the 2019 election, another independent is making headway among prospective voters—and current councilors. Bellamy Brown raised more [...]
More than two hundred years after she departed North Dakota as a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Sacagawea of the Shoshone tribe is at the center of controversy in Charlottesville—again. At issue is her depiction in a statue on West Main, where she crouches at the feet of Meriwether [...]
When Rory Stolzenberg accepted an appointment to the Charlottesville Planning Commission last October, he hoped to play a role in how the city government shapes its citizens’ way of life. What he didn’t expect is just how much weight his words would now carry online. The 27-year-old software [...]
Despite the refrain from all quarters that the defining issue of this year’s City Council election is housing, this election is a referendum on the status quo. In what feels like hundreds of candidate forums, the five candidates in the Democratic primary for City Council have spent more energy [...]
It’s a few weeks to primary day (June 11), and here in heavily-Democratic Charlottesville, the question of who will represent us next year will largely be determined now, not in November. Among the Democrats, the choices in both the state delegate and City Council races offer strikingly similar [...]
Councilor Kathy Galvin won’t be sitting on the dais in City Hall much longer. Instead of running for re-election to council this year, she’s currently campaigning as a progressive candidate for the House of Delegates. The planks of her platform are “a sustainable future,” “an equitable future,” [...]
A UVA facilities project manager jumped into the race for City Council February 6. Brian Pinkston said to dozens at The Haven, “I’m running for City Council because I want our city to recapture this vision of the common good.” He was introduced by former vice-mayor Meredith Richards, who noted [...]
Tony the self-driving shuttle Perrone Robotics cranked up the driverless vehicle heat last week with the awkwardly acronymed Tony—TO Navigate You—which will soon be autonomously tooling around Crozet. In a partnership with Albemarle County and JAUNT—Jefferson Area UNited Transportation, another [...]
Infighting implodes council The hiring of an interim city manager, an event that usually takes place behind closed doors, has become heated and public, with reports of shouting at a July 20 closed City Council session. Mayor Nikuyah Walker has gone on Facebook Live twice to express her concerns [...]
Seventeen residents of the Little High Street neighborhood filed a suit against City Council July 5, and one of the plaintiffs includes former city councilor Bob Fenwick. The residents object to how City Council approved a special use permit for Jefferson Place apartments at 1011 E. Jefferson [...]
Kerfuffles certainly aren’t new at City Council meetings anymore, but the one June 18 between Pat Napoleon and Wes Bellamy jolted awake anyone who may have been dozing during public comments. Napoleon is the founder of Rise Charlottesville, and has been collecting signatures to remove those on [...]
On February 22, Jim Moore, a supporter of two-time City Council candidate Kenneth Jackson, sent out a Facebook message to a long list of recipients titled “Help Ken,” seeking payment from supporters for an overdue $2,000 loan to avoid taking Jackson to court on March 20 (after C-VILLE went to [...]
Following the tragic climax of Charlottesville’s summer of hate on August 12, City Manager Maurice Jones ordered an independent review of the city’s handling of the July 8 KKK rally and the Unite the Right rally that left Heather Heyer dead and dozens injured when a neo-Nazi plowed into a crowd [...]
When City Manager Maurice Jones introduced the man hired to investigate the events of Charlottesville’s summer of hate, he listed former U.S. attorney Tim Heaphy’s “critical eye,” his experience with law enforcement and investigations, and then he described the city as “partnering” with Heaphy. [...]
Charlottesville City Council now has a mayor on restriction. Council is made up of five elected equals, with the mayor playing a largely symbolic role, and that was a lesson Mayor Mike Signer appears to have forgotten. On August 30, his fellow councilors held a three-hour closed door meeting to [...]
While a court injunction currently prevents the statue of Robert E. Lee from being moved, the city is moving full speed ahead in an effort to change the names of local parks named for Confederate heroes. After fielding suggestions from almost all committee members, the Charlottesville Historic [...]
So far, seven people seem eager to devote their Monday nights to City Council meetings. The race for two open seats now held by Bob Fenwick and Kristin Szakos, who is not seeking another term, has drawn three Democrats—Fenwick, Heather Hill and Amy Laufer—for the June 13 primary. Traditionally [...]